WotG RP: How to handle the past?

We just finished a long plotline full of it. It's very difficult to resolve since we don't have systems that really satisfactorilyallow for it, and many times there have been situations where characters really should have been killed but we have to 'play nice' and it stretches believability. We've had enough conflict to last us a while, can't we give it a rest? Conflict is not at all enjoyable for me to RP here in CPM since we have no good means of resolution, and I know it actively stresses Muirnin.

Character conflict is not and has never been the bread and butter of CPM.

The consensus is our system. This is "free form". Not godmodding isn't playing nice, and while yes, maybe it stretches believability it promotes fun. Plausibility needs to come second to fun. Sometimes it seems like you prefer a rigid idea of the plot to what's fun to play. (Please don't take that as an attack, it's just an honest concrit.)

Conflict is the bread and butter of storytelling. Isn't that what we're doing here? I'd rather have a thousand conflict plots than one more "let's sit around and do nothing but get wasted" session.

I know you guys are only going to put little stock in anything I'm saying because I'm leaving the game, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.

Given how little I'm around to do anything I doubt people are going to put much stock in what I say either, but even so I feel compelled to chime in my two cents to this conversation. Personally I take credibility as the very core that makes roleplaying, roleplaying. Credibility, to me atleast, lends a great deal to what exactly makes roleplaying fun - rules I'd agree with you. Rules can well enough be sacrificed for the sake of fun, but credibility - not so much.
Take away the credibility of characters, then you take away any thing that makes them the way they are. And this puts to waste any effort you've put to working out details in their history and / or nature.

As far as conflict goes - I agree and not, with what Rein's said. Conflict /is/ the bread and butter of RP, but at the same tone it shouldn't necessarily be conflict between the characters. Of course this probably is just my opinion, because the character I happen to play (have played?) deals with it very poorly and I don't want to be put into a situation where the character should - by all accounts true to her nature - kill some other character. Because that's not fun to me, and quite likely not fun to the player of that other character.
In this situation, you could say that we can fudge the credibility of my character, and say she doesn't go with it. Quite likely this would be said, and I'd be happier than the alternative. But I still wouldn't be happy having to act against what my character would do in the situation, so ultimately I'd rather not have my character in that situation.

Mind you, I do agree with that conflict might and would be fun to RP, but in this event that conflict stems from some of these people trying to (or atleast thinking they're trying to) save the world. If someone else threatens the very existence of Everything, friend or foe my character would take their life. She wouldnt love it, but she'd do it. And so would likely any other character I could come up with, even if I decided to scrap Sphinx and start with a new one.
So yes, conflict might be fun, but not necessarily so when it goes to killing off other people's characters. And in the current situation, that's where conflict can very easily lead to.

Like you, Rein, I'm not saying this to stir up debate or say your opinion on anything you say is wrong. Of course it's not, different people leads to different ways of having fun - and that's what playing a game /should/ be about. Simply chiming in the way I feel about it - with the notion that it likely doesn't matter since, again, I don't play that much anyway.
On this topic, it's sad to see you go. But judging from when I last saw you in game I'm sure you've the reasons for it, so in case this is the last I get to say something; hope everything goes well and life'll keep good for you^^

Awww, Rein's goin bye bye D:

We'll miss you~ had a lot of fun with you too!~

Thanks, guys. You guys are awesome, but I'm just sick of FFXI. But let's not make this thread about me.

Who's better poised to be an antagonist than any of the player characters? That's the big question here. Nobody really knows yet, do they?

That's just it. Something Went Wrong. We don't know exactly why. We're after Cait Sith for answers, apparently so is Lilisette. Why force conflict when it would be, if anything, a distraction from the plot? Let's see where the WotG plot takes us for now. Besides, as Ayvaen and I have noted in the past, IC and OOC, constant, incessant conflict stresses your characters to the point of lunacy. They start getting unable to handle it and it's just not fun. I'm not saying All Conflict Is Bad, there has been some fantastic inter-character conflict based plots. They are, however, the exception and not the rule, which is how I think they ought to remain. We just finished a long-running plot with more of it than there's ever been in CPM history. There need to be breaks sometimes too.

As for the rest, I think Sphinx said it better than I could have. It's not a matter of Rules To Obey, it's a matter of if you put Verence in a situation where he'd kill you and he can't for 100% purely OOC reasons, what then? By not doing what he'd do, he's not being himself. I'm not being allowed to roleplay Verence. Tally up enough breaks from character and it just gets aggravating and not at all fun because it is, in effect, reverse godmodding. If your character isn't your character anymore, who are they? I'd rather avoid situations like that.

"Keep on trucking" seems good to me. Us not knowing is pretty acceptable for now; we usually don't have a problem integrating stuff we've made up with existing story elements as we go. School start up again soon, so what say we try and do some mission a few weeks after it starts up to give ourselves time to become familiar with our new schedules. Then let the meshing begin.

On that note, it's sort of nice that we're starting up again and we have a tight-knit group to start with, but it would be nice to branch out again. For those of you hiding in the shadows, CPM is trying to pull itself back together, log on and say hi. As for the rest of us, keep an eye out for potential members. I may make a post, similar to Ayv's, advertising us on Alla on the not so distant future. I feel shouting is probably a bad idea with FFXI the way it is : P

I know I'm weighing in a little late, but I guess I may as well. Personally, I hate most conflict plots. There's enough stress offline, I really don't need more of it in my relaxation. I don't mind if other people want to do character conflict, it can be a lot of fun and I enjoy it myself sometimes. Please don't make it so central to the plot that everyone HAS to get involved, like it or not, though.

Besides that, our current group is so small, can we even afford conflict without seriously hurting our ability to RP with each other? Right now, we have Verence, Narne, Lyre, Muirnin, Xenedra, Rabican, Sabriel, Sphinx, Valkyr. Rakuyu and Psy may be around but they don't sign in or RP very often (If you guys are reading this, this is your cue to sign in and RP a ton and prove me wrong!) Nine characters and six people. In an ideal circumstance of 4 vs 5, that still severely limits our options of who we can RP with, unless the conflict is limited to disagreements that still allow them to work together.

I guess I'm a bit confused at what people MEAN by 'character conflict'. Do longstanding disagreements and arguments count? Or are we talking coming down on opposite sides of a conflict that may turn violent? I've been in and enjoyed a fair amount of the former, but I don't like what the latter does to RP and the ability to RP.