OOC faction knowledge

[RIPnogarD]

How the heck are PC’s suppose to be able to IG/IC know some factions exist if the existing members make no effort to be known or try to keep their faction hidden or some big secret. Sorry, most PC’s have no IC reason to run around risking life and limb trying to find people they don’t know exist in an attempt to join a faction they qualify for but don’t know about. There are at least two of these now that I can think of and it sticks in my craw a bit.
(Lets talk about meta-gaming ffs...)

Sorry, just my not so humble opinion, but if the faction isn’t going to make a recruiting effort for whatever reasons (invite only, hidden faction or whatever), then don’t start threads about them in an OOC manner.

[Cruzel]

Just because a faction exists doesn't mean you -need- to join it. Sure, joining a faction is great.  Eventually you're bound to run into a member, if you seem like you fit the bill I'm sure eventual conversation will lead that way.  Patience, my friend.

Barring that, you can always start your own faction, which can be even more awesome than joining one. Instead of following along someone else plan and doing awesome things, you can be the one planning the awesome.  Go for it, dude.

[Goblin Butcher]

Knowing about these factions ooc'ly helps people tailor characters that might suit said invite only factions if thats the atmosphere they feel like playing in.

[PanamaLane]

Agreed, I tend to always come down on the side of more OOC knowledge. The more we know the better ideas we can come up with at creation. I also feel like our player base does a pretty responsible job of separating OOC facts from IC ones, though not being a DM, I'll admit, maybe its more of a problem then I know.

[Cruzel]

The OP was stating he knows about the OOCly, and he thinks he would fit in. The problem he is having is that ICly he doesn't know that, and if the faction does not advertise or is a secret, he cannot join unless he metagames, because he doesn't know about it IC

At least, that's what I picked up when I skimmed his post.

[RIPnogarD]

Yes, exactly, Cruze is right about my OP.

Basically if you want a secret or hidden faction, then I personally (OOC) don’t want to know about it.

[wcsherry]

Though I'm maintaining a faction at the moment that is fairly secretive (fairly being a very loose term, as they have matching uniforms), they are told to be on the constant lookout for prospective members by their NPC superiors.

All I can say is, not every guild is going to put the flag out there - especially if we ever start sponsoring a guild for those that are morally bankrupt thieves, etc.

[RIPnogarD]

That’s exactly my point. If it’s a secret or something then keep it IG/IC, no OOC posts. If it’s not some kind of secret then let the PC’s know in some way so they can IC do something.

[Howlando]

Are you talking about DM or PC factions?

[RIPnogarD]

I’m talking about any faction DM, PC or otherwise. I was intentionally trying to be vague to not point fingers at anybody. But in general I feel OOC posts about factions are annoying if the players or DM’s of those factions cant or don’t make any IC effort to let other PC’s know they exist. The only way to join these factions is to meta-game OOC information or hope that they find your PC and with differing time zones (playing times) or if they don’t hang in the same places, this could take days, weeks or even months of real time.

Sorry, I’m not having my PC die by wondering around solo to find a group of people that he technically doesn’t know exists. And I don’t want to meta-game getting a group together to trek out with him so I can then dump that group to hang with new found friends if or when he actually does ‘stumble’ upon them. Which again would have to be meta-gamed to know when a PC of that faction is even on line to go out and find, or even available to deal with in the IC role-play situation of joining a faction in the first place.

Pretty simple solution:
1)   Make a dang IC post letting other PC’s know your faction exists. “We (faction name) will be here at this time to talk to people interested in joining.” Etc…
2)   If you don’t want other PC’s to know you exist then don’t make OOC posts about your faction. And by this I don’t mean journals and letters or whatnot (which are IC), I mean OOC thread posts announcing a faction that nobody would really know was there.

Though I'm maintaining a faction at the moment that is fairly secretive (fairly being a very loose term, as they have matching uniforms), they are told to be on the constant lookout for prospective members by their NPC superiors.

Not that I’m one of them or my OP was directed against your faction but how fair is this to players with differing time zones to the established players of your faction that are on the “constant lookout’? How would a PC know your faction existed without using OOC info?

Okay, sorry, I’m ranting now, I’ll stfu and deal with it. :oops:

[I can has fun?]

OOC faction knowledge on EfU is just like what you would find in the sourcebooks. Yes, the Harpers exist, and yes, you can read all about the stats for the Harper Scout prestige class, but odds are good that any PC you roll up will have never heard of them before. The factions here are no different.

[RIPnogarD]

Umm, In PnP it’s the DM’s job to introduce these PrC’s or factions to the player that shows interest in them so that his PC then has IC knowledge.

I’ve been a PnP DM probably longer than a lot of you have been alive. I started playing D&D in 1981.

[I can has fun?]

They do that here, too!

EDIT: Please don't play the "more gamer than thou" card. You don't know enough about the people who play here to make that kind of statement. I've been playing D&D exactly one year longer than you have.

[9lives]

May I just be the first to heartily state:

LOL.

[Vlaid]

What's the point of being a super awesome secret organization of assassins, thieves, and spies pretending to be bums if you have to tell everyone who and what you are?

The most fun part of being in something like that is when you finally get to reveal your super evil plans to the guys hanging over the pit full of rabid canibal halflings.

It's just not as much fun if everyone knows OOC what is going on already.

Don't find us, we'll find you kind of thing :D