Nature Characters

[Blue41]

I'm just going to lay out my perspective, the feelings I've seen in other nature players in IRC and see how I do with this.
 
Playing a Nature character is hard. But it's no harder than playing any other character in any other part of the server. Hell, it's easier than a lot of the characters I've played. It's not playing a wanted man, it's not playing a monster PC, and there's no limit on who I can interact with as a Stargazer. So I'm not whining about wandering around in the wilds alone. That's cool.
 
The issue I have with playing a PC part of Team Nature is what seems to be a lack of DM interest. On a whole, this isn't me bawwing because NO DM WANTS TO HALP ME. I'm talking about the Circle of Stewards, Stargazers, wildwalkers, urban rangers, psychotic hunters, what have you.
 
Now I could be wrong. Maybe Team Nature is just not rocking out collectively as of late, and undeserving of any kind of attention. I know there have been nature characters who have rocked out in the past. But the ones I have in mind are those who have gotten themselves involved in matters of the Ziggurat, PvP or otherwise, which is funny to me.
 
Once I was approved for my Stargazer, I thought, ok, what plots in progress are there to get involved in? I won't list them here for FOIG reasons, but there are nowhere near as many of the plots one could involved in by hanging in the Ziggurat/Docks/Conclave. But that's not a big deal, because personal goals are a PC's bread and butter on here. That's how it should be- not waiting around with your thumb up your ass to get pointed in a direction by a DM, but pursuing your plots with your own character, as well as your allies.
 
And that's fine. But at some point, maybe when you feel you hit a wall, maybe when it's natural for it, you might want a bit of aid from a DM. Setting up a trip to somewhere, to claim or fight something, what have you. And that's where Nature PCs seem to be fresh outta luck. I just don't seem to see a ton of focus on nature, or the wild, save for plots which seem to place nature characters in a secondary role, running interference. 'Conclave wizard wants a sabretooth pelt for planar experiments. PCs from Zig, go get it. Nature characters, give them a little PvP along the way.' If you put yourself in a role where you're playing hardcore nature guardian, gank everyone who steps out of the gates, you might stir some shit up. I know, I've done it.
 
 
More DM involvement, or more response from the DM's to nature characters as a whole (Gazers, Stewards, Circle, what have you) would make playing a nature character a bit easier. A little encouragement would go a long way; mostly because it helps to know that you're making some form of progress towards your character's goals, however slowly. But if you've hit level eight, nine, ten and above, and have nothing to show for it aside from a full inventory and the occasional piece of DM-loot, why keep playing?
 
Goals keep you going, DM-given or otherwise. If there's no way to see some form of resolution, you lose that drive.

[Kinslayer988]

I play a Druid alternately when I don't have a main and am waiting for an app for a stargazer. Nature is a great group to get involved with.

[Random_White_Guy]

The best advice I can give is pursue tangible IC goals. PCs can do an extraordinary amount of things on EFU with limited to no DM aid. Intrigue, politics, infiltration, combat, theft, claim land, fight over land, build, destroy, expand, refine.

It can be indeed disheartening at times but if you step to the left and re-organize your plots and pursuits it can really impact a lot of things.

[Gippy]

They are insular by nature and tend not to interact with many characters. Claim something. Do something. Make a stand. Be consistent. ATTRACT attention.

While some nature concepts are about NOT ATTRACTING attention, there are certain immutable enemies that you MUST make a stand against, such as diabolists, infernalists, necromancers, and those that delve into the aberrant. Fight them. Win. Be awesome. Gather cohorts. Scheme.  

When other players are talking about YOU. The DMs will also take notice.

[Howlando]

I took a look in the Stargazer forum, and while it's true that a lot of nature'esque plots are reactive in nature I'm not sure I see much that requires some kind of NPC response. Feel free to bump threads if you need a DM to post something, as well bothering DMs in IRC. With as many forums as we have, it's very easy to miss things.

[Howlando]

I will agree that it would be better if we had more energetic DMs who'd be willing to constantly, as opposed to occasionally, run non-reactive plots for PCs that dwell in the wilds. However, I'd say the same is true about every other group.

[Wildlings]

I want to start by saying I'm not whining, or bitching, but just stating what has been discussed and said by other nature players.

I have a 'nature' character that well, is no longer nature. (If that makes any sense)  But, when I was with Nature I can say without doubt that the vast majority of us felt we were totally on our own.  


Letters were written to the Elders, that would have taken 5 minutes of someones time to respond to *(even a received would have been nice) on issues that as Stewards or Gazers needed an Elders input, we got nothing.  

LARGE groups of not only Nature PC's were lead through-out the land on various tasks, not only once but I can think of three that My PC lead, and at least one other that was lead by someone else. Now on one of the trips we did get some DM attention.  So I would like to say thank you to that DM for that.

These are the little things that can make or break a "Faction" concept.  I'm not looking for the BIG moves, not looking for direction per-say, not looking for 'loot', but just on occasion to know that someone is occasionally paying a little attention to the 15+ Nature characters that were out there at one time.

[putrid_plum]

I am sure there are certain people who would love to focus attention to run plots/support for only nature PCs as a DM.

[Howlando]

If there's a post that urgently needs a response, please do not hesitate to get myself or another DM in IRC to respond.

We had a very active nature DM for a while, FleetingHeart. But he's gone - so it goes! And unfortunately he left some plot threads left unresolved, and I know for a while players were trying to get other DMs to handle his old plots. But it's a hundred times more challenging to get a DM to work on another DM's stuff, a lot of the time... so it goes.

[Blue41]

I've got no interest in beating the subject into the ground, but it occured to me after a kind of group venting of frustrations and such that: maybe DMs don't know? And if they don't, wouldn't it be a good idea to say something, rather than bitch in private? DM-light goals are great, and if that's what has to be done with nature characters then that's all there is to do, really.
 
And while I'm not saying that nature PC's need to have MOAR PLOTZ for nature only or something like that, I do think that there have been plenty of events for stewards/gazers/etc. to be involved in that simply can't happen because of where they happen. Or how they happen.
 
There was a little plot a few weeks back about an auction, with a final item of note: a pregnant white stag to be sacrificed to whatever cause the owner chose. This seemed like a PERFECT thing for any nature PC to get involved in: protection of wildlife, upholding the balance, or even taking the stag for their own goals. I know for a fact I would've risked life and limb to come if I knew about...but the auction was in Old Port, advertised exclusively in the city, and so my PC would never hear about it. I don't believe any nature PC showed up to take action, and I think a Steward NPC was spawned to try and protect the stag. That's cool, but it seems like a shame, because most Steward PC's would have jumped at the opportunity.
 
They just didn't get it. That's just one example, and I haven't been playing my Gazer for so long. I'm sure others have more.
 
Yes, nature characters are very insular. Conflict isn't something I'm afraid of, but creating conflict gets old when it amounts to hanging 2-3 screens away from the main gates waiting for a hated foe to leave the Ziggurat. I might as well be a great lizard at that point.
 
DMs have lives that do not include DMing full-time at no pay. It'd be a terrible shame for any DM to stop DMing because of the actions of a player/players. Consequently, it would be terrible for a player to retire a PC because DM attention is required.

[Professor Death]

I think team nature has had plenty of DM interaction at least on the Gazer end of things, since I don't have steward access. I can say though that there seems to have been plenty of DM loving for team nature based not only on personal interactions (and those are few given my limited in game time) but also from second hand reports.  I concur that the letters to the elders seem a bit sparse in answers, but overall Howland has done a great job especially in representing the elders and trying to push some things forward.

[THEDiamondJ]

Maybe a lot of it is just timing, but my gazer PC has had as much or more DM interaction than pretty much any PC I have played in a long while.  Around Christmas, there was little to no PC gazer action as far as a group was concerned, and the DM activity faded with it, but lately, as there is more working as a group, I see things picking up again.

Overall, I think things have been pretty sweet lately for team nature.

[Craig210]

I think nature pc's deserve a bloody medal just for making it past level 4.

[Spiffy Has]

Having a group makes a huge difference.

[Caddies]

This is just general advice, and I'm not 'targeting' anyone so keep it cool:

Reactive PCs in general are boring to DM for. It doesn't matter if you're a Nature PC or not.

So the best way to solicit DM attention as a Nature PC is of course to have a proactive concept. For example, if there's an elven druid messaging me in the DM channel that he's going around planting trees and would like some supervision... I'd rather have spent my time following a Talonite druid who believed the city to represent too great a threat to the Balance, and wanted to poison the Dominion water supply to incite a war that would ultimately destroy it. Or someone like Vlad, or Orgeribbit. These sort of PCs are proactive in the pursuit of their goals and generally bring a satisfying amount of conflict to the server (not just PvP, but generally a tense atmosphere and quite a bit of intrigue).

You also have to remember that more than anything getting DM attention is just luck. Some of (IMO) my best PCs got basically zero DM attention, and others who I consider much less awesome got more. The moral of the story here, in both examples, is that the best thing to do is have a concept that is so exciting that a) it will attract a DM hopefully and b) its exciting/dynamic enough to enjoy even if you can't seem to get any DM love.