Roleplay Events…in Final Fantasy XIV
Give people a world, and they’ll want to make their mark in it. Give them their own custom characters, and at least some of them will want to play AS that character.
Welcome to the roleplay (RP) community of any MMO. My MMO of choice is Final Fantasy XIV, where I was quick to seek out and join like-minded players who wanted to explore their characters beyond the confines of the game’s story quests.
Luka and Jaeris question a local merchant NPC - screenshot by Jaeris
I find writing and running RP events in FFXIV surprisingly similar to running any tabletop game- except there’s no dice, no stats, no character sheets. But what is lends itself VERY well is group problem-solving!
Three of the events I’ve written and run have been centred around giving the players a conundrum and an arena, then following their lead on how they choose to approach it. That’s it.
In the event example here, the core of the event was simple; a residential district is plagued by bad moods, arguments, even the occasional fight- the only clue is people complaining of sleeping badly and having an unfamiliar tune stuck in their head day and night.
Simple as that. As the event is run on a sign-up basis, the players already have some interest in trying to solve this mystery. What the game world itself presents is the fact that there ARE local authorities that the players can turn to if needed- or, they can try to solve it themselves. It also inherently discourages violent behaviours on the part of the players, as NPCs of these local authorities actually exist in the residential districts. Ergo, I didn’t need to be concerned with how to deal with possible ‘murder hobo’ behaviours.
“The second merchant near LUKA and JAERIS: “Orchestrions? D’ya hear tunes comin’ from here, long-ears!?” The vendor calls out with a scowl. “‘nother load-a loiterers, nosing around or disturbin’ people’s peace an’ quiet...” They glower at the group, embodying the worst customer service vibe they can muster.”