Hiya!

Hi everyone~!
You can call me Serryn. Back in October, I ran into the booth for Knight Realms at NYCC, and the staff was very welcoming and friendly! They told me a lot about the game and got me pretty pumped to attend.

However!
My plans were cut short due to some family and personal issues, and I never made it.

I'm going to try to attend soon (within 2-3 months) but one thing is holding me back:

I read in the Rulebook that NPC Duty is -mandatory.- Is there any way around this? I've seen games have fees to skip out on NPC'ing, but I can't seem to find one here. This worries me. ): I've been roleplaying since I was little, but I have a lot of trouble fitting into a role that isn't genuinely my own. I fell into the same situation with another (albeit, simpler) LARP I attended and had some trouble. I vaguely recall discussing this with the KR staff at the con and them reassuring me of a solution, but it's a foggy memory at this point. I've dealt with... a little mental instability and anxiety issues during my life, and I wouldn't want to impede on anyone's fun if I got upset over a Staff member's NPC pick for me.

That being said,
I hope I didn't come across as being stingy. It's a personal ordeal, and I totally understand if there isn't a way around it.

I'd like to come and play a support class, make my allies smile, and all around build new relationships in and out of game that will last. ^^

I hope we can be friends, regardless of what the answer is!
Thanks!

Serryn wrote: Hi everyone~!
I'm going to try to attend soon (within 2-3 months) but one thing is holding me back:

I read in the Rulebook that NPC Duty is -mandatory.- Is there any way around this?
I've seen games have fees to skip out on NPC'ing, but I can't seem to find one here. This worries me. ): I've been roleplaying since I was little, but I have a lot of trouble fitting into a role that isn't genuinely my own. I fell into the same situation with another (albeit, simpler) LARP I attended and had some trouble. I vaguely recall discussing this with the KR staff at the con and them reassuring me of a solution, but it's a foggy memory at this point. I've dealt with... a little mental instability and anxiety issues during my life, and I wouldn't want to impede on anyone's fun if I got upset over a Staff member's NPC pick for me.

I hope we can be friends, regardless of what the answer is!
Thanks!

Hey first let me start off by saying hi! My names Conor, and I play a sylvan elf ranger in game.
Anyway to answer your question, I do not believe there is a way around an NPC shift for the weekend. It is a 4 hour shift designed to keep PC's occupied with mods to ensure everyone has a good time during the course of the event, NPC and PC alike. However, if I am wrong someone please correct me

Second, as to your worry, people come to Knight Realms all the time without having role played at all before that weekend, I was one of them. I found myself in a similar situation of, how am I going to do this, I know nothing of this character type or how I'm supposed to act. My answer came to me in the form of the Monster Marshal and veteran players of the game. They assured me that the feeling was normal, and it would take time getting used to it. They explained the attitude and racial things I would need to know and gave me some suggestions on how to play the character. The first few mods, they took the lead until I felt comfortable taking lead, or speaking and being confident on my own (it didn't happen in four hours by the way, it took a while so don't get discouraged). If you are having trouble, tell the marshal on duty, they usually do their best to give people the roles that they can/feel comfortable playing(ie, if you don't like combat they will try to sent you out on role playing encounters rather that the combat oriented ones)
All the players understand the nervousness of some new players to the game, knowing and understanding skills and such. They are extremely nice about this, and if you don't understand something, like a skill or something you need to do, wether it be In Game or Out of Game, they will do their best to explain it to you. Knight Realms is a community of players who try to help each other to better the experience of all players, new and old.

All that being said, welcome again to Knight Realms, if you have any other issues, post them here or send me a Private Message(PM). If I can't answer it I will point you in the direction to someone who can. See you when you come in.
I help Chris Goley out by the way so he's another person you can look for, for answers and such.

Also, be sure to put your OOG name in your signature(under profile), doesn't have to be your full name, but first name and last initial would be good.

Thanks for the quick reply!

Sadly, though, I may have to reconsider coming. ):

It's a personal ordeal, as I said earlier- I have anxiety issues, and LARP has always been a way for me so get away from the stress of my real life, as it is for many players. I understand the importance of NPC duty to keep the game alive, I do- and I respect the people that do so. I should have worded my statement better. The main appeal of attending is being able to get into a character I've developed deeply; it breaks my feeling of immersion to drop that for a few hours to go "be this ______, do etc." As I said, last time didn't go well. > <;

Maybe I'm just weird, but I get a sinking feeling when I think about it. It's not something I can really explain, and I wish I wasn't this way. I'm really sorry. ;_;

It's understandable, however, if you are deeply caring about your immersion in the game(and that is a good thing, makes staying IG easier) Then may I suggest taking the first(friday night lay-on -2am) or last NPC shift (sunday morning). This way, you don't have to interrupt your character, or your immersion to do your shift, I do this and it clears my mind, I have nothing to worry about for the entire weekend except for IG trauma and drama and such that makes great RP. If you still don't feel like coming then that is alright too. We do get some players who say simply, "thanks guys had a good time but it's not for me."

I think I may actually be able to help here.

My name is Martin Bridge, and I do know what you are feeling like. The challenge of NPC duty is dropping your character for a 4 hour period. Which again is understandable. NPCing is part of the payment that you give when you join a game of Knightrealms, as other people pay the same cost so you can game in the other times of the game.

However, it's easier than it sounds. Try and get, as Conor said, the first or last NPC shift (if you get the last shift, you can pack up much easier). However, the way Knightrealms is designed is not just a *do this do that* monster system, it is a hybrid of both wandering and fixed positions and on a first time, sometimes it's actually a lot more fun to drop pcing for the first time and go purely NPCing, both getting more build and SP for your next game, but also learning gaming roles and how to play much more easily.

As for social and mental issues, I know of a few players who regularly come to Knight Realms who are like yourself. And who knows, you may have a compromise. If you don't come, you won't know if you can get things to work.

Hey Guys,
Serryn, you said you spoke with someone about NPC shift & they said something or another about it. Why don't you wait for a staffperson here to help assist you about that. I cannot say for certain that this NPC issue can be resolved or not, but who knows.