[Brody]

How have you incorporated pets or NPC sidekicks/minions into your RP? Does your character walk around with a poodle in their purse? Do you have a thug named Vinnie shadow you at all times, glowering at people?

[Fifi]

Minions yes. I like minions and thugs. Pets no. Pets are cheesy.

[Brody]

Originally Posted by (Fifi @ April 27 2006,14:58) Minions yes. I like minions and thugs. Pets no. Pets are cheesy.

What's the problem with pets? Kinda depends on the pet, I'd think. Some pets could be great. In a game based on George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books, for example, it'd be great if nobles in Winterfell could keep big wolves as pets.

[val]

Pets are fun, though! My character has a brown Lab that she takes just about everywhere, and he's actually been really useful.

For one thing, they're an excuse to interact with others. I've had my character's dog run up and sniff at other characters or their pets, which usually leads to some RP. I've also had him bark at aliens, which can be interesting too... ;>

Another reason I like having a pet is because my character's kind of... um, eccentric. Not quite insane, but there's something just a little Not Quite Right about her. So, having her wander around aimless having a one-sided conversation with her dog allows me to let the Not Quite Right-ness come through without the character looking totally insane.

I'm sure it's not quite realistic to take a dog into a tavern or restaurant or store, but, well... if anyone cares, they can just @emit an NPC to fuss at my character for it.

(...I really am getting off the stupid internet and getting back to work now... honest...)

[Fifi]

Originally Posted by (Brody @ April 27 2006,16:53) Originally Posted by (Fifi @ April 27 2006,14:58) Minions yes. I like minions and thugs. Pets no. Pets are cheesy. What's the problem with pets? Kinda depends on the pet, I'd think. Some pets could be great. In a game based on George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books, for example, it'd be great if nobles in Winterfell could keep big wolves as pets.

Because animals are not accessories. I guess it feels like a kid's book or movie, the idea of the animal that just follows along and never gets in the way and is always helpful and smart. I have cats. I love them dearly, but they're not that clever and they're often a pain in the neck. If I tried to take them with me everywhere they'd get run over by cars or get lost.

[Ilkidarios]

Originally Posted by (Fifi @ April 27 2006,14:58) Minions yes. I like minions and thugs. Pets no. Pets are cheesy.

I wouldn't say pets are cheesy, just overdone.  Me, I've always wanted a couple skeletal butlers to follow me around.  That'd be pretty cool.  They'd have mustaches and everything, and speak real proper.

[the_logos]

In Achaea, I have a rooster named Garcia that I like to hang out with. We have our differences (he is strongly Catholic, and I am my own God), but all our differences go away when it's time for the cockfights. It is our passion.

--matt

[Lark]

I like the idea of pets, but when everyone else has the same one and theirs is named after their favorite band, roleplaying with mine seems a little redundant. I do like the idea, though.

It'd be neat for coders to work in a program so that you could give your pet unique phrases to respond to as commands, too. Some sorta Pet Editor.

If the mud were small enough, it'd be even nicer if the mud owners would let you apply for it and make you one from scratch.

[lugh]

Hrm. I'm of too minds really. The MUD I play always had pets, but only for certain guilds.

It's kind of died down now, but there was a pokemon feel to things at the start.

Currently, my Knight just has a warbird and -horse, both of which I think are fine cause there are skills based around both in the skill set.

Sidekicks are something I'm interested in. I can't remember if I ever suggested it or what reaction I got, but the idea of henchmen or retainers is pretty nifty. I'd want them to be very restricted mind, unlike everyone and their dog, it should be a mark of high station. The lady of her city has a retainer/bodyguard, random player would not.

One thing I had thought of, that might support rp, would be the fact that certain . . . unladylike tasks could be given to the retainer. For example, carrying bags of grain that, that farmer wants back etc etc. I try to keep my charecter from that kind of thing, since he was adopted into a noble family and is rather wary of his station and what people think. As a consequence he's pretty poor.

[Jazuela]

Personally, I'd much rather hire a player-run character as a sidekick. Much more interesting that way; you get to learn each other's personalities, it's interaction between players instead of you just forcing some custom-mob object to do your bidding, you have something to spend your coins on (gotta pay your henchman afterall), and who knows? Maybe he'll turn out to be a spy for the opposition and stab you to death in your sleep some day. An NPC will do only, and exactly, what you tell him to do. While that can be fun and even useful, it would be infinitely boring to use ONLY an NPC who doesn't need to get paid, doesn't need to rest after carrying a couch over his head from the shop to your apartment, doesn't need to eat...he doesn't need anything at all. Ever. Boring boring boring.

As for pets, I feel the same way about them as I do with baby character objects: Just say no. They're worse than cheesy; they degrade the game's integrity of roleplay to the nth degree. Of course if you're playing a furry or a hack-n-slash or some kind of "roleplay in this game simply means not saying "w00t" or talking about a baseball game on TV" then sure, have at it.

But if you're trying to roleplay realistically within the theme provided by a more intensive roleplaying game, it's a slap in the face. Unless of course your pet pooch ****s right outside the fancy establishment you hang out at, steals meat from a noble's plate, begs, barks incessantly, and does all the other really annoying stuff that dogs do, at the most inconvenient moments and in the most inopportune locations.

And of course, it's an equal slap in the face when countless other player-run characters stop to snuggle, smooch, pet, beam happily, and pretend to roll over and play dead whenever they see your REALLY BIG, RAZOR-TOOTHED, SNARLING PUP OF DETH AND DESTRUCKSHUN looming in the corner of the tavern.

NPC pets and babies bring out the absolute worst in players. If not you, then everyone around you. In an RPI or any game attempting to strictly enforce roleplay, it's a bad thing. Otherwise, have fun with the pup.

[Dovolente]

I like the "pet editor" idea!

One recent character I interacted with played a loyal retainer (basic charmie servant mob) as his char's brother. It seemed a challenge trying to handle two full roles at once.

I like giving my mage's elementals annoying properties, like a water elemental bubbling and gurgling at random and leaving puddles everywhere, or an earth elemental scuffing up the floor. However, an elemental's "alien" intelligence would be hard to represent well, so I don't try to give them much in the way of free will.

[Lark]

Thanks. Well, it gets bad when everyone in the world has to say 'heel' to their pet. It's like fantasy worlds have building codes for pets or something.

I understand the concern over pets, but I still think they're underrated. I think any sort of npc that a player can control for roleplay purposes ought to be a pretty guarded resource and given to people you know won't do anything too silly with them.

Plus, they're a good prop for people who are having a rough time fleshing out their character. You can't expect everyone to be King Lear on entry; I just recently discovered 'roleplay' meant something different than RPG, and while I think I did pretty well without a pet/sidekick, I know it would've been easier on someone green to have a character foil at one side to give them some contrast. Giving someone a pet for a first character concept would be a good way of nursing them into good RP.

I think that way they can get used to controlling both halves of a conversation well enough to be able to handle a situation where they're at one end and another PC's at the other.

[Davairus]

(responding to original post)

I gave hirelings the capability to fill out a group, so players can still enjoy the maximum exp bonus when there's not enough people to fill a party. They dont compare in strength to actual players of course. (Thats, 2 people +1 pet = 3 people = max exp bonus)

They come in two forms..

Animals, which need to be levelled up (i.e. trained), and stay with the character perm. The player can name it, make its desc, issue it some specially made pet commands, etc. This gets a lot of attention for RP.. some people make pets an integral part of their character. Example, we had a rather strange shaman that often yelled the name of his snail as a battlecry.

Mercenaries (humanoid "pets") are also offered, as just hired help. They don't need to be levelled up, but they don't stay with the character after he's left the game. They're also a bit more limited in what they're willing to do for players. Useful for classes that use stealth, and don't need a pet by their side giving them away. Some people just dont want a permanent pet, but they'd still like it from time to time.

[Brody]

Bumped for more responses.

[Luvan]

I have used pets to help rp get going, or as part of rp I was doing. The mud I played where I used pets allowed you to customize their desc and short and long description so you could really do whatever you wanted to with them. At one point my character had an eagle (more or less as an IC conversation starter), Dragon (It had a personality, would talk and was usually pretty rude, conversation starter. Or ender heh), Ghost of my characters dead father (part of rp I was doing), a "squire" he was teaching, a messenger (part of some large scale war rp which was hard to do, was just sort of pretend message carrier for my character, who was a general).

I cannot really remember what else, I have never had a NPC rp minion that I could recall, and never had a minon follow my character around in pet form.

[Shane]

I can't believe there are people actively opposed to pets! Ah me...

On one mud I played, people simply roleplayed their pets. There was no object that represented it. On MUSH's. it's simple to make a puppet and turn it into your pet, and then if you learn just a little mushcode or can beg borrow or steal a friend who can, you can customize it to your heart's content.

Content?

Anyhow, not every character I have ever had has a pet. Most have not, in fact. But pets are far from cheesy in my view.

[Jazuela]

If you roleplay a pet in a (fairly) realistic manner, sure. But even fairly realistic means: You don't leave your pet unattended for game-days while you go hunting. When you're mudsexing your partner, your pet is likely to wonder what all that grunting is about behind closed doors and scratch at the door to get in. If the door's open, he'll probably wander in to see for himself.

Are these people all bringing their pets into taverns? Are these pets house-trained? Do they pee on buildings when you take them for a walk? DO you take them for a walk? Does your feline ever hock a furball at very inconvenient moments? Does your pet bird poop on your shoulder, or worse - on the bar right in front of where a senior agent of the merchant house is sitting? Does your pet hunting hawk (who wouldn't have his wings clipped or he wouldn't be able to hunt) fly around the store you're shopping in and claw up the silk dresses on the rack?

Does your pet bird try to eat your pet snake? Has your pet snake ever gotten lost in the coils of your couch? Do you feed and water these animals regularly?

Do you do anything even remotely realistic with these pets, or do they exist only to bark and meow and squawk cutely so people can crouch down and pet them? Do they actually add anything to the atmosphere? Do they bring a little conflict into things, like if you meet up with someone who's allergic to the fur, or has a morbid fear of that kind of animal? Or are they just props? If that's all they are, teach your character to whittle interesting things into wood instead. You'll notice no difference in the "quality" of roleplay environment than a pet that exists only as a piece of fluff.

My opinion is even more emphatic when it comes to roleplaying pregnancy, childbirth, and care/feeding of infants. If you're gonna do it, do it in a way that people will actually believe your character is caring for an actual baby, and not some inanimate object that coos and makes cute gurgling noises and never wets her diaper or projectile-vomits on random passers-by.