Plainsrunners: About the Tribe

^ I get your point, but personally I do have a problem with the current Go-Back NPCs so keep in mind that not everyone feels the same way. But I guess if there were NPC Plainsrunners, I could just ignore them like I do with the GB ones. It's just awkward when player characters mention them in games where I'm in since I haven't kept track of who NPC is who.

No NPC's. Keep track of your family names if you want, mention them in passing, sure, but no one else is required to know who they are. It's easy to forget the extras in a movie even if they have speaking parts. You don't know the name of the clerk at the gas station the two main characters stop at. She says the total, the character pays they leave. But did you read her name tag? Do you reference her later?

That's what the mods are probably thinking. Not -everyone- died. Though there could have been a plague or famine... Something bad that happened, took the older ones, the younger ones, maybe an extremely harsh whitecold with not enough food?


As for the carts, YES it's true that they leave tracks, however only when in great numbers and used in the same spot over and over. You don't see tracks littering the plains from when whites went Buffalo hunting. You see the Oregon trail because those were the routes that people followed. THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of carts used the same routes every year...

We're talking maybe 5 or 6 carts maximum here.... and only twice a year... Not necessarily in the same grooves. May not even be permanent. Grass and weeds will quickly overgrow the trail. Heavy rains will wash it away too.

Families: Ok I totally understand both sides of the coin here, but frankly, those who don't want NPCs are already expressing they will simply ignore then. So problem solved there for them. Ultimately, this is a mod decision, but I'd like to point something out about the different tribes. Wolfriders and Wavedancers have no background characters. Everyone has a distinct voice and a job. Everyone is family of so and so. Wherein the Go backs and Sunfolk are a larger tribe of individuals. Their tragedies have not diminished their numbers so far that there's only 3 degrees(or less) of separation between them all. You have Go back NPCs/background characters, you have Sunfolk background characters as well. These are villages/lodges and they are supposed to be a fully functioning tribe of peoples with families, extended kin surviving together.

What sort of tribe are the plainsrunners? The Wavedancers have had repeated tragedies, lots of death at the hands of humans. The Wolfriders also have had repeated tragedies and deaths - plus they are mortal and die. What similirities do the Plainsrunners have to these tribes? Are we going with human attacks? It's already established most PR have little to no wolf-blood, so they are immortal. So death from old age is not common. My suggestion was not to have a whole village of NPCS; but a key set of NPCs would be relatively essential wouldn't it? Like in the Sunvillage, we had the trio of maidens that everyone knew, and who had reccurring appearances; we also had the old farmer that Redlance proudly showed his abilities to. They appeared, and faded back into the background just as quickly. We knew they were there, but they didn't bog down the story. They stayed where they were supposed to be, in the background and seasoning/flavor to emphasize the richness of the village and embody certain aspects of the tribe.

We could easily address this as a few individuals who choose not to travel for that year and stay behind to maintain either Stonehold in the north, or GreenVale in the south (whatever names we come up with). Maybe these are elder wolf-bloods who are comign to the end of their lives; lifebeareres who choose to stay behind rather than bringing their young on a months long journey. There's a lot of options and ideas, but ultimately it comes down to the type of tribe we have and what our history will be for them.

Even in ancient times, there tended to be someone who stayed behind or went ahead well before the rest of their people to prepare for their arrival and get the house in order. How are we addressing this? I figured a few NPCs would be the easiest way to do so and that they can easily be ignored by those who don't want to interact with them or utilized by those who want to emphasize family members. This tribe is thriving, yes? Not just scraping by to survive? So some giant tragedy to make everyone an orphan seems out of place here.

Also...another option, have another caravan of wanderers that go the opposite way. We only have to know the leader's name, and can presume that most if not all the others in that caravan are the extended families of the current PCs. There's a lot of options, and most of them don't necessarily need to cause any form of stress for players or mods. If this is a tribe, we need to make it feel like a coherent village of families, not a hodge-podge of elves trying to scrape by in desperation.

NPC Controlling:
I kinda don't see this as more of an issue since these individuals would be staying at the home and in the background while most of our characters are travelling 6months of the year. When we do have the PRs staying at one of the safehomes, the NPC may be busy helping do whatever their profession is -so they could be the backup weaver, so helping the weavers who are busy making clothes for the next 3 months, or backup goldsmith to help with making important bits and pieces the group will need for travel. Whatever reason, this individual decides not to travel, or was injured and unable to travel. It also leaves an option for those individuals who need to bow out of RP for a while. Send the hurt to one of the homes and let those who are staying there tend them and help them recuperate. Easy way to write off someone without killing their character or having to figure out a reason for them to come back.

"Oh look, Mekhett has recovered! *waves as Mekhett rides up on her horse and hops off, looking spry and healthy again. Queue PLAYER JOINS YOUR PARTY music *Dundundundunnnnnnn!!!* "Mekhett, the weaver, has joined the Caravan!" and now we have 2 weavers to help with crafting when we get to Stonehold! Yay. Move on, nothing more to see/do here unless your character WANTS to interact with Mekhett. She fades into the caravan as just a second set of hands. Another thought - if the player playing the weaver is gone/RL interrupted, we have an NPC that folks can go to as the backup. Maybe Mekhett's weaving isn't as good, but it will do in a pinch and we're not forced to wait for someone to come back after months long hiatus, or have a plot stop because folks are not posting and something needs doing.

We have two tribes without NPCs. Do we consider their development boring, or lacking? We can certainly refer to relations in those tribes too...BMP for the Wavedancers, friends and family back at Ember's tribe for the Wolfriders. Of course people can have family members (but we are leaning towards smaller family units, these elves aren't super fertile), the issue I personally have with the NPCs is having them be an active part of the tribe. Because even though others can ignore the NPCs if they choose, it is a bit awkward to do so when there's an unknown name mentioned, and one has to either deal with that, or catch up on whatever else is going on with that particular NPC. As for needing backup positions, why can't a PC take that? Or why can't we simply deal with it? We have a shitty weaver, so the tribe either deals with that, or someone learns. Adding NPCs to deal with that cuts out character development in that regard.

Well I'm still keen on playing a 12 or 13 year old Sun Villager (as in pureblood) boy. And I'd rather he not be a Dramatic Orphan. So do I need to start asking around for PCs to be my parents now?


A little wolf blood is still some wolf blood, and just a drop of mortal blood makes an elf mortal.

I'm open for my character being a parent/ relative to anyone who's interested....just let me know.

native americans were nomadic (some tribes) and they didn't leave anyone behind to tend prior campsites. I figure it's the same here