Assassin Roleplay - Yay or Nay?

Argent Dawn
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Was thinking of starting up a Assassin character who works by themselves, going from job to job. I’m sure there is a great deal of work out in the world for such a person.

My only worry is the whole killing people part and how people are going to react, I can already feel the out of character arguments in my bones. I don’t actually want to just walk up to people and face stab them, I actually want to put proper planning in place.

Do you think such a thing can be done properly? Or is it too much of a headache to deal with?

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I’ve had a few assassins attack me in the past. The key is DMing your target first and discussing with them. Most people don’t want their characters to die, or at least they don’t want them dead out of the blue. Getting consent first is key to good assassin RP. If it’s not done with the understanding and prior discussion of all participants, it’s not going to be fun.

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If you plan to RP the character as someone that goes around taking jobs to assassinate actual players, other RPers, don’t bother. No one is going to let you kill their character and it’ll cause nothing but drama.

If you want to RP an assassin that kills NPCs then sure.

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I’m all for talking to the target before hand but there’s not much point in an assassin that only dishes out black eyes. Another point is telling the target everything your going to do before hand, I just know most people will be tempted to use such information in character to protect themselves.

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In my honest opinion – this is a great thread and a good question toward the community as a whole.

I think that if you manage to get some sort of agreement with people OOC and get contracts, if you’re meaning to have another person rewrite their TRP.

Otherwise, you can do something like a little project I’ve had some time ago - plan with someone from the enemy faction way ahead of time, make some events for yourself and maybe some friends or randoms leading up to that confrontation with that person from the other (for the sake of RP-PvP was used in my case) or the same faction.

By all means, what Lysándre said is also equally valid. You merely have to make sure that all RP is -not- going to cause you drama.

Also,

While this may be the case with a lot of people, it may not be the case with everyone in particular. I disagree with this, as assassin RP does not stand wholly in killing targets. Tracking, manipulation, subterfuge all play a good part of it.

And for it to be successful RP, it just needs to make you bounce roleplay between one another and create interesting points where characters can progress. You don’t have to kill the person to be a successful assassin roleplayer. A successful assassin in character? Sure. But if you don’t manage to kill your target, that’s fine too. You’ll get em next time.

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We do PCs sometimes. They’re usually alts made specifically for the person but they exist and are played, and we have the occasional hit on a true PC character. It -can- go well so long as there’s a great deal of discussion and understanding on both sides.

End of the day whilst there “may not be much point” if such don’t end in a death, it’s about the RP, not necessarily the outcome.

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I don’t know, I think there might be more people then you think, that would welcome it. I myself wouldnt mind having an assassin on one of my characters back, would create some really fun rp.

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I think your guild was actually hired to jump me once and it ended in a kidnapping. Great RPs all around, 10/10 would get kidnapped again. I still don’t trust you all IC because of it it’s great.

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Maybe it can be done in such a way where I leave all the work up to the person who hires my assassin, only come to me with someone who can be killed sort of thing.

Honestly I’m more leaning towards a flat out Assassin, stuff the black eyes and kidnapping.

I’d be fully open to my character dieing too, they have a whole back story and everything, not just some troll RP, so I’d have something on the line aswell. I really think more people should be open to this sort of roleplay.

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You stuff someone into a phase bag ONE TIME…

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I personally am very willing to accept the consequences of an assassination attempt on my character, should she ever merit such a contract. My only worry is if the assassin in question would do the same. I’m not nice with my characters in the slightest, they take some beatings! And I’ve killed off a fair few through RP interactions. But I’ve had issues with assassins in the past doing the ol’ loldodge smokebomb shizzle if things don’t go their way. Kills the whole experience.

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As I see it, the biggest challenge with assassin RP is the out-of-character coordination it demands of not only yourself, but prospective victims as well. That sort of planning can challenge immersion by a lot and to most people, that simply kills the appeal of the idea right then and there.

There is also something to be said for player willingness to have their characters die. “Someone somewhere wanted Sir Prancealot dead, so tough luck” isn’t a satisfying note to end a character on. Especially if the character has been grown over a period of time and has an established web of in-character contacts.

Even if Sir Prancealot was due a dagger in the head, it is far more likely the player behind the character will set up the assassination by their own initiative. In such a case an assassin community/guild might be a welcome solution, but honestly, I think it’s more likely they will plan it out with someone they know and trust with the responsibility.

If you spend time and write stories around your character assassinating NPCs off screen though? Not a problem at all, get stabbing.

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One question I have regarding this concept is: How do you determine if assassination is appropriate?

Some people tend to RP as if WoW (or, more specifically, Stormwind) was lawless version of Wild West. Someone shoots someone in head on streets of Stormwind, someone is robbed in front of NPC guards and so on. My take on this issue is that in scenario where you literally cannot be punished and even if you are, it´s just character, these people simply lose all boundaries that they (and their characters) would have if this was real life.
Of course I am going to shoot that guy because he told me I was stupid, why wouldn´t I?

And now imagine that this person finds out about another roleplayer RPing an actual assassin. I can guarantee you that they will hire this assassin to go after someone they talked to once and it turned into an argument.
Why? Because in their mind, it´s an appropriate response.

To continue with this imagining theme, how would you react if someone contacted you and told you they were RPing an assassin and their character was hired to kill theirs, only to find out that you have no idea who the guy who ordered this assassination is.
I would just tell the assassin that I am not going to RP it, because I see no reason why I should acknowledge type of RP where people want murders of others based on small disagreements. I am all in for RPing consequences, but they need to be actual consequences of what my character did, not consequences of other players being idiots.

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‘‘He looked at my friends mothers friends husbands daughters dog in a weird way!’’

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I’m going to say it. And be jumped on by people braying that they disagree, without having the courage of their convictions, but No. No it isn’t OK.

If this was a physical setting, where you have to loose an arrow and hit me, or have to poison me, or have to stab me, then that, that is fine. That relies on skill. Getting an emote of “I Just shot you from a rooftop” or “The Food you ate is poisoned” or “As I passed you I stabbed you with a poisoned dagger” Is all trash tier stuff.

Do people know what an assassin is? how they work? They are not Ezio Auditore or whatever iteration that stupid franchise is going through. There was an assassin that started a war once, quite a famous one, thousands upon thousands died. Just because he threw a grenade into a car. He couldn’t do ninjamatics, blackflip and escape harm, he was a student. I’m fairly confident that in a fight, I could have knocked him out with one punch. Or what about the most famous assassin of all time, Carlos the Jackal. Swift swipe to his face to take the glasses off, and then just smack him around. He’s nothing without his glasses and sniper rifle…

An Assassin, is -not- an expert in hand to hand combat. If it comes to hand to hand, they have already failed as an Assassin.

I’ve seen this kind of RP go South very, very quickly, which is why it does not endure. You can present yourself as an Assassin, and Noble House of Stormwind X goes “Can you assassinate Noble House of Stormwind Y?” To which your instant answer, has to be"Err, not -really-" “But Why not?” “Errr, they’re not online so I can’t ask if they are cool with that, oh, wait, they popped online, they’re not cool with being emote killed, so no, I can’t”

If you limit your targets to NPC’s or people who have expressly said they are open to the idea, then groovy, otherwise, its a douche move and not likely to get traction.

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But you can. Nobody said you have to be a successful assassin, chief. Failure breeds good RP. Maybe your poison doesn’t take, or you trip over something and botch the backstab, and you have to flee while pursued by an angry mob.

Then you have to go back to your employer and tell them you screwed up. Cool times all around, unless you’re just tryna live your Coldsteel The Hedgehog fantasy.

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Which means, unless you are good at Illusion (or other means how to hide your identity), people will now know you attempted murder and can go after you if they see you on the street.

Second, failure breeds good RP, but it´s not like assassin will just give up after first failed attempt, so he has to repeat it, but if he can´t succeed, that means he will be failing again and again and again, making him look riddiculous. Nobody is going to hire a failure of an assassin, which defeats the point of RPing an assassin for hire.

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That’s the problem, most people who want to be assassins -are-. I’ve actually had a conversation in whispers which went “I’ve just shot you in the head, you’re dead” “What?” “Yeah, I’m on the Cathedral Roof, and have just shot you” “How, I’m behind the Orphanage talking to people, I’m not even in your line of sight” “I’m an assassin” “OK, so who paid you to shoot a random Stormwind Squaddie” “You don’t need to know that” “OK, so what ammunition are you using that can penetrate two walls and hit a person in the head that you cannot see from where you are located?” “I’m an Assassin” “Yeah, but, seriously, you’ve just fired a shot that can penetrate stone walls, whiz past loads of terrified kids, it being a frickin’ Orphanage, then penetrate a -second- stone wall, and hit someone in the head, who you cannot see?”

(Is blocking you)

Clever Assassins=good, Crap Assassins just IC kick the living tar out of them, slit their throats and dump them in a river.

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I will admit, “I’ve shot you through the Orphanage” Sounded like the most horrible euphemism ever…

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that’s uh, that’s called a hood, my guy.

As for this one, sure, but it’s sort of up to the player not to make themselves look like a bumbling fool.

Writing off an entire concept because you can’t be an Epic Gamer that instakills people like in Assassins’ Creed is kind of a lame angle to take, imo. It’s like stopping yourself from playing a knight unless you can be the best fighter in all the realm that never loses.

oh god that already happens

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