My current character that I'm trying to "main" is Angus, the merchant, who avoids combat, and isn't any sort of adventurer. My goal was as simple as seeing how well I could run a shop from scratch, and with a bit of luck and a bit of help, I'm doing sorta well, but there isn't much else to do. The job system is slow going with the only relevant one to my character seeming to be scribe, since taking merchant levels don't really do a whole lot at the moment except to transport goods from your other jobs. Any ideas on how I can get myself more involved in deeper roleplay in the server? I'm just sort of at a loss and I want Angus (and playing Angus) to become more dynamic, but I'm not sure where to turn.

Keep your eyes and ears open for opporitunities to deal and trade in the things you have taken as a Merchant. What kind of Job system jobs did you take if I might ask?

Apprentice Scribe. And I'm level 5 and leveling quite slowly for obvious reasons, so it's not like I can deck out my jobs and pump cheap goods into my shop. I'm 4 RG for dem appraise, lore, and talking skill points, and 1 Wizard to work toward potion brewing, but that's probably a bit of a ways away.

Ah.. *thinks* .. Yeah... you should probably try to get into either a trade that gathers the raw materials or that crafts raw materials into something.

Beyond that, mm.. I'll need to think on it some..

One thing that keeps non-combat aspects of RP interesting for me is renaming and describing job system items. Simply take a crafting or academic job next and rename the items you create with cool descriptions. That can keep creating items exciting.

If you have Scribe, you'll spend considerably less time spamming the Shout channel to add descriptions and names, so that's a plus. But yeah, my suggestion is to go that extra mile and give some flavor to your creations. If your character is a potion brewer, Herbalist and Alchemist offer some additional potions he or she can make without having to get higher levels. More merchandise and RP all around.

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Just thinking out loud here, some from my own plans to play a merchant type...

Is running a shop buying/selling trinkets to adventurers all the concept entailed? A merchant would want to put their fingers in as many pies as possible. Making things yourself is one option, but that limits you too. Trade between settlements, advertising and price wars with other merchants (PC and NPC), creating monopolies on certain goods, etc. Granted, some (possibly a good deal) of that sort thing would require some DM involvement, but not all. You could organize caravan style trips between cities, hiring on PC guards to get your product safely there (one of the NPCs in Cordor currently talks about how all their overland shipments are getting stolen by orcs). You could source a bunch of cheap/low level protectives, then hire a group of adventurers to retrieve some macguffin for you... while selling them the protectives (i.e. have a bunch of cheap gear with bonuses vs orcs for sale, and hire a team to get something from the orc caves). You could hire bards or spokesmen to talk up your shop and/or disparage the competition. You could sponsor events going on ( 'a night with Cordor's own world renown playwright', 'The First Annual Bendir Jam festival'... brought to you by...), in exchange for advertisement rights or exclusive merchant rights or somesuch. You could hire annoying bards or prankster hin to bother your competition's customers. You could work with pick pockets to fleece the crowd after you've created one. You could become the first dealer in all those fine art portraits PCs seem to keep making. Create contests and offer prizes. Run a banking service, or a betting ring, or a gossip mill. A merchant might be non-combat oriented, but money makes things HAPPEN man. I can only speak for myself, but I'd totally get behind a merchant character making things happen, even if the actual gold offered didn't mean a lot in the borked economy we have going.

Like I said, I was working on a similar concept a bit. I knew I was going to get bored standing around in the tradehall waiting for people to arrive. Thinking about the concept more in terms of the snake oil salesmen trope, or the merchant caravan trope helped some.

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As Walsen I accompanied a few hunting parties in a non-combat role. It's easy to make up reasons to do it. Since he's a healer and herbalist, it was all about searching for new herbs, trying to acquire new resources for experimentation, trying out new bandaging techniques or salves, or just being genuinely curious. Due to level constraints I was never in the actual party, so for the sake of inclusivity we kept the RP rolling and never let the OOC chatter get in the way. It was fun for me and I hope it made what could've been a wordless chugging grind something more interesting for those I played with.

As a merchant type you could be on the lookout for markets to exploit. Searching for rare furs? New trading routes? If you have the gold you could actively hire folks to be your bodyguards. Maybe you're searching for a missing or stolen shipment, or have been tipped off about the whereabouts of a rival's stash. Maybe you just really, really hate a certain kind of creature and want to spend all your monetary might convincing people to destroy them.

Most of my ideas revolved around latching onto hunting parties since they're so common and I know a lot of players find them pretty boring. Then you can devote yourself entirely to making the magic happen instead of worrying about combat stuff, and see where it leads. In my experience it always lead somewhere interesting.

Yo Angus! I don't fight stuff either. Let's hang

And if anything, I've found I get roped up in more events and roleplay when I'm not fighting stuff, but I also don't walk away when the action does start happening. Stay and help, just don't fight!

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Just wanted to throw out here that I'm gauging potential and working out interest in a craft/merchant faction specialised in the production and sales of drinks and food. It might not sound exciting, but this could involve everything from creating a monopoly for certain food and drinks (imagine the temporal power such a group would wield), to collecting rare vintages, to creating new ones that effectively act like interesting potions.

If this is something you'd be interested in, send me a message.

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Aernoud Van Brabant: Heir of the House. Proprietor of the Beer Wagon.
"Go to the Mayfields, have a pint, and wait for this to blow over."
Aurelius: Sunmaster of Amaunator. Contemplative. Aspirant to Transcendance.
"Sol Invictus"

Hi,
I'm also thinking about making a low-to-no combat character. But first, for the merchant's case:

Find a busy place and start shouting with the worst salesperson rhetorics you can come up with. (I loved that part.) Surely someone will start looking at your stuff if you hype it enough. Then engage them in small talk and find out, what makes them tick, where they are going, what's there, who they're going with and why, what else they could need for that trip etc.. It's part of the sales talk, but it might also get you involved.

Epics, though ... They're just looking for good gear, which you likely won't have. I find lowbies much more interesting buyers. If you can find someone that teaches your character what lowbies need, you can make a Goblin-Slayer-Starter-Kit and sell that, or other combinations like that.

You can also tag onto one of the epic merchants and be their apprentice, to do their "boring" stuff. (Like selling lowbie stuff to lowbies for a commission.) Or just be some errand person for them, because that's how you learn the trade ... (And you really might.)

I also liked to spread a bit of evilness with my merchant. Sell stuff that will get them into trouble!

One thing, though, you will need some goals for your character. Money is one, if you're greedy, but it might not be the most interesting one. I'd rather see it as a means for a more concrete goal. If your character's goal is to earn as much money as possible so he can donate half of that to the rebuilding of Temple X, that might also trigger reactions from other people. Plus, it might help you define your character.

Now ... For me:
I'm also looking for not-so-violent ways to do stuff on Amia. A merchant is not what I had in mind, rather some more selfless goody-two-shoes stuff. I can come up with some social RP (even "The Sims on Amia" ...), stuff centered around medical care etc.

What I'm wondering is: How do you still engage in something like adventure when no DM is on?

I can imagine that herb collecting thing, looking for strange artefacts, accompanying hunting parties so they won't get themselves killed etc. Or because you hired some bodyguards, "just in case a fight with the Orcs cannot be avoided while invading their territory ...". Trying to cartograph the world is also a good reason to go out.

Some more ideas? :)

Thanks
Ts

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Ralghok & Hazamir "The Weasel"