RPing Membership in an NPC Group

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Archnon
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RPing Membership in an NPC Group

Post by Archnon » Mon Nov 25, 2019 6:03 pm

So, I am having a bit of a dilemma concerning the direction I want my RP to take and wanted to ask advice on here, specifically, is there a way to successfully RP membership in a group that also includes NPC's. The group I am referring to is the Warden's of the Webspinners. In FR lore, they are a deepgnome/allies group whose goal is to fight monster races and more specifically the Drow in the underdark. The Grotto is littered with "Warden Guards" right now and there is a barracks that is unfinished. They are a big part of Deep gnome culture and given recent changes in the community, mainly its growth, i am hoping to resurrect them as a pc geared group.

Now, generically I think, if this was a group from the mainland that has no presence on Arelith, you would just start it. However, this is a group that is present as NPC's and actually was present as a faction a number of years ago. (Also, if you were a member then and are still playing, please reach out to me via direct message.) There is only one member of the faction left and that player has proved difficult to contact. So the dilemma is:

Can I just claim membership to the group? Say I took a trip, visited the main group on the mainland and came back with a mission to take command of the group on Arelith? RP it individually and build a new corpus of materials, ie, a training manual, guide book, etc. Am I indebted to previous players, even though they are no longer active and hard to reach out to (read: Please message me! I want to talk!)? Or should I reach out to the DM's to try and arrange some type of individual quest to join? This last alternative seems like the most fun, but I know those guys and gals are just swamped and I don't want to bug them more than necessary.

Thoughts from the crew? I would also love DM input here!

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The GrumpyCat
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Re: RPing Membership in an NPC Group

Post by The GrumpyCat » Mon Nov 25, 2019 7:03 pm

I think in many cases, you'd be fine claiming membership of said group, so long as you didn't claim any great amount of power over said group or (in some cases) power over PCs as if you were a DM.

To use your example, playing a Warden would be fine imo, so long as a) You didn't claim to have any power over, or speak for, the other Warden NPCs and b) You were careful about flinging that power around with PCs. (I'm a guard of Blig, you need to do as I say, or I'll have you exiled from the city!' Is a thing I'd be wary about, unless you were friends with powers that actually -could- do that)
That's my initial thoughts anyway.
This too shall pass.

(I now have a DM Discord (I hope) It's DM GrumpyCat#7185 but please keep in mind I'm very busy IRL so I can't promise how quick I'll get back to you.)

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