A Definitive Guide To Being An Outlaw On RDW

[Snoopy]

 

Being an Outlaw should not be a desirable profession, the social outcast status in reality is a far cry from the romantic anti-hero or vicious antagonist portrayed in film and TV. Every person you encounter, every town you enter, could result in your death or capture and the looming threat would make for a very miserable existence. Outlaws can and will be run out of towns by the locals, the law or bounty hunters and if you achieve Outlaw status? Your death will result in a CK.

The looming path to becoming an Outlaw shouldn’t be a goal to achieve, but rather a trap to fall into. Your life of crime should be out of desperation or greed, that slowly escalates into becoming an Outlaw. Outlaws do not want to be Outlaws, they’d much rather be at home with their families and friends, working an honest job, this is why when a rare few Outlaws eventually made enough money to crawl out of the hole they’d dug for themselves, they would retired to another state or territory to live out their days in peace.

The harsh reality is that most Outlaws didn’t make it as far as retirement, shot and killed by lawmen, local lynch mobs or natives, an Outlaw usually met a sad and pathetic end with a rare few achieving the status of the likes of Billy the Kid or Jesse James.

What we expect from aspiring Outlaws: The road to Outlaw status for your character should be the last thing they want, committing your crime and getting away without anyone knowing is the priority, but as we all know, not all things go according to plan. 
 
NO OUTLAW OR OUTLAW GANG SHOULD BE SPAWNED IN AS AN ESTABLISHED OUTLAW. 
A slow build of petty crime, can and should lead to bigger scores and bigger risks taken that can eventually make you notorious. If you wish to become an Outlaw or a gang of Outlaws, you should start out as a group of friends trying to make a quick buck, stealing horses, robbing graves that becomes an attempt to knock over a bank or train, gaining the infamy of local law and if you are very unlucky? The Federal Government.
When you think of posting your outlaw gang thread, remember this, have you earned it? Making a new faction with a backstory you haven’t roleplayed and having achieved this great outlaw status without anyone knowing of you in game and being fresh on the scene is not what we’re looking for. Build up your story through character threads and roleplay and then, when the time is right, label yourself a gang and post a thread. Earn the status and respect that most want given to them at launch.

 

Below are two examples, a good one and a bad one and only the good ones will make it.

Good Example: 
A group spawning in as younger friends growing up in the slums of St Denis. They have no prospects to earn decent money and have to fight to survive in the harsh streets of the city. They steal to stop themselves starving, this leads to them wanting to change their circumstances. The friends eventually pack their bindles and make an attempt on foot to escape the slums to the open ranges for work. Whilst there, the friends steal a horse to make the journey easier on their feet. From there the friends realise taking what they want is a possibility to improve their situation and instead of working on the ranches in their new home, they rustle their cattle. The group dubs themselves “The SOMEONE gang” and they have earned the right to do so.

Bad Example:
A group of outlaws spawn into the server, with a thread up explaining a deep history of the outlaws adventures. They’ve committed multiple train robberies and stolen plenty of cattle before fleeing to the state of Lannahechee. From there, the gang grinds to obtain weapons and starts going out to rob people, rob trains, rob station wagons, and generally getting into shootouts within the first week of playing their characters. There is no remorse for killing and robbing any of these people, because the characters are already veterans and have committed this type of crime for years.
 

(I DONT OWN CREDITS TO THIS)

Edited March 15 by Snoopy

[ThirdEye]

I have to disagree with some of what this guide's saying, I personally don't see a reason someone can't make their character an 'outlaw' from the get-go. They could be from another state, or simply not have a bounty on them as of yet, while a much more fulfilling story could be gained by starting off small, I don't think every person that wants to play an outlaw should be forced to do that. Obviously some things are blocked by needing admin permission anyway so they couldn't just spawn in and do a train robbery for instance. I personally like playing one life bandits that get into some mischief before ultimately CKing.

Now, if being an outlaw is meant to be a bad thing that players shouldn't strive to become as it should be, I think people that have racked up Dead or Alive bounties should be playing on one life rules, where if they're killed by any player they take a CK. I know the rules changed recently regarding CKs around bounties, but in order to add gravitas to outlaw RP, I really do believe they should expect to eventually get killed.

[Bongos]

I think this guide casts a blanket over a lot of folks who don't deserve it. Expecting every outlaw character to be young, and to have their first experience of law-breaking in live RP, rather than having it be shaded into backstory, is extremely limiting. To me, it exudes a distrust in the community at large.

If someone makes a character who is fifty years old, and has an intention of portraying that character as an outlaw, would they be expected to have their first run-in with crime at that age?

A lot of the points listed ring true to me, but I think the phrasing puts a lot of people in the crossfire.

I agree with above.

[Bluecille]

I really disagree with the core concept of this opinion piece because it is so needlessly limiting to potential group concepts. As mentioned above, there are plenty of contexts where a criminal could find their way on map with an existing history of banditry in other regions, particularly because of how localized criminal documentation is. Banditry is, and never will be, a solved science. It will always be up and down, but should be allowed to be explored how a player feels appropriate for their portrayal.

I feel these statements are endemic of a holdover from GTAW, one that I take great issue with, that is the recurring idea that nothing regarding a character should be validated unless performed on-map, in-game. It reduces people's characters to watered-down interpretations of concepts, unable to add any real meat to the bones of said backstory without some worry that other players may deem your backstory or characterization "invalid" because it didn't occur actively in-game. It's just a bad way of looking at character concepts, legal or illegal.

I agree with the two posts above. There's some points to be made, but the message is too inflammatory to be taken seriously.

[Fudge]

I agree with all above statements!

[Shokkoth]

Very good guide, well written.

[𝚓𝚞𝚙i𝚝𝚛]

It is well written, but it isn't a good guide.

It's been said already by multiple ppl above me, and was worded much better by them (), but it's limiting, and puts even more restriction on an already neglected niche of rp on this server.
Some people want to start as an outlaw, a character that already has experience being in a gang, and there's ZERO reason to tell ppl they shouldn't do that. If they're dedicated to making a story, that story will be good regardless of other or not it starts on-server or not. 
Are you going to tell someone who wants to rp a rancher that they can't have started as a rancher in their backstory, that in order to earn the title of 'rancher' it needs to happen on-server?
For ppl who rp outlaws, like me, guides like this limit what we can do with our characters and makes us feel pigeonholed into a cookie cutter range of options, rather than allowing us to express our creativity and play original, multifaceted characters.

[Snoopy]

Maybe it needs to be rewritten, I'd copied it from the old forums.

I don't think it's exclusively about being a fresh young character. Sure you can be an outlaw already, but seeing factions open / characters made and within literal days they are killing people mindlessly - think about it. Your 3/4 months developed character is harassed / killed by an outlaw that has zero presence on the server. Sure you should work your way up to it, roleplay, have some development?

It doesn't state that you can't be an outlaw, but you can't be inserting yourself as a hardened outlaw inside the state we live in, because honestly? These things never happened, law don't know who you are, no one knows you. 

Again, this doesn't apply to most of the factions we have anyway. But as of late, I've seen a huge influx of some people who are quite literally spawning in and mass killing, their excuse? "Well I'm a hardened outlaw" - it's not good enough, and we have higher expectations. 

I'll rewrite it at some point today.

Edited March 15 by Snoopy

[Bluecille]

1 hour ago, Snoopy said:

Maybe it needs to be rewritten, I'd copied it from the old forums.

I don't think it's exclusively about being a fresh young character. Sure you can be an outlaw already, but seeing factions open / characters made and within literal days they are killing people mindlessly - think about it. Your 3/4 months developed character is harassed / killed by an outlaw that has zero presence on the server. Sure you should work your way up to it, roleplay, have some development?

It doesn't state that you can't be an outlaw, but you can't be inserting yourself as a hardened outlaw inside the state we live in, because honestly? These things never happened, law don't know who you are, no one knows you. 

Again, this doesn't apply to most of the factions we have anyway. But as of late, I've seen a huge influx of some people who are quite literally spawning in and mass killing, their excuse? "Well I'm a hardened outlaw" - it's not good enough, and we have higher expectations. 

I'll rewrite it at some point today.

This sounds like it’s more of an issue regarding DM rules being broken as opposed to the portrayal of characters who engage in banditry.

Also, it’s important to remember that information regarding criminals and their activities are still quite localized. It’s not like they have computers or even phones to inform people of minor-to-moderate criminals two states over. It’s perfectly possible for some to have had some success in banditry in Oklahoma, things got a little too hot, then moved on down to lil old Lannahechee as a new hunting ground. This just goes with my point that it’s lame to expect every point of characterization that scratches further than skin-deep to have to occur on server before being acknowledged or legitimized. What’s next? Civil War Participation Applications? No playing war vets without an approved ticket?

[knppel]

11 hours ago, Snoopy said:

When you think of posting your outlaw gang thread, remember this, have you earned it?