Riverside roleplay market is our fortnightly roleplay market and gives people an opportunity to practice their roleplay and use of the Unity Empire System that we use in the AOC.
The market takes place on a Thursday usually with a 1pm SLT start and usually lasts for around an hour to 2 hours depending on how many people are taking part. Please see the calendar of events to see when it’s happening.
Roleplay Market Rules
The Unity Maxim meter and pouch are required for trading – if you haven’t yet set up your AOC meter please look for the classes on the calendar and in group notices to help you do so. In the meantime you may still come to watch and even take part with some para roleplay if you wish.
We trade in Centaurian Coin (never L$) and Unity produce that is often made by each individual merchant using the Unity Selling Scripts.
Traders pay 1 Centaurian Obol which is paid to the pay box near the entrance to market in order to trade for the day at market. There is also a reminder of the rules there.
Stalls can be claimed by rezzing your ticket to trade beside it. You may rezz not earlier than 15 mins before the hour and there is a maximum of 50 prims.
It is not required to rez in advance, it’s just a time allowance for you to decorate your stall if you choose not to roleplay the “setting up of your stall”.
Market roleplay begins on the hour. Please be courteous and refrain from engaging in formal roleplay before the hour so to give everyone time to be ready. Starting to roleplay when others are not ready can cause stress and anxiety to those setting up still prior to the hour.
Please clear everything away when roleplay is finished for the day. Anything left behind will be returned.
Trading and roleplay guidelines
Riverside market has become quite popular at times although we vary with the amount of traders on a given day. Whether you are a trader or simply a customer these guidelines may be helpful when attending market.
Sometimes it is quiet. These days can be more chilled and allow plenty of time for the para roleplay and for listening to others’ roleplaying.
Some days can be really busy and the local chat can become overwhelming. It’s a little like a busy market in real life at times. Noisy, busy and so much going on. Allow yourself time, focus on the person you are roleplaying with – you can always take a moment to read up what has been going on behind you when you have finished with the current trader/rp exchange. Perhaps take breaks where you take a moment to sit and take a breath and listen to what else is going on. Pace yourself.
Try to keep OOC chatter out of local as much as possible on busy days but if you need to OOC please ((encapsulate it in double brackets)).
e.g. ((I don’t think that went into my pouch – can you check the tomatoes are working))
What to make and trade as a trader
Whenever you enter a new roleplay community its always a good idea to watch and learn about who is who (in terms of their character) and what they do. This is also helpful with market. There are members of the community whose characters are well developed and established and who have picked their market trade carefully to integrate with their character and backstory. Whilst nobody should “lay claim” to a certain produce or service, it is also good manners not to trample all over someone’s character or roleplay by deciding you do exactly the same as them. There is plenty of variety in a range of products for there to be room for everyone. Be more specific – why are your cakes different to someone elses? What makes your potions special? Why are your dishes unique? Use your imagination to make your products stand out.
When you’re thinking about what you might trade at market you might like to consider your character’s backstory (if you’ve written it) or even use this to help form your character and backstory. Like, why have you chosen to sell what you sell? How did you come to be selling that? Where did you learn to make those things? Is it something your character started doing before arriving at Centauria (as part of your backstory) or something they started after arriving here. How does it fit with your character.
All that said, the Riverside market is an opportunity to get started with roleplay even when people haven’t developed their characters so don’t worry too much about someone making the same thing as you. Think about what happens at real life markets…..there are often 2 or 3 people selling similar products. Try not to feel threatened or panic and think “oh well I will stop selling that then”, when the other person may just be finding their feet and having a go.
As more and more people join the market you may decide to hone your offerings and perhaps really specialise – think about the uniqueness of your product rather then the quantity or wide variety of products that you sell.
Setting a price and stats on your produce
Generally you’ll find that people sell their produce for small amounts of coin. Commonly 1 Obol or 2 or 3 Obols at most for a few items. If you price your produce too high….people may not buy from you.
Setting statistics on produce is also a bit of an art. It’s not good practice to God Mod to any degree…so making something that raises someone’s stats disproportionatly just doesn’t make sense and serves no purpose.
Think about it. Eating a sugary food may well raise your stamina and strength but it’s not neccesarily healthy and might reduce someone’s health. Eating a heavy carb food might leave someone feeing a little full and reduce stamina and strength but increase food levels. Ale may indeed reduce stamina and strength but increase food.
Keep stats on the lean side and be realistic with them. More is not always good. There is no destination here to gain the most of something….the joy is in the roleplay itself.
Making a trade at market
Top tip for market day: Visit the banker before you come to market – most people sell things for Obols….Drachma or Chirons are not going to serve you well at market so maybe go see the banker goblin and exchange some Drachma for Obols beforehand 😉