By Care

While our chatters are the heart and soul of roleplay, rooms are what give their characters a place to become incarnate. Managing rooms can be a difficult but ultimately rewarding task, and each leader has taken their own road to the “top”. In this issue, Care shows us how things are heating up in the Southwest!

This issue we find ourselves within the newest section of Roleplay Evolution, Rebels and Reapers. This section features rooms that focus on motorcycle clubs and the criminal activity that can accompany them. If you’re wondering, yes, folks, this section was created due to the demand we found here at ReVo for Sons of Anarchy rooms.

In the first issue of ReVolutionary Theory, we touched base with a character from the Sons of Anarchy: Long Beach room – then we watched as the growth happened, and now the section is eight rooms strong. But we don’t just have Sons of Anarchy rooms! We have other motorcycle clubs with Blood and Asphalt and Coastal Harbor, and then we expanded into the Mayans, which is soon to be a Sons of Anarchy spin-off show on FX. So we took a few moments and sat down with the owner of one of the original Sons of Anarchy rooms on Roleplay Evolution, to get his thoughts and words on Prophecy AZ.

Hi, Rutger, and thank you for taking the time to do this interview for our readers.

Rutger: You’re welcome.

Many of us on ReVo, known that Prophecy AZ started as Anarchy Vegas, how did your change come about?

Rutger: The change came about through a role-play that ended up giving the Sons charter in Vegas too much exposure. As the local press descended on them after their hand in assisting with the breakup of a human trafficking ring, the charter heads decided it was a good time for them to move to a smaller, less dense area. They rescued many women and children, but it brought them too much attention for the clubs’ liking.

What made you as the room owner not only create the room, but change it to Prophecy?

Rutger: Well, the room was not my original creation. Though many things have happened to make it mine, it was once owned by another player, who portrayed the club president. They moved on to take care of real time things and asked that I be allowed to take over the room.

What are some things that set Prophecy apart from the other rooms in Rebels and Reapers Section?

Rutger: I am not certain on that, as I haven’t really played in the other rooms. I think we have a well defined richness of character in there, for the most part, and there is a lot that goes on that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the club. Sometimes characters get involved and sometimes they don’t. Everyone has their own story, and I wanted people that liked the atmosphere but didn’t really want to play a part of the motorcycle club to have something – so there are people there that were local to this small town long before the Sons arrived, but there are also many aspects as well where the club was tied to the town for decades.

Tell me, what kind of things have you done to make it a fun atmosphere in Prophecy to keep your players happy and active?

Rutger: There is a lot of serious and heartbreaking roleplay that goes on, but we do have fun with some things. Around the holidays, we have a party. At Halloween, some come in in costumed avatars (Ryan has a Spartacus-style AV with a decent head swap that makes everyone laugh). This past Christmas we did a Christmas pajama party as well.

Name one of your favorite things about the style of roleplay done in Prophecy?

Rutger: One of my favorite things in Prophecy is that everyone brings something different to the table. Also, the players that are there do seem to understand that what’s inside is roleplay, meaning most don’t get butthurt if another character is mean to them – in character, of course. Some of the roleplay gets pretty intense. We do have limits, but there are not that many.

Could you name a few of the characters in Prophecy and maybe what they do?

Rutger: A few, huh? Well, there is Ryan O’Connall. He is the president of the Prophecy Sons charter, and former President of the currently-defunct Vegas charter (that will be coming back into play). Kaleb O’Farrell is the Vice-President and pretty much the most level headed guy in the club. Alan “Random” Ritter is the Sargeant at Arms and keeps the president from getting his ass killed. There are several brothers – Johnny (Preacher), Donnie (Big Red) Finn, Liam, Razor, Sebastain, Ty, Scratch, Mutt, and a bunch of others have come through, though I don’t remember the names. Silas Tieval is a charter head that drops in every now and then to cause trouble and give the guys shit. The old ladies really keep the club together in more ways than one. Right now, they are Jude (Kaleb’s and Ty’s old lady; a tattoo artist, musician and resident therapist at times), and Dina, who is married to Liam and is a nurse. Dina has grown up in the club and now has a brother and husband in its ranks as well. It is a toss-up on who the resident queen bee is. Persia is an associate of the Sons and runs the local fight club, but also has her own business dealings. Highly successful, she has lent aid to and gotten aid and protection from the Sons. Haven is the younger sister of Ryan and Liam, who was in a band and is now looking to settle down with her family. We also have a myriad of town folks and business owners. Emily Logan owns Logan’s Diner, and Bud Joey and his daughter Pal run the local Harley shop. Krysta works for both Op4 Tactical and Bud’s Harley, and is dating Donnie. Declan runs the local laundromat and is looking into becoming a probie. Hazel owns the hotel. There are a few others, but not steady players of late. The local law enforcement includes Sheriff Jason Garret and his deputy Ames Halliday – and then there are the bad guys. They come and go, but currently, the most notable is Nick Moses, a smarmy former brother and now the head of a meth ring.

Have you and your players ever had what I’m going to call a “What the Fuck” moment while roleplaying?

Rutger: We have had a butt ton of “What the Fuck?” moments in roleplay.

Could you name that “What the Fuck” moment, and tell us a little about it?

Rutger: One involved Ryan being kidnapped and tortured, broadcasted on a closed circuit for everyone to see and Mutt walking out in his underwear during the broadcast asking if it was a porno. More recently, twins delivered in a ditch under gunfire (because our chicks are bad asses). Also recently, we had Ryan pulling a gun and appearing to be on the brink of killing Johnny, when he was really aiming for the guy behind him. That got a lot of “What the Fucks?” before the reveal.

As Room Leader, do you have a favorite character you like to see in the roleplay? Why?

Rutger: Oh, there are way too many to count. I love to watch everyone do their thing, especially when they are in their element and everything just flows. We have certain people that play off of each other very well, and the roleplay is just spot on.

Have you held any events in Prophecy? If so, could you tell us what they were, and if not, do you plan on hosting any events?

Rutger: We have had some private room things, like the club Christmas parties and barbecues and so on. Where we were at before, I did a game of Clue modernized by using some of the brothers for the suspect cards. It went over well and I will probably try it here.

As we said before, Prophecy is a newer room, having changed from Anarchy Vegas – but in all the time you have been on ReVo, has there ever been anything that just made you stop and just laugh your ass off? If so, what was it?

Rutger: Well, in the time I have been on ReVo, there have been some pretty funny moments. Anything with Bill in it was always incredibly funny because he was just an old biker that wasn’t afraid to say what was on his mind. But I will say one of the funnier moments was when the guys ended up in Mexican jail and Tank and Haven came to bail them out, and the police wanted to keep Donnie. Also, when it was still Vegas, one of the bad guys’ groups planned on attacking Persia’s night club, Bijou. The guys got wind of this and went in and decided to trap the bad guys instead, which they achieved by wearing the strippers’ “I Dream of Jeannie” type costumes, complete with veils and all (that’s one hairy woman)!

We touched on the funniest and the most “What the Fuck?” moments, but how about the steamiest? We all know that Sons of Anarchy, the show, was all about the sex appeal. Do you have that within Prophecy?

Rutger: Of course we do. While I have had to limit the amount of public scening (there was a lot, and there’s nothing wrong with going so far and closing the curtain), a lot of the character interactions convey sexual tension or chemistry depending on the characters. We have also been unafraid to explore such things outside the typical male/female relationship, which makes for good roleplay.

How can a person get involved in the roleplay within Prophecy?

Rutger: It’s fairly easy. We have areas open that wouldn’t require a character to even know about the Sons when they come in. Some people have started off already being citizens of Prophecy. Our players are pretty easy to get along with and happy to help anyone that wants to bring their ideas into the room.

Is there anything you want to share with the readers and roleplayers of ReVo?

Rutger: I think this about covered it, so just to come in, watch some roleplay, and check it out for yourself.

Thank you for taking the time to do this for us!