Curious

[Arnaya]

I've seen quite a bit of discussion here and there about what people thing of different roleplays. I'm curious what guidelines people use for themselves when they're roleplaying. Some people for example refuse to do detailed violence, for a variety of reasons, while others love that sort of thing. Do you keep an eye on how people are responding to your roleplays and adjust them according, or is it just a roleplay and everyone should just deal?

The roleplaying community in general is pretty diverse, with a lot of different tastes. So I'd like to see what people here think

[Lu Chaos]

I just go with the flow of things really, unless my role play depends on me planning and and making a strategy ahead of time..

For the most part though I just dive into my character and bring him to life.. I don't think about anything I just become one with my character.. You know?

[Arnaya]

So you've fully fleshed out Lu Chaos's personality, and slip that on while you play?

[Shae]

I'm not sure what you mean about detailed violence. I know we HAD, at one time, some young 'kids' playing the game, so when I play, I sorta play with a PG-13 rating going on in my mind. I don't use really big words, or descriptive words that may be uncomfortable, usually (ie: sex, violence, thoughts aloud that would harm someone mentally). Obviously, my seemingly carefree character doesn't have to worry about that too often, though! If I want to terrorize someone in game, and there are many around, I'll usually keep it to whispers. Shae can certainly ruffle some feathers when she needs to.

I'm like Lu, in the fact that I just go in and wing it every dream. I don't think too much on things. I do have the Shae-filter that I use all the time. The things Shae does and the things *I* do are not usually the same. I've lived in her tunic for a while, now, though, so I am pretty good at playing her seamlessly, without much hesitation.

You do sorta have to fit into their skin and be that other person, or else the game becomes too real for you, I think. It's a video game, and even though we're trying to pull a new crowd in, to experience the fun and magic of this, sometimes the drama of characters gets carried away and scares off our newbies, which is sad. I'm always aware of possible true newlies out there, and try to keep all of my stuff light and fun.

Hope that answered the question?

[Arnaya]

For the most part yes. I'd like to see people keep going with this though, just because I don't believe that putting some thought into how we play is a bad thing

[Tary]

So I'll be honest about my "playing style" with Tary. I find properly building a rich, deep personality to be very difficult. There are certainly aspects of myself that I'm not aware of, so it's really tough to build a whole persona and then type it out without having body language, et al to convey it. So the honest truth is that in many ways Tary and I are the same, it's just I exaggerate a lot of things about his personality.

Tary's really arrogant, and that definitely is an aspect of my personality. I'd like to think I'm not nearly as bad as he is, and certainly I control it (or try) and certainly I recognize it's a bad trait (whilst Tary doesn't care) but it definitely carries over. He ignores people he considers "below him." If someone doesn't understand him even if he's in the middle of a thought he won't stop to explain or slow down. He might laugh or yell at you. He thinks he deserves praise for being an older, veteran dreamer who once held a position of power, etc. He's kind of brainy -- not brilliant, just... definitely thoughtful, which is something I like to think about myself.

What i try to do is establish a set of motivating factors for Tary and play everything through that lens. So his biggest motivator is not to lose Underlight (the dream city) again. So all of his actions, all of the things I do with him center around that. His concern about Chaos Wells? His past zealotry? His desire for war, etc. All of that centers around not wanting to lose the city again. He does it in a really grating way, though. He thinks his way is correct and no amount of what anyone else says will sway him unless he thinks you're at his intelligence level or higher: which is hard, because he thinks he's awesome.

So rather than building a personality, speech pattern, etc. what I've tried to do is pick one or two aspects of MY personality I'm aware of and totally exaggerate them in Tary. And on top of that I try to react to everything with a list of things that I know motivate Tary.

Sometimes playing Tary is downright uncomfortable for me. I am not a confrontational person but Tary will absolutely say and do confrontational things. It's hard for me sometimes to do that. My general instinct is to try to befriend people I think dislike him, whereas Tary's instinct is to continue to be disliked. So when I'm playing him sometimes I get this sinking feeling in my gut as I type things, or react to things, or do things because it's not what I would do.

I also try to use the game mechanics for what they're good for. Collapsing kind of sucks but when you do it for a roleplay/event/whatever and do it dramatically it's powerful. Using arts is powerful. Harming your character is powerful -- even if it means you're going to lose an orbit. So I definitely have collapsed Tary more times than I can count because I thought it would make for good story-making. Or I've used NMF or whatever. Also I'm a terrible fighter so sometimes collapsing just happens.

[Jones]

I'm not Jones Shaw - I put on my Jones Shaw costume, including speech, and go with the flow, as Lu's controller said.
Never have a plan or any expectations.

example, tonight: "I'd throw maself under a runaway stagecoach fer ya Ma'am".

[Riggs]

Hiya -

Vampyro is a lot like me - the drinking, the swearing, the moodiness (at times), super helpful, and reliable (as my schedule allows).

DreamEdge is nothing like me - more professional, sober, super old, better mindful of others' presence/opinions/etc, less jokes.

However, I try not have either as 'evil' or a 'bad guy'. That's not *my* style for actively dreaming characters. Now, as a GM for SoT "evil" or "bad guy" GM characters were fun, but it's because I knew they were disposable. I don't see how folks can RP that way on player characters and be cool with it - major kudos to those who can, but I just can't - being 'mean' or a jerk, just to piss others off, or fit a "roleplay" gets on my nerves because I've seen many players come and go due to the treatment some may suffer from at the hands of others. While I understand this is merely a game, clearly, not all do.

So, there's no script - but I try to remain consistent... Vampyro is much easier play than DE.. but DE encompasses more elements of those I highly respect around me (irl) and less of my own, that I try to blend into his RP.

- B

[Arnaya]

I have to agree with you about the Good Guy and Bad Guy things Riggs. Personally, Arnaya is a lot nicer than I am irl, but I've really tried to avoid having her be a "Good Guy" type of character... and I really have a hard time being a "Bad Guy" in general. For me, I try to build any RPG Character as a person. Good points, Bad points, Likes, Dislikes, etc.. and leave the rest to game events. I try to avoid a lot of the "snarky bi#$h" type characters, at least as a primary personality trait.... along with the "Shining pillar of virtue" type characters.... just because those characters tend to be very one dimensional. That single focus really makes them hard for me to play *shrugs*.

Please, keep this going. I'd love to hear from some of the GM's here too

[Uthanatos]

Hey, who's got two thumbs and revived a thread at 6AM for no apparrent reason....THIS GUY.

Seriously though, Uthy, has aspects of me, but aside from occasionally setting alarms to remind me about meetings or something, I don't think about him much when I'm not playing. Uthy uses my brain to accomplish his goals. So, while he is limited by my ability to view things from a limited perspective, he is his own person. He's far more hopeful than I am, honestly a terribly optimistic person, wheras, I'm more of a realist. So I understand where people are coming from with the, put on the Edgar suit sort of thing. Uthy's plans are his, I just store his knowledge and processing power for him.

[Jones]

Ha! Edgar suit..wonder how many will get that reference

Playing Jones 101 - When playing Jones, my main and only goal is to make people laugh. Whether it be blurting/shouting things out at inappropriate moments, spontaneously pulling out a banjo, fiddle or guitar or doing back flips across the room.

I like keeping Jones at a "G" rating, he is a happy go lucky somewhat "naive in the ways of the world" cowpoke who is often quite shocked at some of the things that come out of people's mouths, or some of the things they do.. and of course, scolds them accordingly

Other toons I have played have been overly serious and/or determined to make things happen, it can be draining.

I heart Jones!

[Noidea]

Something I've personally found helpful is to pretend that I'm an impostor passing myself off as whatever kind of person my character is - as if I was Viola pretending to be a boy, say, or what's-his-name in "A Knight's Tale" masquerading as a knight. So then I just say what I would say (if I were after the things that my character is after), and only adjust something if I think "Hang on, a knight or whoever wouldn't say that". I only discovered this recently.

I don't see Jones in game, I think our times don't coincide, but I enjoyed his appearances on the IC forum sounds great! I think, seriously, having a character who's "G" rated and carries it through - i.e. going "yipes!" when others aren't! - just makes the game more vivid than ever, because it's contrast; if everyone's trying to be intense and shocking and nobody IS shocked because they're all thinking "oh, must have dark", then you've got no contrast and no shock value!
(Reminds me of an incident in SoT when four dreamers got suddenly turned into mares and somebody scolded us afterwards on the forum for being so casual about it; but what else could most of us do? because the characters present included Blue, who was a mare-fan and thought at first that this was the coolest thing ever, Myristyl, who was too concerned about Midnight Sun to remember to fuss about herself, and what-was-her-name - Gina? - occasionally called "the Lioness"? - who was a hardened old soldier who'd seen it all before.)


Going back to what Arnaya originally asked, about what your boundaries are in roleplaying: well, my characters are limited by what I like to read, for one thing - so they wouldn't be using worse swear words than I do, or such graphic violence that it turns my own stomach. Up to that limit, my intention is to be as dastardly as makes the situation work (neither of my characters are currently very dastardly so it hasn't arisen); if I was playing an evil goblin it might threaten to bite someone's liver out, or something similarly baroque. But if the players watching seemed to be just finding it disgusting I'd back off. Of course, it's hard to tell how people ARE taking it, in text chat. If somebody whispered me "((eech, do you have to?))", or words to that effect, I'd act accordingly I think people should feel free to do that, if what somebody's doing is just making them sick to no purpose. After all, we're supposed to be playing this game for enjoyment.

I wouldn't have a problem with my character doing something that I think is morally wrong myself; then they'd be a "bad guy" from my point of view and I can cheer for whoever manages to thwart them. The attraction of playing a dragon may be that you like to see a dragon slain.

It is awkward, though, because I WOULD think twice about making my character anyone's "bad guy" for another reason - because once an enemy, always an enemy or at least for a long time, and I'd have to consider whether or not I really wanted to be bothered dealing with the IC fallout from that for the next however many months. I think that may be the cause of the odd situation - does anyone else notice this? - where characters look or act very hardcore to try and compensate and provide a bit of "dark", but aren't actually doing anything villainous; so you have various people walking around covered in blood or with "The Butcher" written on their armour or joking about eating souls, and you seem to be expected to treat them all as good ol' boys, rather than running away on sight.