rpanons | [D] Our lizard brains

[D] Our lizard brains

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Concerns?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I find the build up to a ship more interesting than the ship itself.

So what do you do once the ship happens? Does it go stale/boring at that point?

It depends on the characters. The Maddie and David Effect only comes into play when the people writing the characters DEFINE them by their relationship. When the bantering and sexual tension stops because they're actually having sex now? You fucked up. Sexual tension doesn't stop just because sex happened.

So basically, always treat the characters as individuals. They are not THE SHIP. They can have cute dates and be adorable, but at the end of the day, they have lives outside of it and those lives can cause conflict without actively destroying the ship. That keeps it interesting and gives them something to work through.

Basically, the best rule of thumb is to keep playing as normal, but always remember that everything you do will come back to the other character. If your character gets injured, they might be able to hide it from their friends, but not from their SO. If a character has been working late, then it's going to peak the other characters' curiosity. Don't feel like just because you're in a ship that EVERYTHING YOU DO must now be shippy. You just now have a very close bit of CR.

i think the mistake with this sort of thing is the idea that conflict evaporates when characters get together. a lot of this depends on how casual or serious a ship is though.

thinking of it as strong cr is probably a good way to view it, esp if you're going for a long term serious relationship. if you enjoy best friend or partner cr it can be very similar to that.

a relationship will generally also change a person's priorities as it gets more serious. seeing how that changes a character can be a lot of fun.

also irl, relationships don't get established and stay that way forever. they continue to develop and the dynamic is rarely static. you can explore that kind of thing too, and how roles shift and trade and change as events happen around the characters.

if they relate to one another in a fun way there's no reason it shouldn't be after the build up is over. it's still good cr.

Depends on the characters and canon. A lot of canons will whitewash the characters after they get together (she's the perfect wife who always has dinner ready, he's the perfect husband who works for the greater good and comes home after a long day righting the world with a smile, etc, etc).

If you're playing a canon ship you will very likely (more so in cases of animanga than LA series since that's just how animanga stereotypes roll) have a harder time coming up with things to do because the characters are made to compliment one another. With some work though this doesn't mean you can't keep them fresh for yourself! I'd suggest the Shrek movies or Ariel and Eric's relationship in The Little Mermaid II (I know not the greatest movie, but still an OK example imo and a bit of a break-out for Disney) if you need some ideas of how characters who are supposed to be "perfect" for eachother can still have issues and struggles together.

First Tip: Make sure they have separate lives. This means different things they do in-game without eachother, different friends, etc. If there's some overlap that's fine, but if they do everything together you're going to have a hard time finding things for them to talk about or introduce eachother to and so on. Also just like any other CR if they're together 24/7 and share everything it's going to get stale because you're both basically playing out the same characterization path together despite your characters having different personalities.

Second Tip: Make a list of things they can share. This is something you'll want to talk over with your ship partner. Maybe you like playing out slice of life things, but they don't. Maybe they like drama-ing it up, but you feel it'll be too much for your character at the moment. It's really important to keep in touch with what's going on with eachother's characters and your preferences as players. You don't have to be up eachother's butts constantly, but if there was just a dramatic event in-game it's probably good to check with your partner that none of their character's CR died leaving them incredibly upset before your character comes trotting home to take them out on a surprise date.

Things characters can share: hobbies, gossip, CR troubles, issues from their past they didn't address during the dating stage but feel comfortable enough to now, conspiracy theories. There's more, but obviously it's dependent on the characters' personalities and what they do in the game.

Third Tip: Don't forget dates. All because the characters are now "together" doesn't mean dates are less important. In fact they're doubly so as they're a chance for the characters to specifically indulge in enjoying eachothers' company and have a good time. How important this is to your ship will obviously vary between characters and games. Characters who love playing house together probably won't need it too much, while characters in a horror game will likely need the stress relief together.

Definitely try to be creative with dates. Maybe your characters aren't the type to go out on formal dates. Or maybe they just suck at coming up with dates. This is a great opportunity for them to get some character development in the area.

If they don't like going on formal dates think of other things they could do together. If they're both fighter types they could spar or train together. If they both have playful personalities they could have a game of tag. Use your game setting! If they're stuck in a city taking a walk and running into things like street performers and vendors can be a fun log. Or if you're not into slice-of-life they could be pickpocketed and have to chase the thief down or deal with a mugging attempt in an alley. Maybe they run into a monster ambush.

If the lack of lasting consequence (good or bad) from these types of logs makes them bore you come up with scenarios that will have consequence. One of your characters gets hurt and has to be helped by the other, maybe the food was bad and they now have crippling foodpoisoning and need to be assisted. Maybe they drank so much they said something so completely embarrassing or private to the other character they have to run off until they figure out how to face them again. You can also work with other players in the game to create interesting things to happen on their together time. See if a rival or villain character is willing to run into them and give them a hard time. Or just even CR who has a tendency to put their foot in their mouth/speak overly-friendly with people in a way that can be misconstrued.

If your character has no idea how to go about dates and they came together through other means, have them ask around or look up in the local library/on the internet for advice. If they're not the type to get outside advice have them instigate a couple completely fail dates and learn from the experience. Or talk it over with the other half of the ship. Part of being in a ship is having your character not only discover the other character's traumas, but their likes and dislikes, what they find romantic, etc.

Fourth Tip: Work against stereotypes/Have them grow together as people. Maybe she's the perfect wife, but it's a horror game. He's not always going to be around to protect her. Maybe even if he is it makes her feel inferior to him, like she's dragging him down. Have her deal with those feelings. She might make a promise to herself to get stronger and try to train on her own or ask other characters to help her learn. She might bring it up to him or she might not (which could create problems down the road you find interesting to play with). Maybe he goes to work and does amazing things coming home with a smile, but it's a slice-of-life jamjar and he's worried because they're a cross-canon ship and they could each get sent home at any moment and never find eachother again. He might throw his lot in with the rebellion contingent of characters looking for a way home (just about every jamjar has these) or take to drinking a little too much or he addresses his fears to her and they make a lovers' promise to set him at ease.

Your characters don't have to tell eachother everything even though they're together. As players you should share the important things, but even if they dated and came together it makes more sense than not for them to still hide things or try to deal with things on their own unless that goes against their personality. If they're dating they probably trust eachother. But that doesn't mean they've learned how to depend on one another. That's something you can play around with and use to create conflict in your ship and keep it from being the Perfect Couple with the White Picket Fence House. You don't have to have incessant drama constantly, but having characters who never have any problems gets dull really fast.

Fifth Tip: It's not permanent. This is something I see a lot of players in ships completely forget. Being in a relationship is something you have to continually work at. A lot of people get them together and become bored. If your character is never around to help theirs and only interacts with them during fluff threads yes it is going to feel like your character doesn't care about them. Yes this is going to lead to the other character questioning the relationship and possibly wondering if they should break up. Even if this is a canon relationship. If you want to handwave a lot of the everyday maintenance tell your partner first. Maybe they have important things they want to address in the "every day" threads. If they don't know your characters have been having breakfast together every morning and you've been assuming it all along it can lead to a lot of complications you don't want to deal with.

On the IC side of things some characters just have up and down relationships due to personalities. It may be an on again, off again thing. Game events can affect the relationship too. Maybe something happened that forced one character let the other down in a major way. Even though it was out of their control the first character can't forgive the second. Don't be afraid to address things like this with your partner. It may be fun to have them break up, maybe even try fooling around with a few other people, and then fall back together again. Just because they came together once doesn't mean if they break things off, amicably or less than amicably, that the relationship was a "failure" or a waste of your time as an RPer.

Shorthand tip- Just talk the ship over with your partner and find ways for them to interact that interest both of you and continue their development without having them so tied at the hip you both become thoroughly bored.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[D] Our lizard brains

GENERAL | SHIPPING

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Re: GENERAL | SHIPPING