rpanons | It's raw you donkey

It's raw you donkey

Rundown:

rpanons is an anonymous community for role-play related topics. This place serves as a forum for game discussions, canon discussions, RP solicitations (ATP, game ads, open memes), and advice. The occasional off topic comment is inevitable, but please keep heated social and political topics to their respective communities. Posting them here will only get them frozen. Subsequent threads made to bypass a freeze will then be deleted.

Rules:

Do not post pornographic or shocking images.
Do not share private entries, plurks, chat logs, etc.
Do not use this community as your social/political/hatespeech soapbox.
Do not be redundant. One page does not need three or more threads on one topic/theme.
Do not treat this comm like your personal Plurk or Twitter. Off-topic happens, but it should be open for discussion and not just a play-by-play of your life. No one cares.

CONCERNS | RESOURCES

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Titled for this soon to be broken link (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FoeRomanceSubtext) since I wasn't sure how else to describe it. Any tips in general for pulling off, "I hate you as a person but I also want you," without having it come off as cheap?

♠

Re: Let us tell you about Homestuck

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-10 16:30 (UTC) - Expand

If you're vague, we can't do much for you

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-12 02:54 (UTC) - Expand

by cheap do you mean having the writing come off as being trite or do you mean it making the character feel cheap?

i think that this particular trope gets negative reactions because it's been done so badly and so often before, but there are aspects of it that can be really interesting. the one i've always found the most fun is having the "bad" character be especially ~evil and flashy~ to get the attention of the "good" character and then not really knowing what to do with it when they do eventually get it. is seduction a goal? or are they just lusting silently from afar? do you have the other half of the pairing on board with the ship, or is it going to be an exclusively one-sided thing?

i can't be helpful until i know a little bit more about what you want to come from this.

The problem with giving general tips on this sort of relationship is that it really has to be approached with the specific characters in mind. How much do they hate each other, and why? Are they both hedonists? Is it a case of corrupter villain and/or self-destructive protagonist? Do they have a history that might create an emotional connection (or habitual physical attraction) despite them hating each other now? Do you want them to actually hook up (as a fling or on a more long-lasting basis), or are you looking to keep things subtextual?

tl;dr, you'd be better off evaluating the characters and their individual behavior and motivation patterns, then plotting your course, rather than trying a more general approach.

+1

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-11 05:00 (UTC) - Expand

Seeing as I play her and all...

Do you have any specific concerns?

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-11 11:44 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-14 15:30 (UTC) - Expand

I don't have any super useful and super awesome advice but don't fall into the trap of assuming that Sakuya really is perfect and elegant. She mistakes crows for tengu and opens the window of a rocket, she's actually a bit of an idiot from time to time but she clearly makes quite an effort to hide it.

~~And make sure to include lots of knifing meiling in the head and breast sensitivity xDDDD~~

So, I want to play a teenage girl who is... just that. A teenage girl. No special powers, nothing of the sort other than her mystery-filled canon.

How do you keep these characters fun and engaging and interesting in a game where everyone is a special snowflake?

I mean, yeah, I get that the trick is to tag around and poke people, but what's the best way to get people interested in your character?

i don't really give a shit whether the character's i'm tagging have ~speshul powers~ or angsty pasts or whatever. most of them, idek the canon. as long as you're giving interesting tags and responses, people will respond.

if she's a curious sort, maybe get her more engaged in the setting (investigating things, as she's from a mystery canon?) or questioning people on their own powers? maybe have her train a particular skill, or if possible in the game, have her try and gain powers or get some self-defence or strategic abilities so she can defend herself. becoming a combat- or tech-oriented character's student might get extra CR opportunities.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-10 19:33 (UTC) - Expand

The thing with 'normal' sorts of characters is to try not to be intimidated by the fact that everyone in the game is a special snowflake. Which sounds kind of awful looking back over it uh. A better way to put it is to remember that they're all in the same boat where most game circumstances are concerned. There are things and situations that an average joe could handle better than a superhero and obviously it can be the other way around. Don't let the fact that she has no powers keep you from poking people and tagging out and trying to plot! Doing those things is important for getting interesting CR and plotting for any character, regardless of what they can do.

There are bound to be a few people who would love some normal-type CR for their out-of-this-world character to mix it up with! Maybe people who have seen your girl's canon and loved her character, or whose character has a fair few common points of interest that could become a rad bromance. These things are always kind of a mixed bag, right?

And idk. Personally, I consider a character more engaging or interesting based on the character and not on their powers/home world shenanigans. I think that a lot of people in games are the same!

It's kind of like, yes I see from the post that Character A just punched a car into a bulls-eye target while jumping a shark on waterskis, and that's extremely awesome and fun to have my character react to. But what's even better is that having that post ping my character led into a hilarious/sad/touching CR starter, and they'll probably want to go out of their way in the future to chill with Shark Dude if they see him around in the future. I'm glad they meshed so well, who would have thought!

The best way to have some fun and success with a normal character is to play them to the very best of your ability. Never be afraid to tag someone new. Try to find plot situations that take them out of their comfort zone a little, or plot situations that a normal person could do surprisingly better with than others and require them to take charge. Be open and friendly OOC! There's never any harm in trying to get involved where your character would get themselves involved, or setting up something for them to become part of by sheer happenstance- it can lead you to all kinds of great places.

And probably as the most important point, just... make sure to let your character's personality show. If the character herself is interesting, people will be interested in playing off of her. Just like any other character. Normal doesn't automatically mean they're boring. It doesn't mean they'll only ever be a damsel in distress for other characters to swoop in and save, even if they do wind up needing some rescuing in their run. All that bringing a normal character into abnormal circumstances means is getting to be creative and do things with them that you'd never get to see otherwise. It can mean really good things for character growth and CR!

I HOPE THAT THIS MADE ANY SENSE AND PROVIDED SOME KIND OF HELPFULNESS TO YOU, ANON.

DA, +1

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-10 20:44 (UTC) - Expand

Figure out what's interesting about her. If you want to play her, there has to be something about her that stands out, whether it's a particular set of personality traits, or a general approach to her own canon's mysteries. A lot of that should carry over to a game setting, especially if you consider in advance how you're going to have her deal with the game's challenges.

If you're worried about having her be constantly overshadowed by superpowered characters, there are games out there that heavily cap or remove altogether a character's superpowers, so you could always app into one of those, too.

I'm looking for any general advice I can get on playing him/nailing his personality down.

Shooting for low chaos. I've never tried playing a silent protag before, so even general tips would help. I'm beginning to wonder if the guy's even playable since he's so incredibly blank in game....

You can actually extrapolate a lot from the NPCs' reactions towards Corvo. Emily and the servants at the Hound Pits make particularly good benchmarks. There's also the fact that low-chaos might not be as violent as high-chaos, but he obviously has an absolutely brutal sense of poetic justice. There are a lot of blanks to fill in, sure, but you can get a decent skeleton of a character, especialy since there's really only the two paths through the game.

OP

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-11 11:04 (UTC) - Expand

ayrt

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-11 13:01 (UTC) - Expand

You could watch Rythian's let's play and take ideas from there.

Been thinking of picking him up again, going to canon review now.

More than personality (though that's welcome too), I want to hear about what you think about his powers. I know that, unlike Yue, he is his own magic source, being the sun and all. But at the same time, he couldn't transform into his real form until Sakura caught all the cards. Do you think not having a Sakura+cards around would affect his powers in some way?

I think it would probably put him at the level we see him at before Sakura gets all the cards.

It's been a long time since I read that series, so take this with a grain of salt, but my interpretation was that Kero got a power-up from his connection to Sakura/Clow and the cards; that although he has his own power, it's limited without that link.

ayrt

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-13 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

More specifically: with all of the wiggle room canon gives in regards to Jennifer's past, present life and overall her as a character, how the hell do I write this app without having her come off as a self-insert/fandom OC.

Holy crap, RoR. I love you, anon.

I think you're going to have to go heavily analytical with this, given that a lot of the game environment is... sort of built out of her neuroses. She may not show too much herself, but the way she views things/the way things subconsciously influence her is reflected in the changes between "what really happened" and what we see.

Basically... justify everything with canon evidence. Explain how you reached your conclusions about the character, and as long as your basis is solid you should be just fine.

With a character like that, there'll be a range of valid, canon-appropriate interpretations. You just have to demonstrate that your interp is in the correct range, not that it's the only possible correct one.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2013-03-13 02:37 (UTC) - Expand

I just got into this show, but it's amazing! Got any advice?

I'm afraid I'm not doing her justice. Any advice would help.

Looking for any general advice! She is very different from the kind of characters I usually play, so all kind of advises are good.

How important is it to stick to the word choices a character makes in canon, especially when they don't seem to match them? More specifically, a character is written as thinking "Maybe I am going to die here," but they're an orphan who's lived most of their lives on the street, so I'd expect them to be thinking something more like "Maybe I'm gonna die here." The writing isn't entirely consistent on their speech patterns either, sometimes using contractions and sometimes not. I'm not sure if this is a case of the author sticking to the idea that dialogue should be written in proper English and dialect inserted by the reader, or if I'm supposed to conclude that the character is secretly more intelligent than they ever act.

CHARACTER ADVICE

Foe Romance Subtext

Let us tell you about Homestuck

Re: Foe Romance Subtext

Re: Foe Romance Subtext

Sakuya Izayoi | Touhou Project

Re: Sakuya Izayoi | Touhou Project

Re: Sakuya Izayoi | Touhou Project

"Normal" people

no subject

Re: "Normal" people

Re: "Normal" people

Stahl | Fire Emblem: Awakening

Corvo Attano | Dishonored

Re: Corvo Attano | Dishonored

no subject

Kero | Card Captor Sakura

Re: Kero | Card Captor Sakura

Jennifer | Rule of Rose

Re: Jennifer | Rule of Rose

Beck | Tron Uprising

Chell | Portal

Zelda | Skyward Sword

Word Choice

Raiden - Metal Gear Rising