rpanons | It's raw you donkey

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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.

Aah, thanks for the questioning suggestions! I totally didn't think of that, even though it should have been right in front of me. There is a lot of mystery in the game of my choosing, so that definitely bodes well for her.

And yeah, I'll definitely need to get her trained somehow. She's already an athlete, so I think she'll take to self defense classes or what have you pretty well. Thanks for your input, anon! :D

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.

Alllll of this. As someone who plays a "normal" character, this post just says it all. Also, think about how seeing all these "special" people would affect your character, depending on their personality. I've seen reactions to being alarmed to feelings of inadequacy. Maybe she can try to learn skills to try and help when she can. Or maybe she can bond with other normal characters over their...normalcy.

A character shouldn't be defined by their powers or abilities. As long as the character has an interesting personality and is played in an interesting way, it'll be fine!

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.

It's raw you donkey

"Normal" people

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Re: "Normal" people

DA, +1

Re: "Normal" people