nothing but backseat drivers in this clown car

[socksuke_uchiha]

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Comments

Mean characters and witty characters

[(Anonymous)]

There’s a lot of overlap between these personality types and the character I’m thinking of has both, but I think they’re important enough to discuss separately. Don’t feel like you have to address both of them if you only have advice for one!

For witty characters, the biggest problem I have is actually being witty and coming up with funny observations and comebacks on the fly. For mean characters, it’s being mean that gives me trouble. I either have a hard time finding a good balance between likably mean and complete and utter douchebag, and I’m always worried about going too far so I wind up pulling my punches; worse case scenario, I stop playing that part of their personality completely.

What’s the best way to handle this and improve? While some of it’s definitely just anxiety about toeing the IC/OOC divide and accidentally offending the person I’m playing with, I also feel like I’m just missing something and nothing is clicking.

Re: Mean characters and witty characters

[(Anonymous)]

I haven't played any in a game setting in forever so idk how relevant my input could be, but I personally love playing mean characters. There's plenty of ways to play an asshole that aren't instantly jumping into name-calling or saying offensive things for the sake of edginess. (But then, that might be IC for the character in question.)

Meanness in RP should have a point. If used, it should be a driving force, or at least a non-disruptive force. No one is going to want to tag a character who does nothing but insult or deride.

Before you start poking others, you, the player, should decide

1. what kind of reaction you (not your character) are looking for,
2. if and how that reaction could be fun for both players involved, and
3. where you are hoping to take the thread

You don't need to plan out every detail in advance, but you do need to start thinking ahead. Mean characters won't stumble into IC friendships the same way nice characters do, but you can end up with some VERY interesting chemistry despite that.

Mean characters who are mean for the sake of being mean can be fun in a narrative where there's one author in control, but they aren't always that fun to tag or tag out with. I've found most rpers who jump at the possibility for negative CR with these types are looking to win any interactions. If that's fun for you, more power to you, but having everything down to my network posts be a battle sounds tiring. Manipulative mean characters are easier to shoehorn into the positive CR you might want.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't play characters I'd especially consider witty and I'd be intimidated playing like, say, a Tony Stark for instance who always has a snappy reply at the ready because I'd feel like I'd always be falling flat on the delivery so unfortunately I don't have a lot of advice for you there.

That said, I do play a lot of sarcastic assholes! For me personally, the best way I've found to play this character type is:
1. OOC communication with my thread partners about how far the confrontation(s) might spin out. I don't mean this as in planning it out step by step to know exactly how it's going to look, but it's really helpful for me to establish a baseline of how their characters might react to assholes and whether or not they're the type of person to get into full blown arguments/call outs, physical fights, shut down and walk away, cry, etc for an idea of which side of the line interactions might fall on (this is obv easier to do in PSLs vs game settings with a lot of new CR and players you may not know at all, but I still think it's important to reach out if a thread is turning towards Max Asshole and you want to make sure it doesn't get too derailed)

and 2. Being willing to accept the negative fallout of playing an asshole character, for better or worse

I think "likably mean" is a little bit of an oxymoron, unless your character has a rapport with another where mutual roasting or whatever is considered fun and fair game. But if character A and B don't know each other and character A is a dick just to be a dick on a first meet, character A probably isn't going to go "hahaha oh you" without some more CR building between them first.

The "likable" part usually comes with time, and sometimes after a backlash for their asshole behavior if they decide to apologize in some way or another for upsetting someone else because they're acting like a shit. Which is a great opportunity for character growth imo and part of why I like playing assholes who have to learn on the fly to play nicer in the sandbox if they want to get anywhere. But sometimes you just have to take the risk that you're going to land a solid punch on someone else and that character is going to go "fuck you" and that's all she wrote, unless you then also reach out to that player to talk out ideas of what might put that CR on a better footing in the future (which is fun and challenging and can be really interesting to play out!).

It's also my opinion that anyone who takes my character being mean to theirs personally and gets their actual feelings hurt over it is.............maybe not someone I want to play a lot with anyway because that's red flag of being too overinvested in their rping, but ymmv on that stance.

Real talk though, and I mean this as gently as possible, but if you're constantly pulling your punches on characters up to the point where you're snubbing out an entire facet of their personality, maybe this just isn't the right character type for you to play.

Re: Mean characters and witty characters

[(Anonymous)]

The other two people said most of what I'd want to say when it comes to mean characters. I just want to add that another thing to keep in mind is to ensure that, when you're threading with someone else, to make sure that their character has an IC reason and an IC justification to continue to engage with yours.

A mean character in a mission thread where they have to work together: fantastic. I'd love to thread out arguments and hate as they're forced to work together, maybe have one character fuck over the other one, maybe one character is far more competent than expected and the other has to reluctantly agree they make for a good partner even if they're a raging asshole. Given that they've got a mission it also justifies why they'd spend long periods of time together instead of having one walk away from the other when they're a little too assholic.

A mean character randomly walking up to mine in the grocery store and calling them a fucking goddamn piece of idiot shit for getting soup, what the fuck is wrong with them, etc: annoying...unless the player plotted with me ahead of time.

My problem with these isn't the fact that the character is being mean, it's that most of us don't generally hang around strangers using us as a verbal punching bag for long periods of time unless we have to. And if there's a stranger using you as a verbal punching bag, roasting your every move, those interactions typically don't last long. At least, they don't with me. So it gets difficult threading it out the longer the thread goes, and the less justification there is for mine to take that shit.

Why would a character take it when they could metaphorically or literally mute the thread and block the asshole, basically. Directions are good, hooks are good, communicate with the other player, especially if the CR's new and you have no idea who the other player is.

Re: Mean characters and witty characters

[(Anonymous)]

Something that really helps me with not playing a traditionally “nice” friendly character is letting them get an interaction “wrong.” Assume the worst! Be suspicious of intentions! Call someone out about a weird thing they’re doing! It’s not textbook mean like insults but it’s also not saying exactly the right thing at the right time that someone needs to hear, and it’s worked pretty well for me. Especially if you can make it clear in your meta-text that this is a normal thought pattern for the character. Helps reinforce that this is an IC choice, not an ooc one.

Also helps that I get really bored really fast with characters who are just nice and friendly and always empathetic and kind. It gets old. Meanness and suspicion are human, and therefore refreshing.

Re: Mean characters and witty characters

[(Anonymous)]

da

just be careful not to do this all the time, as the always suspicious, always negative character gets incredibly old

Re: Mean characters and witty characters

[(Anonymous)]

Since everyone else has mentioned mean, I'll try my hand at witty.

One thing to note with any character who has a personality type is the how of it. How is a character witty? Does he pun? Does he use wordplay? Does he have a specific style?

It's also important to keep in mind why a character does it. If they're sarcastic, do they to it to shut someone down or dismiss them? Is it a way to evade something? If they use word play, are they doing it to tease, to get a laugh, or something else?

I find once you get these two, it gets easier to play a witty comeback. If you play a sarcastic character who tends to evade questions, they would most likely redirect the topic or intentionally misinterpret the words to get a reaction.

The thing about witty characters is it takes a lot of observation of those around them. They look at what works and what doesn't, then they adjust it for next time.

It's also good to remember that even witty characters have remarks that don't land the way they want, so don't fret too much on getting it right all the time.