RP Confessions

I've never played a character who is even remotely competent in fighting.

Pathetic characters are the best. Especially if they're short.
<3 midgets

Me? come to you?

But I'm winning!

Adry wrote:Pathetic characters are the best. Especially if they're short.
<3 midgets

I don't get the fun in being all-powerful :3 I like to play really sort of vulnerable or mundane characters.

Lyniath wrote:

Adry wrote:Pathetic characters are the best. Especially if they're short.
<3 midgets

I don't get the fun in being all-powerful :3 I like to play really sort of vulnerable or mundane characters.

Compensating. *Nod*

I find it to be a pity that whenever the power discussion is mentioned, the assumption is that there's the mundane and pathetic characters one the lowest step of the ladder. And on the second to lowest step, there's the omnipotent anime ninjas who became archmages at age 17 and is strong enough to take on a dragon aspect if they wanted.

People forget that on the strong - useless scale there's a million steps between "Omni-potent super god" and "I can barely tie my own shoes", and you can definitely be a strong character with plenty of weaknesses who isn't a total deadweight in combat.

I must confess that a part of me hates all RP where there isn't a gamemaster who can act as story teller and balancing influence.

I like giving crippeling weaknesses to my characters in one way or another! One has germophobia, another is terrified of birds to the point of sitting and weeping!

I once had a professional assassin character with a phobia of leashes. If she saw a leash, she'd go cry in a corner.

I wonder what would happen if all the corners would have a leash.

Ixirar/Kavalis wrote:I find it to be a pity that whenever the power discussion is mentioned, the assumption is that there's the mundane and pathetic characters one the lowest step of the ladder. And on the second to lowest step, there's the omnipotent anime ninjas who became archmages at age 17 and is strong enough to take on a dragon aspect if they wanted.

People forget that on the strong - useless scale there's a million steps between "Omni-potent super god" and "I can barely tie my own shoes", and you can definitely be a strong character with plenty of weaknesses who isn't a total deadweight in combat.

Bringing up the Power Discussion in and of itself should be the end of the conversation and or the end of that avenue of RP, because RP isn't about the relative power of the characters interacting at all. And getting into the discussion of: My character is stronger than yours, or Your character can't do this because he's so OP is simply stupid beyond words, and a waste of time and effort.

All problems a game master solves as he/she can just go "NO! *slap!*" And settle the issue.

Game masters are kinda silly also, when moving RP to an all text based system in a virtual world... we could just play d&d instead.

Amaryl wrote:Game masters are kinda silly also, when moving RP to an all text based system in a virtual world... we could just play d&d instead.

Yeah but how often do people ever use like, the in-game combat for RP?
Or mobs, that often?

We're MOSTLY just playing DND without any of the actual stats or rules, with a 3D world

Truth is, most people can not RP well. They cant create a decent story, let alone share it. They cant put others before themselves or exercise the self control needed to avoid meta or OOC wars.

Is yourself included?

Lex counts himself as most undead people.

Lyniath wrote:

Amaryl wrote:Game masters are kinda silly also, when moving RP to an all text based system in a virtual world... we could just play d&d instead.

Yeah but how often do people ever use like, the in-game combat for RP?
Or mobs, that often?

We're MOSTLY just playing DND without any of the actual stats or rules, with a 3D world

I used duels about as much as I used emote fights. Because emote fights are the worst.

I think it's interesting that this shift has happened to DM-events over the past 3 years (end of cata), I'm not saying it's bad. But we have to aknowledge that's its just something of the past few years, and it coincides with the RP-community moving more to RPing out the plots of the game as well, which isn't necessarily bad.

But then again, my type of RP was always centered around a couple of things - personal relationships, good or bad and W-PvP - none of which require emote fights or DM events - just like there isn't a dm that tells you, you're successful in wooing the girl at the bar with your dance moves because you rolled a natural 20.

ultimately - Rping out both DM events and "The expansion plot" matches the Rpers against NPCs that are all just contrived to give you something to "beat". Which for me doesn't create an emotional investment in the conflict, making it meaningless. And I'm a person that finds that the RP that sprouts from losing far more interesting than the RP that comes from winning. Although, the only benefit to DM events and playing out the plot, is that it gives some form of progression in an ultimately static world onto which we as Rpers have absolutely zero influence.

I confess that I entirely agree with Amaryl's post.

Emote fights can be fun when you're sparring against players whom you trust. You know, the kind that you do not mind giving victories to because you know that they will do the same to you? The kind you don't need to compare your cock against?

Some of the most fun I've had in RP was had in emote fights. I'd counsel against discarding a whole potential source of fun because of a few bad experiences with jerkwads.

As for the rise of DM-ed events: I reckon that has something to do with the declining population. It's harder to find proper adverseries if there's fewer people out there and the truth is that you need adverseries if you want to enjoy conflict, which is one of the best fuels for role-play. That, and romance; death and love: tales as old as time, probably because they both involve so much conflict.

And if it wasn't a quantative issue, it was probably a quality problem; as long as I remember, the Lighties and the Guards outnumbered the Cultists and the Criminals significantly. During my tenure role-playing, there was not a chance for any evil flowers to bloom in the garden, because they were plucked out as soon as they arose from the dirt. For every evil mastermind there are twenty heroes out there to stop him, it seems.

Maybe that's why I enjoyed playing a "neutral" character in Pandaria so much: at least I had the opportunity to make plenty of enemies. And in RP, a good enemy is a far more valuable thing to have than a good ally, as long as they are both friends.

I have had plenty of fun in emote fights over the years, But; I wouldn't consider them fun because of the emote fights - But because of the conflict that was happening, and the commitment to the story and plot I and the other participants had. I just don't find the act of spending 20 minutes to do an attack - parry - repost engaging in and by itself. The slowdown nature of emote fights rob them of any momentum the scene usually deserves.

Usually - the build-up to the fight - the planning to the gathering of allies, the getting stuck in the small alley with both ways being blocked. The slow drawing of steel, or the spell wind-up is pretty damned sweet. That rising tension that shit is about to go down, is awesome. As is the aftermath, the licking of wounds, the desperate escape, the exultation of victory only to find out you're actually carrying the head of an Andrek doppleganger - and not actual andrek is freaking awesome. But the act of fight it self, is dreadfully boring in its lack of momentum. And that is disregarding night-elfs that do backflips over other people from a standing position before turning into a dragon and breathing fire.

Amy only ever enjoys emote battles when it involves drowning squires.

I do love me some drowning squires xD

I have the distinct feeling that we actually agree, Amaryl; only that we say the same in two different ways.

Semantics, eh?