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Caspar · **03-02-2015, 01:44 PM**

I think it's more like he wants to have a more involved plot that can't be done in one place in one sitting like tavern rp, but to do that I think you'd either have to take the initiative to start a story like that and find people interested about it, or hunt for a preexisting one to fit your character into. I joined an FC for that specific reason. I don't really believe in sitting around waiting for plot to happen so I tried to make one happen myself. I think people are interested in that kind of rp, but are too shy or lack the confidence to manage a story themselves and thus don't start anything more involved than the typical tavern dive.

FreelanceWizard · **03-02-2015, 01:46 PM**

(03-02-2015, 01:22 PM)Gegenji Wrote: Alternatively, perhaps they see their progression in the dungeons and such AS their grand tales of adventure, and prefer to have the RP as their downtime. Their return from their hunts and their delves, to relax and unwind over a pint of ale and a story or two. I would figure such a person wouldn't want to leap headlong again into adventure after just coming down from one.

This is a particularly interesting point, IMO, that gets back to a fundamental difference in how RP is viewed in MMOs. There's one camp that sees the things that happen in game -- braving dangerous monsters and traps, griping over that idiot "conjurer" who kept forcing a retreat because he couldn't heal his way out of a paper bag, and so on -- as potentially IC and potentially part of a character's story. Usually, this is all "genericized" so it's not just running the same dungeon over and over or doing things only The Warrior of Light could do.

In the other camp, you have those who feel that the content of the game is a game and should be treated as fully OOC. They feel it shouldn't be included in a character's story for a variety of reasons (provides too much power to the character, doesn't fit with concept, too difficult to make generic, or simply don't like it), and they typically prefer creating their own stories that are completely separate from whatever happens in the game.

Unfortunately, the positions of these two camps are rather difficult to reconcile, and the clash between them is at the root of a lot of battles over what constitutes "correct" RP. The first camp gets chided for having characters that are too powerful and for doing too much hangout RP without any real tales of adventure, and the second camp gets chided for trying to make every character mundane and ignoring what's happening in the setting.

This is a conflict that is as old as RP in MMOs. Smile

The nice part about hangout RP (at a tavern, an FC house, or elsewhere) is that it's the one thing both camps can agree upon existing. It's the neutral ground of RP, where those with disparate views on RP and disparate character concepts can get together and interact. That's part of why it's so popular, IMO.

(03-02-2015, 01:22 PM)Gegenji Wrote: How a character treats a loved one can speak loads, and the interactions between them can leave to quite meaningful results... either in marriage or even a nasty break-up. Character progression doesn't have to come from the end of a sword.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Smile

EDIT: Oh. Right. Staying on topic... sometimes I've "pulled the punch" of what my character would do IC in order to keep a story from crashing to a halt. More than once I'd had the opportunity to kick a person out of a group ICly for something they've done, and I've had my character opt not to do so because of the OOC consideration of ruining someone's story. I've also had my character not know things that they should have known in order to keep a story moving or to give someone else the spotlight. I don't have any hard and fast rules for when or what I do in this regard; I just try to intuit when it might be beneficial to a story, then act accordingly. Smile

Cato · **03-02-2015, 01:49 PM**

(03-02-2015, 01:44 PM)Caspar Wrote: I think it's more like he wants to have a more involved plot that can't be done in one place in one sitting like tavern rp, but to do that I think you'd either have to take the initiative to start a story like that and find people interested about it, or hunt for a preexisting one to fit your character into. I joined an FC for that specific reason. I don't really believe in sitting around waiting for plot to happen so I tried to make one happen myself. I think people are interested in that kind of rp, but are too shy or lack the confidence to manage a story themselves and thus don't start anything more involved than the typical tavern dive.

That's pretty much what I was getting at, yeah! Smile

Gegenji · **03-02-2015, 02:00 PM**

(03-02-2015, 01:49 PM)Graeham Ridgefield Wrote:
(03-02-2015, 01:44 PM)Caspar Wrote: I think it's more like he wants to have a more involved plot that can't be done in one place in one sitting like tavern rp, but to do that I think you'd either have to take the initiative to start a story like that and find people interested about it, or hunt for a preexisting one to fit your character into. I joined an FC for that specific reason. I don't really believe in sitting around waiting for plot to happen so I tried to make one happen myself. I think people are interested in that kind of rp, but are too shy or lack the confidence to manage a story themselves and thus don't start anything more involved than the typical tavern dive.

That's pretty much what I was getting at, yeah!

Ah, as mentioned. It just seemed like the examples you were giving were of the more... violent, "adventurey" adventure types, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, as mentioned, it might be something you might have to orchestrate yourself. Or find someone orchestrating something close to what you'd like and trying to fit your character into it. It's something that has to be worked for in either case, though. Especially if you take it into your own hands. I have a bit of a... story-driven event planned for the future, and I'm still fretting over the details.

Kage · **03-02-2015, 02:05 PM**

(03-02-2015, 01:46 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: EDIT: Oh. Right. Staying on topic... sometimes I've "pulled the punch" of what my character would do IC in order to keep a story from crashing to a halt. More than once I'd had the opportunity to kick a person out of a group ICly for something they've done, and I've had my character opt not to do so because of the OOC consideration of ruining someone's story. I've also had my character not know things that they should have known in order to keep a story moving or to give someone else the spotlight. I don't have any hard and fast rules for when or what I do in this regard; I just try to intuit when it might be beneficial to a story, then act accordingly.

Thank you for sharing your experience/action!

When I talked about death I didn't mean that it had to be that drastic a change or detour. It just happened to be the moment that stuck to me while I was watching the show :>

When I talk about things that may not be completely in character I'm talking about small things like setting up a character or two having a meetup in a place he ordinarily wouldn't be at. Maybe the character needed a change of pace? Maybe he got suspicious about who was following him and needed to step out of a routine? Maybe he was trying to start one?

I also don't mean to tell anyone what contributes to a better story which is why I put it in quotes. I think that's ultimately up to everyone. I'm just super curious as a person who came to Roleplay loving narratives and the large stories involved. The death and the accompanying quote seemed to strike me is all :V

Edit: Or it could be big things. Like why did a Sultansworn finally find himself stuck as a Brass Blade doing shitty stuff to one of his friends in an intimidation act? >.>'

Caspar · **03-02-2015, 02:26 PM**

Generally when I have to go out of character to make something happen, I just try to think of an IC reason that it would happen. I don't like to do that too often, so I might want my character to be fuzzily defined enough in some personality elements that I can make it occur. Or I organize with other people a "plot contrivance" like an interruption or other distraction or something to prevent a scene from being ruined, then deal with the fallout later.

I tend to be pretty firmly in the 'play her as she is' crowd, where I try to just consider what the character would do, and not what I'd do, until after a scene is done. In the past, that's actually destroyed some pen and paper campaigns I was in when people blended and couldn't understand my character was being mean, and not me. If a group did something my character didn't approve of, I played it as it was and that would antagonize them. So I've tried to be more flexible about it in later rp, but overall, I think that instinct is very alive in me. :[

allgivenover · **03-02-2015, 02:52 PM**

(03-02-2015, 01:46 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: EDIT: Oh. Right. Staying on topic... sometimes I've "pulled the punch" of what my character would do IC in order to keep a story from crashing to a halt. More than once I'd had the opportunity to kick a person out of a group ICly for something they've done, and I've had my character opt not to do so because of the OOC consideration of ruining someone's story. I've also had my character not know things that they should have known in order to keep a story moving or to give someone else the spotlight. I don't have any hard and fast rules for when or what I do in this regard; I just try to intuit when it might be beneficial to a story, then act accordingly.

This is me exactly.

Mae · **03-02-2015, 03:54 PM**

When I create a character, I give them an 'ultimate goal' and a really loose timeline of things I really want to happen to the character. Everything else that can and does happen between creation and the possible achievement of that ultimate goal, if it's for the good of the story (mine, someone else who I'm OOCly or ICly friendly with, or with a group I hold in high regard), I'll at least put a lot of consideration into doing something drastic for the good of a story. I had a character in another game that got stabbed, broken, burned, put in a coma, left for dead, branded, cut up, temporarily blinded, enthralled, kidnapped, tortured, mentally tortured, and cut open so things could be hidden in her (mule for illegal arcane goods), all for the sake of "making a better story". Sometimes these things would sideline me for a few weeks/couple months from major action, but only once -- and that would be the blinding incident -- was I OOCly unhappy with the whole thing.

Now... breaking character for the sake of story... I try to make characters that have enough flex in any direction that I don't have to break character. There is one exception to this, though:

I have another RP group I run with, in another game. I like the people in that group, save one person who... I think we all just feel so sorry for the guy, that we can't bring ourselves to kick him out. We suspect that he might have a bit of a handicap, but we can't confirm because it seems that not only does he hold a regular job without an advocate/assistant, he has a driver's license and is the caretaker for his elderly parents. Responses from him take a very long time (he will sometimes just go unresponsive for up to a few hours in the middle of a conversation), and he seems... unable to understand the consequences of his IC actions. My character, specifically, hates his character. Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hates his. She also holds him in the highest suspicion, and thinks he's useless and a coward. Granted, my character's default setting when it comes to men is that she hates them, but they do have every opportunity to get in her better graces. This was explained to him OOCly when he first joined the group, and several times since then. He and I have had several conversations (at his request) on how to get his character into her better graces. I've even told him exactly what to do, but he constantly immediately backs up these actions with his character saying or doing something that puts him in an even worse place than where he was before -- it's always one step forward, two steps back with him. It's to the point where for the sake of the group's RP, I HAVE to ignore him ICly or it'd just be neverending IC bickering.

If my character ever gets turned into a monster, she's turning into a Tonberry... and "Everyone's Grudge" is going to one-hit KO him.

Similarly, he gets a lot of... well... what I'd call 'pity RP' from me. It's not stuff that is for the better of the story, it's just stuff so that he's not sitting in the corner doing nothing on slow days, and that I sort of retcon in my own mind to not really have happened because... it wouldn't have happened. Stuff that breaks the 'mechanics' of how my character works/interacts with the setting's environment. Or just how she interacts with other people. Someone is not going to sneak up absolutely silently on her while they're wearing plate armor and coming from the direction she's already looking and they're not using a sneak or invisible spell/ability. Or pick her up with one arm and run with her like she's a football when she weighs 100lbs more than what they say their max lift/carry ability is. Or for her to stay seated at a bar next to someone she hates and have a polite conversation with.

... I'm tired and rambling, going to shut up now and take a nap...

IvikBlack · **03-02-2015, 04:18 PM**

My approach takes RPing as a bit different than telling a story. A lot of times when I RP I just show up to things and see what happens. Storytelling requires a lot of control and thought in advance, this is a bit more like improv for me.

What that means is that when I want a story I have to plan aspects out in advance and treat it like a DnD session. I give enough free-form to it that what happens can have a wide-variety of outcomes. That's why I RP.

When I feel like writing a story that's more over-arching and better planned out... I do it. I write fiction and I RP, and to me they serve different needs.

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