I'd been meaning to respond to this topic for a while but for some reason I just haven't gotten around to it. The question is 'Are too many people 'fearless'? And to that I answer a resounding 'Yes.'Â
I have absolutely noticed the unrealistic amounts of fearlessness in characters since my first RP character in a MMO but it became even more noticeable after diving into tabletop. As always, everything in tabletop depends on your group/DM, but played by the books, it is possible for your character to die at any given moment.Â
This reality has absolutely encouraged me to play more conservatively with my characters and adds an intense story element to tabletop RP that MMO RP does not get. That said, I vastly prefer MMO RP. As I have made more characters, I have steered away from tough, and hardened warriors to characters who are quite capable of being frightened or freaked out by the occurrences of RP.
Having your character be afraid, beyond such things as phobias and extending into combat scenarios or frightening monsters, doesn't make your badass warrior less badass, it makes them human. I feel like it adds more fun elements and conflicts to RP that I personally would love to see more of. It's more interesting than no one ever reacting to big scary monster ever. I think being immune to it because "you see this stuff all the time" is not exactly compelling or correct 100% of the time. (or even the majority of the time)
It's a bit off topic but I also want to point out there is a difference between a 'fear' and a 'phobia.' I have a phobia IRL and phobias are such intense fears that they leak into your everyday life and can stop you from enjoying things that normal people often enjoy. Having a fear or a big fear of something is different. After living in a surburban area all my life and then moving to a metro area, I do have a fear of being mugged or picked off the streets but such a fear does not invade my everyday life the way my phobia does.Â
Most people are simply afraid of spiders.Â
A phobia of spiders would probably involve you not being able to look at them, leading to you obsessively scrubbing down your home and setting up spider traps everywhere to make sure they don't get near you, you check everywhere you go for spiders first before you sit down or put something on, when you go to a friend's house you realize their house has not been spider trapped so you patrol their house first before you can relax, you probably have trouble sleeping at night in fear of them or they are in your nightmares every single night.
Anyway, I think people would find some good RP opportunities if they allowed their character to feel fear once in a while. And not just fears of spiders or water or losing one's friends, but the very real of that axe dealing a fatal blow to you. If you don't, that's okay too though. I won't dictate how anyone should RP their characters.
I have absolutely noticed the unrealistic amounts of fearlessness in characters since my first RP character in a MMO but it became even more noticeable after diving into tabletop. As always, everything in tabletop depends on your group/DM, but played by the books, it is possible for your character to die at any given moment.Â
This reality has absolutely encouraged me to play more conservatively with my characters and adds an intense story element to tabletop RP that MMO RP does not get. That said, I vastly prefer MMO RP. As I have made more characters, I have steered away from tough, and hardened warriors to characters who are quite capable of being frightened or freaked out by the occurrences of RP.
Having your character be afraid, beyond such things as phobias and extending into combat scenarios or frightening monsters, doesn't make your badass warrior less badass, it makes them human. I feel like it adds more fun elements and conflicts to RP that I personally would love to see more of. It's more interesting than no one ever reacting to big scary monster ever. I think being immune to it because "you see this stuff all the time" is not exactly compelling or correct 100% of the time. (or even the majority of the time)
It's a bit off topic but I also want to point out there is a difference between a 'fear' and a 'phobia.' I have a phobia IRL and phobias are such intense fears that they leak into your everyday life and can stop you from enjoying things that normal people often enjoy. Having a fear or a big fear of something is different. After living in a surburban area all my life and then moving to a metro area, I do have a fear of being mugged or picked off the streets but such a fear does not invade my everyday life the way my phobia does.Â
Most people are simply afraid of spiders.Â
A phobia of spiders would probably involve you not being able to look at them, leading to you obsessively scrubbing down your home and setting up spider traps everywhere to make sure they don't get near you, you check everywhere you go for spiders first before you sit down or put something on, when you go to a friend's house you realize their house has not been spider trapped so you patrol their house first before you can relax, you probably have trouble sleeping at night in fear of them or they are in your nightmares every single night.
Anyway, I think people would find some good RP opportunities if they allowed their character to feel fear once in a while. And not just fears of spiders or water or losing one's friends, but the very real of that axe dealing a fatal blow to you. If you don't, that's okay too though. I won't dictate how anyone should RP their characters.
Now with a wiki! Flickering Ember's wiki
