Admittedly, I haven't read the other responses, so if I'm just repeating or piggybacking I apologize. I didn't want to lose my train of thought. There were two things that really caught my attention with your post:
1. The Lightning Story: I agree that there should be consequences. Maybe not "I zapped you with lightning, you died. Make a new character." but someone shouldn't be zapping someone unless they strongly dislike them, and that should be reflected in the on-going RP experience. What I mean by this is, they shouldn't forget it happened the next day and call a mulligan. In my opinion, RP should be as fluid as reality when interacting with others. Even if its someone you constantly do dungeons with. If that person insults your mother at a tavern the night before, there should at least be some friction while working together the next day. This, to me, makes characters seem more human and it builds a stronger RP experience for everyone. Friendships growing and breaking should be a big part of it. I didn't play 1.0, so I don't know anyone in the RPC outside of talking on these forums, but I already know who my characters would get along with and disagree with just from reading their wikis, and that to me is very exciting. It also brings me to my second point:
2. The Backstory: You mentioned how you like to make very plain characters. This is something I can very VERY much agree with. Every time someone comes up to me and tells me their heart-wrenching story of vengeance and betrayal and lost love and being the son of a demon and an angel or whatever-the-hell I roll my eyes and even in actual RP conversation I'll say something like "I don't care about your sob story." and walk away just so that person gets that not only do I hate it, but even my character hates it. I'll admit that even I'm guilty of too much backstory sometimes (see A'sili Abarskyf's wiki for examples) but that's only because I like to justify my character's abilities. For instance, how can I explain that a man who spent his entire life on boats knows how to survive in the wild unless I throw in "he spent three years as an adventurer once." On my other character (Abodo Po), I tried to dumb it down a little more and have the game start in the early years of his adventuring so there's a REASON he's where he is at the game's launch. Granted, I was guilty of throwing in a prophetic vision, but that's because of three big reasons (1. I didn't feel it was god-moding, since it only happened once and it happened to Boromir in LOTR and he got corrupted and died in the first book, 2. I needed a reason for this guy to one day decide to be a mage, and 3. I've been reading a lot of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories...) But other than one small detail that might be considered dramatic effect, I try to keep a plainness and add flaws to cover up any accidental god-moding. And, this is turning into a rant but, by flaws I don't mean more "my parents are dead so all I care about is vengeance!", I mean "I'm socially awkward and don't really know what I'm doing here." or "I'm an egotistical smart ass and people don't really like me."
Sorry for the rant on #2, but here's a tl;dr summary of it: Not everyone in the game's world can be the most scarred and powerful character. Some adventurers are just average dudes looking to make a buck or help people out, and that to me makes them more interesting than god-moders.
Gah, Forgot about Epic RP. This'll be a lot quicker than the last one. I love the idea of several different characters from different backgrounds and disciplines coming together to face one big threat (everything from RPers in a dungeon to Justice League comics). I can't speak for everyone else, but if you're looking for a good team-building, forming-storming-norming-performing adventure for either PvE or PvP, both my characters are at your disposal. Some RPers disagree with me, but I love fitting gameplay into story. Sitting in the inn all day talking is fine late at night or on a lazy saturday, but I'm all about epic adventure RP, and it's no fun at all without people to do it with.
1. The Lightning Story: I agree that there should be consequences. Maybe not "I zapped you with lightning, you died. Make a new character." but someone shouldn't be zapping someone unless they strongly dislike them, and that should be reflected in the on-going RP experience. What I mean by this is, they shouldn't forget it happened the next day and call a mulligan. In my opinion, RP should be as fluid as reality when interacting with others. Even if its someone you constantly do dungeons with. If that person insults your mother at a tavern the night before, there should at least be some friction while working together the next day. This, to me, makes characters seem more human and it builds a stronger RP experience for everyone. Friendships growing and breaking should be a big part of it. I didn't play 1.0, so I don't know anyone in the RPC outside of talking on these forums, but I already know who my characters would get along with and disagree with just from reading their wikis, and that to me is very exciting. It also brings me to my second point:
2. The Backstory: You mentioned how you like to make very plain characters. This is something I can very VERY much agree with. Every time someone comes up to me and tells me their heart-wrenching story of vengeance and betrayal and lost love and being the son of a demon and an angel or whatever-the-hell I roll my eyes and even in actual RP conversation I'll say something like "I don't care about your sob story." and walk away just so that person gets that not only do I hate it, but even my character hates it. I'll admit that even I'm guilty of too much backstory sometimes (see A'sili Abarskyf's wiki for examples) but that's only because I like to justify my character's abilities. For instance, how can I explain that a man who spent his entire life on boats knows how to survive in the wild unless I throw in "he spent three years as an adventurer once." On my other character (Abodo Po), I tried to dumb it down a little more and have the game start in the early years of his adventuring so there's a REASON he's where he is at the game's launch. Granted, I was guilty of throwing in a prophetic vision, but that's because of three big reasons (1. I didn't feel it was god-moding, since it only happened once and it happened to Boromir in LOTR and he got corrupted and died in the first book, 2. I needed a reason for this guy to one day decide to be a mage, and 3. I've been reading a lot of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories...) But other than one small detail that might be considered dramatic effect, I try to keep a plainness and add flaws to cover up any accidental god-moding. And, this is turning into a rant but, by flaws I don't mean more "my parents are dead so all I care about is vengeance!", I mean "I'm socially awkward and don't really know what I'm doing here." or "I'm an egotistical smart ass and people don't really like me."
Sorry for the rant on #2, but here's a tl;dr summary of it: Not everyone in the game's world can be the most scarred and powerful character. Some adventurers are just average dudes looking to make a buck or help people out, and that to me makes them more interesting than god-moders.
Gah, Forgot about Epic RP. This'll be a lot quicker than the last one. I love the idea of several different characters from different backgrounds and disciplines coming together to face one big threat (everything from RPers in a dungeon to Justice League comics). I can't speak for everyone else, but if you're looking for a good team-building, forming-storming-norming-performing adventure for either PvE or PvP, both my characters are at your disposal. Some RPers disagree with me, but I love fitting gameplay into story. Sitting in the inn all day talking is fine late at night or on a lazy saturday, but I'm all about epic adventure RP, and it's no fun at all without people to do it with.
