(08-22-2013, 05:36 PM)Uther Wrote: I think it's ridiculous to discourage RP weapon exchange when we have people in this community with magitek robot arms and no one bats an eye (No offense if you're reading this.). If anyone is that concerned about what weapons someone is RPing vs. what weapons their character is using, they need to calm down. It's not a big deal. At all. It's not a question of can you complain, it's a question of should you complain.
Who's complaining? The OP asked for opinions, and they've been given. (For what it's worth, I do bat an eye at the magitek robot arms, but again, it's not my character; he can do what he likes.)
At any rate, if you want to say your weapon X is actually Y (or no weapon at all) in RP with me, then that's how it is, and I'm fine with running with that.
I RPed semi-regularly with a guy in EQ who had a clockwork mechanical arm, and we had a ball. In CoH, we had people explain kinetic energy blasts (which were blue in game and did bashing damage) as blasts of water, as there were no water powers in game. In practice, I think most people will chalk it up to "flavor" and run with it.However, there are real downsides to playing something that's not how you appear, from the likely and minimal ("What's that weapon so-and-so uses again instead of a lance?" and "Cool lance!" -- "((That's not a lance.))") to the unlikely but incredibly obnoxious ("No, truly, that is a sword. Perhaps you should seek the services of a Conjurer for your mental illness?"). If you want to do it, fine, just be aware of the potential downside and how it impacts your RP, and at least consider that there are other ways to achieve many common narrative goals (such as being cool and unique) that don't require as much work and don't have those downsides.
I think in practice, the biggest downside is having to repeatedly tell people about the difference, just as those with odd voices or accents for their character have to do the same. However, there will always be people who are going to not be fine with it for whatever reason, and you will lose access to RPing with them. Whether that matters to a player or not is up to them.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
