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Verence · **03-22-2010, 12:55 PM**

I would not object to sketches! Also, it occurs to me that I forgot one.

The Berserker - This character is a badass. No, really, they are bad ass. They are so badass that sometimes their own badassitude overwhelms them and anyone in the immediate area should probably quietly step away. This is interesting concept and can make for a tragic hero. After all, how can one do right if they keep losing control of themselves? However, this concept walks a fine line: If your char starts frothing at the mouth and attacking friends every so often, they won't stay friends for long. If they flip out but stay rational, then they're not really a berserker - they just have anger management issues. Either way, any heroism points they've accrued can be quickly buried under the weight of their mental instability as people begin to avoid them for fear of their next outburst.

I can't condemn this one; I've done it myself, though that particular character was literally brain damaged and behaved like someone under heavy sedation except for the rare occasions he fell into an insensate, howling animalistic fury. He wasn't a hero and wasn't even my main char, since I knew exactly what I was getting into. He'd freak people out, they'd tell him to stay the hell away, and he'd mope off into isolation for a while before falling in with another crew. Good for sporadic RP and paced plot arcs, but to try to RP him consistently as a main would have been an exercise in aggravating frustration.

ramdragn · **03-22-2010, 12:56 PM**

In alexander we had a lot of daemons/animal morphing. Specially from a little group up in the Xacabar and the glacier.

Also a lot of anime knock offs RPs were made. They were fun at first but it was kept done (specially Naruto and Wolf rain)

We only had 1 Hybrid in the whole time I was there. She started as a girl mithra and grew up becoming a warrior, then a scholar, then a high official, she was betrayed and last I knew she was a shaman in a hidden nomad group. (just an example of how exciting can something be when is rare.)

prison breaks were rather kept by days (needed to be certain amount of time jailed before trying or coming up with a escape. The regular time jailed was three days. if they wanted to stay longer they could; if no one online when he or she wanted out , then with a valid RP sent via pol {I wonder if we will have POL} he or she was able to escape)

We also had a little problem with RPing water. When someone wanted to escape or leave the RP he or she usually dived into the windurst river (for example) and swam away. We had to put dangerous fishes in the waters so if they tried that they had to RP how they avoid them all (no "didn't found any fish" allowed)

Pregnant woman! . . . never had one RPing a full role, the few we had already had children around.

Religious (a.k.a. Gods/semiGods) These were banned for the most part for three reason:
1) They usually wanted or ended being omnipotent
2) They wanted to change the lore of Altana and Promathia
3) Some tried to get tricky with foresight or God signs.
EXCEPTION TO RELIGION: There was a group called Wedding Bells. They had a religious RP and offered Wedding Ceremonies (which were awesome they did an amassing Job) followed by the party (which was even more awesome). From that RP many small slices of life happened where there was Bachelor Party, Bride panicking, and for some reason a featherless chocobo festival . . . (don't ask happened once :silent: ) They did charged fees for the ceremonies depending on what the people wanted and how cheap was in the AH (fireworks, wedding dresses, rings, places, etc.) . . . good times good times (sighs)

Eva · **03-22-2010, 12:56 PM**

I suppose 'Lone Wolf' is a bit cliche, but I like to think I pulled it off pretty well in FFXI. I'd participated in RP and usually kept to the sidelines, often going to events grudgingly and with little enthusiasm. The character was intended to be respected more than liked (FFXI mirrors RL?) and I had a lot of fun dancing the line between all-out isolation and "being a good sport."

I'll add another since it was a hot topic for awhile about my own character.

Cliche or not, I left a lot of details about one of Dyterium's grandparents to the unknown and a number of people were led to believe that he was 1/4 Zilart. He never had any superpowers or anything like that -unless a sort of imagined sense that he was some kind of prophet counts. I'd had a debate with myself and with a few people in the LS at the time as to whether this would be plausible or not and while there was really no objection, I rather enjoyed the fact that nobody ever really know whether it was true or not, even at the very end.

I am in full agreement with Verence, though. Loosely-regulated RP fosters creativity by reducing boundaries and making a broader range of possibilities... possible... Such RP that encourages over-the-top behavior is fine and well for some people, and I am sure that there are people that will be drawn to such groups. I'm just not one of them is all.

Also while it's fresh in my mind, vampirism was a pretty hot issue for awhile there but it was only ever discussed and I don't think we ever had anyone actually openly RP it. The common argument was that it existed in the game already, but was uncommon and probably would have grown stale pretty quickly if done. We also had someone who was considering doing a werewolf sort of storyline after the gnoles came out in WotG, but wound up leaving the LS before she could get a chance to do anything with it.

**03-22-2010, 12:57 PM**

ramdragn Wrote:{I wonder if we will have POL}

No, SE has said FFXIV will be separate from POL. You'll more than likely manage your FFXIV account through Square Enix's website.

As for cliche RP elements, I didn't really get to know FFXI's RP community very well, but I've seen my share in other communities. The Drizzt clones, the furries with massive persecution complexes, the teenage boys who make female characters solely for the purpose of having them strip at any given moment, the people who's class and alignment define every aspect of their personality, the pity magnet, the practically perfect in every way Mary Sue, etc. There's a massive list of roleplaying cliches somewhere on the internet, but I can't remember where I saw it. Did these sorts of characters ever become popular in XI? I don't think I remember seeing a single furry stereotype in the short amount of time I was involved in XI.

On another note, one thing I've noticed about roleplaying on MMOs is, you get far less powergamers and rules lawyers and the like. The people who care more about exploiting the system to make the most uberpowerful min-maxed characters they can possibly get away with. I guess you could say that the majority of MMO players actually fall into that category, but from what I've seen it doesn't carry over into the roleplaying communities quite as often. Was it the same in XI?

Smiling River · **03-22-2010, 12:58 PM**

Quote:people who's class and alignment define every aspect of their personality, the pity magnet

This actually made me laugh a little on the inside. I believe a lot of people, especially new RPers first made character were often flat, basic "I love my race/nation I hate your opposing race/nation" because the lore they would read at first strongly outlined the national differences and the differences between races.

Very Dmitri Martin of me xD

**03-22-2010, 12:58 PM**

Haha, I completely forgot about national allegiance. I would have imagined that wouldn't have been as much of a problem in XI as it is in other games, since in XI the playable races get along so well. There's a bit of prejudice, especially in San d'Oria, but it's nothing like the race wars you get in other settings. If I remember correctly, the last war between any of the playable races happened so long ago that only the oldest characters remember it.

Nanapariri · **03-22-2010, 12:59 PM**

Kes Wrote:I suppose 'Lone Wolf' is a bit cliche, but I like to think I pulled it off pretty well in FFXI. I'd participated in RP and usually kept to the sidelines, often going to events grudgingly and with little enthusiasm. The character was intended to be respected more than liked (FFXI mirrors RL?) and I had a lot of fun dancing the line between all-out isolation and "being a good sport."

Cliche I think mainly happen because people don't really know how to play them. Having played a lone wolf myself I can say you hit the nail on the head. Its an art to play a character like this because you do have to dnce on a fine line to keep others interested in the character. People fall into default cliches when they aren't really sure how to play them. Like I've seen people like this snapping at and attacking a lot of people for really stupid things never considering they should have a reason behind a sore spot and not have a million of them. Its the small peeks behind the armor that fastinate people enough to care about the lone wolf. Tsu's weakness is what she herself can't understand, a passive and completely controlled individual who doesn't get upset at her insults designed to keep others away from herself. Tsu ended up married to such a person to everyone's shock.

Kes Wrote:Cliche or not, I left a lot of details about one of Dyterium's grandparents to the unknown and a number of people were led to believe that he was 1/4 Zilart. He never had any superpowers or anything like that -unless a sort of imagined sense that he was some kind of prophet counts. I'd had a debate with myself and with a few people in the LS at the time as to whether this would be plausible or not and while there was really no objection, I rather enjoyed the fact that nobody ever really know whether it was true or not, even at the very end.

Again a few elements of mystery aren't bad if its not just an excuse to not write a background. My character Ashtari is Jakoh Wahcandalo's granddaughter but her grandfather is in question. I played on the whole rumor that Jakoh was involved with Gilgamish mystery in game to great effect. Ash didn't know because it was a secret even from her though the fact that Gilgamish treated her like family fanned the flames of curiosity. lol

Kes Wrote:I am in full agreement with Verence, though. Loosely-regulated RP fosters creativity by reducing boundaries and making a broader range of possibilities... possible... Such RP that encourages over-the-top behavior is fine and well for some people, and I am sure that there are people that will be drawn to such groups. I'm just not one of them is all.

Same here I like some boundaries or I think the suspension of disbielf becomes too great to take such a character seriously.

Kes Wrote:Also while it's fresh in my mind, vampirism was a pretty hot issue for awhile there but it was only ever discussed and I don't think we ever had anyone actually openly RP it. The common argument was that it existed in the game already, but was uncommon and probably would have grown stale pretty quickly if done. We also had someone who was considering doing a werewolf sort of storyline after the gnoles came out in WotG, but wound up leaving the LS before she could get a chance to do anything with it.

In my previous LS we had 1 vampire that did a good job and one werewolfish character that never got off of the ground also. When we decided no supernatural for our new LS he rewrote the vampire though. I got a bit of flack for using an idea of a Dark Lilly style witch for a storyline though but it never got really supernatural at all. It ended with her being killed lol.

Aveline · **03-22-2010, 12:59 PM**

Hahaha I think everyone covered most of the cliches I saw on Asura. Families slaughtered by orcs was a big one, in the early days.

Jakky · **03-22-2010, 01:01 PM**

Mythis Wrote:Hahaha I think everyone covered most of the cliches I saw on Asura. Families slaughtered by orcs was a big one, in the early days.

Haha! Aaah, the Orc massacre orphan. Who the hell were these Orcs, and why were they never caught?

We had some half-breeds over on Phoenix, including a Mithra/Taru mix once, I think. I had to construct an anti- psychological imagery smokescreen with which to distract my mind everytime they were online. (I spent a lot of time thinking about puppies. ArenÃ¢Â€Â™t they lovely.)

We had the half-demons. And half-dragons. And Vampires, way before Vampires were actually sighted in VanaÃ¢Â€Â™diel in a post-TAU patch. And you can bet these folks looked nothing like them. Blood sucking reanimated corpses who arenÃ¢Â€Â™t sexually attractive? Preposterous!

I love you so my darling but IalsowantTOEATYOUNOMNOMANGSTANGST.

Also; the central, populated urban area bust-up. You know the one; it probably left you thinking, dryly, Ã¢Â€Â˜Where the hell are the guards while all this is happening?Ã¢Â€Â™

Probably why those Orcs never got caught.

Ã¢Â€Â¦ Embarrassingly, IÃ¢Â€Â™ve been guilty of a few of these in my younger years.

**03-22-2010, 01:01 PM**

Jakky Wrote:We had the half-demons. And half-dragons. And Vampires, way before Vampires were actually sighted in VanaÃ¢Â€Â™diel in a post-TAU patch. And you can bet these folks looked nothing like them. Blood sucking reanimated corpses who arenÃ¢Â€Â™t sexually attractive? Preposterous!

Whenever I see someone playing a typical modern vampire outside of an appropriate setting, I always get the urge to roll up a vampire like Count Orlok- something hideous and abhorrent, more beast than man. I'd probably do it if not for the fact that I'd essentially be creating a character solely for the purpose of mocking another, which seems a bit petty to me.

Jakky Wrote:Ã¢Â€Â¦ Embarrassingly, IÃ¢Â€Â™ve been guilty of a few of these in my younger years.

I think, if we're honest with ourselves, we can admit that we all are.

Verence · **03-22-2010, 01:02 PM**

Jakky Wrote:Also; the central, populated urban area bust-up. You know the one; it probably left you thinking, dryly, Ã¢Â€Â˜Where the hell are the guards while all this is happening?Ã¢Â€Â™

Oh, gods, yes. TAVERN BRAWL! That spills into the streets and lasts half the night... where are the guards... guys? Whenever I was involved in such I'd generally start making OOC comments or just, as a sack, say "OK, the guards start showing up" but I've definitely seen this happen. Or for variety, try a couple of not-strictly-lawful types discussing their long and sordid criminal careers right next to a guard post. I was in such an RP once and my char more or less stood there going "Guys? Er. You might want to-- gah! Talk more quietly! ...I'm going to go stand over there now, please don't follow me." Nowadays when there's public unrest, usually one of the more level-headed characters will yell at the fastest runner to go GET guards.

Laychield Wrote:I think, if we're honest with ourselves, we can admit that we all are.

My first tabletop RP session ever Wrote:"Hey buttheads! Are you pirates?"

That is all that I will say. That is all that needs to be said.

**03-22-2010, 01:03 PM**

What about a nice Lone Wolf guy? Possibly a wondering samurai figure. A guy who travels on his own but would gladly help some one if they were being overwhelmed by a group of monsters or were in need of any other kind of help. He would also gladly accept help himself too if he was in a pickle, but he wouldn't openly seek it out.

**03-22-2010, 01:04 PM**

That's not really a cliche or anything, but if your character is a loner by the very definition you're either going to A) have to work hard OOCly to ensure that you have people to RP with or B) not RP all that much and never get close to anyone. Which works sometimes if you don't like people or something, I guess.

Aveline · **03-22-2010, 01:04 PM**

Laychield Wrote:I think, if we're honest with ourselves, we can admit that we all are.

Yeah I think the most important thing to realize about RP cliches (especially the cheesy ones!) is that they oftentimes come from inexperience/unfamiliarity with roleplaying in the world. Hopefully this time around though, those of us who RPed a lot in XI can kind of steer new XIV roleplayers towards topics like this to give them examples of what they might want to avoid. I joke a lot about placing bets on how many new Ala Mihgo orphans we're going to have whose families were all murdered by the Garleans. Tongue

**03-22-2010, 01:05 PM**

Mythis Wrote:I joke a lot about placing bets on how many new Ala Mihgo orphans we're going to have whose families were all murdered by the Garleans.

My money is on a legion of good-aligned Duskwight Elezen venturing forth from wherever it is that Duskwight Elezen live on a quest to prove themselves worthy despite the sins of their kin. Bonus points for anyone who has lavender eyes, dual wields scimitars, and has two z's in his name.

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Cliche RP Elements

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes