Ignacius

You must not have worn black, had long hair, or listened to heavy metal in high school. My bag was searched regularly, and not only did I not break the law, I was a very good and attentive student. I was never violent. But I think I was checked once every few months, and the police generally hovered around our area in high school. When someone called in a bomb threat one year, the police subpoenaed my phone records and checked my cell phone to make sure I hadn't called it in. All based entirely on my appearance and the music I listened to. I don't recall a lot of indignation on our behalf after Columbine, though. It's just how it is in the US.

That's why, when anyone ever says that they want to play a villain, my first advice is to watch the entirety of The Wire, if they haven't already. David Simon created a show almost completely filled with moral ambiguity done right, and created villains that people relate to so well that they often don't realize they're talking about a villainous character. Now that's how it's done right. So much more mileage out of that than your common everyday Skeletor. Execution definitely matters a lot. It would make me very happy, for instance, if I can make RPers both revile and pity villain A, debate on the morality of Villain B, hate Villain C, and sympathize with Villain D. I hope they are undecided or conflicted regarding the intentions and morality of Villain E. Making any of these things happen will make up for, to me at least, all the old Rp I never got to finish. I want to believe I have the skill to do all that, but I won't know until I try it. My personal favorite is when the paragon and the heroic figure has to come to you for help, and soil their dainty hands by being part of your dark, dangerous, disgusting world. Some of my favorite RPs of all time!

Be lucky it's sad; these can be scary. The last really big implosion tried to torpedo my IRL marriage. My wife learned a LOT about recognizing bleed early that day. Luckily, we keep chatlogs.

I say this as a roleplayer who's made the mistake before a few times, so believe me, I'm not getting judgmental. Someone had to teach me this stuff, too. And, again, like I said, it's sometimes difficult to spot because so much can be hidden in the IC interactions. But man do you not want this kind of thing to blow up in your face. I've been on hand for quite a few spectacular RP meltdowns when someone's OOC plans, OOC feelings, and OOC issues suddenly exploded and took a chunk of the block with them. I don't know how bad the ones you've seen so far have been, but believe me when I say it's worth the caution.

Let me ask you, do you think the third party intentionally directed the IC behavior in order to facilitate the breakdown for an OOC reason? I mean, if this was all organic and natural between the characters, it's just a matter of letting everyone know that it's nothing personal and maybe broadening your character pool. The problem's going to become bad when it goes beyond that, when people are essentially inflicting their characters like fire axes to get what they want OOC. If you're getting anywhere into that latter area, disregard what I said about organic character reactions, because organic character reactions might already be out the window as a solution. Again, I don't have the details, just going from what you're telling me and my experience as a roleplayer. Be very careful as you examine what's going on OOCly. As long as you don't think there's a problem, just go with what your character would do. That's just how it is.

Believe me, it's got nothing to do with RPC's bleed paranoia. I'm just a man who's seen this kind of thing blow up before, and I recognize the symptoms. The best laid plans can blow up, and that's just what happens. If we wanted otherwise, we'd be writing books, not roleplaying with other people. I think the moment that you're legitimately worried about someone's OOC reaction to an IC issue, there's a problem somewhere. Like I said, no one has to take me seriously, but that's the kind of thing that would absolutely be sending up a red flag for me. Either I need to check myself or someone else. Bleed is a problem, and if you don't take care of it early, it can get much, much worse.

I know it's not something that you'd probably want to deal with, but seriously, if this is a question, there is a problem somewhere. Honestly, if there wasn't an OOC problem, this isn't something that needs discussed. If your character has a whiskey every time he walks into a bar, you don't need to deal with the OOC merits of whether or not you should get a whiskey. Be very, very careful. I don't pretend to know the details of what's going on (frankly, I'm on Gilgamesh because I worry a lot about bleed), but from the very first post, that's been what I'm trying to hint at. You don't need to take my advice and you can do with it what you want, but if this is even coming up, there's a problem. It could be you, it could be someone else, but the fact of the matter is that if you know what the character should be doing in this situation, it's a no-brainer.

Well this is an interesting point because I think a significant number of people feel this way, but let me ask you this: You've got an RPer you've shared months of in character development with. You decide to bring in a new character who's RP would make your old RP difficult. You two talk for a monthish, then start your new RP with your new RPer that affects your original RPer. About a week in the first guy comes back to you and says, "Well hey, this really effects my plot too, I understand its your characters but I should have been consulted. Even so I want to remain IC and avoid drama so do you mind if I join in the RP." You let your old friend join in your new "plot" with this new guy, and he drops an atomic bomb on the plot that you knew was coming but not your new partner. Suppose they disagree, new guy doesn't like old guy, but old guy's right you are affecting his character too. What do you as one of the points in this triangle and probably the most important point as you're the mutual link? Do you go with your old stand by because you have exponentially more history with that person or the new guy? What do you tell either of them? Do you write off your old RPs to line them up with the new guy even if that's not fair to the old? It raises a ton of questions that don't have good answers at all. What does it have to do with the other people? It's what your character does that matters. If it leads you away from your old RP partner and you want to continue, you can try to make an alt. But characters have to do what characters have to do. I feel this is insufficient as the character isn't a person and thus does not have a will of their own. It's perfectly fine to plan things out if you want to make a plot. Improvisation will only take you so far. As a group writing project, this plot thread failed because the participants did not have meshing styles, had opposing goals, did not communicate, and while endpoint and starting point were established, I suspect the plot structure initially agreed upon lacked the flexibility to continue regardless. I'm fine with spontaneous rp, but to say planned rp is not rp as Hammersmith did is a rash generalization. It works better for some writers than others. Some are satisfied with playing a bit role and "living the life." Others such as myself are constantly working towards a goal. Every rp I have done since my start, both planned and otherwise, I have used to push towards one or more of the five or six possible conclusions I've considered. Nothing is set in stone, but it is a real plot, not random rp. The key difference from simply playing solitaire and writing fan fiction is that it's collaborative work that exploits the different voice and stylistic tendencies of multiple writers, and as such you need some room to modify on the fly. Do not account for this factor and you'll end up with OP's situation "Will" isn't what I'm going for, and it's far from insufficient. It's pure, is what it is. See there's a problem with some of this... There's a problem called OOC bleed. It is the absolute plague of RP. That's when things that exist outside character bleed into character reactions. Times when your character does something entirely out of character because you are friends with another player. Times when players develop somewhat romantic feelings for each other and it bleeds into character development. Times when RP becomes more about players than about characters. This is a blaring red siren to anyone who's seen this. The problem is that what you're not recognizing is that the OP's situation is a huge, flaming, red problem. Something has gone horribly wrong somewhere if this has become an OOC situation. There has to be a sharp and bold division between what you think and want in-character and out-of-character. That's why this is important: OOC is completely and utterly inconsequential. ICly, the character goes back to his base. He values his original friends first. If this is what the character would do in this situation, then this is what the character should do in this situation. End of debate. If the new player doesn't like that, the only thing that needs to be said is, "It's nothing personal, but this is IC. I can run an alt with you or something, but this is what makes sense. I'm sorry if that's a problem, but my RP can't be driven by OOC issues." What you do OOC, explaining why it works this way IC, trying to diffuse the situation, making sure they know it's not personal in any way, that's all bomb-diffusing. But in-character? I might be something of an old-school purist, but the second I have to start dealing with people's OOC feelings for IC actions, that's not a delicate situation. That's a five-siren, red-flag warning that something's wrong. Curve balls, even ones that are bad for your character, are just development turns. They aren't meant to be personal. Believe me, some of my worst moments as a roleplayer weren't story moments, but moments when bleed suddenly turned into a whirling tornado of OOC rage. That's something I start heading off early, when it's starting as a bleed situation. By the time you get to the point where you're forced to deal with OOC disentangling to get on with your RP, it's already too late (not that it's necessarily Saint's fault, these things can be remarkably hard to see for what they are until it's too late).

Right here would be the problem in the situation, I think. You know a bomb is coming, and you know it's a bomb, but the new friend was not let in on it. At the very least, if you have even the faintest inkling that it could cause problems, it might be a good idea to let them know. Communication, as always, is critical - and this right here is a lack of communication. That's a great point, but it still doesn't really address the issue either. Do you tell the guy dropping the bomb he can't do it even if its something his character has done in the past? What if the new guy refuses to go along with it. At this point because one person doesn't like the other, maybe because they didn't know about him or whatever, their OOC ideas of what the plot should be is effectively blocking out another character. As the mediator between the two how do you handle that? What would your character do?

Well this is an interesting point because I think a significant number of people feel this way, but let me ask you this: You've got an RPer you've shared months of in character development with. You decide to bring in a new character who's RP would make your old RP difficult. You two talk for a monthish, then start your new RP with your new RPer that affects your original RPer. About a week in the first guy comes back to you and says, "Well hey, this really effects my plot too, I understand its your characters but I should have been consulted. Even so I want to remain IC and avoid drama so do you mind if I join in the RP." You let your old friend join in your new "plot" with this new guy, and he drops an atomic bomb on the plot that you knew was coming but not your new partner. Suppose they disagree, new guy doesn't like old guy, but old guy's right you are affecting his character too. What do you as one of the points in this triangle and probably the most important point as you're the mutual link? Do you go with your old stand by because you have exponentially more history with that person or the new guy? What do you tell either of them? Do you write off your old RPs to line them up with the new guy even if that's not fair to the old? It raises a ton of questions that don't have good answers at all. What does it have to do with the other people? It's what your character does that matters. If it leads you away from your old RP partner and you want to continue, you can try to make an alt. But characters have to do what characters have to do.

Sorry to double post. I just wanted to say 100% Yes to that. Arc and Angles guys, suppose you're not taking part of a plot. How do you handle your arcs? Is it the same way? I know when I did Rae when I made him I had some general idea of what I wanted him ideally to be like, but I made a character who would fit in the world who had to goal of "I want to be this when I grow up." and he worked to that but I didn't put any steps down and let RP flow. Would you budge from developmental arcs if someone gave you reason to budge? It's about character. You don't play the result, you play the character. If someone else's character is what would derail yours, you derail, following the character. The best laid plans of mice and men generally involve the boring process of tunneling. The best RP evolves organically, from character interaction. I try not to have "arcs" because arcs are just things coming to Earth. I definitely started RPing before everyone was an aspiring novelist trying to co-opt everyone else's characters, but the best RP arises from character interaction. You go where the RP takes you.

Well let me throw this curve ball at you then. Your character development is about to take a dramatic turn, the things your character wants and values are changing, like growing up going from being a teen to a young adult who has to choose life for themselves. As you're starting this out, a character from your past comes to you (I'll let you decide the context) claiming that they've changed or are changing or whatever they're claiming and while they want to help you grow into this new world, they (as a character, not a player) need your character to fight against some of the change and try to remain with them. Who would this new character asking your character in part to stay with them have to be in order to get you to change the plot? I mean this could be a friend becoming an enemy, an enemy becoming a friend, a former lover/flirt asking to be something more, someone you admire, someone you hate. What would their relationship have to be to you ICly to consider changing for them? Not much of a curve ball for me. Roleplaying is not about using other peoples' characters as props for your story. If my character trajectory is going one way, and someone wants my character trajectory to go another way, they'll have to do it the same way everyone else does: roleplay. If they want my character to take up a specific role for their character, and they can't convince them through RP, it's not going to happen. I'm old-fashioned like that.

A decent conversation. Keep things fun. Then again, I like to drop the changes straight into RP. Have some fun with it.

If you end up on Gilgamesh, we'll talk. Don't be shy. You can't get arrested for having a chat.

That's why, when anyone ever says that they want to play a villain, my first advice is to watch the entirety of The Wire, if they haven't already. David Simon created a show almost completely filled with moral ambiguity done right, and created villains that people relate to so well that they often don't realize they're talking about a villainous character. Now that's how it's done right. So much more mileage out of that than your common everyday Skeletor.

Yes, into Wildstar. I was a deep supporter of the game from launch until the F2P announcement, and I probably recruited some 20-30 people to play. I haven't done so here. I suppose I'm somewhat burned out by having all that work go up in smoke.

I would advise against making a mustache-twirling villain for one very significant reason: you're playing the result. I cannot stress how hard this is to overcome for RP purposes. The problem here is that people are saying there's a difference between a "villain" and a "criminal" when those are exactly the same thing. Criminals, even Robin Hood types doing their best, are still violent and taking wealth that technically belongs to someone else. It's definitely wrong. A criminal is just a better thought-out character, and it seems like there are a lot of people here saying that having a good self-respecting reason to commit crimes and do bad things somehow makes them different classes of character. It doesn't, it just means you've provided the background. You've gone beyond "I play a bad guy" into "I play a thief who didn't have any money, looked at all the people with money around, and simply rationalized that he was taking money from people who were taking money their own way." It's the difference between playing a "beautiful" character and an "elegant, voluptuous character with a charming and polite manner". The former tells you what you're aiming for, the latter is actually a character. I believe we're having this conversation elsewhere. If you're playing a villain specifically to play a villain, you're working backwards from a result, and your character is going to reflect that. It's far better to build a human character; you'll have a lot more detail. Other characters will have different ways to relate to that character. Most importantly, that character is going to make a whole Hell of a lot more sense. Even if your character is meant to be an evil-doing evil demon doing evil for evil's sake, he needs a reason. If not, he's a cartoon villain, and you're skipping some 95% of the character work. If you want to make someone morally ambiguous, you need to say why. You need to say how. You need to give him a personality. You want to generate some conflict? Your person doesn't need to be a "villain" he needs to be "confrontational", "bitter", "vindictive". You can build a remarkably frightening, but remarkably understandable, villain that way. Always make sure that, if you're going in blank trying to slide into a niche, and you're aiming to be a villain, don't make that part of your character concept. A cardboard-cutout villain isn't really a character anymore, he's a prop.

Easy answer. Wallflowers happen because there's not enough people getting the party started. To simplify a fairly deep study, there are three kinds of characters: -Drivers: People who drive action. They show up in a bar and start dancing. They buy rounds for strangers. They chatter. They start fights. They break out a louche and a bottle of absinthe. They have both activity and personal magnetism. -Actors: People who join the action. Upon the arrival of a Driver, they immediately join in. They can make friendships and get together. However, their characters react to, not direct, the action. -Introverts: People who will not join the action unless personally invited to or acted upon. They require direct engagement to participate in RP. All of these can welcome walk-up RP. The trick is having enough Drivers to activate the RP and enough Drivers and Activators to draw in the Introverts. It can also be a pain if there are too many Drivers, as there's too many directions the scene is pulling in. However, if you're having a problem with everyone sitting around, waiting for something to happen, you have a lack of driving characters. I'm beginning to move that way with Orleans out of necessity. There are a lot of events on Gilgamesh and a LOT of acting players, but not enough RP drivers. So I'm beginning to make Orleans somewhat less taciturn to try to drive RP in Limsa Lominsa.

Again, the best thing to do here is to try to make your appearance reflect your character. If your character is "unkempt" it tends to mean he sleeps outside or is unconcerned with personal hygiene. But the most fun you can have is if you say your character has, "Eyes that seem to piece, unblinking." People KNOW what that is, and whether they find it attractive or ugly isn't even the point anymore. They know something is strange and not particularly earthly about your character, and it'll say more than even "beautiful" will.

If you've got the money and want to get into RP, I'd transfer either to Balmung or Gilgamesh. If you want to do some research, I'd keep an eye out and start a character on them if you can to see how the communities work (they're pretty different). If you end up on Gilgamesh, let me know or try to get in touch with Adolar Stone. We can get you plugged in and involved. The Gilgamesh community is pretty tightly woven.

Hey, my specialist subject! A lot of people think playing a villain is too much work for no gain, but ONLY if you think of a villain as a "bad guy". And that's not the case. Playing a character villain and playing one in the long-term (not just playing someone's story bad guy) means doing a different set of character work. I'll explain... When you think of villains in stories, long running villains, they have a few things in common. First, they prioritize survival. They are cunning before they're brutish. Most of all, though, they have genuine reasons for why they are what they are and why they do what they do. At this point, I'm going to recommend you queue up all five seasons of The Wire and watch them. David Simon knows how to write villains, for sure, so that you relate to them. Then you get into the actual character work. Your character is going to need a reason to be around. Hero characters will go and inform the authorities of your existence, so you absolutely NEED a reason for the government to want you around. You need contacts, deep contacts, ones that penetrate the heart of poor society and the government alike. You need to be able to keep your activities quiet enough that people can't protect your character anymore. What you're aiming for is to become a figure of the landscape, someone that paragon-style characters go to when they need something morally ambiguous done. You want to become that series-after-series villain, the one that becomes the lesser-of-two-evils, the devil-they-know. That takes a lot of subtlety, but that's alright, because that's how it's done in real life! Just remember the simple rules: don't kill anyone's player character unless you can, for absolutely sure, get away with it. People will stretch the bounds of reality to know IC what they know OOC if you kill a player character. Make sure they know, though, that you WILL kill them, so they know not to mess with you. Make sure you have a crew around to talk to and DEFINITELY make connections with the other criminal elements, no matter how small, in your scene. Leave your twirly mustache at home. Running that kind of villain doesn't work unless you have a sympathetic part of OOC players who will take your safety as the gospel. Instead, make sure you fit into the fabric of RP society somehow. You can be a lalafel-eating monster and still get a permanent chair at the RP table if you can fit your character into a niche in society. If you're playing a demon-infused serial killer, you're a Power Rangers clay doll, not Stringer Bell. Just watch how you play. If you want instruction on how to do all this on Gilgamesh, let me know. I'm getting Orleans off the ground here as a criminal kingpin, and he's definitely not a nice guy.

Define "special", because if you're looking to play someone with a mental disability, that's been relatively well-discussed. I mean, I often very deliberately describe by character as a sociopath (and a violent one at that), and mental illness runs strong in RP characters (whether deliberately or accidentally). In that case, it's all about making the character interesting to be around. Whether you write someone psychotically cold and callous or write your character healing voices, make sure it's someone other people would want to interact with. A character is no good if, in the middle of every serious roleplaying session, he randomly yells out something about bunnies. That's attention-whorish, derails the RP, and will get you iced out of the RP scene. If by saying "special" you're looking to find a niche for a new character, one that won't be a retread, that's a different story. That's about present issues, and my advice is to use a more refined character than a one-word description. You don't need to, for example, find a mental illness that isn't represented out there, you need to generate a character that does everything differently than existing characters. For example, I run a relatively crafty, calculating, and brutal criminal kingpin. Someone could run a streetwise thug-king of dealers and we'd be playing in the same range (criminal kingpin) but would not only have completely different characters, but ones that would be able to interact. In the same way, soldiers can be played as just paragons, callous veterans, disciplined samurai-like warriors, sneaky strategists, and every color of the rainbow. The best way to do this organically is to walk into the bar with a "blank", a character with just a few broad attributes that will allow you to fit in. That's exactly what I did with Orleans. When I started playing him, he was three things: an intellectual, brutal hitman. As the concept went on, I slid him sideways to fill rolls not already taken. There were a lot of mercenaries, but not many criminals in the leadership roles, so Orleans became domineering, and alpha wolf type of criminal. He became somewhat tribal because we needed to run a guild, and I melted that into his character, to become a criminal kingpin with an obscure ethnic background whose tribal brothers will back him with silence (even if they're not involved in his criminal enterprises). He went from being a former Garlean based in Gridania to a current War Chief of the Ghost Wolf Dancers tribe based in Limsa Lominsa, with piracy in his background, since most Lominsans played on Gilgamesh I've met are Maelstrom. There's a lot of feeling and sensitive characters all over XIV, as well, so Ignacius became callous to most, cunning and dangerous. Now I have a character that doesn't have to fight for air on my server. Short of lurking long enough to make the character before, just walk in and see what's out there, adding traits as you go.

At various times, my characters have: -Told a child he was the devil before snapping her neck -Cut a Chelsea's smile into a man's son while he was gagged, then tightened the gag into the wounds to ply information -Nailed a woman naked to a table, removed one of her tattoos with a knife and laid it on her face, then threatened to kill her fiancee -Impaled a man on a spike and gave him a set of weights to hold. If he dropped them, we would have killed his son -Rolled a man feet-first into a wood chipper -Killed my own character's fiancee after two years of developmental relationship RP -Set a drug-prevention church mission on fire while everyone slept -Ripped out a friend's character's throat and stitched it back up with steel wire -Tore out a man's tongue and cut off his hands to keep him from witnessing -Skinned a woman alive, stretched out the skin into a shroud, and wrapped the carcass in it -and more! If anyone ought to feel bad about character actions, it would probably be me. But it's all in the RP. You have to play the character. I suddenly feel glad your character is tucked safely on Gilgamesh, far away from my character. Luckily, no one yet has given Orleans a reason to go full on show-them-snitches-get-stitches. PEople who have approached him for various needs, goods, and services have all, thus far, respected his time and his reputation. But yes, you should probably be very glad. If you've got a habit of walking into the back alleys looking to poke, Orleans is the kind of guy who doesn't stop and cutting off your finger; hey tends to take the whole arm.

At various times, my characters have: -Told a child he was the devil before snapping her neck -Cut a Chelsea's smile into a man's son while he was gagged, then tightened the gag into the wounds to ply information -Nailed a woman naked to a table, removed one of her tattoos with a knife and laid it on her face, then threatened to kill her fiancee -Impaled a man on a spike and gave him a set of weights to hold. If he dropped them, we would have killed his son -Rolled a man feet-first into a wood chipper -Killed my own character's fiancee after two years of developmental relationship RP -Set a drug-prevention church mission on fire while everyone slept -Ripped out a friend's character's throat and stitched it back up with steel wire -Tore out a man's tongue and cut off his hands to keep him from witnessing -Skinned a woman alive, stretched out the skin into a shroud, and wrapped the carcass in it -and more! If anyone ought to feel bad about character actions, it would probably be me. But it's all in the RP. You have to play the character.

I'm going to quote this for the suggestions sticky. Not quite knowing how it works, but I think it might be possible as forums allow you to sort by Linkshell. I assume that means it can sort by server if people actually put that in. ... people without linkshells just will go to the front or back of the list etc. Thank you. Figured with people talking about server issues, it'd answer a lot of questions and solve a few issues. At least it would be something we could do.