Bumo

This is the best god damn news I've heard all year. Here's a little more about it: http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/10/28/syfy/ This quote's relevant to the thread: ""We saw an explosion of sci-fi/fantasy content across every cable and broadcast network out there,” said Syfy president Dave Howe. “Perceptions of the genre have shifted dramatically."'

It was tough to come up with one for Bumo where the lyrics fit, but this works pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGreqBriJkQ

Good thread! Glad you have Wystan's clothes on there. I'd love to see those as a wearable set.

I don't really see how this would benefit anyone, only serve to cause a fandom that isn't yours the same kind of negative sentiment you seem to think that ours--those with 'nerdy' interests--have. Not trying to pick a fight with you or anything, but it sounds incredibly petty to want another group to feel "judged" and have to "hide in their basements," because that might have been something others experienced for their hobbies. In the past several years video games, superhero movies and shows, anime, and sci-fi have been getting attention and are filtering into--if not dominating--the mainstream. Look at movies and television lately: it's mainly capes, even in primetime, with shows like Arrow, Flash, SHIELD; movies like Avengers, GotG, and the upcoming Batman vs. Superman are all really in the public consciousness right now. Entertainment Weekly covered SDCC. SyFy is going back to being The Sci-Fi Channel specifically because they want to tap their alienated demographic, but also the burgeoning demographic of people who are becoming interested in these types of shows. And while we're not quite at the level where we are televising roleplaying games, it's not a terrible stretch of the imagination to believe it could happen within the next few years, given this whole 'geek is chic' thing. We are, after all, already televising eSports. Back to 'traditional' sports, personally, many of the people whom I know are sportsfans also happen to be fans of tabletop RPGs and boardgames, CCGs, video games, and all manner of other 'nerdy' hobbies. Some people I know were not initially fans of sports, but got into them through fantasy leagues, which is all about management and stats. And I see absolutely no reason to want to shame these people about it simply because at some point someone who enjoyed football might have thought something I enjoy was weird or reclusive. On the question in the topic itself, "what if roleplaying went mainstream," well...there would never be a reason to ask which server is the RP server when joining a new MMO.

Music plays a huge part of creating a character for me. I'll typically have an idea in mind for the type of character I want to write, and then I try to find music that fits the 'mood' of that character. Coming up with that themesong (or even a full playlist) for that character helps me focus on keeping the right 'feeling' for that character as I'm fleshing out their details. During RP, though, I don't usually listen to music. I find that, unlike when I'm writing solo, music doesn't help when I'm responding and reacting to what someone else is typing, and can actually be distracting.

Minions and mounts play a large part for one of my characters, as he's something of a pet collector.

That's really interesting. Looking at the prosperity of the three city-states, you'd assume the literacy rates would be high, at least within the cities proper. Low literacy rates would imply that there is no compulsory education system; any kind of tutoring then would depend on wealth and social status. Books themselves would be expensive because of this as well--if you look at the cost of books in England during the Middle Ages, where education was primarily for nobility, it would take nearly a decade for an average craftsman to earn enough wages to purchase a book. It's interesting to think of from a character point of view; coming from a literate society in real life, where there is a formal education system, most people probably automatically assume that their characters can read, unless they want it to be a notable part of their background that they can't. But that bit of lore says that most people in Eorzea can't read, and so people whose professions or social standing didn't demand learning letters probably don't know how.

The most adorable uprising!

The Arrzaneth Ossuary (thaumaturge's guild) in Ul'dah has a sizable library inside it. I'm not sure how open it is to the public though, lore-wise.

So much awesome stuff coming!

I RP with whatever the current weather is, including sudden shifts. Unpredictable weather can be fun; I remember two beachside gatherings I've been part of that were 'spoiled' by sudden heavy rains, forcing everyone to take shelter. Blame the calamity.

This happened to me recently. I've started focusing a lot more on an alt than on my main, partially because I'm not 100% sure where I want to go with my main, and the alt right now is a lot more 'focused.' As Melkire said, I don't know why that would be a faux pas, unless you're leaving other people hanging. So long as that isn't the case, why would concentrating on an alt be a bad thing?

The question of, "Can a Lalafell be as strong as a Roe?" is dependent on the Lalafell and the Roe you're comparing. The strongest Lalafell might not be able to physically best the strongest Roegadyn, but a strong Lalafell could probably stand toe-to-toe with an average Roegadyn. (Assuming an average Roe already has crazy strength) I only skimmed the thread (sorry!) so I'm not sure if it's already been mentioned, but there are little people, people with dwarfism, who bodybuild and are capable of some pretty impressive feats. Bodybuilders like Mighty Mike or Jason Owen can bench over 300 lbs. Vince Brasco stands at 4' tall and can bench 285. As someone who RPs a physically strong Lalafell, these were people I looked at to get a good measure of what was possible. The potential is there to have strong Lalafells without assuming 'fantasy' or 'anime' physics.

I'd have trouble with even an alt dying before they reached the end of the story I want for them, I couldn't bear to have my main character killed off prematurely. The only thing that would make me consider it is if the end was fitting, and left me with no regrets. If I could look back at that character and say, "They didn't achieve what I set out for them to achieve, but they had a good run." But even then, it'd probably still bother me.

In case anyone's interested there's a Final Fantasy D20 site that has racial stat bonuses for the FFXI races, which are easily adapted. Bumo Dalumo STR: 12 -- You don't do strenuous labor for a decade-and-a-half without building serious muscle. Repetitive heavy lifting and working with axe and hammer have pushed Bumo to phenomenal levels of strength for a Lalafell, and while that might not seem like much compared to other races, Bumo can lift over 1.5x his own bodyweight--and shoulder things that are 3x his size. DEX: 10 -- Bumo is not the most dexterous Lalafell. His low center of gravity gives him good balance, and he's got enough precision for his work, but he's not going to be doing acrobatics anytime soon. CON: 16 -- Bumo doesn't get fatigued very easily. He's used to working long hours in sweltering heat, he rarely gets sick, and he can shrug off hits. INT: 9 -- Growing up on a remote island doesn't exactly lend itself to book learnin' and analytical process. Bumo is far from dumb--he's average, really--but he's not much for academia. His IQ also puts some of the nuances of Eorzean language beyond him. WIS: 12 -- Plainsfolk Lalafell tend to naturally be observant of the world around them. (Mostly thanks to the ears.) Bumo has good instincts, though his moral code may run counter to common sense. He has strong empathy, and he learned very early on to be alert to the motives of others. CHA: 10 -- Bumo has some hurdles when it comes to social interaction. The scar on his face can be a blocker, but the biggest barrier is language: some quirks of Bumo's speech make him challenging to understand; conversely, certain jokes and idioms go right over his head, especially wordplay. Still, those who take the time to puzzle through his words find that he makes for a pleasant conversationalist.

Bumo Dalumo Bumo regularly addresses himself in third person with, "This Bumo Dalumo." The first Eorzean Bumo Dalumo met was a pirate captain who introduced himself with a similar quirk, prompting the young Lalafell to do the same; "This Bumo Dalumo" were the first words he spoke in the common tongue, and the phrase has become automatic. Aside from the brief encounter with pirates in his youth, Bumo has only been exposed to the Eorzean language for a little under two years. As such, his diction and grasp of proper sentence structure are rudimentary at best. If Bumo doesn't know the Eorzean word for something, he will use the word from his native language.

Just because your character has "maxed all the classes," "gotten all the amazing gear," and learned "all those skills," doesn't necessarily mean you need to reflect that ICly. That's where you start falling into sketchy territory, and why you might be having a hard time trying to justify just how a character can be proficient in all these abilities. If you do want your character to have skills they've learned from leveling different classes, consider limiting just how proficient they would be in those techniques. If your character is a Paladin, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that they're likely fairly good at hand-to-hand combat (something they'd have to know if they lost their weapon!), and learning the spear would not be terribly difficult. You might not bounce around like a Dragoon, impaling enemies with diving strikes, but anyone can reasonably thrust a spear and understand rudimentary techniques with it. It's not even something you'd have to enlist with the Lancer's Guild to learn. As for magic, that one's a bit trickier because there's a lot of discipline involved in learning it, although we have seen evidence that some people can be naturally proficient at magic; Slyphie, for example, from the Conjurer quest line. But again, if you're trying to avoid godmode, perhaps you're just able to pull off minor feats that are unrefined but serve in a pinch, or you're passable at a certain aspect of magic. To use your example, Chester B. Arthur might be able to heal things, explode things, and stick things, but how well can he do any of them? Having enough magic potency to heal a tiny cut is a lot different from being able to mend bone or repair grievous injury. You might be able to make a tiny explosion that can serve as a distraction, but you may not be able to call down a meteor. And again, anyone can swing a sword or parry with a spear at range--but how well can they do it against someone who's devoted more time to it? Regarding player age and how they're able to be experts at anything (or many things) in their 20s, again it all comes down to how much time and talent someone has. It depends on how their character has been written. A "master detective munitions expert with enough magical talent to destroy buildings" might not actually be as far-fetched as it sounds depending on how much training and time this character had devoted to those skills. If you're becoming a 'master' at things in the course of a few weeks or months, that's when it becomes eyebrow-raising.

Seems like you'd probably cross paths with Bumo Dalumo at some point! I'd like to find more Lalafell friends as well, so feel free to say hello if you see me around!

Neat idea!

If Miqo'te have catlike tongues, their sense of taste would actually be worse than the other races. Cats in the real world have 470 taste buds. In contrast, humans have 9,000. Cats also can't taste sweet foods because they lack the taste receptor for it. So, no cake for Miqo'te. If Miqo'te have something similar to a Jacobson's organ, though, they could 'taste' scents.

[table] [tr] [td]Item Name[/td] [td]Drop Chance[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Doming Hammer[/td] [td]99%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]1000-3000 Gil[/td] [td]90%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Bound Leather Workbook[/td] [td]70%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Lalafell-sized Red Breastplate[/td] [td]40%[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]War Axe & Tomahawk[/td] [td]1%[/td] [/tr] [/table] Doming Hammer: This small, durable hammer looped through the slain Lalafell's belt is made of high-grade metal and has a varnished ash handle with a simple filigree. It is well-used but was clearly well-cared for. It won't be worth much to anyone who isn't a metalworker or a goldsmith, but if you know of any, you might make some gil off it. 1000-3000 Gil: It was probably the jingling of all that gil that drew your attention in the first place. Had this Lalafell never heard of a bank before? Bound Leather Workbook: A pocket-sized log filled with random notes: what appears to be a list of customers and a ledger of goods sold; rough sketches of armor designs and a lot of jargon on alloys; supply lists; and a few journal entries. Utterly useless unless you want to find out more about the Lalafell you murdered (not likely), or are interested in taking on his clientele. (Even less likely) Lalafell-sized Red Breastplate: You are either very strong, very nimble, or avoided going for the Lalafell's torso altogether when you killed him. Though thin enough to be worn semi-discretely even under plainclothes, this particular breastplate's design makes it adept at turning away thrusts. It's pretty poor against crushing blows, though, and the simple metal shoulder straps leave the underarms exposed. But depending on how you killed him, you might already know that. War Axe & Tomahawk: A simple bearded axe nearly as tall as the Lalafell himself, and a considerably smaller tomahawk. If these dropped, you are probably losing a lot of blood right now, and may be missing limbs. You'll be glad for the gil purse when you visit a healer.

What ended up influencing Bumo the most was actually the lore and the gameplay itself. While I knew that I was going to RP, I didn't know what kind of character I wanted to RP; as I was cycling through the classes and jobs in the character creator, I looked at the lalafells and thought, "It'd be hilarious to make a tank with one of these little guys, defending the party by thwacking monsters' kneecaps." I started reading up on Lalafells to draw some ideas, and the main thing that stuck out to me was the history of the Plainsfolk: agriculturalists from fertile islands who expanded into the mainland through maritime trade, to become one of the most populous races. I started thinking, "What if there were pockets of Lalafell still isolated to this day, much like hidden tribes in real life? How would a Lalafell born to one of those islands behave in social settings? How would they react to other races and cultures? What kind of motivations and goals would they have that would make them want to leave, and how would they even find out about other lands?" From there I started crafting his backstory, which featured heavily around why his class is a Warrior, but the game ended up having such a fun crafting system that that started to be all I focused on doing. I've never bothered with crafting in any other MMO I've played before, as I have found most crafting systems to be tedious and unintersting, but FFXIV's was so good I thought, "Why not just have Bumo put down his axe and become a crafter instead?" So that was something I fit into his motivations, but also creates a bit of conflict for him. So Bumo was really shaped by the game, rather than being a character or idea that I had conceived prior to starting the game. Oh hey, another JJBA fan! :thumbsup:

To me the passage of time is important to a character's growth, so I plan to age Bumo every August. (Being roughly equivalent to the Fourth Umbral Moon, his birthday) For the most part, I don't track the day-to-day, or even month-to-month passage of time, but I have been using the holiday events to mark the changing of seasons; spring began at Hatching Tide, the Moonfire Faire was in the summer, All Saints' Wake occurs in the swing of Autumn, etc.

These bills look awesome!

Probably the latter, that loud noise could disturb the summoning. It would be useless to adventurers to summon a creature that was frightened by loud noises. :lol: As for the noises they make, I'm sure they're probably as loud as the game makes them out to be. For a real life example, look at chihuahuas. In fact I think carbuncles are bigger than a chihuahua...