Gegenji

I find roll systems definitely help in comparison to the pure-randomness that sticking to straight /random rolls gives (or perhaps less so, since it's based off the in-game clock or something and isn't a true random system... but that's digressing). If your character is supposed to be some degree of competent at something, it can fluster you as a writer to have to explain for the eighth time you went 0-3 against a ten year old with a fishing pole or whatever. They don't even need to be that complex, I just like the idea of being able to have a bit of a nudge in the positive direction if your character is supposed to be good at some skill or another. Keeping that chance for failure is good, it allows for some interesting potential interactions that may not happen if your character just flat succeeded. I even like the idea of having "complications" on success - maybe you still succeed but there's an issue, major or minor, that also comes up. It can just get... bothersome if your success and/or failure is completely up to chance and, for those that believe in such things, your luck with the dice. BUT, that's not to say dice systems don't have their drawbacks as well. Not being able to "wholly represent" your character is one drawback, but there's another. Most dice systems can be gamed and/or abused - min/maxing and using other options to give your character a mechanical advantage beyond what others who aren't as proficient in the dice system could manage. So, rather than someone in straight RP written combat power-gaming, you can have someone abusing the system to do the same. There's never going to be a surefire 100% perfect solution amongst all the options, I feel. And it's ultimately going to fall on who you're interacting with, and what you are all comfortable (and trust yourself and others) to be using. Or something. :blush:

He got a great deal on it at a fundraiser for the Adders. Boom. Done. That's kind of defeating the purpose of leaving it open ended. Until it's defined it's full of possibilities. It could have been bought, it could have been salvaged, could be one given to him by a friend. All sorts of things it could be until it's defined. Could be the property of someone else's character weaved into backstory later that doesn't exist yet. There's a power, as a storycrafter, with leaving things undefined. Well, you could also have something you ADD to the room based on RP. Chachan has an adorable little sheep rug in his bedroom because Jancis got it for him. :blush:

I definitely have ideas in mind when I'm putting things into a character's apartment/free company room. A lot of the pieces I'm picking are for a specific reason, and I'll set things up specifically to fit a lot of those preconceived ideas. For example, Gogon is a tactician who is very well-read. The main section of his apartment is stuffed with books and a map of Eorzea with chess pieces set on it to serve as "markers" for troop movements. His formulaic nature also lends well to alchemy and, more importantly, cooking - so I made sure to section off a section of his apartment for a kitchen, including a wine rack since he's a bit of a wine snob. Chachan's smithy design was originally jokingly called "Mullet Ironworks" because I had the idea of "business in the front, party in the back." The front looks very formal and neat with his smithing equipment and a sitting area and all that, but his cheerful and colorful nature is on full display in the back room with a bunch of fanciful and cutesy furniture back there. That's not to say some of the designs weren't happy accidents. The "Chocoforge" is an example of this. I had it for a while that Chachan likes his horsebirds, and so I got a Chocobo Pillar to try and put in his room... but I couldn't find a good spot for it. That is, until I accidentally placed it over the Armorsmith crafting station - which made it look like it was a goofy-looking vent pipe for the thing. I've had it there ever since. :lol:

You have a very adorable art style. I don't know if I said it i. The old thread but I'm saying it here too anyway, just in case. Also, would this technically be art thread "Roo-Point-Oh"?

Considering Reinhardt is one of my favorite characters in Overwatch specifically because of his personality, I have to say I approve. :thumbsup:

There used to be an FC on Balmung that did something like that. Called... NPC, I think? Just a place for people who played support characters and the like that people could hire to fill in for various roles in plots and such. Was pretty neat... dunno if it's still going strong or not, since I haven't seen their tag in a while. ... Though given their purpose, I guess that's not too surprising? :blush:

That's... one that's gotten me raising eyebrows pretty often as well. Though it's usually a guy using a female model because their character is "effeminate-looking." Which is all well and good, but it kind of ruins the whole point of it when your character does that exact thing - mistaken them as female - and the person OOCly gets upset with you. Like... the purpose was to have your character be kinda girly-looking, so you're upset when people mistake the character as a girl for being girly-looking? :dazed: Dwarfs yes! Give me a game with good dwarfs in it and I will solidly play a dwarf! Diggy diggy hole! I've had that song stuck in my head all day! ... (Not gonna lie, that's the song I had on loop when I was leveling Mining on Chachan.) :blush:

I'm a guy who plays guy characters. I honestly don't play female characters for the simple reason of lack of personal confidence in my writing and/or acting skills. I don't think I could RP a girl well, so I don't. Even the female NPCs I might use in scenes (Chachan's mother and sister, for example) are usually based heavily off of women I know or some manner of female stereotype. :blush: When it gets into romantic entanglements, though, I... don't really mind? The story at hand is the relationship between the characters, not the people who are playing them. So whether or not the girl one of my characters is dating is played by an actual girl is kind of a moot point? I dunno.

Pff, you're fine. I remember when this thread was made and it has a lot of good information for people who want to play this particular character type. As for "male courtesan," I've seen a few folks running with the idea in-game, so I think you're safe to run that if you so please. I don't think the term is gender-specific... but I could be wrong.

Technically another issue I've heard regarding people who play villainous characters it that they're kinda forced to pick and choose where and when they do their villainy. Obviously, that makes sense, but... even something as simple as lifting someone's gil pouch in the Quicksand could apparently be dangerous. Not because of the inherent IC danger of thievery... but the overwhelming counter-response. There's a bunch of people who are playing heroic characters (or, at least, heroic in their own minds), and what better way to show off their great heroism than stopping a bandit or villain in their tracks? So, not only is there the risk of the villain being godmoded at (ex. every hero in the room apparently seeing this stealthy theft, them grabbing you mid-theft or pinning you on your escape without giving you a chance to react)... but just the chance of being mobbed by all the hero-type characters out to show off how heroic they are. So, yeah. Apparently another reason there aren't too many publicly active villain characters is because they'll get hero-mobbed. :tonberry: ... but to keep things on the lighter side, there's nothing keeping you from being able to play a villainous character. One of my Lalafells - Gogon - actually had a big ol' villain arc a while back, and is still one of those "darker" types who is willing to use coercion and underhanded deals and whatnot to get the results he wants. It's just something you plan and likely get a group together to have happen, rather than trying for some open-world villainy. You want a good example of someone else's villain, Roen and them had a villain-ish character named Taeros and that had a really interesting plot going on that I followed from the outside via their forum posts.

That's honestly the toughest part about starting RP. :blush: However, when in doubt, shoot them a tell or approach them OOCly and see if you can plan to have an RP session at some other time! And, speaking from experience, it definitely gets easier the more you RP. It hasn't completely gone away from me, but it's certainly a lot less prevalent. :thumbsup:

Ah, it's neat to see someone else who actively identifies their character as a "support" character! I kind of have the same feeling for Judge, but he's more of a "character past their prime" type and thus is the sort to leave the limelight to the younger generation. Anyway, I hope you've been able to find a bunch of RP for A'zahana!

Props to Warren for sharing the source of this for me: FASUZRYs0fM

I have done all the things for this sketch. Rep up'd, reblogged on Tumblr, and now bringing more attention to it here. I think I might like the picture a little. :lol:

I think Omega is closed for transfers for right now due to the sheer number of EU folk that flocked to it? I think you might still be able to create a new character on it, though. ... Which might be my recommendation. Make a little alt on there and look around, see how you feel about the place. It should open back up for transfers sooner or later, and then you can move your other character over then - with a bunch of folks ready to welcome them aboard!

Tactics Gogonji moved the chess piece across the board. A pawn, moving but the width of a square. Twas no chess board, though – but a map of Hydaelyn. The darker pieces were amassed mostly in the realm of Garlemald, but scattered pieces – including the Queen – sat neatly atop Gyr Abania and Doma. His fingers moved to the White Knight, toppled on its side in Gyr Abania, and he tapped it a couple times thoughtfully. Lifting it up, he moved it over to Kugane – where the White Queen also stood. His eyes then fell on the White King – whither shall he go?

Chachanji and his family will also be there, representing Doman culture! ... It will mostly consist of him selling little trinkets of Doman design - bracers with Doman symbols on it and the like - and offering to talk a bit about Othardian ores and metallurgy. :blush:

Actually, Gabriel's backstory from that snippet works really well considering the "Dragoon situation" in Ishgard (i.e. that there's only, what, 12 active duty ones and they're all named?). So being a 'goon that never finished their training works perfectly well within that framework! Plus, being trained to kill dragons only to find out that Ishgard has more or less made peace with them would definitely throw someone for a loop, especially if they were really dedicated to the idea. That's indeed the general idea and my "justification" for being a traveling lancer I understand Ishgardians are not very open to non elezen, but having his life toppled opened his eyes somewhat, so he is a bit less...hmmm... abrasive. Haha. Well, being less abrasive will definitely help with making new friends and whatnot in the world beyond the gates! I'd offer my duder over on Mateus, but I still need to actually get back around to leveling the poor guy. A task made more difficult that Mateus lost its Preferred status and, with it, the +100% XP on everything. I'm wrapping up a lot of things on my "To Do" list on Balmung, though, so it could be soon in coming. :blush:

Actually, Gabriel's backstory from that snippet works really well considering the "Dragoon situation" in Ishgard (i.e. that there's only, what, 12 active duty ones and they're all named?). So being a 'goon that never finished their training works perfectly well within that framework! Plus, being trained to kill dragons only to find out that Ishgard has more or less made peace with them would definitely throw someone for a loop, especially if they were really dedicated to the idea.

Also, feel free to post your character ideas up on the forums here - either in this very thread or over in the Character Workshop section. Or even just ask around about basic lore you might be interested in for any character ideas churning about in your head. Plenty of folks willing to give feedback and provide suggestions!

Ooo. I might have an angle for some potential RP as well. My little Chachanji is a smith who works in Ul'dah. And, furthermore, has ended up the de facto head of a minor Ul'dahn smelting guild. I've handwaved the guild having a few mines of its own, but having someone else who he could potentially work with regarding resources and whatnot could be interesting. Plus, Chachan is just a friendly little dork of a Lalafell and likes making friends in general... so it doesn't even just have to be a business acquaintance.

I haven't been on Mateus for a while - been busy leveling up and doing stuff on my Balmung characters, but what I'm hearing through the grapevine is that it's doing pretty well RP-wise? Bunch of activities and even a couple spin-offs of a couple regular events over on Balmung! I expect someone from Mateus to pop in with more information soon enough, but it definitely sounds like the place to go. :thumbsup:

Unfortunately, unless they changed something recently, Balmung is locked to both new characters and transfers. So, while we'd love to have you, SE currently is putting a kibosh on that. However, there are plenty of other servers that have RP! The two big ones right now are Mateus and - for our EU players - Omega, but there's also servers like Faerie and Jenova and a smattering of others. If you check the Free Companies and Linkshells sections, many of them have identified what server they're on. So I'd say give those a looksee and see what catches your fancy!

Oh, I can totally see that and agree with it. I think RPing the first time heading there might be fun, maybe a couple incidents on the way there (if any, could totally be a peaceful trip with good headwinds)... but heading there afterward is likely going to be of the "teleporting with jet lag" affair should RP send me back that way.

Ah alright, so it was more along the lines of what I was thinking once I actually sat down and mulled on it. At first I thought it was going to be pretty hard to get to Kugane based off the MSQ stuff... but it's pretty blatantly obvious that it isn't that difficult, given everything that's mentioned. Definitely all good stuff to know, though, for RPing going to Kugane. Which plenty of folks seem to be doing, and I have plans for myself. :blush: