Grott

Nothing serious will ever be prefaced with "Allow me a moment of srs bizness here." And we're all just having a little fun.

Just read that second-to-last paragraph.

My issue is - none of what anyone else is saying(moderators included) is what the admin is saying. He's made a clear stance that this is a Balmung centric site, and that anybody that disagrees can leave. No suggestions, no opinions, nothing. Discontent is met with a door and that's not fair. I don't have hopes for the community under that leadership, so I'll be sticking with Gilgamesh despite people leaving the server eventually. You've been here one day and you're already trying to call out leadership. Of course this is a Balmung centric site. The leadership didn't say "we play on Balmung, so everyone has to play on Balmung!" There just happens to be a significant RP population on that server. If you want to RP somewhere else, no one will stop you, but don't be surprised if no one joins you either. I've had my fair share of complaints with some of the policies and tendencies of this site, but all-in-all they're doing their best, and whenever I complain I do so from a reasonable and educated standpoint. I didn't show up Day 1 and say we need new leadership because there are too many people who want to play together or whatever the hell you're rambling about. NO ONE has ever said that you have to play on Balmung. You're looking for enemies where there aren't any. I've read your posts on this thread and the Gilgamesh thread, and it's pretty irritating how obvious it is that you're looking to pick a fight. I never read anywhere that anyone who doesn't want to play on Balmung has to leave. You need to re-read what Kylin wrote. He said if you don't like the site you can start your own. He also admitted that most of the RP community plays on Balmung, and that's why it's the site's primary focus. That's it. Logically, if everyone was being forced to play on Balmung, why would there be a poll gauging interest of people who specifically do not want to play on Balmung? What are you talking about? Sorry for the hostility, but this is really making me mad.

I was going to talk about Rorschach a little bit too, or generally just Watchmen as a whole so I'm glad you brought this up. The real reason I like Watchmen is because it has all of the "classic" super hero elements. You have your Justice League or Avengers (Minutemen) who all came from different backgrounds but united for justice. You have your arch-villain (Moloch) who they've fought and fought again one hundred times. But then it spins it on its head. Alan Moore takes these elements and says "Well, if this was real, and was happening today (1985) and had been happening since the '40s, when comic book super heroes became popular, how would the world be different?" That's when you get real characters who play the part but aren't really super heroic. Comedian, Silk Spectre, Rorschach. All of them bad in their own way (Rorschach's methods, Silk Spectre I's vanity, Comedian's... well, everything), and the only one who actually seems like a genuinely good guy is the one who blows up all the major cities on the planet. It's essentially a comic book that asks "What if this whole thing we've been doing for the past 50 years wasn't confined to comic books? How would this be different if the heroes and villains were real people?" and "What kind of people would this line of work attract in the real world?" Rorschach is definitely one of the most interesting characters in the book. He's scary, he's mean, and he's insane, yet he's the good guy. But he's not just the good guy because the government says he is, like the Comedian. He actually does want to help. Rorschach is an outlaw for trying to fight crime, and in the end of the story, he cares more about stopping Ozymandias than anyone. He doesn't want to see innocents get hurt. He'll kill baddies mercilessly all day, but despite his brutality, he'll never hurt an innocent man. He's a strange and extreme character and I think it makes him very interesting.

YES! Forgot all about Mouse Guard! Great choice.

These are very good observations. I thought I was the only one who looked at comic book super heroes as culturally relevant allegories these days. I've never been a huge fan of Iron Man. I stopped reading around the Extremis mini-series, and I disliked the side he chose/led during the Civil War arc. Usually I preach about him being an asshole or whatever. After reading your post about him I started thinking about all of the old Iron Man/Avengers arcs I've read, and you have a point. Very insightful. I'm going to have to re-read a lot of my older Iron Man stuff. I already felt the same way about Spider-Man's "road to ruin", but I thought this was worth noting. No one ever seems to really get this side of the character. Most people see him as a fun-loving young adult with spider powers. In short, I'm glad I'm not alone on my analysis of comic book characters. Welp, I'mmm dumb.

This first part feels like a jab to Batman or Spider-Man. And no, as a huge fan of both I'm not going to flip out on you and start nerd raging. I actually half agree about that. With the wrong writer, Batman can easily turn into a humorless drama queen, but it's not always the case. Writers like Jeph Loeb, Grant Morrison, and most recently Scott Snyder have all done the Dark Knight justice. More ancient ones like Denny O'Neil, Alan Moore, and Frank Miller have done their part as well, but you do have a point. Get the wrong writer on some more human dark characters and they just become a bunch of cry babies. About the Wolverine movie. Agreed. Agreed agreed and agreed. Twelve foot tall Hugh Jackman and his band of thugs ruined everything sacred about 5'3 Wolverine.

Cutie-patootie! I'm sad I missed out on meeting him in game. Well you're in luck! I decided during my RP trial run that I really like this guy so I'm keeping him through launch.

I've never liked Deadpool, though I can see his appeal, so I definitely don't insult others for liking him. To each his/her own. Great choice on Nightcrawler, though. That guy's one of my favorites. :thumbsup: EDIT: that Wolverine movie also ruined Wolverine

I've been reading comics since I was six years old and writing comics since I was seventeen. I'm a huge fan of the super hero genre and a big proponent of the idea that super heroes aren't cliche or childish by nature. My favorite is Batman, but not for the same dumb reasons every half-fan likes him. Outside of spending about $1,000 a year on Batman comics and memorabilia, I've read Batman and Philosophy and The Psychology of Batman and they really changed how I see the super hero genre as a whole. Y'know what, I'll just copy and paste something I wrote to a friend about Batman earlier. She didn't get why I liked Batman so much so I wrote this: Batman is a story of tragedy, insanity, vengeance, and punishment. It is the most compelling saga in comic book lore. Batman's saga is a heavily emotional opera of a story told out frame-by-frame with bone-chilling dialogue and images as dark as the night. We all know the story: Young Bruce Wayne sees his parents murdered before his eyes and vows vengeance on the evil that took their lives, no matter what form it chooses. Bruce Wayne is merely a man, but what most people don't understand is that Batman is not. When Bruce Wayne puts on the cape and cowl, he loses himself in the horrific facade that is the Batman. Batman is vengeance. Batman is the night, and all it represents. When Batman faces off against the Joker, he is not facing a crazed felon, he is facing the very insanity that has engulfed his life and forced him out into the darkness, armed for war. The truth of the matter is, Bruce Wayne no longer uses the Batman disguise to battle evil. Rather, Batman uses the Bruce Wayne disguise as a means to gain information. Batman is not a "billionaire in a bat-suit that punches bad guys at night". Batman is a man on the brink of insanity, fighting pure evil in the very bowels of his own Hell. Every night, he takes one more step down the rabbit hole, and comes that much closer to losing his grip on his mind. Batman is the shattered remnants of a man trying to protect his city and his world from the evil that broke him. That is why Batman is my favorite super hero. That aside, I'm also a huge fan of Superman, the X-Men, Wolverine (I didn't assume he was included in 'the X-Men' because he has plenty of solo series and he's an Avenger), Spider-Man, Captain America (when he's done right) and Spawn. The series I'm currently following as of this month, in case you were wondering: -Batman -Justice League -Batman/Superman -Aquaman -All New X-Men -Uncanny X-Men -The Avengers -Captain America -Spawn -Wolverine -Savage Wolverine -Superior Spider-Man To answer the question about if this character influenced my character(s) at all, I'd say very little. Uther is based almost entirely on Medieval legend, though I added in a bit of Superman and Aquaman with the "I'm not one of these people. I don't belong here, but I'll help anyway." attitude, because Uther is from Ishgard. Wart, I'd say is more Wolverine than anyone. He's older than he looks, he's scruffy, he's short, and he's a fighter. I did add in some Batman to him though with the idea that Wart uses inventions to make up for his physical disadvantage just as Batman uses gadgets to make up for his lack of super powers. I could also go on and on about Wolverine and how much I love the man-vs.-beast internal conflict and how I love that he's 5'3 in the comics and I'm 5'3 IRL and I think it's cool that he's universally seen as a badass despite his stature... But I'll save it for another time. I'm way too big of a comic fan for this thread of simple questions. If I get started, I'll go forever. I've probably spent $20,000 in comics and comic book related things in the past five years alone. I have a problem. You started the wrong thread EDIT: This is the best thread in the world. IF ANYONE EVER WANTS TO TALK ABOUT COMIC BOOKS EVER SEND ME A PM. I LOVE COMICS.

One more for good luck.

I made it into a screenshot! The orange speck behind Dogberry's head! SUCCESS!

It's Wart time! For the first time ever: Wart Totonji!

I really like the story-telling theme. It should be interesting to hear what your character has to say should one of mine ever run into him on a slow afternoon. Other than that, it's a very simple tale. Don't take that the wrong way. Simple is good. I'm not a fan of too much fluff, since I believe the characters' stories should come from the game itself, not from prologue. It was an enjoyable little read.

I wouldn't go that far, but I don't like it very much either lol. It definitely distracts me when I read it and takes me out of my train of thought. Seems like an unnecessary change, since it's not like they don't have the words "how" or "way" in Eorzea.

...You are some kind of sorcerer.

Great! Can't wait to see it in action!

Rad. I know you said this would be set up in Limsa, but do you have an actual location or are you just going to find an open spot on the docks when the game launches? I know that in games like WoW some buildings are entirely empty in major cities. I'm wondering if FFXIV has similar areas. The main reason I ask is because my alt, Wart, is a sort of tinkerer who puts little inventions and such on his armor to help him fight. Besides alchemy, though, he doesn't know anything about crafting. Since he will probably make Limsa his base of operations, I imagine he'll become a frequent customer.

Thank you! :D:D

I like this! My turn! I originally had some basic ideas for a male Miqo'te because I wanted to play a male Mithra in FFXI and I figured this could be fun. I started modeling him after Captain Nemo from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but decided I didn't enjoy being a Miqo'te and Captain Nemo was extremely anti-social so that wouldn't work well for RP. Next I tried my hand at lalafell in an attempt to make them more serious and break some stereotypes. I found that I can't do magic and canned that character too. While I was sitting around waiting for beta, I picked up the book The Once and Future King. I've always been a fan of the King Arthur legend and I've used Arthurian names for a lot of past games. I decided to take a knightly character approach. After doing some lore research I found the knightliest place in the game was Ishgard, so I went Dragoon. With Dragoon in mind, I chose the last name Skystrider as it sounded cool and was the name of a lance in FFXI. The name Uther came later. I then created Uther's entire family tree out of a mix of Midlanders with Arthurian names and Highlanders with Nordic names. It fit in my head because knights and vikings are the most commonly pit against dragons in Western fiction. I needed a reason for Uther to be in Gridania instead of Ishgard, so I went scrounging for inspiration in books again. That's when I remembered the story of Ivanhoe, the disinherited knight. I threw that in and added in some details about rejecting the zealous nature of Ishgard's devotion to Halone and a dislike for the city's isolationist policy and voila! Uther Skystrider! After mastering that character, I didn't want to ruin him by over-thinking him. So I moved on to my alt, Wart Totonji, who started off as just the name Wart, also from The Once and Future King. With Wart I wanted to go back to the idea I had earlier for breaking lalafell stereotypes. I wanted him to be strong and noble while keeping the lalafell intelligence. That's when I got the idea for making a dirtied up, sideburns-wearing engineer/paladin. Wart was born Wowonji Totonji and joined the Brass Blades at a young age, where he got the nickname Wart. I figured since he's smaller than most fighters, he probably took a lot of beatings early on. So how would he solve this problem? I decided to add in an engineering edge, bringing in the use of chemicals and simple machines to help him fight foes bigger than he is. Almost like a medieval lalafell Batman. With that idea in mind, I started building his back story around it. How would he fund these inventions? Maybe he comes from a Dunesfolk family from Ul'dah that has some money. Where did he learn to fight? Maybe he was a member of the Brass Blades before he took to adventuring. Why did he start adventuring? He probably had a patriotic flare in his youth but decided it wasn't worth the bloodshed as he got wiser and left the Blades. Why wasn't he at the battle of Carteneu? He's a rough-and-tumble sort of guy, maybe he broke his leg and was in the infirmary at the time. How old is he? I imagine he joined the Brass Blades when he was in his late teens, but what inspired him? Maybe the invasion of Ala Mhigo. Lalafell age slower anyway. We'll make him about 36. I find that once you have a central idea, everything else kind of falls into place. EDIT: I, too, project myself onto my characters. Uther, like myself is the youngest sibling, and since he left home (I moved halfway across the country IRL) he's been kind of looking for an older-brother-figure, despite being perfectly capable of taking on problems by himself. Wart is obviously very short (I'm a 5'3 male IRL) and because of that, he feels he needs to prove himself. Deep down he's a kind-hearted man, but he often lets bravado get in the way of showing it.

No idea about where they came from, but Keepers have settled in the Shroud and Gridania while Seekers settled in the Sagolii desert or however it's spelled, and Limsa Lominsa. Of course, you'll find everyone everywhere though.

You're not the first person to think that, but not quite, it was actually from the legend of King Arthur. Arthur was the illegitimate son of Uther Pendragon. All of my character names are Arthurian. My alt in this game's name is Wart which was Arthur's nickname when he was a child servant in the book The Once and Future King. It's my favorite legend.

I see what you did there. (emphasis mine) ...How did I miss this?

Welcome! And don't sweat being an altoholic, I'm one too. I had multiple characters in FFXI because "This hume doesn't fit the samurai attitude I'm going for." etc, etc... and that was before I was even RPing. I played WoW for eight years and got pretty much every class except priest to cap (I say cap because if a new expansion came out, some characters would be left behind since I wouldn't want to level through the new zone about 10 times) and had multiple characters on each faction across several servers. In this game I went through two character ideas before settling on Uther and even now, I'm thinking of a new character. So don't worry, you're not alone!

Was this a poll of RPers or players in general? Most MMOs I've played, I've done so as a non-RPer and guys playing chicks are everywhere so I could definitely believe this. As a male, I would find it both awkward and difficult to play a female character. I really like to get into the head of the characters I play and I just don't think I could do that with another gender. I can't even do that with a tall character because I'm short IRL, so another gender is completely out of the question for me. Not to say others shouldn't. It takes a lot of skill to switch genders in RP and make it believable.