Grott

Make a Miqo'te and say he's a mixed race between a Lalafell, a Roegadyn, and a stray cat. Throw the entire community a curveball. Just kidding (no I'm not). Welcome to the RPC! We're a friendly bunch overall, so feel free to ask questions if you have them. I'm sure myself, or someone more experienced, will answer them promptly. If you're stumped on where you want to go with your character, I suggest checking out the wiki page and skimming through other player characters to see what you like and dislike for some inspiration.

^ I like this. I enjoy defying my racial stereotypes as well. Abodo Po is the exact opposite of most Lalafell. He isn't cutesy, naive, or carefree. He has his own quirks, some of which are humorous, but he has a deadpan, cynical, and blunt personality and he dislikes most social interaction. I think it's going to make running into other Lalafell in RP all the more interesting. I can already see one trying to be cute and cuddly and Abodo saying "You're embarrassing yourself, and I'm embarrassed to be near you." and getting a lot of stares and frowns. Make your character act how you want him or her to. Not every human on Earth has the same personality, so why should every Elezen in Hydaelyn?

Made a wordpress account... No idea how to use it though :?

Thanks everyone! I was so surprised to see all these helpful replies when I got home from work. I think I will go for WordPress, or at least give it a trial run. I was also thinking about what both Eva and Deirdre said about getting into the mind of my character and just letting the words flow. You're both absolutely right. The other day I got jealous of everyone's journals (I've been stalking your journals...) and opened up Microsoft Word and just started writing as if I were Abodo and I was part of a caravan headed to Ul'dah. I didn't try to make it a narrative as much as a realistic rambling of thoughts running through the character's head, every so often breaking from my train of thought to say something like "I would guess we're about three malms from the city gate now" or "It's hot, even for this place." and then continuing on with it, as if I was actually there. I read it again an hour later, and was proud of myself but also kind of astonished at how similar to a real journal it seemed once I put myself in Abodo's head. I'm really excited to get started. And Magellan, first of all, thank you for that compliment. To hear someone say they were impressed with my character is a great feeling. I love reading and hearing about other people's characters, so it means a lot when someone says they liked reading about mine. But to answer your question, I'm in the thing-we're-not-supposed-to-talk-about-because-it's-against-SE's-rules and I played FFXI for eight years (which helped get to know the races a little bit, even though there are drastic cultural differences in the two games), plus I've looked into the lore as much as I could. With that I feel like I know enough to make a new character and back story. Though it is difficult for me to really get a grasp on Abodo, since I haven't played a Lalafell and I have to base his appearance on a mix of appearances I've seen from dozens of other Lalafell. I admit, it's taken a lot of effort, especially on the lore part, but I've enjoyed the journey so far... Also I used to write short stories, so that kind of helps. I hope I can get my journal up and running for all of you to read soon, and I'm even more excited to actually RP with you all at launch now.

Hey everyone, I've been looking to start a journal for Abodo Po. The idea is to ICly cover his conflict over whether or not to return to Ul'dah while he's sitting around in Gridania doing odd jobs. OOCly the idea is to give me something to do while waiting to play this game, with which I can keep focused on my character and further develop his personality. If I enjoy writing it and feel like it's a useful RP tool, I'll continue it through launch. Here's the problem, I have no idea where to start. I don't know what site to use, or even what my options are. I'm looking for some honest feedback from those of you who have journals for your characters, how did you get started and are you enjoying it?

I can't give you much but my opinion, and I won't be offended in the slightest if you don't take it. Everyone's got to do their own thing, of course. I'm also a huge fan of nature-loving races, which is why I chose Miqo'te Seeker as my RP character initially. I switched, though, because it seemed that demographic was really overpopulated. I've always heard that Miqo'te males were very rare and preferred solitude, and yet a lot of people are playing them. Obviously, I can't tell someone "don't play that race!" because I think there are too many. I can see its appeal and I think they're awesome too. That being said, it wasn't sitting easy with me so I created an entirely new character and new story, a Dunesfolk Lalafell scientist who just had a religious experience, so that I wouldn't feel like I'm part of the problem. If you haven't gotten it from that rant, I'm suggesting Duskwight Elezen because there aren't as many and I feel it's a lot less exposed. Don't get me wrong, Miqo'te are really awesome and I love their look, but it's just weird to me to see Miqo'te Males, who are supposedly EXTREMELY isolationist and rare to find, hanging out in groups of twenty in every tavern in Hydaelyn. Some (most) people aren't as bothered by it as I am, by a longshot, but I felt it was worth at least bringing up for consideration. Like everyone else, I suggest looking into both choices and seeing what's best for you before deciding on anything. But there's my opinion, for what it's worth.

Kind of reminds me of the Court of Owls story arc from Batman comics a little bit... And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Plus this fits with Abodo Po really well. I could see a way to work this into his nomadic solitude, his former upper-class status, and even some slight paranoia from his really vague vision of a world wrought with terror. And I'm sure other people could fit it into their own character arcs as well. I love it. I'm all about it.

I'm going to freak out and praise you for a second, but then I have a specific compliment... This is seriously all amazing. I am a terrible artist but I practice a lot at work (I have a boring desk job and a lazy boss.) and every time I look at the art done by anyone on the forum I die a little inside. Especially yours. No offense to any other artists, but this is just more my style I think. Love the line work. Okay, specifically though, I love the Lalafell one with the armor and the lance. As I'm planning to start a Lalafell as my first character, I've been attempting to draw one a lot recently and my pictures always end up looking like otherwise-proportional men with HUGE heads or just Lego people. I love that you can make them look at least semi-serious without changing their proportions to do so. Hard to pull off, considering they're the "cute baby race" of FFXIV. As someone who plans to RP Lalafell without being a stereotypical naive cutie-pie, I can really appreciate that in your work. Once the NDA is lifted and I come up with a solid appearance for my Lala that I can screenshot and post everywhere, you will have my money. You will have ALL my money. Keep up the outstanding work!

Welcome! Another Limsa Lominsa Sun Seeker is always fun. I highly suggest perusing the wiki. I spend more time reading other people's character wikis and tweaking my own than I do actually talking on the forums. It's a great place to get a feel for the story side of the community. I use it to kind of preemptively decide who my character(s) would get along with and who would take some getting used to.

Welcome (back?) !

Most definitely.

I like this. Ya got heart, kid!

Welcome! I'm semi-green to RP as well (only RP'd in LOTRO, a little in FFXI, and a little in Champions Online.. which was a terrible experience). As a fellow beginner, I can honestly say that this community has been extremely helpful and polite through the whole experience. You won't find a better place to start.

Admittedly, I haven't read the other responses, so if I'm just repeating or piggybacking I apologize. I didn't want to lose my train of thought. There were two things that really caught my attention with your post: 1. The Lightning Story: I agree that there should be consequences. Maybe not "I zapped you with lightning, you died. Make a new character." but someone shouldn't be zapping someone unless they strongly dislike them, and that should be reflected in the on-going RP experience. What I mean by this is, they shouldn't forget it happened the next day and call a mulligan. In my opinion, RP should be as fluid as reality when interacting with others. Even if its someone you constantly do dungeons with. If that person insults your mother at a tavern the night before, there should at least be some friction while working together the next day. This, to me, makes characters seem more human and it builds a stronger RP experience for everyone. Friendships growing and breaking should be a big part of it. I didn't play 1.0, so I don't know anyone in the RPC outside of talking on these forums, but I already know who my characters would get along with and disagree with just from reading their wikis, and that to me is very exciting. It also brings me to my second point: 2. The Backstory: You mentioned how you like to make very plain characters. This is something I can very VERY much agree with. Every time someone comes up to me and tells me their heart-wrenching story of vengeance and betrayal and lost love and being the son of a demon and an angel or whatever-the-hell I roll my eyes and even in actual RP conversation I'll say something like "I don't care about your sob story." and walk away just so that person gets that not only do I hate it, but even my character hates it. I'll admit that even I'm guilty of too much backstory sometimes (see A'sili Abarskyf's wiki for examples) but that's only because I like to justify my character's abilities. For instance, how can I explain that a man who spent his entire life on boats knows how to survive in the wild unless I throw in "he spent three years as an adventurer once." On my other character (Abodo Po), I tried to dumb it down a little more and have the game start in the early years of his adventuring so there's a REASON he's where he is at the game's launch. Granted, I was guilty of throwing in a prophetic vision, but that's because of three big reasons (1. I didn't feel it was god-moding, since it only happened once and it happened to Boromir in LOTR and he got corrupted and died in the first book, 2. I needed a reason for this guy to one day decide to be a mage, and 3. I've been reading a lot of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories...) But other than one small detail that might be considered dramatic effect, I try to keep a plainness and add flaws to cover up any accidental god-moding. And, this is turning into a rant but, by flaws I don't mean more "my parents are dead so all I care about is vengeance!", I mean "I'm socially awkward and don't really know what I'm doing here." or "I'm an egotistical smart ass and people don't really like me." Sorry for the rant on #2, but here's a tl;dr summary of it: Not everyone in the game's world can be the most scarred and powerful character. Some adventurers are just average dudes looking to make a buck or help people out, and that to me makes them more interesting than god-moders. Gah, Forgot about Epic RP. This'll be a lot quicker than the last one. I love the idea of several different characters from different backgrounds and disciplines coming together to face one big threat (everything from RPers in a dungeon to Justice League comics). I can't speak for everyone else, but if you're looking for a good team-building, forming-storming-norming-performing adventure for either PvE or PvP, both my characters are at your disposal. Some RPers disagree with me, but I love fitting gameplay into story. Sitting in the inn all day talking is fine late at night or on a lazy saturday, but I'm all about epic adventure RP, and it's no fun at all without people to do it with.

I'll make this short and sweet, because I'm sure most of you don't know who I am or care. A'sili won't be on whichever server we choose, whether it be Balmung or some new fancy RP server, for at least a month or two, because my RL non-RP friends need me. But from day one, there will be a Disciple of Magic named Abodo Po on your server (also me. making two A'sili's is out of the question. It wouldn't feel right.) because RPing with you all looks like fun and I don't want to miss a minute. When I finally transfer A'sili I hope to RP as both, but if it's too difficult for an amateur like me, I'll probably phase one out over time. That will depend on how well each character fits into his world. That's pretty much it. I hope you all like this new dude. I've put just as much thought into him as I have with A'sili, and I'm putting all the information I have written about him into the Wiki as soon as possible.

I know everyone's said it, but you deserve at least one more. Thanks for your commitment and for keeping us as well-informed as you could during this issue. We all appreciate it.

Welcome! It's a great community. You'll enjoy it here.

33 years old. Wasn't involved in anything 1.0, so time skip is irrelevant.

This is a really good point. In my experience as an MMO gamer (10 years, countless games. though my RP experience is severely limited), I've noticed that servers titled as official RP servers usually have a pretty low population, as most gamers today seem to only be interested in the actual on-the-surface gameplay for most MMOs, and RP is seen as a lame taboo by most of the college-aged frat kid closet-nerds who subscribe to MMOs (sad, but true in my experience. those guys suck, you guys are awesome though.) As for me, I will be playing on Balmung, but possibly a month or so later than the rest of you. I will be playing ARR from launch, but I'll probably be playing with some RL friends (...who are actually pretty similar to the typical gamer i described in the last paragraph, now that i think about it...) until they inevitably get burned out after a few weeks to a month (their strategy is grinding to top level in a matter of days, getting bored because new games dont have years of end-game content yet, and quitting.) hopefully server transfers will be a thing. If they aren't, or if my friends continue to play, I'm just going to make a second A'sili Abarskyf on Balmung anyway. I've only been part of this community for a few days, but from the friendliness i've seen in the forums and the creativity i've seen on the wiki, it's definitely something i'd like to be a part of.

Here's the long and checkered career of A'sili Abarskyf. Trying to get it as much exposure as possible since I could use some feedback. Plus I just love telling people stories I've come up with. Enjoy!

I like this idea. A lot. I don't know if any of you played LOTRO (i think it was mentioned earlier, but i cant remember), but the /smoke emote was really cool because you could just stand in a tavern and smoke a pipe by the fireplace. LOTRO is one of the few games i've actually taken a chance at RPing in (because none of my RL friends were there to judge me plus im a huge Tolkien fan). I also loved that it was like a sit emote in that it lasted until you moved. I could definitely see A'sili smoking a pipe while watching the sea, or even just standing with his arms folded since he's got that tough loner thing going. I also like the folded legs while seated thing, not particularly for my character, but for anyone. Not everyone sits at a table with their back straight against the chair and their hands on their knees. Has anyone tried sitting like that for long periods of time in real life? it's exhausting. In City of Heroes they went as far as to make like ten different sit emotes for chairs, ledges, flat ground, etc, and multiple for each. There was more than one way to sit in a chair, just like in real life. Also they can program /sit so it works differently when you're next to a chair, why not make a /lean for when you're next to a wall? So many characters idly stand around for hours in games like this, and yet none of them get lazy and enjoy a good lean? That was a hell of a rant. Sorry, I'm a big fan of emotes. Which is weird since I don't have much RP experience. (not to get off topic but my emote love comes from my half-RPing to myself when no one's looking. hence, my newfound interest in actual RP) Another thing that I think would be cool and may have been talked about by developers (maybe...?) is linkshell-owned airships. personally, i prefer a sea ship to an airship, but as long as A'sili's boat knowledge comes in handy somewhere I'll be happy. Also, I don't know where they're at with titles (im sure they have them), but I love a good title. Nothing fancy like "Ultimate Slayer of All Darkness" but simple things like "Captain", "Lord/Lady", "the Wanderer", etc. would do just fine. I don't know which of these things were covered already, I didn't read all of this. I got way too stoked when Eva read my mind on standing positions and skipped the other two pages. Sorry that was long.

I'm new to the lore too. I had to come up with my back story by dancing around all the stuff I was foggy about. Lore experts will either read it and think "this is creative, because he doesnt put himself at the center of everything important that ever happened." or "This guy's an idiot and none of this makes sense."

So I decided to dive into this community like a bat out of hell. If you've posted in this thread and have a character wiki, odds are I've already read it. I went to the wiki page and looked for all the familiar names. You're all creative and I like that. None of what I read seemed cliche or unimaginative. Plus they were all vastly different from each other. I put mine up there, which I've been brainstorming for about a week. Check it out if you want (:

^ Agreed. It also doesn't say it has to be a blood relative so... I'd say if he calls the captain his father, and would refer to his as such then he can mark father in the poll. Fair enough. Father it is! Thanks everyone.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all the helpfulness!