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Arrelaine · **06-12-2015, 08:00 AM**

I don't normally do kidnappings (as a matter of fact, I've never done one but Arry almost got kidnapped during a guild plot!), because it's been done so much. I try to avoid plots that are used too much; I'd rather flex my creative brain mojo and come up with something that will refresh people instead of make them go 'hggggh not again'. I don't think kidnappings are bad RP, just that people might get tired of them after so many, and it helps to have something new so the next person plotting might not get that reaction if they go with it.

LadyRochester · **06-12-2015, 08:48 AM**

I have been on both ends of the story.

Regarding getting kidnapped, my character is open to everything, except for death (That would have to be prearranged, as I would want to make it part of a big/significant plot.) She eventually managed to wiggle herself out with persuasion, the second time it happened, she was rescued.Â

As for doing the kidnapping, I always ask the other RPer oociy if they are okay with it, as I don't like to do such "big" moves without warning the other beforehand, so, unless the rper tells me otherwise, I will always warn OOCily about the actions she might take. I don't expect the same from others, but I feel like better communication leads to better RP. She only did this once, and it was with the help of sell-swords she hired.

C'kayah Polaali · **06-14-2015, 12:08 AM**

I have, both in FF and other games. Other folks have talked about the various points of etiquette around this sort of RP. Effectively it's the same as any other conflict RP. There is an additional aspect of it that often doesn't show up in other RPs, though: Kidnapping RP takes place over time, so what do you do with your character between scenes? How does time flow?

Both in Eve Online and Star Trek Online I have played arcs that involved my character being kidnapped. In both of them we attempted to play it out real-time-ish. My character was taken on day X, and then was kept until freed. The arc in Eve went clumsily - I was new to scripted arc RP, and handled it poorly - but in both of them things got frustrating because I couldn't really RP my characters outside of the arc until they had been freed. The arc in STO was especially frustrating because we weren't able to get everyone together for scenes very often, so it really stretched on.

What that's led to in FF for me is the philosophy that you have to allow time to become decoupled for these sorts of arcs. Instead of pinning the start of the arc to the day it begins, I've started pinning the end of the arc to the day it ends. What that means is that if my character is kidnapped on the 1st of June and not freed until the 30th of July, I'm not keeping him out of commission for two months. Instead, we look at the IC length of the arc (say it's 4-5 scenes over 48 hours) and say the kidnapping happened on the 28th of July. It's pinned to the end of the arc.

This doesn't prevent consistency or continuity problems, of course, but neither does pinning an arc at the start. What it does do, however, is let the players take their time and play out the arc at their convenience without anyone having to put their characters out of commission ICly for an extended time.

ZacharyVolfire · **06-17-2015, 05:00 AM**

Zachary has for Four days by Garleans he was tortured ,but rescued by a Warrior of Light

Suviyo Viyo · **06-17-2015, 06:53 AM**

It's funny, in another game I was RPing in... it seemed like I was coming across people RPing this type of scenario constantly!

Honestly, I have to say that I'm a little bothered by RP that involves denying one of the player's sense of agency in a situation. And really... it just seems really odd and unlikely that people would find themselves being kidnapped right and left all the time.

Also things like the whole "Save the Princess" trope comes to mind when I think about this... and it just winds up feeling pretty tired... plus a little more than regressively disempowering for a female character.

So yeah... Unless there was a fun and unique way of playing with the trope and flipping it on its head... I'd rather not ever RP a scenario involving it, myself.

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Character Kidnapping - Do you do it?

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes