I find myself drawn to writing stories about powerful characters because finding the every day person in a singularly powerful being can be a fun challenge. Â I tend to avoid them in rp though. Â To make a powerful character interesting requires a delicate hand and a planned structured approach, but it can be very difficult to orchestrate the kinds of moments that highlight the relatable qualities in a transcendently powerful person when there are other writers involved in trying to tell a story with you while trying to tell their own story as well.
I also find that there is a certain kind of rper who can be very confrontational about such characters, for whatever reason they seem to be angered by the idea that someone might want to play a powerful or indeed overpowered character and I am simply too old to be dealing with things like that.
I've noticed that some of the replies in this thread have mentioned having a relatively balanced, normal adventurer-type character occasionally achieve or do more than they normally would be able to and I like to call those heroic moments. Â Maybe it's luck, maybe it's adrenaline, maybe it's fate or divine providence, but moments like those are some of my favorites. Â I tend to play regular rank and file soldiers as a way to test the waters of an rp community when I join a new game and I always look forward to those opportunities have my otherwise nameless so and so stand up and hold the line just long enough for reinforcements or what have you. Â I say all this because I think what makes those moments so pleasurable are the same things that draw people to overpowered characters.
Heroic moments and overpowered characters serve the same purpose in my mind, they take a world that is already fantastical (even relatively realistic MMORPGs are never actually that grounded in reality) and create a stage where that fantasy is taken a step further because the circumstances are so far detached from reality that it forces the players, as writers, to shine a spotlight on the one thing that remains relatable, which is the personality under the power. Â The rank and file soldier who rises to glory after his heroic moment may not be at all suited to his new found fame, perhaps it makes him uncomfortable, maybe he feels like a fraud. Â Does he break under the pressure and desert? Â Does he wash out and become a drunk somewhere, telling tales of his days in the service in exchange for a pint? Â What about the God/Primal/Void-child? Â So isolated by their power, feared, hated, maybe pursued by those who seek to use them? Â These are all circumstances that present the player a chance to really explore a character. Â Whether or not a player capitalizes on these opportunities or indeed even realizes they have been presented with an opportunity is a completely different matter.
 That's my two cents I suppose.  Sorry this ran so long.  I had not planned to ramble so.
I also find that there is a certain kind of rper who can be very confrontational about such characters, for whatever reason they seem to be angered by the idea that someone might want to play a powerful or indeed overpowered character and I am simply too old to be dealing with things like that.
I've noticed that some of the replies in this thread have mentioned having a relatively balanced, normal adventurer-type character occasionally achieve or do more than they normally would be able to and I like to call those heroic moments. Â Maybe it's luck, maybe it's adrenaline, maybe it's fate or divine providence, but moments like those are some of my favorites. Â I tend to play regular rank and file soldiers as a way to test the waters of an rp community when I join a new game and I always look forward to those opportunities have my otherwise nameless so and so stand up and hold the line just long enough for reinforcements or what have you. Â I say all this because I think what makes those moments so pleasurable are the same things that draw people to overpowered characters.
Heroic moments and overpowered characters serve the same purpose in my mind, they take a world that is already fantastical (even relatively realistic MMORPGs are never actually that grounded in reality) and create a stage where that fantasy is taken a step further because the circumstances are so far detached from reality that it forces the players, as writers, to shine a spotlight on the one thing that remains relatable, which is the personality under the power. Â The rank and file soldier who rises to glory after his heroic moment may not be at all suited to his new found fame, perhaps it makes him uncomfortable, maybe he feels like a fraud. Â Does he break under the pressure and desert? Â Does he wash out and become a drunk somewhere, telling tales of his days in the service in exchange for a pint? Â What about the God/Primal/Void-child? Â So isolated by their power, feared, hated, maybe pursued by those who seek to use them? Â These are all circumstances that present the player a chance to really explore a character. Â Whether or not a player capitalizes on these opportunities or indeed even realizes they have been presented with an opportunity is a completely different matter.
 That's my two cents I suppose.  Sorry this ran so long.  I had not planned to ramble so.
