(05-24-2015, 12:54 PM)Blue Wrote: RPing bad guys can give less RP but a certainly higher quality of roleplay, trust me. Your character's development is more prominent, more interesting and more meaningful. Easygoing characters actually have an harder time developing and maturing than us bad guys do, because we start from the bottom, and our growing is more evident than theirs (since they start as friendly, mature, social etc. character, any change towards a higher maturity is less evident).
I've been RPing bad guys since 2006 since I seem to be... pretty good at it, or anyway, better than I am at RPing social butterflies. My main advice to you is to find yourself a close group of people to RP with, and spend a lot of time with them, ESPECIALLY OOC. OOC bonding here is the key, because people who know you OOC know that your character isn't OOC-bleeding bad feelings at them, while someone who has just met you might think otherwise. Knowing you OOC, these people will make efforts to keep around your character, and eventually firm IC bonds will form, without the need to break character on either end.
The second tip is: be creative to be with others. I'll explain it with the example of Kenjii, my character from FFXI. He was a big introvert, rude jerk, with a good side that could only be seen after a while with him (see trop: Jerk with a Heart of Gold). When he initially first met the rest of the group of roleplayers, it was impossible to keep him around. He was annoyed by them and wanted to not deal with them. So what did I do to make it so he'd go out adventuring with them? I had his boss (an NPC under my control) force him to escort those adventurers, threatening to fire him if he wouldn't comply. That's how Kenjii was forced to travel, camp, and live with the others for a while, until he got too involved in the plot and couldn't just walk out of it. Soon enough, I noticed that others' characters came to mine often, even just to talk to him, despite his awful personality, they were actually intrigued by him. And now they are the best of friends (yes, it's crazy, but we still do RP on FFXI).
Third and last advice: Don't be just a wallflower. If people don't come to you, RP NPCs talking to you (this is easier to be done with a small group of close friends; NPCs/secondary characters not visible on screen seem difficult to be accepted by Open World RPers for some reason). Tell your story to those present through small bits and hints, and don't spill out all your tragic past on the go. The beauty of bad guys is their rich past, the STUFF that made us the way we are, and you should consider this as a treasure to deliver in very small doses. Personally I like very lengthy plots, and sometimes it took a year for a certain detail of my characters' past to be revealed. Maybe you don't like long time roleplay though, so adjust as you see fit. Just keep in mind, that once all the beans are spilled, your character loses 70% of its Interest Factor. You have to ensure your character becomes interesting through other means (deeds of the present, goals of the future), before you run out of "past secrets points", so to speak.
(What does that have to do with wall-flowering, you ask?)
Back to the FFXI example: I was not the only "bad guy" in our group of roleplayers. There was another, a chick, that simply stood to the side all the time and waited for people to go to her, only to brush them off quickly with non-sensical quotes that really didn't tell anything about her and only pushed the others away more confused than before about her. I, instead, while keeping my Moronic Jerk attitude IC, did contribute to the plot and actually had my character show some degree of interest in the others as well, making sure each exchange with them to be meaningful, and sometimes forcing my character to go to them, instead of waiting for them to come "click" me (Ex: "Oi. Why are we still here? Did you get us effin' lost?"). In a few weeks, the other "bad guy" RPer was OOCly complaining that Kenjii (my bad guy character) was getting all the attention from the others and "stealing all the girls" (in a non-romantic way, cause my character did not care, but a lot of the female characters seemed much into "changing him", it's a Beauty and the Beast thing I guess?). The reason behind that was that she hadn't really tried to interact with the others, being a wallflower and waiting to be talked to like an NPC, while I did take the initiative.
Your OOC powers are immense, and they are a must when RPing a Bad Guy. So again: OOC bonds with who you RP with, use of NPCs to force your character to interact/stay near others, and initiative (no wall-flowering) are the three keys to successfully RP a bad guy.
Happy Grumpying!
Wow thanks for the tips! I completely agree with everything you said. My villain backstory is so much better than my good guy one. And people really do love having an adversary of sorts. Also, not being funny, but that bit about the girls wanting to change you had me in absolute hysterics!!Â
I think everyone here will benefit from what you said. So thank you.Â
TO EVERYONE: Do people mind if i add you in game? Could use some like-minded villains in my friend list.
