(06-19-2015, 01:01 PM)OttoVann Wrote:(06-17-2015, 03:33 PM)Nero Wrote:(06-17-2015, 02:56 PM)Oswin Wrote: I'd like to see more RPers take into account how ruthless the world is. Life spans are short and death is around every corner.
I'm curious to know in what form you'd like this representation to take, because I'm going to assume you're not necessarily advocating for arbitrary player character deaths. Major injuries from the many monsters that prowl around unchecked? Disease? Poverty?
As for the subject matter, curiously enough I don't believe I see much of artisan-centric or gatherer roleplay. There are plenty of player characters who are adventurers, merchants, and self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades, but a dedicated alchemist character? A dedicated armorer? A dedicated weaver? A miner who wants to strike it rich? A botanist who wants to cultivate rare flora? Hell, a travelling fisherman? Sure, these mundane aspirations aren't too interesting on the surface, and having a character who is a noncombatant can make certain situations awkward, but I think there is a good amount of material to build a character off of these concepts.
Lilia and I are dedicated RPers towards Goldsmithing and Weaving. Â Its even how Otto introduces himself lately since I dropped the shitty UlDah politics IC. Â I flex those Mater GSM/WVR rings in my rp. Â But its incredibly rare. Â Most people are content to be generic adventurers "who take on odd jobs here an' there for a bit o' gil to drink mead at the tavern", and theres nothing wrong with it but its everywhere.
So few artisan RPers. Â Even fewer artisan RPers who can even remotely have a discussion about the actual crafting process.
I find I'm shifting more and more toward Chachan's crafting background as of late. Like, he had his whole "becoming a Free Paladin" arc and still tries to help people in that regard... but he's also spending more time crafting solutions - weapons, armor, lacquers and the like. He still does participate in the combat and such, but he's becoming more and more like... I dunno the whole "legendary smith" trope who creates the weapon of power needed to defeat the big bad. He just also isn't afraid to strap on a few of his creations and step onto the battlefield himself.
EDIT:
(06-19-2015, 01:01 PM)OttoVann Wrote: Ive actually ran into one other "fashion designer" rper who couldnt name or explain a single crochet stitch method of any kind for any application and they just expect to be taken seriously on it. Â The majority of crafting rp becomes super shallow, and doesn't rise above the level of tavern-tier rp, because no one does any OOC research to back up any IC crafting discussion. Â This is why most people dont both with crafter rp.
This is actually my biggest concern with Chachan at times. I'm basically running off my basic knowledge of armor/weapon composition and what goes into them wrought from playing DnD. And sometimes a quick Google search for various things - like the melting point of cobalt - all stuff Chachan would know innately, but I haven't a clue on myself.
I still try my best, though, looking stuff up and at least trying to make it look like the kid knows what he's doing. Worse comes to worse, I can always fall back on generic handwaving (* Chachan rambles on about the various pros and cons of multiple alloys) if I can't find some readily available information. Just... don't expect me to be able to be able to identify all the different kinds of hammers a smith uses or something without having to take a moment to look it up.
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