(12-15-2016, 06:18 AM)Valence Wrote: Getting inspiration from characters of novels, movies, games, often goes a long way to find the right things and chemistries...
I have an issue even with this. Of course, you said inspiration from rather than being based on, but in any case, characters in existing media have a fixed range of responses and emotions based on the scripts they're pulled from. What happens in roleplay when a situation arises that doesn't exist in that script? For example, there may be a whimsical scenario that would emerge organically in RP that just never came up in another production's script. As a result, you will have no idea how the character would have responded because he/she is not an organic creation but a subject with a fixed fate determined by a script.
I see this happen all the time in RP. Some Highlander dude who apparently is a hardened soldier stands in that crossed arm /cpose chuckling mildly with a shake of his head as some tavern antics takes place in front of him, far too mature and whatnot, so plagued by the woes of war to let his hair down. Absolutely not. I've engaged professionally with USAF Pararescue Jumpers as a chaplain assistant, and those folks are absolute party animals despite being trained killers and lifesavers (who aren't always successful in the latter). They are the coolest people you will ever meet. Now, that's not to say privately these people might suffer from issues coming from the job, but as far as outward demeanour, you wouldn't tell.
Some player-characters' also have some seriously laughable dialogue. My first thought is "M8 NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT IN REAL LIFE". Yes, it's a fantasy world, but the level of theatricality in their dialogue instantly signals to me that this is not a dynamic character. They are more interested in presenting a certain stage act than actually responding or behaving like an actual person of the world.
Base your characters off of real people, or at least flex them to be a real person with an actual range of character, capable of holding multiple emotions at once. Characters from other fictional mediums are what they need to be for the preexisting story. In RP, there is no preexisting story. A good number of our characters would put an audience at an improv show to sleep because of their incapability to respond to dynamic situations believably and plausibly.
If you want to play a certain occupation, think of real people you know in similar occupations, and use those for inspiration instead. Then, tweak as necessary to fit the lore of the universe (e.g. using period speech to match FFXIV's 17th thru early 20th century British English dialogue), and otherwise make the character seem like a product of the world.
Play real people, not characters, and I guarantee an amazing RP experience.
