A big red flag for me is when players present characters or stories which push hard against lore, and the individual(s) involved have an intricate Viet Cong tunnel system of reasons why their idea is totally okay and you should be on board with it - and if you question it even a little, you immediately become the worst and you can go die in a fire.
I don't mean to say we should never tolerate bending the lore - on the contrary, the lore bends itself often enough even without our input, so why not, with some restraint. The point is when it becomes obvious that the player isn't actually even looking within the lore for ideas for a character or story, but rather, they've come up with a character or story concept which obviously isn't very reasonable in this setting, and their exploration of the lore is instead used to seek every tiny morsel of anything which renders the concept remotely plausible.
As I see it, there's heaps and piles of really great characters and stories that could be enjoyed that are wholly within the lore, or perhaps edging slightly against it, and so the only rational justification to behave like that is that the player is "stuck" on a concept. Sometimes this might only be a matter of writer's block, but most of the time, at least in my experience, it's due to the player's obsession over a particular theme which at an almost (or sometimes literally) fetish-like level they need to have or else they just can't even get interested in roleplay.
I don't mean to say we should never tolerate bending the lore - on the contrary, the lore bends itself often enough even without our input, so why not, with some restraint. The point is when it becomes obvious that the player isn't actually even looking within the lore for ideas for a character or story, but rather, they've come up with a character or story concept which obviously isn't very reasonable in this setting, and their exploration of the lore is instead used to seek every tiny morsel of anything which renders the concept remotely plausible.
As I see it, there's heaps and piles of really great characters and stories that could be enjoyed that are wholly within the lore, or perhaps edging slightly against it, and so the only rational justification to behave like that is that the player is "stuck" on a concept. Sometimes this might only be a matter of writer's block, but most of the time, at least in my experience, it's due to the player's obsession over a particular theme which at an almost (or sometimes literally) fetish-like level they need to have or else they just can't even get interested in roleplay.
Lydia Lightfoot ~ The Reliquarian's Guild «Relic» ~ Lavender Beds, Ward 12, #41
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
