Character Kidnapping - Do you do it?

[Kage]

So I'm curious.

 

Have you had your character kidnapped in your roleplay with another player character? If you've not had it done, are you willing?

 

Definition for this thread: The kidnapping is a character held and kept for a period of at least a couple days, against their will. This does not include backstories or histories of your character that you've written on your own.

 

By the first definition of a couple of days, Kage has not. He has been knocked out and held against his will for a day at most. He's been knocked out by a plank of wood and rolled up in carpet (by Xydane). He was knocked out and carried over Unnamed Merc's shoulders. But not for a period of days I'd be ok with such an event!

[Viola]

Personally, no, I've never roleplayed being kidnapped. I honestly don't think anyone would want to kidnap Memenu, either.

[Aoi Fukiku]

Not in FF but in previous RP communities, yes. I had my little librarian kidnapped in Wildstar and held for about a week in some hideout. Anytime I logged on I was forced OOC unless the kidnappers were on and wanted to RP. With how she acted they thought she was Cassian and figured they would get a ransom. Too bad no one ever came and they got tired of her annoying 'You should know better' speeches' and ended up letting her go only to have a few judges at their hideout for a nice little RP fight (it was a fun story all around).

 

I am up for it as long as people do not think rape or anything like that will happen. I am fine with my character being tortured but not killed off or being taken unwillingly. Those are big no no's for me and I made that fully clear to the group that I gave permission for my character to be kidnapped by. Always have to set those rules first.

[Maril]

Yes. 

 

Nailah was successfully kidnapped and held for 3-4 days (I don't remember the specific amount of days, but it was more than two). She saw two people in need of aid on the side of the road after highbridge and on that specific evening she did not think it might be a trick. They overmanned her and knocked her out, and proceeded to drag her to an abandoned mine. She underwent a lot of beating and pain until she eventually managed to convince/manipulate the main culprit that she had submitted to his will and was going to help him out etc, upon where he let her loose to do something for him, of course with her promising her return. She then was picked up by her employees and proceeded not to come back. 

 

The culprit was later tracked down and killed in a seperate event. 

 

The kidnapping itself was somewhat spontaneous, it was brought on by a plot not of my own, and the target did not specifically have to be Nailah, but just someone from the Kindred. I was asked oocly first if I wanted to do it ofc, and the culprit was played by a player I'd known for a long time. 

 

I would do it again, with any of my alts. Nailah's paranoia started after the incident, and there's now a whole lot of things she wont fall for, and generally speaking it has changed a good chunk of her personality. I think it's exciting roleplay when it ties in really well with plots and story archs. I wouldn't do it if it did not make any sense in those relations.

[ArmachiA]

Isn't this like a Roleplaying staple? lol.

 

To be honest, I dislike kidnapping storylines. I feel like they are overdone and used for quick and easy drama and, therefore, Armi has never been kidnapped (Well, for a couple hours many moons ago).

 

HOWEVER, I understand the need for kidnapping storylines. It's easy to establish "good" and "bad", it's fun for the players to figure out where someone is, there's usually an interesting climax. It makes for fun stories for people, so I never restrict it when people come to me and say they want their characters to be kidnapped. It's not really about my own opinion, it's about the player's fun. As a GM I know it's fun for people so if it makes sense in the storyline I just go with it. Sometimes I even plan it on my own, since I know which players would enjoy something like that and like surprises.

 

I've probably done about... 10? kidnapping over 2 years of the game? Maybe a little more. Some of them have even produced really interesting results (My favorites were drugging someone with an experimental potion and breaking someone so completely they forgot who they even were). I'll probably do more kidnappings in the future, too, since it's a popular trope.

[Coatleque]

Crofte would be a very good damsel in distress.

[Aoi Fukiku]

Crofte would be a very good damsel in distress.

And a Certain Miqo'te a very vicious rescuer (*feels bad for villians*)

[FreelanceWizard]

To be honest, I dislike kidnapping storylines. I feel like they are overdone and used for quick and easy drama...

 

Oh, I'm with you there. I was involved in so many kidnapping storylines (as a bystander) in CoH that I've frankly lost count.

 

I haven't had L'yhta get kidnapped primarily because I don't see how it would really benefit her story or the Tower's story. She doesn't have that many enemies who would want to kidnap her; those enemies she does have would much prefer to just kill her and be done with it.

[Steel Wolf]

I have never had my character get kidnapped in this game or any other. Matter of fact, I can say I've almost never had any RP where my character was in a state of limbo, stasis or near-death save for the one time in City of Heroes, when I took a wipe during the Terra Volta Trial as a reason for my character to have her power suit's functions burned in to her body as a result of the reactor explosion.

 

Hey, it's comic book logic....and it also gave me a reason to IC'ly use the eyeglow stuff.

[Hyrist]

FC's policy that Kidnappings or other such methods that puts a character out of the ability to RP for a period of time get resolved quickly. (Day of if possible) to prevent any sort of extraordinary circumstances that could wind up locking the poor player out from being able to roleplay.

 

Case in point ,we had an alliance member wanted to do an event in which his character was missing. Scheduling conflicts and participation issues had the character out of RP commission for a number of months rather than a number of weeks as the roleplayer intended.

 

So unless there is a specific set time-frame that the plot resolves itself in a set amount of time, we tend to avoid RPs like that simply because of OOC factors. Not that we're against it, simply just want the logistics to get in the way of the way the person getting to RP.

[Dat Oni]

Crofte would be a very good damsel in distress.

 

And then Koporo would flip his shit and dart after her.

 

THEY TOOK HIS BEST FRIEND

 

NOW HE'LL TAKE THEIR HEADS

 

COMING SOON:

 

KOPORO: VENGEANCE RISING

THE PREQUEL-SEQUEL-PSEUDO-TRILOGY THRILLER PART I

[Gegenji]

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to do something like that without assurance that it would either a.) be resolved quickly, b.) done with someone who can RP the resolution in a consistent and timely manner, or both.

 

Even just having Chachan taking a short vacation away to visit his family cut him out of a lot of potential RP. And I had to continually make excuses for why he was coming back for all the events I had signed him up for beforehand. It'd be even worse, I think, to not even have that level of freedom. To be wholly dependent on your "captor" for RP until it's resolved.

 

So, while I'm not against kidnappings and such, I'd likely want rules in place like what Hyrist's FC has.

[thesunalsorises]

Ophelie hasn't been kidnapped yet, unless you count being abducted and returned to prison as being kidnapped. The other player pretended to be a client, she was drugged and returned to the proper authorities. When she came to and realized what was happening, she spent the whole time kicking, screaming and saying borderline heretical things. She eventually got out by manipulation and wits. But other than that I've never done a full one kidnapping plot. Maybe one day in the future.

[CrimsonMars]

It depends on the plot and the character. If it's suppose to involved my characters being raped, painfully tortured or killed, then I will be reluctant about it, if not refuse. And I don't see Chiyo being the damsel type anyway (if anything, she'd probably rather die). Although if it's some kind of joke storyline or if it's foreplay involved in the end, I'm not entirely against it... If I make a character that isn't naturally a fighter, I can have them get napped as will.

 

In regards to kidnapping themselves, unless they are evil or sadistic, my current characters would need a valid reason to do it.

[Mae]

I have, in other MMO's.

 

... Multiple times...

 

The first time might not be considered a kidnapping under the definition here. My character was being manipulated and drugged at the time, so she didn't realize she had been kidnapped until the third or fourth day. If she had been in her right mind, though, it would've been against her will from the start. I don't remember the exact details, but I do remember that she was being used as bait.

 

Second time... her 'boyfriend' had just 'died' and a 'demon' that was infatuated with her crawled out of his dead husk, sack of potato'd her over one shoulder, and ran off. That lasted two or three days before he let her go just short of a mob tracking them down. He actually grabbed her a few other times after that too, but never for more than a day at a time.

 

Third time, a relative (a friend's character) grabbed her and was going to torture her for family-related angsty reasons. She managed to escape a week later when someone forgot to lock the cell door after bringing her food. Fourth time was the same guy for similar reasons and trying to bait someone, she was rescued after a few days.

 

... This one probably isn't a kidnapping, but she was 'held' for two days. Friends tricked her and the guy she had been crushing on into a room, then locked the door and wouldn't let them leave until 'something happened'. They tricked their way out by spending a few hours jumping up and down on the bed.

 

And then there was a political thing that I wasn't 100% in the loop for, but basically someone wanted to run an event and asked for volunteers for hostages. That one was like a week long.

 

And... she got snatched and/or telepathically manipulated into walking off a bunch of other times too. Few hours to one-day things, mostly.

 

 

It's something that, as long as someone can give me a logical reason why it should happen and why my character is unable to free themselves for whatever time period, I'm typically fine with the idea.

[Aaron]

Only if my kidnapper is hot and /not/ into BDSM. 

 

But APPARENTLY the world doesn't work like that. Nooooooo the hot ones gotta always be dressed in black leather or some shit.

[Faye]

In TERA, one of my characters was kidnapped and held captive for a couple months. I didn't mind, since I didn't have much to do with her otherwise, so it actually gave me more role-play for her. Here in XIV, for part of a storyline, Faye was kidnapped for two weeks. Obviously I'm not wholly opposed to it, but I do have to agree with some of what Armachia touched on.

 

Mostly for me, I hate kidnapping arcs where a character is only kidnapped for a day or two real time and then returns and back to their normal selves within a day. It kinda cheapens the drama of it for me. It feels like a "hey look at me!" if it doesn't last a decent amount of time and/or leave a lasting impact on the character, like someone wants to have the trauma happen but lose no time RPing their character as his or her normal self... having your cake and eating it too, I guess. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that either; it's just not how I like to do things.

[Zelmanov]

Closest to it has been holding someone at bladepoint to incur a stalemate in combat.

[Flickering Ember]

I'm currently involved in one but I think after this, it might be the last time I do it. I've been involved in several kidnapping plots over the years. But I always run into problems with them. The main problem is that it is very easy for whoever has been kidnapped to get bored. Even if there are plans to RP while in captivity, that person is dependent on scheduling RP for it to work. If schedules don't mesh very well, it quickly becomes problematic.

 

I love kidnapping in RP plots though. I would love to find a way to make it work. It would probably kill the tension of it, but I think if I ever got involved in this again, I would want the story line to exist on an alternate timeline. That way at no point does the person have to feel barred from random RP and those close to whoever was kidnapped don't have to feel constantly stressed IC for as long as that person is missing. While it is only natural that those important to whoever was kidnapped would feel emotions over it, it can be something that not everyone wants to RP out over days.

 

I am definitely interested in hearing if anyone has a good way of going about these kinds of plots. But even going into the plot with intent to combat some of these problems, I always run into the same ones.

[Aris]

I've never done anything like this, but would like to if it made sense and there was character progression out of it rather than just for the sake of it. I could see it being very fun, if constructed well. I really need to jump and and get involved with everyone. ._.

[Martiallais]

I've been a part of these in CoH mostly. Once my main (awww yeah Max Impact) was the rescuer and twice he was the kidnappee (is that the right term?), but it was used as a vehicle for a bigger story. I was also involved in a few in GW2.

 

They can be done well, though I agree, too often and one begins to feel a Mario/Princess Peach dynamic forming which I pretty much loathe.

[Darien Cadell]

Ish?

 

I've never had a character kidnapped for more than a day, always just long enough to RP out some horrible thing happening to them while they were vulnerable then waking up in a tub of ice (Can we say black market organ trading? I think it got eaten in the end) or with blood all over their hands.

 

I've been on the sidelines of other characters' stories when they've been kidnapped for weeks and it was just soul-grindingly painful, especially when they did the hardcore thing of not playing OOC while they were IC out of commission. After watching others go through it and feeling exceptionally awkward about not being able to approach them or even communicate with them IC, I think I'd pass on any opportunities to do something like that. Unless it was highly convenient, like I had to be away from the computer RL for that time anyway, or something.

[Ciel]

As a story device, use it sparingly. This should not be something which happens on a regular basis. Communication is an absolute MUST between kidnapper and kidnappee, and have a timetable for things to happen. There is nothing worse than having your character get kidnapped and then bring left holding the bag and sitting in limbo for weeks or months if something happens to take your captor away from the game for an extended period of time. Also PLEASE don't assume your target is willing to roll with being kidnapped... please ask first and accept it if the answer is no.

[Telluride]

I've been made sour about kidnapping plots.

 

In one of my previous guilds, in a previous game, we had an individual who would simply decide for herself that she was kidnapped, and that other RPers had to come and rescue her. The first time, we played it out, but it was a bit off-putting not to have been privy to the plotline before it impinged upon other things, but kidnappings don't wait, we supposed.

 

The player did the same thing again in the middle of some other storylines that needed addressing, derailing a lot of people's progress in order to tend to hers. This time, the guildleaders gave a warning.

 

The third time... half the group got mad, and the other half basically decided that if she was going to be this way, we didn't want to play with her, anyway.

 

It's a potent trope, and always good for drama, but it has massive, massive abuse potential.

[Jana]

I've had my character captured in battle and made a prisoner before back on TERA, but it was only for a RL-day of RP. I wouldn't be okay with someone taking my character out of the picture for an extended time, unless I knew I wasn't going to be around or able to RP or something.