You Know You Overthink RP When....

[Steel Wolf]

I dunno about you handsome gents and lovely ladies, but I adore the minutia of creating an RP character. The backstory details, the personal quirks, the stuff that comes up out of interaction or out of the blue.

 

But I also think we all kind of tend to over-manage. We pore over little details that nobody else would ever know or we come up with ideas that are no more than headcanon or rationalization.

 

So! I wanna create this thread as a way to share those micro details and pointless trivia about your character and your RP, styled in the fashion of outstandingly unfunny comedian Jeff Foxworthy.

 

I'll start and look forward to whatever responses come in!

 

You know you overthink RP when...

 

Your character has names for swords and mounts.

You think of their favorite foods...and then cook and eat them just to be sure.

You've gone broke getting clothes and changing your mind too many times.

[Aaron]

You sit in the corner and brood about all the things in your dark past you've only done in exposition.

[Tortles]

When…

 

…you have to create a schedule to explain how and why your character manages to show up to RP locations around the globe within their timeline.

 

…you wait a long period of time between hairstyle changes for your hair to "grow".

 

You think of their favorite foods...and then cook and eat them just to be sure.

 

…you look up recipe videos on Youtube to sound like you know what you're doing when you cook IC.

[Telluride]

When one of your alts is a bartender, and you spend hours making a drink and appetizers menu that maybe a handful of people will look at...

 

And then update it. Twice.

 

And try to find lore-friendly versions of mixes that just would not actually exist in the game.

[Capheira]

When...

 

... you go through and plan exactly what items are carried on their person ICly... and why.

... each and every scar has a corresponding story as to why it's there.

... every person in your character's history is named, given a profession and personality.

... you study techniques of their preferred weapon (such as dueling) to better act on combat.

... you write all your own songs for performances, despite the stress of deadlines.

... there may or may not be method drinking involved.

[Nero]

When you spend a weekend studying sociology and group psychology in order to construct a fictional society for them to originate from.

[Leanne]

When you walk back home from work thinking and rethinking about details and attributes of your character.

[Gegenji]

... You stress over how/why your character would be in a specific situation for just random fun RP.

... You stick to character verisimilitude over actual fun with your RP partners.

... You worry about what your character said/did hours after the fact.

[Teadrinker]

My mind will wander off and think, in embarrassing detail, about how my specific  characters would act in various hypothetical situations.

[DeletedUser]

When one of your alts is a bartender, and you spend hours making a drink and appetizers menu that maybe a handful of people will look at...

 

Oh man, that one hits too close to home. Already do a lot of the others mentioned here too, hnnngh.

 

When you RP a healer and research actual medical conditions and treatments so you can incorporate it into your character's healing methods. Trust me, I'm a doctor.

[Telluride]

When you construct an elaborate background, origin, and several story vignettes for a trio of your alts, linking them together, and after a year, no more than four other players have ever encountered any of these alts in any capacity whatsoever.

 

And then you still level and get new RP clothes for all of them, to justify also taking everyone of them to play mini cactpot for no reason but to get those RP clothes. Just in case.

[Tortles]

…you level PGL and buy Emperor's New Fist, because you might need a fist fight combat stance one day.

[Gegenji]

When you construct an elaborate background, origin, and several story vignettes for a trio of your alts, linking them together, and after a year, no more than four other players have ever encountered any of these alts in any capacity whatsoever.

 

And then you still level and get new RP clothes for all of them, to justify also taking everyone of them to play mini cactpot for no reason but to get those RP clothes. Just in case.

 

Is it worse when you have three alts that you've made and thought up backstories and such for... and haven't even used at ALL?

 

... Well, I did the mini-cactpot thing for one of them (full Gambler set and the tortoise mount!), but the other two were just sitting at the pre-tutorial stage for a good couple months. I only pushed them through the tutorial because I decided to tweak one of them appearance-wise and you can't Fantasia them until you're out of the tutorial. >>;

[Aaron]

Y'all motherfuckers need Talos.

[Edda]

When you make a massive, sprawling family tree spanning several generations complete with dates of birth/death, fully thought out names/personalities for each member and their influences on the family that can still be felt in the current era...

 

...and then accidentally delete it forever in a massive file-purging binge.

[Steel Wolf]

When you spend a weekend studying sociology and group psychology in order to construct a fictional society for them to originate from.

 

...Wow. I am awed by that one. O_O

 

...when you go in to character creator and look at nose shapes for hours.

...when you research armor forging techniques in the hopes that you get to RP actual crafting, even though you barely level up the appropriate DoH but you do it anyway because you just don't know if it might happen.

...when you jam a bunch of bread in your mouth, talk, and note how that sounds in order to accurately write your character speaking with their mouth full.

[Marcy]

...when you consider the effects of aether on a character with high sensitivity and write up the possible side effects of aetheryte travel, realizing you basically described a cocaine overdose.

 

and then roll for heart attack ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Nebbs]

You spend days and days writing so much for that RP you will run, and the party ignore it and run off doing their own thing. After that it is just so many "head meet table" moments.

 

Personally I tend to under think it and just see what happens.

[Virella]

... When you make NPCs in character's background just as nearly as fleshed out as your actual roleplay character. And they will very likely never ever show up, or be mentioned in roleplayer. Ever.

[LadyCleriseaux]

...When your spend hours grinding for that one piece that will make your IC glamour perfect.

 

...When you have their whole backstory hand-written, including details of their clan, their customs, festivals, etc. when it was detroyed by the Garleans.

 

...When your OOC friend wants to RP with you and you spend the weekend trying to write a convincing way for the two characters to connect. Even though they never would normally!

[Mavis]

When you spend two real-life weeks working out a part of your character's backstory that if you don't mess up or get an absolute perfect group of individuals to roleplay with nobody besides you will ever know of.

[Savo]

When you start to take on the attributes you've assigned to your character in real life...and rather liked the results.

[Aaron]

When you start using Eorzean terms in texts and conversation.

 

I actually said I swear to Hydaelyn at work today Lmfao

[Verad]

You spend two years fine-tuning and modifying a dice-system and working with 30+ players at a time because god dammit roll RP has merit.

[111]

When you start using Eorzean terms in texts and conversation.

 

I actually said I swear to Hydaelyn at work today Lmfao

I've said gods instead of god a few times irl haha.

 

like 'Ugh, gods!'