I need help with my RP

[SolaceWinds]

First off, I want to say that I hope I'm writing this in the right part of the forums. If not please let me know. 

 

It has recently come to my attention that I have a hard time Roleplaying on a more "casual/friendly" level. I'm way to serious about the progression of the story than just.....well rping. I have a hard time having ic conversations with others if the conversation has no purpose. I don't understand /walkups unless my character has some *story driven purpose* to actually walk up to a character. 

 

I have most trouble when choreographing the initial meeting between two characters. Questons that arise are "why are they meeting? What purpose does X have to talk to Y? How will this drive/improve upon either story or character development?"

 

This has incidently led to lack of rp friends, and possible the loss of one currently. I would like to learn how to tone down the solemnity quality of role play. 

 

I was curious as to whether or not anyone would have any tips/tricks/exercises I can practice in which I can accomplish this.

[Faye]

Stop thinking of your character as a plot device or an avenue to play out stories and think of them as an actual person. What's their personality like? What are their hobbies? What do they like to talk about? What kind of people do they like to talk to? Do they like to talk about dry facts, or talk about themselves and share tales of their experiences, or ask others questions to learn about them, or flirt or tease and banter back and forth? How can you reveal interesting things about your character via conversation? Don't overthink the situation from your OOC perspective as a role-player and instead think from your character's perspective to reply in conversation however your character would naturally respond.

[Shadottie]

This resonates so much with me. Sorry to hear you're struggling! >: 

 

There's nothing wrong with looking for story and plot with others! I've learned through experience in both initiating and participating that it can be a bit heavy for other players who have their own things going on too! Pretty much all want their character to be in the spotlight that it can clash when it comes to plots. I've found a consistent culprit in 'meh' or struggling plots to be a lack of emotional attachment to characters and being motivated to collaborate together on a story, if that makes sense!

 

If sitting and talking about something sounds boring to you, try to think of what your character could be doing with others to learn about personalities, opinions, convictions, and other very important aspects of characters. Plots? Sure. It can be easy but tricky when characters don't know each other very well or how to work together.  Bonds made and strengthened between characters are super important in overcoming those heavier plots together.

 

 I have a really hard time rping if something isn't happening and folks are just talking. There is a time for it, and personally, for me, it's when there's ultra feelsy deep conversations happening for characters involved. Otherwise, for me, it really feels like sitting in a chatroom than characters learning about one another. There are so many creative ways to learn about characters than just heavy plots or talking. I can't even begin to list since it is directly affected by character personalities and convictions too. A friend and amazing rp partner has given me so many fun scenarios and character growth in the ideas she hatches for us. 

 

It takes a certain kind of work, but I'd say maybe start with hatching up ideas for one-off scenarios and easy hooks for folks to jump on. Take a look at flaws and strengths, maybe even mysteries to your character and think about how you can be poking that beyond an overarching plot?

 

Nurturing, motherly character? 

What if they found a lost puppy in the streets? What would that sort of scenario say about your character in seeing it's returned home? 

 

What if your character was a negligent butt that didn't care? What if they met another character who was caring and forcing yours to come along? What would you see in all sorts characters that jump on that? How would your character react to those characters and their actions? What could they take away from that? Hating someone? admiring them? Finding inspiration? Finding a friend? 

 

There is so much to wonder and so much to explore with something so simple like that. It provides such a beautiful domino affect in interaction and character growth in a very subtle way!

 

I wish there was an easy way to point out exercises or inspiration for you, but I hope this helps regardless!

[SolaceWinds]

I see....so if I had created a character whose personality a d thought pattern miniced that of a real person, it would be best if I changed it to something else?

[Valence]

Oh, that kind of things happens. For many reasons.

 

1) Maybe you are not in the mood at times. It happens.

2) Maybe it's not your thing IRL, OOCly. I know it's not mine. Thus why I don't play characters that are overly extraverted and social butterflies, though it has happened a few times I did for the challenge.

3) Maybe your character is just not into that. It makes things incredibly hard when everything you actually want to say, wouldn't fit the character personality.

4) Maybe there is nothing to be said. People just gather because they want to RP, but there is absolutely nothing and the discussions stays bland and trite as hell because nobody bothered to come with a theme. Sitting idly speaking of the weather, honestly, can be repelling. Try to find a theme maybe? For story development purposes and all.

5) Maybe you are not in the right group of friends and contacts, to be blunt. I know I personally wouldn't mesh with that myself.

[SolaceWinds]

 

This resonates so much with me. Sorry to hear you're struggling! >: 

 

There's nothing wrong with looking for story and plot with others! I've learned through experience in both initiating and participating that it can be a bit heavy for other players who have their own things going on too! Pretty much all want their character to be in the spotlight that it can clash when it comes to plots. I've found a consistent culprit in 'meh' or struggling plots to be a lack of emotional attachment to characters and being motivated to collaborate together on a story, if that makes sense!

 

If sitting and talking about something sounds boring to you, try to think of what your character could be doing with others to learn about personalities, opinions, convictions, and other very important aspects of characters. Plots? Sure. It can be easy but tricky when characters don't know each other very well or how to work together.  Bonds made and strengthened between characters are super important in overcoming those heavier plots together.

 

 I have a really hard time rping if something isn't happening and folks are just talking. There is a time for it, and personally, for me, it's when there's ultra feelsy deep conversations happening for characters involved. Otherwise, for me, it really feels like sitting in a chatroom than characters learning about one another. There are so many creative ways to learn about characters than just heavy plots or talking. I can't even begin to list since it is directly affected by character personalities and convictions too. A friend and amazing rp partner has given me so many fun scenarios and character growth in the ideas she hatches for us. 

 

It takes a certain kind of work, but I'd say maybe start with hatching up ideas for one-off scenarios and easy hooks for folks to jump on. Take a look at flaws and strengths, maybe even mysteries to your character and think about how you can be poking that beyond an overarching plot?

 

Nurturing, motherly character? 

What if they found a lost puppy in the streets? What would that sort of scenario say about your character in seeing it's returned home? 

 

What if your character was a negligent butt that didn't care? What if they met another character who was caring and forcing yours to come along? What would you see in all sorts characters that jump on that? How would your character react to those characters and their actions? What could they take away from that? Hating someone? admiring them? Finding inspiration? Finding a friend? 

 

There is so much to wonder and so much to explore with something so simple like that. It provides such a beautiful domino affect in interaction and character growth in a very subtle way!

 

I wish there was an easy way to point out exercises or inspiration for you, but I hope this helps regardless!

This, this is precisely the kind of RP that I look for. The kind with meaning. The hard part for me is the random idle chatter, or the first engagement. That's where I tend to fall short. I can remember once I was RPing my characterm having a drink at the bar, and someone walked up and started an ic comversation. After the initial "Hello" I found my character asking "So, is there a reason you decided to come talk to me?" I think that was off putting. I wasn't trying to be rude, just thinking about how to realistically go about it. I just find it unrealistic for someone to just start randomly talking to someone they don't know..about...random things. There must be a reason, right?

[Valence]

If that's how your character would react, being a bit uncouth or dry and whatnot, I really don't see where the problem is. The onus is on the other dude. If they find it off putting OOCly and just want to see little rainbows and unicorns, and can't find themselves something to reply to warrant further discussion, then their loss. Probably not a compatible RPer anyway, so just part ways and find someone else.

 

And also yes, the onus is on them to initiate conversation. I guess that's why I don't really go out RP in the open with random people. I know the people I RP with at least OOCly, even if it's the first time, and we always both decided to RP so... it doesn't happen.

[SolaceWinds]

 

If that's how your character would react, being a bit uncouth or dry and whatnot, I really don't see where the problem is. The onus is on the other dude. If they find it off putting OOCly and just want to see little rainbows and unicorns, and can't find themselves something to reply to warrant further discussion, then their loss. Probably not a compatible RPer anyway, so just part ways and find someone else.

 

And also yes, the onus is on them to initiate conversation. I guess that's why I don't really go out RP in the open with random people. I know the people I RP with at least OOCly, even if it's the first time, and we always both decided to RP so... it doesn't happen.

Yea, I had thought that maybe it was my style of rp. I was thinking I should change it to cater to the masses. It seems, from my perspective and experience, that bar chatter/random banter/conversation is the more widely popular rp style. I've always felt that every action or conversation must have some underlying meaning. Always felt it hard to grasp the concept of random idle talk. I sought to change that mindset.

[Kilieit]

For me, there's always a lot going on behind almost everything my character says, even in common chatter.

 

Like maybe they're just making small talk about what they do for a living - but because his actual career is in something secret, he's having to tell lies about where he's been and what he's doing at certain times and places, and make sure he's not saying anything the person would be able to disprove or call his bluff on.

 

Maybe they're talking about where they're from - and he's having to select very carefully what he tells them, because he's learned that the truth begets more fuss than he would like from Eorzeans and he has to try and work out what's appropriate to share and what's not.

 

Or maybe the person approached him because "hey, another xaela!" and now my character is having to very carefully navigate obtaining the other person's clan name so he can tell whether he has to be concerned that they're going to try and murder him or not...

 

It's probably the type of character I picked, but there's always tonnes of behind-the-scenes stuff for me to entertain myself with. That's the case when I'm not interacting with anyone, and it's also the case when someone's interacting with me + essentially giving me prompts to shape what he's thinking about at that given moment.

 

That said, there are still certain types of RP I avoid... like, for example, restaurant RP. I find "following the script" for such encounters both difficult and unrewarding, and I'm always worried that "person who doesn't understand how restaurants work" probably isn't what the people running those restaurants are after, so I just skip it. Thankfully Balmung has a very wide and varied community, and it's not difficult for me to find stuff that does suit me.

[Zhavi]

When I do walkup rp, I don't just plop my character down without anything. They aren't a sim that just got yanked off the sidewalk and shoved into a living room to HUG AND LOVE EACH OTHER ALREADY, DAMMIT. No, there's a reason why they're there.

 

Every day, you have to sleep, eat, drink, relieve yourself, and have some down time. It's the same for anyone, no matter what is going on. Without those elements, a person is generally gonna crash and burn (even if the downtime is just some joking around before getting back to work). So consider this:

 

What has your character's day been like?

 

What have they been trying to do lately?

 

Are they happy/sad/frustrated/determined/embarrassed about something?

 

How do they feel physically? Mentally? Emotionally?

 

These are things that you can slip into walkup interactions that make that conversation thus feel more connected to whatever overall stories or plots you've been in. Not only that, but they then drive the casual rp forward. Being approached by a "Hi, how are you?" bit doesn't mean you have to struggle along with a conversation.

 

> maybe due to reasons above, your character has a headache they can't get rid of, and asks for help getting rid of it.

 

> maybe they are tired and spilled food or drink all over themselves, and are kind of helplessly overloaded and need some help cleaning up.

 

> maybe they are deep in thought and are startled, thus spilling drink or food on the other person.

 

> maybe they have to pee and can't find the bathroom.

 

> maybe they can't get a song out of their head but can't remember the flippin' words.

 

> maybe they're in the middle of something related to whatever else they've been doing, and drag the other person into it.

 

> maybe they've been musing about whatever else they've been doing, and drag the other person into a debate over it.

 

> maybe they just can't find a freakin' gods damned tailor worth a damn in that stinkin' city, and go on a rant about it because it's interfering with the rest of their life! (you can exchange that with just about any other thing you need irl -- washing clothes, a good soap, good utensils, good paper, good woodworker, whatever).

 

 

 

 

 

Whatever other story you're into, whatever you're doing: this is still part of your character's life. There is no starting and stopping for them. It's all connected. So blend it together. Delve into the practical aspects of their life, show them when they're not at their best. Put it all together. Casual interaction or conversation doesn't have to be directly related to whatever stories or plots you're doing, but it can enrich and inform those things, as well as maybe become involved (I've used casual interactions in the past to drag other characters into my character's shit).

 

Also, don't be afraid of using the setting to push things forward. I've used bands of rowdy children, lovers who are getting a little too touchy-feely in public, overloud and boisterous drunks, things breaking, things spilling, things smelling bad, gossip about this or that npc (think like workers in guilds or whatnot; the best part is, because it's gossip it doesn't need to have anything to do with reality) -- anything that is worth comment on or provokes action.

 

Bottom line:

 

This is part of your character's life. Just because they are not immediately slaying a dragon does not mean it has nothing to do with slaying that dragon. We all have quiet moments in between big, scary ones that can inform how those big, scary moments go -- if you let them.