Character Tone - Action Scenes

[ZindelloTarantella]

This is half a prompt, half a question, half a toll to help write? I dunno. That's one and a half things. Anyway, since I don't know exactly where something like this would fit, I figured here was as good a place as any--if it needs to be moved, that's fine!

 

 

My semi-question is this; what is the general tone of your character and RP? Would you character(s) be considered comedic? Gritty? Realistic?

 

I've looked around in various places that a large majority of the community roleplays within and I find that most everyone seems to stick to a general tone. A sort of generic (and not in a derogatory meaning) feel that anything in moderation is permissible. My question is though, does this suit the tone of YOUR character.

 

To further my example, think about Batman. We have various Batmans with various tones--we've got the 60s/70s Batman with its heavy comedy and action scenes that are goofy and campy to the max--and then we've got Nolan's films in which we have people living in a world where a man in a bat suit is terrifying to criminals. General Eorzea would, I think, fall in the middle, like Batman: The Animated Series; moments of camp that are sudbued and dark moments that are subdued.

 

So, what about your characters? Are they over-the-top action characters ala Devil May Cry or Bayonetta? Maybe more the hard realism of, say Dark Knight or Watchmen?

 

If Eorzea was built around your character to tell THEIR story, how would the setting be effected? How do you write your character if they don't necessarily fit entirely into the Eorzea setting? How does it effect things like action scenes? Do you write tem as quick and dirty? Huge and explosive and over-the-top?

[Gaspard]

I used to push my characters in a certain niche and stick with it in the past. Comedic Characters staying in comedy, Dramatic in Drama, Gritty and Gloomy in Doom and Gloom.

 

There's however a limit to it. You do not always get to choose what type of environment your character ends up in, or what characters he's around, and often-times this means that alot of those facets do not get exposed. Therfore, even if my Character is, for the lack of a better description, a magnificent bastard, you might end up playing him as just a common merchant or Civilian all the time, as the surrounding Situation does not allow you to.. truly delve into those facets of your Characters personality.

 

I usually go with the notion of creating a Character and his Mind-set, and the setting develops from the Roleplay that I do. Akin to how many writers simply 'toss' situations at their characters to display their reaction, I do it likewise. My Character would respond differently to a comedic setting as he would in a horror-esque one. So there's no true 'direction' I force myself into beyond the general vybe of my characters personal plots. Which usually end up being about chasing power or righting wrongs in a very anti-hero esque fashion.

 

 

Either way, beyond that my personal prefference rests somewhere in the Semi-Realistic, Lore-based play. I'll be honest. I don't roleplay to enter a Real-Life simulation where absolutely everything adheres to Real-World logic, physics and the likes. If I would, I'd be roleplaying some type of CEO/Lawyer in New York. I gravitate towards Dark Fantasy stories, Ranging anywhere from things like Hellblazer, to Dracula, to other dark-fantasy materials. Right behind that you've got the psychologically dark themed stories and heroes such as Hannibal and the likes.

 

For fights, or general RP mechanics, I do not mind fantasy material at all, and if going Devil may  Cry or more stylistically in your fights is your thing, I'm not opposed to it. Aslong it has an astound foundation in the lore, and is explainable by it without too much of a stretch in imagination. I'll frown upon a Rasenshuriken or Kamehameha frown in my direction, But if your character is capable of uncanny degrees of speed due to having surpassed his physical limits as a Monk, or Is able to shred through another being clean with an axe, I wont have any obligations with that. So towards your description.. I'd go with Hard-Fantasy Realism. Logically packaged fantasy so that it doesn't entice eyebrow irking responses.

[Delilah Scythewood]

Lili's always been more of a support character. She is a great means to help further other peoples' stories along. I've thought about doing more with her, but on an OOC level I get self conscious when I think about opening up her story to include others because too many people and its a clusterfuck, people end up feeling neglected, key players end up not around and the story has to shift, etc.

 

The support bit aside, Lili is realistic in a way Camille from The Originals is while at the same time being able to accept things that are outside her previously figured realm of possibility. I can't really think of another show or series that might aptly describe the accurate kind of tone to place with her, but if I had to be general it'd be healthy bit of realism mixed with romdram due to her hectic love life with a pinch of dramatics because, well, life IS drama.

[chaoticsleepy]

If I had to pick a general theme and/or tone to Xheja's RP, I would probably label it as very strategic and calculating. Psychological might be another good way to describe it. Not in the sense of like, psychological horror. More like she's constantly trying to gauge people's minds, figure out what they want, how to use that to her advantage, etc. Essentially, she treats most interactions and situations like a game, and she's always debating on the best way to move her pieces.

 

To that end, my style with her is definitely more serious. Even when more humorous situations pop up, she doesn't truly shift well into that kind of comedic scene. She does have a very healthy sense of humor, but it can be rather.. sarcastic and mean rather than good-natured and goofy. So when more comedic scenes crop up, it can sometimes make me uncomfortable with her.

 

As far as realism vs. fantasy, though.. I agree with Gaspard. I think part of the big appeal for RP for me, especially in this kind of setting, is the aspect on not necessarily having to stick to pure realism. At the same time, complete logic-defying, grandiose fantasy doesn't settle well with me, either. (As a disclaimer, I don't think anything is wrong with that style. It's just not for me / Xheja!)

 

So I tend to play Xhej as leaning further towards realism, and keeping the fantasy elements of her character subtle. Before I reworked her, her fantasy element was much more prominent. Since then, I've scaled back on that aspect of her story somewhat and put it in the background, and I've chosen to focus more on her more realistic merchant and shady business aspects. The fantasy is still there. It just isn't the driving force behind her overall development any longer.

 

I've not really had any chance to work in any combat / action scenes into my RP as of right now. But just the same, I don't see them being grandiose when they do inevitably pop up. As a Black Mage, naturally there would be some element of fantasy involved in such a scene. But I would be doing my best to constrain and translate it to more realistic levels - such as being logical about cast times, spell potencies, interruptions, limitations, etc. - so no earth-shattering explosions or calling forth a legion of undead minions or something equally silly for Xheja.

[ZindelloTarantella]

Lili's always been more of a support character. She is a great means to help further other peoples' stories along. I've thought about doing more with her, but on an OOC level I get self conscious when I think about opening up her story to include others because too many people and its a clusterfuck, people end up feeling neglected, key players end up not around and the story has to shift, etc.

 

The support bit aside, Lili is realistic in a way Camille from The Originals is while at the same time being able to accept things that are outside her previously figured realm of possibility. I can't really think of another show or series that might aptly describe the accurate kind of tone to place with her, but if I had to be general it'd be healthy bit of realism mixed with romdram due to her hectic love life with a pinch of dramatics because, well, life IS drama.

 

This is how I usually play Tarot. Always a supporting character, never the lead. And sometimes, that just works better for a character if they are the type that is along for the ride; it lets you develop and reveal aspects in your own time rather than having to pick the right time so you don't hog the spotlight as WELL as running a story.

[Delilah Scythewood]

Lili's always been more of a support character. She is a great means to help further other peoples' stories along. I've thought about doing more with her, but on an OOC level I get self conscious when I think about opening up her story to include others because too many people and its a clusterfuck, people end up feeling neglected, key players end up not around and the story has to shift, etc.

 

The support bit aside, Lili is realistic in a way Camille from The Originals is while at the same time being able to accept things that are outside her previously figured realm of possibility. I can't really think of another show or series that might aptly describe the accurate kind of tone to place with her, but if I had to be general it'd be healthy bit of realism mixed with romdram due to her hectic love life with a pinch of dramatics because, well, life IS drama.

 

This is how I usually play Tarot. Always a supporting character, never the lead. And sometimes, that just works better for a character if they are the type that is along for the ride; it lets you develop and reveal aspects in your own time rather than having to pick the right time so you don't hog the spotlight as WELL as running a story.

 

Yeah, pretty much. Some FC mates and I are developing a personal story with Lili that will put her through a LOT of drastic development in a very condensed time period. It'll be something that ultimately changes how I play her from that point onwards and I have NO idea how bad it will be.

[chaoticsleepy]

Lili's always been more of a support character. She is a great means to help further other peoples' stories along. I've thought about doing more with her, but on an OOC level I get self conscious when I think about opening up her story to include others because too many people and its a clusterfuck, people end up feeling neglected, key players end up not around and the story has to shift, etc.

 

The support bit aside, Lili is realistic in a way Camille from The Originals is while at the same time being able to accept things that are outside her previously figured realm of possibility. I can't really think of another show or series that might aptly describe the accurate kind of tone to place with her, but if I had to be general it'd be healthy bit of realism mixed with romdram due to her hectic love life with a pinch of dramatics because, well, life IS drama.

 

This is how I usually play Tarot. Always a supporting character, never the lead. And sometimes, that just works better for a character if they are the type that is along for the ride; it lets you develop and reveal aspects in your own time rather than having to pick the right time so you don't hog the spotlight as WELL as running a story.

 

I'm much the same in this respect. I've always regarded Xheja as a more background, support-y character when it comes to plots at large. It makes more sense for her that way, to keep her own involvement in things subtle and try to arrange things from the background and have other people do her dirty work for her. OOCly, I also just tend to enjoy that supporting role more, and seeing how my contributions and collaborations with others end up subtly affecting things in the end.

 

That and I maybe have a minor fear of being too much in the limelight no wait everyone stop looking at me oh god noooo~ ;A;

[Jana]

I don't write my regular RP with any one kind of tone, since I let the flow of RP determine a lot of what happens with Jana. Sometimes she'll end up in comedic situations, sometimes darker ones.

 

What I can can talk about more is fight scenes. I actually value fight choreography pretty highly, so describing every strike or thrown punch to give a clear picture of just what my character is doing is very important to me, as a writer. Even when a weapon isn't drawn, simply describing footwork or body motion is still great for painting a picture of how the character is moving in a fight. While "anime" may be what comes to mind, not every action anime can say that is has good fight choreography, so I'll just post this scene to show what kind of motions I want my character to be able to use in RP, and what I'm hoping to show to other people when she fights.

 

[Aya]

I like to think of Aya as  pretty well balanced person, and character - she has definitely adopted several of the mentioned tones depending upon context. I don't like to think of her as limited to tone any more than I, as a person, am limited to a single tone

 

In terms of action, Aya really does not have much experience in that, she's more of a passerby. In the past she did take part in some action scenes with her company, which were more along the lines of realistic than super-heroic, but I think that's a pretty easy line to blur, really. Most of our characters are as capable as, say, action movie characters rather than mooks

[Zelmanov]

Orrin leans more towards the fantasy elements, he isn't a civilian or a thief, he fought dragons for most of his life, so to deny the fantasy aspects is to deny his background. However in practical RP I stick to the more "Scientific" parts of the fantasy, the aether flow its studies etc, talking mainly about the things that have already been deconstructed and explained in story mode. His talk of business is usually dour and dark fitting an Ishgardian but if he's flirting, well, a whole different man entirely.

 

For fights though, it definitely oscillates. Orrin has yet to get into any real scuffle barring an RP sparring match in the Pugilists guild. In that I write with extreme detail, knowing which arm throws the punch, at what speed where it is aimed, how his body leans into it. Same goes for on the defense, how the punch is reflected or the kick absorbed into the chest, how he moves when thrown off balance etc. Usually resulting in a split second of actual combat time expanded to a half paragraph of information, giving that sort of speed-up-slow-down ramping of action seen in things like 300. I even usually include "fail states" in any attempted block or punch such as "If he missed he'd surely smash his fist into the hard Ul'dahn pavement, tenderizing his knuckles into a bloody pulp." So that the opponent can write more than just a dodge but effectively counter attack.

 

Should Orrin get into an actual battle say against an NPC dragon or another competent fighter while in full armor and weapon, it will come down to how the opponent plays.I find writing fight scenes to be obscenely entertaining and getting across a clear image of the action, which makes it easier for my RP partner to comprehend and react. If I see physics breaking for the rule of cool then I know those gloves are off, but I don't think I ever throw the first "punch" in that regard.

[Nebbs]

I tend to go two ways.. one is competent get it done, and the other I strive more for is quirky accident prone but some how it works, kind of.

 

The aim being to get more out of a scene than just mechanical action. That and to be a pain

 

So strange, comedic, and unreliable.

- tripping

- the wrong spell

- fairy tips her hat in her eyes

- suddenly frogs & summon bigger frog

- using simple magic in creative ways (slippy floor anyone? mud bolt to the face?)

- "wait I have the thing that does the thing that makes it harmless.. I think, or was it enrage?"

 

 

[Oscare]

I'm with the group that doesn't stick to one specific tone in RP regarding FFXIVOscare. He is definitely played as a main character with his own continuous story line that advances by character interaction and doesn't do much supporting, except when he accidentally does so. 

 

More on topic, I try to blend as many tones as I can while having a general theme. For example, Oscare is a dark character and a lone-wolf. He finds the idea of 'friends' incredibly weak spirited and money as a useless tool for his ambitions, and emotions as some sort of foreign idea that should be tossed. However, I try to put in some sort of humor and sarcasm in there too! Especially 4th wall breaking, always tons of fun to do that.

[Berrod Armstrong]

In an effort to flex my writing muscles, I try not to stick to one tone with Berrod. I enjoy using different elements where appropriate in an effort to make him an interesting and well rounded read. There are gritty moments, romantic moments, comedic moments -- where I preserve his personality and mannerisms, but wrap them around the tone of the situation. I alter my writing VERY slightly to reflect the circumstances. During action scenes I try to portray power, stamina and drive, during romance I highlight either the emotional or sexual (or both), and during comedy I allow all his little quirks and flaws to take the spotlight.

 

For action scenes in particular, I break that down even further. There are times when all I would portray is a simple, bloody and realistic fistfight; and there are times when the fantasy element comes in and he punches things with fists covered in stone, or becomes wreathed with lightning. 

 

When roleplaying in a group of people I tend to give Berrod perhaps a short moment to take the stage, then resign him to the role of a supporting character. I find myself doing it a lot during my own events -- if I even allow Berrod to participate. It's tons easier to run something when I don't have to bother about my own dum dum taking up emote and stage time (though Tarot himself gives me flak for this!). In my own writing, private roleplay and things involving less than three I have a habit of reducing his presence significantly. I despise hogging the spotlight.

[Warren Castille]

Thinking about it, Warren's world is mostly one of a slice-of-life in a fantasy setting. All of the turmoil in his life has been interpersonal and aside from a few token fight scenes, the entirety of the drama has been due to relationships with people and not anything of a higher "power level," per se.

 

Regarding the few token fight scenes I have integrated, I prefer a grittier take on it. I picture Warren's fights in the Grindstone viewed through a dirty filter, where punches are visceral and have an actual impact. In a fight between experts, the first mistake is often the last, and in a street fight environment you're looking to be finished and thereby safe. Drawn-out combat with dialogue and trash-talk and anime-styled casual conversation throw me off, but that isn't to say characters can't embody the take-nothing-serious mantle. I just tend to not lean that way personally.

 

If I had to liken it to anything (and I blame Erik for subconsciously planting this in my head ages ago) I'd set the tone right out of Die Hard. Competent, working-class protector needs to rely on wits and a bit of luck to overcome human threats, with the added bonus of loved one being in danger.

[Gegenji]

I think it's pretty obvious that Chachan's supposed to be a mood-brightener. He does has his sad moments and whatnot, as he has his own feelings that can be hurt as well as his own insecurities, but on the whole he's supposed to capture that "naive, young hero" aspect. He's inherently a "good boy" who wants as many people happy as possible.

 

His naivety flows pretty seamlessly into his action scenes, as well. He's spastic, he doesn't plan, and he tends to lean towards whatever would be the coolest or most heroic thing to do at the time. The issue with that is that he doesn't have the skill or the experience to back up his actions quite yet, so it often leads to him slipping up and things not going the way he wants. On the other hand, his energy and his belief in doing the "right thing" serves as a nice counterbalance, and he's somehow quite the endearing little guy.

 

So, I'd have to put Chachan under the heading of "Comedic, But..." due to his being more than simple comic relief. Kinda along the lines of the Slayers anime - it has plenty of silly moments, but it can also get quite serious when it needs to.

[Sounsyy]

So one of the things I loved about XIV 1.0 is that it told this unusually dark and hopeless story for an MMO and dark even for a FF game. The good guys hardly ever got a win, corruption ran rampant in all the city states, the evil empire almost seemed good by comparison despite their atrocities, and even the Light of the world (Player Character) faltered at every turn. (Definitely not like in 2.0 where everything the Player Character does is like WOW OMG YOU'RE SO SPECIAL) In 1.0, you were a nobody. Nobody had faith in you. There were fights you could not win because you weren't strong enough. The Elementals of Gridania had even given up hope for the world.

 

So when creating the persona of Sounsyy Mirke, I really took that dark, hopeless setting to heart. I wanted to play with that "good guys don't win" motif and what the constant loss and struggle would do to a really pure, young and impressionable heart. So I made a Miqo'te Gladiator hailing from the fallen nation of Ala Mhigo (cuz big fan of J'moldva) and her backstory was designed to be just one loss after another, until now, in the present that I RP her, she's just a husk of a person.

 

From there, I really wanted to RP a flat, two dimensional side character who really has no more goals in a setting with other RPers who had made very dynamic, three dimensional characters and see what kind of response that evoked from Sounsyy. I wanted the joy of seeing how a flat character would respond in a dynamic situation. How does she respond when a comedic character approaches her, when a character struggling with his own drama befriends her, when someone tries to love her? And so far, RPing her has been a great experience and the few people she's met have really shaped her in unforeseen ways.

 

As for action scenes, Sounsyy so far has only gotten into a few fistfights (which she's terrible at). But being a Gladiator and a seasoned veteran besides, I like to keep her fighting visceral and gritty, even when sparring with friends, just to keep that dark setting looming over her.

 

/endgush

[Warren Castille]

Ooh, Sounsyy raises good points worth echoing here. Warren also came to exist during 1.0, and as a no-roots wandering type he was a bit disheartened when he came to stop at Ul'dah. The world was already gone to hell in a handbasket even then, and his early characteristics were a lot more "keep to yourself, work for your meals" sort of blue-collaredness. One of the things I miss the most going into ARR was how the miner's guild changed. Now it seems... clean. Organized. Legitimate. 1.0's seemed a lot more like what you think of when you think coal miners nowadays: Dirty, grungy. They had a "bar" there with "dancers" and the place was obviously also a whorehouse.

 

Warren's initial arc to picking up a weapon in earnest were defined by wanting to protect people from that dirty world, even if he himself felt he was going to live and die in it.

[Zhavi]

Gritty, gritty, gritty, dirty. I wanted Zhi to be in-your-face gross, the sort who rarely says no to anything, has a chip on her shoulder, and rarely lets anything get her down. She gets moody, frustrated, but most of the time I picture her as having a cocky grin and an indomitable you-can't-get-me-down sort of attitude. She makes a ton of mistakes, and she does enough stupid things to make me cringe while I'm writing it, but she always manages to come out of it on her feet. Even if she's limping and all bruised to hell.

 

I don't particularly like writing comedy; I have exactly one character meant to be lighthearted, and the rp she's in is inevitably black humor-- plenty of people die or get crippled, but done in that sort of penny-awful style with some Black Adder snark tossed in. And lots of breaking the third wall. So if there's one thing I'd say is nearly absent from my rp with her, it'd definitely be comedy (though I do add humor, but inevitably it's the make-others-groan sort >>).

 

Still, I try to keep her varied, but there's inevitably that filter of awful. She's a downtrodden sort of pathetic, and even when she's chest out and chin up I like to toss down little reminders. She's nothing, a nobody, and she sure as hell ain't no hero.

 

....and the only action I seem to do with her ever is when she's getting beat up. Except that one time she killed someone, but that was too much of a backstab to really count.

[Verad]

Mostly comedic, although lately that's been taking a darker turn. I'm going to need to moderate that and get back to form.

 

Actions scenes are tricky for me, and they've really only come up on the few occasions that Verad has participated in the Grindstone. Then his style varies between incompetent - no marmot is safe when Verad draws his bow - and competent, but undercut by his own ridiculous sense of style and his insistence on evil twins.

 

I'd feel really bad for Eorzea if the entire setting revolved around Verad. It would all become a lengthy Hildebrand plot.

[Gegenji]

I'd feel really bad for Eorzea if the entire setting revolved around Verad. It would all become a lengthy Hildebrand plot.

 

I see no downside to this.

[Liliana Nazareth]

While I attempt to keep Lily as a support/background character, things/plots usually happen that unwittingly throw her into the spotlight. That being said, the way I've always played Lily is as a motivator--she's very inspirational, and has picked up people who have hit rock bottom and turned them into heroes -- even when her days of being a hero were at an end (and I mean that in the retirement/"I'm sick of this" way, not the more...morbid route).

 

A lot of the time, alongside being a motivator, she's also been described as a knightly type--chivalrous, polite, can come across as a bit stiff, stifling and overbearing with the way she speaks. But she's very proud, strong, and independent, and I think the tone of how she's RPed is sometimes projected onto others in a negative/positive light. 

 

Whenever I RP, drama always seems to happen. IC, mostly, of course. She's thrust into a lot of grimdark or otherwise moody, dark, brooding or foreboding RPs; very seldom does she get the chance to be a joker and loosen up. And she does a lot of combat RP, for being a healer, which is something I just find odd.

[Mercurias]

I usually write my characters from a tone that's fairly...Flexible. Honestly, I need to work on varying my phrasing because I notice myself reusing things a lot and I don't want to pull a Simon R. Green and repeat the same lines over and over. 

 

Msato is very stark and dry. He has warmth and playfulness hidden deep down, often because he's so insecure and positive the world wants to kill him in specific to really relax easily and be himself. There are very, very few exceptions to that rule. He can sometimes inject humor and -often- inject snark, but I think the few times he's added warmth are sort of my favorite moments with him. 

 

In combat, Sato normally SHOULD be in the back and taking care of people like a good combat medic, but he often loses his cool and tried to do something borderline insane.

 

Solomon is the opposite. He smiles and laughs and parties and drinks too much, but he mostly does so because he's tired and jaded and trying to feel anything at all. He's a sellsword and bar manager, very good with blades and very experienced with them. In combat, Solomon prefers the parry to the block, the disarm to bashing a weapon over and over, and he prefers to use a blade's sharpness along with the force of his opponent to make sure his killing blows land unexpectedly and finally. He'll smile and quip and pour drinks for you all night, even going so far as to give concerned advice and kind words or mocking banter, but deep down he lives his life as if he's done it all before and has long-since grown bored of it all.

[cuideag]

Jajara is generally lighthearted and is more open to a bit of silliness. She's not very worldly and is most definitely ignorant about a lot of the things in Eorzea and its people, but she means well even if she goofs things up now and again. I definitely do not try to play up lalafell cuteness and so on: she's NOT a child, she's older than most of the people she knows/works with, and characters who know her well know she has her own problems and concerns and the like. But her optimistic nature lends itself to a warmer tone overall.

 

When she's in FIGHT MODE!, though, she's pretty serious. Probably because it doesn't happen very often! She knows people will underestimate her because she's a lalafell and she definitely uses that to her advantage.

 

Delial is more of a mix. Most of her interactions are cold and deadly serious, and that might be partly because that is what is expected of her. It isn't too often that she can be, gasp, silly with anyone, but the people she jokes and teases with are the ones she adores the most... if only because she likes them enough to show a bit of a different face around.

 

In combat, like Jajara, she is all business. She is only OK with aetheric manipulations of either the hurty or healy variety and she's not much of a physical fighter at all. It would be horrifically easy to disable her in a fight if not flat out kill her and she is very aware of that fact.

[C'kayah Polaali]

I've been mostly out of the RP scene lately, but I've always tried to stick to a semi-realistic low-power lore-oriented feel. C'kayah lives in Eorzea, but he's not a Warrior of Light. He doesn't possess world shaking power. He's an ordinary man living in an extraordinary place. The power he does possess is mainly social - he's good at making and keeping connections with people.

 

I suppose a good way to describe how I approach RP with him is he's a character actor who thinks he's playing the lead role.

 

As far as action scenes go, I'm heavily inspired by Fritz Leiber, and my own writing during action and fights reflects that. Though, like I said, C'kayah's powers are mainly social, so if he's gotten into a fight, he's already done something wrong. He's a decent, but not powerful, fighter with a fairly defensive style, but at the end of the day he's not superhuman and I'm entirely willing to let him lose (something which has caused conflicts with other RPers in the past - a lot of us like to think in terms of light-vs-heavy RP, but I think the high-vs-low power level is a more important axis).