RP - When appropriate

Archive of the Sojourn3 General Discussion Forum.
Thalen
Sojourner
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2001 6:01 am

RP - When appropriate

Postby Thalen » Sun Feb 11, 2001 1:30 am

I'm interested in knowing how some feel when RP goes too far or is done poorly. For example I find shouting insults to mobs while exp'ing or speaking in a strange form of Shakespearian style English unnecessary (kind of annoying when others do it too). Basically I'm curious to hear opinions about who were _good_ rp'ers in the past and why they were considered that way so that I can attempt to copy their methods Image.
Harthorm
Sojourner
Posts: 118
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2001 6:01 am
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Postby Harthorm » Sun Feb 11, 2001 1:50 am

Hmmm. This reminds me of an article I read in a PC gaming mag about an RP'er on EQ who apparently role-played too well. The player came up with a background story which was apparently very disturbing, but fit the character he intended to play (a necromancer I believe). He was banned from playing EQ.

I never RP'ed as I'd wanted in earlier incarnations of Soj, and this time I've resolved to do it more and better. My personal view of good RP'ing is that it has its own place. Basically, I'm of the camp that believe you should RP as much as you can, but in a way that doesn't annoy others. This would include saying thee, thou, and speaking in a bad imitation of Shakespearian dialect, shouting insults at mobs (they aren't going to react, so in my view it isn't really RP anyway), and leading groups and beating around the bush with well worded phrases that inspire yet fail to get people to do what needs to be done.

In short, RP has its place. You can RP in a low profile yet convincing manner. For example, if you're a dwarf, you're not likely to be best friends with an elf. You can display that by smirking and making appropriate comments. But don't let it distract or hinder an eq or exp group unless the group is RP'ing as a whole. A good race will obviously not be kind to an evil race, or most likely even speak to them, except in the most dire of circumstances. A thief will hold a certain mystique and have a mysterious nature, but rarely trusting others. Paladins are supposed to help people, so do that. You can do all of these things without making others uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, total RP'ing is often confused with hostility in some of the situations I've described above. I remember one situation where I was attempting RP, and so was describing stats on one of my pieces of eq in a roundabout way to a newbie. I said something like "Aye, these boots are well-made, and have made me surefooted and fleet of foot in many tight situations". +dex, +agi, right? The newbie responded by calling me a few rude names and was generally pissed I wouldn't give him real stats. *shrug* What can you do?

I guess it all comes down to common-sense, your own RP instincts and your personal style of play. Crappy answer, eh?

Harthorm/Twiblin
Thalen
Sojourner
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2001 6:01 am

Postby Thalen » Sun Feb 11, 2001 2:13 am

I was thinking along those lines also.
I guess you need personal experience to find out how to deal with awkward rp situations. An example of one is trying to keep in character when your group members all strictly remain OC.

Banned from EQ for making a story eh? Must have been one hell of a story Image
Treladian
Sojourner
Posts: 1163
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2001 6:01 am

Postby Treladian » Sun Feb 11, 2001 4:15 am

One thing I think is important to remember is that some people aren't in the mood to RP. I know there were some days I just wasn't in the mindset to do it and just wanted to hang around to see if any friends wanted to go and hack at wizzies for about 3 hours or something along those lines. Then some silly assassin named Nilan who shall remain anonymous comes up and goes into the standard assassin/ranger RP session =p After comments along the lines of "Not today" or something along those lines, the assassin would stop and find another ranger or paladin to mess around with. As a side note, I had many days like this on Sojourn 2 since I hadn't quite pinned down my character's personality and didn't want to role play the cliche ranger. Basically, remember that the RP status is a toggle for a reason. If it's on, then feel free to express your character with them in the room, and if they're not in the mood to RP you can suggest that they tog off RP status in the meantime so they won't have to deal with people trying to RP with them. So in short, try to respect the RP toggle, especially if they're just asking for some info about how to get some place, what some item does, how to use a skill, etc.

As for actual RPing, personally I find it annoying when people toss around way too many thees, thous, and other olde english pronouns. Simply put, this isn't merry old England, this is Aber-Toril/Faerun. Hence, Shakespearean-esque dialogue can be as inappropriate as using "Yo! Wazzup dog!" as a greeting. I remember bumping into an obvious newbie to the mud in BG once that had their troll talk to me using thou. A troll. Talking to a ranger. That has the emote "can now cook rats and neuter trolls with magic" triggered upon finishing a mem =P And seeing as how adventurers get dirty in dungeons, get quite bloody killing things, and then take things that aren't theirs from what they just killed, we're probably not the most formal types if we're not addressing royalty or something similar.

Also, it helps if you try to think of your character's personality and outlook on things before trying to jump into role playing. It's more interesting if you can come up with something at least partially original. Some of us are tired of seeing the standard simple and brutish warrior, wise and collected mage, cold and emotionless assassin, honorable assassins, uptight paladins, forest rangers and druids, drunken dwarves, arrogant elves, etc. Try to add some sort of twist that isn't very common. For instance, I tried to RP Trel last time as an arctic ranger, though I didn't get much further beyond due to problems coming up with something as I mentioned earlier. Or maybe instead of a business-only rogue, expand on that and role play a professional rogue, one that's calm without being emotionless after years of getting comfortable sneaking past death, contemptuous of bandits and cutpurses as amatuers, and attaches no importance to their weapons, viewing them only as back up contingencies if by some miracle their stealth somehow fails them. Or an absent minded mage that, while intelligent, winds up tripping or bumping into things all the time, will sometimes overreact to a bug or stray dog by throwing a powerful spell at them, etc. While you can still be memorable if you role play some cliched character archetype, you'll be more memorable and probably have more fun if you act in a way that's not 100% expected of your race/class.

Trel
Lolok Frozencrow
Sojourner
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2001 6:01 am
Location: CANADA

Postby Lolok Frozencrow » Sun Feb 11, 2001 4:53 am

For me Rp is THE reson that I mud. I have tried all kinds of different roleplaying. For me what works best is to just relax and let the Rp come to you. Think about your character, his personality, background, feelings at the moment,and even his/her looks,gear,wealth.All of these things can become part of a successfull Rp session.
I try and Rp all the time, after a while if you do it all the time it becomes who you are. People will begin to think of your name and your pesonality. While in groups I tend to Rp untill it becomes to dangerous or hard to do so.
Interesting things I try to do:

roleplay after you finish exping,zoneing etc before you log off(this lets you relax and let yer guard down,and lets you always finish your day off having fun).

Use objects and areas in your Roleplay. If you find something interesting keep it , think of a way to roleplay it. Got a collection of something (food,daggers,etc..)roleplay them , it is no fun to have a collection if you dont do stuff with it.

don't just make friends with people who kill, kill, kill if you dont like to always do that. Find friends who like to rp as well.

have fun

As for people who just try and talk like a troll might talk ,or use thee and thou , GREAT, it is a start ,if you try some of your stuff out on them maybe they will try some different stuff as well.
For me these are the things I do, they may not work for you but I have had luck with them.

L Image L Image K

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