Fanfic Writers' Virtual Water Cooler

[fems]

Sorry I speak fluent geek, and being married to an English teacher does not help Either..........


Well, I'm only speaking from a Roleplayers perspective, but having something like that really does help define a characters responses that may run contra to what *you* yourself may do (though I know *plenty* of Roleplayers that will never step outside the "comfort zone" of a personality that is fairly similar to thier own)


HAHAHA
I loved it, even did extra courses in it

Well, I have a pretty vivid imagination and I guess you could say I've been doing roleplaying games ever since getting my first dolls, Barbies and Legos, so maybe that's why I don't have any trouble defining characters without such analysis or stepping out of my comfort zone!

[Gatefan1976]

Well, I have a pretty vivid imagination and I guess you could say I've been doing roleplaying games ever since getting my first dolls, Barbies and Legos, so maybe that's why I don't have any trouble defining characters without such analysis or stepping out of my comfort zone!

Don't get me wrong fems, I've played plenty of games where things such as "alignment" don't exist (White Wolf's World of Darkness or Cyberpunk spring immediately to mind) and I have never found it to be a issue either
Some people like such things, I can take em or leave em.
Whatever works for you..........works

[Gatefan1976]

Here is another example folks may find interesting, the character sheet from Pendragon, specifically the personality traits section:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/56111015/M...n4eCharSheet10

[mathpiglet]

Gatefan, I had a look at the sheet. How do you prevent everyone from maxing out their characters in all traits? I've been in role plays that quickly goes downhill since so many want their characters to be better than everyone else at everything. Their people are older, wiser, smarter, stronger. It makes for a boring time.

[mathpiglet]

Gah, it's like you're all talking another language here... and I'm not referring to English!

I really, really don't see the need of having to analyze the characters' nature or whatever other aspect of a story unless it's to improve one's writing, like when talking about mechanics of writing or narration. But to start analyzing characters, motive, motto and 'hidden meanings' from written work just seems pointless to me unless you're studying or working/specializing in Literature of course.

And yes, this was one of the main reasons I really disliked Literature in high school.

I never much like English literature in school either. Only through writing has my interest in such things developed.

[fems]

I never much like English literature in school either. Only through writing has my interest in such things developed.

I wasn't interested in any kind of literature (I mean books of the literary genre) of any language and it didn't help that we had to write boring reports about the books, delving into all the hidden meanings which I'm pretty sure most of the writers didn't even concern themselves with while writing and would probably be surprised to learn of those analyses themselves. Plus, we were only allowed to read two books by the same author so whenever I found a suitable book, I usually chose the next one from the same author but at the same time you had to coordinate with the group (of 4) you were in to make sure you all read at least a minimum of so many books in the different languages together (because after three years you had to discuss all the books you'd read in that time with your group in front of one teacher per language for a grade). It was hell!

And this is coming from someone who loves to read books. I just prefer fiction over literature. You know, so I can relax, read a good story and get sucked into this other world instead of nitpicking the way it was written and all those horrible details that went with literature.

[Gatefan1976]

Gatefan, I had a look at the sheet. How do you prevent everyone from maxing out their characters in all traits? I've been in role plays that quickly goes downhill since so many want their characters to be better than everyone else at everything. Their people are older, wiser, smarter, stronger. It makes for a boring time.

Are you refering to the Pendragon one MP?
If so, you may have noticed that the 2 sides of the column are essentially opposites, and are essentially rated out of 20 for the pair (so a Chaste of 14 would leave a net 6 lustful for example). Also not all the traits are useful or even wanted as different roles value each trait differently (for example, a characters religion can determine exactly what traits a person values based on said religion, the Jewish traits are different to the Christian traits, which are different to the Wotan traits)

Also, The Referee/GM/DM can use the traits to "force" a character to act in a certain way IF the player is not reflecting the traits (such as a character not chasing the nobles daughter when they have a Lustful score of 16+.............)
As for characters being "better", well, Pendragon handles that by each "adventure" being a year and as your character ages, they generally get worse, rather than better to reflect that process. This however is somewhat offset by the fact that a "full pendragon campaign" would take place over the lifespan of not one but 3 different characters. Unlike alot of other games as well, there is no experience point system, you get better in skills by using them and training in the "downtime" of each year, so it is self limiting to an extent as well.
It's actually one of the best systems around IMHO, and very realistic if you want to play a game where the main characters are knights/warriors but don't want to deal with "magic" all the time, Pendragon is extremely low in magic.

[mathpiglet]

Thanks for the answer.

[Gatefan1976]

Thanks for the answer.

Welcome

[Princess Awinita]

Here is a pretty strange question I posed on my fellow roleplayers in the Multiverse. {yes I also roleplay online at Roleplaygateway.com} Basically I asked the following question, but since I asked it in the chatroom we have and use {which is insanely active as heck} I never saw the answers.

So I now ask it here.

When you write, or roleplay, have you made a character based off one of your pets ? be it a bird, or cat, or dog ?

[Cold Fuzz]

Here is a pretty strange question I posed on my fellow roleplayers in the Multiverse. {yes I also roleplay online at Roleplaygateway.com} Basically I asked the following question, but since I asked it in the chatroom we have and use {which is insanely active as heck} I never saw the answers.

So I now ask it here.

When you write, or roleplay, have you made a character based off one of your pets ? be it a bird, or cat, or dog ?

Very good question. The closest I've come to owning my own pet is having to take care of my brother's long-lived turtle (the turtle is something like 25 now) on a long-term basis. I've been the turtle's steward for quite a while now. I've never created a character based on the turtle though.

Interesting you mention this since one of my characters' favorite pastimes in Broken Silence is to telepathically talk to animals, as well as mesh with them (as in telepathically inhabit their body) in order to basically live as one of them. An outgrowth of this ability is that he knows how to dominate their minds en masse.

[Gatefan1976]

When you write, or roleplay, have you made a character based off one of your pets ? be it a bird, or cat, or dog ?

I never have, but a system that would be perfect for this is Palladiums Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's system (Hero's Unlimited has a basic system, but the TMNT one is much more detailed)

[SF_and_Coffee]

And this is coming from someone who loves to read books. I just prefer fiction over literature.

Literature is fiction, and fiction is literature, at least in American English...

You know, so I can relax, read a good story and get sucked into this other world instead of nitpicking the way it was written and all those horrible details that went with literature.

It's literature even when you don't pick anything apart. "Literature" can be the name of an academic subject, but it is also a word for reading material. I'm guessing you enjoyed reading the stories just fine, but it was the analysis you didn't enjoy?

For my part I've discovered that the analysis part, which I didn't enjoy as a high school student, is actually turning out to be quite useful in helping me to structure my own writing of fiction.

[Gatefan1976]

Perhaps I should start a new RPG "help line" thread??

[mathpiglet]

I think there is a subforum for role-playing.

But yes, I have used pets as characters. My son's dog features prominently in my current story. He even graciously allowed me to use his name (the dog, not my son). Last time we saw each other, he was eager for updates.