Posted by Proud Blade(VIP) on July 6, 2000 at 00:42:38:
(I'm going to try to write one of these each day for a little while.) Originality is the key to a successful role. Whether you are playing an established archetype (the earthy and peaceful druid, the ill-tempered dwarven warrior, the studious and kindly mage, etc.) or a less traditional role, the small details can make or break your character's roleplaying effectiveness. One of the easiest ways to make your character stand out in contrary to most of the things you will try to do: Choose something that will handicap you. This might mean a lot of things: 1) A physical handicap. This could be a speech impediment, a limp, or whatever else. Unless an IMM intervenes, it will be up to you to make this come to life through speech, emotes, and behavioral patterns. 2) A personality trait that hinders you. Maybe you are overconfident, cowardly, paranoid, or bashful. Note that personality traits that modern society considers positive can also be handicaps: A character who insists on being especially honest, brave, or charitable is going to have fewer options when handling difficult situations. Try to avoid only picking things that are practical or stereotyped: A professional, polished warrior isn't exactly a handicap, and a drunken bard isn't going to turn heads. 3) A philosophy that is very different from your segment of society. Maybe you want to be a BattleRager, but you are exceedingly prim and proper. Maybe you're a gregarious drunken bard.... and an Arbiter. Maybe you are certifiably insane. (Not homicidal (done to death) or merely wacky... but insane.) 4) A skill/spell/whatever that you refuse to learn or use. Maybe your honorable warrior thinks dirt kicking to be the tactic of scoundrels and vagabonds. Maybe your invoker was burned as a child, and doesn't want to learn fire spells. 5) A rarely-seen race/class/cabal/religion/whatever combo. (Maybe you're a wood-elf Voice of the Scarab.) Etc. So why would you want to do any of this? Isn't CF hard enough? - It makes you stand out from the crowd. People will remember you more easily, and might hang around you just because you are more interesting. - It's realistic! Even historical figures who are thought of as heroes had their flaws. - People are more impressed by someone who can make a character work despite an obvious handicap. This includes IMMs- as an example, Nepenthe recently noted that characters with roles that lead to a lot of deaths are also likely to be the ones who find getting vitality quests easier. CF IMMs seem to have a certain flair for introducing karma. - It's less boring to play. I get bored easily, and playing a "Me Bash Mage" Rager would interest me for about ten minutes. But playing a Rager who honestly felt bad for mages, and really wanted to help them change, might be fun, if I ever got past the interview. - It gives you something to talk about during an interview. - It's less likely to have been done before. It seems to me that every role that leads to "I can kill whoever I want, and no one can predict what I'll do next" has been done to death. Having a handicap is a way of letting people know that you are thinking about things other than your PK ratio. Thoughts? Comments? Post 'em.