Posted by DL on July 12, 2000 at 11:19:22:
In Reply to: Some RP advice for the person who was looking for some the other day. Digression. Standard disclaimers apply posted by Nepenthe(IMM) on July 6, 2000 at 22:19:16:
> The poster, if I remember correctly, was looking for more ways to get "in" to the experience rather than having to force it. It's my hope that these suggestions haven't been beat completely to death yet and that they're helpful. They take effort when you're starting out with a character but should be somewhat self-perpetuating afterwards. > > My favorite part of Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (as an aside, I recommend that book highly, though it isn't fantasy, especially to anyone who thinks they might ever be married) is a series of chapters entitled A Short Dictionary of Misunderstood Words. In it, he lists a word or concept and goes on to explain what different things they mean to each member of this couple. For example, the woman grew up in a country that saw fighting and martial law, and so to her, a graveyard is a place of beauty, calm, and serenity because the chaos in the rest of her world never reached there. To the guy, it's. . .well, a place with dead people and stones. Even though they used the same word, they meant completely different things. > Where am I going with this? You can apply it to your character, especially as a contrast tool. To stick with the graveyard example, a necromancer might see one as a place of natural resource like a coal mine. He might see it as a place of business -- it's where he does his work. A Shokai paladin might see it as a waste or a dangerous breeding ground for the undead (I sorta see them as cremation kinda guys, don't you?). An Amaranthe priest might see the graveyard as a very holy place. Other characters might attach no special meaning to it at all. > What's an axe going to mean to a former lumberjack who fed his family by his labor? How about a half-dryad she-druid? How about an axe-spec warrior? How about a conjurer? They're all talking about the same axe, or aren't they? > You can do this with items, people, places, religions, cabals, ideals, spheres, events. You killed someone? What does your character think of that? Does he feel like a big man? Does he feel that he's answered the call of duty in some way? Does he feel remorse? Sorrow? Pride? The urge to do it again? Does it remind him of anything? > Not all reactions have to be extreme. Start doing this and I think you'll find yourself thinking as the character with less effort. > > This follows somewhat from the last. People, as a general rule, tend to think they're right. That doesn't mean playing goods exclusively. > That fire giant empire warrior who bashes anyone who comes near his centurions into the next time zone probably doesn't think of himself as a despicable person. He could think he's doing a good thing by (in his mind) bringing order to the world. He could think what he's doing is right because it's the kind of thing his father and grandfather would have done. He could think anyone would do the same in the same situation, if they were strong enough. He could think it's right because he feels alive when he's bullying someone. He could love being hated and thrive on his bad-ass image. Whatever, as long as he doesn't think that what he's doing is wrong. > The flipside of this is also true: Your enemies have the moral low ground. That means: if you're a mage and you think you see a rager being unragerly, don't make a big deal out of it in character and call him on it. He's despicable! He's the bad guy (obviously, because he's trying to mess with your shit, and you're the good guy, see above)! Of course he's going to sink to new depths of depravity to come after you. This should not surprise you. You would be more likely to be surprised if it didn't happen. In addition, it's not possible to criticize someone else's roleplaying without giving up your own. This also leads into my next point, which is. . . > > Most of us as players grew up in a society where certain human rights are expected and a certain sense of justice is present, at least in theory, in our government and lives. > Thera isn't anything like that. You can steal some bread and get the death penalty from the local authorities. If you're a normal citizen of the land, three adventurers might come up to you at any time and kill you for no better reason than that they might learn something from it. There are mean, evil gods out there who could screw with your day just because. There are mean, evil people out there who can push you around, take your stuff, even kill you and chances are justice, in any form, is not going to come for them. > Unless your character is sphere justice, give up on the idea of life being fair. Unless you intend for the word 'Ehren' to get stuck in your title some day, don't even talk about the idea of a fair fight. I admit, those are extreme guidelines, but they're closer to what should be than I'm seeing things right now. > Taking this a step further: Forget any idea of game balance no matter what you're playing. There is no way you can ever refer or even allude to game balance or such concepts as overpowered and underpowered in the game. These concepts are inherently out of character. I would rather catch you talking about your dog or your math homework than how the spell/skill/power/mongoose that killed you is overpowered, because at least that way you would know you were doing something bad. As an immortal I should really just start throwing the bash down on characters who say things like this to remind them that from an IC standpoint, life isn't fair.
> Words Misunderstood
> You have the moral high ground
> Life isn't fair
> I'll pause here for flames and retorts.