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    1. OutlawTorn 10 yrs ago

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Not even. I thoroughly enjoy playing characters that aren't necessarily the alpha dog in terms of attention and general importance.

Weak role players always feel they've got to fight harder for prominence. Have you ever sat back and watched 2 or more young males have a pissing contest in an RP you've been in? It's so pathetic you almost feel embarrassed for them.

A sign of a good writer is being able to be that guy who isn't always the strongest, smartest, not always the one taking action, saving the day, but at the same time, be able to engineer a vital, important, rewarding place in the over-all story. Sometimes the most rewarding characters aren't the alpha protagonists, or alpha antagonists.

It's all a matter of what kind of story teller you are, and what sorts of characters you can make.
Versatility and maturity. Find it within your co-writers (via writing samples, character sheets, or conversations), or don't role play with them.
EDIT: I feel like Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel karate here... I've only been role playing for 8 years. I know some battle hardened veterans who's very souls would be crushed if they ever saw this thread. Because the lack of experience which emanates from it is enough to make a passionate creative writer who loves nothing more than telling stories lose all faith and hope in the future of the art form.
So you know what you do?

You learn from your mistakes and bad choices. You don't waste 5 minutes of your life posting to bitch about it because your indecisive nature is obviously bothering you on a deep, profound level.

The point I was trying to make, and the point that slipped straight over your head (evidently), is that if you're a mature, talented, versatile writer, playing a supporting role to a more pivotal role shouldn't be a problem.

Or again, do you have to have 50-100% of the limelight, all the time?

You post here to helplessly whine about the troubles you face as a creative writer. I'm just trying to help you better understand and properly deal with the stuff you put out there, placing yourselves at the mercy of passers by with 2 cents to throw in the proverbial tin cup.

You don't like logical solutions to your immortal problems, don't share 'em.
If I had half the problems half of you have RP'ing, I'd be a published novelist by now. But I guess it's just me... ??
Stryker was finished shutting his equipment down to go silent for the night, and stop his transmission to prevent the Ducrinus Administration from locating the source. His transmissions were short, to stop Lucious from getting a trace on his location. The operation had remained hidden for years, spanning nearly a decade, and reaching hundreds of thousands of Zenobians, desperate for the truth, desperate for hope, for a leader to follow. Someone to inspire them, bring their dreams of freedom and a better life a little closer to reality.

A knock fell upon the heavy iron door of his secluded, hidden home. He turn his head quickly, letting his right hand rest on the handle of a pistol he wore around his thigh.

He was a tall, lean man with Long black hair that hung over a red bandanna in spikes and locks. At the back of his head, his hair was tied in a bushy ponytail.

He approached the door slowly. No one should have been at his door at all, let alone at this hour, just after a broadcast. You couldn't run from Agents, but he was prepared to fight his way into an escape, or die a martyr, either was fine with him. He'd fought for Ducrinus, witnessed and committed horrors that still haunted him. But he realized the error of his ways, and devoted the rest of his life to making a difference. To resisting the Ducrinus Administration, and bringing the truth to the Zenobian people. He could die knowing he did what he could, but of course, that was plan B.

He slid the cover away from the tiny peep-hole and saw what looked like a tiny blonde angel shivering in the nippy evening air.

He unlocked the door in three different places and opened it quickly. A beautiful young woman stood before him, shaking gently, with tears streaming down her perfect cheeks.

"Ana," he said with surprised confusion and concern for the state she was in, or even that she'd shown up at his door.

She swallowed so she could speak, but the words were strangled by the grief in her voice, "Jin's dead."
Thus brings an end to my reign of common sense and logic.

Hopefully ushering in a new era of thinking a little harder before posting... But I remain sceptical, at best.
Insecure females are far less of a blight (but still a blight, no less) on our craft, my friend. But I see your point. No need to single out an entire gender based on that 30-40% who give us all a bad name.
Genkai said
When partners make plots all about their characters. This happens more blatantly in 1x1s I think, because in groups, it's easier to work toward a goal with others, whereas 1x1s is more exclusive and dynamics change more often, depending on the situation. I have a partner on tumblr who tends to make a lot of drama and "twists" happen so her characters are put through more crap (ex: her character hits his head and suddenly has bad flash backs to when he was in an abusive relationship. Or her character is gay and currently accepting about himself and while my character is openly so and her guy is now focused on himself than the relationships he's forming, the rp has now become focused on her character's and their hardships, rather than the bonds they share). I don't mind developing through challenges but it seems like she thrives on bad things happening and it's getting tiresome because when something good starts to happen, she twists into something with her characters spiraling out of control. I just have an issue that when she does this because it seems like she's only writing about her characters and to herself, rather than engaging my characters who of course want to help but who are getting to the end of their rope too. As am I, so it's becoming harder to hide my annoyance when I write as my characters, which is making the RP more slowly than usual. She's a good person and writer but I've brought up the issue that we need more fluff and progression and I don't know if she understands how tired I'm getting. I can only tolerate so much drama. I want her roles to develop but I wish I wasn't the crutch. I wish we could create something together. Getting it off my chest helps, I know I should express my concerns more but I just don't want to insult her or her ideas, they're interesting but I hate it being so one sided. *sighs*EDIT - I wasn't sure where the topic was or if this was this "open" so erm sorry if I posted where I shouldn't have.


-_- I hate when people say less-than-cunning stuff. As a result, I will not be reading, or posting in this thread ever again, so long as I remain a humble member of your community.

Scenario:
I create an RP. Along with that RP, I have created a character. Through this process, I have found a role for my character, in my RP. I've fleshed out that role some, because I've been working on this character, and some sort of containable plot to work with. As the creator of this world, setting, storyline, and character, that role has turned out to be fairly important.

Now I post this idea. Some newb who we shall call "Max" reads my RP idea. What he gets from it is, "This story is about my character, because that's the only part of it I've been able to work on, or flesh out at all, unless you want me to make your character, and designate his/her role in this story for you prior to your even reading this fucking thread..."

He gets angry, annoyed. He assumes I've created this plot and RP for one purpose, to throw him and his character under the bus.

Reality:
Max is so weak creatively, he cannot see or even stretch the imagination to find any way he could create a character within that plot and setting with a solid role and impact on the story, and/or has problems not being a vocal point of interest most of the time.

It's up to YOU to design, and incorporate your own fucking character, with his/her own role in the story, as big or little as you want!

Every story has a main character, a vocal point of interest or focus. Every story has a Cloud... Does that make Aeris, Sepheroth, or Cid's roles ANY weaker, less important, or rewarding??

NO! Not unless YOU have to be the strongest, smartest, most respected, feared, skillful, grand and most paid attention to, in every RP you join.
Insecure male writers are the bane of our craft.
No Kiddo, you can't be a cybernetic being.

120% HUMAN. For the 3rd time.

I'll get back to everyone else later today. Just wanted to post this:

I really like theĀ Alcubierre Drive idea, but we have to change the name. Alcubierre was a man of Earth, and earth does not exist.

The exotic matter required to generate negative energy is a dense crystal ore with a very dark purple color. In dim light, it appears solid black. But when held in bright light, a rich purple hue flows through it's surface.

This matter was discovered in abundance on a lifeless planet, and has since been found on other planets in small, isolated veins deep under the surface.

A solid chunk the size of a softball can power a "Alcubierre" Drive for an extended period of time.
What if one person played both tech specialist? That would certainly make things easier for that person. There specialty as a player would almost become the Rps technology.
By the way, when I said we already have an alcoholic, I didn't mean it ruled out having another, just thought it was something you should be aware of.

Leon is a functioning alcoholic, our Captain and Chief Agent. He's not the sort of guy to head into a mission drunk or anything, but he's completed many 'a missions hung over. He's one hell of an Agent, Captain, and friend.

He drinks to numb the agony, guilt, and self-loathing which he feels as a direct result of this job. As the Chief Agent, Leon has been a part of more missions than any other member of our crew. Not everyone takes part in every mission. If Sam B. or our sniper are clearly required for a mission, they will be on the team. But with no clear need for explosives or a sharpshooter, to bring them along would be a waste. You have to remember all Agents are highly trained soldiers. Any of us can operate a sniper rifle, or explosives. Mind you, we have specialist for a reason. No one can handle a rifle like our sniper. He/she is a master of sharpshooting. Just as Samantha is a master of demolition.

As Captain and Chief Agent, Leon is one of the most versatile members our crew, if not the most. He has a vast understanding of Nexus rules and protocol, as well as various planets and cultures of the galaxy. He also has a basic knowledge of the engineering behind The Valiant. He's no engineer, and we'd be fucked without one, but he's not entirely in the dark. He can also pilot/co-pilot our ship. Part of his past was attending and graduating pilot's school back in the Academy on Atmos Prime, before he was an Agent. But after graduating, Nexus expressed their desire for Leon to fulfill his obligation to the Nexus Army (where he began his journey through the Academy). This lead to him becoming a member of an Infantry squad for the beginning of his career. Somewhere he was not happy, but it did bring him back to his childhood friend from their home world of Arcadia. Sinamoi Sevantese, his best friend. Years ago, they signed up for the Nexus Fleet Academy, and were separated for years before reuniting on the battlefield.

They stuck together, transferring squads and eventually became Agents together on a ship run by a man named Simeon Locke. A legendary Agent, Captain, and the leader of the most prestigious vessel in the Nexus Fleet. That is until Leon Blackthorne was mysteriously and abruptly given his own ship. Reluctantly, Leon agreed to lead a unit rather than face imprisonment (for disobeying orders) on the condition that he handpick his crew. High Command was hesitant, but for some reason, they wanted Leon to command The Valiant.

First, Leon requested Sinamoi Servantese and Samantha Briggs be transferred to his team from Locke's crew.

Then Leon would have tracked down, and hired each and every one of you one by one for individual reasons. You are supposed to be the best of the best in each of your respective fields. (That's why the doctor who abruptly changed fields, or the alcoholic, unstable engineer sort of sketched me out and made me a little nervous)

In time, after the RP develops a bit (most likely after we've gone rogue), I want to elaborate on that using flashbacks to show how Leon found and recruited each member of the crew.
And writing samples can be posted here, pm'd to me, etc. I won't be starting an OOC until I have a group I'm confident in. Otherwise this will fall into the Solo category of my Rps, and I'll brave the first story alone, try the group direction again for Neb 2. BUT it hasn't come to that yet! Far from it. :)

No time limit for Samples. take your time if you want in on this. I've got a handful of people interested, so make sure your Sample stands out, speaks directly to me, and this story.
Regarding Chaacter sketches, since it was mentioned at least twice now.

I don't mean to sound crass when I say this, but I'm not the slightest bit concerned about them. As long as you're 120% homosapian, I don't care.
These can be posted here, though. I always love to see unique character concept art. It's usually hit or miss. In an RP like this, I'd prefer a real picture to capture the realistic, gritty tone of the story, rather than artwork. But again, when it comes to pics, I usually don't care one way or another.

What I care about is the writing sample I'll eventually need from you. Focus on that for the moment. That sample will need to be in-genre. And I don't mean the best post from an RP you did last year. I mean a post focusing around the character you plan to use (or at least in the o cupation/role(s) you want to use), in the setting of the story. I know we haven't even started yet, but just have fun, get liberal with details. It's just a sample.

I'll be determining the final cut based on these samples. It all comes down to the IC for me.
I do not disagree. I've seen some truly awful, vile fanfics in my day.

But I've also read, and been a part of several outstanding ones, where each writer knew their character very well.

I mean it's basic logic. Of course Len Wein (No, Wolvie wasn't created by Stan Lee) will write Wolverine better than I could. No one's trying to argue that specific point (I hope so, anyway). What I'm saying is that if you are intimately aware of a character and his/her respective source material, you should be able to play that character with enough accuracy to get by. The creators should have depicted and explored that character enough for you to understand their tendencies, mannerisms, habits, vocabulary, accents, body language. It all depends on how perceptive YOU are.

Sure, there are more than likely little things about any character the creator designed but never ended up depicting, exploring, or sharing with the audience for one reason or another. Let's say for humor's sake, Len Wein decided Wolverine was deathly afraid of clowns. You're right, I couldn't possibly know this. But given the fact that this aspect of his personality was never explored or came to light in 40 years of exploration, does it really effect how one would portray him??

Not even close. That's what it comes down to. Wolverine is 40 years old...

With 40 years of source material, if you can't write Wolverine (after doing homework, of course), you're probably pursuing the wrong hobby...
OutlawTorn said I know Wolverine. I know his past and history as well as it's been made available by said creators. I've read countless comic books, watched the animated series. I know Wolverine as well as one can know Wolverine. I know his personality traits, his habits, his moral stances. The amount of source material for Wolverine is overwhelming! How then could I not understand him well enough to accurate portrait him?I mean, if you can't play a character, the creator hasn't done their job very well, because if they had, you'd be a little more equipped to play the character, because you'd understand that character enough to take a shot at it.So either you just aren't that good at understanding characters, or the creators of your favourite stories/characters are doing a piss poor job of it.


I accept your opinion, and I'm now speaking in terms of factual substance.

Just think about it. I'm confident you'll agree with the fact that some people possess the tools to study a character and everything that makes them them, and then apply that knowledge to their own portrayal of that character.

It's not rocket science, but more like studying for a test.
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