Comments on: Out of Character http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/ staying up late, playing games Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:49:29 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: lategaming » Six Role-playing Annoyances http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/comment-page-1/#comment-621 lategaming » Six Role-playing Annoyances Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:27:47 +0000 http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/#comment-621 [...] Problem: the character has the exact same personality as the player, which means that every character that players plays has the same personality.  The result is usually very forgettable characters a bland roleplaying experience for everyone else.  Unfortunately, this type of player is often a roll-player also (see below).  Even the two-word-personality is better than this. [...] [...] Problem: the character has the exact same personality as the player, which means that every character that players plays has the same personality.  The result is usually very forgettable characters a bland roleplaying experience for everyone else.  Unfortunately, this type of player is often a roll-player also (see below).  Even the two-word-personality is better than this. [...]

]]> By: Mark http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/comment-page-1/#comment-588 Mark Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:33:04 +0000 http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/#comment-588 <blockquote> This posting is therefore more a criticism of anyone who would shout out “poor roleplaying” when in their mind another player makes his character perform actions which are “out of character”.</blockquote> I wasn't completely clear what your point was in the original post. I agree. I expanded on this on my own website (<a href="http://thedeadone.net/writing/rpg/do-you-think-you-need-to-justify-your-characters-actions/" rel="nofollow">here</a>)

This posting is therefore more a criticism of anyone who would shout out “poor roleplaying” when in their mind another player makes his character perform actions which are “out of character”.

I wasn’t completely clear what your point was in the original post. I agree. I expanded on this on my own website (here)

]]> By: matt http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/comment-page-1/#comment-586 matt Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:22:47 +0000 http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/#comment-586 Well, exactly Mark. The Unlikely Hero is a cliché. People who are brave, strong, honourable, powerful, respected and popular are not "heroic" when they do their day job. Read my earlier posting on Heroic thought. Heroes are made of ordinary people. This posting is therefore more a criticism of anyone who would shout out "poor roleplaying" when in their mind another player makes his character perform actions which are "out of character". In other words: What would you think would be out of character for me? (other than "being nice", "being polite" and "thinking of others") Well, exactly Mark. The Unlikely Hero is a cliché. People who are brave, strong, honourable, powerful, respected and popular are not “heroic” when they do their day job. Read my earlier posting on Heroic thought. Heroes are made of ordinary people. This posting is therefore more a criticism of anyone who would shout out “poor roleplaying” when in their mind another player makes his character perform actions which are “out of character”.

In other words: What would you think would be out of character for me?

(other than “being nice”, “being polite” and “thinking of others”)

]]> By: Mark http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/comment-page-1/#comment-585 Mark Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:02:37 +0000 http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/#comment-585 <b>trolling alert!</b> <blockquote>By the same token, some of the greatest stories are about people who broke from the norm. Bilbo, Frodo, Alice. That’s why the phrase “unlikely hero” is now a cliché. There’s room I guess for “likely heroes” but where’s the interest. Conan is an unlikely hero because he’s a criminal. Luke Skywalker because he’s a farmhand. Han Solo because he’s a smuggler.</blockquote> Read "The Heroes Journey"... Bilbo, Conan, Luke Skywalker... template heroes I'm afraid. Cliche since Jesus Christ and Herculas. As for the Lord of the Rings being a rip off of Norse Mythology... well what else do I need to say! :) trolling alert!

By the same token, some of the greatest stories are about people who broke from the norm. Bilbo, Frodo, Alice. That’s why the phrase “unlikely hero” is now a cliché. There’s room I guess for “likely heroes” but where’s the interest. Conan is an unlikely hero because he’s a criminal. Luke Skywalker because he’s a farmhand. Han Solo because he’s a smuggler.

Read “The Heroes Journey”… Bilbo, Conan, Luke Skywalker… template heroes I’m afraid. Cliche since Jesus Christ and Herculas. As for the Lord of the Rings being a rip off of Norse Mythology… well what else do I need to say! :)

]]> By: aidan http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/comment-page-1/#comment-583 aidan Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:09:37 +0000 http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/#comment-583 Perhaps then there is room for stories about unlikely anti-heroes/villains? Perhaps then there is room for stories about unlikely anti-heroes/villains?

]]> By: matt http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/comment-page-1/#comment-582 matt Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:56:59 +0000 http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/#comment-582 By the same token, some of the greatest stories are about people who broke from the norm. Bilbo, Frodo, Alice. That's why the phrase "unlikely hero" is now a cliché. There's room I guess for "likely heroes" but where's the interest. Conan is an unlikely hero because he's a criminal. Luke Skywalker because he's a farmhand. Han Solo because he's a smuggler. By the same token, some of the greatest stories are about people who broke from the norm. Bilbo, Frodo, Alice. That’s why the phrase “unlikely hero” is now a cliché. There’s room I guess for “likely heroes” but where’s the interest. Conan is an unlikely hero because he’s a criminal. Luke Skywalker because he’s a farmhand. Han Solo because he’s a smuggler.

]]> By: aidan http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/comment-page-1/#comment-580 aidan Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:13:38 +0000 http://www.lategaming.com/2007/03/29/out-of-character/#comment-580 Creating the story is what makes roleplaying interesting. It's a way for the players (and by that I include the GM) to build a shared world and interact within it. If people in that world are two dimensional, good roleplayers try to make them 3D, simply because it creates a more rich experience for themselves (and incidentally everyone else). The hard part from a character perspective is that bedding in period where you've created some stats on a piece of paper, came up with a backstory and an idea for a personality and now you're starting to become that person. Often, and this has been my experience with writing characters as much as with playing, the character takes a direction that you didn't expect. Sometimes this is because of events and sometimes it's because you didn't have a strong enough idea for the character in the first place. Sometimes this means that you end up with a character that is no fun to play any more, or at least is limited in what he does because he's now constrained by his personality and his previous actions. I think this happened to a couple of characters in the original WatchTower campaign. One of them (Ivory) bowed out and left, the other (Atomic III) turned rogue (and Gav had lots of fun in that session). I think this is where troupe play can be really beneficial, especially if you introduce it early on. In a situation where everyone has one character, you experience both the world and that character through a single perspective. Having two or three perspectives on the world then allows you to shape your characters better. It could be argued that we only have one perspective on the world, but I I think that's a flawed argument. We're talking about a shared world that only exists on paper and in imagination. We've experienced our world for many years and we have a lot of accumulated knowledge that we don't consciously access. In the shared world, which we might only experience for a few hours each week, having multiple perspectives allows us to get a better understanding of that world and thus provide a similar 'accumulated knowledge' for each of our characters. Creating the story is what makes roleplaying interesting. It’s a way for the players (and by that I include the GM) to build a shared world and interact within it. If people in that world are two dimensional, good roleplayers try to make them 3D, simply because it creates a more rich experience for themselves (and incidentally everyone else).

The hard part from a character perspective is that bedding in period where you’ve created some stats on a piece of paper, came up with a backstory and an idea for a personality and now you’re starting to become that person.

Often, and this has been my experience with writing characters as much as with playing, the character takes a direction that you didn’t expect. Sometimes this is because of events and sometimes it’s because you didn’t have a strong enough idea for the character in the first place.

Sometimes this means that you end up with a character that is no fun to play any more, or at least is limited in what he does because he’s now constrained by his personality and his previous actions. I think this happened to a couple of characters in the original WatchTower campaign. One of them (Ivory) bowed out and left, the other (Atomic III) turned rogue (and Gav had lots of fun in that session).

I think this is where troupe play can be really beneficial, especially if you introduce it early on. In a situation where everyone has one character, you experience both the world and that character through a single perspective. Having two or three perspectives on the world then allows you to shape your characters better.

It could be argued that we only have one perspective on the world, but I I think that’s a flawed argument. We’re talking about a shared world that only exists on paper and in imagination. We’ve experienced our world for many years and we have a lot of accumulated knowledge that we don’t consciously access. In the shared world, which we might only experience for a few hours each week, having multiple perspectives allows us to get a better understanding of that world and thus provide a similar ‘accumulated knowledge’ for each of our characters.

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