Post by Revamp - The Harlequin Sadist on Sept 1, 2010 10:02:15 GMT -6
Alright, I've been rping a long time, and over time I've developed some rules of thumb that tend to simplify things and make the rp generally function better. These rules are:
1. Be Practical
2. Always Make a Clan
3... Plan Carefully
4. Geniuses
5. Bad Guys : Bad Idea
6. Original Character
Let me explain to you these ideas at length, and then if you agree with me on it you can apply them to your play. If you don't, then ignore it and do what you always have, it’s not like I'm going to force them on you.
1. Be Practical
You can submit things that get passed, if you make it impractical then it’s not going to do you any good.
For example:
A technique that uses genjutsu to control your opponent’s movements or actions. For the purpose of this explanation, let’s give use Tsukyomi. In the anime this was an awesome power, and very powerful. In the rp, this is terrible . The reason for this is that you must rely on your opponent to play along with you as you systematically destroy them, and 90% of people are not going to do that. Instead, they will stop replying to the post and the thread will die.
Also, when designing a technique keep in mind that the costs of it should be realistic. Everyone has seen techniques that have over time costs or ones that regenerate with a real time number applied to them. This means that either A: They say "I use this ability, and then I can't use it for 5 hours" and don't enforce this or B: "Lets apply the number to real time, and give it a length of a week or so".
In version A, you basically are paying nothing because in character time is not applied well and so there is no way to measure it. So, you either use it only once in the battle or you spam it and ignore the cost. In version B, your opponent will likely reply immediately after you use the ability so you can't use it again, but you can simply stall for a week and then use it again next post, which is god moding of a different sort because you have negated cost with out of character actions.
Another such example is a technique that leaves you "Fatigued" or "very tired". These are normally used as costs on techniques that are meant to be instant kills, which are meant to mean that if you use them and miss you're dead. This is just bad Role-playing and a terrible cost. Not only because if you follow it you're normally using a broken or godmodded ability, but also because if you kill yourself if you miss. It’s also very hard to quantify tiredness as a figure in rp, and so it makes god modding worse.
2. Always Make a Clan:
If you’re making a custom character, which I do hope you are, your character needs an identity. Your history, personality, and other such things from your character app provide part of it, but these simply aren't enough. If you have a last name, you should have a clan. It takes 3 minutes to fill out a clan app normally, 10 if you're slow at it, and it won't hurt you at all. If nothing else, it gives your character a little bit more background and that is helpful in getting into the characters head.
3. Plan Carefully
Never rely on your opponent to help you hurt him. This means never expecting your opponent to do what you think. For example, many people will remember a character of mine once had a big fight with a character that had a technique for exploding clones. As expected, he did make them, but he didn't make them explode immediately. Instead they used jutsu while he hid behind them and attacked me with tactical strategy. This is good rp, as well as it is good chess. I, being a player who researches my opponents, know that he can explode these clones with enough force to kill a player. So, to get near him, I exhaust nearly all my resources just to destroy them safely and. end up losing the fight, because I expected my opponent to do what he never did.
This is not how you should do things. Out of character knowledge is a terrible thing to use within the fight, it basically just traps you into expecting what may or may not happen. Second, Just because you have a plan, doesn't mean it will work out. Leave an out or back up plan because if you don't, you’re likely dead when your opponent dodges it.
4. Geniuses.
Everyone loves a genius. It lets you be better than just a regular person. However... let’s be reasonable. Not everyone is a genius, in fact 80 percent of society is normal, 15 are idiots, and the small 5 % are geniuses, roughly speaking. Furthermore, most genius characters are genuinely uninteresting because they are exactly like every other genius that everyone makes. Yes, they are smart. Yes, they are powerful. But while they might be fun for you, they're boring as piss in a pail to everyone else and so you probably won't get to play very often. On the other hand, if you make a regular character and make it interesting, you'll get to play plenty and have just as much fun as you would with that genius. It also breeds originality, and helps you improve yourself as a player.
5. Bad Guys : Bad Idea
Everybody loves a good villain. The problem is, not everyone makes a good bad guy. Your character is not automatically awesome because he's evil. It also can be said that most evil doers are. . . just plain boring. Allow me to give an example:
A few years ago I played on a site where one of the main villains was a guy who could turn himself into diamonds. A standard villain ability to make himself tougher, but not one that was able to protect him when he tried to invade a village... unaccompanied... without warning. He ended up being 3 on 1'nd, and in doing so he was slaughtered.
This is what I mean when I say a BAD villain. Unpredictability is fine, bad ass powers are great, but if you suck at being bad then you just suck at it. It is also a good reinforcement on the "Plan Carefully" section of this.
6. Make an Original Character
I cannot stress how much it will improve your rping to make your own character, rather than using an existing canon one or canon clan. The development process is one that helps you discover and form ideas in an original manner, and from it you normally can come up with even more ideas to work with. Deductive and inductive reasoning, if you will. Introduce a new an idea, and make it all work to suit it. Say you have an idea that has characters that... I don't know, write things in a book and then it happens. That the only idea you have. So, you start to think... what would that person look like? To me, and this is just me, that sounds like someone that would be wearing glasses and maybe a gown. Given that you go find a face claim that has those features, and when you find one you like it helps you become more involved in the character and gain some ground with it. You have the name, you have the ability, but you don't have the substance. But based on the things you already have, you can come up with them. This is how the character process works, and it can make a lot of fun for someone who can do it this way. In any case, your methods may differ from mine, but I do heavily encourage custom and original characters over canon and custom canon characters
1. Be Practical
2. Always Make a Clan
3... Plan Carefully
4. Geniuses
5. Bad Guys : Bad Idea
6. Original Character
Let me explain to you these ideas at length, and then if you agree with me on it you can apply them to your play. If you don't, then ignore it and do what you always have, it’s not like I'm going to force them on you.
1. Be Practical
You can submit things that get passed, if you make it impractical then it’s not going to do you any good.
For example:
A technique that uses genjutsu to control your opponent’s movements or actions. For the purpose of this explanation, let’s give use Tsukyomi. In the anime this was an awesome power, and very powerful. In the rp, this is terrible . The reason for this is that you must rely on your opponent to play along with you as you systematically destroy them, and 90% of people are not going to do that. Instead, they will stop replying to the post and the thread will die.
Also, when designing a technique keep in mind that the costs of it should be realistic. Everyone has seen techniques that have over time costs or ones that regenerate with a real time number applied to them. This means that either A: They say "I use this ability, and then I can't use it for 5 hours" and don't enforce this or B: "Lets apply the number to real time, and give it a length of a week or so".
In version A, you basically are paying nothing because in character time is not applied well and so there is no way to measure it. So, you either use it only once in the battle or you spam it and ignore the cost. In version B, your opponent will likely reply immediately after you use the ability so you can't use it again, but you can simply stall for a week and then use it again next post, which is god moding of a different sort because you have negated cost with out of character actions.
Another such example is a technique that leaves you "Fatigued" or "very tired". These are normally used as costs on techniques that are meant to be instant kills, which are meant to mean that if you use them and miss you're dead. This is just bad Role-playing and a terrible cost. Not only because if you follow it you're normally using a broken or godmodded ability, but also because if you kill yourself if you miss. It’s also very hard to quantify tiredness as a figure in rp, and so it makes god modding worse.
2. Always Make a Clan:
If you’re making a custom character, which I do hope you are, your character needs an identity. Your history, personality, and other such things from your character app provide part of it, but these simply aren't enough. If you have a last name, you should have a clan. It takes 3 minutes to fill out a clan app normally, 10 if you're slow at it, and it won't hurt you at all. If nothing else, it gives your character a little bit more background and that is helpful in getting into the characters head.
3. Plan Carefully
Never rely on your opponent to help you hurt him. This means never expecting your opponent to do what you think. For example, many people will remember a character of mine once had a big fight with a character that had a technique for exploding clones. As expected, he did make them, but he didn't make them explode immediately. Instead they used jutsu while he hid behind them and attacked me with tactical strategy. This is good rp, as well as it is good chess. I, being a player who researches my opponents, know that he can explode these clones with enough force to kill a player. So, to get near him, I exhaust nearly all my resources just to destroy them safely and. end up losing the fight, because I expected my opponent to do what he never did.
This is not how you should do things. Out of character knowledge is a terrible thing to use within the fight, it basically just traps you into expecting what may or may not happen. Second, Just because you have a plan, doesn't mean it will work out. Leave an out or back up plan because if you don't, you’re likely dead when your opponent dodges it.
4. Geniuses.
Everyone loves a genius. It lets you be better than just a regular person. However... let’s be reasonable. Not everyone is a genius, in fact 80 percent of society is normal, 15 are idiots, and the small 5 % are geniuses, roughly speaking. Furthermore, most genius characters are genuinely uninteresting because they are exactly like every other genius that everyone makes. Yes, they are smart. Yes, they are powerful. But while they might be fun for you, they're boring as piss in a pail to everyone else and so you probably won't get to play very often. On the other hand, if you make a regular character and make it interesting, you'll get to play plenty and have just as much fun as you would with that genius. It also breeds originality, and helps you improve yourself as a player.
5. Bad Guys : Bad Idea
Everybody loves a good villain. The problem is, not everyone makes a good bad guy. Your character is not automatically awesome because he's evil. It also can be said that most evil doers are. . . just plain boring. Allow me to give an example:
A few years ago I played on a site where one of the main villains was a guy who could turn himself into diamonds. A standard villain ability to make himself tougher, but not one that was able to protect him when he tried to invade a village... unaccompanied... without warning. He ended up being 3 on 1'nd, and in doing so he was slaughtered.
This is what I mean when I say a BAD villain. Unpredictability is fine, bad ass powers are great, but if you suck at being bad then you just suck at it. It is also a good reinforcement on the "Plan Carefully" section of this.
6. Make an Original Character
I cannot stress how much it will improve your rping to make your own character, rather than using an existing canon one or canon clan. The development process is one that helps you discover and form ideas in an original manner, and from it you normally can come up with even more ideas to work with. Deductive and inductive reasoning, if you will. Introduce a new an idea, and make it all work to suit it. Say you have an idea that has characters that... I don't know, write things in a book and then it happens. That the only idea you have. So, you start to think... what would that person look like? To me, and this is just me, that sounds like someone that would be wearing glasses and maybe a gown. Given that you go find a face claim that has those features, and when you find one you like it helps you become more involved in the character and gain some ground with it. You have the name, you have the ability, but you don't have the substance. But based on the things you already have, you can come up with them. This is how the character process works, and it can make a lot of fun for someone who can do it this way. In any case, your methods may differ from mine, but I do heavily encourage custom and original characters over canon and custom canon characters
