Question - Dedication?

[medelsvensson]

How much time do you put into your characters, story work and in character posts in general? How much detail do you go into when creating a character?

 

[sanofa]

It all actually depends on how you want your character to be.
Mostly, the simplest character can be made in 5 - 10 minutes depending on the story you would have given him.

 

[medelsvensson]

It all actually depends on how you want your character to be.
Mostly, the simplest character can be made in 5 - 10 minutes depending on the story you would have given him.

Obviously you wouldn't produce an enjoyable character in five minutes. But I agree that it is possible.

 

[Ironside]

I usually create a character at it's very raw form, I finalise it as the roleplay progresses.

 

[medelsvensson]

I don't understand, do you not write any history?

 

[Ironside]

I'll take my roleplay map as the example. I created the characters and then while they were used in many games I came up with their lore.

 

[medelsvensson]

Well I'm talking about forum role-playing.

 

[Ironside]

As for forum roleplays, it's very similar. Until now I only used characters which already exist somewhere to roleplay with, but if I were to create something completely unique then I'd do nothing but the shape and name at the start. The abilities are best presented to me while I use my character, same for their lore and history.

 

[medelsvensson]

Well it might work, but in my experience that kind of character play tends to provide very uninteresting characters.

 

[Amargaard]

You know, it all depends on what type the roleplay is. In most forum-RPs players will have to describe the character before they enter it, some DMs want players to add a lot of details, while others only need basic information. In other RP types, like my personal favorite "Freeform Storytelling Roleplay", players don't have to actually make up a lot of background stuff and details before they enter it - Their character is developed inside the RP, it's all up to them if they wanna describe a lot in their very first post or if they want to reveal the character's background little by little, as the RP's plot unfolds.

So, it's a difficult question to answer correctly, except if you point out a specific RP

 

[medelsvensson]

I am not asking how much players reveal of their character background, I'm asking how much they write.

 

[Amargaard]

I am not asking how much players reveal of their character background

And I was not necessarily talking of revealing the character's background, but generally revealing the characters traits. I'm not sure, I understand each other correctly, mr Svensson :b

I guess the question is, how much effort I personally would put into character-creation?
Once again, it depends on what kind of RP I have to create a character for, and secondly what kind of character I'd have to create (Heroic char, mysterious char, evil char etc).

I'm asking how much they write.

If the question is literally how much I usually write in the character's intro-post, I'm sorry, but there are no specific amount, but usually as much as possible, without breaking any rules and spoiling stuff that I would like to keep for later.

In case you think I am trolling, I would like to use this moment to say that I am not. I am simply confused ^^

 

[medelsvensson]

I don't see how different roleplays should require different levels of dedication and work?

 

[Deleted member 177737]

I write the name, what my character looks like, and from then on I just wing-it and write as I make stuff up during the RP.

My last character was Dave the Dwarf. He was 4ft tall and had a beard of 8ft, his beard was grey. Dave was so strong that his face was in his chest because his back had so many muscles. Dave's main attack was to get the weakest member of the group to grab him by the beard and throw him onto the enemy.

 

[Phoonix]

characters you RP with are far more complex then just making up their story in 5-10 minutes or even an hour.
Alot of people what roleplaying actually is.
it's playing IN the role of your character.

I'll give an example here.
In one of Dragonsons RP's (a veteran RPer here on hive) I made a character named Ekrion.
I described how he looked, a little part of his history and his main "characteristics" how he behaves and such. However you can't complete a character before you start role'playing.
During this RP i revealed alot more backstory, but i made it up on the spot.
Your character is defined trough the actions he makes DURING an RP not before it. I don't care about the history of other characters unless it's part of who they actually are, and it's the same for my own characters.
Interesting characters are characters with allot of thought put into them before and during the roleplay, you have to aet them apart from the usual stereotypes.

When originally creating Ekrion i spent maybe 15 minutes on him, during the roleplay this easily expanded to 2 hours.

 

[Amargaard]

Alot of people don't know what roleplaying actually is.
it's playing IN the role of your character.

FTFY

Does this mean that my RP is not an RP? (In case it is not I would really like to know)
*Each player have several characters, and they are not limited to use their own characters. That means they don't have to stick to one role only.
*You don't have to play "in the role" of your character, since you can write in third person. If you are writing based on your char's perspective/in the role of your char, it'll have to be first person.

The definition of a RP is actually a pretty exciting topic, and I don't think playing in the role of your character is a required part of roleplaying
- But agreed, a story will be more exciting if the writer understands his used characters and their roles in the RP

 

[Phoonix]

Dude what do you think the word roleplay means?
It's a ROLE and you PLAY it. The name itself explains it.

This is what roloplaying is at it's very core.
Some of the RP's that are posted here just expanded on that idea.
If you really want me to call them something else then I'd call them story writing games.

I mean you call it an RP yourself but the title says "storywriting" wich is actually what it is, not an RP.
today however everyone uses "RP" as a collective term.

EDIT: thanks for correcting that AM. seems some words fell out oO

 

[sanofa]

For me, Role-Play means you take on a role of someone, be it fiction or real, and you being the one controlling his/her life, in your own way. Like phoonix said, take up a role and you play, except, that its you create a role of your own, and place yourself, in your role's life, making it feel like it actually happened, but its all in the end, fake. But, I just want to say this, My life is more interesting in my head than reality.