What kind of RPer are you?

I'm just curious how everyone RPs and they're limits and whatnot. Now I know I'm no pro or whatever but I'm pretty bored and this popped into my head hah

Personally, I feel like I'm more of a on the spot kind of RPer. I don't like to plan at all IG or OOG. I love not knowing where I'll go and what I'll do! I find it more fun for the game %99.9 of the time to guide and shape my PC.
I'm cool with anything too, I try to roll with the punches. Chop me up? Make me a madwoman? Can't tell my race? More RP!Haha
I'm pretty hands on so being picked up or hugged or whatever is fine too. (Just nothing below the belt? Haha)

What are your takes on this? :)

When I used to play a lot more, I was always an on the fly player, and didn't like to plan much ahead. However, over the last 15 years or so, I've been a GM more often than I've been a player, and its made me a bit more of an "in my head" RPer... when I am not playing, I find myself really trying to think of who my character is and what he would do about certain kinds of situations. Having said that, once I'm playing my character, I try not to actually do anything pre-planned, and just take things as they come. I try and trust myself to do what my character would do or develop and grow as the situation provides. Its harder my first few sessions in a new system where I find myself having to drop character to ask rules or setting issues that I don't know, but I really like just running with things.

I'm also pretty ok with physical stuff - within limits. There are lines I won't cross for RP, no matter what my character would do. This is one of the reasons I enjoy coming into a game with a character married to my real life wife.

Hi there!

Craig here. Resident n00b. You probably haven't met me yet.

As for me, I always LARP for the immersion. I want to just leave the "normal" world behind and immerse myself in the fantasy world. So I have a tendency to just get to a game and hang out in a corner somewhere, just soaking in all of the awesome roleplaying around me. I'm the kind of guy that is perfectly content to just sit and have an hour long in-game conversation with another player about the finer points of High Elven Wine-making as I am to pick up a boffer sword and smack something with it. :)

The trouble with this is that I often have a tendency to play my character for realism rather than for storytelling. For example, if a haughty, high-level NPC were to walk into a tavern and demand that I give up my seat at the bar; I'd probably be likely to do so, because I don't want to get my character killed over something so trivial. But the FUN thing to do would be to cough an insult as I was getting up, because that would likely cause a riot and actually move the storyline along. (especially if that would be more in line with my character's personality) I feel that that is something that I need to work on.

I'm pretty okay with the physical stuff as well. I'm always conflicted, because deep down, I am a very touchy-feely person, and love hugs and tickles and kisses and flirting. But I am also aware that I'm a 42 year old purple-haired slightly pudgy married guy, so I'm tend to be extremely self-conscious of coming across as a big icky Creepy McCreeperson. So although it's perfectly fine for others* to hug or touch me in just about any way they like, I would never initiate it.

The only other thing that I need to improve on is my tendency of asking OOG questions while the game is going on. I have a bad habit of throwing my hand over my head and asking about something that confuses me, when I should probably just let it go and ask later, or try to Find Out In Game.

--- Craig

*and by "others", I mean guys as well as gals. I am pretty secure in my sexuality.

I think I am the type that builds a character and thinks about it for quite awhile before I start. I have his/her fears, quirks, sense of humor and philosophy all played out in my head. I have every feature of the character designed so when I am ready to play, I can dive in with that character's mindset. I do not set everything in stone and allow my characters to be flexible and change with each experience, failure and lesson that character has learned.

I don't have a particular character set that I play. I have played a very wide gambit of character, each with his/her own philosophy, some good and some bad, but none really resemble me. I have no interest in playing myself in a game environment. I always want to be something or someone different. I like playing goody goodies, morally bankrupt, scammers, priests, inventors, warriors, thieves, disguise artists, spies, knights, sociopaths and the exceptionally bland. When I am making a character I have the backstory filled out and I love creating people within worlds.

I do what my character would do regardless of the consequences, so if my character would touch something or put on an ancient powerful ring of questionable origins, I know would OOC would get me killed or creamed, I will do it. While I am attached to my characters, there is no point meta-gaming away everything that makes them interesting. I am also the type of player that doesn't do something because I, the player, would think it was fun, if my character wouldn't do it. I am definitely the type of player that is slave to the character.

Took a quiz online that had a similar title, it came back as "There is no player, only ZOUL!!!". When I'm IC, I'm pretty much the character I'm playing and don't think much about what "Whitt" would do. To the point one of my good friends from another game got into the habit of poking me and saying "Whit! Whitt! Whitt!" when he wanted to have a conversation with me instead of one of many ridiculous characters I might be playing.

I've played a thoroughly socio-pathic serial killer, a Judge Dredd like warrior, bumbling drunks, comic-relief "Merchants", haughty super-powered critters, and pathetic kobolds. The fun for me is getting into whichever role I'm playing and going. Whatever happens after that to the character, well, it happens and we either write the character off as lost forever (sociopath, it turns out, is not a high life expectancy occupation) or we bounce of the hits we take and go in cool new directions.

The biggest problem I've run into with enjoying this play style is most other folks are really nice people, so they don't want to visit the repercusions of making choices on other player's characters. If I were playing a Dark Elf, I would want folks to respond to me as they would an NPC Dark Elf, not immediately make provisions for "this one must be different". For me the greatest joy is when other players can't tell my PC from my NPC roles. That tells me I'm doing it right. The only thing that should be different, really, is that you'll see my PC a few more times a month.

Oh and the other problem is kind of funny... folks from the SCA will understand... people who don't know better can't disassociate your PC from you. I enjoy the OOC events and NPC down time totally for this point of getting to be me instead of, say, a grouchy, grumpy, filthy Dwarf...

As for hands on / hands off... I grew up playing football/lacrosse and with three older brothers. Playtime has always been more WWE than not. I once blew my ankle out running down a hill (woodchuck holes suck) made it to the bad guy, cut him down and then nearly passed out from the pain. Found out after the weekend that I had a mostly torn ligament in my ankle. Of course, that didn't matter during the event - that's why boots lace up tighter right?

I'm much the same as the other responses here. I take things as they come and respond as Keavy would/should.

I go as far as I can go without getting myself seriously hurt. Kristen and I have a saying now that it's not a good event if you don't cry at least once, haha. It's become a big habit for me/Keavy now, and while it may be for acting and fun, I find it so cathartic to growl at enemies, scream when Keavy gets hurt, or cry when she's very upset. It helps my immersion and allows me to forget Dani for a weekend, but also allow Dani to feel calmer and better once the game is over. :)

one time i spit in a guy's mouth.

hahaha I'm dying right now haha. Now THATS some serious RP. haha

RP limits are an interesting topic. I would say that most RP is on a spectrum between being yourself and being a totally different being with no connection to yourself.. somewhere in the middle is probably the sweet spot. I have played characters varying on that spectrum, and I feel that the way I work best is if I can create a .. well segmented part of myself where that person exists. When I slip into that person, usually through some trigger, I become mostly that person... however, I find it difficult to abandon my own morals completely ... if I must cause harm to another PC, I find myself interjecting, I abhor causing harm to another in real life, so it carries over to my PCs... Alex can attest that I felt terrible for my involvement in harming his PC though my PC should have had no hesitation given the parameters I put on my PC. As such, maybe my RP of the moment was flawed, but perhaps it was the parameters I set up for myself that was flawed. In the end I stayed true to my character flaws, but as a player I felt scarred... but perhaps that was a sign of RP commitment. In the end, I feel that while I enjoy playing characters different than myself, and enjoy the moment when people who get to know me OOG find out I am totally different than my character, I don't like playing a character that messes with another player's concept of fun.

I am new to LARPing but not new to acting and interacting with people as different characters and knowing I can tell the other person, OOG, to back off. That is what makes me okay with more-than-basic physical RP at KR, I can trust you to stop, and because of this I feel comfortable to do stuff.

See, now Zellara's a flirt. With everyone. And playing with Kevin is fun cause Zellara's kissed Orion, in front of other people, multiple times. But I won't kiss anyone else. I am okay with being picked up, pushed around, and a lot more though. But my kisses are reserved

Zellara is very engaging, as Jasmine is OOG, so please don't let any apprehension stop you from being true to your character in interacting with me.

I will find a way to avert an uncomfortable break from immersion, or I will tell you. I am also good at gauging what will make the other person uncomfortable. I take pride in that aspect of my OOG self, so I carry it over to play.

It's always kind of fascinating to see what people will and won't do in the name of good roleplay. Knight Realms in particular seems to draw a lot of the kind of players who will go that extra distance in the name of a good story or a more powerful roleplaying experience. And that's what makes the whole Knight Realms experience so amazing.

I've been a new player, a seasoned npc, and now a part of the monster marshal team. I've seen all sorts of different people and different types of roleplayers all coming together to create an experience that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. As a marshal, I've had players who have come up to me and been willing to totally throw themselves into a role, even if it is something completely different from anything they've ever done. And that's awesome. It's that kindof attitude that really brings a character, be it pc or npc to life.

That being said, I like to think of myself as that sort of roleplayer. I'll do most anything for the sake of a good story. I've fought shirtless in calf-deep February snow. I've been the big bad that everyone's afraid of. I've been covered in blood and sent out to eat people in the rain. I've been the comic relief. The wiseman. The frightened mod hook. The creepy sociopath playing mindgames on hapless victims.

Cover me in full body paint, fake blood, give me an rp-intensive role, send me out as a purely combative npc, physically pick me up and throw me around. I don't care, so long as it makes the experience that much richer. I don't plan much for my characters. I give them personalities, quirks, foibles, and overarching concepts, but overall, I'm just fascinated to see where the story will take me. It m

Wow Chris I totally agree/respect that and I feel the same way. I really believe in letting oneself just take the role. If I was a big baddie sent into the rain to destroy people I would totally make the best of it. Kisses, hugs, punches, slaps, throwing me over your shoulder?! Whatever makes the experience better and more legit? Do it. (Well of course within the other person's comfort level) I'm cool with going that extra mile and I respect others who are too.
(Though I don't think I would like to be spat at hahahaha)

Not to undermine those who are less willing to go that far I respect everyone and their ways! :) I just think it's cool and fun when people like you, Chris, or Alex are willing to push the envelope.

Bravo!

My characters are kind of like catching a fever. I get a little drunk on the feeling.

I do my best to tell an honest story of a person living in that time period. They are likely riddled with imperfections as befitting the average man of that era. Some characters I have played are distinctly more stupid than I am, but perhaps much more brave and sometimes even more honest.

Sometimes being true to a role means making people who are acting around me uncomfortable, or afraid, sometimes I am selfish when helping myself to the delight I get from telling a good story.
When I stab someone with my sword, I imagine those times I've gutted a deer and I see it, the blood, the shiny slippery parts of people hanging off of them. It helps me appreciate the violence for what it is. Violence is scary and it should be , only the coldest most hardened warriors and murderers stop feeling something when they see another human or even humanoid creature stabbed to death right in front of them. And even those cold hard people are still suffering to see it, only silently.

Watch a real animal get butchered and ask yourself if walking out to "main mod" will look the same to you. Imagine what it's like. I do, all the time and it makes me uncomfortable and sad and very excited all at the same time.

I like when I get knocked down, cursed at, sometimes even getting hit the face helps me stay rolling in character.

My favorite moments have always been when I am most uncomfortable, sometimes it's sexy, sometimes it's cruel, sometime's it is disgusting, sometimes it hurts, but it is all fun to me.

Now this is interesting. My initial introduction to Knight Realms was very haphazard, and it was only after a certain midnight mod that I actually got into the mindset of Brunner and his thoughts.

NPCing, I tend to try and immerse people, doing controlled falls, shrieking and also some conversational pieces. If I am a more RP NPC, I want to try and know my NPC's role, and where and how he wants to act. If I can NPC a character so that it means more immersion, thats my ideal.

My PC has only been played a few times, and I always try and act out whats happening, from patting out flames off my jacket and throwing myself to the floor (Blast) to biting gold pieces, and actually bringing my sword down to do a killing blow.

I have difficulty sometimes, as I wasn't raised in an rp friendly area/environment, Australia is very *blokey*, so if you want to help and give tips, go for it in person.

For me its a mix of character history, history of the world and just a bit of myself thrown in to keep me grounded. I LOVE working with props during RP it just provides that extra bit of feel just describing something doesn't have if you can elegantly describe something that's well and good but their you have the rub you cant imagine what something smells like or feels like and if you do you can really only focus on one aspect at a time. When someones presented something physical they take it in all at once creating a space in their mind were you can pour forth glorious torrents of RP and have it based all in something physical something real. For me that's why i do this not for the Gold or the Power or the Fighting as great as it is the real joy for me is handing someone something and watching their eyes light up with thought and understanding because at the end of the day for me that's as real as it gets.

As to the issue of physical contact i hang back on actively touching people for fear of offending or angering them. As for myself i could be thrown off a roof or beaten vigorously with poles for all i care its all in good fun and good for the atmosphere.

Also as a side note to this rambling deluge for me "winning" is the ability to carve out and create your own area in which you are king, some resolve this with intimidating characters with a space bubble that follows them around, others do so with gifts or prowess with a skill for me its my props that do most of the softening blow readying them for the final strike that is conversation bringing another persons character into your realm is really the name of the game weather it be for their benefit or their ill improving the game around you in your own way is how you "win role-pay" at least that's how i see it.

With Knight Realms it has been a different experience entirely than another larp or game I've played started with a choice to play a scholar. A more heavily roleplay/downtime class. I was always someone who would pour over all the books in D&D and their suppliments looking for that cool combo or awesome feat that synergized well.

But I decided to throw the rules out of my mind and the window and just roll with it. I couldn't have made a better choice. If you'd asked me if I ever thought I'd be a warrior monk, I would have told you, you were out of your gourd. But the character sheet on the whole developed from the roleplay. Not from personal choices or building a character around a sheet.

From there I just discovered that by hanging so closely to rules, I was really losing out on a much more enjoyable experience.

As far as physical interactions: Jersey-friend rules are always good. But it's more of a thing relative to each person so you really can't make blanket statements on this. However in looking back: the amount of times me and Christine have punched each other in the face is astounding and I may have to re-evaluate hanging out with her IG for the sake of my facial structure.

Obviously, the secret key to role-playing is food.

Or just for my character. Its her first driving force. The second is her family. Her third is the Mages' Guild. Her fourth is the barony. Her fifth is her safety. Her sixth is adventure.....

I like keep a code like this in the back of my mind. It helps me ground the character to a specific set of morals which allows me to have a better understanding with her motivations. That makes for a smoother and more consistent role-play both for regular PCs and even for NPCs, in my opinion.

There are sometimes things that my PC does which upsets me a little bit OOG and makes me feel a pang of guilt sometimes. Mostly it involves food. Because it is my character's primary love, my IG actions make perfect sense, though I'll more often than not, go tell a friend OOG that I felt a little guilty for what my character did and . Even though my PC and I have very similar qualities and skills to make role-playing easier (she's a musician, I'm a musician; she's a hobbit, I'm Italian...) the thing that calms my mind is that we are very different people, and it still makes role-playing challenging and fun.

This probably sums up my knowledge and understanding of roleplay pretty well.

I wrote my character in the back seat of the car on the drive up my first game.
So....See Gina's post.

I try to set up a backstory, then make the rest of it up as I go...
Sooo yeah, back to the puppy.

I have to say I agree with Chris: for me, RP is about creating as fully immersive a world as possible. When I PC, I think that character, and I'll throw in as much of myself as I can to realize it. I plan to bring in a Dryad Ranger (eventually, I haven't had time to come back to KR!). I will sleep in the forest. I will eat food I prepare without the kitchen. I will walk and talk and my body will move in studied ways I've been working on to present the precise character I want to. I've been playing with my stance while drawing a bow to fit the character, not my OOG hunting style.

I use the restroom like a civilized 21st century person

But for my RP I tend to use "period" fire-starting techniques, food prep. Heck, once I bloody made a specific scented soap from rendered fat. I will do any amount of makeup necessary. I'll alter my voice and posture and body language. My greatest compliment as a player is if someone doesn't recognize the Player for the Character out of garb. It's happened only once or twice, but it's flattering to say the least.

THAT said, I don't expect everyone to go to these lengths. I just hang out with a lot of hardcore actors and re-enactors. We're nuts like that. As long as a person is having a fun, fulfilling RP and not directly having a negative effect on someone else's, it's all good. I don't expect people to research local edible and medicinal plants when they RP, or the right socks or some such silliness. Obsessive RP is just what makes it fun for me.


But in terms of character presentation, I really focus on a few major traits, a few things that are just "who I am", and a handful of "little details". I build my garb around that, and develop my sheet off my person. So I have, say, a Mage, his big thing is that he hates to see people poor, and he hates to see them kept poor even more. He is vocally anti-classism. He's not friendly to people in power on principle, but polite enough not to get stepped on. OK, big things, check. But he also does a lot of charitable and mutual aid work. He travels a lot from place to place, giving as he can. And even the rich are not below helping if they need it. He speaks slowly, walks slowly, and chooses slowly. But he is deliberate and hard to prevent. "Who I am" stuff? Check. But maybe he has a love of a specific type of soup. He wears a ring once given him by a woman he fawned over who had taken a vow of celibacy and left him for parts unknown. He has a slight twang, barely noticeable, around his long "e" vowels. His favorite color is orange, but he doesn't like wearing it. And he favors his right leg just slightly. Little things, check.

As the character develops, I'll add more traits, I'll keep a list of the character's behavior, his dress, his history. Basically, all my characters get their own player's gospel.

I may have a problem...

Oh nice! I am playing a Dyad ranger. I just started in April. I agree with you though. I like to throw myself into my character and then go from there.