Advice on Role-Playing: An open contribution project

[Kits Rose]

That doesn't tell us much...  

[Bao Sanniang]

I started making my avatar look like a fox with the idea that her body was being taken over by a fox spirit. But I could never come up with any further ideas on that.  

[Remilia E O Speedwagon]

This is my side character. I wanted to try playing a human or someone who wasn't very super. How does she sound?

I made her parents they way they were to explain how she had Japanese and Spanish skills.

Remilia E O Speedwagon

Name: Remilia Erika-Olivia Speedwagon
Age: 24
Species: 95% human
Race:Caucasian
Languages: English, Spanish, Japanese
Interests: Pop culture, math, computers, and anything electronic
Family: Robert Edwards-Orville Speedwagon (grandfather), James Miyamoto Speedwagon (father), Juanita Maria Speedwagon (mother)
Preference: Women
Abilities: Eternal youth, ability to steal life and knowledge from people in an... intimate way.

Other information: She is made of expelled traits inherited from a being known as Showa/Asuka, made from a mass of life energy that transferred itself into a woman's womb. The expelled traits were seen as weaknesses or inconveniences and thus of no use. The one Showa trait that was NOT a weakness was eternal youth. Showa did not age and thus any offspring of her would be equally youthful.

Remilia's father was of heavily diluted Japanese descent (inherited from her grandmother also of diluted Japanese descent), it only shows in his middle name. Her mother was a Spanish-American.

Remilia was named in tribute to her grandfather, who was born before a certain radio-friendly rock band even existed. While her name is not the same her initials and last name are.

 

[Kits Rose]

It sounds like it could be an interesting character. If you take the time to play her and develop the character. It's not a bad idea, you just need to actually play with her. Even if it's just a scene by yourself, or between your own characters if you want. Something more than just they come into a thread, wait a while, then leave. Make up something for them to do, give them an NPC to talk to, or something. Let your characters grow, and the more you play them, the more they'll start to develop their own personalities, and they'll be more interesting and fun for you to play and for everyone else to follow.  

[Remilia E O Speedwagon]

Kits Rose

It sounds like it could be an interesting character. If you take the time to play her and develop the character. It's not a bad idea, you just need to actually play with her. Even if it's just a scene by yourself, or between your own characters if you want. Something more than just they come into a thread, wait a while, then leave. Make up something for them to do, give them an NPC to talk to, or something. Let your characters grow, and the more you play them, the more they'll start to develop their own personalities, and they'll be more interesting and fun for you to play and for everyone else to follow.

Suppose she despises REO Speedwagon because of her name, and if they ever have a concert near where she is she plans to groupie with them just so she can succubus the life out of them once and for all?

Also she tends to have "angry sex" with people who ignore her warning not to play their music?Ok that is just petty.  

[Kits Rose]

If you feel like that's something that you want to play out, and can, then go ahead. It's really up to you what traits you want your characters to have. Just be aware that, like in real life (or OOC), not everybody will agree with it all. Some people may get annoyed and even actively dislike your character. That does not mean you should give up on the character, though.

Personally, I can see her disliking the band for that reason. There are probably people who keep bringing it up, and I can see how that would get annoying. It's a believable trait.  

[Remilia E O Speedwagon]

Crossed it out because I had already typed it but changed my mind.  

[Bao Sanniang]

Going into heat sounds questionable... and I'm open to any other input.

Bao Sanniang

It's easy to tell the two apart. Bao wears clothes and has a human-like face, Kyouka does not and has a fox face.

Name: Bao Sanniang
Age: 23
Gender: Female, originally male but the ability set she received can't be passed on to a man without gender-bending
Home planet: Tokar
Nationality: Mashindo (Mashin person)
Ethnicity: Mashindo (Mashin person)
Species: Originally human, now a fox yokai

Recipient of Showa's powers after her death. Once a somewhat masculine-looking human man, (s)he is now a beautiful woman.

Bao is a peaceful, pleasant person who goes out of her way to be as unoffensive as possible.

However Bao's form has changed to that of a great fox yokai that contributed to her abilities, and her consciousness shares Bao's body

Name: Kyouka
Species: great fox yokai
Age: ancient
Gender: female
Home planet: Earth
Nationality: Japanese
Ethnicity: same as Bao
Special ability: Various forms of magic used to play tricks on people, and sucking the life out of those who abuse animals and nature until only dust remains.

Her tribe preferred a form closer to an animal than most humanoid yokai, and spent the warm months wearing nothing but a pair of sandals or shoes to keep their feet clean and the fur on their bodies. During the cold months they would either wear clothing or wrap up in blankets. But being animal-like, they felt no need for clothing if it was warm enough not to wear any.

Shared attributes: They both have fox-like ears, white body fur, and an elegant fox tail. A few days out of the month, thanks to Kyouka, their body goes into an easily aroused state, a time they usually spend alone because they are likely to make romantic advances at whoever is nearby. Not that it would make a difference since Bao inherited Showa's inability to carry a child longer than 2 months.

 

[Bao Sanniang]

I'm just wondering about something.

In classic medieval fantasy games often there were stipulations to various character classes.

For instance a wizard would be physically weak and not be able to take a lot of damage, but would be deadly with magic. While a warrior would be strong with a lot of stamina but nowhere near as smart or as skilled at magic.

My thinking has always been... instead of being a warrior or a wizard, why not a warrior wizard?

Granted games like Final Fantasy and The Elder Scrolls have been blurring those distinctions so you CAN be tough AND magical at the same time, but still... is it really so bad to write RP characters with the intention of blurring the boundaries of character types?  

[Kairanha]

With game play you have to adapt to the strengths and limitations built into a given character class and certain races are more prone to one style of combat than another and that's part of the fun, but for the purposes of story telling and RPing things usually are never so simple.

The world itself that you put characters in exerts different forces upon them. Is magic a source of power that flows freely and is easily accessible to everyone? Is it only available to a gifted few? Are there inherent risks in using magic that may potentially kill a character after enough exposure? How long does it take to cast a spell?

These factors, as well as personality and profession will influence how dependent a character is on magic or if they reject it entirely. Just as there are basic spells that can be very useful to a warrior class, there are some physical skills that can be indispensable when the going gets rough and a more up close and personal method is more efficient.

You can build a super character and make them the most powerful mage and an indestructible tank, but story wise I don't find that to be very interesting or realistic. There must always be a weakness for a villain to exploit or the protagonist is guaranteed to win and that is never fun in games or in RP.

 

[Bao Sanniang]

Final Fantasy I - IV didn't do class mixing. Though Final Fantasy IV did let the main character change classes... he didn't keep the abilities of his old class if I recall right.

In Final Fantasy V there was a switchable job system that let you level up 1 class while using an (read: ONE, you could only be 2 things at once) ability or ability set from another. Your base stats in any given job were that of your main class so if you used a main class with low MP you couldn't use magic very long no matter how skilled you were as a magic user as another class.

Final Fantasy VI let anyone have access to magic halfway through the game courtesy of magical rocks that were the corpses of powerful magical beings. As you used them in battle you learned the magic of the being it used to be.

To my knowledge Final Fantasy VII did something similar but you were limited to the abilities of the magical rock you were equipped with and if you changed it you lost the old magic.