Contradictions

[Ladyshade]

Just a few abstract, slightly connected thoughts that popped into my head.

How do you define in play, the little flaws, favorable, or even just subtle traits of your character(s)? Do you have a favorite of any of these? Have you ever really thought that issue out pre-play or do things just sort of develop once you get started? (Do you just play off other characters and get new ideas that seem to fit.)

What brought these little questions to my mind was thinking on the various discussions over how to play certain things well, mistakes people make in playing yada yada, and some of the replies topics like these drew out. The answers that stand out in my mind at the moment are those that expressed the fact that some of these ‘out of the ordinary’ or ‘uncommon behaviors’ in certain unexpected beings are entirely planned.

I am not really talking about some of the terribly fantastic shifts in natural behavior like beings that are generally understood to be evil by nature portrayed as being ‘entirely goodly’ and vice versa. I mean mostly ‘simpler’ things, parts of a character rather than the whole. Things that are just out of the ‘ordinary’ enough to make other characters look at yours strangely now and then. Perhaps even cause conflict in storylines. I think of druids as being open to appreciating all creatures in some way, so my idea of ‘out of the ordinary’ would be someone playing a druid as utterly loathing a specific animal for some reason. Some character portrayed as ‘evil’ might also be shown to have a very honest disgust and enmity for certain other evil and could go to great lengths to aid certain ‘good’ folk in getting rid of it. (For some reason the idea of an anti-paladin hating an also evil assassin comes to mind. It probably wouldn’t seem natural to most people for such beings to be at odds unless they were rivals in some way.)

An example of what I’m talking about in my own character Ladyshade, is her ‘willingness’ to rub elbows (interact at all) with beings that due to race/profession/life experience, she would be generally expected to shun. I try to play out a few aspects of her character and history in this, and even though I might break down and explain them IC now and then I try to do it without her speaking a narrative every time she acts,…or doesn’t.

It is not uncommon for her to be seen speaking very pleasantly with certain obvious undead or even demon-kind who in turn conduct themselves politely and peaceably. The conflict here is that she is a ‘goodly’ elf,..heh,..of a species of elf that is generally even more strictly thinking than other elves, who happens to be a cavalier of all things; All in all a being who should ‘not’ be chatting away the day with such creatures. This of course tends to look very bad for her.

Think most people would trust the honor and integrity of a so called ‘defender of good’ who consorts with the most obvious of ‘harbingers of evil’? Hehehehe, I think not.

Yet IC, due to her characteristics (flaws, favorable, subtle), she has good reason to be doing so, without ‘betraying’ the general traits of either her class or race.

She, as a cavalier, is the sworn enemy of all creatures that threaten the general Weal, that are evil, that are unnatural. She will never, ever, strike up a true friendship with such beings. However, as part of her history, she was brought up with courtly manners. This combined with perhaps a bit too much bravery and a very curious, adventurous nature makes her almost comfortable conversing with certain beings. (At least to the point of her being able to appear outwardly comfortable.) She is also has the internal conflict of being bound by the same Code that brings her to stand against certain creatures, to abide by the Laws of the land she is in. In Juxta in particular this means she must grit her teeth and not ‘attack on sight.’ Even in the Greyhawk setting, Siani ‘welcomes’ all to her establishment so long as they ‘don’t go behind the bar, get blood on the floor or break her furniture.’ Thus, if a creature doesn’t offer her obvious violence or threat, even if she’ll never truly trust them due to her nature and theirs, she is very likely to at least return polite conversation. A few different character traits of hers are played out in this way. I could even add to them both cleverness on her part, and alternately occasional bad judgment. At times she speaks to certain beings just to get a measure of them, or perhaps give them a not entirely accurate measure of herself. That of course can backfire on her as well.

I like playing these things out. Her friendliness can be both honest and artful, and not always when one expects.

What is your favorite in your own characters? What do you find gets the most interesting response?

 

[Jardel_Karabella]

Contradictions here?

How do you define in play, the little flaws, favorable, or even just subtle traits of your character(s)? Do you have a favorite of any of these? Have you ever really thought that issue out pre-play or do things just sort of develop once you get started? (Do you just play off other characters and get new ideas that seem to fit.)

Generally for me most of my characters minor quirks and idiosincrocies seem to flow naturally. Most of them flow easily from either the character's back history or their personal passions. Occassionally I try to add a few things to make them interesting but usually they seem to manage it by themselves.

Often I find new quirks, traits and contradictions surface by themselves during the natural course of play as the character fills out, grows and expands. Indeed some of them are caused directly by the interaction with others.

If I have a favorite I think it would have to relate to Jardel's views to death and murder. On one hand he's a paid assassin, he loves his work and he's really good at it. However while he kills people for a variety of 'business' reasons he never succumbs to harming others for the usual motivations (anger, jealousy, revenge, etc). He's the 'bad' guy in a group of good people but when they're all grinding their teeth and thirsting for blood he's generally calm, collected and uncaring as to the life or death of the antagonist.

That one I did think out a lot in prior to bringing him on, mostly because I thought it'd be interesting to think about the different ways someone who deals in death could look at life, death and transitions. How would they justify their work? Indeed what value would they place on their work? In Jardel's case I think I went with what was (to me) the most interesting perspective due to all of the odd quirks and contradictions it contains.

Generally however it receives little response since whenever it happens people are usually to concerned with the bigger problems (such as say... how to kill/save the antagonist in the set situation). A few those I most frequently associate with and game with have noticed it and, like myself, found it somewhat amusing.

Just a little side note:

(For some reason the idea of an anti-paladin hating an also evil assassin comes to mind. It probably wouldn’t seem natural to most people for such beings to be at odds unless they were rivals in some way.)

This seems perfectly natural to me. To me the connection of 'evil' is really an insignificant one and one that generally doesn't loan itself well to comaradary and kinship. The anti-paldin will have his skewed perspective of the world, and the assassin his... doubtlessly these will be different skews and will probably conflict in many ways. Perhaps the paladin feels the only true defeat of an enemy is when you humilate then execute them publically while the assassin feels it comes from killing them in their sleep and disappear without a trace.

That along could be enough for them to decide the existance of the other is unacceptable. Evil frequently battles evil... generally stabbing itself in the back with a nasty dagger.

Good often has the good sense to settle for punching itself in the nose.

 

[Kathryn_aka_Kat]

Quirks and contradictions? Heh.

Kat started out deliberately sketchy because she's my first char in ISRP and I didn't know what would blend in best. But with *cough* years of tabletop rping, I didn't want her to come across as a total fool. Hence her age (not too young), appearance (random human) and the background of both memory loss (so the char could be filled in more later) and plane-to-plane travel (to explain how she might know *some* useful stuff).

For a bit there, I was going to give her some special non-obvious-to-the-naked-eye power (total resistance to magic?), but after reading the rants on the board, I decided to leave her a wimp.
No magic items even.

And another deliberate hole: her description. If you read it, it is only the plainest of facts. Race, gender, hair color, eye color, clothing, and gear. Not size, shape, or how pretty she is or isn't, heh. Beauty left totally in the eye of the beholder. (No, not that type of beholder, sheesh!)

Everything built nicely from there. Her eavesdropping, her interest in other people's histories and relationships, her total lack of racial prejudices, her politeness and general avoidance of combat, her occasional feelings of worthlessness compared to the much more powerful chars on site.

Changes? She was initially careless of her life: she wouldn't fight because she didn't like losing, not fear of death. Her travel problem was solved and now she's even more reluctant to fight because she *doesn't* want to die. She learned about her past, and now has flashes of a much more bitter and cynical outlook. She's been offered the chance to have a great deal of power, and now she's dealing with turning that down. She's realized that making friends has saved her life more than once, and now can't help viewing some of her friendships in that light and I'm deliberately having her make more comments that way.

Responses? A smile, a drink, a few leading questions and the resulting conversation, and most people seem to think that Kat's the nicest, sweetest, kindest person around, heh. What gets me confused is another view of her behaviour could easily be that she's an opportunistic, snooping, whining, cowardly suck-up. But that doesn't seem to be coming across?

 

[Nevine]

How do you define in play, the little flaws, favorable, or even just subtle traits of your character(s)? Do you have a favorite of any of these? Have you ever really thought that issue out pre-play or do things just sort of develop once you get started? (Do you just play off other characters and get new ideas that seem to fit.)

When it comes to character quirks, flaws, etc., I generally come up with a few little traits pre-play and then let the character develop from there. These traits usually aren't any major, but small taboos. For example, Nevine will never sleep facing North because that is the direction from which the White Dragonarmies invaded Icewall Glacier, his homeland.

As far as a favorite character trait..hmm.. I won't go too deep here, so I'll share one of the things most people around Nevine have figured out. He tries extremely hard to come off as a jerk to the majority of people, he just doesn't like others getting too personable with him. This stems from his own insecurities and his outlook on other people. However, he can be a really nice guy deep down. Of course, this isn't saying there aren't people he just plain doesn't like.

Edit: It's Icewall..not Ice.. *grunt*

 

[Andion Isurand]

For me, the subtle nuances of how my character behaves and the smallest of details about his apperance, are reserved to be given away to others in accordance to a "Rate of Revelation".

Many other character descriptions I have seen, freely give away the whole story behind the character before one even gets a chance to interact with them. This can take a lot away from the interest to roleplay with that character, because it acts just like a spoiler for a movie or book.

Details beyond my character's apperance are not included in his actual ISRP description. I have always been careful to keep to a "Rate of Revelation" when playing my character. Basically, as you watch what he says and does over time, you will learn more about him.

Even Andion's familiar, Zephryn, is moved along using a Rate of Revelation. She is not included in my character's actual ISRP description, because she cannot always be seen or is somewhere else at times.

//////////////////////////////////////////

Almost every line my character speaks, is followed by a line of narration that informs other roleplayers "how" my character said what he said. Facial expressions and body language are also given to fill out his role in any given scene. Sometimes, these details can reflect greater aspects of Andion's life history.

It's rather simple for me to fall into playing a character once I have fleshed out the character's life story... down to the names and general descriptions of the character's family, freinds, enemies, places and events. Once I come to understand how these things would work together to define who my character is, I know how to make my character react to, and participate in, what goes on.

 

[Dontella]

Oh woe is me, what to write about the elf maid..

She definately has her quirks, and odd traits, those most of these will not surface, unless someone really gets to know her.

Alot of these quirks spring form long tabletop sessions, and each have some kind of background or point to them.

One of the most obvious traits, is that her persistant belief that Everyone, is basically good. That naivete, is often what leads her into trouble. And yet despite the problems she has, her view has not changed, in her eyes, everyone has a redeeming trait within, and it is up to her to see that revealed. This is perhaps why she makes friends with anyone and everyone, perhaps sometimes, even with those people that no others can stand.

"What are you doing, talking to that vampire!"

"He seemed nice to me."

"Didn't he try to kill you?"

"Oh, he apologized.. it's alright. He was merely exhibitng his angst against the world as a whole, and meant nothing against me personally.."

Of course, this is also one of her more frustrating qualities..

There are many more, indeed.. Even a few almost paradoxical qualities to her. All of which, help make her more than just a few statistics on a piece of paper..

EDIT: Anyhow, she's the goody good type, but she also has the extreme, luck ( misfortune? ) of being a Kell, which means one thing for certain, you really really don't want to make her mad.

It also means she's going to be stubborn to a fault. And that despite the innocent image she seeks to portray, there are always going to be underlying family traits that wait just below the surface.

Plain and simple, she's far more complex, than it first seems. and while one might begin to understand her, no doubt even those who are closest in her life, can not fully predict everything about her, and how she will react to any given situation.

It also makes her fun to play, I never know when I'll get a chance to bring out one of her unusual traits, it means I can wait for others to act, and then react accordingly, taking in her history and experiances.

*muses* Yep, way too much free time on my hands.

 

[Bhryn Astairre]

Hmmm... Let's see. I have two I've played for such a long time that picking them up is second nature now to me. But character flaws I absolutely love.

Some of course tend to be overt, and some are hidden very deep down. For instance, my longest played character would be Jhaiel Frost, shifted through endless systems so I can have working bits and bobs. But throughout her personality has not shifted one bit. Why? Because I love her, she's everything extrovert that I'm quite obviously not.

Jhaiel owns traits of compassion and kindness, but only directed towards children because of her own orphaned childhood. With adult interactions she is distant, cool and very much the arrogant sort.

She won't allow a single man to ever attempt to heal or help her in any medical fashion: it must be a woman as her culture dictates.

She loves flirting, and often uses it in a manipulative fashion to get her own ends in a deal/bargain/situation. Memorable points of this must be in one situation where they had to draw the camera's attention from the sneaking group, so she grabbed the unwitting Vernon and well.. did the bad thing infront of the camera's to distract attention, which worked a charm.

She's not technically a good person. She knows what's right and wrong, and strives often for the side of Law, but she's also very underhand and her methods usually unclear. Jhaiel isn't above insinuating herself into the enemies camp and then using them to get the means acheived for Law and the greater good/bigger picture.

On the other hand, I have Bhryn.

Anyone who knows her can categorically say as her most prominant traits and sometimes, biggest flaws: Temper and Stubborness.

Temper: everyone's a little unbalanced now and then, but with her temper I went for the "blows up in your face without prior warning, then is all smiles and friends afterwards" type. It's interesting to see how people take that unpredicatable side of my chaotic celestial.

Stubborness. An oddly difficult trait to play, especially considering her other minor flaws. She's always adamant that "SHE is right" and no one else in the known multiverse can be, even if it comes to standing her ground in a fight she cannot possibly win. She's muleish, awkward, demanding and often arrogant with her stubborness.

Flighty. She's not the grounded type. Flitting from one situation to the next and just hoping her luck holds out through it all. Does, sadly, extend to her relationships. She's got about as much chance of holding a relationship than a drunkard does of holding down a kebab. Relationships are often ruined Via flighty, through Temper.

She has other minor things, such as this insane hatred of Vampires. She'd do ANYTHING to see a Vampy get staked or even better, for comedy effect, falling on something sharp and dying by accident. She's yet to see that one!

Just a few things... back to the whiteboard!

Nic xx

 

[Tharivious_Meliamne]

Excellent topic. Hmm, character flaws / quirks.... Let me see, I'll only handle one, as his is a long and twisted history:

Tharivious
As some of you who know him might or might not know, Tharivious wasn't always the same as he is now. When I first brought him here, he came straight from my local table top campaign.

Now, in the campaign, he was a neutral evil assassin, the favored of a very evil goddess, and a cruel, and mean spirited individual. He held very few limits back then, but, there was a reason for this: He was driven over the edge by his life.
His family was killed by a horde of goblins before the campaign began. He got stuck with a group in the campaign that made him miserable. He wound up dealing with the ones responsible for the death of his family, but his revenge was taken away from him by one of the other party members.
Cut to a time when he left the campaign: He found someone who he thought was the love of his life. He made a few friends, and eventually found his way back to the campaign. Shortly after ( In a part of his story line that I've altered a bit to rationalize the situation better ), his wife at the time started to make him miserable. This drove him further over the edge. His friends betrayed him eventually, and then there's the matter of his guild in Dykal ( Nugan's campaign setting ). He wound up stuck working for Nugan of all people ( Thus his hatred for him ), and eventually lost his guild to him.

Now for his current faults.
He hates necromancy in almost all of it's forms. He views undead as being nothing more than something that needs to be destroyed. He deems liches to be the worst of them, and though he doesn't attack them on sight as he used to, he does view them with an immense amount of distrust and will not be likely to interact kindly with them, even the rare good liches ( Like the Baelnorn and Archlich of Faerun ) This stems from his family's slaughter at the hands of the horde, it was led by a necromancer who later became a lich.

Because of the things he went through, he's gotten accustomed to evil being around him. He's used to it, and it doesn't bother him like it should. He doesn't react to evil like a normal good character would, simply because he's been so desensitized to it by his past that it doesn't register. He's normally easy going and relaxed, usually just observing things and watching what happens around him.

That's not to say he's a pushover by any means, as there are ways to really set him off, anyone who's seen him be set off already knows what those are:
If anyone threatens the people he cares about directly, he reacts as harshly as the trained killer that he was for so long should. He may be one of the 'good guys' but he doesn't hold back when something threatens those he cares about. I'm sure that some who witnessed him literally erupt in anger one day in the tavern due to someone boasting that they had kidnapped Morgana and were holding her at their home. When something like that hits him, he tends to forget the limits that morals can place on someone's actions, and that can of course lead to problems for him and those close to him. Although he did polarize the room during that eruption, into his favor for the most part.
And of course Nugan can set him off with just about a single sentence at most times, simply because Tharivious only wants a reason to kill Nugan, since no longer being evil he doesn't actively seek anyone's death unprovoked. Although he's taken to a more mock and mock back battle with Nugan as of late.

Add to that his usual silence. He's a trained assassin, he knows how to keep quiet, and he's used to silence being his constant friend. He's quiet because of habit, but as many who know him have learned, when there is a reason for him to be talkative, he can hold his own in a conversation.

Those are only the one's that I've made obvious thus far, there are others that I keep secret until the situation where they come forth shows itself.

~ Tharivious Meliamne's player

 

[Ssussunriyh]

Lately, I have found myself playing Bianca almost exclusively, so I'll concentrate on the character I've developed most. One recurring theme with her is that she defies most of the stereotypes that might be attributed to her. For example:

Both drow and wizards (and especially drow wizards!) lust after power purely for its own sake. Bianca doesn't care about intrigues and power struggles, instead seeking knowledge and understanding - which has gained her a good deal of power incidentally. However, she doesn't lord it over others the way one might expect. Intellectual arrogance, yes. But not power-derived arrogance.

Drow females tend to be unabashedly immodest in their style of dress. Bianca dresses ultra-conservatively in flowing robes that cover her from chin to wrist to toe, and leave everything to the imagination. She also shuns conversation of a sexual nature, makes no advances, and rejects advances made towards her - completely opposite of the typically aggressive drow female. (This is due partly to the character's backhistory, and partly to the player's own disinclinations... *hint, hint.*)

Just as the evil drow is a stereotype, the good drow is also becoming so. Bianca takes a more neutral stance, leaning slightly towards good, but motivated more by personal relationships than abstract ideology. In fact, I would say that the description of Neutral found in the 3E PHB fits her quite well.

 

[Krystal]

Meh. Krystal has no flaws what so ever. :grins and ducks:

Honestly though, I can't really point to anything in particular and say "thats a flaw, yup yup". I dunno why. And yes, Dontella's a big ball of "huh?". She's confused the bajeebers out of Krystal more times than I care to count. I dare say that for as much as Krys regards her a friend, she just looks at Dontella sometimes goes "That girl is SO misguided" and lets it lay at that. Sometimes she tries to point it out, others she just sits back and lets Don learn for herself.

Krys is however fiercely loyal to family and friends. No matter what.

-Krys