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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 6837431" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Well, before I say anything more: roleplaying is perhaps one of the most personal activities there is, so I fully expect everyone to do it differently. In a room with 10 roleplayers, you'll get 12 opinions about how to roleplay <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" /></p><p></p><p>But for me, at least, there's this feedback loop between the things you describe. Your values don't meaningfully exist if you don't, y'know, <em>value</em> them--and we demonstrate our values in our actions. (It is much like the idea of faith and works in Christianity: salvation is by faith alone, but you can't really call it <em>faith</em> if it doesn't alter your behavior accordingly.) But at the same time, actions cannot occur in a vacuum--we need a reason, a motive, a <em>purpose</em> for action, otherwise *nothing* happens. It becomes a chicken-and-the-egg problem: which comes first, the action that demonstrates your values, or the values that motivate your action?</p><p></p><p>I love writing up backstories and quirks and little foibles of my characters, they're the texture that brings mere information to life. I can decide on what "starting values" (hah, punny) a character has before it ever sees the light of play. Then, the character's actions and experiences can be informed by those starting values. But, after play experience occurs, the character now has become MORE than just what they started as. Those experiences must thus be factored into future choices, creating a new values-point to start from. When I iterate, endlessly, on this process, I get the organic growth of a character over time. But without that firm starting ground, SOME kind of anchor or jumping-off point, it's difficult or even impossible for me to "get the ball rolling" as it were.</p><p></p><p>The problem of the "truly blank slate" is well-addressed by <em>Planescape: Torment</em>. The Nameless One starts out True Neutral because he has neither personality nor history. He is the ultimate <em>tabula rasa</em>, onto which we, the players, project *our* values, so as to determine his actions. Without that projection, there would be no values to feel, and you're left with a very strange situation, a character who must make choices without any context--which means seemingly minor details of situation and circumstance make worlds of difference in outcome (hence why TNO has led so many vastly different lives).</p><p></p><p>Then the inflectional bits--stuff like the particular word choice or a character's accent or something--are mostly just window-dressing. It presents the character as a consistent and believable entity different from me. They also serve to help "keep me in character" so to speak; I can more easily distinguish *my* words from my *character's* words when I intentionally affect a different voice for the latter.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 6837431, member: 6790260"] Well, before I say anything more: roleplaying is perhaps one of the most personal activities there is, so I fully expect everyone to do it differently. In a room with 10 roleplayers, you'll get 12 opinions about how to roleplay :p But for me, at least, there's this feedback loop between the things you describe. Your values don't meaningfully exist if you don't, y'know, [I]value[/I] them--and we demonstrate our values in our actions. (It is much like the idea of faith and works in Christianity: salvation is by faith alone, but you can't really call it [I]faith[/I] if it doesn't alter your behavior accordingly.) But at the same time, actions cannot occur in a vacuum--we need a reason, a motive, a [I]purpose[/I] for action, otherwise *nothing* happens. It becomes a chicken-and-the-egg problem: which comes first, the action that demonstrates your values, or the values that motivate your action? I love writing up backstories and quirks and little foibles of my characters, they're the texture that brings mere information to life. I can decide on what "starting values" (hah, punny) a character has before it ever sees the light of play. Then, the character's actions and experiences can be informed by those starting values. But, after play experience occurs, the character now has become MORE than just what they started as. Those experiences must thus be factored into future choices, creating a new values-point to start from. When I iterate, endlessly, on this process, I get the organic growth of a character over time. But without that firm starting ground, SOME kind of anchor or jumping-off point, it's difficult or even impossible for me to "get the ball rolling" as it were. The problem of the "truly blank slate" is well-addressed by [I]Planescape: Torment[/I]. The Nameless One starts out True Neutral because he has neither personality nor history. He is the ultimate [I]tabula rasa[/I], onto which we, the players, project *our* values, so as to determine his actions. Without that projection, there would be no values to feel, and you're left with a very strange situation, a character who must make choices without any context--which means seemingly minor details of situation and circumstance make worlds of difference in outcome (hence why TNO has led so many vastly different lives). Then the inflectional bits--stuff like the particular word choice or a character's accent or something--are mostly just window-dressing. It presents the character as a consistent and believable entity different from me. They also serve to help "keep me in character" so to speak; I can more easily distinguish *my* words from my *character's* words when I intentionally affect a different voice for the latter. [/QUOTE]
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