Experiences Cringe-y RP Mistakes You've Made

[Strawberry Ink]

Has anyone ever made a weird mistake in an rp that made you cringe but it was too late to take back so you just roll with it?

Yes, this is an oddly specific question, shut up.

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

Casting a Prismatic barrier in an battle Rp that I didn't know deflected my own attacks. I played myself into an suicide because of my mistake.

 

[Strawberry Ink]

Casting a Prismatic barrier in an battle Rp that I didn't know deflected my own attacks. I played myself into an suicide because of my mistake.

That's rough, buddy.

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

That's rough, buddy.

A rougher one was when I tried using an OCs fists to deflect an Absolute Zero ice Spear. Huge mistake on my part for not knowing Absolute Zero at that time.

 

[SP3CT3R]

I tried to give an OC the ability to fly but went back and forth with the GM over it for days because I thought they were complaining about it not making sense when it turned out the problem was that it was overpowered.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I once used a too popular face claim in a roleplay, like we were supposed to use models or obscure actors and I used Demi Lovato. Didn’t realize who she was until someone made a comment in character - Oh this student looks just like Demi Lovato. Had to google who that was.

Another time I made a character who spoke with a really bad French accent and was obsessed with bread and cheese. The only two French ish things I could think of.

 

[Genkai]

When I was younger (like 12 or so) I'd make OCs related to canons. I don't do it now but dang, looking back it was a lot of cringe. Like a lot. I've since then rewritten those and removed that relationship but yeah, I wish I could apologize to my past RPers for that level of cringe.

It was cringe for me anyway because now I don't allow others (or myself) to pull that stuff. But it was YIM RP stuff so in those days, everything I did was cringe and I regret it but also I don't. Because it's that bad.

 

[adrian_]

Gunning down a friendly squad in Arma back in the day. Y'see, the problem with paramilitary work is that there is no set uniform. I quickly learned to look for identification that day, not camouflage.

 

[Shuusuke]

In a Death Note RP, someone mentioned a notebook and for some reason I assumed they meant THE Death Note, not just some random notebook. I only realized it some 10 minutes later (it's in a real time RP game), but by then the damage was already done. I'd already sold them out to the "detective", who turned out to be the actual killer, and had my own name written on the actual Death Note. Which I don't actually mind, dying in that game can be a good plot device for the rest of the round. But in this case I kind of probably ruined it, so yeah, not nice.

Another one in that same game, but on normal mode this time. I was playing a stuttering character (which by itself now annoys me), who was struggling to say that a girl was "cute". Apparently that was misunderstood by others around us as either me threatening to cut her, or going "see you next tuesday" (which I only learned what meant much later, if you don't know, google it or something) on her, which got me attacked and killed, also triggering a huge brawl that ended with the actual killer only having to kill the last survivor, the rest killed each other. It was amusing in the end, but I didn't exactly want the killings to start by a reason as dumb as that.

Lastly, I played a character that had quite the dirty mind. So among the topics of his conversation, he brought up how a certain profession had an uniform that he felt attracted to, to put it mildly. Doesn't seem particularly bad and didn't really break any rules either, but he happened to bring that up to a character being played by someone in that same profession, naturally making them quite uncomfortable. Remember and regret I guess.

 

[Genkai]

Shuusuke That Death Note misunderstanding is hilarious. I've made a few mistakes like that but nothing to that extent. If it helps, your blunder did brighten up my boring workday.

 

[Shuusuke]

I realized while still alive, but due to my name having already been written, I had less than 40 seconds to run to the notebook people and apologize, then go back to where the killer was OOC-ly. My character was actually quite clueless and had no reason to suspect the betrayal IC-ly. Had to tell people that saw me on the way that they should ignore me running around, because for all intents and purposes I'd never have left that room after my name was written. Pretty sure I only said "sorry" to the people before rushing back. Had to sort it out after the round had ended.

I like to think the other people in the game found it amusing after the fact as well, gives it a bit of a good side to that mess, so thanks, that's nice to know. Glad to have helped as well, I suppose. Genkai

 

[Benthelame]

My biggest mistake on the sites I've roleplayed on before was failing to make the character undergo development. My villains stayed villains and relentlessly attacked the heroes over and over again until nobody could stand it anymore. I've grown a lot since then. Some of the things I've written would make me cringe nowadays. Though in my defense, I just wanted to read about something other than characters being in love. Characterwise,, I guess my biggest mistake was thinking too hard. The more I tried to make my character original, the more it came off like a Mary Sue. Whenever I relaxed, I could actually make a likable character. All of my problems as a GM were solved when I got some nerve and just flat out denied entry to troublemakers.

 

[Pandaskel]

I used to write edgy self inserts. I wish I could say this was when I was 11 but I was 14, daMmiT. It was bad. She usually had choppy hair that she cut herself, some dark past lacking good parents, and a scAr OvEr oNe eyE. And of course, gross little weeb that I was, they all had Japanese names. Most of the time, they weren’t even Japanese; they just had Japanese names. I gave them some stupid reason like, “The woman who gave her piano lessons when she was 6 was Japanese and gave her a new name so she could form an identity away from her parents.” Seira, Hikari, Kaori... Yeesh. And you bet your bottom the RP that featured Hikari in a medieval setting was an orphan living on her own in the woods wearing a dress torn above the knee and wielding a sCytHe.

Spoiler: Personal stuff

But I was lonely with damagingly low self esteem so I guess it was good that I found a semblance of an outlet?

That’s the cringey part, but the psychologically interesting part is, I went back and read the very first RP I ever joined and I found a post describing an anxiety attack before I even knew what an anxiety attack was.

My parents and others tend to think my illnesses happened when I got diagnosed because that’s when they were concrete and solidified in their minds. After all, it was the first time I’d even told anyone I wasn’t ok because up until that point, I didn’t know I wasn’t ok. You don’t know something isn’t normal unless it’s pointed out.

My dad will ask me things like, “When did your anxiety start?” No, Dad, nothing caused it, it didn’t ‘start’. I’ve just always been like this. Reading that post I wrote two years before I ever went to a doctor was kind of surreal. I forgot that little Panda suffered. I forgot she was already sick by that point. I’m really glad she’s better now.

 

[Lurker]

Ooo I have a fun one. Grew up learning RP on digichats. Similar to discord servers. Speed fighting was the thing there. Takes the idea of keyboard warrior to another meaning. Basically the faster you typed the tougher you were. Anyway. My first time stepping into forum RP and I had a problem with someone...You better believe I tried speed fighting them. On a forum. I got up to 4-5 posts before being kicked from the rp. Good times. Also used to have a character named Eripmav. Because I liked Alucard. And Scully Lightheart. And Haseo The Terror of Death. Which is still a cool name. And Wolfy...The wolf. Fireball the elf. I was 12. I like to think I wasn't terribly edgy but I probably was.

 

[AndPeggy]

I was struggling in everyday life and took it out on some of the players. I was really quite rude to them. Thankfully I have learned a lot since then.

 

[PolikShadowbliss]

I used to Railroad people for my own amusement. Body swaps, sex changes, inflicting them with diseases, etc. I was younger in the RP ways back then. I eventually stopped when I realized that I wouldn't like my character being railroaded and people became pissed at me constantly and would talk shit about me. I didn't like that, so I just changed and eventually stopped. Now I ask for permission first.

I also had a problem with creating incrediably overpowered characters that were impossible to kill. I think I changed since then, no thanks to a friend of mine, who taught me the value of putting a limit to powers. I now have a human character with no extraordinary abilities other than a mental nonoffensive power. I'm curious how well I do, though I still feel as if the power itself is too powerfull.

 

[PhoenixMire]

I used to write edgy self inserts. I wish I could say this was when I was 11 but I was 14, daMmiT. It was bad. She usually had choppy hair that she cut herself, some dark past lacking good parents, and a scAr OvEr oNe eyE. And of course, gross little weeb that I was, they all had Japanese names. Most of the time, they weren’t even Japanese; they just had Japanese names. I gave them some stupid reason like, “The woman who gave her piano lessons when she was 6 was Japanese and gave her a new name so she could form an identity away from her parents.” Seira, Hikari, Kaori... Yeesh. And you bet your bottom the RP that featured Hikari in a medieval setting was an orphan living on her own in the woods wearing a dress torn above the knee and wielding a sCytHe.

I was about to say, there's nothing wrong with having a Japanese character with a Japanese name, but then I read your post a little better and realized it made no sense for your characters to have Japanese names. 'Hikari' in a non-Japanese medieval setting... oof
I've done the exact same thing so I can relate. I used to be a cringey little weeaboo who tried to incorporate what I thought was ""Japanese culture"" into pretty much everything, including RPs where that kind of setting made zero sense. Glad I've gotten over that phase.
I mean I'm still a degenerate weeb but I like to hope I'm not as cringey about it nor do I shove it down people's throats like I used to lol

 

[Onmyoji]

Biggest mistake: I started roleplaying. I cringe every time, but keep doing it.

Also +1 to weaboo people with japanese names. Although in non-japanese settings my characters just used to have very long names with meanings™ which is another manifestation of the same problem.

And from the actual funny mistakes that happened during rp:
so we had this Harry Potter AU rp (which was already AU, mind you). And then I wrote something that threw a few characters into another world. I wrote this mainly on a whim without any plans for the settings. Other players went along with it, so the rp branched out into another AU. It was cringey because it was very cliche and had no actual contribution to the story, more like a fun stuff on the side. But, well, it was one of my first roleplays ever.

 

[Head Collector]

One time I forgot the gender of my character mid rp. Still haven't lived that one down with my normal group.

 

[aaaah]

I used to RP like this:

*Micheal and Matoi walk around. Matoi was worried*


Matoi: ......Micheal....


Micheal: Yeah, Matoi?


Matoi: You dont think... we are in...hell?


*Micheal freezes. He looked at Matoi and she was about to cry*


Micheal: Uh......Um....W-We should worry about that. Just keep walking.


Matoi: *Sigh* O-Okay Micheal


Micheal and Matoi stilll walk around

I think this speaks for itself.

 

[Roman]

I made a one liner... A few years ago. This one liner consisted of my character doing a single action, and that was dancing. Now my friends randomly bring it up. I can't escape it. It's not my worst mistake, just the mistake I can't avoid lol

 

[Birdsie]

I made a one liner... A few years ago. This one liner consisted of my character doing a single action, and that was dancing. Now my friends randomly bring it up. I can't escape it. It's not my worst mistake, just the mistake I can't avoid lol

One-liners aren't inherently bad, even in roleplaying context. While attention to detail is always to be paid, not always can a character engage in witty banter or do ten thousand things in such immaculate precision that it requires four paragraphs of description to make a sandwich. Some content is better than none. Tell your friends that they need to reconsider if they don't understand this.

Or maybe it really was a stupid thing, I can't be sure. Whatever the case, don't hate on one-liners.

----

My friend convinced me to make a character just so his could get married to a PC. I don't know what possessed me to agree, but something did.

 

[Idea]

Oh boy where to even start...

Begginings

I didn't actually start roleplaying here on RPN, but on another site entirely. Back in that site you didn't create an rp the way you do here, the whole site was one huge RP and each thread was a small subsect of that RP. As a result, the format there is that once you have an account you make a character for that account.

The first character I ever made wasn't actually too bad...at first. At a later stage this character came to become a sort of seer, able to have future-reading powers or prophetic abilities. Now at this time I was a very inexperienced roleplayer and hadn't fully wrapped my head around the fact that not everyone will be on board with your ideas. As such what would happen is that my character would have some prophetic vision and I would expect people to take the hint and follow along with it. Most people didn't notice, others did but went like "I shall challenge fate itself!!!" Which made it awkward as I had to retcon whatever didn't work out.

But the mistakes were far from ending there. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Well, one of my characters certainly did, and he had a whole squad following him around, making awkward talk about religion and philosophy all the time, and just generally preaching everywhere. Fortunately it never got to the point where I got warnings or anything, but I did learn the hard way just how uncomfortable and innapropriate it was to bring that stuff to people's hobbies like that.

This last one though is the kicker. The first time I ever experienced romance in an RP. It wasn't planned, I was playing what was my edgiest character to date but through a collection of circumstances the other person's character began developing feelings for mine. My own character reciprocated these feelings (cause of course 14 year old me would do that regardless) and I even got pretty attached to that whole dynamic. When I accidentally found out that character was dating another guy in a different thread (remember all of these threads are cannon in this site, and all connected) I really took it way more seriously than I should and got pretty butthurt as a result, so I upped the edgy antics and my character stabbed a cop through the chest with his bare hands when he got possessed by the evil spirits controlling him.

Needless to say, this didn't go well for the characters and they ended up parting ways while she was still unconscious from fainting at the sight. They later met again, there was a whole break-up thread and not long later the akwardness got to me and I ended up leaving that site.

Coming to RPN

After much searching, trials and errors, I ended up finding RPN. On RPN my first roleplay was a simple fantasy roleplay with a character that was basically a rip-off Alphonse from FMA, and my partner was playing an elf girl. It was a pretty straightforward adventure, until the point where my partner's character's fiancé came for her. I ended up creating this subplot, little did I imagine where putting on a particular ring would lead. After being forced into marriage, my partner's character was made to put a ring that could force her to obey this fiancé guy. As it happens at one point in an argument between my main and this fiancé he ended up making a few wrong choice of words...and my partner's character killed herself.

Now, we did end up establishing ghosts, but it was also established they couldn't communicate, so we decided to end the RP in that rather...unexpected note.

D&D

Last one that comes to mind right away is a particular D&D campaign where I decided to go bold. I wanted to create a character that was one of those "driven mad" types and play it for the campaign, so I divised this whole backstory about being a torture designer whose family ended up getting tortured when he himself was accused of being a traitor so he ended up going mad from that and going on a murder spree where he would take the identity of those he murdered. This is obviously a gross oversimplification of the character, but one thing that got out of this arrangement was that my character was currently acting as a "king" of the particular city the characters were meeting up in- a tyrant king to be exact. It went pretty well at first, until the GM came in with soldiers trying to arrest my character.

I had not realized until then the GM planned to do this. The whole party fled, but as it turns out...

we had a lawful good dragonkin paladin among the group.

They turned tail and captured my character themselves. It was only after the guards revealed to want to execute the rest of the group as accomplices that they escaped, together wiht my character, who was still tied up. After a brief interrogation, the dragonborn considered my character to be evil, and threw my character at his pet dragon to be eaten alive.

And that was the short tale of Jake Spear, dead before the adventure even started, murdered by a party member.

 

[Roman]

One-liners aren't inherently bad, even in roleplaying context. While attention to detail is always to be paid, not always can a character engage in witty banter or do ten thousand things in such immaculate precision that it requires four paragraphs of description to make a sandwich. Some content is better than none. Tell your friends that they need to reconsider if they don't understand this.

Or maybe it really was a stupid thing, I can't be sure. Whatever the case, don't hate on one-liners.

----

My friend convinced me to make a character just so his could get married to a PC. I don't know what possessed me to agree, but something did.

It's not that it was bad. It's just that it was random. Like, there was nothing going on, and I randomly come out of nowhere with said one liner. Technically my character was dancing for no reason. It was weird.

 

[PolikShadowbliss]

Oh boy where to even start...

Begginings

I didn't actually start roleplaying here on RPN, but on another site entirely. Back in that site you didn't create an rp the way you do here, the whole site was one huge RP and each thread was a small subsect of that RP. As a result, the format there is that once you have an account you make a character for that account.

The first character I ever made wasn't actually too bad...at first. At a later stage this character came to become a sort of seer, able to have future-reading powers or prophetic abilities. Now at this time I was a very inexperienced roleplayer and hadn't fully wrapped my head around the fact that not everyone will be on board with your ideas. As such what would happen is that my character would have some prophetic vision and I would expect people to take the hint and follow along with it. Most people didn't notice, others did but went like "I shall challenge fate itself!!!" Which made it awkward as I had to retcon whatever didn't work out.

But the mistakes were far from ending there. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Well, one of my characters certainly did, and he had a whole squad following him around, making awkward talk about religion and philosophy all the time, and just generally preaching everywhere. Fortunately it never got to the point where I got warnings or anything, but I did learn the hard way just how uncomfortable and innapropriate it was to bring that stuff to people's hobbies like that.

This last one though is the kicker. The first time I ever experienced romance in an RP. It wasn't planned, I was playing what was my edgiest character to date but through a collection of circumstances the other person's character began developing feelings for mine. My own character reciprocated these feelings (cause of course 14 year old me would do that regardless) and I even got pretty attached to that whole dynamic. When I accidentally found out that character was dating another guy in a different thread (remember all of these threads are cannon in this site, and all connected) I really took it way more seriously than I should and got pretty butthurt as a result, so I upped the edgy antics and my character stabbed a cop through the chest with his bare hands when he got possessed by the evil spirits controlling him.

Needless to say, this didn't go well for the characters and they ended up parting ways while she was still unconscious from fainting at the sight. They later met again, there was a whole break-up thread and not long later the akwardness got to me and I ended up leaving that site.

Coming to RPN

After much searching, trials and errors, I ended up finding RPN. On RPN my first roleplay was a simple fantasy roleplay with a character that was basically a rip-off Alphonse from FMA, and my partner was playing an elf girl. It was a pretty straightforward adventure, until the point where my partner's character's fiancé came for her. I ended up creating this subplot, little did I imagine where putting on a particular ring would lead. After being forced into marriage, my partner's character was made to put a ring that could force her to obey this fiancé guy. As it happens at one point in an argument between my main and this fiancé he ended up making a few wrong choice of words...and my partner's character killed herself.

Now, we did end up establishing ghosts, but it was also established they couldn't communicate, so we decided to end the RP in that rather...unexpected note.

D&D

Last one that comes to mind right away is a particular D&D campaign where I decided to go bold. I wanted to create a character that was one of those "driven mad" types and play it for the campaign, so I divised this whole backstory about being a torture designer whose family ended up getting tortured when he himself was accused of being a traitor so he ended up going mad from that and going on a murder spree where he would take the identity of those he murdered. This is obviously a gross oversimplification of the character, but one thing that got out of this arrangement was that my character was currently acting as a "king" of the particular city the characters were meeting up in- a tyrant king to be exact. It went pretty well at first, until the GM came in with soldiers trying to arrest my character.

I had not realized until then the GM planned to do this. The whole party fled, but as it turns out...

we had a lawful good dragonkin paladin among the group.

They turned tail and captured my character themselves. It was only after the guards revealed to want to execute the rest of the group as accomplices that they escaped, together wiht my character, who was still tied up. After a brief interrogation, the dragonborn considered my character to be evil, and threw my character at his pet dragon to be eaten alive.

And that was the short tale of Jake Spear, dead before the adventure even started, murdered by a party member.

I too get very attached to ships. Especially those that happen naturally. However, I am always prepared for eventual heartbreak and have an entire arc planned for when it happened. At one point I was fully prepared for my partner to betray my character after a unusual slip-up from the Player where he had my character’s loved one suddenly hate my character for no reason. It came out of nowhere and it was heartwrenching, but I was prepared to go that route until the player retconned it. I was grateful. Nevertheless as his plot continued, I was prepared for betrayal. The point is, you should always have a break up plan and how your character will react afterwards if things don’t work out.