Experiences The Things You Do That Other RPers Find Odd!

[Sacrilege]

I don't do straight pairings, unless they somehow break the mold of the traditional roles that almost every single person demands them to fall into. I have done approximately three straight pairings in my entire RP career, and only one of those have I actually enjoyed - mainly because there weren't really any expectations of 'SUBMISSIVE WOMAN SWOONS OVER MANLY, M A N L Y MAN'. People seem to have a weird complex over this, as to this day, they still try to force my absolute beastly gay women into romances with their toxically masculine straight men. Also for whatever reason straight pairings seem to always be the ones where I have issues with partners thinking that a roleplay romance extends to out of character as well.

I have no cohesive posting schedule. It could be everyday. Could be every other week. Sometimes I might fall off the face of the earth for two months and then bomb you with fourteen posts in a week and a half. This is not particularly a problem considering I only RP with close friends these days, but sometimes when a mutual approaches me, they are filled with a sense of dread upon discovering that I can never tell them when I will be posting.

I plan stupidly far ahead. Like seriously. I DM all of my RPs except one, and for each of them, I maintain a large document with upcoming arcs and potential plot leads. I even account for all the different possibilities that might terribly throw my plan off kilter. It's a lot of work and frankly exhausting, but my plotting is one of the things I'm proudest of in my RP ability.

...I also am part of that weird, dying breed of writers who torture themselves by preferring a novella style. Don't ever get into the habit of writing enormous posts, kids. It's like having to write a goddamn english essay every time you have to reply. Actually I think I've spent less time on actual essays than I have some of my openers.

 

[Jannah]

As for myself, I tend to shape my character's personality on the fly. If the RP's character sheet needs a character's personality stated, I'd rather make it not too detailed in the CS and develop it as the RP goes.

This is precisely one of the reasons why I don't like doing character sheets.

 

[Crayons]

I insist on and keep a (sometimes mental, sometimes written) record of continuity, consistency and passing of time. So for example - the season, the length of time skips between scenes, what scenes take place concurrently to others and where all the characters are at each time. It drives me batshit when people have the same character in multiple scenes that happen at the same time, which is like ... reasonable. But I also sometimes point out things like ya know this is in winter, right? Why are there blossoms on that cherry tree? Which is probably annoying. But to me ignoring the passage of time is immersion breaking.

Sometimes this habit comes in useful because players be all like: when did x thing happen? Who was there? How long ago was that? And I can be like ... I am keeper of time! I know all things!

 

[Redfork2000]

I insist on and keep a (sometimes mental, sometimes written) record of continuity, consistency and passing of time. So for example - the season, the length of time skips between scenes, what scenes take place concurrently to others and where all the characters are at each time. It drives me batshit when people have the same character in multiple scenes that happen at the same time, which is like ... reasonable. But I also sometimes point out things like ya know this is in winter, right? Why are there blossoms on that cherry tree? Which is probably annoying. But to me ignoring the passage of time is immersion breaking.

Sometimes this habit comes in useful because players be all like: when did x thing happen? Who was there? How long ago was that? And I can be like ... I am keeper of time! I know all things!

I like to do something like this, though to a lesser extent. Usually in my mind I'll always have an idea of what time of day it is, what date, etc, and thus keep myself organized, and even help my roleplay partner know what time it is in the RP. Though I haven't encountered yet any RP partner that likes keeping track of time and date in such a consistent way. I think I'd actually love to have a roleplay partner who keeps track of time like that.

 

[CorralDust]

I like to use dice when things get ... well ... dicey! No hard and fast rules set required. Just figure out some odds on the fly for whatever seems reasonable/dramatic along with a couple potential outcomes and then go with it!

 

[AnnJam]

I like to use dice when things get ... well ... dicey! No hard and fast rules set required. Just figure out some odds on the fly for whatever seems reasonable/dramatic along with a couple potential outcomes and then go with it!

I like this. If its this or that number rage outcome B or C and roll. Its a solid way to quickly defuse player fights and its fun; having played TTRPGs I can say 100% that dice rolls and outcomes are entertaining! XD

 

[AnnJam]

All my "straight characters" are technically "straight adjacent" (bi/pan/polysexual) because in my heart of hearts I'm too bi/pan myself to play 100% free range heterosexuals!

 

[Jannah]

All my "straight characters" are technically "straight adjacent" (bi/pan/polysexual) because in my heart of hearts I'm too bi/pan myself to play 100% free range heterosexuals!

On the contrary most of my characters are usually straight lmao. Also, when I make a "gay" character they tend to be bisexual.

 

[Crayons]

I have straight characters, gay characters, bi characters, all kinds of folks but not all of them need to reflect my personal sexuality. (Some of them are just "no dude I'm 100% hetero" and that's OK. XD )

 

[Andei]

I write almost exclusively platonic relationships. I like to live life on the edge.

 

[saniachan]

I write almost exclusively platonic relationships. I like to live life on the edge.

Welp, me too actually. Not a big fan of romance here. ._.

 

[salem.]

Smh some people don’t get why im so awkward with romance

 

[saniachan]

...am I the only one who can tolerate one-liners?

 

[FoolsErin]

I insist on and keep a (sometimes mental, sometimes written) record of continuity, consistency and passing of time. So for example - the season, the length of time skips between scenes, what scenes take place concurrently to others and where all the characters are at each time. It drives me batshit when people have the same character in multiple scenes that happen at the same time, which is like ... reasonable. But I also sometimes point out things like ya know this is in winter, right? Why are there blossoms on that cherry tree? Which is probably annoying. But to me ignoring the passage of time is immersion breaking.

Sometimes this habit comes in useful because players be all like: when did x thing happen? Who was there? How long ago was that? And I can be like ... I am keeper of time! I know all things!

You're not alone with this. I'm someone who really loves to describe things, and it is my worst nightmare when it's unclear what season or time it is. Am I describing frost or foliage here? Are the flowers just tiny buds, or full-on blooming? Is the sun shining overhead brightly, or is it setting in a spectacle of orange and red? What phase is the moon? Can we even see the moon right now? Please give me a vague estimate, you are killing me smalls.

I don't have a lot of cis/hetero/allo OCs. It's not on purpose by a long shot, but I somehow fell into not really doing it and I've never stopped.

I (used to, kinda on a break from writing right now) write a lot of fandom stuff, and usually with canon characters. I usually see a lot of arguments about "not doing them justice" but I've never really seen that as an issue? Isn't an interpretation of a character a thing? Like long-running characters ala comics don't have perfectly consistent characterization themselves, why is it different coming from me? Why do I need to make myself a fresh setting every time when there's a perfectly good one I already understand right there? Is it some kinda crime to want to see two characters who'd never get a chance to interact in officially made media interact? I came here for a good time, not to get a book published, and I will act as such.

I don't want to be in roleplays that are just normal schools without magic or drama or anything. I have enough school in my life already, thanks.

I'm fine with someone roleplaying a real person as long as it's for comedic purposes. There was someone in a long-term roleplay I was in who played a comedically exaggerated version of Kanye West who popped up at random, and it was fun.

 

[AnnJam]

I write almost exclusively platonic relationships. I like to live life on the edge.

Hehehehe well friendships are on the cusp of being one move away from a romance!

That is interesting though, I do find this is a sentiment that many people have on RPN. Which is very different from most of my RPing experience. I also find so many people on RPN very, very anti romance and speak very poorly of it. Upsets me sometimes because I have such a love for the genre; but to each their own right!

Do you have a preferred friendship dynamic? Similar to how people have a preferred romantic dynamic!

...am I the only one who can tolerate one-liners?

I can under particular circumstances. I think people have issues with them because you don't expect a one liner after you write someone a paragraph or more. I get why that is upsetting for many RPers.

However, if we agree to only write a paragraph on average and you give me a one liner I do not care.

It is about expectation. It makes sense you'd be upset if you put that much effort in and got a one liner. Which is usually the case for most every story I hear about people who are upset by it.

I'm fine with someone roleplaying a real person as long as it's for comedic purposes. There was someone in a long-term roleplay I was in who played a comedically exaggerated version of Kanye West who popped up at random, and it was fun.

This honestly would only ever happen in my D&D campaigns . . . I've never had someone do it in my para. RPs. BUT that does sound really, really entertaining! XD

 

[saniachan]

I can under particular circumstances. I think people have issues with them because you don't expect a one liner after you write someone a paragraph or more. I get why that is upsetting for many RPers.

However, if we agree to only write a paragraph on average and you give me a one liner I do not care.

It is about expectation. It makes sense you'd be upset if you put that much effort in and got a one liner. Which is usually the case for most every story I hear about people who are upset by it.

True, I reckon. I do go one-liner in another forum I RP in, but that's because:

• My partner(s) there also do it too
• I get stuck but need to keep getting the ball rolling (in which case I would tell my partner(s) in advance)
• The RP itself is supposed to be quick-paced that one-liners don't really matter anyway

 

[Andei]

Do you have a preferred friendship dynamic? Similar to how people have a preferred romantic dynamic!

I love playing siblings! There is just so much to go into there, all those layers that come out of having a non-negotiable lifelong connection (even among the most disconnected, the fact that family is family won't disappear). My favourite would be the kind of silly, close-in-age siblings who find everything hilarious when together because they've developed a whole lifetime's worth of in-jokes between them while growing up.

I also like the "lone wolf and cub" setup in its various permutations, I find the mismatch of the unlikely (and often reluctant) caretaker and their younger dependent to be a really interesting dynamic with lots of potential!

 

[FoolsErin]

This honestly would only ever happen in my D&D campaigns . . . I've never had someone do it in my para. RPs. BUT that does sound really, really entertaining! XD

We also had a character who was basically a sentient hot dog at one point, so if that doesn't establish the general tone of the roleplay, I don't know what will.

 

[Crayons]

I love playing siblings! There is just so much to go into there, all those layers that come out of having a non-negotiable lifelong connection (even among the most disconnected, the fact that family is family won't disappear). My favourite would be the kind of silly, close-in-age siblings who find everything hilarious when together because they've developed a whole lifetime's worth of in-jokes between them while growing up.

I also like the "lone wolf and cub" setup in its various permutations, I find the mismatch of the unlikely (and often reluctant) caretaker and their younger dependent to be a really interesting dynamic with lots of potential!

There's soooo many good options for platonic relationships! Siblings and mentors are great, and I want to add in some of my favourites here too:

Unlikely friendships/bromance/sismance
Good cop, bad cop dynamic
frenemies
rivals
people who really don't get along but have to work together for some reason

I also kiiiiind of like parent/child dynamic but sometimes it can be a bit too traumatic. XD

 

[Andei]

There's soooo many good options for platonic relationships! Siblings and mentors are great, and I want to add in some of my favourites here too:

Unlikely friendships/bromance/sismance
Good cop, bad cop dynamic

These two above in a combo is so much fun - like, work colleagues (like cops / detectives) who need to get a job done but go about it in completely different ways. They've had a long-enough working relationship of disagreements to be keeping score of who's racked up the most results (like Amy and Jake from Brooklyn Nine-Nine for example).

But back on the topic of stuff I do that can be perceived to be out of place for some writers: I rarely play people with an attractive appearance, and weirdly this is especially true when it comes to face-claims!

Not sure if there's a single big reason or anything - I think it's partly because RPs can be over-populated by very beautiful, picturesque characters (with a potential potential of being impossibly youthful thrown in), and so I like taking the path less travelled by with a character who's a bit weedy or disproportioned or elderly or just very, very ordinary. I believe that how the character looks affects how the writer writes them, and I find it a bit distracting to have a whole host of flawless-looking characters flying about in my writing because the world isn't like that and my characters end up becoming 'Hollywooden' - over-cinematic, hyper-aestheticised and ultimately a bit stiff and wooden. By aspiring to keep where possible as many aspects of my characters very ordinary and 'real-world' as I can, I find it much easier to craft relatable personalities and genuine emotions and reactions.

Of course, some stunning writers can do this with any kind of character, but that's them, I'd be the first to admit that I'm just not that good haha!

 

[cirrostratus]

Ooo me too. I just ask for the basics [name, age, gender, sexuality].

same here. I prefer to just give my OC's name - age - gender - [though not even sexuality] so i can slowly reveal everything. I like the suspense of not knowing what sexuality a character is, if I make my OC flirt with them [which I might still do outside of romance RPs if my OC is like that]

I'm in between you guys where I'd write an extended wiki on a Word document [which i CONSTANTLY edit or check over], while only giving the bare basics to roleplays. I want to understand why my OC acts a certain way and how that links to their backstory [if it does], but I don't want my partner to know until they ask In Character.

I also partially dislike Face Claims because they can narrow my perception of my character [e.g. only giving them traits that "look" like the FC I've chosen], and because they sometimes make me cringe since my OC doesn't look like that. However, I do use them as a guideline, because I can't imagine brand new faces in my head from scratch. I usually find the face claim after most of the personality has been finished so they don't narrow my idea of how they should act. I HATE giving face claims to my partner, though, and only use real people.

Also, I hate how face claims of teen-young adults are always so beautiful. I sound insecure, but I usually give my OCs 6-8/10 rather than 9-10/10 looks score. I hate how the males either look "pretty-boy" ish [borderline F-boy -- except without the borderline] or 30+ and rugged and heavily bearded. I want my OC males to be young, while not looking androgynously beautiful. I also hate how the girl FCs I find rarely have extreme or pronounced facial features.

I hope this made sense because I just ranted.

 

[The Dreamer of the Lore]

Well is not something I often do, but whenever I play chess, checkers or backgamon in an RP I have a physical board to follow the game.

 

[Cross]

I feel like ditching the CS is becoming the norm. But I can only speak for 1x1s.

I'm more into slow burn romance, and I hate jumping into it. I'm a firm believer in unresolved sexual tension until we're pretty far into the story line. And also, sabotaging the romantic relationship for drama is really fun.

 

[kibou]

I don't like fast-paced role plays. If everyone posts once a week, that's great, more often it gets hard to keep up. I've spent 4 hours on a single post before so unless it's a super casual vibe I can't post that frequently. Part of that is just rarely getting to rp anymore and being a super rusty perfectionist that likes to do research. I do greatly appreciate super casual roleplays I can just relax in, but if there's 10 posts a day that's hard.

After trying to rp/write again after years, when I'm facing massive writers block I've gained a new strategy of bullet pointing out my post before then fleshing it out in actual prose. If I can just figure out the essentials of what I want to happen and do it in a simple manner it helps overcome the block.

I don't really like bbcode for IC posts and avoid using it.

 

[Emeraude]

I don't think everyone will find it odd, but I develop my character a lot in the roleplay. Introspection, playful and multi-faceted dialogue, metaphor that will be important later on..etc. I know some are more plot-focused. On the contrary, I am very heavily character-focused.