Viewpoint What Roleplaying Clichés Need to die out?

[Jet]

"When I was three I assassinated my parents. My Yakuza connect in nursery school set the job. I had no idea it was them when I 360 scissor kicked their heads off. Most would care if orphaned at 3 and more would lose it if they did the job; but me? Sorry I'm built different — those fuckers never loved me anyway. I got left with the nanny as they "worked hard to provide a future" but all their working was for scraps. Just look at the paltry inheritance left to me, only 1.8 billion dollars after taxes. I had to settle for a Batcave instead of a Tony Stark lab and for that I'll never forgive. Every morning when I make cheerios with lamb blood I curse their names.

Since that fateful scissor kick I've trained in the art of Shun-po and bullshit. I can slice a watermelon in half perfectly, and my accuracy with a handgun is 102% with a 2% margin for error. I've become the perfect human weapon capable of destroying cities and I've spent my spare time learning to hack. Not only can I collapse your skull with a single finger; I can also collapse stock markets in four minutes with a Nintendo switch connected to McDonald's wifi.

Despite being an actual Instagram model with a 288 IQ, I'm socially withdrawn and can barely string sentences when talking to girls UWU. Despite my complete lack of capability with girls I have a harem army that feeds me grapes off the vine and carries my chair. They often fight gladiator style to earn the spot by my side — but I hate the world and everything about this false society. I hate God even more, God is such an asshole. If ever see him I'm going to unleash my hidden bloodline power. It's an all original ocular move that lights people on fire instantly. The flames are black and can't be extinguished on top of being undodgable, it's such a unique move.

With that on my side? Good luck "Jesus" - the Romans took you down once already and I could callapse that empire with a butter knife.

But why won't anyone interact with me IC?"

(I'm bored yo, off-season shit post. Jokes aside all the wish fulfillment Billy badasses need to go. Hope your quarantine is at least 1% better after reading this)

 

[SCSaya06]

"When I was three I assassinated my parents. My Yakuza connect in nursery school set the job. I had no idea it was them when I 360 scissor kicked their heads off. Most would care if orphaned at 3 and more would lose it if they did the job; but me? Sorry I'm built different — those fuckers never loved me anyway.

You know, this entire story bugs me because I was once in an RP with someone who made a character with exactly the same backstory. Trauma congo line, learned assassination at like, 7 years old, got good at it etc. Became a top fashion designer as cover. XD

Personally I dislike power creep? (maybe one-upping is the more appropriate term) Basically someone making a second character or characters in general which have traits that simply nullify or overshadow others. It doesn't come up that often but it can be a bit disheartening when it does.

I encountered a player who did this but with backstories. Basically, the theme of the RP includes tragic and even scandalous backstories. It was pretty fun to tap into the inner edgelord for that actually. But then there was this late character who basically saw all the approved characters and decided to make the most tragic story...by combining everyone's backstories. My character has a dead twin? Hers also had one. Another grew up in poverty? She grew up in poverty too. Another was struggling with academic pressure? Her character was too. It was so annoying.

As for my answers:
Book knowledge translating into actual physical skill - I think I mentioned this in a rant thread but this really grinds my gears. You'd see some people write like, "Oh, he snuck into the library and read up on martial arts and weapons. He did this for like, two years. When he emerged, he was already proficient in all martial arts and all weapons. He has high IQ." Like damn. It's not Warcraft where you get more strength from picking up a tome.

Some players create characters who are supposed to be "master strategists" and uhh, it annoys me for some reason. Whenever I see characters like these, I really go out of my way to poke them to see how well they execute. I think they're trying to use this status to elevate their character's authority so other players follow them but ultimately, only a few of them deliver. There was one who was like, "I'm the master strategist" and when I asked how they wanted to attack, they were like "just charge in".

Characters with a long list of superficial flaws in order to tak on very gamebreaking strengths: ("Oh my character can end this whole war with her power but it's okay since she can't cook or she's too shy teehee! Ugh!")

 

[Crayons]

As for my answers:
Book knowledge translating into actual physical skill - I think I mentioned this in a rant thread but this really grinds my gears. You'd see some people write like, "Oh, he snuck into the library and read up on martial arts and weapons. He did this for like, two years. When he emerged, he was already proficient in all martial arts and all weapons. He has high IQ." Like damn. It's not Warcraft where you get more strength from picking up a tome.

Some players create characters who are supposed to be "master strategists" and uhh, it annoys me for some reason. Whenever I see characters like these, I really go out of my way to poke them to see how well they execute. Ultimately, I think they're trying to use this status to elevate their character's authority so other players follow them but ultimately, only a few of them deliver. There was one who was like, "I'm the master strategist" and when I asked how they wanted to attack, they were like "just charge in". Ugh.

Characters with a long list of superficial flaws in order to tak on very gamebreaking strengths: ("Oh my character can end this whole war with her power but it's okay since she can't cook or she's too shy teehee! Ugh!")

These are good ones. The "master strategist" or "genius detective" or "political wunderkind" thing irks me because you actually have to be intelligent to play these types and a lot of people are not as clever as they think they are. I had one RP where my character murdered someone in a fit of passion (to protect the girl he liked but still...) and because he just did it on the fly, anyone investigating seriously would find a LOT of evidence to get him put away. The player who decided his character would bring mine to justice claimed the character to be a "genius detective", but while I insisted that he could ask me (as the mod) any questions, or ask for any official reports of any kind from NPCs (like a ballistics report for example), he just decided he was going to interview my character, and obviously my character lied. And then he got stuck. So my murderer went free! I really wanted the detective guy to succeed as well, because my character kind of deserved punishment. But nope. XD

Played with "master strategist" types who claim they (the player) have read The Art of War and that kind of crap. I'm no master strategist but if I'm pitted against someone with the intelligence of a wet teabag, I can generally outsmart them.

Not even going to go into the terrible "political" scenes that I've had the misfortune to encounter. Literally all of them were "dead cat" scenarios.

Also, I only wish book learning could translate to real life skills.... sigh. XD

 

[Ayama]

These are good ones. The "master strategist" or "genius detective" or "political wunderkind" thing irks me because you actually have to be intelligent to play these types and a lot of people are not as clever as they think they are. I had one RP where my character murdered someone in a fit of passion (to protect the girl he liked but still...) and because he just did it on the fly, anyone investigating seriously would find a LOT of evidence to get him put away. The player who decided his character would bring mine to justice claimed the character to be a "genius detective", but while I insisted that he could ask me (as the mod) any questions, or ask for any official reports of any kind from NPCs (like a ballistics report for example), he just decided he was going to interview my character, and obviously my character lied. And then he got stuck. So my murderer went free! I really wanted the detective guy to succeed as well, because my character kind of deserved punishment. But nope. XD

Played with "master strategist" types who claim they (the player) have read The Art of War and that kind of crap. I'm no master strategist but if I'm pitted against someone with the intelligence of a wet teabag, I can generally outsmart them.

Not even going to go into the terrible "political" scenes that I've had the misfortune to encounter. Literally all of them were "dead cat" scenarios.

Also, I only wish book learning could translate to real life skills.... sigh. XD

'Wet teabag' xD

​

 

[SCSaya06]

The "master strategist" or "genius detective" or "political wunderkind" thing irks me because you actually have to be intelligent to play these types and a lot of people are not as clever as they think they are.

Even I admit I'm not that clever. I actually think this can be handled if those who want to play them do actual research or if they work and communicate with other players like you said. Especially in mystery games or fantasy war games. Some don't even do that which is quite annoying and it really slows down the RP when they get stuck somewhere. Fortunately, others are nice enough to ask and collaborate.

Also, I only wish book learning could translate to real life skills.... sigh. XD

It would really come in handy yeah. Like, I got perfect marks on our volleyball written exam but only got an average 2.5 grade (1.0 is the highest) since I was unable to win a single set. XD Wish I could just go Matrix-ey and download skills directly to my brain. Sadly, it doesn't work that way. XD

 

[Shadow Rose]

Honestly, I couldn't agree more with all of the above answers.
Something that makes me rather uncomfortable is seeing forced romance in roleplays, that is often started by the "love at first sight" plot.

Normally the characters are completely incompatible, and whilst the "opposites attract eachother" is a thing sometimes, I don't think that it is possible in every single case. Besides, it depends a lot on the characters' personalities. And if it happens, it must happen naturally, mitin a forced way.

Something that I also dislike is when something happens and the components to maje it happen are not mentioned before. For instance, say two characters are speaking and, from nowhere, one of them pulls a bouquet of flowers and gives it to the other one. Like, where does it come from? Did they have it when they entered the room? Why? And how? If it is a surprise attack, like, pulling a knife, that is acceptable, but in the mentioned case it is just off. Another example, a character reads a mysterious note in French, when it wasn't mentioned they knew French. I am OK with some of this for the sake of plot twisting, but for the other cases it just seems forced.

I feel rather guilty of this, since my characters nornally have an heavy and tragic backstory, but something I don't like is when characters have an exaggerated tragic backstory. If said obstacle passed through in the past does not contribute to the character's personality and/or to the general plot, then why including it? It looks like a pity party sometimes.
You can build amazing characters with an actually pleasant background.

I feel this though. Especially the forced romance thing like if my characters going to love someone I much rather then pair work for it. Say they absolutely hated each other at the beginning but were put into a situation where they had to work together to overcome it. They dont even have to love each other they can be just best friends too. After all why does everything have to have romance in it lol

 

[Shadow Rose]

This practically sums up my opinion about romance and/or romantic relationships in roleplays.
Not every single roleplay needs to have romance in order to be interesting. There are so many interesting plots with amazing platonic relationships and the bond between such characters is, in those cases, so strong as well.

And I couldn't agree more with you! It is rather frustrating to see that romance is everywhere: from roleplays to books, films, television... It is overwhelming sometimes.
Great character development might come without any romantic connections, being in a relationship isn't essential, at least not for everyone, including several original characters.

Once I had a character that I truly loved, but she was aromantic and asexual, and no one wanted to roleplay with her because of her romantic and sexual orientation. And that' s definitely frustrating.

Spoiler: To my aroace fellows out there

This is by no means is trying to say that aroace people are less interesting than others! We are totally valid and relationships aren't essential in everyone's life. Friendship can be such a strong bond. We don't need anyone else to be a whole. We are a whole ourselves and that's more than enough.

Also, roleplays that do not include ships. Not many people joins them, unfortunately, and when they do, they try to force romance and it is so exhausting. It often tells the roleplayer that their partner hasn't read the whole roleplay plot and conditions, or if they did, they ignored it. And that's disrespectful, in my opinion.
Sometimes I just want a nice platonic roleplay, where the main characters work together and learn to like eachother in a platonic way (or, at least, they learn to tolerate eachother).
And even on romantic roleplays it is so important to cultivate this feeling of friendship and mutual trust before jumping into those feelings. It is necessary to build such relationships, being them friendships or romantic ones.

I feel that. I like romance but sometimes it's nice to take a break from it because let's face it it's become something of an oversaturation. That's why everytime I post an add I tell people it can have romance but it isn't an absolute must because some people absolutely hate it, or like me what a break from it sometimes.

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

Played with "master strategist" types who claim they (the player) have read The Art of War and that kind of crap. I'm no master strategist but if I'm pitted against someone with the intelligence of a wet teabag, I can generally outsmart them.

As someone who has the IQ of a wet noodle AND as someone who has read the Art of War (not super interesting for the record; long time ago) I find this accurate.

 

[Ayama]

'Wet noodle' now xD

​

 

[natsukashii]

The overuse of "he/she said".

Not that there is anything wrong with it. I am guilty of doing it frequently but I have experiences where people relied on it too much. I have been trying to avoid using it as much in my writing, but sadly old habits die hard.

 

[natsukashii]

It was something that I used to do a lot, and I still do. I am trying to correct it as well.
I often try to indicate what action they are doing when saying such piece of dialogue, or what feelings they are expressing at the moment.

Oh my god same! Me like...5 years ago was so bad. There was a constant "he/she said" in my writing without much detail after the fact. Now, I at least try to get some details in there and lead with an action instead. Or like "She said, rolling her eyes." or even "She looked at him with great disdain" -- though, that last one opens a whole different bag of worms.

 

[natsukashii]

It was me so much hahah I do remember once in school that we had to put 0.20€ on a glass each time we wrote "he/she/they said" in our writing exercises XD
Goodness, I do love that last one though XD all that anger and resentment, just love it, it really does! XD
I often go fir stuff like this:

"I don't own you an explanation!", the tall figure groaned angrily as he passed across the living room, moonlight illuminating the two gentlemen, as the lit tip of his cigarette could be seen, as well as smoke emanating from his mouth, creating a small grey cloud in front of him, blocking a bit his mad expression.

I am a sucker fir the details XD

I can pull off details like that sometimes. It's rare because -- and I'll admit this -- I get lazy. It's not something I'm proud of but it's a fact with me sometimes. Unless I'm really inspired, I'll go the minimalist approach with writing. It's why I like to take my sweet time sometimes (though not always the case). I often read a chapter of a book or someone else's writing to jumpstart the "spark".

 

[natsukashii]

I totally get you. Even though I do like those details, sometimes I do also assume a minimalist approach to my replies. Because I do get lazy as well, or maybe because I am lacking inspiration as well *cof cof* like now, that I can't finish my OC and his lore *cof cof*.

That's a big mood right there. I have so many character concepts I wish I could just write but man, it's so hard sometimes, especially when you don't have the right words and you want to do them justice. So you just impatiently wait until the right moment comes so you can just devote your entire day or however long you have and just write.

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

I'm taking notes here. I'm only now noticing how often I pull the he said, she said shtick.

 

[Crayons]

I'm taking notes here. I'm only now noticing how often I pull the he said, she said shtick.

As long as it isn't constant, it's better writing practice generally to use "said" rather than try to replace it with a multitude of specific speech words every time someone opens their mouth, despite what they tell you at junior school.

Obviously it's fine to use 'em when necessary. Where would Sherlock Holmes be without the hilarious, '"Holmes!" I ejaculated,' every fifth page.

 

[XuilansSoul]

For sure the god mod types. All around perfect in every way, can't do anything wrong, super over the top powerful. Not everyone is perfect. I personally really enjoy flaws in characters. Add a scar that tells a story, give them a backstory that sees the end of the lift eventually. Make flaws in the character to make it more interesting.

 

[Crayons]

Characters who have cat ears/fox ears and maybe a tail but are otherwise completely human, for no reason. At least go full anthro and commit yourself.

 

[leviathan.]

21 yr old characters with an extensive military or government background. there's literally no way your character is a full-fledged CIA agent or anywhere near a senior position in the forces in their early twenties w/o them having joined when they were like 12. the timeline just doesn't work!

 

[Crayons]

21 yr old characters with an extensive military or government background. there's literally no way your character is a full-fledged CIA agent or anywhere near a senior position in the forces in their early twenties w/o them having joined when they were like 12. the timeline just doesn't work!

Yes! And conversely when people make their character really old, solely to justify them having had years to become a ridiculous OP badass. XD

 

[BakaTheIdiot]

21 yr old characters with an extensive military or government background. there's literally no way your character is a full-fledged CIA agent or anywhere near a senior position in the forces in their early twenties w/o them having joined when they were like 12. the timeline just doesn't work!

Preventable continuity errors are the most infuriating thing on the planet. Change my mind.

 

[Crayons]

People playing twins as one character. "My character is Sarah and Mary Goatsnatch the twins."

Just please stop this, please.

 

[Onmyoji]

wow. I've never seen that twins thing in action. But.. wow...

 

[Crayons]

wow. I've never seen that twins thing in action. But.. wow...

I have seen it so much. I just saw it again in a Discord RP and it reminded me of how awful it is.

Aside from the dehumanising aspect, wouldn't it be more fun to play one twin, and have someone else play the other twin?

 

[Onmyoji]

Aside from the dehumanising aspect, wouldn't it be more fun to play one twin, and have someone else play the other twin?

That's how I would prefer it lol
Or at least have one twin as a main and other as side character if you need to play both.
But one character, I never thought of that.
Things you learn... lol

 

[Funyarinpa]

Aside from the dehumanising aspect, wouldn't it be more fun to play one twin, and have someone else play the other twin?

Actually just experienced that when I ran a D&D campaign (Godsfall) with some friends a few months ago. The twins in question were the potential future goddesses of war and peace, and the remainder of our party was composed of a capitalist (war is profitable), a pillaging sky pirate, and a literal welsh corgi. Having a dog didn't exactly do much to stop the other three of us from attacking and smashing absolutely everything unprovoked. "Peace was never an option" very quickly became the motto of the game.

Cut to the final battle. Every single attempt Peace-Twin made to negotiate with the enemy has failed to that point either due to bad rolls, inability to understand, or all of us just straight up refusing to let it happen. Tired of trying to babysit all of us she slipped away with the dog, stole Sky Pirate's airship (which included a giant gold statue of himself for reasons as well as his entire crew who were apparently the only successful negotiation roll for that entire campaign - go figure), and abandoned the group. Capitalist ends up dead. War-Twin and Sky Pirate survive but are now trapped at the top of a tower with various floors of nasty automatons between them and the exit.

I love it when karma comes around in hilarious ways. All that to say, yeah, if you're going to do twins I would say it's almost required to have two separate people playing them just for the sake of planning and surprises. At least if you want to give them both the weight and impact of a main character. Trying to play both I feel just dooms you to having two incomplete halves of a single character rather than two compelling ones.