NationStates

Everyone likes a character straight out of or inspired from books, movies, and games that become near and dear; to which we hop onto our beloved P2TM forum and app a character based off that… only to realize just how Mary Sue and generally overpowered they really are. Sadly, the hopeful character extraordinaire falls into the ‘rejected’ or ‘rarely used’ category, left to collect mothballs and virtual dust. This was an issue I had with my group of characters from Guild Wars (a then semi-popular MMORPG), known here as Dwayna's Vigilant, or “Guildies” for short. These chars were no longer used online, as the game progressed to its successor and my work and home schedule made it impossible to spend any significant time throwing fireballs and raising minions. The daunting task wasn't to let them shine (they have shiny to spare), but how to convert my MMORPG characters to a RP format without falling into the aforementioned traps. My original plan was to have all 6 characters be PCs, but after drafting the apps, it was shaved down to 3 mains & 3 NPCs; as time went on in both OOC and IC, it was further reduced to 1 main and 5 NPCs, but I kept the original plan for each character; consequently they fall somewhere in the grey area of NPCs and PCs. I also placed them in order of importance, subject to change, with the intention of developing them as intended should the opportunity - and time - present itself.

The priority went as:

1. Anais
2. Alexia
3. Cherry
4. Traxt
5. Erick
6. Reyna

I had four objectives to accomplish with each character, and each objective was/is intrinsic to the other:

1. Outline their personalities
2. Identify strengths/weaknesses and goals (whether group or individual)
3. Balance and adjust powers/abilities
4. Reconcile the MMORPG gameplay mechanic to PL roleplay mechanics

Like any game, Guild Wars already gave me a generous foundation to work from. I had lore, class specifics/specialty, powers & abilities (stats included obviously), strengths/weaknesses, gear and equipment. Since the game’s focus is to make the player the hero, my task was to take them down a few pegs without losing their significance. PL, after all, is a storytelling format, and dropping OP characters with uber stats would only get a certain badger irritated, muchly.

For this, I’ll focus on Anais. This was my breakdown:

In the game, Anais is a living conduit to the spirit world, able to spawn powerful spirit allies that inflict harm on foes and can channel restorative magic that heals and protects injured companions.^[1]

At her disposal are a myriad of spirits, weapon spells, and generic spells that deal damage or heal an ally. Her class is the epitome of ‘Jack of all Trades, Master of None’, although can be broken down to a specific role depending on what a team needs. I focused on healing in the game and kept the same in PL.

1. Outline personality
   Because I chose Anais to focus on healing in the game, I naturally had to play her carefully with a team of other players. In a fight, you don’t see a healer hacking and slashing its way through a morass of baddies, you see him/her at the back end healing fighters and relatively safe from harm. That cautiousness naturally lend itself to give Anais a circumspect and pragmatic point of view; it showed Anais always considering a given situation with forethought and then acting upon it accordingly. The game’s canon added more to her persona and ample room to work with: Ritualists are eccentric and mysterious with an attachment to the dead. They dress in a strange manner, often with shells, bones, chitin, and other handmade accessories as well as carefully designed tattoos with meaning only known to them. Because of their varied eclectic appearance, I chose a nomadic lifestyle for her bio and gave a liberal sprinkling of devotion to her patron god, ancestors, and other significant others. I hid her age, implied she had seen more than the other Guildies and showed a wisdom and maturity that made her capable as a diplomat and a healer. Given the high stress of being a healer, and added with the other details, I made her calm, poised, and polite with little patience for foolery (although she’s not anhedonic). Her background is largely untouched and untold and that left me with a wide berth to work her character in PL with plenty background canon that I could adjust accordingly (if at all necessary).
   
   
2. Strengths, weaknesses, and goals (individual and/or group focus)
   Anais is old enough to know the difference between recklessness and acting with expedience. That made her more appealing as a RP’er, as in the game, I had to frequently choose between certain actions and skills that I thought would be best for the team, not just the one. Consequently, Anais had to be flexible, taking her ego out of the equation without being taken for granted. Because of the cautious approach her weaknesses are apparent: slow action in the battlefield had its own risk, slow action IC usually meant no action which leaves her in the dust or worse, could lead to some serious consequences or setbacks. This is also an indirect benefit, as trying to quickly assimilate into the PL setting is impractical. Every character is eased into the setting and with Anais, it’s not just her, it’s the entire guild. Not being a fighter, though always seen holding a staff, I gave her limited self defense ability.

Another interesting route I took is the guildies’ ability to sense/perceive magic. The game is soaked in magic, so much so that I purposely made her (and my other guildies) “noseblind” to it in varying degrees in PL. So far in IC, the guildies sense and feel their own, but almost all sensory in/output by non-guildies is largely dependent on visual stimuli. Unless they focus and spread their ‘magic feelers’ outward, they view the world as any non-magic user would. This flaw was particularly apparent with the cutout Mama Toussaint had to drag back to the guild hall after a shopping adventure through Bielefeld.

Another weakness to Anais is her physical well being and her faith. She is human, with all the inherent limitations thereof, she tires just like average human and her clothing does not provide special protection from bullets, blades or the falling anvil. Like the game, some of her spells come at a price in terms of blood sacrifice or a direct pull of her life force, potentially weakening her severely. I saw no reason to change this accounting in PL, as it provided a source of auto-balancing and different ways I could explore her power. Tied to her power is her Faith and while strong (as most of my guildies are), it is not impossible to shake her beliefs; it simply hasn’t been tested. Her faith and her power are linked symbiotically. Without her faith, Anais could still summon beings from the ether and cast other spells, but in a very diminished state.

Summoning certain spirits also requires special work. While Anais is able to summon spirits on demand, without her staff to focus her will, it could harm her or exact at a greater cost. The summoning circle in the hospital is a way to provide an efficient method of summoning without overtaxing her; out in the field will require more careful and strategic thinking.

The weaknesses here are extensive, yet seemingly vague, but it’s the responsibility of the RP’er to remain consistent with the character flaws, how it affects personality and physical limitations. A weakness doesn’t have to be a complex or severe handicap, it can be the most innocuous detail that turns out to be the most difficult to overcome.

Power and Abilities
The most fun part of the creation and development planning process (/end sarcasm). Let’s be honest, everyone loves to showcase their character in action, letting him/her/it flex their muscles and show just how badass they are. However, PL isn’t built on action-centered showmanship or oneupmanship in power, nor does the opportunity recur consistently to warrant a constant need to flex one’s muscle. If a player needs to spend so much time one-upping, chances are it really isn’t worth the effort to begin with. All in all, it was a matter of taking out the stats & numbers of the gameside mechanic and reworking it to fit within the story.

With that in mind, the Ritualist has more than 110 skills/spells in the game, 25 of those are considered “Elite”, and as the namesake implies, are able to significantly change the battlefield with one skill. Ironic, that wasn’t the real issue: As I examined each skill (specifically healing) I realized that the normal skills could easily be a form of handwavium healing without any significant or meaningful post to back it up. I then thought to limit the number of skills/spells in Anais’ could have and found that too impractical. Instead (with exception of Spawning Power, as you’ll see below), I left her skills open for my interpretation in the PL setting. This would let me explore Anais’ power without severely limiting her role or handicapping her to the point of uselessness.

The other item to address are spirits, Anais’ bread and butter. By OP ruling, “spirits” are no longer allowed and could potentially run in counter with established characters already classified as such. Instead of wrecking my mind how to introduce them without messing with current settings, I treated them exactly as they’re perceived in the game. Spirits aren’t sentient, they are non-intelligent entities temporarily summoned for a specific purpose. Minions, in short. As such, a description emphasizing exactly the same definition settled the issue in the RP without burdening it further with already overlapping, complex, and pre-existing concepts.

The rest (generic healing and weapon spells) however, were trickier to reconcile. The Ritualist has 4 distinct lines of magical discipline. They are:

• Spawning Power - A myriad of skills related to all four disciplines and a focus in energy management (active); also increases the health of all summoned creatures (passive).
  
  • Off the bat, Spawning Power was useless to the character development and the RP mechanic. A passive trait with overpowered active spells would only spell trouble and unnecessary headache. It did not add or help shape Anais’ approach in handling her powers, nor give any valuable insight that may help her perspective in its use, nor could it be presented as a credible trait (or it could, but see re: headache). While there are some skills useful in this line, especially for Anais’ role as a healer, I ruled it out in favor of the Communing and Restoration lines.
• Channeling - Damage dealing spells, offensive spirits and offensive support weapon spells
  
  • Anais is not a damage dealing caster and ran antithetical to her overall purpose. However, it is not to say it wouldn’t provide an interesting turn should Anais express a more aggressive personality, perhaps even a ‘dark side’. With channeling, Anais would forcefully pull spirits from the ether to her command rather than invoking it. It could potentially change her personality and perspectives on many things, including her faith, resolve, and attitude toward others and scenarios. It would be a fundamental (and fun!) change in her being. While I haven’t explored this or have plans to, the below is an example of Anais’ unforgiving nature in this new ‘light’. I stripped away the numbers in the two examples on each side, and gave it more:
    
    
    
    Gaze from Beyond:
    Inflict blindness
    for 6 seconds on
    target foe if you
    are within earshot of
    a spirit. Target is
    struck for 65 damage
    
    
    
    
    Spirit of Pain:
    Spirit attacks foes
    within range dealing
    5 to 30 damage.
    Spirit last 150 seconds.
    
    
    As the enemy advanced toward her, Anais raised her left staff-hand, waving it across the sky and tore opened an aperture meters above her head. She gazed at it briefly, unconcerned for her intrusion into the netherrealm, only for it could yield and from that detached reality, uncontrolled energy lashed out with a blinding light against her enemy, rendering them temporarily (or permanently) disabled. Her enemies stopped in their tracks, clutching their eyes, stunned from the violent sear of ethereal light that bore into their eye sockets. The protest and outrage from beyond of her harsh will was an exhilarating rush, and somewhere from within her urged Anais to continue, to find out what more she could do with it. By channeling the outpour of anger from the ether and that of her ancestors, Anais drew from it again, feeling the power build in the palm of her right hand, illuminating the lines and creases of her black tattooed designs. As the coalesced energy threatened to burn her skin and crack her bones from the inside, Anais jerked her hand toward her chest, pulling a Spirit of Pain from the ether. The creature wailed as blue and teal energies swirled around it and cracked with sharp jolts of lightning, forming the unearthly being onto the field. Its limbs chained into the earth and beyond, and leveled its gaze upon her enemies, eyes as malevolent as the Ritualist’s behind. What could only be thought of as a smirk, the creature opened its maw and let out a deafening shriek, the air rippled with the cascade of energy directed toward them. Anais almost laughed at the sight of the fallen imbeciles as they writhed in agony, the energy unleashed from the Spirit began eating their bodies from the inside out. They would know pain and they would remember her. A satisfied smile, Anais left the spirit to its purpose, gripping her staff and walked back into the Building, the fate of her enemies barely an afterthought.
• Communing - A mix of offensive and defensive spirits and utility weapon spells
  
  • Communing, for its namesake, is her class specialty. She is a conduit to the ether, able to invoke the aid of her ancestors and her patron god that ultimately results in a summoned spirit. Half of these skills are offense based, so naturally I ruled them out like I did with Channeling. Should I decide to explore the ‘dark side’, Communing will still a part of Anais with approach on how to express her connection to the other side (as seen above). The rest of the Communing skills are defensive and ran complementary to Restoration. A recent example was the Spirit of Soothing.
    
    
    
    Spirit of Soothing:
    Building adrenaline
    takes twice as long
    for foes within range.
    
    
    
    Spirit of Recovery:
    Conditions on
    allies in range
    expire 20-50% faster.
    
    
    In the game a Spirit of Soothing prevents the enemy from gaining adrenaline quickly as needed to set up for a bigger offense. For PL, I ran it opposite, offering it as a spirit to sooth the frayed nerves of those injured, their adrenaline levels kept even to enable them to think rationally. Of course, players could choose not to recognize this effect; I simply provided a utility to facilitate and move the scene along without diminishing Anais’ usefulness. Another example of her healing ability was the Spirit of Recovery, also recently put into IC to help Kale’s injury. The MMO description is a passive ability to help take the pressure of players exposed to conditions (such as bleeding or poison, but not limited to), a minor rework of the description (and not assuming a handwavium act), gave players ample room to react/resolve the scene in their own way.
  
  
• Restoration - Healing and protection spirits, defensive weapon spells, generic healing spells
  
  • Where she really shines, though sometimes at a price. For the most part I’ve concentrated on mainly Spirits with very few displays of spellwork to heal someone. The most significant Spirit Anais drew from the ether was the Spirit of Preservation. In the game, it’s an elite spell meant to heal for a large amount. In PL, this is just big handwavium without cost. As you see in this post, despite her preparation, Anais first summoned a series of Spirits, then attempted to summon Preservation. I could have let the price tag slip by, as there was no consequence to establishing a healing room, but as a player, I had introduced six spirits without much explanation on what they do until utilized, so I felt it necessary to levy a consequence. It started out small at first, but Anais was left in a weakened state for a significant time in IC and mostly kept to herself.
  • Restoration also has a set of weapon spells that can provide additional protection and damage mitigation, I haven’t introduced them because the game mechanic doesn’t make it easy to translate to a storytelling format. I currently have two weapon spells I’d like to test out in IC, but it will depend heavily on the scene and circumstance.

Reconcile the MMORPG gameplay mechanic to PL roleplay mechanics
The challenge is to translate my gaming toon into a storytelling format behind the eyes of the character - not behind a screen filled with numbers, buttons and fancy graphics. Stripping the numbers was essential, giving skills a more descriptive value rather than numerical and keeping her powers as a collaborative effort with other players instead of stealing the scene. It helped to retain Anais’ class specialty (with its lore background) and her persona without making an upheaval in the RP setting. Despite the brief preview of each discipline above, I gave ample room to explore duality in Channeling, Summoning, and Restoration. Channeling isn’t necessarily “dark”, but it is aggressive. Likewise, Restoration isn’t necessary “light”, as there are skills that could be perceived as grim. Summoning bends to both ‘sides’ and is the most neutral throughout; it will be how Anais chooses to act that ultimately shape her perspective.

So far, she has taken time (especially after the Spirit of Preservation) to be more careful and patient, rather than behaving rash and impulsive. This will be her main approach to many situations beforehand, and her lore background/specialty and my personal gaming experience with it continue to reflect that in PL. Given how much background detail there is to cover, there’s a past I haven’t fully explored and likely won’t unless an opportunity opens itself; simply put, she is more than what she seems. Similarly, should I choose for her to go “dark”, or show a more aggressive streak, the same forethought and balance would be required.

Equipment and other items was the easiest to reconcile. They matter in the game, but they play third or fourth fiddle to the character in PL. They only matter in a given situation, and thus were reduced to only helping Anais better focus on her power. Other items (in the Guild Hall) include tomes, books, scrolls and other unmentioned items, not to one-up the game at any opportunity, but to add depth of the franchise in a storytelling format. Handwavium would never cut it and undermines the effort to portray a character worth her salt. Any effort on her part should reflect the time, preparation, and temperament to match.

So where does that leave me?

Rather simplistic, truth be told. Anais was never a main character to begin with. What started as Alexia being the forefront turned to a secondary character making more presence and earning her own right to be part of the PL story. I never wanted Anais to be the hero, diplomat, healer or otherwise a significant figure within PL right away; she came to it naturally given all the details that I had initially planned for it. It (unfortunately) overshadowed Alexia, but that was by my own doing; Alexia will have her time in the sun, with her own unique perspective and approach (I was hoping to do that with VargQuest, but oh well).

And there you have it, an MMOPRG toon formatted for Personification Life.

Because who said you can’t have your cake and eat it, too?

Stuffs on other Guildies:

They still have their own paths to explore, but as a tease, here are the condensed descriptions for each character:

Alexia: An impertinent, tough, and a tad heartless with a singular motivation to get back home. She also has a healthy dose of self doubt and apprehension, especially because of her new surroundings. Her skills are healing and smiting, switching to one or the other as the situation necessitates. She founded and led the Guild, but relinquished her command when she realized she did not have the necessary skill or ability to continue leading them forward. She hides her empathy of the suffering as a bitter necessity for harsh practicalities. For someone so young, it wasn’t a question of faith to her patron god or her abilities, but whether the fight (whatever that meant now) is worth the suffering and sacrifice.

Cherry: A fickle, independent, progressive and adventurous woman with a distaste for violence (but woe to the person that crosses her and her psychic based attacks). Cherry is a woman of refined pleasures and of the arts. She has a certain distinct fondness for those that defy normal conventions, and if impressive enough, tends to build a strange loyalty and camaraderie toward them, the Guild being a prime example, particularly Traxt. Her best friend, Anais, is the only one to truly know the extent Cherry would go for them, the motivations behind it and the sincere feelings toward each of them. It has questioned her motives: Was she in it for herself and personal glory, or did she truly care about her companions?

Traxt: A hardened man that cared for results above all else. He wears his ruthless resolve as a badge of honor, convincing himself that the path to elemental mastery and distancing himself from others is the price to pay to harness the power of nature itself. He initially joined for his hatred of the Charr and their sacking of his homelands, but that motivation has since evolved into a need to be more powerful and untouchable. Peace by power, or power by peace?

Erick: A wanderer since he was a child, Erick has seen many and experienced twice more than his peers, with the only exception being Anais. His faith in Melandru, and that of the other five gods, have enabled him to press on with a righteous fervor. Many have felt the embrace of earth and wind, and many more the stinging bite of his scythe. But being exposed to Anais’ teachings have questioned his interpretations of the Gods. Can blind devotion to the gods be arrogance? Or will his faith withstand the trials and tribulations? Is he a product of design, or a man simply following his own footsteps?

Reyna: A headstrong and mighty warrior, Reyna had always envisioned herself as a cunning warrior that would save the day. The Hero. Her time within the guild has been anything but, playing an important, but backward role to the healers who strategize everything without her input. What do mages know of the frontline? What can they perceive that she already knew simply being close to the enemy? Her imbued strength and skill blessed by Balthazar enable her to push forward better than any of them, and yet she stands among them feeling the least important in the grand scheme, a second fiddle. Erick has shown her the benefits of humility, but she rebuffs this often. Can Reyna let go of her pride, or would it be her undoing?