RPing Questions? Ask Here!

[Minroz]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

[Seljuq Kyiv]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

Badass is a mental state. It requires a certain amount of audacity (bonus points for brilliance) in the face of adversity. They don't have to always come on top, but they must find a way to recover.

A minor example would be that old man in Avengers who stood up to Loki for less than a minute. A good example would be David Xanatos. A great example (though not suggested) would be Beren son of Barahir.

[Osterlais]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

The key to making a character likeable, is giving them depth and making them entertaining. People will like a fictional character, even if they wouldn't like them if the character was real.

Avoid the temptation of trying making every post awesome moment. These things need to be set up. For example; a lot of Chuck Norris movies involve him basically curb-stomping all the bad guys. This is boring. Jackie Chan on the other hand, gets hit, and shows he feels pain when he does. In fact, in may look like Jackie Chan is going to lose at times.

In RPing, everyone seems to think their pet character is the coolest and the protagonist. It depends on the RP you are doing, but there can be issues if two RPers have created characters which are both the best fighters, and they get in a fight.

[Personal Freedom]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

The key to making a character likeable, is giving them depth and making them entertaining. People will like a fictional character, even if they wouldn't like them if the character was real.

Avoid the temptation of trying making every post awesome moment. These things need to be set up. For example; a lot of Chuck Norris movies involve him basically curb-stomping all the bad guys. This is boring. Jackie Chan on the other hand, gets hit, and shows he feels pain when he does. In fact, in may look like Jackie Chan is going to lose at times.

In RPing, everyone seems to think their pet character is the coolest and the protagonist. It depends on the RP you are doing, but there can be issues if two RPers have created characters which are both the best fighters, and they get in a fight.

Another thing that makes a good, likable, character is to make them not be perfect and give them minor quirks. A weakness, character flaw, or something similar can help bring the character to a new level. Perfect doesn't exist and the attemptes implementation of perfection in a character causes extreme dislike.

[Seljuq Kyiv]

The key to making a character likeable, is giving them depth and making them entertaining. People will like a fictional character, even if they wouldn't like them if the character was real.

Avoid the temptation of trying making every post awesome moment. These things need to be set up. For example; a lot of Chuck Norris movies involve him basically curb-stomping all the bad guys. This is boring. Jackie Chan on the other hand, gets hit, and shows he feels pain when he does. In fact, in may look like Jackie Chan is going to lose at times.

In RPing, everyone seems to think their pet character is the coolest and the protagonist. It depends on the RP you are doing, but there can be issues if two RPers have created characters which are both the best fighters, and they get in a fight.

Another thing that makes a good, likable, character is to make them not be perfect and give them minor quirks. A weakness, character flaw, or something similar can help bring the character to a new level. Perfect doesn't exist and the attemptes implementation of perfection in a character causes extreme dislike.

Thought that was kind of the standard for all characters

[Havensky]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

I specialize my characters. They each are badass in different ways, but flawed outside their area. For example, my Gavin Sqaull character is a *great* when it comes to being a Sqaud leader. Totally awkward around girls, to the point where it becomes endearing.

And it doesn't *have* be military prowess that makes a character bad ass. Think Sherlock Holmes who is a bad ass intellect - but would get creamed in a sword fight.

[Osterlais]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

I specialize my characters. They each are badass in different ways, but flawed outside their area. For example, my Gavin Sqaull character is a *great* when it comes to being a Sqaud leader. Totally awkward around girls, to the point where it becomes endearing.

And it doesn't *have* be military prowess that makes a character bad ass. Think Sherlock Holmes who is a bad ass intellect - but would get creamed in a sword fight.

Actually, he is a skilled swordman. It explicitly says it in A Study in Scarlet, when Watson lists Sherlock's abilities and lack of them. Sherlock however, doesn't know that the earth revolves around the sun. I don't think Sherlock is a good model for a NS RP character though. It would cause tension if your character is always the smartest or strongest guy in the room. Plus, it is hard to write smart characters, especially, if you aren't that smart yourself.

[Xiscapia]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

Remember: badass is not something you do. It's something you are.

I find that badassery just comes naturally to some characters. You might have to play with a few different concepts and personalities before you find the right one.

[Delmonte]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

I deny the legitimacy of trying to have badass characters. I personally get kind of annoyed when players seem to want me to acknowledge the utter awesomeness of their characters. Some players clearly want me to recognize their characters as being the best at literally everything because Oh boy, they're intimidating and oh boy, they're an inspiring leader and oh boy, they're physically impressive too and oh boy, they can also fly. Stop telling me about how your character is the fucking second coming of Jesus, for fuck's sake. I would give examples, but using people's writing as an example of something I think is dumb would probably seem like poor taste.

Example: My characters are not your average people; what national leaders are not going to be above average? They're from an old aristocratic family and are very wealthy, but then again so is every other aristocrat from my nation. One of my main characters is very gregarious and is a skilled diplomat, but he's old and out of shape just like a large plurality of RL leaders. The other main character is young and bold, but somewhat brash and inexperienced. Both are capable administrators whose efficacy is likely diminished by the fact that they are hopelessly corrupt, just like every other official in Delmonte. There are real goddamn people who are like them. They aren't badass just like most other RL leaders aren't "badass"; even the ones people describe as being badass (like Putin, whose only impressive feature is his dickishness) aren't actually impressive. There have been some "badass" leaders in history, but very few, and even they had plenty of flaws. Theodore Roosevelt comes to mind as I am liable to admit that getting shot and finishing your speech afterward is pretty goddamn badass.

Post Script: I've thrown caution to the wind and, due to the utter hilarity of what I dug up, have decided to enclose an example against better judgment. So, just out of a sense of morbid curiosity, I searched for "badass" on the NS Forums and found one of this person's post. Deciding to venture deeper down the rabbit hole, I typed the search that I'm linking you to now. Pass your own judgments on what you read.

search.php?keywords=His+royal+Badass+Alpha&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

[Bears Armed]

Like this?

[Delmonte]

Like this?

I love it.

[Zaldakki]

How do I successfully conquer a territory without accidentally metagaming it? I'm ew to RPing, and I'm kind of confused. Here's the page with my posts: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=283590&start=150

EDIT: Typo. I'm new to RPing, not ew to RPing. Big difference. Lol.

[SquareDisc City]

Metagaming usually refers to RPing your nation or characters acting on information YOU know but THEY don't. You need to be mindful that not everything you read is stuff your nation can act on straight away or even ever.

[Osterlais]

It is difficult I think not to metagame, especially, when there are only short posts. Also, you probably won't conquer anything. I would suggest reading factbooks and tging persons about their nation.

[Vinstin]

My subject is on roleplay in general on Nationstates. This may also be a better post for Factbooks and National Information, so tell me if that's the case.

How does one go about finding a region of like-minded people for roleplay? Unlike most roleplay forums, Nationstates has no set location, theme, era, or rules. I'm in the midst of creating a factbook and I want to create something useful for people when roleplaying. How do I go about creating one that's in line with roleplay? I don't want to roleplay some giant nation with 14 billion people like my page says. But what happens when someone I'm roleplaying with goes "lol well my nation has an army of 2.5 billion #rekted son!!!1!11!"?

Along those same lines, how does one set up a map for roleplaying a situation of this? Are all nations of a certain era and theme on the same globe? Is that globe Earth? Is each roleplay situation separated and unrelated unless stated otherwise? What about countries from the real world? Did that never happen? Are we simply nations that have always been? But if that's the case human history can't be as it was?

Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I want to create something realistic here, and these questions are getting in the way.

[Vinstin]

My silly question.

How can we make badass yet likably awesome characters?

I have some personal issues when trying to create them especially good ones. :x

I think it's more important to create realistic character than a "badass" character.

For about four years I roleplayed on a Terminator roleplay server. Most characters were in their 20's, good looking, smart, and great soldiers in Technical Communication. I on the other hand had Frederick Clive. In his mid-40s, he wasn't the smartest (He was a good ol' boy from the South) who drank more than he should. He might have been a good soldier, but he wasn't some God among men. He even abused his rank, taking physical bribes from a female private once or twice. And you know what? People told me they LOVED Clive, saying they always looked forward to roleplaying with him. Why? Because he wasn't a badass. He wasn't a generic run-of-the-mill Staff Sergeant. He was realistic compared to many of the characters around him.

Just some food for thought.

[Las Carolinas]

How does one go about finding a region of like-minded people for roleplay? Unlike most roleplay forums, Nationstates has no set location, theme, era, or rules. I'm in the midst of creating a factbook and I want to create something useful for people when roleplaying. How do I go about creating one that's in line with roleplay? I don't want to roleplay some giant nation with 14 billion people like my page says. But what happens when someone I'm roleplaying with goes "lol well my nation has an army of 2.5 billion #rekted son!!!1!11!"?

What it seems like you're looking for is a realistic (or, to be more accurate, a semi-realistic) MT community; they definitely exist somewhere around here; I just don't know who is running it right now. You might want to take a look at Terra Firma in the meantime; they're a realistic MT community, although they do have quality standards you will have to meet.

If you're not looking for realistic and are just looking for something with a little less chaos, then your best bet is probably going to be to find one of the "regular" roleplaying regions to join. Given that some are invite-only, you might want to post in a few more general threads to get some proof of quality up, and then surf around and find a region your interested in. TGing one of the senior members is usually a good way of starting the application process from there.

Along those same lines, how does one set up a map for roleplaying a situation of this?

It's really up to you -- you can make your own custom map, you can use a real world nation for a map (although, from what I can tell, that's usually looked a bit down on in the upper echelon), if you join a region you'll take an area from their map. Having a map is handy though, to give people a sense of scale and distance between what are otherwise just names of cities or locations.

Are all nations of a certain era and theme on the same globe? Is that globe Earth?

That is hard to describe. "NSEarth" is really just a multiverse: there are so many players that letting only one claim Spain, for instance, is impossible. So there are infinitely many nations, some of which technically exist in the exact same place. The planet size that would be necessary to fit all of NS on it is so egregiously large that it tends to be disregarded altogether. Distance between nations is, for the most part, handwaved (I tend to assume that everyone is around an Atlantic Ocean away from my nation).

Thinking about NS as an actual planet, and trying to apply logic to at accordingly, is probably not the way to go about it, though. It's better to understand that there is a level of abstraction and handwaving that is inherent in everything we do. Nations from different tech groups can indeed interact with each other, although most threads are labelled as modern tech only to prevent this.

Certain communities do have their own independent worlds. Terra Firma and Earth II both have their own Earth with custom-made nations on it. The conglomeration of NS's largest roleplaying regions have their own map that shows distance relative to each other (that is probably the most official map we have).

Is each roleplay situation separated and unrelated unless stated otherwise?

Roleplays can be canon or non-canon. Canon roleplays are considered to be the official history of a nation, and will have repercussions in following threads. Non-canon roleplays are just for fun, kind of like alternate histories, where the poster can play around with his nation and not worry about completely ruining their economy or losing control of the nation.

A single poster might also run multiple nations from a single account (usually one nation through different tech groups), and posts from each of those nations is unrelated. He may also post as one nation for general II, and another in a specific community, and those posts are unrelated.

What about countries from the real world? Did that never happen? Are we simply nations that have always been?

Some nations choose to accept real nations as fact, but I would venture to guess that most don't. Citing the UN (or even the WA) as reason to stop doing something terrible, for instance, will win you more strange looks than friends.

But if that's the case human history can't be as it was?

And most player countries have their own histories, some of which interact with OTL nations, and some of which don't.


In any case, I would highly recommend you read the stickies, which are stickied for a reason.

[GHawkins]

How does one go about finding a region of like-minded people for roleplay?

Don't find the region first. Find the people. When I had just joined NS, I knew no one, I was on my own and didn't know what to expect from the RP here. I tried some stuff, was disappointed several times with the one-liners and stuff. Until I found a topic that sparked my interest. The person running the topic was open-minded and allowed me in. You arrange the RP, show your best side, show you have potential and people will want to RP with you more often. After two more RPs, that same person invited me into the region he was WAD of. And that's where I still am. And along the way, I greatly developed the way I want to RP my country.

I don't want to roleplay some giant nation with 14 billion people like my page says.

According to NS, my country is 3.1 billion souls rich. I simply ignore that figure and make my own. The Republic of GHawkins has 964 million souls and in every RP, in every factbook and in every random, OOC or IC post, I stick to it. You're free to cap your nation every way you like.

But what happens when someone I'm roleplaying with goes "lol well my nation has an army of 2.5 billion #rekted son!!!1!11!"?

When something like that happens, I usually sit back, smirk, get a cup of tea, laugh a bit at the failed attempt to godmod, drink my tea, and then proceed to ignore that person. You decide who you RP with. You consider the person you're RPing with to be godmodding? You are free to point that out to them and ignore them. They can not force anything upon you, because that's not how RP works, not even on NS. You either agree or disagree with what other people do. Of course, ignoring sensible posts just because it would make you "lose" is frowned upon and might make people less open to RPing with you. But ignoring a 2.5 billion army in an MT environment when you're trying to RP realistically is, for me at least, almost a given. Know how to take your losses as long as they are sensible.

Along those same lines, how does one set up a map for roleplaying a situation of this? Are all nations of a certain era and theme on the same globe? Is that globe Earth? Is each roleplay situation separated and unrelated unless stated otherwise? What about countries from the real world? Did that never happen? Are we simply nations that have always been? But if that's the case human history can't be as it was?

For most people, it's a bit of a grey zone. In my region, we have some parodies of real nations to fill up the "spots". We have people using solely NS products. But we also have people (of which I am one), who use real life equipment but RP them being domestically made. We in the region have someone who handles all map requests so that's how we're getting that done. It's generally accepted our region is not the only one on "earth" and that to our north, south, west and east there are other regions. But it's something that's not really discussed amongst us since it's not bothering anyone. It's accepted there's something and we're content with that answer.

Hope this helps.

[Bears Armed]

What about countries from the real world? Did that never happen? Are we simply nations that have always been? But if that's the case human history can't be as it was?

Some of urrs aren't even 'human'...

[Zaldakki]

It doesn't even have to be on Earth. Some regions make up whole new planets with tons of nations. Other times, even an entire planet (or planets) belongs to just one nation.

[Lubyak]

My subject is on roleplay in general on Nationstates. This may also be a better post for Factbooks and National Information, so tell me if that's the case.

How does one go about finding a region of like-minded people for roleplay? Unlike most roleplay forums, Nationstates has no set location, theme, era, or rules. I'm in the midst of creating a factbook and I want to create something useful for people when roleplaying. How do I go about creating one that's in line with roleplay? I don't want to roleplay some giant nation with 14 billion people like my page says. But what happens when someone I'm roleplaying with goes "lol well my nation has an army of 2.5 billion #rekted son!!!1!11!"?

In terms of finding RPers, all you can really do is browse. If you come across an RP you like, and it's part of a community, feel free to look into it, ask about, talk to the people there. Alot of these RP regions and what not will have an IRC channel or something to join where you can talk to various players, and perhaps start setting up an RP. The first one that springs to mind at the moment is #NSSanctuary on esper, give that a shot and see if you can find a group there that fits what you're looking for.

Along those same lines, how does one set up a map for roleplaying a situation of this? Are all nations of a certain era and theme on the same globe? Is that globe Earth? Is each roleplay situation separated and unrelated unless stated otherwise? What about countries from the real world? Did that never happen? Are we simply nations that have always been? But if that's the case human history can't be as it was?

Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I want to create something realistic here, and these questions are getting in the way.[/quote]

There are lots of different ways people rationalise and interpret the sheer scale of NS RP as compared to RL. Some people act as though NS earth is one giant planet, large enough to fit all the nations and people (and then handwave away the issues of gravity, orbit time, etc.), others act as though NS earth is somehow 'fractal', the same physical size, but with different realities existing on it at the same time. In general though, these kinds of issues end up handwaved away for the sake of story telling and RP. On my regional map, I have some nations that I RP with a lot at a set physical distance from me, but others that I don't RP with as often, and haven't decided on a distance, are much more fluid. There's a joke going around that IC cartographers of NS nations must all be Cthulhu cultists, based on the sheer strangeness of the world in which they live.

In terms of history, it's honestly up to you. Some players prefer relating themselves to RL nations, others do not. In general though, I prefer driving a Code of Bro style thing, in which you generally accept what other people have, as long as it's going towards the purpouse of bettering RP. When people start trying to twist things just so they have a better chance to 'win' an RP, then that's when problems start cropping up, but as long as it's just worldbuilding or making a story better or more interesting, then feel free to do whatever it is you'd like with history, RL nations, Earth, etc. There's no one universally accepted series of 'facts' about NS earth just a lot of different handwaves, and ways of RPing, and really as long as they end up being helpful, fun, and interesting, there's nothing wrong with that.

[Atlantica]

Just a question: Suppose you are a FT Nation. If so, can you still make MT equivalents of your nation (so that you can play on MT RP's)?

[Romberg]

I thought that's what multi-timeline nations do all the time...

[Atlantica]

I thought that's what multi-timeline nations do all the time...

Not sure... oh, well. Thanks for the advice anyway!

[Zaldakki]

Oui. People do that all the time.