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Discussion: Do you add yourself in Roleplaying?

Tags: #ZonnoSpark +1  #RP:Discussion 
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  • Rogue
    Member
     
    August 29, 2017

    Legion said:

    I add something of myself to most characters, male or female, mage, theif, or warrior. Often it's less about seeing myself in a character and more about wish fulfillment of that aspect of myself. I'll never be the hero that Skyrim allows me to be. If I want to see my nobility, I'll roll my paladin. If I want to indulge my mischevous side, I'll be a sneak theif, though usually one who abides by some code. I think the blank slate nature of character creation means that unless someone purposefully creates a character that is outside his/her comfort zone, some part of that person will always be found within the character.

    I really enjoy this assessment. I've always been one to play as a character that resembles a few of my traits and beliefs, but still some major differences just to keep it interesting and fresh. As Edana said, it makes the character so much more relatable. I cannot like a character if they aren't relatable in any way, which I've recently found out just by paying attention to who my favorite characters were in certain TV series or books. But the idea of playing a character that is good in an area that you hope to achieve one day is a really cool aspect. I think the majority of roleplayers do this without even knowing. 

     

  • Zonnonn
    Member
     
    August 29, 2017

    Rogue said:

    I really enjoy this assessment. I've always been one to play as a character that resembles a few of my traits and beliefs, but still some major differences just to keep it interesting and fresh. As Edana said, it makes the character so much more relatable. I cannot like a character if they aren't relatable in any way, which I've recently found out just by paying attention to who my favorite characters were in certain TV series or books. But the idea of playing a character that is good in an area that you hope to achieve one day is a really cool aspect. I think the majority of roleplayers do this without even knowing.

    I think I go back and forth with whether they need to be relatable or not. I can't have a character who isn't at least a little bit like me, but in the grand scheme of thing I just want them to be human. I guess as I'm human (at least I was the last time I checked) I'm the most reliable source for myself in regards to what makes a person a person?

  • GailOlm
     
    September 8, 2017

    Zonnonn said:

    ...So for example a passionate reader in real life would make one of those classic 'imma find all the books in Skyrim characters...

    Legion said:

    Yep! That's pretty much what I was getting at. The character needs to be based off a significant enough facet of the player's personality to have the drive to move forward. It could be something like being a book worm...

    As an avid reader in real life, the name of my character, Estelle Dubois, was inspired by Estelle Renoit, a Breton bookseller at Renoit's Books in the game of Oblivion. Though I did very little role play when I began playing Skyrim, I would always read the in-game books. As I became more heavily involved in the role play aspect of the game, I eventually incorporated this into Estelle's backstory. From Estelle's character profile: 

    Due to her love of books and because of her mother’s position in Daggerfall Castle as a court mage, Estelle was permitted to spend time in the Castle library. As she grew older, Estelle began working at the library where she would assist the head librarian in the cataloguing of books, spell tomes, journals and letters acquired by the library. Seeing that she was capable, Estelle was encouraged by the head librarian to accompany the mercenaries who sought out and brought various tomes to the library in exchange for coin. Many of the books were rare and fragile and though Estelle was mainly along to insure that the books weren’t manhandled by the mercenaries, she realized she could hold her own in combat situations. As she became more experienced, Estelle would set out on her own in search of ancient tomes, often traveling far afield. Eventually she ended up near the border of Skyrim. Laden down with a backpack full of heavy books, she accepted the offer of a ride on horseback from a Nord man dressed in ragged clothes who introduced himself as Lokir of Rorikstead. After the events at Helgen, Estelle remained in Skyrim where she now acquires books through buying, trading, searching old ruins, or other means and provides them to shops or collectors.

    In-game, Estelle will always have books in her inventory. She'll always loot all books in dungeons, caves, or ruins. Whenever she enters a town or city, she'll sell some of the books she has in her inventory and buy others from the shopkeepers. In turn she carries those books in her inventory where they'll be sold to a shopkeeper in another town or city. She also maintains a large collection of personal books at home in Vlindrel Hall.

    A quirk of Estelle's harkening back to the days when she traveled with the mercenaries is that even if she's laden down with goods, she prefers to carry all books rather than allowing her follower to assist her in spite of the fact that "it would help them get moving quicker." ;)

     

  • Borommakot
    Member
     
    September 8, 2017

    For me it has varied from game to game. In Fallout, or Mass Effect, I'll often pour a lot of myself and my personality, morality, and interests into a character, often my main character. But I've never done that with Skyrim. My most played characters, Alazir and Tlanqual, along with every other character I've made, have been their own personalities, usually with very little in common with me. I think part of that goes back to what Phil said about the intention to escape, and what Soly said about backstories. For my part, I love crafting backstories. But Fallout (at least 3 and 4, but to some extent NV as well) and Mass Effect don't benefit nearly as much from developing a deep, personalized backstory. They either establish large parts of it for you, or center the narrative more squarely on the present and making that your story. In Skyrim, you've got nothing but "you were a prisoner". Your history could be anything, and knowing it feels important to charting your course through the world. It may just be that big blank slate that has led me to make my Skyrim characters so different from those in other RPGs I play, but I also suspect that this high fantasy setting that I don't otherwise spend much time in is also a big factor; there's lots of ideas to explore there.

  • David
    Member
     
    September 8, 2017

    @GailOlm Have I ever told how much I love the name of your character? Anyways, I like how you added the fact you yourself are an avid reader and you made your character the same way. The backstory is a nice touch because it basically shows why she is how she is. Also, she sounds like one of those people who want to collect every book ever made, which is bad just interesting.

    @Boro I can see where you and Phill both come from about not adding yourself into Skyrim because you want to escape. I agree with soly also on the backstory part because in a way that is what defines your character. Totally agree with Fallout and Mass thing. Apparently, that is why Bethsad almost always has you as a prisoner in the ES games because it gives you a blank slate and you can be anything beforehand.

  • GailOlm
     
    September 8, 2017

    David said:

    @GailOlm Have I ever told how much I love the name of your character? Anyways, I like how you added the fact you yourself are an avid reader and you made your character the same way. The backstory is a nice touch because it basically shows why she is how she is. Also, she sounds like one of those people who want to collect every book ever made, which is bad just interesting.

    Thank you for your kind words. :) I was so focused on books in my previous comment that I didn't go into where Estelle's surname comes from. Estelle's father is Guillaume Dubois, proprietor of the Millworks in Daggerfall, a descendant of Antoine Dubois, who was once the owner of Dubois and Sons Carpentry. This is in reference to the issue of the Black Horse Courier entitled "Tragic Accident! Baenlin Dead!" that becomes available available after the "Accidents Happen" quest for the Dark Brotherhood is completed in the game of Oblivion.

    Again, there is a tie-in to real life because my father was a carpenter. Another tie-in is that my father's name was William and Guillaume is the French variation of the name William.

  • Legion
     
    September 8, 2017

    @Rogue

    Sorry I missed your reply! I think you're spot on -- we do include ourselves often without even realizing it. But once we do realize it, it opens up a whole new depth to roleplaying. Having thought about it more, having a good roleplay experience is a lot like having a good story-writing experience. You may have heard the advice to "write what you know." I'd argue that in order to most effectively roleplay, you should roleplay what you know. I'm honest to a fault, for example. Most of my characters naturally hold honesty as a virtue, which is something I didn't realize until just a couple years ago. As another example, we can look at my Curator. One of the things I've always held in high regard is the free exchange of knowledge and ideas -- that is the central tenet of the Curator, what his entire character is based around. One part of me split off and became his own character, and it was a very fulfilling experience. 

    @Gail

    That's exactly it! I love the nuance of carrying her books herself, that's really good characterization. 

  • David
    Member
     
    September 8, 2017

    GailOlm said:

    David said:

    @GailOlm Have I ever told how much I love the name of your character? Anyways, I like how you added the fact you yourself are an avid reader and you made your character the same way. The backstory is a nice touch because it basically shows why she is how she is. Also, she sounds like one of those people who want to collect every book ever made, which is bad just interesting.

    Thank you for your kind words. :) I was so focused on books in my previous comment that I didn't go into where Estelle's surname comes from. Estelle's father is Guillaume Dubois, proprietor of the Millworks in Daggerfall, a descendant of Antoine Dubois, who was once the owner of Dubois and Sons Carpentry. This is in reference to the issue of the Black Horse Courier entitled "Tragic Accident! Baenlin Dead!" that becomes available after the "Accidents Happen" quest for the Dark Brotherhood is completed in the game of Oblivion.

    Again, there is a tie-in to real life because my father was a carpenter. Another tie-in is that my father's name was William and Guillaume is the French variation of the name William.

    You're welcome. I remember you mentioning that in the Breton Naming Guide, believe. You know what is weird my great-grandfather who was a carpenter, electrician, and plumber, was actually named Guillaume, so that is awesome. :)

    I do tend to tie-in names of my family into my roleplay/backstory as well. My I have a Breton warrior named Finn Aleister Jameson II, who was named after his grandfather on his father's side. This is a tie-in because in real life I was fully named after my grandfather on my father's side, so I am technically a Jr.

  • Zonnonn
    Member
     
    September 9, 2017

    GailOlm said:

    As an avid reader in real life, the name of my character, Estelle Dubois, was inspired by Estelle Renoit, a Breton bookseller at Renoit's Books in the game of Oblivion. Though I did very little role play when I began playing Skyrim, I would always read the in-game books. As I became more heavily involved in the role play aspect of the game, I eventually incorporated this into Estelle's backstory. From Estelle's character profile:

    As someone who's never never really dived into establishing a family from NPCs for a character, I really dig this. Every part of your character is based on something in-game, and the fact that you tied this into your real life just makes it cooler.

    Borommakot said:

    For me it has varied from game to game. In Fallout, or Mass Effect, I'll often pour a lot of myself and my personality, morality, and interests into a character, often my main character. But I've never done that with Skyrim. My most played characters, Alazir and Tlanqual, along with every other character I've made, have been their own personalities, usually with very little in common with me. I think part of that goes back to what Phil said about the intention to escape, and what Soly said about backstories. For my part, I love crafting backstories. But Fallout (at least 3 and 4, but to some extent NV as well) and Mass Effect don't benefit nearly as much from developing a deep, personalized backstory. They either establish large parts of it for you, or center the narrative more squarely on the present and making that your story. In Skyrim, you've got nothing but "you were a prisoner". Your history could be anything, and knowing it feels important to charting your course through the world. It may just be that big blank slate that has led me to make my Skyrim characters so different from those in other RPGs I play, but I also suspect that this high fantasy setting that I don't otherwise spend much time in is also a big factor; there's lots of ideas to explore there.

    It's an interesting point you raise, Boro. Although I roleplay easier in Skyrim than the two you mentioned, I get where you're coming from. Fallout and Mass Effect are routed in real life, and although unlikely its plausible, which I can definitely see allowing you to throw yourself more into a character - you can more accurately guess how you'd act in a situation that takes place on Earth, or at least has humans as we know them in it.

  • Ebonslayer
    Member
     
    September 13, 2017

    Most of my characters are just me in a different realm as a different race with a more varied array of skills. They share most of my attitude and philosophies including my extreme aversion to working with others (which is probably why I play stealthy characters a lot). They also ultimately want the best for those who get close and think little of people they don't know.


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