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what is a "must" you have to do when you're in a site written Nov 12, 2023 21:28:21 GMT via mobile
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co-dependency bros? Avatar
Nov 12, 2023 20:39:33 GMT said:
bex Avatar
Nov 12, 2023 7:20:55 GMT said:
letting me play someone's shitty dad

but honestly, letting me have free range on characters is a must. it drives me batty when admins on sites start dictating what is and is not acceptable for me to write. i'm a grown adult, and i can write what i want. i'm more than willing to to tag things, but like other people have mentioned, i like to write darker subjects; and as writers i think we all like to explore these topics (at least, i'd like to think so). and i've mentioned it before, but for me, roleplay is a chance for me to basically be a bad person lmao. i've always gravitated towards villains, and it's a requirement that i play at least one on every site i'm on. but i don't ever just stop at just one lmao
oh you reminded me

i LOVE playing traitors. not as high priority as playing as a SEA character but if i'm in the site long enough, i need a traitor. and like, not the traitor that's a snake all along. but the kind of traitor that's a good person but just messes up, depressed, misguided, manipulated, traumatized, etc. basically, "everyone asks who the traitor is but no one ever asks how is the traitor"



tbf in order to ask how is the traitor you need to know who is the traitor
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emerius written Nov 5, 2023 2:39:58 GMT
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Kirkwall must have been unspoiled, once. But now? Now the continent only remembers the city for the Mage-Templar war, the red crystals with a taste for human flesh, and the blasted demons crawling around the sewers. The worst part is, everyone over there acts like all of this is normal. It's the only way that those poor bastards survive the City of Chains.

I've got some advice: Keep your wits about you and mind your own business. You need friends to survive, sure. But half of them are criminals and the other half would sell you to one. There's no point in tying your future to any of them. Take the first ship out as soon as you've made enough gold to pay off your debts.

The problem isn't that this city doesn't love you, Donny. It just wants everything that you can't afford to give away.

— An excerpt of a letter from a retired mercenary to his nephew.

It's been four years since the mages rebelled against the entire world in a bid for their freedom. But what of the city that the rebellion left behind? Central authority has all but collapsed in the city-state of Kirkwall, which continues to struggle with crime, inequality, and evil spirits. You could crawl your way to the top of this shithole, or you could lose it all quicker than a game of Diamondback. Some unfortunate souls are unlucky enough to experience it all in the same year.

Smart choices only take you so far in Kirkwall, serah. I look forward to seeing what you'll do with them.

— A note from a Friend of Red Jenny.






Emerius is a medieval fantasy roleplaying game based on the Dragon Age series. But don't panic if you've never played the game before. The site is intended to accommodate those with zero knowledge of the game. You just need to be excited for medieval fantasy, city-state intrigue, events that respond to character reputation, and the messy narrative ramifications of conflicting worldviews.



Emerius will have a loose overarching story that is shaped by member-driven plots. Come make a huge mess with us. The site will tentatively open in early 2024.




Progress


Lore: 95% (Need to complete locations.)

Skin: Will not be completed before December.

last edit on Nov 15, 2023 20:05:33 GMT by ink
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what don't you like to rp? written Oct 19, 2023 20:56:13 GMT
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i mulled this and thought "i don't like combat rp" but that's just not true. combat is a great exploration of differing characterization, narrative stakes, and personal development. i think the problem is that people are not honest about how okay they are about losing. you HAVE to be okay with losing in order to write combat organically but once someone's pressed against the edge, i find that people start bending IC logic to their favor. this happens in other types of threads too, but i think combat losses tend to be the most intolerable among certain types of rpers. which sucks because it just puts off people who otherwise would be really good at combat.

+1 on stats. i'm fine with them if mods do all the numbers for me but nobody has time to do that for an entire site lol
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what makes a good roleplay character? written Oct 10, 2023 4:39:25 GMT
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Oct 10, 2023 3:19:50 GMT said:
gonna add: a willingness to be deliberately wrong about something without being cartoonishly caricatured.

a huge problem in pern is that people like to write conservative settings, but then no one in the rp adheres to that setting or has any sort of ill teachings as a result of it. they never have a real arc of overcoming it. they always knew better, and they were always the most politically correct little guy.

it's a dystopian setting thing in general, i've noticed. everyone wants to be the hero, no one ever wants to be misguided or wrong or brainwashed. well, a RP'er whose character isn't immune to propaganda is infinitely more interesting to me than the millionth Katniss Everdeen knockoff.

that being said, given the ooc harassment some people face for playing characters that aren't perfect (and we're talking less "racist" and more "might be a little mean"), i kinda get the desire to not play characters with actual, real flawed thinking.
lol felt. one of my favorite tropes is "traumatized soldier who internalizes the logic of empire and is willing to murder anyone to preserve the very regime that broke them." but if they're masc then other people will woobify them and downplay their actions. if they're female... let's not get into what happens to my female characters if they're not angelic and nice LOL

and those characters still have like semi-justifiable motives in terms of being able to understand where they got there. the last time i tried to play someone who viewed their children as pawns... woof. evil character who hunts poor people for sport? forget about it. i've killed so many morally dark grey concepts because the ooc backlash was untenable 
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Quick Interest Checks written Oct 6, 2023 1:32:40 GMT
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would anyone be particularly interested in a dragon age site based in kirkwall....or should i wait for dreadwolf to come out at a tba date....

edit: i am thinking of doing city-level medieval intrigue + magical horror elements. this will not be a feel-good story unless the members temporarily make it into one
last edit on Oct 6, 2023 2:14:02 GMT by ink
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what makes a good roleplay character? written Oct 5, 2023 16:54:54 GMT
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I’m also going to be a grump about this. But also with no formatting because im just gonna brain barf

— +1 to manga caps. I feel like there’s this reliance on popular fcs or good art to help a character stand out when I think it’s the writing that stands out. Using bw manga caps shows me that you’re confident enough in your own characterization to make people not gaf about graphics. love that
— Biographies. Oh my god biographies. if you must freeform at least give me a tl;dr at the bottom summarizing the big bullet points. I’m not going to know what to do just by feeling out your character vibe. I feel like actual “histories” are unfashionable now and it makes me very sad.
— I want characters that feel “lived-in” to the setting. If I can take your prince and slot him in any other feudal AU then … IDK I feel like you can do more with that. When people incorporate past timeline events into their bios??? Sooooooooo good. Soooooo yummy
— I think boons/flaws is too binary of a way to think about characterization. Balancing the two sides was always the most annoying part of how old profiles were set up. Like IDK I know people IRL who are smarts AND brave AND kind and don’t have any major fucked up backstory. Those people exist! I think the more interesting approach is “do you have authorial awareness about that character.” For EX: If I play an overly nice character I acknowledge that more cynical characters may suspect them of being insincere at first. If someone is smart then I qualify what “smart” means, and flesh out their specializations so that “smart” doesn’t just feel like a narrative bludgeon again their intellectual lessers.
— Conversely I’m very eye emoji when apps describe the character as “a genius” or “charismatic” or “persuasive” and their actual writing is not… that. Don’t write a hotshot lawyer if your actual character is inclined to make 1093824903274392485 logical mistakes. Or if your character is supposed to be popular with women but his actual personality comes off as more an incel. Or the character doesn’t manage to convince anybody of anything. Doing that is forcing other people to have to make logical leaps/justifications in order to maintain narrative consistency. Which just isn’t fun.

edit: ALSO NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE A SUBVERSION TO BE INTERESTING. My fav canons are usually the ones who really lean into their role instead of just lashing out against it. IDK it's like you were born rich raised rich so ur going to have to work REALLY HARD in the backstory to convince me that yes your character is really actually miserable and wants to see a different way forward.




last edit on Oct 5, 2023 16:59:10 GMT by ink
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Forum Plotting vs Discord Plotting written Sept 30, 2023 9:24:44 GMT
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Sept 30, 2023 2:52:24 GMT said:
Forum plotting all the way for me.

I say everything I feel and think. To me, this is a way of the other rper grasping all these details that aren't always relevant. But it's a way of capturing bits about them. I throw details and I want to be thrown details. I want us to geek out over each other's characters and then work something out. Writing it down helps in paras in one page helps keep things organized. We can also always go back and systematically respond to each as needed, which is important because of all the details. 

I find it really sad that people find this "intimidating" and "confusing" these days. Back then - and really, this sounds like a boomer thing (im millenial tho lel), people would say "sorry for rambling" and people would go "no please ramble away / wall of text pls." It's not like people weren't anxious back then either. But, I don't know. Do people feel more afraid of saying what they want? Do people not fantasize about their characters anymore when they're staring at the air? 

I met someone recently who just apparently didn't know how to plot in forums. They didn't realize my rambling was for plot, not a scenario. So personally, I am thinking of providing a forum plotting guide when I get around to making my own site. I really think it's better. It's not slower at all. You get a lot of things done at the same time. But I think it's a matter of focus that's different. When plotting in the forum, you have to sit and work your thoughts out. You can't get things done bit by bit like in Discord.

Still, I do both, but only because people prefer Discord and I get responses when I ask and bug people in channels. Can't do that in forums. THOUGH, sometimes, it works. Really depends on the site.

The separation of a social channel from rping is also very important for me. I hate having to check my socials and I don't want to constantly be receiving pings, so I have to mute the server anyway. But a site, I can refresh any time and immediately get the information I need based on active topics. I can scroll through it without there being distractions. 

Discord replies tend to be briefer. Short isn't bad. But I just really enjoy the experience of gushing out with someone. Being able to read through the long crap we talked about without having to scroll through chat is very cool.

And just to make sure, no hate on anyone who prefers discord!! Both are very valid. Yes, I do think plotters are better but only because it's like having a shared diary together, okay? Didn't you do that in school? Where you and a friend just talk to each other and put your thoughts down in one notebook...


im a millenial who agrees with all of this lol

also to add. YES more rp and social separation please. i hate that there's implicit pressure to have to be social when all i want is for our characters to make something cool happen together. im a big believer in "we don't have to be friends to rp" and it makes me sad that attitude seems to be near nonexistent anymore. im sorry my social energy is limited but my plotting energy is LOTS

edit: i also feel like the conflation between rp relationship vs real friendship has forced people to have to try to be friends with people they don't actually get along with very well. which is a problem when canon positions exist. we should accept that not everyone wants to be friends that that's OK as long as everyone is civil


last edit on Sept 30, 2023 9:27:48 GMT by ink
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what is/are your irl character development/s? written Sept 24, 2023 18:24:33 GMT
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Sept 24, 2023 13:28:27 GMT said:
tragically, i went from being extremely critical of and anti-capitalism (ask anyone who knows me) to… working in an accelerated training program for a large international media advertising agency that intends to equip me with the skills to become a business executive in two years time. rlly screams “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain” tbh

on the flip side, though, i’ve gone from sleeping at 6-10am regularly to sleeping at 1am at latest and that’s, like, wild to me.


6-10am??????? CEL???????

in unrelated news i was dead set on convincing a student to not join my incredibly exploitative and hostile industry but i've decided that it's up to the olds to warn the youngs and for the youngs to make their own decisions.

damn this is a shounen manga arc for real. i come back from the demonic front blood war of the apocalypse and I'm like "ok i recognize your resolve so I'm going to teach you the secret light soul dragon art so you can achieve what i could not in my own youth. but you're probably still going to get your ass kicked a few times L E L
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Sites You Want To See written Sept 12, 2023 4:27:43 GMT
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Sept 12, 2023 1:00:41 GMT said:
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Sept 11, 2023 5:20:56 GMT said:
im shocked that a baldur's gate 3 site doesn't exist yet
To make one we'd have to stop playing....
you're right... im so upset because i literally have bg3 open right now...........................