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arguskos
2011-02-05, 02:58 AM
I am curious, good folk of the playground, as to how *you* (yes, even you) roleplay.

Personally, I ascribe to the method actor theory, and try my damnedest to play that way. I can't as the DM (except for villains, who you bet I do it with), but as a player, I get pretty in-depth with my acting and rp, even adopting some of their physical tics (one carried over into real life recently, now I do it all the time) and speech patterns.

I've got a few funny stories about this too. For instance, I'd been working on my speech pattern for this character I was developing, a real shaky nervous sorta thief, who only stole cause he needed the money to feed a friend and well the guy didn't really need that money to begin with cause he's so rich and it was just a little bit and... I think you can get the idea of how he talked, real rapid-fire stuff. I was at the store, and my hand was twitching (another thing this guy did a lot). The checkout clerk noticed my hand was shaky, and asked if I was alright, to which I responded (in rapid-fire fashion) that "yeseverythingisentirelyfinethankyouforaskingwhydoI notlookokwhatbusinessisitofyoursanywayshowmuchdoIo weyouagainhereyougothankshaveagooddaybye", set the money down, and scurried out of the store, leaving a dozen "wtf was that all about" looks in my wake. :smallbiggrin: I go there all the time, so I later had to explain that it was cause I was practicing for a part in a play and got too deep in-character, which was technically a lie, but close enough that it explained the situation well.

Anyways! I'm rambling. Do any of you do this sort of thing for your characters, or do you ascribe to other RP methods?

Acanous
2011-02-05, 03:20 AM
I generally put together a rough framework of a character's goals, their pet peeves, and favorite things. Then I interpret how they see themselves within their allignment. That's usually enough for me to have a solid character with room to grow however is needed in the campeign. Also it's not too much work wasted if the campeign devolves into kick-in-the-door play.

Loki Eremes
2011-02-05, 03:48 AM
Your way is a great method to get into character and avoid the worst factor that im ocasionally dealing with in my group: leaving the issue.
It seems that we have the concentration of a cat on catnip. Everything we say start some off topic conversation (imagine the way Family Guy is filled with clips and retrospectives xD) and when we watch the clock we realise that we spent 2 or 3 hours doing "stupidities".
I think most of this comes from being ashame of acting like someone else.

But Im always trying hard to really act my PC as it is.
Friendly and a bit crazy character are those who fit more with my personality. However up to the day i only roleplayed only one with that characteristics.

I think i really love Roleplaying characters different from myself. Not only in personality, but in the moral axis and... in gender.


Ive played...an Ape**** elf Rogue (CN), a Noble righteous human Paladin (LG), a Sadistic-trickster Gish monk girl (LE), a Lone wolf rogue-ranger (CG) and all of them had different way of thinking and acting that ive done my best personifying.

I believe adapting to each character psyche and do your best representing it is one of the fun things a RPG has.

Yes, theres always the hack & slash play, but that alone gets boring after a while, and to do that ive got plenty of games in my PC, PS, etc, that fill that role quite well.



The last character im playing is in WoD, Vampire the Masquerade to be more accurate.
Its a 12 year old childish, naive Tremere girl that was in first place embraced to be the succesor of my Sire, the regent of Chicago's chapel.

Having the "child" demeanor, im seeking help or favors from time to time, using my "loli" (nothing sexual you pervs) charms to "entice" the rest of the party and other NPC.

Unfortunatelly, this behaviour jumped to the lone wolf ranger that im playing in D&D campaing more than once.

Happily ive never seen this conduct in real life until now :smallbiggrin:

EccentricCircle
2011-02-05, 07:01 AM
I find that i'll have a basic idea of who and what the character is going to be as I go into a game. initially I won't have a clear idea of their attitudes or speach patterns but as I play the game the character then clicks and I figure out how they talk and think.
I'm currently playing a female character,(4e, Half Elf Rogue) and said from the start that I wasn't even going to try to do a female voice, as it would just sound ridiculous and be annoying. however I think that she does have a certain way of talking that is very much at odds to the way I talk out of game. (she ascribes to the Col. Jack O'Neill School of interacting with villains) other characters I've played have had a certain voice, which usually developes once I start thinking about the sorts of things that they would say and do.
planning out character traits before the game starts is always a good idea, but they may not come across as important in the game. my original idea was for my current character to be more of a coward and never really get involved in a fight if she could avoid it. the original concept was almost a Jack Sparrow type manipulator who would never quite be on anyones side, or have a clear plan of action. however as the game has progressed she has rised to the challenge and ended up being a bit more heroic than i'd originally intended.
I always feel that having a flawed character, whether that means in terms of personality, or in terms of having someone who fails is more fun than having a "perfect" character, either in terms of moral and ethical outlook or in terms of game mechanics.

Comet
2011-02-05, 08:43 AM
We don't always act as our characters. In especially dramatic situations everyone might slip into acting mode, but usually it's more of a storytelling endeavour than a roleplaying one ("And then I'll ask the guard where the tavern is and compliment a nearby street merchant on his hat in order to sweet talk him into giving me one of his apples at a discount")

When I'm playing, I initially design the character in a very loose manner. Basic history, one or two dominating traits of personality and off we go. This allows me to alter the character subtly as the game goes on to take the story in a more exciting direction even if I feel that it isn't something my initial character model would do.

So, for me, it is usually "Story > Characters". Characters are important, for sure, and I try to immerse myself into the role as much as necessary when making decisions and such, but acting is not required in our group and the in-character zone is not sacred. This means that every game is a mix of in-character and out of character discussion in pretty much equal amounts, but the end result is still usually a great story worth remembering.

Fallbot
2011-02-05, 10:49 AM
Recently I've found myself speaking in my character's voices (but only when speaking as them in game so far. No embarrassing experiences with store clerks as of yet). I've tried to avoid doing an impersonation per se, mostly because I'm female and all my active characters are male so it would probably sound very silly, but I've been trying to use the characters' speech patterns and verbal tics whenever possible. It's been good fun, and I think doing it has helped me get into their heads and think harder about what they'd say as well as how they'd say it.

The only problem has been playing my socially inept assassin, who has a tendency to stutter, mumble, and sometimes just....Um...what was I saying? Joking aside, it can make it very hard to make myself heard or get points across, but I can't really complain when I'm choosing to do it.

Dimers
2011-02-05, 11:49 AM
Character history has proven the most useful tool to help me get into character. What happened yesterday, a month ago, a year ago, far back in childhood -- just being aware of that history makes it easy for me to slip into an emotionally convincing role. I act the part of someone to whom those things happened.