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KillItWithFire
2016-06-23, 08:16 AM
So a recently joined up with a group playing Dungeon World. My character in it is a Druid, fairly young, (14) with a typical "raised by wolves" background.

When I'm playing the character, I find often that I either undershoot as far as intelligence and personality are concerned, or I overshoot and just speak and reason how my normal 23-year-old self would. This leads to comments such as, "Wait, Fife is illiterate, 14 years old, learned the language by lurking around peasants, and knows words like 'obfuscate?'"

So I'd like to ask some advice on how to get into the headspace of a character who isn't quite as old or formally educated.

SirBellias
2016-06-23, 08:29 AM
Usually when I try for playing someone with starkly different mental attributes than I do, I do a random accent whenever I speak as them. It works surprisingly well, in my opinion. Also, if my character was 14, I'd start every scene thinking "what would a not particularly bright 14 year old know/think about this?" and go from there.

I've been doing this for my not particularly bright druid. Whenever my thoughts start to slip out of character, the accent goes with them, and I notice. I also tend to only come up with broad strokes for plans, and fail to improvise my way around details. It works fairly well.

Faily
2016-06-23, 08:53 AM
Remember what most teenagers are like: impulsive, rarely consider the consequences of their actions (especially consequences that are dangerous to them physically), slightly-self centered and a little lacking in empathy.

However, since your character is a "raised by wolves"-kind of person, I'd go with keeping simple thoughts like: protect the pack, respect the alpha (if you're not the alpha, always give the alpha first pick of things/food), don't stray too much. Basically, consider the group your pack and the most dominant party-member the alpha.

Sure, obfuscate might not be a word he knows if he's illiterate, but if you try to use a more suitable word with more or less the same meaning that would be better.

mikeejimbo
2016-06-23, 09:45 AM
You have the benefit of having been 14 once. Just try to remember what you were like in middle school.

In one game I DMed, a character was a 15 year old, and he had the mind of a 14 year old girl stuck inside his. Naturally I had to play the girl. He played his character as out to prove that he was ready to go from being a squire to being a knight and with a tendency to overestimate his abilities and put on shows of bravado, while still not quite always being rational or thinking through things.

I played the girl as feeling vulnerable (as teenagers often do) but usually trying to act confident, powerful, and in control.

In another game that same player and I once played 8 year old twins. That was probably even easier. All you have to do is throw all rationality out the window, do whatever you think is funnest (yes funnest) *right now*, and anytime you do something that doesn't make sense, say "I'm eight!!"

KillItWithFire
2016-06-23, 11:22 AM
Usually when I try for playing someone with starkly different mental attributes than I do, I do a random accent whenever I speak as them. It works surprisingly well, in my opinion. Also, if my character was 14, I'd start every scene thinking "what would a not particularly bright 14 year old know/think about this?" and go from there. I'll give this a shot. It's worked well for other character's I've used in the past.


Remember what most teenagers are like: impulsive, rarely consider the consequences of their actions (especially consequences that are dangerous to them physically), slightly-self centered and a little lacking in empathy.

However, since your character is a "raised by wolves"-kind of person, I'd go with keeping simple thoughts like: protect the pack, respect the alpha (if you're not the alpha, always give the alpha first pick of things/food), don't stray too much. Basically, consider the group your pack and the most dominant party-member the alpha. There's a lot of contention between the party Barbarian and I on who the "party-alpha" is. :smallbiggrin: It's actually a lot of fun to roleplay scenes with him where we butt heads.

I've been able to steer my character's overarching goals in a more in character direction, when I plan out before the session what my character's goals most likely are given what I expect we'll encounter soon then it feels like it works a lot better. When I get surprised by things mid-game are when my character starts to break. Scenes when our group are planning courses of action are especially difficult for me since as a player, I love talking strategy. But my character likely doesn't have the same strategical values as I do, if he has the patience to formulate a plan at all.


Sure, obfuscate might not be a word he knows if he's illiterate, but if you try to use a more suitable word with more or less the same meaning that would be better. I agree. The main problem is that when I get too conversational in game I forget that I'm supposed to be a feral teenager.


You have the benefit of having been 14 once. Just try to remember what you were like in middle school.

In one game I DMed, a character was a 15 year old, and he had the mind of a 14 year old girl stuck inside his. Naturally I had to play the girl. He played his character as out to prove that he was ready to go from being a squire to being a knight and with a tendency to overestimate his abilities and put on shows of bravado, while still not quite always being rational or thinking through things.

I played the girl as feeling vulnerable (as teenagers often do) but usually trying to act confident, powerful, and in control.

In another game that same player and I once played 8 year old twins. That was probably even easier. All you have to do is throw all rationality out the window, do whatever you think is funnest (yes funnest) *right now*, and anytime you do something that doesn't make sense, say "I'm eight!!" I'll give this a shot too, though in my defense when I was 14 years old I actually DID know everything. :smalltongue:

My original inspiration for the character was imagining what an impulsive kid would be like if he suddenly had the ability to turn into animals on a whim. I think I should try and revisit that root idea. I'll try putting more bravado in the character and seeing how that goes. Maybe I need to do more immature things to the Barbarian as well. Thinks he's so tough with bulging muscles and inability to wear a shirt.

erikun
2016-06-23, 11:22 AM
Kids (especially teenagers) aren't necessarily unintelligent. They're mainly just inexperienced and self-centered, not necessarily for bad reasons either. The trickiest part would probably be hitting a realistic 14 year old, rather than accidentally hitting a 9 year old or a 17 year old.

It sounds like Fife is actually fairly smart, especially if he managed to pick up a language just by hearing it spoken. Most people would need to have a two-way conversation to pick up a language well, especially if picked up later than early childhood. Just because he is quick enough to pick up a language doesn't make him knowledgeable, though. He could still be inexperienced, or even uninterested in learning about "town things" and the like.

For your character, since he pick up language primarily from hearing it spoken, then perhaps it would make sense that he's picked up mimicing specific voices. "Obfuscate" might not be outside his dictionary, but that is because he picked it up from the local noble who liked using fancy words. Give Fife a fancy snooty tone when using such language, or give him a growly rough tone when talking about fixing wagons or working as a blacksmith. Or a small child's falsetto when talking about playing games and having fun - the idea being that he's repeating phrases he's heard from people in that situation. It might be fun (depending on how well you do it) to also use some phrases or terms which don't quite fit the situation accurately. You'd probably not want to do so all the time, but something like seeing a camel and calling it a horse, or calling every body of water a river, or saying something which conveys Fife's emotions ("I wish those darn kids would stop messing up my shop!") even if the context isn't correct.

KillItWithFire
2016-06-23, 11:31 AM
Kids (especially teenagers) aren't necessarily unintelligent. They're mainly just inexperienced and self-centered, not necessarily for bad reasons either. The trickiest part would probably be hitting a realistic 14 year old, rather than accidentally hitting a 9 year old or a 17 year old. Yeah I've had a lot of trouble with this. You're right, he's not supposed to be unintelligent. His only truly low stat is charisma and he's definitely not supposed to be dumb. But you've hit the nail on the head with your statement. I always feel like I'm either undershooting or overshooting my interpretation of him.


It sounds like Fife is actually fairly smart, especially if he managed to pick up a language just by hearing it spoken. Most people would need to have a two-way conversation to pick up a language well, especially if picked up later than early childhood. Just because he is quick enough to pick up a language doesn't make him knowledgeable, though. He could still be inexperienced, or even uninterested in learning about "town things" and the like. You know what I think might help me? I should make a list of topics that Fife finds interesting. That might help me get a better guideline on how knowledgeable Fife is on topic or how animated he'll be during the conversation whenever it comes up.


For your character, since he pick up language primarily from hearing it spoken, then perhaps it would make sense that he's picked up mimicing specific voices. "Obfuscate" might not be outside his dictionary, but that is because he picked it up from the local noble who liked using fancy words. Give Fife a fancy snooty tone when using such language, or give him a growly rough tone when talking about fixing wagons or working as a blacksmith. Or a small child's falsetto when talking about playing games and having fun - the idea being that he's repeating phrases he's heard from people in that situation. It might be fun (depending on how well you do it) to also use some phrases or terms which don't quite fit the situation accurately. You'd probably not want to do so all the time, but something like seeing a camel and calling it a horse, or calling every body of water a river, or saying something which conveys Fife's emotions ("I wish those darn kids would stop messing up my shop!") even if the context isn't correct. I didn't even think about this. It's an interesting direction. I'll make a note of it and try some "mimacry" voices next session. I imagine it probably ends up with a lot of figures of speech that don't 100% match up with the context and his cadence probably fluctuates more than a normal person.

goto124
2016-06-23, 09:58 PM
You'd probably not want to do so all the time, but something like seeing a camel and calling it a horse, or calling every body of water a river, or saying something which conveys Fife's emotions ("I wish those darn kids would stop messing up my shop!") even if the context isn't correct.

Desert horse! Fat river! Catsnake (http://cf.ltkcdn.net/small-pets/images/std/172056-425x283-Cute-pet-ferret.jpg)!


There's a lot of contention between the party Barbarian and I on who the "party-alpha" is. :smallbiggrin: It's actually a lot of fun to roleplay scenes with him where we butt heads.

Come to think of it, I avoid trouble with players as much as possible. If a PC so much as disagrees with my character, I'll shut up and move on with the plot. I follow along with everything the other players do. Even in a solo campaign, I follow the DM. I wonder how I can ever actually make decisions and do things myself without upsetting other players.

2D8HP
2016-06-24, 12:03 AM
It's easy to play a PC dumber than you. What's hard is playing smarter than I am, so (if allowed) I usually play PC's with low "mental stats". Otherwise verisimilitude is broken when a "smart" PC's actions are those chosen by a player of at best average intelligence.

Lorsa
2016-06-24, 01:49 AM
As for playing a character younger than yourself - remember that age doesn't say everything. People still have personality, and can be decidedly different even at the same age. Sadly I don't have much good advice there, even though as a GM I often have to portray NPCs of a variety of ages.

Being "raised by wolves" is a different story entirely, and I did in fact play a character like that once myself. He was very intelligent, but rather shy, not very good with language and prone to think in different ways to most other PCs.

As language goes, remember that your character might only know of ONE way a specific word is used. So whenever someone uses a word that could be misinterpreted, feel free to do so (remember to be logical about it). Also, if your character really hasn't been talking much in his life, talk slowly.

While your logical deduction might be flawless, your knowledge is limited, so you will lack a lot of context (or premises) to base your deductions on. Use very simple, logically sound, solutions to problems, that might only be "bad" if you know about other things that wasn't stated explicitly.

To use an example from my character, he was a mage in Ars Magica, belonging to a covenant far into Russia. When the church started to make an appearance there, causing problems for magic, his suggestion was simply to destroy the buildings and send the priests away. The other players thought that was a very bad idea, as the church was extremely powerful in other parts of Europe and might be provoked to start a war. My character didn't know that, so the suggestion made perfect sense for him.

Unfortunately I can't remember the other examples, but in general, base your solutions only on the knowledge that your character has, even if limited, while still being perfectly logical. I think that will help capture the "raised by wolves" feeling.

goto124
2016-06-24, 01:53 AM
It's easy to play a PC dumber than you. What's hard is playing smarter than I am, so (if allowed) I usually play PC's with low "mental stats. Otherwise verisimilitude is broken when a "smart" actions are those chosen by a player of at best average intelligence.

High int low wis is easy and fun to play though :smalltongue:

Lorsa
2016-06-24, 03:04 AM
Come to think of it, I avoid trouble with players as much as possible. If a PC so much as disagrees with my character, I'll shut up and move on with the plot. I follow along with everything the other players do. Even in a solo campaign, I follow the DM. I wonder how I can ever actually make decisions and do things myself without upsetting other players.

Are you upset when other players make decisions?

goto124
2016-06-24, 03:50 AM
Are you upset when other players make decisions?

That's all that ever happens in the games I play. I don't know how to make decisions.

TeChameleon
2016-06-24, 04:08 AM
That's all that ever happens in the games I play. I don't know how to make decisions.

If you want to 'dip your toe in', so to speak, next time you start a new game, make a character that is established from the very beginning to be incredibly impulsive. Just have them do the first thing that pops into your head, no matter how ludicrous it may seem, and voila- decisions! If you do it well, you may even wind up having a fairly beloved character (my longest-played character is grouchy and has almost zero brain-to-mouth filter, and the rest of the party... and the DM, for that matter... all love him, for reasons that I'm not too clear on myself >.>).

Heck, if all else fails, playing that character even for a short time would probably let you see who would get upset if you were making decisions... just be sure you don't mistake 'annoyance at your character for being an impulsive twit' for 'annoyance at you making decisions' <.<

goto124
2016-06-24, 04:21 AM
That's every single character I play. I'm not very creative, and end up following what everyone else does anyway.

Do I make a character whose actions are decided by dice?

Requiem_Jeer
2016-06-24, 04:50 AM
I usually simulate less intelligent PCs by not paying as close attention as I might otherwise do (for low-wisdom), or make decisions before putting any thought at all into the decision (low int). I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy, so even when making snap decisions, it's rarely the wrong move, just not the best move.

Similarly, when playing a smarter character, you can go a long way with just taking more time to think things through then you really should have available to your character. Taking a whole minute to consider the actions of a single round, for example. It's not the best suggestion, but you can fit in a lot of thinking between rounds when other people are acting, which helps a lot.

KillItWithFire
2016-06-24, 07:57 AM
Come to think of it, I avoid trouble with players as much as possible. If a PC so much as disagrees with my character, I'll shut up and move on with the plot. I follow along with everything the other players do. Even in a solo campaign, I follow the DM. I wonder how I can ever actually make decisions and do things myself without upsetting other players. I guess I'm of a very different school of thought as far as that goes. To me, the "plot" is de-facto whatever the PCs are doing. I think inter-party character relations are one of the largest parts that make a game interesting. Otherwise I might as well be playing something like Skyrim since it crunches all of the numbers faster than I can by hand. I think what I'm trying to say is that while I enjoy RPGs to be part roleplaying and part strategy game, I value the roleplaying side more.

The system we're using, Dungeon World, facilitates this very well too. At character creation, each player chooses two "bonds" with other members of the party. The Barbarian and I have an interesting relationship because I have the bond, "Dornthu smells more like prey than predator." While he has the bond, "Fife cannot look after himself and so I must protect him." It's made this interesting dynamic where I think he's all bluster and no substance, while he keeps trying to shelter me from things he perceives as threats.

Last night's session, one of the best we had, we had this storyline that would have had a very different tone if Dornthu and I didn't have the relationship we do. We were in this town where my character was treated basically as a showpiece because he can turn into animals. We got involved with some seedy underground types who had dreams of basically capturing me and selling me as a circus attraction. While we were able to get out of that, it soured Fife's opinion of the people of the town. Since basically every interaction he had with people there was based on how said person could profit from him. So when this elven wild mage approached Fife and said he knew of a ritual to turn everyone in the town into animals and let nature retake the buildings, Fife was all on board. The other party members, decidedly less so. Especially Dornthu because of the aforementioned desire to protect me. He thought that this wild mage was just the creepiest guy setting off all sorts of red flags. I decided that being the impulsive little teenager I was, the party was all dumb and so I snuck off in the middle of the night to find the wild mage and perform the ritual. When I got there, the elven mage was predictably delighted. He started casting and sickly green energy starting pulsating all over the place, it made Fife feel very ill. He told me to complete the ritual, all I had to do was stand in the circle and transform. At this point, Fife decided that this whole thing felt off and that he wasn't quite so sure he wanted this kind of revenge any more. The mage got super angry and began making hostile motions towards Fife. Well Fife's plan A in threatening situations is "be a bear." So that's what I did. It was at this point that the wild mage revealed that his mastery over nature included the ability to mentally dominate animals, a category which I now fell under. It was at this point that the only party member who noticed my absence and tracked me burst through the door. It was Dornthu.

That was where we left off for the night, but the whole scene felt almost like a movie. I'm looking forward so much to next week and seeing how this changes Fife and Dornthu's relationship.
(As a side note, this story also came about from me taking you guys' advice so let me know what you think. :smallbiggrin:)


As for playing a character younger than yourself - remember that age doesn't say everything. People still have personality, and can be decidedly different even at the same age. Sadly I don't have much good advice there, even though as a GM I often have to portray NPCs of a variety of ages.

Being "raised by wolves" is a different story entirely, and I did in fact play a character like that once myself. He was very intelligent, but rather shy, not very good with language and prone to think in different ways to most other PCs.

As language goes, remember that your character might only know of ONE way a specific word is used. So whenever someone uses a word that could be misinterpreted, feel free to do so (remember to be logical about it). Also, if your character really hasn't been talking much in his life, talk slowly.

While your logical deduction might be flawless, your knowledge is limited, so you will lack a lot of context (or premises) to base your deductions on. Use very simple, logically sound, solutions to problems, that might only be "bad" if you know about other things that wasn't stated explicitly.

To use an example from my character, he was a mage in Ars Magica, belonging to a covenant far into Russia. When the church started to make an appearance there, causing problems for magic, his suggestion was simply to destroy the buildings and send the priests away. The other players thought that was a very bad idea, as the church was extremely powerful in other parts of Europe and might be provoked to start a war. My character didn't know that, so the suggestion made perfect sense for him.

Unfortunately I can't remember the other examples, but in general, base your solutions only on the knowledge that your character has, even if limited, while still being perfectly logical. I think that will help capture the "raised by wolves" feeling. Alright. I like this advice. It requires me to think about situations a bit differently. It's like the puzzle is less in putting the puzzle together and more in figuring out what pieces you can use and which ones you can't. I think I can do that. That sounds like a fun way to play.


I usually simulate less intelligent PCs by not paying as close attention as I might otherwise do (for low-wisdom), or make decisions before putting any thought at all into the decision (low int). I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy, so even when making snap decisions, it's rarely the wrong move, just not the best move.

Similarly, when playing a smarter character, you can go a long way with just taking more time to think things through then you really should have available to your character. Taking a whole minute to consider the actions of a single round, for example. It's not the best suggestion, but you can fit in a lot of thinking between rounds when other people are acting, which helps a lot. I'm a lot better at playing smarter characters. Fife has an Int of 13, which is the lowest I've played in a very long time. The next lowest I've played in recent memory was 16. Part of the reason I'm playing him is to break out of my rut. Though I think "low int" is fairly easy to play. Since Fife has what I view as slightly above average intelligence, I'm looking to find ways to play him that are more naive or immature rather than straight dumb. My hangup has been that I feel like I overshoot when trying to play that way and make Fife too child-like. Last session, I tried to throw a lot more independence in there, often to the point of, "You can't tell me what to do!" I think I liked the results. I'm going to try and refine that a bit and maybe I'll be able to slip into his character easier for small dialog moments once I get the hang of it.

USS Sorceror
2016-06-25, 12:18 AM
I've only ever played a child character once, a 10 year old Pokemon trainer. I was Int focused and therefore "bright for my age", so a lot of things (like a wide vocabulary) were justified. However, I had him be very trusting of adults and trying to encourage everybody to get along (because that's how his Ma raised him). Only serious time where age became a factor is when part of the story ran into basically a full day with no sleep and I justified my character's erratic behavior by saying it was past his bedtime.

As for a raised by wolves thing, the "alpha-wolf" narrative comes from non-related wolves being forced together. Since your character was raised by a family of wolves, he'll likely be more group focused and encourage working together. He may view your party as part of a family not dissimilar from his pack. This could lead to some interesting roleplay when you realize people do not act like wolves (which of course makes no sense).

Themrys
2016-06-25, 07:06 AM
I've been forced to play a 16 year old in one of my groups. Was only told that everyone starts at that age when the game had already started and I had made some decisions. Just decided to have my character develop a crush on the nearest attractive male - not that I did that at 16, but everyone knows teenagers do this, right? And the character is not me.

Perhaps base the character on other children of that age you knew when you were that age, if you were one of those kids who always acted like an adult with less life experience.

Âmesang
2016-06-25, 07:59 AM
I'm getting to the point where all of my characters are younger than myself. :smalleek: Granted I mostly play young adult humans 'cause I've always afraid of age creeping up (despite campaigns never lasting longer than a year or so in-game).

I smirked at the self-centered impulsive description 'cause that certainly matches one character of mine… but I imagine she'd be like that, regardless of age (yay aristocratic evil?). Otherwise the last time I can recall playing a young-minded character was a female human barbarian that could be described as a… track and field valley girl? More hyperactive excitable than angry ragey. :smalltongue:

Jay R
2016-06-25, 08:10 AM
When you make a slip, recognize it and turn it into a different kind of mistake, which a 14 year old might make. Assume he's misusing the word, for instance.

"Of course I know the word 'obfuscate'. I obfuscated out behind the barn just last night."

Âmesang
2016-06-25, 05:54 PM
"Yakko, can you conjugate?"
"Me? I've never even kissed a girl!"

2D8HP
2016-06-25, 06:32 PM
"Of course I know the word 'obfuscate'. I obfuscated out behind the barn just last night."

"Yakko, can you conjugate?"
"Me? I've never even kissed a girl!"
Good lord you guy's crack me up! :smallbiggrin:

goto124
2016-06-25, 08:58 PM
Otherwise the last time I can recall playing a young-minded character was a female human barbarian that could be described as a… track and field valley girl? More hyperactive excitable than angry ragey. :smalltongue:

That's my first character too! On hindsight, I was playing myself, so it probably doesn't count as "roleplaying a character younger than myself"... :smalltongue:

My mental age is rather young, I doubt I can ever actually do what the thread title suggests.

Âmesang
2016-06-25, 10:16 PM
She was based on a Nanman girl I made using the character creation mode in Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires (using Zhao Yun's spear).

I should rebuild her to include an elephant/mammoth mount. :smallamused:

TeChameleon
2016-06-26, 01:03 AM
That's every single character I play. I'm not very creative, and end up following what everyone else does anyway.

Do I make a character whose actions are decided by dice?

If you think that'll help... maybe make up a chart beforehand..? Clear it with the DM first, for sure. It might slow play down pretty badly if you aren't quick with it, though.

Mind you, when I said 'make an impulsive character'... uhm... I guess try and be the first to pick an action? A good way to encourage this, at least if you ever play in superhero games, is to play a speedster. Characters with high-grade superspeed are notoriously impatient- see here (http://s15.postimg.org/o3rbuva3v/tumblr_lqg1yg42ga1qbj79io1_500.jpg) for a pitch-perfect summation from Peter David's classic X-Factor run ('PMS' in this instance refers to 'Pietro Maximoff Syndrome', after the character's chronic impatience and irritability)- it's well in character for you to be rushing ahead and wanting everything to be happening at top speed, and the other players would more-or-less expect it.

... I suppose you could play a Quickling if you need to do it in a D&D setting? >.>

More on-topic, I've occasionally played characters quite a bit younger than myself- admittedly, mostly in free-form forum RPs because of the setting, but eh. Apparently I did it well enough once that the other players on the board thought I was fourteen for a while (I was in my mid-twenties at the time >.O).

Honestly, the fluctuating wildly between 'acting like a little kid' and 'acting more or less adult' sounds about right for a fourteen year old. From what I remember of being a fourteen-year-old boy, and experience working with kids and/or dealing with nephews, it's a bit of a weird age even without factoring in having literally been raised by wolves.

For one, your body no longer works the way it always has- in the space of a very short period of time, a kid can nearly double in both strength and mass, growing to the point that the whole world feels smaller than it should. Add in the fact that your voice has/is/will be changed/changing, and you can be left wondering if you're still... well, you.

And for another, thanks in large part to this rapid growth and the lovely hormonal near-imbalances that accompany it, your emotions no longer work right either. Half-crazed mood swings, increased aggressiveness, along with of course the whole raft of new, unfamiliar sensations...

So yeah. Swinging erratically from eight to twenty-something doesn't actually sound that far off the mark to me :smalltongue:

goto124
2016-06-26, 05:01 AM
Suddenly, I realize I have no idea how adults work. When I heard being unable to comprehend and prioritize long-term consequences wasn't normal, my first thought was "wait, it's not?"

Herobizkit
2016-06-26, 05:47 AM
A 'typical' 14-year old male.

* Puberty is runnin' wild. Teh "whatever sex you're into" is AWEsome.
* You know everything there is to know about everything, especially when you don't.
* You're basically invincible, so take risks... the more unnecessary the risk, the cooler you are.

And you were raised by wolves?

* Think like a wolf. The group is your 'pack'. The group has an 'Alpha'. You follow the Alpha's lead if you are not the Alpha.
* Talk in smaller words. More Dinobots/Captain Caveman, less well-read noble.
* If you can find it, there was a very well-done Jungle Book series by an Asian director...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX8N4HtnV9Q

Which shows Mowgli growing up with wolves.

Live by the Law of the Jungle, maaaan - eat or be eaten.

Lorsa
2016-06-26, 07:10 AM
Suddenly, I realize I have no idea how adults work. When I heard being unable to comprehend and prioritize long-term consequences wasn't normal, my first thought was "wait, it's not?"

Adults have no idea how adults work either. The definitions vary.

Personally I view being an adult as being able to control ones actions (or perhaps more to the point, taking responsibility for ones actions) along with the ability to care for others than oneself.

So, as long as you take responsibility for your actions, and take other people's feelings into account when making decisions, you can be as short-term as you like, as far as I'm concerned.

KillItWithFire
2016-06-26, 12:32 PM
A 'typical' 14-year old male.

* Puberty is runnin' wild. Teh "whatever sex you're into" is AWEsome.
* You know everything there is to know about everything, especially when you don't.
* You're basically invincible, so take risks... the more unnecessary the risk, the cooler you are.

And you were raised by wolves?

* Think like a wolf. The group is your 'pack'. The group has an 'Alpha'. You follow the Alpha's lead if you are not the Alpha.
* Talk in smaller words. More Dinobots/Captain Caveman, less well-read noble.
* If you can find it, there was a very well-done Jungle Book series by an Asian director...
You know, one of my first thoughts when coming up from this character was him base-jumping off a building and seeing just how long he could wait before turning into a bird. Given your 3rd bullet-point there I think I should find more opportunities to do things like that. The big disconnect between me and this character is that I am well-read, and cautious. It slips into my vernacular. Fife is neither of these things. It's hard because I'm starting to think that there's no one-stop answer to roleplaying a character like this. In general Fife is going to feel unjustly confidant or invincible, but then some of the more memorable stories where be the ones where he's forced into a position of fear or vulnerability. Knowing when you character is being pushed like that is hard to see I think. If we're being honest though, those moments are why I play roleplaying games. For a couple years now, I've held true to a very specific observation when dealing with roleplay characters: "Characters are going to have certain beliefs and world views. Our job as story-tellers (be us GMs or players) is to just go to town on those beliefs. Try as hard as we can to shatter them or prove them false. In response the character will do one of two things. They will either break or they will find the strength to continue holding onto that belief even when it seems impossible. Both answers are valid. Either way, they will be marked forever. These moments are what every roleplayer should strive to achieve."

I'm very abusive to my characters. :smalltongue: It's hard at times since they are my characters. I want to see them happy. I want to see them succeed. As a decent human being as well, it feels odd to have nigh complete control over someone's life and destiny and then use it to put unimaginable stress on them. Even if that character is fictitious, it feels uncomfortable. Returning to the topic though....

I'm going to try and see how roleplaying with the base assumption of "I'm always right" feels. I'm also going to try searching for an accent I can use when roleplaying Fife. When I'm forced to pay attention to my voice and how I'm speaking, it's a lot harder to speak like I would rather than Fife would. The pack mentality will be significantly easier since I've already been inadvertently playing that way due to my relationship with the barbarian. I imagine that the scenes where we are posturing up with each other are quite amusing to imagine, given that one of us is a scrawny uppity kid while the other is a huge stoic beefcake who wears nothing but tattoos from the waist up.


Adults have no idea how adults work either. The definitions vary.

Personally I view being an adult as being able to control ones actions (or perhaps more to the point, taking responsibility for ones actions) along with the ability to care for others than oneself.

So, as long as you take responsibility for your actions, and take other people's feelings into account when making decisions, you can be as short-term as you like, as far as I'm concerned. That being the case I know a great deal of people who are living in their own house and paying their own bills who are not adults.

2D8HP
2016-06-27, 01:19 AM
That being the case I know a great deal of people who are living in their own house and paying their own bills who are not adults.Having a post 25 year old brain that isn't as "plastic" as younger one (in DnD terms maybe less "intelligent)", but having less emotional swings, and more practice with controlling yourself despite strong emotions (in DnD terms more "wisdom"), are parts of being an adult. Just having enough money to pay bills? No I don't think so. In my book being an adult is more about taking on the burden of caring for others.
Someone who would fit alot of my criteria would for example be a Nurse who has raised children, is still supporting them and she is also caring for her elderly parents. While this didn't used to be true, I would say that in today's U.S.A. more women than men are "adults".
So in DnD terms I suppose the party healer, whether Cleric (most likely to be the "healer"), Bard, or Paladin.
If you still have some memory or observational talent, playing younger than yourself is relatively easy. Playing someone older is harder.
Role-playing a long lived race such as Dwarves or Elves well is tough unless you assume they are (in human terms) mental defective.

Lorsa
2016-06-27, 08:06 AM
That being the case I know a great deal of people who are living in their own house and paying their own bills who are not adults.

Or alternatively, people that do not and yet are.