The Art of RPG: Interacting with other characters

[Milo Ventimiglia]

xx. Character Action, Reaction and Interaction

In this thread, I am going to explain a few things about roleplaying:

xx. Getting into your character’s shoes and your character’s context/history.
xx. Setting the scene in intro posts.
xx. Reacting to another’s set scene/intro post with your own intro post.
xx. Reacting to another character’s appearance/situation.
xx. Reacting to a character’s actions.
xx. In general, reacting to things in someone else’s post which they have put effort into!

It's very annoying when the other writer ignores things in your post which are ridiculously obvious and should provoke a reaction!

Role-playing is all about taking the role of a character and looking through their eyes. It is about ‘being’ that character and responding to events, conflict and the environment through that character’s context. It’s also about interacting with other characters.

So why do so many people create characters who have almost no hope of interacting with others? ‘Loners’ or characters who are chained in a basement somewhere with no hope of escape without anyone else to interact with...this is just cutting out the reason for RPG.

For starters, let’s get into the basics. For anyone who has written a story involving characters, or who has done acting of any kind, this should make a lot of sense. For those of you who are beginning to write for the first time, don’t despair; there is a lot of fun to be had by learning about it.

xx. Character Action/Reaction

As noted above, part of role-playing is being able to step into the shoes of your character. When you create a realistic character, you give them a background, a history which shapes the way they react to the world around them. If your character had a happy childhood and a seamless life so far, chances are they will be emotionally stable, or fairly so with the general ups and downs of life. If they were, however, abused as a child and tortured horrifically by a criminal of some kind, they are going to react to things differently. For example, a woman is kidnapped as a ten-year-old and held hostage until she is sixteen. The man may have done bad things to her (note that we don’t want a graphic description of such things in your profile). This means she may cringe from men and have nightmares. She might also be very closed off, untrusting, and hardened. Similarly, if your character is or was a spy, they are going to be pretty cautious and also have a lot of secrets. If a dog savaged them as a kid, they might not like dogs (or they might; depends).

When you make a character, their age, gender, species/ethnicity, birthplace, health, the environment in which they grew up – it all affects how they live and act. You are creating a person. Think about people you know. Consider who they are today and how their background affects them. Television dramas and mainstream novels and films often simplify characterisations, but they are a good example to look at and you can draw certain connotations from what is shown to you, the reader. This gives your character depth.

So, you have created a character (read Alexia’s character creation page for more details on creating a character). They have depth, or so you think. Now you need to step into that character. Be them. Try to imagine yourself in their situation. If somebody throws a knife at your character, I’m pretty sure that most species would feel pain and would be afraid. Don’t just brush pain away. Don’t overdo it, either. If someone is chasing your character and they are a trained spy, chances are they will feel rather confident. However, if they are a young girl who isn’t street smart and somewhat naive, they probably won’t. They will likely be afraid, unless they are totally stupidly brave.

xx. Character Interaction
At some stage, your character is going to meet up with another character. Think of it this way: your characters are people who exist in a world agreed upon by both players and by the site creators. The world is added to every time someone roleplays in it, because there is enough flexibility to invent a coffee shop or a new technology or a new species. The world is further built upon by character relationships.

Make your character accessible.
This is important. Create a character whose situation allows them to bump into other people. Choose wisely when considering living arrangements, species, relationship status and occupation, as well as what friends they may have. A well-used cliché is the beloved ‘new to town’. That’s a great one because it means you as the writer can learn about the setting as you play and it also means your character is fairly open to meeting other characters! Other good ones include having your character get a new job, or caught as a slave, or perhaps going to buy a slave; that slave could be another character, or the master could be another character. The job opens up gates to meeting other characters and new opportunities. Perhaps the character is a rebel and hence meets with other rebels. Give your character an excuse to meet other characters. Read people’s profiles! See how you can fit in, and give them a friendly PM, asking them to plot with you. Be proactive - think of plots yourself, don’t let the other do all the work. Try to avoid one-off fight scenes unless it’s going to lead elsewhere, unless you enjoy writing random fights.

React to the other character.
The most annoying thing in RPG is when you’re writing a nice scene and the other writer comes by and crushes it when their character notices nothing about it. I’ve literally been in roleplays where my character is shape shifting into a wolf, and the other character doesn’t notice. She kept punching my character. She didn’t once stop and think ‘oh gee, my foe has fur and a tail and is growing large. Maybe I should change my fight plan.’ I also want to note that she had no prior knowledge to my character being a werewolf, so she would have been amply shocked!

When someone writes an introduction post, they often create setting They give a beautiful description of their surroundings, perhaps a little bit of their day, too. They woke up, they talked on the phone to their sibling, establishing the fact that they have a family, they went for a jog and read the paper (showing that they enjoy exercise and being informed), and maybe their car broke down on the way. Or maybe their master beat the crap out of them that morning and they show up on the scene scarred and bruised. The writer establishes the character’s appearance that day. Let’s go with the slave example. The character was beaten. Bit of a sob story, but this is a cruel world we’ve invented. Some people treat their slaves pretty poorly. It’s also a great example.

The setting is established. Middle of the street, by a jewellery store, it’s storming. Wonder City is in the Midwest, meaning it’s in the prime position for very large summer and spring thunderstorms which potentially cause tornadoes. It’s also a place which gets heavy snowfall and a lot of humidity. Lots of opportunity for creating a really nice scene there. Is there a parade on that day? Is it night time or day time? Be very specific so the other writer knows what’s going on. Is there a full moon out? What other people are around?
All of these things affect how the other character reacts and interacts. Firstly, that character is going to think ‘gee it’s raining, I better grab an umbrella, or I better not let my hair get wet, or my fur, or I hate the rain, or I love the rain. Better drive instead of running to the bus stop. Better wear a rain coat.’ Secondly, they’re going to have to have a reason for being in the street. Why are they there? Are they looking for an engagement ring? Or perhaps they want to buy a virtual reality console for their little brother? Maybe they’re trying to get home from work and their car broke down, so they have to walk it. Poor fool, in the rain or the driving snow, too! They’re gonna have some emotions about that. Talk about those emotions a little. Establish a personality and a situation!

Next thing they’re gonna do in an ideal RPG is bump into Character #1. Character #1 has been beaten by her master. She’s a girl, and she’s bruised, and she’s young. Perhaps she’s a witch. But maybe she’s some sort of crazy looking creature, which might provoke a reaction from Character #2. She has a collar, which identifies her as a slave. She’s wearing clothes with holes in them. Character #2 is a free person, for example. Let’s assume he is male and human and is sympathetic to the cause of non-human enslavement. He’s kind of attractive, wearing fairly nice clothes, has a good hairdo. Or maybe a horrible hairdo. He sees this young girl and feels instantly sorry for her. He notes the collar and instantly knows she is of non-human class, even if she looks totally human. He recognises that she has been beaten. Perhaps he helps her, if he feels safe enough doing so in a world that spits upon non-humans. Believe me when I say that there are people whose characters, during RPG, don’t notice huge bruises and welts on the other character’s face! Unless they are blind, they would notice.

Situation #2. The human man is NOT sympathetic to her cause and shoves past her. He notices the bruises and he thinks ‘good riddance, freak’. The girl cries to herself, is perhaps very upset.
Alternatively, she turns into a giant monster and attacks him. Fight scene! Collar malfunction! She has Berserker! It’s raining hard, so she slips on the footpath, or the rain melts her skin or something. There’s a parade on today, don’t forget! People stop to watch. And that brings us to...

Supporting Characters ‘NPCs’
Some people call them NPCs (non-playable-characters). They are also termed supporting characters. These characters are generally characters who you don’t play on a regular basis but who support the story or the scene. For example, my character Max has a brother named Don and a sister-in-law, Don’s wife, named Theresa. They have back histories, descriptions and are often mentioned and have dialogue. Max also has a best friend named George. Sometimes, I play George by himself, but Max is my main character and George is the supporting character. Max’s friendly master also appears quite a bit.
To a lesser extent, other support characters support a scene. The guy behind the counter at the coffee joint. The weird snarly lady at the entrance of Wal-Mart who checks your bags and causes trouble for no reason (true story). The creepy guy with the English accent. Policemen. Scientists. Slave traders. People on the street. Anyone else who is present in the scene.

Anyway. In the scenario where the girl turns into a monster, the police might appear on the scene. You can give them dialogue and such, and they can create a richer role-play experience. Both players can play these police. They may drag the human in for questioning and tranquilise the monster girl. Both might also play the girl’s master, or the person playing the girl might exclusively play him or her.

I hope this has shed some light on role-playing. I think the main idea here is that characters should be somewhat believable, even in a fantasy world, and you as a writer should pay attention to what the other person is writing. The writer setting the scene at the beginning has a responsibility also to be unambiguous about their post.