What Draws You To Your Character?

[eightfoldfiend]

Hey, it's a not-meme.

One thing I always find fascinating in this hobby is what draws people to the characters they play so this is me asking you that.

What drew you to your characters? What do you find fun about them? What aspects of them do you find easy or difficult?

For OCs, talk about how you came up with the idea for them and why you wanted to give them a spin in this hobby.

Read, converse, ask questions!

You can answer in list form, prose form, whatever form you're most comfortable with and with as much or as little detail as you want.

Comments

[lastexit]

The two pithy one liners to describe my general lean is "I like broken things" and "Surprisingly well adjusted all things considered." I don't generally lean toward playing characters who actively want to cause harm, but more characters who have gotten so lost in themselves they cause harm by accident.

Someone looking for a way out of their own dark woods. Generally I also like having a better grounding in the characters social desires and establishments than their action/adventure chops. Which is why I play from a lot more mundane dramas than I do action adventure anime/manga/movies.

[eightfoldfiend]

Honestly that sort of internal struggle and drama can be a lot of fun to play with and think about when it comes to how a character interacts with the world and the people in it.

[hitokiri]

OH SHIT I LOVE THIS OK HAHA

Jongdae was originally just a shitpost character lmao. I used to play a very serious, very buttoned up character back in a time where our MMO RP had a very large and active twitter RP community (as in all the OCs in the game and even the company-played lore characters had IC twitter accounts) and I wanted a character to shitpost in that environment and so I came up with Jongdae.

Also a friend of mine at the time wanted to RP specifically as our characters working for a faction you can't technically be a part of (Orochi) but they could be ICly and I didn't want to play like an agent type deal so I ended up coming up with the whole test subject bit and it kind of just blew up from there. I really like playing characters who are a bit of a blank slate and get to explore. He's difficult only when I can't really find the energy for his voice and occasionally when I dig into more emotional stuff with him but mostly because his backstory can get pretty heavy and that's more an OOC concern of mine that I don't want to make other people have to put up with that much haha. I have to make sure I have a clear green light before I'll unload all the traumatic deep lore on someone lmao.

Which brings me to Ledo because he's almost exactly the same way! For a long time I didn't think I could RP Ledo and Jongdae both because I thought they were too similar (because they look alike and both have that "no real world experiences" backstory thing) but I'm an idiot and they're really? ??? NOT AT ALL ALIKE ???

I have a lot of fun thinking about how he'll perceive something or react to something new and even more than Jongdae he is just... purely the product of his CR and experiences and I think that's what I have the most fun with with this kind of character and I especially love getting to have CR with unusual characters or odd situations I never could have imagined or planned for! I also really like fight-y boys with a good heart who may or may not have committed some atrocities hehe.

Which brings me to my latest which is Izō who I literally in the past week or so was just like ???? why am I so obsessed with this idiot. Because he didn't seem like my type AT ALL other than the fact that my original draw to him was that I liked his look and I love asshole types lmao. Digging into his story though I can see where the hooks are for me. It's super fun just to write how he is with his attitude and how he speaks — which with the newness of his voice is still tricky for me and I second guess myself CONSTANTLY — but also I'm looking forward to getting to explore his issues (trust issues... betrayals... etc.) and also I can't lie, I have a soft spot for self-destructive types and people who cope badly as that basically describes every character I've ever played but Izō is especially both of those things.

Give me all the trauma boys hhhhhh.

[eightfoldfiend]

Look trauma boys are the best, just saying.

And I appreciate that Jongdae started as a shitpost character. Honestly my Warrior of Light OC from FFXIV started the same way, lol.

The Luminary | Dragon Quest XI

[luminatus]

What actually compelled me to RP this guy was frustration. Dragon Quest games always feature voiceless, "blank" heroes that you are supposed to project yourself onto. This was hard in DQ11 since it is very much the Luminary's story and his history and relationships form the backbone of the plot.

But he doesn't speak.

The game does show him talk as a child in flashbacks and the way the party reacts to him indicates a character who could be amusingly playful and mischievous but gravely serious when needed. Since the game didn't want to explore this, I decided I would!

Playing with his voice, imagining how his personality works based on the (substantial) hints given in the game, etc is very fun but also the hardest part of playing him. I want to do him justice and it can be complicated when everything about a character BUT the nuances of his personality are known!

Yuber | Suikoden

[eightfoldfiend]

I feel like many fans of Yuber had the same journey:

1) find him mysterious in Suikoden I/II
2) when we see his face have the inevitable reaction of "Oh, no, he's hot!"...
3) ...and he's so cold and badass!
4) then you win a fight against him and he complains loudly and calls you a cheater. And you laugh.

Honestly though if all there was to Yuber was "murder and mayhem" I wouldn't have found him compelling enough to pick up. What makes him compelling is wondering why he is the way he is. This is a question his canon never fully answers because it kinda...stopped (he's like a flip of the Luminary. Everything about the Luminary's past and his whole deal is known but his personality is blank. Yuber's personality and motives are known but his past is mostly a black box).

From in game clues and dev interviews we know: He's very old, he has been chased across worlds by Pesmerga (whose name comes from Peshmerga meaning "to stand in front of death"), he is a living embodiment of chaos, he has a True Rune that is the Rune of Chaos, he HATES True Runes, he feels that killing the Runes will end his own suffering, he feels that killing Rune Bearers will end their suffering, when he kills he is sure to do it quickly but gruesomely so his victims feel immense fear but never get the chance to feel pain (this bit is less true in the manga, though).

Somewhere in that mess is a very, VERY interesting character. In RP I like to explore these sides of him while also of course making him gross, terrible and cruel. Because I love playing villains and enjoy giving other players some drama to bounce off of. I've played villains for ages.

The most difficult part of Yuber is always wondering if I'm doing it right. I am not new to Suikoden but I am very new to playing him. Relying so much on deep lore so I can avoid pure headcanon as much as possible is also awkward. Who knows if half that stuff was ever going to actually make it into the games? At the same time, though, it's very fun to think about.

Re: Yuber | Suikoden

[markedfordeath]

Number 1-4 are so true haha!

I love LOVE how much you've researched and dedication for his character. We haven't had much chance to RP together yet but I do look forward to doing so again in the future.

I wish there was more info about Pesmerga urgh.

Claude von Riegan | Fire Emblem: Three Houses

[leicesters]

I kiiind of fell into rping Claude by accident! I was initially interested in FE3H with the intention of playing the Black Eagles (Edelgard's) route first since I didn't know much of anything about the game and she seemed the most appealing to me... and then I actually started the game and found Claude immediately likeable, and had to pick his house instead. He's very funny, laidback and witty, and I enjoy characters who never seem to take anything too seriously -- probably not a surprise for those who remember I played Nero (Devil May Cry) here before. They're fun to write and to dunk on, and I hope the threads that make me smile or laugh do the same for others too :')

That said without getting too bogged down in the story or lore of 3H I also found the route to be my favourite overall having played the rest, and I genuinely admire Claude's goals and core beliefs. He's sketchy and manipulative, but he's also deeply idealistic and committed to doing what he believes is the right thing for everyone. Given my own background (I've studied politics and have an MA in International Relations), it was probably only a matter of time before I actually wrote a politician myself... GROSS.

ANYWAY despite all those things I love about Claude, and I would say he's definitely my favourite, there are plenty of others I love in the 3H cast too! I very nearly apped Mercedes here instead as she's a close runner-up fave, but I was talked into bringing Claude.

If I had to pick what I find difficult about playing him, it's mostly that he feels the need to be up in everyone's business, always scheming to make sure things turn out in his favour and learning All The Things. It's fun to play but also a lot to keep on top of.

[eightfoldfiend]

Isn't it a fun surprise when you engage with a story thinking you'll pick up one character and end up picking another that suits even better?

Tsuna and Din

[theskyaccepts]

Tsuna

So, basically, way back when KHR was big, I dabbed with picking up Tsuna. But I wasn't exactly prepared to pick up a Shonen Protag at the time and kind of fell off the KHR train (mostly because I'm bad at keeping up with scanlations). Fast forward to I guess about a year ago? (what is time even?) I'm watching the KHR anime (all 203 episodes of it), and decide to re-read the manga and actually finish it this time, and Tsuna came back.

I love shonen, and there's something about Tsuna that just delights me. He's not super gung-ho about his lot in life, he's a weenie, and the perpetual straight-man to the chaos that he faces. But there's still an undercurrent of leadership and a willingness to protect his friends that people react to and that I love. I like characters who have those layered facets that show up when the chips are down, and Tsuna's one of those.

And also just the fact that KHR started as a gag manga which means I'm allowed to play with the ridiculous, which is another thing that I love. One day we'll touch on more of the serious aspects.

Din

And we go from Shonen Protag to Very Tired Adult. And the fact that I like dudes in armour (thanks RvB). But seriously, the fact that Din is able to contrast Tsuna so well is nice and gives me a fun balance.

The Mandalorian kind of re-ignited my love of Star Wars and there's just something really fascinating about this loner character who ends up looking after a kid and wandering the galaxy having adventures and making friends/allies along the way. I like how he's begrudgingly helpful, can basically make friends with anyone because of that, and just gives off this aura of really needing a nap but still going to continue on. I didn't really intend for him to show up as a muse, but there he was and he's been fun to play.

It's a little difficult since he's a cagey character who doesn't take off his armour and is reluctant to give out a lot of information about himself, but hopefully I'm able to get across the little details. One day, someone will learn his name.

Kadoc Zemlupus | Fate/Grand Order | SPOILERS for the Lostbelt arc/FGO part 2

[impostorsyndrome]

I have a lot of answers to this because I love Kadoc for a lot of reasons! I love pathetic characters, and he definitely is one of those, and I love characters with complicated and flawed motivations; I love characters who are so caught up in their own shit and the situation they grew up in that they go off the rails onto a completely unacceptable way forward that they can't extract themselves from without serious intervention, especially if they have some self-awareness of this and know they need help. Kadoc specifically feels like a callback to some themes in earlier Fate/ installments that I've also really enjoyed and played with in RP or wanted to play with, but haven't found as easy to dive into because they were more extreme and difficult to bring into a game setting. He's like a somewhat more nuanced and less problematic version of some earlier concepts I liked, lol.

Maybe even above all that, though, one of my favorite narrative types is the exploration of "what comes next" after a story ends in some dramatic and final way. Kadoc's story is very much that one: the whole point of him is that he was a "protagonist" who, from his perspective, had been set up for years to become a main character and live a worthwhile existence, and then he's unceremoniously killed the second before the legend begins, and his entire "story" ends up being a pointless anticlimax. And when he's given the chance to rectify that, even though it involves aligning himself with an unforgivable cause, he can't not take it. It's both completely understandable and completely beyond the pale in terms of betrayal, and Kadoc himself is aware of this and has complicated feelings accordingly. And then after that . . . he ends up repeatedly in the position of "this is where my story should have ended, but it's not yet," and he keeps having to decide how to move forward from breaking points he was expecting to finally be It. He's a guy who died and made some fucked up decisions to go on living, and now it turns out he's just going to keep going on living, despite his expectations. Him learning how to cope with that and deciding what he wants to do every time he's cut off from the path he was on and forced to choose a new one is fascinating to me both in canon and in roleplay. I love characters having to deal with the fallout of their own stories, the things that happen after the closing scene.

I also like characters with piercings!! 👌

OKAY I'M BACK HOURS LATER TO ADD SOME MORE I MISSED

Kadoc is a blast to play—he's actually, while not entirely outside my usual type, somewhat outside it, because believe it or not I tend to play a lot of stupid and/or egotistical characters with supreme confidence, unearned or otherwise. Kadoc is the opposite of that! But it's fun sometimes to play the one who kind of needs to be dragged along because generally I love playing off that type, and also Kadoc has enough nuance to his personality that he has checks in place for most of his harder to play traits, in a sense. He's diffident and withdrawn but also cares about people's wellbeing; he's extremely passive in some senses but is very driven to achieve goals when he has them; he's prickly and pessimistic and gloomy but is self-aware of this and dislikes it as a character trait, so he can and will self-correct. It's nice to have a character who has those aspects but in a way where they can add flavor to threads and guide his actions rather than standing as roadblocks to CR and development. I can get away with most things with him because while he struggles with his issues a lot, he's not static or set in his ways. He's aware and developing and capable of making the right choice (for fun CR, lol).

I think the hardest part of playing him is dealing with Fate/ canon shit lmao, like, it's rough on me because throughout this franchise I am almost always a fan of the Masters over the Servants (though I have and play fave Servants too!) but playing a Master/Mage means having some level of understanding of how the 'verse works, to varying degrees. And Kadoc is the kind of mage who did actually grow up in mage society and is very studied, and would understand all this obscure, opaque lore shit, and I am having to constantly stop and look things up and process them through his perspective. It is a HUGE and complicated universe and even when it comes to simple questions like "what kinds of spells can Kadoc even do outside of Avalon, when he has his normal magic": I don't fuckin know! Who knows! Magic is hard in Fate! In that sense it's nice playing him nerfed because I don't have to worry about it here, but when it comes up in conversation or narration, I cry,

[silvergarden]

Omg that last point, I'm feeling for you so hard lmao. I crawled through the Fate wiki after threading with you a few times and came out more confused than i was going in HAHAHAh

Darin Altway | Original Character

[forgeabettertomorrow]

So, the short version is that I've been writing/developing Darin for almost twenty years.

When I first created him, he was a shameless DBZ ripoff because that's what was big in states at the time. DBZ was airing on Toonami and anime was becoming mainstream. At the time, my parents were going through a really REALLY messy divorce and I was twelve years old and got caught in the middle due to bad choices on both of my parents' parts. As much as I loved DBZ at the time, it wasn't exactly known for its super strong writing or interesting plot beats but I always loved the characters that always got back up, no matter how badly they were beaten down. At the time, I needed characters like that in my life and Darin became that: a mantra that no matter how bad things got, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. That someday things will get better.

His backstory fluctuated a lot in the early days. He obviously went through the dreaded DeviantArt OC growing pains. As I got older and got more into the rp hobby and writing in general, I'd always return to Darin to flesh out his story and his world more and more. Eventually, I hit on the concept of 'perspective' and how something can seem one way to so many people, but all it takes is one person to see the other side of the situation to create a bridge. Most people are always so quick to judge or to see what other people see that most people don't even bother to look at other facets of things, and that's where I started putting my focus on Darin; someone who not only got back up no matter what life hit him with, but always sought to find the perspective that others missed. It wound up giving him such a unique and insightful thought process, even though so many people can write him off as an idiot. And that's what I wound of focusing on and fleshing out.

Truth be told, I've always wanted to tell Darin's story in some form of medium. When I was a kid, it was a video game, but now, I'd love to find a way to animate his story. But for me, rping with him has really helped me flesh out smaller details about him, as well as throw him into a variety of situations that just normally never would have arisen.

In the end, what started out as a coping mechanism had evolved into something much more. He's still near and dear to my heart and I don't know if I would have made it through all of those painful years without being able to create him and remind myself that, no matter what, I just have to keep getting back up and eventually I'll find my happy ending.

[eightfoldfiend]

I haven't RPed with Darin but I've been watching him and I really do love how you play with his perspectives on things and let threads go from drama to silly and back again. He seems like a very well thought out character to me.

If a graphic novel were made about his adventures, I'd read it.

Chara and Shadow

[corruptedsave]

I'm just going to be honest and say it;

I like playing characters with shitty pasts and who are either closed off because of it (Shadow) or huge shitlords (Chara). It's really nothing deeper than that.

[eightfoldfiend]

Honestly I am drawn to those types too so...respect!

gareth 🐺 fate

[beaumains]

(splitting these into three top levels so as they don't just blend together)

so like with most characters i've RP'd over the years, the first impression of Gareth's design and personality is what drew me too her. she reminded me immediately of a character i'd really loved in Suikoden III (Cecile) and i decided to look further into her.

well. cue the combination of type-moon's panache for depressing stories with the tragedy of arthurian lore and suddenly i was even more invested in her because i am nothing if not a sucker for deeply tragic characters that managed their positivity despite all the hardship they face. but of course Nasu didn't stop there, as i also read the Fate Grand Order; Camelot Zero short story she's a featured character in and that just twisted the knife even further. without spoiling too much i'll just say there's a reason Gareth wasn't featured in the Camelot Singularity proper. oof.

Gareth's sense of self, her identity as a Knight and what that means to her, her ultimate goal of "being a knight who protects people", all provide for some fascinating writing opportunities. and tbh it can be difficult sorting through the tragic bits to strike that balance between her chipper personality and the background radiation of her despair. but god, it's been worth it, especially in this game. i'm super grateful for the opportunities her CR has provided to explore with her.

and of course she's part of the ongoing FGO story even in japan right now and is sending up death flags so i guess this is a Prepare To Cry Edition.

baiken 💀 guilty gear

[garyoutensei]

(splitting these into three top levels so as they don't just blend together)

so Guilty Gear came out when i was in middle school and deeply obsessed with samurai, so of course the super anime fighting game (i also have a lifelong love of fighting games) having a samurai character was an instant draw for me and she became the first character in a franchise i have loved ever since that truly drew me in. the fact that she was one-armed and used unconventional hidden weapons to make up for her disability was great, too.

further deep diving into the character of the years revealed she was heavily influenced by Tange Sazen, a character from several "samurai vengeance" movies. if you've ever watched a post-modern western and have been enamoured with dark tales of revenge and tragedy, well boy is that a genre for you. and Baiken's own story is rife with material for that.

the biggest challenge with her is that DWRP is, by nature, driven by social interactions and Baiken doesn't lend herself well to those most of the time. she's often aloof and unconcerned with the lives of others (or at least pretends to be). so sometimes i need to stretch her a little bit to get her to actually "yes, and" some folks and give something to write off of besides a stoic wall. thankfully her personality actually does soften some in Guilty Gear Xrd, seen most keenly in her blossoming friendship with another character, May.

overall, i feel a character that comes from such a bloody, traumatizing background struggling to find meaning in her life and a reason to persist without falling into lethargic depression is great material to work with. her revenge focus, and treatment of herself as already "half dead" provides a contrast for a ton of characters to wedge against, too.

oda kipposhi 🔥 fate/

[owarifool]

(splitting these into three top levels so as they don't just blend together)

so imma be real with you, like yeah cool character design was a drawing factor, but i'm not gonna lie and pretend The Gender wasn't an attractive thing about this character, either.

kipposhi is canonly trans-masc (non-binary, uses masculine self-address), and as someone who's had a lot of their own gender struggles, there's something really drawing about a character who handles it the way he does, embracing a sort of... very different masculinity that is at both times enviable and admirable. Kipposhi himself has a lot of interesting facets to him the other Fate Nobunagas lack, and it just further draws me to him.

he's hopelessly earnest despite his big chuuni energy. he is remarkably honest about how rough his life has been, but also tacitly understand and has the need for people to think of him as this great conquerer, because his entire existence formed around it, and being the "young" Nobunaga, you get to see the root of what inspired his ambitions to begin with, what the Fool of Owari really was, or at least could have been.

obviously some challenges come with this; as an irregular anomalous character, he's not going to get the screen time regular Fate Nobunaga gets in their various appearances, and i have to fill in a lot of blanks, but thankfully i'm still kind of a fiend for samurai history and i'll never complain about having to deep dive into the live of Oda Nobunaga.

i think his wild personality throws a lot of other characters off guard, and "off guard" is probably the best state to be in in order to build good CR. love that about him.

Elza | Suikoden 2 tl;Dr + abridged background

[markedfordeath]

Suikoden 2 was the first suiko game I ever played. I was actually living in the Philippines at the time and going on a ps1/2 buying frenzy. I only picked it up because it had great art on the cover and not because I knew what it was. Then I played it and it was all over from that moment on. From that first play through I was taken by Elza's character the moment Riou runs into her in Muse. I actually picked up two other Suiko characters to RP first before settling on Elza and have never looked back.

It was the mystery of her character, her artwork, and her connection to Clive that were initially all winning factors. Then Suikogaiden came out which fleshed out Elza and her background more and that was it.

For such a minor character in the game, she has so much story, tragedy and emotion rolled into it. Let's face it, how many of us suiko gamers actually completed Clive's sub quest whenever they play Suikoden 2? I've done it once in my many play through just to say I've done it (thank you YouTube lol).

I have really enjoyed playing her. I don't know if I play her too complex or not, I'm always wondering if I am, but it's honestly the way that I've read and try to portray her character. She's serious, she can be a troll, she rarely cares or feels emotional about anything but when she does she feels it intensely despite the fact she doesn't outwardly show it. I love how dedicated she is as well to those people she cares deeply for even if it's too her complete detriment. She could have lived an entire life but if she did then it meant that Clive could never go home. Elza simply couldn't live such a life knowing someone she cared for was in such a position. I think, for me, the point that sold Elza for me was her and Clive's last meeting in Muse where it became obvious to Elza that she couldn't talk him away from life with the Guild and how much he needed it. Clive meant the world to her and he ultimately chose the Guild. She had nothing left to live for after that and her decision to end everything for him was her way of attoning for her grief and sin of killing Kelley. That's why I took her from a point where she had Sturm in her possession just after getting shot by Clive. I felt she needed something anchoring her to surviving and give her a goal that she'll eventually want to do - participate in order to return Sturm to Clive and let his future unfold.

The biggest difficulties I have with her would be the fact that she's a recluse for starters. She spent the last 5+ years on the run and in hiding. Before then she lived in an assassins guild with only other (not very chatty) assassins as company and let's face it, how many of them were batshit crazy due to growing up in the Guild?

Secondly she skirted getting involved in two major wars despite having quite a bit to do with the Suiko 2 hero Riou. So the way I see is she is against all the establishments after Guild backstabbery, death and betrayal every left-right-and-centre in her life and doesn't have an interest in trusting anyone else.

[eightfoldfiend]

"I don't know if I play her too complex or not, I'm always wondering if I am, but it's honestly the way that I've read and try to portray her character."

I feel this so much, especially with this guy. But the way I see it injecting some complexity into side characters based on extrapolation is part of the fun of RP. It's also pretty much necessary with a canon like Suikoden which has a shit million characters in it with vibrant personalities but not too much background lore.

[imperfectwish]

Honestly? I was drawn to Machi because of her problems with perfection. I've got a past with feeling like if I can't do something perfectly right at the start then why even try. It wasn't until I got older that I even began to give myself the permission to make mistakes and not feel like a total failure because of them.

That drive makes you anxious. It makes you fretful. It makes you hate yourself in some ways too. I can totally see that and empathize with all of that in Machi.

I also really, really admired her desire to change. That's where I got the username from - Machi's "imperfect wish" in my view was to change. She had seen Yuki slowly change from afar and was amazed by it, thought to herself and hoped quietly that 'if he can change, maybe I could too'.

It's so easy to get stuck in a rut and to like Machi see yourself as an unchanging thing, a broken doll with no way of becoming human. It's so easy to give into that and not even try to change when it feels so insurmountable and overwhelming. But she wants to and she wishes to and I really love that about her.

What I love the most about RP (chiefly in games like Avalon) is being able to look at a character's personality, their background, how that all fits together. How their background shapes who they are and then how the experiences of canon further shapes them. And then once they end up in a game I love seeing them grow based on those traits, love watching them form new relationships and consider new perspectives and all that.

Call it part wish fulfilment, haha. I sometimes have characters that I just want to put in better life circumstances so they can grow into the type of person I think they could become in the future.

Rinea | FE Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

[silvergarden]

FE Echoes ended up being my favorite FE title-- I adore lots of its characters, and Rinea is no exception. As a side character, Rinea doesn't get as many speaking lines as the other characters, but I really enjoy drawing conclusions about who she is as a person from the lines we do get from her. For example, Rinea is from a country overseen by the militaristic God of Strength, and she is engaged to the prince of the country whose reputation is entirely dependent on war triumphs-- and she still manages to say that war is horrible to his FACE!!! I love what that says about her and just how close of a relationship she has with her fiancé. For all her gentle demeanor and nervous fretting, she still has some boldness under there after all.

Also, her design is lovely (i owe Hidari my life) and gentle shoujo-style princesses are my type. I will not pretend that Rinea being cute isn't a factor 😂😂

I was drawn to roleplaying Rinea specifically because I think the hand she's dealt in the game is sad, unfortunate, and avoidable-- so i wanted to give her more of a chance at happiness. It was actually a tossup for me between playing her or her fiancé, but I went with Rinea over him because she deserves it more. and because Berkut is a jerk and i already had one rude character in game and I was paranoid that two of them would make me come off as mean LMFAOOOOO

As for difficulties... In game, Rinea only appears in scenes with her fiance, so extrapolating her sense of self away from him is tough (both OOCly for me, and ICly for her lmao). It's super fun at the same time, of course! But there's always an element of "i have No idea how rinea would react to this."
The easy part is the culture shock jokes and making up Rigelian noble culture. I read so many fantasy-victorian webtoons and manga, it's like second nature at this point LMFAOOO

[eightfoldfiend]

I feel like extrapolating from existing canon to figure out how side characters might work is a lot of fun. And in RP it's often necessary.

It definitely sounds like Rinea could be tricky due to being tied up with another character in her canon but it also sounds like a very interesting thing to explore.

Hawk | Ys IX: Monstrum Nox

[notquitetamed]

So probably the first thing I should mention is that I've been into the Ys series for decades now. Played my first game in the series back in the early 90s on the SNES and loved it. So me being hooked on the series is nothing new and I've actually RPed characters from various installments before.

So it's probably not a huge surprise that I did indeed check out the early gameplay videos for the newest installment. Even if those were for the Japanese release, it was finally becoming a given that we'd get the newest game in time. Definitely loved Hawk's design from the start. I fully admit, I have a thing for black wings. Had a feeling he'd end up being a favorite, but interesting design isn't fully what draws me.

What clinched me deciding to RP him somewhere (and actually joining a game for the first time in a long time as a result) was his overall character. He's a type I do really enjoy playing. But what really drew me was the sheer complexity of his personality and character. At first he seems to be a simple overly violent type of person. You get plenty of rumors about the shit he's done in Balduq. But once he joins up, the player starts to realize there's more to this and it's clear much of what is said is exaggerated at best, outright lies at worst. It became fun to try and figure out what was actually the truth. On top of that his interactions with others were funny because he's the sort who definitely enjoys riling people up. He teases, he plays pranks, he trolls and so on. All stuff that could be very fun in RP, plus lots of room for development. Even more so in a place that screws with him because he's not used to people being inclined to be nice. He's used to people coming up with some reason to hate him so all you people confuse the hell out of him.

[eightfoldfiend]

Trolls are so much fun, I swear.

Even when I'm not playing a villain I like to play characters who have some sort of element to them that could rile other characters up. It can create such excellent CR and sometimes very complicated CR. Which is my jam.

In Avalon what is your favorite aspect of Hawk's personality to explore?

Rei Amayado | Hypnosis Mic

[groundzeroes]

When Rei was first introduced (by name) to Hypmic, I was actually supremely uninterested. All we had was a png of him with his obscuring hat and glasses, and he was also Much older than the rest of the cast. He was a strange addition to a mostly-bishounen series, and easy to gloss over at the same time.

Then I made so many jokes about him that I got attached and now I'm a full-blown ossan fucker the end

FGDKDFKLDF NO BUT LITERALLY THOUGH i started finding his existence in the series so utterly hysterical that I got interested in why he was there, and started paying attention to all his subtleties. It turns out Rei is actually pretty essential to the plot in a background sense, and most of his easy-breezy "selfish conman" persona is a front. He's also the type of person who's willing to play (and is playing) up a villain role to achieve his goals, but still honestly likes people, and so he has to balance those factors with every personal interaction he makes. And I just think those types of characters are NEAT! So here we are!!!!! Old man time!!!!!!!!

Difficulties: I'm gonna be honest, playing Rei is hard as fuck lol. I second-guess myself a lot because he doesn't come naturally, but I like him too much to give up!! Also it's really fun even if it's a challenge!!!!
Other problems are:

There is SO much we still don't know about Rei. Which means that no matter how close he gets with other characters here, I am literally unable to let him reveal much about himself unless I want to risk getting severely jossed, lmao. I'm sorry to all his CR HAHAHAHH

[eightfoldfiend]

I do not know Hypnosis Mic but I can say I really love this character's aesthetic.

And I feel personally called out by that screenshot.

Princess Allura | Voltron: Legendary Defender

[patchricide]

What initially drew me to Allura isn't what draws me to her now. Originally, I thought she was a very cool reimagining of the character from the original Voltron, visually. And I also really liked how she as a character seemed downright eager to get involved in the action. What really solidified my interest was when we got to see some of what makes her tick in the first season episode Crystal Venom, where she made some big sacrifices for the sake of saving the ship and the rest of the team. She had a massive strength of will, but she clearly still had a lot of room for character growth, and I was so eager to see what they did with her.

And... they did her so dirty. If you know anything about VLD, you probably heard how they did her dirty. Nowadays, what draws me is exploring the new directions that can be taken with her character, and filling in my own blanks on the things they never really explored.

I love how there's so many facets to her personality. It makes her feel like a cohesive whole, like a full personality (if not a self-actualized one), and I find it easy to get inside her head. In particular, I love that she can have a lot of cute or dorky moments, but she still retains a sense of elegance and strength.

The most challenging thing about her... is probably maintaining the balance to different parts of her. For example, I love playing up her alien nature, and the culture shock of someone from a different time and space. But I have to balance it with her more relatable elements, the ways in which she's very human at heart. Honestly, though? I like it, it makes it all the more satisfying when I feel like I'm doing her justice.

Homura | Senran Kagura

[crimsongirl]

What drew me to Homura?

I wasn't originally drawn to Homura at first. But over time, as I started to think about the plot more and more, I was drawn to playing her. I guess I'm drawn to characters with tragedy, but more with stuff I can relate to. Plus with wanting to play a more active character, someone who emotes much easier than the like of Hei or the Demi-Fiend, she suddenly became one of my favorite characters to play.

That said, her fierce attitude combined with dorkiness shown off later in the Hebijo story of Senran Kagura truly made her my go to character. I had to play that route at least five times, and I still enjoy it each time I go through it. The way Homura interacts with her team, from leadership skills, to learning to accept them as friends, to even helping people like Mirai with their issues while dealing with her own personal problems was all good stuff.

Though that's not the only reason. Her canon hasn't been kind to her lately, as it seems to ignore her accomplishments and treat her like too much like an idiot; she's not the only one to go through such a phase. I mean I love her being a dork, but it kinda went too far in some places; don't get me started on Shinovi Master. So RPing her, I kinda wanted to bring back her strengths. While she never attended high school, she is trained to kill strong shinobi and Yoma, has leadership experience, etc. At least in this game, she can try to build herself back up while helping others. And possibly improve over time too.

What do I find fun about Homura?

Her connections to others and how they are surprisingly easy to form thanks to her current canon. Homura being a dork also helps add to all of this. Because of her attitude, she is able to get along with those like Caster and not fully judge them for their past, considering what she herself went through. And because of her own failings and development, she's more than willing to try and get others back on the path they want, make them stronger too. There's more than just some dork who loves to fight. Granted, I also love those parts too; it's why she has been training and doing almost nothing else here besides quests.

What aspects do I find easy or difficult?

Ninja tools, the martial arts she knows, the extent of her abilities and scaling them to "normal levels" and a bunch of other stuff. I did do some research, but also trying to keep things balanced can be hard to think of. Her past is also kinda difficult to get a good grasp on, so I had to look at her fears and strengths to guess how her previous family treated/trained her. I'm also afraid of stepping on toes of others too much, but that's a general RP fear I have yet to conquer. Also in trying to find a suitable fighting style now that she lacks all six swords; I will try and work for regains for them one day.

What I find easy....well she can be blunt and usually isn't afraid to hold back her words. Plus given her dork status, it does allow some leeway for dumber stuff, like getting drunk at a certain party, or antics around her familiar and the Saber doll.

Emet-Selch | Final Fantasy XIV

[emet_sulk]

Unfortunately many of the specific reasons I was drawn to Emet are spoilers for the Shadowbringers expansion of this MMO. What I can say is that Emet is as far removed from a two-dimensional villain as one can get and carries a great deal of complexity in his character and motivations. I tend to be drawn to such people: ones who are morally grey or have a perspective that is slightly at odds with what one may consider "good" or "evil". Emet fulfils this perfectly and, unlike the other guy I had been toying with RPing, has a past which has a lot of freedom to work with.

Had I brought Emet into this game without his previous game's CR, he would be presenting himself quite differently to the people of Avalon. I wager quite a few people have realised from our threads (if they aren't canon familiar) that it's hard to see the villainous side of him when it's not a villainous motive which drives him. Removed from the factors and context which make him an enemy, he's actually quite...normal. This motivation is what I really like about him and the other characters I play, because I don't believe that the sorts of people who go on to change the world in such vast ways act on a vulgar, simple emotion like greed or pride or something stupid like that. There are other forces driving them to do these horrid things and I like to drill down to the core of those.

Many of the villains in FFXIV are quite fantastic. The ones that leave a lasting impression aren't people who are there to laugh in your face and be vanquished by the hero - and even as the hero, the player-character is not there to single-handedly save the world. It so happens that Emet-Selch and his brethren have the power to move nations, destroy worlds, and change the fate of entire civilisations. Why they do so is an answer worth waiting for if you play through the main storyline.

What do I find fun about him?
Well, his eternal grumpiness sometimes makes it hard to create a scenario where he will interact with others, but the fact that he IS a normal person outside of the little problem with murder means his relationships are always interesting. He's a creative person as well, and coupled with his...unique way of looking at the world, means his solutions to things are not always orthodox...

What's easy/difficult?
As mentioned before, tapping into new CR. I get very overwhelmed when the game grows beyond a certain size which is why I haven't been tagging out much. Throw this on top of the aloofness I mentioned earlier and sometimes it's a struggle to find a hook with the prompts I write for him. Slice-of-life stuff is practically a no-go.

That said, his manner of speaking comes fairly naturally to me now so I have a lot of fun writing his derogatory snark. He's great for banter and arguments.

[eightfoldfiend]

Emet-Selch is such a wonderful character. Most people I know who have played Shadowbringers agree that he is the best Final Fantasy villain so far. In the whole series.

His motivations and everything are just so tragic and fascinating.

[flapsin]

I remember loving the original Darkwing Duck as a kid, even if I didn't catch the Disney Afternoon as much as other animated blocks, and I also used to be a big Batman fan. But I didn't think much about Darkwing until some years ago, when the 2017 DuckTales series was first announced. I was drawn in by the surprising cast that had been assembled, including the likes of David Tennant, Danny Pudi and Ben Schwartz. And then the show hooked me by being genuinely fun and telling great stories with strong characterization and development. I was also hopeful to see where they went with Darkwing Duck. Darkwing ended up slowly being developed throughout the series - the first season set Darkwing Duck as being an in-universe tv show that Launchpad was a big fan of. Then the second season finally introduced us to Drake Mallard, an actor and Darkwing Duck fanboy who got hired to play him in a movie and ultimately got inspired to try being Darkwing Duck in real life. Then the third (and sadly final) episode had a special dedicated to him forming his crimefighting family!

This reboot found a way for me to love Darkwing even more. It's a really fun angle for him to be an actor trying to be a fictional character in real life, and it almost feels like a meta character to play as an RPer, as he is essentially LARPing the guy. I'm generally drawn to characters who both have strong humorous and emotional sides them, and Drake has both. There's plenty of comedy to him, along with a more emotional side in how he really wants to be a hero like Darkwing and becomes dedicated to helping Gosalyn find her family. I love characters who can be dramatic and over-the-top too, and it's also fun that he has flaws balancing out his good nature such as how petty and egotistical he can be. And being an ascended fanboy, he can also take part in some nerding out. Oh and he's a found family dad, for my adult characters I tend to like these dorky characters trying to dad. He just seemed like a really fun character for me who was full of potential! And I also like the ridiculousness of unleashing a cartoon duck upon people. I did end up picking up both him and the show's version of Donald Duck, but I ultimately chose to pursue Drake for games, because Donald felt like he had a full story told over the course of the show, while Drake's felt like it was ending just as it was truly starting, so I wanted to explore that more in a game setting. Avalon was one game I was eying, it had some Duck cast, and the magic seemed to have fun potential for him, so here he is!

[fruitknife]

I have a fatal weakness for 'what's grief, can I eat it' stories. (No really, I'm that weirdo who LIKED As I Lay Dying. XD) Persona 3 is... Very Much one of those, though I admit I didn't click with it when I tried an FES LP. It took Portable, and specifically FemC, to get me to care.

Shinji basically just barged into my headspace and demanded some attention, and who was I to argue? XD He's specifically here as CRAU for a few reasons: one, so Shiro isn't the only one explaining Syn's Everything; two, because he got dragged kicking and screaming through a little character growth that was worth keeping; and three, because he actually undid some serious immune-system damage of a degree that would've left him with pneumonia from BEING DROPPED IN A LAKE FIRST THING.

izumi~

[currysseur]

Honestly the first thing that drew me to Izumi was how strong her personality was compared to a lot of gacha player characters, who are more just blank slates that occasionally get dialogue options. When I first started playing A3, I immediately got Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vibes, and as someone who was in AA fandom for way too long and did play Phoenix for a while, I was absolutely doomed from the first piece of inner monologue because she's fantastic;


The next thing that drew me to her, honestly, is just that I really like playing... caretaker characters when I love the whole cast, and I love the whole A3 cast. Getting to play the protag who brings them all together and helps them bloom is ideal for me because it means I don't have to choose between all the boys 😂

What I love about her is just how normal she is compared to my other characters. There's no dramatic story, and while she has a fair amount of trauma and heartbreak, it's all very grounded in reality (maybe a little less so once I update her to act 2) and she's pretty well adjusted all things considered? A little crazy about curry, a little doofy sometimes, but ultimately just a good person without any asterisk to that. She wants to help people, she has good emotional intelligence and a great deal of compassion and it makes it really easy for her to make bonds with other.

The most difficult thing for me with her is that there are so many stories and pieces of canon to unlock, and due to the gacha element it's easy to miss them, so I spend a lot of time relying on the fandom to provide access to pieces of canon about her and if I can't find it, I spend a lot of time worrying that I am saying something a backstage story has contradicted.

maruki~ (major P5R spoilers be here)

[snaccs]

When I started playing P5R I was just like "oh no. he's cute and a nerd and really unnerving me because of it". He comes across as a genuinely good person, and he is, and his role as the counsellor is an interesting one to have in P5. It makes you want to trust him even though you know that he wouldn't have been added to the Royal version if he was just a counsellor.

And then the reveal happens and... yeah, my "I like him because he's cute and helps the main cast" feelings bumped straight into "I will obsessively watch every piece of meta about him and talk a lot about his descent into well intentioned villainry". I love the ethical / moral questions which come with his choices - would you accept this deal? Is living in Maruki's world really living? How necessary is pain to the human experience? - and the sinister twist everything he does takes on when you really look at it. (For reference, if anyone wants a really good look at Maruki's character and actions in game, I recommend checking out ThoughtBubble on YouTube who analyses Maruki's counselling sessions from the POV of a counselling student. He makes excellent points that really help you pinpoint some of the creepy ass layers that are added to Maruki's actions pre-semester 3).

What I find fun about him is that he is genuinely, in intention and (most) action, a good person. Everything he does comes from a place, in his mind, of trying to help others. But his beliefs have been so twisted by the things he's seen and the power he received back home that he's just no longer in a place to be able to help people in the area he specialises in (psychology) and is unable to see it. I love that tragic contradiction his pain causes within him.

The hardest thing about him... YEAH if you didn't get it from all of that. Bitch is difficult to write if I'm tired. He will ramble so much about psych if allowed to, and if I'm allowed to get going, I will also happily go on tangents about him in tags. It can take a lot of brain power to get going with him and having to balance not writing TL;DR every time while still showing off the facets of who he is... He's definitely my most challenging character but I also love that a lot.

kate~

[morns]

GOD I've played this bitch for so long and rewrote her story so many times I'm sorry about the BS I am about to spill here.

OKAY so I came up with the idea sometime between classes while on my year abroad and ignored most of a grammar class to write two pages of mindmapping for the whole thing, which shares very little in common with the version of the story I play with here in Avalon but left me with six idiots in my head that eventually morphed into... whatever this now is. AND this particular idea wasn't meant to be for Kate's group but I got half a page into brainstorming the idea and wrote, and I quote;

... Dammit this would crossover really nicely with COF tbh. Maybe one of the side effects of waste means that monsters begin to come into existence? Now I’m just imagining Kate joining the military and admitting she took a fake when she was 14 and got stuck with a power she hates.
... This is a Concept. Fuck.

My brainstorming documents are always like this, it's a problem.

The funny thing is, Kate didn't start out as a main character. She was always intended to be a side character who helped the main characters out at the last minute (because they realised she was right and it's all BS) but her dynamics with the protagonist ended up too interesting because sunshine/grumpy one is always chef's kiss, and so my main contingent of characters ended up larger than I intended FML. But she eventually gets a cute sunshine girlfriend so it's all good.

I wanted to give her a spin in this hobby because her arc has always been about learning who you are after your trauma and grief, how you can find a new dream even if your old one is closed off to you, and basically coming out of the darkness into the light. And needing to undergo that journey means she's at a nice knife edge where she can go the way her story intends or just completely crumble and go to terrible places instead. Also I'm just always soft for her opening up to people and making friends so... no brainer. I just find all those things really fun to play with, especially the gap between her skillset (which ends up largely combat oriented) and her actual dislike of the things she does with them. She very much feels like she has to just grit her teeth and get through the shitty things because she can't do anything else and giving her the space to realise that maybe that isn't true is nice.

Despite how long I've had her around (since 2010-ish...), I have to admit, her taciturn nature remains one of the harder parts to play out because I feel bad replying to something a character says with little more than "K.", as well as balancing the moments where she's an asshole with "does she really have a reason to be an asshole here?" and I often worry if I'm making her softer than she should be.