Roleplaying The Old Republic
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
Yeah, pretty accurate impression of TOR. But I just find mumorpugers too similar, repetitive and grindy. It's usually too focused on the level system then the involvement of the player. Like one of Yahtzee's episode you feel more like a little man tugging at the brainstrings of the protagonist and not really playing for yourself.
That's actually pretty interesting, in my opinion. I try to do a similar thing when I play an RPG, although I tend to play a "Me as the main character" runthrough on the first time so that I can get an idea of the setting, situation, and what is possible within the system.
I'm confused.
Whether you care about a Pen & Paper character depends on the same factors as caring for any other type of fictional character. If the storyteller can't convey his story well enough to immerse you, that's a problem with the narrator, not the thing he's talking about.
Whether you care about a Pen & Paper character depends on the same factors as caring for any other type of fictional character. If the storyteller can't convey his story well enough to immerse you, that's a problem with the narrator, not the thing he's talking about.
There is a whole forum (http://www.enworld.org/) where people talk about their pen and paper characters, so it can't be uninteresting to *everyone*.
That being said, the Yahtz isn't wrong. The reason people can have interesting conversations at ENWorld is because once you choose a specific version of pen and paper RPG you don't have limitless possibilities and there is a shared structure for everyone to work with. If it was limitless then my archaeologist dragonborn could speak a dozen languages and have super fast reflexes. But since its DnD I have to choose between the linguist feat and the lightening reflexes feat and that choice is enough to start a thread about. (And get at least one person to respond to it even!)
That being said, the Yahtz isn't wrong. The reason people can have interesting conversations at ENWorld is because once you choose a specific version of pen and paper RPG you don't have limitless possibilities and there is a shared structure for everyone to work with. If it was limitless then my archaeologist dragonborn could speak a dozen languages and have super fast reflexes. But since its DnD I have to choose between the linguist feat and the lightening reflexes feat and that choice is enough to start a thread about. (And get at least one person to respond to it even!)
First one of your posts I've disagreed with for a long time, and I think it's just due to running into some boring people.
Roleplaying is not just about what you can get up to - that's God-modding, and that is boring.
Proper roleplay is, like you danced around in the article, the interaction with others. Your facepipe only makes any interest in the interest it gets with others.
PnP just does that in a different way - it's in HOW you play the character. And that HOW doesn't translate into MMOs well because they limit the fluidity you have in customisation.
But if you're getting bored listening to someone, shouldn't you be looking at why you are listening in the first place and not interacting with them?
Roleplaying is not just about what you can get up to - that's God-modding, and that is boring.
Proper roleplay is, like you danced around in the article, the interaction with others. Your facepipe only makes any interest in the interest it gets with others.
PnP just does that in a different way - it's in HOW you play the character. And that HOW doesn't translate into MMOs well because they limit the fluidity you have in customisation.
But if you're getting bored listening to someone, shouldn't you be looking at why you are listening in the first place and not interacting with them?
Pfft, that's nothing. My City of Heroes characters were all the same guy going through a Marvellian plot line, complete with retcons, time travel and alternate dimensions. Each alt had a subtle costume piece which echoed back to the earlier alts... leaving the last one as a wonderful tapestry of a heroes journey.
The single greatest addition to that MMO: the Biography page.
The single greatest addition to that MMO: the Biography page.
Dear sir, please kindly acknowledge much simpler reality : it's impossible to give a shit about most things other people do unless we can (somehow) use it ourselves.Yahtzee Croshaw said:
Seriously.
Every now and then something comes along and reminds me as to why I extremely dislike Ol' Ben here as a person.
This is one of those things.
But at least something good came out of it:
This is one of those things.
But at least something good came out of it:
I may just have to do that in a game at least once...Waffle_Man said:Impossible to care? It's obvious that you haven't witnessed the awesomeness of Sir Bearington!
Meh it's easy to care about another person's character if you're invested in that person. If my best friend gets involved in a D&D campaign, I'm genuinely curious what he's playing, and if he has any backstory for his character, I'd like to hear it.
What I found difficult to care about and found myself skimming, was Yahtzee's detailed backstory for his smuggler... but then, I usually skim those parts of these articles. I like his commentary on things for which we have common experience (games), but his inflated view of his own creative skill and the presumption of our collective interest in it is a bit of a turn-off to me.... particularly when he openly admits to not showing others the same attention and interest he expects from everyone else.
What I found difficult to care about and found myself skimming, was Yahtzee's detailed backstory for his smuggler... but then, I usually skim those parts of these articles. I like his commentary on things for which we have common experience (games), but his inflated view of his own creative skill and the presumption of our collective interest in it is a bit of a turn-off to me.... particularly when he openly admits to not showing others the same attention and interest he expects from everyone else.
Omg....my life is complete now....seriously.Waffle_Man said:Impossible to care? It's obvious that you haven't witnessed the awesomeness of Sir Bearington!
Yahtzee.....Maybe you have your reasons why you don't give a sh*t about other PnP characters, but as long our creativity is unlimited, we can make everyone care about our PnP character.
This post made me care about this characters more than yours Yahtzee!!!
I love the idea of role playing in video games but I'm never any good at it. I always just choose whatever options I think will net me the best stuff/most quests.
I tried to do this with my character in Skyrim. I created this stone cold argonian killer who I planned to make into the ultimate assassin. He was meant to only care about the gold he could make and to hell with anyone else. It ended up totally falling apart because he was always helping old ladies and being nice to people because I was too worried I'd lose out on gameplay and/or loot if I was a jackass to someone or refused to help them.
I tried to do this with my character in Skyrim. I created this stone cold argonian killer who I planned to make into the ultimate assassin. He was meant to only care about the gold he could make and to hell with anyone else. It ended up totally falling apart because he was always helping old ladies and being nice to people because I was too worried I'd lose out on gameplay and/or loot if I was a jackass to someone or refused to help them.
I made a Trooper because I was eager to play an NPC.
It was a cyborg because Eye-Patches are bad arse, particularly ladies with Eye Patches. I gave her a scar across her eye patch eye to give an impression it was gouged out in the act of war.
I then found out you could take Jedi heavy gear, remove the modifications and put in Trooper ones instead. Thus A Jedi Robe with Trooper Stats. I know look like a Jedi. So my character can use the force, but she prefers the immediate death dealing of a huge arse cannon.
She also has one of those vision bar things from Star Trek which oddly is a Jedi Heavy headpiece (only reason I can guess is that blindness makes them more force sensitive?) . So her eyes are doubly fucked.
My characters' back stories often evolve through play, often with disturbing and traumatic effects. I start off with an idea, it ends with an abomination.
It was a cyborg because Eye-Patches are bad arse, particularly ladies with Eye Patches. I gave her a scar across her eye patch eye to give an impression it was gouged out in the act of war.
I then found out you could take Jedi heavy gear, remove the modifications and put in Trooper ones instead. Thus A Jedi Robe with Trooper Stats. I know look like a Jedi. So my character can use the force, but she prefers the immediate death dealing of a huge arse cannon.
She also has one of those vision bar things from Star Trek which oddly is a Jedi Heavy headpiece (only reason I can guess is that blindness makes them more force sensitive?) . So her eyes are doubly fucked.
My characters' back stories often evolve through play, often with disturbing and traumatic effects. I start off with an idea, it ends with an abomination.
Everyone is quoting you, because you have made us happier then we have even been before. Would you happen to know more about the exploits of Sir Bearington?Waffle_Man said:Impossible to care? It's obvious that you haven't witnessed the awesomeness of Sir Bearington!
OT: Yahtzee is taking a lot of flak here. I agree that a lot of the time people's characters can be interesting, but so many pen & paper characters have the same problem as dreams: the people telling the stories can't sort out the great stories from the average ones (at least not until a few campaigns later). At least with video games there are points that everyone deals with (kill X, sneak into Y, etc.) and you can enjoy looking at how their character approached the situation differently from your own.
