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Rambling about RP while slightly drunk
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The problem I always had
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Was that
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My FAVORITE moment in most stories is the moment when the guy who has been unassuming and mundane is forced to reveal that no, actually
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he's a huge badass and has just been hiding it because he wanted to live a normal life
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Despite everything, Rurouni Kenshin altered my brain chemistry
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And like
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I always tried to do this in RPs
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Have my character just try to live a normal life for as long as they could
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So that I could suddenly surprise everyone by going "Wait!"
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"Actually they were super cool all along!"
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"Everyone be impressed by my character!"
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but
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it's RP
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it's DWRP
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EVERYONE is a badass
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So the moment never landed
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Every time I did reveal that Lin or whoever was actually a cool martial artist everyone was just like "yeah"
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"Me too"
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"We should spar"
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And that was solid CR but it was also always slightly disappointing
dragon time
Oh man I did hear a really good story about a tabletop game once
dragon time
Where the GMPC was mostly just a guy who pointed at plot stuff as hints and carried the bags and drove the getaway vehicles and all the mundane stuff
dragon time
But once, just once, the party got in big trouble because the rolls fucked up an encounter
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And the GMPC was like "aw man, I didn't want to do this, I swore never to draw blood but I really do like my dear friends so much"
dragon time
Rolled a big stack of dice and saved everyone's bacon then put his gun away for the rest of the campaign
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You see?
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THAT'S THE SHIT
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HE HAS WHAT I WANT
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but it's hard to do
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because people like stories with cool battles
dragon time
DWRP is always more of a slice of life with like fifty protagonists than a narrative with a goal and a narrow band of them
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It is
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But the heart wants what the heart wants
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And my heart wants to show off how cool a character is
Rogal Dorn
I just lead with that in most games
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You gotta ESTABLISH their mild mannered alter ego first!
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So that everyone thinks they know them!
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"Oh sure Bruce Wayne the playboy billionaire"
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"Wait who the fuck is Batman?"
big juicy
yeah this kind of gimmick only works in a very controlled setting, with a controlled cast...which dwrp never is
big juicy
every time i play danny he tries so carefully to hide his powers bc....that's what he does in canon, he expects to be just as hunted and hated in the new setting if anyone were to find out
big juicy
and every single time when they do get revealed ppl just shrug like "okay. what kinda sandwich do you want tho?" lmao
big juicy
although it's not something i do for like....a narrative reward i want to see fulfilled. i just like playing with danny's insecurities
big juicy
THAT SAID THOUGH: what are your thoughts on toph beifong, who is the reverse of "introduce them as mild-mannered and then unleash their badassery as a surprise"?
big juicy
toph "shows up to beat ass and laugh at you about it, then reappears pretending to be a meek little helpless child" beifong
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I can definitely see that as being easier to pull off in an RP
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It's much easier to establish your cred as a fighter than as a non-fighter
Makimerry🤶
I find myself reaching for a fairly different shock value than specifically badass, and it's interesting to me to consider how the dynamic you describe may have influenced me
Lightning Bolt
I mean, I feel it works in murdergames sometimes?
Lightning Bolt
Since those start out with a smaller cast range
Lightning Bolt
Like in the recent WCB round Owl played Yor Forger and actually got to pull off escalating levels of "wow she's actually pretty badass"
Makimerry🤶
What I feel is rarer to achieve is to be genuinely stronger than most or all other player characters in the game