Special Snowflakes

[Krowley]

@Krowley i now wanna know what convo between me and my idiot brigade OCs would be like. The really horrid ones from way back when.
Probably just like three toddlers on a sugar high with random eye shifts and nervous breakdowns.


It be kind of a hilarious train wreck for ten minutes.


Then just ear bleedingly annoying.

Just look bad at your first role plays and posts. It's amazing to see how far you can grow as a writer. True, there would be much cringing for you had to talk to your perfect Mary Sue of a creation. But imagine reusing that character and only keeping the good, humane qualities from them. What's the point of being the very best like no one ever was if there's limited obstacles to overcome?

 

[Sleipnir]

Unfortunately for me I started on chat rooms. I have vague memory and no records of many of my earliest OCs :\

 

[DemetrioMachete]

My first ever OC was some Naruto fukboi I called Chunimaru. Quiet dude. Despite the immense power gap between he and I, as a shinobi and a normal hoomin... pretty sure Id avoid his winks and glances from across the bar.

 

[call me rae]

Just look bad at your first role plays and posts. It's amazing to see how far you can grow as a writer. True, there would be much cringing for you had to talk to your perfect Mary Sue of a creation. But imagine reusing that character and only keeping the good, humane qualities from them. What's the point of being the very best like no one ever was if there's limited obstacles to overcome?

They were never mary sues. More self-inserts. I never went for the super edgy character tbh. I think I had like 1 version of this in my entire early career and that was made as a foil to everyone else's mary sues.


And I think someone actually called out their edginess in the rp anyway so I never went back.


And I do still use variations on that just you know as actual characters not just blatantly inserting myself with some hip name into a roleplay.

 

[DemetrioMachete]

I have not seen this idea implemented in a roleplay yet, but this is the most special snowflakey metagaming mary sueish thing I could think of. Particularly on the metagaming aspect.


Imagine a GM controlled character. Specifically on RPNation. Perhaps as an unwritten aspect, this character is Meta as hell. The best comparisons I can think of would be Sans (Undertale) or Deadpool; on account of they know how stuff works and can mercilessly exploit it.


The RPNation equivalent, I believe, would be the GM rewriting your own posts to make you deliberately miss or screw up, ir acknowledging that he read your previous post before taking his own action, forcing a miss.


I hope no one here ever goes that far...

 

[Kenjinx]

I have not seen this idea implemented in a roleplay yet, but this is the most special snowflakey metagaming mary sueish thing I could think of. Particularly on the metagaming aspect.
Imagine a GM controlled character. Specifically on RPNation. Perhaps as an unwritten aspect, this character is Meta as hell. The best comparisons I can think of would be Sans (Undertale) or Deadpool; on account of they know how stuff works and can mercilessly exploit it.


The RPNation equivalent, I believe, would be the GM rewriting your own posts to make you deliberately miss or screw up, ir acknowledging that he read your previous post before taking his own action, forcing a miss.


I hope no one here ever goes that far...

That actually sounds interesting, there would need to be some serious mind games going on in order to win against that.

 

[call me rae]

Well it depends. For instance I was in a few fandom roleplays on another site where people played Deadpool or Pinkie Pie. Both characters known for breaking the fourth wall. If it's played for laughs than it's not so bad. Also with Deadpool anyone familiar with the canon knows he's an obnoxious mary sue anyway so it's less of a shock.


Now as for a random GM made creation ruling the roleplay - again it would depend on why it's done. If it's just the GM going back through and making it so the story followed a rigid formula they had in their head than I'd be like - yeah fanfiction.net is that way.


But if it's just played in a similar vein as Pinkie or Deadpool - mostly for the comedy value. Than I wouldn't mind it so much.

 

[DemetrioMachete]

Well it depends. For instance I was in a few fandom roleplays on another site where people played Deadpool or Pinkie Pie. Both characters known for breaking the fourth wall. If it's played for laughs than it's not so bad. Also with Deadpool anyone familiar with the canon knows he's an obnoxious mary sue anyway so it's less of a shock.
Now as for a random GM made creation ruling the roleplay - again it would depend on why it's done. If it's just the GM going back through and making it so the story followed a rigid formula they had in their head than I'd be like - yeah fanfiction.net is that way.


But if it's just played in a similar vein as Pinkie or Deadpool - mostly for the comedy value. Than I wouldn't mind it so much.

And if they're using it as a Sans-type, where they pull out all the stops to mess up yoir day (with the futility of their fight in mind)?

 

[call me rae]

And if they're using it as a Sans-type, where they pull out all the stops to mess up yoir day (with the futility of their fight in mind)?

I'm not sure I understand the question. But if you mean if they're doing it just to enforce some kind of specific plot they have in their head without consulting you. As I said in my previous post. - Fanfiction.net is that way. Bye.


I would just leave. If someone wants to write fanfiction there is no point in arguing with them. Better to let them just write their story in peace and let it go.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

Young people are going to make wish-fulfillment characters, and there's nothing that can be done to stop them. Neither snark, nor advice, nor an infinite number of "cliched characters" threads. And that's fine.

 

[Axiom Days]

Young people are going to make wish-fulfillment characters, and there's nothing that can be done to stop them. Neither snark, nor advice, nor an infinite number of "cliched characters" threads. And that's fine.

I find that insulting!

 

[Minako]

I... I have a feeling I'm going to need to be needing a lot of advice from this site and this forum, and this thread... (' )

 

[Kenjinx]

I... I have a feeling I'm going to need to be needing a lot of advice from this site and this forum, and this thread... (' )

Whatever you do, just make sure you save your character sheets and posts so you can look back on them and cringe a year later. No matter how much I roleplay, it always ends up being that way for me.

 

[Minako]

Whatever you do, just make sure you save your character sheets and posts so you can look back on them and cringe a year later. No matter how much I roleplay, it always ends up being that way for me.

RIGHT??? Funny you mention that, because my friends and I are thinking about re-booting a very OLD RP from another site HERE, as sort of a thing to do together since they don't live near me at all, and we all thought we were being "smooth criminals" when now, in 2016, its like "Man, we were trying WAY too hard to be edgy!"... also tons of spelling and grammatical errors! (^U^)


I mean, Being a writer isn't my CHOSEN PROFESSION o-or anything, or anything to do with my degree, technically...


I would *like* to think I can design a good character, and a decent backstory... but from a "third party" perspective (Oh gosh... is... is that offensive to call OP that? ('A') ) my "villians" and one of my most used protagonists DO come off this way... I kinda want to make my own thread asking for advice on ALL our characters, but I'm scared they'll all come off as what OP described... You know the old saying "if you can't tell who the "special snowflake" in the RP is, it's probably YOU".. well, the old saying re-worded to suit the situation, LOL!

 

[Kenjinx]

@Minako


Well, I feel that I end up being my own worst critic. I don't know how relevant that is to how you or other people on here think, but it certainly seems true for me. It probably wouldn't hurt to make a thread asking for advice on the characters; from what I've seen in my time browsing the forums, threads like that are common enough.


I think my biggest problem is that I tend to iron out small details to such a degree after making my character that I end up with something different, and since I've already put the sheet together I restrict myself. Maybe I should flesh out more of my character ideas in a folder somewhere and have details already established.


Just to throw in a little something directly relevant to the topic of "special snowflake" characters, I once ran into a character in a mostly medieval fantasy setting who was a black dragon wielding the powers of death, and after absorbing an explosion he promptly transformed his suit of armor into a giant mech. All over my character and a couple of friends standing around beside a lake that he claimed was his land.

 

[Minako]

@Kenjinx


I definitely know the feeling, my friends still love the character, original from ten years ago and her major developments to today, but I still feel I can improve them and the rest of my characters as well.


Thanks, I'll poke around those threads and maybe post one of my own as soon as I get the gist of this site (I just joined, haha!)


(*U*) That's pretty much my problem, too! I always get so detailed on the beginning, major middle points, and end of their arcs in the story, but I spend so much time sorting that out I don't really know what happens in-between the in-between and I don't have much option-wise if I want to keep the previous story points I planned! I'll join ya and make a folder of my own, too, since that sounds like a really good idea, haha!


YIKES! I love me some 'medieval fantasy black death dragons' as much as the next girl, but keep that 'Neon Genesis Evangelion' stuff in it's proper time and place! ( :x ) Did they end up actually being able to contribute to the plot or did the GM of the RP step in to keep things in line?


Sorry if we're derailing the thread, anyone! ( )

 

[TheHufflepuffRabbit]

Oh, yeah. I know those types of characters. There was this one guy for the original Hell City (criminal city RP) who had founded the city and was basically a jackass who blew up everything. He also decided to go up to one of my OCs, Bismarck, a general store owner, question him on something he didn't know about, and when he was done, walk out and basically call the police on him. Then he blew up some buildings and drove away   Just....wtf

 

[Autumn McJavabean]

I don't know if this fits, but it was one of my times on this site in a one on one. It was supposed to be based on a centralized story that had no focus on transgenderism, yet some how most of the characters, if not two of the main cast aside from my own character, were trans. In the concept of transgenderism, your not the right "gender". Whatever, I don't care. However, that's because you can't control life and how you're born, otherwise everyone would be perfectly built and beautiful, maybe. Yet in a role play where the focus isn't on transgender hardships, there's no reason to make them trans. It's like making the character an ex-Vietnam with no legs and from time to time you express the pain of this state, when they're neither the main character nor related to the plot. It just seems to be a handicap complexly unneeded other than to push a personal view you might have or have experienced.

 

[call me rae]

I don't know if this fits, but it was one of my times on this site in a one on one. It was supposed to be based on a centralized story that had no focus on transgenderism, yet some how most of the characters, if not two of the main cast aside from my own character, were trans. In the concept of transgenderism, your not the right "gender". Whatever, I don't care. However, that's because you can't control life and how you're born, otherwise everyone would be perfectly built and beautiful, maybe. Yet in a role play where the focus isn't on transgender hardships, there's no reason to make them trans. It's like making the character an ex-Vietnam with no legs and from time to time you express the pain of this state, when they're neither the main character nor related to the plot. It just seems to be a handicap complexly unneeded other than to push a personal view you might have or have experienced.

Yeah I've had people do that make like crusade characters that are there strictly as a talking point about how XYZ real world issue is horrible and blah blah blah.


like if it at least fits the universe I just let my partner get on their high horse and lecture me as long as they keep the story going. Like whatever idc but if it means that much to you. God know you've had to listen to my crazy rants on fictional characters often enough I figure I can give you a solid and reciprocate.


But if we're like in a medieval world and their trying to idk shove gay rights down my throat or something... Um you do realize way back when it would have been in character for people to stone you for that right? Like at least pick a cause that makes since to the world at hand.


like arguing politics in an talking animal roleplay. Im sorry fluffy the cat can't vote so I don't think they care about our political system

 

[zanarkand]

@VY Canis Majoris @nerdyfangirl


so are you guys trying to say that people shouldnt make transgender characters in general and shouldnt make gay characters(in medieval settings)?

 

[NemoTheSurvivor]

@zanarkand


Playing a transgender character is one thing, but playing as character who's only defining point is being transgender, and always talking about the difficulties of being trans, is another. It's more of a "don't let your personal stance on politics/religion get in the roleplay" kind of deal.


In medieval Europe, people were not open to homosexuals since practically everyone was Christian. Playing an openly gay character in historical medieval times is not accurate. If you want to make the character gay, but then have all the hardships of being gay in the Dark Ages (hiding your feelings, midnight meetings, public shaming and/or execution if you get found out), then you are accurately playing a gay medieval character.


The whole point of their conversation was to get off your soapbox when roleplaying. We're here to have fun, not run for political office or preach about right or wrong.


EDIT: By medieval, I mean historical medieval. Fantasy plays by its own rules, so the degrees of realism can vary from world to world.

 

[Autumn McJavabean]

@VY Canis Majoris @nerdyfangirl


so are you guys trying to say that people shouldnt make transgender characters in general and shouldnt make gay characters(in medieval settings)?

I think you severely missed the point of my comment and the thread. @NemotheSurvivor said it perfectly.

 

[zanarkand]

Yet in a role play where the focus isn't on transgender hardships, there's no reason to make them trans

I dont think I misinterpreted what you said. You literally said that there's no reason to play a trangender character if the roleplay isn't about being transgender. It's like saying that someone shouldn't make a female character if the story isn't about being female.

 

[thoughtless]

Yeah, I do have to agree with zanarkand that the way you said it was definitely poorly worded and implied that trans characters have no use outside of talking about trans hardships, but I understood what you were trying to get across. Personally speaking, I'm tired of seeing minorities in positions where they only talk about how hard it is to be a minority (mainly because I am LBGT+ and also non-white so like, i already know). I want to seem them doing other things besides that, and that's also why I got into roleplaying in the first place because obviously, the media wasn't going to do the job for me.





 





In a medieval setting, it really depends on whether you're basing it off of our world or making up one of your own.





If you were making your own medieval setting, I don't really see the reason why  people have to be homophobic, but that's just my view of it.





If you were going based off of our world, then yes, a LGBT+ person in that setting probably wouldn't be open about it.





 





And to address one other thing, being trans doesn't mean that you aren't your "right" gender, but it means that you don't identify with the gender you were given at birth.

 

[folclor]

I didn't try to make a 'special snowflake' character, but she's fast becoming that.  She's a cleric/monk who spent the first 40 or so pages pushing everyone away and attempting to be a brat so people would leave her alone.  However, despite that, she has the most loyal following of anyone in the RP (despite literally climbing a wall to get away from people). u.u  She also is accidentally building a harem as she has three boys and a girl interested in her.  No, I did not intend for this to happen.  She seriously was trying to push everyone away.  Also, because everyone likes her so much, she seems to be the person who gets kidnapped the most u.u