Lightna
Local Ceraunophile
Alright, here's the thing. This isn't a dice RolePlay in the sense that most people would think. I'm not asking to do a DnD campaign or anything like that. However, the specific RolePlay mechanic I want to do involves dice. You feel? Now, let's get past my explaining myself and get to the ad, shall we?
I'd like to have a really flexible RolePlay partner who would be interested in doing something that I like to refer to as RolePlays based on chance. I'll explain in more detail below, but I have a feeling just seeing that will turn people off.
In closing, I must say that if someone reading this happens to be named Chance, you are a very powerful individual.
I prefer to RolePlay in PMs, so if you're interested, don't be afraid to shoot me a message!
I'd like to have a really flexible RolePlay partner who would be interested in doing something that I like to refer to as RolePlays based on chance. I'll explain in more detail below, but I have a feeling just seeing that will turn people off.
Because the RolePlay is based on chance, I have no idea what genre, gender pairing, or pretty much anything else that we would be doing until the whole planning portion gets underway. This is why I stress that my RolePlay partner must be very flexible; things are bound to go into any direction possible. |
So basically, what I mean by chance is that you don't make the decisions. You can make this chance happen by any means you'd like. You would put all of the options you have in a situation into a numbered list and then use a die (or random number generator, etc; whatever suits your fancy) to choose something for you.
For example, when choosing a plot, you would put all of the preferred genres in a list like so:
and so on until you have all of the genres you like- Fantasy
- Romance
- Sci-fi
You would generate a number, and that's what the plot would have to be. Things like that, only it's for every single decision. That's why writing flexibility is very important.
We would start with the genres. We'll each make a list of genres that we feel comfortable writing.
This can be as broad as just 'fiction' or things like romantic comedies or something else pretty specific. Then, we leave it to chance to pick one, and the genre from each of us will be the combined genre of our RolePlay. For example, if my partner got 'Sci-fi' and I got 'Fantasy,' we would have a Sci-fi/Fantasy RolePlay.
Also, if one of us gets a genre that the other doesn't think they'll be good at writing, we can always take that one out and pick another.
Just so you know where I'm coming from as a writer, here is the list of genres I would be using (my partner is free to either use the same or make their own):
- Fantasy
- Romance
- Mystery
- Post-Apocalyptic Fiction (not much of a fan of zombies, though; some other kind of apocalypse)
- Modern
- Historical fiction
Once a genre has been decided upon, there are at least two different levels to the plot decision. First, we would create a very basic plot. For example, if the genre is Action and Romance, one of the suggestions could be 'Fleeing the Law.'
Then, in Step 2, we would create another list of more in-depth plots that bring both genres into perspective without deciding too much. Depending on the situation, we may have to go to a Step 3 to get more specific, but that's rare.
After the plot has been decided, we may take a break from random chance to do a little bit of brainstorming of our own. However, this step is completely optional and doesn't have to happen~
Now, for the final step of the planning phase. There's a bit more fun with random chance to go around, even during the RolePlay!
This step, characters, has a bit of liberty to it. When it comes to characters, there are many different routes you can take, depending on how much you trust random chance.
I'm going to use an accordion to separate the steps because it's a lot of text to go through. Sorry about that!
- Gender Identity
-
The first step is gender. I say gender and not sex because I think the biological sex of the character should be up to the player, but their actual gender identity should be left up to chance. For one, it makes things less complicated, and for another, the player can decide for themselves how difficult of a position they want to put themselves into.
The list would have three options: Male, Female, and Non-Binary. The only exception I will allow is my partner feels uncomfortable playing non-binary characters because writing as a non-binary character can be a bit difficult. Male and female still have to be there. Now, here's where you actually get to choose something! Say you get male as your character's gender identity.
You can decide if you want that to also be your character's biological sex, or if you want him to be transgender. That's completely up to you! Unless you don't want it to be, that is~ If you feel like every little thing should be left up to chance, you're absolutely allowed to randomly generate that as well!
- Intermediate Step
-
Depending on how far you want to go down this chance-y rabbit hole, you may be done with randomly generating character aspects. If you have an [insert gender here] character that fits the plot, you can just use them. Hell, even if you don't, but you have a character you can tweak, that works too!
This step is basically deciding if you want to use a premade character or if you want to go full-force and randomly generate everything~
- Generating a Character (Optional: See Int. Step)
-
I'll give it to you straight. Coming up with lists for every single thing on a character sheet would be long and tedious, and I don't necessarily want to put you or myself through that. This chance thing is already tedious enough (but fun~). If you decide you want to start from scratch and just randomly generate everything about your character, I'll let you use one of those handy dandy 'everything-you'd-ever-want-to-know-about-a-character' generators. That's random chance too, isn't it?
What matters is that a character is made, right? I don't care how you go about it.
This is equal parts complicated and also not. See? Complicated already.
The random chance doesn't stop after the planning is over. If it were, this wouldn't be a chance-based RolePlay, now would it? Prepare to be amazed by Exhibit A: The Emotion Wheel -
This is where things could get complicated because if you're not careful, your character will seem bipolar. However, relying on chance while also trying to remain in-character and sane is a fantastic writing exercise!
This also applies to any decisions your character makes, even down to replying 'yes' or 'no' to something. Everything is up to chance.
In closing, I must say that if someone reading this happens to be named Chance, you are a very powerful individual.
As a disclaimer, do not be intimidated by this. I'm not going to force you to do something just because chance told you to, the bully. If you receive something that you don't think you can pull off, you don't have to do it! You can always try again. However, the key word there is to try. This is meant to be a difficult concept. It's meant to test and stretch you as a writer. But, keep in mind that RolePlaying is for fun. I've never met someone who gets paid to do it. So, don't force yourself to do something you know, with absolute certainty, that you can't do, okay? |
I prefer to RolePlay in PMs, so if you're interested, don't be afraid to shoot me a message!
Last edited: