One of my characters cannot speak, and I was wondering how I should RP him. First off, I can't do quests because everything involves talking to do quests. Should I just #me writes on a piece of paper and shows it to the human/elf/dwarf etc; and then type the "spoken" words out? I love the idea of having a handicaped character, but i'm not sure how to RP it. I don't believe many people have characters such as this. If there are other characters out there, they should bring them out. This is a real world that more than likely...everybody is not pretty. Most people RP their characters to be beautiful, which isn't the case. Not trying to make anybody mad, but there are many people out there in the world who are just unattractive. Everybody has SOMETHING wrong with them, why shouldn't Illa? And I don't mean losing their memory every few weeks/months...
I'm ranting...oh well...i'm gonna. Yeah.
Characters with handicaps
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Lord Arcia
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Re: Characters with handicaps
Sylveria clicks through the General forum, searching for the small, familiar yellow icons marking a lack of recent visit to certain topics. Her eyes come to one entitled "Characters with handicaps". Sylveria, playing a mute character, clicks it in curiosity.
Inside, she finds a post begun by Arcia, whom had spent at least weeks and weeks with her character within the last year. She seems confused at his confusion.
(You get the point
)
To start off, Sylvie can read and write, but I rarely do it ingame. I think it kills just a little bit of the fun and purpose of playing a silent character. what's the fun of basically making speech a more tedious action? Also, when she DOES write things ingame, they are always #w'd, and also always contained within "&" brackets. For example, #w &Why does the orc by the river poke a water plant into his nose?&
When she mouths things (also rarely), they are in "%" brackets. The words in the "%" brackets are also usually broken up/harder to understand. For example Sylveria mouths %Th dir i br wn %
It really can be difficult playing a silent character or a character based completely on #me actions, as Sylveria is. when I first thought of creating this kind of character, I was ready to expect that it would be difficult to make people understand. Fortunately I've gotten better at it (i think ) as I play Sylveria more. There are just two other mute characters I know of besides Sylveria herself.
(Some more common Sylveria actions that are not to be stolen ......)
Sylveria stops, and looks to the elf.
Arcia: Hello, Syl
Sylveria grins broadly and waves a greeting.
Arcia: how are you today?
Sylveria smiles optimistically and nods her head to Arcia in turn.
Arcia: i'm doing okay. just got back from killing some rotworms
Arcia grins.
Sylveria 's eyes widen a bit in surprise and pass over the elf's clothing rapidly, as if worried for wounds.
Arcia: nah, they were easy
Sylveria gives Arcia an almost reprimanding look and sticks out her tongue at his boast. She still grins shortly afterwards.
Etc.
Inside, she finds a post begun by Arcia, whom had spent at least weeks and weeks with her character within the last year. She seems confused at his confusion.
Sylveria reads the post and starts to giggle....Lord Arcia wrote:I love the idea of having a handicaped character, but i'm not sure how to RP it. I don't believe many people have characters such as this. If there are other characters out there, they should bring them out.
(You get the point
)To start off, Sylvie can read and write, but I rarely do it ingame. I think it kills just a little bit of the fun and purpose of playing a silent character. what's the fun of basically making speech a more tedious action? Also, when she DOES write things ingame, they are always #w'd, and also always contained within "&" brackets. For example, #w &Why does the orc by the river poke a water plant into his nose?&
When she mouths things (also rarely), they are in "%" brackets. The words in the "%" brackets are also usually broken up/harder to understand. For example Sylveria mouths %Th dir i br wn %
It really can be difficult playing a silent character or a character based completely on #me actions, as Sylveria is. when I first thought of creating this kind of character, I was ready to expect that it would be difficult to make people understand. Fortunately I've gotten better at it (i think
) as I play Sylveria more. There are just two other mute characters I know of besides Sylveria herself.(Some more common Sylveria actions that are not to be stolen ......
) Sylveria stops, and looks to the elf.
Arcia: Hello, Syl
Sylveria grins broadly and waves a greeting.
Arcia: how are you today?
Sylveria smiles optimistically and nods her head to Arcia in turn.
Arcia: i'm doing okay. just got back from killing some rotworms
Arcia grins.
Sylveria 's eyes widen a bit in surprise and pass over the elf's clothing rapidly, as if worried for wounds.
Arcia: nah, they were easy
Sylveria gives Arcia an almost reprimanding look and sticks out her tongue at his boast. She still grins shortly afterwards.
Etc.
Re: Characters with handicaps
Unless ofcourse you force the elfess we are talking about, to write something down.Sylveria wrote:To start off, Sylvie can read and write, but I rarely do it ingame. I think it kills just a little bit of the fun and purpose of playing a silent character. what's the fun of basically making speech a more tedious action? Also, when she DOES write things ingame, they are always #w'd, and also always contained within "&" brackets. For example, #w &Why does the orc by the river poke a water plant into his nose?&
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Lord Arcia
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I actually thought of making a blind character first, instead of the usual would be hero... I made it, and I found it to be extremely difficult. Cannot recognize characters, except when they speak etc. Most people my character was blowing them off when he was waving his staff around and passed them by without saying anything to them. It's pretty obvious that he doesn't recognize them. It helps when the other players actually remember what your character's disability is 
I miss your RP, it was excellent and i understood almost all of your expressions without you having to write. Maybe i'm not articulate enough to play this role...iunno.
I miss your RP, it was excellent and i understood almost all of your expressions without you having to write. Maybe i'm not articulate enough to play this role...iunno.
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Bloodhearte
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I think you are choosing to play the most difficult type of character Arcia...a mute. Even with blindness, you could make a cool "Zatoichi"-esque character who can fight under the condition that he can hear extremely well (BS, I know, but Illarion is fiction anyway) .
Personally, one of my characters wasn't able to read or write...he could speak, but as a guy who grew up killing people for a living, he never got around to formal education. It never ceases to amaze me how many people play knowledgable, literate guys who do nothing but fight for a living in the Middle Ages.
Keep the weaknesses comin' folks, but don't overdo it to the point of not being able to have fun with him anymore.
.Personally, one of my characters wasn't able to read or write...he could speak, but as a guy who grew up killing people for a living, he never got around to formal education.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people play knowledgable, literate guys who do nothing but fight for a living in the Middle Ages.Keep the weaknesses comin' folks, but don't overdo it to the point of not being able to have fun with him anymore.
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Naybet Grint
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You'd be amazed how the discovery that some people are inclined to magic, allowing them to produce huge columns of flames and the like on behalf of the king's army, would lead to a hell of a lot more formal education being available. Any sane feudal government will search like mad for these individuals, and make sure that they get schooling in government institutions. It isn't unreasonable, once the educational infrastructure is in place for it to be extended to allow others to learn. For a fee. The isle of Illarion has a public library, and there is nothing like one of them to improve literacy rates in the general population.
It is tempting to play a disabled character, but that would involving playing less with my core character. Hmm.. well not neccessarily, but I'm not going to plan a disability for him just yet. I have other plans for now (although frankly my character isn't co-operating with them much).
It is tempting to play a disabled character, but that would involving playing less with my core character. Hmm.. well not neccessarily, but I'm not going to plan a disability for him just yet. I have other plans for now (although frankly my character isn't co-operating with them much).
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Bloodhearte
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Judging from the amount of magic user characters, I'm not doubting there would be a form of public education accessible to anyone...that is, accessible to anybody willing to learn, who can afford it, and lives a life that may require literacy.Naybet Grint wrote:You'd be amazed how the discovery that some people are inclined to magic, allowing them to produce huge columns of flames and the like on behalf of the king's army, would lead to a hell of a lot more formal education being available. Any sane feudal government will search like mad for these individuals, and make sure that they get schooling in government institutions. It isn't unreasonable, once the educational infrastructure is in place for it to be extended to allow others to learn. For a fee. The isle of Illarion has a public library, and there is nothing like one of them to improve literacy rates in the general population.
It is tempting to play a disabled character, but that would involving playing less with my core character. Hmm.. well not neccessarily, but I'm not going to plan a disability for him just yet. I have other plans for now (although frankly my character isn't co-operating with them much).
I'm just saying that pure fighters don't need to learn how to read and write if all they do is fight. People usually adapt solely to their needs, and you don't need to read and write to kill people...sometimes it just slips by for these individuals regardless of how accessible education is, even in today's world.
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Naybet Grint
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Sure. I totally agree, there are a lot of characters that are far more literate than you might expect them to be given their backgrounds. I've gone for the joys of semi-literate, but I might have to let my character learn to write properly one day. I was just making the point that this isn't a typical medieval setting, because it has (a lot of) magic and the like in, so we need to modify the historic setting somewhat.
The issue with not playing a literate character is that most people seem to assume that you read the shop wall notices. Or pass written notes to you (I've had to wander round IC before finding the person to find the person who PMed me because they had written something complicated my character couldn't read). But then, if illiterate wasn't a disadvantage, it wouldn't be as much fun. Hmm.. I might start a character that is entirely literate, but only in Han-geul.... I could send people interesting notes then. *me sits and thinks*. Do the name rules require you to provide a name in the roman alphabet? ;)
The issue with not playing a literate character is that most people seem to assume that you read the shop wall notices. Or pass written notes to you (I've had to wander round IC before finding the person to find the person who PMed me because they had written something complicated my character couldn't read). But then, if illiterate wasn't a disadvantage, it wouldn't be as much fun. Hmm.. I might start a character that is entirely literate, but only in Han-geul.... I could send people interesting notes then. *me sits and thinks*. Do the name rules require you to provide a name in the roman alphabet? ;)
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Benji Goppelfrog
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My character Benji is a blind halfling. Its also very difficult, but I have slowly gotten better and better at it, as Syl says with her muteness rp. Sometimes, I walk around my room/my house with my eyes closed. I pay attention to things that are usually taken for granted visually. This has helped my rp a lot in some cases. When you act out your character in ways like this you always start to realize some things, even if you don't do a lot of it. You start thinking of possible details that can be played.
for example:
Benji turns his head at the voice.
can turn into-
Benji 's head turns to the voice and his unseeing eyes seem to stare at a space near the human's shoulder. (Of course Benji himself cant see that it's a human, but this part is put in for other rp sake).
Benji waves in a generally eastward direction.
Human grins "Up here a little higher, halfling"
And so forth.
Benji also runs into the well, the wall, tall folk legs, more walls, face forward into wet puddles, depots, chests, more walls, trips on cobblestones, plants, more tall folk, and some more walls
At least he had some good halfling friends who made him a staff to use. Anyway the easiest way to rp this is to frequently walk in only one direction until you reach an obstacle
Oh and Naybet, the problem with having name characters that aren't in the roman alphabet are that...... nobody will be able to say/write your characters name correctly
for example:
Benji turns his head at the voice.
can turn into-
Benji 's head turns to the voice and his unseeing eyes seem to stare at a space near the human's shoulder. (Of course Benji himself cant see that it's a human, but this part is put in for other rp sake).
Benji waves in a generally eastward direction.
Human grins "Up here a little higher, halfling"
And so forth.
Benji also runs into the well, the wall, tall folk legs, more walls, face forward into wet puddles, depots, chests, more walls, trips on cobblestones, plants, more tall folk, and some more walls
At least he had some good halfling friends who made him a staff to use. Anyway the easiest way to rp this is to frequently walk in only one direction until you reach an obstacle Oh and Naybet, the problem with having name characters that aren't in the roman alphabet are that...... nobody will be able to say/write your characters name correctly
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Moirear Sian
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About the reading and the writing in general; sure it's nice to play handicaps, but it's worth considering how much RP interaction you're cutting off. I like Galim's idea for bypassing it, for example.
I reviewed some things recently and noticed that in theory, if its somehow inherent your character's background, and the character is tendencially around 10 Intelligence, they normally can read and write. Keikan's attribute guide.
It's one of those handicaps that will inevitably cut off alot of possible interaction, from sending doves all the way to reading signposts... out of this reason I have always avoided characters with anything less than 8 Intelligence.
But... I am quite sure that alot of people with low intelligence-characters do tend to write way too much, and too elaborately; if I look into the RP boards (let alone where they acquire certain means like parchment and ink sometimes remains a complete mystery). Also, if you consider the races and sub-types (tribes) of the races (something sadly only very few people regard in their character concepts), some of them more or less make it a prerequisite to their society to eventually attain the ability to read and write. Sian for example is of Salkamaerian origin. Alavan is Gynkeesh-human. Now, more nature-based tribes like like Serinjah or Norodaj would have different views on the subject; perhaps use even different alphabets (runes?). Or it's doubtful that certain orc tribes teach their kin how to read and write if their overall intelligence is dangerously low.
As to the subject of handicaps; I've always deemed the characters with "real" disabilities, like Sylveria's muteness, Benji's blindness (both of which I've spent some good sessions of RPing) as more interesting. Just as good to me, are usually characteristic disabilities; like Galim's stubborness, some people's inability to negotiate or show any Charisma, all the way to Sam's (the lizard Sam, not the NPC) inability to hold any aggressions.
Illiteracy can be a nice thing to RP, but I don't find it horribly interesting in a fantasy RPG.
If we were playing a medieval times RPG settled in our real world's history, I'd have to insist that only clergy and monks have chances to even learn reading and writing.
I reviewed some things recently and noticed that in theory, if its somehow inherent your character's background, and the character is tendencially around 10 Intelligence, they normally can read and write. Keikan's attribute guide.
It's one of those handicaps that will inevitably cut off alot of possible interaction, from sending doves all the way to reading signposts... out of this reason I have always avoided characters with anything less than 8 Intelligence.
But... I am quite sure that alot of people with low intelligence-characters do tend to write way too much, and too elaborately; if I look into the RP boards (let alone where they acquire certain means like parchment and ink sometimes remains a complete mystery). Also, if you consider the races and sub-types (tribes) of the races (something sadly only very few people regard in their character concepts), some of them more or less make it a prerequisite to their society to eventually attain the ability to read and write. Sian for example is of Salkamaerian origin. Alavan is Gynkeesh-human. Now, more nature-based tribes like like Serinjah or Norodaj would have different views on the subject; perhaps use even different alphabets (runes?). Or it's doubtful that certain orc tribes teach their kin how to read and write if their overall intelligence is dangerously low.
As to the subject of handicaps; I've always deemed the characters with "real" disabilities, like Sylveria's muteness, Benji's blindness (both of which I've spent some good sessions of RPing) as more interesting. Just as good to me, are usually characteristic disabilities; like Galim's stubborness, some people's inability to negotiate or show any Charisma, all the way to Sam's (the lizard Sam, not the NPC) inability to hold any aggressions.
Illiteracy can be a nice thing to RP, but I don't find it horribly interesting in a fantasy RPG.
If we were playing a medieval times RPG settled in our real world's history, I'd have to insist that only clergy and monks have chances to even learn reading and writing.
Problem with playing a member of a certain tribe is, there is very little information on them and their customs besides a short paragraph on each. I did take this into account when "trying" to play my supposedly Norodaj character, especially in his accent in common when speaking in common. He is comfortable around dwarves and trading with them, and is fond of a good drink. His int is average, but he doesn't read or need to really. He's not much fun to be around, not much depth, but he has low essense, so he's pretty dull overall and tends to be influenced by other's opinions pretty heavily.
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Moirear Sian
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I really wish more people would play those tribes and cultures. Here is something for you to chew on:
There is a culture of orcs that is quite different than those that can be found on moonsilver (which, sadly, is ignored on the part of most orc players. I only know of one tribe that is truly nomadic hunter-gatherers.) They live in stone fortresses on volcanic mountains and live a life of honor. They are, more or less, paladins of Bragon (often called the Orcs of Flame or simply, Fire Orcs). They seek perfection in body and mind, throughout their entire existance. To the other orcs, they are considered strange, but also honored in many ways, as they tend to be mediators in the territorial battles between the nomadic orcs.
There is also a subclass within the culture of the nomadic hunter-gatherer orcs, especially those that worship Moshran rather than Malachin as their war god. Those orcs who worship Moshran can be considered like the berzerkers of Norse culture. They pray to Moshran, dance, and wrestle before going to battle to enter a berzerker fury. Sadly, some orcs don't snap out of this, and became a danger to their kin. They are often chained up in the seasonal cave, or released into the wild like savage animals. These orcs are known as Blood Orcs, due to the terrible toll the Blood God has taken from them. In the rare times where they snap out of their fury, for only a time, they often beg to the gods for mercy.
Have fun with that, ladies and gentlemen. There will be more coming shortly.
Aegohl
There is a culture of orcs that is quite different than those that can be found on moonsilver (which, sadly, is ignored on the part of most orc players. I only know of one tribe that is truly nomadic hunter-gatherers.) They live in stone fortresses on volcanic mountains and live a life of honor. They are, more or less, paladins of Bragon (often called the Orcs of Flame or simply, Fire Orcs). They seek perfection in body and mind, throughout their entire existance. To the other orcs, they are considered strange, but also honored in many ways, as they tend to be mediators in the territorial battles between the nomadic orcs.
There is also a subclass within the culture of the nomadic hunter-gatherer orcs, especially those that worship Moshran rather than Malachin as their war god. Those orcs who worship Moshran can be considered like the berzerkers of Norse culture. They pray to Moshran, dance, and wrestle before going to battle to enter a berzerker fury. Sadly, some orcs don't snap out of this, and became a danger to their kin. They are often chained up in the seasonal cave, or released into the wild like savage animals. These orcs are known as Blood Orcs, due to the terrible toll the Blood God has taken from them. In the rare times where they snap out of their fury, for only a time, they often beg to the gods for mercy.
Have fun with that, ladies and gentlemen. There will be more coming shortly.
Aegohl
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Mimblethorp
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Galim
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Not just of orcplayers, but you are right. Orcs are not that barbarian slaughterer like many think and play them.(which, sadly, is ignored on the part of most orc players. I only know of one tribe that is truly nomadic hunter-gatherers.)
More should read moonsilver and what it says about orcs in illarion. they are not like orcs in other roleplay games.
But that counts for other races too
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Moirear Sian
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And maybe in some text processors for translations and corrections.Misjbar wrote:Still in the works by mister Damien I suppose.
Aye, I agree. Right now it's not much but it's better than just importing carbon copies from other games and such. As it has been said so many times, this is not AD&D or Lord of the Rings.Galim wrote:More should read moonsilver and what it says about orcs in illarion. they are not like orcs in other roleplay games.
But that counts for other races too
Moonsilver.
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Moirear Sian
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Another little sneak peek.
-1,777
Looting of Firnismill
The orcish warhordes loot and set fire to the halfling town Firnismill and its surrounding territory. The motives behind these acts are to gather provisions for the planned war against Albar and to send slaves back to their home grounds.
The halflings in the area are subjugated, but they organize themselves in an effective underground resistance movement. Their sheer toughness and thick-headedness causes them to actually garner respect from their occupiers.
Orcish proverbs from the time say:
"A dead halfling is honored by hundreds,"
"The loudest tyrant dies by a fist in his sleep,"
and "Trust no cook who is your slave."
Merely two months later, a legion of elvenkind and dwarves arrives, which in the name of the Aramon-Alliance attempts to drive the orcish horde out of Firnismill. They are supported by a very angry mob of halflings.
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Konstantin K
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Bloodhearte
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You have strange tastes K. 
I dunno. I usually find mute characters boring, unless they already present a cool aura around themselves that speaks for itself.
Like that fat soldier from Final Fantasy VIII I played a few years ago...he lost his voice permanently, and everytime he was involved in something, all I saw was the annoying: "......" or "..." or "...........!"
47 uses the Mute thing well, although he does speak sometimes.
I dunno. I usually find mute characters boring, unless they already present a cool aura around themselves that speaks for itself.
Like that fat soldier from Final Fantasy VIII I played a few years ago...he lost his voice permanently, and everytime he was involved in something, all I saw was the annoying: "......" or "..." or "...........!"
47 uses the Mute thing well, although he does speak sometimes.