Conquest of the Horde

Full Version: When life gives you lemons... Make a blind ninja prophet.
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So I was at school today and I realized I had no idea what kind of character I wanted to play. That said, I thought of something fun that might help. I'd like people to name for me different kinds of literary cliches, dealing with backstory, appearance, race, etc. that might be converted into an interesting character.

The point of this is that I'll find one literary cliche that I think it hilarious and try to build a character around it that (hopefully) actually works in our setting (And isn't really terrible).

Note: This is a serious, honest-to-got attempt. I'm hoping for a challenging character to write and play that actually works in serious RP.
Well, I think something that is always challenging to make is a silly, accident prone character, that -somehow- gets out of every situation he gets in to, that's always fun to do.
The problem I have (And why I mentioned it at the end in an edit) is that I absolutely hate playing a comic relief character. Even when I'm trying to mess with someone for the hell of it I'll do it in a serious, IC way. That could also be why Gnomes have never appealed to me, the stereotype surrounding them is a little too much.
An orc missing the old ferocity of the Horde. They're rising in number. So, basically a Warcraft 2 Orc.

Dwarven Mountain King or Warrior type. Yeah. Instead of exploring and stuff, keep the old tradition.

Human Tinker.
You know what, Kagh. This is /exactly/ the sort of thing I do to come up with my characters a lot of the time. That said, I tend to automatically undo characters in my head and come up with things that are abnormal and/or underplayed. Here's a few of the ones that have been floating around recently, to varying degrees of detail.

- The guy that's actually, genuinely nice. And I don't mean nice in a "let's accept everybody" way, or the "row row fight the blood elf powah" way. I don't mean saintly, just nice. Maybe with a twist. Maybe not. You want to know why I think this is rare? Because it's almost never played on its own. The nice guy is always a paladin adhering to his rights, or the charming rogue, or the gullible but lovable oaf. I challenge you to put "nice guy" in a position where he isn't normally found--burly brawler types, for example.

- Take just about any played-for-jokes archetype, and play it straight. Consider a dwarven alcoholic, perhaps one that's lost his job, family and home life and is more or less an utter wreck thanks to his addiction. Or a character that has some manner of speech impediment/strange quirk/annoying habit. Find a way to affect their life; I used this on my retail main. She wanted to be an actress, but was turned down almost everywhere because she couldn't control her voice. Naturally, she turned into an embittered harpy . . . but that's a bit of an extreme example.

- Schizophrenic, not played for laughs. I guarantee you this would be one of the hardest characters you could ever tackle. And I mean, not even one "look at me I hear voices hurr hurr" joke. I've tried it. It's /really/ hard; the same goes for characters with MPD and other serious mental illnesses.

- Play a gnome. Seriously, fight your "I can't take this seriously" reflex and just try your damndest to play one straight. Though I don't, erm, play gnomes enough myself, I used to. When not played for laughs, they can still be excellent for RP--serious, solid characters can be short just as much as the tall folk. If you don't believe me, catch me in-game sometime and I'll prove you wrong. Either way, one of the best things you can do is play something that you're not used to. You'll never know who you can meet and what you can come to enjoy.

Of course, TVtropes is always an excellent resource for this sort of thing.

I'll go find you some solid cliches in a few, but I wanted to pop these out while I had them buzzing in my head. I think it's obvious what archetype they've come from, but if they spawn any ideas, then I've done my job.
Play a gnome. Just do it. Playing a gnome has to be the ultimate stress reliever.
I find it hilarious that the "Nice Guy In A Different Situation" and "Orc That Isn't Angry With Everyone" tropes are exactly what I challenged myself to make Kaghuros into. It's too easy to play a Warhammer Orc who just wants choppas and dakka, so I focused on his more religious and personal characteristics in interactions (He's always been extremely civilized and friendly to Horde, and grudgingly accepts honorable members of other races.). That said, I may try it on a different character.

The concept of turning common joke characters into a good base is something I've been seriously considering. The heavy alcoholic Dwarf would be an excellent way to actually join Dwarven RP if we still have that. I've played alcoholics before and there's a lot you can get into with someone who's lost enough to go that low (I played an ex-Paladin once, but maybe not here, who turned to alcohol after the Silver Hand was destroyed. He was essentially a wreck but did build himself back up into a soldier eventually, though the Light never came back.).

An idea that's been rolling around in my head is a Night Elf Druid who blinded himself in order to become a Demon Hunter, but did the ensuing ritual wrong, so he's legitimately blind and can no longer fight. I've never played a blind character, and blindness is one of those hard-to-play-right character cliches that I'm looking at for a challenge.
Yo, I'm with you on the Gnome thing. I can't play those guys, and I have a lot of trouble with Tauren for similar reasons. Yeah, I think I'm in the same phase too, not sure what I want to play. I think I'm gonna play Torchlight and reinvent my Berserker as a character, since the Alch just died on Hardcore . :(

/endshamelesswhining

Draenei Space Commander
Think: Star Trek
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(Any Horde) Spy
Think: The espionage/assassin minded folks from feudal Japan. Less ninja, more espionage-y

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Dwarven/Human/Gnome Machinist
Think: Rejected and desperate for pay, needs to support XYZ, will do anything for a buck.
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(Any Race) Mage Dropout
Think: Dropout from Magic Academy, trying to make their way, or get back to lessons.



Mebbe?
I'd love to see a blind character played well.

Consider other physical disabilities, too, though. :>
Attention: No, there is no Dwarven RP anymore. :P

Being a raunchy drunk dude sounds quite fun, though. Running around showing old ladies your weasel.
Maelstrom Wrote:Attention: No, there is no Dwarven RP anymore. :P

Being a raunchy drunk dude sounds quite fun, though. Running around showing old ladies your weasel.
Erm, no.

That wasn't my point at all.
No, but it was mine. >:D
I like the blind Nelf Druid idea!

That would be so horrid. To go through all the effort of blinding yourself, only to mess up the ritual...ouch. The character really would have many things to struggle with mentally, not to mention the physical disability. You see a lot of blind/mute characters...so it would be nice to add that kind of twist to it. =D
How about the geeky guy that does cool shit, and get's the girl?

There's also the cigar smoking badass.

Hrm. Funny guy with a crappy life?
Oh, how about the clean-cut high-ranking retired military officer who basically talks in grunts and inspirational speeches?
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