| Author |
Topic:
The Character Designers Guild
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Trimaj
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
4/25/06 5:43pm
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
- Date Edited:
4/25/06 5:43pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Trimaj
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nice posts you two.
Trimaj's Contest Entry
IC: Azhmodin/ Shodaire Mountains
Wind swept across the cliff face, the rocks flashed bright blue with the lightening that flashed through the couldy sky. Azhmodin wasn't thrilled with his position, but he knew that things could get better. Likely things worse will they get. He sighed, wondering what Iljaenar would have done given the circumstances. He couldn't ask anymore because he had finally finished the other two pesky minds.
"You don't have a chance Azhmodin, you will be killed!" the knight yelled at him insanely, raising his sword over his head in a move that would normally prove fatal in most cases.
Unfortunately for Azhmodin the sword was silver and could spit him like a knitting needle. He sighed, and muttered to himself. "And Azhmodin thought he was insane." He looked around for a rock that he could throw at the knight, but he ran out of time.
Charging with the insanity that was obvious in his eyes, his torn chainmail hanging off of his frame. Azhmodin sidestepped, but without an actually weapon there was little he was willing to try. He cursed his luck as his scimitar was now laying at the bottom of the gorge they stood at the edge of.
Quickly turning the knight charged again. Azhmodin, his back to the cliff edge, had no where to go.
As the sword descended he ducked under it, his foot suddenly slipping behind him off the cliff. As the crazed knight crashed into him, his balance was lost completely and they both fell of the cliff.
Azhmodin barely managed to grab the edge of the cliff as they tumbled over. He felt the sword enter his ribs enter as he hung there, as well as the weight of the knight hanging on his leg. Trying to shake the knight off he realized the weakness that was suddenly running through his body. Azhmodin... What? Suddenly lightning flared right infront of him, and the cliff gave way.
As they were both blasted away from the cliff face, the sound assaulting his ears, he knew his number had finally come. A knight? Azhmodin defeated was a knight by? Completely disgusted with himself he winced as the sword twisted in his side when he tried to roll over.
Suddenly everything ceased with a loud bang. The werewolf murderer was finally dead.
TAG NO ONE
Kinda pathetic I know.
-----signature-----
I'm just a figment of your imagination.
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.
-Albert Einstein
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Despised1
Registered:
Jul '05
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Date Posted:
4/25/06 5:47pm
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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Trimaj posted:
Kinda pathetic I know.
Yours and mine both, I found it rather difficult to introduce a character and kill him all in the same post. It was a good challenge.
-----signature-----
 ~Sith Loyalist~ "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"  "Someday, someone will best me. But it won't be today and it won't be you."  "Eventus stultorum magister!" 
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Trimaj
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
4/25/06 5:58pm
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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Despised1 posted:
Trimaj posted:
Kinda pathetic I know.
Yours and mine both, I found it rather difficult to introduce a character and kill him all in the same post. It was a good challenge.
yours was better than mine d1. i enjoyed it a fair amount. be an interesting character to see more of.
-----signature-----
I'm just a figment of your imagination.
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.
-Albert Einstein
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Rayson
Registered:
Apr '02
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Date Posted:
4/25/06 7:30pm
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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I understand the complexity of what I'm asking, it's a hard thing to do, but thus far the entries have been a good read. I only ask that you end your character's life, because other it would drag out time and waste posts, and the posts wouldn't be near as interesting, as each person would know they had several posts to make something "magical."
When you give someone tough guidelines it makes them try their best to get a great post. That's what I like to see. And no worries, this point will tie in with Character Design later on. 
-----signature-----
I love Star Wars.
I play World of Warcraft.
I read ...books.
Dear God,
What have I become?
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SephyCloneNo15
Registered:
Apr '05
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Date Posted:
4/25/06 9:48pm
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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(ooc: I think I got one finally)
IC: Frederic Graham
"Who the **** are you?" The robber, who called himself Deadtouch asked. "Barging in here and killing my partner."
"Libra," was his only response.
"Well, I'm a Sagitarius," The man said, his lethal touch ectending to another unfortunate bank customer.
"The more you kill, the more painful this has to be," Libra warned, sending a supersonic punch towards Deadtouch's gut.
Hacking blood, the criminal with the poison fingertips staggered to his feet and hurled himself at Libra, grabbing the armor and seeking a weak spot. Somewhere he could stick a fingertip and touch whatever was underneath the armor that obnoxiously resisted his power. Despite his injuries, he deftly avoided Libra's attempts to counter attack, but his fatal error was after he failed to locate such an aperture.
Deadtouch tried to run, but before he landed after dismounting, he found Libra's strong hand around his ankle. "How many have you killed?"
"Lost count," Deadtouch retorted.
"Then I'll just 'lose count' of how many times I've made you scream for sweet oblivion." He delivered a rib shattering punch to Deadtouch's sternum, and the villian lost his wind and collapsed.
Fred awoke with a searing pain in his deltoid. He looked around, but he couldn't see. He let his other senses tell him what they would. That disgusting hospital smell -the smell of overwhelming sterility- assaulted his nostrils. He was lying on what felt like a hospital bed. With his left hand, he felt his right arm and discovered he had yanked an intravenous tube practically out of his arm when he punched the air to correlate with his dream/memory.
He reached up and felt his empty eye sockets. Dried blood flowed from them like tears.
"The suit's malfunctioning!" Geist shouted. "I don't think he'll last in it!"
The hero Geist, formerly apprentice to the greatest hero Isaiah Rivers had ever known -The Archangel-, yanked at the helmet while the second hero, Dash, who had the nimblest fingers and quickest reflexes of any man, fumbled for a manual release.
Finally, Geist managed to tear the helmet off, ripping out the last shreds of Libra's optic nerves along with everything else in the back of those sockets. Blood streamed from the wounds and spattered on the remaining golden armor as the two heroes rushed to remove it before...
Before what? Fred tried to remember. Before he died, he assumed, based on what Geist had said, but why?
His ears picked up further details of where he was. Life suport mechanisms beeped and gurgled, monitoring how 'alive' this shell was. Fred realized how few details remained.
"The jury finds the defendant innocent of all charges."
Oswald looked back at his friend and winked. The ******* winked at him! He was a cold-blooded murder and he winked! Fred felt like he didn't even know the man anymore, but he had refused to testify...when he saw his 'friend' smile.
That night, he donned the armor, gouged out his eyes, and Frederich Graham died.
But here was Frederich Graham, lying barely alive in a hospital bed, and Libra was dead. Yet again, the idea of justice, all that Libra stood for, he decided, must come before the well-being of Frederich Graham.
He lacked the superhuman strength that Libra had wielded, but for such a small task, he needed something the suit -something Libra- hadn't provided. He summoned all his will, and grasped at the tubes inserted into his sick old man nostrils. It wasn't just for him to lie here, wasting resources. He had served his purpose. To ask more time on the earth was...unjust. And he yanked.
It was too late for the world to fade to black, but as his other senses faded, he was dimly aware of the doctor trying to save him. He felt the shock of the difibrilator, but he knew, it was too late, Libra had wrought justice for the last time.
Tag: None
(ooc: Do the folks in flashbacks count as NPCs? I was operating under the idea they didn't, but if they do, then I'm way over the NPC limit, and you may disregard this entry)
-----signature-----
Member: GDG, GMG. Sub-GM: CDG
Zam Wessel Lives!
Recipient of Thrawn McEwok's Squib Creations Limited-Edition Replica Glove of Darth Vader™
"Samuel L. Jackson isn't only a fine actor, but a gamer. He's one of us." ~ Kotaku
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Detonating-Rabbit
Registered:
May '03
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 3:17am
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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I've always considered the "extra" characters in a player's post - those they create on the spot, for one post or for a few - to be personalised characters. In my view, if someone creates a character, then they own them. I wouldn't want someone else controlling the character I've created, unless they are tagged or somehow 'in-scene.' If they wanted to pick up a character I've created, and write for them, then I'd expect to be contacted. But I'm picky that way...
In short, I'd say they're your own characters (even if they're minor). That would, in a way, make them NPCs...but not in the true sense of the word.
And I'm not sure how this bides with RPF rules, but those are the rules I play by. And for me, in all the RPGs I've played for, it's always worked.
-----signature-----
"I've never met a zombie that I haven't killed."
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"But she bit me! I didn't pay for that!"
===
"I'm sorry, Jonny. We had to shoot your mum. It turned out she was a zombie in the bedroom..."
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Despised1
Registered:
Jul '05
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 3:35am
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
- Date Edited:
4/27/06 3:39am (3 edits total)
Edited By:
Despised1
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I think I see what you are saying, but IMO it is nothing more than an issue of semantics.
Sure NPC technically means non-player-character, and sometimes players are allowed to utilize these in a minor way to expand on the story so by the definition it isn't exactly correct. But in most cases these are very minor side characters, and their only purpose is to interact with the players main character in a specific encounter and are not seen over and over again. In many RPGs GMs don't allow players to have any control of the NPCs, so in those cases the term fits perfectly.
I use the term in a more generic sense, mainly to refer to all characters who are there to provide flavor and depth only and are not the specified main character of a player. If you give me a term to use in place of that I would consider it, but until then I personally will continue to use NPC for lack of something better.
-----signature-----
~Sith Loyalist~ "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" "Someday, someone will best me. But it won't be today and it won't be you." "Eventus stultorum magister!"
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Sith-I-5
Registered:
Aug '02
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 3:54am
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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Nothing is easy around me.
I involve another player's npcs with impunity, until told otherwise, and have no qualms with other players including mine in their posts.
The only things that bother me are:
- someone destroying my npcs if they are clearly named sentients. If its a vulture droid, sure.
- a player refusing to interact with npcs because they are not "old enough".
-----signature-----
Crowning Moment of Awesome – THE MASTER. Summoning six billion robotic
beach balls Of Doom to decimate the Earth, blowing a good-bye kiss to the
Doctor, all the while dancing to "Voodoo Child". EPIC. EVIL. WIN.
007 Family - DVC's twin bro'.
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Winged_Jedi
Registered:
Feb '03
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 9:51am
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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a player refusing to interact with npcs because they are not "old enough".
Huh?  I must admit I've never seen that.
-----signature-----
"The Wire"- the smartest show ever made.
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Trimaj
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 10:25am
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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Winged_Jedi posted:
a player refusing to interact with npcs because they are not "old enough".
Huh? I must admit I've never seen that.
that one is a bit out there... i must admit.
to me an NPC is anyone that is outside of the player, hence a non-player character
-----signature-----
I'm just a figment of your imagination.
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.
-Albert Einstein
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LightWarden
Registered:
Oct '01
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 10:34am
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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When it comes to NPCs, I dislike faceless drones with absolutely no "presence" who solely exist to provide punching bags for the main characters. I usually prefer to spend some time (perhaps an illogically large amount of time) fleshing them out and providing personality traits, quirks, hobbies, interactions, backgrounds, etc. It makes things far more interesting than a simple stick figure with an angry face. Though it is perhaps unreasonable in the long run.
-----signature-----
CDG Guild Master
Strange how one small thing can determine the fate of so many... especially if it's a twenty-sided die
The Internet is SERIOUS BIZNESS!
It's all fun and games until someone loses a leg.
TF.N RPGs: Less fun than pretending to have sex
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Trimaj
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 10:46am
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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i prefer a personality as well LW, but i normally just see what type of person fits the situation without actually going into detail. normally they get reasonably well developed for me.
-----signature-----
I'm just a figment of your imagination.
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.
-Albert Einstein
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MASTERPRENN
Title: JCC Man., who jus noticed his own title. You jerk
Registered:
Dec '05
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 10:54am
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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I find I use NPC's most when I am Gming, not playing. I use don't use them a lot, but they are very valuable. I think interaction with an NPC in the right way can totally make or break a post.
-----signature-----
"When you see me, what do you see?
I see a big bushy beard and hair."
- Stephen Colbert/Cornel West
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Detonating-Rabbit
Registered:
May '03
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 2:51pm
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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MASTERPRENN posted:
I find I use NPC's most when I am Gming, not playing. I use don't use them a lot, but they are very valuable. I think interaction with an NPC in the right way can totally make or break a post.
I agree. Usually, I see the GMs using 'NPCs' to add depth, or plot twists (or whatever, really). When I co-GM, I like using NPCs both for this purpose, and to further develop my primary character(s). And I dislike faceless drones as well; any NPC I specifically use - if I intend to go into some depth about them - is named, and given traits and quirks.
-----signature-----
"I've never met a zombie that I haven't killed."
===
"But she bit me! I didn't pay for that!"
===
"I'm sorry, Jonny. We had to shoot your mum. It turned out she was a zombie in the bedroom..."
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LightWarden
Registered:
Oct '01
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Date Posted:
4/27/06 3:40pm
Subject:
RE: The Character Designers Guild
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Is it possible for players to misuse NPCs?
I remember reading an RPG a while back, in which one of the characters was a Sith-ish type. Anyways, the player does a post where the character finds a pair of kids onboard their ship and then kills them. Perhaps it's just me, but are moments lke that just a wee bit contrived? I'm still trying to figure this out, part of me thinks such posts are just players wanking to show how utterly cool their characters are, and that it's not much of a demonstration when you're the one in total control. Another part of me thinks that maybe it shouldn't just be the role of the GM to give you a chance to shine, and that people use training dummies all the time. Another part of me wants dinner.
Anyone else got any insights into the matter? It's probably not as strict a dichotomy as I'm making it, I recognize that. Maybe it's more an issue of using the NPCs well/using them poorly.
-----signature-----
CDG Guild Master
Strange how one small thing can determine the fate of so many... especially if it's a twenty-sided die
The Internet is SERIOUS BIZNESS!
It's all fun and games until someone loses a leg.
TF.N RPGs: Less fun than pretending to have sex
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