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[mastimio]

A question of curiosity - assuming you play them due to your involvement with a bunch of them, what are your favourite kinds of characters (be it mechanically or narratively) to play in TTRPGS? And do you have any associated anecdotes to go with them?

courtesy readmore

mechanically kinda depends on what's on the menu, but if it's combat-focused, I personally really enjoy characters who "deny" things

not really the kind of character who I'd ever expect a GM to put in their element on purpose (I usually make a conscious effort to remind the GM of things I'm capable of so that I don't trample on any fun setpieces) but definitely the kind of character who modifies objectives just by being in play. I also like magic-users in concept, but that's more of a flavour thing

I think that's reflected a good bit in the kind of narrative play I enjoy, too. when I make a character, I prefer to do it with the rest of the party in mind, less to make the character "compatible" and more to make them sharply contrast in ways that encourage the other characters to have moments where they can reaffirm who they are (both in narrative and out of narrative)

there's a fine balance to strike here. on one end of things, you risk yes-manning so hard that the party quickly becomes a problem solving engine with a single striking surface. on the other end of the things, you risk being The Chaotic Neutral Guy

the space in the middle there represents the characters that people often want to regularly interact with, but rarely want to play. the sort of character who isn't actively disruptive, but raises a lot of red flags when they suddenly show enthusiastic agreement for what you're doing. the kind of character you almost need a diminished sense of discomfort to play without getting in your own feelings about

I adore playing characters who are catered to find plot hooks in other players' characters and tug them just enough to pull them to the surface

most parties have characters who disagree on things that aren't easily resolved. that's always fun, but (because people courteously tend to avoid conflict) it's very rare for those conflicts to come up without GM prompting, and "create productive conflict between two characters without leaving out the rest of the characters or starting a fight between players" is often an equally uncomfortable situation for a GM

lots of fun directions to take it!

have an arc that would benefit from a character taking charge but their player doesn't feel comfortable just Doing That? it helps to have someone else try to take charge who obviously should not be allowed, just to get everyone behind the alternative

have someone with a pure heart who doesn't really get to show that in a party of players who don't want to be mean? maybe someone who's a little more morally-compromised could give them a window for explaining what they actually believe

have a character who's part of some mysterious cult that nobody else is going to find the time to look into? the party could benefit from having a nosy character to justify cracking open that backstory

GM needs to fuck something up to remind the party of how dangerous things are? why not add to the mood by showing what your often-cold character looks like when something manages to actually upset them

[WARNING: DOING ANY OF THIS WALKS THE PRECARIOUSLY THIN LINE BETWEEN BEING COMPELLING AND BEING ANNOYING]

observant readers (well, those who have followed for a while) might have noticed I periodically go on rants about the much-maligned "evil character in a good party" and how both sides of the argument represent a communication and courtesy breakdown. that also very much ties into this sort of thing. I won't go over Tolerable Villainy 101 again, but you get the idea

distilled, I like playing the sort of thoroughly worldly bastards who often end up important in their own right, but mostly on accident, by virtue of being important to what makes other characters compelling

[mastimio]

I finished this game a while ago, but sometimes i think of the finale of hard mode and feel an urge to go hug my mom

[mastimio]

soundscape of young green martian playing with pvc pipes

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[mastimio]

pinPointer program < suspended shell >

Drawn by me

Pencil

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there's admittedly something really funny about how chainsaw man almost got the western dungeon meshi fandom treatment, down to some vestiges still existing to this day, and narrowly escaped into having a standard manga fandom by feeding every single character necessary for a cozy slice of life AU into the woodchipper

[mastimio]

Have you read the new Ryoko Kui interview? Any thoughts?

it’s been less than 24 hours since the interview was put online and i’ve seen no less than seven different people respond to it along the lines of “oh, hee hee, the silly little mangaka hasn’t realized she’s autistic yet uwu”

[mastimio]

twitter is such a cesspool god

Wahhhh the [warp express spoiler] is such a plothole wahhh

We havent even gotten to her canto yet chill tf out😭

[mastimio]

This HAD to be on my blog.

Credit: theemidknight on TikTok

[mastimio]

One thing I’ve learned about writing is ”give everything a face”. It’s no good to write passively that the nobility fled the city or that the toxic marshes were poisoning the animals beyond any ability to function. Make a protagonist see how a desperate woman in torn silks climbs onto a carriage and speeds off, or a two-headed deer wanders right into the camp and into the fire. Don’t just have an ambiguous flock of all-controlling oligarchy, name one or two representatives of it, and illustrate just how vile and greedy they are as people.

it’s bad to have characters who serve no purpose in the story, but giving something a face is a perfectly valid purpose.

[mastimio]

God himself would have to come down to drag me away from these games

and even then he would have to struggle

[mastimio]

Do you think you can redraw this tanya

Today's Daily Degurechaff is… FUCK YEAH! EASY JOBS!!!

[mastimio]

[mastimio]

I think the key to writing an evil protagonist that isn't just "villainy is a sports team" is to do the usual superficially charming/funny route or complex motives route, but every once in a while you need to throw in a moment that will have the audience going "Oh fuck, they're really doing this"

[mastimio]

one very striking thing about how people around urobuchi talk about urobuchi is that, in nearly every project he shares with other creators, the interviews strongly imply that working with him is an arduous process of constantly dissuading him from ruining the entire project by doing something extremely stupid