The General Roleplay Discussion Thread!

[Baloth-Kul]

GWN: If it's worth shooting thrice, it's worth putting one more into the skull.

[Unionhack]

Persona: I was bored and awake at 5 AM for some reason so guess what roleplay has a TVTropes page now.

TA2: I imagine everyone is ready to go, so I will be doing a little skip to move things along very soon.

[The SheoDovah]

GRPDT: The survey is done. Hopefully, next year's will be much, much more er... positive.

Persona: Let's do this! Not the tropes though, the fight.

[Kerr]

Fallout: If it comes to it, I can pause things on Rick's end whenever Rick and Constance start heading back up to Bravo team. If you haven't dealt with that raider by the time they get going.

[The SheoDovah]

GWN: I suppose, I can try to do something that is helpful for once in the RP. I will admit, it does seem that Rick could have done all of it by himself due to the rest not doing that much but well, could just be a misunderstanding on my part.

[Kerr]

Fallout: The only reason Rick went down to the camp alone is because the cave collapsed after the explosion. It wasn't something anyone planned, things just worked out that way. And like I said, Rick & Constance are chatting away down in the logging camp but meanwhile in the past you guys need to deal with that raider who's up by you.

And that "sniper" is only like 50 meters away from you. He's not really a sniper, he's just using a rifle. Also, what experience? Grace is from a Vault, when did she get in fights with snipers?

[Baloth-Kul]

GWN: I suppose, I can try to do something that is helpful for once in the RP. I will admit, it does seem that Rick could have done all of it by himself due to the rest not doing that much but well, could just be a misunderstanding on my part.

Could be.

Play to your character's strengths, and you'll find you accomplish a lot more.

Rick went into the cave because he could Sneak, use Explosives, and then fall back on his Marksmanship. And it went well enough for him. Jan went into the cave because...he was a noob, and the poor guy got killed for it. Chris and Lucas are both practicing Medicine, and in doing so, they're saving a life.

[The SheoDovah]

GWN:True. I really should get into the habit of having the sheets in front of me as i can forget stuff sometimes.

Persona: Yep. Ultra Greatsword time. Unless it's too big then just a massive greatsword for maxium damage. I do hope that my belief that the God of War can manifest any weapon(within reason) and shield(within reason). Will send you a PM, Union if I feel that it's worth double checking in the future. A sword and shield, i feel is viable.Not at once because that would be a bit overpowered but one, then the other, i feel is fair.

[Unionhack]

Persona: I'm fine with physical constructs seeing as your Persona's prime element is physical. The same can go for Max's Satyr and Brendan's eventual Persona. Still, one set of items at a time of course. Whatever weapons Ares conjures will be relative to him in size.

[The SheoDovah]

TA2: Is Katlina being skipped for a bit due to her not really doing much? I mean, not focused on for a while?

GWN: Hopefully, covering fire is a good idea and we have enough ammo to keep the sniper focused on us. Though, moving from tree to tree is another option but more risky and likely to get one of us hit.

[Dirty Spaceman]

GWN: Will try to post for Lester tomorrow.

[Aarah]

Persona: I'm fine with physical constructs seeing as your Persona's prime element is physical. The same can go for Max's Satyr and Brendan's eventual Persona. Still, one set of items at a time of course. Whatever weapons Ares conjures will be relative to him in size.

I'm just checking: All of the summons can perform each of the eight elemental powers? (Strongest being the prime element, and weakest being the Weak element that we all chose).
Also, say your strongest is fire - is it feasible to conjure a fire sword (composed entirely of fire, no 'physical' element to it.)
Would those with Physical as their strong element be at an advantage over the others, seeing as they could effectively conjure any item they wanted (knife, gun, shield, etc)?

[Unionhack]

Persona: Good question. In the games, party members' Personas typically have one elemental strength and one elemental weakness. This elemental alignment means that they will resist some of the damage from the strong element, while taking additional damage from the weak element and losing their footing. In their initial stages of being a Persona wielder they can typically only wield a single element (their strength), although over time they may learn to control another (and perhaps gain a new resistance as well). This is especially true for the case of a change in Persona, which is something you guys don't have to worry about for now.

Take Yosuke Hanamura from Persona 4 for example. His initial Persona, Jiraiya, is strong against wind but weak to electricity. Yosuke can cast wind spells and a few weak physical spells. Later, if the player forms a strong friendship with Yosuke, his Persona can sort of 'evolve' in accordance with his personal growth, becoming Susano-o. Susano-o, being stronger than Jiraiya, completely nullifies wind damage and also resists fire, while still remaining weak to electricity. Yosuke gains access to some low-level fire spells in this instance as well.

Shadows of the Mind takes a more simplified approach to this because it's not a video game. Suffice to say you will be sticking to your strong element as your Persona's sole means of magical attack for now. No one can pick and choose any element to cast, but you may end up acquiring another element as you progress. Rest assured that this is really a matter of flavor above everything else. Physical 'spells' are like the others despite how they appear aesthetically; whereas one might blow a gust of wind, a physical Persona might fire a conjured 'gun' to the same effect.

I'm looking for creativity above everything else. You could pull off some zany things with the power of your imagination (Yes, you could go full Balrog and brandish a fire-sword or a flaming whip), and that's what I would like to see. Before anything though, this is a stat-less roleplay, and combat will proceed with flavor as the focus, if that makes sense.

As for the possibility for your Personas evolving through character development, well... be on the lookout, that's all I'm sayin'.

EDIT: Also, the TVTropes page has a character sheet as well now.

[The SheoDovah]

Persona: I admit, if i can, I will go full balrog because, it's the freaking Balrog! Can Persona's change their form for weapons? Not much. E.g. Ares grows two more arms to triple his punching power.

[Unionhack]

Persona: In the spirit of not going overboard, I'm going to say no. Appreciate the enthusiasm though.

(This stuff is a lot harder to pin down conceptually when it's not in the confines of a video game.)

[The-Shadow-One]

Persona: Union you have psychologically analysed a lot into the characters. Holy [&@%!].

[Unionhack]

Persona: That's what the series is about, my dude. You'd be surprised how much I can infer from what little you guys have written down and what choices you have made in terms of Arcana and Persona.

Even if the choices might not conventionally fit (I find they all do but the point still stands), you can tell a lot about how a person envisions their character based on what Arcana and Persona they chose, and how they described said Persona appearance-wise.

An example; every single person in the RP, in some shape or another to a varying degree, has projected themselves onto their characters. Far more than your average roleplay, because this setting is rooted in a 'real world' and players will identify best with personality traits that are most familiar to them; their own.

With an obvious margin of error because no one is omnipotent, I can draw conclusions from the characterization of, say, Cassandra's Maria and infer based on how she's posted on the forum that the family-focus is a trait she shares with Maria. I might say the same of TSD's desire for justice, Baloth's easygoing nature, Aarah's kindness and empathy, what have you.

[The SheoDovah]

Persona: Shame. But i suppose, potentially getting to suplex someone to death will have to do. Or suplex onto a sword then punt the enemy in the head and then smash their face in with a warhammer mere seconds after the sword disappears. JOr curb stomp them after the others have brought it down, stick a trident in them, behead with a giant sword and then fill the remains with flying swords. I may be using potential dagger spam as a viable tatic.

[Aarah]

Persona:

Okay, thanks for explaining all that in more detail, Union.
Looks like I made a faux pas then, as I used Wind for my first element, when my strong element is light.
I'll have to get more creative with what light can do!
(Can hard light be a thing? Light spears? Using a fluorescent light strip as a javelin? )

Also, I think it's really cool how in-depth you've gone with analysing the character personalities.
I appreciate the tailor-made approach to the responses for each character. It really gives it that personal touch and makes it easier for all of us to understand each other's pcs better too.

Edit: Tropes page looks great! You've done loads already; it actually added more as I was reading, so you must have been writing at that moment too. I never go on TV Tropes, but I do like reading them for the rps. It's interesting to see all the little things that happen in the roleplay, categorized into tropes.

[Unionhack]

Persona: Oh yeah, I guess light is your element isn't it? I thought it was wind because of the post honestly, haha. Well, we can handwaive that, no harm done.

Light can be plenty of things, but typically light powers in settings like this involve beams and such. Refer to Light 'em Up on TVTropes. It's like wielding positive energy, that just happens to be really bright. If you wanna try out things like spears of light or something similar, then by all means.

Thank you for the compliment! Part of why I like Persona so much and why I wanted to make a Persona roleplay is because if sort of forces everyone to be unique, if that makes sense, by involving so much introspection and self-exploration.

I'm probably gonna make a topic that catalogues all the TV Tropes pages that have been made for each RP; for now, I think that includes TA2, GWN, and Persona.

[The-Shadow-One]

Persona: Light bros Aarah! Light bros!

[Aarah]

Persona:
@Union
I figured light was just my strongest element, but I could still use the others (they'd just be less effective). Good job I happened to pick light for the second attack, at least!
Ha, oh good. No need to go back and have the black orb hit them then, and then Brendan wouldn't have been saved either. Two players down!

Oh, cool, that's helpful, thanks. 'Sword of revealing light!' That's impossible to say without putting on a dramatic, deep voice with an echo.

Yeah, Persona certainly makes you have to think more about your character's traits and inner feelings. Heavy stuff, man.

@Shadow

Light twins! Shining light at their foes! Light twins!

[Unionhack]

Persona: TVTropes Character Page has been updated so that everyone has a handful of tropes to their names at the very least. Next is to add characters like Igor, Victoria, Nick, Henry Gauthier, etc etc, but all in due time. I already spent most of today working on it as is :P

Also going to add it to the OP and make a separate post for TVTropes articles for the RPs that have them.

Expect it to be updated as we go along; we've only just begun, after all.

[Minor Edits]

TA2: Did SIS make the journey to the wilderness, or are the Falmer eating him?

[Rook]

TA2: Yeah, he teleported with everyone else, but he's currently unconscious. You can just have him wake up, as I was only planning to keep him like that until I heard from you lol.

Here's the relevant post, for convenience.