Post by The Solomons on Jan 1, 2017 23:20:48 GMT -5
Thematically and structurally, I'm picking up where I left off with a previous character, who I'm taking a break from for... uh, let's say drama reasons. I feel bad playing a slight pastiche of a different character (since I don't want to be one of those that always does the same gimmick), but I had a lot of momentum going and I didn't want to spoil it trying something radically different*. The scary/gothic/evil people shtick is overdone as hell in E-fedding, but it's almost always vampires or asylum escapees; I think there's a lot of untouched ground in other dimensions of horror. Hence, Duke and Darcy--instead of the usual "whoa, crazy Satanists" gimmick, I shot more for some Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or Shadow Over Innsmouth. I'm hoping the difference is distinct enough to not make them boring--it's seriously painful for me to roleplay against really generic "WELCOME TO MY TWISTED MIND, I DRINK BLOOD, SUPER SPOOKY" gimmicks, so I'd hate to accidentally be one of those.
I do a lot of experimentation with spacing and whatnot. Writers, myself included, tend to abuse ellipses (...) for pauses, so I've been trying to use the roleplay format to play with it. So instead of "I... hate you," I'd take a swing at something like
"I
hate you."
While it wouldn't work for, say, a script, you as a reader of a roleplay naturally insert the pause so it works. It also makes the whole thing look off, as in mentally wrong, which works for the characters. In theory. I hope. I've had people interpret the spacing differently, and instead just think I was trying to make the RP look longer. Secretly, I don't care how long the RP is, I just like to do weird stuff with my writing. I've gone weirder. I might go weirder later. ANYWAY, I want peoples' opinions on my stuff--whether the gimmick "works," whether the structural stuff is off putting or if it achieves its intended effect, whether the whole thing makes sense and is convincing or not. I'm trying to read a fine line between "subtle horror gimmick" and "overdone goth goofiness." Feel free to critique the roleplays AND the gimmick/characters themselves.
*New things are good, but I'm really hit or miss when it comes to brand new ideas. If Duke and Darcy aren't received all that well, I might end up swapping for something fresher. I've got, like, a hundred ideas for tag teams, they're just all really strange new ground to cover.