This is as honest a post as I think I can make on me advertising myself. So, here we go.
This is a tentative step into this forum for me. I've thus far restricted myself to sending a couple PMs on very rare occasions because while I want a relaxed, flexible pace for a roleplay - such as that which may be afforded to me by a one-on-one roleplay - I haven't seen exactly what I've been looking for in a roleplay. And I'll admit, too, that what I want is probably going to leave a fair few folks disinterested. I say this not because my ideas are "weird" or "unique" or anything that might be condescending, but simply because my interests probably differ from a lot of folks.
Let me provide some very basic information on myself before I proceed. I've been roleplaying since I was six years old, and I'm twenty-four presently. I've roleplayed in a variety of mediums: tabletop games, video games, chatrooms, forums, Google Documents, even drawing for a very brief period of time. I suppose I'd consider myself "experienced" at roleplaying, and I definitely would think I'm a decent writer. However, that's for you to judge, I suppose. My writing styles certainly aren't beyond reproach.
I want to try a more direct, more individual style of cooperative writing for a time. I've been engaged primarily in nation roleplays on this website: big affairs full of constant communication between the different folks in the thread, and sometimes full of conflict as well. I love that. But what I want to fill in my spare time is something more relaxed, something which has a pace that can shift according to the availability or scarcity of my free time and that of whoever else is engaged in the story. This is easiest to pull off with a one-on-one approach, I feel.
Let's get to talking about what I'm looking for and what I'm NOT looking for. I'll go ahead and cover these topics one-by-one, in the order of the most likely to disqualify me from being someone folks might want to roleplay with. I'll follow that up with a general description of what I'm willing to do and consider, etc.
Well... Here we go.
On the Topic of Romance:
I like reading about romance as much as the next person, but I've always found it to be rather clunky to portray correctly in a roleplaying setting. I've discussed this in OOC threads on this set in the past, and via PMs as well, but the bottom line is this: I don't want to jump into a story with the goal to be romance.
See, I believe that certain aspects of character development should do just that: develop. And they should develop naturally, as befits the setting and their personalities and their unique perspective on life. Romantic engagements between two characters (or more, I suppose) should make sense. If they don't make sense, if the characters don't click, then there's no point in forcing the matter. In my opinion, trying to force romance just makes it feel... wrong.
Thus, the first point I'm trying to make is this: romance can't be the driving force behind any roleplay I participate in, nor should it be the goal, but it can be a potential theme. That is to say that I'm willing to consider it, and indeed I'd be absolutely thrilled if a sensible romantic relationship were to develop between characters in the story. That's a rare thing to happen; I'd love to see it. However, you need to be willing to accept that romance may not occur.
Let me reiterate: I'd love to see it work out and make sense in the context of the roleplay. I just don't think I'm going to be able to force myself to make it happen if it comes to that, and I certainly don't want to waste anyone's time if they expect something from me I can't provide as a writer. That's why I'm being up-front about this: to respect you and to respect myself.
On Matters of Pacing
As I said above, I'm looking for a relaxed pace. What I mean by that is I want a no-pressure style of roleplay where I won't upset folks if I can only post as often as once every few days or once every week or so. But if I have time, I'll happily post more than once per day, or join whoever I'm writing with in a Google Documents page or similar program to write out a nice, collaborative piece. But life gets busy, and sometimes I need to study for class, or look for a job, or actually go to work if I'm lucky.
Likewise, I'll give you the same benefit of the doubt. If life is busy, there's no rush and no pressure for anyone I'm writing with to get a post in. Relax. Take your time. Post when you're ready. I can wait.
The one thing I'll note here: if you aren't posting due to disinterest rather than due to a lack of time, please let me know. Roleplaying is about having fun. If you aren't having fun, you shouldn't feel obligated to post or feel afraid to say so. I'd rather be told you're taking leave of the roleplay rather than be told nothing at all.
On Mature Content
This section will probably be brief, as my thoughts on the matter are pretty straightforward.
Firstly, I'm not a fan of smut. I won't write about it. It's just not enjoyable for me. I'll happily write a "fade to black" scene I suppose, but keep this in mind.
Secondly, I'm not much of one for things like torture, excessively descriptive gore, or anything of that nature. I like serious, dramatic stories, but I prefer to achieve that through different story elements. This isn't to say that death, gore, and torture can't be parts of the story, but I don't want to write about someone's eyeballs being drilled or someone spewing blood like a sprinkler. It's just not fun for me.
On Roles
I'll go ahead and say outright that I'm a dude. But I've written about a wide variety of characters, male and female, of different races, species, societal positions, etc. I've written about different ages, too: ancient women, ten year old adventurers, forty year old retired soldiers, etc. I consider myself to be a flexible writer.
But I know there are folks who'd like to know the gender of the person behind the characters in the story. I also know it can be a deciding factor in whether folks want to write with someone. So, there you go: a clarification about my identity.
I'm willing to write a lot of roles, though I'll point back to the section about romance and the one about mature content and add that I'm... Okay, put bluntly, I'm not a very sexual person. It's not in me to write about characters who have a strong drive of that nature, no matter the gender. That's probably the one sort of role I can't play. But I can write about life that isn't actually living at all, like an AI program, a sentient rock, a talking sword, or what have you. I can also write, as I said, about characters of various ages and genders. Just... not sexual characters. I've got a mental block there.
On My Expectations
Okay. So, I may be capable of writing huge, multiparagraph blocks, but I don't necessarily need to write in that fashion to have fun. That is: if you'd prefer to write shorter rather than longer pieces, I'm game with that.
Something that I was taught early on in my roleplaying career is that acting elitist toward my fellow roleplayers is a bad thing. Therefore, I won't turn anyone down based solely on their ability to write. I like to think that we can all develop as authors, and that no shame is had in writing with someone who may be "better" or "worse" at it than you. If you're uncertain in your writing abilities (such as thinking your writing style lacks something or that you can't write a good story), that's fine. I'll write with you. And if you'd prefer to write in shorter blurbs rather than 10 page epics, that's fine, too. I'll write with you.
If you DO want to write 10 page epics and think you're a magnificent writer, I'll also happily write with you. I'm confident I can match that.
Okay, so all of the above is a list of things that I'm pretty sure might make me someone folks might not want to RP with - and I can accept and sympathize with that. Just as there are topics I don't want to write about, you might find yourself feeling limited by what I've just said. There's nothing wrong with that. If that dissuades you from wanting to RP with me, we are both blameless, for we both have our preferences.
However, if you're still considering roleplaying with me, I'd like to discuss what sort of subject matter I'd like to write about. I won't provide very specific scenarios, but will focus largely on themes and settings.
Settings
By and large, I can work with whatever setting you give me. I've got preferences, though, so I'll go ahead and make them clear. These aren't specific settings, but rather general types of settings I'd probably be interested in.
Medieval Fantasy
Ancient Fantasy
Arthurian Fantasy
Mythological-Themed Fantasy
Modern Fantasy
Science Fantasy
Renaissance Fantasy
Cyberpunk
Space Westerns
Space Operas
Superheroic Settings
Any of the above would tickle my fancy, and I'm totally keen on mixing and matching this stuff. (Yes, I love Fantasy, by the way.)
I'll note that I'm not really an anime-loving guy, but I wouldn't be completely averse to writing in an anime-esque setting. It's just not my forte, and I personally feel folks would enjoy writing with me more if they went for a different type of setting.
If there's a setting type I didn't list but you're interested in it, just let me know. I'm flexible - the above are just my favorites. If I like your story pitch, I'll probably nod and jump in.
Themes & Elements
As I said before, I'd like to avoid romance as THE central theme. However, it could potentially become a part of a story whose chief theme is any of the following ones I list.
Adventure
The theme of adventure and exploration is one of my favorites, especially in traditional fantasy settings. I thrill in the concept of delving in ancient ruins, or scouring a necromancer's castle to find and rescue a lost friend, or embarking on some heroic quest to find someone's special McGuffin. That is the stuff which brought me to the roleplaying world in the first place.
If this is something you want to write about, consider me game. Whether it's the New World, a dungeon crawling story, a D&D-style across-the-continent adventure, a story about airplanes, 1920's adventurers, or what have you: I love adventure. Bring it on.
War
I don't think I need to explain war much, but... there's something inherently engaging about it for me. Whether it's written from the perspective of soldiers, civilians, or the politicians behind it all, I'd enjoy a story about war.
Action
I like action of various flavors. Superheroism, fantasy adventure, dudes in space shooting laser guns at each other, super campy, grimdorky, serious, comedic: again, bring it on.
Tragedy
I'll just say "I love to cry" and leave it at that.
Comedy
I can like laughing, too. Don't judge me.
Playing Child Characters
I like the idea of throwing, say, 10-12 year old characters into a variety of situations. Spooky adventure mysteries in middle school, quests in a medieval fantasy world, superheroic antics, skater kids causing trouble because they're skater kids - it's just fun to me. I like to put myself in the shoes of a child every now and then.
If that's cool to you, feel free to suggest that.
Pretty Much Anything Else
You may notice that I left out "horror." I just don't think I'm good at writing horror, and I'm tentative about offering to write about it. I'm also tentative about writing mysteries because, again, I don't think I'm cunning enough to create a really good mystery story.
If you can pitch it well, though, I'll probably be interested. That applies to most story themes. If I have trouble writing about a certain topic, I'll let you know.
That's all I have to say, really. It's not an eloquent page, I'll give you that, but I hope I've presented myself honestly and amiably enough.
If you're interested in writing a story with me, feel free to either post here or shoot me a PM. I'll talk it over with you whenever I find the time.
Thanks for reading!
This is a tentative step into this forum for me. I've thus far restricted myself to sending a couple PMs on very rare occasions because while I want a relaxed, flexible pace for a roleplay - such as that which may be afforded to me by a one-on-one roleplay - I haven't seen exactly what I've been looking for in a roleplay. And I'll admit, too, that what I want is probably going to leave a fair few folks disinterested. I say this not because my ideas are "weird" or "unique" or anything that might be condescending, but simply because my interests probably differ from a lot of folks.
Let me provide some very basic information on myself before I proceed. I've been roleplaying since I was six years old, and I'm twenty-four presently. I've roleplayed in a variety of mediums: tabletop games, video games, chatrooms, forums, Google Documents, even drawing for a very brief period of time. I suppose I'd consider myself "experienced" at roleplaying, and I definitely would think I'm a decent writer. However, that's for you to judge, I suppose. My writing styles certainly aren't beyond reproach.
I want to try a more direct, more individual style of cooperative writing for a time. I've been engaged primarily in nation roleplays on this website: big affairs full of constant communication between the different folks in the thread, and sometimes full of conflict as well. I love that. But what I want to fill in my spare time is something more relaxed, something which has a pace that can shift according to the availability or scarcity of my free time and that of whoever else is engaged in the story. This is easiest to pull off with a one-on-one approach, I feel.
Let's get to talking about what I'm looking for and what I'm NOT looking for. I'll go ahead and cover these topics one-by-one, in the order of the most likely to disqualify me from being someone folks might want to roleplay with. I'll follow that up with a general description of what I'm willing to do and consider, etc.
Well... Here we go.
On the Topic of Romance:
I like reading about romance as much as the next person, but I've always found it to be rather clunky to portray correctly in a roleplaying setting. I've discussed this in OOC threads on this set in the past, and via PMs as well, but the bottom line is this: I don't want to jump into a story with the goal to be romance.
See, I believe that certain aspects of character development should do just that: develop. And they should develop naturally, as befits the setting and their personalities and their unique perspective on life. Romantic engagements between two characters (or more, I suppose) should make sense. If they don't make sense, if the characters don't click, then there's no point in forcing the matter. In my opinion, trying to force romance just makes it feel... wrong.
Thus, the first point I'm trying to make is this: romance can't be the driving force behind any roleplay I participate in, nor should it be the goal, but it can be a potential theme. That is to say that I'm willing to consider it, and indeed I'd be absolutely thrilled if a sensible romantic relationship were to develop between characters in the story. That's a rare thing to happen; I'd love to see it. However, you need to be willing to accept that romance may not occur.
Let me reiterate: I'd love to see it work out and make sense in the context of the roleplay. I just don't think I'm going to be able to force myself to make it happen if it comes to that, and I certainly don't want to waste anyone's time if they expect something from me I can't provide as a writer. That's why I'm being up-front about this: to respect you and to respect myself.
On Matters of Pacing
As I said above, I'm looking for a relaxed pace. What I mean by that is I want a no-pressure style of roleplay where I won't upset folks if I can only post as often as once every few days or once every week or so. But if I have time, I'll happily post more than once per day, or join whoever I'm writing with in a Google Documents page or similar program to write out a nice, collaborative piece. But life gets busy, and sometimes I need to study for class, or look for a job, or actually go to work if I'm lucky.
Likewise, I'll give you the same benefit of the doubt. If life is busy, there's no rush and no pressure for anyone I'm writing with to get a post in. Relax. Take your time. Post when you're ready. I can wait.
The one thing I'll note here: if you aren't posting due to disinterest rather than due to a lack of time, please let me know. Roleplaying is about having fun. If you aren't having fun, you shouldn't feel obligated to post or feel afraid to say so. I'd rather be told you're taking leave of the roleplay rather than be told nothing at all.
On Mature Content
This section will probably be brief, as my thoughts on the matter are pretty straightforward.
Firstly, I'm not a fan of smut. I won't write about it. It's just not enjoyable for me. I'll happily write a "fade to black" scene I suppose, but keep this in mind.
Secondly, I'm not much of one for things like torture, excessively descriptive gore, or anything of that nature. I like serious, dramatic stories, but I prefer to achieve that through different story elements. This isn't to say that death, gore, and torture can't be parts of the story, but I don't want to write about someone's eyeballs being drilled or someone spewing blood like a sprinkler. It's just not fun for me.
On Roles
I'll go ahead and say outright that I'm a dude. But I've written about a wide variety of characters, male and female, of different races, species, societal positions, etc. I've written about different ages, too: ancient women, ten year old adventurers, forty year old retired soldiers, etc. I consider myself to be a flexible writer.
But I know there are folks who'd like to know the gender of the person behind the characters in the story. I also know it can be a deciding factor in whether folks want to write with someone. So, there you go: a clarification about my identity.
I'm willing to write a lot of roles, though I'll point back to the section about romance and the one about mature content and add that I'm... Okay, put bluntly, I'm not a very sexual person. It's not in me to write about characters who have a strong drive of that nature, no matter the gender. That's probably the one sort of role I can't play. But I can write about life that isn't actually living at all, like an AI program, a sentient rock, a talking sword, or what have you. I can also write, as I said, about characters of various ages and genders. Just... not sexual characters. I've got a mental block there.
On My Expectations
Okay. So, I may be capable of writing huge, multiparagraph blocks, but I don't necessarily need to write in that fashion to have fun. That is: if you'd prefer to write shorter rather than longer pieces, I'm game with that.
Something that I was taught early on in my roleplaying career is that acting elitist toward my fellow roleplayers is a bad thing. Therefore, I won't turn anyone down based solely on their ability to write. I like to think that we can all develop as authors, and that no shame is had in writing with someone who may be "better" or "worse" at it than you. If you're uncertain in your writing abilities (such as thinking your writing style lacks something or that you can't write a good story), that's fine. I'll write with you. And if you'd prefer to write in shorter blurbs rather than 10 page epics, that's fine, too. I'll write with you.
If you DO want to write 10 page epics and think you're a magnificent writer, I'll also happily write with you. I'm confident I can match that.
Okay, so all of the above is a list of things that I'm pretty sure might make me someone folks might not want to RP with - and I can accept and sympathize with that. Just as there are topics I don't want to write about, you might find yourself feeling limited by what I've just said. There's nothing wrong with that. If that dissuades you from wanting to RP with me, we are both blameless, for we both have our preferences.
However, if you're still considering roleplaying with me, I'd like to discuss what sort of subject matter I'd like to write about. I won't provide very specific scenarios, but will focus largely on themes and settings.
Settings
By and large, I can work with whatever setting you give me. I've got preferences, though, so I'll go ahead and make them clear. These aren't specific settings, but rather general types of settings I'd probably be interested in.
Medieval Fantasy
Ancient Fantasy
Arthurian Fantasy
Mythological-Themed Fantasy
Modern Fantasy
Science Fantasy
Renaissance Fantasy
Cyberpunk
Space Westerns
Space Operas
Superheroic Settings
Any of the above would tickle my fancy, and I'm totally keen on mixing and matching this stuff. (Yes, I love Fantasy, by the way.)
I'll note that I'm not really an anime-loving guy, but I wouldn't be completely averse to writing in an anime-esque setting. It's just not my forte, and I personally feel folks would enjoy writing with me more if they went for a different type of setting.
If there's a setting type I didn't list but you're interested in it, just let me know. I'm flexible - the above are just my favorites. If I like your story pitch, I'll probably nod and jump in.
Themes & Elements
As I said before, I'd like to avoid romance as THE central theme. However, it could potentially become a part of a story whose chief theme is any of the following ones I list.
Adventure
The theme of adventure and exploration is one of my favorites, especially in traditional fantasy settings. I thrill in the concept of delving in ancient ruins, or scouring a necromancer's castle to find and rescue a lost friend, or embarking on some heroic quest to find someone's special McGuffin. That is the stuff which brought me to the roleplaying world in the first place.
If this is something you want to write about, consider me game. Whether it's the New World, a dungeon crawling story, a D&D-style across-the-continent adventure, a story about airplanes, 1920's adventurers, or what have you: I love adventure. Bring it on.
War
I don't think I need to explain war much, but... there's something inherently engaging about it for me. Whether it's written from the perspective of soldiers, civilians, or the politicians behind it all, I'd enjoy a story about war.
Action
I like action of various flavors. Superheroism, fantasy adventure, dudes in space shooting laser guns at each other, super campy, grimdorky, serious, comedic: again, bring it on.
Tragedy
I'll just say "I love to cry" and leave it at that.
Comedy
I can like laughing, too. Don't judge me.
Playing Child Characters
I like the idea of throwing, say, 10-12 year old characters into a variety of situations. Spooky adventure mysteries in middle school, quests in a medieval fantasy world, superheroic antics, skater kids causing trouble because they're skater kids - it's just fun to me. I like to put myself in the shoes of a child every now and then.
If that's cool to you, feel free to suggest that.
Pretty Much Anything Else
You may notice that I left out "horror." I just don't think I'm good at writing horror, and I'm tentative about offering to write about it. I'm also tentative about writing mysteries because, again, I don't think I'm cunning enough to create a really good mystery story.
If you can pitch it well, though, I'll probably be interested. That applies to most story themes. If I have trouble writing about a certain topic, I'll let you know.
That's all I have to say, really. It's not an eloquent page, I'll give you that, but I hope I've presented myself honestly and amiably enough.
If you're interested in writing a story with me, feel free to either post here or shoot me a PM. I'll talk it over with you whenever I find the time.
Thanks for reading!
