Dervish — Roleplayer Guild

Some pretty great posts in this topic, well done, everyone.

Generally, in say a roleplay capacity, I'd put reversing deaths into the cop-out category. The death of a character should be something that's a huge impact,nt a temporary inconvenience.

Look at super hero comics and movies and games. I actually had an issue from Spider-Man from like 97 or 98 that he died from long-term illness relating to the whole radioactive spider bite, and his cousin Ben (I think? I remember) took up duties as Spider-Man. Because none of you reading this knew about that, it kind of shows how big of a deal it was. It was like when he revealed his identity publicly during Civil War. They retconned that shit so hard it didn't matter. There's no lasting consequences in Marvel, and I am pretty sure they're going to bring Captain America back from the dead if they haven't already.

It shouldn't be used as a cheap emotional plot point that you don't stick by. If you aren't going to tolerate murdering your beloved character, just don't do it if you can't commit.

Guilty of 45 and 38, and somewhat 2. I try hard not to follow tropes or expectations, and while most of my characters have had hard and sometimes traumatic back stories, it's never been something I did for canned drama.

Of the characters I have now,

One feels obligated to the only family member she considers to be such, which is her half-brother. She was born of rape from the same incident that involved her brother's abduction when he was a young child and her parents were never able to really get past that, even though they did try to raise her like they knew they should, and her other two brothers always disliked her for similar reasons. It drove her to learn the skills she needed to track down her lost brother, whom she always thought was alive. Always being something of an outcast and spending many long years on the road, she became stubborn, aggressive, and distrustful of strangers.

Her brother was taken by a corsair crew that was looking to replenish numbers by pressing people into service from homes along the coast, and there's a lot of tedious jobs that you can force a kid to do. He grew up not really knowing much of anything about his parents and learned quickly thst he had to do what was expected of him, and well, to have any chance at a decent life. Despite being raised and mentored by ruthless cuthroats and thieves and rapists, he came out fairly well adjusted for that world and until misfortune took the ship, he never realized that there was anything remotely wrong with piracy. He earned the trust and respect of the crew, became increasingly skilled at arms and odd jobs around the ship, and became rather charismatic. Despite how in control and personable he may seem, he's somewhat plagued by the need for approval and he desperately wants something akin to a normal loving family and friends. His need for approval makes him take rather risky and dangerous gambits, especially when he's gota rreputation to live up to. He was found by his sister and eventually the two found their way home again where he was reunited with his parents, something that was exceedingly awkward. He left them again, having found closure for all parties. He's not the same kid who was abducted, from a different world than the ones his parents know. That done, he's still following a similar lifestyle, just more on his own terms.

The last character I am playing settled one of the first planetary colonies after humanity left Earth due to her father's military career and grew up in a quiet upstart neighbourhood where everyone had to work together as there's little to no services. When she was nine, her father was killed in action in the First Contact War with aliens and she had to pick up a job to help support her mother. When she was in her teens, she was offered a job from one of her customers at a mechanics garage where she picked up her interest and fundamental skills in a trade that would largely define her. When she was about to get married to a long-term boyfriend, he was killed stupidly in a motorcycle accident, giving her the urge to get away from her homeworld for a while. Her family had a long-standing history of military service, so she Enlisted shortly after and became a marine. Her first encounter with war was against an organized and heavily armed group of pirates, slavers, and mercenaries that were occupying a human colony. Many of her friends were killed over that operation and one little girl's death set her off with PTSD, which began to adversely effect her career and forced her officers to reassign her to a support division, away from the front lines. During the battle, she figured out how to do basic field repairs to a few of the vehicles, given her experience, and she was sent to a mechanics regiment as a result. Bitter and her career going stagnant and coping with trauma, she eventually received an honourable discharge and tried to return home, where her mother found it unbearable, as her daughter was like a distant stranger. After a particularly bitter argument and no small amount of lack of understanding from both parties, she was kicked out of her home with little more than a couple dufflebagbd a sizable military pension. Not long after, she started a mercenary group with a few other people and has been with them since. Most days, she's good. She listens to loud music, paints, and plays practical jokes on her team mates while offering her talents towards various favours, as well as keeping the ship running and during combat. She's on good terms with most everyone, but she keeps them at arms length because she's afraid of loss and she doesn't want them to know how much she still suffers from her trauma, which more often than not, wake her up in the middle of the night in a sweat or screaminh from vivid nightmares, and being near the aliens or the weapons involved with that battle have been known to trigger strong emotional responses. She's trying to recover the best she can, and by keeping busy, she doesn't have time to think about it, and as she gets closer to her team, she finds it easier to cope. She wants to make amends with her mother, but she doesn't know how and she's afraid she'd make things worse. At the same time, her mother is completely alone, having lost a husband and her only child, the rest of her family back on Earth.

Point I wanted to make with those summaries of my own characters is that you can touch on a lot of themes that are in that very enjoyable and hilarious list without falling into the tropes they're harpooning. I think a lot of people kind of crank up the amp to 11 and try to make the most shocking or emotionally charged sheet they can without considering that it's done to death. You don't have to make your character defined by a few things that happened to them to the extent where they're stagnant and dominated by a single emotion or behaviour. We've all seen our growling badasses who don't seem phased by anything and the people who are constantly in emotional extremes from depression or whatever. Humans (and I assume fictional races) are complex people who aren't defined by single qualities or traits. Don't be afraid to make somebody who's slightly flawed instead of a wreck, or someone who's competent without being an unstoppable badass. Step outside of what's your comfort zone and always try new things. I was always afraid to write a female character until I tried it, and now my favorite RP character is a woman who isn't perfect by any means and could conceivably be somebody you know. You never know until you try!

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