The Harbinger of Ferocity

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The one character above all I retain who was and is my favorite is Andarra Bloodmane, for the simple fact I created a monster and a anti-villain who is reasonable in execution and actual purpose. The objective was to write a personified force of nature, like a hurricane or a volcano, something completely indifferent and unfeeling, destructive and tireless, but as with my works, give it an animal bent alongside the strong undertones of "Nature conflicting with man.". The reason I call her such a success is that for all her failings and weaknesses, a thing gripped by compulsion and obsession, there is good reason to understand her purpose which is summarized most simply as, "The destroyer of destroyers." The setting she was wrote for and in was a gamble for the future, something the characters themselves would never see; something they did not even come to know until the very end. It was the least of the worst options in either setting the world at war against itself and letting it burn to ashes, or allow an unchecked, completely merciless thing to pare down all fronts until they were no more.

No less, the other great success I had with her character was making her existence a myth within a myth. The people of the world had no name or concept for what they were truly facing so they ascribed it to their own mythology, which the characters came to know her by. All the lore and legends about the "Crimson Woman" being parallels for our own personification of unfeeling death, a force of nature, as the "Grim Reaper", but without the obvious benefit of knowing what we know in the meta. Why was this a success in itself? Because the players played it out utterly not knowing really what they were facing or what it all meant; they expected one thing and met another in turn. Rather than having this epic battle with some monster of myth they came to confront what amounts to a living firestorm or a tornado, just much more supernatural and animal.

The one story I ever told where I did not ask myself at the end of each piece, "Could I have done this better?" and the greatest illusion I ever inflicted on players.

As for my question, let us speak to something a bit different in tone - quite a bit different - but much the same. What is the one character you have always wanted to play but have just never been able to? Why and what reason haven't you?

D&D 5e -- The Lost Children

A major takeaway with the Suggestion spell is to, well, suggest with it. Without teasing too much about it, if it sounds reasonable and he fails his defense against it, good odds it will go well for us... depending on how you make said suggestion. Of course we will just need to see how that all goes, won't we?

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

I have no objection for my character in Brannor being relegated to the side briefly. I of course would like to see this chapter further on forward and with more haste, but there is little I can efficiently add until something is done outright. Noting this, if need be I will continue to post as I have been, if only to further elaborate where I can or even exploit a weakness if I so happen to by accident. Regardless, no challenge from myself.

Old timer looking for get back into things.

Provided you stay committed to whatever roleplay topics you so choose for yourself, you are likely to find some measure of success. That tends to be one of the fundamental truths in this realm, that persistence pays off. So do not feel discouraged if you encounter a few games here and there that never achieve lift, @WildRPer. As a related note given a portion of the audience, the cycles of activity generally reflect those of the college system, so you can predict rises and falls in them appropriately.

Old timer looking for get back into things.

Unsurprisingly more and more of your archetype are becoming rare, @WildRPer. That said, welcome back to the community as a whole and while things have certainly changed since the days of rooms and tables, you can find some similar echoes here on the forum itself or the site's official Discord.

Ask the Person Below You a Question

Deep in the mountains, somewhere surrounded by pines, with flowing rivers dotting the landscape, where the granite stones are warm, and the grasslands are softly swaying with the breeze rolling down the mountain. There are seasons too, as winter is laden with snow but not ice, but summer is warm yet not scalding; everything in between is a nice lead in to the next event. A place where the people are by and large not, instead replaced by bison, elk, moose, pronghorn, among others. There are few places like this, but I am fortunate to already call it home.

The following question is, what method do you use to create a character? Are they conjured up freely or do you sit down to craft someone for the story? Are they more an independent agent where you place their hat on your head and take on their character or are they an instrument of your will? Think along those lines.

Keeping Creativity Flowing?

The largest portion of advice I can offer is reading and rest. It is no secret reading and writing are tied hand in hand, with one not only generating inspiration for the other, it keeps the metaphorical wheels turning. It is not wholly passive activity, especially if the content is deeper than say, just a story. While avoiding writing for a time, perhaps a day or two at most, reading taking up its place more or less restores the reserves, as long as the reading is intellectually stimulating; reading a tabloid is not going to be as helpful as say, reading a psychology or philosophy book to help understand and formulate a character's mind and its motives. This element and approach I have found largely successful, namely just before sleeping as well which leads me into my other point.

Doing nothing but reading just before sleeping is a fair way to unwind the knot that is the mind in regular activity, especially creatively. I say this because what you take away from the reading will become part of the unconscious to come when you sleep. You begin formulating information to later extract and use from it in the next day. It might be invisible, effectively, but it is there in the underlying thoughts and feelings, that when you do return to writing by the third day in this example, you have had time to create those thoughts and can now tap into an underlying reserve that was not or might regularly not be there; it is free no less, a consequence of reading before sleep. Granted you do not want a page turning book, the sort you get too invested in, but something relevant and building in foundation for the story or character.

As for the rest itself, try to make it actual rest, a full eight hours uninterrupted in a dark room. I know for a fact a surprising number here do not sleep as they should or in the right environment, but for most that does nothing but harm one's actual writing ability because the mind is not afforded its time to successfully draw down. However, those are my suggestions for pulling one's self out of a rut as it were. Having done this for some time I have not felt myself in a place where I could not write due to a lack of sufficient creativity, or so I felt.

New to this site

Welcome to the Roleplayer Guild, @William Cade. I am certain you have noted there is a fairly active tabletop community here, but if you wish for more activity on it, I strongly suggest joining us on our Discord; there is a channel there for it there. That said, no need to if you wish not to, but the welcome remains all the same.

D&D 5e -- The Lost Children

Having a smaller party does not hurt either, truthfully. Perhaps the posts will come by sooner and swifter as a result of that. Either way, hopefully all is well for them, as I imagine the Roleplayer Guild being down might have warded them off, if even for a time. Perhaps they might not know it is back yet? Regardless, it is good to see this alive even yet.

There Are No Heroes

I need note it is a maximum of three days to post via a Discord and someone who continually takes the maximum amount of time will raise more problems than resolve them, @Silvan Haven. Just because one has a maximum of three days does not mean a post takes three days to complete, hence the reference to "More is better." essentially. Given the game is casual up to advanced, asking for two paragraphs, the sort of minimum, is not much - about half an hour of work at most.