The Cracked Mug v 2.0

[erikavonkaiser]

I read fanfic sometimes and it has made me deeply aware of how many people think they are good at writing banter and are, not

This insufferable writer take brought to you by how many times I've seen someone writing their Tav having a conversation with Astarion and my mental reaction being "oh my god both of you shut up already"

If I had to pinpoint mechanically what my issues are it would be two major things:

1) everyone is maximum clever all the time always (boring)
2) the dialogue just goes on for too long and stops all the plot (also boring)

To compliment someone out loud @mek is good at writing banter, because (to use a specific example) neither Katters or Zebra are always on top of their "game," so to speak, and sometimes say cringey or embarrassing things and often get frustrated so it's not just, everyone stops and has a dick-measuring contest of who can be the cleverest and smarmiest. I think it's also too easy to get caught up in one-liners like a Marvel movie and you forget to be earnest or to let people emote and interact with the environment. Let your actors use props goddamnit

ok that's enough of me acting like I know what the fuck I'm talking about, let me finish my chores so I can play Final Fantasy 14 before I have to go to work

[erikavonkaiser]

tbh Katters and Zebra would get into a dick-measuring contest of who could be cleverest but they would both end up losing somehow

[Fetian]

I'm pretty sure that's most of what they do

[erikavonkaiser]

Obsessed with this VHD book already

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[erikavonkaiser]

Occasionally I see people dunking on D&D's alignment system and my spicy take is:

it is bad and oversimplified, because it is designed to be!!!

Like yeah to someone who is accustomed to roleplaying a character, having a 3x3 grid of good/neutral/bad is a gross oversimplification of a character's moral compass. Even taking a character like my character Rex into consideration, who is a pretty standard do-gooder, I'd break his morality down in some of the following ways:

· core tenet: all beings deserve health, safety, and the ability to pursue their goals/passions
· sometimes to achieve the above things, people come in conflict with the law of the land (i.e. someone stealing to eat, or killing to defend themselves) and Rex supports that whether or not he thinks the laws themselves are just in the first place
· Rex was raised around merchants/sailors/pirates and also understands that sometimes a person's livelihood is to steal and he just kinda minds his own business about it because now shit's getting complicated and he's not like, the Faerûn police
· basically he generally believes in minding his own business, in that he knows the world is very big and he is very small and he can't be sticking his nose into other people's lives to make decisions for them

etc etc

if I had to apply him to the chart he's probably neutral good, in that he follows his own set of rules but does generally adhere to "good" ideals of protecting people and trying not to cause harm. Because I'm used to roleplaying and I have a good idea of what kind of person he is, I don't think of alignment when I'm playing him, I just think, what would Rex do? So it ends up being case-by-case/situational. Sometimes he behaves more impulsively, other times he's more cautious and wanting to mind his business. It just depends on the circumstances, and sometimes on his emotional state, because he is an emotional lad.

but!

When I was playing with my nephews, for instance, who had never roleplayed at all before, the alignment chart was super helpful because, yeah, it's a very elementary way to break down a complex thing, but you kinda need that? I couldn't just tell my nephews "hey make fully-formed dimensional characters who you can decide complex decisions for on the spot" but I could tell them "hey here's how this alignment chart works, whenever you're making decisions for your character use that as your guide to decide what they might do." It's a great tool for that, because it helps create a baseline you can try to make consistent decisions from.

idk man I just get tired of people who have played TTRPGs since the womb acting unhinged about systems that they don't even use

[erikavonkaiser]

tl;dr roleplaying is a learned skill, let people learn it

I promise you if you get outside your very small online space you will realize that roleplaying a character you made up in your own brain is considered kind of a niche or unusual skill to people who do not do it regularly

[erikavonkaiser]

tl;dr roleplaying is a learned skill, let people learn it

I promise you if you get outside your very small online space you will realize that roleplaying a character you made up in your own brain is considered kind of a niche or unusual skill to people who do not do it regularly

also to be a tad spicy I have seen "D&D's alignment chart sucks and is bad" as a consistent take from people who tend to just have copies of their same OC Don't Steal in various different formats

like don't get me wrong, literally everyone does that (me included!!! do it all the time), because there's only so many character types and it's valid to have preferences and sometimes easier to play in your comfort zone but quit being a killjoy when you just make nine thousand of the same character, like yeah no shit you can roleplay them with your eyes closed you've been doing it since you were fifteen

[erikavonkaiser]

now that I'm done whining please gaze at my pastel goth spider son

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[erikavonkaiser]

I'm tired!

I feel like that's sort of The Way lately and I'm a bit over it, but nothing to do but keep on chugging. I have a short workweek; I took Saturday off to go spend the night in Milwaukee, which will be nice! I'm slightly nervous because the purpose (aside from seeing Sophie) is to go to Sophie's friend's birthday party and there will be People I Don't Know and Noise and I'm basically a high maintenance chihuahua of a person when it comes to that kind of stuff, sometimes. But I always fret more than necessary because I'm very good at turning my social golden retriever himbo energy on when I need to, I just,,,,,

am tired

but! I've played a bit of video games this morning and am gonna get up, do some chores, move around a little bit, get my exercise done, etc. I did a bit of digital clean-up this morning (purged/organized my two e-mail inboxes) and that felt nice, so I'm gonna try to keep the ball rolling.

[erikavonkaiser]

I want to create so many things but I'm just so tired and it's gettin' to me, man