Understanding Roleplay: Specialized RP

[Treshure 5579]

 

 

Prelude

Well, let’s get right down to it!

 

If you are a new player, were a new player, or have ever played this server, you have probably experienced the following. When you join the server for the first time, you are promptly welcomed by several players. Then, some might inquire if you’re looking for a group join. Some might even walk right up to you and offer to take you to their nation and show you around.

Since you don’t know much about anything and they seem helpful, you tag along. They might inquire that you join their military and find some housing. Cool! You get lopped into a Discord, given a uniform, and march around. I’ve seen this happen for most players. And don’t get me wrong, this is great.

 

Joining a nation as a new player, especially their military, grants you several things. First, it instantly gives you a home. We people are very tribalistic, so the idea that we instantly belong and join a group of players who have each other’s backs is attractive. It also gives you things to do. You have commanders barking orders at you, drills to practice, RP in the local area as a casual soldier. Again, this is great. It engages you right off the bat.

But what if you wanted more? What if soldier RP/casual townsman RP isn’t the cut of pie you are looking for? And trust me, there are many more cuts out there. This guide is designed to help you transition from primarily nation RP to specialized profession/group RP. Let’s get into the meat of it.

 

 

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ABSTRACT VERSUS CONCRETE

 

Nation and military roleplay is the first mostly because it is the easiest. It provides a pretty base level of entertainment and good bang for your buck in terms of time investment. Its not hard to get excited over fights, wars, raids, and whatnot. There is more out there in the world of Lord of the Craft, however. Take Maslow’s Hiearchy of Needs for example.

 

 

The triangle is fairly self explanatory. You have your immediate needs (food, sleep, shelter), scaling upwards towards the more abstract, metaphysical, conceptual but still very real things. This is how I like to look at LotC’s different types of roleplay. And that is what it strictly is - different types. None are necessarily better than the other.

When engaging in nation and military RP as a new player, as I’ve mentioned before, it isn’t hard to have fun. The roleplay and storyline is very tightly integrated with basic Minecraft mechanics. If you win that PvP warclaim, suddenly the story as a whole has progressed rapidly in your favor.

We can argue without much difficulty, however, that the need for friends or accomplishment is just as attractive as food and water. It goes the same metaphorically for breaking the barrier of nation/military RP.

 

DRAWING THE READER IN

Specialized roleplay can be anything from a tavern cook to an evil necromancer. It is the act of picking a RP niche and actively exploring and expanding on it. You could join a group of cultists, or live in a town breeding horses for the local militia. You could be a ranger of the forest, or a student of the arcane arts.

 

Whatever it might be, you must attempt to roleplay your specialization with as much detail as appropriate. When we move towards ideas that are hard to execute on Minecraft, more creative endeavors must be given to paint a proper picture for the person you’re role playing with. This is what I call a Collective Fantasy. When two nations battle it out, it usually occurs in Warclaims that contain dozens, if not hundreds of people. The medium, PvP, is largely not roleplay as well.

Thus, it is very easy to construct a Collective Fantasy - we’re not really imagining things, we really just did fight a massive battle! But, place that very same person down in a randomly generated Minecraft forest and ask him to construct a vivid image as a Ranger. Its going to be a lot harder, simply because there isn’t much substance to work off of.

 

 

Ironically, this is the type of roleplay that can garner the most admiration. If you can take a relatively plain Minecraft scene and turn it into a vivid fantasy within your head, let alone give that same pleasure to others? It takes quite the skill.

If I wanted you to play LotC and get past the whole stigma of Minecraft, I wouldn’t show you Minecraft. Imagine seeing a bunch of players running around with no context, bound by imaginary rules. Then we have to stop and type in the chat to each other? It looks silly! 

Rather, I’d have you imagine the vivid Collective Fantasies we’ve as a community have dreamt. Massive wars between feuding families. Empires that have lasted for years. Every character is a real player - each with their complex storyline. Magic, creatures, culture, kachow! I’m a little more sold now.

 

 

The same applies for professions, magic, or any specialized roleplay. When you’re a cook, you’re given Minecraft food items and a workbench. That isn’t much - it is up to you to describe the spices, herbs, meat cuts, cooking process, and so on. As a mage, you quite literally have no Minecraft representation. You would emote drawing from the void, yes, but furthermore the actual visual process - its magic! Let us be awed by the very image of it.

 

Lark’s post was a large inspiration for this one. I remember back even in Anthos (a previous map) how he had a strong reputation as a blacksmith. Likewise to Anthos, we don’t have Nexus. Then what makes him so special? Surely anyone can craft a sword. Rather, it was his special role playing ability to construct an environment that made it so special. You watched as he made your sword, special and unique in creativity unlike any other before it.

And as he handed you your specially made weapon, you know that specific item has a history. Sure, it might just be a Minecraft item - but both you and Lark partook in the Collective Fantasy of forgiving a virgin blade anew.

 

 

I’ll leave some scene building and roleplay examples down below to show you what I mean.

 

COOK

Scene Building

Spoiler

 

The road to Belvitz had been worn down by the rain. Murky and thunderous clouds rolled above the quiet town, occasionally sending a storm of rain and ice onto the Crossroads. An oncoming traveler, Onfrey, knew better than to stick around in the weather. His destination was just coming in sight.
An oasis in the desert! A warmth in the cold. The Mother’s Breast Tavern burnt a warm glow, flowing out of the expansive windows and into the Atlasian winterscape. Inside, a peculiar scent roamed the air. The chef was cooking.

Delicious aromas curled throughout the air, sticking to the patrons’ clothing like wet dew. Garlic, salt, Kharadeen spices, and lemon pepper all fell into the stew before him. Swirled together brewed a delicious concoction; a meal to sooth the beaten souls of the Crossroad travelers.

Emotes

Spoiler

*Chef slides his primary knife free from the leather bondage, gleaming against a candle’s glow. It would hover over the the center cut of the calf, slicing downward to reach against the wooden board underneath.*

*Chef looks upward, eyeing the several fresh herbs and spices with a creative glint. He rustles the thyme betwixt his index and thumb, inhaling sharply on the potential aroma. With a quick flick of his hand, it enters the stew.*

 

MAGE

Scene Building

Spoiler

Above a broken spire, dark energies and the arcane arts twisted in dangerous symphony. Malcolm, a mere student of the arcane arts, had pitted himself against the spire’s resident haunted demon. The sky seemed to roll in torment along with the demon, casting lightning at his mere breath. He approached Malcolm, backing him closely against the edge of the spire; and so, the edge of the cliff.

Dashed runes and smashed boulders littered the duo before them. It was clear that this battle had been ongoing. A battle that Malcolm was surely losing. He closed his eyes to focus, inhaling sharply as he was taught all those years ago. Then, he began to evoke.

Emotes

Spoiler

*Malcolm curls his hands inwards, drawing on the void’s maelstrom to evoke a spark. Brief flashes of light emit from his pitted hand.*

*Malcolm twists his hand, the nascent spell beneath growing in size by the second. A quiet ball of energy swirled within, more vibrant with each passing moment.*

 

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DOING YOUR HOMEWORK

Lord of the Craft does not generate it’s own content. Everything, and I mean nearly everything, borrows inspiration from things outside of LotC. This means that if you spend all your time playing Lord of the Craft, you will eventually stagnate in creative ways to spice up your roleplay. You can try and borrow ideas from other players, yes, but they ultimately got it somewhere other than the Minecraft vacuum.

 

 

As Lark suggested, try watching videos on your specific profession. Consider even taking it up yourself. Right now I’m reading a crash course on cooking and the rudimentary foundations of the skill. As well as gaining a neat hobby in life, it will invariably help in my roleplay. Read books of advanced authors, fiction or non-fiction, and observe the way they write sentences and construct their fantasies.

 

You will often find that you may have the ideas on how to spice up or change your roleplay, but the manner of which you do so is broken. A common trope for new players is convoluting the reader or person you’re engaging with overwhelming vocabulary and sentence length. Adjusting the flow of your roleplay will better deliver your collective fantasies.

You will gain insight and creativity by exploring outside of the server. This is especially true if it directly pertains to the profession/skill you’re trying to expand on.

 

BREAKING THE TROPE

 

There is only one essential frame of character that you need as a newly joined player, fresh on their way in the local military. A 6’3, broad chinned, absolutely shredded warrior. He’s kind, smart, charming, strong, and yet also stern and commanding when the situation requires. He’s also cliche and done to death.

 

A lack of imperfection will put any kind of roleplay into the grave. I’ve explored this concept in my previous post “Order and Chaos”, where there must be an equal balance of both. When you’re in the state or military, however, you need all the roleplay advantages you can get. And if you can just will your character to be a demigod in any way, you might think it helps. Except that it doesn’t. It only creates a static environment of eternally perfect individuals, immune to problems and the rich roleplay that would come from them.

 

If you’re going to roleplay a tavern keep or cook, for example, you certainly don’t need to be shredded. There’s no good reason for it! In fact, you would probably craft more of a personality by roleplaying a bit of a fat chef than one who has no imperfections at all. And what if this chef carries chronic arthritis because of his fat, which certainly comes from his love of food? What about the insecurities and tempers aroused at the mere mention of it? Ah, the possibilities of roleplay! None of which would be available if he was without flaw.

 

 

CONCLUSION

This has been a long post, though it certainly could have gone on. I hope I’ve been able to sum up these ideas in something that’s sort of digestible. More broad than anything, the intention has been to rather equip the player with the mindset beneficial to roleplaying a varied and skilled character. I hope you can take these ideas and bring it into something unique for the server to enjoy.

Stay loose as a goose, have fun, and thanks for reading.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Treshure

[Lark 2226]

Eloquent and straightforward, I appreciate the reference as well ?