Aislin 4348 Share Posted September 8, 2013 ~=How to Roleplay Psychopathy: A Difficult Trick to Master=~ Greetings, Anthosians! Many struggle to truly understand the gravity and intricacies of playing a genuinely insane character. Uncle Aislin is here to teach you a little about playing a crazy from my experience with psychopathy roleplay and an insight on how the VAT approaches it, too. What is “Insanity”? In the context of Lord of the Craft, insanity refers to evil number 5 of the Villain Application system. Insanity refers to violent schizophrenics, intense bipolar disorder, dissociative identity disorder and a slew of others - it means your character is a nutjob. However, as far as Villain Applications go, insanity is only moderated in a villainous context. This means that if you want to play a crazy character that runs around the Abresi Town Square throwing chickens in the fountain, you don’t need anybody’s permission. However, if your character’s intense personality disorder caused him to murder every newborn in Anthos, you’ll need to get an accepted Villain Application. Here is a quote from the Villain Application Rules pertaining to insanity: [insanity] is meant to be a flaw that drives the main body of one's actions, not a side gig that you fall back to in order to explain your doing inexplicable things. [The Insane] should definitely be kept to an absolute minimum - literally three or less on the server. You may be asked even to elaborate exactly what your mental disease is, and how you intend to play it. Guys, you can be a little crazy without insanity. If you're an evil guy, there's something wrong with you to begin with. You are allowed to act irrationally, but not inexplicably without 5. In What Way is My Character Crazy? Everybody is a little nuts. Some people are socially awkward, others have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and others are plain ol’ crazy. I’m going to talk a little bit about the most common kinds of mental illness and personality disorders. Psychopathy: A commonly misunderstood disorder on LotC, and often used as an umbrella term for mental disorders as a whole. Psychopathy is characterised by anti-social behavior, little no empathetic response and poor behavioral controls. Basically, they aren’t people-people. They don’t understand emotion or remorse, find it difficult to navigate social situations and choose not to interact with others. Autism: This is a disorder that disrupts neural development (brain growth) and exhibits within the subject impaired social interaction, verbal/non-verbal communication, and restricted, repetitive behavior. (For reference, see the Dustin Hoffman film “Rain Man”). The symptoms are usually apparent when the subject is of three years of age, and little relative mental growth will occur from there. Bipolar Disorder: A mood disorder that is manifested by episodes of frenzied mania (excitable, impulsive) followed by episodes of depression. During a manic episode, subjects can become incredibly irritable, volatile and aggressive. These mood swings are unpredictable and random. A Villain application would only be required if manic episodes were aggressive in nature. Dissociative Identity Disorder: Commonly referred to as “multiple personality disorder”, this is characterized by a subject having at least two distinct identities or personalities that can dictate a person’s behavior. (See Barry from “Archer”). A villain application is only necessary if one or more personalities are violent or criminal in nature. Major Depressive Disorder: Some know this disorder as “clinical depression”, while most know that its symptoms include persistent low mood, low self-esteem and a loss of interest in life. Can cause suicidal thoughts and even suicide. Pyromania: An impulse control disorder that results in subjects being unable to resist the urge to start fires purposefully. Typically, this occurs to satisfy subject’s desire for stress relief or gratification. Arson is a common side effect. A villain application will be necessary. Mental Retardation: An intellectual disability characterized by impaired cognitive function and the inability to display certain adaptive behaviors (vary greatly between subjects). Schizophrenia: A mental disorder that manifests a breakdown in thought processes and a deficit of emotional response. Auditory hallucinations, paranoid delusions, disorganized speech or thinking, and social dysfunction are all common symptoms. Due to the unpredictability of subjects, one must determine whether their character requires a villain application or not. Trichotillomania: An impulse control disorder that results in the subject having compulsive urges to rip their own hair out. Obsessive-compulsive Disorder: Also known as “OCD”, this is an anxiety disorder that causes the subject to experience intrusive thoughts that create uneasiness, fear, concern, paranoia or apprehension. They may experience repetitive behaviors that serve to reducing anxiety caused by intrusive thoughts. Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Basically severe egocentrism, the subject is excessively preoccupied with adequacy, power, prestige and vanity. How Do I Play My Character as Crazy? It’s very difficult to teach somebody how to properly roleplay an insane character. Players must be able to roleplay adequately, have an understanding of associated mental conditions and know the time and place when to exhibit a character’s insanity. To demonstrate how one might roleplay insanity, my friend Gronkk will be helping us. Say hi to Gronkk. This is Gronkk. He suffers from multiple personality disorder, bipolar disorder to a violent extreme, autism, mental retardation and schizophrenia. He’s a sweetheart. I’m sure many of you are familiar with roleplaying in a populated RP hub with many others surrounding you, such as Abresi or Malinor. The text chat will likely be very crowded with many emotes and speech from dozens of people. In my experience, I’ve found most people in a crowded RP hub do not wish to read through multi-line emotes regarding one person’s insanity, such as the following: Bob speaks to Mary about his new shovel in an attempt to seduce her. Igor Ireheart slams a mug down upon the table after chugging the ale with ease. Edjee the Dark Elf does a backflip off the Abresi fountain. Gronkk surveys his surroundings, as small waves of colorful light emanate from all the people, a by-product of his hereditary schizophrenia. Pok’Ugluk shouts to Igor “SKAH LAT STOWT” Gronkk turns down to his belly as it speaks to him in a low register and monotonous tone. He nods slowly as the belly gives him his next target, his next meal. Mary: “Oh you’re so brave, Bob. That shovel is great.” Gronkk speaks to his belly “BUD GRONKK NUB WUNT TUU EET EEGOR!” The bold is an example of what not to do. In a crowded, public environment you want to stray from long, overly-detailed emotes that only pertain to your insanity roleplay and nobody else’s roleplay. That’s poor form. In a crowded RP hub, stick to small actions or speech that could hint at insanity. Like so: Bob speaks to Mary about his new shovel in an attempt to seduce her. Igor Ireheart slams a mug down upon the table after chugging the ale with ease. Edjee the Dark Elf does a backflip off the Abresi fountain. Gronkk twitches nervously at Bob for little reason. Pok’Ugluk shouts to Igor “SKAH LAT STOWT” Gronkk swats at the air, muttering something under his breath about dragons. Mary: “Oh you’re so brave, Bob. That shovel is great.” Gronkk strokes his belly and whispers to it slowly as he stares at Igor. Not only are those emotes briefer and more convenient to roleplay, they are also enigmatic and mysterious. Insanity can be a scary thing to others, and the roleplay is no different. Most people don’t understand the insane, so their emotes shouldn’t be explaining to other players every last detail regarding insanity. Leave an element of ambiguity to your roleplay, especially if you are playing as a villain! There remains little else to be said about insanity roleplay, except that you’ll only get better at it through practice! Enjoy it, take it for what it is and be creative with it. Before we are done here, I want to leave you with one last tidbit of information to mull over: Not everybody will want to roleplay with your insane character, and not everybody will understand or even appreciate your roleplay. Try not to force your insanity roleplay down other players’ throats, enjoy it with those who might enjoy it. 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom_Whiteman 949 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Famine kills a kid, he eats him. Insane. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telanir 6434 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Wonderful guide Aislin. ^-^ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukio 8910 Share Posted September 8, 2013 I would like to request no one use this as a real life medical guide to mental disorders. NOT EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET IS TRUE! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lark 2226 Share Posted September 8, 2013 EDIT: Autistic children/adults can also have intense interests/obsessions with one thing, possessing much knowledge, also tend to be more creative than others. Just thought I'd mention that seeing as I have firsthand experience. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadeleaf 757 Share Posted September 8, 2013 -Am with Wither on this one- This may work for Lotc, though the descriptions are... though sufficient, kinda sparse. Don't go psychologically analyzing people kids~ You'll be surprised at how non-stereotypical some people with these disorders are. All and all, good guide for the purposes of VAs, though it can always differ to a decent degree. Ps. General Anxiety disorder Borderline Personality Disorder Hypochondriasis Pain Disorder Histrionic Personality disorder Et Cetera Look into them as well. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarsies 6074 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Sprat supports this guide, even if it may be somewhat off. ;3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo 1415 Share Posted September 8, 2013 Nice guide. Arzota is right, thy book be not by its covereth judged. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MintyBirds 22 Share Posted June 9, 2014 As someone who has suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia, I'm not sure what I should act like. Should I act as I was, or should I act all fakey? I'm confused. :s Also! The way Gronkk acts is NOT like schizophrenics, especially with the whole belly button talking thing. Our hallucinations are usually very realistic and very unlike hallucinations you would get from hallucinogens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rathat 614 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Edjee the Dark Elf does a backflip off the Abresi fountain. (oh my god) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCmarine 11 Share Posted July 30, 2015 *Doesnt think a insane orc is so odd... Anyway, love the guide, I personally love playing crazy/wierd characters that are different from others. Love the guide, and hope this helps alotta people. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCmarine 11 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I would like to request no one use this as a real life medical guide to mental disorders. NOT EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET IS TRUE! Except that. That is true. *bu dum push Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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