I’ve been playing LOTC for about 5 years now, and for the last few months I’ve come to realize something: I very seldom see fear RP. I’ve been part of communities ranging from sutica, the wood elves, dark elves, snow elves, paladins, naztherak, CA which I will not name, druidism, voidal magic, and I can say with confidence that there isn’t a single memory I have that stands out of witnessing fear RP, or fearful characters, of any quality or quantity — not even from literal child characters (on a similar note, here’s another tangent I went on regarding child characters).
Instead of witnessing fear in a world that is the backbone of terror and anguish, we more often see characters who regard dark mages and undead with a sigh and roll of their eyes, who disregard literal genocide with a snide, petty comment or don’t even acknowledge these things as impactful to any degree. We see characters who put on a brave face and act like these things are routine— and don’t get me wrong, in the LOTC world, it is. These things very well may be common practice for some characters, and thus, fear RP may not be the player’s biggest concern, because why would their character be afraid if they see this stuff every day, right? But what about the characters who aren’t as accustomed to these things or familiar with the merciless ways of the world? Characters who grew up isolated and protected? How should they be expected to react to events they've never had the chance to experience the way other characters do? Maybe it’s because some players don’t take these things into mind when it comes to fear RP, or lack thereof. Maybe the lack of fear RP isn’t because of their RP environment, but rather, an OOC desire to make themselves RPly intimidating, to be seen as a “scary” character, to be viewed as a selfless hero, and quite honestly… These kinds of characters typically just come off as edgelords rather than someone that can be viewed as an imposing person, in my opinion. Of course, this isn’t exactly black and white. Sometimes it’s more subtle, sometimes its way more complicated or even simpler than that, but sometimes you can’t help but notice when people try just a little too hard to make their characters intimidating and fearless. I'm sure we've all seen someone do this at least once.
There’s characters who are fearless, but then there’s players who aren’t afraid to be afraid.
These are players who embrace vulnerability, weakness, and fear in their characters. Players who aren’t afraid to see their character kneel under the boot of another, who aren’t afraid to show just how fear-ridden or wracked with desperation they are, characters that are broken down to their weakest selves. In my opinion, this kind of RP is 100x more interesting than being a heroic badass every day of the week, whether you’re the one doing the RP or watching the RP. These players will always have my utmost respect. With that being said, what are your experiences with fear RP? Have you ever experienced fear RP from another player at all? Do you believe the lack of fear RP you have or haven’t seen is simply a product of the world our characters live in, or is it a result of OOC mindset?