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So guys... this was going to happen sooner or later. I’ve got an RP idea brewing in my head that I’d like to ask you all about.

It’s vaguely inspired by the videogame series Persona, wherein people do battle with monsters using the manifestations of their own psyches in the form of Personas, and also by the ARG, and the whole concept of reality and fiction blurring. It's intended to follow the spirit of the game that inspired it: some degree of fighting will take place, and there’ll be an ultimate goal to aim for, but there's a 'Slice of Life' element, and, like with Floating Castle, a lot of story progression will be dictated by the players. By the stories THEY choose to tell and how they choose to reach the ending.

I’ve had lots of suggestions from the folks I’ve been batting this idea back and forth with for weeks (thanks for all the help, guys!) and everyone had different suggestions as to how this RP can be played.

So I’m here to ask you guys what kind of RP you would like to see in more detail. Would you guys prefer:

• Deliberately writing outside of character type: In this version, you would sign up, and describe your usual writing style. You would then be assigned an emblem and ‘character type’ that is as far from your usual playing type as is possible. This could make for a great writing challenge, but might not have as much endurance.
• Something more self insert related. Your persona would be inspired entirely by YOUR personality, you would be assigned skills and emblems based on what suits you the most. This has the same advantages and risks that came from the ARG: a strong sense of involvement, and of course it’s EASIER to be yourself, but also the risk that it gets... TOO personal. Some really strict lines might have to be established.
• Basic, standard RP: you create whatever character type you like, are assigned, or assign yourself, an emblem and play that way. Which we’ve all done before and would be easiest to implement.

I’d like your opinions on what kind of ideas you like the best, and would enjoy exploring the most. I’d also like to hear your pros and cons on each idea and whatever ideas you might have for how you guys would like things to go .

Ooh, the playing-against-type-assignment idea sounds cool. Reminds me of basically every drama class ever, wherein my teachers would give me awesome but quiet-and-underdone roles to play solely because they weren't like me and they already KNEW I could be hammy.

So yeah. Not sure I'd participate in this, since I don't know anything about Persona and such, but for what it's worth, my vote goes there for creative challenges.

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:Ooh, the playing-against-type-assignment idea sounds cool. Reminds me of basically every drama class ever, wherein my teachers would give me awesome but quiet-and-underdone roles to play solely because they weren't like me and they already KNEW I could be hammy.

So yeah. Not sure I'd participate in this, since I don't know anything about Persona and such, but for what it's worth, my vote goes there for creative challenges.

It's definitely an interesting option, although the effect can perhaps be obtained in other ways within a more traditional setting... also you really wouldn't need to know anything about Persona for this. Most things would be explained and you guys would probably get to dictate a number of the rules because you know, making it up as we go

Part of me wants you to go for one of the first two options to create something new and interesting... and part of me wants to do the third one because it will be easier and safer. The life of a coward is difficult indeed.

I'll be perfectly honest I like the ideas of powers based on my personality but I do worry about writing a self-insert since I base the concept of each one of my RP characters on one of my personality traits amped up to eleven

hm.. either of the first two

Well, I put my full weight on the first option.

Third one is run-of-the-mill. Better make things interesting with one of the first two. That said, I'd not really be comfortable with the second. I mean, using a self-insert can be fun, but given interactions and conflicts that make for a great story... It'd feel awkward to me.

First is the cool one. I mean, it's a great writing exercise (and let's be honest, who here deliberately and out of their own initiative writes a character against their type just for practice?) and it's a twist that's make things more interesting both to read and to write. I really, really like the first idea.

Of course, who am I kidding...? It's Persona-based. I'd end up joining it anyway.

I personally prefer the third. I'm not sure which kind of writing style would be different from my usual writing style, save for the use of non-original characters :S The second one also seems good, though I'm not sure if I could make a character out of myself. I could try, though.

Hybridise the first and second so it's not too extreme maybe? Say I were assigned to a more aggressive playing type. Then I get to rotate maybe two or three characteristics of the available playing types into this 'aggressive' type?

... Or I'm just misunderstanding everything. If I am, then I vote for the first. (But still, I'd prefer something not "as far from" my usual playing type, just something markedly different. So.. I'm voting for a moderate implementation of the first, if possible.)

agoraoptera wrote:Hybridise the first and second so it's not too extreme maybe? Say I were assigned to a more aggressive playing type. Then I get to rotate maybe two or three characteristics of the available playing types into this 'aggressive' type?

... Or I'm just misunderstanding everything. If I am, then I vote for the first. (But still, I'd prefer something not "as far from" my usual playing type, just something markedly different. So.. I'm voting for a moderate implementation of the first, if possible.)

The first and the second together could be a workable method. One way to balance out the difficulty of forcing people to write extremely against type by presenting them with SITUATIONS outside of their comfort range rather than forcing them to write characters directly contrary to their current preference. Loads of people enjoy writing lots of different character types here, so making 'writing against type' a designation might be a bit pointless.

No, you're understanding me, I think calling this game 'persona Inspired' in the title was a mistake because now people are thinking it's a fan project or that you'll need to have a great deal of knowledge about Persona, neither of which are the case.

Scarab wrote:The first and the second together could be a workable method. One way to balance out the difficulty of forcing people to write extremely against type by presenting them with SITUATIONS outside of their comfort range rather than forcing them to write characters directly contrary to their current preference.

Now that idea I like a lot.

Well... first option seems to be the most reasonable one, but rather than describing our writing styles, I'd find it easier if somebody sort of judged the people who were going to play and assign them a random character or something.

Blurred_9L wrote:Well... first option seems to be the most reasonable one, but rather than describing our writing styles, I'd find it easier if somebody sort of judged the people who were going to play and assign them a random character or something.

Yeah that's sort of the way it was planned to work. Get a few people to look at a persons usual writing style and assign them something else. The same issues remain ,however

I've never played Persona, but I'd still be interested.

What could be interesting, sort of a spin on the first option, would be if we each wrote up character sheets that we'd feel normal playing, and then you rearranged and redistributed them so we each had to write a character someone else had designed. I could see that one being really bad or really, really good.

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:What could be interesting, sort of a spin on the first option, would be if we each wrote up character sheets that we'd feel normal playing, and then you rearranged and redistributed them so we each had to write a character someone else had designed. I could see that one being really bad or really, really good.

Probably a mix of both, as some people would be able to adapt to the changes, and others would find their choice incompatible.

eli_gone_crazy wrote:

Qara-Xuan Zenith wrote:What could be interesting, sort of a spin on the first option, would be if we each wrote up character sheets that we'd feel normal playing, and then you rearranged and redistributed them so we each had to write a character someone else had designed. I could see that one being really bad or really, really good.

Probably a mix of both, as some people would be able to adapt to the changes, and others would find their choice incompatible.

Yeah, I don't want to make things so difficult for people that they have trouble adapting, because that'll make writing less fun foor some (although others would be okay with it.)

Perhaps it would be more sensible if the players were to have their character types and roles challenged by SCENARIOS more than their actual character designs. Like, say, through a tough badass into a nursery, or something.

I'm now envisioning Persona crossed with Kindergarten Cop.