How to roleplay...

[computaertist]

There are many things in the mechanics of Cantr I bet many players, especially I, have no idea how to roleplay or how to imagine when they see a character working on them. I'm starting this thread because I couldn't find another to fuel such imaginations. Please forgive me if it's redundant, I'm not the best researcher.

I would like to start with oil derricks. Many times when I see one in game I decide again to try to figure out what that should look like from pictures or articles. This time I finally spotted one that gave me a clear idea, particularly the video on the first page: http://science.howstuffworks.com/enviro ... illing.htm

As per the nature of the game, I don't expect roleplays around derricks to change too suddenly, but over time maybe oil rich towns might become more... animated whenever a new character is discovering how the oil is drilled. Would anyone else care to post some RP fuel for us?

EDIT:

I'll keep adding to this first post for as long as I'm playing Cantr whenever someone posts something that looks like it might be helpful, and as it gets larger I'll format it nicely.

For now here's a quote, already on the same page but one day in the future someone only reading this post and ignoring the rest of the thread might not see, and by that day I might have forgotten it if I didn't go ahead and quote it now:

I had a character take another character out for her first time sailing, and we RP'ed the whole process of teaching her how to sail the boat. We did the whole "tying off the ropes" and "turning the wheel" and "raising the sails"... it was fun.

It's not detailed and doesn't link anywhere, but it does give me two things to Google I might not have thought of googling, and reminds me of one which I should have thought of. Might help someone else, too.

Another!

As I come from the mid-west, we use combines for much of the field work and plows or (in some instances) drills to pull potatoes out of the ground. So when a character of mine encounters such a devise, I normally post something like: *He climbs up on the rig and into the seat, pulling and pushing various levers to get the harvester running* There is a lot of room for added imagination, as what I'm really envisioning is, myself climbing into the cab of the combine and starting it. Then checking gauges and temps to see if the combine head is at operating capacity. Then checking to make sure that the auger and discharge chute works like it should when I get ready to combine a corn or soybean field.
So yes, it is all in the way of how you want your character to role play (in this case) harvesters.

I found multiple ways to imagine potato harveters, and those three are just some of the ones that seem to fit Cantr technology. Room for imagination indeed!

[Bmot]

I find it funny how some people barely roleplay sailing.. Things like untying the boats, or steering the boat, I barely see around. Maybe a nice chance for roleplay?

[catwill]

I find it funny how some people barely roleplay sailing.. Things like untying the boats, or steering the boat, I barely see around. Maybe a nice chance for roleplay?

Oh I had one sail once and I totally RP'ed it, it was fun

[SekoETC]

I've seen people rp untying ropes when about to undock, but technically there are no ropes present unless the ship is rigged.

[Bmot]

I find it funny how some people barely roleplay sailing.. Things like untying the boats, or steering the boat, I barely see around. Maybe a nice chance for roleplay?

Oh I had one sail once and I totally RP'ed it, it was fun

I love to, but then again, I have this thing with boats, so maybe that's it

I've seen people rp untying ropes when about to undock, but technically there are no ropes present unless the ship is rigged.

I've thought about that, too... Still, though, somehow, a boat has to be attached to the harbour, I'd say...

[hyrle]

I had a character take another character out for her first time sailing, and we RP'ed the whole process of teaching her how to sail the boat. We did the whole "tying off the ropes" and "turning the wheel" and "raising the sails"... it was fun.

[hyrle]

I also have another character in an oil town that works on a derrick. She doesn't often RP it, but she does from time to time RP the process of running pipe, or pushing the drill. It was especially true when she mentors newspawns.

But I do agree that it can be fun to RP the mechanics of the game. Typically, though, most of my RP is focused on interpersonal relationships.

[Sillysavage]

I like to RP' sailing and sailing techniques when I think it necessary or useful. Being an 'old salt' myself, it brings back memories. Harvesters on the other hand are a bit of a mystery. As I come from the mid-west, we use combines for much of the field work and plows or (in some instances) drills to pull potatoes out of the ground. So when a character of mine encounters such a devise, I normally post something like: *He climbs up on the rig and into the seat, pulling and pushing various levers to get the harvester running* There is a lot of room for added imagination, as what I'm really envisioning is, myself climbing into the cab of the combine and starting it. Then checking gauges and temps to see if the combine head is at operating capacity. Then checking to make sure that the auger and discharge chute works like it should when I get ready to combine a corn or soybean field.
So yes, it is all in the way of how you want your character to role play (in this case) harvesters.

[RedQueen.exe]

I don't think additional detail is necessarily better. If it adds depth or interest to other player's experience of the event, or gives them additional "stuff" for other players to RP off of, then great. Otherwise, interest is often better kept by packing the biggest punch into fewer words.

[computaertist]

I agree, but there are some things in the game that for the longest time just made me feel clueless. I started this thread to get those cleared up for anyone feeling in that position. I hope I wasn't the only one

[Uma]

I'd like it more if there were more in-character-y descriptions of the things that happen

"Sassy Boatname Undocks"

Should look like:

"with a shove against the shore, 30 year old man pushes his longboat out to sea."


"sassy car name arrives" could look like "A Car arrives in a cloud of dirt, breaks screaching to a stop".

I played a mud once that used only in play descriptions for things like that, and it made everything feel much nicer.

[RedQueen.exe]

I like that, Uma! I want to be clear I'm not opposed to that sort of thing; it definitely adds color to the world. I also like the original suggestion if it adds to immersion and isn't a 5 paragraph recitation that seems more at place in the operators manual.

[viktor]

how about roleplaying time?
I have numerous times seen people refer to "a week" or "a month" in the game but those just simply do not exist as well as the weekend.
also not all do but much chars and some others I noticed always when they make reference to time, do so in relation to the cantr clock, an hour is a cantr hour (3 earth hours). a certain time in cantr is that time in cantr not that time on earth (because earth has time zones, 2pm for one person is not 2 pm for the rest of the earth so we MUST use cantr time as reference because it is up to the players to figure out what cantr time is their local time, cantr is like its own time zone)

my point being, if you make reference to earth time, in the game, you are not role playing right lol

[computaertist]

sorry, meant to edit the original post not post a new one

...Where did my edit button go?

[EchoMan]

As fun as these very graphical roleplays can be, they can also be somewhat disruptive of future game changes (or rather to the people involved in these past rp-sessions). One thing that comes to mind are these doctors/sick people popping up all over the place. What if we re-introduce disease and the mechanics would be very different from what is currently roleplayed?