(What an absolutely horrible title. I’d apologize but I wouldn’t mean it.)

People who are stuck listening to me blather on about RP have heard me fling the term “RP’ing yourself into a corner” around quite a bit. I think I shall expound upon it in today’s post.

Most of the roleplayers I know are very good at their craft – they don’t do lorebreakingly stupid things, they don’t pursue stories that will end in frustration for those around them. They tend to stay in character. Hardcore. And this is where “RP’ing yourself into a corner” can become a danger. The statement (to me) means that you have essentially chosen a specific path for your character, followed it by being what you consider true to the character’s head space, and because of it, everyone around you treats you in such a way you don’t like, your story is static, or you feel like without a major retcon things just aren’t workable anymore. It’s a frustrating place to be (I have been there, oh yes), mostly because it’s usually your own choices that got you into the predicament in the first place, you THOUGHT you were doing the right thing, but now you aren’t having fun. As RP is supposedly about having fun, something is wrong.

Most people I play with make sure that their characters are flawed enough to be interesting. As we all know, there is a delicate balance between exploring flaws and bludgeoning people with them so you alienate everyone. The good news is, people who play up flaws tend to keep the communication lines open so they can discuss “Okay, I want to do X, Y, Z. Will it work for you? If it’s not, what can we do to change it. At the end of the story arc I still want to RP with you.” Arrens has a great bit about relationships in game and how to make them work, and his advice of OOC communication about expectations is especially noteworthy. To avoid the pitfall of finding yourself stuck in a corner, you NEED those conversations with the people you RP with, especially if you find yourself on the slippery slope of “I feel like I might be losing people with my RP, I need to keep them on board, what do we do at this point to make it happen?” A collective brainstorm and a frank discussion of where the characters are at and what needs to happen to keep the story line moving will usually keep the arc alive. Nothing is worse than going with the story only to find out AFTER the fact that the people you play with have given up on it. “You’ve made my character feel __________, and thus she’s done with the situation.”

/insert big Buzzer noise of a person losing a gameshow.

RP is a collective thing, it takes multiple people else it’s just mental masturbation (which, hey, maybe that’s your thing. I won’t judge). “RP’ing yourself into a corner” generally manifests in “I have done certain things RP’ly that have left me all by myself – no one will play with me or RP with me in the way I need for my character’s story to progress in a satisfying manner.” I guess you can go wax philosophical for an hour about how to fix things, but generally, roleplay works better with two or more minds. As such, it means a willingness on your part to bend when you have to bend, and for others to do the same.

Example. I liken RP to those “Choose your own adventure” books you read as a kid: the hero sees a chest in a clearing and it’s unguarded, do you:

* Open the chest and take the goods inside, who cares about consequences!
* Ignore the chest, it is clearly someone else’s and only bad can befall those who take from others!
* Put a note on the chest expressing your interest in opening it, and return in three days to see if anyone has claimed it or replied! If not, it’s free game.

When you’re faced with an RP conflict, say you stumble across this chest, some folks won’t take the time to go over the options in their head before rushing into things. They will select the first option because ‘it’s the most fun!’ or ‘will result in the most interesting rp’ or ‘Helga Rogueface would totally do this’. However. Let’s say you go to this clearing with a noble paladin friend who walks the good path. You snitch the goods in the chest and snicker to yourself about your find. Your paladin friend has seen you do nefarious things like this over and over, and has had enough! He can no longer stomach your wicked deeds, and has decided you and he can no longer be friends. He stalks off, and there you are in a clearing alone with a handful of mana potions and light leather going “Whoa. WAIT!” You try to have the roleplayed conversation of “But it was just THERE, Mate” and the character brushes you off, or says he’s reporting you to the authorities.

To avoid the “RP’ing yourself into a corner” bit so you’re not the sad sack standing around with a useless blacksmithing pattern and a murloc eye, before you open that chest and just assume things will be fine, have the conversation with the other player, especially if there’s been a history of conflict between the two. If he plans on stalking off, okay, good, but get a fix to the situation beforehand so you’re not left alone and holding the bag. If it’s the breaking point for your imaginary paladin friend, if your character has just pushed them to the limits and this will be it, well . . . you might want to go back to those options and hold off on pursuing the first choice, eh? Maybe your character realizes “I’ve really pushed Tommy the Lightflinger too far and my character would kinda realize that, so I’ll go with the note, option three.” Is it one hundred percent ideal? Prolly not (hey, light leather and gray axes are hot commodities, amirite?) but it will ensure that you’re not standing in the corner alone at the end of the day, wondering where things went wrong.

I think that’s all I can say about this one, so . . . comments or questions away! Ta!