RPHQ SEPTEMBER SPOTLIGHT

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POETRY SPOTLIGHT

As roleplayers we express ourselves in many ways. This month we'll be shining a spotlight on the poetry of some very creative roleplayers!

The following poem was written by Castle

“I wrote this poem about the RP landscape of Velia in BDO, written through the eyes of my character, and keep her book writings nestled [in the] Book of Whimsey.”
— Castle

Velia

Back to a life with few pressing demands,
Cozy and nestled against the shore line,
Smells of old fish mix with the damp salt air,
Where buildings rustic and old have their own flair.

Everyone here knows your name,
Strangers are convened with congeniality.
Neighbors and friends meet in the roads,
Perhaps mindful of mud and bare toes.

There's Ink, the lusty owner of the Thirsty Maiden,
A connoisseur of booze, ladies and fair men.
Always welcoming with a slap to the backside,
Just watch out for those large, skeleton-marked thighs!

Along the main road is the Skyfish Cafe,
Open the door and be greeted by Ysren,
The type who'd pinch cheeks like an auntie with a grin.
But I'd never complain for the rich bounty of mead and pie!

Nestled behind the blacksmith is the Lodge,
It arose in my absence whilst out on campaign,
Smelling of old money and dusty antiques,
The denizens within speak affairs of broad state.

Then here is my shop nestled amidst,
Lined with decor purchased with merc's coin,
Rich fragrances tantalize the most finicky nose,
And soon the doors will open to Mermaid Cove.

To see Castle's other poetry in her Book of Whimsey, click here.

Enjoy the original poems below, by Dravyn the Gray, and based on his roleplay stories and characters.

Night eternal, sweetest death
Calls to me on whispered breath
“Into my arms, child, come and stay.”
And I am weary from the fray
“Join me here, where we’ll be one.”
So to that call I must run.

The waking world is tepid air
And I don’t wish to sojourn there
The blazing sun, the sweaty fight
I sleep best in the chill of night
With loving arms please cradle me
Darkness now is all I see

Light devoured, to breathe no more
Come awake on a distant shore
No more fear, no more hurt
Only peace in the quiet dirt
Do not cry and don’t regret
Keep the memories and don’t forget

End the tugging hands of time
The earth is only so much grime
I can rest now and relive in dream
The glory that my life did seem
What’s that you say? My love’s alone?
Forget death then, I must go home.

When I was a raven, I flew out of the night.
Ebon wing flashed, it glistened in the light
The wind held me high and it carried me away
Not a soul would listen to the words that I would say
So I became the whitetail and traveled across the land
But still I was alone with none to hold my hand
The teeth that tore my flesh, a wolf so grey and strong
Then I was his spirit, my passion fueled his song
The pack became my family, the night it was my home
I lived upon the violence, blood and skin and bone
The night, the sky, the forest; the cruelty of the kill
I was once a part of each and each a separate thrill
I want to own them all, control them if I can
So I gave up on nature and I became a man.

I cut away the forest, a place to build my home
I cut and stacked the firewood, planted in the loam
My home became a city and spread across the land
It bumped into another and drew a line upon the sand
We could not live together we didn’t think the same
We fought about beliefs and set the world aflame
Blood soaked all the rivers, smoke it filled the sky
All the people suffered and watched each other die
We destroyed the planet with greed without a care
We poisoned all the soil, pumped toxins in the air
We butchered and we slaughtered, some became extinct
We only wanted more but we didn’t even think.
I became a man because I only wanted friends
Now I wish that I could be the raven once again

 

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT

Confession: every RPG character I’ve ever created is a tedious Caucasian guy

 

MUSIC SPOTLIGHT

Into the Electric Castle

Aldurion, a roleplayer on Rift, has turned this rock opera into an rp event. Fantastic! 

“Welcome! You have entered the cranial vistas of psychogenesis. This is the place of no-time and no-space. Do not be afraid for I am merely the vocal manifestation of your eternal dreams. I am as water, as air - like breath itself. Do not be afraid.

Look around, but linger not. Where I lead you will follow. Mark these words well. Ignite my anger with your delay and punishments will come your way.

You are eight souls of the flesh, chosen from different eras ancient and modern. The trivia of your mortal lives is unimportant to me... Indeed, some may die...

You have a task: to release yourselves from this Web of Wisdom, this knotted Maze of Delirium, you must enter the nuclear portals of the Electric Castle!”
— Intro to "Into The Electric Castle" (1998)

RP ADVICE SPOTLIGHT

Suspension of Disbelief

~ a willingness to suspend one's critical faculties and believe the unbelievable; sacrifice of realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment. ~

What sort of things break your suspension of disbelief when roleplaying? Join in the conversation in the article linked above!

“Lingo mismatching the world you are rping in. On my most recent rps in Elder Scrolls: Online, I did this a lot. I regret it now, because little things like that made my character feel completely detached from the world of Tamriel. My most glaring mistake was using real world profanities. xD”
— Polymorphius
“This is usually in MMO’s when you are RPing basically in real time: when the other person decides to take 30 minutes to type 4 paragraphs and never lets me get a word in. Frankly I like to be able to, I don’t know, respond! Not every sentence, not every word, but at some points.

Another major thing for me is when a character immediately dismisses anything another character is doing in favor of what they are doing. EX: we are trying to cut down this tree. Johnny walks up and uses his axe. At the same time Henry decides he will be using a spell to uproot the tree and make it fall. All the while Mary had already been working on the tree and had just taken a break to get some water and is still standing in the same spot that now Johnny and Henry seem to be occupying.”
— CatMarie

World Building, Where I Started.

Ever get the itch to world-build, but found it so intimidating you scrapped the idea? Well now you can follow along with Selique Lasra as she blogs about her world-building experience, starting from scratch in her blog!

 

BEYOND BASICS: USE OF OFF-SCREEN

“WHAT IS OFF-SCREEN?
Off-screen is what happens when you are not logged into your character. When you are sleeping or working or doing whatever it is you do in your real life. Your character in their own story and setting doesn’t cease to exist while you are logged out, so the mostly commonly used and logical answer is that while they are logged off they are sleeping. Most people do that without even thinking about it. But when you think about it you can use it perhaps more fruitfully.”
— meraki22.com

How do you handle off-screen time with your characters? Give us your insights here!

VENERABLE VILLAINS: GRAPHIC CONTENT

“Graphic content can be a tricky topic to manoeuvre around. So much so that some people playing villains and bad guys might avoid it altogether, or keep all that kind of plots and content off-screen. But for those that don’t want to avoid it entirely and think it would be a benefit to theme and atmosphere of your roleplay; then there are some things they can do and keep in mind to make it work.”
— meraki22.com

How do you handle graphic content in your rp? Let us know what you think here!

RP COMMUNITIES SPOTLIGHT

- TABLETOP

The rise and rise of tabletop gaming

 Peter Wooding of Orc’s Nest game shop, Covent Garden: ‘You get a lot more couples now.’ Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Observer

 Peter Wooding of Orc’s Nest game shop, Covent Garden: ‘You get a lot more couples now.’ Photograph: Karen Robinson for the Observer

- LARP

Kids LARP into action armed with foam weapons, imagination

Christopher Melville started leading the LARPing junior league in Palo Alto ten years ago. He talks about the benefit of live-action role playing for kids.

'I've Seen Women Kill Gods': Meet the Ladies Who LARP

““I’ve seen female warriors, generals in gleaming plate armour, leading a charge into a line of enemies, screaming bloody murder at the top of their lungs. I’ve seen one woman with a dagger take down an entire phalanx of armed bastards. I’ve seen women kill gods, bring down heroes, doom the world, save the world,” says Katie Logan, the creator of the online community Ladies Who LARP.”
— Katie Logan