The Semi-Literate & Literate Roleplayer's Club (V4)

[belle noire]

“How much description is overdescription?”


for me, personally, the less, the better. i don't need to know that "she has light brown eyes with flecks of gold, and a ring of darker brown that stand out from her pale, flawless skin" honestly, i'd rather have it listed as "golden brown eyes. light complexion. dirty blonde hair" etc etc. in real life, i'm not going to notice if someone's hair is blonde with shades of brown and light red in it, unless the red is bright red streaks, and i tend to play it as if my character wouldn't, either ^^

[west ,]

“How much description is overdescription?”

very good question 0-0
I like to have a good description of my characters, and it is relatively detailed, but I'm not going into so much boring detail on how long their fingernails are xp to me, enough for a good description is: height, body type, hair and eye colour, maybe piercings and hairstyle mostly and any visible/important scars or whatever. this was a really short description that I wrote for one of my new roleplays in a short form:

looks - very skinny build, pale skin.
long legs and arms with broad shoulders
making him look awkward and lanky.
bright blonde hair which he takes a lot
of pride in taking care of and dull-ish
blue eyes. often wears skinny jeans
and quite humerous or random t-shirts
with bracelets.

which I believe is enough, really. the picture does most of the talking, to be honest. I can obviously write a longer and more detailed version of this, but I think that those key features are enough and more insignificant things like smaller scars or whatever can come into description in the actual roleplay, for example if someone asked them about any scars or if you were just describing a small part of a character. that's just my opinion, though c:
I know loads of people prefer to get right into the detail, which is good as long as it doesn't go on forever xp

[Clavicle]

@chateau your first example is exactly what I was thinking of when asking this question, which means it's become standard now. Oof. [A+ for turning that disaster of an ocular descriptor into something readable tho!] I agree with less is better. Not to the point where all I can picture is a stock "Mary Jane" character with blonde hair and blue eyes, but I give more props to writers who manage to describe their characters without heaping up tons and tons of [cliched, wordy, difficult, etc.] descriptors on top. And, yeah, it makes me wonder how observant these people are, to notice details like that in others, lel.

@west, YES. Someone said it. I love it when people do some character development within the RP! Like in actual books, eheh. While we're on the topic of simple keyword descriptors, though, what I really love is when writers describe their character in a way that relates to the character's life/personality [or outright talks about it], and essentially makes them more than just a stock character. I'm now somewhat interested in the character in your example because of the T-shirts and bracelets [I think you meant *humorous!] but otherwise I would have completely glossed over his appearance because it's one I've seen a lot in other characters. His shirts are fun, so he's gotta be a fun guy, right? Or maybe he likes offensive humor, which gives us more insight into his personality. Similarly, a character with bad teeth might smoke, or just have bad personal hygiene. You know, writers who actually manage to show with their details, without burdening us with stuff like "her orbs were shimmering pools of molten red".

That got a bit wordy sorry, ahaha;;

[west ,]

*cut*

@west, YES. Someone said it. I love it when people do some character development within the RP! Like in actual books, eheh. While we're on the topic of simple keyword descriptors, though, what I really love is when writers describe their character in a way that relates to the character's life/personality [or outright talks about it], and essentially makes them more than just a stock character. I'm now somewhat interested in the character in your example because of the T-shirts and bracelets [I think you meant *humorous!] but otherwise I would have completely glossed over his appearance because it's one I've seen a lot in other characters. His shirts are fun, so he's gotta be a fun guy, right? Or maybe he likes offensive humor, which gives us more insight into his personality. Similarly, a character with bad teeth might smoke, or just have bad personal hygiene. You know, writers who actually manage to show with their details, without burdening us with stuff like "her orbs were shimmering pools of molten red".

That got a bit wordy sorry, ahaha;;

haha xp *humorous* is the only word I can't seem to spell right at all! lol
also, yes. YESYESYES. I do agree completely that the way that your character dresses should relate to their personality. the character I was describing in this one is bipolar, actually, and when he is on a good day he is a very fun guy and all that. good sense of humour and always getting into mischief, hence why he dresses with all the interesting and random t-shirts and the bracelets. whereas, in a depressing period, he sometimes can't even get dressed and would literally just stay in bed all day in his underwear, or would probably have a dark coloured t-shirt or something on, because he's depressed, so therefore should wear depressing clothes!
and yes again, with the simple stuff like teeth. good, straight, white teeth show someone who takes pride in themselves and wants to make themselves look nicer compared to someone who may have yellow, wonky teeth may not care as much which I guess could also indicate their comfort in how they look and maybe even self-confidence or even rebellion to say that they don't want to go along with the 'perfect' stereotype if that makes sense? I'm also getting way to into this 0-0 going far to deep lol...

[vetiverandclove]

Need a nice skull bashing violent bloody rp involving serial killers.

[intriguing]

“How much description is overdescription?”
*jumps onto bandwagon a few pages behind everyone else*
Only a short while ago I would have replied 'omg you can never have too much description, you need a long form to actually be good at roleplaying ever' because that was exactly what I did. I would write a basic description and then form requirements and vanity in my own writing skills would mean I would then write at least three lines on eye colour, hair colour blah blah blah. Nowadays I would have to agree with the general consensus that less is more, brown is a perfectly acceptable way to describe someone's eyes, because half the time that's the only thing we can remember, as opposed to the details. That being said, in description forms (and I am guilty of this completely) people tend not to branch out enough. Roleplays don't ever seem to have truly odd looking people, or people with dramatic characteristics - which are exactly the things we notice in life. Instead of 'brown hair, brown eyes' which could be anyone in the world, perhaps 'brown hair, brown eyes, and a beaming smile which was unnoticeable behind her rather unfortunate nose'. So whilst there definitely is over-description, there is under-description too. West kind of hit the nail on the head on the teeth thing.

[rose;]

Need a nice skull bashing violent bloody rp involving serial killers.

hey. hey
I posted for Jace cx

[vetiverandclove]

Need a nice skull bashing violent bloody rp involving serial killers.

hey. hey
I posted for Jace cx

that.
posting for my otp is gr9
I will jump on that asap

[belle noire]

ouo so i've been thinking, and i think i've come up with an interesting concept for a roleplay?

basically the roleplay would revolve around modern-day witches and their familiars. the familiars in the roleplay would be able to shift between human form, and that of the animal their personalities most resemble. now, as the familiar would need to go through the human world as an animal occasionally, since they can sense more in that form, there wouldn't be any animals such as tigers, lions, bears, etc. in fact, i may even make this a small group roleplay, with pre-determined characters [just a simple bio, ya'll would get to choose face-claims, etc] anyhow. the witches would eventually meet up, and there will be some kind of conflict [though i haven't figured that part out yet] and they would meet their familiars, yada yada. vuv if anyone is interested, or even wants to help me come up with ideas, that'd be swell ouo;

quoting because i've edited the idea a bit and i'd like feedback c:

• total of 8 characters
• 4 witches [2 male, 2 female] 4 familiars [no pre-determined genders]; believer, skeptic, rebel, leader [mine]
• conflict: there have been rumors of witches, witch hunts are starting up again
• i may allow there to be a couple of humans, who can be witch hunters
• the familiars have a human & animal form
• familiars are: dog [any breed], cat [any breed], rabbit/ferret/mouse [whichever rp'er wants], snake or bird [whichever rp'er wants]. the familiars animal forms are up to change, any suggestions are welcome
• roleplay is centered in a city called salem
  
  
  so yes any suggestions, comments, feedback is totally welcome either here or pm ;u;

[belle noire]

Ooh. I need something to jump back in the saddle with.
That seems really fun. I'm on board for a female spot of either species c:

awesome! i have a basis for personalities, genders, and ages at the moment. the familiars and witches will have predetermined pairings, but i haven't gotten that far yet. also, as an added note i'd prefer that there only be one character per roleplayer, but if there aren't a lot of people that join i'll up it to two so long as the same roleplayer doesn't play their own familiar/witch pairing. [hope that makes sense]

witches:

the leader [mine] - 18 year old female, bold, outgoing, adventurous, intelligent
the rebel [open] - 19 year old male, sarcastic, blunt, aggressive, believes in attack first, asking questions later
the believer [open] - 17 year old female, has always believed in magic, naive, gullible, far too trusting, kindhearted, sees the good in everyone, the "kid" of the group
the skeptic [open] - 18 year old male, not trusting, needs proof, honest, irritable, argumentative, over reacts, suspicious, seeks knowledge

familiars:

dog - 18 year old __, the character is bold, outgoing, loyal, protective, nosy, honest, & stubborn
bird [.Kestral] - 17 year old male, loner, doesn't trust easily, jealous, seductive, easily angered, shrewd, daring, & deep thinker
mouse/rabbit/ferret - 16 year old __, timid, shy, kind, sweet, caring, wise, cautious, peacemaker.
cat - 17 year old __, prissy, selfish, hard to please, this character is also really obsessed w/ looks.