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RPing a subject that you know nothing about.

east

east

Supernova
Joined
Mar 17, 2012
Have you ever done this? I mostly RP fandoms but I have delved into historical from time to time but when i do i usually try to watch a documentary or try to learn about the subject. Like right now I have an rp going on where I am writing a fandom I wasn't a part of so I went out and got the books on audio and listened to the musical just to add a few ideas here or there.

But lately I have had this craving to RP something about cars, and racing, but I've never driven a car before, I don't actually know how cars work and I imagine a story about racing cars would need a little experience behind a wheel. So I just kinda want to know if anyone else has ever done that where they have just picked up a plot or an idea that they didn't know anything about and just ran with it.
 
That's how I got started playing medieval assassins. I didn't know anything about it, but I really wanted to play one...So I just ran with it. Worked within the parameters of the world that the group I was in had set up for the setting, and then did my own research as we went from one event to the next. No joke, my internet search history probably made it look like I was going to be killing someone using some botanical poisons 🤣

But I think that's one of the ways we branch out and learn more, become better writers...Find new interests...Think something sounds fun and then run with it and go from there.
 
Actually, yeah! I often end up roleplaying things I don't know much about, it leads to plenty of research too but that can be part of the fun you know? Even ones where I only know a little about I will put in the work so that I'm not completely clueless on it. I do tend to mostly at least have some idea, it's usually just themes, maybe certain supernatural creatures and such, maybe professions. i'm writing one where my character is a leatherworker so I did some research on that to make sure I get it just right, another is a paramedic.

For fandoms...I don't really do many fandoms and I'd only do ones I like so I would have to be familiar with them. There are canon's I have wanted to try my hand at recently but I am slightly worried I would mess up a character I love, and I wouldn't dare play a canon I'm not familiar with.
 
I have looked up how to use sai, like many many many videos for a single fight scene... I have researched space and all sorts of silly thing to try and make a story seem more real.

I think it's pretty normal to look into and research to fulfill a story idea. Even driving, I likely couldn't write something like you're talking about without researching it, so I don't even think that holds you back much ^^
 
Yep! It's all about how you sell it. Research has been said. One thing I like to try is a bit of in place 'method acting' - I usually don't have the stuff to try out what I look into, but I can at least try to get in the mood for it and sell it how it would be done.
 
Research, research, and research.

When I made an rp I used to play, I had to pick a reference for it which happened to be Final Fantasy. Since I was rusty with my FF knowledge that time, I started up my PS4 and played some FFX, FFXII, and FFXV. Since the roleplay had WW1 elements to it, I also had to search up the weapons of the time period, the uniforms that each men wore, the trench battles, surroundings and such, and even looked for videos and pictures for Warhammer too, since the soldiers I used was the Death Korps of Krieg.

Researching is always fun, not only does it give you great ideas for your story, it also provides you good stuff about history.
 
I've researched some really obscure things for RPs. It was my own fault for designing a character with a history or talent, so I made myself have to back it up reasonably. Just a few odd things I've researched are the price/carat of uncut garnet and where it can be mined, how samurai culture was gradually phased out, the location of US military installations in Kuaiit during the Gulf War, and how to invoke Papa Damballah. I've also been asked twice to GM D&D, which I wasn't at all familiar with, and I did a shit-ton of reading and sampling free modules and constructing a narrative out of them.

Unfortunately, other than the garnet thing (which my partner glossed over. The audacity.), I got bailed on before being able to RP any of that information. So, I'm really not inclined these days to write/research really unique character backgrounds.
 
I have done this with a lot of franchises that I'm only half interested in. It's the key of being a bullshit artist there, making up and researching as I need to. I never go in blind, usually, but sometimes I will challenge myself.
 
It's all fantasy anyway, so, I either play it how I desire it to be played, or I watch a movie or tv show about it. Most of the time, my partner's knowledge on the subject has been gleaned from the same sources. I don't do pirate rp to learn the technicalities of ship sailing or the history of piracy in the real world; I don't play a biker; a police detective; a doctor, etc. to teach/learn on these subjects. And my partner doesn't either. They want to believe in the fantasy that my guy, whoever he is, is a confident professional in ____ field. I can mimic that confidence by watching ER, Law & Order, Sons of Anarchy, and Black Flag.

I won't rp a fandom that I haven't watched/read, unless it looks like something I would already be interested in. Even still, I need to have gotten through enough material to feel 1. sufficiently versed in it and 2. I burn with a desire to rp as those characters/in that world. Otherwise, even if I watch the recommended fandom media, if it doesn't spark me, then I won't write in it.
 
I've learned a heck of a lot about hockey, well more than I already know, due to my main RP character being a hockey player. So I had to learn the rules, regulations, different terms that I didn't know, what each term meant, etc. There are still lots of things I do not know, but I feel it isn't as a grievous error in still learning the ever evolving rules about a sporting event and possibly more forgivable than say if I had a doctor character and didn't know about certain procedures if he/she was a surgeon or other area I don't know.

And some medical things I learned from research mostly. And some conditions I am totally obsessed with, so I could say easily make up an OB/GYN character and no one would know I really wasn't one IRL. Besides, I would think playing someone as a lobby minion wouldn't be all that exciting.
 
I tried doing a Walking Dead fandom years back when I was really into the show and quickly discovered that I couldn't even easily name all of the characters lol. I also did a Wild West one where my partner was really knowledgeable in terms of the weapons of the period and the amount of damage they could inflict and how effective they were at certain distances. I felt like I was a back seat driver on that one as they would have to work out all the stats. It was actually kind of dull as there wasn't any story line to keep me interested.

I have played against people who don't know much about the subject or period as well and it can be annoying when someone's character picks up a cell phone in 1973 lol.
 
I mean if they had grabbed a cellphone in 1973...

The first phone call made on a handheld cellular phone was made on April 3, 1973. The first handheld cellular phone call was made on April 3, 1973, by Motorola engineer Martin Cooper from Sixth Avenue in New York while walking between 53rd and 54th streets.

It's not impossible
 
There's a written rule about this and if I remember right it goes something like this:

If you know something about something, people will assume you're experienced in it whether you say it or not. (They'll be able to feel your experience through your writing.)
If you don't know something about something, remain vague about it and people will assume you know something about it instead. (They'll project their experience onto your writing.)

Usually I won't RP topics I know nothing about because I have no feeling for it, but when I write trappers, hunters, trackers; I've never done any of these things before; but I can write a convincing tracker because I have walked through the woods before and seen plenty of TV shows and films about tracking. It's not the same, sure. But you've watched these TV shows too. So logically if I just stick to my guns, it all comes across as convincing because you end up projecting your experience onto my writing. Where it fails is when you end up getting too specific. So keep the nouns you use vague, and you're laughing.

Likewise, I used to RP a physician. Most people assumed I was a Doctor IRL. All I did was research haematology (which I found very interesting at the time) and how WW1/WW2 medics treated patients. (Because if someone can learn how to treat someone in 8 months of basic training, I can learn how to role-play the theory and the principle of it in a few weeks.) It ended up working almost too well. My character kept getting invited back to the campaigns to run the medical wards whilst everybody else went out scrapping. Results aside, I'd mastered the art of bullshittery; it's the 'Catch Me If You Can Effect.' Remain confident and you can do anything.

1. Do your research.
2. Remain vague.
3. Remain confident.
4. And let people do the work for you.
5. Include senses in your writing to make people feel more immersed.
 
I've totally researched stuff for an RP.

I don't usually do fandoms but the one time I did, I wasn't really knowledgeable about the DC universe, and ended up reading Wonder Woman's lore to be able to write her convincingly. I've also read up on historical eras, gang culture, other languages, different religions and traditions, politics, philosophy, mental and physical illnesses, specific skills, etc.. for different RPs.

Usually I'll refuse to write something I'm neither knowledgeable about nor wanting to learn.
 
I think there is a fine line between writing fiction/RP and writing an essay or a documentary. I'm a bit of a history buff and some of the things that have happened would not be a lot of fun to play out in a RP unless you really wanted to get sadistic and sick.

I have one RP concept between two women, one of them has a medical condition that prevents her having any type of sex or physical intimacy. It is just a Plot Device really and when I spoke to one interested person about it they actually found a medical condition that matches those symptoms, fair enough but I'm not interested in the condition (real or made up) it is simply a way to propel my crazy idea. So I think in the end it is what people want and as mentioned, some aspects of history are just gruesome.
 
I agree with everyone saying research, but I know one genre I can't write in detail to save my life!

Deep space sci-fi.

I didn't grow up watching sci-fi, and never had a ton of interest in it, nor was I very interested in space beyond what was taught in school. However, I have accepted some heavy sci-fi plots for sounding interesting, but every time I write them, it turns into a disaster.

It probably doesn't help that I'm a highly detailed writer, and I ended up realizing I hardly even know how a spacecraft works, especially some awesome fictional one. I struggle to even generally write it traveling or even what the damn thing looks like. Then, knowing what to find in a space station, common space hazards, protocols, and etc... I just can't do it!

Googling will force me to read about space in levels I'm not up to, and trying to understand what is going on in a sci-fi series from a summary doesn't cut it. While I can write "alien planets" alright, since I have made tons of fantasy worlds as is, but I cannot write anything about or in space even when I want to!
 
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First time I did that was probably nine or so years ago, one of my first fandom rps based on chronicles of riddick, watched all the movies, loved them.

If i was going historical I'd often pick periods of time I'm familiar with, like I studied a lot of ancient rome in high school, which if anyone isn't too familiar with it, it has some of the most memorable stuff because the romans were batshit crazy because of all the lead plumbing.. like the emperor who made his horse a general and went to wa against the sea and brought back a trunk of sea shells... but it was the same for most historical rps I've ever done, some background knowledge at minimum is kind of a must.

Certain professions though.. I must admit I've been a little more slack ordinarily I would use my base knowledge I've picked up from real life, movies and books and any time I come across something I'm not sure of I'd use good ole google..
 
I've gotten involved in an rp before where I was way in over my head with stuff like that. I got approached by someone who wanted to do something plot-based detective style. Mystery wasn't really (And still isn't, really) my cup of tea, but I was entranced with the idea of a noir-style detective and a trusty sidekick trying to stop a series of murders. I definitely made the mistake of diving in thinking I could just wing it, but...

I had no idea what I was doing. Every post was me fumbling around making stuff up on the spot and hoping it sounded good. After a few days of that I knew for sure I wanted to do some research on the subject, just to have some knowledge of what I was talking about. It made things a lot easier.
 
east said:
Have you ever done this? I mostly RP fandoms but I have delved into historical from time to time but when i do i usually try to watch a documentary or try to learn about the subject. Like right now I have an rp going on where I am writing a fandom I wasn't a part of so I went out and got the books on audio and listened to the musical just to add a few ideas here or there.

But lately I have had this craving to RP something about cars, and racing, but I've never driven a car before, I don't actually know how cars work and I imagine a story about racing cars would need a little experience behind a wheel. So I just kinda want to know if anyone else has ever done that where they have just picked up a plot or an idea that they didn't know anything about and just ran with it.
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I might be a minority but I actually really like researching concepts I have no idea about when looking to write a story in that universe. I started rping a chef years ago and to get into her head I ended up going down a YouTube cooking rabbit hole.

I lost touch with that group but at least I learned how to properly cook for myself!
 
Nothing a little forewarning to your partner, Google, and the will to learn can't fix.

I play a character who loves cars while I don't know shit about them either, at least compared to someone who has a passion for the ins and outs of them.
 
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