Museum of Orphaned Concepts

Luce

We all have creative trouble from time to time. One way I've found to alleviate this is to flesh out a character concept to see if it's something I'd enjoy, giving it a full story and history before eventually (usually) abandoning it for one reason or another. And sometimes I play out scenarios and ideas for storylines that don't work out, or end up contradicting something else. 

It seems a shame though that these characters will never see the light of day. To that end, this thread. Showcase your orphans, explain what and who they would have been and why they can never be. Someone else may find the way to breathe new life into them, or you may see something in another concept that helps clarify something to help make it work for you.

To start:

I had a character who was essentially meant to be a D&D/Pathfinder style Paladin. Defender of the meek and innocent, beacon of hope and light, and symbol of everything good in the world. I didn't really have the patience to build his skills and equipment up (again) and realized pretty quickly that we don't really have room for all of that here. Fists of Gods, sure. Rightous avengers, absolutely, but the quiet, staid faith and strength of character requires a different sort of environment than we have here. It's hard to stand up and protect the innocents in the name of your God, when your God pops in regularly and says "Literally who?" (not a dig at the admin, you guys are amazing and I love you all) and the innocents in question will just be resurrected/replaced when they die anyway, and don't really react to your chivalry or your foes' villainy any differently. Especially when you have to get used to playing musical alliances. 

Also didn't help that I chose to make him a series of alliterative puns, and the Peulus family is no more. (Page Pupo Peulus, Prodigal Panda Paladin was the goal I was aiming for. It was very silly.)

Lithia

I like this idea. One could play a Paladin that's in denial and a bit obtuse about the way the world/politics? I had a concept similar to that for a character(different game), once, and the lack of subtlety was fun.

I once had a character that I played for a couple weeks. She was a philosopher and a strict pacifist/vegetarian... so even killing rats was out. Certainly not impossible to gain experience, and writing the philosophy part of it was fun. Despite the pacifism, the character was amoral(violence wasn't wrong, it was inferior), and most of the propaganda she wrote was quite brutal and indifferent toward those considered beneath her. It fell apart quickly when I realized there were a lot of quests I couldn't do and that I'd never be able to participate in combat.

Shaddus

Who remembers the Era of Gail?

At the height of it, I rolled an alt in gaudiguch and named him Gail. I actually invested in him quite a bit, too. The joke died a bit too quickly after that, so I renamed him Adahn.

The idea was a person who was thought or imagined into existence via sheer belief or force of will from so many people believing in him. In a game named "Planescape: Torment", Adahn was a name your protagonist could give when asked his name, and if you told enough people that name, a character named Adahn that looked just like you would become real.

Luce

Had a character once with a redemption arc I was having him try to go through. His progress was marked by his muddy green eyes clearing progressively to deeper and more vibrant shades. He was also my "Heterochromia card" character, in that one of those was becoming bluer, while the other was turning amber on the way to gold. Helped that he was Loboshigaru, in whom heterochromia is not necessarily unrealistic. Unfortunately characterisation marches on, and it became hard to play the character due to a familial collapse (and one of my other characters just being plain more fun). And nobody who I hadn't pointed it out to was noticing the changes, so...ded.

Explaining my "Heterochromia card" comment: certain traits are super, SUPER overdone, like heterochromia, odd coloured hair, one angel wing and one demon wing, slitted pupils in a non-feline/draconid, unusual markings on characters that shouldn't have them, etc. Rather than saying "it's stupid, don't play that." I treat things like this. I am allowed ONE character per setting to have any of these traits, and it is not allowed to be the defining trait for that character. 

Luce, for instance, takes up my "technicolor card", meaning any other characters I make for Lusternia must use standard colouring for their race, barring a damned good reason (ie: The odd colouring is unnatural, either through dyes, illusions, or magic). 

My researcher took my "militant vegan card", so other characters in Lusternia will eat whatever, even if they prefer vegetables. He also took my "Time Lord card" so no other character is allowed to pull WTS, and Pupo took my "Middle-English card" so thou needest not suffer mine attempts at such woefully outdated speech. 

Some things, however, are not allowed to be used. I don't for instance, have a "One-Winged Angel card", or a "Gemstone Implants card". Here.

Maligorn

Hey, gemstone implants are cool

Daraius

I have a barrel full of ideas for stage productions that I've never had the energy to follow through on, including a three-movement symphony (that I started when I was fresh from barding I'm Achaea), a detective noir, and an alternate future history of Hallifax. Wtb motivation.

Sylandra

Daraius said:

I have a barrel full of ideas for stage productions that I've never had the energy to follow through on, including a three-movement symphony (that I started when I was fresh from barding I'm Achaea), a detective noir, and an alternate future history of Hallifax. Wtb motivation.

I have an embarrassing amount of play ideas I haven't had time to finish. Favorites include a Hallifaxian "Oedipus"-style story, as well as an "Antony & Cleopatra" inspired drama with a lot of homoerotic subtext-made-text.

Luce

Another one for the pile: friendly, likeable, helpful, "boyscout" paladin border collie style lobo named Tym. Eventually got bored of not being a demigod and decided he was a bit too on the nose, but I liked being him. It was exhausting but I always felt good after a session essentially trying to be everyone's best friend.

Jolanthe

If I actually enjoyed combat, I'd be tempted to make a gothic-lolita cantor alt with a decidedly aggressive/ascetic bend. Attempt to dress as much Celestian imagery in black as possible, with perhaps some sort of scythe-lyre with blood red strings. Name should ideally be either Alice or Margaret, but sometimes we must compromise on these names that are easily snatched up.

Moi

Dark violet viscanti with scales and gills and horns who speaks Merian and who's horns are visibily fake.

A member of the Auguries who is possessed by one of the dark spirits and acts like character in the possessed little girl genre of horror movie.

Steingrim

Half Furrikin/Half Elf so I can have this theme song:

Lookin' at the devil, grinnin' at his gun
Fingers start shakin', I begin to run
Bullets start chasin', I begin to stop
We begin to wrestle, I was on the top

Reyl

I always idly contemplated a ~redemption arc~ for Reyl if/when I ever came back... Try the whole "reformed viscanti" thing right out of the help, and so on —but I can't do it, I just love Mag ppl too much, sorry all. 

Also, I'm back? Hi