Recently in the St Wolfgangs forum in the most recent roleplaying thread I made a post which explained some of the background of my character.
It got me to thinking whether there is a right or wrong to explaining some of a characters background in an out of character fashion.
Should background be explained in a out of character fashion ever?
Should a backstory only be seen by in character exploration?
Should it depend on your roleplaying style and/or character you’re playing?
Any thoughts?
It depends on your role playing style - if you feel you need to explain your background to someone to justify your in character actions then you are probably not playing a character suitable to your personality.
Don’t beat around the bush and don’t feel bad about doing things that negatively effect other characters if it is beyond a doubt what your character would do.
At the end of the day its your character - your background.
If you made his background to be a kind and generous man its no different from if you made his background say his was a dick - its your fault the character is how it is - just role play it.
I submitted 9 pages for Darnon when he was first created. There was no IC thread so thats how it went.
The danger with the IC thread is assuming everyone has read it because only a fraction of the player base does. And never assume the GM’s have read it all because while I am sure they have, it doesn’t guarantee what has been written will have an impact in game. For that you are still best to put it an email and send it to the GM’s directly.
And since the IC thread has little impact on the game itself, I view it as an opportunity to expand a little on your character in a way you might not have a chance for in game and interact with those that also like to RP in this manner. Its been relatively fun so far but I personally find the threads can move so quickly that you’re left holding wet washing while everyone goes off to fight…
[quote]And since the IC thread has little impact on the game itself[/quote] I wouldn’t be so sure on that Jared, many people actually take note of what occurs i the rp threads as IC knowledge and background, most choose not to comment on it in the same threads.
I think it really depends on the sensitivity of what you’re revealing. If it’s the type of thing that you’d reveal in casual conversation, or that other characters may already know about you and discuss with each other, I think it’s helpfull to refresh our memories. We do after all only play small pieces of our characters lives, so if they’re living with each others for months and months, they’d know more about each other than we can be expected to pass on in the few hours a month we may actually get to play them. In other words, if there is a chance someone’d know about it in character - by all means reveal it.
If on the other hand, it’s really confidential information, I’d suggest you don’t reveal it. It’s sometimes hard to remember which OOC stuff we need to forget, and it’s annoying to find out something OOC and then try to figure out when playing if you could have made the logical leap yourself to have come to the conclusion you already know OOC.
Sorry, you misunderstand. Or I am crap at explaining myself. I was referring to a comment by Anna, that we can’t expect to achieve things in game terms in the thread. Sometimes thread based stuff leaks across into the game and this is because the threads are like an on going backstory but if you say go on a quest for X to help in the next game, its not likely to happen.
ah, right with you now 
I wouldn’t put major IC secrets in there. I might add a descriptive paragraph for explanation, since online you can’t see the actions/expressions that would make the thought processes going on a bit more obvious.
And like Derek says, if any of it was real, the existing Order members would know each other better by now, by story and tale if nothing else. The people remaining at the village would probably have told stories about the missing people.
This is just a personal thing, and I rarely do online RP, but I find it weird when people talk about their internal dialogue in the thread. It just seems like something other people shouldnt have access to normally, and thus has no place in an RP thread. If we were writing the story of (for example) the Order of St Wolfgang, then sure, that stuff would be fine. But as it is supposed to be a replacement for in game RP surely it should contain only observable behaviour.
Yeah, I agree with that.
Revealing your own secrets in online RP is up to you, after all, the consequences would be yours as well.
However, if by revealing your own secrets you would also reveal someone else’s, they may end up angry and upset. I had this with one of my characters, and all the cool ropleplaying I wanted to do suddenly lost sense because there was no more mystery to play around. I am very annoyed.
Moral: watch your tongue 
I completely agree with Walter. There is a place for general knowledge about each other, for example ‘my character tends to hang out with the visiting merchants’ is something people would know about you from spending time with the character as per what Derek said. ‘My character spends time with merchants because he is asking them questions about a long lost ‘Tome of the Sixty Third Binding’’ is something the other characters are unlikely to know without investigation.
I tend to confine my online RP to just what others might see my character doing. The exception to this is occasionally giving those with high social stats (in the games where that matters) a chance to know more.
[quote=“Orlandus”]I completely agree with Walter. There is a place for general knowledge about each other, for example ‘my character tends to hang out with the visiting merchants’ is something people would know about you from spending time with the character as per what Derek said. ‘My character spends time with merchants because he is asking them questions about a long lost ‘Tome of the Sixty Third Binding’’ is something the other characters are unlikely to know without investigation.
I tend to confine my online RP to just what others might see my character doing. The exception to this is occasionally giving those with high social stats (in the games where that matters) a chance to know more.[/quote]
Yep, and I completely agree with Orlandus!
I do a lot of online RP. I post what others can see, what others can here and avoid “thought posts”. That makes for some pretty safe general posting.
But then I see more value in the sort of in between RP that keeps up momentum in between games and establishes existing character relationships rather than explaining a background. That kind of stuff is, I think, best done in game.
My two cents worth. Not that you have pennies here anymore! 