I've been RPing for around 3 or 4 years now, and conveniently I've been acting around the same amount of time.
I've started out on discord and I haven't had my first rp here yet, but something I've always loved about rp is creating a character and seeing where you can take that. Last year, I performed in a naturalistic play and as a result had to study the theory and methods of Stanislavski.
The general overlap between character building and these methods do interest me, since it can be especially useful for grounding characters. I'm curious to how you guys build your characters and whether you use any particular methods like stanislavski's during rp or character writing.
For example some of Stanislavski's methods included Emotion memory (calling on the memory of an emotion), super objectives (a characters highest calling or goal) and overall becoming your character in both body and mind (only during performances and such of course, method acting is a separate thing that stems from this idea, just taken to a new extreme)
I'd love to hear about people's experiences with RP, Character building and Acting, so feel free to drop a message below to say hi!
I've started out on discord and I haven't had my first rp here yet, but something I've always loved about rp is creating a character and seeing where you can take that. Last year, I performed in a naturalistic play and as a result had to study the theory and methods of Stanislavski.
The general overlap between character building and these methods do interest me, since it can be especially useful for grounding characters. I'm curious to how you guys build your characters and whether you use any particular methods like stanislavski's during rp or character writing.
For example some of Stanislavski's methods included Emotion memory (calling on the memory of an emotion), super objectives (a characters highest calling or goal) and overall becoming your character in both body and mind (only during performances and such of course, method acting is a separate thing that stems from this idea, just taken to a new extreme)
I'd love to hear about people's experiences with RP, Character building and Acting, so feel free to drop a message below to say hi!
Only times I’ve acted was during school and church plays when I was little, so I don’t have much to add to this in terms of acting. For my characters, I draw alot from my passions, my learned knowledge, and my experiences in life. I used to read A LOT in middle school, which was something that also improved my writing.
I’ve also always loved my english classes, and in learning more about analyzing stories and composing my own writing, i’ve also learnt techniques similar to the methods you seem to use for acting.
I’ve also always loved my english classes, and in learning more about analyzing stories and composing my own writing, i’ve also learnt techniques similar to the methods you seem to use for acting.
This is the first I've heard about any acting techniques besides "method acting," which I think I've only heard of because of the occasions it's turned controversial among the general public. 
I can see what you describe being useful for character creation too, though!
To be honest, I don't have any set method of character creation. (Actually I can't remember the last time I created a new character who wasn't an impromptu NPC. ) I've used a few different character sheets to guide the process, including RPR's profile creation prompts; I've had characters develop out of stories I started writing when I may or may not have even had any plan; I've had characters who started out as NPCs but ended up too interesting to leave at that; I've had characters who developed out of some particular concept, or inspired by another character; and I've had characters that have really developed through being rewritten one or more times.
To throw out an example: consider my character Jackson. He's had multiple factors play into his development. His initial foundation was inspiration mostly drawn from 2 other characters created by other people. One was a villain in a YA supernatural romance that I read in 7th grade, and the other that gave me more of a push to go for it was the character Karl by Unknown-Person on deviantArt (you'd need to look their work up via a Flash archive though; was in the Law of Talos OCT). From that I had "dangerous, music-loving, inhuman, blond psychopath who pretends to be a chill, charming, human dude to lure prey into a false sense of security."
Years later, I wanted to give him a little more depth, or at least to have more clarity on what he was besides just some random shapeshifter, and I very quickly stumbled across a type of Scandinavian water spirit that already fit with what I had remarkably well; just took some minor adjustments to feel comfortable enough saying "yep, that's what he is!" That also lead to developing a much more clear backstory that helped explain a bunch more about how and why he is the way he is. He went from a sort neat but ultimately flat villain who I didn't really know what to do with to one that actually has a lot of complex psychology going on and who, when put into the right circumstances, can be pretty fascinating to play. (He's also one of those characters who's a terrible enough person that playing him makes me wobble between excited "ha ha, take THAT, this is heckin' fun!" and self-conscious "oh lord wtf is wrong with me?")
I can see what you describe being useful for character creation too, though!To be honest, I don't have any set method of character creation. (Actually I can't remember the last time I created a new character who wasn't an impromptu NPC.
) I've used a few different character sheets to guide the process, including RPR's profile creation prompts; I've had characters develop out of stories I started writing when I may or may not have even had any plan; I've had characters who started out as NPCs but ended up too interesting to leave at that; I've had characters who developed out of some particular concept, or inspired by another character; and I've had characters that have really developed through being rewritten one or more times.To throw out an example: consider my character Jackson. He's had multiple factors play into his development. His initial foundation was inspiration mostly drawn from 2 other characters created by other people. One was a villain in a YA supernatural romance that I read in 7th grade, and the other that gave me more of a push to go for it was the character Karl by Unknown-Person on deviantArt (you'd need to look their work up via a Flash archive though; was in the Law of Talos OCT). From that I had "dangerous, music-loving, inhuman, blond psychopath who pretends to be a chill, charming, human dude to lure prey into a false sense of security."
Years later, I wanted to give him a little more depth, or at least to have more clarity on what he was besides just some random shapeshifter, and I very quickly stumbled across a type of Scandinavian water spirit that already fit with what I had remarkably well; just took some minor adjustments to feel comfortable enough saying "yep, that's what he is!" That also lead to developing a much more clear backstory that helped explain a bunch more about how and why he is the way he is. He went from a sort neat but ultimately flat villain who I didn't really know what to do with to one that actually has a lot of complex psychology going on and who, when put into the right circumstances, can be pretty fascinating to play. (He's also one of those characters who's a terrible enough person that playing him makes me wobble between excited "ha ha, take THAT, this is heckin' fun!" and self-conscious "oh lord wtf is wrong with me?")
Ohhh boy. Here comes the 'tism.
First things first. Acting is one of the reasons why I came to like roleplaying. Not sure if I could say I'm a theatre kid because there wasn't. Like. Any 'official' drama club back in my school, BUT at the end of every year, we have this event where every uhhhhh class? Yearly batch?? (I have no idea what the english word is) must perform some kind of performance. Be it some kind of traditional dance, singing, or a drama play (sometimes all three because this performance greatly affects our grades for our Art and Culture class by 80%. And we wanted excellent grades). Everyone has to be involved in both. Now my class has a bunch of gals who are really good at decorating and making props and figuring out the costumes, so the roles are handed over to them (they double as stagecrew). Which leaves the rest of the class to be the actors and script writers. I myself volunteered to write the script with a few other to avoid acting on stage, but in the end, I have to play a role as a play character too because apparently the open role is a british soldier who speaks english (the play is a historical one, based on true events. The role I'm playing as is Thomas Stamford Raffles, who played a major role in seizing the Dutch's power over our country), and one of the students who are good at speaking english is me 😔 (a fun memory is that whenever any of us spoke english or other languages on stage (like Dutch. Badly translated too), one of the 'stagecrew' had a whole cardboard cutouts ready, and it would display the translated meaning of what was spoken (sort of like an irl subtitle).
And so on my first year I was dreading that moment. My anxious self was filling my mind with thoughts like 'what if I mess up. I don't know how to act how am I supposed to act like someone else What if I fool myself oh god everyone will hate me when I mess up' etc etc. Very unhelpful of my brain. I was utterly convinced that I'm going to mess up and I've already got stage fright 11 months before the event comes. Anyway. I practiced my lines and whatnot plenty of times, and as time goes on, I began to feel like this wasn't all that bad. It's not that difficult to get into character. And so, I began to study what and who this Thomas guy is so I could better understand his character.
Everything was going great. We cooked food and sell them so we could have money to make the props, I helped draw the lineart for the people for the a prop and background, we practiced our lines and positions, and it was fine. Until the moment came for our class to perform. I was so so anxious then lmaoo. I was literally sweating behind the makeshift stage watching my classmates perform (it's mostly just standing around and talking and fake-punching someone up at the time before the story progresses). It wasn't an A tier performance, mind you (except our tradisional dances. It was peak), just a bunch of amateurs acting as someone else in a makeshift simple stage with simpler props and a 6 feet tall badly drawn depiction of an indonesian sultan Mahmud Baharuddin the Second, but the most important part is that we all had fun. My acting wasn't all that great at the start (because I was nervous as heck), but in the end, it made me realize that oh. I like acting. Playing as other characters is cool and getting into their heads is very intriguing and it helps me understand them more.
Though I do think acting is really cool, but alas, I was dragged away by psychology instead. It's so much more interesting and the information I get could help me better mold my OCs
And I don't have to go on stage. Acting is neat but I don't want it to be my life.
Other than acting out dramas, I also do traditional dances back then
But I'm not sure if it counts as acting, so I will refrain myself from rambling lol.
Anyway. As for RP. Acting made me realize that it's fun to play as a character. But it wasn't the only reason that made me get into the world of roleplaying. It started out as me and my friends drawing comics together and passing the sketchbooks to rhe other. For example, I started with drawing my OC somewhere in the mountains, draw a few panels of their reaction and whatnot, and once I'm done, I'd pass it to my friend and they, in turn, draw their own OC's reaction and dialogue. Imagine written roleplay, but a drawn version of it. Just back and forth. Idk it's hard to explain in english. I wasn't sure if it counted as 'roleplay' at first. Anyway. I then switched over to Animal Jam (RIP web version </3), and later Minecraft, Amino, and Roblox. All in that order. Then came the day I discovered Discord has a roleplay server where you write instead of physically(?) moving your character (I mean Amino does to sort of but it doesn't count because the roleplays I did were like. *walks* or chat or something 💀). I started out as a one-liner because I SUCK at writing descriptions. I mean if I were to write in my native language, I'd at least be decent, but in english? Nope. I grew up with hearing english and not being taught english as like. A subject. and boom. I learned how to speak, write, and understand english but not the whole grammar thing.
The thing about being a one-liner is that most people would prefer not to roleplay with you which, honestly, was a very reasonable decision. I was really disappointed plenty of times. So my solution? Improve my writing. Google translate it word for word, from Indonesian to english. Search up synonyms. Look up 'how to describe fire'. What's the past tense of 'eat'. 'Rejuvinating' meaning/definiton. Read fanfiction. Read english books, digest the words. Any words I don't recognize? Look it up. We all have to start somewhere, right? Back in my boarding school, devices were given a limited time only (a total of 3 hours a day, given during night for night study. None in the weekends), and without the help of Google search and the internet, I had to resort to the old ways; the ✨ dictionary ✨
Anyway. In terms of writing as my character in an RP, I think I used the same method. Whenever I write my OCs, I always try to get into their heads and see in their point of view. I think what I do is close to method acting, maybe? I'm not so sure myself, though. And I always think of me and my character as different people.
For character building. I don't think I have any set methods on creating a character? But I always have to figure out their backstory first, after a general idea of their appearance and what their personality would be like, because someone's personality are often influenced by their environment, home life, experiences, etc. Which helps shape their mindsets too. I've had a couple worlds of my own created beforehand, so for me it's at least a bit easy to build them. I'd provide examples, but this would turn into a very long message :')
First things first. Acting is one of the reasons why I came to like roleplaying. Not sure if I could say I'm a theatre kid because there wasn't. Like. Any 'official' drama club back in my school, BUT at the end of every year, we have this event where every uhhhhh class? Yearly batch?? (I have no idea what the english word is) must perform some kind of performance. Be it some kind of traditional dance, singing, or a drama play (sometimes all three because this performance greatly affects our grades for our Art and Culture class by 80%. And we wanted excellent grades). Everyone has to be involved in both. Now my class has a bunch of gals who are really good at decorating and making props and figuring out the costumes, so the roles are handed over to them (they double as stagecrew). Which leaves the rest of the class to be the actors and script writers. I myself volunteered to write the script with a few other to avoid acting on stage, but in the end, I have to play a role as a play character too because apparently the open role is a british soldier who speaks english (the play is a historical one, based on true events. The role I'm playing as is Thomas Stamford Raffles, who played a major role in seizing the Dutch's power over our country), and one of the students who are good at speaking english is me 😔 (a fun memory is that whenever any of us spoke english or other languages on stage (like Dutch. Badly translated too), one of the 'stagecrew' had a whole cardboard cutouts ready, and it would display the translated meaning of what was spoken (sort of like an irl subtitle).
And so on my first year I was dreading that moment. My anxious self was filling my mind with thoughts like 'what if I mess up. I don't know how to act how am I supposed to act like someone else What if I fool myself oh god everyone will hate me when I mess up' etc etc. Very unhelpful of my brain. I was utterly convinced that I'm going to mess up and I've already got stage fright 11 months before the event comes. Anyway. I practiced my lines and whatnot plenty of times, and as time goes on, I began to feel like this wasn't all that bad. It's not that difficult to get into character. And so, I began to study what and who this Thomas guy is so I could better understand his character.
Everything was going great. We cooked food and sell them so we could have money to make the props, I helped draw the lineart for the people for the a prop and background, we practiced our lines and positions, and it was fine. Until the moment came for our class to perform. I was so so anxious then lmaoo. I was literally sweating behind the makeshift stage watching my classmates perform (it's mostly just standing around and talking and fake-punching someone up at the time before the story progresses). It wasn't an A tier performance, mind you (except our tradisional dances. It was peak), just a bunch of amateurs acting as someone else in a makeshift simple stage with simpler props and a 6 feet tall badly drawn depiction of an indonesian sultan Mahmud Baharuddin the Second, but the most important part is that we all had fun. My acting wasn't all that great at the start (because I was nervous as heck), but in the end, it made me realize that oh. I like acting. Playing as other characters is cool and getting into their heads is very intriguing and it helps me understand them more.
Though I do think acting is really cool, but alas, I was dragged away by psychology instead. It's so much more interesting and the information I get could help me better mold my OCs
And I don't have to go on stage. Acting is neat but I don't want it to be my life.Other than acting out dramas, I also do traditional dances back then
But I'm not sure if it counts as acting, so I will refrain myself from rambling lol.Anyway. As for RP. Acting made me realize that it's fun to play as a character. But it wasn't the only reason that made me get into the world of roleplaying. It started out as me and my friends drawing comics together and passing the sketchbooks to rhe other. For example, I started with drawing my OC somewhere in the mountains, draw a few panels of their reaction and whatnot, and once I'm done, I'd pass it to my friend and they, in turn, draw their own OC's reaction and dialogue. Imagine written roleplay, but a drawn version of it. Just back and forth. Idk it's hard to explain in english. I wasn't sure if it counted as 'roleplay' at first. Anyway. I then switched over to Animal Jam (RIP web version </3), and later Minecraft, Amino, and Roblox. All in that order. Then came the day I discovered Discord has a roleplay server where you write instead of physically(?) moving your character (I mean Amino does to sort of but it doesn't count because the roleplays I did were like. *walks* or chat or something 💀). I started out as a one-liner because I SUCK at writing descriptions. I mean if I were to write in my native language, I'd at least be decent, but in english? Nope. I grew up with hearing english and not being taught english as like. A subject. and boom. I learned how to speak, write, and understand english but not the whole grammar thing.
The thing about being a one-liner is that most people would prefer not to roleplay with you which, honestly, was a very reasonable decision. I was really disappointed plenty of times. So my solution? Improve my writing. Google translate it word for word, from Indonesian to english. Search up synonyms. Look up 'how to describe fire'. What's the past tense of 'eat'. 'Rejuvinating' meaning/definiton. Read fanfiction. Read english books, digest the words. Any words I don't recognize? Look it up. We all have to start somewhere, right? Back in my boarding school, devices were given a limited time only (a total of 3 hours a day, given during night for night study. None in the weekends), and without the help of Google search and the internet, I had to resort to the old ways; the ✨ dictionary ✨
Anyway. In terms of writing as my character in an RP, I think I used the same method. Whenever I write my OCs, I always try to get into their heads and see in their point of view. I think what I do is close to method acting, maybe? I'm not so sure myself, though. And I always think of me and my character as different people.
For character building. I don't think I have any set methods on creating a character? But I always have to figure out their backstory first, after a general idea of their appearance and what their personality would be like, because someone's personality are often influenced by their environment, home life, experiences, etc. Which helps shape their mindsets too. I've had a couple worlds of my own created beforehand, so for me it's at least a bit easy to build them. I'd provide examples, but this would turn into a very long message :')
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