Posted by Kim on February 4, 2013, 8:38pm
This chat hit a little close to home for some people, and though no one was really on the attack, a number of people were on the defensive. On top of that, the different mindsets of strict-setting games vs. free form games meant that there was a large amount of confusion and misunderstandings.As a result, we didn't make as much headway as I had hoped, and this summary will be shorter than the others. We will probably try to redo this topic again later, with more clarifications as to which style of RP we're talking about at any given time!
Normal, to me, would be a character that blends more than sticks out. Has a very basic ideal behind it (that can always erupt into some amazing thing later on in an RP). Mostly Human and non-magical- TornBySanity
When we waded into the topic of "normal" characters, the first thing that happened is that we ran into a divide between how people classified normal characters.
There were those that were what you'd consider normal to real life - human, no special powers, no deep dark secret pasts. Just regular people with awesome personalities, who sometimes had to react to truly out of the ordinary circumstances.
A "normal" character doesn't rely on super special powers, crazy looks or badass finishing moves to be interesting.- SeraphicStar
Normal to me is a character that doesn't have any super or preternatural powers, they're just like regular run of the mill humans. They are built up and made dynamic through their personalities, and through the way they are played. If someone was looking at their profile they may think they were bland or not see "something" there, but gameplay with that character would and usually does show the brilliance of their creation. Just like talking and interacting with regular people in real life.
- Rubix
- Rubix
And then there were characters that were "normal" to their fantasy world. These might have special powers or be a non-human race, but they helped to uphold the flavor of the setting in which they were woven by upholding the social norms of their time period, such as not introducing ideas that might be normal to modern folk, but revolutionary to their setting.
I think that normality is most important when considering things like time period and location, rather than magical or fantasy elements. A character needs to be firmly rooted in the world they're in.- Ben
I see normal characters as people who, in spite of their special abilities or powers (if they have them), can still be interesting people by their quirks, personalities, and even their occupations.- Copper_Dragon
Normal characters of any variety can represent a great challenge for a writer. They must keep things exciting, often without the benefit of fantasy elements or huge action. These characters need to have engaging and believable personalities to stand toe-to-toe in interest with characters that may vastly over-power them in more measurable ways. But it's quite possible to achieve!
Anyone seeking to make a canon character that is fun to play should do all the same things anyone making any other character should do. Focus on background, continuity, motivations, paradigms and personality. They just have to focus on them harder since there are no fancy powers to focus on too.- Nero
Both of these "normal" character types actually turn out to deserve their own separate chats, and might well get them!
This was a short summary because we had so much trouble staying on topic last week. This week, we'll be working hard to stay on track. And boy is there a lot of track to look forward to! Many of our planned discussion prompts were written by our very own PenGryphon2007.
She is an elegant and literary soul, and I think you will find that her questions will guide us beautifully in navigating the topic of "special" characters. Hope to see you there on Saturday with your discussion hats on!
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Comments
While last week didn't go quite as planned, we did get some interesting opinions out there! I can't wait for next week to see what lovely questions Pen thought up for us! 
The_Dealer
February 8, 2013
1:36pm