It seems that insecurities of gamers have come full circle...

It seems that insecurities of gamers have come full circle, to the point that they lash out at things that hit that special uncanny valley zone of being cool while also appealing too much demographics they're afraid associate with.

Themes of death, darkness, tragedy, and the orient - All these things have been practically branded taboo, and if someone brings them up they're accused of being a weeaboo or an edgy teenager. How strange is it really to play a dark, bloodthirsty character in a story which will most likely revolve around constant killing? How strange it really to say that your motives stem from the death of family and loved ones when it's such a practical explanation for someone constantly adventuring without having to worry about connections at home? The only thing strange is the distaste for cliches in games that are designed to embrace them. RPG's were originally created so that people could act out the adventures of heroes in fiction - the heroic paladin, the crafty ranger, the bookish wizard... For love of these cliches we play them. It does not matter how derivative your character is because no matter what you do your campaign is going to be unique. No matter how strict the module is, no campaigns can ever truly be the same story. With the quips, the stunts, the critical failures, and the like you and your party have created a story which belongs to yourselves. For that reason, there is no reason to pretend that the word "cliche" should carry the same weight in the context of traditional gaming as it does in writing or filmmaking.

As for edginess.... All that talk makes me want to write up some fuckin serial killer ninja-samurai-viking named "Death" who wears all black clothes and a bloody skull over his face under a tattered fedora while flamboyantly cutting his way through his enemies and innocents alike with fuckin dual katanas, all to avenge the death of his parents. He'll recite a relevant haiku each time he drops someone.

And you know what? I don't watch anime, I don't have emotional issues, I'm mature, intelligent, passive, and I have both a good self esteem and an outside social life. I just like fantasy. All of it. There are no lengths of cheesiness that I won't go because at the end of the day I'm not doing this to escape, I'm doing it for fun. I like myself and I like my life. I like theatrics and I like cliches. I like to act out characters and I like to weave a unique story with other people. And sometimes part of me too enjoys nerds on the internet rip each other apart in a lame effort to distinguish themselves as ever so slightly cooler, but for the most part I find it tiring and unecessary. I just beg of you to reserve your disdain for people who actually learn it with shitty behavior rather than tastes that you don't agree with. And be more honest with yourself. You know you like katanas. You know like the edgy backstories. Just do it, no one's judging you except some irritable, anonymous strangers.

The difference between edgy and dark is like the difference between bathos and pathos. Until you're capable of recognizing it, it's time to put away the katana before you cut yourself.

Edgy is a meme.

Its about being true to form.

If your not honoring the traditions, you're pissing away your characters livelihood. If you have yet to be introduced to a character, all you have to go by are their affectations. If they seem bizarre or out of place, people will immediately distrust and be suspicious of your characters affectations and motivations.

Someone who dresses like a pimp at a womans conferance isn't going to fit in.

Geez op if you want to play an edgy ninja loner just do it. Nobody cares enough to stop you.

If your dressed in leather pants or a jean jacket at a scorpions concert, nobody is going to blink twice.

If you're going down the street dressed as a mall ninja, people are going to go out of their way to avoid taking you seriously.

Pic Related

You have to make an effort to conform to the setting without being consumed by it. You are modeling your character after an archtype, and that archetype has many different flavors. Its like a template, it has many variations on the same theme.

For example, there are many types of ice cream. However, none of them go particularly well with soy sauce.

Except edgy and dark are not mutually exclusive, one is a variant of the other as determined by opinion.
That's an issue of someone being disruptive in a campaign, not an issue of playing cheesy, derivative characters. "ooh that guy looks exotic, this fucks up everything"
I'm not sure if you read the post. I said that cheesy characters are an appropriate fit for most traditional games.

>scorpions concert

aw shit yeah let's go they're playing in Texas on the 29th

nigga you dumb

It's a op is so unimaginative he cant create a character that isn't the cliche stereotypical derivative piece of shit and gets mad when someone makes fun of him for it thread.

>why wont anyone let me play my murderhobo I keep getting kicked out of groups waaaah

>serial killer ninja-samurai-viking
>fedora

Already been done bro and much better than what you suggest.

>The orient

lmao

can you even read japanese, you fucking faggot?

You want to play a violent killer, fucking fine. What makes a stupid, edgy character bad is when they try to simultaneously come off as bloodthirsty AND aloof at the same time. You can't be super hyped about death and hurting people while simultaneously being a stunted and distant introvert. Well, I guess you can, it's just fucking retarded.

I agree mostly, but while the average dude on tg needs to just relax and ignore people with sub par characters, people in the outside world do make shitty characters that are too cliche and too nonsensical, IMHO, cliche is still usually bad, and while im fine with sorta cliche and highly derivative things, most people arent intelligent enough to do better than straight up imitation of shit that wasnt interesting to begin with

Hyper shitty and hyper autistic post "i know about a thing that you said, me have better tastes" he is talking about how he is fine with recycling cliches and things that are over the top, and you come here to bring your shitty image, i doubt anyone wants to play tabletop with you

照井君!
ワイも恋愛サーキュレーション聴きまくってるで!

何と何がよ

None of that bears any relation to anything that transpired in this thread. My characters are cool, and I don't actually play anything like what I described, nor do I play with anyone who plays like anything I described. This is just a response to the way people like you guys react to certain things. I think it's dumb.
Nah my groups like me.
Guy
What the hell are you even talking about lol
I guess that brings us to the fact of what a fine line it is between inspiration and imitation. Again, "cliche" isn't as meaningful in the context of traditional games and I think it's great to pay tribute to existing things. Creative character creation is just ONE thing out of the many that go into a good game experience. If the campaign sucks and if you can't roleplay then an interesting character is all you have going for, otherwise you can play a total cliche and everything plays out just as well. To be honest I'm a pretty terrible roleplayer and it's ALL I can do to write an interesting, original character.

Meanwhile I've got this friend that I actually introduced to DnD who does make these dumbfuck edgelord characters. Only once has he deviated from Rogue and that was to play a class with a mostly identical role. Each character has the same personality of a chaotic stupid crazy killer guy, but the fact is that he roleplays them so fucking well that it doesn't really matter at all. He writes almost no backstory, but his character ends up being the most real and immersive out of anyone. Playing with that dude really put things in perspective for me.

>nor do I play with anyone who plays like anything I described
>Meanwhile I've got this friend that I actually introduced to DnD who does make these dumbfuck edgelord characters
Contradicted myself because I remembered the dude while writing this out. He's an irl friend who I played actual tabletop with and I forget about him when I'm discussing online TG.

don't get excited guys

>Denial levels: Critical

It's OK, someday you'll grow out of it.

No, you cannot use Veeky Forums use of edgy and dark.

Dark is a theme incorporating things like loss, hopelessness.

Edgy is when violence or psychopathic behavior is used for its own sake regardless of its appropriateness to the immediate situation ie to gain a shock reaction for ones personal amusement or satisfaction.

Let's have an example. I'm going to use the untouchable topic of MLP.

Friendship, magic, and colorful ponies abound. Okay we got that.

Now say the show explores the topic of war in the fantasy land of Equestria. Is this edgy by simply having it in a normally cheerful setting?

No, not on that merit alone. It may be dark but there is plenty of evidence of violent conflict having occurred before and delving into the subject does not make it edgy.

Now say one of the ponies starts murderraping random passers-by simply because "lol war". THAT is being edgy. It has nothing to actually do with the theme or setting, it's just used as an excuse to incorporate shock material or enact violence for violence's sake. Nothing is being explored. We are not delving into the mind of a serial killer, or following the horrors of war. It was done just "because". That is when you cross the line into edginess. When it serves no purpose outside of itself.

Others may disagree with this but unfortunately Veeky Forums abuses words until they lose all meaning (see: autism, cuck, edgy, damage control, ad hom, etc.)

This demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of why people are annoyed by edgy characters.

>Dark is a theme incorporating things like loss, hopelessness.
>Edgy is when violence or psychopathic behavior is used for its own sake regardless of its appropriateness to the immediate situation ie to gain a shock reaction for ones personal amusement or satisfaction.
That's a fine set of definitions you've devised but it's not consistent with popular use even outside of Veeky Forums.
You avoid accountability for the fault in your argument by saying "things like" instead of committing to an actual definition, so that you can get away with pretending it's mutually exclusive with "edgy". It's not. Just about anything you can attribute to edginess can fall under a "dark" theme. If you want to believe otherwise then know you're going against the grain of more than just Veeky Forums but pretty much everything that concerns the themes, such as film and literature. Take a "Dark Comedy" for example.

In any case, your definition of "edgy" is insanely specific. All edgy actually refers to is deliberately pushing the limits of one thing or another, and in Veeky Forums use it's referring to the limits of social acceptability/appropriateness.

But if I'm happily deluded then wouldn't it be better for me to remain that way?

They still tour?

Apparently. They're going all over europe after a couple shows in America to start off. Looks like TX is the last one before they leave the states for a couple months.

I get you, dude. Let the haters hate, they'll understand some day if they're lucky.

>you can't be super hyped about death and hurting people while simultaneously being a stunted and distant introvert
Hahahaha.... HAHAHAHAHA.

I bet you think all murderers are suave, personable social successes too.

Tell your group that you're ironically making an edgy character. Joke around with them about it. But deep down inside, play the edgy character because it's what you really want.

Some cliches are longer-lived than others. Brooding Byronic heroes are no longer allowed to have sunglasses at night and katanas tucked into their trench coats or leather dusters, because that aesthetic didn't survive the 80's and early 90's. You just can't take someone seriously who looks like that. I don't know exactly why, but maybe it's because so much SF and pop culture of the 80's was built on the fear that Japan would take over the world, and it never happened.

That said, I would totally be down for playing OWoD or Shadowrun as long as it was in the spirit of camp. Or something based on Highlander. That was the shit back in the day.

>makes shit troll thread
>even brings up fucking mlp
>none of you niggas realized it yet

Holy shit Veeky Forums stop being so fucking retarded

There's a difference between being quiet and worldly, which is what most shadow the edgehogs try to do, and just being a god damn autistic sociopath, which is what you're referring to.

Just because a stupid post is made in jest doesn't mean you shouldn't refute it

Rudolph Schenker is and always was a hack

People don't like edgelords in their rpgs because they're boring, one dimensional characters that drag down the level of roleplaying and immersion in a setting by the very nature of their existence.

Just saw Joe Walsh + Bad Company at the Woodlands Pavilion lastnight, was pretty awesome.

>People don't like you in their rpgs because you make boring, one dimensional Lawful Retarded characters that drag down the level of roleplaying and immersion in a setting by the very nature of their existence.

>>Now say one of the ponies starts murderraping random passers-by simply because "lol war"
What, like Army Dog?

There's a way to make a lawful good "goody two shoes" character and make them someone who at least isn't a drain on a group. Edgelords by definition are mysterious loners who seek the spotlight to be on them and how edgy they are. They only care for other characters as a way to illustrate how aloof theirs is.

Niggers, why the hell are you replying to obvious bait thread?

...

Black hoods, katanas, blood magic, and dead parents are not what makes people cringe, it's how they're played.

It's usually for attention purposes, edgelords fail to understand party dynamics and instead try to put the focus of the campaign on them.
I would have no problem with a grumbling samurai if he would actually help the party instead of trying to rack up the most kills, or act mysterious 100% of the time.

It all stems from a simple question, "if your character has no reason to or hates to party up, then why are you playing him?"

You do realize the guy you're responding to is responding TO the OP, right?

Occasionally dumb people like to say things like this because it makes them feel as if they caught onto something that everyone else missed, but it's not a bait threat. I've made a logical case and I stand by the angry nerds comment.

not so much taboo, just overplayed and boring

>papa i dont wanna work the farm
>i have no son
>k bye

You do realize that this is the board built almost entirely on taking shitty troll threads and turning them into serious discussions simply to infuriate the trolls, right? That's some of the best discussions on this board stemmed from serious discussions hijacking troll threads? Where exactly do you think you are?

actually I play in two Tabletops (one has a player and the other as the GM) and in both of them there is some really edgy characters.

You're spending too much time on Veeky Forums bro. Or amongst grumpy grognards and manchilds.
In the real life, if you game with well-behaved people, they won't have a problem with you playing a skull-demon-samurai-of-doom if it fits with the setting and tone of the game and you're not an ass.

Nobody cares what the fuck you play as long as you attempt to make it work with how the group wants to play, most individuals that make these types of characters are usually god awful at cooperating in a group setting.

Were not fucking here for just you to have fun, this is s group effort. Make your grim dark edgelord cooperate with the playstyle and nobody gets salty.
Though I'll probably still make fun of you.

Because it's hard for him to reply to himself?

Yes, some of the best discussions have come from serious responses to troll threads.

However, the vast majority of the mediocre and bad discussions have come from serious responses to troll threads.

The fact that the shit you're digging through occasionally contains the odd bag of drug-mule cocaine doesn't mean that you're not constantly snorting shit.

>thinking Veeky Forums is a glorious hive mind separate from the rest of the autistic clusterfuck known as Veeky Forums
>thinking the shit posting in all of these troll threads is some kind of meta trolling and not just autists being autistic

You're not autistic op, just tasteless

Why do you keep calling this a troll thread? It isn't. It's a guy sharing an opinion. People on Veeky Forums are so fucking dumb that they can't even express why they disagree with a post and just say they're trolling or autistic.

I dunno if this guy's right or not, but if he is, it's okay, OP. I'm tasteless too.

Kind of weird how tasteless guys like us are willing to find and see taste in what everyone else decries as tasteless.

Keep on finding that taste, user. Work that cliche until you can make an archetype of it.
Heck, Barbarian was a class because people wanted to play as Conan. Ranger was a class because people wanted to play Drizzt.

Make a trenchkatana, but make him *your* trenchkatana.

My trenchkatana deliberately acted aloof and mysterious solely because he doesn't want the party to know how much of a dork he actually was.

Yeah... It's bullshit to call someone tasteless for being endeared of cliches in role playing games.

Although I don't actually want to play the trenchkatana I'm just saying that there wouldn't be much wrong with it.

The overwrought language and poor attempt at psychoanalysis both contribute to my suspicion that you are autistic and do not understand the people to whom you are making your appeal.

As such, I reject your speculation, and your point, out of hand.

Your ignorance is absolutely astounding. I can't even tell where your being wrong started but it snowballed fast when your logic had to premise itself on all your most basic assumptions about how peoples attititudes towards any of this or even in places what "this" is being something other than wrong, which of course they all are. I don't even disagree with the core sentiment of this sorry endeavor but logistically this whole thing is just a sad mess.

>mall ninja
ahahahaha

>Themes of death, darkness, tragedy, and the orient
>the orient

What is this, the 1700s?

>NO NO NO WRONG WRONG WRONG I DON'T LIKE THIS
The argumentative habits of Veeky Forums are disappointing, but I shouldn't be surprised.