Your Favorite Role-Playing Themes

[Fate Flyer]

So what genres and themes do you enjoy role-playing most? In other words, what do you like to write about?


I mostly prefer sci-fi, though I really enjoy all kinds of role-plays, from animal to horror, to fantasy to modern, and dramas to mythological. I have varied tastes.

[Xiantic]

I was between two, but they generally go together with me. Action and fantasy (with a touch of romance). Good stuff.

But a question. Wouldn't King Kong be more science fiction than fantasy? One abnormality is an odd science burp more than fantasy, in my opinion.

[Aesalon]

Tough for me too, as I am that 'Historical Fantasy' guy, I suppose now that I think about it I probably should have voted Fantasy, but the Historical looked so sad there without any votes...

-Aes

[Tempest]

It has to be science fiction for me! I love the prospect of space travel, new worlds and species! It is so full of potential and that allures me the most!

Fantasy would come second though!

[Scarlet_Rivers]

Romance is mine - of course! :] <3

[Guest]

Dang I just noticed this thread. Hope its still okay to post here.

As I said in my intro to this board, I mostly like sci-fi. But to be more specific, things that involve military and space exploration (or technological developments - particularly in the WMD department) attract me the most.

I got my inspiration mostly through the big titles like Halo, Metroid, and Half Life. Many of you PC-loyalists may have never heard of Metroid, but its basically about a woman wearing a bio-mechanical suit who's a full-time bounty hunter. The technology of her suit allows her to adapt to all sorts of foreign technologies and weapons enchancements. This, along with the game "Star Wars: Republic Commando" gave me the inspiration of using adaptable weapons systems in my sci-fi roleplaying.

Classics like Star Trek and Star Wars broaden my scope on generic space exploration and travel. The "space jumping" (Battlestar Galactica series) versus Hyper Drive (Star Trek and Star Wars) also presented me several travel scenarios. Combine all that with Einstein's theory of relativity and worm holes, you get the classic string theory roleplay where alternate universes connect.

More on my WMD fascination; I've always admired the use of the long-ranged ballistics, but I've also recognized a few recent technologies coming from the gaming world, such as the predominant laser weaponry that Westwood Studios brings about in almost every one of their games. The Ion Cannon is the most recognized and famous of these laser weapons, appearing in each of the original Command and Conquer series, evolving into a greater and more powerful beam weapon in each game. Command and Conquer: Generals re-made the Ion Cannon into the U.S. Particle Cannon Uplink, where a network of mirrors reflected a ground-based beam of solar energy at its target.

Nod's (original C&C series) and the Soviet Union's (Red Alert series) nuclear missile also present a classic WMD that has been revamped time and again through several popular games, like the Fall Out chronicles (centering around the aftermath era of a nuclear holocaust).

Other sci-fi weaponry interests of mine center around bio-mechanical enhancements (referring back to Samus Aran from Nintendo's Metroid games), where suits were quite common with sci-fi superheroes. This was revamped in several Japanese animes; Appleseed being one of them (the ESWAT combat suits), and the age-old Gundam Wing seasons.

That's about it for my interest in science fiction.

[Kathryn Lacey]

I voted for fantasy because is the basis of my favorite types of role plays.

However, I'm pretty much in agreement with Xi about fantastical action with a -touch- of romance.

[Hope]

I'm addicted to romance. XD

Although, I like a lot of the other ones as well. But, romance is the one for me. XD

[Amras666]

Classic sci-fi and fantasy, here. By "classic", I of course mean "awesome". I take my inspiration from books or games (never movies, cause they suck). Speaker For the Dead, Dune, I Robot, Foundation, LOTR, Ivanhoe (more of a historical fantasy...kind of), Redwall, The Elder Scrolls (Morrowind and Oblivion), Mass Effect - these are some examples of where I get my ideas. My biggest source of inspiration though, is real-life history. I'm fascinated by ancient cultures, languages, societies, governments, religions, etc. I love applying themes and concepts from history to roleplays, since I believe that things happen in cycles and that telling a good story will always involve ancient themes.

[Mezrin]

I'm all about the post-apocalyptic sci-fi RP's and stories. I loved apocalyptic ones before Fallout 3 was created, or even announced, and have always been a fan of creating and inventing things with awesome sciency explanations (even though I'm not the best with such matters). I love it so much, in fact, that I started creating a table-top game for it back in January.

My partner had a computer wipe. I want to advertise the game here a bit as I meet the community, maybe others will like it.

[Fate Flyer]

I love those types too, Mezrin! I like the thrill and the horror and the edge-of-your-seat suspense that comes with that genre. That, mixed with science fiction...you just can't go wrong.

That's really awesome, too, that you started making a table-top game as well. I'm sure there are others who would enjoy it.

[Mezrin]

Yeah. Me and my friend (whom is in California; darn me and my inability to go wherever I please!) have been developing it. It's copyrighted, publishers are being looked up, and my step-father is a professional website coder who's doing our site for free. Though, he said he'd do it months ago but hasn't done it.

[Fate Flyer]

Oh man, no kidding? That's beyond amazing! Congratulations. That's going to be a huge accomplishment. Hopefully, your step-father will get going with the website for it soon though.

[Mezrin]

Hopefully it will. At this rate, however, it might be abandoned. I plan on going behind my partners back right now, however, and creating the history and backstory.

Think I could make that a collaborative effort here on the forum, to create canon lore for Exitus Sator? It's a lot to cover, with two new faction/races coming in, and it being hundreds of years into the future, so it could be fun for all!

[Fate Flyer]

Well, that may not be a bad thing. In the end, your partner may end up grateful that you decided to put in some extra work on it.

Do you mean you would like to seek assistance from others here? This is something that actually you could create a thread for in the General section, as talk about role-plays or writing in general is welcome, along with games of this sort.

[Fluff]

Agenda--you just earned massive cool points for being inspired by Metroid. Hooooooeeee, that's awesome!

I am one of those annoying people with little preference. I don't like Romance as a type of roleplay because I'm an insensitive jerk (make me a sammich, woman!) but I don't mind it as an element in my roleplays. In fact, a lot of the time I find that it adds a really interesting twist. Now, what I really don't like is writing in pre-existing worlds. Anime annoys the fire out of me. Books aren't as bad, usually. Movies I usually won't do, although I'll make exceptions for anything if it's well-done. I'm also a twilight hater. Go me!

I admit, though, that I'll always have a special soft spot for those epic-scale fantasy world-crossing stories. Fireballs, sieges, dragons, demons, BFSs, climactic duels of fate on top of a tower or on the brink of a huge underground rift...that's where I started this whole deal, and I'm always gonna love it. You can call me cheesy, but...well, actually, you'd be right.

[Hank J Wimbleton]

Very cliché, but I dig sci-fi. Then again, I'm also into crime & fantasy... I have a broad range of interests.

[Guest]

Romance when done right is my favorite by far, but it's never done right.
So I picked Action/Adventure.

[Bird of Hermes]

How does one pick just one?

[Hisoka]

Historical all the way here. And I mean historical not a fantasy with historical elements. A soldier would not need some enchanted stone in order to fight and run in amour. Any half-trained idiot can move quite comfortably in even full plate amour. And I can say that from personal experience. Full plate amour does not weigh a ton, it isn't light but you can more then fight all day long in the stuff if your not some weak 10 year girl.

And two handed swords like a claymore do not weigh a 1000 pounds. Nor do battle axes or spears. And there is no one weapon type that was better then all the rest. All weapons are designed to fill different roles on the battlefield. A guy wielding a claymore would have quite a difficult time keeping up with some one using a Rapier for example. Claymores are designed for front line troops to smash through shields and heavily amoured opponents. Where as the Rapier was first developed to slid into the weak points in a suit of amour, then later became famous for the speed of movement and ease of use due to light weight and superior design.

I prefer true Historical for that reason. Of course only some one who has actually fought with and trained with historical weapons would be able to bring across these types of weakness and strengths in each weapon. And as a side note I don't think a Rp is Historical if a European 15th century Knight is using a Katana. During the 15th century as far as Europe was concerned Japan didn't even exist. And also a Rp isn't historical if that Early or Middle Dark Ages Knight is wearing full plate amour. Full plate amour wasn't developed till the dark ages was nearly over, hell it was practically the early Renaissance by the time full plate amour was developed and available. And even then only wealthy Knights could afford the stuff. Most Knights made due with chain mail intermixed with a few pieces of plate they could buy. Hell some knights even used leather and chain mail as being a Knight hardly paid well.

I like Historical themes but I been but in a few that could really be called truly Historical.

[Guest]

I like fantasy for the exact opposite of the reason stated above, by Hisoka. I like to have a little bit of freedom with my world. You can't really have that with anything based in a real world.

Take Sephiris: The Price of Peace, for example. It is Kalon Ordona's RP, and it is a completely unique world, and every participant is free to fill in the details of the world in any way they want so long as they fit in with what has previously been established. That is the way I like to role-play. I like the freedom. Freedom helps prevent writer's block, and keeps the posts flowing.

So, I guess I should specify and say that I like unique fantasy role-plays, and not role-play's based on pre-existing fantasy worlds.

[Kalon Ordona II]

I meant to do fantasy, but I accidentally voted for sci-fi instead...

[Silvan Arrow]

I also love writing about fantasy. I mostly like to read fantasy books when I'm reading just for fun, so when I get inspired to write stories, it's usually fantasy. I also love writing romance stories too (What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic...). My favorite stories to write are ones set in fantasy worlds/genres that involve romance.

[medusaspath]

I'm gonna go with fantasy, mostly because it's just my thing by like...default. I'm a fantasy nerd. Sci-fi comes in a very close second though, sometimes even beating it depending on my mood. But who says fantasy and scifi can't join in together? Rapture.

I could see myself enjoying any of the other rp types though...perhaps some more as a "subtheme". For instance, I love mafia movies. My favorite movie is Goodfellas. But I couldn't do a purely mafia rpg...I dunno why, maybe the day will come when I rescind that statement, but for now, I don't see it happening. But some other kind of rp with mafia elements? That would definitely be cool.

I'm open to all of these, especially historical. That piqued my interest, I hadn't thought of seeking out an RP that was historically based.

[IWroteASongForYou]

Probably fantasy, but I'm into all kinds really.

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