History Main / TheRoleplayer

* ''WebAnimation/PuffinForest'': Ben is a combination of the roleplayer and TheLoonie, because he loves to roleplay as characters who are funny. He will often play the most ridiculous character that the game master will allow. Unlike many loonies, however, he does not do random things to disrupt the game; everything he does is something that would make sense for his character to do. His characters have included detectives without any actual investigation skills, a secretly evil high school girl, a guy with levels in every character class because he keeps getting kicked out of groups due to his annoying voice, and a DumbMuscle warrior who thinks that he can use magic by making weird noises.

* Momonga along with the rest of his guild in ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'', who roleplayed as nonhumans bullied by human( player)s and formed a guild solely composed of heteromorph species.
* Zelgadis from ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the angst-filled backgrounds many role-players come up with.
* Akatsuki of ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'' keeps roleplaying as a {{Ninja}} even after the Apocalypse.

* A variation is the Fanboy, whose obsession lies with a certain character or fandom, which he makes great pains to shoehorn into the game. This is the source of the infamous Drizzt clones.

* Momonga along with the rest of his guild in ''LightNovel/Overlord2012''.

-->'''A Self Called 'Nowhere':''' WHM tends to get emotionally attached to a well-made character. To him they're the means of exploring a story, and a good story is something he thinks the very foundations of modern society are based on. He doesn't mind a "bad end" so long as it's legitimate. Botched a roll at a bad time? Shit happens. Bad choice, in character? Meant to be. Simply screwed by circumstance? Them's the shakes. "LOL you're dead because you actually disagreed with my [[AuthorAvatar self-insert]] [[AuthorAppeal fetish-fuel]] character with [[DualWielding two katanas]]!"? I actually had to stop him from choking the {{fat bastard}}.\\

-->'''A Self Called 'Nowhere':''' WHM tends to get emotionally attached to a well-made character. To him they're the means of exploring a story, and a good story is something he thinks the very foundations of modern society are based on. He doesn't mind a "bad end" so long as it's legitimate. Botched a roll at a bad time? Shit happens. Bad choice, in character? Meant to be. Simply screwed by circumstance? Them's the shakes. "LOL you're dead because you actually disagreed with my [[AuthorAvatar self-insert fetish-fuel character]] with [[DualWielding two katanas]]!"? I actually had to stop him from choking the {{fat bastard}}.\\

* Arguably, Elan from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. Also arguably, ''Roy''. Note the incident with the Orcs in "The Origin of [=PCs=]". Mostly he's just fortunate in his stat distribution, but his logical tactics occasionally run into the not-entirely-justified righteousness typical of a unfortunate roleplayers.

* Magical Realmer: A player that roleplays... without any sense of boundaries or consideration for whether their behavior is appropriate for the table. Often tries to insert AuthorAppeal into their character that doesn't appeal to anyone else(often of a sexual nature). This can lead to the collapse of games as players grow uncomfortable with his antics and make excuses not to attend the game. This can be nipped in the bud with a "session zero", in order to make it clear that certain topics should not be brought up at the table... or by booting the creep.

** In the second season, it turns out ''Alfheim Online'' has a healthy roleplayer population. One Salamander player likes to relax after a long day at the soup kitchen by pretending to be "a sexually-predatory general named Pantysmasher," while Leafa ''tries'' to be a helpless DamselInDistress, but can't stop herself from brandishing her sword at foes.

* DramaQueen (a.k.a. Thespian): A negative roleplayer who seems a little ''too'' attached to his character. From the description he hands in, you'd get the impression that the character would be a MarySue if the GameMaster wasn't firmly in control of the story (and if they ''are'' the GameMaster, they'll be a {{GMPC}} of the worst kind). These types may have a tendency to [[SpotlightStealingSquad hog the spotlight]], to the point where the other players stop having fun. And ''God forbid'' you kill his character...

* DramaQueen (a.k.a. Thespian): A negative roleplayer who seems a little ''too'' attached to his character. From the description he hands in, you'd get the impression that the character would be a GameBreaker if the GameMaster wasn't firmly in control of the story (and if they ''are'' the GameMaster, they'll be a {{GMPC}} of the worst kind). These types may have a tendency to [[SpotlightStealingSquad hog the spotlight]], to the point where the other players stop having fun. And ''God forbid'' you kill his character...

* DramaQueen (a.k.a. Thespian): A negative roleplayer who seems a little ''too'' attached to his character. From the description he hands in, you'd get the impression that the character would be a MarySue if the GameMaster wasn't firmly in control of the story (and if they ''are'' the GameMaster, they'll be a {{GMPC}} of the worst kind). These types may have a tendency to [[SpotlightStealingSquad hog the spotlight]], to the point where the other players stop having fun. And ''God forbid'' you kill his character...

* ''WebAnimation/PuffinForest'': Ben is a combination of the roleplayer and TheLoonie, because he loves to roleplay as characters who are funny. He will often play the most ridiculous character that the game master will allow. Unlike many loonies he does not do random things to disrupt the game. Everything he does is something that would make sense for his character to do. His characters have included detectives without any actually investigation skills, a secretly evil high school girl, a guy with levels in every character class because he keeps getting kicked out of groups due to his annoying voice, and a DumbMuscle warrior who thinks that he can use magic by making weird noise.

* One-Tricker: The player whose roleplaying abilities seem to be fine... except for the fact that they play [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome the same character]]... over, and over, and over again. When Tim the Ninja gets killed, he'll be immediately replaced with his twin brother Tom the Ninja. And after that, their triplet Jim the Ninja shows up. And so on, and so forth. Not even a GenreShift will stop this guy; he doesn't care if there's no ninjas in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or no [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi]] in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''. As such, other roleplayers hate this guy for breaking their immersion by insisting on playing characters that don't fit into the setting (not to mention the DM who's forced to shoehorn things into the setting to accommodate the one-tricker). This player may also be a Real Man who's not used to playing things outside his comfort zone, a Loonie whose schtick is growing old, or a Munchkin attached to a certain GameBreaker build.
** A variation of the One-Tricker is the Fanboy, whose obsession lies with a certain character or fandom, which he makes great pains to shoehorn into the game. This is the source of the infamous Drizzt clones.

* Wizard from ''Webcomic/TheHandbookOfHeroes'' loves having a complex character backstory (and flaws). Leaning into the DramaQueen, as he's overjoyed when learning his evil uncle overthrows his parents and stole their kingdom. And after a GenderBending incident, ''she'' insists this should [[https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/core-values lead to a tragic breakup with her girlfriend]], Thief, despite the latter not giving a hoot.

* Wizard from ''Webcomic/TheHandbookOfHeroes'' loves having a complex character backstory (and flaws). Leaning into the DramaQueen, as he's overjoyed when learning his evil uncle overthrows his parents and stole their kingdom. And after a GenderBending incident, ''she'' insists this should [[https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/core-values lead to a tragic breakup with her girlfriend]], Thief, despite the [[BiTheWay latter not giving a hoot]].

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Joanna in ''Film/TheGamersDorknessRising'', although she may only come across this way because of the crowd of (shockingly ineffective) munchkins she games with.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids''

* Gimli in ''Webcomic/DMOfTheRings'': "Who let the roleplayer into the group?" He later eased up and became more of TheSmartGuy, though he's still the only guy who pays attention to the story.
** Also a good joker.
---> '''Gimli:''' Let me see if I follow this: I am either alive or dead, based on the state of a die which we cannot observe without altering. Do I now exist in both states at once? [[UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat Am I both living]] ''[[UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat and]]'' [[UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat dead?]] Have I become some sort of '''Uncertainty Lich?'''\\

** From the same writer, one of the players in ''Webcomic/ChainmailBikini'' (whose character wore the titular garment) was a very exaggerated version (later, while playing a bard, sang at the top of his lungs during a battle). Notably, while the other characters were based on the writer's own RPG experiences, the roleplayer was entirely made up.
* Gabe from ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' is a borderline Anti-Munchkin:
** "[[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/09/05/ What? My character has Alzheimer's!]]"
** Of course, he could just be a [[TheLoonie loonie]] making an excuse.
* Sara of ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable''.
* Arguably, Elan from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''.
** Also arguably, ''Roy''. Note the incident with the Orcs in "The Origin of PC's". Mostly he's just fortunate in his stat distribution, but his logical tactics occasionally run into the not-entirely-justified righteousness typical of a unfortunate roleplayers.

* Vilbert von Vampire from ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Arthéon from ''Franchise/{{Noob}}'', showing it mostly via interest in the game's background and refusal to de-activate the "taking distance between avatars into account" option on the microphones unless it's essential to the success of the quest. Heimdäl and Ystos show elements of it also in the novel and later seasons of the webseries. In the movie, Battos insists on getting important news via someone else handing him paper messages in-game, despite the existence of the in-game forums.
* ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'':
** In the first season, Godfree plays up his knight persona and speaks in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe. [[DisproportionateRetribution Kuradeel kills him for "running Shakespeare through a woodchipper."]]
** In the second season, it turns out ''Alfheim Online'' has a healthy roleplayer population. One Salamander player likes to relax after a long day at the soup kitchen by pretending to be "a sexually-predatory general named Pantysmasher," while Leafa ''tries'' to be a helpless DamselInDistress, but can't stop herself from brandishing her sword at foes.
* ''WebVideo/PuffinForest'': Ben is a combination of the roleplayer and TheLoonie, because he loves to roleplay as characters who are funny. He will often play the most ridiculous character that the game master will allow. Unlike many loonies he does not do random things to disrupt the game. Everything he does is something that would make sense for his character to do. His characters have included detectives without any actually investigation skills, a secretly evil high school girl, a guy with levels in every character class because he keeps getting kicked out of groups due to his annoying voice, and a DumbMuscle warrior who thinks that he can use magic by making weird noise.

-->'''A Self Called 'Nowhere':''' WHM tends to get emotionally attached to a well-made character. To him they're the means of exploring a story, and a good story is something he thinks the very foundations of modern society are based on. He doesn't mind a 'bad end' so long as it's legitimate. Botched a roll at a bad time? Shit happens. Bad choice, in character? Meant to be. Simply screwed by circumstance? Them's the shakes. 'LOL you're dead because you actually disagreed with my [[AuthorAvatar self-insert fetish-fuel character]] with [[DualWielding two katanas]]!'? I actually had to stop him from choking the {{fat bastard}}.\\

* Ben playing Kenobi in ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids''. Annie playing Shmi and Anakin even more so.

* Akatsuki of ''LogHorizon'' keeps roleplaying as a {{Ninja}} even after the Apocalypse.