Hi. X3
So I'm just your average tvtroper. I love Role playing — mostly in Chronicles Of The Gods — , chatting in the forums, and everything and everyone savvy in general. Tvtropes has a lot of rather intelligent people to it, and met a lot of some of my best friends on here, so I stick around. It's good folk.
Gender: Male. Has been confused before on these forums. Thankfully not in real life. Confused, that is. I'm still male in real life last time I checked.
Just graduated freshmen year of college, and aiming for a double major in computer science and engineering, with continual dipping into Physics as well. Not all that much more to life these days; work, role playing, video games and books, repeat.
If I were to describe myself in one sentence, it'd be 'one half curious cold intellectual pragmatic, one half happy go lucky The World Is Just Awesome humanist VERY silly jokster, all good guy try hard.'
Reads:
- Dresden files
- Rick Riordan's series's
- Artemis fowl
- Moral Instruments
- Twilight (yes, I found the fantasy parts cool. Bite me)
Watches:
- Several animes, movies, lots and lots. Love media.
Video games:
- RPG's up the bum, Dark Souls, Final Fantasy (screw 13), Kingdom Hearts, Tales series.
Tropes about me, I suppose:
- Berserk Button: Someone being extremely in the wrong and refusing to listen to arguments about it. I occasionally annoy my friends due to a tendency to attach to small details in their statements and create a tangent explaining why that isn't so, even if it isn't important to the overall argument. Refusing to listen when others and replying back to people who aren't being mean with extremely smug and condescending answers. That's not really berserk so much as annoyed, though; I am EXTREMELY hard to get angry, but there are a few reserved for top tier asses, like people who believe themselves to be doing good but have extremely hypocritical actions about being 'good' and refuse to listen when you explain that to them. Looking at you, Tumblr SJW's. Also, I'll happily tone down any of my eccentricities if it's bothering someone, but if you instead try to attack me for it while assuming that'll get me to stop, it'll have a spectacular reversal instead.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: TRIES not to be this. Fails so much. I was one of the valedictorians of my class...because I literally shoved EVERYTHING that was not schoolwork out of my way for the entire school year. Otherwise, if I had even the sliiiightest bit of distraction, I would have spent all my time on that instead. Occasionally gives way to The Determinator.
- Cloud Koo Koo Lander: Switches between this and calm down to earth, depending on the situation. Most of the time I'm incredibly silly and tend to go along with my impulses regardless of how they look. I never keep my realistic side too far away, though, and slip into it when it's time to solve a problem or make a judgement. I start and end conversations that have no real meaning, mostly just cause I find it fun. For more serious people, this can be grating, but oh well, not everyone needs to like everyone else.
- Deadpan Snarker: I love to trip people up, though never if it actually bothers them. I don't go for 'mean' sarcasm unless the target is being a genuine ass. I'll snark at my friends all day long though.
- Genki Guy: Excitable, goes off on tangents, perpetually cheerful.
- Gray-and-Gray Morality: Basically takes a world view on this. I don't believe most people if not all wouldn't have SOME excuse for what they're doing...no matter how BAD it is. "They shouldn't have been walking down our street!" is a hilariously bad one, but everyone has at least an excuse that works in their mind. No one really likes to consider themselves 'evil', and the ones who come close are most likely just messed up in the head. It is nowhere NEAR human nature to flat bad, and people on the whole level towards their own definitions of what 'good' is.
- Honor Before Reason: Played straight and averted, depending on the principal. I'm on one hand a pragmatist who only looks to overall result in the end, in terms of how good or bad your actions are. I usually go for options that I believe sacrifice the least in the end; this includes supporting some very gray actions if I can consider it the lesser of the two evils. I believe idealism without sense is useless, and if reality won't allow it then it's useless to try and believe otherwise...HOWEVER, that DOESN'T mean you should just go along with some things. If the reality of a situation forces you to choose between 2 evils, there's always a chance to change that reality. You shouldn't collaborate with a bad system thinking that you have no other choice; if you want, you can try and start change by going against it. It won't do much in the meantime and might not in the long run, but change must start with that single step. Never be complacent; I think you should ponder whether or not you can try and change something before going for the lesser of two evils. People can start great things with that small step, if you can inspire others to do the same. On the other hand, there are some Some situations where I go for honor no matter what; I try to never lie and never cheat what I have coming to me if it brings others down. I'd hand back in my assignments during school if the teacher gave me more points than I was supposed to by accident, because I didn't think it was fair to other students. Honor, honesty, these things mean a whole lot to me, and I hope I never find myself turning my back on them. So far, I've done good...I think you can tell I care a lot about such ideals.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: Loves to give these out.
- Nice Guy: So I'm told.
- Only Sane Man: Can work as this, depending on who I'm with and what they're doing. Usually when people are getting emotional, since I'm rather Spocky
- Team Mom: For the my friends in the AGOG crowd. Anyone has an argument? I play the arbitrator and mediator. It's like my designated job.
- The Pollyanna: there's very little that gets me down seriously, cause I always turn around and think about all the good things in life even when the harshest of tragedies strike.
An excerpt from a friend about writing humanoid abominations I keep around to help me write:
On the subject of humanoid abominations:
What you're describing is a fairly vague term - TV Tropes tends to use it to refer to everything from Nyarlathotep in his Black Pharoah mask to Slenderman. I'm pretty sure you're referring to the former, though - incredibly powerful, alien things in human form, with a penchant for manipulation and 'playing games'.
Generally speaking you want them to be clever. Not necessarily a trickster or riddler, but rather that they're never lacking words, they're never uncertain, and nothing EVER takes them by surprise. If the heroes come smashing into their lair at the head of an army they need to offer the army tea and cookies, or perhaps the severed heads of their allies on plates depending on the tone. It's an odd sort of hypocrism where a good 'evil' being like that needs to have seemingly no vices whatsoever - Hence why so many of them have british accents and act cultured.
At the same time, though, it's good if they don't quite 'get it'. Maybe they quote poets' dying words or most despairing works, or they discuss things no one but them could know - 'Do you know - Lincoln didn't die when they shot him. He was still alive for a while after, screaming away in his brain...' That sort of thing. Maybe they don't know societal norms, maybe they just ignore walls and walk straight through them or eat with their fingers off expensive chiny. Their 'lair' or locations associated with them should be similar - for example, a swanky penthouse suite with no furniture, no windows, and no color, or maybe an office that just happens to be a mile wide. Alien geometries, but instead of the mind-shattering, bile-provoking disgustingly organic horror of R'lyeh and like things they're just... Wrong. They're imitating humanity, but their realm of existance is so beyond the physical that they have trouble figuring out quite what it is we do down here. Establish them as a God, not just as a troll. A good thing to do is to introduce them as a mortal first - someone met just off the side, perhaps vaguely helpful and very, very odd - but not, immediately, dangerous or disturbing. As the interactions continue, build the 'off'ness until it becomes readily apparent that you're not talking to anything remotely... Human.
Gloating and monologuing generally aren't things that well-written eldritch abominations do, unless they're incredibly petty. They're *above* humans, so far above that the only reason they take a humanoid form and interact with them is because they find it funny.
As far as manipulation goes, there are a few ways you can go about it. The most common is religious - but that doesn't work on RP characters. Ever. No one ever falls for it and it disappoints me so much. Failing that there's always bribery - promises of wealth or power or flesh, whatever the manipulated wants. Up to the elder thing if they ever get delivered, though, and there's almost always a monkey's paw attached. Eternal life in particular is fun for them to fuck around with.
There's also logos - using philosophy and reason to bend people to your will. This is by far the most entertaining and interesting, if done right - but again, almost never works on RP characters except in the rarest of circumstances. Players mostly just get annoyed if you try to philosophize with them, and they'll either endlessly debate or just ignore it - you won't get much ground with it, because every player immediately had decided whether they'll support a villain or not. IF they're gonna help, they would have helped anyways - if they weren't, no amount of meticulously planned philosophy will sway them. Plus, unless you're an expert rhetorician, you might even be out-debated by your players - which is a good way for your so-called 'god' to look really pathetic.
Lastly there's just straight-up intimidation - this one works best on player-characters, but that's because it doesn't leave them a choice. The elder thing kidnaps them, or simply reveals his/her presence - Oftentimes explicit threats are never stated, but rather are left ambigious. I know where you live, or rather "I know which mortal plane you inhabit". It's here that their confidence is important most of all - they do more in a smirk and a wink than Xerxes the First did with a thousand piles of dead slaves.
There are lots of ways to play them, of course - focusing more on the alien aspects, maybe, or making them more human. But in general you play them in much the same way you would play a divine figure - powerful, seemingly flawless, above everything... And most of all, utterly alien to anyone human, a pale mockery of civilized thought. —
- Get something in here, mate. You're faking. (Feel free to drop by and vandalize my page.) -desdendelle
- Get off my lawn, Des! Kids these days......*Grumbles like an old man.* -TvTropesnoob
- Walk with honour as your only guide. - Diamonnes
- Get something in here, mate. You're faking. (Feel free to drop by and vandalize my page.) -desdendelle
- Get off my lawn, Des! Kids these days......*Grumbles like an old man.* -TvTropesnoob
- Walk with honour as your only guide. - Diamonnes
