[Talk] Originality

How do you feel about playing in completely original worlds in RPs? Do you you enjoy it, or do you prefer to stick with the familiar? What about when it comes to those more familiar backdrops, do you prefer to play within the stablished canon, maybe even playing an existing character, or do you prefer to play in an AU and make heavy use of OCs? Why?

It- okay I started typing several answers and the ultimate answer is IT ALL DEPENDS, DOESN'T IT?

But! Considering roleplaying here, in a long-form text format, in roleplays that are generally some kind of adventure- I prefer settings that are based heavily in a canon. I like to have some idea of what is coming next, even if that is only the general geography of the place. Unless the GM has given me a very nice map and shortlist of what to expect in certain locations I tend to feel very untethered, and even then... it's a toss-up, it really is. It's much to do with the freeform individual storytelling aspect that we lean into heavily here, I think- planning my character's arc is much easier when I have a solid base to stand on. If I were on more of a quest-type adventure where the point was to follow the plot, I think I would have a much easier time accepting an original setting.

I definitely prefer to play in some sort of slight AU, though. I don't really want to follow the plot of any canon material- I've read/watched/played that already, right? So altering things- setting something in the near-past or near-future of the canon and incorporating plenty of canon elements while leaving room for many new things- that's my favorite place to be. I like playing canon characters in that type of setting as well, but I never have done so as a main character. I suppose I could, sure, but I feel weird about that. I'd rather make them main characters in a fanfiction and interpret them how I wish rather than play a canon character alongside other canon characters. I'm not quite finding the words for why I don't like the idea, I just... am not fond of it haha. But certainly I find it much more fun to develop my own characters from scratch and populate the world further than what we've been shown in canon media!

I definitely prefer original worlds to established settings. I still have a hard time getting into the headspace of pre-established settings and the freedom that comes with playing someone in something entirely new makes writing for them significantly easier. I don't necessarily hate dealing with canon npcs and such, but it certainly adds to my stress of worrying about whether I'm writing them in a way that is believable for them and is also 'good'. Being able to just reference the creator of the original world or yourself for self-made npcs makes that flow of consciousness that much easier to maintain.

Not going to lie, if i were to join an RP that was an original world setting, it'd have to be something that's fleshed out enough to entice me. Like, it has to have something that'd pull me in. I made an original world rp once that was a magic school of sorts, and maybe I'd enter one like that again, in the future if one were to be made, but tbh, I'd rather enter one that's a pre-established world that I'm familiar with the canon in rather than something that I am unfamiliar with that's an original world.