My Little Pony XXVI: Applebloom to Zecora!

[Capt. Ido Nos]

Pick a Character, randomly hop in!

I have considered this from time to time, though virtually any and all OCs that I come up with are essentially just another copy of myself on the big Venn diagram that is my personality. Heck, Ido himself is technically an OC.

Guys, I'm RPing myself.

Guys, I didn't sleep very well last night and I fear my mental state is less than awesome right now.

Though when that happens that reminds me that I should make an acceptance to my pinkie pie nomination, because that is when i most best would sound like the best choice.

[Titanium Fox]

Once again, I find myself noting that the scarriest thing to a writer is a blank piece of paper (or a blank word doc).

Someone badger me into starting actual writing of my Psychonaut Pinkie Pie fic (aka, Piece of Mind).

Badger badger badger badge- Wait. I've got a better one. And points for whoever catches the reference. Weedle weedle weedle weedle weedle...

Yeah I'm still worried about something going wrong. I really need a job. I'm super-happy to be getting this one, because it involves something I love a LOT. Thank you for the congrats.

That is awesome. And in this economy it's a blessing to actually land a job, never mind one in a field you truly want to work in.

Definitely, the world is stuffed full of bad news, but there are a lot of good things too. They get buried under the bad sometimes, newspapers and TV news shows make more money selling the horrible tales of woe than they do from telling everyone the good things that are going on in life. So it takes way more effort to find the nice things, and more energy to hang on to those as well.

I hate that the news is only motivated on ratings, and that negative stories and slander/partisan politics (*points to FOX News*) get those ratings. It's a vicious downward cycle that's next to impossible to break out of. Well, until you discover the magic of online news and RSS feeds / FARK.

Oh gosh California Girls is playing on the office radio, and it sounds SO DANG WEIRD that's it's not sung by Pinkie Pie, and about Ponies

You mean that terrible knock off by Katy Perry? She did it SO wrong it's not even funny. Nopony can compare to the unbridled musical aptitude of the Pinkie.

It's not really a "descent", it's more of a "surpression". It's as if a small part of my brain has been infected by a mental virus. The rest of my brain tries to keep said virus at bay, but it likes to come out and play sometimes. I know a good game. But it's not so bad. It's called "Pin the Tail on the Pony" I just have to work at it some more. You can be the Pony.

...You're starting to sound like Lix here...

I'm reading Progress right now. It's about Luna learning how to adjust to the world after a long absence.

That's also a fantastic read. Although poor Luna and those damned baseballs. XD

HOODYHOO!!
it's now official...i get Luna episode on the 22nd for my birthday!!!!

That is awesome! And Happy Birthday!

I would say a minimum of 10,000 with a liberal estimate being 100,000.

My vote goes to somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 Bronies worldwide, and that guess is including both active online bronies, inactive bronies that just watch the show, and closet bronies.

Yay, dreams of midnight just went up on ED.

AWESOME. FIVE STARRED SO HARD.

May I ask what is the reason given this time? It is mystifying considering some of the other material they do let through.

Agreed. I'm seriously curious as to what exactly the pre-readers said.

I'll admit I've squeed over some stories being posted, and a male 16-year-old squeeing is... well let's just say it disturbed me that it happened.

I've seen worse. A LOT worse.

Spoil'd for pre-reader response text.

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Here's what I sent:


Here's some of the stuff I got back.


Fair enough, I'd had issues with overloading sentences in the past.


I never switched anything. :V



I've never had a reviewer say anything about this, but if the reviewer representing the common man said so...



Ironically, it's explained in more detail in chapter four.



Characterization is another weak point of mine; I've done power projections, run tests on how far Cloudsdale could drift, rewrote half of the American Civil War to accomodate for the existence of Cloudsdale, but it's difficult for me to create a compelling character.


I had it reviewed before, but I guess it wasn't enough. After most of these I made pretty extensive revisions, so I guess the new errors just replaced the old ones.

It's probably more of a 'not their cup of tea', but I'm guessing the issue may reside some dissonance between the reviewers and the pre-readers.

Honestly, if the response is because 'it's not their cup of tea' that's their problem. Their job as pre-readers isn't to filter fics by personal preference, it's to ensure the fic is well written and polished enough on its own laurels to be good enough for the general population of EqD.

Sometimes the stars don't show up. I often need to reload a couple of times. Make sure you wait for a few seconds after each reload, they're slow even when they are there.

General Derpy is the best Derpy:

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Derpy looks SO badass in the second picture.

Yes, even then.

Y-You saw that?

yeah...i dont think that even rates a blip on the strange-ometer in THIS thread

Wait, the strangeometer in this thread even works? I figured it's baseline was so high that it ERR.

You can't zero a scientific scale to 20 metric tons is all I'm sayin'.

This is the best ED banner I've seen:

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...Dat Rarity. So saved, that is awesome. Although there's no Tom! No de-elemented Rarity is complete without her faithful sidekick Tom!

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A Luna scene from episode 4 already leaked on Youtube!

It's so weird to hear her voice with actual lines!

What do you think Applejack bursting in at the end was about? That sounded like her.

Aaaargh why do I have to be at work. Quoted so I can guaranteed find it again.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep up with EqD now on that note? I don't have my RSS feed on my work laptop so I can't check articles as they come in. Every day when I get home from work I come back to 50 - 55 new articles to go through. All of my free time. There, and this. I can't keep up with Ponychan anymore. It's kind of depressing.

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Ironically, very nice video for the song

Because Applejack is best pony!

We had a doctor in this thread, once. He proscribed us cowboy hats to keep from going crazy.

In retrospect he may not have been the most qualified to do so.

Is it a point of interest that I clicked the "spoiler" and just sor of enjoyed the video? Pretty sure that's not supposed to be the typical response.

Hm. Let's go look at Silly message board games.

Psychoshutin is a doctor! He did these for me! *Wiggles face tentacles*

Granted I asked to be turned into a pony... The closest he could do was Mind Flayer Pony hybrid thingy.

Life update, for those who care:

1. Wife came home from hospital this morning, and is okay but somewhat tired.

2. I'm back at work, being harrassed by clients, and generally suffering the effects of acute sleep deprivation. Basically I feel like Applejack during Applebuck Season, except no baked bads, bunny stampedes, or launched co-worker incidents (yet). However, now that I think about it, I can't see a how a bunny stampede could *NOT* improve things around here... Note to self: find a way to make this happen.

3. Ponies are still awesome.

1. That is incredible news, I'm glad to hear that.

2. I feel you there man. If you work at a pet store per chance then the bunny stampede should be easy. Otherwise it's a bit of a tall order.

3. SHHHHHHHH! If you say it loud enough they'll hear you! And nopony can know that we like ponies!

Thought I might let everyone know a week or so in advance that during the New York Comic-Con I will be gone for most of the day around the 15th or 16th. It will be interesting to see how much ponies have taken it over, seeing as how at the last convention I don't think FIM had aired yet.

Aaargh, lucky. I want to go to that so badly. However I'll be at FurFright that weekend and I already have a hotel room reserved. What can you do though, you know?

I have considered this from time to time, though virtually any and all OCs that I come up with are essentially just another copy of myself on the big Venn diagram that is my personality. Heck, Ido himself is technically an OC.

Guys, I'm RPing myself.

Guys, I didn't sleep very well last night and I fear my mental state is less than awesome right now.

Though when that happens that reminds me that I should make an acceptance to my pinkie pie nomination, because that is when i most best would sound like the best choice.

Every single character I've ever had has aspects of myself in them. I pick one aspect of myself as the main aspect of said character, and then work backwards from that. For example, I like to drive fast; and that translates to running / flying in Equestria. I knew I wanted an earth pony, so I then worked backwards to create Jade.

I grew up on a farm and love to sing. I took those to aspects, made them Haybuck's main motif, and then worked backwards to create a backstory, personality, and visual presentation that would likely lead to said main motif.

It's not a bad thing. You know yourself better than you know anyone and anything else. After all, you've been inside your own head for your entire life. If you can be creative and still keep it under that umbrella of expertise, all the better!

[Grif]

Life update, for those who care:

1. Wife came home from hospital this morning, and is okay but somewhat tired.

2. I'm back at work, being harrassed by clients, and generally suffering the effects of acute sleep deprivation. Basically I feel like Applejack during Applebuck Season, except no baked bads, bunny stampedes, or launched co-worker incidents (yet). However, now that I think about it, I can't see a how a bunny stampede could *NOT* improve things around here... Note to self: find a way to make this happen.

3. Ponies are still awesome.

Glad to hear your wife recovering well!

Friendship report from Dominoes Gungahlin:

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I've got a co-worker named Greg. Big guy, lovely personality, the kind of guy who just seems born to be great.

So, Greg gets a call. "Hello, Dominoes Pizza."
"I want to cut myself."
"... Would you like a pizza instead?"

I love Greg.

(We've had that crank call a few times. One of the managers had a rather different approach to the problem. I couldn't exactly make it out through all the shouting, but I'm sure I heard the line "No you want to cut your face!")


I also had a few spare ponies that I didn't know what to do with - Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are as far as my pony ambitions go (with the exception of a few customs I'm thinking about commissioning). A friend gave me a g3 Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy came with a random noncanon pony. I decided to tip my hat to the primary demographic and give my spare Rainbow Dash to a little girl whom I met on a delivery. Hopefully she'll learn something about friendship from her.

In other news, I feel the need to confess that I'm very jelly of the spoilered RPs in this thread and have no idea how one goes about joining/setting one such up.

You never cease to amaze me Thanqol. I wish I can do half the things you do in a pizza store.

[Titanium Fox]

Oh, I love it oh so much when I miss posts because no amount of morning coffee is enough morning coffee.

Friendship report from Dominoes Gungahlin:

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I've got a co-worker named Greg. Big guy, lovely personality, the kind of guy who just seems born to be great.

So, Greg gets a call. "Hello, Dominoes Pizza."
"I want to cut myself."
"... Would you like a pizza instead?"

I love Greg.

(We've had that crank call a few times. One of the managers had a rather different approach to the problem. I couldn't exactly make it out through all the shouting, but I'm sure I heard the line "No you want to cut your face!")


I also had a few spare ponies that I didn't know what to do with - Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are as far as my pony ambitions go (with the exception of a few customs I'm thinking about commissioning). A friend gave me a g3 Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy came with a random noncanon pony. I decided to tip my hat to the primary demographic and give my spare Rainbow Dash to a little girl whom I met on a delivery. Hopefully she'll learn something about friendship from her.

In other news, I feel the need to confess that I'm very jelly of the spoilered RPs in this thread and have no idea how one goes about joining/setting one such up.

That's an amazing response to that. Your manager doesn't exactly have the right idea there... While 99.9999999999999999% of the time it's a prank call, that one in one trillion that it's not...

And the story about the g3 Rainbow Dash made me D'awww. You must have made that little girl's day.

[otakuryoga]

Wait, the strangeometer in this thread even works? I figured it's baseline was so high that it ERR.

You can't zero a scientific scale to 20 metric tons is all I'm sayin'.

yeah, we had that problem...then we blew a few million internets to buy a top of the line industrial rated one...the entire forums budget of internets in fact...thats why we have been getting so many 500 errors lately

and this...this is just awesome

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Apparently this huge Fluttershy poster thingy is chillin at the tallest building in Oslo. It's supposedly created with Post-It notes... Pretty crazy!

aaaaaand...EQD has popped the 50 million hits mark

[Titanium Fox]

yeah, we had that problem...then we blew a few million internets to buy a top of the line industrial rated one...the entire forums budget of internets in fact...thats why we have been getting so many 500 errors lately

In complete and total legitimate seriousness, I am convinced that's our fault. I mean, who else moves the kind of traffic we do in terms of either post count or data piped through the site ([IMG] tags, etc)?

and this...this is just awesome

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Apparently this huge Fluttershy poster thingy is chillin at the tallest building in Oslo. It's supposedly created with Post-It notes... Pretty crazy!

Wait that actually exists somewhere? I literally had a dream about doing the exact same thing in my office last night (except it was Rainbow Dash and there was a Sonic Rainboom in the back). Holy crap.

Also, proof we're taking over. PROOF!

[Lix Lorn]

This is a good thing, correct?

...sort of. xD

and I've been listening to THIS all day, and I blame you.
Just cuz I can~

Wha?
No, blame me for this instead.

Bronies, I just realized this:
We're having a Luna/Halloween Episode. Which means, Friendship is Magic + Luna + This Song = The Best Halloween EVER!!!

Naaaah. THIS song! Luna's not used to people being nice to her.

Is it a point of interest that I clicked the "spoiler" and just sor of enjoyed the video? Pretty sure that's not supposed to be the typical response.

Yeah, I've always done this. xD

Obligatory [Eleven]Bow ties are cool![/Eleven]

Sometimes I forget you're a british lich. xD

Nice one Braz! It's for the best!

She's actually taken it rather well, considering...

Tell me or I glomp you.

I have considered this from time to time, though virtually any and all OCs that I come up with are essentially just another copy of myself on the big Venn diagram that is my personality. Heck, Ido himself is technically an OC.

Guys, I'm RPing myself.

I made a character who is the epitomisation of all that I am and want to be. She is the ESSENCE of a self insert.
Today, I found something new about her/me. It was distinctly odd.

Badger badger badger badge- Wait. I've got a better one. And points for whoever catches the reference.

MUSH-ROOM MUSH-ROOM!

...You're starting to sound like Lix here...

Isn't it great?

[Titanium Fox]

I made a character who is the epitomisation of all that I am and want to be. She is the ESSENCE of a self insert.
Today, I found something new about her/me. It was distinctly odd.

So... You want to have the powers of a Goddess? Actually this doesn't surprise me. Who wouldn't?

MUSH-ROOM MUSH-ROOM!

I meant the weedle thing.

Isn't it great?

Why yes, yes it is! We could always use more shipping related chaos in this thread! It's as if Metal Mask, Lix, Phoe, and Midnight weren't enough! They didn't manage to create thousands of clones and influence them with the ship note, nooooooooo.

Since this might come off that I have a legitimate problem with all of the shipping and gender bending and bondage and everything in this thread, I don't. I legitimately mean the more the merrier.

[Nameless]

...You're starting to sound like Lix here...

Isn't it great?

Why yes, yes it is! We could always use more shipping related chaos in this thread! It's as if Metal Mask, Lix, Phoe, and Midnight weren't enough! They didn't manage to create thousands of clones and influence them with the ship note, nooooooooo.

Since this might come off that I have a legitimate problem with all of the shipping and gender bending and bondage and everything in this thread, I don't. I legitimately mean the more the merrier.

Wait... I'm still normal!
*holds out hands*
AH! MY THUMBS! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY THUMBS!?

[Titanium Fox]

Wait... I'm still normal!
*holds out hands*
AH! MY THUMBS! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY THUMBS!?

Quite simple, my dear Nameless. Ponification. There's no suppressing it. Just let it happen! Let it alllll out!

[Capt. Ido Nos]

Every single character I've ever had has aspects of myself in them. I pick one aspect of myself as the main aspect of said character, and then work backwards from that. For example, I like to drive fast; and that translates to running / flying in Equestria. I knew I wanted an earth pony, so I then worked backwards to create Jade.

I grew up on a farm and love to sing. I took those to aspects, made them Haybuck's main motif, and then worked backwards to create a backstory, personality, and visual presentation that would likely lead to said main motif.

It's not a bad thing. You know yourself better than you know anyone and anything else. After all, you've been inside your own head for your entire life. If you can be creative and still keep it under that umbrella of expertise, all the better!

I made a character who is the epitomisation of all that I am and want to be. She is the ESSENCE of a self insert.
Today, I found something new about her/me. It was distinctly odd.

My trick, is that while I do have a good handful of personas, they literally are all exactly me, differentiable from each other in that they are very VERY specific aspects of me and my life. I am the one who's spent the most time in my own head, heck that's where I spend MOST of my time it feels, so it's pretty natural for me to simple compartmentalize myself into the different hats that I wear on a day to day basis (which, ended up being the chief mark between myselves when I draw them). Like Ido, Ido wears his captain's hat of bemused confusion. Others, such as Zod, he's usually got his [Zod] gamertag floating above his head. Bossman took a while to find a good hat, but he eventually settled on the black and white Dr. Seuss hat he found that seemed to hold a +5 to his intimidate and serious business checks.

That said, I do have OCs that float around in the nether somewhere, but none of them are ponies, and I've had a darned difficult time thinking one up. I could try and import one over, it technically could work, but I don't think I'd be happy about it since it'd be an awkward execution, and I'd have to find a Bill's Hat level of justification as to why he's suddenly in the ponyverse

Ponysona... there is an opening for the brony aspect of m'self, but I put way too much work into it for that guy to show up any time soon ^^;; Maybe... maybe before season 3 I'll have decided on his name. Until then, I'll just look wistfully from the sidelines, and continue to let the other circles have their fun

[Nameless]

Wait that actually exists somewhere? I literally had a dream about doing the exact same thing in my office last night (except it was Rainbow Dash and there was a Sonic Rainboom in the back). Holy crap.

Bronies are telepathic...?

Quite simple, my dear Nameless. Ponification. There's no suppressing it. Just let it happen! Let it alllll out!

I've given you my mind... LET ME KEEP MY THUMBS!

[Titanium Fox]

That said, I do have OCs that float around in the nether somewhere, but none of them are ponies, and I've had a darned difficult time thinking one up. I could try and import one over, it technically could work, but I don't think I'd be happy about it since it'd be an awkward execution, and I'd have to find a Bill's Hat level of justification as to why he's suddenly in the ponyverse

Let me tell you a story Mr. Ido...

So, you know Jade, my current OC, right? She's gone through quite a few iterations over the years. First, she was my car. Yep. My first car was a Teal Oldsmobile Alero, and I named her Jade. She had her own personality, and I knew that car like the back of my hand.

So, when she finally went the way of the pipers, I decided to "honor" her by creating an OC which kind of matched the personality that the car had. This OC was an Anthromorphic Rabbit of the same color.

I then went onto a Role Play based around Battle Royale, except with original characters. Jade made another appearance there as a Tomboyish High School Student who plays the drums in a Metalcore band.

And then I decided I wanted a female earth pony OC. Guess who showed up again! You don't need to shoehorn it in, it can just kind of flow on its own like I made happen. None of the continuities are linked, they're all just... Evolutions of the character. The car was v1, the filly is just v4.

Bronies are telepathic...?

Apparently! Although he missed the right pony! DAMN IT! We must develop this magic! Wait, technology? Magitech?

I've given you my mind... LET ME KEEP MY THUMBS!

Butbutbutbutbut...

[Grif]

Bronies are telepathic...?



I've given you my mind... LET ME KEEP MY THUMBS!

Thumbs? Silly filly, with hooves like ours, who needs thumbs?

[Strife Warzeal]

Naaaah. THIS song! Luna's not used to people being nice to her.

You guys are absolutely souring me to the episode when this stuff (probably) won't appear in it.

I can totally see either of those songs being sung by the pony crew, which makes the realization that they probably can't use them sting all the more.


Unrelated note, am I the only one that actually gets more sad when you see this rarity emote?

[MCerberus]

Here's my guide to roleplaying character generation honed from message-board DnD since I was a freshman in high school.

1. What do you want the character to do
2. what kind of character WOULD do that
3. How would the setting react to that kind of character
4. How is the character doing right now?
5. How did the character get there.
6. Come up with a name (AAAAAAARG hate that part, at least ponies have puns)
7. Hammer down a few backstory points

Keep it simple to begin with, flesh out through play.

[Titanium Fox]

Unrelated note, am I the only one that actually gets more sad when you see this rarity emote?

No, I do too. Although it's only when somepony else uses it. When I use it...

Also I just noticed your location. Are you actually from Connecticut, or do you just like the related pun? If you are... DUDE. I GREW UP THERE.

[Strife Warzeal]

Also I just noticed your location. Are you actually from Connecticut, or do you just like the related pun? If you are... DUDE. I GREW UP THERE.

Um... both? Born, raised and lived my entire life here. I saw someone use Connecticolt as a town in one of the fanfics I've read and since then I've just liked the sound of it.

[Titanium Fox]

Um... both? Born, raised and lived my entire life here. I saw someone use Connecticolt as a town in one of the fanfics I've read and since then I've just liked the sound of it.

That's kind of awesome. I didn't think anypony else from the thread was from anywhere near me.

[Dexam]

2. I prefer to use orbitial bombardment in situations like that myself, or just a sudden, unheralded Maximised Disintigrate on the most annoying person - that usually silences and cows the rest as soon as the dust settles...

Cows? Wouldn't that require Baleful Polymorph?

...

Oh, I see what you mean. That's a tad extreme... I'd just like to release horde of adorable stampeding bunnies into an office building for the HORROR lulz.

I have considered this from time to time, though virtually any and all OCs that I come up with are essentially just another copy of myself on the big Venn diagram that is my personality. Heck, Ido himself is technically an OC.

Guys, I'm RPing myself.

Okay, here's the secret: all RP characters start out aspects of the interwoven tapestry that makes up your own personality. Take a little bit of one of those aspects - a seed, if you will. Plant that seed in the great garden of gaming, and let it grow by feeding it on interactions with other characters. Initially, when RPing the character, continually stop yourself and ask not "What would I do?" but "What would the character do?". Pretty soon you might find that some of the answers will surprise you, and the character will sprout and develop into full grown personality. You know you've made it when you're having arguments with the character that you've created. More than once when RPing I've stopped myself and said "You know, that's a pretty stupid thing to say or do" and the character has replied "You might think it's stupid, but it's what *I* am going to do."


On that note - have some awesome fanmusic by PepperBrony (a.k.a. Foozogz). These two tracks have been sending chills down my spine and tingles through my body:

Sparkle (Season Rebirth) and Forever Dreaming

[Nameless]

Apparently! Although he missed the right pony! DAMN IT! We must develop this magic! Wait, technology? Magitech?

Man, we're gonna have to hunt a whole lot of unicorns for this...

Butbutbutbutbut...

No excuses, mister! Hand them over!

Thumbs? Silly filly, with hooves like ours, who needs thumbs?

But then how else would I play the MLP theme tune on my guitar?

[TheAmishPirate]

Here's my guide to roleplaying character generation honed from message-board DnD since I was a freshman in high school.

1. What do you want the character to do
2. what kind of character WOULD do that
3. How would the setting react to that kind of character
4. How is the character doing right now?
5. How did the character get there.
6. Come up with a name (AAAAAAARG hate that part, at least ponies have puns)
7. Hammer down a few backstory points

Keep it simple to begin with, flesh out through play.

This, this, a thousand times, this. The best character ideas I've had have sprung up as a character is being played. Seeing them in action, something about their personality and the situations they find themselves in just clicks and you suddenly start realizing backstory details that you just thought of, but totally have fit the character this whole time.

Also, name selection can go fall in a hole because it is a meanie meanie-pants.

Okay, here's the secret: all RP characters start out aspects of the interwoven tapestry that makes up your own personality. Take a little bit of one of those aspects - a seed, if you will. Plant that seed in the great garden of gaming, and let it grow by feeding it on interactions with other characters. Initially, when RPing the character, continually stop yourself and ask not "What would I do?" but "What would the character do?". Pretty soon you might find that some of the answers will surprise you, and the character will sprout and develop into full grown personality. You know you've made it when you're having arguments with the character that you've created. More than once when RPing I've stopped myself and said "You know, that's a pretty stupid thing to say or do" and the character has replied "You might think it's stupid, but it's what *I* am going to do."

This is something I struggle with a lot with my characters, and something that is a major risk to including yourself in a character. Yes, every character starts with a speck of their creator, but that's all you want to add; a speck. Too much, and you find that your thoughts and your character's thoughts are similar 90% of the time. Which makes it incredibly easy to ignore that last 10% of vital character difference, and before you know it, you're just RP'ing as yourself. I've fallen into that trap numerous times, and only some last-minute character flaws that popped up as I was playing them kept them separate from me.

On a side note with that, it's also amusing to give your characters bits and pieces of an old personality of yours. Give them flaws that you overcame. It's easy to RP because you've actually been in their shoes, but it's also easy to keep their personality separate from you because you've spent so much time and effort not being like them.

Huh. When did this post turn into a minor rant about character creation? Have a FillyTwilight:

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[otakuryoga]

But then how else would I play the MLP theme tune on my guitar?

the same way Octavia plays her Cello...lots of practice and a determination to show those uppity unicorns that you CAN play an instrument without magic!

[Aotrs Commander]

Here's my guide to roleplaying character generation honed from message-board DnD since I was a freshman in high school.

1. What do you want the character to do
2. what kind of character WOULD do that
3. How would the setting react to that kind of character
4. How is the character doing right now?
5. How did the character get there.
6. Come up with a name (AAAAAAARG hate that part, at least ponies have puns)
7. Hammer down a few backstory points

Keep it simple to begin with, flesh out through play.

I usually start with asking myself a few questions:

1) What horribly destructive way do I want to be able to kill people that snaps the game engine in half?

2) Is there a least/most appropriate character I can spoof/use as a base/annoy everyone with?

3) Can I do a silly voice?

and 4) Can I do all of the above at once and make everyone else at the table cry?



And thus came Shikue Ryushin the Shinobi (Naruto), Jarmin Kuld (the entire GLA from C&C Generals) Judge Caine (CSI Miami), Dixton (Lewton from Discworld Noir), the Sage (Ten, mostly, with a bit of Eleven and Four), and my favourite character of all time, Helen-Jennifer Silk (Jubilee...)

Not that the villains in my games are sometimes any better, Cthulu Juju the Psionic Demon Monkey I am looking at you and you are the one I am looking at and it is you that is the one under my observation that I am watching...

(I suppose I should mention that I do have other characters that do not have their origins in Things I've Seen/Watched/ etc... But why ruin a perfectly good joke with facts.)

Oh, I see what you mean. That's a tad extreme... I'd just like to release horde of adorable stampeding bunnies into an office building for the HORROR lulz.

Psshaw!

It's no worse than what I do to control my players of an evening's RPG session!

[Mando Knight]

6. Come up with a name (AAAAAAARG hate that part, at least ponies have puns)

And humans don't?

Quick first name generation:
1.) Find a meaning.
2.) Search names by meaning, choosing an appropriate linguistic root.

Quick last name generation:
1.) Determine a verb or noun that describes the character and/or the character's family.
2.) If you need to disguise the name, translate into another language.

[Atreyu the Masked LLama]

I heard the MLP theme song while listening to National Public Radio today on the way to work. Sure, it was the intro into a story about advertising to kids and the ethics involved, but it still made me smile.

[Nameless]

the same way Octavia plays her Cello...lots of practice and a determination to show those uppity unicorns that you CAN play an instrument without magic!

I'm sorry to have to break this to you, but in reality, you can't play the cello with hooves.

[Geno9999]

And because of you, as I sing, I'll be thinking of ponies.

Mission Accomplished!

[Strife Warzeal]

I'm sorry to have to break this to you, but in reality, you can't play the cello with hooves.

You aren't supposed to be able to roast marshmallows with your hooves either, Applejack manages just fine.

Spoiler

Show

It's magic, I ain't gotta explain... You should know where that's going.

[Titanium Fox]

I heard the MLP theme song while listening to National Public Radio today on the way to work. Sure, it was the intro into a story about advertising to kids and the ethics involved, but it still made me smile.

That's kind of cool. It's always awesome to hear the best theme song ever when you're not watching the show.

I'm sorry to have to break this to you, but in reality, you can't play the cello with hooves.

...
Challenge accepted. Now I need to find a Cello and some socks.