Juspera's Good Ole GS4 Page / Roleplaying

50 Ways to be Wrong

September 3, 2019 | Juspera's Player

This is a companion piece to The Heart of Roleplay.

One of the best ways to improve as a roleplayer is to focus on the fact that player knowledge and character knowledge are separate; or, as I said in my previous essay, to "lean into the gap." And one of the best ways to do this is to have your character be wrong or just clueless about things that you the player know, or at least have the ability to know. It highlights the idea that you are not just being yourself in a computer game, but are crafting a story with a distinct, believable character at the center.

What kind of wrongness am I talking about? There's tons of information scrolling past our eyes as players that our characters don't necessarily have access to. AS/DS numbers are the crudest example, but we can make the distinction very fine indeed: for instance, can your character really tell at five paces whether another character's eyes are blue or green?

Anytime you refuse to let your character have a bit of knowledge that you yourself possess -- provided there's a good reason for their not having it -- you make the world feel a little bit more real.

I have only one word of caution for you: when being clueless about matters relating to game mechanics or documentation, it's best to be a little theatrical about it so people don't just think that you the player are confused, but know you are Roleplaying.

You exasperatedly exclaim, "Yes, one summons demons with a krin'tyr rune! Well no I can't summon them yet, but I read it in a book!"

With that in mind, here are fifty things to have your character be wrong (or just plain clueless!) about:

Other characters' names
What time of day it is
Which direction your character is facing
Where Tamzyrr is in relation to River's Rest
What that NPC said about the Big Threat last night
When your character was born
How to get to the Elven Nations
Whether or not someone in particular just died
Whether Luukos is truly evil
What another character's profession is

Who the previous Human emperor was
Which fabric a character's gown is made from
Whether handaxes work well against plate
How old another character is
Where to buy small sacks
Which moon is overhead
How to get into the rogue guild
Why your character is so sad all the time
The name of the mayor of Icemule
The name of someone who just told you their name

Which written language is on that sign
Whether worms are actually snakes
Why the bathhouse was closed
Whether someone's sword is vultite or imflass
Whether the creature in front of you is a fenghai or a pra'eda
Where babies come from
Where cheese comes from
Whether cone of lightning should be cast in invasions
Whether soandso is a lord or not
What another character's actual eye color is (for bonus points, argue with them)

Which language another character is speaking
Whether or not your character just blushed
Where Erithians come from
Who killed the feithidmor
Whether soandso and soandso are sisters
Whether a certain character who just passed was soandso, or a different character who also has black hair
What the Elven word for "beer" is
Where you just put your spectacles
Whether you managed to hit that orc on the last swing
Why the Faendryl and the Ashrim fought

How much pure potions cost
What sex another character is
What culture another character is
What month it is
What happens when you cast bless on a cursed item
Where that alarm bell was coming from
How many times you've died today
Where grey orcs are
Whether your shield is still slung on your back, or if it fell off
Whether someone is pregnant

Go forth and be wrong!

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