You know the feeling you get when you’re doing something and then decide to do something else while you’re already at it? Like shopping groceries, or retrieving a package from the mail. You’ll just add one pitstop to the plan because you’re already dressed and on your feet… Then another. And then another. Maybe that’s an armful of stuff, but you’ll fit one more thing on top of it because you’re not about to run errands every day. Oh, that’s not how everyone does it? Uh… Okay.
Once again, I’m back with my casual everyday experiences not related to role-play in any way. Isn’t it remarkable that the blog I decided to focus around writing and role-playing has very little to do with either? Yeah, I’m just as surprised as you are. However, there might be a way to tie these together—having no chill can carry over to a lot of topics and activities.
Let’s make an example of writing lore for a fantasy RPG: while there are certain widely approved headcanons, like elves having pointy ears or fairies being tiny, one can’t expect everyone having agreed to them. Or maybe they’re new to the whole fantasy setting and have no previous experience of how orcs and goblins are generally portrayed. Describing characteristics of different species is simple enough but when you start to do a deep dive into them, suddenly you’ll start to wonder why are elvish ears pointy and why do orcs have green(ish) skin? Once you’ve dipped your toes into worldbuilding, it’s difficult to stop.
Or, well, it is for me.
Is it my perfectionism? Drive for creativity? Sheer arrogance to force my unique headcanons on everyone? Laziness to do any actual research? Probably an unholy mix of everything above. This is something I’ve struggled with for a long time—stopping when the end result is ‘just good enough.’ What if someone ends up asking defining questions and I can’t think of an immediate answer, or worse, end up changing my answer after I’ve slept on it? I’d much rather think about these things in advance so that there are no questions left to be asked. Except, well, you can guess it—there are always more questions. I can’t physically come up with enough information to block all needs for definitions or completely new headcanons. There is only so much information anyone can stomach before deciding they’ve read enough. If I overwhelm my server’s potential members with things they have to study, I’ll be left alone to watch the server die before it even has a chance to succeed.
So while I can still pile up errands I’ll carry out at once, I need to learn to chill when I’m worldbuilding. It’s better to leave room for imagination and creativity than take away all other options because I’m afraid of failing, even when it means I may seem stupid and/or uncreative. There’s a much smaller chance of turning people’s curiosity off by showing that I’m human and can’t make up things on the stop without having to ponder it over.
Or what do you think? Have you made a lore-related decision when thinking about joining a new role-play server? Am I alone here, hallusinating like an AI, or is there some logic behind my assumptions?
See you again, dudes and dudettes. As always, remember to be fabulous, kind, and most importantly, safe.