Giving Your RP "Sparkle"

Part II -- The Scene Set

 

In the last article, I discussed the entry pose and how important it can be to generating RP.

 

Sometimes you are not entering a room.  Sometimes you are already there.  It provides a nice break from always entering rooms, to already be there.  Handled correctly, it can also be an excellent RP hook, another chance to give your RP some real sparkle and shine. 

 

The scene set pose is actually a great deal more flexible than the entry pose, but it relies on the same principles.  You want to provide a hook, capture interest.  You want to make them ask why, or ask what's going on.  You want to give them something to react to.  Again, emotion, actions, or stuff are going to be the devices you use to get the ball rolling.  Setting scene, however, can often be the hardest type of pose to open with. It requires the most work and imagination.  So instead of taking you pose type by pose type like I did in the last article (besides, I'm sure you got the idea), I will give you some questions you can ask yourself that will help you craft your opening pose.

 

What Was He Doing?

 

People are usually not just sitting around when other people enter a room.  Sometimes someone really is just sitting around with a cup of tea, but "Joe sits in the living room near the fire, sipping on a cup of tea," is so common on MU*s that it's a wonder that MUSHers haven't bought out the tea industry.  People are active creatures.  They do things.  And if he is just in there sipping tea, or taking a nap, or flipping aimlessly through television channels, what was he doing before then?

 

Was he at work?  What does he do?  Did he try to cook dinner or clean the house?  Was he taking care of children? Volunteering at a soup kitchen?  Did he get mugged today?  Did he just find out that his assets have been frozen?  Was he studying?  Did he get into a fight with his wife?  Did he play chess with his child?

 

Let us note something else.  MUSH people often assume that if it did not happen on-screen, that it did not happen.  But that's foolish.  Your character's world is filled with NPCs you never see.  The PC can have problems and headaches, assets and activities, that other PCs did not cause.  If he works for a real live PC, he still has co-workers and activities that he won't RP out with that PC.  Are you with your boss 24/7?  I hope not, for your sake and sanity.  Give some real thought as to what goes on in your character's life when you're not around to play him.

 

What Evidence Is There?

 

When people do things, there tends to be some sort of evidence of those things left over.  If Joe just got done with his schoolwork, his books may be scattered all over the table.  If he got mugged, his shirt may be torn and there may be a cut above his left eye from where he ran away.  If his credit card was declined and he doesn't know why, he could be on the phone screaming at the customer service guy on the other end when the other player walks into the room.  If he had a fight with his wife or girlfriend, there could still be a shattered cup or plate where someone threw it.  Or there could be stuff missing because she just left him and took the t.v. with her.  Even a relatively boring day at work has its evidence: a suit jacket draped across a chair, a pair of shoes kicked off at last.

 

You don't always have to open the scene with your character's presence. You could open it by presenting the evidence and keeping your character out of the room, letting the other player react first to the evidence (stuff!) and then returning your character to the room (a scene set, entry, one-two punch combo)! to deal with the other player's reaction.  This works even if the evidence is familiar and expected.  To demonstrate this, I will borrow Dr. Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Watson.  Holmes is setting the scene.

 

The chemistry set puffs amiably away, endlessly dripping unnamed substances into vials and philters.  There are feathers all over the floor, as well as the sad remains of a pillow.  The pillow has been shot, brutally murdered really.  Not that this is abnormal.  It seems Holmes needed to test another gun.  The room smells faintly of pear brandy and cigar smoke.  Holmes' violin is set out almost carelessly on the coffee table.

 

Watson takes in the scene with a slight smile.  Holmes must have needed to test another gun, see if a bullet matched.  With a resigned sigh he starts to pick up the feathers.  The housekeeper will be distressed if she finds it in this state, and Watson would rather she were happily cooking than angrily picking up Holmes' leavings. 

 

Now Holmes is free to burst in with his latest announcement or angst.  Watson has something to react to -- the feathers on the floor, and the cozy familiarity of home.  Holmes has something to react to as well: Watson picking up the feathers, and whatever he was working on before the good doctor came home.

 

What Mood Has All This Action Put Our Hero In?

 

If your character did something before this scene, and if it's left some evidence, then it has probably left him in some sort of emotional state.  Too many MU*ers rely on the word "calm."  People are rarely calm.  People act calm a lot, and in some situations the act of pretending to be calm can be a great plot point.  But how often do you come home from a hard day of work feeling nothing but "calm?"  You might feel bleh...that sort of icky tired feeling where you don't care about much.  That's a form of calm, but it's not calm.  It is bleh.  You might be content...another hard day's work completed, time to relax...and content looks a lot like calm, but its not.  It is content.  Calm is like "nice". (See George Carlin's sketch on the word 'nice').  It is a non-word.  Seas are calm, people pretend to be calm, but rarely are they calm.  And even a character who is pretending to be calm is going to betray his emotions somehow. His eyes will narrow just a trifle.  His words will grow stiff or warm.  His mouth will quirk on the edge of a chuckle that isn't proper to this nice calm situation he's trying to portray. 

 

If you know how your character is feeling about what's going on in his life, what he's thinking about and how it affects him, you can bring it forth in your RP.  Subtle or blatant, it will give the other player something to react to.  Something to talk about to his friends later. 

 

Good RP begets more good RP, and good RP starts with good questions.

 

Next article: Smart Character Design.