Character Arcs (VERY COOL)

[Smarmy]

Okay, the purpose of this thread is simple. If we want a robust sandbox environment for HL2 we need to figure out some self sustaining roleplay loops. Please reply with any character arcs for HL2 city RP stuff you've enjoyed.

Every character through their progression has pivotal key events that shape and warp them. If we can create a server environment where there's a lot of self sustaining development plot hooks without admin involvement that'd be great. In a perfect implementation we could just let the player base populate all the factions and they'd do things to each other that would cause endless character development.

It would be highly helpful if you guys could write out pivotal points in HL2 characters you've had on a city sandbox style setting. The means and purpose of this is to try to find out commonality or novel parts of character progression we can encourage.

Any format or means you'd like to post works.

 

[Mickee]

I have quiiiiite a few characters imma work through here from TnB and elsewhere

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Eliza Brooks

This character start to finish was the most fun I've actually had roleplaying.

Starting out as a media CA's assistant and rapidly getting tangled up within the local Rebel cell along with several other cliques and groups. This character I played to have endless connections and I found one avenue of doing so to be the best.

A bar! Bar RP was certainly the best RP I could potentially offer towards the masses and I ended up growing the character on a massive scale due to it. I believe that it isnt hard to really nail BarRP however if we manage to NOT nail the mark we will almost instantly kill cityrp in general. This sort of situation needs to be handled and ensured that it can proceed.

tldr; BarRP is integral towards the success of day to day operations.

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Shoji Tsuyoshi

Scientist character also from TnB. Less than desirable ending to their story lol

Regardless of how it started or ended I do feel like a Scientist faction itself could actually HEIGHTEN the general CCA rp and give it a new aspect for the process of Transhumanization.

An incredibly good way to immerse people into a more bleak and dark approach of the setting by venturing into the relatively unexplained aspect of Overwatch biology.

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Kinslee Summers


An IdN character...For once.


This character start to finish I do believe is a great example of how going ROGUE as a CCA could work. With the CCA almost turning them into a villain and trying desperately to kill/capture them.

Being a rogue cop should be a gigantic deal and make you public enemy #1. Ontop of that my sliding into the survivors group was pretty rocky and I found myself totally immersed into the way people treated her.

tldr; Going rogue should be a gigantic thing and shouldn't ever really be forgotten by the CCA.

 

[pants]

Lucas isn't really a CityRP character, but he did have a slow PROGRESSION that I think is suitable in any environment.

Originally he started out as my joke character and he was supposed to die within a day or two as soon as I figured out a serious character-- likely due to his supernaturally bad luck. But then he got along well with Sam Waters and Karol Norin-Rudstrom and I was like "hmm maybe i'll keep this guy around"

So at first he served mostly just to help other characters who were getting left behind.

But then as Karol began planning the breakout, he evolved into a confidant role for Karol, and his friendship with Kairos became the defining Contrast between him and Karol: Karol would escape even if it meant killing Cody and Kairos to maintain operational security. His friendships with Sam Waters and Kairos Agon became a dominant personality trait-- he was committed to holding onto his humanity, and helping everyone, even when it costed him or others.

As the original fugitives from Worksite 14 slowly dropped dead one by one, Lucas also stepped up and took on a leadership role, which forced him to make hard decisions that tested his morals and his integrity.

Then, you know, the Peterovich stuff became a thing, and he (unintentionally i assume) served as a narrative foil to Lucas. Anyone that Peterovich got his hands on became less human, deadlier, even losing their own memories in the hopes of the Combine bestowing immortality upon them. At the same time, characters who spent more time around Lucas became more empathetic, merciful, and some of them came to terms with their past crimes, with some ultimately choosing to redeem themselves by laying down their lives for the freedom of humanity.

I think that's what made it a compelling character arc-- he didn't simply exist in the world, he acted on it, and it acted on him in return. Staying alive meant facing trials which made him seriously grapple with who he was, and forced him to adapt to survive.

A good character arc is personal. It involves the character's internal struggles and external struggles becoming one and the same. They might win, but they could also lose, or die. As long as they accomplish a goal, proving themselves or their beliefs, then even their overwhelming defeat can still be a satisfying climax.

Or, to summarize in terms that Joseph Campbell fans might be more familiar with--

A hero faces trials and challenges, and is meaningfully changed or transformed in the face of those challenges. Their growth as a person and their conquering of external obstacles go hand-in-hand. You can't just beat the enemy, you have to grow as a character in the process.

That's what makes a good character arc, to me. The world shaping you into who you become, and then you shaping the world right back.

In a word? CHANGE. Change makes a good arc.

A quiet character might learn to speak up.
A powerless victim might become a powerful tyrant.
A cold loner might learn to open up and care for those around him.
Or maybe, just maybe, the laughingstock of City 60 becomes a world-changing symbol of hope.

 

[Smarmy]

Eliza Brooks

This character start to finish was the most fun I've actually had roleplaying.

Starting out as a media CA's assistant and rapidly getting tangled up within the local Rebel cell along with several other cliques and groups. This character I played to have endless connections and I found one avenue of doing so to be the best.

A bar! Bar RP was certainly the best RP I could potentially offer towards the masses and I ended up growing the character on a massive scale due to it. I believe that it isnt hard to really nail BarRP however if we manage to NOT nail the mark we will almost instantly kill cityrp in general. This sort of situation needs to be handled and ensured that it can proceed.

tldr; BarRP is integral towards the success of day to day operations.

This explains why you put bar RP into literally every setting possible now lol. I think we can easily rope people into bar related RP using mafia elements. As a hypothetical situation it would be fun to have some gambling dens. I could totally see some fun RP having a loan shark show up and say some shit to vaguely imply they'll get hurt "If they don't join their friends for another round of cards."

Some robust opportunity for people to earn heaps of illegal $$$ for engaging with bar RP could bring a lot. We could rope in loyalists to get out of their cozy towers where they only RP with cops by doing something simple. Some whisper or pressure from a very high up CA that implies if you gamble and drink regularly in the right establishments you'll get promotions. Making their status and ranking tied to engaging in some wild party life would be cool.

Staying alive meant facing trials which made him seriously grapple with who he was, and forced him to adapt to survive.

9 million vaguely evil shaped Smarmy characterrs.

I agree with you 100% on what makes a good arc. What I'm looking for is the individual components in City RP characters so we can robustly support them. Did you do City RP at TnB? If not listing in more detail the pain points in Lucas's journey would be helpful.

 

[AbeBatJes]

This character has been re-used so many times... (AND THEY ARE FINISHED - No longer using them LOL)

Trey Watkins - 67932 [TnB]

The regular story for them has been starting out being a child getting raised up in one of the facilities and getting indoctrinated by the system. As soon as they're let out, they have a brief period of being around citizens and having a state of confusion and conflict for seeing things first hand. [Where RP start]

After becoming Civil Protection, they are immensely loyal to their combine overlords. As time goes by, they even make some close companions, with those in intelligence seeking him out - a sense of responsibility, with a small hint of fear. Inner conflict arises with civil protection, which one day causes two companions to be killed.

More inner turmoil stirs - the two companions were great role models, or at least he thought? Is he doing things correctly? Is he not? Doubt fills.

Doubt fills more when new civil protection members join, and they begin attempting to coerce him on changing squads, as well as speaking on their own behalf on possible allegations towards their one squad. However they stand firm with their beliefs, as information is both half true, and half false on both parties.

After a breaking point, a pair of railroads trail in opposite directions - leave everything they thought was right, and join a new brighter light... or expel their concerns, and fully join the side of "good".

In the end, he willingly went through memory replacement, and in turn climbed the ranks and became the Squad Leader (Rank Leader) of JURY.



The funny thing is that in a way, his story sort of splits off - taking bits and pieces, but sort of changing the other route for Idyllic Networks, he tries to live a life of freedom. But through other past things and immense depression, causes other kinds of turmoil.

In the end, he unfortunately died in the arms of what he'd believed to be the enemy - behind the lenses - a brother.

 

[Smarmy]

This character has been re-used so many times... (AND THEY ARE FINISHED - No longer using them LOL)

Trey Watkins - 67932 [TnB]

The regular story for them has been starting out being a child getting raised up in one of the facilities and getting indoctrinated by the system. As soon as they're let out, they have a brief period of being around citizens and having a state of confusion and conflict for seeing things first hand. [Where RP start]

After becoming Civil Protection, they are immensely loyal to their combine overlords. As time goes by, they even make some close companions, with those in intelligence seeking him out - a sense of responsibility, with a small hint of fear. Inner conflict arises with civil protection, which one day causes two companions to be killed.

More inner turmoil stirs - the two companions were great role models, or at least he thought? Is he doing things correctly? Is he not? Doubt fills.

Doubt fills more when new civil protection members join, and they begin attempting to coerce him on changing squads, as well as speaking on their own behalf on possible allegations towards their one squad. However they stand firm with their beliefs, as information is both half true, and half false on both parties.

After a breaking point, a pair of railroads trail in opposite directions - leave everything they thought was right, and join a new brighter light... or expel their concerns, and fully join the side of "good".

In the end, he willingly went through memory replacement, and in turn climbed the ranks and became the Squad Leader (Rank Leader) of JURY.



The funny thing is that in a way, his story sort of splits off - taking bits and pieces, but sort of changing the other route for Idyllic Networks, he tries to live a life of freedom. But through other past things and immense depression, causes other kinds of turmoil.

In the end, he unfortunately died in the arms of what he'd believed to be the enemy - behind the lenses - a brother.

This one is really helpful to me. I think I can use it for a lot.

 

[pants]

64686

This was my cop character on TnB, and I struggled to apply for a cop for a long time because I didn't want to just make a "random guy" who happens to be a cop. I wanted it to make sense for who he was.

As a character, he applied for CCA because he was addicted to anti-fatigue stims he got from a dealer, and his dealer recently got amputated by the CCA. The CCA was aware of this, and it was his addiction and lack of social connections that caused them to accept his application-- it made him extraordinarily prone to being manipulated.

His first day on the job, an unknown individual hijacked the public broadcasting and transmitted unaired footage of a massacre that the CCA perpetrated-- although they had, at the time, successfully covered it up by blaming it on the Resistance. Alongside a small fireteam, he was sent to apprehend the Terrorist, who they had traced via his broadcast hijacking.

Entering a run-down apartment, the fireteam was quickly trapped inside by fortifications that the individual had prepared beforehand. He revealed himself, wearing a high-yield bomb vest, and claimed that all he wanted was for the victims of that massacre to be remembered, and those who perpetrated the act to be brought to justice.

In attempts to avoid the bomb vest detonating in the fully-occupied Apartment building, the fireteam complied with his demands to retreat from the building. As 646 approached the reinforcements who had arrived on scene, the unknown individual exited, intending to flee towards the Construction Zone. The reinforcements opened fire, causing his bomb vest to detonate, which engulfed the nearby bar and apartments in flames that claimed the lives of dozens of citizens.

This shook 646's faith in his fellow units, although his addiction and dislike of the Resistance's terroristic tactics prevented him from disengaging with the Combine's plans. He remained a loyal unit despite being hazed and ostracized by his colleagues for his complete and total lack of social skills and unusual habit of "people-watching" his fellow units. He started quietly doing his own research into the covered-up massacre, quickly identifying the units responsible and beginning to covertly follow them home after they clocked out, believing that they represented a malignant psychology that had infiltrated the ranks of the CCA. He quietly considered "excising" them from the CCA's ranks.

Simultaneously, he quickly grew obsessed with a superior officer, following her both in and out of uniform as if she was just a character on a TV Show. Her abrupt defection from the CCA and subsequent execution when she was apprehended led him to a psychotic break, where he believed he was being guided by an idealized 'ghost' of her pre-defection self. This eventually got him into trouble when it encouraged him to lash out at a superior officer, nearly crushing his windpipe, which resulted in him being severely beaten and forced into memory-replacement as a punitive measure.

His character arc didn't have a proper ending-- I started losing interest in TnB because it was such a struggle to actually get anyone to care about my character. I took a brief break, then came back to the server to find out that all of the Units who participated in the massacre had already died one by one from unrelated causes, and the ranks of the CCA had been refilled by new characters who were all just friendly Normal People instead of the ugly, morally reprehensible sadists that I was surrounded by at the start.

I mostly liked playing him for the detective-work. Finding out the real names associated with CIDs, trying to follow people without them knowing I was there-- and then after his psychotic break, never knowing if what he was seeing was REAL or just another delusion.