Character Prompts and Questions

[June Scarlet]

When there's an active roleplay going on, you'll often see people asking questions about characters, such as "How would your character act in a certain situation?" or "What's your character's favorite thing?"

Why not have that all the time?

Therefore, we now have Character Prompts and Questions on the Writer's Workshop board. This is a place to post questions and prompts, as well as answer and post them. You can choose any character or characters you like. Remember to keep things forum-friendly!

But that's not all, we also have a sister thread in Games and Interactive, the game version, Create a Character Q & A (When brainstorming the idea for these threads, we weren't sure which place or format would be better, and we ended up deciding that both is good.)

Have fun!

[PFA]

I was reminded of this thread, so will repost my silly prompt here!

What do your characters think of logic puzzles, like crosswords or Sudoku? Are they good with them? Do they find them a waste of time?

[Gelquie]

Apr 16, 2021 0:35:25 GMT -5 PFA said:

What do your characters think of logic puzzles, like crosswords or Sudoku? Are they good with them? Do they find them a waste of time?

Glenda (Mafia I) - I imagine she likes doing them! Perhaps between brews of some sort or another, or to pass quiet time when she's not redecorating or coming up with more brews.

Julie (Mafia II) - Her music is the best puzzle she has! (That is, she may do a few out of boredom but otherwise not really.)

Kylie (Mafia III) - I think she prefers riding and being out, but sometimes you can't, and she has an inn to run, and while I don't imagine she has a lot of free time given her life circumstances, I can see her doing a few when she's stuck at the front desk. She's not very good at them.

Rochelle (Clue) - She has a particular fondness for crosswords! Let her tell you all about them, if you're inclined! (She prefers socialness.)

Elin (Medieval) - Can't read (at first). Also, she's got better things to do and would rather tackle those head on.

Ivy (Medieval post-game) - She prefers more tactile hobbies.

Espin (Hero City) - He's got better things to do. =| ...But you know, one or two games between compilations wouldn't hurt...

Alexis (Wrighton) - Apparently is really into puzzles and is surprisingly good at them! I imagine she keeps this trait. (Lol puzzle-based games. I didn't plan her to be The Best at them but look what happened. Sometimes life is full of surprises.)

Athene (Wrighton) - I imagine she does have a bit of a hobby with puzzles; good way to spend downtime, and it's good for your brain. It's easy to carry a few little games in her pack for when she has to wait forever for accommodations or even just general life things.

Omir (Wrighton) - Knows a few by necessity but otherwise isn't super into them. He prefer going out there!!

Amani (Euroatlantis D&D) - I don't think they're very good at them. I think they tried in a spurt of Trying to Be Smarter, but they kept getting confused by the harder ones and zoning out or doodling; they're more into art stuff. For games like Sudoku, I think they did figure those out, they just don't capture their attention.

Era (April Showers) - Of course Era likes puzzles!! They did a lot as a kid!! But you know what's the biggest puzzle of all? The puzzles all around us, the mysteries of life waiting to be found and investigated! Those little everyday phenomena, and non-everyday phenomena! The nuances behind those are the puzzle of a lifetime!!!

[Lizica]

A couple of us on Tumblr had some fun with this question:

If your story/each NTWF Roleplay was made into a major musical, which of your characters would be most likely to have a huge, epic, showstopping number?
(...plus any other fun mental images you may get from the story being made into a full stage musical.)

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For my characters, I think Joan would be the best bet for a showstopper. xP She's peppy and enthusiastic and would 100% LOVE a big musical number with backup singers and choreography to tell everyone JUST HOW AMAZING TOURISM IS AND WHY YOU SHOULD TRAVEL. And to be honest, if our musical has a big enough budget, I think Joan might even be someone in Town who'd have more than one song. Or at least a reprise/very long leitmotif solo during her reveal in the climactic ensemble number.

Madge also came to mind to me for this. 8D But unless her sidefic is adapted into its own spinoff musical, I don't think Madge would do much at all in the Hero City show, much less have a song. ...But I do really, really get a kick out of imagining her, like, giving the pre-show spiel? XD Like, say, she tells you a bit about the production you're about to see, thanks the sponsors and such, tells you where the exits are and that no flash photography is allowed--but as she continues to talk, more and more she starts sliding into advertising for the merch booth, until that's ALL she's talking about, and then Tricia (maybe a stagehand or something similar here) has to chase her offstage for going off cue or promoting her business without clearing the royalties with the staff. And then the Hero City show begins. =D
OR, since the intro is honestly a very important thing for the beginning of a show, Madge can leave that to someone else. (EDIT: NO, WAIT!! The intro should be done by Wulfric instead. XD Not really my character, but. He would be awesome for that! ...Anyway, back to Madge.) And then she should just show up near the end of intermission, bartering with audience members to buy merch, before once again packing up and zooming off when Tricia appears. And maybe she'd show up in the background of some HC scenes, but otherwise, that's her contribution to the HC musical. xB

[Gelquie]

May 3, 2023 0:31:35 GMT -5 Lizica said:

A couple of us on Tumblr had some fun with this question:

If your story/each NTWF Roleplay was made into a major musical, which of your characters would be most likely to have a huge, epic, showstopping number?
(...plus any other fun mental images you may get from the story being made into a full stage musical.)

So I'm one of those "us," and I shall copy-paste and edit my answer here! =D

I made a list of my NTWF RP main characters and I ultimately narrowed my choices down to 4: Julie, Elin, Espin, and Era.

Of them, Elin is least likely because she's just not grandiose and her skills rely on subtlety. But if the plot is a musical, then given how much she played a hand in it, she might well have several big musical parts! Like maybe at the beginning, she'd be part of the ensemble. Then after One Turning Point, she'd go quiet until some later major points and would be a lot more serious. She would have so many duets with a certain someone. xP I also like to think that the Shadows would get regular ensemble pieces, and maybe those would be most prominent between chapters, since that's when they most often acted. After all, the best things always happen after midnight~

Era talks a lot, and they would also sing a lot! But I think they'd more have little parts and interjections than big parts, except for a few places. Maybe more of an ensemble member.

Espin is an egoist who loves his recognition, but only if he wins, and otherwise he would probably not sing were it not for the musical genre. (But imagine his duet duels with Miss Kingsley.)

Now Julie. Julie stands out most to me. In part because she already made her RP a partial musical. She'd have lots of little pieces, and then I imagine the climax of the story would absolutely have a big epic musical number from her. (She would make sure of it!) She might have better written songs than I made for her back in the day, including her song at the climax, but same feeling!
While there's potential with the others, Julie is probably my #1 choice. She's practically made to be part of a musical.


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As for Lizica's, a big musical number on tourism would be super cool! And also her having a leitmotif that maybe changes tone throughout the story to match her mood, and then is most prominent in the climactic number. Just, that potential musical buildup is... =D =D

And yesss to Madge being that background character that you nevertheless can't not see or hear. xDD She would bring wonderful levity to Hero City.

[Liou]

The Marchioness.

[Killix]

Does your character still have a cherished toy or other comfort item from their childhood?

[June Scarlet]

Your character or characters - do they drink coffee or tea (or neither or both)?

I saw this question in relation to an art challenge, and now I'm thinking about which Franklin and Lisa drink. I think I'm leaning towards them both drinking coffee though. Maybe Lisa could have hers black, and Franklin his with cream and sugar.

[Thorn]

Oh this is fun! I agree with your assessment of Franklin and Lisa.

Astrophelle is definitely a tea drinker- but that's not a challenge to determine because it was one of the first things I knew about her character! She makes people tea and chats with them when they need some comfort.

I guess for something more forum relevant (and recent), I'll use my character Lucine from Moni's D&D game! He prefers bitter hot chocolate with cream, so if he had to choose between tea and coffee he would go for coffee with something to sweeten it. If there is little art in the foam he'll love it forever. If he had access to a camera Lucine would definitely be the sort to snap photos of cute latte art to send to his husband while he's off adventuring (Lucine is VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about the stuff he likes.)

[PFA]

Funny seeing this thread again, because at the time it was made, I was a little embarrassed to admit how much I was hyperfocusing on my Niji Chikara characters. XD But now that I'm actually posting the comic, NO ONE CAN STOP ME *lightning flash*

Apr 16, 2021 0:35:25 GMT -5 PFA said:

What do your characters think of logic puzzles, like crosswords or Sudoku? Are they good with them? Do they find them a waste of time?

It was actually Niji characters who inspired this prompt, because at the time, I was thinking about a particular Niji scene while doing a Sudoku puzzle and started imagining the characters doing logic puzzles together. XD

Chishiki doesn't do them very often (too busy), but would enjoy them. She's the type of person where someone would ask for her help on a puzzle, she'd be like "ugh fine," but then get obsessed with it to the point of accidentally solving the whole thing.

Yukai is the sort who would enjoy them, but would eventually get stuck on a difficult part, decide "I'll come back to it later" but then never does. She is 100% the one who would ask for Chishiki's help in the previous scenario.

Jikyuu enjoys them and does them on occasion, but has other hobbies she enjoys more.

Aijou thinks they're lame and would avoid them on principle.

May 3, 2023 0:31:35 GMT -5 Lizica said:

If your story/each NTWF Roleplay was made into a major musical, which of your characters would be most likely to have a huge, epic, showstopping number?
(...plus any other fun mental images you may get from the story being made into a full stage musical.)

First of all: Joffery Jade from Medieval because obviously.

Going back to my Niji brainrot, Chishiki would definitely have a lot of songs as the main character. I could see her having some really powerful lyrics about her complicated feelings about being a hero. (And actually I have already written a Chishiki POV song about that, lol)

Jikyuu is interesting because, when I originally imagined Niji Chikara as an animated series, I actually drafted a "musical episode" that would have prominently featured her. She also canonically enjoys songwriting, which you can probably guess from that previous fact. But in the context of the whole series being a musical, I feel like any songs she'd have would actually be pretty low-key?

I don't feel like Yukai has all that much to sing about in the context of a hypothetical Niji Chikara musical, but she would definitely enjoy doing an epic musical number.

Also, we all know that villain songs in general are top tier, but I definitely think the Niji villains could have a good one. I'm imagining one where they take turns talking about their assorted life problems, with a chorus talking about how the Darkness supposedly set them free.

May 3, 2023 8:07:35 GMT -5 Killix said:

Does your character still have a cherished toy or other comfort item from their childhood?

Yukai 100% still has a stash of stuffed animals with absolutely zero shame. I could definitely see Jikyuu holding on to some of her childhood dolls.

Sept 18, 2023 15:42:01 GMT -5 June Scarlet said:

Your character or characters - do they drink coffee or tea (or neither or both)?

I think the Niji girls are a little too young for caffeine dependency, and would largely avoid it for that reason. XD Aijou wouldn't care, but I don't think she likes either much—I think she'd be more into caffeinated soda. Jikyuu would probably enjoy the occasional tea, and would start drinking it more when she gets older.

As for some of the older characters, Teinei drinks coffee. Kaiji I think would like iced coffee and certain kinds of tea. Rikou I could definitely see enjoying tea because Granny Vibes.

[PFA]

Stealing this prompt from another forum because I liked what I wrote: How would your characters play D&D? What sort of characters would they make? What is their playstyle like?

And my answers for the Niji gals:

Chishiki has no idea how to play and would only be roped into it by Yukai. She would probably use a premade character (or otherwise get a lot of help in making it) and would probably end up as a Paladin or something. She'd probably have her character trying to find nonviolent solutions to problems, which depending on who she was playing with, would probably cause conflict with other players.

Yukai would pick something like a Neutral Good Gnome Wizard, and would enjoy the roleplaying aspect way too much. She would definitely do silly voices, much to the annoyance of Chishiki. She's not too good at the game itself though, and would need help picking out spells and such.

Jikyuu would probably be the DM in this scenario, and would be really into the storytelling aspect. She's a peacemaker by nature, so she would likely cater to Chishiki and exclusively write antagonists who can be dealt with nonviolently. If she had her own player character, she'd be a Lawful Good Monk Elf with a tragic past.

Aijou would refuse to play.