How Have You Benefited From Dragon's Egg?

I don't typically write in first person, let alone present tense, so this was an interesting challenge in that respect. Even though Cadell has been in my head for months, and his backstory is basically copy-pasted from where he originated, this RP has allowed me to play him in an entirely new way. I love seeing different sides of him as brought out by the other characters' reactions to him, whether it be Baldhart's kindness or Ankari's abrasiveness, among others. (Gotta say, for all his lack of tact, Ankari's nothing if not honest.) It's rather fascinating to play a knight who, while striving for excellence and perfection as dictated by his Code, is nonetheless hampered by the emotions he can't properly express, for his own sake and those of others -- anger at having to be here against his will, self-esteem issues from the loss of his hand, and now fear for his standing in his queen's eyes. I look forward to seeing where the plot takes everyone in the future. ^^

 

Well, yes, first person in present tense. I don't enjoy reading books in this format, so, as you can imagine, writing in first person is challenging. It's even harder to write the character's thoughts—what I felt it was needed to play Mauve, who is a overthinker—, without giving everything away at once. I hope I'm not boring you all with her.

Though I've been a bit sloppy last month or so, I have the additional benefit of training my English while playing. I've learnt a bunch of new things, I felt compelled to seek suitable synonyms so my writing wouldn't be so repetitive; I knew these synonyms but rarely used, happily standing inside my comfort zone. I've even noticed some writing rules, like never closing the quotes when you break the same dialogue in paragraphs. Whyyyy?! Every quote should be closed. D:

I'm aware that I still have more challenges to overcome in this regard, like giving distincter voices and demeanors to my characters or just better phrasing my sentences. I believe I still have more to learn, not only how to use the language efficiently but on how to better characterize different personalities.

I'm also glad I've got the chance to play Mauve, she's a character I first played years ago. Her first version was a cleric of doubtful behaviour and she was my first tabletop RPG character; she was changed into a warlock years later for another RPG, earning the name of Mauve and her more physical fighting style, and now she's DE's Mauve. You might ask yourself why I keep using basically the same character. I believe there is something worse than your character's death: When he or she doesn't live up to his/her purpose. I would rather have her dying in a bright flame than suffering another unfinished campaign, for in neither of these games we ever achieved the main objective nor had the chance to develop our characters—the game stopped way before. Her death would sadden me, for sure, but would bring a fulfillment feeling, for at last I gave her some destiny. It'll be one less "unfinshed" ghost haunting me!

Oh, and I've been stretching my empathizing ability to its maximum. It's hard to put myself in the shoes of a character who can have some thoughts radically different from mine. I know it's still in "easy mode" for these situations are rare and that in the future they'll get more frequent. I wonder if I'll gave the guts to play her as I should, or if I'll be spared from it by roleplaying events.

 

It was hard writing with the different pov.

Sparkie: If you care about what happens to your character, you get attached. (Be it RPG or char in a book.) And you will be sad.

If you don't care, you won't have them react properly. (DEII showed me this.)

You learn from positives and the negitives, and use it to make your art better.

 

With the new character,
I can slip into each character quickly. Looking at the same encounters from two perspectives, one a suspicious thief the other a confident outspoken barbarian.