General Partner Search & Musings of Monsters n' Nightmares

[Hemorrhage]

Yo! I’m Hemorrhage, Rhage for shorts.

If you’re interested in chatting with me, about RP or anything else, feel free send me a private message. Or you can message me on Discord — you can find me on the Storyteller’s Circle server in the offline list by the name Rhage. Please don’t reply to this thread, I have vague plans to post one-on-one RP ideas here whenever a new one occurs to me. The pedant side of me, which is all my sides, would like to keep the thread tidy.

I enjoy ricocheting ideas, so if you got a hunch y’might like what I have to offer, please, shoot me a message! I’m a vicious misanthrope, but I like to fancy that I’m chill. I bite inna good way, heheheh.

What you can expect of me:

• On average, I write two to four paragraphs, or 300 to 500 words, per post. While I can write over my average, especially if I’m describing an environment or creature or prop, I struggle to write under that amount… unless the RP is currently focused on conversation and little else.
• Depending on the length of the post I’m writing, I can post once or twice a day on the weekdays. I have various social engagements on the weekends, so posting then is a little more loosely goosely. If I have to be away from the web for longer than two or three days, I’ll try to let ya know before I vanish.
• I write in third-person past tense. Sometimes present tense, if such is preferred or suits the style of the RP better than past.
• I don’t do a lot of pre-planning or pre-plotting for my RP, because I enjoy the thrill of not knowing what will happen next, or how, or why. For me, much of the allure of RP is the element of unpredictability and unknown the other writer brings to the story. However, I prefer communication to be open and frequent with my writing partners so that… we can geek out about our characters and the plot, give one another feedback, ask questions and hypothesize about what could happen next or in the distant future, bounce a bit, and so on.
• I’m willing to entertain just about any plot idea, or character concept, or whathaveyou. However, I have a strong preference for writing non-human characters. By “non-human,” I mean… my character’s biology, psychology, instincts, and all other aspects of its being will share very few, if any, parallels with a human. I’m loath to compromise on this front, because I loathe writing human or human-esque characters. I have no issue writing across from humans.
• I don’t have any personal content taboos. I’m comfortable with — and willing to write — any and all mature themes, including violence, sex, drugs, abuse, and all manner of Hellish things. Including the sort of sexy stuff that is not permitted on Storyteller’s Circle. If, by some strange twist, the RP starts down that forbidden path, I’ll be happy to “fade to black” the current scene and continue in private n’ off-site until the scene is safe again.
  • I pine for dark and dramatic RP. I love narratives full of character torture, trauma, anguish, loss, I could go on... I have a special love for violence and gore. The more blood n’ viscera n’ agony, the bouncier I am.
• If there is an issue with the RP, I’m always willing to talk the problem through and make fair edits to my post.

What I expect of you:

• I prefer a one or two paragraphs, or 200 to 500 words, per post. I can easily feel a lil’ stuck if I don’t have a clear action, or enough body language, or minimal dialogue to respond to. However, the length is not terribly important to me, I don’t match post length and don’t expect my partner to. The content of the post is of chief importance, especially in regard to progressing the scene forward at a comfortable pace — not too little and not too much in one round.
• Delays in replies is the primary interest and motivation killer for me. I strongly prefer a reply within a day or two of my post. After three days of wait, I’m antsy. After a week, I tend to have significant difficulty vibing back into the narrative. After two weeks or longer… Eegh… However, I appreciate that sometimes life interrupts the flow of RP, and am happy to suffer the struggle caused by a long delay from time to time.
• I prefer a common person and tense in the RP, mixing styles feels muddled and confused. So... I prefer my partner to also write in third-person. Also! I ask for posts to not be formatted with colored text, crazy fonts, graphics, or anything of that nature. I really struggle to read through the floof, y'see.
• My imagination is robust, and my spirit is eager! But… I’m feeble, my upper body strength is meager… I need a partner who is willing to carry an equal share of the narrative weight. At the heart, RP is collaborative writing and I enjoy that element of collaboration. If I wanted to create and control every aspect of the story, I’d write solo. Y'know?
• If I have an issue with the RP, I expect my partner to be willing to talk through the problem and make fair edits to the post in question. The same courtesy I’m willing to give.

Power-Play with ol’ Hemorrhage:
I prefer a reasonable level of power-play, on both sides. I do not mean OoC control of the actions, speech, or thoughts of the other writer’s character. Nah…

What I mean is… If the character has the ability to realistically do a thing, then the thing can be done without permission and without undue challenge. Likewise the reverse... If a character lacks the ability to realistically do a thing, then the thing cannot be done or the attempt may be negated without permission or undue challenge. E.g. Character A is established to be capable of moving faster than Character B’s eyes can perceive, significantly faster than B can move. Realistically, Character A could sucker punch or grab Character B before B is capable of reaction. Thus, A is permitted to “auto-hit” such things and B is not permitted to dodge without extra factors involved. Yeah?

I appreciate that this sort of power-play requires communication and trust, and does not well suit a competitive style of RP. I want an engaging and dynamic narrative foremost, and have found that this level of power-play assists. I have no desire to “win” the RP with… I don’t know… OP characters, or whatever. So… yeah. This power-play stuff is a freedom and thrill I very much prefer to enjoy in my RP, a near must.

Genres, Plots, & Things I Avoid:

• “Modern” Anything
  • I prefer to keep my RP as distant as possible from mundane human-riddled society. While I’m not totally against the idea of writing in a modern setting, I’ll want to delve into some pretty intense monster jazz with my character to compensate for blegh I feel from the setting.
• Fandoms
  • I exclusively write my own characters, and have absolutely no desire to write a canon character from any fandom. While I am not against the idea of writing across from a canon, or in a fandom setting or a setting heavily inspired by a fandom… I enjoy world building and prefer to RP in more original or custom settings. However! There are a few semi-obscure worlds that I would be happy to explore, and you'd just make my day if we got an RP in any of these settings to flourish. Thems are:
    • Redwall
    • Watership Down
    • Blood Jaguar
• Romance & Sex for the Sake of
  • I’m totally game for characters developing a romantic and-or sexual relationship organically through the progression of the RP. I’m even game for gentle OoC-esque nudges in that direction, if we want to write smooshy stuff but the characters are not getting the hint. However, I’m not hungry for romance or sex plots specifically and prefer for those aspects of the story to be more icing on the cake, not a layer of the cake itself.

 

[Hemorrhage]

Here's some RP ideas that have been rattling around my head for a while, or just since I wrote the initial post in this thread. Heheheh.

Redwall Adventure
I think a classic adventure would be a blast. We could give our characters a goal that would drive them to travel from place to place, overcoming challenges and meeting whatever side characters tickle us. The goal could be noble or wicked, heheheh. The destination doesn’t much matter to me, I’m here for the journey.

I dig the idea of our “main” characters, the pair of protagonists if you will, being on opposing sides of the goodbeast-vermin divide. I think the differences in the cultures and just… instincts, given how Redwall all but dictates a character’s moral alignment based on species… I think the innate differences would produce a fun dynamic and provide an avenue for some very interesting character drama. Maybe the two mix like oil in water at first, but eventually become amicable companions. Maybe their trust and camaraderie will forever tentative or begrudging at best. Maybe they're just all suspicion and sabotage to the very end… I donnu, but I'm excited by all possibilities! In this goodbeast-vermin pair, I have a slight preference to write the vermin character, but I’m good either way. Or we could also do something totally different.

I think exploring Mossflower Wood would be fun — visit the Abbey and Salamandastron, whatever nobles we place in those locations, all that jazz. But we could venture into distant or non-canon territories, too. Likewise, I’d have fun putting my stank on the canon lore of species, cultures, histories, and all else. But would I’d also have fun branching out into rarer aspects of the setting, such as including more reptiles or birds or… I’m not sure. Whatever we fancy!

Also… I’d very much enjoy writing a considerably less child-friendly version of Redwall. Throw some adult themes in there, yeah? Bloodier violence, predator characters eating prey characters, just generally more nastiness, oh yesss… That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy the warm fuzzies of the setting, though, and I’d be game for happy Abbey-style fluff from time to time.

Wilderness Survival Adventure, with Monster
Some unfortunate turn of fate has stranded a human, or humanoid, in the wilderness with no hope for survival. A monstrous denizen of the wilds “adopts” the person, providing resources and security that allows them to survive. Over time, the person discovers the monster is sapient and the two learn from one another, develop a bond, life's all warm n’ fuzzy… Until we throw drama n’ conflict at them.

I would be writing the monster. The other character doesn’t have to be a human, but I’d prefer them to be rather humanoid in comparison to my beastie. A character who is of a bipedal, clothes-wearing, talky-talky breed to contrast with what will likely be a strange n’ potentially nightmarish creature. I have musings that the RP might start in the middle of a harsh winter, maybe be set in a northern climate… perhaps a taiga or tundra… and that the human-y character is from a primitive or tribal culture. But all of those details are super open for discussion. My interest is in the language barrier-style conflict between a feral monster and a not-feral person, all the drama n’ silliness therein, and the happy feels when they overcome those hurdles… and then all the drama when we throw something real nasty at them to test those bonds.

Monster under the Bed
The classic lil’ scenario of a child who has a monster living under their bed. This monster is an eldritch-y abomination that feeds on terror, and regularly torments the kid with Hellish nightmares and hallucinations. Perhaps the monster has preyed upon the kid for many years, perhaps the monster recently arrived... Whatever the case, the kid becomes savvy to the monster’s existence and the two… uh... bond. Painfully. Because there is no banishing or killing this reality-warping creature, although that truth doesn’t have to stop the kid from trying.

Again, I would be writing the monster. My interest is the utter madness that could go down in dreamscapes, and the warden-prisoner dynamic between the monster and child. Also very interested in how the child — or whatever age, could be an adolescent or even an adult — character interacts with the monster. If they try to kill, or cage, or tame, or befriend the creature, and the potential drama n’ conflict n’ silliness therein. The idea of the two becoming friends just makes me giggle, especially considering how this creature has likely traumatized and-or torments this kid on a near nightly basis. If the RP really flourishes, and you’ve got a hunger to write your own under-bed-monster, we could branch the world out to include other beasties… Or swab roles in a second thread, I donnu.