About RP-ing Sherlock Holmes

[Elina Koskinen]

((This post is OOC:

I just wanted to mention something that has been on my mind for a while now...

This may come as a shock but I am not really Sherlock Holmes! LE GASP! Oh noes! :DD

That is to say, I actually am not
"A brilliant London-based consulting detective, who is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of "deductive reasoning" while using abductive reasoning (inference to the best explanation) and astute observation to solve difficult cases." (*stolen from wikipedia, eheh*) I'm just a regular person who is a bit lost from time to time so I ask for your help.

When you kindly come to me with cases and want me to RP in your murder plots please inform me about them beforehand at least somehow so I can pretend to be all brilliant and magnificent. ;)

Dr. O, for example, has acted kindly enough towards Dr Watson and I and given us some advice beforehand in his plottings of evil.

It would help me a lot and make your experience of the friendly neighbourhood detective look a bit more professional at least...

Thank you :D

))

[DreddPirateBob]

((never thought about it, a very good point, and one taken

and i think you do a great job, with the extra info Holmes and Watson will become even more formidable))

[Elilka Sieyes]

I had this difficulty with a Blake's 7 RPG some years ago: I had drawn the short (or long? square?) straw of playing the sarcastic supercomputer, Orac. A lot of the time, this sort of role amounts to be a walking (or not ;)) plot device, and so many of my RP sessions were spent with one eye on the play and another on wikipedia. The real problem, however, came with RP situations when people demanded plot-relevant things of the character without warning. Yes, it is possible to pull an answer out of ones backside, but when the other party has an established RP going on, it is nearly impossible to do so without messing them about, eg.

Person 1: OMG, who took the cube?
Person 2: Who? Who?
Person 1: Yes, who?!
Person 3: It was a tall man with a grey beard and green spectacles
Person 1: ((noo, it was a short round woman with yellow hair! :( ))

Obviously one way around this is to put off making any statement (*flashing lights* I am far to busy to be bothered with your petty enquiries!) but that can be quite hard to RP for very long ;)

I love the free-flowing RP of New Babbage, and the unplanned nature of everyday life, but as a former supercomputer I would beg a bit of sympathy for dear E ;) If a character is not being 'clever' enough about the plot, it may be that they are trying not to step on anyone's toes by 'deducing' the wrong thing, and spoiling the RP!

and now off to work. aghh.

[Jedburgh Dagger]

((Dude. I had the same sort of experience back in the day during a game of D&D. [yes, pen and paper RPGs. My geezerliness, let me show it]. The carefully crafted plot was very reliant on what the DM knew to be obvious and blatant and in your face...problem was that not all of us in the group made all of the intellectual leaps it took to come to his conclusions.

We'll need to sit down and chat sometimes, since I don't want to be the competition outside of the RP. You guys are a lot of fun, and all the good guys need to stick together))

[Agnes Periapse]

((Nearly wets herself with glee at the idea of a Blake's 7 RP.))

[Capt. Red Llewellyn]

OOC: i think you two are brilliant! you both bring so much enjoyment, talent, and fun to any proceeding!

[Jimmy Branagh]

((Wow, I must say you wing it extremely well, then! I had no idea you weren't really Sherlock Holmes!))

((That said, point taken. I'm sure an internal dialog through IM with the principals would help with deducing. :) ))

[Captain Zessinthal]

((In all the RP i do in New Babbage i just leave clues to a story. All anyone has to do is talk to others and work out the story. The actual RP'ing is purely from the residents as they intereact with each other in between clues, which is a joy to see.))

(( In regards to Mr Holmes, him and his friend watson are not just iconic figures in the real world, but have been established by your own character as iconic members of the New Babbage community. It's not because you are Mr Holmes the famous detective, but because you are Mr Holmes who sits all day in his room, is willing to help and assist anyone in new babbage, and occasionally likes to be pulled around in the snow on a sledge by Watson. :-D))

((You are right though, it is a bit rude to incorporate a resident into an RP without first consulting, and for that i apologise, expect an IM soon :-) ))

[Elilka Sieyes]

((The first fall of snow, virtual or otherwise, is a well known cause of Winter Madness. I take no responsibility for any sledging undertaken while in a snow-induced fugue ;)

As I've said, I love the freeform RP that goes on in New Babbage, and the sense of a real history and shared problems that arise from it. Strange devices, rumours, speculation ... it is all part of the buzz of the city, and that sense of New Babbage as a real place. OTOH, I'm also aware that it's a lot easier on me than on my chum. I have a great deal more freedom as the outraged sidekick ;) and there are some situations that it's harder to take part in for that reason.

The funny thing is, we never actually set out to RP Holmes and Watson. It only came about because I had long had a somewhat Watsonian avatar (my first visit to New Babbage was around August 2007, on a cane shopping trip!) and when my friend came to join me in my little 221B room it seemed natural to create matching avs. The RP side was not really planned, but just something that happened as a result of people interacting with the avs. We decided fairly early on to let them become AU versions of H&W, in the tradition of steampunk versions of SH. After all, Watson is a pretty unreliable narrator ;) TBH, I prefer to have Watson just be an ordinary (if over-enthusiastic and slightly outraged) chap about town, but I feel that in choosing to RP a well known character I'm imposing to some extent, and I try to go with whatever someone throws back at me (ie he's a random man they just met / someone they know of in Babbage / a somehow 'famous' person /a figment of some chap's imagination, with no right to be walking around as flesh and blood ;)

Well, I got a bit off-topic there but ...um... um ...rah for New Babbage *runs and hides under a table*))

[Ceejay Writer]

I used to request fair warning before approaching my Faramir, so I'd have time to get into proper angst-mode. :)

[Loki Eliot]

I think the longer you live in new babbage the more you simply play who you are in the end. i know for a fact Myrtil is exactly how she is all over the grid. Jimmy is the same, but easier to understand, and i think im pretty much the same everywhere. I dont see Mr Holmes or Watson as anything more than how they have been in new Babbage, and i dont believe anyone should presume to worry about not being able to live up to expectations of their character. New Babbage, and secondlife breaks new bounderys in RPG becos you can act yourself while still being someone different.