Hey, I'm just an old dark machine.

[thisolddarkmachine]

Hello, I'm thisolddarkmachine, but all of you can simply call me Tim.

I've always been a person with an avid imagination. Constantly in my day to day life, I love dreaming of adventures, extraordinary places and wonderful characters who had amazing stories to tell. That's the very reason why I came into roleplaying in the first place. I wanted great stories with great characters that became more than they were when we were first introduced to them. Growing up, I always used to imagine myself slaying dragons, uncovering a huge secret within the government as a spy and even being a superhero. Even to this day, I still daydream from time to time, but now, I have an outlet where my imaginations can be formed into words and in turn these words form a great tale that I'll be remembering for years to come.

I've been roleplaying for several years now, and I had first started on chatango when I was much younger. I took indefinite hiatuses here and there, but I always found myself coming back to roleplaying in many different forms. Even in real life, I started asking friends to join me for some tabletop roleplaying with games like Numenera, Pathfinder, Warhammer 40k Dark Heresy, and Shadowrun. I began reading books, trying to improve my grammar and vocabulary so I could be at a decent place in roleplaying. I would say I'm about at the intermetdiate adept and advanced levels and usually don't stray from that since I'm not up for the pressure that the more advanced levels bring. I could probably pass for for higher, but my posts wouldn't be as frequent as I would like. I like there to be a consistent and steady pace, and I feel that that the intermediate, adapt and advanced levels fill those needs. This is a pastime for me that I would like to enjoy without having to bang my head on the wall trying to think on what to post is generally what I'm trying to tell you. Though, if I'm really into it (this usually happens in fantasy roleplays) I could post multiple paragraphs with hundreds upon hundreds of words, but it's also a product if I enjoy the person who I'm roleplaying with not just as a roleplay partner but as a friend and as a person. For advanced roleplayers, it really depends on the story, the characters and whatnot for me to consistently post at that length of multiple paragraphs of 350-500 words.

Okay, for what I like. Well, my personal way of roleplaying is focused heavily on what's going on inside the head of my character. I want you to know him inside and out. By the end of the roleplay, I want both of us to know the character so well that we could probably come up with answers for any question that anyone could ask about him. That being said, I also focus heavily on dialogue. I like having my characters going on tangents about the world about them and speak about abstract ideas, philosophical subjects and generally about morals. It's my style to simply go on talking about this and that, and the more trivial and minor things to truly get a feel for both the character I'm playing and the character he's talking to.

A very important aspect to me is theme. I try to create a great atmosphere through dialogue and the way the person thinks. I like there to be a certain feel for the roleplay that's sort of like watching a specific movie, or reading a certain type of book. I think the best example of this are the movies The Garden of Words and 5 Cm per second where they're so atmospheric and thematic with how they're presented, and the emotion of loss and lovers drifting part is so open throughout the films. Sorry, I'm not terribly adept at explaining this sort of thing, so I guess I'll past a link for you guys to sort of understand what I'm going on about.

Here is the trailer for the Garden of Words.

In the movie itself, the rain is used in a way to bring an atmosphere and a theme to the story. Plus, they also use phrases from literature to help create it. You should watch the movie! I highly recommend it and it gives you an idea of the stuff I enjoy.

Here's a small site for some of my characters if you'd like to take a look. They're all thematic in some way or form. They should give you an idea of what kind of roleplayer I am. If you don't have the time to go through all five, go through Kouhei since he is my favorite character by far and Harry second even if he is the most simplistic one of them all.
http://thisolddarkmachine.weebly.com/

Okay, sorry, I know this is a bit long, but the last thing I wanted to note is that I'm a romantic at heart. I love romance, but it never has to have the central theme of the roleplay. I enjoy political intrigue, war, action, mystery and all that fun jazz, but there always has to be some romance in it. I just enjoy having it that way.

Well, I'll stop here and go on further about myself and what I love in roleplaying if any of you have questions or comments.

Be sure to message me if you're interested in some roleplaying!

- Thisolddarkmachine

100 points to the person who knows what song my username is referenced to!

Edited: I added some more stuff I wanted to say.

 

[determinator]

I'm pretty sure McMorrow is just obscure enough to make sure no one knows about him.
Until now that is.
/shits all over joy

Hi, though. From one new user to the next, I extend welcome. Your childhood sounds like mine. I also have pretty great understanding of what you mean by theme and focus on dialogue. It truly is hard to explain, the innate need to make characters known, to make them living, breathing beings. To show others how much you love them too, even if they think they suck.
At least I hope I know what you're getting at. I have a pretty schizo relationship with characters.

So yeah, I hope you enjoy it here. I'm sure you will. It's like finding the land of your people after wandering the dusty trail far too long.
I feel maybe some smooth jazz or a guitar twang would be appropriate here.

 

[thisolddarkmachine]

I'm pretty sure McMorrow is just obscure enough to make sure no one knows about him.
Until now that is.
/shits all over joy

Hi, though. From one new user to the next, I extend welcome. Your childhood sounds like mine. I also have pretty great understanding of what you mean by theme and focus on dialogue. It truly is hard to explain, the innate need to make characters known, to make them living, breathing beings. To show others how much you love them too, even if they think they suck.
At least I hope I know what you're getting at. I have a pretty schizo relationship with characters.

So yeah, I hope you enjoy it here. I'm sure you will. It's like finding the land of your people after wandering the dusty trail far too long.
I feel maybe some smooth jazz or a guitar twang would be appropriate here.

I'm surprised that the first commenter actually knew who the artist was. 100 points to you good sir! Any favorite songs from him? I still need to get around to listening to his new album Post Tropical.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I want to make a character to feel alive, believable and that your suspense of belief is kept there because of truly real they feel to you. You can almost feel the emotions they're experiencing, and you take upon their burdens and go through this long journey with them. You get to know them and they feel more like people close to your heart than merely characters of a story.

You have no worries. You got me perfectly.

I haven't started roleplaying yet on here, but I'm definitely going to jump on those threads soon. If things go well roleplay wise, I'm certain I'll be enjoying my stay. I want to be able to be part of a great roleplay community and be here for a while, but we never what the future will bring.

Considering your picture is from Cowboy Bebop, I'm pretty sure something a little more bluesy would be more appropriate. It just so happens that I was listening to some blues. While it may not be the style of blues presented in Cowboy Bebop, it's still a pretty good tune.

 

[determinator]

I'm surprised that the first commenter actually knew who the artist was. 100 points to you good sir! Any favorite songs from him? I still need to get around to listening to his new album Post Tropical.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I want to make a character to feel alive, believable and that your suspense of belief is kept there because of truly real they feel to you. You can almost feel the emotions they're experiencing, and you take upon their burdens and go through this long journey with them. You get to know them and they feel more like people close to your heart than merely characters of a story.

You have no worries. You got me perfectly.

I haven't started roleplaying yet on here, but I'm definitely going to jump on those threads soon. If things go well roleplay wise, I'm certain I'll be enjoying my stay. I want to be able to be part of a great roleplay community and be here for a while, but we never what the future will bring.

Considering your picture is from Cowboy Bebop, I'm pretty sure something a little more bluesy would be more appropriate. It just so happens that I was listening to some blues. While it may not be the style of blues presented in Cowboy Bebop, it's still a pretty good tune.

Yeah, it's probably better that way because I have no idea how many people would actually know him.
That is one of the favorites; the other is Wicked Game. Wicked Game always makes me think of Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah, though. For some reason.

Yep. Glad I got you there, because whenever I talk to people about characters (more like, when they breathe "character" and I hear/see it and start evangelizing), I lose them pretty easily. I know a lot of roleplayers/writers that think of characters strictly as tools and think it folly to hold such rapport with inanimate characters, so it's hard to make the distinction (with them) that they are not physically real, for us, but are within their world. Just differences of perspective, really. They are architects; I am wholly a gardener.
One of those gardeners that just throw the seeds down without knowing what they are, nurturing them, and sitting back to find out what they grow into. Maybe watermelons end up being dragonfruit.

Based just on the guidelines (though I haven't gotten a grasp of the community yet), I'd say you'll probably feel fine. There's explicit statement that we are playing a role, which aligns pretty well with how you think of characters—for the most part, anyway. We are merely actors of the word. Our stage is the page. Our paint is our imagination; our brush is our words.

I read "Roleplaying is the art of playing a role or pretend. It's stepping into the life of a character and experiencing what they experience." and thought, this is the land of my people, lmao.

I had yet to hear that, so thanks.

 

[thisolddarkmachine]

Yeah, it's probably better that way because I have no idea how many people would actually know him.
That is one of the favorites; the other is Wicked Game. Wicked Game always makes me think of Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah, though. For some reason.

Yep. Glad I got you there, because whenever I talk to people about characters (more like, when they breathe "character" and I hear/see it and start evangelizing), I lose them pretty easily. I know a lot of roleplayers/writers that think of characters strictly as tools and think it folly to hold such rapport with inanimate characters, so it's hard to make the distinction (with them) that they are not physically real, for us, but are within their world. Just differences of perspective, really. They are architects; I am wholly a gardener.
One of those gardeners that just throw the seeds down without knowing what they are, nurturing them, and sitting back to find out what they grow into. Maybe watermelons end up being dragonfruit.

Based just on the guidelines (though I haven't gotten a grasp of the community yet), I'd say you'll probably feel fine. There's explicit statement that we are playing a role, which aligns pretty well with how you think of characters—for the most part, anyway. We are merely actors of the word. Our stage is the page. Our paint is our imagination; our brush is our words.

I read "Roleplaying is the art of playing a role or pretend. It's stepping into the life of a character and experiencing what they experience." and thought, this is the land of my people, lmao.

I had yet to hear that, so thanks.

My personal favorite is If My Heart Would Somehow Stop, but that's more of a personal reason because it was a song that some friends and I loved to listen to before they moved away.

Personally, I like a good mix. My character should make his own decisions, but still follow a general storyline. Sure, some plans and aspects of the original idea may change, but that's perfectly fine because our characters are being who they are! It's more immersive that way, and it gives you a few surprises here and there. I look at it almost as the same way, but I also look as characters as a big piece in the story as a whole. Roleplaying to me is about telling a great story, and usually, the driving force of a great story is it's characters. Even the three main rules of great storytelling revolves around the characters. In telling a great story, what you need is great characters and in that way, I could sort of see them as a tool for having telling a great tale.

The Three Main Rules of Storytelling

1. Who wants what?
2. Why can't they have it?
3. Why do I give a shit?

Reason, Motivation, and Conflict in three easy questions.

 

[determinator]

My personal favorite is If My Heart Would Somehow Stop, but that's more of a personal reason because it was a song that some friends and I loved to listen before they moved away.

Personally, I like a good mix. My character should make his own decisions, but still follow a general storyline. Sure, some plans and aspects of the original idea may change, but that's perfectly fine because our characters are being who they are! It's more immersive that way, and it gives you a few surprises here and there. I look at it almost as the same way, but I also look as characters as a big piece in the story as a whole. Roleplaying to me is about telling a great story, and usually, the driving force of a great story is it's characters. Even the three main rules of great storytelling revolves around the characters.

The Three Main Rules of Storytelling

1. Who wants what?
2. Why can't they have it?
3. Why do I give a shit?

I was going to mention that one, haha. Honestly, I like McMorrow, but only those two songs stand out because I'm totally the aggressive fast-paced-music-HELL-YEAH type.

Well, yeah. That's the point. The world shapes the person and the person shapes the world. The elements are much more convoluted than they (or I) ever let on. Going with the whole "onions have layers", storytelling is one gigantic fucking onion—but only because so are people and their environments.

I like that set of rules. I read "Why do I give a shit?" as "Why do I/the audience give a shit?", though. It's less about why I give a shit, for me, and more about why the readers should. So I end up trying to detach myself for the reader's perspective as well as the writer's and the characters', which becomes this flurry of "WHAT IS GOING ON?" that unravels itself naturally.
Explaining is so much harder than doing. Writing is the one place where "easier said than done" is the worst thing to say (for me). Nah, nah, person I'm talking to, it's way more than you think it is. All this shit I'm explaining to you now happens in like two seconds while writing. It's instinct now. You may turn into ALIENS guy when it comes to characters, but I might as well be Envy or Mystique.

Comes from a long life of living a thousand other lives, as I'm sure you understand all too well. A vivid imagination means that we don't just live our lives, but the lives of many, many others.

I just got flashbacks of how difficult it is to explain how I "play characters so well" to someone that read a blurb I shit out about a character I hadn't played before (Spike).
It went something like "There's no way you haven't (played him before)."
"I'm serious. I didn't even think about it. Just started with the end, then did a bit of the middle, and let him fill in the rest. All of the analysis that goes on happens subconsciously."

Which is something I wish I could share with others, if I only knew how it happened, other than the empathy of an armada of Jesuses.

I sound like a braggart lmao.

 

[thisolddarkmachine]

I was going to mention that one, haha. Honestly, I like McMorrow, but only those two songs stand out because I'm totally the aggressive fast-paced-music-HELL-YEAH type.

Well, yeah. That's the point. The world shapes the person and the person shapes the world. The elements are much more convoluted than they (or I) ever let on. Going with the whole "onions have layers", storytelling is one gigantic fucking onion—but only because so are people and their environments.

I like that set of rules. I read "Why do I give a shit?" as "Why do I/the audience give a shit?", though. It's less about why I give a shit, for me, and more about why the readers should. So I end up trying to detach myself for the reader's perspective as well as the writer's and the characters', which becomes this flurry of "WHAT IS GOING ON?" that unravels itself naturally.
Explaining is so much harder than doing. Writing is the one place where "easier said than done" is the worst thing to say (for me). Nah, nah, person I'm talking to, it's way more than you think it is. All this shit I'm explaining to you now happens in like two seconds while writing. It's instinct now. You may turn into ALIENS guy when it comes to characters, but I might as well be Envy or Mystique.

Comes from a long life of living a thousand other lives, as I'm sure you understand all too well. A vivid imagination means that we don't just live our lives, but the lives of many, many others.

I just got flashbacks of how difficult it is to explain how I "play characters so well" to someone that read a blurb I shit out about a character I hadn't played before (Spike).
It went something like "There's no way you haven't (played him before)."
"I'm serious. I didn't even think about it. Just started with the end, then did a bit of the middle, and let him fill in the rest. All of the analysis that goes on happens subconsciously."

Which is something I wish I could share with others, if I only knew how it happened, other than the empathy of an armada of Jesuses.

I sound like a braggart lmao.

The rules are obviously personalized. To the writer, asking the question, "Why do I give a shit?" is giving the audience a reason to care for the story and characters. It's practically what you just said, but in a different perspective. Instead of why the audience/reader giving a shit, it's a question for the writer himself. It's to give the people an incentive to read on, pursue the story and get connected to the characters.

I never like to put myself in the hole of trying to explain to a person what's already going on after I finished posting. I want to be concise, understandable yet descriptive. That's why I've leaned towards a writing style that is much easier to understand for a wider audience. It's a pain to explain sometimes, but it's also partly my fault half the time.

I understand the feeling of truly knowing a character and when you tell them that the character is new or you haven't used him before simply blows their minds. You play it so convincingly, you get so into character that in that moment in time, you aren't you, but someone else. It's truly a wonderful experience people need to try.

Don't worry bro. You don't sound like a braggart to me :P

 

[determinator]

The rules are obviously personalized. To the writer, asking the question, "Why do I give a shit?" is giving the audience a reason to care for the story and characters. It's practically what you just said, but in a different perspective. Instead of why the audience/reader giving a shit, it's a question for the writer himself. It's to give the people an incentive to read on, pursue the story and get connected to the characters.

I never like to put myself in the hole of trying to explain to a person what's already going on after I finished posting. I want to be concise, understandable yet descriptive. That's why I've leaned towards a writing style that is much easier to understand for a wider audience. It's a pain to explain sometimes, but it's also partly my fault half the time.

I understand the feeling of truly knowing a character and when you tell them that the character is new or you haven't used him before simply blows their minds. You play it so convincingly, you get so into character that in that moment in time, you aren't you, but someone else. It's truly a wonderful experience people need to try.

Don't worry bro. You don't sound like a braggart to me :P

Yep. It's dual, because you have to know yourself, and know the readers, and knowing yourself means you can actively and accurately figure out ways to engage the readers. Department of Redundancy Department.

I get that, but I mean explaining how it works to people that ask from the outside. The example I used was a roommate.
"What? How do? JackieChanwat.jpg"
"I dunno lol ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

I understand the hesitance to not try it, though. What comes naturally for some doesn't for others, especially in this case. I can wax poetic about a character from a show I haven't even seen before based on some paltry information from their wiki page. It'll be spotty, but still there; others wouldn't be able to just fly by the seat of their pants like that. Others more can't/don't like playing pre-made or canon characters because it's uncomfortable, or because they're pre-made, or because they're "too confined" (which they're not, at all). It's completely understandable. What's comfortable is comfortable; I'm not going to rag on that. I just can't explain why random shit like this comes so easily for me when the next guy can spend half a decade honing the character that I just shit out.
Of course, that isn't to say I haven't experienced said characters, because Spike Spiegel I've seen before. I watched the whole series. I knew. At the point of writing that for him, though, I hadn't seen the entirety of the series or even one of the episodes since I watched it during airing when I was about 14-15. That was the largest reason for the roommate's surprise. My analysis comes subconsciously because I've spent so long observing, and everything filters through naturally. The small historical details are important as well, but their personalities can be identified in patterns and tweaked until they're right based on their own experiences. There's the whole "I'm reading this and thinking 'You've thought about this so much, and I haven't at all'" and I managed to be a huge asshole and say "That's the thing; I haven't (actively) thought about it at all."

I'm explaining a lot of random hooey I could just copy-paste.
Also, I guess it's a relief that I don't sound like a braggart, though I still think I do.

 

[Diana]

I think you're both going to enjoy this place and find your peoples just fine. >:3

HI TIM WELCOME TO IWAKU! 8D

I believe you are going to loooove some of the character exercises in the Roleplay Institute. O_O I am a character person too, myself. My whole roleplay universe is about living my character's lives, they are real people to me. (But in a totally sane, I know they aren't actual people sort of way. >>;)

 

[Suga]

*awkwardly walks into conversation shyly*
Well.. I hate to break up this flow but welcome?
*blushes* and uhhh yeah hehe
Welcome^^
Ever want to talk to someone send me a message~

 

[thisolddarkmachine]

I think you're both going to enjoy this place and find your peoples just fine. >:3

HI TIM WELCOME TO IWAKU! 8D

I believe you are going to loooove some of the character exercises in the Roleplay Institute. O_O I am a character person too, myself. My whole roleplay universe is about living my character's lives, they are real people to me. (But in a totally sane, I know they aren't actual people sort of way. >>;)

Thanks for the warm welcome! The mods here are really nice compared to some other forums I've been on. What you guys do really helps the newcomers by giving them such a warm welcome/introduction to this world of roleplaying and having great narratives.

 

[thisolddarkmachine]

*awkwardly walks into conversation shyly*
Well.. I hate to break up this flow but welcome?
*blushes* and uhhh yeah hehe
Welcome^^
Ever want to talk to someone send me a message~

I'll be sure to message you some time! I don't have any ideas in my head about roleplay or whatnot, so once I think of something too legit to quit, I'll message X3 Or, I could simply message you about whatever and talk about silly things if you'd like?

 

[Suga]

Hehe message away! ^^ I love talking<3