hootOS

HOOT_OS - V.30

Stryxnine Amity Pulsatrix
(30/🇨🇦/Saskatchewan)
NACRS Organizer
esports broadcast producer
plural, autistic, adhd
disability & queer activist
hobbyist archival researcher
bylines in Traxion.gg
loves @kadybat and @traumagotchi and @kaceydotme

57RYX9 DESIGN - Visual FX and Graphic Design North American Cohost Racing Series organizer & founder
Big Muddy Archive News


MSN Escargot
hootwheelz@escargot.chat

I used to have a pretty reserved attitude towards roleplay. I find it difficult for me to fully immerse myself in characters that don't embody some major part of me. it isn't so much the shame or embarrassment that comes from Playing Pretend, but the strangeness that comes with occupying unfamiliar territory.

my most successful participation in roleplay has always been playing a character that is just a somewhat amplified version of myself. after trial and error through FiveM, i've found ways to embody characters who are emphatically different from each other but still use parts of me to inform the characters' behaviors. allow me to introduce you to my best FiveM characters.


Cameron Pulsatrix

Player characters in FiveM sitting around a patio.

Cameron is a huge car nut. whether it's on two wheels or four, V8 or Inline-4, turbocharged or naturally aspirated, German or American, fast supercar or asthmatic tin can on wheels, he loves it. He never owns the same car for too long, and the cars he drives never look the same every time you see them. He's always tweaking and customizing his cars to suit his rapidly changing tastes. His constant tinkering led to him being a highly sought-after prospect for car shops across Canada, but after a death in the family he decided to move to Los Santos to pursue bigger things than his home country could offer him. Shortly after moving, his talent was noticed by a motorsports team from San Andreas who hired him as a lead engineer for their efforts in European GT championships. During his first season with Over_Clokt Automotive, the team's car somehow disappeared during transport back to the States. He was one of the prime suspects as the member of the team that spent the most time around the car, but was eventually cleared when evidence showed that the car was being driven in a racing festival in Mexico while he was being questioned. It was eventually found that the transporter of the vehicle had stolen it, taken it across the Mexican border and sold it at that same car festival for a quick buck. The team almost immediately folded since their budgets were already heavily strained just keeping the one racecar operational, forcing Cameron to abandon his dreams of fighting for championships... for now.

Head Witch Lexi Strickland

A black and white image of a woman standing in front of a lake.

Lexi is a tarot card reader, though the title she prefers to use is Cartomancer. Known as Sticks by her friends, thanks to the packs of incense she always carried with her. She's a firm believer in the ability to control one's destiny at all times, even in moments where it seems impossible. When offering card readings to her clients, she takes care in reminding them that they always have control over their own destiny. "The cards do not seal your fate, you can always change it." Her measured approach to cartomancy gives her a unique flair among other cartomancers that many of her clients have come to appreciate. Her favorite tarot deck, which she calls the Hayworth Deck, features grotesque imagery of body horror and powerful symbology. As a result of its mature imagery and emotionally powerful readings that come with it, she only offers this deck to clients she can trust to maintain their composure and think clearly throughout the reading. The few clients who've had readings with the Hayworth deck have been thoroughly impressed with its shocking depth and accuracy, with some saying it helped them see hope through terrible circumstances. She's often found near bodies of water; if you find a purple hearse parked near a river, chances are pretty high she's close by - and always happy to provide an impromptu reading. She opened a restaurant called the Cartomancy Cafe, where she offered a cup of coffee and a danish with every card reading. She was planning to open up a school to teach the craft of cartomancy before family matters pulled her away from San Andreas.

Rigsby

A freckled, spectacled woman standing in front of a bright green muscle car.

Rigsby is the most unlike me of the bunch. She's pretty abrasive and blunt, which comes from being raised in a household with three brothers and two mechanics for fathers in the midwest. She works as a repowoman out of a repossession business in Carcer City, who was sent to San Andreas when the business was contracted to find rare sports cars that were stolen and taken to the island under the assumption that the business would have no jurisdiction in the area. Unluckily for those would-be carlifters, the business also (unbeknownst to Rigsby) has ties to a Russian mob. With the help of a local adrenaline junkie, she was able to complete her task and return to Carcer City.


Four cars parked in a mechanic shop.

All these characters had really fun roleplay interactions, especially Rigsby and Lexi. Rigsby in particular was a fun challenge. I tried my best to emulate some kind of midwestern accent (according to players native to the area it was a comically bad New Jersey accent, which is exactly what i was going for) and just have fun with her character. It ended up in a genuinely fun roleplay experience with another player where the two of them paired up to take down NPCs driving expensive cars (which was achieved by revving the motor near them, which would spook them and make them drive wrecklessly until they either crashed and died or despawned if they got too far away). It was really fun to do some general work in the server as her, build up some cash and then call the other player character and dump easy cash on him.

Lexi was also really awesome to roleplay as. I'm a pretty good cartomancer, and the Hayworth deck is by far my best deck. I ended up scanning the Major Arcana cards from that deck to use for my tarot readings, which I supplemented by arranging the cards in a spread with Paint Dot Net like this:

Five tarot cards splayed across a grey wooden table

Three tarot cards on a computer desk, and a FiveM phone app showing the same cards on a FiveM twitter post.

Every card reading was genuine and real, as if I were reading for a real person. As a result, some really meaningful character interactions took place. Many player characters were going through some difficult problems, but sometimes the players themselves just didn't know where to take their character next and used those tarot readings to make a decision - which was a REALLY AWESOME interaction I didn't even think of when I created Lexi! Beyond that, some players talked to me after the scene and said they were deeply moved by the reading personally. It certainly gave me pause for thought. I love cartomancy, it's a really cool method of telling stories people can relate to. The last thing I want from cartomancy, though, is for people to use my readings to make important, life-changing decisions in their lives. I've previously done readings for people who've taken these readings extremely seriously to the point of great concern for me. At that point, I stopped offering them readings. The last thing I want is for my readings to influence somebody towards making a choice that harms them. So while roleplaying as Lexi is extremely fun and rewarding, I've noticed it has a potential for OOC consequences that I'm anxious about. As a result, I'm not really sure if I'll bring that kind of character back into use again, but if I do there is certainly a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to make sure the players know not to take these readings too seriously.

All-in-all, roleplaying is extremely fun when you find characters you love to inhabit. Giving them purpose isn't necessary; most of these characters didn't have deep backstories until over a week into roleplaying as them, and some didn't even serve a proper purpose beyond being a warm body in the server until a couple days after they were created. But i gotta say, roleplay is an extremely fun and rewarding experience that I'd recommend to everybody. Whether it's FiveM, RedM, D&D or just playing pretend, roleplaying is a beautiful experience I think everyone should have often.


You must log in to comment.