Forums » RP Discussion » RP with Alternate Versions of Characters

Yo. I like the game Mario Kart 8, and one thing I like about it is how you get to play as different versions of characters, such as Baby Mario and Metal Mario and Pink Gold Peach and Cat Peach. So I started thinking about how much fun it might be to role-play with alternate versions of the same character.

Here's what I mean: let's say we wanted to play as Naruto Uzumaki. One of us would take young Naruto from the original series, while the other takes, say, Toad Sage Naruto, or even Sexy Jutsu Naruto. Now, there are some obvious problems with how to make this sort of thing work, and I wanted to get people's opinions about how to work through these issues before I propose such a thing for real.

Let me start this discussion by suggesting that such an RP be primarily humorous. That's what I would prefer, anyway. This way, we could could explore and exaggerate any kinds of personality differences each form would have. It would give us chances to put our own fun spin on our favorite canon characters!

What do you all think? Would it be fun to play as alternate versions of the same character? How would you make it work?

I LOVE this idea. I think it'd work the best with settings that have a multiverse.

For example, Transformers.

For the hypothetical RP it'd be interesting to take say, Transformers: Aniamted Bulkhead and mash him up with Transformers Prime Bulkhead, or G1 Optimus with Movie Optimus.

Alternatively we could just make our own versions of the character we choose to play.

For example, My take on a stand up comedian Spider-man paired with your cool skater Spider-man in a Spider-verse style rp.

Tho IDK how it would be done with Oc's.

I think the Spider-verse would work a lot better than the Transformers bit. With the Transformers, their alternate versions would be sort of different, but not in ways I would find super meaningful. The different Spider-Men, though, those would be nice and diverse feeling, because they would operate in truely different ways (or at least they CAN).

I think I see what you mean. Looking back at it, most transformers characters have several defining traits all versions of them have.

One thing I think would be really fun would be taking Mario forms and making them interact with each other. Imagine Metal Mario and Boo Mario, you know? Or the Pink Gold Peach from Mario Kart 8 and Cat Peach. How different would they be, and yet how strangely similar in spite of that?

That would be interesting, though I'm not too sure how different they'd end up. Even if they have different powers, they're still the same person.

I think his idea is a "what if they aren't really the same person and the different versions have distinct habits and altered personalities based upon what that version is/does?"

Oh, I thought he meant just like, Mario with the tanuki power up running into himself, but with the cape power up.

Yeah, Cape Mario would be walking around with his chest out and making heroic speeches, while Metal Mario would move using stiff motions and have no concept of how much it hurts when he slaps you on the back!

To use the Naruto example, imagine Toad Sage Naruto always trying to find time to meditate, but young Naruto is always acting up for attention and interrupting him!

I think, by default, this setup would have to have a humorous tone.

I have no familiarity with naruto, but I get what you mean. Yeah it probably would need to be comedic in nature lol, but still an interesting idea

But then you get difficult categories, like the different versions of Godzilla, which are all pretty much just different creatures: Mecha Godzilla, Space Godzilla, Zilla (from the '98 American film). Should those count in this particular type of RP?

On the other hand, you have someone like Dark Link, who is a separate entity from Link, but not really an independent one. That complicates everything.

In cases like these, I try to go with whatever is most fun, but I'm not sure what that would be in this case.

GIVE ME

I'm an absurdly MASSIVE Godzilla nerd. Despite all being based on Godzilla, Mecha-Goji, Space-Goji, and Zilla are generally all considered different monsters.

However, something that would work with this scenario would be say, Showa Era Godzilla running into Legendary Godzilla, or Showa Era Mecha-Godzilla(The alien one) running into Kiryu, the Millenium Era's Mecha-Godzilla.

In scenarios like Link and Dark Link, I don't think those would count. They aren't different takes on Link's character, like BotW Link and Windwaker Link, but Link and basically an evil clone.

*waves like a crazy person to try drawing attention*

OKAY FOLKS so Connan here is a pretty great and flexible player, and super willing to adjust to ensure his partners have fun (but you do gotta say it plainly).

And he won't stop talking about this idea. I'm useless for it because there's so little I know anything about and I'm not good with the sort of cartoonish humor he most enjoys.

Please, if you are a fan of things this idea could work with, and have even just considered playing a canon character, hit him up to see what you might get. He can't focus on anything else right now. He's just not really sure yet what he wants to do with it.

Seriously though, I play with him all the time, and it's fun stuff. In my experience, a more straightforward, to the point writing style meshes best.

*sets up arrows pointing at ConnanBell that read TOTALLY AWESOME GUY*

They shouldn't... but I know people are really going to want to play as some of those evil clones. Essentially, every rule I've come up with has needed to have a small number of exceptions for the sake of fun.

Well, if they wanna play an evil version of a hero or a good counterparto f a villain, rather than using an in canon already existing evil clone they could just make an alternate evil version of the character isntead. Using the Link example, rather than playing Shadow link, someone could play a version of link where the Triforce is shifted, and he has the Triforce of Power and is the 'Ganon' figure of that universe, or play an evil link from an au where the Triforce is different things or something.

I have racked my brain for ways to permit people to play as Shadow Link, because I know people will want to, and I want to allow it... eh, special cases like that can be negotiated on a case-by-case basis with each player, but, for the most part, if it's a different character, it doesn't count. Pit and Dark Pit are another case where the evil clone really came into his own super quickly.

So, gray areas aside, I think this could be a lot of fun! I would really like to play as either Toad Sage Naruto or Metal Mario in a kind of Slice of Life roommate scenario punched up with really low-stakes action, like competing to see who does dishes!!

This reminds me of the Doctor Who movie, where two different incarnations of the Doctor got to meet. David Tenant's doctor made fun of Matt Smith's doctor's larger-than-normal chin. It was funny.

This seems like it would be reeeaaally fun, but I don't play canon characters

I just want to be the plain ol NPC type of person stuck in the middle of a world where there are like 5 different Narutos, Peach, Link, and Spiderman all in one noodle shop.

I typically don't either, but this is one case where I would be willing to make an exception. Creating your own interpretation of how Pink Gold Peach would act being a person made of metal or how different Kirby types would make choices given their unique abilities is always fun. It's one step removed from an OC at that point.