Forums » RP Discussion » So tired of werewolves.

I'm tired of awful characters giving them all a bad name D : If we're going to whine about races, add humans to the list. Seriously.
More humans than there ever were fantasy races. I guess they're all unoriginal too.

I personally hate when people judge by character race... because it happens to me way too often >: | Which is why I feel very strongly about it. They never looked at my character, just his race.

Anyway, well, I guess it's fine to hate all of the seen-it-before stuff, but don't hate the race... you have to remember that there are people out there who can make a damn good character no matter what they are. < 3

(wow, it sounds like we're talking about racism. *shot*)

I'm a werewolf!
Sort of.
Maybe.
Almost?

Not hate, love! Yes, lovin'. Lots of it. Hmm. Yes. *pervface*

Define 'cookie-cutter.' When I think of werewolves, I think of your average-joe guy that was newly bitten and has to go through the change, turning into this grossly muscular wolf anthro and killing people and not remembering anything about it the next day. He's easy to anger and quick to foolishly reveal his true identity to anyone and everyone. How these characters aren't killed within a week, I'll never know.

I've at least tried to get around this with Nero. For one thing, it's a she instead of he, which is a little more rare. She is docile, doesn't eat meat (except for the obvious full moon rampage) and tries almost everything under the sun to keep herself at bay during the full moon; Silver chains, wolfsbane, etc... Instead of not remembering what happened during the shift, she finds herself controlled by the wolf, not really locked away into the back of the mind as most are played. If anything, this gives other roleplayers a chance to knock her out of it and give her a chance to regain some form of control. This causes some nightmares as you can imagine, but she isn't all emo about it for attention.

I think it's a little unfair to boycott a race simply because of cliche's. I also have a child vampire assassin named Margareta, a goofy and carefree dragon named Tivi, and several other characters that I try to keep well-rounded and entertaining not only for myself but for everyone else involved. It's just a matter of who you choose to roleplay with.

Cookie cutter is the same thing all over again.. 95% of werewolf characters we see, in Furcadia at least, all follow the same storyline. It's the same character with a different jacket.

It baiscally comes down to the "I'm a docile, introverted person who doesn't harm a fly, but once a month I go on a killing spree and when I'm a human again I get all emo and withdrawn about it because I don't really want to kill anything." It's not that this is a bad setup for a character, but almost every does it just like that. And most of what I've seen, the characters are unrealistically setup as well.

There is no boycott on werewolves, really. It's a dislike towards the players who can't come up with something that hasn't been turned over and used hundreds of times already. Instead of making a murder machine, what about a werewolf who exists to protect something? Or a Weregazelle or something crazy like that? Our imagination is entirely unlimited, yet most folks reuse the same old thing all the time.. And it's tiring, I can predict every possible outcome of a roleplay when I get started with a character like that. It's no longer any fun.

Werewolves and vampires can be excellent roleplaying characters, but only if they're unique in some way. A vampire with OCD over something ridiculous like touching every doorknob s/he sees is a hundred times more interesting and has potential for development than the same drama, dark, mystery, stoic and cold hearted vampires over and over again, you know?

Zhi (and I) don't hate the race. As I wrote above in my last post, it's the way a character is setup. Unfortunately most characters of a certain race follow the same stereotype which ruins potential for good roleplay, but we give people a chance. It's when their description describes them as the stereotype that we turn away before approaching. Or when they setup their character unrealistically (rich for no reason, so stunningly handsome 'you' pee yourself from sheer awe etc.). But not just because they're a werewolf.

And Sanne has beat me to the punch once again, lol. Exactly. I get so sick and tired of vampires and werewolves, that it takes a very rare exception for me to not facepalm the moment I see either race as a basis for a character. Sanne and Senny both have a Vampire character that I will, and have roleplayed with, but that is because there is a different spin on the character that dosent fall into the same boring been there done that story that Ive seen hundreds of times. I too have experienced rping with several different werewolf or vampire characters who fit the 'cookie cutter' description, and there were points where I could have recited most of the rest of their background after reading the first paragraph, and I knew exactly what would happen with their next post because the character was so 'formula' like they had bought it pre packaged at a store where 97% of everyone else seems to also be shopping. Yeah I used the word 'boycott' more or less to add a joking slant on the post, which was a rant... And Im getting told I 'cant boycott' Erm... duh? I dont have a magic wand that makes these characters disappear from whatever setting Im playing in, but it IS My choice to not rp with characters I see as cliche, dull and uninteresting. If you think thats unfair? I don't get paid to rp with people it's not my job. Im not being required to not discriminate. With that said, sorry for this post taking on a bit more of a harsher slant. The first post was made in frustration, but I still stand by my observations, that at least 97% of vampire and werewolf characters I have encountered in an rp setting are either cheesy, cliche cookie cutter and downright dull and predictable. However I also think, that hasty as it was the post opened up a very interesting discussion.

Why does nobody rp sparkling werewolfs? (jk)
Most werewolfes are the result of somebody wanting to rp a human, but disliking the fragile shell.
And instead of creating some character with a bit of creativity, they choose to use the old little red riding hood story over and over again - big bad wolf meets innocent but tough lady. -.-;

Awww, for a moment I thought you were talking about the original Grimm version of Red Riding Hood...oh well. xD *goes to grump about way too popular watered down Grimm tales*

I think that people being sick of them is because it's the same concept over and over again.
I have a couple of werewolves, but I really don't think they're concepts that have been seen before.
Same with vampires. There are a couple of really awesome and amusing ones around, but lots of the time it's just... the same thing.

EDIT: Well, I pretty much just summarized the entire forum topic in this post. Forgive me, I must have not been reading clearly.
Pretend the post isn't here, please.

I'm personally a big fan of the animal shapeshifting theme (I have quite a lot of druidlike characters. :p) I must say I know only one werewolf character though, and I've only ever rped with a single Vampire character and that was a long time ago.

I do agree with Sanne on that there are indeed more werecreatures to choose from, D&d has were-everything and I know that the Weretiger is an 'actual' legend from India, along with a few other werecreatures.

I guess the problem is that they're less well known, I don't think there are any movies or shows about were's any other than the wolf kind.

I like werewolves, but the ones that are done over and over again kinda irritate me a little. There's God-knows how many werewolves on Furcadia. My own liking of werewolves comes from the fact I like (herp) wolves and mythology. I'm pondering trying a throw-back idea from earlier times. People that shifted into feral animals during the full moon. Actually, I **think** that might be the original concept of a were. Not sure, so don't quote me on it.

I do have a werecat character, though... not that I use him overly often. I honestly prefer werecats, especially weretigers, to werewolves.

On the subject of Vampires, I like to think that I made Vincent an interesting one, but... I'll never call him unique. It's difficult to make truly unique characters that at least one person won't say "hey that reminds me of _____" about. I don't think I have enough room on this site to fully detail Vincent. orz

To the original thread founder: I think your anger is misdirected. Yes, werewolves and vampires are overplayed, but it's because it's one of the oldest ideas to the unimaginative RPer. The same fault befalls demons and angels, too. Dragons, even, but less readily for some reason.

Anything can have cookie-cutter stories. Anything can be made new and different, too. I've seen amazing vampires. I've seen a vampire character who's base visual age was 75 or so. I mean, rising cheeks, wrinkles abound that stretched into his smile, thick eyebrows, moles and warts, hair in funny places until he trimmed it to be presentable as a businessman--he was rich because in RP the player actually went through a few eras and stole people's land by war or claiming their titles and made a small empire, then turned it into a modern monopoly. I loved that character. He didn't burn up in the sun instantly, but he sure could sunburn because his skin was dead. He layered on special sunscreen he helped manufacture to prevent turning into a lobster after a few minutes. Vampires can be done right, even while following traditional ideas.

Werewolves are the same thing, though I can't think of any particular examples of ones I've seen.

Demons? How many demons have I seen that were something like The Supreme Lord of Something Evil Sounding of the Grand Pit of (Insert), Controller of (Insert), Prince of (Insert)? How many even have an explanation for why their demon wants to do ill, beyond the fact that they were a demon? What, everything that falls from heaven wants to be just as bad as the person who did it to them? Oh, that's right, there's all the fallen angels that weep tears of blood over their cruel fate. Nobody can ever get up and move on with freedom, god forbid. (I've got three to counteract this statement).

And of course, angels are always beautiful, even if lost and somehow forgetting how to get back to heaven. Nobody ever remembers that Satan was originally an angel in concept, something sent to challenge; that the angel of death wasn't darkness, but sent by god.

Lots of things can be done badly, generically, and ultimately whatever. That doesn't mean you should hold grudge against the archetype altogether. Pretty unfair, and limiting.

I'm Minerva, and I'm for the founding of RPers Against Unfair Haters, or RPAUH and founder of RPers against Unoriginal Douchebags.

I've never encountered an interesting vampire RP. Maybe this is just me.
No matter what you do with vampires, it always seems old to me. If you go the nosferatu route, the twilight route, Anne Rice, it's all been done before and it's all blah. The only slightly intriguing idea for me was when I took one of my werewolf characters and inserted them into a semi-realistic supernatural universe where vampires were casually tossed aside as 'not worth anyone's time'.

That being said, I've never actually encountered ANY sort of werewolf character. I've met shapeshifter characters-- "I'm human and can transform into a wolf/anthro!" but not a legitimate werewolf. So I haven't really encountered this 'overdone werewolf' thing you speak of.

For me, I've roleplayed for so long, but I stay with my werewolf-esque characters, making sure to give them many weaknesses. They may be odd or not make sense, but they're there to be fully exploitable.
My current werewolf-esque character (Quatre Bornes) is so overflowing with weaknesses that after 3 years of playing him I've had to think about ways to redesign him so he's actually playable. He can't do his job is he faints all the time, or if he's constantly sick. But maybe I'm the exception to the rule, I dunno. -shrugs-

This discussion makes me want to create an uppity werewolf-esque character with absolutely no trauma or depressing story line. Rainbows and butterflies and all that jazz. That'd be kind of amusing.

Woah man... i feel targeted lol

Hey now, not all the werewolves and vampires out there are cookie cutter theme.
Go watch the 30's Wolfman and Nosferatu, Bram Stroker's Dracula and plenty of other movies/stories that portray these horrid and hellish beasts for what they truly are; man eating monsters.

I don't have a problem with them, especially considering there are some very well done werewolf (and vampire) characters in furcadia. Yes, some of them are just carbon copies; but frankly, even if you are tired of them....then don't create one. Allow people to create and play whatever they wish, however they wish -- that's the point of role playing, after all.

blood: the last vampire. watch it. Love it. Mmmm. Also someone has to keep in mind that just because they never saw a good vamp doesn't mean they didn't encounter them. If played right, you might not even know.

I'd like to consider myself a pretty good werewolf