Is less more when it comes to TRPs?

I’ve always thought that the longer someone’s TRP is and the more details there are, the better a TRP is as there’s more fleshed out with your character. Lately I’ve been reconsidering that though, as I have found myself that I can’t really read through super long TRPs and get everything about someone’s character in my head. Props to a post I saw in MG forums too for spurring this topic.

Do you guys think that shorter TRPs are better? Is there a sweet spot when it comes to writing them between almost no information and writing an entire essay about your character?

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Depends!

For the most part, less IS more… it’s more fun to read a TRP where there are 5 descriptive Glances that give you basic character info than to hide it all in walls of text, right?

I’ll admit I only really read the glances for most character walk-ups, and then read further into the main character about only if I want heavier reading… and even then, it has to be broken up into readable chunks, maybe some color changes so I can see different information in handy sections.

Think of it as a basic intro to the character, or an advertisement. Maybe put up the most important info you want for a character first, and if you feel the need to go more in-depth, put that later as a sort of, “Hey, here’s all this you could learn…”

The last thing I want to do is read a massive 32 page essay when I’m checking someone’s profile.

List important details (no, the size of ones chest or backside doesn’t count as important) of the character that mine would likely notice.
Listing how one sounds is also useful at times. Their tone of voice, maybe even their attitude.
Clothing doesn’t usually need to be mentioned at all, unless they’re wearing something special. Wedding ring, necklace, a big goofy hat, an eyepatch… Things that someone would notice. No need to ever mention underwear unless your dude is running around free as a bird.

All that shouldn’t be more than a couple of paragraphs, if that.

History can be a bit longer, but again, usually better to keep that short as well. Let people learn the history of your character through interactions.

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Big profiles can be really cool and I do actually like reading them!

At that same time it can be really overwhelming for me and I have no idea what to do with all that information.

I tend to just skip history sections altogether. If I want to have a bit where I could set up connections from the past I just have a shortlist of things that someone could whisper me about wanting to have known said character from.

Now days I tend to just have a brief description of appearance, noting important distinguishing and identifying features, what they’re carrying on them, and some rp hooks. Everything else goes in a glance which I also try to keep real short.

TBH? I don’t read long descriptions unless I have a reason to- IE I’m going to be getting into a long-term situation with them and am looking for some way to work on their own personal RP. It’s just an info dump, and most of the relevant stuff comes out in RP! A description of the character is good enough for me. :slight_smile:

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Very much a personal question. I tend to put WAY too much detail in my TRP’s solely because I use it as a reference for myself for things such as appearance, skills, etc. etc.

An example is one day it became relevant that I needed to know my character’s dominant hand - I chose left on a whim - and I put it down in the TRP. It would be a full year before this information became relevant again and I had long forgotten, but lo and behold when it became relevant it was right there on the record as a friendly reminder. Might be an unnecessary detail, but it helps me with consistency.

BUT, typically less is more solely because the larger the TRP the longer it takes for low end PCs to load the TRP. If your TRP is so long that other players can’t see it due to load times…perhaps its time to cull it down a little.

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I mainly care about fully fleshed-out TRPs to see if they put thought into their character or not. If it’s long, I skim through it to make sure, if it’s short, I’ll read it. I intend to get most of the relevant stuff out of normal interaction.

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All of the above touch on my thoughts about profiles, funny enough.

Personally, I prefer if there is at least something. It shows you put some care and thought in! I feel for those that have had TRP wipes though :frowning: I learnt that lesson the hard way.

That being said, I’ll straight-up admit I dont read really long profiles (unless I’m persuing a long term RP), or at-a-glances if they are more than a sentence or two long. To me, those little snippets are more important than the about tab, and if I have to dig around to get basic information, i just get turned off.

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I use the trp 3 template that breaks it up into sections. Its easier on the eyes.

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It depends on what your preference is.

There are different type TRP profiles, and each has its own readability level, IMO. The standard subdivided sections tend to be too dry and on-the-nose for my taste, but they do deliver a lot of info quickly.

More prose-like descriptions tend to read better, but they can be lengthy. I prefer to chop this style up into mini-paragraphs (usually 2-3 sentences) so it’s not giant blocks of text. Also, limit the length to what would only take a person 2-3 down arrow clicks to read in its entirety, if that makes sense?

The last style I see less often is a snapshot/mini movie scene that more reveals IC what a character is like than it does just telling history, personality, languages spoken, etc. OOC. This is very readable, IMO, and my own preference. That said, these again, can be more lengthy.

Content-wise, I don’t like writing a whole novel of my character’s history. I prefer (both for my own and when reading others’) to leave the physical appearance, scent, noteworthy items, and observable things to the 5 At First Glances, and then a moderate amount of detail to the history/personality (using whatever of the above styles you prefer) and let the rest come out through RP.

My style is usually 2-3 paragraphs for physicality and personality, and 1 for history. I think having some history is good in that it can create hooks for RP for other people, but an entire biography is usually not read. I’d say keeping profiles medium in length and organized is the sweet spot.

Some people love going into long details about their character, and that’s alright, but for myself I try to keep it short, sweet, and to the point.

That and honestly I started repeating myself if I try and write anything beyond two or three paragraphs.

Ugh, I can relate so much. When I talk in trade chat I often don’t see what I put beforehand and end up repeating the same words twice in a sentence. ><

Thank you all for the replies. It’s helped me a lot with deciding what I should and shouldn’t put in my TRP.

I like a good sized profile. Enough that gets an overview of my character - Who they are, what they have on them, what they look like. Each one gets their own catagory, typically appearance, belongings/weapons/armor, and typical attitude/interaction expectations.
I sometimes put history, but that’s really for me, or perhaps a little backstory for the people who might be interested in rp.

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Yes. My TRP consists of one single sentence which sums up my characters attitude. Aside from his full name and race/class. Also I might add a link in the OOC section for my characters website. Yes he has a dedicated website, I’m a hardcore roleplayer, heh.

But to answer your question, yes. Less is more.

It is my opinion that TRP killed WoW RP, too many people read the headlines and then prejudge a character and or player, which is sad really.

Hope that helps.

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I’m in the “less is more” camp. Unless I’m interviewing the player for the guild, I usually only skim over a character’s backstory if I read it at all, because I don’t want that meta knowledge. My main’s TRP has her at-a-glances filled out, but for the backstory part there’s just a brief teaser mentioning some of the things she’s been in the past - former Sentinel, former Devilclaw, former pit-fighter, former a lot of things - and a list of some of the names people call her, followed by a short IC paragraph of her reacting to a reader as if the reader had asked her about her past. Not unfriendly, just uh… well, come RP with Tyrnathera and read it if you like.

I like to see something in the backstory part, even if it’s just “best learned through RP,” but if there’s too much there…I guess if there’s a whole ton of stuff there in the backstory, to me personally I think I find it off-putting because RPing with them would feel to me like stepping into a story that’s already all been written, rather than being invited to participate in a story that’s ongoing. I realize that isn’t rational and I’ve only just now realized it so I’m going to try to adjust that reaction, but I kinda think that’s part of why very long and detailed backstories tend not to be appealing to me. And also I don’t want the meta knowledge - I don’t want it to affect any RP I have with them.

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I like less personally, straight to the point and no essay about how this guy has a double-chin or his muscular chest just for one feature

I’ve always been a fan of the “less is more” philosophy when it comes to profiles. By the same token I heartily adhere to the “show, don’t tell” school of narration. If you give away every bit of plot and history of your character in a bio I feel it limits potential future opportunities for natural growth. TRP should be like the inside cover of a novel - give the reader enough information to get them interested and let things progress from there.

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I like shorter TRPs because it allows you to learn more about that character by RPing with them, as opposed to having everything you need to know right there at your fingertips.
Not that I have anything against longer/more-detailed TRPs, either. It also doesn’t help that I don’t usually have the time/attention span to read an extremely long TRP when RPing with someone, but that’s more a me problem than anything pfft

Someone on this thread mentioned “show, don’t tell”, and I couldn’t agree more with that, especially when it comes to a storytelling standpoint, which is what RP more or less is

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Honestly, the key takeaway that I’ve learned is that formatting is very important when it comes to profile reception. My main character’s profile is really long, ending just before TRP3 has that “you should probably shorten that up” message, but the way I split up the sections makes it a lot easier for a person to see what’s pertinent to their interests.

OOC Notes? Easy to find, at the bottom. The ‘intro’ to my writing style? Right there, at the top; three thicc paragraphs for anyone interested. Links to character art? Just under the OOC notes.

When it comes to TRP I think that the At-First-Glance system and the customizable ‘misc info’ sections where you fill in your race/class/whatevers are also really handy. It’s a lot of different stuff that a player can choose to utilize but as a pretty-much constant rper, myself, I barely go through peoples’ information unless I’m looking for specific stuff and I don’t really just sit back with a cup of coffee and peruse other peoples’ things unless I’m looking for inspiration on a new character.

A big profile isn’t an issue until it’s just a giant wall of text that’s overloaded and difficult to breeze through in the middle of an encounter (unless I want to hold people up). A small profile isn’t an issue unless there’s a lot of things that aren’t really ‘there,’ and then I have to figure it out through a more direct method which can feel awkward.

Less can be more, that’s for sure, but I don’t think that has to mean you should stay short and sweet for everything. Like—I spent 7-9 hours (on and off across a whole day) writing and rewriting my profile for Alison over a year ago because I wanted its paragraphs to look and flow ‘perfect.’ I’m still, so many months later, really satisfied with it and I still get a lot of positive feedback.

So, I recommend taking time to write out all of the things that you want to illustrate, and then start weaving those particular parts together with your desired paragraph-styles and maybe the use of bullet-points or different colored text-fonts to differentiate OOC notes and IC notes.

Treat it like a creativity project, imho.

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