Localized by Larmakosa

Roleplay is an aspect of gaming that always attracted me. Whatever the content might be, I enjoy becoming the character I play and giving him substance; a past and a future.

Let’s dive in the life of a pilot in Elite: Dangerous.

Summary:

 

Roleplay

Whether you’re a dwarf, a space marine, a murloc, an assassin, a worm or a pilot-commander, the character you play has a life of his own, skills, a behaviour, affinities. Just like you actually. This is what we call immersion, you embody your character. Many universes will allow you to become a persona in order to enact his/her adventure.

Maybe you’ve started roleplaying accidentally by screaming « Lok’tar » near Orgrimmar in World of Warcraft, or « Sul sul! » with your The Sims avatar? Well, you’ve become a roleplayer. Many people play it like this, unaware of it perhaps, while some others are more active and play their character during each game session.

Some are secretive about their roleplay and keep it for their private group. Communities are often mixed nowadays, and it may be difficult to find one or more people sharing that way of playing. Many times, starting a Roleplay introduction with the wrong audience will result in a negative response: « lol », « sorry, I have my aquapony lesson in 5, gotta go… »; worse, you might be ignored.

Reply in character, even briefly, to the players engaging in RP with you! It will make the in-game universe more vivid for everyone 🙂

Roleplaying game is a hobby, a passion which requires more time than that of a simple game session. Your character must have a grasp of the universe in which he evolves, just like you. You will sculpt your character through his/her actions and words.

There are two types of content intertwined to create complex stories: the game content, and the player content. It’s about using the game features and blending your character’s and/or your group’s stories within the game’s.

A lot of new contents are created this way and some can be labelled as emerging content. It’s a new form of gameplay created by the players, enable by the game features. Examples: Iridium Wing escorting explorers, The Fuels Rats dedicated to convey fuel to stranded ships, Cannon Interstellar Research specialized in scientific researches and experimentations, etc.

 

9 profile archetypes (originally called alignments in the DnD table-top RPG)

  • Lawful Good – Dogmatic and Idealistic

    • Neutral Good – Conformist and Idealistic

      • Chaotic Good – Independent but Idealistic
  • Lawful Neutral – Realist but Dogmatic

    • Neutral – Realist but Conformist

      • Chaotic Neutral – Independent and Realist
  • Lawful Evil – Dogmatic and Egoistic
    • Neutral Evil – Conformist and Egoistic

      • Chaotic Evil – Independent but Egoistic

More at Wiki – Alignments DnD

 

A few rules on Roleplay

  • Endorse your character’s personality and class,
  • Respect others characters roleplay, you cannot influence or manipulate their actions,
  • Be consistent with the game universe. Mickey can’t shoot a torpedo with a payload containing 5 fully armed jedis with one wearing a pirate hook, while Peter Pan shoots lasers on Jack Sparrow’s ship and Harry Potter screams frantically « Leeloo Dallas Multipass! »… Or can he?
  • Communications with other players are important:
    • Speech stands for what your character wishes to publicly expressed
    • Actions are meant to have an impact on the characters environment ***Warning, John Doe takes out his blaster and rushes towards the distress call***
    • Descriptions provide context and allow other players to anticipate and understand your actions: *Temperature within the ship was very low. John Doe wishes he had taken his guardian fur padded Remlok suit with him. Our hero was supposedly alone in the ship; strange that voices could be resonating in his glorious Zorgon Peterson Mamba. Obviously, an episode of Kaamelott was being played in the next room*.

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Build and Develop

In Elite: Dangerous, every player starts as a pilot. You either have been officially trained, got a license, or you learned by yourself… In any case, you know how to fly a spaceship in the 34th century!
Then you can define his physical appearance through the in-game Holo-Me feature.
It would be wise to first work on the story of your character, so that you have a better idea of how is appearance may partly convey it.

Here are some basic characteristics that will help you shape your character:

  • Gender: male, female other
  • Name: Ishmael, Kahina, Ram, Jasmina, Jaques, Gibson, Aisling, Your, Zachary, Alba, Ed…
  • Age: With the medical advances of the 34th century and the help of stem cells, we now live much longer. Your character may look 45 years old when in reality he’s 115, like Edmund Mahon, the Alliance prime minister. I would say that 200 is close to the end of life age limit.
  • Size: With artificial gravity, not much change: average between 1.60 and 1 .80m (5’’2 and 5’’10)
  • Looks: an average mass between 60kg and 80kg, maybe a tatoo, a scar, special features, cybernetic eyes, dark skin, etc.
  • Birth location: a starport from an industrial world, a small village of an agricultural Earth-like planet, Lave station’s maternity, in a spaceship near the Alioth system…
  • Occupation: there’s a dozen professions in Elite: Dangerous that could be regrouped under 3 core types: trader, fighter and explorer. Take a look at the chart below to get some inspiration.
  • Personality: cheerful, lazy, dependent, creative, greedy, altruistic, ferocious…

Original size, easier to read

 

Once your character’s looks and basic personality built, you could add some interesting personal details.

  • Does he/she come from a criminal family? Is he/she a covert cyborg? A diplomat? A hacker? A Radio show host? A renowned boxer or even a teacher?…
  • Does he/she have any proficiency with guns and why? Or with computers? Cybernetics? Tactics? Repairs?
  • Is he/she affiliated with a superpower like the Empire, the Alliance or the Federation? Or is he/she independent?

 

Once you have an idea of who your character is, you could push your story further by adding dates, locations and even other characters.
Let’s have a look at the tools to help discover more about Elite: Dangerous and its lore. The Lore is the History of the game universe.

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The Tools

Content creators have built numerous tools and guides in order to support the Elite:Dangerous community.
Here’s a list of article I recommend you read in order to immerse yourself in the Lore of the game.
Roleplaying is a also about reading a lot, so better start now! 😉

Let me know if you want your Roleplay group to be featured in this list.

 

Here are some sentences I use frequently in game to liven up the local channel and make contact with other pilots.

Roleplay engagements examples
  • Greeting a pilot in a system
    • Greetings pilot! Welcome to Bragurom Du, Remlok Industries’ HQ. More details about our corporation is displayed in your system map & description. Fly safe, and follow the local rules.
    • Hi CMDR! « Manta » here, Logistics for the Alliance.
  • Grabbing the attention of a large ship manoeuvering
    • Beware, Type 9 « Manta » ENTERING the station [DOCKING]
    • Attention, Type 9 « Manta » going OUT of the station [UNDOCKING]
    • … The gate is now clear. Thanks for your understanding CMDRs.
  • Police
    • Patrol craft checking in… Pre-flight checks complete, I’m heading out.
    • I’m away, heading to patrol route now.
    • Tower, this is Patrol. I’m inbound for landing.
    • You will learn to cooperate with the authorities!
    • I’m scanning your ID commander, no worries [SCANNING]
    • You’re good to go, fly safe pilot! [PEACEFUL]
    • Your ID is currently wanted. I will interdict you so we can discuss that matter.
      • Do not resist, stop your ship, or it will end badly for you, criminal. [WARNING]
      • You didn’t obey our demands CMDR, death it is then! [AGRESSIVE]
  • Refueling
    • Greetings. The Hummingbird, refueler. I am here to help you.
    • Generally, it’s a good idea to own a Fuel Scoop. The scoopable stars are the following: A, B, F, O, G, K, M – « Always Be Fueling Or Gonna Kill Myself ».
    • Will you be able to reach a station or do you need any more help?
  • Others
    • Anaconda attacked by a pirate: Don’t shoot! Anaconda « Remlok Luxury » here. We are unarmed, and carrying only legal passengers and cargo.
    • Mining Type 7 attacked by a pirate: Greetings, « The Charcoal » here. Please shut your weapons. Do you want to trade ore and minerals?
    • Squadron escort offer: Do you require a Guardian to protect you during your trips? I am respecting the Old World Open Trade Agreement and I would be glad to make your trips safer.
    • Powerplay operation, a non-affiliated ship is prowling around you: Greetings, I have no issue with neutral pilots, as long as you don’t mess with our operations.
    • All your communications are welcome by writing in the Local channel. Avoid writing too much, and make your message concise. Other players don’t want to read a long monologue. Build an exchange that will lead to a fun and/or real in game interaction.

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Find a Community

As you may have noticed in the Tools section of this article, many players groups are roleplaying in Elite: Dangerous. Feel free to learn more about them and to contact them to start your game sessions.
I’ve also developed with Olivia Vespera, an online roleplay system, « EDRPG-RI », based on the official Elite: Dangerous Role-Playing Game. You will be able to start a character and join a dozen french roleplayers in their adventures!

It’s a roleplay sandbox in which you’ll be able to let your character live freely. Whether you are your way to Beagle Point exploring, joining a mining operation, aiming at capturing a spaceport, trying to seduce a pretty bug dangerous imperial spy, appraise and speculate on the intergalactic market, communicate with an intelligent non-human civilization on some planet… Let your imagination take over!

EDRPG-RI is taking place in January 3303: Arissa is the Emperor, Zachary is president of the Federation, the Thargoids and Guardians have been heavily rumoured already, Salome is still alive and Ram Tah has just started his ancient Guardians sites scanning operation. Even though times is running a bit faster than real life, it would still take a while to catch up with the current 3304 discoveries.

▲ Important, this is only in French at the moment, contact me if you would be interested in running scenarios with other players! Olivia has developed the project further while adding EDRPG’s supplements. I could create some space in the Remlok’s Discord for you to start playing with other Roleplayers.

► Join EDRPG-RI (FR) ◄

► EDRPG in English, but I can’t guarantee this one to be fully playable ◄

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Original arts from Kevin Massey.