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[News] First comes Love, Then comes Marriage, Then comes the Baby’s Carriage…

M

Merci d'Rue

Guest
In the past months, I have covered many things, love, marriage, and as the old rhyme goes-the next logical step,the baby's carriage. Roleplaying a family, much less a child in UO is a challenging but often a rewarding experience.

Some of my favorite role-play moments have come from the youthful quotes of my role-play friends. I have often witnessed a whole guild break out into laughter from a rather clever saying by one excellent child role-player. It is the youth and innocence in us all that is enjoyable here, the ability to relive some of those fun childhood moments and frustrations once more in a fun and positive manner. Not only that, but often times. I find that roleplaying a child or the parent of a child in UO to be some of the most challenging Role-play. Here are a few tips to remember when it comes to playing child or parent in an RP setting.

Age and Time

This one is probably one of the most confusing factors in UO. Whether you are playing a child or just a normal character, oft times the time scale system between UO and earth time is varying depending on the shard you role-play on etc. I know that amongst many I have talked to they allow, 4-5 UO years, to 1 Earth year, this means that it doesn’t take long to age as a child in UO. You don’t have to follow this example Role-play is what you make of it but it is a suggested time guide line that I have heard many times. So consider once your character discovers it has a *bun in the oven* as it were, it is possible to have that child within two real life months as that would translate into 9-10 UO months putting us right on track.


(An image of children in a program called Warriors-In-Training, Teacher-Ceinwyn ab'Arawn-Atlantic-shard.)

Family Dynamics

Family Dynamics are key in the creation and role-play of a child or parent. What the parents of that child are will heavily influence that child as it grows. It is always nice to pay a bit of homage to the beings that brought your character to existence, having a few skills similar to a parent, taking on different physical appearances from both parents and marrying them into one.
It is a bit of a surprise and thrill to see that new young character step out for the first time, with the same color hair as mom and perhaps dads glowing drow eyes….
This brings character to all those in the family dynamic. On many shards there have developed family names which are passed down for generations enriching the role-play of all those involved.

Abilities

This is possibly the most difficult part of all. Yet this is what sets you apart role-play wise from child to adult. As a child you have a unique experience to let the role-play of others shape your character from the ground up, letting the random events that happen make your character what it will one day become. Often times, the hard part here is to remember that you are indeed a child. You by no means are a good at anything yet. If you are a mage in your youth you will be struggling to cast a first level spell, as you grow and learn you will someday master that all important gate making spell. As a child who will one day be a fighter you will find that your sword starts out wooden and often times couldn’t hurt a mongbat. This is the best part of being a child as it allows you to makemistakes (the archer that accidently shoots things wildly, and randomly, or even herself in the foot) that make for fun role-play for those around your character. (People often ducked when they saw my little archer coming.)

In closing, Role-playing parent or child can be a rewarding experience but the most important part of doing this resides in the fun it provides you and your friends. If you are curious of a bit of unique UO lore regarding childhood characters, below is a tale about a girl named Sarielle and her friend Shabti.
BNN: Child's Play - UOGuide, the Ultima Online encyclopedia

 
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