How to play a disabled character

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First of all, Cantr has seen a lot of quirky characters. People in a town might be looking for someone who can contribute to the community and make oneself useful and if they get yet another dumb guy who talks funny and breaks the laws because he can't read, people may start thinking "Oh great, not this again". Disabilities can be different in Cantr compared to the real world, still, we get the idea of them from the real world so it shouldn't be too far off. You need to claim your place in the society and that means not only good role playing but sometimes being helpful and not just a burden. Disabilities are tough to play and it requires skill to do it with style.

Be consistent

If you start off as a village idiot, you can't just suddenly stop being stupid when you get tired of it. It has happened and each time it has it was very much frowned upon because it was poorly role played, if at all. You may slowly role play learning things but you'll character will never instantly and without reason get smart. Likewise if your character is blind or deaf, they can't miraculously snap out of it.

If your character starts off as illiterate, they shouldn't suddenly figure it out unless someone goes through the trouble of teaching them, and even after that it's good to write like the character speaks to maintain consistency.

There will be moments that make you curse silently that you're unable to act even though you know as a player that something bad is going to happen. Your blind character might see someone stealing a lot of things but won't be able to tell who it was or where they went, not even that there was something illegal going on. Your dumb character might be tricked into a trap or be given a bad trade rate because he can't count, but you just have to play along. It makes the game much more fun that there are gullible characters and not everybody knows everything.

When swapping between characters, you might forget who you're playing and with handicapped characters the mix-ups are usually more visible and drastic than with others. That's why you should spend a moment in getting into character and concentrate on absorbing the role so that you don't end up speaking with your mute character or editing a note with your illiterate character. If despite all efforts you end up making a mistake, you should correct it as soon as possible so that others won't start role playing as if your character was miraculously healed.

Be realistic

If your character is handicapped, don't ignore it in the day to day, if the character isn't smart then maybe they shouldn't be working with complex machines or have trouble with trading and trade rates. Another example is if you are blind then maybe driving or using large machines isn't for them. You set the limits as to what they can or cannot do, but again, remain consistent with it.

If your character is mute and communicates through writing, bear in mind that actually writing by hand, especially if the letters are drawn in the dirt instead of using some sort of a pen, is rather slow business. Therefor it's better to abbreviate things as much as you can without obscuring the meaning of the message too badly. It doesn't look realistic if someone is able to come up with a lengthly written response as fast as the player can type it.

Making it show

Generally you shouldn't overdo it. Being subtle is always good, although it may sometimes bring you close to ripping your hair out, but generally it pays off in the end if you just stay patient. It's a great feeling for both the person figuring out that your character is handicapped and you for managing to get the message through without being too blatant.

Nowadays there are blindfolds that can be used to hint at others that your character can't see, but mentioning something about white eyes also helps. Using a walking stick for feeling your surroundings is pretty widely used since walking sticks are cheap to make. There are a wide variety of ways to not only enhance your role playing, like finding out more of the disability, but to get your message across.

Breaking laws with a disabled character

Sometimes people start pretending they're illiterate or deaf just to get out of trouble after getting caught stealing, that's alright, but if you decided straight off the bat that your character is disabled, it's best to make it show, even if it was in a subtle way (and a subtle way is usually the best) in order to tell you apart from all the trolls and suicidal newspawns. React to someone attacking you, not only physically but emotionally will set you apart. Act confused if your character doesn't know what's happening to him or why. Ask what's going on if your character can talk. Disabled characters are often treated unfairly because other people don't realize they're different from the majority of people.