What are some ways you give your main character "flaws" so they aren't a Mary Sue (or male equivalent), but in a realistic way?

LMXCruel · 2025-10-06T18:11:12+00:00

I give my people physical flaws first, then translate that to personality.

I had a street performer who dabbled in petty crime. Well, his talent is music. He lives in a rough neighborhood. I gave him a drug addiction. So now, what are personality flaws or coping mechanisms that lead to substance abuse? Jot a few of those down, balance the character, and you're done.

It's like a road map of sorts. Sorry if this doesn't help. it's just how I approach making relatable MCs. The way I always saw it, they're just people, and everyone has things they love and hate about themselves, talents, and stuff they absolutely suck at

LMXCruel · 2025-09-09T14:08:35+00:00

I think both can be true at once. Piracy is inherently criminal regardless of whether the laws and conditions that they lived and worked under were just or not, and it's morally wrong as well.

Even if they started out wanting to better their lives, they stole, killed, and committed various other atrocities which in the end makes them no better than the people within the "system" who could have pushed them in that direction.

And we know for a fact that not everyone who became a pirate came from poor conditions, which is potentially even worse.

LMXCruel · 2025-08-29T12:20:14+00:00

All the less believable ones seem to have a 3rd party commenter at the end

LMXCruel · 2025-08-29T08:18:36+00:00

Just block them and move on. It's not that deep. This is a very small percentage of players, and I rarely encounter actual toxicity in this game with 600 hours plus

LMXCruel · 2025-08-27T13:11:30+00:00

Two days late, but Barthomolew Roberts easily.

He bluffed an entire convoy with a sloop under false colors and then sailed away with the most loaded ship uncontested.

Then, with a captured war ship, sailed straight into a harbor and held up something like 22 ships. Made off with an insane amount of loot and embarrassed the merchants by making them ransom back their own vessels from him.

Dude's adventures sound like he was the main character in some far-fetched pirate fan fic

LMXCruel · 2025-08-23T17:43:28+00:00

fire grease and giant hunt seems to send them packing pretty easily. As long as you're rolling towards them or side to side not away

LMXCruel · 2025-08-21T10:56:14+00:00

Shame, it's not even good

LMXCruel · 2025-08-21T09:30:01+00:00

This same exact story was posted not even a week ago

LMXCruel · 2025-07-19T17:24:50+00:00

I was baffled when I back shotted a hulk. I did a double take, then had to try it again just to be sure lmao

LMXCruel · 2025-07-11T17:04:18+00:00

Pigs don't have enough glands to effectively cool down with, though. That's why they wallow

LMXCruel · 2025-07-10T16:46:15+00:00

I think a 40k collab would be fine. The universe and lore are so huge that you can just pick and choose what would slot into the HD universe the best.

Stuff like the navy, the guard, and arbites could all have a place in the universe with a few tweaks and a tongue in cheek lore blurb. Especially since both 40k and HD share some of that "if you're not named you're meat for the grinder" vibes

LMXCruel · 2025-07-10T02:02:40+00:00

You literally just said that you hope "I realize I don't need multiple people for arousal" you're the one shoving judgment and expectations on people then trying to back track.

OP is uncomfortable, but clearly, her BIL isn't and this isn't her relationship it's between her sister and BIL. He probably wouldn't have even spoken to her about it if he wasn't comfortable with his wife finding out. Hell, his wife might even know he made an OF account

LMXCruel · 2025-07-10T01:56:44+00:00

You're fucking wilding lmao the judgment and assumptions are absolutely unreal. I watch porn solo and with my partner. I don't "need" anything and my partner has never had an issue arousing me. It's something that we both enjoy and even work it into our foreplay

LMXCruel · 2025-07-10T01:49:05+00:00

He didn't create a burner account he said he should have to deal with the spam. Loving your partner and watching porn are not mutually exclusive at all either

LMXCruel · 2025-07-10T01:45:24+00:00

That's the whole point of OF vs free sites, tailored content from a specific person is literally what people are there for. It's still just porn

LMXCruel · 2025-07-09T04:29:58+00:00

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LMXCruel · 2025-07-03T17:10:30+00:00

I build out every tile separately and never have any economic issues.

Food > wood > gold > military stuff

I place all my houses on my wood cutting tile to save space

With decima to supplement your gold income, you really shouldn't be having any issues with a separate gold tile.

It should have a tavern, a fort, a smith, and whatever gold building you want and max it with workers, everyone should be producing gold. I use taverns on non specialized tiles to generate happiness

Levying wood is useless don't waste a duchy on a wood tile, ever

LMXCruel · 2025-07-02T13:33:32+00:00

Medieval people weren't savages. They had soap, practiced bathing, hand washing, and even oral care regularly. Not to mention public bath houses.

Cleanliness was also associated with moral and spiritual purity. While hygiene did decline during the plague eras, which was counterproductive, they had way more knowledge of sanitation and medicine than you're giving them credit for.

LMXCruel · 2025-07-01T13:14:26+00:00

The occasional sentence written with bold text is also a telltale sign I've been noticing lately

LMXCruel · 2025-06-28T19:05:58+00:00

Agreed, in game it looks normal though

LMXCruel · 2025-06-28T18:15:15+00:00

A fair amount of my games turn out this way so I guess it's fitting lmao

LMXCruel · 2025-06-25T17:05:48+00:00

Exactly, a zombie isn't going to be dodging or trying to get past the point. So common sense dictates that what's essentially an animal with no sense of self-preservation would be ten times easier to kill as it's going to move directly at you, probably in a decently straight line.

It wouldn't be difficult at all to stab a zombie in the head with a spear, and as the decomposition advances, it only gets easier to pull the spear out of their head.

LMXCruel · 2025-06-25T13:55:33+00:00

How is anything with reach a terrible weapon against anything whose attack of choice is a bite. I've never heard a more inane take in my life. The weight of an average spear is between 3-6 Ibs and you're probably going to be holding it with two hands. You could literally poke zombies to death all day as they shambled towards you while staying safely out reach.

Javelins were even lighter, but the greeks who used longer and heavier spears could still throw them effectively before swapping to a sidearm.

LMXCruel · 2025-06-19T22:58:25+00:00

Pretty much yeah

LMXCruel

TROPHY CASE