Tribute VS. Theft

The line is there. It's visible to pretty much everyone but the person making the character, unless they're a selfish ass who's hoping to get away with whatever they can.

Making tribute characters is fine. It's roleplay, and sometimes beginners need some training wheels to work from. We all started somewhere, and playing a familiar concept can be a great way to getting your RP toes wet.

But outright character IP theft is a big no-no. You may as well just be playing that character, and not trying to hide it under a coat of gaudy paint and poorly Bedazzled™ faux-rhinestones. People will ultimately know, and you'll just look like an ass.

An example:

- A British woman of aristocratic blood named Victoria Devonshire, with dark hair who specializes in Egyptology and runs afoul of a sect of Set-worshiping crazies.

OR

- A British woman of aristocratic blood named Lana Croft, with brown hair and an immense set of hooters who specializes in looting burial sites and runs afoul of whatever villain-of-the-month she can.

The first seems perfectly acceptable, right? You can see where the player was influenced by the "Tomb Raider" series, and wanted to take their own hack at it. That's a tribute character, where you can see echoes of some other source, but it's not a direct rip-off. The second is just a plain theft, with a letter change to try and fool the inattentive.

Where it gets REALLY messy is when one player is making a tribute of another player's character. Maybe Player A just really liked Player B's concept, or B stopped playing the character and A wanted to try the concept for themselves. Using the aforementioned formula for developing the new character is fine; people familiar with the source would probably see the similarities, but your average player won't know a thing.

But the second example often rears its ugly head. Things are snatched that oughtn't be, or worse yet, Player B is totally unaware of what A has done, because A never asked for permission.

That's a personal peeve -- doing something in RP, in regards to another's character, without making sure the other player is aware/consents to the action. Consentism in RP is a topic for another day, but in this instance you are toying with the heart and soul of another person's creation. I'm sure you would hate to know someone ripped off a concept you spent so much time creating and building up. Why would you do it to someone else?

Common sense rules, folks. Always remember.