Roleplaying

[Flynn MacCumhaill]

The Newbs� Completely Comprehensive* Guide to Roleplaying

(* well, completely comprehensive, for a given value of teapot.)

Good day to all ye new denizens of Gaia, and welcome. It's a great place, and I am sure you'll end up just as addicted to it as I am.

Before we begin, if you have any queries or comments, you would be best advised to PM them to me, with the topic line, "The Newbs' Completely Comprehensive Guide to ROLEPLAYING". That way you will recieve a prompt reply... rather than one a month or more later, as seems to be my custom here, I am afraid.

I am sure that you have not failed to notice that there is a high degree of roleplaying activity here on Gaia. In fact, it is one of the major focuses of the site. This guide is intended to help you become a skilled, confident roleplayer.

This is intended to be a completely comprehensive guide, to the greatest degree possible, and so includes information ranging from the most basic explanations , through to more advanced tips on how to become the best roleplayer possible. For those of you familiar with roleplaying, I have colour-coded the information. Even so, some of the things I classify as "more advanced" may seem obvious and basic. This is usually because I cannot stress their importance strongly enough.

Right! First things first: the absolute basics.

What is it?
roleplay /noun/ (also "roleplaying game", "rp", "rpg")
A game in which you assume the persona of another, fictional, character, and write posts (usually in 3rd person, past tense) about their actions and thought from their perspective. Requiring at least two people, the characters converse, interact, complete tasks, and so on.

roleplay, -ed, -ing /verb/ (also "rp, -ed, -ing")
To engage in a roleplay.

Simply, a roleplay is a game in which you imagine you are someone else, and take part, as that character, in what is basically a story written by several people from different characters' perspectives.

Most of the time, it is preferable to write in the third person, past tense. (I shall explain about person and tense for those of you who missed out on an education in grammar a little further on.)

A large part of the whole point of a roleplay is to interact with other players' characters: having conversations, forming alliances, having arguments, participating in battles.

Where is it?
There are several places rps take place.
1. The Main Forum --> Barton Town: This is the section of the main Gaia forums dedicated to roleplaying. There are literally thousands of roleplays here, both active and dead, about almost everything you can imagine.

2. Specialised Roleplaying Guilds: there are hundreds of these! Many focus on a particular genre, place, or series of books or television episodes, while others are aimed at a particular group, for example, over 18's, or experienced roleplayers, while yet others are open to all.

3. Other Guilds: Many guilds whose point and specialisation is not roleplaying have a roleplaying subforum.
 

[Flynn MacCumhaill]

Characters
There are three types of characters you are likely to have the chance to play:
Your own, original characters.
Characters designed for the roleplay, by the roleplay creator.
Characters from an existing series of books, cartoons, movies, etc.

Most of the time, you will be playing as your own original character (also known as an "oc"). This is a character, obviously, entirely of your own invention.

Most of the time, you will be asked to submit a character profile, either by posting it in the roleplay, or by PMing it to the person running the rp. Often there will be a character profile sheet for you to fill out in one of the introductory posts.

Images may be used in the "appearance" field of the form, but keep them small, or provide a link. No-one likes a stretched page, or a picture that takes half an hour to load. (for us poor dialup users, at least!)

Sample Profile

S/N: Flynn_MacCallister

Name: Andrea Abeliene Brahms
Nickname: Andy
Race: Human
Job title: Researcher

Age: 23
Gender: F
Appearance: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/sweet_sakura_blossom/girls26.jpg
Andrea has a slim build, long black hair, fair skin, and grey eyes. She wears contacts with a very slight blue tint (so she can find them!) and favours black clothing.
Weapons: A researcher, rather than a field worker, Andrea is not usually armed. She is a competent user of various firearms, as is required by the Foundation's policy, and generally prefers a handgun.

Bio: Andrea studied biological and medical sciences at university. She was recommended to the institute by her uncle, who was at that time employed in research there. He has since moved on, to the military research labs, in fact, but Andrea remains working at the foundation.
Personality: Andrea often comes across as vague, but this is usually because she is concentrating on something else. She is very good at problem-solving, but does tend to lose her head in a crisis.

Profile form adapted from Foundation of the Paranormal, by twiztid_dream_666.

Having a set of already planned-out characters can help, as this means you have names and personalities you are used to playing. However, you should be able to adapt them to the roleplay itself: this means you must be willing to change their occupation, biography/background, and sometimes also age or race.

IMPORTANT: Make sure you are consistent with your character's personality. If you can't remember what they are meant to be like, go back and check in your own earlier posts. It is no good if your timid, flighty character suddenly turns around, organises everyone, kills the antagonist and saves the day all of a sudden. Gradual deliberate change (also known as "character development" ), however, is a good thing, most of the time. But there is an important difference there.

If you are playing a character created specifically for the roleplay, make sure you are comfortable playing the type of character you have chosen. Stay consistent with the description you are given for the character -- but don't hesitate to add to the character whatever little quirks and prejudices you want, so long as they don't conflict with the information you already have.

If you are playing a character from an existing series of books, cartoons, movies, etc. in a fan-roleplay, the most important thing is make sure you know the character's background, personality, and role in the series! If you are not a hardcore fan of the series, but still want to join the roleplay, ask if you can use an original character of your own. For example, if I wanted to join a Full Metal Alchemist roleplay, because I don't know the characters very well, I would ask if I could play the OC (original character, remember?) Lia Van Der Beek, "the Green Alchemist", a state alchemist specialising in plants, then provide a profile for this new character.  

[Flynn MacCumhaill]

Posting

Most of the time, it is preferable for you to write your posts in the same style as is generally seen in novels: proper English (i.e. no abbreviations like "u", "2", "plz" and so on), full sentences, third person, past tense.

For those of you who were schooled in an area where grammar was neglected (and I know there are plenty of you: the only reason I know a noun from a necropolis is because I had to learn about grammar in Latin and French), third person past tense looks like this:
Corvis reached up, straining, trying to catch hold of the dusty tome. He was sure his uncle had put it just out of reach on purpose, just to spite him.

Third person present tense would say:
Corvis reaches up and tries to catch hold of the dusty tome. He is sure his uncle has put it just out of reach on purpose, just to spite him.

In the first person past tense, it would go:
I reached up, trying to catch hold of the dusty tome. I was sure that my uncle had put it just out of reach on purpose, just to spite me.

Second person would say "You reach up..." etc. It is very unlikely that you will encounter this in a roleplay.

Although third person past tense is absolutely preferred, it is usually alright to use first person and/or present tense. Take care, however, to make sure that you are consistent with person and tense throughout your post. It is not uncommon to accidentally switch between past and present tense. For this reason, I recommend previewing and checking your post before submitting it. Checking before you submit the post also gives you the chance to correct any typos or spelling mistakes.

Regarding *s
You will see people writing their characters' actions enclosed by asterisks ( * ), or other symbols, for example:
*Corvis reaches up trying to reach the book.* I'm sure that my uncle put it there to spite me.

Usually, there are no quotation marks around speech in this type of post, so everything not enclosed by the asterisks should be taken things said out loud.

While this is acceptable in most fast-moving bar or tavern style roleplays, it is not ideal, and it can get you kicked out of more serious roleplays. In a serious, long-running roleplay, with a continuous storyline, it tends to suggest both laziness and lack of intelligence. Where possible, this style should not be used.

Regarding (()), [[]] and OOC: text
You will often see sections of text in a post either enclosed by (( )) or [[ ]], or preceded by the legend "OOC:". This indicates "Out Of Character" text: things being said by the player, which are not to be taken as part of the roleplaying post.

Regarding direct thought
If you want to put in direct thought, the standard way this is done in novels is by italicising the text. For example,
My uncle put that up there to spite me, thought Corvis.


I shouldn't need to say it, but check your posts for spelling and grammar before posting. If you aren't confident, copy your post into a word processing program (Like Microsoft Word) and run a Spelling/Grammar check. It makes you look far more intelligent, and you don't have to worry about grammar nazis (like me) hassling you.  

[Flynn MacCumhaill]

Playing
Also known as the "Thou Shalt Nots"

This is all pretty simple and obvious, as it all revolves around common courtesy.

1. In a battle situation, take some hits. It is unrealistic and boring for your character to avoid all blows, or to be invulnerable. (This is generally known as godmodding)

2. Leave it up to the other person you are fighting to decide which of your blows connect. If they keep evading you, stop playing with them. Have your character leave and find someone who plays more fairly.

3. INTERACT! INTERACT! INTERACT! Talk to other characters! Argue with them! Fight against them! That is the whole point of roleplaying. If someone positions themselves near you, address them: odds on, they're trying to set up a credible encounter with you.

4. DO NOT take control of other people's characters. You write your character's actions and reactions, they write theirs. Most of the time, though, you should find that something like "they walked toward the stables as they continued talking" is acceptable, but never anything more than that. Ever.

5. READ. OTHER. PEOPLE'S. POSTS. Another one which seems obvious, but you really need to pay attention to what other people have written, so you know when and where they are. It is confusing, annoying and just plain dodgy when someone who is three days ahead of, and in a different city from another character suddenly engages them in conversation or battle. Yet it happens far too often! Please, please keep track of where the rest of the players are, and of where and when you are.  

[Flynn MacCumhaill]

In Summary (or, "if you read nothing else, read this.")

1. KEEP TRACK of who your character is: their personality, their name, their appearance, regardless of whether there are your own oc, a character created for the roleplay, or an already existing character.

2. Try to post in THIRD PERSON, PAST TENSE.

3. USE FULL SENTENCES.

4. CHECK your posts for spelling, grammar, and consistency of person and tense.

5. Put SPEECH IN QUOTATION MARKS (" " or ' ') and ITALICISE direct thought.

6. RESPECT other people and their characters: do not play as an invulnerable character, or control other people's characters.

7. INTERACT with other characters -- that's the whole point!

8. READ other people's posts, and try to keep track of where -- and when -- the other characters are.

9. HAVE FUN!




If I have neglected any large pieces of absolutely vital information in all that blather, please either let me know, or ask.

If you think anything needs to be added, removed updated or corrected, or if you simply disagree with me, let me know, too.

Love always,

Flynn,
(Gaia's most dangerously insane Dungeon Mistress.)  

[Callowyn of Calypso]

...Wow. You are like, the genius of RPs. eek
Theres some stuff that I didn't even know. (The copying your stuff into M. Word to check for spelling. Pure genius!)  

[Flynn MacCumhaill]

*Laughs* No, no. If anything, I am one of the ultimate Nazis of RPs. I also go about it in an extremely long-winded way. >_o My underlying motive for posting this was that I am driven insane by "poor" roleplaying, so I decided to do something constructive rather than just rant in a spam guild or somesuch. Hopefully, there will be some other people who have the time to at least scan through this, and make Gaian roleplaying a little more... well, comprehensible.

(Heheh, I'm nice, hey?)  

[*Starlight*]

Good idea biggrin and a very nicely organised thread!  

[rose_sophia]

thanks for that i really neened it  

[Zealot of Insanity]

Hmmm... I read your posts thoroughly, but it seems to have missed on the points of the negative GODMODING. I think that point would go under rule number 6.  

[Flynn MacCumhaill]

metalmalzan

Hmmm... I read your posts thoroughly, but it seems to have missed on the points of the negative GODMODING. I think that point would go under rule number 6.

Under "Playing", points 1, 2, and 4 should cover it. If these don't, what do you mean by "godmodding"?

rose_sophia

thanks for that i really neened it

Always most glad to be of service, especially if it helps newbies avoid getting flamed. heart

starlight189

Good idea biggrin and a very nicely organised thread!

Many thanks.  

[!Reiji_Rage!]

Thanks that helps.
 

[Flynn MacCumhaill]

Kiya Tosome

Thanks that helps.

Always glad to be of service.  

[Youka-chan]

Kiya Tosome

Thanks that helps.

OMG! So cute!!!!! Yet Sesshy is still so Sexxy!!! heart -swoons-
Love the thread, very well put together, this will help alot of people!  

[rasberrillium]

I still have a question:

What if the rp is moving too quickly for you to follow, is there a trick to making faster posts, or do I just have to get used to it?