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Welcome to your one stop shop, for all of your roleplaying needs. Hopefully, I've included everything on here to help someone who had never roleplayed before, to get their feet wet and start RP'ing.
This guide will be broken up into two sections, unless other sections are later needed and applied.
The first section will be a FAQ for RP'ing written by Copellia. This will cover all the finer points of RP, and help you to get started.
The second section will be a set of guidelines that you should always follow by. These guidelines will be applicable on these boards, and in game for any RP events we happen to sponser here. What you do on your on time, RP wise, is of course up to you, but these guidelines are only here to help enhance the enjoyment that RP'ing can bring so it would probably behoove you to instill these guidelines in your everyday RP. I call it guidelines, and not rules for a simple reason that they arent rules. As I said before, these arent set in place to "restrict", but to "enhance" RP.
For those of you who are regular RP'ers, much of this will all seem like common sense to you, but then again, this is more aimed toward the members who aren't regular RP'ers. Regardless, I hope for this thread to be able to help everyone (veteren RP'er or not). In addition, all RP'ing associate with the "Travelers Tavern" will be done so with the assumption that you are aware of this information. Hopefully, this will help to not only promote roleplaying, but to ensure that its quality is top notch.
Section I: Roleplaying FAQ
Author: Copellia
I do hope that this is read and it helps in some way or another.A lot of times,newbies are not helped along to becoming better roleplayers. Roleplaying requires equal amounts if reading and writing. And a dislike of one,or another-will with certianty hamper your roleplaying ability. Take it slow and easy-and learn from the mistakes that you may make. No one is perfect,and no one ever starts out the best at everything they try.
Role playing is giving life to something to the point where it takes on a life of it's own, not just being cut and dry. Proper spelling and grammer are a plus. Internet speak while roleplaying is frowned down on in 99% of places, this should include FFXI as well.
Make use of emotes to make your character come a live.
* Character Development
Most people would agree that the first step to enjoyable roleplaying is characterization. After all, real people speak, think and act based on their personalities, upbringing and experiences, as well as what's going on at the moment. There are many different ways of developing a character. Some people start with a few key personality traits like shy, greedy, curious, whatever, and then build a background that would have led to the character developing those traits. Some people go in the opposite direction - figure out what the family and early environment of the character was, and then decide how that would have affected him/her.
Other people might model themselves after a character from a book or movie, or someone they know in real life. If you want to go that route, it's probably best not to base your character completely on the model - you should have a different name, appearance, maybe a few other traits, etc. There are other ways to develop a character, and don't be alarmed or discouraged if it takes you a while. Role-playing can be a lot like real life in that your character's experiences would affect his/her personality and attitudes. The most interesting characters are those that grow and change through their roleplayed experiences, both those planned out in detail, and those that might just "happen".
* A playing a role
"There Are No Small Parts, Only Small Actors."
Now that you've figured out what your character's like, you probably want to start thinking of who he/she could be in the context of the particular game you're playing.If the game is set modern-day, you probably have a good idea of what people would be doing. But what if the game isn't set modern-day? There are games set in the past or in a possible future, and others are set in alternate worlds, often based on a book or movie. Reading the book or watching the movie can be a help, but usually isn't required as the games should have news files or objects set up to provide new players with basic information on the theme. Whatever the setting of the game, it's probably a good idea to spend some time on it, talking to people, reading the information files and looking around, before you decide what sort of role you'd like to take on the game. The game may limit certain character types, or may require an application process for certain characters. You may find that there are already a lot of characters playing the role you were interested in, in which case it might be more fun to try something else. And you'll likely get ideas that you hadn't thought of by spending time on the game.
If you're familiar with the setting of a theme game, remember that a lot of people are going to log on hoping to fill the most famous roles of that theme. On the games, the majority of people want to log on and play a rider character. On the vampire related games, a lot of people want to play vampires or other supernatural characters. On most theme games, it is not possible, or even desirable, for everyone to play those roles. Also, those roles may come with out-of-character responsibilities such as coding, administration, recruiting, or a combination of other responsibilities outside of RPing that you might not be interested in. People are often interested in the "special" character types because they think they will have more RP opportunities, and that simply isn't true. Everyone has a life, off the chat and on, and that means roleplaying opportunities. Because so few people are interested in the less "glamourous" roles, you can often make more of an impact and stand out in people's minds if you do take one of those roles on and play it well. Often demonstrated roleplaying on a "regular" character is a requirement to be considered for one of the other roles.
Again, think about your real life and the people you know. You probably aren't movie stars and business magnates. But you still like your friends, still find them interesting, you're still interesting yourself. In a game, the people who are the "stars" are those who roleplay well, and are active and involved on the game, regardless of what their titles are.
* Gesturing
"The Way You Do The Things You Do."
Posing is a very useful way of expressing how your character does what he/she does, and helps people to visualize your character and your personality. Look at the people around you, how much of what you know about them have you picked up through non-verbal cues? How often do you meet someone and know they're having a bad day because they're bodies are a little stooped, etc?
Most people write poses in a "narrator" style, rather than "in character". You're writing from the point of view of anyone who's looking at you. It's also a good idea to be as descriptive and evocative as you can be in poses.
It's much more interesting to read:
Susan's hands are clenched into fists, and her brow is furrowed. Her tone is clipped as she says, "Are ye done yet, then?"
than it is to read:
Susan looks really angry and she says, "Are ye done yet, then?".
Posing can also be used to get involved in on-going RP when there's some in-character reason why you wouldn't, say if your character is really shy or is over-hearing another conversation. If people see you active and posing, they're more likely to include you in the situation, or start another conversation with you.
John sits in a quiet corner, concentrating on his cup, though his eyes occasionally slip above the rim of the mug to glance around at the other people in the room.
Steve looks distracted for a moment as the couple in the corner raise their voices in argument, then blinks and turns back to his book.
There is more to come, so please stay tuned!.
SECTION II ≫
Yes, this is a lot to read. But for beginners or someone who hasn't roleplayed in a while--it is a virtual godsend.
* Conversation
"Say what?"
Okay, so you know who your character is and what he/she might like to do. Is that RP? Not exactly, it's more the base you need for RP. Role-playing is speaking, acting and reacting the way your character would, rather than as you would.
Speech with other characters is an important way you'll be conveying your character's attitudes and personality. An older character with a thoughtful personality is going to speak differently than an impulsive child would.
Study the way people speak - some use accents, some have characteristic phrases they employ a lot ("you know", "right", whatever), some speak in a brief, clipped manner, others tend to ramble from topic to topic, etc. Most of that can be incorporated into your character's speech. You can use CAPS or _underlining_(Or italics and bolding HTML) to show emphasis on a certain word. You can use contractions an' dropped letters to show an accent. You can use a vocabulary appropriate to your character's age, station and background.
(A child would say "Mummy, can I go outside today?" rather than, "Mother, please realize that it would be most advantageous for me to experience the greater world outside our humble home this afternoon.")
* Other People
"No Man is an Island."
Role-playing is more than just speaking, acting and reacting as your character would - it's interaction with other people. The best roleplayers aren't those who strut alone on a stage, but those who react to others' RP, and create an environment where others feel welcome and encouraged to RP in return. If you want to have a private session of roleplaying involving only you and a select group of other characters, it's a good idea to do it in a private or semi-private area. If you're in a public area, you should not only expect other people to respond to what you do, but you should probably try to encourage them joining in. Remember how you act in real life. If you have something private to discuss with someone and you don't want others jumping in, you probably don't bring it up at a party. On the other hand, "joining in" doesn't always mean interacting directly with people, but sometimes reacting to them indirectly. For instance, if you're at a party where people were arguing, you don't necessarily have to start talking to them, and you probably wouldn't unless you knew them, but you might turn to your friends and make a comment or something like that.
* Non-Player Characters (NPC)
"The Extras."
Inthe majority of RP games, actively played characters make up only a small proportion of the in-character population, something like the major characters in a novel. But what about all those other people, the extras and the background characters, where are they?
Often the extras are assumed to exist. Your character probably has childhood friends, relatives, workmates, etc. There's no need for you to develop a character concept where everyone in your character's life has died or disappeared. You can refer to your mother even if she's not a character. You can talk about what your character did when you weren't able to log on last week, maybe he/she went to visit an elderly uncle or something.
Sometimes the extras are implied in a room/object description. Or the extras ARE an object, such as a waitress. These extras can be used in RP, by anyone in the room. There's no reason you couldn't talk to the waitress in a restaurant, and also no reason you couldn't pose her talking back. Another gaming device is the puppet. Puppets can be animals or even objects, but they can also be people. Few people use them this way, but this can be a great way to roleplay. Your puppet could be your sibling, or your servant, or your employer, one of the "extras" who have a role in your character's life.
* Props
"Use a Little Object-ivity."
Players new to playing often feel that they need the things in their characters' lives to exist in the game to use them. After all, how do you sit down in a chair if there isn't one there?
So, how should you approach objects, and roleplaying them? When you read a description of a room, anything mentioned in the description exists in the room as far as your character is concerned. If the description mentions tables and chairs, all you need to do to sit down is have your character pose that. In a similar way, you can roleplay your character's possessions. What sort of things would your character likely carry around? If it would enhance your roleplaying, assume you have it on your person. Or you can ask other characters in the room if they have a handkerchief/cigarette/etc. Or ask one of the NPCs that are probably around to bring you one.
The only things you need to remember when roleplaying with these props are the setting, and what's logical. For example, a character in a medieval setting wouldn't know what a gun is, let alone be carrying one. And a character in space is unlikely to have a medieval sword unless he's a collector or something. And even if the setting would allow for a canon or whatever, you couldn't fit one in your pocket and just suddenly spring it onto the roleplaying.
SECTION III ≫
This is the end of the tutorial. Please push all treys into an upright position. Thank you for flying with us.
* Life Events
"The Soap Opera Syndrome."
By now you probably have some ideas of who your character could be, and how you could RP to express that character. But WHAT do you RP? Put on its simplest level, your RP your character's life. But there are different approaches to that virtual "life". There are a lot of different events that can occur in any life, regardless of the setting. Romantic unions, children, death, injuries, social events, occupational successes or failures, travel, etc. Those type of major events are an important part of life, and can affect who we are, but they aren't all that happens. Alot of life is day-to-day living - doing your job, talking with friends, eating, etc.
One common complaint of long-time players is that too many players focus on the major events - their characters move from one crisis to another. Or that people over-play those major events. You probably wouldn't tell everyone you meet right away that you lost your job or your brother just died, you'd talk about your feelings with good friends or family. And eventually the traumatic effects of those events would abate. The other common complaint about people who play their characters this way is that it seems designed to focus attention solely on that character, hogging the spotlight, if you will.
That doesn't mean you need to be afraid to have something major or negative happen to your character, those events ARE part of life. But it's generally a good idea to balance out those events with positive ones, or day-to-day roleplaying.
* Avoiding the Overdone
"Is There An Echo In Here?"
One thing to remember when you join a roleplaying game is that it's likely been in existence for a while before you join. Even if it's relatively new, the theme might have been used on other games that its players have been on. This is something worth bearing in mind as you create your character and develop him/her through roleplaying, because what might seem like dynamic and creative RP and characterization to you might be repetitive and unrealistic to others in the game, which may influence how they react to you.
There seem to be certain character concepts or RP'd activities that people gravitate to in a certain theme, and this can get a little tired to the more experienced players, and even work against you. Because these overdone ideas vary from theme to theme, you might want to check your character/RP idea with an experienced player, or ask if there are areas you might want to steer away from.New players should take advantage of the news, and any other material that the game has provided on the theme and developing a character if they wish to avoid those sorts of problems. Most games have a system of staff or administration set up precisely to help new players, including helping them with character development. And most experienced roleplayers will not think you are "boring" to play a "normal" character who would really exist in that world, they're more likely to be impressed with your character and your RP.
* Easing In
"Where Is Everybody?"
One of the most intimidating things for a new player is finding other people for your character to RP with, and then getting to know them.Reading tags lines,or asking this out of chracter will help you locate where most players are,often times. Most games provide in-character methods of travel like a wagon, boat or subway.Before you set off to join a group, check that they're in a public location. A place named Restaurant, Park or Common Room is likely a public place, whereas Joe's Room, Bedroom or Hideaway is likely a private place. If you're in doubt, page one of the people in the location and ask if it's okay for you to join them.
Once you arrive somewhere, spend a few moments watching everyone else to ease into the roleplaying atmosphere. Then you can gradually ease into conversation. Often people will welcome you or include you in some other way, but if they don't, don't be afraid to join in a conversation. And don't let one negative experience scare you away. Sometimes a group of people will be too intent on their own roleplaying to respond. Sometimes most of them may have stepped away from the keyboard. Whatever it is, sometimes the fault lies with the other group, and not with you, so just try again with a different group in a different area.Please remember that the main purpose of a roleplaying game is roleplaying. The other players won't be understanding of major intrusions into that atmosphere. Most people are understanding of honest new player mistakes, but people who log on with obnoxiously out-of-character names, descriptions and actions are not appreciated. When in a public area, you should be speaking and behaving in-character.
The odd out-of-character question or comment is quite common, but the majority of what goes on should be in-character. There are social and non-themed games for those more interested in chatting with others as themselves, rather than as a character.
(OOC) Marks out of character comments typically.
That was a lot, yes. But I wrote it for a role play I am currently running elsewhere. I do have an LS for role playing, but I will not make the name public until the web site and all information is up.
Example Role playing posts:
She walked with the whisper of her heavy gowns--
the light had been sucked from the sky,
leaving her to pace within the stomach of her home. Nothing more than a child--
still she had her fears and doubts.
From this place she had walked once, from her family home in the hills.
She wanted nothing more than to return when she had fulfilled her destiny--
to become a bride of her lord.
But emotions and misconceptions had well gotten in the way of that.
She had fallen, and hard. But unlike most childen this was not an issue of a scraped knee, but of a black and blue heart.
She could taste him, smell him--
despite her best efforts to rid herself of her past transgressions. No matter how many times she went to temple to confess on year old sins, to clean her soul--
she could not forget what had taken place in that musky inn, that den of sin.
Could Tyre ever forgive herself for what has happened? Lord knew that she could not forgive him.
With a heavy heart, and a blank mind--
Tyre sat down on her little cot next to the crackling fire.
"It was about this time of year, wasn't it?"
She thought to herself, her thin fingers scooping up the knit work blanket which was near by.
She would do this to herself, sometimes--
peel back the forming scab from her bleeding heart.
But the moments never lasted long, she would always stop herself short of coming to a resolution to think fondly on the short lived feelings.
Rather than that--
she would brood on how she would never walk hand in hand with the lord--
far too unclean to ever be in his divine presence.
Wonderous how fickle someone with unending passion for his followers was.
Tyre lived a modest life in her home not too far from the towering walls of Montifore.
She worked and earned coins for her tarp purse--
never was she to become more than a peasent due to commiting the sin of lust.
Section II: Roleplaying Guidelines
- Stay within the canon of the story. Anything like, being the Shadowlord's brother, having laser guns, being able to fly.........thats all way out of canon.
- Do not overpower your character. Nothing makes less sense then RPing a character who is lvl 5 and can some how do some of the most bad-arse stuff and can amazingly demolish characters who are lvl 70 and such. I know it is very tempting to be the 'super strong guy' but in the end its a concept that has just been worn out time and time again. Plus, i've always found it much more fun and interesting when I RP'd with characters who were acting on a much more realistic level. Two seperate examples of "overpowering" are shown below.
Power-Gaming - Making your character have a godly advantage over other people's characters. Mostly this is related to fighting and such. If there is a fight scene and you say "I kill you and there's nothing you can do about because I'M THE GREATEST <insert job here> IN EXISTANCE" without rolling, talking out the scene, etc... well that's not very cool. You don't controll other people's characters, no matter how powerful you beleive your character to be. If they want to dodge your attack, you HAVE to let them, they have that opportunity (Unless you have talked about this before hand and such). This make Roleplaying much more enjoyable for everyone! Power-gaming is not tolerated by players.
Meta-gaming - Meta-gaming is suddenly being an omnipotent being that knows EVERYTHING about EVERYONE. The character walks around proclaiming to know all the other characters secrets and bust right out with them! How would he know such information? Well, his player does, therefore the player believes he has every right to spout off information his character couldn't possibly know. This is Meta-gaming. This is wrong. don't do it, it's annoying.
(Power-gaming and Meta-gaming are perhaps the two most important offenses that could potentially ruin a good RP. I give credit for the definition of the two to Armi. She's very wise when it comes to RP.)
- Try not to copy other people's ideas. Having five half elvaan half dragons in a RP is not only tired and boring, but the people who originaly come up with the idea for their character tends to get upset and all it does is just cause friction. If your idea is similer, thats not so bad....but if it is alike in every aspect.....well....please try to avoid that
- RP fighting. So far....a good solid way to RP fight has not presented itself. The best I can see is doing Ballista. Other than that.....roleplaying a fight has been attempted in the past and all that results from it is "I just hit you with an arrow in your arm, you cant use that arm now" "No you didnt....I caught the arrow" You can see where that leads to. This isnt to say that you cant fight in RP. This is just for you to be aware of how things turn out when you attempt things such as this.
This guide will be broken up into two sections, unless other sections are later needed and applied.
The first section will be a FAQ for RP'ing written by Copellia. This will cover all the finer points of RP, and help you to get started.
The second section will be a set of guidelines that you should always follow by. These guidelines will be applicable on these boards, and in game for any RP events we happen to sponser here. What you do on your on time, RP wise, is of course up to you, but these guidelines are only here to help enhance the enjoyment that RP'ing can bring so it would probably behoove you to instill these guidelines in your everyday RP. I call it guidelines, and not rules for a simple reason that they arent rules. As I said before, these arent set in place to "restrict", but to "enhance" RP.
For those of you who are regular RP'ers, much of this will all seem like common sense to you, but then again, this is more aimed toward the members who aren't regular RP'ers. Regardless, I hope for this thread to be able to help everyone (veteren RP'er or not). In addition, all RP'ing associate with the "Travelers Tavern" will be done so with the assumption that you are aware of this information. Hopefully, this will help to not only promote roleplaying, but to ensure that its quality is top notch.
Section I: Roleplaying FAQ
Author: Copellia
I do hope that this is read and it helps in some way or another.A lot of times,newbies are not helped along to becoming better roleplayers. Roleplaying requires equal amounts if reading and writing. And a dislike of one,or another-will with certianty hamper your roleplaying ability. Take it slow and easy-and learn from the mistakes that you may make. No one is perfect,and no one ever starts out the best at everything they try.
Role playing is giving life to something to the point where it takes on a life of it's own, not just being cut and dry. Proper spelling and grammer are a plus. Internet speak while roleplaying is frowned down on in 99% of places, this should include FFXI as well.
Make use of emotes to make your character come a live.
* Character Development
Most people would agree that the first step to enjoyable roleplaying is characterization. After all, real people speak, think and act based on their personalities, upbringing and experiences, as well as what's going on at the moment. There are many different ways of developing a character. Some people start with a few key personality traits like shy, greedy, curious, whatever, and then build a background that would have led to the character developing those traits. Some people go in the opposite direction - figure out what the family and early environment of the character was, and then decide how that would have affected him/her.
Other people might model themselves after a character from a book or movie, or someone they know in real life. If you want to go that route, it's probably best not to base your character completely on the model - you should have a different name, appearance, maybe a few other traits, etc. There are other ways to develop a character, and don't be alarmed or discouraged if it takes you a while. Role-playing can be a lot like real life in that your character's experiences would affect his/her personality and attitudes. The most interesting characters are those that grow and change through their roleplayed experiences, both those planned out in detail, and those that might just "happen".
* A playing a role
"There Are No Small Parts, Only Small Actors."
Now that you've figured out what your character's like, you probably want to start thinking of who he/she could be in the context of the particular game you're playing.If the game is set modern-day, you probably have a good idea of what people would be doing. But what if the game isn't set modern-day? There are games set in the past or in a possible future, and others are set in alternate worlds, often based on a book or movie. Reading the book or watching the movie can be a help, but usually isn't required as the games should have news files or objects set up to provide new players with basic information on the theme. Whatever the setting of the game, it's probably a good idea to spend some time on it, talking to people, reading the information files and looking around, before you decide what sort of role you'd like to take on the game. The game may limit certain character types, or may require an application process for certain characters. You may find that there are already a lot of characters playing the role you were interested in, in which case it might be more fun to try something else. And you'll likely get ideas that you hadn't thought of by spending time on the game.
If you're familiar with the setting of a theme game, remember that a lot of people are going to log on hoping to fill the most famous roles of that theme. On the games, the majority of people want to log on and play a rider character. On the vampire related games, a lot of people want to play vampires or other supernatural characters. On most theme games, it is not possible, or even desirable, for everyone to play those roles. Also, those roles may come with out-of-character responsibilities such as coding, administration, recruiting, or a combination of other responsibilities outside of RPing that you might not be interested in. People are often interested in the "special" character types because they think they will have more RP opportunities, and that simply isn't true. Everyone has a life, off the chat and on, and that means roleplaying opportunities. Because so few people are interested in the less "glamourous" roles, you can often make more of an impact and stand out in people's minds if you do take one of those roles on and play it well. Often demonstrated roleplaying on a "regular" character is a requirement to be considered for one of the other roles.
Again, think about your real life and the people you know. You probably aren't movie stars and business magnates. But you still like your friends, still find them interesting, you're still interesting yourself. In a game, the people who are the "stars" are those who roleplay well, and are active and involved on the game, regardless of what their titles are.
* Gesturing
"The Way You Do The Things You Do."
Posing is a very useful way of expressing how your character does what he/she does, and helps people to visualize your character and your personality. Look at the people around you, how much of what you know about them have you picked up through non-verbal cues? How often do you meet someone and know they're having a bad day because they're bodies are a little stooped, etc?
Most people write poses in a "narrator" style, rather than "in character". You're writing from the point of view of anyone who's looking at you. It's also a good idea to be as descriptive and evocative as you can be in poses.
It's much more interesting to read:
Susan's hands are clenched into fists, and her brow is furrowed. Her tone is clipped as she says, "Are ye done yet, then?"
than it is to read:
Susan looks really angry and she says, "Are ye done yet, then?".
Posing can also be used to get involved in on-going RP when there's some in-character reason why you wouldn't, say if your character is really shy or is over-hearing another conversation. If people see you active and posing, they're more likely to include you in the situation, or start another conversation with you.
John sits in a quiet corner, concentrating on his cup, though his eyes occasionally slip above the rim of the mug to glance around at the other people in the room.
Steve looks distracted for a moment as the couple in the corner raise their voices in argument, then blinks and turns back to his book.
There is more to come, so please stay tuned!.
SECTION II ≫
Yes, this is a lot to read. But for beginners or someone who hasn't roleplayed in a while--it is a virtual godsend.
* Conversation
"Say what?"
Okay, so you know who your character is and what he/she might like to do. Is that RP? Not exactly, it's more the base you need for RP. Role-playing is speaking, acting and reacting the way your character would, rather than as you would.
Speech with other characters is an important way you'll be conveying your character's attitudes and personality. An older character with a thoughtful personality is going to speak differently than an impulsive child would.
Study the way people speak - some use accents, some have characteristic phrases they employ a lot ("you know", "right", whatever), some speak in a brief, clipped manner, others tend to ramble from topic to topic, etc. Most of that can be incorporated into your character's speech. You can use CAPS or _underlining_(Or italics and bolding HTML) to show emphasis on a certain word. You can use contractions an' dropped letters to show an accent. You can use a vocabulary appropriate to your character's age, station and background.
(A child would say "Mummy, can I go outside today?" rather than, "Mother, please realize that it would be most advantageous for me to experience the greater world outside our humble home this afternoon.")
* Other People
"No Man is an Island."
Role-playing is more than just speaking, acting and reacting as your character would - it's interaction with other people. The best roleplayers aren't those who strut alone on a stage, but those who react to others' RP, and create an environment where others feel welcome and encouraged to RP in return. If you want to have a private session of roleplaying involving only you and a select group of other characters, it's a good idea to do it in a private or semi-private area. If you're in a public area, you should not only expect other people to respond to what you do, but you should probably try to encourage them joining in. Remember how you act in real life. If you have something private to discuss with someone and you don't want others jumping in, you probably don't bring it up at a party. On the other hand, "joining in" doesn't always mean interacting directly with people, but sometimes reacting to them indirectly. For instance, if you're at a party where people were arguing, you don't necessarily have to start talking to them, and you probably wouldn't unless you knew them, but you might turn to your friends and make a comment or something like that.
* Non-Player Characters (NPC)
"The Extras."
Inthe majority of RP games, actively played characters make up only a small proportion of the in-character population, something like the major characters in a novel. But what about all those other people, the extras and the background characters, where are they?
Often the extras are assumed to exist. Your character probably has childhood friends, relatives, workmates, etc. There's no need for you to develop a character concept where everyone in your character's life has died or disappeared. You can refer to your mother even if she's not a character. You can talk about what your character did when you weren't able to log on last week, maybe he/she went to visit an elderly uncle or something.
Sometimes the extras are implied in a room/object description. Or the extras ARE an object, such as a waitress. These extras can be used in RP, by anyone in the room. There's no reason you couldn't talk to the waitress in a restaurant, and also no reason you couldn't pose her talking back. Another gaming device is the puppet. Puppets can be animals or even objects, but they can also be people. Few people use them this way, but this can be a great way to roleplay. Your puppet could be your sibling, or your servant, or your employer, one of the "extras" who have a role in your character's life.
* Props
"Use a Little Object-ivity."
Players new to playing often feel that they need the things in their characters' lives to exist in the game to use them. After all, how do you sit down in a chair if there isn't one there?
So, how should you approach objects, and roleplaying them? When you read a description of a room, anything mentioned in the description exists in the room as far as your character is concerned. If the description mentions tables and chairs, all you need to do to sit down is have your character pose that. In a similar way, you can roleplay your character's possessions. What sort of things would your character likely carry around? If it would enhance your roleplaying, assume you have it on your person. Or you can ask other characters in the room if they have a handkerchief/cigarette/etc. Or ask one of the NPCs that are probably around to bring you one.
The only things you need to remember when roleplaying with these props are the setting, and what's logical. For example, a character in a medieval setting wouldn't know what a gun is, let alone be carrying one. And a character in space is unlikely to have a medieval sword unless he's a collector or something. And even if the setting would allow for a canon or whatever, you couldn't fit one in your pocket and just suddenly spring it onto the roleplaying.
SECTION III ≫
This is the end of the tutorial. Please push all treys into an upright position. Thank you for flying with us.
* Life Events
"The Soap Opera Syndrome."
By now you probably have some ideas of who your character could be, and how you could RP to express that character. But WHAT do you RP? Put on its simplest level, your RP your character's life. But there are different approaches to that virtual "life". There are a lot of different events that can occur in any life, regardless of the setting. Romantic unions, children, death, injuries, social events, occupational successes or failures, travel, etc. Those type of major events are an important part of life, and can affect who we are, but they aren't all that happens. Alot of life is day-to-day living - doing your job, talking with friends, eating, etc.
One common complaint of long-time players is that too many players focus on the major events - their characters move from one crisis to another. Or that people over-play those major events. You probably wouldn't tell everyone you meet right away that you lost your job or your brother just died, you'd talk about your feelings with good friends or family. And eventually the traumatic effects of those events would abate. The other common complaint about people who play their characters this way is that it seems designed to focus attention solely on that character, hogging the spotlight, if you will.
That doesn't mean you need to be afraid to have something major or negative happen to your character, those events ARE part of life. But it's generally a good idea to balance out those events with positive ones, or day-to-day roleplaying.
* Avoiding the Overdone
"Is There An Echo In Here?"
One thing to remember when you join a roleplaying game is that it's likely been in existence for a while before you join. Even if it's relatively new, the theme might have been used on other games that its players have been on. This is something worth bearing in mind as you create your character and develop him/her through roleplaying, because what might seem like dynamic and creative RP and characterization to you might be repetitive and unrealistic to others in the game, which may influence how they react to you.
There seem to be certain character concepts or RP'd activities that people gravitate to in a certain theme, and this can get a little tired to the more experienced players, and even work against you. Because these overdone ideas vary from theme to theme, you might want to check your character/RP idea with an experienced player, or ask if there are areas you might want to steer away from.New players should take advantage of the news, and any other material that the game has provided on the theme and developing a character if they wish to avoid those sorts of problems. Most games have a system of staff or administration set up precisely to help new players, including helping them with character development. And most experienced roleplayers will not think you are "boring" to play a "normal" character who would really exist in that world, they're more likely to be impressed with your character and your RP.
* Easing In
"Where Is Everybody?"
One of the most intimidating things for a new player is finding other people for your character to RP with, and then getting to know them.Reading tags lines,or asking this out of chracter will help you locate where most players are,often times. Most games provide in-character methods of travel like a wagon, boat or subway.Before you set off to join a group, check that they're in a public location. A place named Restaurant, Park or Common Room is likely a public place, whereas Joe's Room, Bedroom or Hideaway is likely a private place. If you're in doubt, page one of the people in the location and ask if it's okay for you to join them.
Once you arrive somewhere, spend a few moments watching everyone else to ease into the roleplaying atmosphere. Then you can gradually ease into conversation. Often people will welcome you or include you in some other way, but if they don't, don't be afraid to join in a conversation. And don't let one negative experience scare you away. Sometimes a group of people will be too intent on their own roleplaying to respond. Sometimes most of them may have stepped away from the keyboard. Whatever it is, sometimes the fault lies with the other group, and not with you, so just try again with a different group in a different area.Please remember that the main purpose of a roleplaying game is roleplaying. The other players won't be understanding of major intrusions into that atmosphere. Most people are understanding of honest new player mistakes, but people who log on with obnoxiously out-of-character names, descriptions and actions are not appreciated. When in a public area, you should be speaking and behaving in-character.
The odd out-of-character question or comment is quite common, but the majority of what goes on should be in-character. There are social and non-themed games for those more interested in chatting with others as themselves, rather than as a character.
(OOC) Marks out of character comments typically.
That was a lot, yes. But I wrote it for a role play I am currently running elsewhere. I do have an LS for role playing, but I will not make the name public until the web site and all information is up.
Example Role playing posts:
She walked with the whisper of her heavy gowns--
the light had been sucked from the sky,
leaving her to pace within the stomach of her home. Nothing more than a child--
still she had her fears and doubts.
From this place she had walked once, from her family home in the hills.
She wanted nothing more than to return when she had fulfilled her destiny--
to become a bride of her lord.
But emotions and misconceptions had well gotten in the way of that.
She had fallen, and hard. But unlike most childen this was not an issue of a scraped knee, but of a black and blue heart.
She could taste him, smell him--
despite her best efforts to rid herself of her past transgressions. No matter how many times she went to temple to confess on year old sins, to clean her soul--
she could not forget what had taken place in that musky inn, that den of sin.
Could Tyre ever forgive herself for what has happened? Lord knew that she could not forgive him.
With a heavy heart, and a blank mind--
Tyre sat down on her little cot next to the crackling fire.
"It was about this time of year, wasn't it?"
She thought to herself, her thin fingers scooping up the knit work blanket which was near by.
She would do this to herself, sometimes--
peel back the forming scab from her bleeding heart.
But the moments never lasted long, she would always stop herself short of coming to a resolution to think fondly on the short lived feelings.
Rather than that--
she would brood on how she would never walk hand in hand with the lord--
far too unclean to ever be in his divine presence.
Wonderous how fickle someone with unending passion for his followers was.
Tyre lived a modest life in her home not too far from the towering walls of Montifore.
She worked and earned coins for her tarp purse--
never was she to become more than a peasent due to commiting the sin of lust.
Section II: Roleplaying Guidelines
- Stay within the canon of the story. Anything like, being the Shadowlord's brother, having laser guns, being able to fly.........thats all way out of canon.
- Do not overpower your character. Nothing makes less sense then RPing a character who is lvl 5 and can some how do some of the most bad-arse stuff and can amazingly demolish characters who are lvl 70 and such. I know it is very tempting to be the 'super strong guy' but in the end its a concept that has just been worn out time and time again. Plus, i've always found it much more fun and interesting when I RP'd with characters who were acting on a much more realistic level. Two seperate examples of "overpowering" are shown below.
Power-Gaming - Making your character have a godly advantage over other people's characters. Mostly this is related to fighting and such. If there is a fight scene and you say "I kill you and there's nothing you can do about because I'M THE GREATEST <insert job here> IN EXISTANCE" without rolling, talking out the scene, etc... well that's not very cool. You don't controll other people's characters, no matter how powerful you beleive your character to be. If they want to dodge your attack, you HAVE to let them, they have that opportunity (Unless you have talked about this before hand and such). This make Roleplaying much more enjoyable for everyone! Power-gaming is not tolerated by players.
Meta-gaming - Meta-gaming is suddenly being an omnipotent being that knows EVERYTHING about EVERYONE. The character walks around proclaiming to know all the other characters secrets and bust right out with them! How would he know such information? Well, his player does, therefore the player believes he has every right to spout off information his character couldn't possibly know. This is Meta-gaming. This is wrong. don't do it, it's annoying.
(Power-gaming and Meta-gaming are perhaps the two most important offenses that could potentially ruin a good RP. I give credit for the definition of the two to Armi. She's very wise when it comes to RP.)
- Try not to copy other people's ideas. Having five half elvaan half dragons in a RP is not only tired and boring, but the people who originaly come up with the idea for their character tends to get upset and all it does is just cause friction. If your idea is similer, thats not so bad....but if it is alike in every aspect.....well....please try to avoid that
- RP fighting. So far....a good solid way to RP fight has not presented itself. The best I can see is doing Ballista. Other than that.....roleplaying a fight has been attempted in the past and all that results from it is "I just hit you with an arrow in your arm, you cant use that arm now" "No you didnt....I caught the arrow" You can see where that leads to. This isnt to say that you cant fight in RP. This is just for you to be aware of how things turn out when you attempt things such as this.
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