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Alysstrasza
Reputation : 20
Posts : 1873
Location : With Rena
Age : 29
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Posts : 1873
Location : With Rena
Age : 29
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RolePlaying - The Basics
What is RolePlaying?
Labels and Terms
Then, there are different terms known to roleplayers, these are some of the more common ones:
Rules for Standard Roleplaying
Other Rules for RolePlaying
Describing Actions and Scenarios
- If you're just starting off and you're unsure as to how to roleplay, don't be afraid to ask some of your fellow players for advice and/or tips. I'm sure that most, if not all, would be willing to take some time out to help someone in need.
Good roleplayers are made, not born. Just because someone else might be better than you at roleplaying, it doesn't mean you can't do the same thing. With time and effort becoming a veteran roleplayer is quite an easy task.
Don't be intimidated by your fellow roleplayers. Watch and learn from them. They can often teach you more than you'd be able to learn if you were alone.
Never give up. While in some cases there might not seem to be solutions, facing defeat is something you'll deal with sooner or later. It's how you deal with that which is important. You always have the option to make a new character, join a new thread, a new faction and/or learn from the mistakes you've made in the past.
One of the most important pieces of all, is to remember it is an RP. You are there to have fun and to interact with other characters and players. Don't take things too seriously and remember to always enjoy yourself.
What is RolePlaying?
- The dictionary definition of roleplay is "to assume or act out a particular role." Roleplay is, basically, assuming the form of a character, and writing as that character, in a certain setting. It's writing, but more/less structured, depending on how you look at it. When you set to write a story, you must write the setting, the plot, the characters, everything. When you roleplay, the setting and main plot has already been decided, as well as every character but your own. You have control over only half of the story, your own side. The other half is up to the other players. This strengthens interaction skills.
Roleplaying, in essence, is assuming the role of another entity. You write that entity's actions, thoughts, and words, in response to other people's entities. It's sort of like a play, except not quite so live-action and not nearly so rehearsed. Roleplaying is less of a story and more of a dialogue (though not limited to two) with actions incorporated. Plots can tie everything together, or you can let things happen as they will, but one thing is certain--anything is possible, because you are in charge.
Labels and Terms
- There are many different labels for people at different skill levels, they aren’t really meant to put them down but they generally distinguish different kind of roleplayers so that people with higher standards can get more out of what they want to roleplay.
- Illiterate: Usually beginners, illiterates are known to use very generic list descriptions like such—
- Name: mister so and so
Gender: male
Eyes: Green
Clothes: jeans and a green day shirt
Etc.
There are usually no depth or substance to these characters and the remainder of the roleplay is played out in one-liners. Usually illiterates have no regards for capitalization or ooc or grammar or spelling or basic roleplaying rules. - Semi-literate: Usually have longer and more descriptive lists that really get into the character, sometimes a semi-literate might type out a paragraph or two about their character but it’s usually not very intriguing or well written information about their character. Grammar is more sharpened.
- Literate: Longer introductions and posts that have depth and description and are more like writing than basic information. Literates create more relatable and in-depth characters that a reader is interested in reading about, not just interacting with. The writing is more developed and the grammar is intact.
- Advanced: This is when someone writes a long, interesting, in-depth, creative introduction. The grammar is nearly perfect and the writing is well thought out and descriptive. The quality of the writing is just more developed.
Then, there are different terms known to roleplayers, these are some of the more common ones:
- BIC: back in character, or in character. When the writer is writing in his or her persona, and interacting with other characters.
- OOC: out of character, when you are talking to other players as yourself not your character.
- Mary / Gary Sue: perfect characters. These are generally not permitted because it’s boring and doesn’t make for an interesting roleplay. Flaws and personalities are what make a better roleplaying and Mary / Gary’s are more common in illiterate and semi literate roleplays.
- Powerplay: controlling someone else’s character. This is not permitted—you are only allowed to control the actions of your own character
- Godmode: creating unrealistic situations, or characters that can do anything. Example: a character that is a lightening fast super intelligent guy that can defeat anyone in combat.
- Prommie: A well known roleplayer that has earned the respect of the other roleplayers by their example of literacy.
- N00b: Someone who is considered illiterate and generally new to Roleplaying without a mentor.
- Newbie: Someone who is new to roleplaying, but is well on their way to becoming literate but still needs practice. They are often found in semi-literate roleplays.
Rules for Standard Roleplaying
- Spell check—no one wants to read your typos, it puts them off. Typos are fine, of course, but make an effort to spell check your posts.
- This is related but, no chatspeak in IC. Everyone hates it. You can’t read it. Please don’t do it while you are roleplaying at all.
- Post length—quality over quantity obviously, but you should describe your character at length so people get a feeling of who your character is. Not only current appearance but things like personality, history, flaws, the stuff that makes a human interesting.
- Use proper grammar in IC—that means capitalization, quotation marks, etc.
- Make your best effort to write intriguing and interesting posts—everyone gets better at writing and roleplaying and until then ask questions so you can learn.
- Please be original, not only does it get boring to see the same characters over and over again, but there are so many of the same genre RP circling around. If you see an RP of a genre you like, don't start a thread with the same thing, join the original one. Also, try to be eclectic with what you RP, make up some new ideas about what to roleplay. Try not to be redundant in the threads that already have been posted.
Other Rules for RolePlaying
- Don't use '*', you should use formal writing to a certain extent while roleplaying.
- Structure the sentences so they all flow together.
- Do not use words repeatedly. For example: "He got up and got dressed. He walked into the wash room. He picked up a brush and he brushed his teeth. He walked into his room once again. He pushed open his door. He left his house." See? it gets annoying.
- Make sure you have more than just a sentence. A truly gifted roleplayer can stretch one sentence into at least two paragraphs.
- Pay attention and read about what is going on around you. Try and effectively jump into situations where you would otherwise be left out of the general flow. Not that that is a bad thing a lot of people enjoy just roleplaying on their own.
Describing Actions and Scenarios
- Being the topic creator implies other responsibilities as it was said before, one of which is to describe the area and the scenario. If you are the topic creator, make sure you describe the space you're located at the beginning of the battle, any trees, rivers or lakes, windy or dry weather, grass or dirt kind of ground and any other thing you might remember to describe it, as long as it fits with the country you are in. Audio and smelling sensations can also be described to give a better environment to the post and even some theme music can help to create an environment.
As you can see, its pretty basic. Too basic, in fact and there isn't much description that could be important., and more importantly, there isn't very much for someone else to respond to. The next person to post has nothing to reply to this with except that there's Joe.POOR EXAMPLE wrote:Joe Shinigami was standing in front of his house, with nothing else to do
This example, on the other hand, is written with enough detail that someone else replying to it has actual material to respond to. The village is bustling, the wind is blowing, the birds are singing and people are talking. There's plenty of information for someone to actually make a post.GOOD EXAMPLE wrote:It was another morning in the village, with the sun already high in the sky. A breeze flew through the street, gently caressed the faces of the people who already walked across it, busy with their lives. Joe Shinigami stood in front of his house, outside the green door, truly a reference in such a busy place, listening to the birds singing and to the happy conversations the people had with each other, since he didn't really had anything else to do on that day. - Always make sure you describe your location in the area and what direction does the objects around you are. This will help your opponent to visualize the scenario and to make a better post himself. Try to be as clear as possible while doing this, since a mislead from your opponent (or not, if you are not fighting) may cause a great mess on the next posts.POOR EXAMPLE wrote:Joe Shinigami stood in front of his opponent.
On both examples you know that Joe Shinigami is facing his opponent,but on example 2 you know that he is located on a forest and that the terrain was grassy. You can also deduce that it wasn't a very dense forest since there was wind and the tree was simply described. More elements could be add to the description, such as animals, accurate description of the trees, day time, etc. This can also be done with attacks or defenses:GOOD EXAMPLE wrote:Joe Shinigami was facing his opponent, a ruthless murderer covered by the shadow of a tree. All the forest around them trembled, fearing such confront and the wind blew over the grass, creating an even more tense atmosphere.
"Joe Shinigami threw a dagger at his opponent that flew with great speed, cutting the wind as it passed by, and trapping him against a huge tree." or "The dagger hit the tree as Joe dodged it just barely, jumping to the side. The dagger got stuck and took with it a piece of his shirt. It had been a close one and Joe wasted no time and quickly hid behind that same tree, waiting for another attack." - When moving around, make sure you describe how fast you are moving, from were to were you moved and the way you moved. Don't forget that the posts don't have infinite time so make sure you know your distances and you don't over do it. Use your common sense to this and once more remember, no God Mode is allowed, so be sure to remember your abilities.
- You are not Super Man, therefore you will be hit. Do not fall under the belief that you can dodge, defend or hit everything just because some factors point to it. If your opponent performs a good attack that you find interesting or hard to dodge in "real life", let at least some damage get through you and be as realistic as possible and the only thing Stats may point out are probabilities and possibilities. Don't forget that the purpose of this is for everyone to have fun, not just you. Even readers that aren't participating on that specific topic should enjoy it and a glorious death is always something to remember!
(c) lexie, 2012
