Joined: Jun 2004 Gender: Female Posts: 1,041 Location: The wooooorld of tomooorrooow!
A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Thread Started on Mar 17, 2005, 5:59am »
This guide was ruthlessly stolen from another forum. The real author is Inuyasha642 at Animegarden.com. Just so you know.
I've noticed throughout almost all of these topics that most of the roleplays are being played out through ... well... spammish posts. That doesn't mean the roleplays are bad, you can have a great roleplay with the most illiterate players (even if they use netspeak) so long as the ideas are good, and while there aren't any official rules at this forum on roleplaying, you can hardly be respected as a roleplayer if your In Character posts look like this :
"hey, whats that?" *goes over to the-thingy*
"Watch out, it's a ... bad thing!" *tackles and absorbs explosion, or whatever*
At most forums, that type of post is simply unnaceptable and you will be flamed/banned as punishment. SO, while some of you know how to type up a proper post, and just don't because you don't have to here (it's a sound idea I'll admit, but it frustrates some people *cough* me *cough*), there's also probably a few people here who just don't know how. So allow me to explain.
Part One : Making a Character
Any good roleplay has a good foundation, and any good foundation has three strong parts to it. They are :
- Plot - Setting - Characters
The GM, or Game Master is in charge of the first two parts (for most of the roleplay, anyway), but you, the participant are responsible for making sure that you have a good character. That doesn't mean someone who you think is cool, or particularly interesting, it means a well described character that you are able to roleplay with. For instance, a well described character has ALL of the neccesary information in their profile, such as clothing (what are they wearing?), body (what sort of build do they have? How tall are they?), attitude (how do they act? Are they dark and brooding, or bright and cheerful?), backround (where do they come from? how old are they?), and in some cases, motives (what are they doing, and why?). Be sure that if your character is someone who's evil and traitorous, you roleplay them in an evil traitorous manor. Don't have them helping old ladies across the street, unless they're under the influence of mind control!
Part Two : In Character and On Topic
Always remember that if you have something to say that's being said by YOU, not as your character, be it because it's a question about the roleplay or a question to another roleplayer, you need to start a new paragraph (just hit the return/enter key twice) and type Out Of Character (OOC) before the question. That will help other roleplayers not get confused as to whether you, or your character is saying something. And don't forget, if you're going to go from out of character back to In Character (IC), to start a new paragraph and type IC before resuming roleplaying.
During the course of the roleplay, be sure to include how your character feels, not just how he or she acts. From time to time, when interacting with another player's character include a thought statement (written as dialogue, complete with parenthesis but in an italic font.) where the character thinks about how he or she is feeling, such as :
Why is he being so nice to me?
Jeez, she's a stonecold #&*!
What does he think he's doing?!
I never knew she could handle a sword like that! o.o
Or, if you'd rather, you could simply state the feelings as you would any other action, in example :
At that moment Kaori felt great resentment towards Mira. Not only had she stolen her boyfriend, but Mira had teased her ever since she was little, and at that moment, she knew nothing but the need for revenge.
Loki felt utterly confused. His good friend, Akane had just indirectly stated that he had no spine, when he was one of the most spine-ful people in the history of spine-ness! He was wondering whether he should just playfully reply "Heeey, what about Loki?" or act offended. (Muahahahaha)
When roleplaying, remember to stay on topic and stick to the plot. If the plot is to quest into the forests of Namdoire and find the sacred shoe shining tonic, don't stop halfway there and open a hotel. That only serves to confuse and distract other roleplayers, and would be better suited in the Random Posts or Chatterbox section anyway.
Part Three : Organized Posting
Though this isn't school, it wouldn't hurt to apply some of the basic classroom writing ideas to posting. Such as making a new paragraph for a new idea.
Katatsumuri quickly dashed up the stairs, through the hall, and into Ruri's room. He frantically pulled out dressers, books, overturned chairs and end tables and stripped the sheets off the bed in search of a single piece of paper. A piece of paper that held the passcode to get into Shinji's server so he could access the data tables on his plant project. He had to copy those tables and erase the originals by sunset, or the pollen disease would be unleashed upon the world. [That is a paragraph about finding the paper and why it must be found. Now that a new idea is being discussed, a new paragraph must be made.]
Katasumuri soon gave up, realizing that he had come all that way for nothing. Ruri had actually said something to him about keeping it in his car. So Katatsumuri dashed back down the stairs and into the parking garage...
And so on and so forth. Also remember that your actions can't be something as simple as '*runs*' and '*chases*'. In a roleplay, those actions would be described more like this :
With that being said, Ginra took off as fast as she could, trying to get away from the monster, with Kira at her heels.
Or, if you only control one of those characters, your post would look like this :
Ginra stared at the monster's eyes, it's cold, red bloodthirsty eyes, and knew nothing but fear. Fear, and the urge to get away, and fast. So she took off running in the only way that wasn't being blocked off, the path back into the forest.
Kira saw Ginra do exactly what she was thinking of doing, running. She without a second thought, she made haste and ran so fast the she not only caught up with Ginra, but passed her, which was pretty amazing since Ginra had been the fastest person on her track team before she had been sent into this other world.
Review And Other Important Rules
1. No God Modding. You control only the character that YOU posted a profile for, unless informed otherwise by another player. Sometimes you will get to control Non Player Characters (NPCs), but only with permission from the Game Master and/or the person who brought the character into play.
2. Out Of Character and In Character. Remember to put IC if you are posting about an action or thought that your character is having, and OOC if it's a question or comment that YOU have.
3 No Flaming. If other players are doing something wrong, kindly and patiently tell them so and let them know what they SHOULD be doing. After all, everyone makes mistakes, and you can edit posts. If someone is intentionally harassing you, don't bother with them. Yelling at them won't do anything, and please probably won't help much either. And the dreaded cApS lOcK isn't going to make them leave you alone. Simply Private Message a Moderator and ask them to ban/warn them, since Moderators are the only ones who have any power over normal users.
4. Don't Spam. If you can't post something useful, don't post at all.
5. Be Informed. If you're away for a while and you just get back to a roleplay to find it has a lot more pages than it did when you last read it, or if you're just joining a roleplay in progress, make sure you read the first post, all the character bios on the first few pages, and the last page or two. That way you'll know who you're roleplaying with, what's going on in the roleplay, and if any plot changes have been made.
6. The RolePlay Doesn't Revolve Around Two People! If you and another person in the roleplay are on at the same time, don't post back and forth between the two of you. Remember that there are other people in the roleplay too, and not only would it be weird if you somehow managed to get a day ahead of them because you over-posted, but it'd be VERY weird if there was some huge battle going on and two people finished it without everyone else.
7. Leave Posts Open-Ended. To avoid any form of god modding, don't FORCE another player to do something. Don't FORCE them to get hit by something or dodge it, leave your posts Open-Ended. In example :
Johnny clutched the gun tightly. He knew he had to make this shot count, or his life would be over. He pulled the trigger and BAM! He hit Dan the Man right between the eyes!
That one is a NO NO!
Johnny clutched the gun tightly. He knew he had to make this shot count or his life would be over. He pulled the trigger, saw the bullet go flying for a brief second, and prayed that it would hit it's target.
ACCEPTABLE! GOOD JOB! =D. That type of post gives the other player a chance to decide whether they'd like to get hit by the bullet or not, and if so, where they'd like to be hit.
8. Real Characters Have Limits. Let's all NOT take a page out of DBZ's book and not make characters that are uber powerful and can destroy an entire world in one hit. Because not only does that make the roleplay extremely boring (imagine a bunch of tiny rodents foing head on against a bulldozer. Not very fun to watch, is it?), it also means that only ANOTHER Uber strong character can defeat the first Uber strong character. And that is how Uber-Character Cycles begin.
That's about all I can think of for now. Mods, if you have any rules to add, or if I missed something, feel free to edit it into this post.[list=][/list]
Re: A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Reply #2 on Mar 17, 2005, 5:22pm »
Having worked as an RPG sign up judge for quite some time, let me share with you some of my pet peeves in hopes that you'll take them to heart.
[RantFox mode = on]
RPG Cliches that absolutely make Aurrin want to stab through the internet:
How about ninjas: If I never see another ninja character, it'll be too soon.
Katanas: Those tick me off sooooo badly from overuse... I mean, EVERYONE uses one. Don't. Just don't.
Twin ______: Twin weapons (bladed or firearm) with single-word dictionary names of gloom and doom or holy light are the epitomy of cliche.
Sephiroth clones: combine the previous two and scale up the sword to unholy size. Dark and brooding, mass murderer with no apparent reason to join other than he's unthinkably cool. If this crosses my desk as a GM for an RPG, it's an auto reject.
Angel-Demon hybrids: .... why? In God's name... WHY?! Do they just *try* to come up with the stupidest ideas they can?
Half-baked bios: "Deep in the brazil rainforest there lives a tribe of samurai..." -exerpt from an actual bio submitted for my approval. This one simply needs no comment.
gods: http://www.kitsuneinfo.furtopia.org/images/bolling961223.gif Spare me clones of the Almighty, no openings for a new monotheistic diety at this time. Besides, shouldn't you be doing something more important, like world peace, starvation, or unification theory?
RIP _______: Get a name. You really don't want 'unknown' on your tombstone, now do you?
Vampires: Dracula is dead, multiple times over. Get over it.
Masamune: No, you can't touch it. That's why it's behind glass. .... you want to... have... it?! *laughs hysterically* No, seriously, now what did you want?
...need I go on? I could, but the urge to rant is fading. </soapbox>
Allow me to add a sample character signup sheet from one of the longest-standing roleplay guilds on Gamefaqs.com. Some parts, like the elemental stuff, don't really apply to this, but it'll give you a good feel for the general gist of it.
~THE DOJANG SIGN-UP SHEET~ (Version 2.0) Written by FOXRULES Originally written by Diez, The Angry Duck, and Azriel
- VITALS -
Name: Yeah, it’s not too hard to figure out. This is the name of your character. Now, try and keep it to a certain degree of regularity, but not too normal. You know what we mean, don’t shoot off to either extreme. In other words, names like “Bob” and “Geoff” won’t do much, but neither will “Zondar, Bringer of the Apocalypse”. You get the idea. Also, please, no “Unknown”. We’d like to be able to identify who’s who, instead of having nameless figures floating about the place.
Age: Another simple one for you. We’re too kind to you lot. This is your age. Now, if your character’s Race uses a different measurement of time, then perhaps include the equivalent amount of time in Human years. You don’t have to, but it’s nice. Now, let’s also take into account that not many beings live to a million years old, but that’s not to say you can’t have that. It just needs some explanation later.
Nationality/Race: As far as Nationality goes, go wild. You could make up a whole new Solar system if you wanted. It’s not advised, but who are we to dictate what you do with your characters? The same applies to Race. Humans and Elves are perfectly fine in our book, but feel free to make up your own race if you so wish. Free your mind, young one.
Class: This is a simple dictation of your characters main expertise. Are they a master swordsperson? Are they a graceful gunperson? Are they an adventurous arcane adept? Alliteration is fun, but that’s beside the point. This section can sometimes be a little tricky to figure out; so do ask for help if you need it.
- CHARACTER INFORMATION -
Physical Description/Appearance: What does your character look like? Keep in mind that we do not require an exact measurement of height and weight, nor do we need anything like blood type, what kind of vision he/she has, or any other obscure and completely irrelevant detail. All we need is basic looks, build, and of course, clothing. We don’t want any streakers in the Dojang.
The best way to go about this section is to visualise your character, as you want them to look, and then gradually work from the bottom up, or the top down. You may also describe by comparison, and you may also use a sketch you’ve made, if you like. As long as we can see what they look like, that’ll do us just fine.
Finally . . . if we see anything remotely resembling Sephiroth, or any other Final Fantasy (or any other complete rip-off from a video game/animé, really, it’s just that FF is the worst offender) character, getting into the Dojang with that character will be your Final Fantasy. Got it? Good.
Personality: How does your character act? Are they adventurous, outgoing, and loud, or are they shy, timid, and frail? It’s up to you. We are willing to accept the old “Mysterious Hero” approach, but that’s only if we think you can do something half decent with it. You may also include what may have brought about a certain aspect of their personality, though it’s not vital. It’ll help your chances though.
- POWERS/ABILITIES -
Magic/Energy/Other Explanation and Limitations: Okay, this one’s a bit tricky, and it’s been a roadblock for several people creating a character in the past. This section is where you describe the elemental affinity your character possesses (if they don’t have one, it’s Energy). You briefly describe how they got it, how far it currently extends, and what its actual limits are. After all, we should hope that your character isn’t fully adept at whatever they do right from the off.
Natural Abilities Explanations and Limitations: Now, as you’re aware, different people are good at different things. What we want here is for you to describe what your character is naturally good at, or any particular abilities worth mentioning that they’ve had from birth. "Excellent Swimming" ability, or perhaps the ability to fly could be included in there. As stated, it’s what your character is naturally good at. This doesn’t have to be filled in. Not everyone has an exceptional talent. Practice makes perfect though.
Elemental Strength: This is basically the Elemental that your character uses. You may choose between our twelve elements; Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Forest, Ice, Lightning, Time/Space, Light, Dark, Energy, and Spirit. Yes, we’re aware that Chaos is listed as well, but you can’t use that.
Things to keep in mind are that Time/Space is generally not allowed as a Sign-Up Element; however, we will accept you if you appear to have grasped the concept, and we think you’ll use it well. Another thing to remember is that if your character doesn’t have a particular Element or doesn’t use magic at all, put down “Energy.”<br> Finally, for signing up, only one Element is allowed. No exceptions to this rule will be made.
Elemental Weakness: If you’ve got an Elemental strength, then you’re bound to have an Elemental weakness. It keeps the balance going, and stops you being some uber-powerful person or something like that. You know, the old Yin and Yang, Positive and Negative, Good and Evil. You get the idea. Yes, everything has a weakness. Well, except Chaos, but you can’t use that anyway, so you needn’t concern yourself with such things.
Weapons/Items: This section is where you may list the weaponry that your character owns, and any magical items they tend to carry with them. It helps (if you have both) to list them separately, so we don’t get confused as to why you’re listing a Hydrogen Bomb as a Magical item, or an Orb of Sight as your main weapon. You do not have to have a weapon if you don’t want, but if you do, please, please, please make it suit your character. We don’t want expert archers wandering around with a bazooka, nor do we need the world’s greatest gunman carrying around the Sword of Doom. Make it fit.
Magic/Techniques: This is the place where you give us a bit of detail on some of the things that your character can do with whatever abilities he or she may possess. Anything will go here: let your creativity run wild. Just please, for the love of God, no ultimate techniques. Leave some room for development, hm? What fun is it if you can’t change your character and let them learn as they progress?
Extra: This is for any kind of extra Information about your character that you didn’t include above, for whatever reason.
- THE FINAL STEP -
Biography: Bio, for short. This is your character's life story. Their background and life up to this very point. This is where you want to go into some degree of detail. How did they become who they are? What made them run away from home? Who killed their family? Why are they so paranoid now? Where did they get their weapons and magic, and furthermore, who taught them to use them? Leave no stone unturned.
Now, we don’t expect novels here. We don’t care how long your Bio is, as long as it’s well written. We also don’t make you write a super exciting tale full of twists and turns, ups and downs, and as many thrills as a drunken person having sex on a rollercoaster. Not everyone in the world has an amazing tale to tell.
Pimpin the foxy spirit, yo. Word to your mother. :3
Joined: Mar 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 125 Location: In cyberspace. =3
Re: A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Reply #3 on Mar 17, 2005, 5:46pm »
Stuff in bold is what I've added.
How about ninjas: If I never see another ninja character, it'll be too soon.
Meh. I actually don't see them around a lot.
Katanas: Those tick me off sooooo badly from overuse... I mean, EVERYONE uses one. Don't. Just don't.
Another one that doesn't bother me too much. Usually everyone I RP with prefers normal swords.
Twin ______: Twin weapons (bladed or firearm) with single-word dictionary names of gloom and doom or holy light are the epitomy of cliche.
It depends....
Sephiroth clones: combine the previous two and scale up the sword to unholy size. Dark and brooding, mass murderer with no apparent reason to join other than he's unthinkably cool. If this crosses my desk as a GM for an RPG, it's an auto reject.
Those do annoy me. I usually give them a chance, but if they screw up the RP I let the other players do what they want with them.
Angel-Demon hybrids: .... why? In God's name... WHY?! Do they just *try* to come up with the stupidest ideas they can?
Finally, someone else who thinks this is the most moronic thing on earth.
Half-baked bios: "Deep in the brazil rainforest there lives a tribe of samurai..." -exerpt from an actual bio submitted for my approval. This one simply needs no comment.
Heh. I've never seen one that funny. I usually don't get bios that stupid, and if I do, I ignore them while they RP.
gods: http://www.kitsuneinfo.furtopia.org/images/bolling961223.gif Spare me clones of the Almighty, no openings for a new monotheistic diety at this time. Besides, shouldn't you be doing something more important, like world peace, starvation, or unification theory?
Absolutely right. I hate it when people claim they are 'Gods' or related to gods while RPing.
RIP _______: Get a name. You really don't want 'unknown' on your tombstone, now do you?
I've never seen that before. I'm just lucky I guess.
Vampires: Dracula is dead, multiple times over. Get over it.
Yuppers, I am extreamly tired of vampires being everywere.
Masamune: No, you can't touch it. That's why it's behind glass. .... you want to... have... it?! *laughs hysterically* No, seriously, now what did you want?
Re: A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Reply #4 on Mar 18, 2005, 1:50am »
The first three are all extremely common where I've done most of my roleplaying. The Masamune is a legendary sword that crops up in several squaresoft games, and I've seen it too many times in signups too.
Re: A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Reply #6 on Mar 18, 2005, 9:31pm »
Quote:
Isn't that Sephiroths sword from Final Fantasy?
Quite possibly, but not just. It's also the sword of Frog in Chrono Trigger, and an upgrade in Secret of Mana, and possibly in other places that I don't know about.
Joined: Mar 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 57 Location: Amatsu Village
Re: A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Reply #8 on Mar 19, 2005, 4:47pm »
Masamune was a sword created by a skilled japanese artisan, in 1300s, who's craft was said to go beyond anyone could.. I'm gonna check for history or something...
Many consider Masamune's work to have been unsurpassed at any time, before or since.
A simple GMing trick when it comes to destroy those artifacts is simply to look out for doubles. If two people have a Masamune, make them explode with their weapon. Boom.
Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do Nothing to prove And it's you and me and all of the people And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 2 Location: lost..... according to you.
Re: A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Reply #11 on May 6, 2007, 11:25pm »
If you ban masamune you better ban maramune.
They are from the same folk tale. Centuries ago in Japan there was a great smith. He was well renowned for his blades. HE created all of his blades with the porpoise to protect and defend ones self. His greatest blade took many many months to create because o the number of times he folded the steel to make it the sturdiest blade ever created. It was named masamune.
His aprentus how ever hated that his masters blades where created for protection. He had a fighters spirit, a lust for blood. While his master created his masterpiece the aprentus created his own blade HE sharpened it and sharpened it for months. He gave it the finest and sharpest edge possible. IT was named maramune.
SO hard they worked on these blades it is said part of thier will/soul was forged into the blades. It is said if you put masamune in a river with leaves flowing down it not one leaf will touch the blade. the will go around in never making contact. But in the same situation except with maramune the leafs will be pulled to the blade and cut into 2 pieces.
That's why I find it ironic that sepheroth wields the masamune. A blade made to protect. This lesson brought to you by the keeper of random knowledge. Cause knowledge is power!
Joined: May 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 2 Location: lost..... according to you.
Re: A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Reply #13 on May 7, 2007, 7:48pm »
Not much other then letting people know that there is another blade to watch for because its deadlier then the masamune. Sorry Ill try to stick to the point from now on.
Re: A Guide to Good Roleplaying « Reply #14 on Dec 3, 2007, 11:57pm »
One of the things that really irks me, is when an RP has only a sentence or two saying what it's about.
I'm not expecting a novel the way I write (See EXAMPLE A, from my Gaiaonline Guild.) but I'm more likely to want to join up in an RP that has a good description. It shows that the person in charge of the RP is putting some effort into it. Already on this forum alone I've tuned out RPs that may or may not be good, just because they don't have good enough descriptions for my eye to even glance at them twice. I can't tell if it's somewhere I want to join up or not, because there's nothing NEW to hook me in. I prefer RPs with subtle twists (Again, see example A), but I'll RP pretty much anywhere and with anything if I can get my brain going enough to cook up a character for it. I don't know if this applies to anyone else, but as a semi-experienced RPer, I've kinda seen it all before, and the two-line thread descriptions strike me as n00b magnets. (No offense to you n00bs out there. Everyone was a n00b once. I *Heart* n00bs.)
Another thing that turns me off is HUGE BLOCKS OF TEXT (Of which I'm guilty in this post >.>). Espicially when the person doesn't double space between their paragraphs, it looks all like one big line and I can't make heads or tails of it.
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