Well~ A couple of people have asked for it (seeing as I always refer to "RP Etiquette" all the flipping time), so here you are~ This is a basic guide to getting along in the RP world. Keep in mind, different RPs have different nuances of etiquette, but keeping it in with these rules/guidelines helps a lot~
And of course, anything in this guide will almost
always apply to Nebel Inn and any other RP I make~
Disclaimer: Contrary to popular belief, I am
not writing this because I hate all other RPers, I am writing this because I have been RPing (seriously) for at least five years. I'm doing this to help people who may be newer or not as adept at this. Most of the rules are sort of unwritten and expected that everyone know them, so I'm writing them down for you all~
Disclaimer #2: I will be adding to this list
a lot, feel free to share your wisdom and advice!~
✧Characters✧
Ah, the building blocks of an RP. Without characters, you don't have much to go off on. I could go for
ages on how to write/play good characters, but I shan't.
✧ Avoid writing Mary Sues. An overall guide to Sues can be found
here.
Likewise, a list of common traits associated with Sues can be found
here
Another fun guide?
Avoid Writing a Mary Sue!
(As a general rule, you'll notice I'm pretty biased with loving TV Tropes. Good site, great info for writing, RPing, and all sorts of things.)
Why should you not RP Mary Sues? Because people get annoyed at them
really easily. It's a lot easier to have a fun RP without (Princess) Serenity Moonflower von Kristensine Vinyie the Third making the plot all about her and trying to make everyone "OMG LUV HER CHARACTUR!!!!ONE!!ELEVEN" Ever notice the more you try to make people love a character, the more inclined they are to hate it? ... Yeah.
✧ "Don't make your characters boring?
I can't stand rping with people with lame characters
It totally makes me not wanna rp with them." -- Beautiful in Death
Characters shouldn't be one-dimensional and blank. Seriously, make them stand as their own people, ask yourself "if this character were real, would they be
plausible?" (Yes, that question even works with fantasy characters.) If your character isn't plausible as a living, breathing person, then you probably have no business RPing them.
✧ Worshipping your character or making the descriptions
seem like you're worshippnig your character should be avoided. Believe me, we can
tell when you adore your character.
✧Plots✧
This is what
drives the RP. Without a plot, you're really just standing around talking (which surprisingly
works for a lot of RPs. I've noticed "Going out to adventure" doesn't work well for stay-put businesses.)
✧ (Depending on the RP) Major plot changes and ideas for new plots should usually be discussed in an OOC Area or at the very least cleared by an Admin.
Especially if the plot is going to involve the majority of the characters, or make a big impact on the setting.
✧ Likewise, share the spotlight! Don't let one character hog all the attention in the plot! Even if
you made the plot, that doesn't mean that
your character gets to collect all the artifacts, defeat all the enemies, and claim all the glory. It's not polite, and no one will want to RP the plot with you. Trust me.
✧Fights✧
When conflict happens, there needs to be ways to resolve it. And
sometimes, this resolution involves putting fists to faces.
✧"Oh! And react to things in the RP no matter if you like it or not! Someone cannot attack you and you just ignore them..." --All Hope Is Not Lost
I've actually seen this happen in RPs before. More likely this guy was (doing a major faux pax) fighting two of his characters. My character ends up putting up a magical shield with about the strength of a few brick walls between them, and this guy just
goes on fighting himself as if nothing happened. At least
explain how you broke through the shield? Or even notice the shield's existance?
✧ Fights should generally go something like this:
Character A: *Launches hit*
Character B: *Retaliates (dodges, blocks, get hit), launches hit*
Character A: *Retaliates, launches hit*
And this goes on until someone is knocked out. But I generally avoid fightscenes because they're not my specialty, and I've dealt with too many people who Godmod.
✧ If you do what I do and make your characters super-powerful (as in can kill you with a touch, Grim Reaper style and stuff), do all that you can to keep them out of fights? That's just not fair.
That being said, I have a soft spot for super-powerful characters, but they almost
never fight. It's not a bad formula to go with.
✧ If the setting doesn't call for it, try to avoid fighting? (Seriously, what is the
point in causing war in a hotel lobby? The owner
will get ticked off and likely do something drastic to get you out.)
✧ "Oh! And even though it is not wanted usually, if you die, you cannot randomly revive yourself because you are a "super-soldier" or something of that sort. *is going from real experiences* Oh! And NO MARY SUE ITEMS! You cannot have an amulet that allows you to be a freakin' god!" --All Hope Is Not Lost
Disney Deaths do
not amuse the Mods, Admin, or other RPers. At all. You usually have to get a
lot of clearance for bringing characters back, and there had
better be a good reason for it.
✧ Unblockable attacks are a
major no-no. It's ill-form, and often involves the other character doing an a**-pull or Godmod themselves to keep from getting their characters killed.
✧General RP Basics✧
Just the basics that can apply mostly anywhere~ (In other words, I can't be arsed to make new sections for all of these.)
✧ "Lets see...as far as RP itself goes, what you are doing has to be relevant to the RP! >< There cannot be a tea party going on and you randomly go all "uses pistol to shoot a bird" It may seem like common sense but you would be surprised..." --All Hope Is Not Lost
✧ "Lets see...obvious ones, no impossible feats like "dodges nuke" or something like that..." -- All Hope Is Not Lost (Can we tell that he's helped me a
lot on this?)
That being said! Something like dropping nukes (and other calamities that could severely wound/kill characters)
should almost always be cleared with Mods/discussed with the other RPers!
✧ Match the post-length! If someone gives you three paragraphs, give them three paragraphs!
Try to match the length, I know Writer's Block strikes us all, but it's generally rude when someone gives you five paragraphs, and you only gice them half a sentence.
Not. Nice
