Creating a roleplay
Title
Necessary, though sometimes it's not always easy, so, if you can't think of anything for a good title, you can just use a random word or song title. Lots of people do it.
Introduction
Give a good introduction, setting, etcetera, so that people can have a pretty good idea of where they're RPing, and what has already happened or is currently happening.
Backstory
This doesn't need to be too detailed, because honestly, we can't always put millions of little details into a backstory. Unless we want to. 8D But, put things like.. why is what is happening happening? How did it happen? Etc, etc.
Character Lists
I guess you don't need profiles, exactly, but at least have a description of the characters and a record of who is in the roleplay, or else things will get very... confusing.
Information
Making tips is making my brain go splat.. but I need to give tips for those who want and need them. Give information about your roleplay that you think is relevant. Species, setting, timeframe, landscape, cultures, religions, technologies, magic, whatever you think your roleplay needs.
Expectations
What do you expect from the people joining your roleplay? Please put a note in the front page of your roleplay that says it, because it's a lot handier than telling them after they've already done whatever you didn't like.
Updates
This one.. if you find it a good idea, and think you'd remember (unlike me), you can have a post dedicated to OOC(out of character) and IC(in character) updates. They're very handy.
Keeping the roleplays alive
Alright, most roleplays never make it to an end. Why? Partially, because it takes too long. But, mostly, because of many reasons: someone loses interest and disappears, poor planning on the GMs part, the people who joined really didn't care, life going splat, and many other reasons. How to keep one alive? Don't leave unless it's necessary, or you just can't anymore.
Your character
Creation
Think about your character when you're creating them. Don't just spit out whatever randomly comes to your head - unless, it randomly pops up in your head, and then you think about it. Some of those are the best characters. But, think about their past, their personality, their likes, dislikes, their family. Everything. It can be a tiring process, but you'll like the end result a lot better than not knowing anything about your character.
Appearance
Okay, so.. we can have gorgeous, perfect girls, and wonderfully handsome men. They do exist. But, we want variety. Making normal looking people, or even rather.. ugly people will help make the roleplay more realistic. Unless you don't want it to be realistic, then, whatever you want.
Think about..
Personality, attitude, history, abilities, following through.
Aesthetics - make it eesome
Paragraphs, speaking, thoughts, details..
You don't need to describe every little bit of everything, unless it is necessary, or entertaining. Like how the teardrop left a melancholy trail down her soft, porcelain white features, and when it reached the line of her jaw, it felt down, down, down, dropping into the ice cold pond below her, blah, blah, blah. Or describing their t-shirt down to a T. Doing all of this just to make your post long will lose people's interesting - if you can't think of anything except for details, then.. don't bother making it too long.
Fonts
No bright colors, and no tiny sizes. It makes it so no one can read it, and really, the only reason why you're posting said post is for people to read it, so, it doesn't really make sense..
Editing
Make it readable. If the typo demon, or punctuation demon, or wrong word demon attacks you, then change it. Re-read your post, just to make sure that nothing has gone horribly wrong.
Emotions
... are hard to explain. Don't use the too cliche lines, because that won't help us know exactly what they're feeling. If you don't think you can explain it enough, then go ahead and use the cliches. Sometimes we need them.
Godmodding
Don't do it. The only one who can do it is the GM, or the moderators of the guild. You don't know what godmodding is? It's.. hard to explain exactly. There's all sorts of godmodding, powerplaying, and all of those. Don't make your character all powerful, so they cannot die if they are shot directly in the head or any other lethal places. Or if they EXPLODE. Fall off a cliff, get sat on by Rosie O'Donnell.. etcetera. Don't just say things like, he shot at her, and she died immediately. That is bad. Don't control other people's characters, don't say things about other people's characters that they haven't said (i.o.w. don't assume things), don't change the weather unless the GM says you can, don't change the time unless the GM says you can, and just don't do things that you have to wonder if it's godmodding. Because it probably is. If you want to kill a character, ask the GM and the person that controls said characters. ... I'm going to stop now, or I will go on forever.
If you have any ideas for other tips, PM MEH. Or Kiri or Shaw.
Title
Necessary, though sometimes it's not always easy, so, if you can't think of anything for a good title, you can just use a random word or song title. Lots of people do it.
Introduction
Give a good introduction, setting, etcetera, so that people can have a pretty good idea of where they're RPing, and what has already happened or is currently happening.
Backstory
This doesn't need to be too detailed, because honestly, we can't always put millions of little details into a backstory. Unless we want to. 8D But, put things like.. why is what is happening happening? How did it happen? Etc, etc.
Character Lists
I guess you don't need profiles, exactly, but at least have a description of the characters and a record of who is in the roleplay, or else things will get very... confusing.
Information
Making tips is making my brain go splat.. but I need to give tips for those who want and need them. Give information about your roleplay that you think is relevant. Species, setting, timeframe, landscape, cultures, religions, technologies, magic, whatever you think your roleplay needs.
Expectations
What do you expect from the people joining your roleplay? Please put a note in the front page of your roleplay that says it, because it's a lot handier than telling them after they've already done whatever you didn't like.
Updates
This one.. if you find it a good idea, and think you'd remember (unlike me), you can have a post dedicated to OOC(out of character) and IC(in character) updates. They're very handy.
Keeping the roleplays alive
Alright, most roleplays never make it to an end. Why? Partially, because it takes too long. But, mostly, because of many reasons: someone loses interest and disappears, poor planning on the GMs part, the people who joined really didn't care, life going splat, and many other reasons. How to keep one alive? Don't leave unless it's necessary, or you just can't anymore.
Your character
Creation
Think about your character when you're creating them. Don't just spit out whatever randomly comes to your head - unless, it randomly pops up in your head, and then you think about it. Some of those are the best characters. But, think about their past, their personality, their likes, dislikes, their family. Everything. It can be a tiring process, but you'll like the end result a lot better than not knowing anything about your character.
Appearance
Okay, so.. we can have gorgeous, perfect girls, and wonderfully handsome men. They do exist. But, we want variety. Making normal looking people, or even rather.. ugly people will help make the roleplay more realistic. Unless you don't want it to be realistic, then, whatever you want.
Think about..
Personality, attitude, history, abilities, following through.
Aesthetics - make it eesome
Paragraphs, speaking, thoughts, details..
You don't need to describe every little bit of everything, unless it is necessary, or entertaining. Like how the teardrop left a melancholy trail down her soft, porcelain white features, and when it reached the line of her jaw, it felt down, down, down, dropping into the ice cold pond below her, blah, blah, blah. Or describing their t-shirt down to a T. Doing all of this just to make your post long will lose people's interesting - if you can't think of anything except for details, then.. don't bother making it too long.
Fonts
No bright colors, and no tiny sizes. It makes it so no one can read it, and really, the only reason why you're posting said post is for people to read it, so, it doesn't really make sense..
Editing
Make it readable. If the typo demon, or punctuation demon, or wrong word demon attacks you, then change it. Re-read your post, just to make sure that nothing has gone horribly wrong.
Emotions
... are hard to explain. Don't use the too cliche lines, because that won't help us know exactly what they're feeling. If you don't think you can explain it enough, then go ahead and use the cliches. Sometimes we need them.
Godmodding
Don't do it. The only one who can do it is the GM, or the moderators of the guild. You don't know what godmodding is? It's.. hard to explain exactly. There's all sorts of godmodding, powerplaying, and all of those. Don't make your character all powerful, so they cannot die if they are shot directly in the head or any other lethal places. Or if they EXPLODE. Fall off a cliff, get sat on by Rosie O'Donnell.. etcetera. Don't just say things like, he shot at her, and she died immediately. That is bad. Don't control other people's characters, don't say things about other people's characters that they haven't said (i.o.w. don't assume things), don't change the weather unless the GM says you can, don't change the time unless the GM says you can, and just don't do things that you have to wonder if it's godmodding. Because it probably is. If you want to kill a character, ask the GM and the person that controls said characters. ... I'm going to stop now, or I will go on forever.
If you have any ideas for other tips, PM MEH. Or Kiri or Shaw.
