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 Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2014 8:17 am
After seeing a few posts I'm thinking something like this is needed again. In this thread we, meaning you and I, will explore the basics of role-playing in a forum environment. Some of you are new to this and some of you have some experience. Even the experienced player can use some help when it comes to role-playing. So if you have questions then we can get the answers together.
The major question for the beginner might be, where do we start in all of this? How do I even begin with the whole RP deal? That's a good question for the beginner and novice RP player. In any RP when it's just getting off the ground it's good to read up on the background story and anything related to a plot that might be going on.
In this RP the plot is there to give people ideas on what they could be focusing on as characters. If you just want to test the waters and play with writing up situations for your character without being too plot focused and just hang out a bit we give you the tavern to socialize in. How you introduce your character to the setting is completely up to you. Since we're focusing mainly on the Tavern for now your introductions can have you or your character ordering from the bar or simply sitting around somewhere within the tavern taking in what's going on around you.
If you have questions about RPing then feel free to ask them here.
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 4:19 am
Thank you Chibi! I really have no idea how to RP so here are my questions:
1. Is there any etiquette regarding roleplaying? What are they?
2. Is RPing a trial and error thing?
3. What is the preferred way of posting an RP?
4. How do you exit a roleplay?
5. Any tips for someone like me whose writing skills is average? And is it like writing first person fanfiction?
6. Any feedback with my roleplaying at the tavern?
Whoa! That's a lot! gonk
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:59 am
Shaina Graces Thank you Chibi! I really have no idea how to RP so here are my questions:
1. Is there any etiquette regarding roleplaying? What are they? Since you have so many questions I'm going to break things down one at a time and address things individually. The first thing we're going to discuss is role-play etiquette. There are certain things in any role-play that people should and shouldn't do no matter what the setting.
First things first, don't act like a know it all. Just because you the reader of the role-play knows that two other characters are off at someone's house plotting something it doesn't mean your character does too. It's like a character in a book not knowing a girl has told her best friend she has a crush on him but you the reader do. You see everything in the role-play from the perspective of the character you're writing for. This means your character shouldn't be talking about things they haven't experienced, seen, or been told about from another character if they're not involved in it.
Second of all, you don't want to godmod in any situation. Godmodding is making something happen to another character without giving them the chance to react to it because you want a certain reaction from them. I'll give an example of something that happened during the Spring Fling to illustrate. Slick was firing glitter from his massive glitter cannon at people. As he fired the glitter at my character Aylin and her cat he said the glitter hit both of them never giving me a chance to either let it hit them, let it hit one but not the other, or let them come out of it glitter free. You never want to control another person's character without permission. It might make things a little slower with the pace of the role-play but it makes for a good story.
Third thing to avoid is becoming a Twink. Basically, to be a twink means you take one item you character shouldn't really have at that stage in their journey or development and use it to make them stronger than they really are. In any MMO it's pretty much getting a high level item from a high level player when you're only level 10 and are able to use it. Good example is getting a friend to give you a level 60 Nine Tails in Pokemon when you don't have the badge to control it properly yet. So it's turning your level 10 warrior into a level 200 warrior ninja thief mage cleric archer all with one powerful level 190 plus ten sword. Translated to the Gaia world it means little four year old Aylin Rhys should have no way to be able to read ancient languages and should be doing the basics of reading because back in the early 1900s there weren't computers and methods for teaching four year olds advanced reading and thus trying to read an old scroll shouldn't go perfectly.
Always always build in limits and room for growth as your character experiences things. If they're a mage who's only 20 then they won't know the amount of magic that a mage who's 80 would know. They would still be considered a novice depending on when they began their training.
Finally, you'll want to avoid the dreaded Mary Sue. Just like your character isn't going to know everything he or she isn't going to be liked by everyone either. A Mary Sue, if you're familiar with the term from fan fiction, is a character that's good at everything they do, liked instantly by everyone, has a heated rival who hates that everyone likes them, has somehow overcome a very terrible situation with no emotional damage, they get the main guy/girl to fall in love with them, they rise to a very high level despite their age, and only they can save the day receiving the highest honors that not even the highest ranked person in that world has yet to receive. Mary Sues can do no wrong no matter what happens to them. That's why it's good to give characters limits and things they can't do.
I'll hit up your other questions in separate posts of their own.
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 10:46 am
Cool.
So like, I have really bad dyslexia and it is difficult for me to write a lot and people dislike that.
How can I role play without people being pissed?
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 2:51 pm
Hassli Cool. So like, I have really bad dyslexia and it is difficult for me to write a lot and people dislike that. How can I role play without people being pissed? You don't have to write a novel to role-play. Write what you feel comfortable writing. If something says "Literate" then it's not going to be the kind of role-play for you because it requires a lot of writing. Casual light role-plays are usually for the most part just in character postings with a little action thrown in. As you'll see when we really get into it, it's a sentence or two of action with a little dialogue. So what you do when you play bartender during events is considered light role-playing.
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 3:17 pm
Shaina Graces 2. Is RPing a trial and error thing?
3. What is the preferred way of posting an RP? I'm taking these two together since the answers to them are fairly short.
Role-playing is totally trial and error when you first begin. If you've never role-played before look at how the other people in the thread are working their posts. You don't have to copy the way they structure them with post styles but pay attention to how they write them and try out what feels comfortable to you. And if a role-play has an Out Of Character thread for discussing what's going on in the role-play you can ask the person running it there which tense and person to write in.
This brings us to question number three. Most people will write their posts in past tense (IE. Jamie went to the store). What point of view they use is totally a personal choice. First person point of view places everything from the character's point of view and anything that happens is seen through their eyes (IE. I saw Hassli behind the bar talking to 'Hydro). Third person point of view places everything from the view point of an outside narrator who sees all and knows all (IE. Aylin sat at the bar drinking from her stein unaware of what was going on around her. She couldn't see 'Hydro walking into the tavern at that same moment). First person is a lot of I, me, and we pronouns when referring to your character and anyone they're with while third person is a lot of he, she, and they pronouns when referring to characters and people they're with.
I personally like writing in third person past tense because it allows me to explore more of my character's background and development. There really is no one set way to post in a role-play unless the rules state you should use a specific way to post. It doesn't beak the flow of things to have one post go from third person to first person but a lot of people will post the way others are posting to keep the transition between posts nice and smooth.
This why doing a lot of little role-plays can help build your role-playing skills. Any opportunity big or small to role-play, like during events, is a good way to practice your skills.
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 3:54 pm
Shaina Graces 5. Any tips for someone like me whose writing skills is average? And is it like writing first person fanfiction?
6. Any feedback with my roleplaying at the tavern? Jumping to this one here because I'd like to get to it now rather than later. Your style of role-play isn't bad but it's a little choppy. You have chosen to post in third person present tense. It's not a bad posting style, however, when you get to dialogue where they're talking to someone they haven't seen in a while you're going to want to have your characters talk in past tense. Things like "I miss you" are more for when your character is thinking about someone or talking to them on the phone or some type of chat program, letter, or email or even talking to their photo or grave. When your character is talking to them in person that's when they speak in past tense and use things like "I missed you" as it shows they haven't seen each other in a while and it's the first time seeing each other.
And it is like writing fanfiction, which is why I'm so comfortable with forum role-playing over other forms of role-play because there's no stats like strength, intelligence, and agility to consider and trying to factor in which items give you a plus one boost in which stat when they're being used. Forum role-playing is a group collaborative fanfiction or story. You write out what amounts to a single page in a chapter of a growing story. We don't have to go that in depth in the tavern and you really don't have to do the amount of writing I do (I sometimes get way into things and dive into my character's head too much when role-playing so if you or anyone else think I should slow down then let me know) but just do at the very minimum a nice little paragraph. Pretty much a few lines of action and some dialogue once things really get going.
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 5:26 pm
Thank you so much!
heart emotion_hug emotion_kirakira
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 5:37 pm
Shaina Graces Thank you so much!
heart emotion_hug emotion_kirakira
Sorry to bombard you with so many quotes there but it was better to do it that way.
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 5:50 pm
Chibi Halo Shaina Graces Thank you so much!
heart emotion_hug emotion_kirakira
Sorry to bombard you with so many quotes there but it was better to do it that way.
It's so informative and it's better to quote it that way rather than quote it in one, long wall of text
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 5:51 pm
Chibi Halo Hassli Cool. So like, I have really bad dyslexia and it is difficult for me to write a lot and people dislike that. How can I role play without people being pissed? You don't have to write a novel to role-play. Write what you feel comfortable writing. If something says "Literate" then it's not going to be the kind of role-play for you because it requires a lot of writing. Casual light role-plays are usually for the most part just in character postings with a little action thrown in. As you'll see when we really get into it, it's a sentence or two of action with a little dialogue. So what you do when you play bartender during events is considered light role-playing.
I do love playign bartender.
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Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:06 pm
Hassli Chibi Halo Hassli Cool. So like, I have really bad dyslexia and it is difficult for me to write a lot and people dislike that. How can I role play without people being pissed? You don't have to write a novel to role-play. Write what you feel comfortable writing. If something says "Literate" then it's not going to be the kind of role-play for you because it requires a lot of writing. Casual light role-plays are usually for the most part just in character postings with a little action thrown in. As you'll see when we really get into it, it's a sentence or two of action with a little dialogue. So what you do when you play bartender during events is considered light role-playing.
I do love playign bartender. And if you want to play bartender in the tavern you're more than welcome to the job. We can always use more bartenders.
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