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 Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 7:49 pm
Many users have expressed a desire to participate in the roleplays found here on A.G.A. but not known what exactly to do. In this thread, we will provide a sort of launching point for beginners to the concept of online roleplaying. I encourage members already involved in the roleplay aspect of the guild to post here as well with input, tips and discussions......
Introduction
So what is Roleplay? Roleplaying is a situation or 'game' in which participants act out the role of characters that have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. The participants, known as 'players' then are placed in a situation and/or series of events that is known as an 'adventure' or 'campaign'. The players take on the roles of their characters and act out the events in an improvisational manner that essentially creates the story as they go along....
And now onto the basics. I hope this guide assists the beginners in their quest to join in the fun that is Roleplaying.....
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:00 am
The Campaign
The campaign or adventure is the story that the players are interacting in. Campaigns almost always have a theme or genre to them. Some popular themes are fantasy, sci-fi, horror, anime, and media-based fan roleplay (like roleplaying an adventure based on Lord of the Rings or Spiderman) though roleplay can be about any story the participants dream up and is not limited to these themes. .
Each campaign starts out with an introduction to give players a sense of what the story will be about. Sometimes this consists of visuals to help players get a sense of locations and atmosphere. Other times, it's a detailed description of the theme, story background and surroundings. Next is a clear set of rules. The rules state any limitations that may be on the story and its' players. This makes things more even for everyone and easier for the person running the campaign to manage. Campaigns usually begin in a set location but depending on the story, may or may not move to other locations later.
If the existing GMs in this guild have anything to contribute to this explination, please feel free to do so. The more information this thread provides, the better.
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:08 am
Who's In Charge?
The person running a campaign is called many things. All of them short forms for various roles people take on as the person running the adventure. Here are a few.
GM - Game Master
DM - Dungeon Master (used in Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying)
ST - Story Teller (used in some online roleplays)
For the sake of simplicity, here we will be using the term 'GM'. The GM creates the story and situation that the players will be interacting in. Sometimes, it's a preconceived story that the GM tweaks a bit to suit their particular adventure ideas, other times it's a completely original environment and plot that the GM has created themselves. In either case, it is the GM's role to keep the players on track. How are their actions affecting the story? What happens next? Where are they location wise? What are they seeing?
The GM is also the one to make sure that the rules for the campaign are understood and followed. It is up to the GM how heavy or light the rules for their campaign will be. For online roleplay, rules tend to be on the lighter side as GM's are most often in favor of the improvisational side of things rather than placing too many restrictions on the players. The GM is also the first person you go to if you have a question about the roleplay.
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:29 am
Characters
The characters are the heart and soul of every roleplay. Each player takes on the role of at least one character as they enter the story. Sometimes, GM's have preconceived characters (sometimes called character templates) that they asign to the players. These characters come with set stats that the player acts out as directed. It is much more common however for a player to create a character themselves.
Players create characters much like you would a character in a story. Characters are given names, genders, ages, personalities, physical descriptions, backgrounds, likes and dislikes, goals, strengths and weaknesses. For more on character creation, please pay a visit to the forum's character generation thread. You'll learn the basics for creating a character there and get helpful tips as well.
When a player first enters a roleplay it is common for them to start with an introduction for their character. Introductions both serve as a way for the player to uniquely enter the adventure according to their character's personality, (How does your character make an entrance?) and it also gives the other players insight into who the new character entering into things is. The two things to include in an introduction are:
- What is your character doing as they enter the area. Are they looking around and familliarizing themselves with their new surroundings? Did they come there from somewhere specific that needs mentioning (ie; background information)
- What is your character's physical appearance. This generally includes gender, height, build, hair and eye color, skintone, race if your character is not of the primary race represented in the campaign and clothing and carried belongings. How much information you give depends on how much you wish to reveal at the start. Some players prefer to enter in a more mysterious manner and reveal details as the campaign progresses. But at least give the GM and other players the bare basics.
NPC's: Often, the GM will introduce additional characters into the campaign to help tell the story, aid the players in what happens next and describe new surroundings, characters or locations. These are called NPC's or Non-Player Characters. This simply means that it is the GM, not the players that control these characters in particular. In online roleplay, players will often find their characters start out by interacting with NPC's.
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:08 am
How do I start? (Posting)
Learning how to properly post in an online roleplay is essential. You, the GM and the other players all need to know what's going on, who's doing what and who's talking to whom. There are two main types of text in an online roleplay. Dialogue and Actions.
Actions are the most important part of a roleplay post to keep clear and distinctive. Since this is online and we are relying on words on a screen to tell us what each person is doing, we need to know what part of a post signifies a character's action. Therefore, it must be distinctive from dialogue.
Normally, there is some type of symbol surrounding the text describing an action. A commonly used one is asterisks. ------> **these little stars** Surrounding an action in such symbols creates a separation between it and the rest of the post.
Also, to give your fellow players a better idea of what your character is doing, try making your actions descriptive. Suppose your character is running. How fast is he/she running? Are they building up a sweat? Are they feeling any particular emotion while running? What's the look on their face tell us?
Giving a somewhat detailed description of the action taking place helps paint a picture of the scene for the other players and the GM.
Dialogue is basically what your character is saying or thinking. It's a good idea to distinguish between speech and thought right away so there's no confusion among the other people roleplaying. For speech, some players don't bother to change it since they treat it as normal speaking like they would in any post. This is fine, just as long as the speech still stands separate from other text in the post. If you do choose to distinguish the dialogue, the most popular way is to use quotes. "I believe this is an adequate example.."
For thoughts as opposed to speech, a good trick I use is to place the thought text in italics. There's an italic "i" button when you post a reply. Keep an eye out for it....
The last thing regarding posting is to know how to post something that you yourself are saying as opposed to your character. This is known as speaking OOC or Out Of Character. Some people surround their text in brackets when speaking OOC. This works fine. An even clearer alternative is to put OOC: followed by your message.
Here is an example of a typical roleplay post, color coded for your convenience....... The Actions are in red, the Thoughts in blue and the Speech in green... the OOC post is left in normal color.
**He looked on suspiciously as his comrads appeared to stubbornly question him, his brow damp with glistening beads of sweat as his very secrets threatened to reveal themselves in the blink of an eye, his gaze falling on the sun as he shifted in his seat, knowing he could no longer stall he thought to himself of all he'd been through** God, I hope they don't find out about the scroll.... I might have gotten free of this questioning were it not for her. I can't lie to her face..
**his gaze fell on the one who always dragged the truth from his soul as he reluctantly spoke** "Tis nothing... I simply have had a lot weighing on my mind as of late.... I would not want to burden you with my worries, so I shall take my leave... Excuse me.."
OOC: I won't be around for a few days.. please continue the scene as if I were still here.
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:30 am
Roleplay Terms
To finish up the basics, here are a few terms you may see commonly used around the roleplay threads. I've repeated a few from earlier just so that they are all contained within the same list..
RP - Short form for Roleplay. You'll see it used almost constantly around here...
Player - A person taking part in the roleplay but not running it.
GM - Game Master - The person in charge of running any given roleplay.
Campaign - A term given to the individual roleplays. Also called 'Adventures'
PC - Player Character - Any character being portrayed by a participant of a roleplay outside of the GM
NPC - Non-Player Character - Any character within the roleplay controlled by the GM
Character Stats/Attributes - Every detail about the character, from physical traits to personality.
Crossover - A roleplay consisting of two or more themes and/or sources. Most often referring to a media based roleplay dealing with two or more series.
Multi-Crossover - See above definition, only apply it to three or more instead of the previous 'two'.
Turn based - A role play that functions on the basis of each player taking turns with their posts in both dialogue and actions. In this setting a GM will respond to each player one at a time in order of their characters' posts as if they are taking turns in a game.
Die-roll - Refers to the action of rolling one or more dice. Used most often to decide outcome of some actions in play.
Crit Fail - Refers to Die-rolls. Meaning when the number rolled indicates the furthest outcome from a success. Usually represented by lowest number on die unless otherwise specified by GM.
Crit Success - Opposite of a Crit Fail. Refers to best possible outcome of an action involving a die-roll.
That is all I can currently think of in terms of a beginners guide. Once again, I encourage all players and GM's to add to this thread by giving their input and experience. Enjoy yourself in indulging in the interesting realm of roleplay.....
-Daniel StormBringer
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:23 pm
Anyone wishing to add information that they wish to have included in this FAQ, post it here....
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