If you're hearing about roleplaying for the first time, it can be a bit confusing. What exactly does roleplaying involve? Is it something you would enjoy? Fear not; all these questions and more are answered in this short guide.
1. What is Roleplaying?
Roleplaying is you playing a different person. You create a character you are going to 'play' as, and along with other people and their own characters, write a kind of collaborative story. It's an interactive, exciting way to 'play pretend' through writing - you never know how other characters are going to behave, you can enjoy epic battles and dramatic scenes and explore worlds that only exist in your imagination.
To roleplay, all you really need is at least one other person to play with and a place to write your messages to each other. Roleplaying is easy, even very easy, as long as you have a good imagination. But taking the first steps into the world of roleplaying can be hard because different roleplayers might expect different things. You can roleplay with your friends, and you can roleplay with people you've never met before. Either way, you want an idea of what the other roleplayers expect, and that's where this guide can be helpful.
Roleplaying can take place across a variety of mediums - instant messages, emails, private messages, or open threads in the Gaia roleplaying forums. Each of these places has one thing in common: they are not the same as video game RPGs. Video games are restricted by their programming, and you can't influence what happens in your favourite novels or movies or cartoons. Even if you've ever played games like Dungeons and Dragons, you will have been restricted by rules and gameplay mechanics. That means, basically, that you can't do whatever you want. In writing-based RPGs, you CAN do whatever you want, and as long as the people you are playing with are cool with what you do, and as long as you don't break any of Gaia's rules, every body is happy.
2. Are there any rules?
First a short mention of Gaia's rules. Gaia is PG13, which means that you can't write any thing like porn in your roleplays. In fact, if you see any thing like that, please report it using the report button. Other than the PG13 rule, you should also learn where to post your RP thread. If you're in Barton OOC reading this guide, then you've probably already figured that out. These two things are the only restrictions that Gaia puts on your Roleplay. The rest is up to you!
So what do other people usually expect? Roleplaying techniques and rules will vary from roleplay to roleplay, but don't let that put you off. There are huge freedoms in writing-based roleplay, and what's more, if you're making your own roleplay, you can make up the rules yourself! There are also some common rules that most people put into their roleplays. Reading this guide is a good start to learning about them. We'll start with the most basic rule, but the rest we'll leave for other posts:
In nearly every roleplay created, the other roleplayers expect you to stay "in character" or IC. This means that you have to think about your character, what they can do, and what they know that is different from what you can do and what you know. For example, if you're in a Lord of the Rings-type roleplay surrounded by orcs, your fellow roleplayers won't be happy if your character suddenly escapes on a modern jumbo jet. If you have chatty things to say to the other players, this is called Out of Character or OOC, and most people are fine with chatting as long as it's in parenthesis ((like this)). If you keep this in mind and be courteous, the rest of the rules will be easier to learn because some of the other roleplayers won't mind helping you.
3. What do I need in order to be able to roleplay?
A basic grasp of writing and a whole lot of imagination are all you need. Roleplaying is just like writing a book, except other people will be taking part, and there isn't often a set plan of what will happen. Some people roleplay for different reasons and expect different things. For instance, some people might expect there to be a lot of fighting in a game, so if you don't want your character to be fighting all the time, you might not enjoy the roleplay. As another example, some people care a lot about how long your roleplaying posts are and if every thing is spelled right. Some people hardly care at all. It should be easy for you to tell, by reading a few posts in a roleplay, whether it is a roleplay that you want to join.
You may encounter roleplays that use tools like dice throws to determine whether or not that punch your character threw actually landed in the enemy's face. These rules may remind you of games like D&D, but you usually don't have to know about D&D to play in these roleplays: just read the thread to see what you need to do. When it comes to stuff like this, the rules are always different in different roleplays.
If this is your first time roleplaying, it's best to take a look in the Barton Town forums at the roleplays currently taking place. Pay attention to how they're set up, and see how other roleplayers are using threads to enact these mini-epic sagas. When you feel confident enough, try joining one!
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