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 Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:34 pm
Welcome to the Role Player’s Guide.
The purpose for this board:
1. To provide members of this guild with information deemed vital to role playing.
2. To help improve the writing of members of this guild.
3. A place for people to ask questions.
The set-up of this board is rather simple. First, I am going to post a list of…foundational basics for role playing. If I miss something that someone thinks is necessary to add, just Private Message it to me and I’ll work on it :3
Once I’m done lecturing, anyone can feel free to post questions regarding anything posted, discuss, or even ask for help revising a piece of writing or making it better in general. Members may then critique the writing and add their suggestions, ideas, or any thoughts. Just do so respectfully.
Thank you!
Oh, by the way, I, SilentBreeze90, am totally adding in my own comments here as well. Everything I add will be in this lovely plum color! xD
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Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:40 pm
Rules:
1. Be courteous.
2. Do not carry out OOC conversations on this topic. This is a place reserved for strict…writing stuff! xD
3. Be humble if you ask for help. Be humble if you give help.
4. Abide by Gaia T.o.S.
5. I reserve the right to add more rules as deemed necessary…or when I can think of some more xD
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Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:45 pm
Index:
1. Levels of Literacy
2. God-moding
3. Power-playing
4. Mary-sues/Gary-stus
5. Grammar
- Sentence Variation
- Diction
- Verb Tenses
- Spelling
- Punctuation
6. Taboos to Avoid/Myths of Role Playing
- Restating what people write
- Unrealistic humor
- Excessive description
7. Good Habits to Adopt
- Rereading posts
- Using Word Processors
- Originality
8. Reserved
9. Reserved
10. Open to Discussion
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:41 am
1. Levels of Literacy Prompt:She cried, knowing all hope was lost. - - - - - Undeserving to Breathe:
$h3 cri3d lol cuz sh3 is $4dzorZ- - - - - Illiterate:
she starts crying there wasnt anything she could do now.- Lack of capitalization
- Tense is typically in present (most role players/writers prefer past tense)
- Lack of punctuation
- Lack of personality
- Simply states facts- - - - - Semi-literate:
Tears began streaming down her cheeks as Elaine steadily realized the truth. All the hope she had invested in her dreams is now lost.- Shows more creativity and description
- Use of character's name (though not all the time); this is a two-way street. Using the character's name is good, however, doing so every sentence is...not good xD
- May exhibit verb tense errors- - - - - Literate:
A sob racked through Elaine’s lithe frame, tears unashamedly spilling from her azure eyes. It could not end this way. Surely this would end like a fairy tale…with a happy ending.
Not this. Anything but this.
However, as the dancer’s dreams lay shattered before her, reality forced itself upon her like an unwelcome guest. Hope had abandoned her, leaving her a lifeless doll.- Good use of description
- Shows character's personality clearly in the text; part of this is having good character development
- May have a few thoughts; this may often be an example of how well the role player knows their characters; it shows attachment
- Colorful vocabulary and use of flowery language...but not excessively so. Too much is bad.
- Use of synonyms for the character's name (ie: "the dancer"...)- - - - - Advanced Literate:
“No…”
Elaine’s frail voice barely penetrated the suffocating silence, unadulterated tears threatening to overcome her pale features. Shaking hands lifted to shield her face, as if doing so would ward off reality’s unsolicited presence. Parting her lips, something within the ballerina cracked.
Broke. Shattered.
And then the tears freely began to flow.
Seizing consciousness and eliciting a strangled cry from the woman, reality dawned upon her with a bitter kiss. Her own faults had predetermined this plight, though her mind remained incredulous to the facts of the present. All the hopes she had harbored since her childhood had been swept away as dust in the wind.
Hope…ha. A doll had not the luxury to wish for it.- Excellent vocabulary
- Paints a picture in the reader's mind with description
- Shows character's personality in thoughts, words, and actions
- Able to say much by writing little
- - - - -
Note: I am not an Advanced Literate. Maybe I was three years ago, but I'm not anymore xD So, take this writing as an example and expect Advanced Literate writing to greatly surpass this.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:46 am
2. God-moding
This is an aspect of role playing typically only seen during battle sequences…actually, come to think of it, I think it only applies to battles and fighting in a role play.
Hmm…anyway.
God-moding may simply be defined as: the giving of a character extraordinary powers and/or abilities that enables them to easily defeat another character and disregarding the make-up of the second character.
Now…let me explain that with an example.
John is able to control fire. Kevin is able to control ice. Kevin will be the god-moder in this demonstration. John’s posts will be in dark red and Kevin’s posts will be in blue.
John, pumped by the adrenaline flowing through his veins, ran towards Kevin at full speed. Pulling a fist back while clenching the other, John emitted a primal cry before releasing an onslaught of punches aimed at Kevin’s head. Throwing punch after punch, even in his blind fury, he knew at least one of them had to collide successfully.
Kevin smirked as he waited for John’s attack. This would be a piece of cake. As John began his attack, Kevin grabbed both of John’s hands and managed to knee John in the stomach.
Okay. Two things wrong with this.
1. From these posts, it may be deduced that John is more physically ready for battle…hence the adrenaline. John is moving as quickly as he possibly can, and even though both boys may be physically fit…John at this point has the advantage. Such liberties were taken by the role player because he or she described it. This is one example of how description is useful!
John also made it clear that he was throwing quick punch after punch…making it near to impossible for Kevin to block every punch. Kevin in this case, is practicing Defensive God-moding. In this case though, Kevin mentioned nothing about blocking and just…grabbed the other guy. Which leads to our second point.
2. Kevin kneed John. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s only wrong because the role player did not leave John any room for retaliation. This would be Offensive God-moding. What if John was able to free his hands and do a back flip before he was kneed? What if John threw a fireball just in time to save himself from getting kneed? Kevin does not know what John is fully capable of. A better way to write this would have been:
“After managing to grasp both of John’s hands, Kevin lifted his knee with all the strength he could muster, hoping to land a solid hit to John’s soft stomach.”
Also, as a consolation for any that are worried…battle posts tend to be of a shorter nature…just because there is so much interaction and the like. So don’t worry if all you can write is two paragraphs or something. One paragraph is pushing it a little though. Best Way To Avoid: Be realistic. Another way to avoid this is to talk to the person you are fighting in ooc posts either in an ooc thread or through pms if you don't want everyone to know what's going to happen. Then you can write what will happen without worrying as much about god-moding. If there is agreement on both sides that the characters will be doing such and such actions then everything is good, just write a (()) at the bottom stating that things were arranged beforehand if it is not a private rp.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:41 pm
3. Power-Playing
Power-Playing and God-moding often walk hand-in-hand and at times it is difficult to differentiate between the two…but there is a difference!
Power-Playing may be defined as: the controlling of another person’s character.
Simple right? Sounds easy not to do, right? You’d be surprised how often it happens.
Power-Playing has a way of being very obvious…and extremely subtle. Let’s talk about more obvious Power-Playing first. We’ll use the example of John and Kevin from our God-moding discussion. John will be the Power-Player in both examples.
Obvious:
Kevin laid on the ground for a while, pain streaming through his body. He had been defeated…he had lost the fight. Now all he wanted to do was just lie there, though he supposed he should get up. Sitting up slowly and wincing as he did so, Kevin offered John a weak grin.
John returned Kevin’s smile and reached out a hand to lift Kevin to his feet. Afterwards, he watched as Kevin dusted himself off.
Ooookay.
1. John assumed that Kevin allowed him to help him up. It might have been in Kevin’s personality to disregard the help. John does not know that. It would have been better for John to simply offer his hand of assistance.
2. Although dusting oneself after having been on the ground is very natural and commonplace…Kevin said nothing about doing so. Therefore, John has no business mentioning something that has not happened!
Less-Obvious:
Kevin barked out a laugh at John’s joke, walking by the other’s side with his hands in his pockets. His walk was a bit dejected, having lost their brawl, but he was at least attempting to be a good sport about it.
John glanced up at his companion as he let out loud laugh. Smiling at hearing Kevin’s laugh, John kept his pace steady and eventually slowed his amble when he noticed that Kevin was having trouble keeping up…since his walk was significantly slower.
Kevin must have taken his defeat pretty hard, he thought to himself. He’s never been this beat-up about it before…no pun intended.
1. Kevin did bark out a laugh…but never said anything about it being loud. Power-Playing.
2. Kevin did describe his walk as being slow…but never said anything about having trouble keeping up with John. Power-Playing, once again.
Subtle:
Kevin’s squinted his eyes as a flash of pink caught his vision. However, as he swung his head wildly from side to side, attempting to find the source of the blurred movement, he found himself staring at nothing but an ordinary, middle-class subdivision. “Hey John…did you just see a pink penguin?”
Good post:
Blinking at the question for a moment, John lifted a brow in question as he stared at his friend incredulously. “What?”
Bad post:
Kevin swung his head from side to side, and John watched, amused and curious. Though Kevin apparently did not find whatever he was looking for because then he asked John if he saw a pink penguin. Giving his friend an incredulous stare, he spat out, “What?”
1. Okay. What makes the “Bad Post”…bad…is because John is repeating a lot of Kevin’s post. Although some people would not really think of this as Power-Playing, in a sense it is.
Kevin has already stated that actions that he took. John does not need to repeat them. John’s role player just needs to write John’s reactions to Kevin. Repeating them…is like controlling Kevin.
There are slight exceptions to this rule however. Sometimes a person may write the following:
“…while Kevin gazed about wildly, John’s face contorted to an expression of curiosity.”
“In response to Kevin’s odd question, John nearly laughed…”
“Curious as to what Kevin was looking for, John began gazing around their neighborhood, seeing nothing out of the ordinary however…”
There are many ways to rewrite sentences in order to avoid Power-Playing. Just be creative :3 Best Way To Avoid: Never assume anything of another person's character.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:54 pm
4. Mary-sues/Gary-stus
All right…hungering to be a better role player?
Well then, learning to fabricate realistic and complex characters is a necessity.
First, let’s define what we’re trying to avoid and then we’ll work into a brief discussion on creating effective characters. Vocabulary: Mary-sue: A “perfect” female character. This may be in regards to any aspect of the character such as history, personality, appearance, or physical prowess. The most common types I could think of are:
- The princess that hates her life and wants to run away.
- The tomboy that pwns at everything even better than most men.
- The quiet, nerdy type waiting for prince charming.
- The “BAMF” gothic girl that hates everyone.  Gary-stu: A “perfect” male character, simply the counterpart of a Mary-sue. These animals tend to be more subtle than Mary-sues however. Some examples are:
- The boy soldier, trained since he was three years old and is now the best assassin in the world.
- The punk/emo kid that all the girls automatically love because he has five million piercings.
- The really emo, depressed, dark, and troubled soul that just needs someone to rescue him.
If you notice, Mary-Sues (MS) and Gary-Stus (GS) tend to be very close to stereotypes.
A very important component to MS and GS are that they lack in character flaws that actually affect their mental, emotional, and physical state. In fact, they may have “flaws” that make them more “perfect.” Such as…a really good guy that just happens to be a demon.
I don’t care if he met and fell in love with an angel and that made him want to be a good person.
He’s a DEMON. And demons are EVIL.
If you’re going to have a “good” demon, you better be able to back up your story with a lot of good evidence.
The point is to create a reasonable, realistic, and plausible character.
Every person in this life has at least one flaw. I personally have jealousy issues xD And I’m very demanding. By incorporating these small details into your characters, they become more alive.
Oh, me,me! Pick me! I'm impatient and sarcastic!
Wow, I should maybe not sound so proud about that... Anyways, try to avoid these characters. If you find that your character is a complete and utter cliche, then you should probably change them in some way to make them a little more believable. Add in a couple of characteristics that you see in yourself to your characters. It makes them closer to you, and also more realistic. After all you are a real person, aren't you?
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:56 pm
5. Grammar
…So I know what you’re thinking.
“Ew.” Hey! I LOVE grammar!!!
But bear with me and we’ll get through this.
In this section, I am not going to go through every grammar error that could be possibly made. Instead, I’m going to define a number of different grammar devices and why they are important. That way, if someone ever says that you need to improve on one of these elements, you’ll have a background for it. Of course, feel free to discuss and ask questions about these things.  - Sentence Variation This is format that you write your sentences in. Go back and read some of your most recent role play posts and actually study them. This may take some time to get used to, but train your eyes to recognize the parts of speech each sentence takes.
Now, do all your sentences start with a subject? For example:
The fox jumped over the log with incomparable grace. The cow looked quite stunning in its purple tutu. The sun’s rays lit up the entire room, making it impossible to remain asleep.
Try beginning your sentences in different ways. With an adverb, a preposition, or even inverted word order. Just do something different! Use simple and complex sentences. Give your sentences variety so that readers do not become bored.
You can’t write crap and expect people to want to read it. You wouldn’t want to read someone’s half-attempted writing, would you?
Take the example above, it can easily be changed up to make it seem less repetitive, a little more interesting to read and write, perhaps:
With incomparable grace, the fox jumped over the log. In the other corner, the cow looked quite stunning in its purple tutu. Lighting up the entire room, the sun's rays made it impossible to remain asleep.
Add in some details that contribute to the setting, or combine short (related) sentences to make things less monotonous. - Diction “Choice and use of words in speech or writing” says answers.com
To have effective diction, you need to think about what purpose you are trying to convey. What is the setting? The whole mood of the post you are writing. Is it sad? Happy? Are you trying to make your character seem shady, trustworthy, or scandalous?
For whatever mood you are trying to encompass, use effective words that demonstrate this.
For example, if the mood you are attempting to portray is happiness, you may use very colorful words. Make the scenery cheerful. Use words such as “elated,” “smiling,” “warm,” “sunshine,” and “bright.”
A bit of a hard concept, but you can do it!
Using a thesaurus to find words that have the proper connotations for the feelings you describe can improve your writing. For instance, instead of "hate" use "loath", "abhor", "detest", or "despise". Just make sure that you look up the word in the dictionary to make sure that you are using it properly. It takes extra effort, but your writing will improve for it.  - Verb Tenses So I’m going to explain this one very simply.
In English, there are different tenses a verb can be in. Very simply there are Past, Present, and Future.
Most role plays will require your posts to be written in the Past tense. That means verbs will end in “-ed.”
He started walking towards his evitable doom.
Or “-ing” if it is a progressive verb.
She began eating with great vigor.
Be very wary that you do not mix up your verb tense within your post. It happens to the best of us.
Watch especially carefully within the same sentence or paragraph. It is sometimes okay for a paragraph to be looking ahead to the future, but it is not okay for one paragraph to start in the past form, switch to present, or future, and then switch again. - Spelling …If you don’t know how to spell a word, look it up. Do not be lazy. There are online dictionaries you can even use. Use a word processor. There is almost no excuse for a misspelled word in a post; unless it’s a word not in the dictionary, a typo, the wrong homophone, or just the wrong tense. But please, do not mess this up if you can help it.- PunctuationNow, the most common punctuation you’ll use is the period (.), the exclamation point (!), the question mark (?), the comma (,), and occasionally the semicolon ( ; ).
I’m…pretty certain most everyone knows how to use these devices proficiently. Effectively however, may be a different story. This is a very case basis problem, so if you need help with this, please just ask. I will simply be giving some advice in this section.
1. Do not be afraid to use the exclamation point. If it’s something exciting, use it! If someone’s really happy, use it! =D
2. Instead of chopping all your sentences up with periods, try using a semicolon or comma. Make a complex sentence out of the thing.
3. Use your ellipses (…) sparingly. Too many of them and your post begins to look like a bunch of awkward silences.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:15 pm
6. Taboos to Avoid/Myths of Role Playing  Everyone gets better at role playing the longer they do it. But here’s some off the bat advice to help, especially if you’re new at role playing.
Beginning our discussion with speech, there is no reason to copy every single phrase of someone’s dialogue. That just starts to look like a sad attempt to make your post seem longer. Your partner already knows what they wrote, and if they want, they can easily refer back to it on their own. They do not need you to reinstate it. There are very few exceptions to this rule however. One example may be if your character was daydreaming or in a reverie:
“…listening to me?”
Johnny’s dazed eyes blinked wildly, returning his focus to Julia with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
In this case, it may be to creative advantage to insert some portion of the dialogue. Just be careful with this.
As for actions…tell us what your character is doing. Not the other person’s. By rewriting someone’s actions, you play on the borderline of power-playing. You may say however:
Julia watched as Johnny lit up her birthday cake, squealing in delight of the surprise birthday party.
Or:
While Johnny had his back turned, Julia decided to play a trick on him.
It’s a weird notion to get used to. But in these two examples, Julia is not controlling Johnny, she is just mentioning something he’s already done and is playing off of it. But she’s not making it a main focus of her post.- Unrealistic humor Humor is a hard thing to write. Enough said.
But it can be done!
And you don’t need to be off the wall batty in order to achieve this.
Most role plays you’ll encounter are probably fantasy based…but you want your character to be realistic within that world. Meaning they could be a normal, breathing person if that world was real. So you want to make your humor realistic also.
Posts can be funny. In fact, humor is greatly appreciated in the writing world. You just have to be tasteful about it.- Excessive descriptionNo one wants to read a whole paragraph about what your character’s shirt looks like. Sometimes we get caught up in thinking that length is strength and quantity is quality. Not so. The point is to write as little as possible, but also giving a clear picture in your reader’s mind. And typically, a clear picture requires more than, “Johnny’s hair was brown and he wore a shirt and jeans.”
That’s boring, first off. But second, how long is his hair? Is it messy? What color is his shirt? Are his jeans new or ripped? Give us description. But like I said, don’t go overboard.
Rule of thumb?
For clothing description: one paragraph.
For physical description: one paragraph.
For scenery: two to three paragraphs.
That way, you hopefully get enough said while not bogging down your reader to the point that they just skim your post and don’t care anymore.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:17 pm
7. Good Habits to Adopt  Here are some useful habits to get used to for every role player! - Rereading posts Everyone likes to read their own writing, right? …Well usually.
But just take the time to reread your posts before you post them. You may check for grammar or spelling errors. You might check to make sure you got everything out that you needed to say. You might check to see that your character remains in character throughout the whole thing.
Even if all you do is skim your post, that’s better than nothing.- Using Word Processors Spell Check is my best friend.
And it can be yours too!
Don’t be too prideful to use spell check and things like that.
Also, by writing your post on a word processor first instead of straight into Gaia’s reply boxes, you’re less likely to lose your post. It’s happened to all of us. When we click the “submit” button and suddenly…the internet shuts down, the webpage expires, you’ve been logged out due to inactivity…
And that means all your hard work is down the drain.
So write on a word processor, any one will do. Just to keep from losing your work if nothing else. - OriginalityDo not be scared to be original.
Many of us get scared thinking, “Well if my guy is too off the wall, no one will like him.”
If you can give a solid background for why he acts this way, then bring on the quirks! Don’t be scared for your person to seem like an oddball…there are many of those in real life. Just do it realistically and with tact.
Don’t be afraid for your person not to go along with the crowd. Just keep them in character.
If Brian doesn’t want to go fight a dragon of impending doom, then keep him in the tavern, drinking his liquor. It’s fine. Differences such as these enrich a role play rather than hinder them. When everyone just gets along and there’s no chaos, role plays tend to get very stale and boring.
- Characterisation
Create your characters in such a way that they are practically real people who just happen to use your typing as the medium through which they act. The more you know and love your characters, the more spontaneity they will show in their actions. Sometimes my characters want to do things I haven't expected they'll do, but that's okay. So long as it seems right for the personality you've formed for them, then it adds to them and makes them more compelling.
- Have Fun!!
The most important thing about roleplaying is to have fun while you are writing. If you enjoy what you are writing, then others will usually enjoy reading it, and the words will often flow from your fingertips. If you find that writing a post is a chore, then imagine what other people will think while they're reading. How can they ejoy reading something if you didn't enjoy writing it?
This is not to say that you should stop posting because you "have writer's block". Perservere through the writing. There will always be a few posts that are hard to get out, but the point is to bring the writing to a point that you enjoy it once more. Change up the style of your writing a bit, create a new character to spark up some excitement. Don't just let the rp sit and rot. Add in an unforeseen complication or obstacle for your characters to overcome.
If, and only if, at the end of the day, you find that you no longer enjoy writing at all, that is when you should consider leaving an rp. Try as hard as you can, but if you truly do not enjoy using your creative spark even the tiniest bit, then kill off your character so that the other people in the roleplay can continue on without getting stuck in a rut. Or at least inform the members of the rp that you are planning on quitting so they can turn your character into an NPC or kill them off for you.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:19 pm
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:21 pm
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:22 pm
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