Kurai's New Guide to RPing (NO posting, or I'll eat you. D<)

[KuraiKitty]

♥*****The Dance of Diction- A Comprehensive Guide to Role Playing*****♥

That's right. This guide's getting completely remade and revamped, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood RP mod, KuraiKitty. Expect some similarities, but many differences and new additions, as well.

This thread is designed to help anyone at any stage in their role playing careers, starting from the ground up. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a person who's never even heard of role playing, this guide is designed to offer at least a little food for thought when it comes to this versatile hobby. Whether you're trying to snag your character's romantic interest or attempting to pull an opponent's heart out of their ribcage, I hope your talents will benefit just a bit from this investment of time and energy.

Table of Contents:

1. Post 1: Introduction and Overview
   
2. Post 2: Role Play Fundamentals- What is RPing?
   
3. Post 3: Characters
   
4. Post 4: So, what is literacy?
   
5. Post 5: What to do, and what not to do.

 

[KuraiKitty]

♪*****Role Play Fundamentals- What is RPing?*****♪

To begin, let us define what a role play is. After all, one can't run if they can't even stand, yet- using this definition as a basis for all that this guide covers will hopefully get us all on the same page. While this term is open to individual interpretation, the general consensus of the text role playing community will consider the following definition to be both sensible and acceptable.

Role Play: n. The activity of having sole responsibility over a single, non-trite character, controlling their interactions and acting according to their own unique personalities while encouraging their growth and development over the course of the story that has been laid out by the creator of the respective Role Play. In other words, the activity of using text to take over a character’s life and guide them through a story, whether it be long term or short term.

This applies for Canon characters (characters already present in the fandom you're role playing) as well as Original characters (which, as the name suggests, are characters created for a role play from the writer's mind).

Characters are an extremely integral part of the role play- they are essentially avatars for writers to play as and control as they make their way through the plot twists and turns that the creator throws at them. They are the puppets sitting upon your proverbial strings- a twitch of the finger and the stroke of a key will make them move, think, breathe, exist in this literary world of wonder. Likewise, each of the other role players involved in a thread, guild, or campaign are also in the same boat- it's important to note the intricacies of not only your character, but the eccentricities and quirks of others that make them more interesting to interact with.

More on interactions later.

On the subject of characters, follow me to the next post.  

[KuraiKitty]

☻*****Characters*****☻

Character creation is quite possibly one of the most important parts of the role play, as it will quickly dictate how you are to interact with the world around you. From the physical appearance that will shape how others approach you to the psychological aspects that will change how your character thinks and acts, there's also the combat experience to keep in mind as you try to create a character that will be fun to play... and fun to interact with. Never forget that you're just a card in the deck that is the role play- know that the more you try to twist your suit, the more likely it is that you'll be forced out of the deck.

So, where to start? How do you know how to create a character that will be interesting and fun to play?

When joining a role play, the first step is to read carefully about the universe that the thread creator is trying to weave. Are they trying to take you on an adventure through a pre-existing world? Are they trying to pull you on a trip through time itself, back to Victorian times? Perhaps they're weaving another world completely, a realm filled with magic and wonder! The setting is extremely important to keep in mind as you try to create a character that will fit the niche nicely.

So, the very first questions to ask yourself are...

• Is this a pre-existing world? If yes, do I want to play a canon character, or create an original one?
  
• What time period is this? How should my character looks, actions, and mentality be affected by the time and place? (Ex: If this role play takes place in the rural south just before the Civil War, chances are that your character will not be an college-educated, eloquent slave.)
  
• Am I limited to certain races? What's this thread's limit on different character types? (Ex: A naga will not show up in a historically accurate Renaissance Italy role play.)
  
• What's the weaponry? Will my character need to defend him/herself?
  
• How do I not create a trite character?

Of all those questions- all of which are terribly important- the last one will be the one that dictates whether or not the others will enjoy interacting with you. Avoid, at all cost, the label of Mary Sue.

Mary Sue/Gary Stu: n. A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in literary criticism and particularly in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors or readers. Sometimes called a self-insert, though it does not have to share the author's sex. This also comes into effect if the character is obviously designed solely for combat, deemed to be invincible/hard to beat, save for impossible to find weaknesses (also known as MinMaxers). Those that try way too hard to be badass and have no flaws for it generally also fall in this category.

There are many Mary Sue Litmus tests out there (which I'll link to shortly) that can help you figure out whether your character is a trite one or not. These characters are generally a nightmare to interact with- many thread owners will do you the courtesy of turning you away if you approach them with one.

Remember that not all characters are perfect, but not all of 'em are sob stories, either. sweatdrop

Having an entire lineage of dead people doesn't jerk the heartstrings quite like they used to- that plot device is overused.

Check out this guide to character creation- it's very well made. <3
 

[KuraiKitty]

۞*****Literacy*****۞

Oh, no, I'm not going to finish this all in one night? Bad Kurai.