:: GENERAL ::
The following is a guide to roleplay in general. Though use of this is recomended, it is not nessisary as everyone has their own role-playing style. The tips are designed around more of a uniform standard to make the most out of the understanding of everyone in the guild during role-play.
- Establish a "post format"
A general rule of thumb is the need to establish some standard format for when you''re posting in role play, this way you avoid confusion. A good format consists of a location , an action, some speech, and a text change between each. For example, one might use the following to post an action in a dark forest:
Lord-of-the-flies
arrow Dark Forest A dark forest where it seems many things are staring at every movement. There are serveral bushes around the area, almost making a circle around me. A few owls are sitting on the branches above, staring into the darkness in search of prey.
I start to walk around the edge of the bushes, feeling around to avoid tripping over anything as I proceed further into the everlasting darkness. I hear a rustling among the bushes behind me.
"Hello? Lissy, is that you?"
I start to walk around the edge of the bushes, feeling around to avoid tripping over anything as I proceed further into the everlasting darkness. I hear a rustling among the bushes behind me.
"Hello? Lissy, is that you?"
Visuals
If you are just starting up in a role play, or move to another location, be sure to thoughly describe your area, making care to note of objects that you may use in your following actions. This is very important when trying to convey the continuum of the story as it gives people something to think about when your post is read.
Description
When describing locations, action, ect. you want to be as detailed and sense consuming as possible. For example, you would want to avoid "After hours of seaching in the dark cave, I finally found the exit but fell into a spiderweb along the way", instead you may want to say:
Quote:
The darkness of the cave consumed me, making it impossible for me to see so much as the hand in front of my face. I could hear the ''drip, drip, drip'' of water, the very same that I had heard when I had entered, I knew the exit must be nearby. I continued towards the sound, using my hands to guide me against along the walls steady to my destination; I could smell the fresh air already, but I knew this had to be too good to be true. I continued my path, then found myself with the most glorious sight I had seen in many hours, sunlight. I began to dash towards the glorious light, but a few steps short of my goal, I stumbled over a large, jagged rock and flew head first into a massive sticky web. I stuggled to get free, but the web was far too big for me to escape.
Vocabulary
The higher the level of vocabulary, the greater the emotion accociated with it, so in role-play, this is very much so encouraged. In addition to the greater level of emotion and attention, usage of a few simple higher-level words can make those who role-play with you want to continue this interaction and hold their interest longer. High level vocabulary includes but is not limited to, "degree" words, emphasis, and hyperbolism.
- "Degree" words are words that make something seem in scale to something else; for example, a house could be "big", an apartment building could a "huge", and a skyscraper could be "gigantic." Other examples include "small":"tiny","pretty":"beautiful", "like":"love", "hate":"detest", "some":"many", and many, many more.
Lord-of-the-flies
A beautiful girl stepped out of the darkness into the blinding light filling the center of the room.
Emphasis words are words used to create a focus on a particular object or action. One can express emphasis on an object by using a hyperbole, larger scale description of the object, and/or repeated mention, just to name a few. An example of this may be finding something in a room (see quote below). Upon reading notice that when you read the thirt sentence, the word "it", came to play, and the knife was the automatic assumed target; this is active emphasis at work.
Quote:
I looked around the room randomly, then something shiny caught my eye. Upon further inspection, I found a rather sharp knife stabbed into the nearby table, covered in blood. It looked as it had been used recently, as blood still dripped upon it... I was not alone.
Lord-of-the-flies
That train that passed us a few minutes ago had to have been a mile long!
