Suggestions For Rp Article.

[Solaris]

I was stupid not to save what I had typed in to my friend who was not role-playing in the way that most people would. So I am working on an article for my webpage and maybe for here too, since we may one day have a role-play forum for us all to us. I know everyone here knows the rules of role-playing but there are newbies out there that don't really know it very well and they need a how to article about how to role-play properly.

So can anyone give me a helping hand as in what rules I should put down.

Here is what I got so far.

Role-playing is where you create a character and create a life for the character.

Please, one thing is for sure, do not make your female character a Mary Sue or if it is a male don’t make him into a Marty Stu. That will surely turn people away in the middle of the role-play and they will not want to continue with the role-play with you.

Don't use one-liners, that will kill the flow of the role-play.

Any more rules I should put down?

Thanks!

Beth

[Keith Inc.]

Well, like all games, people RP with you as long as they have fun.

If you make the game, the session, the scene or the story line 'All About Me' then no one else has fun. Same thing if you make the game all about attacking, belittling or otherwise punishing one single player or all others. I guess, keep in mind that all of this is to be a group effort, for the benefit of the entire group.

Or if you ARE going to be a Mary Sue, be an incredibly entertaining one.

[Solaris]

I've added more to the article.

You always see people role-playing online either on an archive site or a forum meant for role-playing. Role-playing is a fun and easy way to escape your real life for a while to a world of your own. But if you do not know what role playing is, this article will help you with that. Role-playing is where you create a character and create a life for the character and go into a story-like setting with one or more people on a forum or an archive site.

So, if you are interested in role-playing, just follow these simple rules and you should get along smashingly with your fellow role-players.

1. Please do not God mod; that means controlling other people's characters without permission, and powering your way through the role play. If you need to use another character from someone else’s ask first, don’t assume it would be okay for you to use their character for that reason alone you should PM or IM that person for permission to use so and so character for a bit.

2. Please do not make the female character a Mary Sue or if it is a male don’t make him into a Marty Stu. A Mary Sue are characters that is created by the player who is perfect, beautiful and is the main love interest of the main canon character in the show/cartoon or whatever fandom you are in and if the character has any faults of any kind they’ll use it when it makes a good plot twist which means she’ll be saved by her love interest. It is the same with Marty Stu, he’s handsome, perfect and the love interest of the main female canon character in the show/cartoon or whatever fandom you are in and if he has any faults of any kind they’ll use it when it makes a good plot twist which means he’ll be saved by her love interest. That will surely turn people away in the middle of the role-play and they will not want to continue with the role-play with you.

3. Never post one-liners! This is usually just one sentence of what your character is doing. Posting dialogue is not an excuse for a one-liner. If you are stuck on what to do next, IM or PM the originator of the role-play and ask them for help. They will help you.

4. To avoid one-liners, consider including these elements in your post :

- Your character's speech, if speech there be.

- Your character's actions. This can include complicated actions, as in a fight, or simple actions, as in a gesture or facial expression.

- Your character's thoughts. Be reserved with this one, though. Don't over-do it. Remember, the other characters probably don't know what yours is thinking.

- General observations, such as the movement of leaves or other things in the setting. Again, don't over-do it, and leave other people's characters out of it unless you know them and they trust you.

5. Please double check your spelling and grammar before posting--you don't want your fellow Role-Players to spend an hour trying to figure out what you wrote.

6. This doesn't hurt to repeat it. Please do not God mod.

7. Listen to other people's opinions, especially the ones running the role play.

8. Give your character a reason for being there (wherever "there" is). People who turn up randomly and bother the other players for attention are really annoying.

9. Don't over-punctuate. Never use an exclamation mark where a period will do. Avoid multiple punctuation marks, and, if you simply must have more than one of something, never ever use more than three. More is redundant and annoying.

10. On a similar note, avoid typing in ALL CAPS (unless your character is the Death of the Discworld or a related entity). "I forgot" is not an excuse. You ought to be re-reading what you type before you post it anyway.

11. If you will have your character just sit in a corner and brood/mope/plot/whatever, don't expect people to go out of their way to include you in the RP, and don't whine about it. If you want to be involved, get involved.

12. When introducing your character, be brief. The other players do not need to know every stitch of clothing or every detail about your character's past. After all, part of the fun of role-play is finding these things out.

13. A tip about spelling: If you have Firefox browser, you can get an add-on that spell-checks what you type into text fields. It's great. You can even add words to the dictionary.

14. One thing, do not throw the role-play off kilter by keeping your character interacting with her or his main interest and not with the rest of the characters in the role-play. Be sure to incorporate the character into the role-play by bringing her or him into the role-play and not hog his or her main interest from interacting with the rest of the characters in the role-play. That will turn people off of continuing the role-play with you or avoid asking you to be a part of another role-play, because you yank your character’s main interest away from the rest of the players if no one has attached them to that character yet.

Does anyone else have anything else to add?

Thanks,

Beth

[Melrick]

There’s perhaps one thing you could expand on a little more with the Mary Sue explanation, and that’s about how almost all Mary Sue’s are basically the perfect version of the person themselves, so they tend to think and act how they themselves do, just more… perfectly.

Characters that are flawed are always much more interesting to read, and to write, than those that are perfect. They allow you to explore new areas and interests, perhaps forcing you to do some research on new areas for your character, which will only expand your own personal knowledge. And if you’re writing about something you’re unfamiliar with, research really is necessary. Characters that are different from yourself certainly take more effort to write, that’s true. For instance, perhaps you’ve always been a very happy go lucky person that’s always positive, but your character is moody and gloomy, with a negative view on everything. Obviously that type of character would require the person to really delve into areas that they’re not familiar with, but the pleasure and satisfaction they would get from the end result is great.

Your character WON’T know what other people are thinking. Far too often I’ve seen characters that amazingly know what someone else had only THOUGHT rather than said aloud. Read other people’s posts carefully, so you don’t misunderstand things. If you don’t understand something about the post, email that person your question.

Explain that there are different types of simming. Simming is a word I’m personally more familiar with when it comes to role playing with a group. “Sim” is short for “simulation”. There’s live simming, where people gather somewhere, such as a private chat room or on IRC, and things happen pretty much in real time. And there’s email simming, where the people sign up on a email list server and when people write a post, they email it to the listserv and it automatically gets redistributed to everyone on the list. The different sims require very different styles of role play.

When it comes to email simming, joint posts are a possibility. That’s where you approach another person on the sim to jointly write a post. You write a bit, email that to the person, they write a bit, send it back to you, etc, until you’re both satisfied with the post and then email that to the listserv. They’re a fun way to write, but don’t automatically assume a person wants to joint post with you, and don’t get offended if they choose not to.

Role playing simulations are often headed by a game master of some kind. It’s usually this person’s job to push stories in certain directions, involve plot twists, adjudicate over conflicting posts or arguments, and generally keep things running smoothly. This is the person you really need to listen to and follow what they say. If you don’t like how they run the sim, find another one or start your own.

Each sim is run differently, so it’s important to know the rules of that sim BEFORE you join up. Most sims don’t allow – or at the very least, hate it – when a person suddenly introduces a huge and unexpected plot twist that drastically changes the direction of the sim. Do NOT do that unless you’ve had permission of the game master first!

Also, if people don’t have, and can’t afford, a word processing software then they can get a very good free word processor from www.openoffice.org. Their program is called “Writer”.

[EveKnight75]

I find these rules daunting and the rule about Sues/Stus is a bit harsh (though true).

Role-playing is often about creating a fantasy version of yourself. How does one do that without straying into MS territory?

Role-playing is about interaction, but you tell us not to control other characters. "Controlling" a character can also mean dictating their actions when they interact with your character. How about being clearer on how one can include/interact with another character in their own lines without "controlling" said character?

I'd add this:

Role-playing is a game. It's about relaxing, having fun, and interacting with others.

Try to be respectful to other characters. You don't have to like them (especially not an official enemy), but you do have to be respectful.

Don't center the entire story around your own character. Write about your own character's actions and interactions, but keep your character on an even keel with everyone else. It strikes a balance.

Consistency is important. Assign your character certain traits and stick with them. Don't change another character without permission. In role-play, it's important that all of the players are familiar with the basics of all of the characters, and doing a sudden turnabout for no plausible reason in the middle of a game ruins it by throwing everyone off.

I have more experience role-playing as an improv theater exercise than I do in chat rooms, but I find these above rules to be very important - especially the one about consistency.