Roleplay

This page provides a basic beginners guide to roleplaying.

Roleplaying Basics

Roleplaying (or 'RPing') isn't as hard as most people think it is, and the roleplaying boards really aren't that scary. To put it simply, roleplaying is writing a story with more than one person. When roleplaying, there are a few things to keep in mind to ensure that everybody is happy - remember, it isn't just about your enjoyment, it should be fun for everybody involved and it should definitely not feel like a chore.

- Be polite and courteous. Follow the rules that are provided by the board leader (which is usually what happens) and don't stray from the plot or 'troll'. Really, there's no point at all.

- Learn your acronyms and terms! There's a lot of weird ones involved with roleplaying, some I probably don't even know. The main ones you'll be likely to come across are:

• RP'r - Roleplayer

• PM - Personal/Private Message.

• GM - God-moding. This is something that most people detest, where you start to control everything around you and basically act like a 'god', like being in a fight but your character always manages to dodge hits. It's irritating and it makes the battleground unfair.

• PP - Powerplaying. This is similar to godmoding, so they're generally thrown in together in one rule. Powerplaying is controlling somebody else's character or other characters, like saying 'Fred walked into a room and instantly everybody's eyes were on him and they all thought he was amazing.'

• O&A - Open and Accepting. This simply means that the rp is not dead, and is still accepting new players.

• Dead - This means that the RPers in the RP are no longer posting, or the plot has become too dull, or the host is going on vacation etc. The basic idea is that the RP is no longer going -it's closed. Dead RPs generally do not reopen.

• OC - Original Character. This means that you have created the character you are using the rp yourself, not gotten it from a movie/ book/ other source. For example- if you were playing in a Powers roleplay, and used Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy but gave him control over water, he would still not be an OC, because even though you changed him a little you didn't create the character yourself. Some people create a different OC for every rp that they are in, and others have specific OCs that have the same personality/ appearance no matter what the rp, they just change them to fit the rp. (give them powers, wings, etc.) Rolplayers develop these OCs over time, and in this way can eventually create very realistic characters with strong personalities, and get better at roleplaying with these characters so their skill level improves. OCs are the property of their creator- you may NOT take anyone's OC and use it in another rp (unless you have gotten permission from the creator.)

• Charrie/Char - Short for "Character".

• Lit/ Semi-Lit - Literate/ Semi-literate. Depending on the creator of the rp, this can mean different things. They refer to the length of the post, quality of grammar and vocabulary, etc. required in the rp. Literate rps usually require at least a paragraph per post, though some may be two, five or more. Semi-lits usually just require no one-liners and proper spelling/ grammar. Some rps do not specify what type they are, but may mention these types of requirements in the rules. Others display what type they are in the name of the rp. (such as, Into the Darkness (Powers rp~ Semi-lit))

• Mary Sue and Gary Stu - I'll put these together as they are basically the same thing; perfect characters. Good looking, lots of money, friendly (in most cases) with a large social group and basically every talent you can imagine. They're usually classed as 'amazing and beautiful' with 'gorgeous singing voices'. There are other types of these characters- some are shy, but everyone loves them, or they might have strange attributes that no other characters have. For example, in a Percy Jackson rp, a Mary Sue/ Gary Stu might be the secret child of Kronos, but raised under Zeus. Hades thinks of them as their own child, and the two gods bicker over this character... you get the idea. Or, as another example, the character might have silver hair with multi coloured eyes that change depending on their mood, etc. In an Elemental rp, they would be the only one able to control the four elements... there are many possibilities. Many people find this extremely aggravating, and may ask you to change something about your character to add a fear or weakness. It isn't that they are trying to make your character 'worse'- its just that the rp can be ruined if someone makes a sue/stu and sticks them into the rp.

• Purple Prose - This is something you may not come across as often as the others. Purple prose is when you put way too much description into things and create posts that really don't need to be as long as they are. 'Her golden hair spun by moonlight fluttered gently in the warm, mid-summer breeze, her soft voice caressing his face like the gentle touch of an angel. She opened her dark red painted lips, slightly dried in the wind to speak, and uttered three words in a delicate, lilting voice: "Your breath smells."'

• OOC and IC/BIC - These are used quite a lot. OOC means out of character - these messages are being said by you, not your character. You should indicate when you are in and out of character so that people don't get confused what is roleplay and what is just a comment. IC or BIC means In Character or Back in Character. Example:

OOC; BRB guys, dinner time.

BIC; Fred walked to the canteen and ordered his lunch, waiting for Jess.

Note: Other ways to show something is OOC is to use double parentheses -

((Do you mind if my character goes blind?))

Katie picked up her bag and began walking back to the store.

-or to use a single square bracket.

[I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while- I've been busy!]

Donald laughed, and slung his arm around her shoulders.

Try not to use single brackets (hi) because these are sometimes used in the rp as part of the rp. Example:

Maria removed her silver bracelet (a gift from her father) and placed it on the counter.

- Try to loosen up and have fun. Don't get super angry with somebody because they made a typo or because their character isn't quite up to scratch. It's still a game, above all else, so don't let it consume you and remember: Haters gonna hate.

I believe that's covered them all, so let's get on to the actual act of roleplaying. To start with, it's a good idea to practice writing first and get down the basics of grammar - learn your homophones and your 'their, they're and there' words. It sounds stupid, yeah, but it'll help you get taken a lot more seriously and you'll find it easier to get along with other roleplayers. Chatspeak and such is frowned upon quite a lot in almost any roleplay, so I would just avoid it completely, in and out of character.

Genres

Now that we've got that down, we'll talk about genres. A genre is basically a type of roleplay, like you get genres with books and films. It typically defines what type of setting the roleplay can have, as well as the kind of characters that can participate. The main ones you'll see are:

• Medieval - in the olden times.
• Fantasy - What it says on the tin. Anything goes, unicorns, dragons...yeah.
• Modern - Present times.
• Futuristic - in the future.
• Sci-fi - Science Fiction.
• Horror
• Romance
• Superpower/ Powers - May be set in modern time, the charries have powers. (control over fire, can read thoughts, etc.)

You won't usually see things like comedy as they are just attributes to the roleplay. You don't usually get a whole roleplay based on comedy, but it is possible. There are also Fandoms. Fandoms are where you roleplay characters from a book, tv show, movie, game or even a theater show. Common ones you'll see around are anime, manga, Warrior Cats, Kingdom Hearts, Doctor Who, Harry Potter ; if it has a decent fan base, you'll probably find it being roleplayed. There's also Bandom, which is less often seen, which is roleplaying real life bands like Green Day or Tokio Hotel, to name some common ones roleplayed.

When joining an RP, make sure your character fits the genre. Your cyborg character probably won't be allowed in a medieval roleplay, for example, nor is your wolf character likely to fit in with a High school roleplay.

Character

The next thing you'll need is a character to roleplay with. Now, we're on Wajas, so in this example we'll assume we're doing a wolf roleplay. Creating a character is very simple in theory but it can get quite complex when you start throwing in character traits, but I'll use a simple example. This first example is in a profile form, but most people will require a paragraph intro as well, which I'll give you an example of next.

Name: Winter

Age: 8 years

Gender: Male

Appearance: Winter has a a pure silver coat with a sprinkling of white across it, making it look as if there's always snow on his fur. His eyes are chestnut brown and clear despite his age. There are a few visible scars on his body, but he is in good health overall. His limbs and tail are longer than your average wolf, making him a little taller than most. He also still has quite a bit of muscle which gives him an intimidating appearance.

Personality: Winter is stubborn and easy to anger. He dislikes younger wolves (whom he views as incompetent and naive) and isn't afraid to snap at them or even go so far as to pin them if they push him far enough. He's a strong-headed hunter and likes to only have one objective at any time. Though hard to get along with, Winter is wise for his years.

It's simple, but effective. It lets you know enough about Winter without giving too much information about what he likes and dislikes or his past. The past is fine to include in short term roleplays but with long term (roleplays lasting longer than a day or so) it usually is more fun to find out the past through talking.

A paragraph intro is harder but more rewarding to write and read from other people.

Winter stood outside of one of the female's burrows, listening to the snuffles and whimpers of the pups lying inside (probably fighting over who deserved their mother's attention most). He sat down on his haunches and licked his lips, showing off his sharp and dangerous looking teeth, still slightly red along with his muzzle from the kill they had taken down earlier. He was alert and protective, his ears twitching to listen to the signs of the forest while clocking what was going on in the burrow at the same time, constantly listening and smelling to sense a change in the area.

He heard a rustling noise from a bush and stood up, raising his hackles and baring his teeth at the apparent intruder. The smell was slightly familiar but outweighed by something new and intrusive, pulling up a snarl from his throat.

"Calm down, Winter. It's just me. I was talking to the other pack. It's true, the forest is being destroyed as we speak. We NEED to move," the female told him. Winter's ears flicked back in distaste as he heard the news, but he lowered his hackles.

"This is bad. We can't move the pups. They're too young..."

"I know," she whispered in reply, lowering her head to the older and wiser wolf in front of her. "What can we do?"

See? It isn't really hard once you get going. Joining a board is simple as well - just read over the rules and ask! If you like it, you'll soon fall into the grove of roleplaying.

Things to Avoid

One-liners

In a majority of roleplays, people who RP, or RPers, as they are called, like to get involved in the storyline. Avoid posting one-liners, or responses that are only one line of text. Do you know how hard it is for other RPers to respond thoroughly with the inadequate information you have just supplied?

One-liner: Zack nodded and said, "I like the plan."

More Detail: Zack nodded slowly, realizing the capabilities of such an odd plan. As Cloud continued to explain, Zack listened carefully as to not miss a step. He scratched the back of his neck, saying, "That makes sense. It's weird, but I think we could pull it off if we had enough manpower..." The raven haired SOLDIER's blue eyes gleamed thoughtfully, a new idea taking form in his mind. After Cloud had finished outlining his version of the plan, Zack began to elaborate on his suggestion.

Wolfspeak/Horsespeak

Unless you are actually in a Wolf based RP that advocates Wolfspeak, do not use Wolfspeak because other people do not understand it, and many RPers find it awkward and unfitting. Examples of this include referring to body parts with different, more 'posh' words, like orbs for eyes or pillars and columns for legs, and in the case of Horsespeak, likening a horse to a machine.

Purple Prose

As explained above, using Purple Prose is over-stylizing your writing, adding in too much fluff and detail. It looks pretty, but in roleplaying not every post has to flow like poetry. You can imagine that after a few pages with every single post reading like that it would get irritating, as half (or more) of the post you read through is pointless words. Keep your posts concisely written, but do not be afraid to add a reasonable amount of detail and elaboration where necessary.

Mary Sue/Gary Stu

Also as explained above, a Mary Sue or Gary Stu is a perfect character, and is one of the worst mistakes to make when developing a RP character. No one wants to interact with a character who is perfect or overly, overly cliche. Remember, faults make a character more believable and interesting. Try to veer away from having your character fall under too many categories of this list:

• Orphaned/Doesn't have parents/Was adopted

• Has a traumatic past that haunts him/her

• Is a really, really good fighter/Never loses in a fight

• Eats junk food but remains ever skinny

• Sings well/Is famous

• Is highly attractive/Has lots of admirers

• Rich but gives away lots of money/Doesn't care about money

• Consider her/his beauty/talent/skill/etc. to be a curse

• Unusually accomplished for his/her age/species

There are, of course, lots of characteristics you should not combine lest you create a Mary Sue. The above list just has major examples of what people consider, when combined, traits of a perfect character. One or two of the above are pretty applicable in a normal RP character, but if your character has three or more of the listed qualities, you may want to review your character.

OnexOnes

Onexones, or one on ones, 1x1s, etc. are roleplays done between two people over a private messaging system. They are NOT held on the main boards. Most people do them over wajas PMs, but others choose to use email or AIM. OnexOnes are popular because it means that the rp moves faster, there is more interaction between characters, and romance is easier.

Terms

m/f- this means that one of the characters in the onexone is male, the other female.

m/m- MalexMale. Also known as yaoi, boys love, etc, this means that both characters are male. m/m rps always have romance between the two characters.

f/f- FemalexFemale The most uncommon pairing in onexones, it is almost impossible to find people who want to rp it. This means that both characters are female, and romance is also involved between the two.

Note- m/m and f/f are also called slash. This is a general term and can apply to either.

Limits- limits means what the other rp'r is willing to rp. The general categories for this is swearing- what should be starred out; violence- how much you should describe about the blood and gore scenes; and romance- how far the characters can go before the scene should be blacked out.

This is used because in private rps, as long as they aren't in the forums, are not limited to the site's rules of Pg13. In general, onexone rprs have more limits on romance, and there tends to be three categories- Those who have limits on everything, so cussing must be starred out, violence to a minimum and romance to Pg13 (this is not very common); Those who have no limits on cussing or violence, but Pg13 on romance (this is common); and no limits. (this is also common).

Other Things to Remember

1. ALWAYS follow the forum rules when roleplaying in the Roleplay forum.
2. You are not allowed to post images on the roleplaying forums. Due to rampant art theft, images are no longer allowed on the RP forums. Failing to follow the forum rules and the no-images rule on the RP forums can result in your RP getting locked and you being given a warning (or worse, for repeat offenders) from a moderator.
3. Respect the wishes and limits of others. If you want to RP with someone and that person says they don't want to do any romance, or violence, or whatever, RESPECT THAT and don't just do it anyway or try to make them/convince them to change their mind.
4. DO NOT send out PMs to random players asking them to RP - This is considered unsolicited spam and possibly harassment and you can be reported for it.