Rainbow Dash
06-11-2005, 05:18 PM
Firstly, the RP itself. For the most part, Forum-based RPs will be single-thread stories, which simply means that you're usually going to be changing your character each time you join a new thread.
Then there's the characters. There are two ways to create a character. Either by character creation sheets or by writing a story about them, including their description. The character sheets are much easier. If you decide to create a character this way, include
Name:
Sex:
Age:
Height:
Hair:
Eyes:
Skills/Weapons:
Personality:
Examples of personality would be "A cute and spunky girl" or "A cold-hearted man with no knowledge of his past" etc.
Everyone's character should interact with each other at some point in the thread. It is OK to have your character doing some things on his/her own for a while, but if your character does not ever meet with the several other RPers, that character is somewhat useless.
In the actual RPing process, it is okay to do stuff with other people's characters. What I mean is that you can have them say things (Trying to stay in-character) or move around a bit for the sake of progressing the plot. NPCs (Non-player characters) can be controlled by anybody, as long as they don't make a major NPC character do something ridiculous.
A good Example:
Skylos: So, should we death charge or plan?
Siram: Definitely plan.
Ersh: Death charge.
*Everyone stares at Ersh*
Ersh: What? He can't hit all of us at once.
Demon: Rawr!
*The demon starts to charge*
Siram: Eh-heh. Death Charge it is.
This is called T1. I have no idea what the hell that stands for. This is the generally accepted way of RPing. The other two ways are:
T2 - Each user controls their character and their character only. This is more realistic, but much, much, much too time consuming when there is a large group.
Para - This is where you RP as if you were writing a book. Everything is spelled completely perfectly, with proper punctuation and of course paragraphs when required by the english language. This is always very detailed and usually marks a true RPer, but only die-hard RPers will want to read it too, since they can get long and complicated. However, this still does work in moderation. If you are going to use this, just try to limit it to 2 or 3 paragraphs per post, with the exception of the entry post.
A few notes on posting: To be considerate for less active members, try not to progress a story by more than 5 - 10 posts per day, unless all pertinent, active characters at the part of the story are online at the same time.
Also, if you are going to make a lengthy post, post a message that says "bide" or "in progress" or something to that effect, then edit the post with what you were going to say. That way somebody else won't come in whle you are typing and change the situation drastically.
Late Entries: If you decide to join in the RP after there are already several pages, make sure of the following:
1) You read enough posts in that thread to have a good idea what's going on.
2) Do not rush your entry. If your character just suddenly appears and rescues the rest of the team, it will be too unrealistic and convenient.
3) Do not join if it seems that the story has progressed too far already.
The last section is on duels. If two players are fighting each other, then the structure changes slightly in that you would want to only move your opponent when he literally has no choice but to move. Also you should give your opponent a "Check" warning.
One time when I was dueling I was holding on to the tip of my opponent's sword with one hand and my blade holding it back with another, then proceeded to throw her off balance and get inside her guard. I gave her a chance to do something else before I had the chance to run through her, and it turned out I had forgotten about her magic.
And please be advised, killing PCs in RPs is quite permanent. Only do it if you absoloutely have to.
If you are forced to resort to personal insults in a duel, you have already lost. The next blow would be the kill shot.
Finally, PLEASE respect others' forms of RPing. Badmouthing other legitimate forms of RPing upon multiple occasions will result in a verbal warning as a Rule Violation.
If you have any other questions about RPing, feel free to ask.
Then there's the characters. There are two ways to create a character. Either by character creation sheets or by writing a story about them, including their description. The character sheets are much easier. If you decide to create a character this way, include
Name:
Sex:
Age:
Height:
Hair:
Eyes:
Skills/Weapons:
Personality:
Examples of personality would be "A cute and spunky girl" or "A cold-hearted man with no knowledge of his past" etc.
Everyone's character should interact with each other at some point in the thread. It is OK to have your character doing some things on his/her own for a while, but if your character does not ever meet with the several other RPers, that character is somewhat useless.
In the actual RPing process, it is okay to do stuff with other people's characters. What I mean is that you can have them say things (Trying to stay in-character) or move around a bit for the sake of progressing the plot. NPCs (Non-player characters) can be controlled by anybody, as long as they don't make a major NPC character do something ridiculous.
A good Example:
Skylos: So, should we death charge or plan?
Siram: Definitely plan.
Ersh: Death charge.
*Everyone stares at Ersh*
Ersh: What? He can't hit all of us at once.
Demon: Rawr!
*The demon starts to charge*
Siram: Eh-heh. Death Charge it is.
This is called T1. I have no idea what the hell that stands for. This is the generally accepted way of RPing. The other two ways are:
T2 - Each user controls their character and their character only. This is more realistic, but much, much, much too time consuming when there is a large group.
Para - This is where you RP as if you were writing a book. Everything is spelled completely perfectly, with proper punctuation and of course paragraphs when required by the english language. This is always very detailed and usually marks a true RPer, but only die-hard RPers will want to read it too, since they can get long and complicated. However, this still does work in moderation. If you are going to use this, just try to limit it to 2 or 3 paragraphs per post, with the exception of the entry post.
A few notes on posting: To be considerate for less active members, try not to progress a story by more than 5 - 10 posts per day, unless all pertinent, active characters at the part of the story are online at the same time.
Also, if you are going to make a lengthy post, post a message that says "bide" or "in progress" or something to that effect, then edit the post with what you were going to say. That way somebody else won't come in whle you are typing and change the situation drastically.
Late Entries: If you decide to join in the RP after there are already several pages, make sure of the following:
1) You read enough posts in that thread to have a good idea what's going on.
2) Do not rush your entry. If your character just suddenly appears and rescues the rest of the team, it will be too unrealistic and convenient.
3) Do not join if it seems that the story has progressed too far already.
The last section is on duels. If two players are fighting each other, then the structure changes slightly in that you would want to only move your opponent when he literally has no choice but to move. Also you should give your opponent a "Check" warning.
One time when I was dueling I was holding on to the tip of my opponent's sword with one hand and my blade holding it back with another, then proceeded to throw her off balance and get inside her guard. I gave her a chance to do something else before I had the chance to run through her, and it turned out I had forgotten about her magic.
And please be advised, killing PCs in RPs is quite permanent. Only do it if you absoloutely have to.
If you are forced to resort to personal insults in a duel, you have already lost. The next blow would be the kill shot.
Finally, PLEASE respect others' forms of RPing. Badmouthing other legitimate forms of RPing upon multiple occasions will result in a verbal warning as a Rule Violation.
If you have any other questions about RPing, feel free to ask.