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Update Log: >>>As of 1/6/15 at 1:40am Central US Time, this page has surpassed 1,500 views!!! But I'm pretty sure 1,499 of those are from me Thank you for the views!<<< >>>As of 2/5/15, the view counter was reset! On the bright side, at least now it gives a realistic view of how many people frequent this page. -This RP Guide has been mentioned on the Timeline! Yay! -Fast Link to Roleplay Character Repository Thread here If you want to see the basic rules for forum interactions/Roleplaying, click here! Need to rant and want your voice to be heard? Or, want to find out how not to RP? Want to find out why this guide is here in the first place? Head on over to this other guide to find out!!!! This post‘s intention is to serve as a very generic and basic assisting reference guide to text-based roleplays [Whether or not this will be on the same level as GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System), well I hope it doesn't reach that level...] and is not, by any means, a hard-line 'rule book' that should be followed to a tee... With this in mind however, this post does intend to address many common issues found in text based, online roleplaying in a manner so as to not piss off both established and new-coming roleplayers here on the site [otherwise, I would have done this in that other thread...] Text-based online roleplays can be a fun and exciting way to not only burn time [anything to take your mind of that math homework right in front of you, amirite?], but also make new friends, develop your writing techniques [by being critical of your own handiwork and/or analyzing other people’s writing style] and gives you an opportunity to add your own twists and plot-points into an ever expanding story. This guide is not just about giving new roleplayers an idea on how RPs work, but can also be used by veteran roleplayers to help refine their techniques and can also give everyone involved new ideas and facets for RP development that will help contribute to the overall story. Now I know what you’re all thinking: Who the kupo does this guy think he is for making a guide for roleplaying? I can roleplay better than this nutjob! Well… Hear me out on this. I've been involved with several roleplays here on this site and in reality. Yes, I’m talking Dungeons and Dragons, and I've been playing many different types of it, including: Star Wars RPG [Pilot; Edge of the Empire], a classic medieval RPG [Paladin; Dungeon World], and Warhammer 40k [Heavy Gunner, Only War] just to name a few. Mind you, this user doesn't necessarily have that vaunted ‘holier than thou’ mindset [ok maybe a little...], but rather wanted to share the knowledge of basic RPing that isn't covered by THE grand-mack-daddy-master site administrator DChiuch, former roleplayer Kaiso, and veteran roleplayer Silver Kuroi, and wants a little more direction on how to roleplay without having to pay like $59.99 for a general rule book and needing several 20 sided dices to determine what happens next. This guide can be relevant only if the community [you] contributes to it and actually reads it lolwut. If you have a bone to pick with this guide, have any suggestions on how to improve this guide, have a great example to replace the ones that are used to demonstrate some RP concepts, or have general pointers/questions/personal methods that you wouldn't mind sharing with the community, please post on this thread! I'll be sure to credit/respond to you and/or the references suggested if it ends up being used within this guide. General Rules for Online, text-based Forum Thread Roleplays: Subscribe to the thread. This allows everyone to be notified when there’s a new post in the RP, and reminds players that they’re involved in that roleplay to begin with. Not a hard rule, but really handy: Have the initial sign-ups thread also be the out-of-character/roleplay thread [OOC Thread]. This prevents players from filling up the main roleplay with garbage posts and allows discussions of the RP in another dedicated thread instead of within the main one. Create the actual RP as a separate, new thread. Not exactly a rule but a suggestion: Type out your posts in third person. Afterall, an RP is like weaving a story, but with more people involved. Always be involved within the roleplay! A surefire way to sink a good roleplay is by having either the players or the host not post within the RP. If some players are no longer interested in participating or cannot post for any variety of circumstances, kindly let everyone in the RP know so the creator of the RP can off the characters and continue the story. If the creator no longer wishes to participate in their own roleplay say what now?, then sorry to say but the RP is as good as dead. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do You Want to Make A Roleplay? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RolePlay Mechanics (I know what you're thinking... No, not those hot hunks with monkey wrenches and blue overalls that's looking at you seductively. Sorry to disappoint you.) [Please note that you don't have to read it all. It's divided into sub-sections for a raison. Stop yelling at me! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ ] The Fundamentals: Character Creation: Heroes and Villains Character Creation: Characteristics, Skill Statistics, Specializations, and Morality [The Nitty-Gritty Stuff...] Assembling and Maintaining the Storyline Using Character Descriptors to Influence the Plot World Building Getting to Know Your NPCs Getting to Know Your NPCs: The Shopkeepers: Acquiring Items and Other Stuff Within an RP Making Enemies/Random Encounters ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roleplaying Making a Good Roleplay Post: Length vs Quality and Character Immersion Player Interactions: Dialogue and Control Adding Character Depth through Actions or Thoughts Character Development Arc: General Character Development Arc: Relationships Character Development Arc: Death lolwut? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Battles For Text-based, online roleplays, the focus should be more on the story-telling aspect of it, like painting the scenery, and hearing about the player character's struggles and triumphs over their challenges within the RP. But lets face it: Fights and all out battles are gonna happen sooner or later (it wouldn't be fun without it). Special Note for RP Hosts Against Players Combat: The Basics Combat: Advanced Combat: Etiquette Combat: Damage Combat Scenario: Player vs. Player/Host Combat Scenario: Player NPCs vs. Host/Player NPCs Remember, roleplaying is more than just about how descriptively awesome someone can destroy their enemy. It's about interacting with others in a fun, exciting way on a familiar realm as everyone involved weaves their own story into a much greater one. If pulled off correctly, the results is nothing short of spectacular, where everyone involved will walk away awestruck at the thought that they were involved, and participated in, a fantastical tale of possibly epic proportions. Or not, depending on how good of a story-writer the Host is… Hope this guide helps!!! Again, if you have any ideas/suggestion to help improve this guide, or would like to suggest example posts by roleplayers here that would perfectly showcase some concepts, post on this thread and I’ll see what I can do! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I’ll see you on the other side.” ~ Roleplay Character: Zero-Four. Kairi's Nocturnal Guardian.