Suggestion-RP Guild

[DV1]

(I'm posting this since I can't post in the suggestion forum....close it if nesseary, its a guild to be being a better rper...

Introduction

Any questions, comments or suggestions relating to this guide or your own style of role playing should be posted in this thread.

The Golden Piece of Advice

Be descriptive. This will nearly always help you improve your role playing skills. Just say exactly what you imagine in your mind about your character and/or the things around the other players. Just like drawing a picture of a person, a stick figure does not always look good. Just say everything you imagine, and then you can paint the same picture for others to see, that is good role playing.

One problem that people have with this is time. Often on NP there are threads where you get people posting every two minutes. Don’t worry about not being descriptive because of this, that will only diminish your quality of RP. If you have trouble keeping up with these people do the following:

1 – Type up your post as normal in the thread, don’t be afraid of not being descriptive remember.
2 – Once you are done, copy the text.
3 – Now refresh the page and paste the text back into the reply box. Above you will see any new posts that were made while you were typing. Just make a few small edits to your post as necessary. Then post it.

The second most important piece of advice that I can give you is to write close to how you would write in a book. You can still use *’s if you want for your actions, but I personally think it looks a lot better without them. Just remember to distinguish well apart speech and actions.

The Faults in RPing and how to correct them

- First and Third Person

What not to do
I walk in the room and say to the bartender, "Hey can I get a beer?" And then I go down to sit at my table.

The Error
First person is a very poor method to write when forum RPing. Trust me on this one, third person sounds a lot better, watch.

What to do
Blaze walks into the room and goes up to the bartender, "Hey can I get a beer?" He then looks around behind him and sits at his usual table.

- Closed Attacks

What not to do
Rain strikes at Blaze with her sword, scoring a hit on his arm. Because of this Blaze then is forced to drop his axe as the pain sears up his arm.

The Error
This is not necessarily an error of RPing, but I feel it should be mentioned here anyway. It is not fair for the opponent when his hits are all being determined by his own opponent. That is called a closed attack. You need to leave the attack open so that the opponent can say whether the attack hits or not.

What to do
Rain strikes at Blaze whit her sword aiming for his arm. Hopefully when she hit she could also knock his axe to the ground.

- Spelling and Grammar

This is pretty much self-explanatory. It is considered bad RPing if you have bad spelling and grammar. This is bad because it becomes hard to interpret what you are saying. The occasional mistake is ok but please try and keep this to a minimum. Some specific points are as follows (the subject is followed by the error, followed by what to do).

Use Capitals! – the man name robert walked up to blaze. – The man named Robert walked up to Blaze.
Use Speech Marks! – Blaze turned to Rain wonderingly. So what are ya up to? - Blaze turned to Rain wonderingly, “So what are ya up to?”

- Introductions

What not to do
Upon entering a quest this is your first post

Blaze walks into the bar and looks over to Rain who was over at a table asking for help. “Hey can I join your quest?”

The Error
The example here actually has two errors in it. First of all the person has not described what his character looks like, or even acts like. This does not give us an impression of the character. As far as we know, he is a blank nobody. I am sure that many players don’t want that impression of their characters. The second mistake is the infamous ‘can I join your quest?’ Please try and avoid this common lame comment, be a little more creative than that. Then you can have the first impression that you are a good RPer.

What to do
The door of the bar swings open as a tall man enters. He looks around through his brown eyes, his short red hair gleaming atop his head. Upon seeing Rain, asking around for some help. He smiled to himself brightly before striding over to her. “Evening Miss. Your seeming to have a little trouble, any way I can help?”

- Speech in Actions

What not to do
Blaze walks up to the bartender with a smile and asks how he is doing and if he can get an ale.

The Error
This doesent just stand out right, you need to properly say what the character sais using speach marks, it looks a lot nicer.

What to do
Blaze walks up to the bartedner with a smile and speaks in a cheerful voice, "Evening sir and how is it going here? Can I get an ale by any chance?"

- Speech only

What not to do
“So where are we heading to next?”

The Error
This is another example of poor description. But not only that, but the player has not identified who exactly is speaking. When you write posts with speech, they should always hold speech and an action, even when it is not apparent where the voice is coming from.

What to do
Blaze looks up to all the others after he had packed up all his gear for the journey ahead. The fire elementalist was still a bit weary from last night, but never the less was ready for anything that would happen. He spoke to the others after a yawn, “So where are we heading to next?”

- Describing Spells

What not to do
Blaze the fire elementalist fires off a Flare Arrow spell at Rain.

The Error
People often use names instead of descriptions for spells. This is bad because the person who is reading it does not know exactly what the spell does and what it looks like.

What to do
Blaze brings his hands around him as if he was holding an invisible bow. Suddenly out of nowhere a great flaming arrow forms between his hands notched on a bow of flames. “Flare Arrow!” And with that incantation he releases what appears to be the bowstring and the arrow launches itself with great speed in Rain’s direction.

- Emotion for Characters
What not to do
Carl walks into the bar and avoids everyone untill he gets to the counter and orders a beer. "Damn my life sucks now."

The Error
Showing emotion is part of being descriptive, you can show exactly what your character looks like and does but if you dont add emotion to it your character will seem lifeless.

What to do
Carl slams the door open and pushes poeple aside making his way to the bar's counter. He pounds his fists down and orders a beer.

"DAMN! My life sucks now."


Different Expressions & Definitions

Role Playing – Playing a different role/simulation.
RPing – Role Playing
Out of Character – Things that are not said by the character but instead by yourself.
OOC – Out of Character
In Character – Things that are said or done by your character is when you are in character
IC – In Character

[Dante]

Post this in the Roleplaying suggestions thread. This is pretty good advice, if a little snooty.

[Mr. Viewtiful]

This is very well written, and is sure to be of help to RPers at these forums, beginner or not. Heck, I could see these suggestions being so good it should probably be added to a suggestion/guideline thread.

[DV1]

Thanks, I made this about 6 months ago, and normly post it on every forum I'm at.

[Darth SS]

Yuo're going to heaven for this.

Follow everyone else's advice to get it in the right place.

And please accept my copious ammounts of cold hard cash as payment *tosses cash onto the floor*

[Zephie]

Originally Posted by Dante

Post this in the Roleplaying suggestions thread. This is pretty good advice, if a little snooty.

Ditto, but more emphasis on the snooty part.

What I have a problem with is how you so openly dismiss first person out of hand. My personal feeling is that, heck, if writing in first person is your cup of tea, then fine. I won't hold it against you. I know a really good RPer that only writes in first person, and her posts are awesome. Second, first, third, past tense, present tense, I don't care, what really counts is the content, not the style it's presented in. Some might even argue that each style has its own ways of being poignant.

Second, and this is probably much more my own personal taste than a rule, is that spelling and grammar don't get to me too much. I won't hold it against you if you misspell a word here and there or continually use words wrong... I know some good RPers that can't spell all too well, really. What I WILL start going :-/ to is:

i put my knif in ur bak an kil u

a.k.a., AOL Speak. I mean, come on... I find it hard to respect someone who types like that all the time, honestly.

Third, introductions: Depending on the situation, someone might choose to withhold information until later, for dramatic effect. I've done that myself a few times, told a little about someone, but not too much, leaving much to the imagination until I reveal all later on. Maybe it's just me, but if done right, I think that it adds just the right amount of flair to a situation... -_^

The One-Line Speech Post: depends. Sometimes you don't even need to add extra text, just a simple, "All right, boss." will do. I've done that sometimes, too, since the character speaking and who they're speaking to is very clearly understood by everyone.

Spellcasting? Sometimes that also depends. If the whole thread is working off a certain rule book (say, a thread based on Final Fantasy [insert number here]), then the spells they can use are pretty well understood, or at least easily researchable. But usually, yeah, spend a little time and develop it (though I prefer the wordless spell casting approach... sounds less corny ).

Emotion? Sometimes characters don't HAVE emotion! :-P If an RPer isn't using too many words to describe the emotion, but uses a good amount of dialogue, they can still get their point across. This is another grey area, 'cause this falls largely under a person's particular writing style and quirks.

I'm speaking from over a year of RP experience and observation/study. I might be (and probably am... ._.) wrong or misguided on a few points, but that's how I feel about it... not trying to start an argument, just giving my opinions.

[Forever Zero]

I tend to take a little from column DV1, and a little from column Zephir in how I RP.

Introductions: I agree with Zephir. The human mind is an incredible system to create detail from nothing, and sometimes if left to the imagination, a much more vivid image of an individual is created then throwing lots of words together to get a general idea. There needs to be detail, of course, because they need some idea of the persons appearance, style, and outlook, but don't go overboard on detail. Don't be this guy!

One line posts: This is iffy ground. Sometimes nothing more then text is needed. Giving excessive detail every single time you post begins to look silly after a while, but don't make every single post one line either. Moderate your posts to the situation at hand. New scene? Maybe one or two posts of detail. Same scene has been going on for a while? Detail can drop off over time. The environment and characters won't change THAT much over a 1-2 miute period...

Spellcasting: Describe some of them the first time you use a spell, but when you've casted Fire Arrow #117, we don't need your one paragraph long description of it yet AGAIN... Just keep it to the first time or two, or maybe any really dramatic moment you're using it (Yes, we know your casting Fire Arrow on the leader of the bandits, but if your arrow is about to kill him, ending the battle, a little detail will add to the moment).

Emotion: Pretty much what Zephir said, to the letter.

However, in other areas, I see DV1's view. I think spelling and grammer is VERY important to an RP. Some minor mistakes are fine, but if you have a total lack of any grammatical ability or skill in expressing words in an intelligent format, then just don't try, period.

First Person could be an acceptable form of RPing, but honestly, I've never seen it done as well as Third Person, so I would lean towards only allowing Third Person perspective in an RP...

It's all really up to GM's personal preference as to what's acceptable and what isn't...

[DV1]

Can someone link me too the Roleplaying suggestions thread?

Also, I see your point about 1st and 3rd, but 1st person is harder then 3rd, and you have to spend months to get use to it. I've been rping for about a Year ad 4 months by the way.

Second, I don't really really really get mad at someone who does that, put if there words aren't understandable, then what are we going to do?

Yes, you can save some information for latter, but at least describe your character. thats what I mostly meant.

But couldn't you add what your character thinks about the plan? Couldn't you rp him wallking forward to make the post more then one line?

Emotion doesn't only make your character feel what he feels, but also has inpact on weather he is good or evil, how he thinks, and if he will help you.

[Dante]

Originally Posted by DV1

Can someone link me too the Roleplaying suggestions thread?

It's stickeid at the top of every page in the RP thread...

Also, I see your point about 1st and 3rd, but 1st person is harder then 3rd, and you have to spend months to get use to it. I've been rping for about a Year ad 4 months by the way.

First person is hard because the POV shifts constantly. At least with 3rd person it's more of "camera points at different stuff" than "jumping from camera to camera".

But couldn't you add what your character thinks about the plan? Couldn't you rp him wallking forward to make the post more then one line?

Emotion doesn't only make your character feel what he feels, but also has inpact on weather he is good or evil, how he thinks, and if he will help you.

Save emotion for when it's needed - otherwise it becomes a) pretentious b) melodramatic c) boring.

Also, IMO there's no need to describe every single action your character makes in exacting detail, especially the mundane ones. I'd rather put my effort into dialogue.

[My Lead Airbag]

Well I think you should change your RPing style (excepting for obvious things like grammar and spelling) to fit the character you're playing. For example, Gug, in Shield of Lies, is a skittishy goblin who has about one friend and has to fight his cousins (currently). I really can't describe him much through dialogue, since it mostly consists of one-liners and OMGZ, so I chose to present him more through actions, like making items and scurrying around, but that doesn't mean another later character would be talking-impaired (my Xu character from Summoners of Olde would have been heavy on the conversation, but I got out of there when I realized it would be a god-mod RP soon).

Just my two cents.

Also, the greatest masters of literature have been able to take pre-established rules, break them, and become exceptions. I would add a little note at the bottom that just advises them to try their own RPing style at first, then fine tune it if need be.