How to Role Play

This article from Dragcave is perfect if you want to learn how to Role Play. Made by DragonicFlames.

How to Roleplay [Rewritten and More Awesome!]

Ok, so I decided to just go ahead and rewrite this because, well I feel like wasting time, and this seemed like a good idea to me at the time. So hopefully I'll have this written a little more clearer and better for everyone involved in reading to understand it fully.

Note:

This guide is written from my point of view and from experiences that I've had while rping. I've been rping for around nine to ten years, I think I have enough experience to write a good enough guide to help people. You may not agree with me, but please at least try to read through it. I usually give good reasons why I don't believe in something.


Introduction

Role playing is one of the things that I get the most pleasure out of doing. Up until I got to college, I used to role play on a regular basis, in fact, I used to role play continuously. These days, I don't have as much time dedicated to this noble past time. But I do try to keep up with the few rps that I do join. Unfortunately, sometimes I find myself without the time to even come online.

I'm not the best role player, but I'd like to think that I am one of the better role players out on the Internet today. I full heartedly believe in the theory that quality of the role play makes everything longer than it would if it wasn't up to par.

Useful Acronyms and Words

Rping = Role Playing
Mun = The "mundane" or the person playing the character
OOC = Out of Character
IC = In Character
Hit = An attack that damages or "hits" the character
Mun Bubbles/Brackets = Used when OOC; Are these ( ) Or (( )) Or [ ] (where it doesn't mess with the BBcode)
Mary-sue/Gary-stu = A character that is "perfect"
Thread = The grouping of several posts that are related to one topic or idea
Post = In a forum, it is the complete entry you make on a thread. In a chat, it's each paragraph you enter. Sometimes I accidentally switch, Post and paragraph, it's because I started with chats and moved to forums. Please excuse me if I confuse you, I don't me to do so on purpose.
Oldbie = A role player who has role plays for many years and has mastered several skills and has been role playing in a variety of ways.
Newbie = A role player who has just started role playing. They don't usually have many role playing skills and need a little bit of guidance and encouragement to grow as role players.
N00b = A role player who has role playing for many years but still hasn't mastered any skills, or doesn't care about role playing style or quality.

On Action Brackets:

I've always used action brackets, before I was talked into not using them anymore. Action brackets are not symbolized by: * *. Action brackets are like mun brackets are are used to separate out actions from speech. Oldbie role players used to use a wide variety of stylish brackets around their actions. Now, a lot of those oldbie players have left the role playing world for better and brighter futures or they have, like me, been influenced and have changed their ways. Often you don't see many action brackets, unless you find yourself on an older website that has action brackets listed as part of the criteria for role playing. People who use action brackets should not be considered to be n00bs, I used action brackets, look at my posts. Do I look like I'm a n00b? Just kindly tell them that you'd prefer them to write without action brackets.

Navigation

Chap 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying
Chap 2) Character Design
Chap 3) Extending Posts/Lengthing
Chap 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Profiles) vs Novelistic)
Chap 5) Fighting
Chap 6) Misc

Chapter 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying

I'm fairly sure that nearly everyone in this forum knows or has got some sort of knowledge as to what these terms mean. But I'm going to pretend that I'm writing guide for people who have never come in contact with these terms before, so please bare with me.

Moding

My Definition: This occurs when one character has an unfair advantage over another character.

Popular Forms of Moding:

1)Forcing a hit
2)Blocking an attack without abiding by the general rule of length for length [Explained more thoroughly in Chapter 5]
3)Resurrection [Explained more thoroughly in Chapter 5]

Each is an unrealistic action of a character that makes that character 'better' than the other character. No one character is better than any other character. It depends entirely on the mundane person, the creators of the character, whether or not the character is 'better' than another, but not specifically the character itself.

For all of my examples, the n00b character will be portrayed by Red Text as red is often the color for error marking.

Example of Moding:

hits with sword

Critique:

Overlooking the fact that this 'post' has grammatical errors, this post doesn't even say anything about the character who is doing the action or what other character or where on that character this character is hitting with a sword. It provides 'us,' the readers, with almost no information about what is happening.

Example of Better Role Playing:

After feeling the blow to his arm, he managed to evade the rest of the attack with minimal damage. He quickly moved out of range of a second attack, he would not be surprised again. Moments ago, he had just been searching for a friend in the woods, and now he was in the middle of a battle. How did he miss the figure standing near that last tree he had passed? It didn't matter, he was under attack now, and he needed to be careful.

He pulled his weapon from it's sheath, and kept a watchful gaze on the other character. Any motion would cause him to react, he didn't want to attack if he didn't have to. It was not in his nature to strike someone down without giving them a chance to fight for themselves. But it was easy to see that the other person was not going to just leave after the attack. It was important that he now be rid of this intruder; he did not want to have to deal with this person later in his travels.

He moved in one direction and the other person moved in the opposite direction, keeping the stand off at the same distance. But he was the one at advantage, it wasn't long before the intruder was in front of a large tree trunk, after all the woods had several older trees. He immediately took to the offensive and moved quickly to attack from the front. He held his weapon out in front of him, and as the other person prepared to parry his attack, he quickly changed the angle of his attack and instead hit the other person with his shoulder, ramming the person into the tree that was right behind him. He had the other person pinned to the tree, and he turned his weapon around and used the blunt part of the weapon to quickly knock the other character out.

Critique:

Overlooking the fact that his post does contain some powerplaying sequences, this post is much longer than the three words that the other person typed. Furthermore, it explained what the character had been doing up until he was attacked, some of that character's personality, and what he did to deal with the problem of having to defend himself from being followed and attacked again [planning for future posts]. This post, despite some faults, was much better than the other post.



Godmoding:

My Definition: This occurs when a character becomes 'immune' to anything happening to the character and makes for a completely unfair advantage.

Popular Forms of Godmoding

1)Immortality/Doesn't die from a mortal wound
2)Being a God
3)Having God on one's 'side'

Example

The blunt object bounced off his forehead and did not knock him out. He just pretended to be knocked out so that he could follow the other person.

Critique:

While this post has much better grammar, it still doesn't have the length to counter any of the attack that happened to this character. Nor is it realistic in that a blunt object to his head would not knock him out.

I'd suggest saying something to the character's owner, but nicely, that he's godmoding. Please try to stay calm, the creator might not be just a random n00b and might just be a newbie who doesn't understand that he is not playing fairly. Take the time to try to explain to the creator that what he's doing isn't fair to your character nor any other character.



Powerplaying:

My Definition: When the other creator writes about actions that you did not write yourself, causing your character to do or say something that you may or may not want to happen.

Popular Forms of Powerplaying:

1)Making your character do something outrageous [Peeing on themselves, walking backwards, etc]
2)Making your character say something out of that character's personality [Manly fighter saying that he likes to wear pink dresses and go to balls, etc]
3)Making your character do something to their character [Like your character slapping their character]

While there are some circumstances in role playing that some powerplaying should be acceptable (such as implied actions or assumed normal actions such as looking towards a loud noise), most newbie role players don't know where the line from what is acceptable and what isn't. I'd suggest especially to beginners to stay away from anything that might be taken as powerplaying.

Example

He got up from being knocked out by the other person, and quickly tracked the other person down. He finally caught up the other person within twenty minutes and shouted at the person. The other person turned around quickly, with a look of fear in his eyes, and then the other person ran away from him in complete terror.

Critique:

Overlooking the fact that he couldn't possibly wake up right away from being knocked out nor track someone within twenty minutes [that doesn't give anyone enough time to 'get away' from someone who's knocked out] nor does he explain how he tracked the other person's character. This post gets longer, which is good, but why would the other character run away from this character? Didn't the other character knock out this character? It doesn't make sense.

Powerplaying, as I said, varies from situation to situation. If someone has made your character do something that you generally would not want your character doing, then please let them know. But do it in a nice way, most people will respond by apologizing and fixing their post.

Navigation

Chap 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying
Chap 2) Character Design
Chap 3) Extending Posts/Lengthing
Chap 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Profiles) vs Novelistic)
Chap 5) Fighting
Chap 6) Misc

Chapter 2: Character Design

Are you a simple person? Are you two dimensional? Do you not have a personality?

These are questions you should know immediately the answers to, likewise you should ask yourself these questions in reference to the characters that you create. Each character has it's own personality, traits, habits, style, and a wider variety of things that make up that character's whole being.

There's been a couple pieces of discussion that I've been in about how some people think up on the spot about what character they are going to be role playing, while that's not encouraged for beginners, that's also fine. Just as long as you have a good solid idea of what the character is like, what the character looks like, and what the character's personality is, then I don't have an qualms with people thinking up characters on the spot.

My process of character creation depends on what the plot play is about, I try not to use 'cardboard cut outs' of characters. I try not to use the same character for every role play that I'm in, more often than not, half of my characters don't fit the context of the role playing I'm applying to join. I know this happens to be a large issue in this forum with people who use the same character throughout their role playing experiences. I know you are more comfortable role playing a character that you've gotten really attached to, but maybe next time you try to join another role play, why don't you try something different? You might find out that you've gotten tired of playing the same character over and over again, and that you like making new characters.

Character's personality

This is the most important piece of your character. If your character doesn't have a personality, then you're character has nothing but a 'body.' There is no 'life' to your character. It doesn't have any wants or needs or any reason to do anything at all. It's also rather boring for someone to write about, wouldn't it be more fun to have a character with a crazy, upbeat personality that sings while taking showers?

You should ask yourself if this is a character that you want people to hate or to love, whether or not this character is friendly, shy, or a loner, if this character has the same morals and ethics as you do, what they sound like when they talk, what they move like, are they stubborn or passive, do they like challenges? There are a million questions that you can ask yourself about your character's personality, and a million more things about what doesn't exist in your character's personality. I've only listed out a few things, you should continually ask yourself different questions when creating different characters. It adds to your character is so many different ways, and we, the readers, will take notice that you've put effort into making your character original and appreciate you for it.

Character's History

What did you do this morning? When were you born? What kind of experiences have you had recently that make you who you are?

These answers probably come easily, likewise, they should come easily about your characters. When I said past, I'm talking from two minutes ago to their time of birth and everything in between. Everyone has a past and a future, and likewise should your characters. Once you give a character a past, lots of things become more implied like them learning how to speak, walk, deal with certain emotions, that they have had contact with other people before, it makes them become more real to the readers. But it's up to you to tell us what specifically your character has done in the past, we can't make assumptions that your character used to be a pottery artist and had seven brothers and two sisters. That is not up to us to know if you don't tell us about it.

I've come across a couple of people who have expected my character to be a mind reader, to know events of that character's past that were never stated. How am I supposed to know if you don't tell me about it? We, the readers, want to know the important events that shaped the life of your character. However, we don't want a biography about your character. We don't need to know that one time, when the character was at band camp... and then one other time at band camp... and then another time at band camp... these are items that aren't important to the role play and definitely bog down what the character is about, unless these 'factoids' are to be used as giving insight into why a character is doing something in the plot.

Furthermore, every character does not have a 'bad' past, where they've had a bad mom and dad or have been abandoned by someone they love. I'm tired of seeing mary-sue inspired pasts, just because you want attention doesn't mean you should take it out on your character. Abuse is nothing to be made 'fun' of and it sure isn't something you should take lightly because it makes your character 'special.'

Physical Looks of the Character

Your character should look somewhat like the history that you've given them. If they've had a hard life, they should have wrinkles, scars, or typical injuries. However, that does not give you the option to make a character completely covered in scars and in perfect health, scars tend to be a lot weaker (in my own personal experience) than regular skin and injuries do cause someone to be weaker. Hair, eye, and skin colors and tones all show what kind of ethnic background characters have. They should be described because they are important. Try to be realistic with colors, I've never seen a human with natural red eyes.

You should also specifically describe clothing, even if it's just a simple t-shirt, jeans, and shoes. People often forget to describe what their character is wearing, and if they are role playing with me, I will make my characters see a naked person. [Tough love I know] Clothing is something that express personality. You can tell a lot about a person by what they are wearing and how they are wearing it, not that you can make assumptions about how that person 'is' but you can make some conclusions about them.

I'd also suggest if you typically role play a twenty year old, blond, blue eyed female, that you try something different. Try role playing as a boy, as someone older, or someone who looks different. It will help you branch out into different character design if you pull yourself out of what you typically do when you join a role play.

We want a mental picture when you enter a role play, try to explain as much as you can without giving us a detail overload [if you find yourself describing stitching, you might be giving us too much detail about your character]. Also, remember that you have ultimately, an unlimited amount of posts that you can make within the rp, you can write more details about your character in other posts. I'd also advise that you remind everyone every once in a while what your character looks like by dropping simple description within a paragraph or two, so that everyone gets a refresher on what your character looks like. People do forget.

On homosexuality, please girls or guys, respect a role player's wishes. If he or she has a male character who is homosexual, then he's homosexual. He doesn't like girls, and he won't cyber with your character. If the character is straight, then don't try to flirt with him with a male character. He's still not going to cyber with you. I'm tired of hearing about male role players who have trouble getting people off their backs when they role play male characters.

On Cybering If you are trying to get sex through role playing, please leave. You don't want to get any better, you just want live action erotic fiction scrolling across your screen. It is a waste of time for you to even be reading this. Cybering is illegal for teenagers under their state or countries age limits, you could be prosecuted.

On Demons I realize that there is some sort of appeal to having a demon (or an angel for that matter) as a character, however, that doesn't mean your character is 'sexy.' If you've done any research into demonology, there are very few 'seducing' demons who may or may not look somewhat human. Animes do not give a good explanation to some demons or angels for that matter. Please try to look up what demons and angels might be like before you start in as a 'cat demon.'

On half, triple or more than that breed, I'm actually really embarrassed for most people who have these kinds of characters. Is it not good enough for you to have a character who is a vampire, that you must also add in something else to the equations? I've even had people who've asked me why 'Werepyres (which how is that a word?)' aren't good characters species. First, if a werewolf were to bite a vampire (to turn them) how can a vampire go from being the 'undead' to being alive? Second how can a werewolf go from changing into a large wolf (sometimes forcefully due to the moon) to something that flies and uses sonar to 'see' and drinks only blood to survive? The wolf and bat DNA are two different species of mammal that were 'designed (so to speak)' for different purpose. Hollywood isn't very good at being 'scientifical', even though they try to be. Furthermore, if they did breed, the creature that they would create would be like a mule, it wouldn't be able to make anymore of it's kind. It also would probably be very deformed. Half breeding does come with issues, and there are some things that are so incompatible, it's impossible for them to have even been bred together. Please try to be realistic with your half breeding, that's all I can ask from ya.

Navigation

Chap 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying
Chap 2) Character Design
Chap 3) Extending Posts/Lengthing
Chap 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Profiles) vs Novelistic)
Chap 5) Fighting
Chap 6) Misc

Chapter 3) Extending Post Length

I'm of the opinion that quality results in longer posts. However, I don't believe that your posts should be filled with large words that you wouldn't naturally use in your typical every day language. First, a post filled with 'big words' looks like you used the thesaurus feature on Word. Second, words have different connotations depending on the context that they are used in, if you're using an unfamiliar word, you may be using it in the wrong context.

There are several ways for one to make a post much longer:

Surroundings

Your character isn't standing in white space, nor is he or she alone. Describe what you see in your mind's eye around your character. Are there buildings? Forests? And if so, what kind of buildings? What kind of trees? Are they large trees? Are the buildings all one color? What about what the character is standing on? What is in front of the character right now? What does the character see when he or she looks left or right?

These details add to the character's sense of presence in the setting. Also, don't be scared to write something based on your understanding of the setting that the creator of the role play wrote. Its more often than not, that the way you understand the setting changes how your character interacts in that setting. This leads to an 'awareness' of all the people in the role play where your character is currently compared with their characters.

Example:

He was facing the front of the grocery store with his hands in his pockets. He could hear the cars whizzing behind him on Main Street. He could see through the glass paneling that were decorated with signs that declared sales and warnings about buying alcohol for youth. People were standing at registers checking out people's items and taking money from them when they were finished counting up all the items. He could even make out the isles that were behind the cash registers, they were fully lined with items that had colored packaging dulled in color due to the glass. He could even see the back wall that was lined with boxes of what he assumed was fresh meat slices. He could hear the ting of the door as people stepped in front of the automatic sensor and the swish of the door opening to allow them entrance. It was unbiased; it opened for every person who happened across its path, even if they weren't going in the store.

Critique:

Ignoring the fact that we don't know what the setting is, we can see from this post obviously where this person is currently located. Possibly on a sidewalk, outside of a nondescript grocery store. Though it may be a little more detail than associated with the plot, but it gives insight into the character's awareness of his surroundings. Also it allows us to understand a part of his personality as he as personified the grocery store's door sensor.

Expressions and movements

Our faces are made up of several different kinds of muscles which allow us to express all sorts of emotions. What is the difference between someone who looks disgusted and them saying “That's gross” with a blank face? In written language, it doesn't look like there would be much difference between these too methods of expressing dislike about something, however if all the actors in all the movies that you've ever seen had the same facial expression, would you still like movies? Body language is the most important part of our communication, it's eight percent of our communication.

It is important for actors to show expressions and to gesture, likewise, it's important for your characters to do the same. Often times, simple verbal phrases like “Ow” and “I don't like that” can be simplified through one expression.

Furthermore if your character gestures or uses body language, we can not only visualize what that character is doing, but we can also sympathize with him. We know exactly how he feels just by his acting more than with words. Emotions are sometimes more physical than verbal.

To quote Marilyn Manson, “Use your fist, not your mouth.”

Example

He moved towards the ever opening door and stepped in the sensor's line of sight. As expected, the door slid open and he walked in the grocery store without much problem. But as soon as he walked into the store, he was immediately bumped into. He jerked his torso in the direction of the person who had bumped into him with a look of annoyance. By the time he managed to turn, the person had already walked out of the door without so much as a look back. The corners of his mouth turned downward as he stuffed his hands into his coat's pockets. Begrudgingly, he walked around an empty cash register.

Critique:

The language of this post describes annoyance and anger. It's very vivid in it's portrayal of what this character is feeling and the change in from the neutrality of standing outside the store to the anger of having someone bump into him to the annoying acceptance that there would be no apology. Not one word was spoken by the character to express these feelings, but you can still understand how this character is feeling.

I find that a lot of role players don't like to deal with NPCs, especially when those NPCs aren't mandatory characters in a thread. There are always other people in movies, the extras, that don't have anything to do with the main characters. They don't even interact with the main characters. It's necessary to have other people in existence with your character. Or else your character would be the only one in the entire world; how realistic is that?

Thoughts and Spoken Words

Thoughts, in my opinion, should always be dictated by italicization. These are internal feelings of characters. Furthermore, they should not be 'known' by the other characters in the role play. There are ways around having characters “know” thoughts of other characters, such as the other character's guessing at what the other character might be thinking. But do you know what other people are thinking at any one time? No. Don't role play as if your character is psychic.

As for external dialog, this should always be dictated with quotation marks if there are no action brackets. These are things that other characters can hear. Sometimes it's important for your character to tell one other character, in which the tone, how loud the voice is, and what is spoken changes. You do not speak in a monotone. In every day life, there are changes in who, how, and why you speak, likewise there should be changes in your character's tone and how loud it is. I've role played with people who have 'over heard' conversations from across a house. Unless that character has extremely good hearing, he or she can't hear everything that is spoken.

Example:

Alphabet soup. She wants Alphabet soup. He thought to himself, as he walked down the 'soup and canned items' isle. He located the section of the isle that was dedicated to the soup cans, and pulled his right hand out of his pocket to rub his chin as he searched the labels. It didn't take long before he found the soup and as he was about to pick up the soup with the hand he had just been using to rub his chin with, a woman's taloned hand snatched the soup can out from in front of him. He turned toward her, his hand still paused in midair. “Sorry, did you want this one?” She said when she looked up from the list in her other hand. “I didn't even see you there.” She said apologetically, as she handed the soup over to the hand that had been dangling. “I was so busy trying to calculate my total... I was lost in my own world...again.” Her voice got progressively quieter as she reached for another can of soup. He felt sorry for her, looking down at the can in his hand. “I...” he started to say, but by the time he looked up, she had already walked near the end of the isle. “Well, I guess that's that.” He said to the can, shrugging his shoulders. He turned to go back to the cash register.

Critique:

As you can see, the woman voice and tone is unknown until the second time she speaks. Furthermore, this woman didn't know that he was getting the can of soup because she did not read his mind. While this conversation could have been better, it still shows that there is a change in the way the woman speaks. Furthermore, the main character, the man, he talks 'to' the can in a finalized sort of way emphasized by the body language of shrugging his shoulders.

These are solid, basic paragraphs that took me maybe five minutes to write. It wasn't very hard to write them, as it was to think about what the character was doing and what he was thinking. A good starting point for writing a post is look at what you've already written for a character in other posts or paragraphs. It'll help keep the flow of what is going on and what is happening.

Basic Tips

1)Press enter twice after each paragraph.
2)Try to write 'expressions' through body language or facial movements
3)Don't be overly descriptive about the surroundings. It is the same as writing too much detail about clothing or appearance. If it really doesn't have too much to do with the plot, don't spend seven paragraphs talking about what is on the left of the character to then write seven more paragraphs about what is on the right of the character.

Navigation

Chap 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying
Chap 2) Character Design
Chap 3) Extending Posts/Lengthing
Chap 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Profiles) vs Novelistic)
Chap 5) Fighting
Chap 6) Misc

Chapter 4) Entrances: Character Sheets vs Paragraphs

I'm biased in this area, as I thoroughly dislike character sheets. Please read my reasons, and try to understand where I'm coming from. The other people who have posted in this OOC thread have already commented on character sheets. I'm an advocate of having for just character development but they should not be used as the entrance for your character. You should write an entrance to join a rp, not give a list of details about your character.

Character Sheets

Example

Name:
Age:
Sex:
Race:
History:
Appearance:

Why I am against this:

1)They can only be used on forums. You would not be able to use this format in role playing chat rooms.
2)It's rude in that it says that you can't be bothered to write an entrance for your character.
3)It doesn't allow for a good mental image of the character. Usually people use anime pictures or popularized images for what their character's appearance is while including extra details in words. Popularized images are forgettable. Other times, images are not available to be seen either due to human error or server error. Therefore the reliance on pictures is shaky because they may or may not always be where they've been linked.

Paragraph

Example:

This is one of my entrances from a while ago that was on Gaia:

QUOTE (DragonicFlames)
He was definitely not normal, sort of like his family but even more so when compared to them. Pointy objects of all shapes and sizes were one of his many obsessions. In fact sometimes he’d find himself daydreaming about any sort of weaponry that could possibly be imagined. When he was little he wanted to become a master sword smith, but in today’s technology filled world, that little dream was plucked right out from his head and then beaten to death with salt and lemon juice poured into the wounds. Yes, he was the kind who collected all these pieces… just because they were shiny. He was a magpie for weaponry, and not because they could kill or that they had killed (a few of his collection had the blood stains on them to prove it), just because they were shiny…and pointy.

Unlike his sisters, he did not dress the same as they did. Instead he chose a much gentler approach to being odd. His face was scarred on the right side from a bad accident on his motorcycle that he had gotten when he was far too young to be riding it. He knew that now, and he knew that the five jagged lines that angrily traced the side of his face stood out in crowd more than any other oddity that he could possess (and yes he did possess them). The cuts had been from the branches and pieces of metal fragments that had lodged themselves into the right side of his face. He at least could see still, though he had to have a partial jaw reconstruction surgery, which sometimes ached when he chewed too hard on his food.

His hair had been a very light and wavy blonde color, before he had started playing with dyes and color. Now his hair was a blue mixture with pieces of green and purple floating around, always clipped to the back of his head. At least now it was long enough to reach in between his shoulder blades without leaning his head back. That had been an accomplishment in his book. It was like an old Scottish hair style, clipping your hair back, though most boys (emphasis on the word ‘boys’) thought it was a signal of his femininity. He sighed, briefly remembering an encounter with such an imbecile and vaguely remembering that he had been the one to still be standing at the end of it. Yes, he as much as he was a big softy with his sisters, he was just as hard and cold to people who disrespected him just because he chose to be different.

As of right now he was wearing plain blue jeans, though they were somewhat large and he had to wear a belt with them. It was funny when one stated “blue jeans” apparently the image of a clean, perfect pair seemed to swim into the mind of whomever it was that you were speaking to. That was not the case; his jeans were ripped in places and frayed in others. They were stained with Gebus knows what and an assortment of mysterious pieces of random colors splash in little spots everywhere. It was pretty much his uniform; he wore his jeans to pieces. If he didn’t, he felt like he was betraying their purpose in life. And what other purpose was it expected to do? Be a fashion statement? That was what shoes and shirts were for, definitely not what blue jeans were for.

As he thought about shirts, he looked briefly down at the shirt he was currently wearing. It was blue, a deep blue if anything with some sort of ironic statement about life in general in white writing. He had picked it up at a Spencer’s one time because it made him laugh; now it just served to cover up most of his other scars that covered his upper chest and part of his lower torso. Motorcycle accidents were not fun experiences, and neither was the recovery. His back and legs (for the most part) seemed to be the only things that weren’t particularly affected by the crash. And because of that, he chose to have branding done on his left shoulder blade. It was the date of his motorcycle accident and a tribal tattoo his sister had drawn that looped through the branding. It was the once piece of art he had on his body and it was supposed to be a reminder that accidents do happen.

Not only was he wearing a blue shirt, but over it was his riding jacket that also had more stitching it than the stitches he received. The artwork on the back had been permanently destroyed, but he had gotten a few of his older friends who had friends in the clothing business to fix it as best they could. The criss-cross stitching made it unique and no way would anyone else have something as unique as that piece. It was one of his favorite pieces to wear whenever and wherever.

Finally, the shoes. His shoes were a crossbreed between skatershoes and riding boots. The shoe itself was designed to be a skatershoe. It was simple in its gray and blue colors, and the laces had a golden oriental design. However, unlike a skatershoe, the soles were raised a little and there was some major tread on the bottom. He likes them and that’s what mattered.

He had found himself getting up around midnight and had been driving all over the country side till early this morning. It was probably around the time that everyone was getting up. Then he turned around, back to the town. If he disappeared for more than twenty-four hours someone would come looking. They didn’t trust him anymore, especially since he was riding on the same thing that had permanently scarred him. At least this time he was wearing a helmet that was supposed to withstand the damage of a fall…

He had been passing the tattoo shop when he noticed that his little sister had headed inside. Sighing, knowing that she would probably be a little too tempted for her own good, he found himself turning around. He parked the cycle at the curb in front of the barber shop next to the tat shop. He tugged off his helmet, flicked his hair out from under his jacket’s collar, and placed his helmet in the secret compartment under the seat of the bike.

He walked to the Tat shop, a mere five strides away from his bike, and gently opened the door setting off the bell. “Hey.” Malcolm said in a deep voice, greeting everyone.


Why I'm for paragraphs:

1)Role play is about writing skills. Entrances are like the beginning chapters of books. In every book you've ever read, they have all been written with paragraphs.
2)You can write every section [plus showing more of the character's personality and sense of reality] in a character sheet in a paragraph. There is no real reason to use character sheet for entrances when you can write everything out.
3)There is no expected minimum paragraph entrance unless the creator designates it.

Navigation

Chap 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying
Chap 2) Character Design
Chap 3) Extending Posts/Lengthing
Chap 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Profiles) vs Novelistic)
Chap 5) Fighting
Chap 6) Misc

Chapter 5) Fighting

I don't really like fighting while role playing. Usually, no one 'wins.'

Furthermore, if you are defeated, then you are defeated. Accept it. Resurrecting your character because your pride got hurt will only make you look foolish.

General Expectations

1)If you challenge someone to a fight, you should fight by their rules.
2)Don't be afraid to back of a fight, it doesn't make you any less of a person.
3)This is the Internet there is no such thing as winning or losing on here.

Styles of Fighting

Speed Fighting

This style is used in chat rooms only.

It's about who can overwhelm the other person [both with length of post and with amount of them] first.

Moding and powerplaying rules are usually suspended in a speed fight.

Example

<C1> Hits C2
<C2> Dojs C1's attack.
<C2> Repeatedly Hits C2.
<C2> Kicks C1 in the face
<C2> Knocks C1 Down
<C1> Side step.
<C2> Round house kick.
<C2> Face plant.
<C2> Steps on C1's throat and chokes.

These are usually finished [if they are between someone who can't rp well and someone who is advanced] within a couple of minutes. They rely on the typing and speed of the role player.

Turn Base

Turn Base is naturally what the forums use.
There is a set number of paragraphs per each action.

Example

Minimums:

Paragraphs: 5 sentences
Posts: 2 paragraphs (10 sentences)
Attacks: 7 paragraphs (35 sentences)
Parries or Blocks: 10 paragraphs (50 Sentences) [Must be longer than the attack]
Magic: 35 paragraphs ( 245 sentences)

Always mention the rules on moding, powerplaying, and godmoding. As well as what happens when a person does any of these things [like a default defeat].

Turn base is based upon taking turns. Once one person is done with their turn, the other person takes his. Usually battles last forever.

Navigation

Chap 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying
Chap 2) Character Design
Chap 3) Extending Posts/Lengthing
Chap 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Profiles) vs Novelistic)
Chap 5) Fighting
Chap 6) Misc

Chapter 6) Extras

Mary-sues and Gary-stus

These are types of bad character design. They are characters who are perfect in every single way. They have no 'bad' qualities. They are usually very beautiful, what ever that means, and 'everyone' wants to be with them or be like them. They live a perfect life, nothing goes wrong for them.

They are perfectly boring. There isn't anything interesting about these characters. They usually lack a personality as well as they are attention seekers. It's as if the universe revolves around these characters, or at least that's what is supposed to happen.

The Anti-Mary-sue-Mary-sue and the Anti-Gary-stu-Gary-stu.

These are characters who are perfectly imperfect. They are loners. Usually they have a tragic or sad past. They don't have friends, they don't like hanging around other people. Sometimes they are accompanied by animal companions. They usually have some sort of artistic ability. They wear dark clothing, or are label 'goth' or 'emo.' They are 'individuals.' They might even have a mental illness or a disability that does not hinder them unless they are looking to attract attention to themselves.

They are dull and overused characters. They are a dime a dozen, and are even more prevalent than the regular Mary-sue or Gary-stu model. They are in almost every rp, every story, or every piece of sad music. There isn't anything new or original about them. It's the same personality only different by who is writing about them.

These two types of Mary-sue and Gary-stu are all about some sort of attention seeking. You, the writer, not the characters want to feel special and accepted. Acceptance will not be gained through stereotypical characters.

Every person has both so good and some bad, not all bad and not all good. You as the writer must find that middle ground between where your character is human, neither 'imperfect' nor 'perfect.' You, as the writer, should create dynamic characters that have multiple sides to their personalities.

Magic Users

1)Never assume your character is more powerful than someone else.
2)Not every character species [IE Werewolves] can do magic
3)A character should have a history of being trained in magic in order to control it.


If there are other topics that you would like me to discuss in this section of my guide, please write me a note and I'll decide from there if I want to write about it in my guide.

Thank you for reading.

Navigation

Chap 1) Moding, Godmoding, and Powerplaying
Chap 2) Character Design
Chap 3) Extending Posts/Lengthing
Chap 4) Entrances (Playwrite (Character Profiles) vs Novelistic)
Chap 5) Fighting
Chap 6) Misc