HOW TO ROLEPLAY! A comprehensive look into rping

Oooookay! So I have a lot to cover here!! For all you noobs, this
will hopefully help clear the mists of what rping is and
how to go about doing it!

((Sorry if I don't get the whole post up right away, I'm extremely busy
with college classes this week but I will get this done as fast as I
possibly can. ^^ ))

Well, first off, let's start with a definition.

Role-playing: Creating a character or two in which you write 'story lines'
with other players who have created their own characters. In a sense, it is
acting….only written. (1)

So role-playing is basically writing an on-going story. It's sooo much fun!

The first thing you do to start off is make a character. Here is the format to
follow, which can also be found in the Character Bio thread. Make a New Topic
in the Character Bios board. Put your name in the topic line and put all
characters you make in that same thread. Here is the format:

Character Picture (put an img link here: click on the insert image button and
it'll give you an auto html image coding)

.:General Character Info

.:Name:
.:Nickname:
.:Age:
.:Date of Birth:
.:Astrological Sign (Optional):

.:Species:
.:Gender:
.:Height:

.:Weight:
.:Eye Color:
.:Hair Color:
.:Dominant Hand:
.:Theme Song (Optional): "" By

.Personal Character:

.:Character Attire:
.:Alignment:
.:Martial Status:
.:Sexuality Preferance:

.:Occupation:

.:Family:
.::Likes:
.::Dislikes:
.::Love interest:
.:Friends:

.:Head:
.:Upper Body:
.:Waist:
.:Lower Body:
.:Footwear:

.:Personality:

.:History:

This will be the character you use throughout a whole roleplay if you
start out with them. You can use multiple characters if you wish, but
you must make sure you tell who is speaking at all times.

Here are a few rules that need to be observed:

1. No power-playing.Power-playing is controlling
someone else's character. It's seriously annoying and it makes it difficult
for the other person whose character you've just controlled to work with.
Control yourself, not others. ^^
-A sub-point to this rule is no killing off someone else's character unless
you've talked about it with the author. If it's not discussed beforehand,
you'll have some very pissed-off rp buddies. And that's no fun for anyone.

2. No god-modding. God-modding is making your
character virtually flawless... They never get hurt, they dodge every
attack, they have access to information that they couldn't possibly
know, etc. No one likes a person that always wins. Why? Because
it's BORING! Give your character a little more flaw, a little
wear-and-tear.

3. OoC. OoC stands for out of character. This is
something you need to say as you to another author, not as your
character to their character. Example: ((OoC: Should I have Asoka
running along side you and throw you the sword?)) or ((OoC: Sorry
if my replies are slow the next few days, I have exams this week.))
I tend to always put my OoC info in double parentheses but the medium
is up to you. Just make sure your OoC is set apart from your roleplay.
For the love of all that is holy, please do not run your rp and ooC together.
It's really difficult to figure out what in the hell you're talking about when
you do that.

Okie day, enough about rules! Here are some helpful tips on how to
get started!

Hints and tips
If you want to start a roleplay, you have to make a new topic in the
category of of roleplay you want to do. Let's say you want to make an
rp about neko (cat people) love. You must first decide whether your
role play will be full of sex or not. If it is, you MUST post it in the Mature
RP section. Seriously, no one wants to open your rp in the regular
romance section and find a porno. Not a nice surprise. So post it in
the right place and label it properly. If you're not sure where to post a
topic, ask an admin or a manager. They will be happy to help you ^^

A starter is the first post in an rp thread. It sets the tone for the whole
roleplay. So MAKE IT DESCRIPTIVE!!! No one likes a bland starter. It
gives them nothing to work with! I'll use one of my starters as an example
(because I'm just that good.) Wink

BORING STARTER:

"Kira was walking along, looking for food at night. She saw some lights
down the hill. Must be a town, I could eat there. I don't like feeding on
humans. It makes me feel bad. Then a squirrel runs past, scaring her.
She curses at the animal in her mind and scares it away."

Oh.
My.
Gosh.

NO!!! You just CAN'T start an rp that way!!!! It's just so wrong! It just
HURTS to even LOOK at! What kind of night was it? Is she thinking or
speaking about that town? Why does Kira feel bad about feeding on
humans? WHY does Kira feed on humans in the first place? Description
description description! Use it. Make it your mantra. I don't care. Just
DO NOT BE BLAND. No one will respond to that. This one on the other
hand...

"It was a dark night. A thin layer of snow covered the ground beneath
Kira's feet. She walked beneath the moonlit sky, her breath billowing
out in clouds from her mouth. The weather was ghastly; she didn't notice.
She was impervious to the extremes of the weather. Her gaze flickered
up to the full moon as she wandered out of the thicket of trees she had
been hunting in.

Damn snow... All the good animals are hibernating. I suppose I could
go into town and feed there....

She hated feeding on humans. It made her feel more like a monster than
she already was. She was cursed with her vampiric nature and had been
for going on nearly a century now... But she still had not gotten past the
fact that she was most likely condemned to hell, in the event that she
should die. Which didn't seem like a great possibility.

All of a sudden, a scent skittered around behind her. She whipped around,
teeth bared, looking truely frightening with the shadow from the full moon
lighting her up from behind, her crimson irises glowing. She searched wildly
for the scent... Only to look down and see a small squirrel looking up at her,
its bushy tail twitching.

Damn you, rodent! I hate anticlimacy!

She took a deliberate step toward the little creature, not wanting to feed on
it, but to scare it away. The little animal turned and ran back into the trees,
its big bushy tail quivering as it ran. Kira scoffed and turned toward the
town, moving lithely, barely leaving marks in the snow, as she walked."

Now, see? Isn't that so much nicer to read? That one paints a vivid picture,
whereas the other one made me go "ho hum, I wonder what's on tv..."
Just be vivid. Use all those years of English they crammed down your throat
at school! They've gotta be good for SOMETHING. Wink

Here are some formatting tips that make your rp a little easier on the eyes:
-Thinking: italics
-Speaking: "Quotations." Or, if you're like me, you can chose a certain color
for your character's speech.
Actions: Can be in plain type, or if you want to make it really distinct, you can
put [brackets] or *stars* around actions. though that's not necessary. ^^

That's not just for starters, either. That's for any rp reply you make as well.
Always use description and discern between actions, speech, and thoughts.
It just makes life easier.

A couple other rules:
-Be realistic. Yes, yes, I realize this is a fantasy world.
But being unrealistic detracts from the story. Realism helps the reader to
actually see what is unfolding. If it can't be related to, it most likely won't
last very long. Just saying.
Example of bad realism: If you're neko is trapped underwater, don't have
them magically pop gills out of their necks. No. Just no. Either have
someone come save them or kill them off. No kitty-gills.

I think that's everything!! If not and I remember something else, I will edit
this post. If you have any suggestions or questions about what I've written,
reply and tell/ask me. Hope this helps!!

<3 Kitty

Sources cited: 1. RP source

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