Author: Hellmeister
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Ok everyone I've noticed that there’s not that much role playing going on here at GA, however this is why I’ve decided to try and help out by publishing this guide! For all of you out there who want to role play (either here at GA or in game, or even at other sites) but aren’t sure of what to do, and even those of you who do know how to role play and want hints then this is the guide for you! (this guide is directed mainly towards action type role plays)
1) What is role playing?
Well role playing is an activity that’s normally done between a small group of around 3 – 8 people for fun. However some role plays can take place on a much bigger scale and can feature many more role players (Once I was in a role play with over 30 role players but role plays this large are uncommon). Role plays can be small consisting of just two people (as the minimum number of role players). Each role player takes it in turn to tell part of a story using a character that they have created themselves. Each new ‘turn’ means you have to add a new part of the story, and the fun with role plays is there is no limit (providing you do not God play, which is explained later). RP or RPing is a commonly abbreviated term for role play or role playing.
2) Lead posters?
A role play consists of at least two role players, with a ‘leader’ but there can be several of these (dependant on how many participants there are). A ‘leader’ or lead poster are the main role players, who contribute more to the role play (for example if one role player posts a contribution every 10 or so posts, whereas another role player posts a contribution every 2 or so posts the one who posts most often will be called a lead poster). There should be on average one lead poster to every 3 or 4 role players, but the main jobs of lead posters are to move the story along (however a good lead poster won’t move the role play along TOO fast otherwise other role players will feel left and out and in turn drop out). All experienced lead posters will know if they are moving the story on too fast or ‘God playing’ and will encourage role players and help them where needed. The person who starts the role play is normally expected to be a lead poster.
3) Characters?
Well your not going anywhere without a character. In the case of GA or in game role playing it’s likely that your role play character will be your hero/villain. In the case that you’re doing a non CoX styled role play you should describe your character in your first post. Normally a small bio should be constructed detailing the key parts to your character, below is an example bio with all the key elements for a CoX character (my currant role play villain, no stealing!) Feel free to add a picture to your bio (so long as it matches your character and is appropriate view material. Make sure its not too big either keep it within the picture limit).
CoX
Name: Hellmeister
Alignment: Villain
Powers: Fire/Dark/soul, pools: Flight, leadership
Costume description: A sleek long leather trench coat with leather trousers and shoes to match, his trousers have the pattern of a raging fire rising up the legs. Beneath his trench coat is just a normal back shirt with a blazing red fireball dead centre. He wears no gloves but has his hands wrapped instead and upon his head he wears his trademark goggles, covering his fringe as his wild, black spiky hair jets out behind him.
Personality: Dark and very sinister, he has no regard for humans or the world they dwell upon. He’d sooner see every single human roast in his demonic domain then watch the flowers blossom again next spring…
Other information: He is currently the leader of a small and well hidden organisation who have a grand plot underway…
Your characters are just that, yours! Feel free to be as creative as you want, just don’t go over the top or out of the theme. What I did was only a short bio, you can add as much as you like to it. Things like:
• History
• Facial features
• Last known location
• Blood type, height and weight, the finer details.
Some role plays ask you enter a bio before you join the role play, in which case you will need to type one up. If you’re a regular role player and only use a small sample of characters it’s a good idea to save these bios somewhere for quick copy and paste access. Sometimes it’s a good idea to put a bio at the top of your first post regardless, as it makes life easier for other players to tell you character.
As I mentioned earlier when making your character don’t go over the top or stray away from the theme. People generally don’t like this as it makes them feel less comfortable with the role play, and you may get a similar feeling, thus causing the role play to collapse. So what do I mean by not matching the theme? Well for example if your role play was based on a magical theme then you wouldn’t want to be a technology overlord, it just doesn’t match the role play and you may find it harder to fit in, you might also find the ‘aggro’ shifted more towards your direction.
Should you wish to keep your character’s ID a secret then feel free to do so, but be warned if you keep it a secret to long other role players will go off your character (and possibly you in general). If you do go with this path you will have to reveal your character at some point, or else it will start confusing everyone making the role play less enjoyable. I recommend having a little experience before trying this.
4) So what’s the story?
The beauty of a role play is the story possibilities are endless. You can have many types of story line, fantasy, romance, social, action, futurist the possibilities are truly endless. However most generally do NOT appreciate role plays designed to have adult or explicit content, so you would be wise not to make OR join in such role plays.
5) Role play etiquette and privacy?
Now if you wish to role play there are a few small guide lines you will need to stick to. These are just basic rules for etiquette in any role play, (in no particular order).
1) Avoid the use of swearing or use adult contents, if you see a role play featuring either it is recommended you avoid it, and if you find it totally inappropriate tell a senior or a host. Keep it clean basically.
2) Do not gang up on other role players (unless they have invited you to within the role play, but this normally starts a ‘Godding’ process which should generally be avoided.) This also accounts for being offensive to other role players. Treat others with the respect you wish to be treated with!
3) If a role play says something along the lines of ‘closed’ ‘invite only’ or ‘friends’ only this means that the role play is for certain people only, if your not one of them then you can view but NOT post in that particular role play. If a role play should have the word ‘open’ in the title it means the opposite, encouraging people to join in.
4) Once a role play is underway its generally considered rude just to join, a good limit is normally around 30 posts, once a role play has exceeded this its generally a bad idea to join in unless you have been invited too.
5) Do NOT ‘God’ play; this is the biggest crime of role playing. Also do not spam a role play (more info on these two coming shortly)!
6) Another major ‘crime’ in the role play world is playing as the characters of others. In role plays you make your own characters and you play your own characters!
You can possibly get away with a small exception of fight scenes, (e.g. Aurrius is the other character, and Hellmeister is mine. Aurrius drew his blade and slashed at Hellmeister, who swiftly dodge the attack and return the favour with a fireball which burnt the shoulder of the swordsman). The reason this works is that you’ve only used one line (it’s the one line rule) and you haven’t made any drastic happen. Playing as someone else character spoils that role player’s fun, and if you were to kill another player in one post without them being able to respond this messes up the whole role play and will upset the role player you decided to kill off!
7) If you’re going to join a role play make sure you stick to it, don’t post just once or twice then leave as this is very rude and unsociable. Also don’t post if its not about the role play, so a post saying ‘wow great job guys keep it going’ is all well and good but generally its better if you just pm them about their performance. It is considered rude to post in a role play if you’re not actually going to role play.
8) Unless the role play maker has specified otherwise it’s generally a better idea to play through the eyes of your chosen character, talking in the present tense unless you are calling upon a flashback of some sort.
9) When you post in a role play it must be more then three sentences long! Otherwise its classed as spam and doesn’t progress the role play on enough.
6) Spamming and ‘God’ playing!
The two most hated acts in the role play world, these are also the most common offences. First we shall start with spamming as it is the smaller ‘problem’ of the two. Spamming is basically a useless post, posts that will either having nothing to do with the role play, or posts that are less then three sentences long are classed as spam as they don’t move the story and generally waste space as to little will happen. An example of ‘post related spamming’ is when someone does something that is unrealistic (even by role play standards) e.g. a role player wielding 20 swords at once or a role player wielding a 100foot sword, if it cant possibly happen then its spam, so leave off.
‘Godding’ or ‘God playing’ is a regular crime that sometimes people do without knowing. I personally HATE it when people god play and will often send angry pms to that person (not saying that you should if this happens), frankly it drives me wild! What ‘God playing’ means is one role player making themselves out to be ‘Godlike’ or unbeatable. For instance if you are acting out a fight scene and one role player is constantly replying with things like ’dodges the attack’ or ‘gets hit by… but takes no damage at all’ then they are ‘Godding’ (‘Godding’ = the act of ‘God playing’). On the offensive side if a role player types something along the lines of ‘and he waved his hands causing them to instantly die in their hundreds’ or replies that generalise one – hit – kills on other role players is ‘Godding.’
Essentially ‘God playing’ can be summed up by cheats or big headed people who make themselves unstoppable just to make themselves look better. No one is ever invincible in role plays and everyone must be equal (or near enough equal at least). Don’t ever ‘God play’ and encourage ‘Godders’ outside of the role play to stop! ‘God players’ just ruin the fun and more times then not cause the role play to completely crash and burn, which is no fun .
7) General hints and tips:
• Aside from the opening post, you don’t want to make your posts too long (or too short) otherwise role players will get bored of having to read so much and will likely not finish reading the post, causing loss of key information.
• Be descriptive, role players can enjoy the role play better if they can imagine it better in their minds, you should take pride in what you are typing, and stun others with your ‘skill.’
• NEVER ‘God play’ it’s boring, rubbish and ruins the role play. On these lines don’t go over the top when you role play, because it’s the closest thing to ‘God playing.’
• Role players will quickly find ‘role play buddies’. This means people will group together and often role play in that group. Don’t be afraid to join in, but sometimes it’s better to ask (via pm) if you can join (unless it’s an ‘open’ role play).
• Role plays are fun, and can go anywhere, but try not to take it ‘too’ far from the opening scene setter (which should always be the longest and most descriptive post).
• Never think you know everything there is to know, because it’s not true! I’ve been role playing (near enough daily) for over two and a half years now, but I’m still learning techniques and secrets here and there, the thing with role playing is its so big you can never really know it all!
• Don’t be rude of offensive in role plays, as role plying brings together a community (often a big one) and you don’t want to get on the bas side of the community, or else they will ignore you and not let you role play with them. Thus you will lose out and though it might sound harsh you would have brought it upon yourself…
• Never post anything indecent, it’s just not right and think about younger members on the site. Your more then likely to face total a ban if your going to post indecent materials. This can be in the form of pictures, music, words or links.
Well I hope this has cleared some things up to everyone. As I said with role playing you never really learn everything. All I’ve done is created a basic outline for new role players. There may look like a lot but really its quite simple and fun, remember the best way to improve is to PRACTICE!
If anyone has any problems or queries at all please feel free to pm me, I’m always about here and there . Hope to see you in the role play section soon!
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