Post by Bela Night on Jan 16, 2011 0:43:10 GMT -5
Cache of RPing Tips and Tricks
This guide is taken from RPGD community, and was originally written for an X-Men Board.
I'm not, by the stretch of ANYONE's imagination, the World's Swellest Writer, but I thought I'd toss out a few helpful little hints that I've learned through my years of writing and role-playing. I hope it helps...or at least amuses. (I'll add to this as I think of 'em)
Needful Links
Spellchecker.com: ya know, if you don't trust the one your browser uses or want a second opinion or just, you know, want it.
Dictionary.com: Need to know the definition for "orchidaceous" (*snicker!*)? Here ya go!
Thesaurus.com: Waxing poetic about my cuteness and already wore out the phrase "indigo velvet heaven"? I know how it can happen. Go here!
#1. Post Length:
Ja, I know sometimes you don't have time or don't know what to write, but one-liners make the Baby Jesus (and your fellow posters) cry. The other people in the thread need something to work off of, if you're just posting a few sentences at a time, expect to be ignored. It's just not fun or satisfying to make a good-sized post and have people reply with a one-liner of dialog. It's a waste of time. Ideally, your post should be at the very very least as long as your avatar is tall. Even if your guy has nothing say, he probably has something to think...have him think about what's going on, what he's doing later in the day, how much he hates Scott's training sessions, anything! Give us something to work with.
A good rule of thumb is: Give as good as you get. If you're in a thread where everyone else is posting action heavy four-five paragraph posts, try and match them. If you can't keep up or give the other players something to work with, excuse you character from the scene and write them out.
#2: Grammar and spelling:
Our site does not currently have a built in spellcheker. We suggest this for IE users or this one for Mozilla & Firebird. Firefox 2.0 has a spellchecker built in. Firefox 1.5 (the one us Linux users are stuck with) uses Aspell (found in the Extensions section of Firefox's website). Seriously, it's your friend.
And here's a few peeves of mine:
1. Commas: Alas, the lonely comma...so underused, so unloved. It's used to indicate pause and a bunch of other grammarishly things. But my Big Peeve is this: "Hot damn Kurt that tie is groovy." No! Nein! It's "Hot damn, Kurt, that tie is groovy." See?
2. "It's" is a contraction of "It is", "Its" is the possessive. Please, do not use "her's". You would not use "hi's" instead of "his", would you? "They're" is a contraction of "They" and "are", "Their" is the possessive, and "There" is, well, "There". Same with "Your" (possessive) and "You're" (contraction).
3. To steal a phrase from another role-player, if you play a character with an accent (like I do), please don't phoneti-shit all over the page. Write DIALECT, not the phonetic accent. "My name iz Kurt Vagner and I vant to go to ze Hollyvood Video."...just looks stupid. Very stupid. And goofy. Did I mention stupid? Don't write, "Mah name is Rogue an' Ah want t' go t' thah store, Sugah."...use the dialect, "My name's Rogue, could ya'll give me a lift to the Piggly Wiggly? I'm fixin' to make a cake in a spell and need a lil' more icin'. Thanks a bunch, Sugar." Got it? Good.
It's ok to use phonetic spelling of accent if you're pointing out that -- for some reason -- your character's accent has thickened. (Anger, being drunk or just to emphasize a really thick accent every not and again), but it's not to be abused.
4. In a similar vein, when writing dialog, write how your character would talk. If playing Jubilee; use slang, Buffy-speak, lots of contractions, all those nifty California colloquialisms...have a ball. Use italics and ellipses and hyphens to get pauses and trailing and emphasis in there. Remember, we can't hear your character as you hear him in your head, we need those commas, ellipses and contractions. Sometimes, it's hard for a writer to "hear" their character. Never be afraid of constructive criticism, heck, ask for it. Talk to someone here who's writing you like and ask them for help. Get them to proof-read your posts and offer suggestions.
4. Write out numbers. Don't write "Kurt is 22 kinds of sexy.", it's "Kurt is twenty-two kinds of sexy." Only numbers over one thousand, I believe, are written as numbers. Danke.
#3: The Four R's of RP: Read, Reflect, React, and Reply
1. Read: Read the thread you're replying to. All of it. Every post. Understand what's going on, who's talking, who's doing what and why (and where!). Figure out the location and position of the other characters in relationship to yours. Understand who the other characters are. If you're Bob Schmirkle, sixteen year old student who just got there, and you're in a room with Cyclops and Gambit, understand that sassing and interrupting Cyke will get you ignored and possibly sent from the room. Use common sense.
2. Reflect: When you write your post, what's going on in your character's head. What's he feeling? What's he seeing? What's he smelling, tasting, hearing? How are the events of the room affecting him? What's he doing? What are his inner thoughts? Here's where you can wax expositional if that's what you need to do, to catch the reader up.
3. React: A big one that gets missed by inexperienced role-players. If something happens in the room, react to it! If someone asks a question, does something, looks especially weird, etc and so forth. If Bobby makes an ice sculpture of the new Pope, have your character react, either passively (in thought) or actively (vocally or physically)! Even if it's just to criticize Bobby's artistic skills. Something. Anything. I can't say it enough: react, react, REACT!
4. Reply: Now comes the fun part, replying! Some people like to Cut-n-Paste the dialog they're replying to. Groovy! Don't forget to bold it or put it in italics to separate it from what you've written. Some people just reply and that's fine, too. Just as long as you do reply, and your reply makes sense. But don't get crazy now, you don't have to reply to EVERYTHING under heaven, especially if it's a large thread with lots of people. And keep things in perspective, if you've been missing from a thread and got skipped, try to not post a novel detailing and recapping every single thing that happened. We know what happened. We read it. Thanks so much. AND, when it comes time to post your own actions, please keep it reasonable, no Giant Super Posts jammed with a billion actions without giving others a chance to react (ya know, get in their own 4 R's).
And No God Modding. You can't make someone else blush, or laugh, or yell "ow" or be allergic to fish. You just can't. No inventing history of other characters without checking with the player of said character first. Also, this is an AU...which means some things are different than what you have seen in canon. If you don't know...ask.
More on "god-modding": Be careful what you assume about another player's character, just because *you* might think that Jono loves the Flogging Mollys and hates training with Wolverine doesn't mean that his player does...and his player decides those traits about Jono, not you. So, always check with a character's player before you assume some detail about them that might contradict what the player has in mind for their character. Savvy?
Picture the thread as a scene from a movie or TV show, and describe what you see and hear. If you need help or clarification...ask. Talk to a mod, talk to the other players, talk to somebody. Communication is your best friend. Honestly.
#4: ICA = ICC: In-Character Actions equal In-Character Consequences.
#5: OOC =/= IC. Period. If you are having an issue with another player, bring it to us, don't let it reflect ICly. Also, what *you* know isn't what your character knows. If JP enters a scene and -- OOCly -- you know that it's really Mystique, your character doesn't get to be immediately suspicious. Even if you're playing a telepath. Unless your character would know for some reason (say...Wolverine smell her and knows something's up), do NOT allow your OOC knowledge to influence your character's actions.
~~~
Copyright: dreadpiratekurt@gmail.com
xmeninnomine.com
This guide is taken from RPGD community, and was originally written for an X-Men Board.
I'm not, by the stretch of ANYONE's imagination, the World's Swellest Writer, but I thought I'd toss out a few helpful little hints that I've learned through my years of writing and role-playing. I hope it helps...or at least amuses. (I'll add to this as I think of 'em)
Needful Links
Spellchecker.com: ya know, if you don't trust the one your browser uses or want a second opinion or just, you know, want it.
Dictionary.com: Need to know the definition for "orchidaceous" (*snicker!*)? Here ya go!
Thesaurus.com: Waxing poetic about my cuteness and already wore out the phrase "indigo velvet heaven"? I know how it can happen. Go here!
#1. Post Length:
Ja, I know sometimes you don't have time or don't know what to write, but one-liners make the Baby Jesus (and your fellow posters) cry. The other people in the thread need something to work off of, if you're just posting a few sentences at a time, expect to be ignored. It's just not fun or satisfying to make a good-sized post and have people reply with a one-liner of dialog. It's a waste of time. Ideally, your post should be at the very very least as long as your avatar is tall. Even if your guy has nothing say, he probably has something to think...have him think about what's going on, what he's doing later in the day, how much he hates Scott's training sessions, anything! Give us something to work with.
A good rule of thumb is: Give as good as you get. If you're in a thread where everyone else is posting action heavy four-five paragraph posts, try and match them. If you can't keep up or give the other players something to work with, excuse you character from the scene and write them out.
#2: Grammar and spelling:
Our site does not currently have a built in spellcheker. We suggest this for IE users or this one for Mozilla & Firebird. Firefox 2.0 has a spellchecker built in. Firefox 1.5 (the one us Linux users are stuck with) uses Aspell (found in the Extensions section of Firefox's website). Seriously, it's your friend.
And here's a few peeves of mine:
1. Commas: Alas, the lonely comma...so underused, so unloved. It's used to indicate pause and a bunch of other grammarishly things. But my Big Peeve is this: "Hot damn Kurt that tie is groovy." No! Nein! It's "Hot damn, Kurt, that tie is groovy." See?
2. "It's" is a contraction of "It is", "Its" is the possessive. Please, do not use "her's". You would not use "hi's" instead of "his", would you? "They're" is a contraction of "They" and "are", "Their" is the possessive, and "There" is, well, "There". Same with "Your" (possessive) and "You're" (contraction).
3. To steal a phrase from another role-player, if you play a character with an accent (like I do), please don't phoneti-shit all over the page. Write DIALECT, not the phonetic accent. "My name iz Kurt Vagner and I vant to go to ze Hollyvood Video."...just looks stupid. Very stupid. And goofy. Did I mention stupid? Don't write, "Mah name is Rogue an' Ah want t' go t' thah store, Sugah."...use the dialect, "My name's Rogue, could ya'll give me a lift to the Piggly Wiggly? I'm fixin' to make a cake in a spell and need a lil' more icin'. Thanks a bunch, Sugar." Got it? Good.
It's ok to use phonetic spelling of accent if you're pointing out that -- for some reason -- your character's accent has thickened. (Anger, being drunk or just to emphasize a really thick accent every not and again), but it's not to be abused.
4. In a similar vein, when writing dialog, write how your character would talk. If playing Jubilee; use slang, Buffy-speak, lots of contractions, all those nifty California colloquialisms...have a ball. Use italics and ellipses and hyphens to get pauses and trailing and emphasis in there. Remember, we can't hear your character as you hear him in your head, we need those commas, ellipses and contractions. Sometimes, it's hard for a writer to "hear" their character. Never be afraid of constructive criticism, heck, ask for it. Talk to someone here who's writing you like and ask them for help. Get them to proof-read your posts and offer suggestions.
4. Write out numbers. Don't write "Kurt is 22 kinds of sexy.", it's "Kurt is twenty-two kinds of sexy." Only numbers over one thousand, I believe, are written as numbers. Danke.
#3: The Four R's of RP: Read, Reflect, React, and Reply
1. Read: Read the thread you're replying to. All of it. Every post. Understand what's going on, who's talking, who's doing what and why (and where!). Figure out the location and position of the other characters in relationship to yours. Understand who the other characters are. If you're Bob Schmirkle, sixteen year old student who just got there, and you're in a room with Cyclops and Gambit, understand that sassing and interrupting Cyke will get you ignored and possibly sent from the room. Use common sense.
2. Reflect: When you write your post, what's going on in your character's head. What's he feeling? What's he seeing? What's he smelling, tasting, hearing? How are the events of the room affecting him? What's he doing? What are his inner thoughts? Here's where you can wax expositional if that's what you need to do, to catch the reader up.
3. React: A big one that gets missed by inexperienced role-players. If something happens in the room, react to it! If someone asks a question, does something, looks especially weird, etc and so forth. If Bobby makes an ice sculpture of the new Pope, have your character react, either passively (in thought) or actively (vocally or physically)! Even if it's just to criticize Bobby's artistic skills. Something. Anything. I can't say it enough: react, react, REACT!
4. Reply: Now comes the fun part, replying! Some people like to Cut-n-Paste the dialog they're replying to. Groovy! Don't forget to bold it or put it in italics to separate it from what you've written. Some people just reply and that's fine, too. Just as long as you do reply, and your reply makes sense. But don't get crazy now, you don't have to reply to EVERYTHING under heaven, especially if it's a large thread with lots of people. And keep things in perspective, if you've been missing from a thread and got skipped, try to not post a novel detailing and recapping every single thing that happened. We know what happened. We read it. Thanks so much. AND, when it comes time to post your own actions, please keep it reasonable, no Giant Super Posts jammed with a billion actions without giving others a chance to react (ya know, get in their own 4 R's).
And No God Modding. You can't make someone else blush, or laugh, or yell "ow" or be allergic to fish. You just can't. No inventing history of other characters without checking with the player of said character first. Also, this is an AU...which means some things are different than what you have seen in canon. If you don't know...ask.
More on "god-modding": Be careful what you assume about another player's character, just because *you* might think that Jono loves the Flogging Mollys and hates training with Wolverine doesn't mean that his player does...and his player decides those traits about Jono, not you. So, always check with a character's player before you assume some detail about them that might contradict what the player has in mind for their character. Savvy?
Picture the thread as a scene from a movie or TV show, and describe what you see and hear. If you need help or clarification...ask. Talk to a mod, talk to the other players, talk to somebody. Communication is your best friend. Honestly.
#4: ICA = ICC: In-Character Actions equal In-Character Consequences.
#5: OOC =/= IC. Period. If you are having an issue with another player, bring it to us, don't let it reflect ICly. Also, what *you* know isn't what your character knows. If JP enters a scene and -- OOCly -- you know that it's really Mystique, your character doesn't get to be immediately suspicious. Even if you're playing a telepath. Unless your character would know for some reason (say...Wolverine smell her and knows something's up), do NOT allow your OOC knowledge to influence your character's actions.
~~~
Copyright: dreadpiratekurt@gmail.com
xmeninnomine.com
A Beginner's Guide to Cooperative Storytelling
How to be the kind of roleplayer that people love
Written by Dun of rpg-directory.com/index.php?[/center]
The art of roleplaying is one which involves many unspoken rules and subtleties. The proper conduct expected from a roleplayer is often learned over a long period of time, and newcomers to the community are often simply expected to know what to do and what not to do with very little information provided to ease them into things. "Powerplaying" and "godmodding" are words thrown around to warn the newbies, but explanations are rarely given- especially for the less obvious actions which often cause offense.
I seek to remedy the difficulties of the newbies' initial adjustment processes. I seek to save everyone a lot of headaches by pointing out a few of the important dos and don'ts of cooperative storytelling. I cannot cover them all- I hope I don't have to- but I will do my best to offer some good words of advice regarding common mistakes.
Here we go . . .
1) Do not glorify rape and its victims' struggles.
Too many people resort to 'tragic pasts' when the begin roleplaying, thinking that these tragic experiences are required in order to create an engaging character. Rather than ending up with an engaging character, they end up with an unrealistically dramatic one which whines at strangers about his/her oh-so-tragic, entire life story immediately upon meeting them. The character ends up being impossible to work with and downright offensive. Rape is not funny. Abuse is not exciting and intriguing. These concepts do not exist for cheap thrills. Learn to address them in a respectful manner or do not utilize them at all. People are intrigued by struggles which bring out the fundamental truths of the human condition. The act of rape itself is not what creates an engaging plotline.
2) Do not attempt to force empty romance plots on other people.
No playable character belonging to another writer will be fixated on your flat character just because you think it would be fun. There is nothing in it for the other player or character. You can't pull intimacy out of thin air in reality. Therefore you cannot force it on the characters others write with a single sentence. If your only interest is instant gratification that lacks any psychological depth or impact at all, and you will only thread with a character that your poorly developed character can somehow fall madly in love with within a matter of minutes, you need to reevaluate your intentions as a roleplayer. Romantic plot lines are not the only ones out there. The best romantic plots develop naturally. You can put your character into threads with characters whom you don't believe are 'the ones'. Romantic plot lines cannot be one-sided and still work well.
3) Do not try to live vicariously through your characters.
Perhaps you wish you could be like Superman. Perhaps you love the character of Superman and want to roleplay from his perspective. This is fine and good as long as you realize that Superman is different from you, and he needs to be allowed to act realistically and appropriately. He needs to be able to struggle and succeed. The problem arises when you are unable to approach roleplaying from an objective point of view and allow characters to act in a realistic manner according to their own situations. You cannot manipulate stories that you are supposed to be sharing with other people so you can get instant gratification. It's rude, and it will cause other players to react unfavorably.
4) Do not think that your character does not have to face consequences for his/her actions.
This ties into just about everything . . . Your character cannot be perfect and immune to all consequences. If your character does something to offend another or cause problems for others, it is most likely that your character will encounter repercussions, and you will be making a massive mistake if you try to avoid them. If your character starts a rebellion against a just government, attacks the most heavily guarded city in a country, kidnaps a princess, escapes from jail, then attacks an otherwise important and powerful political figure, you must understand that he/she has to pay for his/her offenses. There is no way you are going to get away with playing the "you're treating me unfairly by allowing my character to be confronted by an army of angry persons who know how to use a weapon". . . especially after you were allowed to get away with the previously-mentioned, impossible string of events to begin with.
5) Do not ignore all elements of realism simply because you are writing fiction.
Even fiction has rules. Roleplayers aren't expected to be rocket scientists, but you are, for example, expected to look up electrocution on Wikipedia to find out how easily or not-so-easily your electrokinetic could kill a man under specific circumstances. You will not suddenly get to give your character a pocket watch in the Earth-year 1123BC and get away with it simply because you failed to acquire a basic understanding of the setting. You must put in a small bit of effort to educate yourself on what it is you're dealing with. You may make a mistake from time to time, but that doesn't mean your character can wear a tank top to church in the Middle Ages without consequences.
6) Do not use "it's magic" as an excuse for everything.
Although magic is, by definition, an often unintelligible concept which cannot be explained purely by science, the way in which magic is utilized is often impacted by a variety of scientific factors. A 5-year-old character probably can't reduce a master mage of 54 years to a pile of sludge with the snap of a finger, and most mages/witches/wizards probably can't crush the planet with the blink of an eye. You must adhere to the rules of each individual magic system you encounter, and you cannot use magic to escape all of the rules of realism.
7) Do not be passive-aggressive or demonize others to get attention.
The rules of basic human interaction apply online in the roleplaying community. If you want something from another player, simply make your intentions and desires known. Do not try to manipulate people and demonize others to get what you want. Be kind and open and respectful. Don't hide behind the anonymity of the internet and drop hints that may or may not be malicious. People will most likely be willing to help you out or work with you as long as you treat them like people who have feelings and priorities of their own. If you're uncertain about something, be willing to ask questions instead of trying to get others to simply offer the answers on their own.
8) Do remember that roleplaying is a hobby.
People do not want roleplaying to become a chore. They will nurse their sick grandmother before coming online to post for you. Sometimes people have to work or attend classes. Sometimes they cannot post immediately after you have posted. No one likes to be hounded about making replies to threads. No one wants to be forced to write when they cannot or don't feel up to it. A kindly-worded reminder may be appropriate in some situations, but do not expect people to make you the center of their worlds. Allow people to have fun and don't become so strict that people feel they have no freedom to enjoy themselves.
9) Do take your roleplaying experience into your own hands and make an effort to produce your own entertainment.
You cannot rely on other people to steer you toward threading opportunities all the time. You cannot expect administrators to hold your hand forever and make everything happen for you. Incredible, inspiring plots will not fall from the sky directly into your lap. You have to actively seek opportunities in order to make the most of your roleplaying experience. Join open threads, offer your characters to plots that will help others, provide plotting ideas of your own, create open threads . . . communicate with your fellow roleplayers. Don't just sit back and wait for everyone to flock to you.
10) Most importantly, remember that roleplaying is a method of cooperative storytelling- a team effort.
Roleplaying isn't all about you and your plans. In order to find success in the roleplaying community, you will have to experience some give and take. You need not to expect that everyone will conform to your needs while you offer nothing in return. You need to get involved in what other people are doing and engage in mutually-beneficial threads and plot lines. Only then will you experience the best that roleplaying has to offer. Only then will people take an interest in truly helping you enjoy a fantastic story and develop your writing skills to your full potential.
Copied and pasted from asersmia.com/twenty-thirteen/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=870#tips
Basically these are the role-playing rules.
