Roleplay Guide

Roleplaying Guide

For Everyone's Benefit

The Unspoken Rules
There's a list of unspoken rules people must follow when roleplaying, when everyone roleplays in the same format, it's always easier to understand. ^^

* When posting OCC (out of character), you should make it clear to everyone that it is not your character speaking.
* When your character actually speaks, please put it in bold by using [ b ] text here [ / b ] without the spaces. It's easier to read than quotations.
* When your character is thinking something, it's usually italicized or underlined. You can do either of these by writing this (without spaces) [ i ]italicized [ / i ] and [ u ] underlined [ / u ]
* Don't control the roleplay. Simple enough, right?
* No one's perfect, so make your characters have flaws. Maybe your horse's weakness is a fear of some sort, or maybe they have anger issues, make something their flaw. It can be used later on in the roleplay to further develop your character
* Don't make your character(s) have all the attention on them; people tend to not want to RP with you if you do that. Be fair and equal.
** Don't godplay or powerplay! It's a huge no no! Godplaying/powerplaying is when you make your character the best, and control other people's characters.
* Last but not least, stay on topic, and have fun! ^^


Roleplaying 101 -- by Seagull

How long should my post be?
In traditional roleplays, at least a paragraph is required for every post. I realize here that a lot of times you only write a few sentences. This is fine, as we aren't doing traditional roleplaying. But make sure you still are very descriptive in your posts. Ideally, Five sentences should be the minimum, but if it's not possible, no worries.

What's The Difference between Boring and Descriptive?

Boring: My boyfriend broke up with me and i cried for an hour.

Descriptive: At that moment, I heard my phone beep, a text from Craig. I read it over slowly, three or four times, sinking down into the nearest chair. He broke up with me. My heart felt like it was ripped up into a million pieces and i couldn't hold back the tears from streaming down my face. I couldn't believe how much it hurt.

Which is better suited for roleplaying? The second one, of course! the first one is something you'd post on a blog or something. Why is it bad to post a boring post? Well, roleplaying isn't just talking about a plot. it's writing a story. Readers should be able to feel the emotions from each character at any given point. they should be able to see the surroundings and feel like they are an invisible watcher. actually there in the story. You don't have to be a professional writer to roleplay, but description IS key.

But I can't really think of anything to post!
Ah, a timeless situation. What you do is you imagine that you are really in the roleplay. if you have nothing to post, chances are you aren't IN it. You ARE your character; BE your character. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in your charrie's (short for character's) position. What do you do next? Write out everything you see, hear, feel, say. and you got yourself a post!

What happens if my roleplay partner gives me a "cheap post"?
I realize it's hard to work off of a boring or cheap post. So if it helps, rewrite their post in your head with more description and more detail and work off of that. yes it may be hard, but it definitely helps when you get stuck! I find myself using the same adjectives all the time and now I'm not descriptive, just repetitive this is personally my worst problem. Try to reword things; find an online thesaurus. There are ways of spicing up every post you make! Description truly is key. Just keep writing and rewriting posts until you have something great. Roleplays last longer when people aren't cheap and boring. Don't be that person who drags a roleplay down! Make your posts mean something! You have now completed Roleplaying 101.



Guide to Roleplaying -- by hawks nest

How To Start A Roleplay:
When you start a roleplay, there are several things you need to keep in mind.
1. Is the subject one that a few other roleplayers might like?
2. Is there one similar to this one already active?
3. Has one like this been made before and was it active? (if it wasn't active than there is a good chance that it won't be this time)
Once you have considered that, then you can actually make the roleplay. I often give a little reason as to why I am making the roleplay, but that is not always necessary. But before you even get that far, you need to choose a name. In the name you should give a hint to what the roleplay will be about so that it won't waste people's time to look over it, and, after reading the intro, finding out that it is something they won't want to join.

Now that you have a name, you can write the intro. The intro should have a lot of detail but not be too long. Basically, keep it to the setting (describe it) and to a few rules and things.
Here's an introduction example: So you are a horse, and this horse is in training for just about anything and for any reason. you can be a young horse or a traumatized horse... or maybe just a horse that was trained badly the first time. but no matter what you are a horse in training... so the stables are large and airy, providing a nice home for the horses. Each stall has a door on the inside and outside. on the outside the stall doors are split so you can just open the top but on the inside doors they all have bars on the top half because there are vicious horses that come here. there are 10 individual 1acre paddocks for stallions and some horses and there are also 2 15acre paddocks for the rest of the horses, mares in one and geldings in another. there is one large indoor with jumps that can be set up in it. there are also 2 outdoor riding rings and 2 round pens for working with horses.

Okay, so that is an example of a rp intro. I have written better, but this was just a quick one I made up. If you take a look at that intro, you will notice that it is lacking in smilies. Generally I avoid putting smilies just because it is just not the right place. so now for the joining form. depending on what your rp is about you want to create a form that will tell you something about the character each person is playing.
Name Age and Gender are one of the key things but you also might want Looks, Personality, and always add other. Sometimes you will need other things such as riding type or riding skill. For horses you generally need the same thing only add Breed into it and maybe some other little things.

Now, some Character Information. Character Info Ok so you might be wondering if you could get a character info form. well here is one for humans and horses. the stuff in italics are things that you need for every character and the stuff in blue explains why you need this part.

Name: you want to know the persons name right?
Age: how old? you want to know that
Gender: some names can be used for both genders
Looks: so your posts can be more descriptive
Personality: this is not needed because often you like to make the personality up as you go along
Other: is there something the person wants to say?
Horse Name: We want to know the name of your horse.
Age: How old are they? are they younger or older?
Gender: What's their gender?
Looks: What does your horse look like?
Personality: What's their personality? Is it calm and easy going, or on edge and easily spooked?
Other: any notes about your horse you'd like to tell us?

RP post example
Lilly watched as her little sister, Emily, was riding Sky, their horse. She taught Emily almost everything she knows and was proud of that, Lilly clapped as Emily successfully jumped sky over their makeshift jumps. "You think you can do it again?" she said as a playful challenge. --- Emily was riding Sky, a horse she shared with her sister Lilly. Remember your posture, she thought to herself as she prepared to go over the jumps. She built them with Lilly, out of spare wood and sticks from the woods just behind their house. They weren't that high, only a foot and a half from the ground, but they were just for fun, which they all had when they rode this little course. She completed the little row of jumps, when heard Lilly call out her challenge, they always did this trying to make each other better at riding. "You bet!" she called back to Lilly.

This is an example of both an RP post, and an example of using two characters. Notice how I stated their names in the beginning? This is so we know which character is being played and by creating the little dashed separator, we created a split between Lilly and Emily. And did you notice how we made the conversation more than just Lilly said "you think you can do it again?", then Emily said "you bet!" By making Emily's response into a completely different paragraph, it makes it more descriptive and helps us see what each character is thinking and feeling. I hope you enjoyed this RP tutorial and tips! Seagull and Hawks Nest are from The Tutorial Forum.