Roleplaying 101

[Jehaine]

First off, welcome to the Revolution One subforums. I'm the Mod for this section of the board, so feel free to shoot me a PM if there's anything that needs doing.

 

Now, i figured it would come in handy if i'd post a small guide on setting up a single-thread roleplay, as i've noticed a couple of recurring mistakes being made. While not exactly gamebreaking errors, there are a few pitfalls one should be on the lookout for to prevent having to explain what the roleplay is about to every other member. The key word is 'Openness', and the less people need to look for information on the setting the more likely it'll be that they end up joining your RP.

 

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First off, i'd like to talk about the First Post. Now, unlike the RP section that's IC (In Character) from the beginning, the strength of Rev One is also its weakness: Versatility. One thread may take place in the Third Age where saidar is tainted as opposed to saidin, the next has people playing as Shadowspawn in the War of Power whereas a third has the First Age (our current time) as a setting. The what, when, where and why need to be made clear in the first post, to be edited when needed and keep all the information gathered into one easily overseeable place for easy referrence, both yours and your players'.

 

Therefore, regardless of what title you decide to give your roleplay, the First Post should be where you get to explain the following:

 

- what is allowed, and what isn't (a Darkfriend in disguise isn't going to last long in a Wolfkin RP, and neither would an Aes Sedai if most of the other characters are all Whitecloaks. Can be fun to RP though, so this'll be up to you.)

 

- when the thread takes place (time-wise, and if you're making alterations to it they go there as well),

 

- where it takes place (location, can't have someone in Tear entering an Inn and ending up chatting to your Shienarian that's supposed to be in Fal Moran at that time. It creates inconsistencies and confusion, which break the flow of the RP as you end up having to explain where the RP takes place anyway)

 

- why it takes place (while randomly talking to complete strangers can be fun, you need some kind of reason to keep people together, and a common cause works wonders. Did they get attacked by dinosaurs in F-16's, are they fighting the Shadow... are they fighting for the Shadow? Note that you don't have to give away the entire plot here, but some general hints on what is supposed to be troubling the PC's (Player Characters) would be nice).

 

Now, this doesn't mean you need to think of every little detail before starting an thread here. You could make the first post five lines or eight pages, add more info as you go along or keep it as-is. But when you need to check on something, what would be easier? Rereading five pages of posts to see where it was brought up, or simply heading for the first post and have everything you need neatly stored in there?

 

Thought so. ;D

 

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Secondly, recruiting. While i won't stomp on people's enthousiasm, a roleplay with only one person in it isn't really a roleplay. Don't get me wrong, if you want to solo write a story and want to use the Revs for it then that's all perfectly fine, but in my experience roleplays without a playerbase of at least two or three people tend to die fairly quick. So the first thing to do is either make a recruitment thread where you lay out your idea and check for player interest (RP Planning / Rev One boards usually), or hit MSN, AIM or another chat program and get some friends to join in.

 

Having each other on chat in case a problem comes up is generally something i can recommend, it makes discussing the details so much easier. PM works too of course, but it's a bit slower.

 

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Lastly, a brief overview of the Dos and Don'ts of roleplaying.

 

*manifests a simple character and dubs it Joe*

 

Joe here is our guinea pig and example character-- say hi, Joe.

 

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DO:

Joe waved his right hand in midair in greeting, grinning casually as he spoke cheerfully.

 

"Yo!"

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Pretty simple, right?  Actions are typed out in the past tense (as if the character had already done them before the point in which you typed them up), and anything the character says is put into quotations to separate it from the narration.  Don't type in the first person, or things begin to be hard to follow when you post (and some of us will wonder where your character ends and you begin).

 

Naturally, your characters will do things other than just talk.  For instance, if they are thinking to themselves or having a mental conversation with, oh, say, their Zanpakutou, it's usually a good idea to put it in italics, like that.  There's an "i" button in the post window to do that- just highlight the word you want to italicize and bam- it has the italics tags around it.  Don't worry about what it does in the post window, it'll look right when the post is up.

 

So now that you know what to do with actions and talking, time for the "don'ts."

 

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES:

 

- Godmode.  This basically means "cheating" at ANYTHING.  Invincible characters with limitless power and unbelievably devastating attacks tell the admins that you're BEGGING to get booted from this board in record time.

 

- Finish another character's actions or effects for them.  This is loosely referred to as "autoing," and is not only rude, but it is the second deadliest sin under godmoding.  You are here to play your character, not everyone else's.

 

That's basically the biggest set of basic rules for posting here on the board. And most importantly... have fun.  After all, that's why this place is here.

 

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And with that, i end this little guide of mine. If you have any questions, feel free to post them here and i'll be sure to update the first post (;)) accordingly.

[Jehaine]

ADDENDUM 1: God Moding

 

Now, I want to talk a minute about God Moding.

 

We all know what the term means, and we all know it sucks. But what exactly constitutes God Moding? Well, I once heard it broken down into five areas.

 

1) Deific Moding

2) Skill Moding

3) Diplomatic Moding

4) MMPR Moding

5) Speed Moding

 

 

Now I’ll define these areas, so we’re all on the same page. Deific moding is what we’re all the most familiar with. Basically, one person says “BWAHAHAHAHA, I CAN DO WHATEVERS I WANTSES TO DO, MY PRECIOUS!”

While it’s rarely that annoying, and comes in various forms more or less subtle, it’s still bad. We have no real problems with this at DM, but we must remain ever vigilant.

 

 

Skill Moding is where you have a person who is already highly experienced and skilled expecting to get around a situation- just because they’re highly skilled. Now before I go any farther, I’ll confess. I’ve done this before.

Yes, it’s true. But I’m getting better.

Now what does Skill Moding look like? Well, some theoretical examples:

“Storm Leader X Portals past the gate guardians onto their blind side and rips their kneecaps out with his bare hands! But the gate is locked? Ohnoes! Fortunately, the Asha'man can pick locks! Zomg, we’re through! But what’s this, a broken bridge? I’ll just tear a chunk out of the stone wall with the One Power and throw it across the opening!”

Again, rarely this obvious. But you get the idea. Highly skilled and intelligent characters can still get stymied by certain problems. What works should be left to whoever’s designed the scenario. And again, not a real problem at DM, but it never hurts to cover the bases.

 

 

A Diplomatic Moder really won’t work on DM, but I include it for the sake of completeness. This is for people in RPGs with skill sets and stuff like that (DnD/d20, Palladium, Exalted, ect) where there’s a skill that simply lets you talk people down. And a person does that all the time. It’s very annoying, but can’t happen much here at DM.

 

 

Fourthly, there’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger’s Moding. This is also sometimes called Team Moding. It occurs when one or two players have a group of perhaps three to five characters (total, not each) that are completely balanced by themselves. BUT, they are almost always together/within easy access of each other/intuitively know when their friends are in danger, and can always rally to meet any threat, resulting in a ridiculously overpowered group that cannot be harmed.

Now I don’t like to pick on the twins or the girl and her dog, but they’re the most obvious examples. Still, be careful with groups like this (this is one of the reasons I try to have my own characters avoid each other as much as possible.) And for pity’s sake, try not to always place your character with the characters they already work best with. Real life is almost never like that, and it shouldn’t be like that in RP either. Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t role play with the other players you like to role play with… but try to even it out some, neh?

 

 

Finally, Speed Moders. These are most highly observed in Chat RPGs, especially Ayanee (if you don’t know what it is, don’t worry. You’re better off that way.) Basically, these people just out talk the other players. They dictate their own actions so fast the rest don’t have time to respond. Most speed moders rule unregulated chat games where there’s only a general code of conduct, and no real moderators. However, DM has its own equivalent.

People, I know it’s boring to wait for other people to show up and post. But it’s even more annoying to have one person be able to travel half-way across the scene, sit down, eat a sandwich, read the paper, cast a spell or two, hold a deep philosophical discussion on the meaning of life, love, happiness, fish and the number 42, in the same amount of time it takes another person to swing their sword. Show a little consideration for your fellow players and temporal mechanics, and hold back on the posting a little. I understand there’s a time to push on, but it’s often later than most think. Wait around a little, huh? Especially if it’s the person running a thread who hasn’t posted yet.