How to (Forum) Role Play
Oct 29, 2011 0:44:20 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Oct 29, 2011 0:44:20 GMT -5
While this is an intermediate to advanced RP we realize you may have never forum RPed before. Things like email, journal, and micro blog RPs are very different in format from our forum. Please take a few seconds to look over this guide before jumping into play.
0. WRITING
I’m going to assume you know not to write in text speak and know to use full complete sentences, punctuation and grammar. Please do so when playing. You don't have to be English Teacher perfect, but it is expected that you at least use spell check and write in complete sentences, and that your posts will contain more than dialog and a minimum of at least a full paragraph.
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1. FORMATTING
While we don't prohibit the use of colored text or other stylistic choices for dialog text within your post, please DO keep in mind that there are several wildly different color scheme themes available on this forum and yellow text might look great on the default dark gray background but be completely unreadable on one of the themes. Also, coloring, bolding, italicizing, underlining, or anything else DOES NOT take the place of quotation marks and proper punctuation. Some forum members are reading on plain text mobile apps. Write it with proper punctuation first, THEN add in any bells and whistles.
~~~~~~~~~
2. CHARACTER CONTROL
In FRPing, or any type of RPing really, there are two types of characters: The PC, or Playing Character and the NPC, the Non-Playing character. (See FAQ)
You many only move/play your character or NPCs. You CANNOT harm another PC in anyway or make him/her do anything without the permission of the other PC’s owner. Making another person’s character do something without their player’s permission is the equivalent of reaching across a chess board and moving someone else’s pieces. However sometimes puppetting is allowed simply so that a story doesn't take a million years to complete. (Please see the FAQ for more info on God Moding and Puppetting.)
The best idea is to simply set up play so that your character has the opportunity of touching/moving/whatever another character, that way the other player has the ability to accept or decline whatever your character is about to do to theirs.
Bad example of interaction:
In the first example, Player #1 didn’t give Michael’s player the chance to dodge her strike. In the second, she god modded by moving Player #2’s character by writing that he hit the wall.
Examples of Good interaction:
In this example, Player #1 set it up so that her character could surprise Player #2’s character, who then responded that his character was surprised and then set it up so that his character could grab Player #1’s character’s leg. Player #1 allowed her character’s leg to be grabbed. Perfect Role Play. No GodModing was done.
NOTE: It is also GOD MODING if you never allow your character to be caught or hit. It’s your choice if your character does or does not get harmed or foiled, but you must remember that no one succeeded 100% of the time. (Definition for Puppeting/GodModing)
Sometimes though, it can get tedious to never assume another character does anything. In this case Puppetting can be done. Its generally only a good idea to puppet if all players have a general idea of where the thread is going, and are creatively on the same page. However there are easy ways to fix puppeting gone awry, usually by just ignoring what happened. (Definition for Puppeting/GodModing)
Example of good puppetting:
Bad puppetting:
If someone puppets something for your character that you don't want to do, then simply fix it in your next post. Example:
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3. POST ORDER.
POST ORDER is established when a new thread is started and the players write their first posts. The order that the people wrote their first posts would be the POST ORDER. It should generally remain the same until the thread is finished, however players can be skipped or new players added depending on what players have agreed. The purpose of POST ORDER is to insure that each player in a has an equal opportunity play. POST ORDER’s are not mandatory, but keeping to them is considered standard RP etiquette. Breaking order can cause other players to become frustrated as it is essentially cutting in line.
Sometimes a player may need to skipped or be skipped. The most usual cases for this are if a player hasn’t posted in a very long time, or if a player decides to leave the thread. Unless you have a good reason, please say in your posting order. If someone hasn’t posted in a while, please PM them before you skip them. Its just a nice way of showing that you at least gave them a chance to keep going.
~~~~~
4. POINT OF VIEW.
In FRP, each player must write in a limited POINT OF VIEW. Your posts MUST follow your character and only your character (though there are some exceptions but those are rare enough to not mention). When writing your posts, pretend that your character has a little camera attached to his or her head that can see everything he or she does and can read your character’s thoughts. You can’t know the thoughts or actions of other PCs or NPS unless your character can somehow see/her them. This is not a story, this is an RP, we don’t need to know what everyone in the building is doing. You can only mention other characters and characters not immediately seen by your character if it some how relates to what they are doing or about to do (ie: if you are setting the scene).
~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. EXPOSITION
Even though our RP is not a static piece like a book, we are a form of interactive community storytelling. Go ahead and explain your character's thoughts and surroundings. This gives other people an idea of the setting, how your character feels and gives other ideas of how to engage you in the RP. The better picture other players have of what's going on the more rich the RP will be.
~~~~~~~~~
6. DIALOGUE
DIALOGUE is not necessary in every post but sometimes it can be a good transition. Asking another character a question is a good way to lead into another post. It is NOT necessary to quote all or any dialog from the previous post into your post.
Example:
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7. OOC TAG
If you have something that you need to say in a post that is not from your characters POV or really has anything to do with the actual story, place it in an Out Of Character (OOC) tag.
Example:
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8. IN SUMMARY
A good RP post has these things in it:
1) Your Character
~Under NO circumstances should your posts ever be about anything other than what your character is doing, feeling or seeing. The only exception is if your character is interacting with an NPC.
2) Exposition
~Explain your character’s setting, thoughts and internal situation. This lets the people RPing with you know what to expect and how you want to be reacted to. The more exposition you include, the better because it makes it easier for people know how to interact with you.
3) Dialogue
~Dialogue helps you interact directly with other characters and can be writing in a way that makes it easy to remember what the last person said.
4) No GodModing
~Set it up so that your character has the potential of touching/interacting with another character, but let the other player actually decide what is going to happen to their character. Also, allow other players to actually have a chance of hitting/interacting with your character. Set it up so that it is obvious that you intend to have your character hit, let the other player move to hit, and then accept the hit on your character.
0. WRITING
I’m going to assume you know not to write in text speak and know to use full complete sentences, punctuation and grammar. Please do so when playing. You don't have to be English Teacher perfect, but it is expected that you at least use spell check and write in complete sentences, and that your posts will contain more than dialog and a minimum of at least a full paragraph.
~~~~~~~~~
1. FORMATTING
While we don't prohibit the use of colored text or other stylistic choices for dialog text within your post, please DO keep in mind that there are several wildly different color scheme themes available on this forum and yellow text might look great on the default dark gray background but be completely unreadable on one of the themes. Also, coloring, bolding, italicizing, underlining, or anything else DOES NOT take the place of quotation marks and proper punctuation. Some forum members are reading on plain text mobile apps. Write it with proper punctuation first, THEN add in any bells and whistles.
~~~~~~~~~
2. CHARACTER CONTROL
In FRPing, or any type of RPing really, there are two types of characters: The PC, or Playing Character and the NPC, the Non-Playing character. (See FAQ)
You many only move/play your character or NPCs. You CANNOT harm another PC in anyway or make him/her do anything without the permission of the other PC’s owner. Making another person’s character do something without their player’s permission is the equivalent of reaching across a chess board and moving someone else’s pieces. However sometimes puppetting is allowed simply so that a story doesn't take a million years to complete. (Please see the FAQ for more info on God Moding and Puppetting.)
The best idea is to simply set up play so that your character has the opportunity of touching/moving/whatever another character, that way the other player has the ability to accept or decline whatever your character is about to do to theirs.
Bad example of interaction:
Player #1: “Lidia jumped into the air and kicked her foot into Michael’s face sending him flying across the room. She knew she would be able to surprise him.”
Player #1: "Lidia jumped into the air and kicked her foot into Michael’s face sending him flying across the room. Michael crashed into a wall so hard that his body left a dent. Linda laughed and punched him again."
In the first example, Player #1 didn’t give Michael’s player the chance to dodge her strike. In the second, she god modded by moving Player #2’s character by writing that he hit the wall.
Examples of Good interaction:
Player #1: “Linda jumped into the air and kicked her food at Michael’s face. Her aim was perfect and she was certain she had the element of surprise on her side.”
Player #2: “Michael saw the leg flying at his face and was momentarily surprised. He hadn’t realized there was anyone else in the room with him. He recover from his shock just in time to throw his body to the left, though the shoe grazed his face. He reached out and grabbed the leg that had nearly knocked him across the room, intending to fling the person across the room."
Player #1: "Linda gasped as her leg was grabbed and tumbled head over heals as she fell to the floor."
In this example, Player #1 set it up so that her character could surprise Player #2’s character, who then responded that his character was surprised and then set it up so that his character could grab Player #1’s character’s leg. Player #1 allowed her character’s leg to be grabbed. Perfect Role Play. No GodModing was done.
NOTE: It is also GOD MODING if you never allow your character to be caught or hit. It’s your choice if your character does or does not get harmed or foiled, but you must remember that no one succeeded 100% of the time. (Definition for Puppeting/GodModing)
Sometimes though, it can get tedious to never assume another character does anything. In this case Puppetting can be done. Its generally only a good idea to puppet if all players have a general idea of where the thread is going, and are creatively on the same page. However there are easy ways to fix puppeting gone awry, usually by just ignoring what happened. (Definition for Puppeting/GodModing)
Example of good puppetting:
Player 1: "Linda reached out and handed Michael the pitcher of water and walked off."
Player 2: "Michael looked at the pitcher and wondered what he was supposed to do with it"
Bad puppetting:
Player 1: "Linda reached to and handed Michael the pitcher of water and asked Michael to pour her a glass. She drank the glass and walked off"
Player 2: ((Michale wasn't going to pour you a glass. He was going to tell you to do it yourself!"))
If someone puppets something for your character that you don't want to do, then simply fix it in your next post. Example:
Player 1: "Linda reached to and handed Michael the pitcher of water and asked Michael to pour her a glass. She drank the glass and walked off"
Player 2: "Michael didn't pour Linda a glass of water. 'Do it yourself!' he said."
Player1: ((sorry about that!)) "Linda huffed and walked off without her glass of water."
~~~~~~~~~
3. POST ORDER.
POST ORDER is established when a new thread is started and the players write their first posts. The order that the people wrote their first posts would be the POST ORDER. It should generally remain the same until the thread is finished, however players can be skipped or new players added depending on what players have agreed. The purpose of POST ORDER is to insure that each player in a has an equal opportunity play. POST ORDER’s are not mandatory, but keeping to them is considered standard RP etiquette. Breaking order can cause other players to become frustrated as it is essentially cutting in line.
Sometimes a player may need to skipped or be skipped. The most usual cases for this are if a player hasn’t posted in a very long time, or if a player decides to leave the thread. Unless you have a good reason, please say in your posting order. If someone hasn’t posted in a while, please PM them before you skip them. Its just a nice way of showing that you at least gave them a chance to keep going.
~~~~~
4. POINT OF VIEW.
In FRP, each player must write in a limited POINT OF VIEW. Your posts MUST follow your character and only your character (though there are some exceptions but those are rare enough to not mention). When writing your posts, pretend that your character has a little camera attached to his or her head that can see everything he or she does and can read your character’s thoughts. You can’t know the thoughts or actions of other PCs or NPS unless your character can somehow see/her them. This is not a story, this is an RP, we don’t need to know what everyone in the building is doing. You can only mention other characters and characters not immediately seen by your character if it some how relates to what they are doing or about to do (ie: if you are setting the scene).
~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. EXPOSITION
Even though our RP is not a static piece like a book, we are a form of interactive community storytelling. Go ahead and explain your character's thoughts and surroundings. This gives other people an idea of the setting, how your character feels and gives other ideas of how to engage you in the RP. The better picture other players have of what's going on the more rich the RP will be.
~~~~~~~~~
6. DIALOGUE
DIALOGUE is not necessary in every post but sometimes it can be a good transition. Asking another character a question is a good way to lead into another post. It is NOT necessary to quote all or any dialog from the previous post into your post.
Example:
Player #1:
“Do you like the beach?” she asked the boy, squinting into the sun. She looked around then remembered her pitcher of lemonade.
“You thirsty?” she asked, gesturing to the condensation covered pitcher. “It’s freshly squeezed.”
Player 2 :
He loved the beach but he could tell by her posture that she was having trouble with the sun. He didn’t want to offend her so he simply shrugged.
“It’s ok I guess. Do you not like it?”
The lemonade looked wonderful and he found he was super thirsty. “Sure,” he added with a nod towards the pitcher, "and thanks. I'd love some."
~~~~~~~~~
7. OOC TAG
If you have something that you need to say in a post that is not from your characters POV or really has anything to do with the actual story, place it in an Out Of Character (OOC) tag.
Example:
((OOC: In your last post I wasn’t sure what time of day this is, so I made it morning. I hope that's ok.))
~~~~~~~~~~~~
8. IN SUMMARY
A good RP post has these things in it:
1) Your Character
~Under NO circumstances should your posts ever be about anything other than what your character is doing, feeling or seeing. The only exception is if your character is interacting with an NPC.
2) Exposition
~Explain your character’s setting, thoughts and internal situation. This lets the people RPing with you know what to expect and how you want to be reacted to. The more exposition you include, the better because it makes it easier for people know how to interact with you.
3) Dialogue
~Dialogue helps you interact directly with other characters and can be writing in a way that makes it easy to remember what the last person said.
4) No GodModing
~Set it up so that your character has the potential of touching/interacting with another character, but let the other player actually decide what is going to happen to their character. Also, allow other players to actually have a chance of hitting/interacting with your character. Set it up so that it is obvious that you intend to have your character hit, let the other player move to hit, and then accept the hit on your character.