Roleplaying Tips and Terminology

[InstantPun]

This board is dedicated to Role-Playing. As such, there are terms to know, and ideas that are to be avoided. The purpose of this Topic is to list, and if needed, explain some of them.

Terminology

Godmodding: Basically, Overpowering your character, making them not take any damage upon hits, deal large amounts of damage, always hit, etc. Unless you are the creator and/or the one controlling the major Villains(s), and some event must happen, this is frowned upon very much.

Autoing: Controlling a character that belongs to someone else. There are two types of Autoing:

Indirect Autoing: Basically, through one of your characters, you give "facts" about someone else's character or maybe a minor action that may or may not be true, according to one character's tastes. Frowned upon, but usually isn't a problem.

Direct Autoing: Controlling the character him/herself. Unless you have been given explicit permission to do so (Typically by someone who is going be to away from the internet), this is frowned upon.

Out of Character (OOC): Speaking outside the RP. Used quite often, and everyone has their own way of doing so

In Character (IC): Used to inform everyone that they are no longer talking OOC if they use a certain form of OOC talk.

Original Character (OC): Only related to RPs based off Games, Mangas, and otherwise. It means a Character created by the RPer, not by the Company that made the Game/Manga/other.

Script Format: Using a Script-like format in your posts when RPing.

Story Format: Using a Novel-like format in your posts when RPing.

Types of RPs

Yep. There are different kinds of RPs out there. Just to name a few:

Free RP: Quite possibly one of the easiest to create. Simply put, you make a world and its races and maybe its history, and you let people interact however way they want to.

Story RP: Stepping up one level from Free RP, the Creator of the RP makes a story that everyone must follow from the beginning.

Stat-Based/Map RPG: Arguably, the hardest RP to run. Stat-Based RPGs are similar to Fire Emblem, Advanced Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics, and all those other Strategy/Role Playing games. Maps, Sprites, and upkeep are required to run such an RP. Good luck to those that begin such a project. It is also arguably the easiest ones to finish, anyways, for something so hard to set up.

Duels: One of the simplest RPG styles. Two or more people create a character, and they all fight each other. It could be a Free for all, a Team Battle, or something else to that extent. For convenience sake, I linked the Award Ceremony, which has links to all the battles.

There are a few types of Dueling:

True Style: Duels in which all attacks made against another's success is determined by the Target or an ally of the target.

Mixed Style: Duels in which minor strikes can connect or miss depending on the user of the strike, but stronger attacks are determined by the target and his or her team.

Cheese: Basically, you exert some sort of minor control over your opponent's actions. Not exactly for fair duels, but instead for just passing time.

Of course, you can intermix each and every style in a duel, so be prepared for anything. Usually, though, most duels are done in True or Mixed Style.

Basic Rules of Role-playing

1. No Godmodding. Period. No one is invincible, no matter what you think.

2. No Autoing unless given explicit Permission to.

3. Your opponent decides if they are hit by your attack. Basically, don’t say "...and hit him in the shoulder". Of course, they must realize that they themselves cannot block, parry, or dodge every attack.

3.5: The above rule is ignored occasionally if the Judge/RP Creator/Story creator deems it necessary for attacks to hit

4: Don't ever ignore attacks. That's just being rude. Of course people will post right before you with another attack/action that affects your post, but there IS an edit button...

5: Flaming gets you no where. Constructive Criticism is the way to go if you want to help someone improve their RPing skills.

6: Write in a way that is clear for others to understand. If not, people might misinterpret your post, and you don't want that to happen...right?

7: Please, try to stay in Character. If your character is someone that tries to help everyone, even if that person is extremely mean to your character, then your character is expected to help everyone, whether the others like it or not. If there is going to be a change in characterization, there has to be a reason for that change.

8: Regardless of how powerful you think your character is, everyone else decides truly how powerful he or she is

8.5: RP Creators are exempt from this rule when they create Villains, as the majority of them HAVE to be extremely powerful.

RP Courtesy

Yes, you can be nice in your RPing even if your Character is the meanest person in the world. But I mean by your RPing Style.

Few tips. You do not have to follow them to the point, but most of these can be interpreted as you will.

Separate your paragraphs by a line: Clears up the posts, so we're not looking at a huge chunk of text, but instead, clear paragraphs of what's going on.

New Paragraph after someone else speaks: Clarity, Clarity, Clarity. Although you really can't avoid this if you use a Script form, for those using Story Form, it'd be useful.

Clearly define what your method of speaking OOC is: for example, I use:

((Blah Blah Blah))

You might use a different form, but as long as it is differentiable from your IC posts, it's perfectly fine.

Clearly understood actions and words: Can you see the pattern here? It's all about making your posts clearly understood. I don't care if you have to make it so detailed that your going through stuff that seems to be common sense, as long as it's CLEAR and leaves little room to interpret it in a way you didn't want it to be.

So you want to make an RP!

Can't blame you. Nearly everyone does. The question is: Can you make a good one? Here's a Checklist of the basics you need:

* Specify what kind of RP you are creating. Story or a Free RP? A Complex Map/Stat-up RP, or a simple Duel?
* A World. Despite what kind of RP you are creating, this is still important. What is the world like? What races are there? Geography? Cultures (if Applicable)? Political Situation? Countries? Are you using a preexisting world? What has happened to it since the last time we've seen it? Or is it before the events that we know?
* History of the World: Useful, but not always needed if you are making a Duel or a Free RPG, in one case it doesn't really matter, the other, someone else can make the history of the world for you. However, in a Story RPG or a Map-Based RPG, it's pretty much the basis of your story...isn't it?
* Spell-Check and Grammar: You know, so people can understand you, and you won't look like a complete fool?
* A Sign-up that includes everything that you want others to put down about their character.


This should include at the very least:

* Name: Full name, Nicknames, Tribal Names, Etc. Nothing complicated...unless the person that signs up wants to make it so.
* Gender: I find asking for "Sex" returns more jokes than answers, but that's just me.
* Age: Simple...right? Wrong.
* Race: Corresponds to Age as well. Various Races have various Life spans, so make sure both the Race and the Age match. A 27 Year old isn't an adult if he's an Eldar, and it's near impossible for there to be a 125 Year old Human to be considered a Kid.
* Physical Description: Simply put, what does your character look like? Hair, eyes, height, Weight, Girth, Typical Clothing, typical facial expressions, the whole thing. Don't skip out on a detail if you can help it.
* Personality (Not always needed): How does your character act? Try to be as general as possible, but if there are specific fears, pet-peeves, things that he/she go gaga over, idolizes, etc. Then include that as well. Try to show the whole picture if possible.
* Bio: History. What's the character Childhood like? Was he/she orphaned? Abused? Noble? Trained hard since he/she could walk? What are his/her dreams? Goals? What does he/she treasure? Does he/she have family alive? Where is he/she now? What does he/she do? Etc.
* Weapons/Equipment: While this can go under Appearance, sometimes you want to go further into one's equipment, especially if it's something magical/important/that has a special power.
* Skills/Spells/Abilities: A Rundown on special attacks and what they do. Important so that neither you nor your opponent completely forget what they are.
* Extras: Not actually a criterion, but if there's another criteria you want to add, feel free to.


For Stat/Map RPGs, there is another set of necessary things you need:

* Level: What level is the character starting at? For most FE-style Stat RPGs, usually this is set at 1 unpromoted, and the RPG Maker raises it to whatever level he/she desires for the time the character appears
* Class: What's the character’s class, so that you can recognize it on the map?
* Starting Stats: What is the character’s starting stats? There must be some guidelines to follow...be sure to include them.
* Growth Rates: If this is an FE-style system, what are the Character's Growth rates?
* Skills: If you wish to add FE4, 5, 9-style skills, go ahead. No one's there to stop you besides yourself (Or whoever you're working with).


More is not necessary, but the more detail you put, the more power to you.
Contacting fellow Role-Players

The best way to sort plot details, problems, future ideas with someone else without other people knowing it through various communication options you have at your disposal. The following is just a short list of possible ways to communicate with each other.

-Personally, if you guys know each other IRL
-Through an Instant Messaging Program, such as MSN Messenger or AIM
-PMs
-E-Mails, for bigger stuff

Of course, some RP Creators have a Discussion Topic and an RP Topic separate from each other, so you can use the Discussion topic to raise important questions or make announcements to everyone.

Questions

What about Necroposting and Double-Posting? Do the rules in the Manual apply?
Questions? Comments? Corrections? Anything I should add? Feel free to do so!