How to Role Play - the Basic Guide of Tips and Rules

[Alice Cullen]

1) In roleplaying, many people enjoy the "skirt" rule. "Long enough to cover the essentials, short enough to be interesting." This will mean what it does, but it usually means three or four sentences that give your fellow roleplayers what they need to know to respond while keeping it short and sweet

2) It is considered good taste to notify the GM of the roleplay when you won't be able or willing to contribute to their roleplay for a while.

3) Never God-Mode (GM). This is acting like you rule over everyone -- people find it quite annoying. God-moding includes your character having a special power that everyone else does not have and escaping obvious death (unless the person trying to kill you without your permission).

4) Never Power-Play (PP). No one likes it when you decide something about their character, such as how they act, what they think or do, or what they say.

5) No one likes someone who makes two or three posts then doesn't post forever. If you have to go on a trip, or have a job or something, then inform your fellow roleplayers so they don't sit on their butts waiting for you all day. Also, if you don't like how a roleplay is going, work it out with the people you're roleplaying with, instead of just leaving.

6) Another thing to avoid is creating a Mary Sue/Gary Lue character. You do not want your character to be 'cliche' or unoriginal. A character who is too perfect, too powerful, without weaknesses or overburdened by a tragic past may be seen as a Mary Sue/Gary Lue. http://www.onlyfiction.net/marysue2.html is a good source for consideration - this website provides a test to help one determine how original and creative one's character is, compared to common Mary Sue traits.

7) Ideally, roleplaying is not a competition between players. It may be a competition between good and evil, or even a friendly rivalry, but if you go home feeling upset, you're probably not doing something right.

8] If a role player makes their thread Open (meaning open for everyone to roleplay in), it's good to join. If the roleplay is limited to a selection of players that the maker of the roleplay picks, don't barge in.

9) Know the lingo. When the roleplay is literate, don't use ** == [] -- <> for actions! Use narration to describe actions, like this: Ken walked to his house and sighed, "I wish I ate my bagel this morning." There are sites with full lists of the terms, so look into those.

10) An intro can mean everything. Try to include who your character is, what they're doing, what they look like, and perhaps a bit about their past if that's needed. Include why they are in that specific place. Remember that there is no specified length of the intro, so go full out if needed.

11) Within a few in-character (IC) entries, you should have established some sort of connection between your characters and the others, to where your actions affect the story in some way that the others are able to react to. You risk your character becoming disconnected, otherwise.

12) When your Role Playing use description! Don't just say "Jane walked into the room and sat down on a chair." Where is Jane? What does the room look like? How did she walk in? How did she sit down? You need to think of all these questions whenever you RP. Instead, you could say something like, "Jane briskly walked into the waiting room at the doctors office, wrinkling her nose at the antiseptic smell. She glanced at the medical posters on the walls, and the magazines by the hard-backed chairs lining the walls. She approached one of them, and quickly sat down in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, folding her ankles properly." Now do you see what you're aiming for? Don't be afraid of adding to many details. The more details, the better off the roleplay will be.

13) No one-liners. They do nothing to advance the story. Most people do not like them as they do nothing for the roleplay, unless your thread starter says that one liners is okay, always assume if it is not mentioned that one liners are not permitted.

14) Chatspeak is not permitted in in-character (IC) posts. Chatspeak includes "ur", "im", "u", "r", "hes", etc.

You may write in any style you want - first-, second-, or third-person - though it is suggested that you write in third-person, so fellow roleplayers get a better idea of your character.

Example of first-person:

I felt myself change, my limbs distorting with the natural change, my nose and mouth combining to the wolf snout. I had grown used to it by now but I was still never ready for the spasm of pain that made me a werewolf.

Example of second-person:

Sarabella fell to the floor, gasping for breath, seeming to be in pain. Her limbs twitched as, slowly, her human figure distorted. Fur grew all over her body, her nose and mouth elongated into a snout, her limbs shifted and popped in their sockets. She became a wolf.

Example of third-person:

Sarabella collapsed, the pain the only thing on her mind. She had been a werewolf for some time now but it still took her breath away when she felt the familiar spasm. She let out a little gasp, her breath already shallow, as she felt her limbs shifting, rotating so that it would be impossible to stand on hind legs. She felt her nose and mouth become one, felt them elongate. She finally lay still, feeling the pain turn into a dull throb.

As you can tell, I (Sarabella Nyx) am best at third-person. The difference between first-, second-, and third-person are thus:

First-person is when the writer (you) is situated in your character. You taste, feel, see, think, smell, and hear only the things that your character tastes, feels, sees, thinks, smells, and hears. The upside to this is that you can use humour freely but still be serious. The downside is that you will not be able to describe any scenes that your character does not taste, feel, see, smell, or hear.

Second-person is when the writer (you) is situated above, in front, under, or behind the character(s). You do not describe what your character tastes, feels, sees, thinks, smells, and hears - only what everyone, as a collective group, tastes, feels, sees, thinks, smells, and hears. The upside to this is that you can summarize a long passage but still add detail. The downside is that no one knows what your character(s) are tasting, feeling, seeing, thinking, smelling, or hearing as individuals.

Third-person is a combination of first- and second-person, when the writer (you) is situated above, in front, behind, or under the character(s), but you (the writer) still taste, feel, see, think, smell, and hear what your character(s) are tasting, feeling, seeing, thinking, smelling or hearing as individuals. This is considered the freestyle way of writing and is often used, as you can express individuality and originality with your characters. The upside of this is you have basically a large freedom of description. The downside of this style is that it's hard to be focused on the feelings of two characters at once.

You may write in any tense - past, present, or future - that you are comfortable with, though it is advised that you write in present or past tense.

Example of past tense:

She walked through the halls, feeling lonely. Suddenly, a figure popped up beside her. "Gotcha," Matt teased, pretending to pull a quarter out of her ear. She pushed him playfully.

Example of present tense:

She walks through the halls, feeling lonely. Suddenly, a figure pops up beside her. "Gotcha," Matt teases, pretending to pull a quarter out of her ear. She pushes him away playfully.

Example of future tense:

She will walk through the halls, feeling lonely. Suddenly, a figure will pop up beside her. "Gotcha," Matt will tease, pretending to pull a quarter out of her ear. She will push him away playfully.

As you can see, future tense doesn't really work with writing unless it's something in the story that hasn't happened yet. I (Sarabella Nyx) personally prefer writing with past tense, but it's your choice. The difference between the tenses is that past has already happened, present is currently happening, and future will happen.

We ask if you please take these tips into thought and thank you to wikihow.com for some of this and for Sarabella Nyx's edits for most of it. xD