[HTM]

Ok, pretty much this here! I say, that other things are welcome, and I'm not the best RP'er here, Big-Time. Anyways:

IC: In character, the interactions you do as said character, the majority of roleplay is done in this format. IC roleplay in various threads isn't always connected, and can often be like taking place in different dimensions or realities. How your character acts and fights in one roleplay thread may be similar in another, but it doesn't always mean they share the same plot, love interests, or abilities. When playing an IC character roleplay, it's important to remember that what you know and what your character knows, depending on the setting, should stay seperate.

Example, if you're fighting Khran, unless your character is close to him or has a REALISTIC reason why, you're not going to know his entire back story, weaknesses and statistics. Sure, you can claim you have an uber computer mainframe and stuff, but what are the odds you'd have looked up secret, hard to find, probably almost non-existent information on a character before you even know you're going to encounter him? Not very likely.

OOC: Often the downfall of many roleplay threads, OOC is an important tool, but also one that people need to, surprisingly enough, learn to use properly at times. OOC is often used for roleplayers to discuss plot and interactions and correct errors that may have been interpreted by other roleplayers about a post. This is, as I said, very useful, but doing it too much can flood out the content of roleplay.

Another bad thing people do is do strictly OOC posts in an IC thread. What that is is when you make an OOC comment or complaint without doing an in character post relevant to the RP. The best thing to do when needing to do an OOC post is to make sure that you do an IC one as well. If you have the time and energy to post OOC you can at least do one as big, or bigger, in IC to accompany it.

If you need to do a series of OOC posts, make an OOC discussion thread for that RP. Simple, clean and helps keep the flow constant and regular.

GM or Game Master: A term coined from DnD, they are the leader and hand of god of the roleplay, usually the person who started the thread. Very often they will be in charge of main plot points, twists, turns and so forth. For example, if there was to be a world wide earthquake or some such natural disaster, it would usually be done by, or run by, the GM.

GM is essentially a mod for the topic, without the real powers. What they say, nine times out of ten, goes. But if you are a GM, remember, being too picky, or too much of a hard ass can drive away your participants.

-Problems you will encounter when you roleplay-

Messenger style vs Forum style

Messenger style is a type of roleplaying commonly used over a messenger service for developing the plot of an rp, however some roleplayers convert it over to forum rps. This causes great annoyance, as an otherwise brilliant plot can become totally overlooked by it. In this style, the name of the character is written and fallowed by a colon, then whatever is typed out is what the character is saying, while actions are usually marked with asterisks * or brackets []

Example

Sonic: *smirk* Take this! *kicks an eggbot*
Eggbot: *head is smashed and blows up*

Not very impressive is it? This is why the majority of rps prefer that those posting use what is refered to as Literary style, or as if you were reading it from a book. This preference is so common, that often it has been marked as a requirement for participating in an rp. Let's look at the example above done in literary style this time shall we?

Sonic's signature smirk grew on his face as the eggbot approached. "Take this!" He yelled as he dashed towards it. He brought his leg around, his foot connecting with the eggbot's head and smashing it to pieces. The broken circuits cause the fuel source to explode, destroying what remained.

Much nicer isn't it?

God-Modding: I think we're all familiar with this. The name itself dates back to the cheat used in video games. God Mode. Invincibility, infinite health, dodging everything, Armageddon blasts and being impossible to actually hit. This is one of the worst things someone can do, and unless the character actually IS a god, should never be done, really. It's just boring, and lame, and no one likes it. It's usually reserved for those of the roleplaying community that think they have some perfect character, usually very cliche and uncreative.

No one likes to roleplay with God Modders. If someone is saying you're God Modding, take heed and listen. It might very well save your reputation.

Power Gaming: Not to be confused with God Modding. Power gamers are people that seemingly make up powers as they need them, or are already equipped with things that are almost perfect save for one tiny pin hole weakness which can almost never be hit, or what have you. Things like Teleportation, time or reality manipulation, mind control, weapons that can cut through anything and can't be broken or stolen, personal force fields that recharge seconds after being broken, healing factors faster then freakin' Wolverine and tons of transformations that just make them stronger and stronger.

These sorts of powers are usually used by demons, demon hybrids, spirits, dragons, dragon hybrids, 'test subjects' that were artificially created, 'high level magic users' and so forth. Not to say anyone that falls into those categories is at fault for these, just...many.

Power gaming can be worse then God modding, as it makes the roleplayer think that they aren't in the wrong and because they have sci-fi jargon to explain why it's plausible, it's ok to do. Just because they had a point singularity gun in some anime or an Anti-matter cannon in Zone of Enders 2 doesn't mean you get to have one with infinite ammo, zero charge time, and no repercussions that can absorb anything and everything in it's path at the speed of light.

Odds are, also, that if you rely on a force field for defense, your physical defense underneath that force field would be lesser, so being a force field user while having a HIGHER defense or equal defense below that force field is just pointless and aggravating and can cause people to just stop playing.

Power gamers can exist, but they should be reserved for main antagonists, or other such legendary and rarely seen roles. They shouldn't be popping up left and right like weeds.

Narrating: When you take control of someone else's character without their permission. This is often done during fights to allow one character to gain an unfair advantage or set up a combo without giving the other player time to react. While this isn't ALWAYS the case, it is the majority of the time.

Narration also happens during casual scenes where one roleplayer has another's characters say lines or do things without consent. At times this is expected, such as having a group of people enter an area together, or what have you, but other times it's best to allow the roleplayer of the character to make their own choices.

Hit calling: Very similar to Narration, but with a few subtle differences. Hit calling is battle specific, but it doesn't control the characters actions. Instead it, as expected, calls hits connecting with an opponent, sometimes even describing what the damage would be. This can be very unfair and linked to God modding.

Omni-Dodging: The counter point to hit calling, one who dodges every attack without taking the smallest amount of damage. This can be worse then hit calling, as not all hits are called, but omni-dodging is constant. To be a good roleplayer, you need to know how to take a hit. Not all the time, but enough to keep the fight fair and without seeming like you're untouchable or just brushing off an attack like it was sand in your hair.

P.S: I've been copying and pasting this from a web-site, so i don't take the credit

[speeder the hedgehog]

heh probally sonic anime....

[HTM]

Maybe, maybe not. But i forgot it, so...

[black hearts]

did you post this cause of me

[HTM]

black hearts, on Aug 3 2007, 12:35 AM, said:

did you post this cause of me

No, it's for all RPers available

[Pyroman]

Great work finding this, Getsuga. It should really help the RP section!

You could stand to use spellcheck a bit more, but there were only a few typos. Don't worry about it.

Back to the topic at hand; EVERYONE PAY ATTENTION TO THIS! If we RP withing these guidelines, we'll have a lot more fun.

[HTM]

That's the spirit, Pyro

[Requiem]

This is a good guide, so thanks - hopefully it'll help out other roleplayers. If anyone knows where the guide is from, be sure to link to it (same goes for anyone copying/pasting things written by people on other communities). We're all for sharing good information, but we like to give credit where it is due too

[Wildfire]

speeder the hedgehog, on Aug 2 2007, 08:33 PM, said:

heh probally sonic anime....

It's not from there. Why did you say that? It sounds really sarcastic.

I think it could be from Wiki. I do recall reading something along those lines there but then again, they are basic rules of RPing.

At any rate, a great find.

[HTM]

I got it from a SIG on someones user here, and that's why I don't take the credit in making it

[Requiem]

After my really average google skills, credit for the guide lies here:
http://www.mgcomics....read.php?t=3484


Thanks