[Mr Brownstone]

The Basic Guide To Role Playing
By Co-Z, Haru, Sryen, Silavor, Old Ben, and Gingerdog.

What Is Role Playing?
By Co-Z
Role playing is much like story writing. The main difference is that multiple people write the story together. Each person controls a character, and combined they make one really good story. Unlike regular story writing, this is entertaining because you can see how other people change the plot, and the story can go on. As an added bonus, you'll probably gain more readers. If story writing bores you to death, role playing is definitely the thing for you.

How Do I Role Play?
By Co-Z
It's pretty simple. All you have to do is continue the story that the poster above wrote. Try to make it about a paragraph, because you don't want to get too carried away writing nor make a one page conversation.

An Example Of Role Playing
By Co-Z
Poster One: (Controls Tendelius)
Tendelius dismounted his horse. He arrived at the mansion, ready to aim for his target. (The post will go on, and probably be about a paragraph in length)....... Tendelius found the Vampire, and pulled out his large blade.
"You've only been a pest of a man, terrorizing this magnificent town. Begone!" said Tendelius.
Poster Two: (Controls Count Dulnen)
"Ah, so my meal has arrived." threatened Count Dulnen. He showed his sharp teeth to Tendelius. "I'm not doing bad, I'm just... hungry!" (The post will go one)

An Example of Good And Bad Role Playing
By Co-Z, special thanks to Sryen and Haru.
Good Role playing
By Haru in Kingdom Of Element RPG

The new day started, in the peacefull village of Alfram. Today was a very exciting day, the day that the low class Sol users part on their journey, to become greater Sol users! Kael woke up, scratching his head.

Ugh.. it's the day we finally get to start on our journey...

Kael walked outside of his house, with his packed backpack. He walked towards the town fountain, where meetings were held. He looked around to see a couple of kids his age, then he yawned. It was very early in the morning, about 6:00 AM.

Good points about it:
+Not too short nor too long, but at a length other players can easily continue to.
+Follows role play rules
+Good grammer and spelling
+Sticks to the storyline

Bad Roleplaying
Not in any RP, just a sample.

arnold walkd in2 th cofee shop wit his gun. hes gona die thor arnold. he saw jcob ther. ur gona die sed arnold. wut th hec sed jcob. arnold kild jcob.

Bad points about it:
-Terrible grammar and spelling
-No quotatations or italics
-Killed another role-player


How Do I Join a Role Play?
By Co-Z
First, you'll need a role play to join. If the role play says something along the lines of "No more characters", don't bother to join, because they probably already have enough people. If applications are open, however, you're eligible to join in on the fun. The first thing to do is read the background story and plot to the role play. After that, you'll know whether or not you're going to like it. Now read the rules the topic starter has created. Finally, copy and paste the application form into a reply, fill it out, and you'll now be able to post! If the role play is too active, you'll need to find a way to make your character fit in with the situation.

A Typical Application Sheet
By Sryen, editted by Co-Z
Name: Put your characters name
Age: Characters Age
Looks/Appearance: Very general, some people will divide this up into different sections
Personality: The personality of your character. No one likes a flawless character, remember to give them some faults as well.
Weapons: If the type of roleplay has weapons, this may be added
Armor: The typical defensive wear of the character, often merged with looks.
Spells/abilities: This too depends on the type of roleplay but often shows up.
Race: Human, elf, orc, etc.
History: Your characters backround, family, and how they are where they are today.
Other information: Anything that doesn't fit in elsewhere.

This is just a typical form, but it can be editted to fit the role play. Remember, you want to make your characters interesting. First off, look at some of the other characters, there's a chance someone else has a character a lot like what you want. If this is true, you should probably think of something different. Be as creative and different as possible. It's good to create a few characters in advance so you can use one depending on the roleplay, but obviously this isn't required.

A Typical Filled Application
By Sryen, editted by Co-Z
Name: Bob
Age: 33
Looks/Appearance: completely bald, old worn jeans and a white t-shirt. Missing his front tooth. He has no shoes but has tough soles that protect his feet well.
Personality: Strong but too brave for his own good and has recieved many injuries because of his actions. Cares deeply for his friends but doens't trust new people much, takes awhile to get on his good side.
Weapons: None, he lost his only weapon, a small dagger, during his last battle, which he lostt but somehow lived to tell the tale.
Armor: None other than his clothing.
Spells/abilities: None yet, but will develop the ability to fly later on in life.
Race: Human
History: Both parents were killed in a car accident. He joined the arm because he had nothing esle to do with his life. When all his teammates were killed during a mission he gave up on military life. Is now being hunted by the same people who killed his men, they want to finish the job.
Other information: Is skilled at healing small wounds with limited materials.

The Basic Rules Of Role Playing
By Silavor, extended by Co-Z

1. Don't control other characters. You can, however, make them do something minor, as long as it follows the character's personality. Never do anything major, leave those decisions to the character's writer. In some role plays, you won't be able to have even minor control, however.
2. Don't kill off other players, just like rule one. You can fight another role player, but you cannot cause them a serious wound or death. This may apply to NPC's, so the topic starter will have to point that out in their first post.
3. No invincibility. Your character must occasionally fail or get hurt.
4. "When your character is speaking, put quotation marks around the talking, like this".
5. When your character thinks, put the thought in italics, like this. To italicize text, highlight it and click the I above the reply box.
6. Refrain from foul languages, and be kind to other role players. They're people too, and it's not logical to feud with someone over some literature.
7. GRAMMAR IS YOUR FRIEND! Avoid using internet shortcuts, mispellings, and grammatical errors. It's much easier to understand the story when it's easy to read. Even if you're a slow typer, use good grammar. You'll quickly become a speed typer if you apply grammar to all of your posts.
8. When you want to quit, don't leave other hanging! Either have your character die or have your character leave the player. Add a note to that post saying you're quitting the RP.
9. Have fun!

Abreviations
By Gingerdog and Silavor
In your rp post, be sure to use these terms:

OoC: It means out of character, which is when you type something outside of the story.
IC: It means in character, which is when you type something in the story. If your post only consists of IC actions, you won't need these tags.
RP: This is the standard abbreviation for roleplay.
NPC: A non-player character, meaning it is not controlled by an RPer.

Dungeon Masters
By Haru
A dungeon master is the creator of the Roleplay. He/she controlls the storyline, and basically just keeps the roleplay together. As a player, you should NEVER controll the storyline! Only the Dungeon Master can. As a dungeon master, you should always have a clear objective for your players. Thats means, not to log off for the night, and leave your characters unable to continue through the storyline, just because you didn't give them an objective to do! As a dungeon master, you should always be fair to your players. That means even YOU cannot kill your own players without permission!

Sometimes, an RP will not use a dungeon master. It's good to state whether or not this system will work if you're the topic starter.

I Want To Start My Own Role Play!
By Co-Z
This is a great thing to do when all the role plays are either accepting no more characters or too in depth to join, because it gives other people a chance to play. Before you start your own, be active in other RP's. It's great to have experience before you start. After you become an active RPer, you're ready to start your own! It can be about anything, either based on real entertainment, or it can have a completely new plotline!

If you want to create your own story, make sure it's original, and not to cliche. Don't make an RP too similar to one that already exists either. If it's based on already existing entertainment, make sure there isn't another RP based on the same thing. However, if the two aredifferent, it's okay. An example of this is creating a Star Wars RP based on episodes 1-3, while the existing one is based on episodes 4-6.

In your first post, be sure to include:

• Background information about the plot
• Whether or not it follows the dungeon master rule
• Additional rules that aren't in the basic rule list.
• An application form

Get Playing!
Now that you've read the guide to RPing, you're ready to get playing! Be sure to remember basic rules, and make your posts the best that you can! Have fun role playing!

This post has been edited by Co-Z: Oct 9 2006, 06:54 PM