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Roleplaying Help; If you struggle with RPing lots
Topic Started: Apr 28 2006, 08:06 PM (151 Views)
Yuliya Mikilovich
Member Avatar
Hunter/Law-Female-34
[ *  *  * ]
Now I have been told many times that I am very bossy and expect too much from the people on my site. I admit I probably do, but I also believe there is no better incentive to better writing than being threatened with expulsion. Without that people tend to slack, not bothering to write to their best ability.

I do not think that people require lessons on grammar and spelling but if I am proven wrong I'll put one up. Until then, I teach you how to write in a way that others will want to read it.




I shall start at the beginning for those who have never done this before.

Roleplaying?
Roleplay is all about writing a story. You control the characters, what they do, where they are, how they think and what they say. The catch is that you don't control all of them. It is a joing story. You control one person, another controls a different one.

It is also like a play or movie. You each have a script which your characters must stick to. The difference is that you get to write your half of the script. You cannot write the other half. If someone in a play started speaking other peoples' lines and doing their actions, it would ruin the whole thing. The same applies to roleplaying. You must take turns in writing your story.

Well, how do I start?
You can either make your own thread (topic) or reply to another person's. Here are examples of the two:

Quote:
 
Jane sat down and sighed, looking at her book. How she hated homework. Still, she had to do it. Opening the book, she began to read, most of the complicated words going straight over her head. Suddenly she heard footsteps. Oh goodie, she thought guiltily. Now she wouldn't have to read. She closed the book and eagerly awaited the person's arrival.


Quote:
 
Merv flicked the cover of a book as he passed. Libraries were so boring. The atmosphere was so boring. The librarian was so boring. At least the girls weren't boring. Merv had found that library girls could be very extreme but they had to introduced to the lifestyle first.

A sigh interrupted him and he looked up. A girl was sitting with a book on her lap but was not reading it. She was very pretty, her blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail, revealing drop earrings in her ears. Well, what'dya know? He thought delightedly as he approached the girl.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asked in a charming voice as he pulled a chair up close to her. She wouldn't say no. They never did. The girls couldn't resist him.


What then?
Then you attempt to have some semblance to a conversation, as though you were having one in real life. Try to keep on topic, saying things that relate to the characters or the surroundings, unless your character is like that of course. Keep things going. Have fun, that's what you're here for isn't it?

Ok, in what form do I post?
1. Past tense. This is an essential. The only time you are allowed present or future tense is when they are speaking or thinking.

GOOD: She jumped on the spider and screamed.
BAD: She runs away from the monster.

2. Third person please! Again, only time allowed for this is speaking or thinking.

GOOD: Vallery laughed and poked the fat boy.
BAD: I scowled and hit him.

3. Do not use asterisks to show actions. All actions must be described in detail. This also means that all speech must be between quotation marks ( " " ).

GOOD: Jim snorted and milk flew out of his nose, spraying the ground in front of him.
BAD: *Shelley grabbed the bag and ran*
GOOD: "Good on ya," he yelled excitedly.
BAD: *Jack grinned* Nah don't think so
BAD: Help, Kelly whispered anxiously.
Posted Image
approach with care
fragile
-------------~_^-------------
i wont hold you back
let your anger rise
we'll fly we'll fall we'll burn
no one will recall

Emma's mood:-_-
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Yuliya Mikilovich
Member Avatar
Hunter/Law-Female-34
[ *  *  * ]
Now that you have that off, I see you wailing; "How on earth am I supposed to get three paragraphs?!"

Never fear. I shall now give you some tips (very widely known in the roleplaying world) on how to add length and interest.

1. You have the basic, boring post.

Quote:
 
Jill walked into the room and went to introduce herself. "Hi," she said.


2. Add some detail to either Jill or the surroundings. Better still, both!

Quote:
 
Jill walked into the room, noting the thick red carpet and gold furnishings and went to introduce herself to a group of girls standing by the window. "Hi," the tall brunette said.


3. Now add feelings and emotions.

Quote:
 
Jill walked into the room feeling apprehensive. She noted the thick red carpet and gold furnishings and went to introduce herself to the group of girl standing by the window. "Hi," the tall brunette said. She really wanted to make friends as fast as possible and fit in.


4. Actions speak louder than words. So do thoughts actually. Add random actions inot your post and she instantly becomes more human. Do you have a nervous habit? Does she? If she is nervous, now is a perfect time to show that habit. Wear glasses? Push them up as they walk.

Quote:
 
Jill walked into the room feeling apprehensive. She noted the thick red carpet and gold furnishings and whistled to herself, impressed. She looked around and went to introduce herself to a group of girls standing by the window, twirling her hair as she went. "Hi," she said, forcing her hands down. She really wanted to make friends as fast as possible and fit in and she didn't think acting nervous would help that.


There, in four simple steps you have transformed a boring little sentence into a decent paragraph. All about two small actions. When I get stuck with not enough postage I think to myself 'what would I do?' because then I can think of things which humans would do and they help explain your character.
Posted Image
approach with care
fragile
-------------~_^-------------
i wont hold you back
let your anger rise
we'll fly we'll fall we'll burn
no one will recall

Emma's mood:-_-
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Yuliya Mikilovich
Member Avatar
Hunter/Law-Female-34
[ *  *  * ]
One more thing to inflict on you. Perhaps the most important. No, definitely the most important.

Godmoding
What is it? Godmoding is when you control what another character does. Say if you character decides to throw a hammer at their teacher's head. Great fun of course, but you only have so much freedom before the whole 'partner writing' thing comes in.

Quote:
 
Okay, so you decide little Timmy hates his teacher.

Bad: Timmy felt something snap and he stood up, taking the hammer from his woodwork bench with him. Walking up to the front of the room he threw it with all his might. It hit the teacher with a fleshy thud and he dropped immediately.

Good: Timmy felt like screaming. It had gone too far. He got up, grasping the hammer off his woodwork bench. Gripping it in his sweaty hands he crept to the front of the room and threw with all his might. The hammer flew towards the teacher with a deadly whistle (unusual for a hammer).


See the difference? The first one gives the teacher's player no chance to react to the throw, meaning that he is effectively not controlling his character anymore. The second does not actually hit the teacher so it is the player's choice of whether the hammer hits or not and how he can respond to that.

Metagaming
'I read that Dumbledore and Voldemort are actually best friends so obviously, although she was no where near at the time, my little Mallory has to know as well.' (Yes I am a Harry Potter RPer.) No no no! Bad! You cannot give your character information that she/he will not have In Character. Unless that person was roleplayed actually being there or was told by one who was while something happens, they will not know.

The rule for this is pretty easy to remember. If your character wasn't there or doesn't know anyone who was, they don't know. Fullstop.

Mary-Sue
Oh, where do I start? Mary-Sue is perfect (don't you envy her?). She always says the right thing to a sad person, she's beautiful, gets the most amazing grades, is good at sport, happens to know everything about this world they're in, doesn't ever get flustered and talks her way out of everything. Oh and we all hate her.

She also is weird but still nice-looking and has flashing eyes or skin that changes colour (now that would be awesome). She always causes a stir and people love to be around her. Her parents are dead because King Kong ate them but he took a shine to her but she had to leave him to go and watch all her friends die from a tragic shark attack while she does her makeup. Unfortunately she has a brother, Gary-Stu.

Gary is the one that everyone hates but somehow can't keep away from. He is grumpy, angry, goth, hates life, got put through a dishwasher and two dryers when he was little, both his parents are dead and he's been sent to jail twelve times yet broken out every time and no one bothers to look for him. He hates everyone and spends all of his posted life complaining about how crap it is. All the players also hate him.

They are the two extremes. No flaws and all flaws, except that Gary is still really hot and all the girls (and guys) love it when he sulks because he is so sexy. If you do either of these I will vut your head off with a rusty towel. Seriously. Where is the fun in playing a person who has no problems? Where is the fun in playing a person who hates everyone else? How can you make them talk?

C'mon, everyone has flaws. I am bossy, impatient and a real attention-seeker. I also do not care what strangers think and will kiss someone I have never met before just because I feel like it. Those are flaws and good points. I am brimming with confidence and sometimes I act like a complete ass. I'm balanced, so should your charries.

Maybe Mary is actually really beautiful but her attitude sucks and so she has no friends and everyone runs away when she comes near. Maybe she's also really bad at Charms because she is too lazy to try very hard. Maybe she's also the best Seer the world has ever seen and no one will ever know.

Maybe Gary is actually a real grump but atually has a crush on a not-very-pretty-girl and actually acts nice to her, even if other people don't. Maybe although he says his life is crap it's because he's never had anything worse than a bad haircut happen to him.

Whatever the flaw is, make it bad. You can't say having dirty fingernails is a flaw unless they are a hand model. The quirkier the better, as long as it doesn't turn into 'Joseph is actually 3000000 years old but he was cursed and will remain a young man forever' or 'she's actually half-cat with a cow for a mother'. I mean, eww!
Posted Image
approach with care
fragile
-------------~_^-------------
i wont hold you back
let your anger rise
we'll fly we'll fall we'll burn
no one will recall

Emma's mood:-_-
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
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