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Basics of Rping
Topic Started: Oct 15 2012, 10:46 PM (52 Views)
Richard
Administrator
Basics of RP'ing

Posted Image A guide by Evil Eye.

Being a text-based RP site, the Naruto Saigen RP will obviously require you to use text. I have been roleplaying for a few years, on many different boards, but one thing that I always notice about every board is that there are a few members who simply lack either common sense, or experience, or possibly a combination of both.

You, the person reading this guide, do not want to be that member. People will hate you, and you'll get owned whenever you get into a fight, mission or tea party. Fortunately, this guide will help you with avoiding that.

How to put your pants on.
Don't underestimate the importance of this section, please. Every board has rules regarding how you should express speech, thought and action in your RPs. So does this board, and not following them will get people angry with you.

Actions
Like most RP sites, it is expected that you write in the past tense, and the third person. This gives your RP a more descriptive nature, and makes it seem more like you're telling a story. For instance, compare the two examples below.
Quote:
 
I encounter a blockade in the road. I examine it, attempting to find a way around it. There is no way to do so. I blow it to pieces instead.

Richard encountered a blockade in the road. He examined it, attempting to find a way around it. There was no way to do so. He blew it to pieces instead.

As you might instinctively feel, the second example feels more like a story. The first example, on the other hand, seems more like poorly written poetry.

Speech
While most RP sites use nothing more than quotation marks to express speech, NSRP does it a bit differently. Personally, I support this decision, as the font makes it slightly difficult to see the quotation marks. That is why NSRP uses a bold font to express speech, along with quotations marks. "A bit like this," the writer exclaimed. You are allowed to use colour tags instead of bold tags, but it is not encouraged. Whatever you do, don't forget the quotation marks.

Thought
The rules on expressing thought are a lot less strict. Essentially, you're allowed to do it any way you wish, as long as you make it clear that your character is thinking. Suggested methods are brackets, slashes, parentheses, apostrophes, possibly in combination with italics. It's also possible to use only italics, which seems to be the preferred method. If you suspect that there may be any doubt about whether your character is thinking (as opposed to, for instance, you putting emphasis on certain words with italics or showing that the text is parenthetical, like I'm doing right now), use phrases like "Richard thought" in your writing, followed or preceded by the actual thoughts.

Out of character posting
Sometimes, you may want to speak directly to the other RP'er, rather than his character. After all, you are not your character, and you may have to inform your fellow RP'er of something that your character doesn't know, or doesn't want to share. If this situation arises (which it will), make sure that you clearly mark the out of character section. I tend to use double parentheses to achieve this, but you may prefer marking it with tags saying [OOC] and [/OOC], or similar methods. When marking out of character sections, try to use symbols that one wouldn't normally use when in-character. Double parentheses are an example, as are curly brackets {these things}. Whichever symbols you choose to use, you can make it even more obvious by including "OOC:" before the OOC text and include "IC:" when you go back to in-character posting. One final thing: try to keep OOC text to the top or bottom of your post.

There's no I in RP.
You RP with other people. You could go solo, but I'm afraid that that would be terribly boring. When you want to RP with somebody, go ahead and send them a PM. They'll appreciate it, usually. Then you have your character meet up, and do whatever it is that you wanted to do with them.

Be sure to leave room for them to react to what you do. Don't defeat an entire squad of enemy ninja in one post, because that makes it seem like all your companion did was sit around picking his nose. Keeping the example of an enemy squad, you may defeat one or two of them, while your companion targets the other two. Alternatively, you could both do short posts when you target the same enemy, or you find another method, like in the example below.

Quote:
 
((OK, so Combination Henge it is. I'll do it.))

Richard approached Dante, forming the necessary handseals. He could see that Dante was doing the same thing, and he got behind his companion. Simultaneously, they shouted "Konbi Henge no Jutsu!". A puff of smoke, and in their place stood a two-headed ten-foot colossus. It roared, and proceeded to charge the opponents.


In this example, it would be slightly useless for both people to state that they make the necessary handseals, as it is pretty much a given. Other such examples include walking in a certain direction and opening a door. More advanced controlling (like using supportive jutsu on your character or enemies) should only be done with explicit prior permission.

Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me.
Ah, god-modding. Out of all the stupid thing you can do, this is the most annoying. People will hate you for it, call you names and report you to the staff. There are many different forms of god-modding, but all of them can be avoided by using common sense. Let's examine some of the more common examples.

Controlling other characters
Quote:
 
Richard dashed at the opponent, with Dante following closely behind him. As Richard jumped, Dante ducked, and both launched a kunai at the enemy ninja. Richard formed a few handseals, and saw Dante doing the same thing. While Richard released a stream of water onto the enemy, Dante slammed his hand into the ground, creating a huge shockwave.

This kind of posts is only tolerated if (and only if) it is preceded by permission from Dante. Perhaps Dante wouldn't be able to post for a few days, and he gave Richard permission to control his character so that the rest of the group (Richard and Shikaru, for example) could move on. If permission hasn't been given, controlling characters extensively is not OK. Perhaps Dante wanted to cast a genjutsu onto the opponent, or support Richard in his offense by launching him higher into the air.

Forcing something onto other characters
This may feel like a step back from the previous example, but it's actually even worse, especially if you let your character kill the other. Let's say that Dante is fighting Shikaru. Dante has a sword. If Dante makes the sword go through Shikaru's heart in his own post, that would be considered god-modding. It is up to the opponent to decide whether or not your attacks connect. Perhaps he saw it coming, perhaps he managed to twist his body so that vital organs would be protected. Or perhaps he didn't see it coming, and he lets the sword pierce his heart as intended. Which brings me to my next point...

Continuous evasion
OK, so you will try to dodge your opponent's attacks, that makes sense. But you cannot dodge everything, especially when your opponent has used a really good strategy. If you two are in the smoke of a smoke bomb, you won't see his sword attacks coming until they get really close. If your speed stat is high enough, you might still dodge some blows, but you'd better have a really good explanation when dodging them all (a really good explanation would be the Great Swirl of Sand technique, for example, as it sinks your character into the ground). I've seen examples where people are under a genjutsu that makes them blind, and still dodge every stab with nothing but the sound of footsteps. That's simply not possible, and if you bring it to this site, chances are you'll lose the fight by default.

Its initials are M.S.
Your character. Even if you skipped over the entire guide, please read this, as it has some points I would very much like to get across. When creating your character, don't give him an immensely tragic backstory. You are not Sasuke-cunt, you are just a random villager who happens to be a ninja. Your parents dying would be a great example of this. I have seen very few characters whose parents are still alive in my years of RP'ing, and frankly, it gets old. If you want to be original, get a normal past. Other points you'll want to avoid are being a blacksmith, having a character who has girls/guys all over him when he flicks his wrist, having a character with stunningly good looks, and other such things. Such characters are called Mary Sue, and everybody hates them to death.

Now then, on to using your character. He or she will not suddenly develop new jutsu in the middle of a fight. Inventing new jutsu takes some time, and I doubt that you'll be able to think of something good in stressful situations (including, for example, fights). Not to mention that unless you have the Sharingan, you'll need to practice first. As stressed in the section above, you should not god-mode. Making your character invincible is included in god-modding. He or she will lose fights once in a while. Get over it and learn from it. There is no shame in retreating, or surrendering. Sometimes people go on and on in a fight, constantly pushing themselves to their limits. And once they reach those limits, they keep fighting anyway. Don't be like that. You have only a limited amount of chakra, and so does your opponent. Admins will cut your fight short if it goes on for too long anyway, so you might as well end it yourself when needed.

Love thy fellow man.
Or rather, don't fight with him. If you see somebody break these rules, kindly alert them to it and ask them to edit their posts, or at the very least not to do it again. If they refuse, feel free to report them to the staff, but don't fight over it. It'll just turn into an endless "yes - no - yes - no" session, with neither of you willing to admit that they made a mistake. Which is bad. Reporting the other will make the staff look at it, and decide who's right. Since what the staff says is binding, the opponent will have to edit his post or lose the fight by default.

Conversely, if you break one of these rules (perhaps by accident), and your opponent alerts you to it, don't get into a fight. Either edit your post, or explain why you feel that your move is legitimate (dodging continuously might be possible if your abilities consist mostly of defensive jutsu, rather than offensive techniques). Regardless of what you do, remain polite. Swearing will just enrage the other person, and nobody will be helped.

Tips and tricks.
These are just miscellaneous tips that don't really fit into the other categories.
  • You're part of a team, and a team where everybody attacks for themselves is not a good team. Don't underestimate defensive/supplementary jutsu, they're probably more vital to a team than offensive jutsu. Lots of characters have only Attack type techniques, which may fit their style, but that doesn't mean you should do it too. Defensive techniques are really, really useful, as are supplementary ones.
  • Be true to your stats. If you have a speed stat of only 2, you'll be fairly slow. Catching up to a retreating opponent would be nearly impossible. Having a strength stat of 4 is not bad, but if your opponent's strength is 6, your punches won't be as strong as his. Fight accordingly to your stats. In the strength example, you should probably find a way to turn your opponent's own strength against him by redirecting his attacks.
  • Escapes should be made with a reasonable explanation. If there's water nearby, you could dive into that and swim away. If your opponent has Suiton, however, that would be a bad idea. I still get the feeling that some people would still do it, and then claim that they have escaped the fight. I once saw an example where a person summoned a dragon one meter above the ground in a thick forest and flew away, while facing opponents with bows, one opponent being able to actually fly. He still claimed that he had escaped, despite your average trees being taller than one meter. Don't do stuff like that. Be reasonable about how you escape. Genjutsu, paralysis and smoke bombs are reasonable. Simply running away isn't.


Credits and disclaimers that nobody cares about.
Guide written by Evil Eye. This guide may not be published on any site other than Naruto Saigen RP without explicit permission from the writer.
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Richard
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This should be fine as it is.
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