Post by Luna Dirosa on Oct 7, 2012 9:17:10 GMT -5
Introduction:
This guide is not mine. Over the years I've been on the internet I’ve gathered lots of guides about Roleplay. This is just a compilation post from all the guides I found useful when starting out with Roleplay. If it helped me, then I’m sure it will also help other people who want to start Roleplaying.
What Is Role Playing?
You are playing in the role of your character in the world that you’re playing in. Roleplaying means that you’re staying in character; responding and behaving the way your character would when interacting with other characters.
It’s up to your imagination to come up with the pre-story or background story of the person that you are about to control. Besides their appearance, you will also decide what their childhood was like, do they enjoy meat or are they vegetarian, do they have a favourite season?. You do not have to have a hugely in depth character background, but it is good to have some idea what your character is like and what they have been through when you begin play.
Once you are in the roleplay you can let events/people make your character ‘grow’ over time and build their story up.
3. How to start; Background stories and motives for your character
Creating a character's background, something that usually comes without any trouble at all to an experienced role-player is often an impossible obstacle for a beginner. ‘A life story for my character? Why is that? I have no idea what to do.’
You can get inspiration from so many things: Characters are, along with settings and plots, integral to fiction. The world of fiction is indebted to the champions of books, poems, films, and games who populate worlds and drive plots. They’re the agents of conflict, romance, drama and humour, and many have left great impressions on our minds.
Think about your favourite characters and ‘borrow’ some of their characteristics or background stories for your own character. Mixing is also a good idea.
When first creating a character for RP, I’d say this: try and imagine them being the main protagonist of a novel. And by that I don’t mean that they’ll take centre-stage with their world-saving actions and god-like portfolio of achievements (definitely not), but what I mean is try and give them the motives, behaviour, and inner dialogue of someone who can carry a book or plot along. Because they are the main character of their own personal story, and there shouldn’t be a stigma attached to that.
Above all, be sure to give your character a full pallet of opinions, emotions, and goals. Perhaps they have a central quirk that serves as the impetus, but they also need other traits orbiting around that.
4. How to hold a conversation with other players
When you meet someone new, never expect them to know who you are. Sometimes, you'll encounter someone who knows very little of everything; their character might be an illiterate, uneducated hobo living in a trash can, or the player might simply be new to the server. Introduce yourself or ask them to introduce themselves; just do it naturally as you would during any day in the real world.
There is one golden rule that is important to follow here: Always try to be polite, to a moderate extent (as much as your character lets you, that is; everyone's different). If you boast about your merits or act all superior on them, they will be largely discouraged to talk. And that's no way to make conversation at all!
Also don’t expect people to always talk to you. They don't always have to come to you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t roleplay. Go out there, take initiative and have fun!
When talking to someone, new acquaintance or an old friend, there will always be something that makes them different from the last person you met. Maybe their eyes are unnaturally contrasting to their skin color, or maybe they carry something that wouldn't normally be carried by them? Focus on the details! Express interest and tell them about similarities in your own character if there are any.
Additionally, perhaps there is something in the surrounding area that might catch your attention. Is it raining heavily? Thundering? What makes this person be outside in weather like this, or what makes this person stay inside when the weather is nice and sunny? What is a person doing in this pouring rain?
Some of these observations might come off as rude, of course. That's where common sense comes into the picture. If you think hard enough, it's easy to guess what's appropriate and what isn't.
Listening
Your character is not the main role or protagonist of your roleplay. It can never be that way, unless you have arranged with everyone involved that your character is the primary center of attention - but that will never happen. Each character is as important as the other. It doesn't matter if the difference between them is their rank in the group or fifty years of age - all characters involved in roleplay are of equal importance.
This is why listening is important. You won't get anywhere in a conversation if you don't listen - and listening isn't only looking attentive. Remember what the other character says, and make conversation based on that. That way, you might find very curious quirks in the other character that your character might feel startled, disturbed, encouraged or even excited by! There are lots of sides to a personality, and know that no matter how hard you try, it's nearly impossible to see them all.
Be an active listener. Make eye contact, voice your opinions and offer advice if advice is what's needed.
Depending on how your character reacts to what the other part of the conversation is saying, there is always a way to further enhance the chit-chat through responding; if someone tells a story, don't just sit there like a speechless cow and remain silent even after the story, and if someone says something that interests your character, react on it and you could potentially create an entirely new branch of talking on that sole piece of interest!
Questions
Questions are actually far more important than many people think. They're not too creepy, most of the time, unless they are very personal, and they will in fact often lead to the better path of the conversation. I have always played very inquisitive characters myself, but that's majorly because I'm a genuinely curious girl. Some people might not be of the same curiosity, but questions are of great importance and practicing interest is never a bad thing.
You can always find something to ask about. For introductions, we have:
What's your name?
What are you doing here?
Are you from around these parts?
What do you like to do?
What do you do?
They are simple, short, and often don't require a lot of effort to answer, but they can be magnificent icebreakers. There's not much more to this section; people who have already met once, twice or more often find it easy to keep talking and the questions come automatically.
Interests
This was mentioned above, but I will bring it up again here because of its importance. The very foundation of this section is the interests of your own character; things that you should never ever miss when creating a character. If he/she has no interests or hobbies, then people will quickly find him uninteresting and bland. This is what often creates silence; lack of interest.
Everyone has interests. I will make a little list of things to fill out here before creating your character - things that will help you loads in social role-play:
Your character...
Likes:
Dislikes:
Loves:
Hates:
It's very simple, takes next to no time to fill in if you know your character right, and will make things far more clear to you in the future. A unique character isn't unique through his/her unnaturally green eyes or heritage; characters are made unique through the art of individual interests and the way with which they wield them in a conversation - and practice, of course.
Other people
You, the reader of this guide, might be that other person across the room holding a conversation with a friend or a stranger. It's your responsibility as a role-player to include others, so why not invite the silent guy/girl to join the conversation? Ask him/her of his name, what he's/she's doing where you are and if he/she likes [something]. Again, these are just examples. As much as people are different from character to character, remember that role-play is all about giving and taking in equal amounts. You're there to entertain as much as others are there to entertain you.
If the person is one of those moody stereotypes who refuse to even say their name, it's not even worth the effort, in my personal opinion. These characters are usually the ones to start an argument where an argument isn't needed, and might break the mood rather than lightening it.
The bottom line is that if there is someone in the same room as you are who doesn't seem to do much, it might prove both entertaining and beneficial for you and others to invite them over to talk with you.
We, the role-players, are automatically a community just by playing with each other on the same shard. Everyone is in the same boat, so make them feel welcome. You don't help anyone or make anyone's roleplaying experience better by shutting people out just because you haven't seen them before. Welcoming and invitation. Those are two very important words.
Terminology
OOC/Out of Character: A way to describe what you're doing. Out of character means you're not playing a role currently.
example: OOC:I'm hyper today!
IC/In Character: The opposite of the above, being in character means you are currently playing your role.
example: IC: The werewolf bounded through the forest.
This guide is not mine. Over the years I've been on the internet I’ve gathered lots of guides about Roleplay. This is just a compilation post from all the guides I found useful when starting out with Roleplay. If it helped me, then I’m sure it will also help other people who want to start Roleplaying.
What Is Role Playing?
You are playing in the role of your character in the world that you’re playing in. Roleplaying means that you’re staying in character; responding and behaving the way your character would when interacting with other characters.
It’s up to your imagination to come up with the pre-story or background story of the person that you are about to control. Besides their appearance, you will also decide what their childhood was like, do they enjoy meat or are they vegetarian, do they have a favourite season?. You do not have to have a hugely in depth character background, but it is good to have some idea what your character is like and what they have been through when you begin play.
Once you are in the roleplay you can let events/people make your character ‘grow’ over time and build their story up.
3. How to start; Background stories and motives for your character
Creating a character's background, something that usually comes without any trouble at all to an experienced role-player is often an impossible obstacle for a beginner. ‘A life story for my character? Why is that? I have no idea what to do.’
You can get inspiration from so many things: Characters are, along with settings and plots, integral to fiction. The world of fiction is indebted to the champions of books, poems, films, and games who populate worlds and drive plots. They’re the agents of conflict, romance, drama and humour, and many have left great impressions on our minds.
Think about your favourite characters and ‘borrow’ some of their characteristics or background stories for your own character. Mixing is also a good idea.
When first creating a character for RP, I’d say this: try and imagine them being the main protagonist of a novel. And by that I don’t mean that they’ll take centre-stage with their world-saving actions and god-like portfolio of achievements (definitely not), but what I mean is try and give them the motives, behaviour, and inner dialogue of someone who can carry a book or plot along. Because they are the main character of their own personal story, and there shouldn’t be a stigma attached to that.
Above all, be sure to give your character a full pallet of opinions, emotions, and goals. Perhaps they have a central quirk that serves as the impetus, but they also need other traits orbiting around that.
4. How to hold a conversation with other players
When you meet someone new, never expect them to know who you are. Sometimes, you'll encounter someone who knows very little of everything; their character might be an illiterate, uneducated hobo living in a trash can, or the player might simply be new to the server. Introduce yourself or ask them to introduce themselves; just do it naturally as you would during any day in the real world.
There is one golden rule that is important to follow here: Always try to be polite, to a moderate extent (as much as your character lets you, that is; everyone's different). If you boast about your merits or act all superior on them, they will be largely discouraged to talk. And that's no way to make conversation at all!
Also don’t expect people to always talk to you. They don't always have to come to you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t roleplay. Go out there, take initiative and have fun!
When talking to someone, new acquaintance or an old friend, there will always be something that makes them different from the last person you met. Maybe their eyes are unnaturally contrasting to their skin color, or maybe they carry something that wouldn't normally be carried by them? Focus on the details! Express interest and tell them about similarities in your own character if there are any.
Additionally, perhaps there is something in the surrounding area that might catch your attention. Is it raining heavily? Thundering? What makes this person be outside in weather like this, or what makes this person stay inside when the weather is nice and sunny? What is a person doing in this pouring rain?
Some of these observations might come off as rude, of course. That's where common sense comes into the picture. If you think hard enough, it's easy to guess what's appropriate and what isn't.
Listening
Your character is not the main role or protagonist of your roleplay. It can never be that way, unless you have arranged with everyone involved that your character is the primary center of attention - but that will never happen. Each character is as important as the other. It doesn't matter if the difference between them is their rank in the group or fifty years of age - all characters involved in roleplay are of equal importance.
This is why listening is important. You won't get anywhere in a conversation if you don't listen - and listening isn't only looking attentive. Remember what the other character says, and make conversation based on that. That way, you might find very curious quirks in the other character that your character might feel startled, disturbed, encouraged or even excited by! There are lots of sides to a personality, and know that no matter how hard you try, it's nearly impossible to see them all.
Be an active listener. Make eye contact, voice your opinions and offer advice if advice is what's needed.
Depending on how your character reacts to what the other part of the conversation is saying, there is always a way to further enhance the chit-chat through responding; if someone tells a story, don't just sit there like a speechless cow and remain silent even after the story, and if someone says something that interests your character, react on it and you could potentially create an entirely new branch of talking on that sole piece of interest!
Questions
Questions are actually far more important than many people think. They're not too creepy, most of the time, unless they are very personal, and they will in fact often lead to the better path of the conversation. I have always played very inquisitive characters myself, but that's majorly because I'm a genuinely curious girl. Some people might not be of the same curiosity, but questions are of great importance and practicing interest is never a bad thing.
You can always find something to ask about. For introductions, we have:
What's your name?
What are you doing here?
Are you from around these parts?
What do you like to do?
What do you do?
They are simple, short, and often don't require a lot of effort to answer, but they can be magnificent icebreakers. There's not much more to this section; people who have already met once, twice or more often find it easy to keep talking and the questions come automatically.
Interests
This was mentioned above, but I will bring it up again here because of its importance. The very foundation of this section is the interests of your own character; things that you should never ever miss when creating a character. If he/she has no interests or hobbies, then people will quickly find him uninteresting and bland. This is what often creates silence; lack of interest.
Everyone has interests. I will make a little list of things to fill out here before creating your character - things that will help you loads in social role-play:
Your character...
Likes:
Dislikes:
Loves:
Hates:
It's very simple, takes next to no time to fill in if you know your character right, and will make things far more clear to you in the future. A unique character isn't unique through his/her unnaturally green eyes or heritage; characters are made unique through the art of individual interests and the way with which they wield them in a conversation - and practice, of course.
Other people
You, the reader of this guide, might be that other person across the room holding a conversation with a friend or a stranger. It's your responsibility as a role-player to include others, so why not invite the silent guy/girl to join the conversation? Ask him/her of his name, what he's/she's doing where you are and if he/she likes [something]. Again, these are just examples. As much as people are different from character to character, remember that role-play is all about giving and taking in equal amounts. You're there to entertain as much as others are there to entertain you.
If the person is one of those moody stereotypes who refuse to even say their name, it's not even worth the effort, in my personal opinion. These characters are usually the ones to start an argument where an argument isn't needed, and might break the mood rather than lightening it.
The bottom line is that if there is someone in the same room as you are who doesn't seem to do much, it might prove both entertaining and beneficial for you and others to invite them over to talk with you.
We, the role-players, are automatically a community just by playing with each other on the same shard. Everyone is in the same boat, so make them feel welcome. You don't help anyone or make anyone's roleplaying experience better by shutting people out just because you haven't seen them before. Welcoming and invitation. Those are two very important words.
Terminology
OOC/Out of Character: A way to describe what you're doing. Out of character means you're not playing a role currently.
example: OOC:I'm hyper today!
IC/In Character: The opposite of the above, being in character means you are currently playing your role.
example: IC: The werewolf bounded through the forest.