Roleplay training course (First time roleplayers must see!!)

[Lieutenant Shotgun]

Don't just jump in with a friendly "hello."

When you join a roleplay that has already started, read, or skim over, the last two pages so you have an idea what's going on.

In The Magic Within, a bunch of characters are staying in my character's house. Like, three people have tried to just jump in like they own the place. You can't do that. You have to get in the house--like a thief, knock on the door, get invited, whatever.

Same goes for conversations. You can't just jump in. Begin with "excuse me" and tap someone's shoulder, or something. You just can't randomly say something.  

[Matron Mord Sith]

Is it at all odd that I prefer to rp as a male character?  

[Lieutenant Shotgun]

Not at all! In fact, what with all the wimpy never-try-new-things roleplayers, that's quite helpful. o3o  

[Matron Mord Sith]

I rp a lot better as a male for some reason. I feel more comfortable with it and it just feels weird for me to rp as a female.  

[Lieutenant Shotgun]

Hmm. I wonder why. Though that is kind of cool. xD

I, on the other hand, am quite generic, and prefer to roleplay as girls. But I don't mind being a boy every now and then.  

[faretheewell]

It depends on the roleplay for me. I like to pick roles that will challenge me to do something different, and so I end up doing about 50/50 female/male. At the moment, I think I have type-cast myself a little too much. However, every time I try to break out of the gentle, sensitive, thoughtful role the role play dies on me!

Here's something to consider.

You are more than just a talking head.

When you roleplay, you have a whole body to work with. Consider the physical details of what your character is doing. Do they have any nervous ticks? Do they move their hands when they talk? Are their arms folded? Are they tapping their toes?

For example, whenever one of my characters gets nervous he runs his fingers through his hair. Another one pushes his glasses up his nose. A couple of my characters pace when they think. Some of my characters get very, very still.

As well as having an entire body, you have your character's entire emotional and mental landscape. This is a great place to expand on your character's history, personality, and motivations. Why has she decided to do this? What is he thinking? What does she feel right now?

Thirdly, your character's body and mind are occupying a space. What does the space look like? What objects are in the space? How does your character interact with these objects? What does your character think and feel about their surroundings?

Consider the following. I start with a basic one-line dialogue. Without changing the characters or the setting, I then create three completely different tones by adding physical, emotional and scenic details.

a) "Yes, I see what you mean," Jane said.

b) Jane furrowed her brow and quickly flipped a couple of pages. She stopped and read the passage he had pointed out. "Yes, I see what you mean," she said.

Sitting back in her chair and folding her arms, she raised her eyes to the low ceiling. She would have to re-think this whole thing.

c) Jane's eyes skipped over the page and read the passage he was pointing at twice. She leaned much closer to him than would really have been necessary. The heat coming off his arm was making her giddy and her breath was coming in short gasps.

"Yes, I see what you mean," she said. She would have agreed to anything he said at this point.

d) "Yes," Jane said. "I see what you mean." Her voice was tight and she had the sudden urge to throw the book at his head. She hated it when he was right!

Why was she here, anyway? There was no reason for it. She turned and eyed the door. It was only, what, five steps away? The room with it's low ceiling was getting very claustrophobic with only the two of them, and yet the door was too far away.  

[broken_bleeding_angel]

Not everyone can be the hero! Playing the bad guys can be just as fun.  

[Hester Peche]

I have something...

Not everyone will love your character, despite what you say on their profile. Sometimes personalities clash, just like in real life. So if you have the super sweet, out-going type and someone else has the bitter, withdrawn type...chances are they won't get along.

But, a little conflict is always fun. It adds dimension to the RP.  

[Lieutenant Shotgun]

@Broken, and vice versa.  

[SorceressJacklyn]

You want good conflict, visit the first 20 or so pages of Chess Pieces between my character Daisuke and Hester Peche's character Olivia. There's conflict!  

[Hester Peche]

SorceressJacklyn

You want good conflict, visit the first 20 or so pages of Chess Pieces between my character Daisuke and Hester Peche's character Olivia. There's conflict!

That's a vast understatement...

Then if you want to see how quickly a relationship can change read the las 10 pages or so of Chess Pieces.  

[SorceressJacklyn]

Hester Peche

SorceressJacklyn

You want good conflict, visit the first 20 or so pages of Chess Pieces between my character Daisuke and Hester Peche's character Olivia. There's conflict!

That's a vast understatement...

Then if you want to see how quickly a relationship can change read the las 10 pages or so of Chess Pieces.

very true too... But that comes from talking to the other player your character is working with.  

[Hester Peche]

SorceressJacklyn

Hester Peche

SorceressJacklyn

You want good conflict, visit the first 20 or so pages of Chess Pieces between my character Daisuke and Hester Peche's character Olivia. There's conflict!

That's a vast understatement...

Then if you want to see how quickly a relationship can change read the las 10 pages or so of Chess Pieces.

very true too... But that comes from talking to the other player your character is working with.

Very true, but communication between players is very important.  

[SorceressJacklyn]

Hester Peche

SorceressJacklyn

Hester Peche

SorceressJacklyn

You want good conflict, visit the first 20 or so pages of Chess Pieces between my character Daisuke and Hester Peche's character Olivia. There's conflict!

That's a vast understatement...

Then if you want to see how quickly a relationship can change read the las 10 pages or so of Chess Pieces.

very true too... But that comes from talking to the other player your character is working with.

Very true, so communication between players is very important.

Dire Events

If it's possible in your creator's world, there can be events that threaten everyone at once. These "Dire Events" can be from the bad action of a PC (player character) or through the moving on the story with an NPC (non-player character). Either way, you need to discuss with everyone as you can about what the outcome should be. But bare in mind that the creator will have final say as to what does happen.

Smaller Dire Events can be when your character is directly connected to the possible death of one or more characters. Currently in Chess Pieces, a character has been severely injured and all the activity that s/he is putting on the body can possible kill them. There is only one other character in contact with the dying one. So to the other character, this can be a Dire Event depending on the relationship between the two.  

[faretheewell]

Lieutenant Shotgun

Don't just jump in with a friendly "hello."

When you join a roleplay that has already started, read, or skim over, the last two pages so you have an idea what's going on.

In The Magic Within, a bunch of characters are staying in my character's house. Like, three people have tried to just jump in like they own the place. You can't do that. You have to get in the house--like a thief, knock on the door, get invited, whatever.

Same goes for conversations. You can't just jump in. Begin with "excuse me" and tap someone's shoulder, or something. You just can't randomly say something.

In addition to this, keep track of who your character should already know. If in the "plot" of the story your character has been traveling in a group for weeks already, you don't need to start by introducing yourself to those same people.