Role Play Guide! <3

[Princess Angelishia]

Hey there!
During the last meeting someone requested a role play tutorial.
So I am going to do my best to help out our beginning rpers,
And those who would like a little refresher.
Knowing at least a little about role playing is a very good idea in this guild,
Since roleplaying is part of some of our events,
And a major part of our finished ball.
So please enjoy!
And I hope this helps!
After you have read over this topic, feel free to head over to This Practice Role Play

[Table of Contents]
[Post One] - Introduction
[Post Two] - Basic Terms
[Post Three] - Storybook Format
[Post Four] - What Not to Do
[Post Five] - Character Creation
[Post Six] - Pretty Posts

 

[Princess Angelishia]

[Open / Accepting] - You can join that roleplay. They are still accepting people.
[Closed] - You can not join that roleplay, unless invited.
[Semi-Literate] - They want you to use storybook format which is explained in the next post, and give usually between 1-3 paragraphs. You should try your best to use good grammar.
[Literate] - One step up from Semi-Literate. Still storybook format, still good grammar, but usually more length. 3 paragraphs tends to be a minimum.
[Advanced Literate] - One step up from Literate. Still storybook format, your grammar needs to be excellent, and usually a large number of paragraphs is desirable.
[OOC] - Out of Character
[Charrie] - Abbreviation for Character
[Godmoding] - Over-controlling situations, making your character unbeatable, or controlling another person in the role play's character without their permission.

 

[Princess Angelishia]

Roleplaying is generally done in a storybook format. Meaning in the third person, but focusing on one main character, the one you’re playing. Think of how most novels are written. Usually they focus around the main character and describe their actions and personality. Most rp's like fair grammar at least. Some require almost flawlessness, however the majority don’t care if you mess up your spelling and sentences a bit, as long as there are no major errors. We need to know what you're saying, or we can't respond to it!

Here are some examples:

How NOT to do storybook format.

*walks through the house* this is kind of scary i don't know if we should stay here *opens a loud creaky door*

See? Gross. It's not storybook format, and it's not proper grammar.

Even though some novels are written in the first person, rp's are traditionally written in the 3rd. So this would also be an INCORRECT way to portray the walking through the house scene:

I walked slowly through the haunted house. "Guys... this is kind of scary." I shivered. "I don't know if we should stay here!" I pushed open a door.

Here would be a better way to do it:

The girl walked slowly through the haunted house. "Guys... this is kind of scary." She gave a small shiver. "I don't know if we should stay here!" As she spoke she pushed open a door- which gave a loud creak.

Now that was just a short example. But see how we don't use *'s in storybook format? Also notice that I did use the word 'I' but ONLY when the character is talking.

 

[Princess Angelishia]

I think a good way to teach what TO do in role-playing is by outlining some of the classic things NOT to do. This will help you avoid some of the most common mistakes you can make in rp's.

[Godmoding] - Godmoding includes the following things: taking over another person's character, killing someone else's character without permission, making your character unbeatable. It's basically giving yourself more power in the roleplay than you should have. Please don't do this as it makes the rp less fun for those playing with you!

[Knowing Too Much] - If you don’t know a character, don’t pretend you do. Don’t say you’re so-and-so’s brother, or cousin, or best friend. If you don’t know the character, and don’t have permission to pretend that you do, don’t do it. Also, if the role play's maker says in the first part of the rp that some villain is working on their evil plot in secret on the other side of a country, don't pretend to know about it right away! Wait for clues to show up! They usually will! But unless your character is psychic, they would have no way of knowing what goes on in different locations within the roleplay.

[Entering Closed Topics] - If a topic is closed, don’t enter it. It’s not for you. Unless you’re invited.

[Not Separating In Character-ness from OOC-ness] - Make sure it's clear when you're in character and when you're out of character! A good way to signify that you are OOC is by putting something around your OOC words to make them stand apart from the rest. I use ||OOC Words||, but you could also use ((OOC Words)) or something similar.

 

[Princess Angelishia]

Your character is one of the most important parts of rp! You need to create a person to role play as! ^^ Most role plays will have a form for you to fill out so that everyone can get to know your character. They can ask for things anywhere from a physical description of your character to their history, to their age! It is also a good idea to have a reference picture of your character. On Gaia, having a reference picture in the anime/manga style is very popular.

You know that role play I linked to in the first post?
Well let's use that rp's character sheet as an example:
Here it is!

 

[Princess Angelishia]

Sometimes it's nice to pretty up your posts. This isn't a necessary part of role playing... but it just makes the whole thread look a little nicer. Some things you can do to your post is add pretty colors, make the font a little smaller, usually between a size 9 and a size 11. You can also add a picture of your character to your post, a quote, a song lyric, your character's name... be creative! Here is an example of my posting style.

---

"♥♡♥You look like you could use a strawberry piece of candy.♥♡♥"

My character's actions go in this color! "And my character's words go in this color!"

"♥♡♥ Well here! It's okay, I'm not a stranger, I'm a vampire! ♥♡♥"

The image of me you see above was commissioned from Nyappylicious!
Look At The Whole Pretty Picture!

 

[Queenie Cee]

WAHH! First post! Good jobs Angie! > 3<  

[Kaylin_5171]

nice guide biggrin . 2nd post  

[Jinarrow]

Actually, how DO you make your threads look so colorful and beautiful? sweatdrop  

[TrinityXRevolver]

couldnt had put it better myself  

[Lady Elmira]

Nice job Angel!  

[Colorful_Smile]

Thank you, this was very helpful. heart  

[Slytherin Lord]

Guys also when role-playing pay attention to the rules, some RP's require your charecters picture to be in every posts but nothing else beside the text, some require a pretty text. Some role-plays say, No post formats allowed. Be careful you follow the rules or the main operator can kill your charecter. Thread operators act like god in their RP's, upset them and you may face the consequences.