| Author | Thread: Advice for Newbies |
| Yamikuronue Posts: 1288
Location: Mottonsborough
Magus Age: 116 years old
| Message #33638 Posted: Jul 16, 2009, 11:57 pm |
What is Roleplay?
It's helpful not to think of RP as a "game", at first - there are no winners and no losers, and no one character is inherently "better" than another. A less-powerful character is often more fun to play than a more powerful one, for example.
So what is RP? RP is interactive storytelling, in which multiple players take the part of characters and dictate how they interact. The primary things to consider when RPing are:
1. Level of detail. Generally, for a forum RP, the more detail the better. Where is your character standing? What tone of voice are they using? What are they wearing? What are they thinking? The more detail, the more fun it is to read and the easier others can reply. This can be established in a few words, mind; a long post isn't required.
2. Consistency. Once you've established a personality for a character, it's highly unlikely that they'll suddenly change personalities to fit a new situation. Within the world of the RP, they are a person, like you or I; people don't tend to change overnight without something radical happening to them.
3. Realism. This is a fantasy RP, so we're not concerned with real-world realism; instead, what we're concerned with is more along the lines of, is a post realistic? Does it fit within the established setting?
Your First Character
Due to the particular setting of Muelsfell, your first character is relatively simple: your magus. Your magus may act differently than you, personally, would in a given situation; your magus may develop a personality that's different than yours. This is normal and expected. Your magus' name is either your displayed username or, if it's not a very name-like username, some permutation of it: example, ChaosRed becomes Raiden (similar to Red), the Chaos mage. This is so that others can easily identify your magus.
What does your magus look like? Does it match your avatar or not? How old is your magus? Where does he/she live? What does he/she like to do? What kind of person is he/she?
Joining in
Once you've figured out what your character is like, joining a thread is very simple. First of all, be sure to read the thread! Some threads are "locked" to certain characters, meaning it's not likely that others will be able to join in (for example, scenes taking place in someone's private bedroom - it's frowned upon for someone to break into another person's house for the sole purpose of joining a thread their character couldn't know was happening in the first place). Most threads, however, are open, allowing anyone to respond.
Where is the thread taking place? How did your character get there, and why is he or she there? What was your character doing before joining in?
Starting a thread
So you're comfortable joining in threads - now what? Maybe you'd like to start your own. It's simple - think of a title, write out a description of where your character is and what's going on, then post.
If you want a specific character to play with you, you can "tag" that character - in italics, at the bottom of your post, put "OOC:" (for out-of-character, meaning something your character's not actually saying) and then "tag" the character you want.
A warning:Godmoding
Remember that you only control your character (and his/her golems). You don't get to dictate what other characters do, how they react, if they're able to dodge attacks or get hit, and things like that. Generally, the person that opened the thread plays the scenery/setting, though that's more acceptable - if you hit a rock, you can have it break in your post, but if you're in a busy tavern, it's generally polite to let the person who started the thread dictate the crowd reaction.
Your next characters: NPCs and Secondaries
Maybe you're getting tired of playing the same character all the time; maybe you want some variety. NPCs are characters that are sort of attached to your character - friends and family members, for example - that you don't mind other people taking control of. For example, Kaelas created an NPC called Phedre to be his character's girlfriend; in threads that would only consist of Kaelas and Phedre, I often end up playing Phedre so that he's not playing with himself. Other NPCs include bartenders, shopkeepers, and the like.
A note about playing NPCs: NPCs require consistancy as well. If one thread has an NPC being particularly stoic, and you play them as giddy, that's going to be frowned upon. In general, if you want to pick up someone's NPC, ask them first and be sure to figure out how they've been played in the past.
Maybe you don't want an NPC; maybe you want a character all your own. A Secondary character is simply a character that's not your main magus; they might be connected to your main or might be entirely independent. It's entirely up to you!
Special note: Golems
In general, golems are machines; your magus is assumed to be able to control one easily, and often be accompanied by one. Each magus is expected to have a few golems they prefer to use, though some may have an ever-changing group. The general expectation is that golems do not talk, follow their owner's orders unquestioningly, and they do not think for themselves. A few clans, however, have hinted at developing more advanced golems - MAGIER, for example, regularly installs speech modules in their golems so that they can recite set phrases according to pre-programmed logic, and TOMU has been doing research into golem intelligence.
If anyone else has other notes and/or tips, please feel free to reply here. |
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