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| + Balinor | Jun 5 2005, 01:54 PM |
I am your obsidian reverie...
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NOTE! This guide was created by a friend on another forum. Everything from here on out is a quote by him... Chapter 1: "Yes! Let's RP!!" Creating Characters So... perhaps I've attracted new RPers on this thread? That's great. Now. First, and probably most importantly...you want to know where you're posting. Why? Well...depending on what situation you're going to be in...you should have a character that's suited. Now, this doesn't mean having a character that's good in that situation. Just... put it this way. You don't want to be in the year 8952, and have a person from 2000 without having some sort of time travel machine, or something of the sort. Pretty self explanatory, I'd say. Now. We've got a sense of the kind of character we could potentially have. Next up--laying down the character's physical. (Note: I like the physical-mental-historical order... sorry if it goes against anyone's personal preference.) The basics, for now. Come up with the general build of the character. In my terms, that comprises of height and weight. Then, I move on to muscle. Develop a more detailed figure, showing the muscles of that person. Then, I personally move on to the hair, then facial features. Finally is the costume, which can take either the smallest amount of time, or the longest amount of time. Again, keep in mind that you want the costume to fit the role. You don't want blue jeans in the 1200's. Also, if you wish...race/subrace/class/and other features can be helpful, though they're not necessary. Next, the mental aspect of your character. Go right ahead and put as much as yourself, or your friends, or your idols into your character. No one's really ever going to care. If you want your character to be totally evil, go right ahead. There are NO limits to roleplaying. Bear in mind, though, that you're going to have to RP as this character for the next who knows how long. So, basically, make it a character you're going to be okay with. Come up with the personality of this character, and his/her opinions on general ideas. The more particular topics can be thought of later on, when they're more required. Finally -my personal favorite- the history of the character. Really, this is what I consider to be the most important part. The character's past is what shapes that character. If you make a character without one, the RPer could have a tendency to break away from the character originally given. For this, I suggest making a history that you're comfortable with. I always make page-long histories for my own reference... but if anyone wants it, I shrink it down to about half a page. Really, as long as you know your character's background, it should be alright. All three of these will be returned to later. This was just a quick guide for those who don't have the time to read the full thing. So...if you're one of those people who wishes to leave now and start RPing...then Zeroi-kun wishes you the best of luck! >3 Though...I highly suggest you read chapter 3. It's fairly important as well. *nods* Chapter 2: "So, I've got a general idea...but it's just a shell. What else..." Weaving Tales Well. Characters are awesome, but seriously... they can only do so much without a strong story. Imagine, the best characters ever. Or... kind of weak characters for this one example. xD
Oh boy. xD You can tell that Bob and Joe could possibly have had quite the stories written about them, and yet, what're they doing? They're standing. Somewhere. Joe thrusted his sword into the air. HUGE action there!! You can have awesome characters, and yet if they're placed in horrible situations, there's nothing to take from the story. So, writing stories. A big fear of many RPers out there. Who knows if the story will be a good one? What if someone takes over and destroys your work? Oi myuu I say to those who think that way. Stories can be shared by all. If you're the author of an RP... come up with some points that have to be hit. That's only natural. You'll need to compromise with the other RPers, though. If they want a small fight here or there, or a quick twist in the plot that won't change everything drastically... go for it. Why not? What makes roleplaying so awesome is that you can get the ideas of so many people. If one just takes it and makes it their own 24/7... then RPing becomes boring for some people, and you could possibly lose what great RPs are all about. Go for it. Now... all I've talked about is why to make stories. Never how. Well... this is why I brought up the whole history thing. One of my favorite characters, Zeroi, -I even used his name as my username I'm so obsessed- was born and raised into a family of richer mages. They were cursed though, and they could never get rid of the object that cursed them. A staff passed down through the family. Some events occurred, and Zero was left alone for 30 years, only to continue his mage training. He became powerful, until something happened. The events that occurred happened again, and now that Zeroi had good solo training, he left the house to end the curse. This story does have A LOT more to it, but for our purposes, this will do. Now, what I add to my character, is the sense of searching. Even if he's in another story altogether, he still contributes to those stories. Zeroi always joins a group to try and help them achieve their goals--not coerce that group into helping him achieve his goals. This allows me to take in many stories at once with one character whose story is constantly being worked on in a single RP that can end before Zero's story truly ends. That way, the character can continue infinitely... or for however long you want him/her to continue. For all of you, even if you're new to this, don't worry about writing stories. Seriously, it just takes a bit of thinking. Sit down for a while. Listen to music. Watch TV. Whatever helps you get ideas. When you come up with ideas, take them in and filter them. Remove those ideas that aren't so great, and cement those that are awesome. Then, when that's over, stick them all together, add a few transitions, and voila. You've got a story. It's hard for anyone to say how to make a story. Each person has their own kind of writing style, and as such, I don't want to push my style on anyone. Take what I just said into consideration, though. Don't change your style, but add this to it. Chapter 3: "Ack! Someone hit me! ...and they're invincible!!!" Fighting within RPs Hm... well now. This is important. Fighting. Godmodding, especially. It's a topic that I'm particularly partial towards. But...where to start... For those coming from chatper 1, this is why I wanted to bring this up. You should probably have a battle style to your character as well. You can't have a character enter a battle without any idea how to fight as him/her. I suggest starting out with basic weaponry. Mage:staff | rogue:bow | fighter:sword etcetera. It's pretty self-explanatory if you play RPGs. Get some quirks for that weapon/those weapons. Don't just have some random weapon out there. Give it a serious description. It'll make it easier for everyone to relate to it. Next, special abilities. Special abilities to other characters are the equivalent of spells to mages. (Note :Or at least in my book) You want a good, stable list for this. I suggest having at least 1, based off of the weapon of choice. Be careful not to have an almighty skill, though. I'll talk about godmodding in a moment. Armor. You thought up clothing, right? Come up with how strong the clothing is against other attacks. Your clothing could have been armor nonetheless, but if not, then make it so it doesn't protect you as well. Go with what you first came up with. This is all pretty self explanatory again. Godmodding. The scourge of so many RPers. Argh, I say to you who godmod. This'll be a longer section, so just hold off, alright? Godmodding is basically "When somebody manipulates the situation his or her character is in at the time so that said character comes out without a smurfe. For example, a Death Knight attacks your character and you say that you killed him with one arrow and have not even broken a sweat, this would be godmodding. Generally, the person that starts the storyline will continue it by giving you an out come to the actions you take. And yes, sometimes you will have to wait for them to continue the story, as most players are not online all day. Should be self explanatory. Simply, it's having a character who's invincible. That's simply not good in RPs. Godmodding is hated by all. Stay away from it. Now, where the line between battling and godmodding is, that's one of the biggest things in the Zeroish style of writing. As you can probably already tell from the second chapter, my character, Zeroi, is extremely powerful. He can manipulate anything around him in an instant, with minimal energy. Sounds like godmodding, huh? Actually, it really is godmodding. No matter how much I wish to say it, I can't deny the facts. Or, perhaps, it kind of isn't. You see even if Zeroi is powerful beyond belief he refuses to use that power to fight. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, as his family has already hurt so many other people in the past. When he does fight, as well, he holds back exponentially. Also, his blood kills everything on contact, except himself. That's also another MAJOR disadvantage to Zero. So, as you can see, even if the character alone is powerful he really does have major flaws that keep the character from being a "godmod character?" I dunno how to put it but I think you guys get it. Continuing to use my character as an example (this all comes from Zeroi's history) The curse from his family was the cause of his fleeing battle, his holding back, his blood, and all the other hindrances that keep him from being invincible. This is another important reason to come up with a good history. It helps stop you from going overboard with that character. Usually. When I first came up with Zeroi, I immediately thought, "godmod. Shoot." A lot of other RPers would think that too, I suppose. It's really easy to get out of that style, though. Add a detriment here or there and really, as long as you stay true to that detriment, then it shouldn't be godmodding. Such as Zeroi again, he doesn't show full power. He can lose because of that. He can get badly damaged because of that. That's not godmodding, then. I'll cut off for now. I may get back to this another day...but again, this should be fairly clear. The rest of the guide will be, really, more technical stuff so most new RPers can cut off here. Thanks for reading, and do enjoy! Best of luck. Chatper 4: "Mom, how do you spell...pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?!" Technical Issues BASCIALLY. Each forum has its own RP "house rules" as I like to call them. Follow them and their quirks, and you should be alright. Chapter 5: "Blah blah, blah blah blah!" Conversational Matters Yes, indeed, conversation is very important in RPs. You know, it's fairly easy. My favorite way to 'talk' in RPs is by running over the lines in my head. For example if I want my character to say some curse to the heavens for abandoning him, like after losing a fight which cost him his friend's life or something, but I'm not sure what to say, I'd normally come up with a few lines to say.
Okay. Usually, I have much more than that, but for now this works. Bear in mind accents. Accents in sentence. For example you put stress on certain words in sentences. Taking the first one for example.
I'd imagine most stress done. Whenever you run lines through your head bear this in mind. You don't want to have off-stressed lines. It can make you think a line is more suitable when it really isn't. So now let's look at the lines above. "Why have you done this to me, oh heavens?!" seems a bit long, though, don't you think? The character is angry. Enraged, really. He doesn't want to stay talking, he wants something around the lines of shorter, but packed with emotion. "What have I done to deserve this?!" Shorter, yes, but it doesn't address the heavens. He's yelling at the sky, but what was intended was anger towards the gods. You don't want to break apart from the original topic for a good saying. "Tell me...why?!" A bit short, and the pause in the middle DOES break it. It conveys the emotions, though, and it is addressed towards the sky. Personally, this would be my choice. Then, you follow it with an arbitrary action, such as slamming a hand on a table in rage. Something of that sort. Communication is done through multiple means. I highly suggest that you, as an RPer, find your own style of speech and use that to its fullest. Endgame: "Alright! We're ready!!" Final Words Well. I suppose that that should be good enough for most people. Expect changes, additions, revisions, and whatnots to this guide. EXTRAS Chapter 6: "I can't...do anything. Wark." NPCs And how could I have forgotten this?cThe NPCs of RPs. Really, go ahead and do whatever you want, as long as they don't play a large role. Otherwise, they'd be a side character. If you need something small, even if it was basically insignificant, if the story calls for it, then go ahead. Otherwise, don't. Use NPCs as transitions, but nothing more. And that's it. Short chapter, yes, but indeed, it needed to be touched. I've seen people use NPCs as side characters, and really, the character should have been nothing more than a transitional being. Chapter 7: "Bleh." Other things to bear in mind First make an OOC. I'm quite particular when it comes to this because really the OOC is where any questions can be taken care of without disrupting the storyline. Remember to set a place for everything to end in. This is a story, afterall, and all stories-unfortunately-have to end somewhere. I suggest asking the 5 w's. Who, what, where, why, and when. Or is it how? Whatever it is, you guys get it. Just keep asking yourself questions. It'll make the posts better, and hopefully the story itself. |
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| What Is Rping? · Role Playing Games | |
7:39 AM Nov 25
