General Roleplaying Rules

[Faith Webster]

General Roleplaying Rules

Roleplaying is exactly what it says it is: playing a role. It’s a bit more than dressing up as Snow White for Halloween, but just as fun...or humiliating, depending on who you are. *wink* You roleplay when you create a character that you can take on and think for, act for, and make decisions for. It is storytelling, particularly in the case of forum RPing, but you must remember that you are telling the story of a specific character that is yours.

In forum RPing, you are writing out your character’s story. Yes, sorry, you not only have to RP but you have to write. But that’s the whole fun of it, isn’t it? Yay, writing!

Right, so we need to set down some specific reminders when writing an RP post:

1. It is preferable if your posts are written in the past tense. It sounds better, avoiding a ‘play-by-play account’ kind of feel. Plus, your character has done the action. Why? Because you have posted that he/she has done so.

2. You’re roleplaying your character, not the environment. The environment is important around them, but describe it through their eyes.

3. Your character isn’t all action. They don’t always have to be doing something. Thinking is good. Dialogue is good. Description is good.

4. A two-sentence post is not acceptable. Sometimes a fairly short post is perfect, and helps keep the plot moving, but certainly not a one or two-liner.

5. A mix of both description and dialogue is good. Sometimes a post that is entirely description of your character’s thoughts, actions, experiences, etc, and/or describing the setting, is absolutely perfect for the occasion.

Roleplaying Etiquette

You can’t roleplay by yourself: that’s called daydreaming. You roleplay with other people, and that means (as scary as they seem) you have to get along with them. Here are some rules of Roleplaying Etiquette:

1. Never use someone’s character. If you are interacting with another person’s character, you should allow them to post their own character’s reactions.

2. Obviously, you don’t kill other people’s characters.

3. Participate in discussion concerning an RP you are a part of. Everyone should be active in discussion, or everything could easily fall into ‘randoming.’ Use PMs or designated OOC areas, or both.

4. Don’t jump into a thread already underway without making sure it is alright. First, make sure that they have not already stated that the thread is meant specifically for one or two characters (that are not yours...). Then PM the topic starter to make sure it’s alright to hop in.

5. If you are allowed to hop in to a thread, make sure your character has a good, realistic reason to. And if you plan to somehow interrupt the characters already present, you probably want to check with the topic-starter to make sure that is alright.

6. Always post as actively as you can on an RPG thread. Real life gets in the way, and people understand this, so don’t worry about it. Please try not to feel you need to post. Roleplaying should be fun, not a chore.

7. Try to let people know if you are going to be absent for any length of time if you are participating in a thread with them.

8. Always be kind and considerate to all players. You can always give someone constructive criticism on his/her posts, or inform them of an error, but do so nicely. Everyone makes mistakes...and quite often.

9. Be patient. Posting randomly just to keep the post count up on a thread, or in order to bump the thread to the top of the forum just should not happen.

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© Meikun ([e-mail]; Meikun's site
From RPG Directory