Kensuke’s guide to Role-playing.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction
Congratulations, you have opened the role-playing guide, written by a moron, for you ___________ (Insert name here). Role-playing is a way of slipping into another beings conscious and living in it for a while. This character is usually of your creation. This character can range in anything, to anyone. It can be based off someone you know, or your dream person. That’s the main focus of role-playing.
The over-all focus of role-playing is definitely to have fun. You won’t be having any fun, if you’re being insulted constantly and can’t keep up to the level of the other role-players.
“How can I find friends in the role-playing community, Mr. Kensuke?” You may be asking yourself, or not, but either way, I’m going to tell you. First, try and find out how good or advanced you are at role-playing.
A good way to do this, is compare something you wrote, to something that an older role player has written. These older posts can also be used as templates, for different patterns you may use to begin with. For instance, you may like to start by describing your character’s eyes, then their hair, followed their attire.
This may work for you, or it may not. To fully find your way in role-playing, you need to find your own style. This style may include the most cliched and boring styles, but if they work for you, then they work.
As you begin to become more at ease with your RP mates, the more you’ll learn. The brain doesn’t take in much information when you’re getting it bogged down with stress, try to keep your anger and stress minimal during the role-play.
Now, at the rate I’m telling you these things, it sounds like role-playing will take over your life. This should never, I repeat never happen. When a role-play begins to take up time for your real life (I.e.: Friends, Family, Grades, General well being) Stop. Take a step away from your computer, and leave it. The stuff will be here when you get back. There’s no shame in stopping so that you may continue to do what you like, but make sure that work is before play.
These are a few don’t, to help you get on the right path:
☻ Don’t use Dashes or asterix (*) to mark where your post actions begin. You should try and make it as story like as possible.
☻ During character creation, try to make a diverse character. Someone who stands out.
☻ The last point can also be said for the number of characters. If you’re spitting out 5 characters a week, they probably don’t have much depth to them. Trench coats, and cat’s ears, and some sob story about why they exist.
This is not the way to create a good character. A good character, that’s reliable and fun to play, is a character grown. When you’re making a character, make a child. Let them grow up in the world around them. Age depends on how you play your cards. You may want him to evolve faster, so you play him fast, and furious. Or you may want a wizened character, which, like wine, gets better with age.
☻ Don’t create a God. No one likes them.
Those are some good points to base yourself on. It often helps to have a sketchpad, or something to draw on nearby. Drawing skills aren’t all that necessary, as long as you can tell what you want your character to look like, then you’re set.
A good role-play, is like any good drawing or book, it’s not rushed. You will probably enjoy yourself more when it’s at a pace that you can deal with; and to those whom think that because they can go on for another three hours, other people may not.
The least motivating thing you can do to another role-player is to hassle them to role-play. You don’t know what’s going on in their lives, you don’t have the right to tell them to go and post something that can let you do something super-fantastic!
The atmosphere where you role-play helps a lot. Perhaps you like exciting music behind you as you type up that dramatic post where your character beats his rival; or maybe complete silence when it’s a tense situation. It all really depends how you want to play.
Bonding with your characters.
This is actually a very dangerous thing to do, especially if you don’t know the crowd that you’re role-playing with. The author’s personal point in this, was where he created a character very much like himself for a role-play with a friend he knew in real life. Every facet of the character’s being, was that of your humble author. The role-play went badly, to the point where his character was abused, and used as a pick-me up for every other character in the role-play.
This may make you either two things.
Indifferent, or deeply offended that someone who you thought you could trust, would turn around and abuse something so alike to you. Therein lies the problem of bonding with your character. You yourself may find the character to be the next thing to sliced bread, but other’s may not.
So, we learn that although bonding with your character is a good skill to be able to do, it’s dangerous emotionally and mentally.
This leads me back to my note about respect ((Now a few posts down)). Until your character makes a bond with the other character, avoid teasing them. Keep the harsh thoughts, or teasing thoughts, inside your head, not in the mouth of your character.
You may see it as funny, but you don’t know how much it may effect the other players. Even if your character is the most barbaric person in the world, keep the teasing down until you feel it might work.
The various fields of role-playing.
Over the ages, role-playing has evolved and expanded to suit it’s players whims and needs. This will be a list of different styles and descriptions of role-plays across the internet:
Wolf role-play: This is a genre of role-playing, that sets you in a wolf pack setting, with Alpha male, Alpha Female, cubs, pack members, etc. This has often been either the biggest joke on the internet, or one of the most interesting things you’ll find. To wolf role-play, you need vast knowledge of how the pack works, you’ll probably need to study it a lot, even the pack you wish to join. There will usually be applications to be the cub of _________ (Generic wolfish name). You send this mother a description of how you’d play the cub, and your role-playing skill level, and the rest is up to her.
The Author has often remarked on the blunt way of speaking in wolfish. They can go from using advanced language, like cranium, to using “Lactating n****e” within seconds of one another. Pack role-plays are generally good for those with a long attention span.
Series based role-plays: This is where you act out a series of whatever you wish. Friends to South park, there’s probably been it all. This way of RP is often abused to make fan couplings. The most common way of this, is yaoi; or male homosexual relationships. This goes back to the days of Star Trek, with James T. Kirk shagging McCoy in the medical lab.
Not a bad place to begin with, because it gives you pre-setup characters.
Fantasy role-play: This is where the author, and the Clockwork crew are specialists in. We’re not the best, but we pass for alright. This is generally set in the past, around the middle ages; forests are often the backdrop, and it usually, involves a path somewhere along the line.
Possibly the easiest and hardest areas to role-play in; because you need believable characters to use. See? Full circle, because we’re back where we started.
Modern: From the city streets of New York, to the hoods in Pennsylvania, that’s the focus of this genre. Usually high school or college is the setting for modern role-plays. The characters are all usually either emo, preppy, rock band, or athletic, and they also have 2-d personalities.
Not supported here, but Your Humble Author has participated in a few of these. When they are Literate, they last maybe a day before everyone gets bored of it, and moves on. When they’re one liners, using characters to open action, and close it, they can stretch for months and months.
Science fiction: Set in the future, involving robots, and cyber dance clubs, and blasters, and space smuggling, the works. This is not the hangout of most fantasy role-players, because they find the transaction hard to adapt to. Going from the Mid 1600’s to 4000 AD is a bit of a gap in experience. Now, I’m not saying we can’t do it, it’s just a bit odd, reaching for a sword and pulling out a light-saber instead.
Now, I believe I covered all the basics of role play, we’ll get more indepth in the following chapters. Remember, practice makes perfect! So get practicing. Role-playing is a lot of fun, once you get yourself in the right mood set. Don’t be afraid to try new combinations! Remember, life is a quest for knowledge, the more you know and grow, the happier you’ll be.
Unless you stumble upon a government conspiracy.
Because then you’re dead.
That’s not cool.
