ROLEPLAY Help

[Astaroth]

Do you have a question or problem regarding ROLEPLAYING? If you want to know something about or are struggling with interacting with other players, constructing posts, keeping in character, or using mood and tone, just post here and a Professor or volunteer will help you!​

IF YOU HAVE A COMPLICATED QUESTION OR NEED IN-DEPTH HELP, YOU MAY ALSO START YOUR OWN HELP REQUEST THREAD IN THE INSTITUTE!​

 

[Opossum My Possum]

I've been told by a lot of people that my posts aren't long enough, or don't give them enough to go on.
I really want to be a great role player- and I want to role play with people, and not have them drop the role plays
because of my lack of skills.

I'd really love it if someone could maybe PM me and read my writing,
and help me get better/tell me what Im doing wrong.

Anyone interested?

 

[Shadowheart26]

I can offer you assistance.

 

[fatalrendezvous]

I'd be happy to also help if you like. I probably won't be on much throughout the weekend as I'm going to be really busy, but I tend to lurk Iwaku all hours of the day at work so I can read and critique them then.

As a general rule though, most of time when I hear about this type of problem, it's because the post (or posts) in question are too reactive and not proactive enough.

Especially in a one on one roleplay, it's up to both partners to advance the plot. Much like when you have a conversation with a person, sometimes you talk, sometimes the other person talks. It's not interesting to talk to someone who doesn't bring up new topics of conversation. Similarly, you want to be able to progress with your posts.

You can spot this yourself; if you look over your posts and they mostly consist of your character reacting to your partner's previous post, but not creating new opportunities for your partner to react, then you might be being too reactive. What this does is it causes your partner to be tasked with creating the new content. This gets hard after a while for a variety of reasons, so if you look over your own work and can kind of see that this is the issue, then you can at least identify the problem!

If that's NOT the issue though, feel free to still shoot me a PM so I can take a look and we can discuss it further!

 

[Misty]

Hello. I'm hoping to be a new member (waiting for mod acceptance) really soon and I guess I just have some questions.

I've roleplayed for the better part of five years first thetyranidhive (not a dedicated rp forum) and then briefly at onemangaforums (also not dedicated rp forum). The second one of those has not worked out so well, the people were not at all welcoming and gave me and my group many issues with how we ran our rp.

So I guess, my questions were about whether or not it would be alright for myself and about (4-5) other people came here to run a roleplay based off of an anime in hopes of gaining a new injection of players. If a mod or anyone really well versed in this place could tell me if they think we'd be well received or not that would be really very helpful and very much appreciated.

As a secondary question, how would a non-native English speaker be received? (Over on onemanga they were fairly cruel in this scenario).

Thirdly, we have a variety of roleplay skill levels, some of us have been going for four years plus and in other cases, they just started in the last year. Is that alright, or would we quickly be forced to conform to another standard with little to no warning?

 

[Diana]

Hello! >:3 I will answer these questions for you!

Hello. I'm hoping to be a new member (waiting for mod acceptance) really soon and I guess I just have some questions.

I've roleplayed for the better part of five years first thetyranidhive (not a dedicated rp forum) and then briefly at onemangaforums (also not dedicated rp forum). The second one of those has not worked out so well, the people were not at all welcoming and gave me and my group many issues with how we ran our rp.

So I guess, my questions were about whether or not it would be alright for myself and about (4-5) other people came here to run a roleplay based off of an anime in hopes of gaining a new injection of players. If a mod or anyone really well versed in this place could tell me if they think we'd be well received or not that would be really very helpful and very much appreciated.

As a secondary question, how would a non-native English speaker be received? (Over on onemanga they were fairly cruel in this scenario).

Thirdly, we have a variety of roleplay skill levels, some of us have been going for four years plus and in other cases, they just started in the last year. Is that alright, or would we quickly be forced to conform to another standard with little to no warning?

Game masters can run their roleplays anyway they please. It's their roleplay! As long as people follow the basic rules, and roleplays are posted in the correct section, and In Character threads aren't spammed with Out of Character comments, no one is going to complain or dictate how you run your roleplay.

Lots of people do anime and fanbased roleplays! And christmas roleplays! So I don't think you'll have a problem with that. <3 You might have to advertise and invite people if it's not a popular/well known series, but it's A.O.K.

Iwaku is a multinational community! We have members from all over the world. :D So we understand not everyone has the best english skills. We encourage people to type our their best sentences so they can be understood. We also allow members to do roleplays in other languages, as long as they also post up a translation of the post. (It makes it easier for moderators to mod the forums.)

Iwaku also has a huge variety of roleplay skill levels and we don't force all members of the site to adhere to the same skill level. That is very silly and doesn't account to newbie players or player styles. O__O Game Masters will set the requirements for their own personal games. So you just keep an eye on what a Game Master requests for their game, and look for roleplays that you feel fit your style.

 

[Yuki40]

Ive been role playing for rougly nine mothes, give or take , ive been taking up a few challenges on the institute , And have only Run into this problem twice so far But would like to nip it in the bud.

Power playing , Or god Modding , I would Like a very clear definition , some very percise example's and ways to avoid doing it , peroid , and how to spot it in your own post's.
as well as a gentle Polite way of how to tell other people that you feel like they are power playing over you or god modding story or chracter's

I also have alot of problems Comeing up with plots for group roleplay. How do you correct respond to two different people , My way is a bit tedious for example their is chracter A and Chracter B that im roleplay with

So One post i write , My character reaction To Character A

Next one Re-write the scene except as now my Reaction to Character B


Just wanna know if their a better way to do things im such a noob

 

[Smo]

I've been roughly RPing for about 12-14 years and so I have established a bit of a style -- however, when I came here after a period of not RPing for a while, it seems my style turns off people and then they drop off like flies. And I don't know what's up -- I'm beginning to wonder if I don't give enough to go by? Or how much I offer? Or my details? I tend to offer a bit unless I don't get enough myself.

I would appreciate it if maybe someone could PM me, and we can do a little back and forth to see what the errors are. I really want to fix this. ._.

 

[fatalrendezvous]

I've been roughly RPing for about 12-14 years and so I have established a bit of a style -- however, when I came here after a period of not RPing for a while, it seems my style turns off people and then they drop off like flies. And I don't know what's up -- I'm beginning to wonder if I don't give enough to go by? Or how much I offer? Or my details? I tend to offer a bit unless I don't get enough myself.

I would appreciate it if maybe someone could PM me, and we can do a little back and forth to see what the errors are. I really want to fix this. ._.

Feel free to shoot me a PM, I'd be happy to help!

 

[Shenorai]

@Yuki40 Although your question was made several months ago, I'll still try to answer as best I can.

Firstly, noob =/= newb. ;) Newbies are open to suggestion and welcome improvement with open arms. Noobs are stubborn and refuse to be proven wrong. The fact that you are seeking help puts you into the newb category. Now onto your actual question.


There are three major mistakes/nuisances to look out for while RPing: Godmodding, Powerplaying, and Metagaming. Godmodding and Powerplaying tend to be confused for one another across various sites, but both of them tend to be used as abuse of power. Whether it's over your own character or controlling someone else's character without permission is another matter.

Due to confusion of terms, I had to scour around a bit to see how the majority of other boards describe these RP taboos. Don't be surprised if you see people arguing over what means what. Either way, it's still bad for story development.


- Godmodding tends to be used as a blanket term to cover all three terms, meaning this is the word you'll most often see once people start accusing others of misconduct. The most common definition I've found for Godmodding is flipping the "God Mode" switch for your character in order to make him/her perform impossible actions for the sake of making your character come out on top. This can include ridiculously high dexterity and reflexes to allow someone to catch six bullets shot at them at once, a sudden burst of speed that would put The Flash to shame, super strength that goes well beyond an adrenaline rush, invulnerability, being irresistibly sexy and attracting everyone's attention regardless of sexual preference, the list goes on.

Characters that are infallible in these ways quickly become Mary Sues/Gary Stus: Perfect peaches that can do anything and can avoid all consequence. Above all, they're simply not fun for others to play with.

The ones who are most guilty of doing these things are often new/inexperienced players. Jumping into a roleplay for the first time often makes a new player want to be the biggest, fastest, strongest badass in town. They often do not give their characters any drawbacks or weaknesses simply due to the fact that a roleplay isn't the real world. Thus, to a new player, simple things like being damaged from taking a hit from a weapon are often thrown out the window. The world isn't real, thus it's their oyster... right?

I'm afraid that's not the case, grasshoppah.​

So how do we avoid godmodding? The simplest way is to remember one very important aspect of character creation: It's okay to have flawed characters. For every yin, there is a yang. For each skill your character performs well, have a flaw at the other end of the spectrum.

Some typical examples are: intelligent characters tend to be physically weak, fast characters take more damage when it lands, strong characters may not necessarily be the smartest, characters with the highest defense are often slow.

A rule of thumb I've personally adopted is: For every three Traits, have two Flaws. If your character is intelligent, great with machinery, and has high reflexes, give him/her a couple of flaws to make up for it. Even if it's a missing limb (or two) and having a bad habit of jumping onto another project before completing their current one. Or being easily sick yet unable to put down the bottle. You'll find yourself with far more interesting characters by incorporating such flaws. Your partners may even get a kick out of how your character struggles with his/her flaws on a daily basis.

Magic is a completely different animal when it comes to Godmodding. Obviously, we don't want someone endlessly casting a chain lightning with no expense on their end. Every spell has its cost and drawback. The stronger the spell, the greater the cost. The more frequently a spell is cast, the greater the drawback will be on the caster. Someone who uses fire spells on a semi-regular basis may find themselves freezing cold and in danger of hypothermia should too many spells be cast in succession. Ice spells might do the opposite and risk hyperthermia/heat stroke. Water spells may dehydrate a caster. Electric spells may be electrical discharges from the caster's very cells, causing numbness or partial paralysis. Healing spells might even put the caster's health at risk for the sake of helping another.

Granted, not every spell requires mana or the caster's life force in order to cast it. Sometimes, a spell is sealed within a scroll, a crystal, or an accessory. From here, you must decide how many times X item can unleash Y spell before becoming cracked/broken/completely obliterated. Again; the stronger the spell, the greater the cost. Balancing magic is, indeed, difficult. But there is no shame in asking for assistance! If you have a doubt; ask someone for their opinion.


- Powerplaying takes control of another character away from the player s/he belongs to. This is the equivalent to snatching a toy away from a kid who's obviously playing with it and dictating what that you think that toy should do instead. No one likes their characters taken away from them.

A common place to find powerplay is during a fight. In combat situations, you'll find yourself wanting to just win the fight and move along instead of typing up six to ten posts just to decide the victor. As such, you may feel inclined to simply decide whether or not your strikes hit and if it's lethal by manipulating the other character. Not only is this a pain in the rear for the other player, but you do not decide what damage the other character sustains. Personally, I think of RP combat as a game of tennis or volleyball. You perform your action in your post and leave the reaction in the other player's court. Let them figure out if they will strike back or take the hit. Keep the outcome of your actions open when you are dealing with player-controlled opponents. If there is no logical way to dodge your attack, they will have no other choice but to take the damage.

Example: An archer aims his/her bow at their opponent's stomach before releasing the arrow. This not only tells your opponent where the arrow is flying, but by leaving out whether or not it actually hits the target, it gives their character the opportunity to react. Of course, they may wind up with an arrow in the rump instead, but that's up to them.

The ONLY exception to this rule is if you have asked the other player via PM, OOC, profile notes, etc. for permission before posting. You'll run into instances where you find yourself waiting for a response from the other character, but the player using that character feels that it's not enough to actually warrant a post. This is where you two can either conduct a Combo Post (two or more people pitching in to create one big post) or you ask what that character's reaction would be and type it out for them AFTER receiving a response.

Simply put; if you don't have permission to use a character in the next post, simply don't type out their actions. Your characters are yours to play with: don't take other players' characters.


- Metagaming describes your character instantly gaining knowledge they would have no way of knowing at that point in the RP. This often occurs when a reader forgets that the Player and the Character are two separate entities. More often than not, a player's first character is a self-insertion of sorts. As such, they relate their character to themselves so much that they forget to disconnect themselves from their character.

Say we have two separate groups of people. They are in two separate rooms, one across the hall from another. Group A won't know what Group B is planning unless it's stated that someone's character is being very loud in their conversation. Any information Group A would learn would only come from snippets of conversation once both groups walk out into the hallway. Even then, that also depends on whether or not the characters from either group would care to listen in.

Your character should only know what s/he has witnessed or what his/her friend shares with him/her. If there is no feasible way for your character to learn certain information, it's safe to say they don't know it.


I know that's a bit of a read, but I hope it helps you out.


@Smo Shoot me a PM, if you'd like. If you prefer I start up the scene, lemme know.

 

[MyImmortalWolf]

I find myself having issues staying in character- my own personality will reflect very heavily in my character, depending on my mood and the music I'm listening to (Helps with the whole creativity thing) and I was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks for playing a personality different from their own? My post length is also iffy, and I'm looking for ways to improve that without it sounding awkward. So, if anyone can help me out here, it would be much appreciated!

 

[fatalrendezvous]

@MyImmortalWolf

As you said yourself, your own writing style changes depending on the type of music you're listening to.

I know a lot of people who use music to sort of channel those emotions, and it's a very effective tool. When you need a bit of creative inspiration, turn up some music along the lines of the emotion you feel the character would have or would portray. Think about times you have felt that emotion, or said similar things or did similar things. Or even if there were times you wished you had done those things - what would you have done, what would you have said?

For example, there have been times in my life I wish I had spoken out, or said something in defense of someone or something that I thought was being treated unfairly. Instead, I said nothing. If I'm writing about something similar, I can reflect back on those times and think, what would my character have done in that situation? Withdrawn? Stayed quiet? Apologized? Or would he/she get riled up and get involved? Tell the person to leave? Argue? Shout? Throw a punch?

These are the types of things that help me, at least.

Another way is to make sure to be proactive in your posts. Rather than solely reacting to what other people have done, be proactive and try to move the story forward. Do things that other people can react to, so that they're not simply reacting to your reaction. Because eventually, that gets lame, and it's how most RPs die in my opinion.

So make the first half of your post reactionary, where your character talks about or responds to things that have happened in previous posts, then the second half of your post proactive where your character tries to do new things.

Honestly though, regarding your post length, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Stress the quality of your posts over quantity, and gradually you will realize you write more when you have more things to talk about.

 

[Astaroth]

@MyImmortalWolf

Fatal has some great suggestions. Another thing you might try is to challenge yourself to make a character who is the exact opposite of you. Know what you would do in a given situation? Have them make the complete opposite call. Hate cats? They own two. Love dogs? Give them a fear of dogs because the German shepherd next door bit them when they were six. You get the idea, right? ;]

Once you can make and play a character that is absolutely nothing like you, it'll be easier to start separating yourself a little more.

As to post length, SCREW IT. Length is nowhere near as important as content. As long as you're giving your partners/group enough to respond to, you can write one-liners. In fact, sometimes less is more.

 

[Bel _ Vel _ El]

My Immortal Wolf,

Music helps me with the creative flow. For me, to keep in character personality(not to add my own in) I listen to a particular music which relates to that character as well as the setting. With the more evil, bad characters I imagine what their goal is, where they are willing to go and the depths they go through. I have dark, more mysterious music playing to keep in the character flow. Other characters, for me, just depends on the setting, the atmosphere, how they should feel. I hope this helps a little, if not I am sorry.