A Friendly Guide to Star Roleplaying

Rate this guide from 1 to 5 (1 - Lowest, 5 - Highest)


  • Total voters
    19

Hana

wandering thoughts
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
A FRIENDLY GUIDE TO STAR ROLEPLAYING
Hello! If you are reading this workshop or have just noticed and clicked it, you probably know what the 'Star Bedroom' roleplays on Iwaku are. Or you may be new to them. New or not, here's a complete introduction to the Star Roleplays.

What is a Red/Blue Star Bedroom roleplay?
The base content of a usual Star roleplay is erotica, sex, and smut. Red/Blue Star roleplays have a focus on, or high appearances of, sexual encounters throughout the plot or storyline. Basically, when we see a roleplay in those sections, we know or expect them to have (usually) sexy content! There are cases when sex and smut can be featured outside of these areas, but once they happen often or long enough in a roleplay, they will then count as a Star roleplay on Iwaku.

But there are also misconceptions about what exactly entails a Star roleplay.
  • A Star roleplay must not be of a cybersex nature. Iwaku is not a place for you to get your jimmies off, and no one likes being thought of as a sexual object by their roleplay partner! There are clear lines between the author and their characters, and one must know the difference! So no, a Star roleplay doesn't cater to two members having literary 'hookups'.
  • The Star Bedrooms were created to feature erotic content. Please remember that Iwaku has very high creative freedoms for its members, and we allow graphic violence as well as other mature themes outside of the Star Bedrooms. Why are those kinds of content allowed in mixed-age groups areas? Because it isn't illegal. What is illegal and no-no, however, is writing sexual content across different age groups. An under-18 member should not write the sexies with an over-18 member, got it? Outside of that, all sorts of content and language is allowed.
The Difference Between Erotic Roleplay and Cybersexing
Hold on - what's the difference between Erotic roleplay and cybersexing, then? If there is so much kinky and NSFW content allowed in the Bedrooms, isn't it the same as cybersex?

Wrong, dear reader. While there is lots and lots of possible and actual erotic content in a Star roleplay, remember that roleplaying is collaborative storytelling. And what does a story have that cybersexing does not? It has actual plot (no matter how loose or structured it is!), characters and character development depending on the writers' preferences, and yes, actual storytelling. The characters have actual backgrounds and personalities that are thought out by their authors. They have motives and reasons for acting or moving the way they do in the story, and interacting with others. And cybersex only contains two or more people just posting sex actions towards each other, as themselves. Cybersex is self-gratification at its briefest and shallowest. And while roleplaying has that to a degree as well... You get what I'm saying now, right? When you roleplay, even if it has or is erotica, you are aiming to write a story with your partners. You are interested in something else outside of writing sex.

Here, sex can be as much as the writers want to feature in a roleplay, and it can drive the plot. It is used to develop characters and build relationships among them. There will be a plot or conflict, and the writers will work towards a story's resolution and conclusion. The sex is and can be a large part and driving factor of the story, or it can simply portray the characters' relationships and closeness. It can create more conflict or resolve them, there are many ways to use sex as a story or characterization device even in an erotic roleplay.

How to Use Sex As A Literary Device or Element In Roleplaying
One of the popular ways to write out an erotic or smut-featuring roleplay is to make use of the pairing plots. While they are an oft-used tool here, interested and clever roleplayers can get creative with the actual plot beyond the base pairing.

Here are some examples of pairing plots:
  • Sex Slave / Master - this is considered an overused pairing in plots containing erotica, but it is still the base pairing all the same. You can still go steps further than just writing about a sex slave and their master. It can be a romantic tale between different social classes, it can contain horror and dark elements and feature abuse and rape, or it can even just be a pairing in an entirely fantasy setting where magic and even slavery is a normal thing (not that I'm saying that's good, mind you).
  • Vampire / Human - also considered as one of the more often used pairings, the vampire and human pairing has stuck around long enough that it has its own charm and even good points despite the criticism. This pairing has plenty of appeal to those who like supernatural settings, so it can definitely work out as more than just a sex roleplay.
  • Angel / Demon - hello, yin and yang pairing! I think the appeal behind this is how many different ways you can put an angel and a demon together. It could be a story of corruption, the demon seducing an innocent angel into their fall, it could be a story of forbidden lust/love between two fundamentally different beings, or it could even be rife of conflict and tension between two characters who should hate each other yet more often than not end up together instead.

Now in an erotic roleplay, the sex changes or drives forward something in the story, or it brings together the characters in an intimate way that is an excellent chance for writers to also portray their characters with their guards down. Despite what people may say, sex is an intimate and often messy thing - and characters can act a bit or very different from their usual selves in such situations that it provides a lot of opportunities for oh, say, a slip of the tongue, or making mistakes that can drive the story uphill or downhill for these characters. Erotic roleplay doesn't just have to be sexual scenes and sex in different settings and positions - it can have character development and plot development galore. Sex could further drive in the closeness or the conclusion and affirmation of love between characters in romantic settings that gives the sex meaning. Remember that every character has a story, and you can further enrich and add to these stories.

Things to Remember For A Good Star Roleplay
Setting
What sort of setting or world do you want to play your characters in? What characters would you like to play, if you already have determined a setting? Because of these questions, the setting is one of the most important parts you must not forget for your roleplay. As I have added in the examples above, you can even use very basic pairing plots and go build up from there. They are recommended to be your starting concepts. Remember to draw out the creativity and make your plots more specific for you and your partner.

Story
Now that you have a setting, you should have an idea of what story you want to write. Perhaps your character is a soldier demon that was one day injured in the battlefield, only to take shelter in a forested glade where he meets a lone healer angel who has secluded herself from the war out of her dislike for conflict, and as their relationship develops, the demon has to consider whether or not he wants to turn his back on the war between their kinds or save the angel when she gets caught by the others... Or a plot where two people who once loved each other deeply ten years ago but have cut each other off for mysterious reasons to be revealed throughout the story once again encounter each other - the one who got his heart broken by his true love ending up as her boss, only for them to see how much the other has changed. These have stories and tell a bit of the character's histories before their meetings.

Character Development
What else does a story need, and what makes it meaningful beyond just having sexy encounters? Your characters must change and evolve throughout the story, and past the sexual encounters. They need to grow and change as the story marches on, or they will be left behind as static characters. A way to do this is to ask yourself during the sexual encounters - why are our characters doing this? What emotions were they feeling while they were so intimate with each other? Did the sex mean something for one or for both of them? Did the way they got together, the way they acted during it, show how they feel or how they changed past the last encounter? Did the encounter then affect them afterwards, in ways that are big or small? Express these in a roleplay to give more depth to characters. Perhaps the vampire who has at first set out to lure their prey in for a meal gradually grows feelings for them, and finds themselves more and more unwilling to finally hurt or reveal themselves to have been using the human. The angel is captured by a demon and used for sex, only for the demon to start becoming softer and kinder towards the angel. The sex can show someone's altered perceptions or even be what alters them. The sex can also cause more conflict, or resolve them, or gradually make it better or worse.

Conflict/Resolution
This one isn't just necessary for an erotic roleplay, it's necessary for any sort of roleplay. There needs to be a problem or a conflict throughout the story that the characters encounter, and try to solve or end. Using the examples from the character development bit above, try to think of problems chat could pop up for the characters because of their sexual encounters. The human could discover that the vampire was drawing them in at first for food, and it could go any way from there. Did the human love the vampire, or is the human frightened and now tries to run away from the vampire, even if the vampire has learned to love them? Does the captured angel still want to run away or kill the demon, or could they use the demon's love against him to kill him? Another example from the story bit - once the two exes who have cut each other off learn that they were separated because of a misunderstanding, and they could have been happy together - how do they react to this revelation and all the wasted years they thought the other didn't care? Do they get back together? It could become a story of forgiveness and coming to know each other again, or it could be a bittersweet resoluation after both realize they have changed too much.


There are also many other ways and things you could add to your roleplay, and try to explore both the ones listed above, and discover for yourself. I hope that this helps, and if you have any more questions regarding what star or erotic roleplaying here is, please don't hesitate to ask below or to PM me.

Other Star RP Guides to Try Out
Ten Reasons Why Your Sex Scene is Terrible by @Astaroth - this is a very good guide to look into if you want to know what to do and what not to do in your sexy roleplay. Covering both roleplaying style, writing a sex scene, as well as rolepaying etiquette, this one is worth more than just one read.
The Mating Game by @Esthalia - this guide also contains helpful information about what to expect in a sexy or mature roleplay.
Setting the Mood in Your Mature Roleplay! by @DawnsLight - lastly, while published years back, this guide strikes some poitns about how to set an appropriate mood for your mature scenes.

This guide is a revamped version of the guide written by @Diana. See it here.

 
Not sure if there is an etiquette guide for Star Roleplays, if there is it should be linked here, if not it should be made. I'm not really experienced enough in Star Roleplays to make one, but it would be a good idea.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hana
Not sure if there is an etiquette guide for Star Roleplays, if there is it should be linked here, if not it should be made. I'm not really experienced enough in Star Roleplays to make one, but it would be a good idea.
Noted! It's nice to get feedback for this so the Content Development team would know what to produce. One of us could make it in the future! :)

You and other members are also welcome to share what you know about roleplay stuff, so don't be shy about putting up your own content. ^^