This thread is a beginner's guide to role playing. It only touches up on simple parts, but I have tried my best to make points that may in general make a better RP. These points are from my personal experience and from really what makes a good story in general. All points listed here are open to debate.
I hope some of the points listed here help improve other's roleplaying skills!
The Ideal Player
The ideal player is a player who makes a character who takes action the way their character, not themselves would take. A player who does what themselves would do ends up being usually rather boring and at times a bit meta-ish. In a role play, you take the role of a character and you play out the character's actions.
The ideal player restricts themselves to the limitation of their character and does not try to take control of the environment around them, instead interacting with the environment given by the GM. While stuff like finding a rock or twig in a jungle may (usually) be fine depending on the GM, finding a weapon when the GM never stated a weapon or making up a weak spot on a fiend that the GM never said it had is a form of god modding because you are cheating a way to win a fight or puzzle/situation.
The ideal player avoids a mary sue at all costs. A mary sue is someone who tries to make the RP about them and no one else. Having a character with some accomplished traits balanced out with reasonable flaws is fine, but making them capable of doing things they have no business doing and doing better than someone else who is known for being good at that skill is not.
The ideal player's backstory should be interesting, and play into the RP itself as much as possible. A tragic backstory is a fine idea, but please don't try to be overly tragic or try to make it the focal point of your character. Focus on the RP itself more, backstory should be something used to show how your character behaves and explain where they came from.
The ideal player should be actionary character, not a reactionary character. The players should drive the story by doing interesting things and give things for the GM to give responses to. Reacting to only what the GM throws at never doing what you as a character in the rp would do or set up objectives and motives logical to your personal character leads to a very boring role play usually.
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The Ideal GM
The ideal GM is a GM who from the start has some plan for the overall story, even if it is a sandbox RP and tries to incorporate the ways characters are in the RP, like having a past event in a character's backstory come back to haunt them or setting up a situation that challenges the nature of a character. This makes the people who play the RP feel more a part of it and allows for a much better flowing narrative.
The ideal GM does not abort story arcs or make up new ones out of nowhere for the sake of it. Being dragged from one event to another without any good amount of time for the player to immerse in the story creates a very ugly experience that feels like while a lot happens, nothing gets done. Erasing the entire RP and starting a new one out of mere frustration is even moreso disruptive.
The ideal GM should create mostly NPCs or characters that are not affiliated with the player characters. While a character designed to advance the plot if the players are not is fine, creating a player character capable of killing a major villain is something that should be avoided because you control the villain as well, making the GM look like a little kid when the GM does crap like this because the players want to in the end feel like the heros and it makes them feel useless when the GM rolls out his personal mary sue who does everything for them anyways.
The ideal GM should ideally spend much time painting the environment around them and avoid rushing situations, giving responses to the player's actions that are logical and never let the player easily win a fight that is important. A ideal GM should not be afraid to try to hurt a player if the opportunity arises. Although even the GM should avoid godmodding a player in a unreasonable way, like making it so that a charging bull in the open always hits a fast, evasive player instead letting the player choose if they want to get hit although on the flip side of things, the player should let themselves get hit and not avoid everything the GM throws at them.
The ideal GM should also not use their "GM powers" to ban someone for criticisms or debates. Disregarding what a player says or treating them like an idiot for disagreeing with an action of the GM makes the GM generally look like a *****. Moderative actions are something that should be reserved for truly malicious actions that go against set up rules, not slap fights.
The ideal GM should avoid doing vague one-liners, as they are the GM and make the world/NPCs around them which if left vague too much may give the players too little to interact with. This gives the players more things to deal with in a more effective way without having to make up things about the world around them and can than focus more on their personal actions.
The ideal GM thinks of a setting that is memorable or different. Try to make your own take on a current RP trend, try to make something that isn't a tolken fantasy or takes place in a time not usually used. Try to avoid copying other's role plays and make your own thing, don't make an RP for the sole sake of competing with another's role play and at the end of the day, make a role play that interests you as a GM the most.
DISCLAIMER: This guide is not a fully objective guide, there is some subjectivity to it although I have tried to not be biased towards my personal tastes.
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I hope this allows for better ran and more interesting role plays in the future!
Feel free to ask any questions or give your own advice.
If I wrote one like this, it would be:
Act yourself.
I also think that describing helps alot. Instead of:
I walked into the house and sat down.
I would write:
I walked through the french double doors of the house and sat down on a wooden chair that creaked.
Be yourself isn't always the case, i RP as a female, or a quiet kid that gets picked on, i am neither, i am a quite popular kid at my school, i played football for 6 years, being myself would be a pretty boring character. Its more like be creative and be something you can put your mind into, if you can't imagine your character then change them so that you can, that is what RPing is about.
Is the MCF the only website you use for RPing oZode ? The MCF has like 4-5 good interesting RPs but the rest isn't my style, if you use some other websites share them. Thanks ~DustinnxD
If you play as yourself or not depends on if you have an interesting back-story or not. It's like how I have some interesting stories, so I'll play as myself, but since a lot of my life is fairly average, I tend to give my character a very different biography than mine. Like sometimes, I'll make my character adopted or something like that. But if I have an interesting story that's true, I usually like to add that in because it's easier to tell a true story with good details (emotional and physical details) than it is a fake story.
^ If you're roleplaying a coward, and you're not a coward, then it'd be wrong to have your coward character do something courageous just because you would if it was real life. Your character needs to act based on the type of character he or she is, not based on what you would do. If your character is a coward, he should.. well, be a coward.
I also find it annoying how so many people aim to be the hero of the RP. Why not be the moron for once? I know people who have RP'd as goddam snails before, and they made the RP so much more fun and interesting. I'm sick of badass, fearless characters who try too hard to be cool.
I'm not meaning the bio, I'm meaning how you deal with situations in the RP. I would deal with situations the same way I would in real life.
You should only do that if your character is you. Not many people play as exactly them, adding in a few things or taking away something they feel they would be good at would make them react different, im pretty sure me as a person would react to a bully much different than a character i create that is a quite kid and stays out of the way. Or if i played as a female it would be different reactions than me as a male. You may react similar to your character but not all the time.
If you play as yourself or not depends on if you have an interesting back-story or not. It's like how I have some interesting stories, so I'll play as myself, but since a lot of my life is fairly average, I tend to give my character a very different biography than mine. Like sometimes, I'll make my character adopted or something like that. But if I have an interesting story that's true, I usually like to add that in because it's easier to tell a true story with good details (emotional and physical details) than it is a fake story.
To be honest, I usually avoid college RPs and the such due to personal preference, I mean like if someone makes themselves a space marine that is just like them than they tend to get err... Narcissistic about their character. I guess RP'ing as yourself is fine if you are willing to incorporate your personal flaws into the character and apply them into the RP although most of the time people are very uneasy about their flaws and like to hide them whenever possible, like in Rps although beating your character over with their flaws is really not that much better than a character with no flaws.
I see what you are saying, write what you know. Although some healthy speculation drawn from your personal experiences for what your character might be feeling at the moment enables some one to do more interesting things or even looking up people talk about their life experiences in stuff like war or the such (youtube is awesome for me) allows more creative freedom in my opinion.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
One day, there will be someone who looks at my signature and wonders "who gives a damn?"
I tend to make my characters how i am feeling and that is a flaw of mine when i RP, because i do not always feel the same, if i am feeling kind of alone and sad my character tends to be that way when i create them and the problem with that is maybe the very next day i feel happy then it is hard to get IC. I have been working on this in my latest characters i create.
I tend to make my characters how i am feeling and that is a flaw of mine when i RP, because i do not always feel the same, if i am feeling kind of alone and sad my character tends to be that way when i create them and the problem with that is maybe the very next day i feel happy then it is hard to get IC. I have been working on this in my latest characters i create.
That's what makes it great to have a mentally insane character like I have in this one RP. They can have mood-swings like that, and it's okay. XD
I guess RP'ing as yourself is fine if you are willing to incorporate your personal flaws into the character and apply them into the RP although most of the time people are very uneasy about their flaws and like to hide them whenever possible, like in Rps although beating your character over with their flaws is really not that much better than a character with no flaws.
RPing as yourself without adding your flaws is quite impossible I think. But this is a good point.
Mentally insane characters in my opinion work if you don't just use them for an excuse for "random XD" qualities.
One good man wrote in his guide here that Insane characters are hard to roleplay and require good amount of skill to roleplay as, and usually should be avoided. And I think insane character requires a good reason to go nuts.
You should search for more, seriously. There are much more better sites around.
I am aware of role player's guild and the such. It's a possibility, but I am in an effort to try to improve MCF Rps as much as I can. This guide is the first part of my attempt to (even if it may be futile). I may later try to get more people to Rp with some thread in arts and creativity and if that fails, than I may see what other sites there are.
One good man wrote in his guide here that Insane characters are hard to roleplay and require good amount of skill to roleplay as, and usually should be avoided. And I think insane character requires a good reason to go nuts.
Don't forget they have to stay consistant with whatever disorder you apply to them. Although the issue stems from the overexaggeration of the traits people like this show. Like when people think a bipolar person is either normal or crazy random XD. That is ********.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
One day, there will be someone who looks at my signature and wonders "who gives a damn?"
Don't forget they have to stay consistant with whatever disorder you apply to them. Although the issue stems from the overexaggeration of the traits people like this show. Like when people think a bipolar person is either normal or crazy random XD. That is ********.
Indeed. Schisophrenia is vague though, and MPD makes people think their personalities can be truly random. And speaking of insanities...
I am aware of role player's guild and the such. It's a possibility, but I am in an effort to try to improve MCF Rps as much as I can. This guide is the first part of my attempt to (even if it may be futile). I may later try to get more people to Rp with some thread in arts and creativity and if that fails, than I may see what other sites there are.
Man, you are mad. Good luck. I might need some people for my dying RPs though.
I hope some of the points listed here help improve other's roleplaying skills!
The Ideal Player
The ideal player is a player who makes a character who takes action the way their character, not themselves would take. A player who does what themselves would do ends up being usually rather boring and at times a bit meta-ish. In a role play, you take the role of a character and you play out the character's actions.
The ideal player restricts themselves to the limitation of their character and does not try to take control of the environment around them, instead interacting with the environment given by the GM. While stuff like finding a rock or twig in a jungle may (usually) be fine depending on the GM, finding a weapon when the GM never stated a weapon or making up a weak spot on a fiend that the GM never said it had is a form of god modding because you are cheating a way to win a fight or puzzle/situation.
The ideal player avoids a mary sue at all costs. A mary sue is someone who tries to make the RP about them and no one else. Having a character with some accomplished traits balanced out with reasonable flaws is fine, but making them capable of doing things they have no business doing and doing better than someone else who is known for being good at that skill is not.
The ideal player's backstory should be interesting, and play into the RP itself as much as possible. A tragic backstory is a fine idea, but please don't try to be overly tragic or try to make it the focal point of your character. Focus on the RP itself more, backstory should be something used to show how your character behaves and explain where they came from.
The ideal player should be actionary character, not a reactionary character. The players should drive the story by doing interesting things and give things for the GM to give responses to. Reacting to only what the GM throws at never doing what you as a character in the rp would do or set up objectives and motives logical to your personal character leads to a very boring role play usually.
=============
The Ideal GM
The ideal GM is a GM who from the start has some plan for the overall story, even if it is a sandbox RP and tries to incorporate the ways characters are in the RP, like having a past event in a character's backstory come back to haunt them or setting up a situation that challenges the nature of a character. This makes the people who play the RP feel more a part of it and allows for a much better flowing narrative.
The ideal GM does not abort story arcs or make up new ones out of nowhere for the sake of it. Being dragged from one event to another without any good amount of time for the player to immerse in the story creates a very ugly experience that feels like while a lot happens, nothing gets done. Erasing the entire RP and starting a new one out of mere frustration is even moreso disruptive.
The ideal GM should create mostly NPCs or characters that are not affiliated with the player characters. While a character designed to advance the plot if the players are not is fine, creating a player character capable of killing a major villain is something that should be avoided because you control the villain as well, making the GM look like a little kid when the GM does crap like this because the players want to in the end feel like the heros and it makes them feel useless when the GM rolls out his personal mary sue who does everything for them anyways.
The ideal GM should ideally spend much time painting the environment around them and avoid rushing situations, giving responses to the player's actions that are logical and never let the player easily win a fight that is important. A ideal GM should not be afraid to try to hurt a player if the opportunity arises. Although even the GM should avoid godmodding a player in a unreasonable way, like making it so that a charging bull in the open always hits a fast, evasive player instead letting the player choose if they want to get hit although on the flip side of things, the player should let themselves get hit and not avoid everything the GM throws at them.
The ideal GM should also not use their "GM powers" to ban someone for criticisms or debates. Disregarding what a player says or treating them like an idiot for disagreeing with an action of the GM makes the GM generally look like a *****. Moderative actions are something that should be reserved for truly malicious actions that go against set up rules, not slap fights.
The ideal GM should avoid doing vague one-liners, as they are the GM and make the world/NPCs around them which if left vague too much may give the players too little to interact with. This gives the players more things to deal with in a more effective way without having to make up things about the world around them and can than focus more on their personal actions.
The ideal GM thinks of a setting that is memorable or different. Try to make your own take on a current RP trend, try to make something that isn't a tolken fantasy or takes place in a time not usually used. Try to avoid copying other's role plays and make your own thing, don't make an RP for the sole sake of competing with another's role play and at the end of the day, make a role play that interests you as a GM the most.
==================================================================
DISCLAIMER: This guide is not a fully objective guide, there is some subjectivity to it although I have tried to not be biased towards my personal tastes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this allows for better ran and more interesting role plays in the future!
Feel free to ask any questions or give your own advice.
Act yourself.
I also think that describing helps alot. Instead of:
I walked into the house and sat down.
I would write:
I walked through the french double doors of the house and sat down on a wooden chair that creaked.
People who make a character like themselves are booooorriiiunng to me.
I mean, I once made a character who was a 65 year old black military veteran for a mutant RP despite not being any of those.
I also find it annoying how so many people aim to be the hero of the RP. Why not be the moron for once? I know people who have RP'd as goddam snails before, and they made the RP so much more fun and interesting. I'm sick of badass, fearless characters who try too hard to be cool.
Speaking of my own RPs, remember SSC RP.
To be honest, I usually avoid college RPs and the such due to personal preference, I mean like if someone makes themselves a space marine that is just like them than they tend to get err... Narcissistic about their character. I guess RP'ing as yourself is fine if you are willing to incorporate your personal flaws into the character and apply them into the RP although most of the time people are very uneasy about their flaws and like to hide them whenever possible, like in Rps although beating your character over with their flaws is really not that much better than a character with no flaws.
I see what you are saying, write what you know. Although some healthy speculation drawn from your personal experiences for what your character might be feeling at the moment enables some one to do more interesting things or even looking up people talk about their life experiences in stuff like war or the such (youtube is awesome for me) allows more creative freedom in my opinion.
That's what makes it great to have a mentally insane character like I have in this one RP. They can have mood-swings like that, and it's okay. XD
You should search for more, seriously. There are much more better sites around.
RPing as yourself without adding your flaws is quite impossible I think. But this is a good point.
One good man wrote in his guide here that Insane characters are hard to roleplay and require good amount of skill to roleplay as, and usually should be avoided. And I think insane character requires a good reason to go nuts.
I am aware of role player's guild and the such. It's a possibility, but I am in an effort to try to improve MCF Rps as much as I can. This guide is the first part of my attempt to (even if it may be futile). I may later try to get more people to Rp with some thread in arts and creativity and if that fails, than I may see what other sites there are.
Don't forget they have to stay consistant with whatever disorder you apply to them. Although the issue stems from the overexaggeration of the traits people like this show. Like when people think a bipolar person is either normal or crazy random XD. That is ********.
Indeed. Schisophrenia is vague though, and MPD makes people think their personalities can be truly random. And speaking of insanities...
Man, you are mad. Good luck. I might need some people for my dying RPs though.