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CHAT BOARDS - I'm assuming some of the readers out there have never ever role
played/heard of role playing before.
Mmkay.
A general summarization of role playing is when two or more people get together,
each with their own character, write a paragraph or less describing both their
own character and how they interact with the other person/s character.
And to put it even more plainly still: Role playing is just another form of
story telling. The only difference this time is you have another person behind
a keyboard trying to complicate things and unexpectedly throw you off, or perhaps
it is you who is the thrower-offer. That's the fun of it all.
This week I think we'll begin with basic character development. Next week,
settings and basic rules, And the week after shall be the types of role playing
(anthropomorphic, quadruped, etc.). But please keep in mind I am no expert,
and would never claim to be. I'll just pass on what I know, and what I have
observed. Anyhoo, let us begin…
So what's appealing about role playing? The ability to create your own character,
past, and present. The ability to play it out and enjoy death defying, fatal,
or otherwise mind-bogglingly cliché adventures without actually ever having
to leave you seat. (All right, I admit some of the storylines/adventures I've
read from other people are not cliché at all. But most of them are, and I never
said that's a bad thing.)
Let us take a merry little step to the number one:
Step
#1
Like I pointed out just a few paragraphs up, all role players need at least
one character. You'll find a character you create resembles a part of you in
some way. Let's just randomly create a happy little Chia named Bob.
Ask yourself: what does Bob look like?
Does Bob have a mullet and an outrageous pink shirt who loves Spardels?
Does Bob have dreadlocks and own a pet rock named 'Geode'?
If you like both suggestions (I don't see why you would, but hey. Your choice.)
You can do both.
Bob used to have a mullet and an outrageous pink shirt and used
to love Spardels.
When you have a basic picture of your character, you might require some sort
of past. (The minimal 'past' time you can start counting from is 5 seconds.)
Now let's randomly decide that Bob was a chief in the Chia Police Force. He
was the talk of the town with his famous mullet and boldly pink shirt. Bob aspired
to create the 'new' Spooky Flying Doughnut, and always kept the (incomplete)
prototype with him because he believed in good luck. Every evening until his
1st birthday, Bob would patrol the park, with his head held high, his left front
pocket straining not to squash the lucky doughnut, and a copy of 'Who's Spardel'
rolled tightly into his paws. He never wore uniform; there was no need to. Everyone
knew Bob.
No past is all that interesting unless you spike it up with some kind of relevant
event. (That goes for the present too.) So, let us work with the 'used to love
Spardels' idea and create a life-changing event:
Upon the evening of his first birthday, he had made a breakthrough with his
'new' Spooky Flying Doughnut'. It was almost able to fly. All of the
sudden there sounded a thick yap, and with one glance up the concrete footpath
Bob was overjoyed to see a stray Spardel, drooling like the blissful moron it
was.
The Spardel snapped at him.
Bob turned abruptly upon his heel to run, clutching the doughnut to his chest
for dear life.
It was not the Spooky doughnut the stray was after, for with another leap
and a tug, Bob's famous mullet slipped from his highly domed head. It was a
wig!
He was disgraced. Fired from the force, arrested by the S.D.A (Secret Doughnut
Association) and was forced to leave town.
He grew dreadlocks and bought a pet rock and sold Chia erasers in the Stationary
Shop.
I probably got carried away, but bear in mind a past often shapes your character
to whatever he/she is like nowadays. Now, you can always role play a character
with someone, and that could become your characters past. If this were to be
done, either you or I would be Bob, and the other person would be the Spardel.
The story would go something like this:
Bob: Blah blah blah, walks to the park with his doughnut.
Spardel: Blah blah blah, appears and snaps at Bob.
Bob: Blah blah blah, gets wig pulled off, disgraced, grows dreadlocks
and sells pencils for a living.
So now Bob has a name, likes, dislikes, a past, and over all a personality,
you have yourself a main character. Once you're confident enough you can take
to introducing minor characters without much of a past, such as a shop-owner
or a Faerie that'll be in you and your friends' role play for a short amount
of time.
Let's recap. I'll start off a role play, and advise what you can type to continue…
(Those of you who can actually role play, and are just reading this for the
fun of it, I'm starting off with the basics here. Don't think I role play like
this.)
Wubba's Post:
The Soup Faerie sits in total monotony upon the rim of her thick steel soup
pot. She twirls her shiny ladle in wonderment to why no pet in Neopia is hungry
today.
Your Post:
___ ______ __ __ ___ ________ _____ ____ __.
All right, now think carefully. Who do you want to introduce to this scene?
Many things can happen at this point. Your character can be the first hungry
pet for the whole day, your character could secretly have the whole Neopet population
bound and gagged in your enormous cellar so that they can't visit the
Soup Faerie, or your character can come up and bring some news to the Soup Faerie.
Either way, it is up to you to keep this particular story moving.
In case you might've forgotten, I'll remind you again:
Next week is scene-setting, basic role playing rules and writing styles, so
on and so forth.
Thanks for reading.
If any of you work for the S.D.A, please don't sue me for mentioning the Spooky
Doughnut Project.
--Wubba.
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