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ROLE PLAYING BOARD – Hey! It’s me, neodonnaz, and I’m back again with part
two of my little series-article-thing… amajig. I am really, REALLY sorry I took
so long but it really couldn’t be helped… Before you start shouting at me, I
know role-playing isn’t writing stories, and that it’s not even technically
writing…
Well, actually, it sort of is. I mean, you are not actually writing a story
to print out and share, but role-playing is one of the most valuable things
any potential writer could learn to do. You get to fine-tune the way you write,
and interact with other people, and really become someone else. It’s
a way of developing your personal style. So that is why I feel I need to include
it.
So… let’s do this thingy!
1. Glossary
Once again, glossary is important—and the role-playing board has a different
glossary than the NW. So here it is:
Regular—Same definition—someone who appears regularly on the board.
RP/RPG—Role-play, role-playing/role-playing game.
Mary-Sue/Gary-Sue—Ugh, I hate these! Mary-Sues are female characters
that are perfect in every way. Here is an example of a Mary-Sue: “Boys goggle
at Mary-Sue as she walks up to the board to calculate Einstein’s theory.” Gary-Sues
are the male equivalent. NEVER EVER create a Mary/Gary-Sue. IF YOU DO YOU WILL
BE KICKED OFF EVERY SINGLE BOARD.
M00f/N00b—A whiny person who reports people for stupid reasons, begs,
or posts disgustingly off-topic boards. For more, see “Despie”.
Power-playing—Technically controlling other people’s characters. I.e.,
“Bob slashed Bill’s head off with a sword.” Bill’s creator never gave you permission
to do that, did he? Say, “Bob slashed toward Bill’s neck with a sword…” Bill’s
creator can decide whether to kill Bill.
Making your character invincible, with unlimited powers. (“Joe threw a fireball
at Bob, and blocked Bob’s razor attack with an invincible shield he was carrying.”)
Despie—Despies create the Mary/Gary-Sues, and ruin all the topics. They
usually force love or gore into the plot. They power-play and god-mode. (Just
one or two of these works, too.)
Literate—A person who tries to have rps that are not totally predictable,
and who manages to create good topics and characters with interesting flaws.
Charrie—An abbreviation for character.
**Author’s Note: Now, I saw some people on the NW board the other day getting
upset about my previous article for the stereotypes (Literate, m00f, despie).
And I do think people should help other people who are not as good at writing
or who don’t grasp certain things—it is a literate’s responsibility, in a sense,
because everyone deserves to be able to write the best they will ever be able
to write—but there are certain things (chatspeak poems…) that no one will be
able to like you for. Same here—there have been so many articles about rp-ing,
so people should know not to power-play, god-mode, or use Mary/Gary-Sues. One
more thing: Regs aren’t necessarily popular, just people seen around a lot.
2. What topic?
Like the structures of poetry, there are a million different topics you could
choose to rp. Here are some of the more common ones:
Medieval—Basically, medieval is usually set in the woods. Elves? No—elves
are despie-ish (unless you go about it in the right way, which is REALLY hard
to do). Wood spirits? Only if you develop a good character—we’ll cover that
later. Evil people from the Shadow Clan? Sounds good. Evil is always needed.
Camelot-esque—We-ell… this isn’t the most popular topic, but it’s my
favorite, anyway. “Camelot-esque” is my term for medieval not set in the woods—
medieval with (preferably) realistic, non-fantastical people, set in/near actual
houses. Another type of medieval.
Fanfiction—Well, fanfiction is being one of your favorite characters
from a certain movie, book, etc., and acting as them. You could do this the
limited way I see most of the time—where you just follow the plot you already
know—or you could do it a better way: going into the past or future and rp-ing
in that setting, at that time. It’s really a lot of fun!
Neopet RP—Kind of simple: You take your neopet, give them a personality,
and act as them. You don’t have to go into the Haunted Woods or skip off merrily
towards the Healing Springs… they could be exploring the far side of Neopia,
or just reading in their Neohome. This type of RP is almost long-gone (I never
see it anymore at least) but a lot of fun.
Before you get mad at me for not including a certain topic, I know there are
millions of other topics out there. Some of them I don’t even understand! So…
moving to the next part: characters.
3. Character-building
Creating characters is one of the most important parts of rp-ing. I’m going
to use my character, Vinnifer, as an example. So let’s start:
What’s your topic?—If you like mostly fanfic rp-ing, then you won’t
need to create a character—you just need to choose one. If you’re doing Neopets
RP, then you just need to choose one of your pets and create a personality.
Sometimes people need servants, lords, whatever, so you could just choose one
of those. I mainly like to do Medieval and Camelot-esque Medieval.
Appearance—Looks aren’t everything? Guess again. You need to create
a realistic appearance for your character so that other people will be able
to paint a mental picture. Maybe they’ll say, “Bob reaches out to touch Sue’s
long brown hair.” Well that’s fine… unless Sue’s hair is short and blonde. Also,
some characters (though not necessarily the actual people) may be prejudiced
against blonde hair. They need to know if they have to act that way toward Sue.
Vinnifer, for example, has long, flowing honey-blonde hair, very fair skin,
and delicate features. She is usually found in some lovely, long, flowing dress.
Flaws—Your charrie’s personality is the most important thing in creating
a character…almost. And every good character has flaws. (Remember, Mary/Gary-Sues
are perfect BUT nobody likes them.) Vinnifer is vain, selfish, spoiled and stuck
up. You don’t need to make your character that horrible, though. Maybe she’s
scared of… everything. Maybe he is sensitive and not very strong but tries to
hide that by acting macho. Maybe they have huge egos. Think of something interesting!
Balancing the personality—You need to think of something good about
the character, unless it is a character who grew up in a world where no one
knew what good was. The personality needs to be balanced. Vinnifer’s good traits
are her history and appearance, though fine things bring out the best in her.
You know what I mean; the character has to balance out.
A history—All characters need a bit of a history. Vinnifer’s history
is that she is the daughter of the King of Bain. She wanted a new horse but
her father wouldn’t get her one, so she ran away and now is trying to find her
way back to her castle. By history I basically mean a biography. Ask yourself
where the charrie came from, ask yourself as many questions as you can think
about your character… and answer them! Something to do that is really fun is
to interview your own character. You will know your character better and be
able to show it better.
So, we’ve created a nice character, and we want to try her out. On to the boards!
4. Using your character
You’ve chosen your topic. You’ve created a character: Time to be your character!
Name: Vinnifer of Bain
Parents: King and Queen of Bain
Flaws: Vain, selfish, stuck up, bratty—too used to being a princess.
Appearance: Long, flowing, white-blonde hair, with wide, grey-blue eyes. Delicate
features, including a dainty nose and visible cheekbones.
Good traits: Respectful and kind to anyone who might be her class or above;
finery brings out the best in her.
Bio: Vinnifer was riding with her father once, and she complained about her
horse. Her father insisted she would not be getting a new horse, so she ran
away, but is now trying to find her way back to the castle.
Time to be your character!
Enter the right topic, read the previous posts and always ask before posting
(unless specified NOT to ask: then don’t!)—Okay, this is important. If you
barge into the wrong topic without reading the previous posts, everyone will
stare.
Let people know if you’re OOC—Always let other people know if
you are talking out of character. Surround it with the proper phrases:
OOC| We need more bad guys. |BIC
OOC means “out of character” and it goes before an out-of-character post. After
the post, put BIC (“Back in character”), press the “return” or “enter” key,
and continue in character. You could also put ((double parentheses like this))
around an OOC part of a post.
Show your character through its actions—One-line posts (referring to
“in-character”) are so hated, sometimes “No one-liners” is a requirement. Sometimes
it’s because people just write, “Vinnifer walked over and said ‘hi.’” If you
show your character through their movements, then people will better know how
to interact with your character and you probably won’t have a one liner. We
know Vinnifer, so how about, “Vinnifer stopped and looked. She started to her
feet and strode over gracefully, nose in the air. ‘Hello,’ she announced importantly.”
That’s better.
Get inside your character’s head.—Since you should know your character
well, you should be able to know what they’re thinking. This is important. Pause,
and think about your character. Ask yourself what your character would do in
the current situation. Talk like them. Walk like them. You’ll understand your
character better, and you’ll better be able to discuss your character’s words
and actions.
PAY ATTENTION!—It is important that you pay attention. This goes back
to the first part about not barging in—you need to know what’s happening so
that you can use it in your posts.
Well, that’s really it. Have fun!
Once again:
See you next week!
I’m out of time and space here, but thanks for reading! See you next time!
Author’s note: If you want to rant or rave about my article please Neomail
me, but please do it if you have a point to make or a question to ask. That’s
all, though, and thank you! See you next time!
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