Gameplay
Good roleplaying is an art, it can take years to master and some people
never seem to be able to get a good grip on it. Mostly it's similar to
writing fiction, the big differences are that you're writing in real time
with no chance to edit, and that you're writing for the other authors.
It's impossible to learn how to RP very well from just one guide, it is an
endless pursuit, and you can be sure that the best RPers get to be that way
because they are constantly working on and refining their art. Those that
feel their RP is already 'good enough' are doomed to never improve beyond
the mediocre.
Good roleplaying breaks down to two areas, good characterization and good RP
writing.
RP writing is the art of using says, emotes, descriptions etc to convey what
your character is doing. This is almost exactly the same as the qualities
of what makes a good fiction writer with one exception. In a story it's
perfectly ok even considered normal to describe your characters emotions and
thoughts, in RP it often isn't. Although there's some debate on the issue
the difference comes about because when writing a novel you want people to
identify with your character, when RPing you want to identify with your
character, other people identify with theirs.
The other reason for this is that few people are perfect at keeping IC and
OOC knowledge separate, it's very common for someone to react differently if
you emote that you fancy them, even though their character shouldn't know
that and therefore shouldn't act any differently.
Generally it's better to follow the same rule that teachers of fiction
writing beat their students over the head with 'show don't tell. ' Don't
tell people what your character is thinking or feeling, show them. Use your
emotes and the way they speak to convey that they fancy that person or
dislike this person.
The other keys to good RP writing are:
Write something that's easy to read and flows nicely, paying attention to
spelling and grammar etc as much as possible. Include all relevant details,
the devil is in the details as they say and a few words to describe the way
in which someone does something can add a lot to the RP.
Brevity, good writing isn't longer than it has to be, the shorter your
emotes and says the less work you're requiring your reader to do. Any
reader would prefer a 200 page book, to a 500 page book with all the same
stuff in it but 300 more pages of furniture descriptions.
Speed, people don't like waiting around longer than they have to, the
quicker you can RP the more RP they're getting for their time. Language,
just like in fiction writing the use of certain words or phrases are much
more likely to strike a chord in people and get your meaning across than
others. Try to use words and phrases that create vivid imagery and convey
things strongly without being overly flowery or convoluted.
Some of these do work a little at cross purposes, trying to include detail
and spell check your RP while also trying to be quick and brief is a
challenge, each person needs to strike their own balance of what works for
them.
The only way to really improve your RP writing is with practice, get out
there and RP and learn from others as well as seek out positive and negative
criticisms. If most people think your emotes are too long and needlessly
wordy maybe think about working on making them shorter. Ultimately it is up
to you, but the other players are your readers, if they don't want to read
your work, what is the point?
Good characterization is the other half to good RP. It refers to being able
to create a character who's interesting and realistic.
Creating an interesting character is really about creating a character
that's good for the story, you might be able to make an extremely realistic
tax clerk character but nobody is going to care about him. An interesting
character is measured by their ability to create RP and their ability to
join to and add to the RP of others.
It's important to note that RP is a collaborative effort, your character can
never be the star they are one member of an ensemble cast. Sometimes the
storyline might thrust you center stage but other times it might thrust
someone else. People get very sick very quickly of playing with someone who
tries to make all RP be about them.
A good and very common example of this is characters with traumatic
pasts/lives. When a character goes through something traumatic in game,
this naturally pushes them more center stage, with a lot of the RP revolving
around the sympathy they get, possibly plans for revenge or ways to help
them deal with it. Every other character around who has a more traumatic
past steals from this attention, nobody else can ever get sympathy because
what they went through is so much worse.
This doesn't mean you can't have traumatic incidents in your character's
past, but it's very important for you to think about other people when you
make your character, how your character can add to RP that isn't about them,
and if they're likely to detract from that RP maybe you need to re-evaluate
them.
Being a good side character is about both adding constructive and
destructively to RP. A character who's always nice all the time is boring,
a character who's always a jerk similarly. Interesting character conflicts
and situations arise from those characters who sometimes are supportive and
sometimes cause conflict. If your character can do both of these, and avoid
any spotlight stealing, then you probably have a really good side character.
Being a good main character is mostly about not being selfish. If the
bounty hunters are after you, yes that might be your problem but if your
character is really set on dealing with it all on their own it gives nobody
else anything to do. When you find yourself in the spotlight is when it's
more important to be gracious, involve other people in the story in
important ways. In return they're more likely to do the same to you when
it's their turn.
Sometimes RP isn't really about you or someone else mostly, but communal.
This often happens in social RP for instance. What makes a good communal
character is mostly the same things that make a good side or main character.
Don't spotlight steal, get other people involved, add to the RP in
interesting and not always predictable ways. Adding to the RP is important,
you might think it's cool to be gruff and silent, but nobody is going to
want to play with you much.
The other thing that makes a really great interesting character is the
ability to make RP happen in the first place! A character with reasons to
RP with a lot of people, get them involved in things, make various other
types of RP happen is crucial to a fun game. Examples might be characters
who throw parties, a journalist who seeks out lots of other PCs to interview
etc.
If you have a character who has the qualities of both a good main character,
a good side character, a good communal character, and creates RP then you
have a really good interesting character!
The other half of the battle is realism.
Realism is very important and often overlooked, it doesn't matter if your
character is a vampire or sorcerer. Stories must have internal validity,
they must be believable within that world, even if they're fantasy stories,
some would say especially if they are. The second your character starts
feeling fake and not like a real person people will stop caring about them,
and it's very hard to get them to again. Very good realistic characters can
make people in real life cry when they're hurt, cheer when they're
triumphant and swoon when they kiss, and that's what you should be aiming
for.
Making a realistic character can be very hard, there's a lot of different
opinions on the ways to go about it. A lot of people like to model
characters on themselves or people they know very well, and this is
generally a solid and reliable way to make your character quite realistic.
The old writer's adage of 'write what you know'. Unfortunately it's often
the case that you want to play something quite different from yourself or
anybody you know. In these situations information is your friend, spend a
little time on the internet researching the areas you want to look at and
the people you're trying to emulate.
The more you learn the better your character is likely to be, but for most
characters a few pages of Wikipedia is probably sufficient. This does refer
to all areas of your character, lots of people are good at doing a bit of
research if they want their character to be say a doctor. But it's a lot
rarer to see people do research before involving a character in a same sex
relationship or making a model or musician.
So that's characterization, it's also largely about practice, taking criticism
and learning from others, but it's also very much about putting the work in
before you make the character and about really being able to take a step
back and thinking about the other players, who are your audience, and how
you can deliver a realistic and interesting character for them.
Once you have mastered both RP writing and characterization, the RP world
will be your proverbial oyster.
Roleplaying Guide
Good roleplaying is an art, it can take years to master and some people
never seem to be able to get a good grip on it. Mostly it's similar to
writing fiction, the big differences are that you're writing in real time
with no chance to edit, and that you're writing for the other authors.
It's impossible to learn how to RP very well from just one guide, it is an
endless pursuit, and you can be sure that the best RPers get to be that way
because they are constantly working on and refining their art. Those that
feel their RP is already 'good enough' are doomed to never improve beyond
the mediocre.
Good roleplaying breaks down to two areas, good characterization and good RP
writing.
RP writing is the art of using says, emotes, descriptions etc to convey what
your character is doing. This is almost exactly the same as the qualities
of what makes a good fiction writer with one exception. In a story it's
perfectly ok even considered normal to describe your characters emotions and
thoughts, in RP it often isn't. Although there's some debate on the issue
the difference comes about because when writing a novel you want people to
identify with your character, when RPing you want to identify with your
character, other people identify with theirs.
The other reason for this is that few people are perfect at keeping IC and
OOC knowledge separate, it's very common for someone to react differently if
you emote that you fancy them, even though their character shouldn't know
that and therefore shouldn't act any differently.
Generally it's better to follow the same rule that teachers of fiction
writing beat their students over the head with 'show don't tell. ' Don't
tell people what your character is thinking or feeling, show them. Use your
emotes and the way they speak to convey that they fancy that person or
dislike this person.
The other keys to good RP writing are:
Write something that's easy to read and flows nicely, paying attention to
spelling and grammar etc as much as possible. Include all relevant details,
the devil is in the details as they say and a few words to describe the way
in which someone does something can add a lot to the RP.
Brevity, good writing isn't longer than it has to be, the shorter your
emotes and says the less work you're requiring your reader to do. Any
reader would prefer a 200 page book, to a 500 page book with all the same
stuff in it but 300 more pages of furniture descriptions.
Speed, people don't like waiting around longer than they have to, the
quicker you can RP the more RP they're getting for their time. Language,
just like in fiction writing the use of certain words or phrases are much
more likely to strike a chord in people and get your meaning across than
others. Try to use words and phrases that create vivid imagery and convey
things strongly without being overly flowery or convoluted.
Some of these do work a little at cross purposes, trying to include detail
and spell check your RP while also trying to be quick and brief is a
challenge, each person needs to strike their own balance of what works for
them.
The only way to really improve your RP writing is with practice, get out
there and RP and learn from others as well as seek out positive and negative
criticisms. If most people think your emotes are too long and needlessly
wordy maybe think about working on making them shorter. Ultimately it is up
to you, but the other players are your readers, if they don't want to read
your work, what is the point?
Good characterization is the other half to good RP. It refers to being able
to create a character who's interesting and realistic.
Creating an interesting character is really about creating a character
that's good for the story, you might be able to make an extremely realistic
tax clerk character but nobody is going to care about him. An interesting
character is measured by their ability to create RP and their ability to
join to and add to the RP of others.
It's important to note that RP is a collaborative effort, your character can
never be the star they are one member of an ensemble cast. Sometimes the
storyline might thrust you center stage but other times it might thrust
someone else. People get very sick very quickly of playing with someone who
tries to make all RP be about them.
A good and very common example of this is characters with traumatic
pasts/lives. When a character goes through something traumatic in game,
this naturally pushes them more center stage, with a lot of the RP revolving
around the sympathy they get, possibly plans for revenge or ways to help
them deal with it. Every other character around who has a more traumatic
past steals from this attention, nobody else can ever get sympathy because
what they went through is so much worse.
This doesn't mean you can't have traumatic incidents in your character's
past, but it's very important for you to think about other people when you
make your character, how your character can add to RP that isn't about them,
and if they're likely to detract from that RP maybe you need to re-evaluate
them.
Being a good side character is about both adding constructive and
destructively to RP. A character who's always nice all the time is boring,
a character who's always a jerk similarly. Interesting character conflicts
and situations arise from those characters who sometimes are supportive and
sometimes cause conflict. If your character can do both of these, and avoid
any spotlight stealing, then you probably have a really good side character.
Being a good main character is mostly about not being selfish. If the
bounty hunters are after you, yes that might be your problem but if your
character is really set on dealing with it all on their own it gives nobody
else anything to do. When you find yourself in the spotlight is when it's
more important to be gracious, involve other people in the story in
important ways. In return they're more likely to do the same to you when
it's their turn.
Sometimes RP isn't really about you or someone else mostly, but communal.
This often happens in social RP for instance. What makes a good communal
character is mostly the same things that make a good side or main character.
Don't spotlight steal, get other people involved, add to the RP in
interesting and not always predictable ways. Adding to the RP is important,
you might think it's cool to be gruff and silent, but nobody is going to
want to play with you much.
The other thing that makes a really great interesting character is the
ability to make RP happen in the first place! A character with reasons to
RP with a lot of people, get them involved in things, make various other
types of RP happen is crucial to a fun game. Examples might be characters
who throw parties, a journalist who seeks out lots of other PCs to interview
etc.
If you have a character who has the qualities of both a good main character,
a good side character, a good communal character, and creates RP then you
have a really good interesting character!
The other half of the battle is realism.
Realism is very important and often overlooked, it doesn't matter if your
character is a vampire or sorcerer. Stories must have internal validity,
they must be believable within that world, even if they're fantasy stories,
some would say especially if they are. The second your character starts
feeling fake and not like a real person people will stop caring about them,
and it's very hard to get them to again. Very good realistic characters can
make people in real life cry when they're hurt, cheer when they're
triumphant and swoon when they kiss, and that's what you should be aiming
for.
Making a realistic character can be very hard, there's a lot of different
opinions on the ways to go about it. A lot of people like to model
characters on themselves or people they know very well, and this is
generally a solid and reliable way to make your character quite realistic.
The old writer's adage of 'write what you know'. Unfortunately it's often
the case that you want to play something quite different from yourself or
anybody you know. In these situations information is your friend, spend a
little time on the internet researching the areas you want to look at and
the people you're trying to emulate.
The more you learn the better your character is likely to be, but for most
characters a few pages of Wikipedia is probably sufficient. This does refer
to all areas of your character, lots of people are good at doing a bit of
research if they want their character to be say a doctor. But it's a lot
rarer to see people do research before involving a character in a same sex
relationship or making a model or musician.
So that's characterization, it's also largely about practice, taking criticism
and learning from others, but it's also very much about putting the work in
before you make the character and about really being able to take a step
back and thinking about the other players, who are your audience, and how
you can deliver a realistic and interesting character for them.
Once you have mastered both RP writing and characterization, the RP world
will be your proverbial oyster.