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Author Topic: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter] 7/1/2014  (Read 10210 times)

Offline FaintSilhouette

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Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter] 7/1/2014
« on: June 30, 2014, 07:28:04 PM »

ROLEPLAY TUTORIALS

Hey guys. I decided to import these over from the old forum as I will most likely will continue to update this from time to time. No, I'm not here to complain about the grammatically incorrect so much as try to help those who struggle with certain subject matter and frustrations in written roleplays. Opinions differ, if you don't like what I have to say here, you're more than welcome to ignore this thread. In fact, I encourage it as I don't like to deal with senseless whining.

Now that we have THAT out of the way, lets move on. You'll notice there isn't very much written on this first post and there is a reason for that: a letter/character limit. That said, before you scurry off thinking this thread is unfinished, you will have to scroll down to find the actual tutorial which is finished, but likely to be updated from time to time. The table of contents below will help you determine what posts contain what content. This is a LOT to look at and it was gathered over time so if you're just looking for something specific, I recommend searching for it this way unless of course you like to read a lot in which case more power to you. O.o

And now the table of contents:

TABLE OF CONTENTS (By post number going down)
1. Table of contents
2. General RP Do's and Dont's (Part 1)
3. General RP Do's and Dont's (Part 2)
4. General RP Do's and Dont's (Part 3)
5. How to Keep Group Roleplays from Dying in a week
6. Evil Character Roleplay Tutorial (Part 1)
7. Evil Character Roleplay Tutorial (Part 2)
8. Cub Character Tutorial
9. RESERVED for future updates
10. RESERVED for future updates.

« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 10:21:59 PM by FaintSilhouette »

Lanetic, Rune, and Tiberius drawn by Bazookaneon

Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2014, 07:29:10 PM »
General RP Do's and Dont's
How to make RP easier on yourself and others

So far for the most part my experiences in roleplays on this game have been good, but as we all know there will always be those sour apples who either purposefully or accidentally (most of the time) spoil the bushel. So here is a list of the top most common and annoying roleplay bad habits. Notice I said “bad habits.” We all know godmodders, power players, auto-hitters, mary sues/gary stus are irritating but these are things that are “in between the lines” and just general "do's and don'ts"


1.   Stay in the general vicinity of the people you are RPing with!

 This isn’t such a big deal when it’s a group spread out across a map. That’s fine. Or if you stray from the group, that’s fine too. But keep in mind when you’re doing a 1 x 1 roleplay that when you move your character out a considerable distance, there is no one else for them to interact with while “you’re gone.” That can get extremely dull for BOTH of you because your RP partner is forced to read monologues about your character as well as make up  posts involving only their own character when they most likely would prefer to be interacting with you. Its not a roleplay if you don’t let everyone contribute a part that /fits/ with yours. If you’re in one part of the map and the other character isn’t even remotely aware what’s over there for the entire RP, its not a roleplay. Its just you gabbing about how your character did this and that while blowing off your RP partner’s attempts to do something

This also includes being aware of Local-chat’s range. If you’re RPing in local chat, let your partner know you are moving out of local range so that either you two can decide to switch to something with a bigger range [like general] or give them time to adjust their position. Its extremely irritating to other people when they type a whole post only to find that you moved out of local range, didn’t tell them, and so you didn’t see it.

2.   If you’re RPing with someone, TELL  them in OOC before you move a map, or better yet ASK before you move maps. This kind of goes with number  1. Keep people aware of where you are, don’t just portal hop. Your RP partner will want a heads up. If you’re in a pack, Im sure they’d at least like to know OOC because honestly, if it were me leading I’d tell everyone else not to worry about looking for you and continue the RP. If you can’t be bothered to tell me of your intentions to leave the map, I can’t be bothered to have the “pack/clan/pride go search for you.”

3.   Constant character swaps aren’t appreciated. When you switch characters in the middle of a RP abruptly, you are forcing the other person to adapt to that change. It’s fine if your character ends the conversation or you say “He/she ran off” that’s fine. That gives the other person something to work with when you return with your other character.

4.   If you’re growing bored with the RP, think about what’s making it boring and for goodness sake, TELL (noticing a trend yet?) the person(s) you’re RPing with that you’re bored/why you’re bored. You never know, your friend just might have an idea to make it better. Or if they don’t, in the very least it gives them a heads up to try to end it rather than you randomly going “I’m bored” and abandoning them. That’s not cool.

5.   Realize that there’s nothing that says you can’t RP two different species together, be it peacefully or not. I was telling some others earlier that it seems that the “I HAVE to switch characters and be the same species as your character in order to roleplay” idea that originated in other games *cough* Feral-heart *cough* is trying to make its way over here and it needs to curl up, die, and burn. Don’t feel like you HAVE to switch from your favorite, I don’t know, fox character just because someone else has a lion, wolf, deer, bear, cat, etc. If it’s something realistic you’re shooting for, that is one thing but if you’re already playing something unrealistic, like a fan-character or a fantasy-based character, don’t close yourself inside of a box.  (And even so some real animals of different species do interact anyway.)

6.   If your first post or two is going to be overly dramatic (and I’m not saying that is a bad thing, it can be good if done correctly), warn your RP partner. Like tell them.  Its more than startling when someone starts RP and the FIRST thing someone does is nearly commit suicide. That’s a little…sudden. Too sudden. If you’re going to do something dramatic, at least warn your RP partner and give it some dramatic buildup for a few posts. Otherwise its not drama, its just abrupt and difficult to react to, not fun.

7.   PAY ATTENTION to what’s being told to you in your RP partner(s) posts. They may be hinting at something they’re trying to do but if you’re allowing yourself to have the attention span of a rodent and never read very deep into it, you’re probably going to not only miss something, but frustrate them as well.

8.   Don’t walk off in the middle of a conversation in RP unless its…well, sensible. If the conversation is about families, it is not going to make much sense to have your character go “I’m going hunting!” and run off without giving the other person so much as a chance to respond, let alone “come along” at least. Like 6, its abrupt. I mean have you ever in your life spoken to someone and had them suddenly turn mid-conversation and walk out the door and go “I’m going grocery shopping!” and disappear? No. Just no.

9.   Don’t assume you know someone else’s character and understand not everyone’s ideals and morals are like yours. Not all characters will sympathize with yours. It doesn’t make them “evil” in the traditional sense, it just means they don’t see a reason to give pity and that can come from /anything./ Perhaps they think its /your/ character’s fault for their own circumstances or maybe they’ve been through the same thing and got through it and just think yours needs to “suck it up and get over it.” It doesn’t make them evil, they just don’t have the same ideals.


10.   COMMUNICATE. If you look through a lot of these, a good number of the problems are caused by a lack of communication. You need to TELL people what you’re doing, ASK things, and DON’T just run off and do stuff

11. Contributed by Nitrobug: One of my big things is contradictory character traits...i.e when someones like " They're the queen of all evil, but they're really nice and kind once you get to know them. And they just adore cubs and want to snuggle them" -whatever. Thats kind of an extreme example, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

I get having a misunderstood "baddie", or maybe being a more neutral character, or loving their family or something like that, but come on people, unless your character has multiple personality disorder (which I knew someone who did, and it was rather interesting when done right) dont have two personality traits that are completely on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

12. Contributed by Haruki: When starting a quick group roleplay, don't be that guy who's all "can I be leader pls???"
Or "im biggest male so i lead". Especially if its established there's no group. There's always that guy. Don't be that guy.
just start the RP, enjoy yourself, and be on your merry way. Getting hung up on the details isn't the way to go.

13. Your character, nine times out of ten, will never be as interesting to everyone else as they are to you, REMEMBER that. Its one thing if your character is rather cocky and full of him/herself in dialogue, but if you’re flaunting how “beautiful” they are in the context down to the tiniest detail, please realize that no one cares. Yeah, you read that correctly, no one cares. Your character will only be liked by players and other characters who like them and you can’t force it on them either way. He/she may seem very interesting to you but to others, it doesn’t mean much. Sorry. Long story short, if its not in the dialogue, thoughts of the character, or context pertaining to the thoughts of the character, cut out the self-adoring garbage.

14. Your character’s authority IC does NOT related to your authority OOC.

 I will keep this anonymous but I was on a cub character recently and someone pointed out my dishing out orders, thoughts, and ideas about the RP I was starting. Now keep in mind, I’m the one who arranged this RP and was in charge and they joined me and the other person I already had. Also keep in mind, I was on a wolf cub character while they were on an adult and particularly large animal.

They said I was acting like an adult male of their species of character, seeming to suggest it was strange that I had the authority that I did. And this kind of goes back to 12, that Haruki mentioned. There was no IC leader of this roleplay but I was the one who started it. So in other words, if you hop on some big powerful animal, and the person who starts the roleplay has a character who is less than…well, awe-inspiring, realize that by making the RP, they ARE in still in charge OOC regardless of character size/strength. You’re a human behind a screen, not the animal on the screen.

15. “Evil” can go both directions. Depending on what side you’re on, the opposing side can look evil even if their goals or intentions aren’t necessarily malicious. Meaning your character may be fighting for the “good guys” but in who’s eyes are they the good guys? Yours, and only yours.

[Please Scroll to the next post to continue]
« Last Edit: June 30, 2014, 08:15:23 PM by FaintSilhouette »

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Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2014, 07:30:59 PM »
General RP Do's and Dont's CONTINUED PART 2
Making RP Easier on Yourself and Others

16. Don’t ever, EVER assume that any character mentioned in a post that is not present in the RP is an NPC that you can take control of, manipulate, etc. For all you know, the name you don’t recognize could be a character of another player that the poster ran into earlier that day.

Heres an example:

Lets say someone makes a post with a character mentioning that she saw a dog named “Smokey” earlier that afternoon.  It wouldn’t really be fair if your character “ran off  toward a dog scent and came back with Smokey’s dead body.” Why? If it turned out that “Smokey” was a REAL character that belonged to another player who was absent, they won’t be happy that you “killed” their character while they weren’t on the game. They also will probably disregard the fact you “killed” them (since they weren’t even there to have a say in the matter, let alone allow their character to at least defend itself) and they probably won’t want to RP with you anymore, as neither will the person who made the post to begin with, because now they know you’ll assume stuff and that is not good at all.

17. Don’t do a cliché unless you can put a twist on it or pull it off well and I mean REALLY pull it off well. You know who you are. If you don’t know, you’re probably one of the ones that should try something else.

In all of the years I’ve been roleplaying, I’ve only seen ONE person who can pull off the half normal, half demon with self-control issues cliché without it being horribly predictable, boring, overdone, and dull, despite having seen the cliché itself hundreds of times.


18. Your character’s “mysteriousness” is judged by the people you RP with, NOT you. There are numbers of things you can do to provoke this, but in the end, if you’re intentionally trying to gear someone to think your character is mysterious by blatantly telling them, putting it in the name (ex: “Mystery” or “Mysterious”), or otherwise making it obvious you’re trying to draw them into thinking so, it will not work. And this goes for nearly all RP traits but “mysteriousness” I think, is among one of the hardest to pull off. More often than not, it happens on accident or by majority’s opinion of those you RP with. Because if you’re trying to be unpredictable and mysterious on purpose, the more predictable and boring you will be, because people can tell. Don’t try too hard.

19. Realize the consequences of your character’s actions. Even if you go as far as to (albeit this is going on the edge of ridiculousness) say that your character is strong enough to break through something, their body is STILL just as vulnerable as anyone elses. Meaning if they go through plowing through glass, trees, and underbrush, they still WILL be sliced up, scraped by bark, and caught in the thorns. Likewise, if your character falls off a cliff, pain won’t be the only consequence of their fall. Fractures, scrapes, and concussions galore. Yes, you can manipulate things to avoid your character having as much bodily injury but remember that regardless, your character (usually on Last moon) is an animal, not a tank!

20. You can’t be in two places at once. If you just said your character went up the hill after character A, they can’t be attacking character B down in the valley at the same time. Even if it’s a two on one fight, or even simple non-violent interactions,  you’re still only one character (unless you ask your fellow players and they don’t mind you bringing in an extra char) and you have to deal with it on your own.

21. Winning isn’t everything! You can’t win them all. In the end, you don’t earn anything at all and better character development most often comes through losing rather than winning anyway.

22.  Ignorance and hatred does an evil character not make! [Thank you Haruki for the inspiration for that one]

23.  “Only noobs do that!” Only trolls give a rat’s tail what others do, be it “newbish” or not. [Ive heard more than enough tales from friends about people doing this. x.x]

24. If you or your character constantly contradict yourself/themselves, people probably won’t want to RP with you. No one likes being confused and having to decipher what you’re trying to say.

Additionally if you’re constantly contradicting yourself or your character just to win an argument or be “in the right” people won’t want to RP with you either. It makes absolutely no sense. Don’t suddenly “change your mind” to look cool and don’t think people don’t notice when you do it. If you ask someone to RP and they tell you “no” don’t turn around and say you didn’t feel like RPing. Why would you have asked then? Its pretty obvious and makes you look rather foolish.

25. Not all RPs will let you jump right in, RP for five minutes and leave. Respect that. The owners and players of this RP don’t want people who are constantly hopping in and out because that makes  crafting an interesting plot VERY hard. What’s going to happen if they come up with a great idea involving you but oh, you just disappeared and never came back! Congrats, you just ruined the whole dang thing. If you want to RP for five minutes, join a RP that falls apart in five minutes. If you join a RP that requires you to apply on the forum its /probably/ long term and they probably want some effort put into it. These people aren’t being  “mean” to you. They’re just trying to keep people on the same page.
 
26. SPEAK. For the love of goodness if your character has the capacity to talk, SHOW IT. Now I understand there are quiet people in the world but even they will carry on a conversation if they have to and that includes answering questions. If you notice you’re in a RP where the other person is having to ask all of the questions and carry the weight of the conversation while your character is just “nodding, smiling, growling (with no dialogue), shaking their head, etc”  and giving them virtually NOTHING to work with, you need to rethink your character, regardless of how “quiet and giggling and shy” they are.

I have seen a large number of very well written role-players still do this and this is one of my personal pet peeves and it drives me /crazy./ If a character asks yours a question, either answer it or at LEAST acknowledge it was asked and don’t just acknowledge the /last/ question that was asked. Yes, I understand no one realistically would answer every question shot at them especially at once but your character doesn’t have the memory of a goldfish. Essentially what you are doing is making your character "mute" (without them REALLY being mute) and only talking when it conveniences you. That is IRRITATING.

Let me give an example:

WRONG:
<Tabby>  Tabby wrinkled her nose as she gazed up at the sky and watched the clouds roll in. A drop of water hit her on the nose and after a moment it all started coming down.  Glancing to Susan she said “Didn’t mom say there was a rock shelter somewhere around here? I have a feeling this rain is going to stop anytime soon.”  Shaking her pelt, which was quickly becoming drenched, she tried to find something familiar in the backdrop that might show her the way back home.  Noticing the smile on Susan’s face, she tilted her head. “How can you be so happy when this weather is so disgusting!? And do you know where I left our stuff? I thought it was over here somewhere.”

<Susan> Susan smiled at Tabby, “I like the rain!”

Now, disregarding how short the reply is in comparison to what its for (because THAT is not the problem. Short replies, so long as they acknowledge what’s been said are perfectly okay . The problem with this one is that it DOES NOT acknowledge enough) it should be pretty obvious what’s wrong here. “Susan” answered one thing and it suggests she only read the tail-ends of her RP partner’s post. That is /incredibly/ annoying to people who know you because then they know in order to make the RP move forward they have to try twice as hard not ONLY to carry the conversation but ALSO to shape their posts around YOUR bad habits (as in they have to make sure to put the most important questions at the end of their post) because you only respond to the last thing said.

 Yes RP is meant to be fun but it does take a little effort and if you aren’t putting forth your end of the deal, you’re making it harder on everyone else and it’s not as much fun for them while you get to be “lazy.” Don’t be a lazy Susan! [Pun intended]

RIGHT:
<Tabby>  Tabby wrinkled her nose as she gazed up at the sky and watched the clouds roll in. A drop of water hit her on the nose and after a moment it all started coming down.  Glancing to Susan she said “Didn’t mom say there was a rock shelter somewhere around here? I have a feeling this rain is going to stop anytime soon.”  Shaking her pelt, which was quickly becoming drenched, she tried to find something familiar in the backdrop that might show her the way back home.  Noticing the smile on Susan’s face, she tilted her head. “How can you be so happy when this weather is so disgusting!? And do you know where I left our stuff? I thought it was over here somewhere.”

<Susan> Susan smiled at Tabby, “Easy. I like the rain. It is just water after all.” Susan answered simply.  “What is the difference between water coming out of the sky or sitting in a lake in the ground?”  She asked and shrugged her shoulders at her sister, still rather soft-spoken. “I wasn’t listening when mom was talking and I don’t know.”  Reclining back against the rock wall she placed her hands behind her head and sighed contently.

Notice while the reply remains short, and again that is perfectly OK, it acknowledges what is going on and what was said. Even better, it does not require the other person to come up with EVERYTHING for the next post/part of the RP because Susan asked a question back. Answer a question, ask a question. It’s like tennis.  Not only that but we can still see that Susan is a very to-the-point, soft-spoken, and laid back person but it is subtle and smooth rather than obnoxious and choppy

27. If you are in a group/pack/pride/clan or whatever, don’t acknowledge ONLY the leaders, ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR PEERS. It’s one thing to have a character who bucks up at slightly less-than-highest authority but even if your character does not answer someone elses or does not do what they’re told, at least acknowledge it. Even if it’s something as simple as a thought like

 ‘Who does she think she is? She can’t tell me what to do.’ Margie thought.

Otherwise if you just straight up ignore what the other posts of other players say and only what the “leaders” posts say, you are forcing your group-mates to RP by themselves essentially. The leading characters may not actually know everything about whats going on [Even  though their players do!] Just because they are the leading character doesn’t necessarily mean they will /always/ be the one dropping the hint about what will happen next. [Though they ARE a good place to look] You should also read/acknowledge what other players are doing, otherwise you will be the ONE guy who pops their head up like “Whut’s going on!? :B” and not “get it” when everyone else who was paying attention to everyone else’s posts and the hints managed to put 2 and 2 together and got 4.

People WILL get tired of explaining it to you if it’s obvious it’s because you were not paying attention to anyone’s post but the leaders. I have seen this EVERYWHERE. You are in a GROUP. You are not a trio [You + 2 leaders]. You are not a duo. [You + 1 leader]. You are a group. [You + the leader + everyone else]

28. In a long-term RP, there is not drama and excitement  EVERY day. Don’t  become fussy just because you landed in a part of it that “isn’t that exciting at the moment”.  Every story has moments of calm and moments of drama and so does every RP.
 
29. Time your entrances properly. If something obviously important is happening, don’t bring someone in to “Crash the party” or otherwise draw a great deal of attention WITHOUT asking first. You could be disrupting something critical and more likely than not that behavior will probably end with you ending up bored and ignored and a good deal of folks irritated at you. What you may think is exciting may end up being a drag for everyone else.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2014, 07:41:06 PM by FaintSilhouette »

Lanetic, Rune, and Tiberius drawn by Bazookaneon

Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2014, 07:32:12 PM »
General RP Do's and Dont's (CONTINUED, PART 3)
Making RP Easier on Yourself and Others

30. In some other games/forums this is a rarely encountered problem but let’s face it, sooner or later your carnivore or herbivore character is going to run into its opposite, respectively and it begs a question. How is that supposed to work? Well, that really depends on who you are versus who you’re RPing with. Just because you have the predator character and a prey animal in a RP does NOT mean it HAS to suddenly turn into a lunch break! Here are some things to consider.

When you’re the predator and communication is possible: First off, if you are in the seat of the predator, does the prey talk/capable of intelligent speech? This is what usually draws the line between one’s decision to eat something or not.  Think about it, if you could hear someone screaming for mercy as you tore their throat out….most would probably lose their appetite but arguably there are those who are quite sadistic and that small factor might actually tempt them into doing it.

When you’re the predator and communication is NOT possible: If your RP partner’s character is /not/ capable of intelligent speech or otherwise just can’t communicate across the species threshold, it still doesn’t have to turn into an all buffet RP. Make it easy for yourself. Say your character already ate, too tired to make the chase, or simply dislikes that variety of prey as a food source.  Have them tap into a different food source. Your character could also be omnivorous (I’m especially looking at you, bear characters!) or go fishing rather than take off after that deer that, lets face it, a single animal most likely could not take down by its lonesome without a great deal of difficulty or great injury.

When you’re the prey and communication is possible:  The more timid of herbivores can really lay it on thick. You’re pretty much able to do whatever you want within the limits of the bravery and timid nature  in your character’s personality be it something bold and outlandish, or  the typical running away and being fretful.  Secondly, be willing to give less aggressive predators a chance [again, dependent on personality/experiences].  If your two characters have been there a while, it should become obvious to your herbivore that if said predator /wanted/ to try to kill them, they  [probably] would have done it by now

When you’re the prey and communication is NOT possible: …Realize if they’re not really watching you or otherwise disinterested, don’t TRY to make them interested. You’ll end up looking like a fool as will your character.  The same mentioned above about acknowledging if they really wanted to eat your character, they probably would have done it by now.  And please realize there are more things to do than just “graze”. Go for a dip, play with something, rub antlers on a nearby tree, or simply do the same things you would with a predator character that DON’T involve hunting/stalking/other behaviors uncharacteristic of a herbivore. (Unless that’s your plan of course)
When you’re the predator and /another/ but traditional predator becomes involved OR if you’re an herbivore and another traditional herbivore becomes involved: Realize what they might think of your character, particularly if you’ve taken the route of befriending an herbivore/predator. Will your character be defensive of said predator/herbivore? Or will they just pretend like nothing happened for the sake of their own reputation? Theres SO much you can do here.

A NOTICE FOR BOTH PREDATOR /AND/ HERBIVORE PLAYERS: Do NOT ever make an assumption as a player (now as a character, this is PERFECTLY OK but DON’T do this as a player/RPer) about the “other side” of the fence.  Not all canines/felines/bears/Merlions are out to eat your little herbivore. They’re not bloodthirsty monsters. They have to eat just like anyone else. Likewise, their personalities may not align with the “typical” at all. You’d be feeling pretty stupid if you made these assumptions and then discovered one of those guys is really timid and shys away at the slightest aggressive motion. It can happen and it does happen.  Predator-character players, the herbivores are neither weak nor slow. The reason they’re even alive on in adulthood to carry on their genes is because they already dodged about a thousand hurdles in life. Prey animals have the ability to run, bite, kick, claw, gore (with antlers/horns), throw (antlers/horns) and various other defenses. Your predator is NOT invincible. If your predator was /so/ powerful, prey animals would have been eradicated from existence entirely a LONG time ago.  These herbivores may also may be a LOT braver and bolder than you anticipate. They’re not all going to run  and scream “ohnoes!.” Realize that. And lastly and important NEVER under ANY circumstances kill someone elses character WITHOUT their players permission. I cannot stress this enough! Kill-counts on your character don’t mean anything. It doesn’t make them any more “powerful” or “Evil” either.

31.  Camouflage. It works… but you need think about how. Do your character’s see in color? If they do, your tiger’s bright orange body and black stripes…don’t blend NEARLY as well than if the characters present see in black and white. You’re a big orange beacon. Yet on the same note, depending on where you are and /what/ colors you use, some patterns/colors regardless of how “natural” or “unnatural” they are can blend very well. My character May, for example is arguably unnatural. She is tawny with dark rosettes and spots and a pale green back mane. That stands out REALLY bad /until/ you plant her in a woodland scene with green plants and dappled light. She’d practically vanish. So just keep the environment and whether or not your player’s characters can see in color or not.

32.Don’t get hung up in the childhood, teenager, sex, 2.5 kids and the minivan routine. There is SO much more to a character than trying to pair them up with everything of the opposite (or some cases, same) sex in site! Try your hand at working with characters who goals OTHER than finding that “special someone.” Believe it or not, not everyone “gets lonely.” But that said if your character is not seeking out these things you need to give them some kind of motive or ambition (although to be truthful they should have this regardless). This can make both your character and a RP a thousand times more interesting. Do you remember when you were a kid and you wanted to grow up to be something? A firefighter? A doctor? Whatever? You kind of want the same concept for you character.  Give your character the same kind of dream. It doesn’t JUST have to be an occupation, perhaps it’s a position of power, trying to find how to do some great good for the world, improving one’s physical strength to a certain degree, or whatever. Your character doesn’t NEED a mate and cubs and quite frankly, most of the time, you don’t either. What I mean by that is people get caught up in this rinse-wash-repeat business that it gets boring REALLY fast.

33.  Teenagers can do more than “fall in love.” Seriously. Let them finally venture out to that forbidden place their parents told them not to go. (Assuming you didn’t RP them as a little pain-in-the-hind-end cub who did this already, in which case you’re probably already making a mistake and should do just the opposite. BEHAVE DANG IT.) Or have them try to practice a new skill that’s…not quite what their parents wanted them to do. For example, the pride’s heir might be expected to express the traits of a leader and prepare for combat and yet….he’s too busy experimenting with herbs/medicine. That’s what teenagers do. They experiment. They test their limits in ways OTHER than being a drama llama about romance and misbehaving. It’ll take an active imagination to figure this one out.

34. Let your character make mistakes! Let them be in the wrong! Even benevolent and well-meaning people make errors, let your characters make them as well! People CAN be hypocrites [Ex: My character Candela despises most dogs and stereotypical dog-like behavior despite being half border collie herself, the reason being she sees herself as starkly different when that’s far from the truth. She’s a hypocrite.] As I said in an earlier bullet, no one will ever like your character as much as you do so don’t TRY to make them likable. To be truthful, the more likable you try to make them, the more likely they are to be hated by other players. Why? They’re usually mundane, overdone, and BORING. And yes I admit this does touch on the Mary Sue end of things about not being perfect but seriously, SO many people try to write their character up with physical flaws/abnormalities and thinks that saves them from being a Mary Sue. NO. It’s in the personality too!

35. Anger management. Don’t give your character aggressive outbursts unless it’s a core part of their personality or that teensy weensy ONE (not a ONE THOUSAND. Your character has NO business having a thousand triggers) thing is set off. Just because someone spits a single-word insult doesn’t mean your character should be “IM GONNA KILL YOU.” …No. Just no. The last time someone called you “Stupid” did YOU bring a knife to their throat? Im assuming not. Your character should be the same way. Starting a fight does put your own self [or in this case, the character]’s self at risk, meaning it better be REALLY worth it to get THAT pissed off over. And lets face it, theres only so many things that tick us off that bad compared to the MASSIVE number of things that are petty and just “get on our nerves.”

36.  Figure out your RP’s “Definitions” of realistic, semi-realistic, and unrealistic. They may seem easy and set in stone for you but you’ll quickly find that they’re really not. For example, /most/ people would argue that a canine (in this case, my canine character Joule) that produces electricity is grossly unrealistic and wouldn’t be permitted in a semi-realistic RP….or would it? If our definition of semi-realistic is taking realistic elements and mixing them with slight unrealistic elements, I can tell you I can /easily/ get this sort of canine into a semi-realistic RP. How?

Loopholes.  As the name suggests, electrical eels are capable of producing electricity. They’ve evolved to do that.  So what if said this particular canine is of its own species that has evolved the same adaptation? We’ve already established its VERY realistic (realistic element) to have this ability despite the fact it is never found in canines/anything other than the electric eel (slightly unrealistic). There’s no way to gauge just how “realistic” or “unrealistic” it would be to think that a canine could have taken a similar evolutionary route as an eel as convergent evolution happens all the time in nature (again, realistic.) According to this, Joule fits all of our criteria as a semi-realistic character DESPITE the “typical” notion that she would otherwise have “powers” and be unrealistic. Figure out where your RP character draws the lines between these three but don’t be a stickler for realism. No one likes those type of folks. A little error in detail WONT ruin your RP. Face it, go on and have fun.



If someone has anything to add to this list, feel free. *Flops into a hammock.*
« Last Edit: June 30, 2014, 07:43:12 PM by FaintSilhouette »

Lanetic, Rune, and Tiberius drawn by Bazookaneon

Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2014, 07:46:12 PM »
Tips for Keeping Group Roleplays Alive
Trying to keep a RP from dying in a week

So if anyone around here has taken a look at Last Moon lately, it’s pretty obvious the game is lacking in the long-lived roleplay department. Sure, there’s plenty of roleplays but most of them die as fast as they appear and I have a suspicion as to what might be the blame.  There has been a series of what I will call “trends” in roleplay that began popping up in the Impressive Title/Last Moon/Feral Heart community around mid to late 2010, in line with the end of the original Impressive Title being available and the start of Feral Heart.  This is a tutorial made for group and/or roleplay leaders.

 Now before anyone jumps down my throat, read the entire thread and hear me out. I /know/ I don’t have any roleplay groups going here, I’m only a member of one BUT that is only because I am in college and do not have time to run one of my own at the current moment. Before that though, I’ve managed to run several roleplays from start to finish and one of which lasted nearly 3 years and another that finished out after a year.

I’ll start with the “bad trend” list aand why you should avoid them when making your group/roleplay.

1.   Isolation. This means that your roleplay group, be it a pack or not is completely cut off from the rest of the world. You don’t interact with outsiders or other groups and the only time you will is if someone intends to join your group. Otherwise, you’re just not interested in them and to be quite frank, this is bad, very very bad. Why?

For starters, lets say I stumbled across you in-game with your RP group. If the only interest you have in me is whether or not I join, and I say I’m not sure, or do not wish to yet, and you walk away and mostly ignore me….how does that reflect on you? My impression is that you don’t take a genuine interest not just in me but in those around me. You give off the air that you only care about numbers in your group, not the people in it.

Another issue with this trend is that it’s a behavior that is very restrictive. You are forcing your group members to ONLY interact with each other. In other words, they’re forced to live the “daily life of the pack” or “daily life of the forest.”  To be frank, after a while this gets VERY boring. Eat. Sleep. Fall in love. Have a few kids. Get old. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. There are FAR less chances for conflict between group members as there is between group members and outside forces. In roleplay, conflict [usually] is good. It’s interesting IF you can make it about something other than “being evil cause we can” or “fighting the wolves on the other side of the river.”

SOME group-only RP’s is nice. Builds some bonds within the group not just between characters but also between members but for the most part you should be open to outsiders roleplaying with you  [assuming they also meet your requirements].  Even if it means letting a player who already has a character in the group to pull out another character who is not in the group and roleplay with everyone else, it’s a good thing. It’s a new face in terms of a character and it again, maintains interest.

So to recap,  isolation also known as only roleplaying with your group and its members all of the time is bad because it suggests you only care about numbers, forces members to play out “Daily life” which is both boring and restrictive, prevents conflict [which you actually want], and prevents your group from seeing new faces. On to number two!

2.   One species only. In other words, its all wolves, all lions, all cheetahs, all hyenas, etc. This too, is a pretty detrimental trend.
 Now I will make a special exception for things like “Warrior Cats” ONLY because they are a fan-roleplay and if done properly, will fall into the laws of the fandom’s universe which does in fact only include cats with FEW exceptions [As would be with Midnight the badger and others. Yes, I did a little homework on this. No, I am not a Warrior Cat fan anymore.] Roleplaying Warrior Cats is no different than making  a “Naruto” or “Pokemon” roleplay. 

You stick to the laws of the universe. Naruto  or pokemon will almost always [with exceptions] involve people or pokemon, respectively. It’s a different universe. But with this in mind we must also remember, Last Moon is also a different “universe” from our own and because of that we /don’t/ have to stick to the laws of nature nor do we have to stick to having ONE single species in a roleplay.

So with that in mind, /yes/ we have the option to still stick to our realism universe but is sticking to one species /actually/ realistic?

 When people think of things like wolf packs and lion prides, we get a little near-sighted. We think on the population level. Our species only. Yet in reality, things like lion prides interact with other species on a regular basis. They hunt zebra, they’re landed on by flies, they chase off hyenas. And the relationship does not have to be hostile or threatening behavior either. Birds and rhinos have a symbiotic relationship and the birds can often be seen riding on the rhino’s back. If that’s not interaction between species in real life, I don’t know what is. So the argument that having only ONE species is more realistic is null and void in my eyes.

So now it begs the question /why/ do multi-species RP rather than singularly? What is the benefit? Well, for one thing you’re not restricting yourself as a leader  to only include people who want to RP THAT species. You’re [in essence] forcing them to be like you if they want to participate. This means while you might be a dog-lover, you’re alienating all of the cat-lovers out there and vice versa.
And the solution to this is NOT to make “another side” In the RP where the other species is the enemy.  That has been clichéd to the point it is boring. If you wanted to be unique, you’d let in everybody because as of right now, no one else is. They’ve fallen into the trend of one-species only and therefore, by having multiple species, you would stand out.

And the key is, contrary to popular belief, for the most part you shouldn’t WANT your canines and felines to fight. Yes, I admit I just got through admitting conflict is interesting but the benefit of having your group members ignore the line between species is much more beneficial than acknowledging it. If that’s all your members do is qualm about cats and dogs… [or bears and wolves, or rabbits and deer, etc etc] that’s all they will do and not only is it boring, it has no logical support. “I HATE DOGS.” Why? “I JUST HATE THEM” …..Sounds kind of –cough- silly -cough- don't you agree?

So recap on this one, single species RP is NOT realistic in most cases,  single-species RP alienates people who might otherwise RP with you, you DON’T want another species to be “against” you, you’d be more unique if your group allowed multiple species or variety in some shape or form, and ignoring the line of speciation, for RP sake is often better than the petty and often poorly supported  in-character “problems” it causes.

3.   Not Moving.  This is a bad trend because it SEEMS like a good thing but it really is not. While it might be easier for people to “find” your group if you stay in the singular place, the amount of people you gain by moving around will be greater than the number you lose from the others not being able to find you. Add your newly added members to your friends list so when it comes time to RP, you can contact all of them.

 What I mean by move is, your group might be stationed somewhere like the “Forest map, dimension 4” but you need to stress to your members to roleplay with their characters not just IN the group but also OUTSIDE the group on their own WITH their group’s character. Let them roam and meet strangers. Don’t just assume they will know to do this because you’d be surprised to find a lot of people don’t think they can do this. It will give them exposure to other places and keep from tiring of seeing the “same old place” and same people.

 And if you can, changing territories once in a blue moon is a nice touch too. Let it be an in-character change and something for the characters to adapt to and give REASON for your move. Maybe Ice was too cold, people were getting sick, so your group migrates to Forest. Not enough prey in forest so you move to Hidden Valley several RL months later. It will give flow to everything you do and a sort of “background” conflict.


4.   Having the attitude of “If you don’t roleplay with us all, the time, you don’t care!” Don’t ever think this of anyone. Yeah sure if someone doesn’t RP with you hardly ever at all, yeah its probable to think that there might be something going on in their life or that they just don’t care much. However, it doesn’t mean you should suddenly become a blowhard and boot them straight off the bat. If you’re making your group plots correctly, that is to say, they involve everyone, that one person disappearing off the face of the earth won’t do any harm to the plot because you can just as easily fill that space with someone else, or keep it empty without issue. And besides, if it comes down to choosing one’s friends over choosing your group, people will almost always choose their friends.

5.   Believing strangeness or lack of realism is a sin. This is probably the most damaging trend because the VERY thing that gives a RP maker freedom and creativity  is bashed by it. Realism is, in essence, bland and restrictive. You  can stick to it to a point for the sake of preventing utter chaos and disorganization but allow some freedom. Let someone have the ability to make their markings glow or have cats and dogs living together. Let someone else who came from an alien race be part of your group. Be DIFFERENT. Its what will make you stand out. Forcing other people to be realistic and JUST like you is the first way to encourage people to leave. People don’t want to be like you and you shouldn’t try to make them want to be like you. They’re not here to entertain you, they’re here to entertain  and enjoy themselves. Let them do that. Restricting their creativity will not allow them to do that.

6.   The idea that “I can let people dump apps on a thread and expect it to get bumped.” No. You need group participation and interest to keep a RP thread alive.  It will look cluttered and unappealing if you do that AND additionally people will ONLY go on your thread to do just that, dump an app on it and leave. If they’re not actively giving updates about their character’s antics or just chatting and enjoying themselves, the thread will die. Make your first post look good because it’s the first thing someone will see. Even if you don’t know how to make it look good, someone else does and even IF you can’t find someone to do it for you, make it neat.

Even if it’s not a “literate” (for lack of a better term) or paragraph style RP, copy your thread into Microsoft word and do a spell/grammar check and add pictures and banners if you can and then cut and paste it back. Center your titles, make it pretty. It shows you have a devoted interest in what you’re doing because if I saw a solid paragraph of just run-together stuff… my impression of you is that you rush, you don’t know what you’re doing, and you don’t care enough to use tools and people who are readily available to you to make it look better.

7.   The idea that the group can only RP when I, the leader, RP. It’s a BAD attitude to have. Again, encourage your group members frequently to RP their group character ON THEIR OWN not just inside the group but outside as well. If you end up becoming inactive for any period of time your group will suffer greatly. Additionally if people can RP on their own together regardless of who is there and update you when you’ve missed something, it will benefit so much more. The more people can RP at THEIR leisure and not yours, the more likely they will enjoy your group.  You don’t want people to think you HAVE to be there for them to RP. For once thing, they won’t think for themselves and it’s not because they’re not smart, they are, but it’s because they’ll be looking for your permission for everything, things become less spontaneous and consequently, boring. TELL your group often they don’t need you around to RP their group characters.

I once left a RP for several months around the same time one of my friends did. You know what happened? Our group members were SO adjusted to not having us there that they took matters into their own hands and came up with their own mini plot. My friend and I returned about the same time, took control of our groups again and they rolled RIGHT back to the previous activity they had, no problem. 

8.   Rules were not made to be broken. Ooooh yes they were! Now, OOC or Out of Character rules were NOT in fact made to be broken. In-character rules, however ARE made to be broken and let me tell you, you can really make something good out of breaking In-character rules with a character. If someone gets exiled and shows up down the line, I promise things will most likely get interesting

More to come later! Let me know what you guys think, I plan on getting more in-depth and past just avoiding the “bad trends” of group role-play. No, I’m not knocking anyone who may or may not fall into these trends but merely pointing out these trends negative impacts on a group and how they outweigh the benefits, if you will. Don’t take it personally. It’s just kind of sad to recall how there were MANY Roleplay groups, both of expert and novice role-players’  on Impressive Title and how now….there’s probably enough for me to count on one hand. Anyway, again let me know what you think and if anyone has anything to add, let me know.

Quoted From Haruki:
Quote
I've been the administrator for Pyrrhic Passion for the past 6+ months (30-50 characters involved), and served as a moderator for Zeitgeist back in Impressive Title for about a year and a half (80-100 characters involved). Thought I might share some trends I noticed in successful groups.

Like FaintSilhouette said, keep the first post clean and orderly because that's what people (hopefully) look at first. But what exactly does that mean? Its a very flexible term, but I've noticed a few specific things that long term groups always have:

A members list. And I don't mean just a flat list of characters  and their users.  I mean a small image, basic info, laid-out ranks, and a certain amount of uniformity yet room for individuality.  It may not seem like much,  but it makes a HUGE impression to really see who is in a group. It makes a potential member think "oh that person looks interesting,  I'd like to roleplay with them." Or "wow, there are a lot of people to interact with" Even if there are only 5 members, the list can make those five characters look like quite the group.

Additionally, running with Silh's advice to NOT isolate the group, this means that there will be people befriending members and the group itself without actually BEING members. Allies can play a huge role, too. If you take the time to list the allies and the enemies like you did the members, the thread will start looking official fast.

Another thing that I see in successful groups is that they generally start off with a "seed group." Let me define. Say you want to start a pride, but members don't logically appear out of thin air. Lots of times, leaders-to-be will roleplay with their friends , build relationships between the characters,  and THEN start up the pride/pack/clan  officially.  It gives you a good base to start from. And when people see interactions between other people's characters, they just generally want to get in on the action somehow. Not a requirement,  but it does give you one hell of a jumpstart.

Dunno if it's a coincidence,  but I've never seen a group without any images in the first post last very long. Like, ever. And I've seen /hundreds/ of them. Yeah, probably not a coincidence now that I think about it. Try to make the heading image match the theme you've got running for the group. When I say theme, I mean color scheme, and just overall "feel" of ypur group. You might have a malevolent geoup, so dark reds,  deep violets, dark greens would work in selecting your text. A neutral group might have pastel/hazy blues and greys; warm colors for benevolent groups. These are all suggestions,  but you get me.  Overall,  it has the greatest effect if the banner fits in with the theme of the rest of the thread.

And speaking of "first posts," I guess thats a rather erroneous term. Lots of successful groups actually have 2-5 "first posts" so I guess I should say first FEW posts.  Its a protip... if you've taken this advice and example from others,  your first post is going to be LONG, if not surpass the character limit. Adding in a new member will be a HASSLE.  Post a couple times consecutively.  The staff are cool about it and won't give you a hard time about spamming. Trust me on this one.

Groups that mske their own private website almost always die-- WITH a few exceptions.  Looking at you, Forbidden Lands. Butyeah, unless the following is astronomically huge and keeping track on just a thread is impossible,  don't give in to the temptation to make a separate website. It drops your exposure, isolates your following,  and causes confusion. Not to mention its damn annoying to run, speaking from experience.

Be CAREFUL about forum roleplays. They are slow-going and can hinder ingame fun. Sometimes tey are grest, but you need an absolutely phenomenal group of people to make an "okay" forum roleplay.  In my experience,  they die more than they live.

Have some ceremonies/traditions set up. If there's a lull in fun, they're good to bust out to keep people busy until conflict. Plus, it gives them a little bit of culture, and can add to your group's theme. Can be anything from mate-binding ceremonies to virginal sacrifices to the Sun God. Whatever.

Take screenshots. Lots of screenshots. Whether it be in your first post or shared at random, they always tie the group more the game and show fun things are going on and generates interest.
Give that bitch a picture.  Bitches love pictures.

A rule of thumb: There will ALWAYS be someome, somewhere, that does something better than you. Look around; read other threads and learn from what others have done. What works? What doesn't? If you don't like the examples on this one site, check out other servers (wouldn't recommend FeralHeart but hey, to each their own). Learn from others and EMULATE.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 10:23:43 PM by FaintSilhouette »

Lanetic, Rune, and Tiberius drawn by Bazookaneon

Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2014, 07:48:54 PM »
Evil Character Roleplay Tutorial (PART 1)
Evil Characters Aren't that Simple

For this tutorial I will be using several of my characters as examples. This isn’t to say that mine are by any means perfect, they’re not. However, there are only a small handful of /other/ people I have encountered who can successfully pull off certain character types of which I’m going to explain below and since I have not had the opportunity to ask their permission to use them as examples, I will simply use my own. So without further ado, the first thing you need to know…

What is the difference between aggressive, dark, and evil? For those of you thinking “THERE IS NONE.” Hate to say it pal, you’re a long way off.

Aggression:
  Alright so let’s start with the first category of aggression. First, let’s differentiate it from the other two. While it is true those classed in the “Dark” or “Evil” category can have aggressive behaviors, and in most clichéd circumstances, often do, it is NOT a requirement.  To try to say that aggression is the same as evil is to agree that being timid is the same as sainthood and we KNOW that isn’t true. Aggressive people can and often do function quite easily in every day society. They are dominant, tend to take more forceful and perhaps even slightly exaggerated action (although not always) to solve a problem. This does NOT mean they haul off and punch someone in face for a single rude snarky comment but it may mean they are harder to intimidate, easier (ONLY by a little bit) to anger than the average Joe, and perhaps a LITTLE less empathetic. Sometimes this aggression is exercised as healthy ambition and competitive nature. In the real world, aggression is all around us and the truth of the matter is, most of the time there is nothing morally wrong with it.  (UNLESS in certain circumstances we combine it with the other two, but I’m just now getting to that.)

I have a character by the name of Mismatch who fits this category nicely without bleeding into the other two categories listed below. She’s been compared by others to “that one crazy aunt” or “somebody’s grandma” given that she’s very old fashioned, very blunt, she does not sugar coat or censor her words (except around small children and even that is hit or miss), prone to demand respect from others when she herself hasn’t earned it yet, unaware of how rash she can be, etc. Notice NOWHERE did I say that she is malicious, frequently deceitful, or has darker ambitions. As a matter of fact, despite her flaws (and every character needs flaws, NOT just physical weaknesses but actual character flaws), she is at least /trying/ to have other’s best interests at heart. That is why she’s a herbalist/medic. She likes to help other people despite her outward aggressive tendencies.

Darkness:
Now, contrary to popular belief, darkness for a character does not necessarily have to be about that character’s personality, however most times it does so I’ll burn that bridge first. What is dark? Most of the time dark characters /consider/ although do NOT always /choose/ a morally wrong or damaging solution for their problems. More often than not, these are the types of the solutions that benevolent characters mostly reject and won’t even think about yet a dark character will consider them as an option, sometimes if only a last option.

Mysterious and darkness do NOT necessarily go hand in hand. As I mentioned in another tutorial, the “mysteriousness” of your character will be judged by other people. Don’t try to exaggerate it by naming your character “mystery” or suggesting their actions are mysterious. Let everyone else decide what is considered “mysterious” because for all you know, someone who reads between the lines a little better than you expect may be anticipating every move your character makes, therefore, they’re not mysterious at all. They’re just flat out predictable. Sometimes darkness in character is an expression of their most innermost thoughts or even their surroundings. 

My character, Traveler who after circumstances I won’t go through the effort of explaining right now, had her soul stolen and soon after she realized that her chances of salvation (in her mind at least) went out the window. This gave her some rather unhealthy thoughts and behaviors such as traveling to a forest filled with hallucinogenic ashes so that it might make her hallucinate and see her deceased loved ones, such as her previous mate. That’s….rather dark, no? And it lacks the long black hair and sobbing drama that is so often clichéd with a dark character. Similarly, Calyx sought out the little missing daughter of her former master. Only when she grows very old does she find that the girl died early on in her search and that her ghost was trying to lead Calyx away from the very thing that had killed her in the first place. So in other words, she’s tracking what she thinks is a live person who in the end turns out to have been dead/fooling her all along. That’s a little dark too.

 Notice in either case though it’s very subtle. The characters themselves are both VERY benevolent in nature and yet they themselves (or in Caylx’s case, her backstory/situation) are DARK.  If you’re going to do a dark character keep it subtle. If people actually care, they will notice. If they don’t notice, they don’t care. Don’t make it anything but subtle or you’ll be nothing short of a cliché boring drama llama.

Evil:  And here we have the broad one. What sets an evil character out from the other two categories? Well to be truthful, MOST of the times to have an evil character you usually have at least one or both of the other categories involved (but not always! And sometimes that’s a great thing!). However, what is an evil character by itself?  Or what is evil, really? When you get down to it, from a neutral perspective, most good/evil in literature is up for debate. Let me rephrase it a little better with an example.

Say we have two wolf packs, both struggling to get through the winter. Pack A and Pack B. Each lives on the opposite side of the river.

Pack A has more than enough shelter but lacks enough prey on their side of the river to make it through the winter. Members of Pack A are starving to death one by one.

Pack B has enough prey on their side of the river to make it through the winter but lacks enough shelter to keep all of its members warm. Pack B is freezing to death one by one.

SO. My question to you is, in the case that these two are TOO large for a compromise or sharing of territory to keep all of them alive, or for whatever reason that they CANNOT work together and go at war with one another………….Which side is the evil side? Pack A? Or Pack B?

Can’t answer that one can you? The answer is neither. But I think you can agree that if you were a member of Pack B, you’d be more than upset at Pack A for stealing what food you do have. And they would, consequently look “evil” to you.  They’re stealing your stuff. On the other hand, if you were a member of Pack A, you could say the same for the members of Pack B who try to sneak over and sleep in your shelters. Pack B would look “evil” to you then.

The point is, EVERYONE, “good” or “evil” is a protagonist in their own right.  Even though an “evil” character of mine may seem horrible for wanting to eradicate all human beings from an entire city so that his own kind might take over, he may be viewed as benevolent in another light because he’s paving the way for his own nation as well as possibly avenging his own kind for something mankind did to them first. This is my character Mikey’s motive. Is this beginning to make sense? It’s all about perspective. The same goes with a good character appearing evil. You might be the good guy to put him in prison but on the flipside of things, you’re eliminating his kind’s chances of saving themselves. Doesn’t sound so “good” when you put it like that, does it?
« Last Edit: June 30, 2014, 07:54:11 PM by FaintSilhouette »

Lanetic, Rune, and Tiberius drawn by Bazookaneon

Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2014, 07:50:48 PM »
Evil Character Roleplay Tutorial (CONTINUED PART 2)
Evil Characters Aren't That Simple

And with that we look at the next big thing. Evil characters (and good and neutral and any other character type) should have a motive. In fact, part of what I think makes evil characters so hard for people to RP is because that motive needs to be strong, desirable, and worth the potential consequences in order to achieve it. (Your character is not an all powerful badass, or at least he shouldn’t be. If he is, you’re barking up the wrong tree already!) Motives are considerably difficult to come up and I highly recommend AGAINST using the following cliché motives below. They are terrible and overdone.

World domination: Why not world domination? Its never going to happen and any villain with a realistic mindset will start small. Perhaps an attempt to manipulate one’s way up the group he’s in will suite better as a start. Afterall, if he can’t control just a few people, what makes him think he can take over the world? Exactly.  Most villains are happy with a small, slightly unfair crop of power anyway.
My parents/family/significant other was killed!: Why not the death of parents/family/significant other? People don’t  just take their rage out on everyone else and suddenly “enjoy it” just because something bad happened to them. If that was the case, our real world would have twice as many criminals in it as it does now. It just does not realistically happen and you can't dominate the RP world. Sorry.

Because I’m evil:  Why not this? Because evil in itself and by itself is NOT a motive.  It’s a broad explanation for a character type. Not a motive. You don’t just do harm to another individual “just because you can.” Why not? Because as I mentioned before, a motive must be strong, desirable, and worth the potential consequences. Doing harm to someone else often has major league consequences (be it somebody else hunting the perpetrator down in vengeance or even simply getting their ass kicked when they attempt to harm said someone else). Its not a motive. End of story.

And now we look at the biggest offenders…the “insane.” All I can really say about this one is DO YOUR RESEARCH. Don’t try to portray an actual disorder, condition, or thought process without researching it first even IF you think you know something about it already. Even if you know [or think you know] someone who has it, RESEARCH IT ANYWAY. For one thing not only will you prevent offending someone with said disorder but you also will prevent yourself from looking like a total fool for getting wrong. Trying to do a schizophrenic character and instead portraying them to be a hypochondriac is like claiming to have cancer yet  you only have a scraped knee. Completely irrelevant and incorrect. ALSO realize that some people who might be classed as “insane” do NOT look the Hollywood movie part. In fact, they may just appear to be everyday contributors to society.

Which brings me to the next topic, appearances.

If you’re planning on making your evil character red and black, or all red, or all black, STOP RIGHT THERE. You’re already heading into a massive cliché  fest. Don’t do black with red scars, or black with red markings (or vice versa) or solid red or solid black. DON’T. DO. IT. Why? It’s been done TOO many times to the point I can’t regard 99% of characters who look like this as frightening. In fact, when I see this type of look on a supposedly “evil” character, my expectations plummet drastically. This ESPECIALLY goes for demonic characters. I HIGHLY recommend staying away from these colorations or in the very least only use one or the other to accent (LIGHTLY) completely different colors. For example, Mikey who I mentioned further up in the tutorial is in the roleplays considered evil yet hes solid silver in coloration. His eyes are red, but that’s about it. December, another evil character of mine is a dingey brown/green that’s rather unpleasant to look at but has an intimidating look to it and her eyes are, surprisingly, just brown. Yep. Brown. But it fits with everything else and the intimidating atmosphere around her in combination with her behavior/motive is maintained.

Lastly we have supplementary traits. These can be added after a character’s initial categories have been “picked” and you may have to actually RP the character to figure it out/see which ones work for you and which ones don’t and let someone /else/ be the judge of how good you are at it. If you’re straining and struggling, it will be more than obvious to everyone else and it will take away from the effect. These traits do NOT standalone and are intended to accentuate the other categories.

Withdrawn/Hermit: Aggressive and/or Dark. The very  reason for a character’s aggression or darkness may be other people and consequently, desirable to avoid. The reason I did not list it for “evil” characters is because most (although not always) of the time, in order to be considered evil, you have to purposefully and maliciously commit harm toward another being and that’s pretty hard to do if they never come into contact with another being. It doesn’t mean an evil character can’t be anti-social but these are just general traits/suggestions
Sadistic: (All three) Believe it or not, even a benevolent character can be sadistic. If that good-hearted knight takes a little too much joy in seeing his enemy gag and suffer in his death on the end of his sword…well, we might consider him sadistic. That said, while being sadistic is /primarily/ associated with the evil characters it can blend with the aggressive or dark categories

Outgoing:  (Primarily evil or aggressive) WHOA. How did this get here? Allow me to explain. Your aggressive character, as I said may not fall into the evil category, giving them a chance for some more “natural” personality traits and behaviors. On the other hand an evil character may like to appear to be outgoing for the sake of gaining trust and power (only to break said trust and abuse said power later)

Hypocrite: (All three categories although it often conflicts with the evil category. I don’t recommend using this for an evil char unless you REALLY know what you’re doing.): Says one thing that goes against one’s own actions, being, words, etc.

These are just a FEW examples of things you can accent your character’s personality with and I highly recommend finding other traits and using many of them instead of just basing your character on the solid categories themselves. (Which as I said can be combined or stand alone)

In conclusion, I’ll just give a description of some of my characters who may fit some categories, and not others.

Mismatch. (Aggressive only. From previously in the tutorial.): She’s been compared by others to “that one crazy aunt” or “somebody’s grandma” given that she’s very old fashioned, very blunt , she does not sugar coat or censor her words (except around small children and even that is hit or miss), prone to demand respect from others when she herself hasn’t earned it yet, unaware of how rash she can be, etc. Notice NOWHERE did I say that she is malicious, frequently deceitful, or has darker ambitions. As a matter of fact, despite her flaws (and every character needs flaws, NOT just physical weaknesses but actual character flaws), she is at least /trying/ to have other’s best interests at heart. That is why she’s a herbalist/medic. She likes to help other people despite her outward aggressive tendencies.

Candela (Aggressive, Dark, but not evil): Like Mismatch, Candela has some rather moody tendencies, often calling out and insulting others simply from the lack of desire to censor herself and cover words up in unnecessary sugar. She’s blunt, like Mismatch but she’s also rather sadistic in nature. Though she doesn’t wish to do the world in, she does enjoy watching her enemies suffer and just /barely/ stays out of the evil category. Being prone to make more unorthodox decisions and solutions puts her in the dark category.

Reign (Evil, aggressive, but not dark.):  Reign has done some rather malicious things in terms of both his history and role-play. He’s also prone to aggressive outbursts. However, despite being a demon, he cannot be classed as dark? Why not? Well, to be truthful, there’s nothing really “dark” about him. He doesn’t just /consider/ the most harmful option, in fact, if it’s not part of his plan or his orders, he goes for what is simplest regardless of whether or not it harms someone or not.  On top of that, he’s rather strange for an evil character as he is beneath average in strength (although not in size) and he’s a big wuss. Yet because his actions are aggressive and malicious, he remains in the evil and aggressive category regardless. The fact he is easily frightened does NOT warrant his removal.

Caylx and Traveler (Both are dark only. From previously in the tutorial): My character, Traveler who after circumstances I won’t go through the effort of explaining right now, had her soul stolen and soon after she realized that her chances of salvation (in her mind at least) went out the window. This gave her some rather unhealthy thoughts and behaviors such as traveling to a forest filled with hallucinogenic ashes so that it might make her hallucinate and see her deceased loved ones, such as her previous mate. That’s….rather dark, no? And it lacks the long black hair and sobbing drama that is so often clichéd with a dark character. Similarly, Calyx sought out the little missing daughter of her former master. Only when she grows very old does she find that the girl died early on in her search and that her ghost was trying to lead Calyx away from the very thing that had killed her in the first place. So in other words, she’s tracking what she thinks is a live person who in the end turns out to have been dead/fooling her all along. That’s a little dark too.

At the end of the day the best thing to do is to figure it out for yourself. It’s alright to look at villain characters other people have made but try to figure which ones are suitable for roleplaying and which ones should remain “just in the movies” before you imitate them. More importantly, don’t follow the cliches. Put your own spin on it!

SECTION 2: Reputations don’t come lightly.

When you first create a character with an evil alignment do NOT expect ANYONE to take you or them seriously. What do I mean by this? If you JUST made a new character, don’t heavily hint at your character’s “big bad history” through dialogue. Why? No one cares. While it may not make sense on the surface, your attempts to heavily hint your character’s “bloody history” are actually counterproductive.

This is where things become very complicated. Even though your character is entirely fictional and the difference between you just making up the character’s history or actually waiting and adding history to their bio as it is role-played out is so incredibly small, there IS a value to having some of it roleplayed out. Allow me to explain.

As I have mentioned before (either here or in previous conversations), any character’s reputation be it good or bad is not up to you at all. It is up to the people around you and this includes how intimidating a character comes across to someone else. That said, the more you try to push an impression of fear on someone, the less likely it is to have an effect.  Effective evil-type characters don’t publically boast to total strangers that they killed, cannibalized, tortured, whatever somebody. They don’t. Realistically this is…well not realistic at all. Why would anyone boast something that could potentially earn them unwanted attention? An evil character does not openly brag to random people because that would foil their plans and they do NOT want other characters to foil their plans. Still following?
 
What I’m saying is, USUALLY the only time this sort of “bragging” is used by an evil character is to piss someone  else off and it has to be of some reasonable significance. Yes, my character May is benevolent. But if you tell her out of the blue, as a new character and total stranger that you murdered someone a few hours ago that she knows NOTHING about, I’m sorry but she’s not going to suddenly jump into the fray and fight you. In fact, from my own personal view I find it almost laughable. Now, an example of this being used EFFECTIVELY [as that last example was of it being used poorly], would be a villain who tells or otherwise provides some frightening evidence (like a severed tail or head or something) the other character that they’ve killed someone close to them.

And even with that said, villain characters do NOT just kill people for the sake of killing people. They don’t kill people for the sake of JUST scaring other characters either. There HAS to be an underlying motive. I cannot stress this enough.

Your evil character does NOT have to physically assault, argue with, or otherwise “misbehave” in the first roleplay with someone. Second, realize one incident won’t earn a reputation with every other character in the game. If your character attacks Johnny and then turns around and runs into Janey the next day but Janey doesn’t know nor care about stranger Johnny, guess what? You’re back at square one. Your villain character will return to square one a LOT. Get used to it.

Now with all of THAT said, how does a villain character build a reputation? This is much harder. Now first, I will say that…. You have to be good at playing a villain character. If you’re not good at it, people will NOT want to RP with you playing that villain character after the first time and that basically seals the end of it right there. You want your character  to build [albeit poor] relationships with other characters. [And perhaps a few good ones if they share the same motives and can actually work with another villain. If you can pull this off, it is often very interesting.] You WANT them to run into the same characters again and again but not SO frequently that it becomes a common thing. Maybe once every few weeks if your friends and you RP actively. Maybe do it once every few months if you don’t actively RP.  Just don’t bring your villain character out to the same set of your friend’s characters every other day. Bad idea.

Ok. Example time so, I will use what is easily my most developed villain character. Now while I admit his initial history to start with the world of RP is already littered with some bloodiness, it is OK as long as it is not flaunted. He was part of a massive take over and slaughter of a lot of people. Does he flaunt it? No. He’s proud of it sure, for reasons relevant to his motive. But even so, when he started out, he had ZERO in terms of a reputation. Now he has one. So what happened?

The RP in which I first put him, I allowed him to come into contact with  a frequent same-set of characters. No, not everyone was present at the same time and people would switch around all the time BUT the point being, he came into contact with SOME of them on multiple occasions. Word spreads between characters and their players, and if you’ve RP’d fairly and actually managed to make your character come across as intimidating, boom, reputation.

So this entire section in a nutshell is, DON’T let your villain characters boast what’s in a written history, and preferably, don’t even boast what happened in a roleplayed out history unless its highly significant [and more often than not, it won’t be and you won’t be able to use it.] If you want a villain character with a reputation in a roleplay, you’re going to have to work a little. I know that sounds weird considering RP is just fun and all but lets face it, going “RAWR. I R EVIL. ANGRY. INTIMIDATING. FEAR ME. I KILLED PEOPLE” even in the best written form…………is just going to get you laughed at. Lastly, some characters will not take your villain character seriously based on their own reputation or personality, deal with it and get used to it.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2014, 07:55:32 PM by FaintSilhouette »

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Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2014, 07:55:44 PM »
Cub Characters Tutorial
The good, the bad, and the face-palm worthy.

Cubs. Puppies. Babies. A good number of people love baby animals and children but not on virtual games like these. Why? Because usually, most of the people playing them, in my opinion, are doing it wrong. Now before I get to this tutorial, let me go off on a mini-rant. Good-behaved cubs (which is the term I will be using from here onward. Just realize I am referring to cubs, pups, and other child-age characters) are NOT boring or unbelievable contrary to popular belief. Not to mention "good" is a very broad definition in itself. Bad cubs aren't bad to play, they're quite entertaining but this is a character type that is done more often and done incorrectly. So lets start off with the pro's and cons of bad cubs plus the errors people frequently make with this character type and then I will move onto the good cubs and cover the same material.

Badly Behaved Cubs.
These are the little rebels, the bullies, the sassy ones, and the smart alecks. They don't listen to their parents very closely unless their life depends on it and tend to throw tantrums. What they do NOT do is throw themselves into rivers, down waterfalls, walk the edges of volcanos, deliberately walk on thin ice, or jump in front of an oncoming train. You know who DOES do those things? Attention seekers with cub characters at their disposal. NOBODY and I mean NOBODY likes an attention seeker. I cannot COUNT the number of times I have watched someone "drown" a cub character in a body of water and had them wail for help for twenty minutes straight only to either be ignored and disconnect (a valuable lesson I think these attention seekers need. Seriously, don't feed them attention, it only makes them want more) OR they end up having someone pay attention to them and they REPEAT the behavior five minutes later to be rescued again. Do you see what is wrong here?

 Children much like adults enjoy long, pain-free lives so it doesn't exactly behoove them to do these stupid things and you can feel safe in assuming that if your character's parents (should they have any) have already told them this.

PROS

1. You have a motivation/reason for your cub character to be breaching their limits. That is to say, they want to overstep their bounds be it their parents rules or the territory. And to be quite frank, this is both entertaining and good plot fodder. But make sure you're only doing it for that reason. Don't do it to make the parent-players miserable. That isn't what you're here for.

2. Because of the extra exposure thanks to number 1, its realistic to believe that these cubs may catch onto things faster than their better behaved siblings. They may uproot secrets faster by being where they should not or doing what they should not.

3. If you should tire of their boisterousness, a simple 'scarey' event during one of their excursions should keep them at home/behaved for a while, as well as an injury. Quite frankly I find it easier to "turn a bad cub into a good one" than the other way around but that's just me.

4. Though a quiet "behaved" cub can become the same, these guys are the ones who are usually easier to morph into malevolent characters if that happens to be what you're shooting for. I'm not saying a misbehaved cub becomes a villainous adult but in terms of building of a backstory, I've personally found this to be the easier type to start with.

CONS
1. Despite the freedom mentioned in number 1, this constantly breached freedom may lead to your character being restrained to a small area via their parents actions or strict supervision. Having a character stuck in one map isn't fun.

2. You need to time your character's outbursts properly. If your character is CONSTANTLY a pain where the son doesn't shine, people will not want to RP with you. Don't let your cub character act like a total demon, even if they are one. They are just kids afterall.

3. Venturing outside of a set safe territory can be particularly dangerous for a cub character to do. Afterall, being without parents when a massive monster comes barreling through the forest looking for easy prey isn't really conducive to you keeping your mostly defenseless cub character alive. (No, sorry, at 6 months old, you are not a badass. Move along.)

4. These cubs are usually harder to maintain a stable personality for, especially if they go the malevolent route but in either case, you need to be able to have them adapt as they 'grow up' And yes, you will eventually need them to GROW UP. No one wants to take care of your pain-in-the-butt cub forever.

Good Behaved Cubs

1. They tend to be given "real" freedom first. They do as their parents tell them so they tend to be the ones who receive privileges and rewards first while their misbehaved counterparts are held back.

2. Their relationship with their parent-characters, in my experience, tends to last longer.  This is fairly self explanatory.

3. Since good-behaved cubs are less common than badly behaved ones in the Last Moon universe, they can be used to create all kinds of friction between siblings. They can be mocked for their good behavior and retaliate accordingly, thus creating friction, which is interesting.

4. Well behaved cubs may be trustworthy enough to look after younger siblings in the parents absence. Again, this presents more opportunities for you to come up with different scenarios/ideas.

CONS
1.  They're hard to keep from becoming mary sues. Even good characters need personality flaws. Just because a child is "friendly" and "kind" doesn't mean they can't be selfish. And honestly, many children are selfish especially if they haven't been taught by their parents about what it means to be giving and how to share.

2. They tend to be the ones who end up "stuck" after the litter becomes grown. Unless you can find some "cause" for them to be, after they dont have their siblings to bicker with or chase around, it often becomes hard to give them a reason to be anywhere other than with their parents or aimlessly wandering around. Again, not that fun.

3. They tend to be targets of villain characters. If your character's parents have ANY enemies, its pretty easy to believe that the "bad" cubs will be kidnapped and/or used, and the good/well behaved cub characters will end up being killed for simply not being 'evil enough.'

4. This kind of goes with the pro of #4 simply because it can also be a con. If all of the younger siblings are misbehaved, this means you end up playing big bro/sis/substitute parent and that can be a hassle.

Cubs, Size Meets Strength Meets Powers
Lets cover size really quickly. Your cub character, on average is usually not even HALF the size of a NORMAL adult character. An adult character cannot even kill an elk by itself so what on earth makes you believe a cub can kill something over twice, perhaps even thrice or quadruple in size by comparison? Size alone won't accomplish this and even the "strongest cub" won't be able to overpower an adult. Sorry, not happening.

So you jump to powers. But why? Your child character doesn't need to impress anyone and honestly, no one will BE impressed with your godmoddish cub. If your cub character has powers, let them be developed SLOWLY. And if you're the kind to let said powers be "out of control" don't let said out of control powers be monsterously obnoxious because if your cub character is a danger to everything that moves, its not going to go over well with your fellow roleplayers. Be smart, please.

Orphaned, Abandoned, or Otherwise Parent less Cubs
If the cub's parents left it "just because" or the parents were killed/taken by hunters or a fire, just back away from the cub. These back-stories are HORRIDLY cliche and predictable and they are NOT your only option for having a cub that has otherwise found itself alone. I'm not saying a "tragedy" of sorts couldn't have befallen them but at least double check with a number of those around you to see if it has been thought up before. "Orphaned" characters are among the MOST difficult to create unique backstories for. I get it. But if you're going with the flood/fire/hunter concept, don't be surprised if other people roll their eyes and ignore you. You can do SO much better than that. And sometimes, knowing what happened to the parents isn't that important so if you want to remove that bit of information do it. Pull the amnesia card, do SOMETHING. Other players and characters won't care about two lovers who are strangers who produced your cub if they are no longer alive to interact with them. End of story.

Example:

I can give a little example of one my characters who was not orphaned but not raised by her parents. Vintage was born to Joule and Voltage. Voltage was a villain character and Joule was set in charge to pursue and arrest him. Voltage seduced Joule and Joule let him go. The incident WOULD have been left in secret if not for Vintage's birth to follow, the spitting image of her father. With Volt on the loose and having no knowledge of his child and Joule being put under arrest for treason, that left Vintage without a caretaker. She was taken to her aunt who has poor relations with Volt on top of poor parental skills who tied her up in a sack and dumped her in a basket in a vendor's cart in the market place where another character later found and released her. Did Vintage feel rejected? Yes. Did she go a little bonkers moving from one caretaker to the next after that? Yes. Did she whine/cry/carry on about it every hour of the day? No. Is she a cliche my parents died in a fire/hunters/left me bullcrap? No.

Its possible to come up with something different and unpredictable. It really is.

Possible updates to come but I am finished with this section for now.

« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 10:20:03 PM by FaintSilhouette »

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Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2014, 08:00:40 PM »
Reserved for updates

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2014, 08:04:31 PM »
Reserved for updates. You may post now.

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Offline Haruki

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2014, 07:09:21 AM »
Still love this. Always have; always will.
Dunno if you're still taking suggestions, but I'd like to add in a little something. C:

I've been the administrator for Pyrrhic Passion for the past 6+ months (30-50 characters involved), and served as a moderator for Zeitgeist back in Impressive Title for about a year and a half (80-100 characters involved). Thought I might share some trends I noticed in successful groups.

Like FaintSilhouette said, keep the first post clean and orderly because that's what people (hopefully) look at first. But what exactly does that mean? Its a very flexible term, but I've noticed a few specific things that long term groups always have:

A members list. And I don't mean just a flat list of characters  and their users.  I mean a small image, basic info, laid-out ranks, and a certain amount of uniformity yet room for individuality.  It may not seem like much,  but it makes a HUGE impression to really see who is in a group. It makes a potential member think "oh that person looks interesting,  I'd like to roleplay with them." Or "wow, there are a lot of people to interact with" Even if there are only 5 members, the list can make those five characters look like quite the group.

Additionally, running with Silh's advice to NOT isolate the group, this means that there will be people befriending members and the group itself without actually BEING members. Allies can play a huge role, too. If you take the time to list the allies and the enemies like you did the members, the thread will start looking official fast.

Another thing that I see in successful groups is that they generally start off with a "seed group." Let me define. Say you want to start a pride, but members don't logically appear out of thin air. Lots of times, leaders-to-be will roleplay with their friends , build relationships between the characters,  and THEN start up the pride/pack/clan  officially.  It gives you a good base to start from. And when people see interactions between other people's characters, they just generally want to get in on the action somehow. Not a requirement,  but it does give you one hell of a jumpstart.

Dunno if it's a coincidence,  but I've never seen a group without any images in the first post last very long. Like, ever. And I've seen /hundreds/ of them. Yeah, probably not a coincidence now that I think about it. Try to make the heading image match the theme you've got running for the group. When I say theme, I mean color scheme, and just overall "feel" of ypur group. You might have a malevolent geoup, so dark reds,  deep violets, dark greens would work in selecting your text. A neutral group might have pastel/hazy blues and greys; warm colors for benevolent groups. These are all suggestions,  but you get me.  Overall,  it has the greatest effect if the banner fits in with the theme of the rest of the thread.

And speaking of "first posts," I guess thats a rather erroneous term. Lots of successful groups actually have 2-5 "first posts" so I guess I should say first FEW posts.  Its a protip... if you've taken this advice and example from others,  your first post is going to be LONG, if not surpass the character limit. Adding in a new member will be a HASSLE.  Post a couple times consecutively.  The staff are cool about it and won't give you a hard time about spamming. Trust me on this one.

Groups that mske their own private website almost always die-- WITH a few exceptions.  Looking at you, Forbidden Lands. Butyeah, unless the following is astronomically huge and keeping track on just a thread is impossible,  don't give in to the temptation to make a separate website. It drops your exposure, isolates your following,  and causes confusion. Not to mention its damn annoying to run, speaking from experience.

Be CAREFUL about forum roleplays. They are slow-going and can hinder ingame fun. Sometimes tey are grest, but you need an absolutely phenomenal group of people to make an "okay" forum roleplay.  In my experience,  they die more than they live.

Have some ceremonies/traditions set up. If there's a lull in fun, they're good to bust out to keep people busy until conflict. Plus, it gives them a little bit of culture, and can add to your group's theme. Can be anything from mate-binding ceremonies to virginal sacrifices to the Sun God. Whatever.

Take screenshots. Lots of screenshots. Whether it be in your first post or shared at random, they always tie the group more the game and show fun things are going on and generates interest.
Give that bitch a picture.  Bitches love pictures.

A rule of thumb: There will ALWAYS be someome, somewhere, that does something better than you. Look around; read other threads and learn from what others have done. What works? What doesn't? If you don't like the examples on this one site, check out other servers (wouldn't recommend FeralHeart but hey, to each their own). Learn from others and EMULATE.



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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter]
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2014, 12:57:20 PM »
I'm so glad you reposted this here. Gotta re-read all of it sometime soon.

Offline FaintSilhouette

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter] 7/1/2014
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2014, 10:25:32 PM »
Thank you guys! ^_^ I appreciate it. Also, I added what you said in a quote, Haruki.

Updates 7/1/2014
1. Haruki's quote added to Keeping Groups Alive Tutorial
2. Added a Cub Tutorial

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter] 7/1/2014
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2014, 11:57:59 PM »
Very good tips Sil!
I've read over them, and I thought that maybe I can contribute?

First off, it is always good to keep in mind that no matter how much time you spend on developing a new character, no matter how satisfied you are with their design/story/personality and no matter how good they might sound/look to others, etc, they are still very capable of becoming just another wasted space in your roster. What I mean is, they don't show up in so much as two roleplay sessions and instead just sit there....rotting...and not be used again. And it IS possible, and probably more likely to happen if you have a lot of characters. Every roleplayer will experience loss of muse (motivation or ideas to write for a character) or become distracted/focused on a certain set of other characters. Your timing for the character might have just been poor IC wise, depending on the events that have already been set in your group's story. Whatever the case, it can happen, and chances are it will.

That being said, also keep in mind that the complete opposite can happen. You might have created a random character out of the blue, with no time to work on his/her back story, personality, whatever. You might take some time to work on their personality after a while, but you don't have any big plans for them. And yet, suddenly, there comes the perfect opportunity for your character to shine, for whatever reason they become tied into some big plot because of one roleplay, and suddenly, woop-dee-do, you're using them often. Now this doesn't happen nearly as often as the opposite, but it can happen.

Next thing. Give your individual characters breaks. Don't stick to one character all day for several days. Mix it up, give your partners and yourself a chance to use different characters and promote some new development between them. You might have a ton of muse for one character, and that does happen, but try to use a character that you would be comfortable using in their place every once in a while. Who knows, you might just write up a really good roleplay using that character. And while your favorite might be a likable character in general, using that same character over and over and over in several consecutive roleplays can create boredum for your partners. This is especially if you're on frequently.

That's all I have off the top of my head.
B A Z O O K A ! !


Offline Manapotion

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Re: Roleplay Tutorials [Various Subjectmatter] 7/1/2014
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2014, 07:57:01 AM »
The only irritating is that i can't do this ” Sign by any IT Server :/