Roleplaying Guidelines

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Jools Noctru
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Joined: May 16th, 2011, 2:01 pm
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Roleplaying Guidelines

Post by Jools Noctru »

Roleplaying in a forum is something you will do together with others. While it is possible to create a solo freestyle thread (like a diary of sorts), most threads are based on teamplay.

To make forum RP as enjoyable as possible for everyone, please take the following pointers in mind when writing your posts:
  • Spell-check: Use correct grammar and punctuation. Nobody likes reading typos or "chat speak" and it is often immersion-breaking. Typos are fine, but they can easily be avoided.
  • Post length: Of course, the quality of your post is more important than the quantity of words, but describing your character at length, their emotions and surroundings, that is what separates the beginners from the experienced roleplayers.
  • Separate IC and OOC: Learn to separate between In-Character (IC) and OOC (Out-Of-Character) writing, and keep OOC posts to an absolute minimum. Generally, OOC remarks in an RP thread break the flow for people reading your scenarios. If there is much need for OOC discussion, please consider creating an OOC thread for your scenario.
  • Learn your tenses: The most accepted form of writing RP posts is in third person past tense. Third person means that you write as if you were the narrator of a story, referring to your character as "he" or "she". Past tense, or past continuous tense means that you write as if everything you describe has already happened, or was an ongoing action in the past:
    Last night at 6 PM, Jools ate dinner.
    Simple past tense: I started eating at 6 PM.
    Last night at 6 PM, Jools was eating dinner.
    Past continuous tense: I started earlier; and at 6 PM, I was in the process of eating dinner.
  • Learn your dialogues: Dialogues can be a good way to change the flow of your post, and are excellent to relay spoken information. Spoken dialogues or a character's thoughts are usually written in first person present tense. First person means your write it as if YOU are saying it. In forum RP it's common practice to make thoughts italic, and spoken text bold and have "quotation marks", though it is not mandatory to do so. It's also usually a good idea to break up your dialogue with 'white lines' (space them), as it makes them easier to read, and easier to understand who is talking. Additionally, it's a good idea to actually include who is talking (in third person past tense):
    "Oh no!" Jools panicked, "That was our last bottle of Reserve! Dad's gonna be furious when he finds out!"

    "THAT was Whyren's Reserve? I'm pretty sure your dad was tricked." Ganner responded unimpressed.

    Jools held her glare for a while.

    Ganner smirked, "Trust me, babe. I know my liquor."
  • Last, but definitely not least, don't be afraid to ask for assistance: Right now you're in the RP Training forum, that means you're already doing the right thing, which is reading up on this stuff. There is only so much you can learn on your own, though.
Take a moment to request a new Training thread to start your one-on-one training. Then, when you feel confident, you can join a running Freestyle scenario (first make sure new applicants are still accepted), create your own Freestyle RP or join a Dynasty Chronicle. Please note: to join a Dynasty Chronicle and start earning Points at full rate, you need to have completed your RP training first. You will be listed as a "graduate" upon completion.

If you are wondering why you need to graduate for Dynasty Chronicles, it is because we want to ensure the posts are of high quality. Participating in a Dynasty Chronicle is a long-time commitment (at the moment of writing we're predicting running times of around 3 months). To make these scenarios fair for all players, we want to quality-check participants before entry. Passing your RP Training here indicates that you have sufficient prowess in writing quality posts.
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