1. Read all posts/respond to all actions accordingly. Often times there are little details or questions that if you read through things really fast you’ll miss.
a. I have seen people miss things because they are in such a hurry to get through and post that they miss important story changing details
2. Do not act for other characters or other people’s NPCs without their express consent. This is called god-modding and can and often is strictly punished. The only exceptions to this are pre-agreed upon by actors and any actions taken by the GM with any character or NPC in an effort to move the RP/story along.
3. Ask questions as needed; ask a lot of questions if needed!
4. Words paint pictures, pictures are the easy way out. Describe ANYTHING of importance. Describe your surroundings, your character’s looks, actions,and feelings, your equipment, and anything that someone might see and you are responsible for. These descriptions need not be super-uber detailed, but there needs to be enough detail so folks know what they’re looking at, and enough detail to interact. If you don’t leave a description then it is not the fault of others if they assume a usual visual for something. i.e. you say you have a relby, if you don’t say that it is black chrome colored with nightsites and someone else posts that they saw the silvery hilt of your gun in your belt, you’ve got no argument. You could talk to them, but it is on you.
5. You need to describe everything you do. If you’re in one room and there is a computer in another room and you post:
a. “Bob goes to the computer and starts to type a message”
you’ve missed out on all the movement between, does your character have a particular style he walks in or wear certain clothes that rustle as he moves? We don’t get anything about your character that way. Perhaps try,
b. “Bob slowly began to shuffle into the other room, his cane clacking on the wooden floorboards as the eldery man made his way to the computer against the far wall. As he neared the computer, Bob leaned his cane against the desk and braced himself against the desktop with one hand while he slowly began to peck a message on the keyboard with the other.”
See how much more detail there is there? Which one seems to be more pleasant to read?
6. You are helping to write a story. Don’t be in such a hurry to get a post up that you just scribble and post. Take your time. Reread/proof your own post, from an outsiders perspective. Pretend you don’t know anything about what your post is trying to say. See if it makes sense to you that way.
7. Grammar/Tense/Spelling: Grammar and Spelling are easy enough to check with something like Microsoft Word Spell Check or another similar tool to check these things. Grammar, spelling, and tense are all just a courtesy to your fellow RPers.
a. Tense: when writing a post it is important to try and keep your entire post in one tense. For me, this is past tense.
i. Bad example: “John walks to the store and bought a gallon of milks. He then marches straight home and put it in the fridge.”
ii. Good example: “John walked to the store and bought a gallon of milk. He then marched straight home and put it in the fridge.”
I hope this is makes sense. Tense can be a bit difficult at time, but it is important for sure!
8. Emotions: We all have real lives outside of our characters, and sometimes things happen in our real lives that can easily be translated into In Character actions. Remember, just because you had a bad day at the office does not mean that all of a sudden your character who up until this point had been relaxing at the bar just got mad for little to know reason that makes sense IC.
a. On the flip side, sometimes in character events might take place that you are unhappy about, i.e. Master Jedi punches your character in the face.
Chances are that your character will not be happy about this and will react accordingly In character, but do not let this slide over to OOC/RL interactions. Just because you are mad at Master Jedi’s actions, does not mean you are mad at the person behind Master Jedi. Keep IC emotions IC and OOC emotions OOC.
9. Your character is your own. Nobody knows your character like you do. In fact, nobody really knows anything about your character at first; over time people will get to know you character, but they won’t know everything. Your character could have a secret agenda or a hidden trauma in their past that causes them to act the way they do, but only you know that. Nobody else does. So while a GM will attempt to help you keep things IC, it is your responsibility to ensure your character does, says, and is within the boundaries of his character profile at all times.
a. In addition to this, nobody likes a superman-someone who is good at just about everything, has no issues, no shortcoming, no fears, no faults is no fun and chances are that you’re not going to be very well liked as an RPer. You need to be mortal. Take hits from other characters, stick to your skills, and be willing to discuss things OOC without emotions. You are working together to tell a story even if you are enemies IC, and yes sometimes that does mean that you need to loose, whether you like it or not
10. Read/reread/write/proof /reread/proof /post-1.Read all other relevant posts, sometimes this is going back several pages. 2. Reread any posts that you are directly involved with, wether it be someone talking to you or your name is mentioned, or you are interacting with someone else’s actions. 3. Write your response in an offsite/offline setting (MS word or something similar) 4. Proof read your post for grammar, spelling, tense, complete sentences, and just to make sure everything makes sense. 5. Reread all applicable previous posts to confirm that you’re not leaving anything important out. 6. Proof read your post once again to make sure everything meshes up and sounds right. 7. Post your reply and wait for people to be impressed!
Remember, your post reflects not just on your character, but on you, the person behind the character. Based on your writing, no matter what the characters do, the quality of the writing will reflect on you.
What almost all of these guidelines boil down to is basic respect; respect for those reading the RP, respect for the others in the RP, and respect for yourself.
