Hello and welcome to the Roleplay Beginner’s Guide. I am your mini-mod, Gravy and today I want to help you learn written roleplay. So, written roleplay is different from D&D that is done with dice. It has no stats, or levels, or armor upgrades. It’s just you, your friends, and a keyboard. If this is the first thread you opened, please read the Roleplay Forum Rules, first. However, I am sure you have some questions about them. What is God-moding? What does it mean to move another person’s character? 1. God-modding is when you make your character so powerful and amazing, he can’t be harmed by bullets, shoves other characters in the way of harm, or disregards the thoughts and feelings of others. Like an evil Superman. 2. ‘Using’ another player’s character means making another player’s character move, fight or talk without their permission. Imagine you’re playing Monopoly and your friend leaves the room. So, you just reach across the board to move the top hat to Park Place to make them pay rent. It’s not very nice. Please try not to do this. Think of your character as being in a glass-box that can only interact with other characters by asking first. I understand it is a new concept and takes time to fully grasp. Well, let’s start with the basics. In the next few posts, I will show you how written Roleplay works. Yes, it is a collaborative story, however, you each have your own characters, and it is written a bit differently than a novel. When you join a roleplay, you choose or create a character. This character will be yours until the end of the game if you stick around. Other players will join and pick their characters. Then, once there are 3 or more players, including the game master, the roleplay game will begin. The style of writing may change, depending on the GM, but for the example, I will be using third-person-past tense. Like most books do. For the sake of clarity, I am going to use characters from the Wizard of Oz book series. (Which is in public domain.)
A Roleplay Example Dorothy walked through the countryside of Oz, her silver shoes clicked on the golden bricks with each step. Soon, she came to a small farm with a large field of blue corn. She set down her basket and decided to rest her legs. She had no map to the Emerald City and now, she wished she had asked the Witch of the North to create one. Surely, she could do that. She is a witch after all. (This is how you do Out of Character Notes in a Roleplay post. Like footnotes, keep them short and sweet. If you have a big question, go to your roleplay's Out of Character Thread in the Roleplay Discussion Forum. Note how the point of view is 100% Dorothy and her inner-thoughts? Roleplaying a character means being in their head and letting their thought-process through.)
(Now, the next player has a turn) The Scarecrow was bored. He always was. There was nothing to do but to stare at the sky of Munchkin Land from sunrise to sunset. There wasn’t much to see. Just blue. Blue sky, blue corn, and the occasional blue crow that pestered him. Sure, he could try to think of something to think, but he didn’t have a brain. So, what was he going to do all day? He couldn’t do math or make up a song, so instead he stared into the plain munchkin countryside. It was when he was in one of these stares he noticed a strange munchkin with silver shoes walk down the road. She came to a stop and sat down. It was then the Scarecrow said, “hello!” If he didn’t have the brains to think, he might as well talk to someone. (See how the POV of the Scarecrow is 100% his, but also notes that Dorothy appeared before him. Then, he reacts and gives a prompt to Dorothy's player for the next post with his greeting?)
(Back to Dorothy Dorothy jumped when she heard someone greet her. “Oh, hello?” If there were Witches in Oz, it seemed likely there might be ghosts as well. Suddenly Dorothy was terrified. She didn’t like ghosts one bit. “Who’s there?” (So, Dorothy just prompted the Scarecrow's next post and this is the roleplay loop. Prompt > Respond > Prompt. I hope you have all enjoyed this short tutorial.)
