04-27-2006, 03:56 AM
Terms and Abbreviations:
OOC: - Stands for Out Of Character. Used to make a non RP post.
BIC: - Stands for Back In Character. Used if you made an OOC at the start of the post and want to make an RP one.
00ber/Uber - Used quite commonly. Refers to overly strong characters.
Godmodding - Means if you are making your character too strong and not giving anyone a chance. For example:
"Batesy's Magikarp killed Allan's Mekwtwo with a single Splash attack and made it explode"
Powerplaying/Bunnying - Means you are controling someone's character. For example:
"Batesy kicked Allan into the mountain and he responded with his weakest Kamehameha wave"
(Shuri Note: This can include stuff like if your character has the ability to read minds or something, controlling what the thought of the other character are. Just a point I'd like to add. :End Shuri Note)
Describing:
Describing's quite easy if you know several adjectives.
"He had blue eyes and blond hair. He wore blue shorts and a yellow shirt."
But wait! We can easily make that even better:
"His blue eyes and blond hair were a perfect match for his blue shorts and yellow shirt."
But wait! We can take it up yet another level:
"He put his thick glasses over his watery-blue eyes with one hand and pulled back his long and wavy blond hair with the other. His blue shorts and yellow shirt flapped around in the wind."
The only limit is... Your imagination...
The Plot
What is the plot?
The plot is the whole story of the thing. Without it, the RPG is plain and meaningless. I mean, how many games do you own without a plot? Very few. How many are boring without a plot? A lot.
How do I work on my plot?
The plot is one of the easiest and most fun parts of the RPG. You get to make the story focus on one particular point and keep it to the topic you want.
As the RPG keeps going, the plot will change slightly as goals are achieved and new things are uncovered.
My RPG got closed for my plot?
If you've been warned about not having a plot, your RPG will either be closed, and you'll be redirected to this thread and the Rules, or it will be left open and you will be told to visit this thread.
People aren't going to join RPGs with small plots. Yes, I know there are a few around on here, but I couldn't lock them since they were about 3 pages in already (This is not an excuse to spam up your RPG).
How do I go about making a plot?
Think of something around that would make a good story. Could be anything. Even side plots from popular games that weren't really covered.
Once you have your story, you can now start writing about it. Even I could turn a simple story into some kind of plot.
TOPIC:
Staryu
What do we know about it?
- Near Cianwood City at night
- Evolves by Water Stone
- Regenerates with core jewel.
- Jewel flickers at night with the stars
Now I'll make a plot out of it:
Cianwood, a calm city out of the way on an island. Hardly anyone comes there way except for a battle, since it's in the very corner of Johto. However, tourists are becoming more and more common for one reason: The Staryu.
At first, you'd think Staryu is a simple water type - No match for Blastoise or Lapras. Battles aren't all it can do, though. Every Friday night at Cianwood City, the inhabitants come out to view the Staryu communicating with the stars. The sea goes red, and it is so beautiful the townspeople wish it would never end.
However, Team Rocket has decided to ruin their fun and steal the Staryu, either selling them off or putting them in a zoo so they can charge people to see the Staryu flash at night.
Chuck, the Gym Leader of Cianwood, has rallied a gang of trainers together to go rescue the Staryu. You are one of them, will you do it?
See how simple that plot was? And I did it in about 5 minutes.
RPing Step By Step:
Alrighty, I've noticed a lot of people have been doing things wrong or just doing horribly at RPing. So I figured I should probably show you some way to go about it. You don't have to be the best, just as long as it's more than two lines and makes sense.
1. What are you posting?
Think about the point of the RPG and how you think everything should work up towards a specific point. Try to interact with people and your surroundings.
2. How should you use your character's skills to help?
Think carefully about this. How can your character help? Say in a Pokémon RPG someone needed to get somewhere and had no boat? What if you had a big Blastoise or Lapras or even Wailord to carry someone across? Or a big Charizard? This could save things. What if you knew only a few charms in a Harry Potter RPG and no one else knew those? What if it was the unlocking and locking charms? That could be handy for getting into places.
3. What interesting points can you subscribe to the plot?
Now, this is where the community of the RPG comes together. I mean, it can get quite boring if only the creator makes things happen. I'm not saying go out and slay people because you darned well feel like. You need a motive and an interesting way of doing it.
Say you were getting sick of this one person in your group tormenting you, you could make a good chance of this to run away and cause a problem, hence making the plot more interesting. You could even feed this to the main plot, say if you were caught by Team Rocket and abused by them. If you meet up with them near the end of the story, you could make something quite interesting out of it.
Now, I've noticed many people, including myself, have done the following in the past. DON'T TRY TO MAKE YOURSELF JUST LIKE THE MAIN HERO IN THE SERIES IF THE RPG IS BASED ON ONE. Yes, I've fallen victim to this (But have learned). Say you are in a Harry Potter RPG. You could think "You know, how about I get a broomstick randomly. Then perhaps stand against the villain by myself without help. I'll be right. After all I'm 00ber p0wahful!!!!!!!!!11111111</1337>" This ticks off many people. Sure in an RPG like that it may be okay to have strange powers at birth that aren't normal. Or maybe even a run in with one of the villain's henchmen. But seriously, be the same as everyone else.
(Note from Shuri: Be careful when you do stuff like this, though, and make sure you aren't totally twisting the plot around. By this, I mean the main plot having to take backseat so your problem can get solved, causing the roleplay to get held up a bit. Things like this should only take 4-5 pages at the most.: End Note from Shuri)
4. Try to keep up with everyone.
This is the hardest, in my opinion. Due to time zones, everyone's awake and at school at different times. But do try to keep up. If you want to talk to someone and they're already in a conversation, just walk up to them, sit near them and say "Hi" and wait for them to stop. If they walk off, pursue them if need be.
5. Try to use proper grammar and punctuation.
tis can git viry anoyng cn't it.
Please, your keyboard has a "Shift" or a "Caps Lock" key. You shouldn't need to type like that. I'll throw you a bone if you have a learning or English disability (say you were from another country or something) but c'mon, it isn't that hard.
6. Try to describe your people and surroundings.
This could get you 3 lines worth of text at least. Description is quite important, otherwise the story is quite bland as to where you are, what the villains look like, etc.
If someone beat you to describing something, fine, but try to describe it too, using your own words. It could be shorter or longer.
7. Have something in your post someone can work with.
Finally, make sure someone can work with whatever's in your post. Don't just defeat the purpose of what someone's trying to do with simplicity. Say in a Harry Potter RPG if someone was trying to fix technology. Though it was done with magic, it's VERY unlikely it could be fixed with first year magic. It could take you years to learn it.
Contribute to the solution (or prevention) by offering to get information or help.
Stuff added by Shuri:
Here's a good contribution from Kura about showing, not telling:
Show. Don't Tell.
-By Kura
This means.. if one were to say "I was scared," it wouldn't feel as intense as "my whole body trembled, and my face went white," and et cetera.
When posting.. I think that matters most is that you're giving the rest of the members a clear image of not only you, but your surroundings. If you're going to be walking towards something, be sure to describe at least one of the six senses. For example "the sun felt hot while I treaded over to the hut, I could hear the breeze whirring past" or "I could feel even the smallest pebble as I walked over on my thin sandals." Or even something as simple as "I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I walked over."
I see a lot of "I walked over there," and.. it's really not coherent..
Also.. a lot of people like to base their appearance on other characters. If others do not know what that character looks like, then it's kind of impossible to picture them. Please be original, and/or specific when describing your character ._.~
Yeah.. ._. *Just wanted to help*~
(End contribution from Kura)
-------------------------------
This is just something else I wanted to mention:
*When in a roleplay, I suggest just PMing the creator a question if it only applies to you. This is because sometimes Roleplays can get spammed up with OOC, which can hold up the roleplay.
*If the other roleplayers roleplayed a few pages without you, please just reread the pages instead of asking what happened. It isn't that hard and doesn't take much time.
*An add-on to the above rule, please REACT to other people's post, and don't just ignore them.
*If you think someone's ignoring your posts, reread theirs. They may have made a mention to your post that you couldn't find by just skimming.
------------------------------------------------------
That's all for now that I can think of contributing as a new roleplay mod. Remember, all the stuff above 'stuff added by Shuri' was added by The Doctor (unless specified). I may have more soon... Feel free to discuss, ask or contribute.
OOC: - Stands for Out Of Character. Used to make a non RP post.
BIC: - Stands for Back In Character. Used if you made an OOC at the start of the post and want to make an RP one.
00ber/Uber - Used quite commonly. Refers to overly strong characters.
Godmodding - Means if you are making your character too strong and not giving anyone a chance. For example:
"Batesy's Magikarp killed Allan's Mekwtwo with a single Splash attack and made it explode"
Powerplaying/Bunnying - Means you are controling someone's character. For example:
"Batesy kicked Allan into the mountain and he responded with his weakest Kamehameha wave"
(Shuri Note: This can include stuff like if your character has the ability to read minds or something, controlling what the thought of the other character are. Just a point I'd like to add. :End Shuri Note)
Describing:
Describing's quite easy if you know several adjectives.
"He had blue eyes and blond hair. He wore blue shorts and a yellow shirt."
But wait! We can easily make that even better:
"His blue eyes and blond hair were a perfect match for his blue shorts and yellow shirt."
But wait! We can take it up yet another level:
"He put his thick glasses over his watery-blue eyes with one hand and pulled back his long and wavy blond hair with the other. His blue shorts and yellow shirt flapped around in the wind."
The only limit is... Your imagination...
The Plot
What is the plot?
The plot is the whole story of the thing. Without it, the RPG is plain and meaningless. I mean, how many games do you own without a plot? Very few. How many are boring without a plot? A lot.
How do I work on my plot?
The plot is one of the easiest and most fun parts of the RPG. You get to make the story focus on one particular point and keep it to the topic you want.
As the RPG keeps going, the plot will change slightly as goals are achieved and new things are uncovered.
My RPG got closed for my plot?
If you've been warned about not having a plot, your RPG will either be closed, and you'll be redirected to this thread and the Rules, or it will be left open and you will be told to visit this thread.
People aren't going to join RPGs with small plots. Yes, I know there are a few around on here, but I couldn't lock them since they were about 3 pages in already (This is not an excuse to spam up your RPG).
How do I go about making a plot?
Think of something around that would make a good story. Could be anything. Even side plots from popular games that weren't really covered.
Once you have your story, you can now start writing about it. Even I could turn a simple story into some kind of plot.
TOPIC:
Staryu
What do we know about it?
- Near Cianwood City at night
- Evolves by Water Stone
- Regenerates with core jewel.
- Jewel flickers at night with the stars
Now I'll make a plot out of it:
Cianwood, a calm city out of the way on an island. Hardly anyone comes there way except for a battle, since it's in the very corner of Johto. However, tourists are becoming more and more common for one reason: The Staryu.
At first, you'd think Staryu is a simple water type - No match for Blastoise or Lapras. Battles aren't all it can do, though. Every Friday night at Cianwood City, the inhabitants come out to view the Staryu communicating with the stars. The sea goes red, and it is so beautiful the townspeople wish it would never end.
However, Team Rocket has decided to ruin their fun and steal the Staryu, either selling them off or putting them in a zoo so they can charge people to see the Staryu flash at night.
Chuck, the Gym Leader of Cianwood, has rallied a gang of trainers together to go rescue the Staryu. You are one of them, will you do it?
See how simple that plot was? And I did it in about 5 minutes.
RPing Step By Step:
Alrighty, I've noticed a lot of people have been doing things wrong or just doing horribly at RPing. So I figured I should probably show you some way to go about it. You don't have to be the best, just as long as it's more than two lines and makes sense.
1. What are you posting?
Think about the point of the RPG and how you think everything should work up towards a specific point. Try to interact with people and your surroundings.
2. How should you use your character's skills to help?
Think carefully about this. How can your character help? Say in a Pokémon RPG someone needed to get somewhere and had no boat? What if you had a big Blastoise or Lapras or even Wailord to carry someone across? Or a big Charizard? This could save things. What if you knew only a few charms in a Harry Potter RPG and no one else knew those? What if it was the unlocking and locking charms? That could be handy for getting into places.
3. What interesting points can you subscribe to the plot?
Now, this is where the community of the RPG comes together. I mean, it can get quite boring if only the creator makes things happen. I'm not saying go out and slay people because you darned well feel like. You need a motive and an interesting way of doing it.
Say you were getting sick of this one person in your group tormenting you, you could make a good chance of this to run away and cause a problem, hence making the plot more interesting. You could even feed this to the main plot, say if you were caught by Team Rocket and abused by them. If you meet up with them near the end of the story, you could make something quite interesting out of it.
Now, I've noticed many people, including myself, have done the following in the past. DON'T TRY TO MAKE YOURSELF JUST LIKE THE MAIN HERO IN THE SERIES IF THE RPG IS BASED ON ONE. Yes, I've fallen victim to this (But have learned). Say you are in a Harry Potter RPG. You could think "You know, how about I get a broomstick randomly. Then perhaps stand against the villain by myself without help. I'll be right. After all I'm 00ber p0wahful!!!!!!!!!11111111</1337>" This ticks off many people. Sure in an RPG like that it may be okay to have strange powers at birth that aren't normal. Or maybe even a run in with one of the villain's henchmen. But seriously, be the same as everyone else.
(Note from Shuri: Be careful when you do stuff like this, though, and make sure you aren't totally twisting the plot around. By this, I mean the main plot having to take backseat so your problem can get solved, causing the roleplay to get held up a bit. Things like this should only take 4-5 pages at the most.: End Note from Shuri)
4. Try to keep up with everyone.
This is the hardest, in my opinion. Due to time zones, everyone's awake and at school at different times. But do try to keep up. If you want to talk to someone and they're already in a conversation, just walk up to them, sit near them and say "Hi" and wait for them to stop. If they walk off, pursue them if need be.
5. Try to use proper grammar and punctuation.
tis can git viry anoyng cn't it.
Please, your keyboard has a "Shift" or a "Caps Lock" key. You shouldn't need to type like that. I'll throw you a bone if you have a learning or English disability (say you were from another country or something) but c'mon, it isn't that hard.
6. Try to describe your people and surroundings.
This could get you 3 lines worth of text at least. Description is quite important, otherwise the story is quite bland as to where you are, what the villains look like, etc.
If someone beat you to describing something, fine, but try to describe it too, using your own words. It could be shorter or longer.
7. Have something in your post someone can work with.
Finally, make sure someone can work with whatever's in your post. Don't just defeat the purpose of what someone's trying to do with simplicity. Say in a Harry Potter RPG if someone was trying to fix technology. Though it was done with magic, it's VERY unlikely it could be fixed with first year magic. It could take you years to learn it.
Contribute to the solution (or prevention) by offering to get information or help.
Stuff added by Shuri:
Here's a good contribution from Kura about showing, not telling:
Show. Don't Tell.
-By Kura
This means.. if one were to say "I was scared," it wouldn't feel as intense as "my whole body trembled, and my face went white," and et cetera.
When posting.. I think that matters most is that you're giving the rest of the members a clear image of not only you, but your surroundings. If you're going to be walking towards something, be sure to describe at least one of the six senses. For example "the sun felt hot while I treaded over to the hut, I could hear the breeze whirring past" or "I could feel even the smallest pebble as I walked over on my thin sandals." Or even something as simple as "I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I walked over."
I see a lot of "I walked over there," and.. it's really not coherent..
Also.. a lot of people like to base their appearance on other characters. If others do not know what that character looks like, then it's kind of impossible to picture them. Please be original, and/or specific when describing your character ._.~
Yeah.. ._. *Just wanted to help*~
(End contribution from Kura)
-------------------------------
This is just something else I wanted to mention:
*When in a roleplay, I suggest just PMing the creator a question if it only applies to you. This is because sometimes Roleplays can get spammed up with OOC, which can hold up the roleplay.
*If the other roleplayers roleplayed a few pages without you, please just reread the pages instead of asking what happened. It isn't that hard and doesn't take much time.
*An add-on to the above rule, please REACT to other people's post, and don't just ignore them.
*If you think someone's ignoring your posts, reread theirs. They may have made a mention to your post that you couldn't find by just skimming.
------------------------------------------------------
That's all for now that I can think of contributing as a new roleplay mod. Remember, all the stuff above 'stuff added by Shuri' was added by The Doctor (unless specified). I may have more soon... Feel free to discuss, ask or contribute.