Post by ~♥ADMIN DANIELLE♥~ on Oct 2, 2013 12:44:59 GMT -5
This guide has been made to help those who are new to roleplaying.
Get in Character
What is your characters personality like?
How does your character react in certain situations?
What are their skills and weaknesses?
How do they speak?
What would you do in a situation?
These are key points to consider when replying to a post. If you cannot get into character re-read your character sheet, pretend you are that person.
Example:
Spike stared at the students eyes, he ran a strict class however this particular student decided to step out of line and insult him. He picked up his wand and glared into his eyes, speaking in an aggressive tone......
In three lines I have managed to cover four points above. You do not have to cover all of them however aim to cover most of them as this makes your post stronger and shows more imagination.
The Post
Do not worry everyone is at different levels at roleplaying. I am an "intermediate-advanced" roleplayer but this has taken time and a lot of effort to get to. So do not worry if someone posts 1000 words, only respond to what you can and always aim for the 200 word mark without rambling too much.
The way to start the posts (in my opinion) for the first post is like this:
What is the weather like?
What was your character doing beforehand?
What are they wearing?
What are they thinking?
What are they aiming to do today?
That can make up a lot of the word count.
If someone else has described the above describe how your character is like in the weather for example:
It was a cold winters night. Spike hates the cold so decided to weather his thick leather jacket to keep in any heat which was leaving his body. He was grumpy and annoyed that he had to go out on patrol and would rather stay in his office and read a book.
I covered most of the points above in 3 lines.
Now lets say you were replying to that I would write something like:
Georgina was sitting in the Slytherin common room, her friends seemed distracted by a new kitten, as much as she loved it she was bored and therefore decided to go on a walk. She said a quick goodbye to her friends and grabbed a coat as he ran down the stairs to the outdoors for some fresh air. She found it quite relaxing being in the cold, contrast to the heat in the common room.
See what I did there? Simple points just expand on them, imagine you were there, what do you see? how do you feel?
So now moving on from starting the post you want to have somebody do it and the best way to do that for a beginner roleplayer is to only reply to posts until you are confident on making your own ones as you already have the scene set.
For the body content you want to build up to whatever plot is being planned out. It is important you have some idea of what is being posted for example lets use a common occurrence on this forum, a detention with Spike Miller.
Imagine you were in Spikes detention:
how do you feel?
what do you think?
Describing situations even if you think it is unimportant write it down anyhow, detail is always nice.
To end a post try ending it on a conversation with a character, or something to get the other character to react to.
For example:
Spike smirks are his victim, "I told you. You should of taken up my duel offer."
You could respond as follows:
Character A looks up and sighs, maybe this was a mistake playing a game of truth and dare.... *skip to end of post* she carries on writing, every now and then looking at the Professor who seemed not to be paying attention whilst eyeing up the snake which is staring directly at her.
By doing something like this you have allowed me to respond to something instead of just roleplaying off myself.
After you have finished before hitting send read what you wrote aloud, does it make sense? If not then correct the words if it does then post.
It is a simple as that and will take a lot of practise (learning difficulties makes it that much more fun!).
Summary:
Get to know your character, interview if you have to.
Try being your character, think like her.
Once personality is sorted you can start posting.
Aim for 200 words if you can.
Describe the setting on your first post.
Always end with something that the other character can react to.
Respond to any questions asked in previous posts.
Respond to anything said in the previous post and how it affected your character.
Read what you wrote, make sure it makes sense.
Post away.
If any members have other points to add on post below.