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Draconium:
How To RP: A Tutorial On The Fine Art Of RP’ing

NOTE! THESE ARE NOT RULES BUT GUIDELINES TO HELP YOU BE A BETTER RP PLAYER

Note! This article concerns itself with forum based text role plays. Though other types of role plays exist; they are beyond the scope of this article.

What is RP’ing?

RP’ing stands for Role Playing. You assume the role of a character from a videogame, movie, book, anime, or their own character (known as an OC, short for Original Character)  and you interact with the other posters who have done the same via forum posts. The interactions build a story around a basic framework set by the creator of that RP, who is known as the Gamemaster (GM for short).

Your first RP:

To find an RP that appeals to you, look through the forum. It is best to look in the actual RP topic to best get the “feel” of it.

To join, first make sure that the RP is still open for registration. If it is, sign up with your character using a character profile. GMs may have varying formats for their character profiles, so check carefully before signing up. Note that some GMs may require your character to be approved by them before you can post.

Once you have been approved or once you have made your character profile if approval is not needed you may now post your first in-character (IC for short) post.

In-Character Posting:

Remember, when you post IC, you are no longer yourself but that character. When you react to something in game, you should react as your character would, notas you would.

Example: If you are a lighthearted person but your character is unfriendly.

Your IC posts should reflect this. You shouldn’t be posting about your character having a friendly conversation with another character but you should be posting about your character ignoring other characters or insulting them.


Bear in mind that you (as the player) may know something that your character doesn’t.

Example: Your character passes by another character. You know from the latest post that the character has a pistol concealed in his jacket. But your character does not know that.

Without a good reason to find out (the other character draws his pistol and starts shooting or it falls out of his jacket); your character doesn’t know that the character he passed is armed.


Another thing is: BE AWARE of your character's physical limits and be realistic (to the RP's setting).

General posting guidelines:

Post in the third person. First and second person should be restricted to IC dialogue.

Type out your actions instead of setting them off with asterisks or some other punctuation mark.

Example: He kicked down the door vs. *kicks down the door*

You should ALWAYS leave your interactions with other characters open ended. This allows the other players to respond as they please.

Out of Character Posting:

This refers to you posting as yourself. Generally, this is restricted to communicating with the other players. It is usually set off from IC posts with the tag OOC (short for Out Of Character) and by parenthesis.

Etiquette:

The most important thing to remember is that GMs have supreme authority in their RP. If they tell you something is disallowed, do not argue with them. It is disrespectful and you can get in trouble if they report you to the staff.

Also, GMs can eject unruly or disruptive players. If you have been ejected from an RP, do not post in it. If you do post in it, the GM can report you to the staff and you can get in trouble.

Regarding posting, do not hurl your character into an action sequence and leave them there. If you must take a break isolate your character from the rest of the others.

Godmoding (also but incorrectly called godmodding) – this covers a wide variety of behaviors. This behavior is usually considered to be very rude.

Passive godmoding: this consists of warping events to your benefit when the RP doesn’t go the way you like it. It can also refer to the creation of an extremely strong or downright invulnerable character or gifting a character with perfect equipment or abilities.

Arbitrarily giving your character new powers is a form of passive godmoding.

Active godmoding: this is broken into 2 types:

Autoing: This refers to interacting with another player’s character or an interactive object and deciding the outcome. Although this mostly appears in combat, it can show up in dialogue in the form of one player “putting words in the mouth” of another player’s character.

Example: Character A throws a knife at Character B, killing him.
This phrasing does not allow the player who plays Character B to do anything.

The appropriate phrasing is: Character A threw a knife at Character B.
This phrasing allows the player who plays Character B to dodge or take the hit.

Character-Jacking: This refers to taking control of another player’s character. (NOTE: This maybe done if consented to by the player who's character is being taken control of. However, it is extremely rude if done without consent.)

Note: Godmoding may not be prohibited by the GM's rules. Remember, GMs set the rules for their RP.

________________________________________________________________________________________
Update log:

12/20/08 (20:01 - 8:01 PM) - Added extra info on "Character-Jacking" [(NOTE: This maybe done if consented to by the player who's character is being taken control of. However, it is extremely rude if done without consent.)]

5/7/09 (21:31) - Added extra info.
________________________________________________________________________________________


Let me know if something needs to be added or if you have any questions.

Kobuk:
Adding a staff post here to let all members know that when you role play (RP), that all rules be followed for role playing which are here:
http://forums.furtopia.org/index.php?topic=42811.0
.......and also the main Furtopia Rules located here:
http://forums.furtopia.org/index.php?topic=42607.0
While the Gamemaster is in control of how the RP is played and so forth, the Furtopia staff can, and will, (depending on situation/circumstances) intervene at times to "keep things on track" so to speak should there be any disruptive behavior or rule breaking.

If any Gamemaster or member sees a problem in an RP that needs the attention of the staff, then please report it to us and we will look into the problem. :)

Alsek:
Can we contribute information in this thread?

Draconium:

--- Quote from: Alsek on January 04, 2009, 12:51:54 am ---Can we contribute information in this thread?

--- End quote ---

Oh yeah! Please do!

Alsek:
Not all characters were created equal: How to Avoid godmoding and get your characters approved.



Note: This is a sort of an informational post. This explains Godmoding as I have come to think of it. It also contains tips and suggestions for avoiding Godmoding, and the character approval system. This also contains personal opinions.


Part 1: Godmoding

A lot of times in the course of a game, people will battle with uneven characters will battle. Often times when this happens it turns into a huge annoyance, because the weaker side will call out godmoding when it is undeserved, and the stronger side is afraid to call out godmoding when it really should be.


Godmoding does not mean that one person is ridiculously powerful compared to another. Characters are going to be uneven in power and control. That's how it is in real life. If they aren't, then realism and interest go right out the window.


So what is godmoding? Godmoding means that a character is going beyond what he or she should be able to do given the situation.


For Example:


You could have one character that is the president of The United States, and another that is an unarmed homeless old man.


If the two characters were to fight one another, of course the president would be able to blow the old man away with firepower. He has Lots of guards, He's the commander and chief (he therefore controls the military), and he could even drop a nuke on the old man if need be. The President of the United States, Vs. The unarmed, homeless old man... The president wins... Hands down.



So let's say... This homeless guy is suddenly a former master of Kung Fu... (it wouldn't surprise me if someone tried that... Or even better... let's say he's a ninja now... O.o) Not only would the player be godmoding by changing the characters past to make the current situation easier for him, He STILL should not be able to come anywhere near HALF the strength of the president. If the old man was to get anywhere close to being even to the President in power, the player of the old man would be godmoding, to a HUGE extent.


If you're old man character really was supposed to be a former master of kung fu (or heaven forbid... a ninja... o.o) I recommend putting information like that in your character sheet so that no one will be able to accuse you with coming up with it on the spot.

If your trying to keep it a secret for later, you really shouldn't worry about that. Though the players may know, their characters will not. If players make their characters know, that would be, yet again, ANOTHER form of godmoding.



Omniscience in characters is one of the most annoying kinds of godmoding there is. Unless your characters really are supposed to be all knowing, Make sure you keep a close eye on the difference between what you know, and what your character knows. This could even mean the death of your character. Do not change what your character would have done just to keep something you don't want to happen from happening.


Back to the Old homeless ninja... If for some reason you still insist on not putting such information in your character sheet, at least elude to it within your first couple of posts. It doesn't have to be too obvious, just enough that if you are accused of coming up with it on the spot, you can quote your old post to show that your hobo had been a ninja master all along...    O.o


Now. You will have your differences in power, but that does not at all control the intelligence and strategy of your characters.


If your homeless old man can outsmart the President character into a situation where he is unarmed and defenseless, then by all means, go for it. This is not Godmoding, this is simply using strategy.
 

Don't be afraid to play your characters to their fullest extent. Use your mind to win, not raw power. Anyone can say, “oh well I've got 300 tanks and you only have 100 so I win!” It takes some effort to win when you have less power.


It's also a lot more fun.


Part 2: Character approval.


Now one might be thinking, “I don't want to play in a game with a bunch of people as powerful as the president running around blowing the small characters away... If that's not Godmoding, then how do we prevent it?” That's where character approval comes in.


The GM has the right to approve of, and disapprove of characters. When you submit your character sheet, it usually has four reasons.


   1. So that other players have some idea what your character looks like, and what he's capable off. This often gives some background that explains why your character is capable of doing what he can do, and sometimes why he is doing what he is doing. (this is the obvious one)
  
   2. So that the GM has a chance to prevent overpowered characters (like the President of the United States) from entering the game if he or she chooses to.

   3. So that the GM can prevent Godmoding before it even starts.
  
   4. So that the GM can keep the game within the theme that he or she has chosen. (e.g. If it's a RP about the civil war... having a character from a different Galaxy show up in an intergalactic space ship is not a good idea. Even if it where somehow feasible, and you had a good explanation as to why it could happen (like... Hey, his home planet has better technology than this one...) ...if it doesn't fit in with the theme, It will more than likely be denied. We don't need Scotty beaming your character down into the midst of a story about fantasy characters overthrowing an evil tyrant king. As sad as I am to say this... I've seen someone try to do something similar. It was not here, Though.)


GMs: Enforce your rules. Don't be all soft on a rule because you're afraid of annoying one player. If the game is to be any fun, the simple rules have to be enforced. No one wants to play with someone that's Godmoding. If it keeps up, the game is likely to die very, very fast.


If your game is going to be more on the side of serious writing (the kind that requires some skill, and a lot more time.) I recommend approving characters on a case by case basis. (e.g. “(playername1) Your character is approved, (Playername2) Your character is approved, (Playername3 Your character is not approved.) If you don't approve someones character, tell them why. That way, they can either fix the problem, or start over completely with a new character that won't have the same issues.


A recommendation for things to look out for:


-Ninjas (Almost always means either godmoding, or an overpowered character is about to happen. I have nothing against Ninja... They are just too powerful) Of course if it's a RP about ninjas this may be unavoidable...


-Characters that are in high positions of authority. (use your best judgment, this can be either very good or very bad)


-Characters with way too many powers. (this should be obvious... Unless the player found a way to balance it out with an immense weakness...)


-Pyrotechnic engineers / Engineers in general (Know the player. If you know they are someone who isn't going to misuse it, then let them. If you are unfamiliar with the player or are familiar with the player and he or she has a bad history of Godmoding, I highly recommend against it. Nothing like having a sudden well timed explosive to make someones situation a lot easier...)


-Dark Shadowy characters. i.e. The cool [usually not the main character] guy in the fantasy movie you watch last night. (we all see them... All the time. It's usually one of the first kinds of character a newbie will try and make. Though they are playable, they require a lot more skill to control than a regular character. Therefore, The newbie/really hard to control character mix usually results with either godmoding, or completely unrealistic emotionless characters [or both.] It's frustrating for both the person playing the character and the people playing with that person. Though often these characters are seen as not having emotions at all, they DO. They simply have a much better hold on them, and choose not to show them. They still act on emotion whether or not they choose to show them as the reason for their actions. This is often what causes the problem.


It really all boils down to knowing what to look out for and knowing the people you're playing with. Both of those come with time. When you continuously play with the same people (such as how it would be in a community like this one) you can get some idea where characters are heading. But, don't be afraid to let people experiment and have some fun.



I hope this has been... In some way helpful... Maybe it just refreshed things you already knew but hadn't thought about in a while... If anyone wants to help by adding to this... just let me know, I'll edit it in and give you credit.

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