Roleplaying: A How-To Guide for Newbies

Posting

What makes a good post?

A good post does 3 things:

• Describes the character's reaction to the previous post.
  
• Describes the character's next move.
  
• Pushes the plot forward so that the next person posting has something to respond to.
  

Some forums require a certain amount of words in a post. This is called a word count. We don't have a word count on this site, but we do request you post more than one line. If you don't know what to post or you need to lengthen a post, description makes great filler text. Describe what your character sees, hears, feels, smells and what they are doing. Does the scene remind them of something? Why? You get the idea.

What happens if I only post one line?

If you only post one line, the other player gets infuriated and presses a button hidden on the page that sends homing missiles to your forehead. Then you explode and turn into a Charles while retaining conscious memory of your past.

Sample of a Good Post:
(This post is not replying to anything, but instead it is starting a thread.)

The office where Felicity worked was small, cramped and generally uncomfortable. The wallpaper was faded and yellowed from the cigarette smoke of workers past and the furniture looked as though it was fresh from the junkyard. Felicity sighed as she pushed open the rotting wooden door and sat down in one of the leather chairs, stirring up a cloud of dust as she did so. She coughed and squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn't been here in a long while...For the past year she had been investigating a case in London, and now that she was back she had a lot of catching up to do. Maxwell, her secretary, had done an excellent job of holding down the fort but he couldn't do the paperwork or return the phone calls so Felicity was stuck with the worst parts of the job. She looked at her cluttered desk and reluctantly began to sort through the papers. Pushing aside some of the papers on the top of the pile, her eyes fell on a manila envelope with her name sprawled across the front in swirly lettering. She picked it up and began to open it, at which point her office door flung open and Maxwell stumbled in, breathing heavily.

(Now whoever was playing as Maxwell would respond)

TO BE CONTINUED

Godmodding

Godmodding is when you force another player's character to do something by typing their actions or words into your post. Example:
(My character is Felicity, Caine is the person I'm posting with)

Felicity glared at Caine and shook her head. Caine walked over to the window and shook his head sadly.
"We've got no other choice." he sighed.

(See how I'm controlling Caine's actions? Since my character is Felicity I should only be controlling her actions and reacting to Caine's actions in the previous post.)

* If you really, really need somebody else's character to do something in your post, PM the player and ask if you can. It's only acceptable when you get approval.
* If someone is godmodding you, PM Felicity Jane or The Void with a link to the thread and specify which post is godmodding.

You are not untouchable. Trust us on that.

During fight scenes you'll occasionally see exchanges like this:
Player 1: My character lashes out with his sword, aiming for your mid-section.
Player 2: My character dodges easily and takes no damage.
Player 1: ...Ok, well then my character lunges again.
Player 2: My character steps side ways and your character falls on his face.
Player 1:

Spoiler:

On that same note: Do not assume your attacks always hit. Work out with the other player who gets hurt and when. Be realistic. If your legs are broken and someone comes charging at you with a mace, you're not dodging that shit. Period. And you know that. Or at least...you should.

Luckily for you, a lot of the RPs we have on this site involve dice (or dice chucking programs), so it's out of everybody's control as to who gets hit and when and how hard.

Spelling and Grammar

The tools you will need to RP are on every damned page of the site practically, and they include a link to a free online spell checker. Use this or else. I understand the occasional slip up or bad grammar. I would be the hypocrite to beat all hypocrites if I demanded you be perfect on this. Just try your best and do not do any of the following:
* du nawt tipe lyk dis. It's not cute, it makes me want to stab you.
* Do not abbreviate. You is not u, too/to is not 2, without is not w/o, etc.
* Do not use chat speak such as lol, lmao or rofl.

Respect

Admins, mods and your fellow players all deserve equal amounts of respect. If you don't have anything nice to say...shut up.
I'm not saying you have to like everybody. You just have to be polite and tolerant of somebody. Tolerance means agreeing to disagree, for anyone who decides they want to say "Well you weren't specific!".
No racism. Period. In the end, we all breathe, eat, sleep and repeat. No matter what color you are, you are no better or worse than anyone else. Same thing for comments or posts involving gay/lesbian/bisexual bashing. If I want to marry a shoe, I'll marry I damned shoe. If you wanted to marry a shoe, you should be able to marry a damned shoe!
If I get a bunch of PMs about you abusing other players...The Regulator will pay you a visit with various tools of destruction.

We frown upon plagiarism.

Either give credit or be original. All characters have to be original (no cannons) and all posts should be original, but if you want to include artwork, poems or other such things to posts, be sure to link to the original artist.

Besides...you really should think independently in this case.

GLOSSARY:

Word Count - a requirement of how many words a post has to be. Some sites are ridiculous. The highest word count I've ever seen was 1500.

Thread - A topic where players post.

Flaming - Starting arguments on the chat box or other thread, then disappearing until the argument dies down so that you can rekindle the fire.

Trolling - purposely being an asshole to someone else (*cough* The Void is often guilty of this *cough*)

(I only partialy resent this, for trolling is a art. -Void)

Bashing - Targeting one player specifically with abusive, rude comments.