New Gripe (on behalf of a friend I suppose)
"When someone demands complete originality in your characters in a fan fiction RP." What is this I don't even--
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Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Roleplaying Discussion
Apologies for the double post but this felt a bit chunky to try and infodump into an edit. I basically have the PbPRP guide skeleton done. At this point it's just editing, editing, editing, so I may as well show you what I mean by KISS and the Five Minute Rule since the PbPRP guide should be the epitome of that more than the other two.
Everything below is in what I've done thus far for the PbPRP guide. The doc version is 0.7 but it's probably closer to call it 0.8 since the base concepts are there, they just need butchering and redoing until it flows neatly and the concepts come out cleanly.
Before you read: Keep in mind that this guide is made to explain what, precisely, PbPRP is, and how it works on Roleplayer Guild. This guide may not apply in its entirety to other websites or formats.
This is the first of what is planned to be three guides. This explains the basic fundamentals of role playing. The other two will focus on more advanced concepts for GM's and Players.
What is PbPRP?
PbPRP is an acronym meaning “Play by Post Role Play”. Compare it to turn-based video games: Everyone takes a “turn” posting, it’s not live action like tabletop sessions (such as D&D around a physical table) or LARPing. PbPRP is often compared to collaborative writing and this is a fair and succinct description, so if you want to write stories with other people, you’ve come to the right place.
As for role playing, to role play is merely to play a role. In the case of PbPRP, this usually means either being the GM or a Player.
The GM is the person who runs the show: All the non-player characters, the world, and so on, are usually on the shoulders of this guy or gal alone to create for you to interact with. If you’re new to role playing, it’s best to stray away from this role until you see it in action to learn the intricacies of it through play. GM’s are nearly always the person who created the thread, and henceforth will be referred to as “Thread Owners”.
The Player is a person who usually creates one (or more) character(s) in a world created by a GM. [Too short, needs more.]
How do I play?
First, pick a category. Second, pick a role play or interest check that sounds neat to you. Third, fill out the character sheet. Fourth, start role playing!
Pick a category
On Roleplayer Guild we have the following categories to choose from: Free, Casual, Advanced, Arena, 1x1, Nation, and Tabletop. Keep in mind that if you’re new to role playing but have a solid grasp of the English language, you should probably try your luck in Casual. If you struggle with English, Free will be a better starting choice.
You can find the descriptions to the categories on the front page of Roleplayer Guild, beneath each category.
Pick a role play or interest check
Role Play: Browse through role plays by looking through a subforum, such as Casual. Role plays which don’t have many posts yet are usually still accepting players, but not always. You’ll notice when you click on a role play, that there are two tabs: OOC and IC. OOC is “Out Of Character”, this is where you talk with the other players and the Thread Owner, discuss potential characters, events going on in the role play, and so on. IC is “In Character”, this is where the story is collaboratively written by everyone involved in the role play.
In general, to join a role play, you read the plot. If the plot interests you, there is nearly always a character sheet to fill out in the first or second post of the OOC. Fill out all the required fields and post it in the OOC tab. When the Thread Owner approves you, you’re good to go to start role playing!
Interest Check: The Interest Checks subforum is a place where people post up threads seeing if anyone would be interested in role playing their story. This is a great place to window shop and pick a couple role plays out which interest you by simply posting your interest and asking when the main thread will go up. Keep an eye on it and when the Role Play thread goes up, submit a character sheet in the OOC and wait for the Thread Owner to approve you.
Fill out a character sheet
Most often, character sheets are structured in this format, though many variations exist. Never be afraid to ask the Thread Owner a question if something doesn’t make sense to you.
Name: Your character’s name.
Age: Your character’s age.
Gender: Your character’s gender. May or may not include sexuality.
Appearance: Your character’s appearance. Often people use pictures, some use text descriptions, some use a hybrid of both. It is up to you to figure out what you’re most comfortable with, but if you do use pictures from the Internet, be kind to the artist and leave a link to the web page you found it on.
History: Your character’s history. This is arguable the most important part of your character sheet, as it will often determine who your character is, why they are interested in resolving the conflict of the plot, and what skills they bring to the table. For instance, in a high school RP, it would be logical to write a character whose motivation in his history is to pass high school. In a high fantasy RP, where a dragon is terrorizing the land, it would be logical to write that your character wants revenge against the dragon for past sins committed against them.
Now you know what role playing on a forum is: PbPRP, and you know how to join a role play. Have fun! (Needs more?)
Everything below is in what I've done thus far for the PbPRP guide. The doc version is 0.7 but it's probably closer to call it 0.8 since the base concepts are there, they just need butchering and redoing until it flows neatly and the concepts come out cleanly.
Before you read: Keep in mind that this guide is made to explain what, precisely, PbPRP is, and how it works on Roleplayer Guild. This guide may not apply in its entirety to other websites or formats.
This is the first of what is planned to be three guides. This explains the basic fundamentals of role playing. The other two will focus on more advanced concepts for GM's and Players.
What is PbPRP?
PbPRP is an acronym meaning “Play by Post Role Play”. Compare it to turn-based video games: Everyone takes a “turn” posting, it’s not live action like tabletop sessions (such as D&D around a physical table) or LARPing. PbPRP is often compared to collaborative writing and this is a fair and succinct description, so if you want to write stories with other people, you’ve come to the right place.
As for role playing, to role play is merely to play a role. In the case of PbPRP, this usually means either being the GM or a Player.
The GM is the person who runs the show: All the non-player characters, the world, and so on, are usually on the shoulders of this guy or gal alone to create for you to interact with. If you’re new to role playing, it’s best to stray away from this role until you see it in action to learn the intricacies of it through play. GM’s are nearly always the person who created the thread, and henceforth will be referred to as “Thread Owners”.
The Player is a person who usually creates one (or more) character(s) in a world created by a GM. [Too short, needs more.]
How do I play?
First, pick a category. Second, pick a role play or interest check that sounds neat to you. Third, fill out the character sheet. Fourth, start role playing!
Pick a category
On Roleplayer Guild we have the following categories to choose from: Free, Casual, Advanced, Arena, 1x1, Nation, and Tabletop. Keep in mind that if you’re new to role playing but have a solid grasp of the English language, you should probably try your luck in Casual. If you struggle with English, Free will be a better starting choice.
You can find the descriptions to the categories on the front page of Roleplayer Guild, beneath each category.
Pick a role play or interest check
Role Play: Browse through role plays by looking through a subforum, such as Casual. Role plays which don’t have many posts yet are usually still accepting players, but not always. You’ll notice when you click on a role play, that there are two tabs: OOC and IC. OOC is “Out Of Character”, this is where you talk with the other players and the Thread Owner, discuss potential characters, events going on in the role play, and so on. IC is “In Character”, this is where the story is collaboratively written by everyone involved in the role play.
In general, to join a role play, you read the plot. If the plot interests you, there is nearly always a character sheet to fill out in the first or second post of the OOC. Fill out all the required fields and post it in the OOC tab. When the Thread Owner approves you, you’re good to go to start role playing!
Interest Check: The Interest Checks subforum is a place where people post up threads seeing if anyone would be interested in role playing their story. This is a great place to window shop and pick a couple role plays out which interest you by simply posting your interest and asking when the main thread will go up. Keep an eye on it and when the Role Play thread goes up, submit a character sheet in the OOC and wait for the Thread Owner to approve you.
Fill out a character sheet
Most often, character sheets are structured in this format, though many variations exist. Never be afraid to ask the Thread Owner a question if something doesn’t make sense to you.
Name: Your character’s name.
Age: Your character’s age.
Gender: Your character’s gender. May or may not include sexuality.
Appearance: Your character’s appearance. Often people use pictures, some use text descriptions, some use a hybrid of both. It is up to you to figure out what you’re most comfortable with, but if you do use pictures from the Internet, be kind to the artist and leave a link to the web page you found it on.
History: Your character’s history. This is arguable the most important part of your character sheet, as it will often determine who your character is, why they are interested in resolving the conflict of the plot, and what skills they bring to the table. For instance, in a high school RP, it would be logical to write a character whose motivation in his history is to pass high school. In a high fantasy RP, where a dragon is terrorizing the land, it would be logical to write that your character wants revenge against the dragon for past sins committed against them.
Now you know what role playing on a forum is: PbPRP, and you know how to join a role play. Have fun! (Needs more?)
AkiBlue said
Why not...Why not combined it and have the ultimate guide? The insight you have will be beneficial for everyone~
My insight will basically grind down to the following.
#1: The Five Minute Rule. If it can't be understood in five minutes, people won't read it. (So for especially dense concepts, the idea of "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them what you told them you'd tell them, tell them what you just told them" will be a sacred thing.) General rule of thumb: Average readers get through about 200 words per minute. So try to aim for no more than 1,000 words per concept.
#2: Divide And Conquer. People are going to read the guide for a spray of different purposes: To learn about the basics of role playing, to learn about GMing, to learn about Players, and so on. Each "section" should be its own distinct entity, that being said...
#3: KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. The less categories and navigation the user has to get through, the better. Keep the language simple and blunt instead of flowery and colourful. If a sentence services no purpose, take it out back and shoot it. This is a guide, not a writing contest.
#4: RP-Guild centric. I RP here. The guide is being made from here. It should be made with this site specifically in mind. Going too generic will make the advice in turn too generic to apply anywhere specific.
#5: Avoid elitism. Keep the tone humble and inviting, uplifting, and constructive. People in general do not respond well to authoritative tones no matter who it's coming from, especially the demographic that this guide is targeting/going to be viewed by. (ex: Where possible, avoid "you must do X" and say instead "this is a good way to do X". In fact, as a rule of thumb, if you're addressing the reader directly, unless it's to inspire them and make them feel good, the rule is "don't". Personal tones do not fit in something as formal as a guide.)
My own guide series is/was going to aim for a total of three guides: The first one on PbPRP that explains the processes to a bare bones minimum. The second one for players that dissects what characters are (tropes with TVTropes as a resource, explaining archetypes through group roles to hit two birds with one stone). The focus here would be to teach that motivation and skill acquisition are the main pillars of a biography, that group cohesion is vital. I was tempted to hit power levels but I wasn't sure if I should bother. The third one for GM's, which would be the largest subsequently, that would dissect and explain what a plot is and how to construct one, world building 101, and the basics of managing people. (Marketing, psychology, management. The third of which is something Prince would be specialized in thanks to his job.)
After that the plan was that if more information was necessary, a centralized index page would be created with the first three guides offered at the top as vital stuff. New guides would subsequently be "specialized modules" that would go underneath with a brief line explaining what it is that guide is hoping to teach. That way, people can get the information they want very quickly and then move on. Not everybody wants to learn how to be a GM, but they might want to understand in detail what every tool they can use in a post is. (Actions, Reactions, Narration, etc.)
tl;dr: The simpler and quicker users can navigate to the information they need, the more popular and successful the guide will be. If it's built like a game manual nobody will read it. If it's built like a game tutorial that procedurally tells players how to play by letting them explore for themselves, instead of feeling like they're being hit with a text book, they'll feel like they're voluntarily doing what it is they want to do. And that's most important here, because while the demographic may be students, they already have a ton of textbooks to get through in real life. They probably don't want more from the hobby they want to partake in.
EDIT
Oh, right, and the Index Page has the advantage that if others write neat, specialized guides that work well, I could very easily link them and credit them on a whim. Spreading good advice from a centralized location.
Maybe... I am working on my own guides, but maybe something could be worked out... Maybe, maybe, maybe. I think I'll need to sleep on it first, though.
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Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Roleplaying Discussion
SyrianHamster said
This.EDIT: I also enjoy the PMs you get, demanding to know why it is you're against anime. You try to explain to them that the world isn't suitable for an anime character, and they take it to mean you hate the genre.
Well, 90% of the genre is complete garbage, at least going by Sturgeon's Law. Not that western television is any better, mind you... Why we glorify stupid I'll never know nor want to.
Dipper said I tell you this day, that the Gaming industry is going to crash again - We may be witnessing the first smouldering flames. It will be glorious.
#1: Definitely not glorious. Thousands of people losing their jobs is not glorious. Crashing industries is the complete opposite of glorious: It's horrifying. A company collapsing is one thing, this is a natural part of Capitalism. For instance, if EA gets usurped by a couple newcomers who simply do a better job than EA does, then the jobs lost at EA will be regained by the competitors that take bites and pieces out of it as it falls apart. The entire industry crashing means nobody is biting at those jobs--they're just straight up going away. This not only gives us far fewer choices as gamers in terms of entertainment, but results in thousands of people losing jobs in what is already a shitty economy.
#2: What causes a market crash is purely financial, not emotional. So how are the big dogs doing?
Electronic Arts:
Net Income: US$98.00 million <- Nearly 100 million dollars of pure income after all expenditures. All of them. That's enough money to buy a dozen indie studies if they wanted and not give a rat's ass.
Activision-Blizzard:
"While the company's revenues were down less than 1 percent to $1.05 billion, net profits were up more than 75 percent to $324 million."
Activision doesn't care. Activision is doing well right now. So long as World of Warcraft and Call of Duty keep selling they'll keep doing well.
If anything the triple AAA publishers are very stable at the moment. As well, the first thing they do if they start to suffer is cut out studios that aren't performing to their expectations (such as Pandemic Studios, who made Star Wars Battlefront) which immediately saves them millions in expenditures.
Generally speaking, if you're thinking of a crash like in the 1980's, it's not going to happen. What happened in the 1980's was too many competitors selling too many diluted products over too many consoles, with an arcade market that was still able to kick the shit out of them from time to time. Also of note, the 80's crash was only in North America: Japan and Europe kept going without a care in the world. There were no EA's or Activision's back then, the closest you could really get to that was Atari and they were usually only one blunder away from causing their investors to panic. EA and Activision make constant blunders, but they're so humongous that the investors don't care so long as at least one of the big hitters succeeds, and each of them have at least one baby that will sell consistently for the foreseeable future. (Activision has World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, EA has the Madden series and the Sims.)
If you want to see change in the industry, it's not gonna come from a crash (at least I really hope not), it's going to come from the indie studios quickly flowering out into several mid-tier studios. Ones with a large enough budget to produce high quality, good looking content that could legitimately compete with Call of Duty or others of a similar vein, but retain the ability to reflexively produce inventive and memorable content that the lumbering giants simply can't. Sure, EA and Activision can buy some of them, but not all of them if the indie scene keeps blowing up the way it is.
tl;dr: A crash isn't going to happen and if it does, everyone will suffer. Including you and me.
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Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Roleplaying Discussion
Now that is something I can agree on. Wish fulfillment and all that jazz. Which reminds me, to get this back on topic...
New Gripe: "You're not allowed to do X to my character." When stated to a GM as a player. Especially if the GM has already made it clear that the world is completely his.
Also people that try to stuff anime characters in explicitly not anime role plays.
New Gripe: "You're not allowed to do X to my character." When stated to a GM as a player. Especially if the GM has already made it clear that the world is completely his.
Also people that try to stuff anime characters in explicitly not anime role plays.
@Everyone: Apologies for the silence, depression is kickin' my arse, but I'm sure I'll get through it for the long weekend IC posts.
Also, one more day to the long weekend. ONE MORE.
Also, one more day to the long weekend. ONE MORE.
@LimeyPanda
Predatory Instinct
--Hidden in Plain Sight (Rank 2): A twofold mutation, this allows the ghost to retract and/or hide their features, generally with clothing. So long as clothing can fit, they can hide their true nature from regular humans until the time comes that they grow too powerful to hide their nature. The second half, which remains with them forever, is a greater chance to escape the sight of enemies engaging the Ghost, allowing them to engage from stealth, then retreat back into stealth once more. Enemies will have the tendency to fail to notice them, or fail to pursue in the correct direction. Some believe this to be subtle psychic emanations, others that the Ghost simply gained a lot of luck with this mutation. None can be certain. (Ability to hide true nature until a certain threshold is crossed, greater chance of escaping attention and going back into hiding, better at detecting the psychic emanations of other mutants.)
Razor Wings is approved.
Random Mutation
State of Veritas: After surviving a near death experience, Kiku's mutations took a strange turn in twisting her nervous system, and more specifically, pain receptors. It quickly became apparent that Kiku gained the capacity to disable her pain receptors and continue on without fear of feeling pain, though she has no control over this effect: It can occur even when she is uninjured and out of harm's way. Strangely, she can also see 'ghosts'. Some are real people having had real conversations recently in that spot. Some are just hallucinations. Nobody is certain how this is even possible. (Hallucinations, random failures of the pain receptors.)
EDIT
This is all I could do today. I slept in late, dealing with some depression at the moment. I'll be back over the weekend though to kick ass, I'm sure.
Predatory Instinct
--Hidden in Plain Sight (Rank 2): A twofold mutation, this allows the ghost to retract and/or hide their features, generally with clothing. So long as clothing can fit, they can hide their true nature from regular humans until the time comes that they grow too powerful to hide their nature. The second half, which remains with them forever, is a greater chance to escape the sight of enemies engaging the Ghost, allowing them to engage from stealth, then retreat back into stealth once more. Enemies will have the tendency to fail to notice them, or fail to pursue in the correct direction. Some believe this to be subtle psychic emanations, others that the Ghost simply gained a lot of luck with this mutation. None can be certain. (Ability to hide true nature until a certain threshold is crossed, greater chance of escaping attention and going back into hiding, better at detecting the psychic emanations of other mutants.)
Razor Wings is approved.
Random Mutation
State of Veritas: After surviving a near death experience, Kiku's mutations took a strange turn in twisting her nervous system, and more specifically, pain receptors. It quickly became apparent that Kiku gained the capacity to disable her pain receptors and continue on without fear of feeling pain, though she has no control over this effect: It can occur even when she is uninjured and out of harm's way. Strangely, she can also see 'ghosts'. Some are real people having had real conversations recently in that spot. Some are just hallucinations. Nobody is certain how this is even possible. (Hallucinations, random failures of the pain receptors.)
EDIT
This is all I could do today. I slept in late, dealing with some depression at the moment. I'll be back over the weekend though to kick ass, I'm sure.
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