Just Another Guide To Role-Playing

[Dischord]

[Theme Song: Balamb Garden]

Greetings! I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Jen, though most people call me Dischord. I'm going to be your friendly (or sometimes not so friendly) guide into the world of role-playing. I've been role-playing since I was 11 years old, and have played most roles you can imagine, and a few you probably wouldn't want to, either.

Now, you may ask yourself why, since I'm so new to animeb, do I think I'm even remotely qualified to write a guide based on role-playing? Well, it comes from a lot of years of practice, and the willingness to admit that I haven't always been as good as I am now. My first character was a 'Mary Sue', who, though she took hits and even died, constantly came back. It took me a lot of time to get past that stage, and to let her just die like she should have in the beginning. Strangely enough, people liked her well enough that I had to bring her back - she's rarely played now, however.

It took me quite a bit of time to get past that fine line of where a 'Sue' begins and ends, but anything is possible if you practice, and put your mind to it. And so, after so many years of role-playing, I decided to share what I've learned, with others.

[Dischord]

Lesson One: An Introduction To Role-Playing

What better place to begin then, at the beginning? So long as there has been imagination, there has been role-play. "How can this be?", one might ask. If role-playing is the essence of writing a story from the perspective of your character, then, every single writer is also a role-player, on some level.

Role-playing comes in many shapes and forms. Not all role-playing is the same. Not every role-play is the same, for that matter. Each role-play is different in some aspect. Even if it's all the same story. In following this direction, we also recognize that not every role-player does so in the exact same fashion. If everyone wrote the same, there would be no real creativity in the world.

And from this, we go into role-player classification. A lot of role-players, or those who could potentially be good role-players, I tend to lump together into two groups.

1.) Those who find themselves either too lazy to put honest effort into their posts, even though they possess the skills.

or

2.) Those who have been taught previously by an unskilled individual and are unwilling to learn anything else that could help them better themselves as players.

The first group tends to be the easiest to salvage. A little extra nudge, give them a good reason to put more effort into what they do, and this first group can become some of the best role-players you have ever seen. Quite a few people fall into this first category. All it takes is a nudge to get them going. I fell into this category until I met my husband, who encouraged me to put more effort into my role-playing. Thanks to him, I've become quite skilled.

Then, you have group two. This is the group that tends to give you the most amount of difficulty. They either refuse to admit that they're horrible at role-playing and need lessons, or they defend the fact that they can role-play in that manner if they want to, despite the fact that they get very little play. They later whine about this lack of play as well. These are what we refer to as 'Gary Stu', in the case of men, and 'Mary Sue' in the case of women. These two terms can also be applied to anyone who is simply a bad role-player regardless of what they do. Unfortunately, these do exist in the world.

The category you fall into may be a little different, or you may try to claim that you're not part of either category. If you are, there's no shame in this. You're only limited by what you think you can achieve. I hope this little introduction has been helpful. Now, we get onto the real foundation of it all.

[Dischord]

Lesson Two: Rules of Role-Playing

When you ask people what the rules of role-playing are, they're likely to quote off a lot of things to you. No god-moding. No puppetting someone else's character. No auto-hitting. But these rules are the rules of a game itself, not the rules of role-playing. Everyone will have different things that they consider most important. Let me share with you what I find to be the most important in terms of being a role-player.

1.) Treat your fellow players with respect.

This rule is in effect because your role-play will often depend on the players you engage with. This essentially means that while your characters may be bitter enemies, you maintain a polite and in some cases, friendly attitude with your fellow role-players. This not only encourages an open-ness in play, but it ensures that no one takes the lines of role-play and reality so far that they blur. Far too often have I seen role-players end up bitter enemies because they refuse to respect their fellow players. Also keep in mind that 'respect' does not always mean 'like'. You may respect your player without liking them. Respect is a basic courtesy that should be extended to everyone you play with, from the best role-player to the worst. This often times is hard to do, especially if you feel superior to the person you're role-playing with. At times like this, it's best to remember that your own roots may not have been very different from theirs. Humility is a good trait to have.

2.) Keep communication with your fellow players open.

Communication. Lack of this is what kills most role-plays before they start. The players may play together, but refuse to communicate. This returns back to rule number one. If you have no respect for your fellow players, and refuse to communicate with them, it can often affect the quality of your role-play with them, because no one is thinking along the same lines. This is especially important for any type of role-play with a plot. Maybe there's a question you have, but you decide to just go along with what you were doing anyway, and your actions result in the role-play grinding to a halt. This can be easily avoided by asking your fellow players a question as simple as 'hey, do you mind if Character X does this during the role-play?'. These simple words have often opened the door for some of the best role-play that I have seen in my thirteen plus years as a player.

3.) Remember that there are people behind the characters.

This one is probably the most broken. So many people step on one another's toes, call their fellow players names, and not even realize that these words, though they are just words on the screen, can sting quite a bit. This also causes large amounts of arguing, even though this may be something you wouldn't usually see from a role-player you might be familiar with. One person makes a comment out of character, and it's taken into character, or worse, the opposite. Not everyone can always differentiate the line between being in character, and being out of character. And this is another reason why respect and communication are so important. You can avoid what could possibly be the bitter end of everything from a casual acquaintance to a long-time friendship. Misunderstandings do sometimes happen, but as the players, it is our job to make certain that we offer up common courtesy to our fellow players.

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Lesson Three: Role-Playing Basics

There are generally two different types of role-playing. The good type, and the bad type. Lets deal with the bad type first.

Sample RP Post #1

*wonders in and looks arond*

Sample RP Post #2

*She wandered in, looking around at her surroundings.*

Despite the fact that the second type is more detailed, its still a little short, and leaves room for improvement. This is what our second category of role-players tends to do. And while its an improvement over the grammatically unfit, and generally smashed together first post, it could be better.

Lets move on to another example.

Sample RP Post #1

*Walks in from outside, shaking her head as she pushed the door open. Man, it was cold out there.*

Now, while the above post is much better than some of the previous posts we've seen, lets try that one more time, with feeling, and with some more detail. I'll let you be the judge of which you'd prefer to read.

Sample RP Post #2

Booted feet struggled to find stable footing on ice covered stairs as the young woman ascended to the doorway of her apartment. It had been cold, and unfortunately the weather service had predicted at least another week of abysmal weather patterns. Joy.

She shook her head, and snow scattered from black hair to tumble in a cold and wet mass onto her jacket clad shoulders. Chilled fingers struggled with the door for a moment, before she pushed the door open, feet almost slipping out from beneath her as she entered her tiled hallway.

"Mom, I'm home," she called through the seemingly empty house. Pushing the door closed behind her, she started heading toward the kitchen, as her mother called back a friendly greeting. She hoped there was at least some hot chocolate made. She was frozen clear to her core from the constant snow that had been falling.

Now, as you can see, the second post gives more detail, and lets you have some idea of the girl, and her surrounding. The girl is obviously wearing a jacket, and boots, she lives with her mother, and is hoping for hot chocolate. In addition, we've learned that its been icy where she lives for several days, and will continue to be for quite a while. This gives us some hint that the role-play is taking place during the winter season.

Small details like this can help further a story. They also help give the people you're role-playing with some idea about what's going on around you, and in the same token, what's going on around them. With detail like what's been seen above, you have some ideas about where you can take the role-play, depending on if you're going to interact with that character or not. Even if not, you know more about the weather, and can make your own character react accordingly.

Detail is a wonderful thing to use, but you have to be careful, or you'll use too much. Details should be generalized. Meaning, don't explain just how your character opened the door, using an entire paragraph to do so. Instead, incorporate that paragraph into a larger post, maybe cutting it down to just a sentence. Detail is good, but too much detail can cause the people you're role-playing with to get bored. Its good to moderate yourself, and how much detail you use. Don't worry, this will get easier to determine as you become a better role-player.

Improvement happens over time, not over-night. If you still lack in your skills a little, keep trying to improve them. And don't get discouraged, or allow others to discourage you. You role-play for you, and you alone.

[Dischord]

Lesson Four: Creating Your Character

Now that you know some of the basics, you can move on to creating your character. This can be as simple, or as complex a process as you want. You can take time to write out an elaborate character history, really develop your character, or you can do a rush job, give them an appearance, basic ability descriptions and their name, and call them done.

And then you have option two, which is a lot more detailed. For the sake of simplicity, I'll use a very basic format of character sheet.

Name: First and last name, or just first name, depending on the type of role-play you're in. This can vary from game to game.

Race: What you are. This is also basic. Are you human? Are you an alien? Maybe, if you prefer it, you can put what nationality your character is here, if all character types in your particular role-play are human.

Age: How many years have you lived? Keep in mind that not everyone can be a specific age in a specific game, unless that's the genre it comes from (best example, Sailor Moon).

Appearance: This contains important details about your character. How tall they are or how short. Are they slender, or do they have a medium build? What type of hair do they have? Long, or short? What color? What color are their eyes? Do they have any special marks? Have they gotten tattoos during their life? Maybe they have a special, or strange birthmark that sets them apart from everyone else. Or maybe they're completely average. What do they usually wear? Is it a specific style of clothing, or do they have a lot of the same outfit? Maybe they have some piece of jewlery that they're always wearing that's special to them?

Abilities: Some role-plays will have this. Some role-plays won't. It depends. Everything from special skills that they've developed to supernatural powers can go here. If the role-play is non-magical, this may be where certain types of fighting styles, or even non-combat oriented skills will go, things like sewing, cooking, anything your character may be exceptionally good at. Not everyone is good at everything, however.

Personality: Some people include this, some people don't. I usually include it so that people have some basis to write down the personality of their characters. Is your character an absolute hard ass, or are they a nice person? Do they have some personality flaws? For instance, is your character shy? Maybe your character is very bold and extroverted. Are you an introverted nerd who doesn't talk much? All of that goes here.

History: This is probably the hardest part for everyone to work on. Most people want to leave this blank, and have it develop as their character does. While that isn't a bad option, some people want more detail than that, when they have you make a character sheet for their role-play. I like to do a sort of broad history with what happened with my own characters, covering a few major life events, and leaving the rest to be developed as the character does. Character histories should be updated often, especially if the role-play constantly adds different things to your character, such as new perspectives on certain things. Maybe those things could be noted here in your history. Either way, this becomes the very foundation of your character, from start to finish.

The above is just a basic guideline, most role-plays will have more, some will have less. Even if your role-play doesn't require this, it's good to keep a personal copy of a character sheet written down somewhere for personal reference. For example, say you have to take a hiatus, and come back, and can't remember basic things about your character. Instead of surfing all around the various posts you've made, you can just take a peek at your character sheet, and you have all of the details you want at your fingertips. A character sheet is a very thing to have. I've kept sheets from all of my characters over the years, and I have over 200+. It makes for an interesting read, especially looking at the characters I made before, and the characters that I've built in later years. It gives you perspective on how much you may or may not have changed.

[Dischord]

Lesson Five: Character Races & Types

Race

We'll start with races. There are a lot of various races, a good number of them are overused, unfortunately. First we'll start with a list of races that are over used, and that should be used only if you're being careful about how you're playing them. Vampire, Werewolf, Kitsune, Neko, Demon, Angel, Half demon/angel/cat/vampire/human/etc. Now, this last thing I have seen a lot of almost everywhere I've ever role-played, and while its considered to be 'fun', its overpowered, overused, and massively badly played.

The thing that makes this last combination so bad, is the fact that half, and half, is a whole. Meaning you can be half one thing, half another thing, but only two halves of anything. You can be quarters of something, even thirds, but not more than two halves. Also, keep in mind that when your blood becomes that stretched, you lose power. You can't be part demon/angel/cat/vampire/kitsune/human, and expect to have the full powers of any of the above group. Whatever group is most dominant, will determine the abilities you have. You can't have full demonic powers, and have angelic wings, and a kitsune tail.

There are certain race combinations which should also be avoided as they are over-used, and badly played. Angel/Demon. Cat/Vampire. Demon/Werewolf. These are just to name a few. Of course, if your role-play focuses around these types, then by all means, feel free to play them. But as a whole, in most normal role-plays, if you plan on playing these, you need to research them first. Google some information on demons and on angels. How well would the two mesh? Most characters of this type of nature are very tormented, and with good reason.

Type

There are more character types than I can possibly list here. Look at any anime, read any book, and you see a character type. Some of the most over-used though, are the wandering swordsman (very popular for anyone in any type of early era Japan role-play), or, the dominating, sword swinging female (very popular for almost every type of role-play)

I understand that all of these various character types are very popular, and we all would like to play them, but please. Don't you think that some of these are far too over done? If the world was filled with nothing but these types, where would be the villages for them to stay in? The farmers, the gentle wives. It takes all types of characters to make a role-play. You can't always play the hero. You can't always play the villain. A role-play needs more than just the good guy, and the bad guy, to make it good. Sometimes, it needs those grey area characters, the ones that get little recognition, but can make a role-play really good.

A lot of disputes over character type also fall into the argument about their background history. There are several histories that have been played to death.

I was orphaned and my parents were killed in some vile way, making me want revenge.
I was abandoned when I was young, and turned into this horrible monster.
I was abused and mistreated and became a vicious bitter person.

Now, I realize that all of these give your character some kind of depth, but they also give your character a hint of, prepare for it, wangst. Wangst is the term used for an overly angsty character. Angst is fine. Everyone has problems, and issues, no matter how large, or how small, that they might worry over. But wangst is when you have problems in excess, and your character is nothing but a massive walking ball of depression.

While this might seem fun to you, ten to one says that the other people you are role-playing with will likely get very tired of it, very quickly. If you believe at any point that your character can't possibly go on without this horribly depressing back story, maybe you need to rethink your character. Now, this is not to say that every overly depressing character is wangsty. There are some people I have seen that have made depressing characters, and been wonderful at playing them out. Because they know how to balance their characters depression, along with their more positive moments.

Another character type over played, would be any character with a mental illness. Please, I am begging you. Before you play any type of mental illness in your character, will you go to www.google.com, and look it up? I know, role-play involving research, that probably kills it right there for you, but if you are going to play out something that debilitating to your character, wouldn't you rather know all of the side effects? Reading up can teach you some pretty interesting stuff, and who knows, you might learn something you can use later, out of role-play. There is never a good excuse for playing a symptom badly, not with all of the resources out there for learning about sickness.

Good vs. Evil

We have the age old story. The good guys versus the bad guys, out to see who can win the war and dominate everyone else. Please keep in mind that not everyone can be everything. A good role-play takes bad guys the same way it does good guys. It takes all types to make up a world. If there is no evil, there can technically be no good, because we have nothing to compare good to.

It takes a good mix of both. Not every villain has to be extremely destructive. Not every good guy has to be chipper and have a positive outlook. That is why there are things like the Anti-Hero. That's why there are villains like Naraku. That's why there is a world of possibility out there, just waiting to be captured. It's ultimately up to you to decide what type of character you want to play, but please consider the other possibilities, something that may be outside your usual realm of play. You never know, you might find that it's kinda fun.

[Dischord]

Lesson Six: Role-Play Combat

Role-play fighting has to be one of the second most popular activities I've ever seen. Everyone wants to fight everyone else. And they do. They fight, and they fight, and they fight, but the problem is most people fight badly. Its always difficult to explain fighting, so I'll start off with the basic rules, and go from there.

First Rule of Role-Play Fighting - We don't talk about role-play fighting. (Fight Club reference thanks to my nosy husband, I love you 'Dox.) XD

Alright, on to the more serious stuff now. Things that you should look out for, in others characters, and in your own. Things that we all tend to do at some point or another, and things that generally make other role-players want to yell at you.

1.) Godmodding, Twinking, or Invincibility.

Now, Godmodding can be summed up simply as attempting to play a character that is godlike. Godlike characters are those that cannot be hurt by normal weapons, always take very little, or no damage, and immediately seem to be 'invincible' against any form of attack you throw at them. This is the worst kind of character to fight against. In more advanced role-play groups, we refer to them as 'Twinks'.

Now, to twink, going along with the lines of godmodding, is to give your character a power they did not previously possess, in order to cope with a current situation. Giving a character powers of teleportation, rapid movement, or sudden invulnerability to an element, if they did not previously possess this ability.

Another sign of a godmodder is the possession of an ability that is so strong it seems godly, or is capable of taking out someone in a single strike. The best example of an anime with this quality is Dragon Ball Z. Keep in mind that DBZ was designed to be this way though. Not all DBZ role-plays require that level of power, though many players seem to use them to that effect.

The final sign of a godmodder is their inability to recognize that they have been somehow damaged. Players losing limbs, but acting as if they still have them, and in perfect condition, for the rest of the fight. Barriers that are impossible to penetrate, some form of instant resurrection (Final Fantasy is excluded from this, because of the Phoenix Down), or the ability to bring themselves back to life from things such as soul-draining, soul enslavement, their spirit being devoured by some other life form, or in some other form losing anything that would give their body the ability to move once returned to life.

2.) The Puppet, and the Puppet Master

By 'puppet master', we refer to the practice of taking control of your opponents character, and forcing them to take a certain action.

Example: The man dodged to the side, as his opponent moved forward to lash out at him with his blade. A skillful leap to the side, and they turned to one another, preparing to attack again.

Now, the man can easily enough dodge the attack, but the part that makes this a no-no for fighting, is this sentence right here.

his opponent moved forward to lash out at him with his blade

Unless the two fighting agreed before hand, that it could be included in the post, this is considered attempting to puppeteer a character. This is a commonly used mistake, both in fighting, and in normal role-play. Don't force actions on someone else's character. They play their character, not you.

3.) Strength, Weakness, and Limits

A lot of characters tend to have an impossible, or improbable weakness, or worse, they have no weakness at all. You have to know the limits of your character before you ever get into a fight. If you have to question yourself, you need to write your character history again, so everything is outlined in a way that you, and others understand. Don't allow for loopholes in your own weaknesses. Try and make them things that seem plausible. Plausibility and reality are what a lot of people look for, yes, even in fantasy role-plays, when looking for a fight.

No one wants to fight a character without some kind of weakness. Even the impossibly overpowered Dragon Ball Z fighters could get tired after a while. They wore down, and reached a level of exhaustion that cost many of them their lives. The exception for this is Goku because, well, Goku was the hero of the series. And even he died repeatedly.

To learn to balance your character, I've come up with a simple series of questions.

1.) If your character can fly, do they tire after long periods of flight?
2.) Does your character suffer their immense strength by being clumsy, or sluggish when they move?
3.) If your character uses energy, do they eventually wear down, or run out of power?
4.) Does your character have a distance limit on their teleportation? Or a limit of how many times a day they can do it?
5.) Do your characters arms grow tired after too many punches? Legs tired after too many kicks?

If you couldn't answer no to any of the above characters, chances are your character has no limits, and is what we refer to as a twink. Now, before you get angry, and start yelling at your computer screen that, 'but my character has a weakness, its so and so (for example, we'll use.. that they fawn over pretty girls and get totally distracted).. This has absolutely no bearing on a fight.

Even if distracted, can your character continue fighting? If so, that doesn't make it a weakness. A weakness is something that gives others an opportunity to fight fairly with your character. Giving them limitless power, the inability to tire, and other such things typically mean you need to rethink the way your character is written. At the same time, don't under power your character. Don't give them all weakness, and no strength. Unless that's honestly the kind of character you prefer to play. But these characters usually lose fights, so be forewarned.

4.) Damage, and reactions to it

This is something that a great number of good role-players, along with bad ones, have been guilty of doing. They take some type of damage, and then immediate use some move that would make their wound worse, without acknowledging the fact that it happened.

If you take multiple slices to the gut, you won't be bending, rolling, jumping, or leaping, because its likely that all of those cuts, followed by rigorous movement will cause your intestines to become visible without an x-ray machine. Meaning they'll end up all over the ground.

The same can be said of any wound. Some of them are lethal, and should be acknowledged as such. Obviously, certain races will end up immune to certain wounds, but that isn't always the case. Just always remember one simple thing; that you aren't invincible. No one is. Keep that in mind and you will soon become a fair, and balanced fighter, as well as a fair and balanced role-player

Fighting Examples

The point of these posts are to give people a good idea of how fighting should or should not look. This is not to say you need to copy exactly what is written here, but try and picture what you're doing, when you write your post. Its like writing a book inside your head. Only, this time, its an action novel. The best way to deal with fighting, is to take your time. If people complain about how long it takes you, tell them to find a different opponent. You should never give up your writing skill just because someone is impatient.

At the same time, try not to be impatient with others. Its all about give and take.

Fighting Sample Post #1

The man rushed forward, bringing his sword down on his opponent. He struck hard again and again, trying to take off a limb.

Okay, now, obviously that was kind of rushed, and leaves everyone going 'wtf is happening here?', so, lets try again, and see how this works with detail, effort, and an effort to explain to your opponent exactly what you're trying to do.

Fighting Sample Post #2

The man moved forward, his blade drawn and positioned in his hands. He was prepared to strike down his opponent, and bore a determination to do exactly that. As he lunged forward to close the distance between them, his sword came down at a diagonal angle, aimed for his opponents left shoulder. He was prepared for his opponents responsive movement however, his body tensed even in the swing, prepared to counter as best he could.

This shows a little more detail in the fight. I decided to not make this a super long post, simply because people would end up getting bored reading it. In the first post all we learn is that the man is rushing forward, and swinging at his opponent. In the second post, we know that the man has to lunge forward to close the distance, and is swinging at his opponents left side. This tells us which direction he's coming from, and possibly what hand is his preferred fighting hand, depending on if he's using a sword that requires one, or two hands to wield.

[Dischord]

Lesson Seven: Weaponry & Magic

Weaponry

So you're planning on fighting, or, just on making your character, and you're debating on a weapon to use. The first thing that comes to everyone's mind is one of two primary stereotypes.

1.) Katana

2.) Desert Eagle

For whatever reason, these are the two most overused weapons in all of role-playing history. There are a multitude of other weapon styles out there. A little bit of research at www.google.com will reveal a good number of other various weapons that you can use.

Now, on to the rest of this guide. People automatically assume that a character can instantly switch from one weapon to another. If you have a specific weapon in your hand, and you switched to another one, you need to specify in your post if you dropped it. Or sheathed it, or simply laid it down. Why? So you know where this weapon is if you decide to pick it back up later.

In addition to the 'vanishing weapon' trick, we also see the 'weapon from nowhere' trick. Weapons have a weight, and too much weight on a character can cause the character to become sluggish, or move awkwardly. No, 'I have super human strength', is not a good excuse to carry multiple weapons.

Weapons have a specific size, and weight. You have to keep this in mind when you wear them. A plausible combination.

A sword at your hip, potentially even two swords, a staff across your back, and maybe some sort of other, smaller, light weapon attached to your other hip, or in your hand.

An impossible combination.

A sword at your hip, potentially even two swords, a staff across your back, a light weapon attached to your other hip, along with two more swords, a larger, more massive sword strapped to your back overtop of the staff, a shield on your arm, two full belts of throwing daggers..

Do I need to continue? By now you've got so many weapons on you, that you've become a walking arsenal, yes, but a very slow moving one, because of all of the junk you've managed to pile up on your body. More weapons does not equal a better fighter.

In addition, if you're going to use a specific weapon, study it a little. Study how its used, and things about it. Knowing more about the weapon you're going to use will help you better visualize yourself in combat. This will help in a number of different ways, including helping you keep your character alive, and how to land lethal, and non-lethal blows with the weapon you decide to use. Aside from that, studying weapons also lets you know what your opponent might be doing with their own weapons.

And what harm does learning ever do?

Magic

Now, magic can come in many forms. Magic does not always need to be a dominantly used force. Magic can be latent, or magic can be used via an item, weapon, or some form of object, or focus. A good number of people who use magic, do so without discrimination. Now, what I mean by this is not necessarily that they use it badly, merely that they use it without limit. Now, for an example, in AD&D, or any D&D system, a magician, be they a mage, or sorcerer, or some other form of spell-caster, has some limit to the number of spells that they can use. This is limited by day, by week, by year, by month, etc. In game systems, your limit is fairly concrete, and isn't flexible, except as your character grows, by story, by level, etc. Another primary example comes from video games, in which you use Mana, MP, SP, or whatever other name it is called, to determine how many spells you can use.

Few people limit their magic, and this causes issues. After five casts of a major level spell, you're likely to be getting tired. Magic is considered an external force for some, and an internal force for others. In some characters, magic is very draining, for others, it seems to take no toll upon them. Balancing a character with magic is difficult, especially in a free-form (which most role-plays are) setting. Now, my best advice for balancing a magical character is to give them some sort of magic related weakness. Now, finding a weakness in proportion to your strength is sometimes difficult. I tend to use, as a default, the spell per day route. I can use a certain number of such and such magic, before my ability to cast runs dry, and I'm forced to revert to whatever magical weapons I carry, if any at all. If not, I go to plain steel/wood/etc, depending on the type of weapons my character has at their disposal.

Now, we're going to discuss elements, and elemental weakness. As far as magic goes, there are usually a set number of elements. Always included will be the four most basic. Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. Along with these you sometimes have Lightning, Ice, Light, Darkness, and several others. In some gaming systems, and in anime, and video-games, your elemental range may be different. Regardless, always research the element you are going to be using. In the process, you want to learn more about the weakness, and strength of the element you want to give your character.

This sounds simple, but in some cases, it actually becomes very complex, as much as I hate to admit it. Balancing your character, if they are magically inclined, can be very difficult. But then again it can also be very easy. Here are a couple of examples:

Lets say Player A wants to give their character, we'll call the character Lynn, two varying magical abilities. She eventually decides that she wants Lynn to have the element of Earth, along with the sub element of Darkness. It seems a plausible mix, and indeed, is very simple to do. Along with her Earth powers, which rather than offensive, grant her a mixture of natural healing spells, Lynn can now also use darkness based spells to cause damage.

That seemed pretty simple, right? That's because it is. Earth and Darkness in no way contradict one another. Now, we have example two. Player B wants to give his character, James, two types of elemental spells as well. Lets see what he does with it:

Player B finally decides to work on writing up James magical spells. After a couple of hours in thought, Player B finalizes his decision, and gives James the Fire elemental spells, and Ice elemental spells. Both of these two spell types are typically offensive, for what he's wanting to do, and instead of having a good balance, Player B decides to use two spells at once, we'll use Fire Bolt, and Cold Bolt as an example. When Player B combines the magic of both spells, the Fire Bolt ends up melting the Cold Bolt, and turns both spells into a wisp of evaporated smoke.

As you can see, Player B made a bad decision on which spells to use. His biggest mistake was attempting to use both spells at once. As you can all see, combining ice and fire does not give you a flaming icicle. It instead gives you a melted puddle of water. While this is a great advantage for your opponent, the point is to balance yourself. Mixing elements can have varied effects. Mixing water and lightning can create an explosive effect when combined as an attack form. Water conducts electricity and causes the charge in the lightning spell to become stronger, making the attack itself more potent.

Combining fire and earth, just gives you a flaming rock. No, not a meteor, just a flaming rock. Combining air, and earth creates a negative effect as well, depending on your system. Always make sure you ask the person running the thread you want to join, what their limits on magic are, what they will and won't allow, and what types of spells they have. If you're uncertain on what kinds of spells to use, look some up. All sorts of anime have various magical attack forms. Or, if you're feeling really inventive, you can attempt to create your own. Your best bet though, is to do a little research on the various types of magic found all over the internet, first.

And then, you come to the non-elemental spells. These are a little trickier, because they don't have an opposing element to design, and balance them around. Instead, you have magic that works in a way very similar to Alchemy. non-elemental spells are balanced purely by effect. For example, Character A and Character B get into a fight. Character A immediately starts powering up to use a fire spell, while Character B prepares a non-elemental shielding spell. When Character A releases their spell, it smashes into Character B's shield, but takes a moment before it forces the barrier to shatter.

Now, in another case, you have too strong of an effect. In this scenario, Character A is again preparing a fire spell to use against Character B, but when Character A's spell hits the shield, it causes a chain reaction, which in turn causes Character A to suffer convulsions, and get flamed by their own spell, as well as adding some heinous result to it, we'll use freezing them as an example. As its pretty obvious to tell, using this kind of magic is more than just a little bit of an imagination stretch.

Effect can vary from spell to spell. And not every spell has to be combat related! Some spells can tell direction, conjure rope, create food, or water, allow you to understand another person, or races language. It all depends on what you decide to do with your magic. If you don't understand something about magic, find someone more knowledgeable than you, and ask them. Chances are, if you ask the right person, they'll give you a good answer. There's also www.google.com out there for those who prefer that route.

And now, we come to the hardest part of this guide to write. Its concerning 'time', and 'reality' magic. These two types of magic are very iffy, and are usually excluded from most role-plays, as very few people understand how to play them well. Time, and time magic is something that is not used lightly. Even a few seconds rewound can result in a massive effect. When using Time abilities, please understand that unless it comes in the form of a Haste, or Slow, or similar type effect, it generally shouldn't be used. Turning back time to reverse entire events occurring is difficult, and draining on the spell caster doing it.

Alright, now, reality magic is very similar to time magic in that it can cause problems in a role-play. Seeing another version of yourself, or causing someone to have deja vu, is generally considered a bad thing. Unless a role-play revolves around these types of events, initiating them in a role-play where you haven't gotten permission from the thread-owner can be harmful.

When other characters react to yours, you can force their reactions to change, because of altering reality with your characters magic. This becomes a form of puppet mastering, and as was stated before, that's a big no-no.

Healing. Healing magic is great, right? Right. But healing magic can also be abused as easily as any other form of magic. When you heal someone, keep in mind that heals should not be completely instant. They should take a little time to work, maybe leave the caster feeling a little drained. Either way, even a quick fix requires some rest to recover from. Always remember, when your character is healed with magic, to give a little time to actually play out the process of healing. It may seem slow, but it can develop into some pretty interesting play.

For other ideas on magic, of course, you can refer to Tyroki or GeneralSai's theories on magic, both of which are very good reads. Ultimately, what type of magic you can use will be limited by the type of role-play you're in. If the role-play is freeform, with no specific boundaries, then the sky is literally the limit.

[Dischord]

Lesson Eight: Role-Playing Genre

So, you're about to create a thread for a role-play, and you want to make it something good that will draw others attention. A lot of players will tell you they don't want to have to read to role-play. These are the types of players that you do not want in your role-play anyway, because they're usually the ones that are either very illiterate, or will abandon you, or the thread mid-game. Either way, they aren't a positive influence in your role-play. Any gamer worth their salt will stop, and take the time to read the rules, guidelines, backstory, and scenery.

[Only Applicable Sometimes: There are some obvious types of role-plays to avoid making, such as slavery role-plays (for these, always make sure 'sexual' anything isn't included, because likely someone will take someone to PM, cyber, and break the TOS for whatever site you're on, especially if the site is PG-13. And the last thing you need as a thread creator, is to be in hot water with the forum/site admin, because someone else was being stupid in your thread), strip clubs, bars (for the simple fact of their over-use, anything involving malls, and most things involving schools. Unless its a specific school from an anime/comic/game/book, and you're planning on laying down certain limits, you will meet with a good number of morons in your threads.]

There are a lot of genre out there, as many as there are movies and books, in fact. Genre can be related to a specific series you're role-playing from, or simply the type. Horror, Fantasy, Science-Fiction, Drama, Romance, the sky is literally the limit.

So, you've decided on a genre, and you want to make a thread. Okay, here's a basic format for you to cover. In your first post, you will want to list.

Rules (This is basic. What you will, and won't allow in your role-play. No matter what kind of role-play you are hosting/starting, every set of rules threads should contain the fact that all rules of wherever you are role-playing, are to be obeyed first and foremost.)

Characters (Character, be they canon, or not, and if you allow original characters, a small profile for others to follow. Profile should include character name, age, height, hair color, eye color, personality, appearance, and a short history. Or a long history, depending on your preference. Also, you can require a role-play sample, if you want to be really specific on who/what you do and don't let into your role-play.)

Backstory (The backstory for your role-play, or, the reason that all of said characters have come together, for whatever reason or another. This should be detailed, and should include anything that will become a key element later. If you want to be positive someone reads your backstory, make it a point that when they submit their profile, they attach some word you planted in the backstory, to make certain they read and understand everything you've written so far. This way, you can ensure they read, and if they don't follow with the backstory, you have a good reason to boot them out of your role-play, for twinking, or changing things mid-stream on you.)

Current Time Period (What season is it? What time is it? What month? What year? All of this is important. In some role-plays, usually anime, or fantasy, is implied what era you're playing in, but season, and time are generals that can be used. After all, in a role-play supposedly based in the winter, you don't want people walking around in nothing but shorts and a bikini top. They'd freeze their sensitive bits off in that kind of attire.)

Okay, so we've got that covered? Good! Because the same things you should keep in mind when making a role-play are also things you should look for when trying to find a good thread to role-play in. The more detailed a thread is, usually, the longer it will last. At least, the longer it will last among literate role-players, and isn't that what you're attempting to become? I hope so.

[Dischord]

Lesson Nine: Grammar & Tense

At this point, you usually lose a lot of people. Grammar and tense can actually mean the difference between your role-play being perfectly understandable, or, it reading as if a five year old wrote it. (Though in some cases, I think some five year olds could write better, but that's neither here nor there.)

Tense

Past: She had walked from the room just a moment before, headed for the kitchen.

Present: She turned, walking from the room towards the kitchen.

As you can see when you read the two, past tense is used to denote actions that have happened. A good number of books are written in this tense, making them pleasing upon the eyes, and easy to follow. You understand it as having happened before, but is currently past.

Now, with present tense, you'll find this to be one of the more popular role-playing styles. Present tense is used in a great number of role-plays all across most role-play sites, indicating that something is happening at that very moment. This is actually preferred for most role-plays, depending on how literate someone does, or doesn't want their role-play to be. Past, nor present tense, neither one are bad. The problem comes when people mix tenses. This can make a sentence appear broken, and more difficult to read.

Mixed Tense: She turns off the television, before she left the room.

Now, as you can tell, this is a pretty basic example, and reading it too many times can cause one's head to hurt (it gave me a headache just trying to write it). Its generally better to pick one tense, and teach yourself to write in that tense first. Then, if you want to, attempt to learn to use the other tense. But be careful not to mix the two when writing.

Grammar

Grammar is the second most griped over thing in all of role-play history. So and so spelled this wrong, you used too many commas, that's supposed to be capitalized. This is one of the fastest thread-killing subjects to ever come up in discussion. Grammar is something that should be looked at seriously, but at the same time, not obsessed over. Typos, misuse of commas, and sentences that are too long can be avoided fairly easily. When you write a post, stop, re-read it, make sure you've spell checked it, then submit your post. Trust me, your fellow role-players will thank you.

Words & Definitions

The following subsection is going to cover nothing but words, and their various uses, and misuses. Even some seasoned role-players are guilty of these mix-ups, so don't automatically call someone a n00b for using them improperly. I'm even guilty of misuse, though usually only when sleep deprived.

Please note that some of the following definitions were taken from www.m-w.com, as well as www.thefreedictionary.com (all with slight editing), and the some of the examples of use were written by me. With luck, reading the following will help give you some idea of how these words should be properly used.

Their/They're/There

Main Entry: their
Function: adjective
of or relating to them or themselves especially as possessors, agents, or objects of an action
<their furniture> <their verses> <their being seen>

Main Entry: they're
Function: contraction of they are
<they're going to be gone a while> <they're almost finished with construction> <they're going to be late>

Main Entry: there
Function: adverb
1 : in or at that place <stand over there> -- often used interjectionally
2 : to or into that place : <went there after church>
3 : at that point or stage <stop right there before you say something you'll regret>
4 : in that matter, respect, or relation <there is where I disagree with you>
5 -- used interjectionally to express satisfaction, approval, encouragement or sympathy, or defiance <there, it's finished>

Your/You're

Main Entry: your
Function: adjective - The possessive form of you.
1. Used as a modifier before a noun: <your boots> <your accomplishments.>
2. A person's; one's: <The light switch is on your right.>
3. Informal Used with little or no sense of possession to indicate a type familiar to the listener: <your basic three-story frame house.>

Main Entry: you're
Function: contraction of you are
<you're missing a button> <you're late again> <you're a really good person>

Then/Than

Main Entry: then
Function: adverb
1. At that time: <I was still in school then.> <Come at noon; I'll be ready then.>
2. Next in time, space, or order; immediately afterward: <watched the late movie and then went to bed.>
3. In addition; moreover; besides: <It costs $20, and then there's the sales tax to pay.>
4. Used after but to qualify or balance a preceding statement: <The star was nervous, but then who isn't on the first night of a new play.>
5. In that case; accordingly: <If traffic is heavy, then allow extra time.>
6. As a consequence; therefore: <The case, then, is closed.>

Main Entry: than (n, n)
Function: conjunction
1. Used after a comparative adjective or adverb to introduce the second element or clause of an unequal comparison: <She is a better athlete than I.>
2. Used to introduce the second element after certain words indicating difference: <He draws quite differently than she does.>
3. When. Used especially after hardly and scarcely: <I had scarcely walked in the door than the commotion started.>

To/Too

Main Entry: to (for the rest of this entry, follow this link if you'd like.)
Function: preposition
1.
a. In a direction toward so as to reach: <went to the city.>
b. Towards: <turned to me.>
2.
a. Reaching as far as: <The ocean water was clear all the way to the bottom.>
b. To the extent or degree of: <loved him to distraction.>
c. With the resultant condition of: <nursed her back to health.>

Main Entry: too
Function: adverb
1. In addition; also: <He's coming along too.>
2. More than enough; excessively: <She worries too much.>
3. To a regrettable degree: <My error was all too apparent.>
4. Very; extremely; immensely: <He's only too willing to be of service.>
5. Informal Indeed; so: <You will too do it!>

[Dischord]

Lesson Ten: The F.A.Q.

Any questions that are posed down in the lower thread, I will attempt to answer. Consider this something of a side FAQ for the rest of the thread.

Q:] What does the term/word _____ mean?

A:] Here's a list to help. If there's something I didn't cover, just tell me via PM, and I'll add it, and add your name to the credits list.

Role-Play: To assume the rule of a character.

RP: Slang for 'Role-Play'

OOC: Out of Character. To be out of character is to speak as the person behind the computer screen.

IC: In Character. To continue, or to begin playing your character.

God Moding: Making a character that is impossible to beat, kill, or best in anything. Any character that is impervious to everything. Any character that seems too godly for their own good.

NPC: Non Playable Character, or, as we D&D players call them, 'Cannon Fodder'. These are characters that are a stable part of your role-play world, but no player may actually take them up. Some characters often switch into NPC mode, if their players have to go offline, or need to run to take care of something. You NPC them until they return.

Storyline/Backstory: Every role-play must have a storyline, or backstory that explains it. This keeps a role-play moving smoothly, more than anything else.

Open RP: A role-play that is open to anyone and everyone who wants to join

Closed RP: These role-plays are usually private, or invitation only. Its rude to post in one of these, and such posts can be considered spam.

Canon Character: This is a character that originates in a genre. Examples are Inu Yasha, Harry Potter, Utena Tenjou. All of these are 'Canon' characters, and are the intellectual property of someone else.

OC: Original Character. These are characters that you yourself create and play. They can be from just about any genre, and are generally pretty fun. Remember though, not all stories need original characters. Some need the canon characters to go anywhere.

Munch/Twink/Sue/Stu: These are all lumped together because they generally mean the same thing. A bad role-player, who is in dire need of improvement.

Q:] Can I link back to this thread?

A:] Sure! Feel free, in fact, I'd love you for it.

Q:] Do you support the AMP?

A:] Er, no. Because I think some of what they define as 'munching' is just fine for certain types of role-play, but not for others. The rules for role-play, and what should and shouldn't be varies from genre to genre. I think as a role-player gets better, they will be able to distinguish what they should and shouldn't do without the AMP. I would recommend beginners add that to their reading list though. For those interested, the AMP is the Anti-Munch Project, and it can be found here.

Q:] I'm not that good with detail, is there anything I can do to improve?

A:] Actually, there is. :3 When you get stuck with detail, I have an almost foolproof writing exercise that will help you out. It's very simple. Find a picture of a still life flower. Use any flower you prefer, you can find some good images by going to google.com, and using the image search. Now, open up a wordpad file, and with the picture of the rose just slightly to the side, begin to describe it. Don't stop until you've reached at least 3 sentences. Use a dictionary, or thesaurus if you need to.

Once a week, do this exercise. Expand by one sentence each time. When you can describe the flower in such detail, that you don't even need to see the picture to know what it looks like. You can read your paragraph, and you know how beautiful the flower is, just by description.

Conclusion & Credits

Well, I've pretty much reached the end of this thing. I will update, and improve it over time, as I can manage to, and as I can think of more, and depending on what kind of feedback I receive from people.

Also, a friendly warning. Please, do not take my role-play advice as the 'absolute' It is just that. Advice. I was lucky enough to have a really good teacher, and have related here to you most of what was told to me when I started learning. If even one person manages to become a better role-player from reading this guide, the twelve hours I put into this, and whatever other time I spend updating it, will be well worth its writing.

Please note something. If you're going to flame me. Or yell at me... please do it with proper grammar, and full sentences, and no leet speak, or AIM speak. If I'm going to be flamed, I at least want to be flamed by someone who can write correctly ******.

And that's the end of it all. I hope you've enjoyed reading!

[Okazaki Tomoya]

Dischord, I thank you for posting your guide here, I've already recommended it to toher forums where I have considerable clout in RP sections.

But, I have something for you to think about. What happens when two roleplayers use technology, magic, or weaponry that are from diffrent worlds? Like I usually like to employ the Belka-type Magic System from MSL Nanoha, while someone else would use magic from, say, WoW. How would one compensate for the other. Same thing goes for Mecha. How do you know which is better? (Disregard Godmod suits mainly used for Plot purposes..Komm's stuff.)