Advice/Help General Advice/Do's and Don'ts in roleplaying...?

Razor_Typhoon

Scrappy, Happy, Excited!
I roleplayed on Discord and on a forum before but I never fully roleplayed here before.

Most of the roleplaying here seems to really detailed and I struggle with thinking of all that so is there any general advice or what to do and what not to do on here so I can get better in the future...?
 
What to do...

I think that the first thing is to find a partner that matches with what you're aiming for. Say, you're looking for a fast-paced RP, you probably would like to search for someone in the same time zone (though I guess it's also okay if there's a bit of a difference).

The same applies with amount of words. I think that while the majority is more into more than a paragraph (more details), there are also some that use one-liners. So, if you're into the latter, that's alright!

Of course, if you want to write more than how much you usually write, that's also okay! My advice is that you should go with your pace.

Then... What not to do...

I guess... Pushing people's boundaries? I mean, like, the 18-rule, trigger warnings etc. People respect each other's boundaries around here, one of the things that keep the vibe here friendly.
 
Do not control another writer's character without their explicit assent.
 
If it's the detail part that's weighing you down, think of these things and see if it would be worth-while to implement them in the post. Not all responses will require all of these things, and you shouldn't fluff things up to just to, well, fluff.

1. Character's thoughts and/or emotions. Even if not writing the explicit thought itself, the "tinge" or "flavor" of what the character is feeling, and why is good.
1a. How their thoughts/emotions translate into visible ways. If they're anxious, how is that being expressed (even if they're not trying to show it)? If they're happy, how is it expressed? Even reserved and stoic characters show emotions sometimes.

2. Setting! Location! Did your character just enter a new room or a new area? Add some detail about it. Wall color, weather, carpeted, a trinket in the room, something to announce the scene has changed. Or if they've just noticed something in a room they've been in for a while.

3. Senses! Not just sight, but sounds, smell, tastes, these are useful descriptors for getting a feel of things, where applicable. If you're building on a misunderstanding, for instance, your character might hear something in a person's tone that causes them to misunderstand, have doubts, or take something the wrong way.

Everyone else's advice is also very good for just guidelines to RPing, so definitely listen to them, too!
 
Three things:

1) Be yourself
2) Relax and enjoy the experience
3) Never force anything for the sake of a "word count"

It's one of the most common things I see in younger or otherwise less experienced role-players that they're worried about whether or not they're "adding enough" to each post. Role-playing and storytelling aren't about the volume of information you provide. They're about expressing yourself with honesty and keeping your characters honest and dynamic in the process.

For example, if your character is a man/woman of few words and usually can say more with facial expressions and body language than if they were to open their mouth, play to that. Don't force them to open their mouth just to satisfy a word count. Let them give looks and use their posture or their pose to convey the information that's needed to understand their reaction to whatever just happened.

As I've always said, the length of a post is entirely arbitrary. Only inexperienced role-players and/or GM's require a word or paragraph count because they haven't learned what's really important yet. And if I may add a fourth piece of advice, it's to avoid those players like the plague as they'll only stress you out and give you a headache that you don't need to deal with.

Detail is not in the volume of content. It's in the quality of what content is provided.

For example, if your character is in a situation where a big battle took place but they arrived late and now they have to react to the scene, you could do so simply with something like this:

Corpse after corpse smoldered across the battlefield filling the gentle breeze with trails of ash. The ground was heavily damp with blood. And every step felt like trudging through a swamp. But this was no swamp. This was the charred remains of a deep forest. Approaching his allies, Richard removed his helmet and set it at his hip.

"What happened here?"


End of post.

The reply to that giant battle doesn't need to be an essay of details because the biggest ones have already been covered. The setting is what was once a forest, now burned to a crisp and filled with burning bodies and soil drenched in the blood that's escaped from said bodies. It's a chilling, horrifying scene. We don't need two paragraphs to describe this information. That's what the imagination is for.

At the same time, this character is a man of few words and so he simply asks what happened. I don't need to force him to comment on everything he saw because doing so wouldn't be genuine to his character and I would be irresponsible as a role-player for forcing him outside of his natural response.

So yeah. Just be yourself, relax and enjoy, and never concern yourself with how much detail or content is being added to a role-play's posting section.

Whatever you contribute will be enough.

Cheers!

~ GojiBean
 

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