Advice/Help General Advice

[PileOfSilverCoins]

Hello, new person here...
As someone who has not participated in forum or message board based RP in nearly a decade, I'm finding myself feeling pretty intimidated. I do have experience but have shifted away from text based RP in favor of Tabletop Role Playing Games, so I've got anxiety about jumping back in! Which brings me to this thread...

I'm basically looking for general tips from the community for getting "back in" or best practises. Here are a few questions:

- Should I seek to join group oriented RPs or would seeking a 1on1 be a better method?
- Are there any community resources for brushing up on general writing skills?
- Am I being overly anxious and should just "Jump in" or is taking my time to find the "right fit" a better option?
- Have these questions and concerned been addressed elsewhere and where can I find them?

 

[nerdy tangents]

1. This is a question of time management. How consistent is your schedule week to week? If you have a very erratic schedule than I would focus on 1x1 because you’ll get left behind in groups.

1x1 are also better for anxiety as you can talk directly to your partner about your comfort level and adjust the pace and expectations to fit.

2. Not really. You honesty get better with practice. The good thing is there are players at every level of writing on this site. If your unsure of how you would match up just ask for a writing sample from your partner.

3. So that depends on what your anxious about specifically. If it’s just “I don’t know how to write or what I am doing” then just jump in. Simply tell your partners your a newbie and they will be happy to help walk you through the ropes. Heck if you have questions going forward you can PM me and I’ll do my best to answer.

If your anxiety is more about dealing with people. Then you might want to think long and hard about the kind of person you want to write with. As role plays succeed mostly through clear expectations and communication.

Ex. If you are uncomfortable with writing about abuse then be sure to make that clear. As there are a fair number of searches or romance role players which will write a version of that out. Usually they will remove it if you ask but you do have to ask first.

BONUS : Also just work out what you want to write about? What kinda of things really excite you and make you want to talk/write about them? Be sure to focus on those to start with as enthusiasm will push you through the inevitable anxiety.

BONUS 2: This site is chalk full of people with anxiety (in the mental health sense). So don’t fall into the trap of putting yourself down by judging other people’s seeming “experience” or “success”. Chances are anyone you think is doing well is actually failing in their own ways for various reasons. So instead focus just on having fun for yourself and not worrying about what others are doing.

 

[Idea]

Should I seek to join group oriented RPs or would seeking a 1on1 be a better method

Pros of 1x1:
---> You can manage your preferences more directly you need less compromise in that regard because you only need it to work out with one other person
---> It's more personal, meaning you get the know the partner more and thus it's often easier to communicate and settle details to make everyone involved happy.

Pros of Groups:
--> Most ideas that may work on 1x1s work in groups if you get one of your fellow players to do it with you, but some ideas really only work (or are at least very subpar) in a group roleplay structure.
--> The GM carries most of the burden when it comes to setting, NPCs, and sometimes even creating the plot. So long as you aren't lost the moment the GM-brand-training wheels aren't there, you can somewhat rely on them instead of adding that extra work for yourself.

Naturally, there are more advantages (and disadvantages) to each type than these, but I think these are the relevant ones in this case. I would probably look at what sort of idea you feel most passionate about, and see in what type of thing it fits better. That said, overall, my recommendation would be starting with 1x1s if you're feeling uneasy, as they are simply much more adaptable.

Are there any community resources for brushing up on general writing skills?

There are several tutorials and plenty of advice among the roleplay discussion threads if you look around. Beyond that researching online can help bring up some tips if you'd like.

Am I being overly anxious and should just "Jump in" or is taking my time to find the "right fit" a better option?

I mean I guess "technically" you are being a bit overly anxious, but it's not anxiety is a rational thing in the first place. It would be quite unreasonable to suggest there's something wrong with you for feeling anxious- but at the same time, I don't you have much reason to really be. There will be a lot of failure, but that happens to all of us, it's something to learn to live with more than it is something to necessarily avoid.

Here's what I suggest: Find your preferences, then search. Once you find something relatively matching, jump in. So do try to find the right fit, but don't spend time trying to get everything exactly right. Odds are you wouldn't be able to without experimentation anyway.

- Have these questions and concerned been addressed elsewhere and where can I find them?

For these questions specifically in the way they are phrased, I don't think so, but similar questions have popped up now and then, from people in similar situations to yours. As I said above, look around in the roleplay discussion threads, there's a lot of content here a few clicks away.


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Hope this helps! Best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[GojiBean]

Hi there! And good questions!

- Should I seek to join group oriented RPs or would seeking a 1on1 be a better method?

There is no "better" method because at the end of the day role-playing is about one thing: enjoying yourself.

If you find it easier to role-play with a single partner, look for one. If you find group environments more fun and enriching, try to get one going. If you are enjoying yourself and looking forward to the experience with each post, you're doing it right.

Whatever brings you less anxiety or uncertainty is the path you should take until you start to shake off the mental and emotional rust.

- Are there any community resources for brushing up on general writing skills?

I highly doubt you need to brush up on your writing skills if you've been doing tabletop for this long.

When you get right down to it, role-playing is role-playing. Tabletop is no different from text-based role-playing except for one thing: presentation. Text versus visual placement on a board.

But all the basic skills and processes are exactly the same including:

* Knowing your character and being able to stay true to that character as you go forward
* Having a basic understanding of the other characters and any relationship your character has with them
* Learning any magic systems and staying honest to their mechanics and execution
* Knowing the world your character is living in (government, arts, clothing styles, languages, etc)
* Staying true and honest to the rules of the RP itself
* Having fun

It's all the same.

Presentation makes the two styles of role-playing seem far more different than they really are. But whether it's on a board with dice or in a text box, role-playing is role-playing.

As long as you know your character, the other characters, the world, and the rules and have a general idea of how to convey your character's interactions with said world and other characters then you'll be just fine.

- Am I being overly anxious and should just "Jump in" or is taking my time to find the "right fit" a better option?

Nah.

It's normal to feel a little out of place if you've been out of anything for a decade or more.

Taking your time to find what feels right is definitely the way to go, however. As I mentioned before, role-playing is all about enjoying yourself. And if you find that trying to start a group RP is more anxiety-inducing than searching for a 1x1 partner, or vice versa, then go with the one that makes you less anxious and try to have fun doing it.

- Have these questions and concerned been addressed elsewhere and where can I find them?

They probably have somewhere in this same overarching forum. But since there's 100's of posts in this forum, I won't tell you to try and sift through them. That'd be a waste of time. Lol.

Instead, just try to relax and figure out where you want to go next and what makes you feel less anxious.

So long as you enjoy what you're doing, then you're doing something right.

Cheers!

 

[Gowi]

Nervousness is normal when you're knocking off the rust. That aside, you've just gotta get out there. Fail faster, as the adage goes. You'll find your writing getting back in shape as your muscle is being worked out with moderate groups or various partners. You just gotta do it.