Ye Olde Roleplaying Guide [WIP]

[Aix]

So far I've only really got the Character Creation portion of it done. Posting now because the formatting messes up if I try to paste it from an outside source. Please comment questions and suggestions below.

This guide was created for newcomers and veterans alike to read and note upon to better their roleplaying experience. If you are new here, read this before jumping into roleplaying here, or I will find you and I will [background=#000000][censored][/background] you. Each roleplay site does things differently and this guide was created with YCM in mind, so some of the following may or may not apply to other sites. The advice below was formulated from my observations here on YCM or through inference and common sense. I probably have roleplayed for a much shorter time than many of you, [acronym=That means, give me feedback you fgts]so I would gladly take suggestions and fixes in the comments below[/acronym]. If there are still any questions or things you are unclear about after thoroughly reading this guide, feel free to ask me below or by PM. [acronym=I pwomise and pinky swear]I won’t bite[/acronym]. Oh, and before I forget - GO READ THE GODDAMN RULES, BECAUSE IT BECOMES REALLY EVIDENT IF YOU DON’T!

 
[spoiler=Getting Started on YCM]Whether you are new to YCM or are coming back after a long hiatus, you may notice that you don't get a lot of attention, if any. No one seems to give a shit about you or what you wrote. That’s because roleplaying, and anything on this site in general, is heavily influenced by your reputation, especially when you are hosting a roleplay. If you are a popular host, people will likely flock to your roleplays or at least take note of them. On the other hand, if you are new or not a very well-known face around here, we have no idea if joining your roleplay is a good idea. What if you are a terrible writer who can't put together a coherent story? What if you just disappear, leaving your roleplay to rot? Hence, it is generally a good idea to build your reputation here first - namely, by joining someone else's roleplay and getting to know the other roleplayers on this site.

Now, what to do if there isn’t a roleplay you are interested in, or you really, really want to host your roleplay? Pitch your idea first in the Roleplay Planning Thread. Post how the roleplay will roll out, the plot and the setting, accenting on the most interesting aspects of your roleplay, and hopefully this will gather others’ interest. Asking for a co-host, as in asking someone to aid you in running the roleplay, is a good idea, as people will also look at your co-host’s reputation when deciding whether to join your roleplay and being unafraid to ask for help is a respected trait on YCM.

Basically, becoming a somewhat recognizable face and befriending some people around here is sufficient for getting started. Naturally, people will start to notice you as a roleplayer. There are some with exceptionally good track record, and acquiring one depends on your own ability. Read the rest of the guide below and don’t be afraid to ask questions.[/spoiler]

 
[spoiler=How to Roleplay Well]Before you are a roleplayer, you must be a likeable and respectable human being. Pretty easy, right? [acronym=You are already a beautiful human being, aren’t you?]RIGHT[/acronym]? Getting along well with others will do you good, not just in the long run. Do not flame, troll or belittle others. Resolve disagreements calmly and peacefully using clear logic and reasoning. Do not lose your head, be that calm and collected Gary Stu, and [acronym=No offense if you do show your genitalia in public, most people don’t]treat your ego like your genitalia, don’t pull it out and show it off in public[/acronym]. Think and care about your fellow human beings, take their interests into consideration, and try to include them in what you are doing. Keep your common sense about you at all times, it is your most valuable treasure and keep it close to your heart. Otherwise, I will probably have a word with you at one point or another, and while I’m sure many of you are dying for me to notice you, this is not a good way to get Aix-senpai’s attention.

Please don’t be this guy.
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When joining a roleplay, try to read the first OoC post carefully, as it reflects badly upon you if you don’t. Some roleplays accept reserves and you can reserve a place in the roleplay before entering your character application. Others don’t, but it is a good idea to make your interest known anyway by posting in the thread, as it will draw other people to join as well.

 
[spoiler=Character Creation]It would be impossible to tell you how to create an amazing character, that is a intuitive talent you must acquire yourself, but there are generally some basic guidelines you should probably follow. Probably, as in, yes you should follow these guidelines (unless you really know what you’re doing). I’m going to assume you are an utter noob at roleplaying and writing, whether you like it or not, because I know some of you out there are (no offence. If you do take offence to this, you’re going to have a bad time.)
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Some new writers have a tendency to create bland characters with no real personality, whether it’s because they are calm and collected, or silent and reserved, and generally don’t do shit.


"Oh my god, Sasuke is so cool. He's so calm and collected. 9001/10 character."

Let me tell you that that is boring as hell, and new writers tend to write those characters with no other underlying personality (admittedly, Sasuke is also edgy, but that’s cliche and pretentious). The character ends up just a flat, empty canvas with no real personality to speak of other than sitting around and being cool. Otherwise, many new writers make an extreme melange of disconnected character traits and shove them onto one character, ending up with trainwreck of a personality. Most actual characters have a specific kind of personality and thus fall under character tropes/stereotypes.

Don’t worry if you are unfamiliar with common stereotypes or tropes in general. It is typically safe to assume that the first general and vague idea that you get of what sort of character you want to play is a trope or stereotype and has been done before, as basically all characters fall under tropes, and what makes them unique is how they’re fleshed out. Avoid going a very direct route with your character and focusing too hard on one particularly trait, likely you are playing your trope/stereotype straight. Playing stereotypes straight is boring, and just demonstrates to us all that you’re a nub. Likely, doing so will result in the creation of a cliched character, so you need to take twists and turns. What writers do is take a combination of tropes (with one more predominant one as the root trope), or take a trope and then make it original by providing things such as unique twists or quirks.

This is an effective way to come up with good RP characters - you can think of what sort of character you want and/or what sort of character would be good for the RP, and then put a unique and original spin on it, often also combining aspects of other tropes (if you are familiar with tropes) and/or giving your character amusing quirks.

For example, the tsundere cliche. Any of us who know anime know that annoying (or cute, it’s all down to taste) prideful girl who is mean to others and calls people “baka” (which means idiot in Japanese), to cover up her true feelings which she has problems expressing. Examples include Taiga from Toradora and Louise from Zero no Tsukaima. This is a cliche that is abused and overabused all day every day because of its huge appeal. However, there are more original tsunderes (an original cliche, no wai), examples being Senjougahara Hitagi from Bakemonotagari and Holo from Spice and Wolf. Each of them fit the bill for being a tsundere, but each of them diverge from the traditional tsundere in various ways. Senjougahara is basically a sociopath, bordering on yandere (in fact, it’s probably arguable whether she’s really a tsundere), while Holo combines aspects of the Mentor trope into her character among things, and both characters also tease their respective significant other in various ways other than simply calling them a baka or physically abusing them.

Once you have a general idea of your character (as in beyond just one character trait), if you are having some difficulty fleshing them out, try singling out their character traits and write 3-4 sentences about each.
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It’s always good to take a step back and look at your character critically. One pitfall people fall into is making their character ride on their backstory. Sure your backstory may be interesting, but 9 times out of 10, it’s irrelevant to the plot, or at least irrelevant for a good deal of time (a good host will try to incorporate your subplots into the main plotline). Make sure that your character is interesting without their backstory. The backstory is just a bonus. In fact, some RPs don’t even ask for a backstory. It’s your character’s personality that comes first.

The other big pitfall is making your character too perfect. You may want to create an amazing character that can do all these amazing things, but what really makes them compelling and believable are their flaws and struggles, and not just any flaws and struggles - stuff like trauma from getting raped as a child (except in certain cases) and problems with being a chick magnet (I certainly hope you didn’t think of this one) don’t count.


“Overpowered skills. The hottest chicks around. I got it all.”

Sometimes, it’s good to take a Mary Sue Litmus Test to make sure you aren’t going into the too perfect territories. I’m not going to tell you what sort of flaws you can add to your character, you can do that yourself and people can get the wrong idea and put random flaws in. Some flaws are not so suitable as others for your character. Think long and hard about your character and use the almighty common sense when making decisions. If you are really having a hard time, feel free to ask anyone around you, or myself, for help or suggestions.
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If you are able to do all of the above, then, I suppose you are ready to consider the other important decisions to make regarding character creation specifically in roleplaying. Is your body ready?

First of all, is your character’s personality suitable for the roleplay? If the roleplay is a deep and serious story involving psychological struggles, heavy symbolism and the meaning of life, it’s probably not a good idea to create an overly goofy character. It’s not impossible, but there are many better choices. Often, the ideal character is someone who will provide a new and different perspective to the roleplay or someone who has great ties to the roleplay’s theme. For example, a pacifist or idealist would probably work well in a war-centric story, or a ubermensch in a roleplay that has politics or ethics involved. You could also try to predict possible paths the roleplay could take, and make use of likely situations. For example, in a particularly dark setting, some characters may fall into despair, and you could play a blindly loyal character that would stay true to them through their darkest hours. Or maybe, the story is about a revolution, and the aforementioned ubermensch may feel tempted to seize power himself because he believes so strongly in his own ideals, thus giving opportunity for delicious conflict.

You want variety in a roleplay. Look around at the other characters in the character pool and make sure your character isn’t too similar. Often, this will also push yourself to make your character more unique and original. This doesn’t just apply with personality, but also backstory and skills and/or equipment for roleplays that involve such. If everyone is playing a swordsman, you may want to consider playing an archer or a healer to balance the party out. In fact, you could go as far as to be a Foil for another character, or play a role that otherwise supports theirs. I’m sure they would appreciate it, and you would be able to interact more. Roleplaying is, after all, interactive storytelling.

As roleplaying is interactive storytelling, it is also better to not have an terribly antisocial character, and overabundance of such (an overabundance can be as much as 2) can be very harmful to a roleplay. Try to veer on a more social side. Chances are that if your character is difficult to interact with, they may be ignored altogether.
[/spoiler]

 
[spoiler=Character Interaction][/spoiler]

 
[spoiler=Roleplay Combat]See Kyng’s guide. If Kyng doesn’t mind, I’ll copy-paste it here, actually.[/spoiler][/spoiler]

 
[spoiler=Creation and Hosting a Roleplay]

 
[spoiler=The Roleplay Concept]Not all story ideas are suitable to be made into a roleplay.[/spoiler]

 
[spoiler=Planning Ahead]You don’t want a trainwreck of a story, so it’s important to have an idea in mind of what you want to do. At the same time, you don’t want to be too rigid on your railroading (driving your plot along), to allow your roleplayers freedom.[/spoiler]

 
[spoiler=Creating the OoC]Here’s a template to get started.[/spoiler]

 
[spoiler=Hosting the Roleplay]Running a roleplay can be a heavy business. In addition, roleplays have a high mortality rate, but there are many ways to improve your roleplay’s chances of survival.[/spoiler][/spoiler]

[BANZAI!!!!]

Willing to help contribute to this if you need a hand aix.

[Aix]

Willing to help contribute to this if you need a hand aix.

Would gladly take help. Anything in particular you want to add to?

[BANZAI!!!!]

Would gladly take help. Anything in particular you want to add to?

whatever you need, really.

[a bad post]

*shot*

 

First off guys click the Mary Sue litmus test. A couple of those links are very useful (some in giving new ideas for characters, because well the more you know right.)

 

Anyhow I'd like to address one thing in the character creation guide thing, quickly. It's not always bad to play a "cliched" or "overused" troupe straight (especially for comedy purposes, cause done right it can be freakin' hilarious). I'm not saying creating a unique character is bad in any way, that's hardly the case, but your guide kind of makes it seem like if you write a straight "cliche" character at all it's a "your character's bad and you should feel bad" and I really don't think that's the case. Tbh I really don't think people should be judged on their ability to create a unique character, rather than the ability to write that character, and I think a writing sample of the character you've created is a better way to judge an application than how unique a character is.

 

Also what's with all this raped as a child is cliche thing, I don't know what the heck you guys are talking about, I've never seen that as cliched at all. I don't get why being raped as a child wouldn't count, while not a flaw, that would be a very real struggle for any character. Or people using "beaten as a child" as a backstory is looked down upon. It's not like it doesn't happen, in fact while I wouldn't say it's a common thing, it's a plausible enough backstory that could work to develop a character. I mean sure it RP terms it's not the most unique backstory, but like you say in the guide the backstory is one of the least important parts of an app so who really cares how unique it is anyway.

 

That's just my quick 2 cents though, I have quite a bit more to say, buuuut I have house work to do, so I shall return.

[Aix]

Zai, could you work on actual roleplay creation stuff, whether it's hosting or world building or whatever you're most comfortable with.

Izanami-no-Mikoto (uh, what do you actually want me to call you? Izanami is a bit of a mouthful) Could you name a cliche character that was well written? The thing is, cliche are banal and often uninteresting. If you are doing out of comic effect then that's the Rule of Funny. In addition, cliche generally implies a one dimensional character.

[a bad post]

Zai, could you work on actual roleplay creation stuff, whether it's hosting or world building or whatever you're most comfortable with.

Izanami-no-Mikoto (uh, what do you actually want me to call you? Izanami is a bit of a mouthful) Could you name a cliche character that was well written? The thing is, cliche are banal and often uninteresting. If you are doing out of comic effect then that's the Rule of Funny. In addition, cliche generally implies a one dimensional character.

You can call me Elly (I'm pretty sure that's the username most people know me by). To answer your question:

 

Satomi Rentaro was the most recent one I can think of. I, at least personally, find him well written. He is a very stereotypical antsy, lost his parents at a young age, hair trigger temper type character, but what makes him written well are his interaction with other characters (in fact that whole show's cast is basically made good by their interactions with each other), and how he deals with the world around him. I find this to be especially evident in any interactions he has with his Lady Friend, Kisara. In some of the scenes were they are shown alone together you can get the feeling that both character legitimately care for each other, and neither of them is just some idiot blind to the others feeling (which is usually what the shounen protag usually is). Then again at points he does deviate from the usual shounen protagonist at points to, so I suppose that makes this kind of a mute point.

 

Still I don't believe that cliche is necessary the right word, I believe something better would be one dimensional. Cliche merely means overused, and really sometimes you just enjoy playing a certain type of character and that's fine. One-dimensional mean is more lacking character depth, which is I think what your trying to go for, which is banal. Since cliche characters, can have depth to their characters (it might be cliche depth, but it is still depth) and like I said I don't feel this is all bad. As long as huge amounts cliche characters show up in a role-play I don't really think there's anything wrong with playing a straight tsundere or shounen protag character.

 

Also, if you'll have me, I'd also like to work on this since I do consider myself to be an experienced roleplayer considering nearly my entire post count is from this section, and I remember when Aix-chan first joined this site *shot*

[Aix]

You can call me Elly (I'm pretty sure that's the username most people know me by). To answer your question:

 

Satomi Rentaro was the most recent one I can think of. I, at least personally, find him well written. He is a very stereotypical antsy, lost his parents at a young age, hair trigger temper type character, but what makes him written well are his interaction with other characters (in fact that whole show's cast is basically made good by their interactions with each other), and how he deals with the world around him. I find this to be especially evident in any interactions he has with his Lady Friend, Kisara. In some of the scenes were they are shown alone together you can get the feeling that both character legitimately care for each other, and neither of them is just some idiot blind to the others feeling (which is usually what the shounen protag usually is). Then again at points he does deviate from the usual shounen protagonist at points to, so I suppose that makes this kind of a mute point.

 

Still I don't believe that cliche is necessary the right word, I believe something better would be one dimensional. Cliche merely means overused, and really sometimes you just enjoy playing a certain type of character and that's fine. One-dimensional mean is more lacking character depth, which is I think what your trying to go for, which is banal. Since cliche characters, can have depth to their characters (it might be cliche depth, but it is still depth) and like I said I don't feel this is all bad. As long as huge amounts cliche characters show up in a role-play I don't really think there's anything wrong with playing a straight tsundere or shounen protag character.

 

Also, if you'll have me, I'd also like to work on this since I do consider myself to be an experienced roleplayer considering nearly my entire post count is from this section, and I remember when Aix-chan first joined this site *shot*

What section would you be willing to write?

[a bad post]

What section would you be willing to write?

Anything, really, that you need help with, or are not totally confident with, though Roleplay Concept I believe I could do quite well.

[BANZAI!!!!]

Zai, could you work on actual roleplay creation stuff, whether it's hosting or world building or whatever you're most comfortable with.

 

sure thing. i'll pm you a draft soonish

[Aix]

Anything, really, that you need help with, or are not totally confident with, though Roleplay Concept I believe I could do quite well.

Alright, do that.

[Kyng]

Relaunched the thread. Will keep it up to this threads' standards, though concise.

[Goose]

Under the "Create and OoC" there isn't a link.  I feel there should be a link.