GLOSSARY
-OP :: The first poster, usually the one who's running the roleplay. Used in other types of threads too. This is actually here so I don't forget what it is.
-OOC :: Out of character. In writing (fan fiction, at least), it usually means you're getting a canon character out of character, but here it means communicating with the roleplayers themselves in ((double parenthesis)), [[double brackets]], or {{double curly brackets}}, but I've only ever seen double parenthesis and double brackets. Personally, I prefer brackets. They're easier to distinguish.
-Skeleton :: The form used for joining the roleplay. The length can vary from just a few fields to a mile long, and some decide to decorate it. They're basically character sheets. For some reason, on Gaia, they tend to include what your username is. I'll probably just call these forms.
-Literate :: The one word constantly used wrong by RPers practically everywhere. It basically means they expect you to write massive posts, and no one-liners, no exceptions. At least that's what I gather.
-PO :: Played-out personality.
GAIA ROLEPLAYING -- The standards.
On Gaia, the roleplayign community is much different than I've encountered in any other community that I know of. Fluffy windowdressing post styles are encouraged, as well as simply finding a random picture off of Google (or drawing them yourself, but the OP usually doesn't care as long as it's anime styled) instead of typing your appearance. I'm going to assume this is because it is more convinient to look at a picture rather than actually read a description.
Generally, the OP will set a standard for how long the posts should be. These seem to be "Semi-Literate", "Literate", and "Advanced Literate". All iterations use the word 'literate' incorrectly. The latter two require massive (massive, as in, as long as a short story, it seems.) and the first one simply seems to mean "no one-liners" (though, I personally don't see the problem with one-liners.).
MAKING YOUR CHARACTER -- Know your roleplay.
Let's pretend I'm joining or have made a Pokémon roleplay that takes place in the region Unova (Black and White) with the following form:
[list][b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b] Can be PO.
[b]History:[/b] Optional.
[b]Team:[/b] Up to six active, however you may have more to switch out occasionally.
[b]Other:[/b] Anything else.[/list]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b]
[b]Personality:[/b] Can be PO.
[b]History:[/b] Optional.
[b]Team:[/b] Up to six active, however you may have more to switch out occasionally.
[b]Other:[/b] Anything else.[/list]
And the following rules:
Quote:
~All basic RP rules apply. Hopefully we've all been RPing long enough to know what they are.
~One trainer may only have ONE shiny to start. You may gain more over the course of the RP (that's what this is about, after all), however you may not have alternate coloured Pokemon otherwise. It's either shiny or not.
~No legendaries... Unless you have an exessively elaborate and good reason. And yes, even though they're allowed on random wi-fi (apparently), COBALION, TERRAKION, and VIRIZION are legendaries! (I can't remember whether the Kami trio is or not, but Tornadus, Thundrus, and Landorus are legendaries, too.)
~Takes place in Unova. Remember this. For convinience sake, I'm going to say White Forest surrounds Black City, and it's in the same place as the games.
~There will be a group of shiny hunters that steal shinies from other trainers. Put it in the "other" section that you are a shiny hunter if you are.
~One trainer may only have ONE shiny to start. You may gain more over the course of the RP (that's what this is about, after all), however you may not have alternate coloured Pokemon otherwise. It's either shiny or not.
~No legendaries... Unless you have an exessively elaborate and good reason. And yes, even though they're allowed on random wi-fi (apparently), COBALION, TERRAKION, and VIRIZION are legendaries! (I can't remember whether the Kami trio is or not, but Tornadus, Thundrus, and Landorus are legendaries, too.)
~Takes place in Unova. Remember this. For convinience sake, I'm going to say White Forest surrounds Black City, and it's in the same place as the games.
~There will be a group of shiny hunters that steal shinies from other trainers. Put it in the "other" section that you are a shiny hunter if you are.
Now, when making a character, I must use this form and follow the rules the OP has set forth. Here's an example of a bad character:
- Name: Neptune
Age: Unknown
Gender: Female
Appearance: She's a girl with articuno wings and tail and black hair and she wears all blue!
Personality: PO
History: She's from Sinnoh
Team: She's her own team, but other than that --
Maxie (Groudon, Genderless): Lava Plume, Solar Beam, Fire Blast, Dig
Other: She was a Team Galactic comander when she was in Sinnoh!
I'm ashamed to say this actually was a character of mine, sans Mary-sueness and the Groudon which I made up on the spot. Please, forgive me. (The RP she was used in, she kind of was still a sue, since the plot revolved around her... Even though she fit in.)
Now, what's wrong with this character? Not only does she conflict with established canon for the world (even if the actual RP takes place in Unova), but think about it. She's a Pokemorph/Gijinka (whatever your preferred terminology is) of Articuno (one of the legendary birds of Kanto, for anyone who doesn't know.) and she owns a Groudon named Maxie which is established in-game as even being dangerous (and the games didn't start establishing legendary status as such until the generation in which Groudon debuted). She "was a Team Galactic commander"... Well, there are only four: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Charon. (I think she was also either Saturn's cousin or Cyrus' cousin at the time of creation... Oh geez.)
Here's an example of a good/okay character:
- Name: Elizabeth, but prefers the nickname "Buster".
Age: 24 and a half
Gender: Female
Appearance: She has dark brown (almost black) eyes and dark brown hair. She generally wears a grey vest with black short shorts, white knee socks, and black tennis shoes. Under the vest she wears just a black short-sleeve shirt (unless it's cold out, then she wears a black long-sleeve shirt). Black fingerless gloves.
Personality: She LOVES shinies, but would never steal just to get one. She adamant travels out from Nimbasa to White Forest just to see if she can find a Shiny in the wild. Otherwise, PO. <3 [[note: it should probably be noted that she started the RP in Pinwheel Forest, and I kind of decided at the last second to make it just PO without editing the form. The community's really lenient about that.]]
History: NOPE
Team:
Typhoon (Staraphtor, M): Her most loyal and irreplaceable friend and partner. Aerial Ace, Facade, Brave Bird, Close Combat, Retaliate, Detect.
Blader (Scyther, M): A Pokemon she got in a trade from a friend in Johto. U-Turn, Slash, X-Scissor, Aerial Ace, Air Slash, False Swipe.
Other: LOL I TOTALLY DID NOT (read: did) COPY PASTE LIKE HALF OF THIS FROM THE BATTLE ON CRIME
Real form, by the way.
Now, consider: why is this form good/okay? For one, no legendaries/ubers. It takes into consideration the canon and is not directly involved with any of the games, the manga, or the anime. All of the Pokémon know moves they would be able to learn (Level up, TM/HM, breeding or otherwise), and she fits into the setting.
I cannot stress how important it is to know your setting. An 18-year-old would probably not be going to school, would they? Neither would a witch or a cat-whatever or a dog-whatever, unless it specifically states in the settign things liek that are allowed.
POSTING -- Good, bad, ugly.
In that order.
Not everyone is good at writing and roleplaying. That doesn't mean it's not possible to get better at it. Your very first RP post is arguably the most important, because that's where your character starts intereacting with other characters. They are no longer just a list of characteristics. Now, shall we kick this off with a good/okay post?
Quote:
Buster ambled along the forest path alongside her Scyther. The heat of the summer sun was mostly reflected by her vest, but that didn't stop her from taking note of the heat. I should have brought some water...
As she progressed deeper and deeper into Pinwheel forest, the scent of burnt grass became evident, and it seemed the further she went, the stronger it got. Eventually, she just had to cover her nose and brethe through her mouth. "Blader..." she called, grabbing the attention of her Scyther, "how can you stand this? It stinks."
Blader gave no response. Out of the corner of Buster's eye, she spotted a group of white, fluffy Pokemon. She smiled. "Cottonee!" She absolutely adored the cute, little, fluffy things. She had seen many all over Unova, but one in the group stood out. Instead of green, it was more of a gold and orange... Unless...
"Shiny!" She pointed at the orange Cottonee. Blader instantly understood what he had to do, and assumed a battle stance, awaiting orders. "Blader, False Swipe it!"
Blader scliced at the Cottonee and missed. A gust of warm wind blew the Cottonee in the direction of where the smell of burnt grass was coming from.
"Well... Maybe we won't smell it since it's blowing away from us now..." Buster ran after the Cottonee, with her Scyther following closely. This one will not get away!
As she progressed deeper and deeper into Pinwheel forest, the scent of burnt grass became evident, and it seemed the further she went, the stronger it got. Eventually, she just had to cover her nose and brethe through her mouth. "Blader..." she called, grabbing the attention of her Scyther, "how can you stand this? It stinks."
Blader gave no response. Out of the corner of Buster's eye, she spotted a group of white, fluffy Pokemon. She smiled. "Cottonee!" She absolutely adored the cute, little, fluffy things. She had seen many all over Unova, but one in the group stood out. Instead of green, it was more of a gold and orange... Unless...
"Shiny!" She pointed at the orange Cottonee. Blader instantly understood what he had to do, and assumed a battle stance, awaiting orders. "Blader, False Swipe it!"
Blader scliced at the Cottonee and missed. A gust of warm wind blew the Cottonee in the direction of where the smell of burnt grass was coming from.
"Well... Maybe we won't smell it since it's blowing away from us now..." Buster ran after the Cottonee, with her Scyther following closely. This one will not get away!
This was also my first post, and yet I am still interactign with other characters. How? In the posts previous mine (I was not the first to post), there was a Pokémon battle between other characters (Jewely and Isaac), and one of the participating Pokémon was a fire-type (Magarco). The grass was burnt during this. Buster eventually ends up in the heat of it (or at least, the Cottonee does, provoking an entorely different battle).
Note: In this roleplay, wild Pokemon are treated as NPCs and Pokemon owned by trainers are also characters.
Care to see a bad post? Like, really bad? Hold on, I have to get in touch with my inner noob.
Quote:
Buster ran over to the cottonee and caught it. She continued following the scent of burning grass and yelled 'Hey!" over to the trainer with the magarco. He ignored her, so she walked over and tapped his shoulder.
Not only is this godmodding (taking control of someone else's character without permission), but the quality of the posts is unquestionably bad.
And of course, the ugly post would just be the 'Bad' post, but with txt spk (I'm not going to type it because I suck at reading and writing text speak).
Post Styles-- Please read.
Post styles are standard for most Gaia roleplays, but you know what?
Not everything is about how pretty you can make your post with deep emo lyrics, a stolen anime picture, and insanely light text. In fact, I don't even know why that's standard. All that matters is the quality of the posts.You know the "good post" example? It didn't have any post style. No one in the roleplay does. They could if they wanted to, but they didn't. In the past, people have done colour coded dialogue, but that swiftly came to a stop because they were blinding on the forum's dark blue background. If you can avoid having a humungous post style, I beg you, please do. If you can avoid having insanely light text, please do. Treat it like you're writing a story.
Roleplaying -- The truth.
In a phrase, the only way you'll get the hang of Rping is by trying it yourself. No guide is a replacement for expirience.
