Roleplaying! That's right, good ol' fashioned wholesome roleplaying. This is your basic submit-a-profile-to-the-rp-creator-in-a-PM rp where you choose a picture from online and design a layout with coding. It includes all genres and structures - group or 1x1's - just please follow the guild rules, specifically numbers four and five, being considerate of others and the keep it in your pants clause. Nothing too explicit okay? Or mind numbingly violent. That is all I ask.
Below I will be posting some rp pointers for those looking to improve their skills or are starting out for the first time.
If you are here to create a role play, there are essential things you must do.
Step One: Have an attention grabbing, interesting role-play. ⋞ ♦ ⋟ So here you will create something that a majority of people are interested in. It can be romance, sci-fi and other fun things. But i ask for you to keep it rated pg 15. There might be some children here that say they are old enough to be on gaia.
Step Two: Describe what your role-play is about. ⋞ ♦ ⋟ It would be great that id you describe what your role play is about so that people can read what the plot line is and what they have to do.... it would be rude not to have a description because if you don't no one will know how you wan the role-play to play out.
Step Three: Place the rules you want for the role-play you created. ⋞ ♦ ⋟ This is more of a reminder, but if you don't place the rules and you get mad that the role-play is not going the way you planned, it's your fault!
Step Four: Add your preferred outline for the profile for the role-play. ⋞ ♦ ⋟ So there are many outlines placed here, just click on the
and you will get the out line of different character profile.
Step Five: Decide how many people you want in your role-play. ⋞ ♦ ⋟ If you have any preferred limit to hoe many people can post in your role play, then state this in the topic I.E Rising Among (6 spots open) [O/A]. This way people can audition for the role-play for you. ⋞ ♦ ⋟ If you just want a 1x1 role-play you would have your title and 1x1 on it. I.E.Secret Memories (1x1) [O/A]. ⋞ ♦ ⋟ If you have every person you want, then your title would be the name of the role-play and closed I.E Secret Memories (1x1) [Closed]
Step Six: List the type of characters you want I.E Leader, Deputy, Healer, Nerd, etc... ⋞ ♦ ⋟ So an easy way to kick start a role-play would be to have the types of characters listed, and a description of what they do/how they are supposed to act. his would be a guide line for the submitted profiles.
Step Seven: Have the profiles of the characters that made it. ⋞ ♦ ⋟ Basically, you will have a title saying the role with a
so that you can hide the profile. I.E The Pessimistic
☞[size=11][color=postingcolor]Appearance:[/color] {This isn't just about the picture. Tell us anything else about the character:how tall they are, what they wear, etc.[/size]
☞[size=11][color=postingcolor]Username:(put your user name here)[/color][/size][/align]
Name: Please put full name. Nickname(s): Role: Birthday: Age: All ages are welcome. Gender: Personality: Biography: Weapon: Only up to two weapons. Other Information: Theme: Username:
RP Sample: You must include an audition with your character. So you do something that just happens after an event, or just before meeting a character for the first time. About one paragraph should be sufficient. /spoiler]
[appearance]
My name would be: [Name] Though people call me: [Nickname/s] If it wasn't obvious, I'm a : [Gender] I'm: [Age] Surprisingly enough, I'm a/an: [Race] Many say I'm like this: [Personality] My past goes like so: [Biography, make it fairly lengthy] I love: [Likes] I hate: [Dislikes] These are my flashy little powers: [Powers, three maximum] This is what I can fight with!: [Weapons, three maximum] Did I forget something?: [Other] Role: Username:
1. Being Literate This means spelling things correctly and using proper grammar. That means keeping everything in the correct and consistent tense when typing (singular or plural nouns, past, present, or future verbs) and using the proper punctuation. You must type like writing a novel, not like typing a text message. That's just sloppy. To be literate means spelling everything out and even throwing in flashy rhetorical strategies to beef up your writing like similes, metaphors, and alliteration sometimes. Now, some rp mods and owners aren't that picky, it just depends, but it never hurts to aim high.
2. Being Semi-Literate This means a lesser version of the above.
3. Being Active Before you join an rp you should make sure you have the time for it. Being active means making a decent number of posts in a certain time frame. For each creator and rp mod it's different, but the consensus is that you should at least be able to afford one post in a week's time, minimum.
4. Pictures Some rp's call for anime-only pictures, some real life pictures, and some none whatsoever, but should you need a picture you can find a nearly bottomless selection on image hosting sites like photobucket. Sign up and make an account there, and when you find an image you like you can save it to a personal album. You can also upload one you might have somewhere on your computer. If you can't find an image you like, but say, you know what character you want to use, you can always watch a video and save a screencap to your desktop. However you come about your images be sure they are a reasonable size that doesn't take up the whole screen. That sort of thing makes writers mad-faced. Next what you want to do is click "IMG" and copy/paste the direct link in the blank that comes up (the website will provide the direct links). If you want to center it, highlight the coding and click the center text button. Or if you want it off to the side you can center it left or right. If you want it to the side with the text flowing around it select "Imgleft" or "Imgright" instead of "IMG" and the other buttons.
5. Posting Pretty There's no secret to posting pretty, as long as you have the right links. Here's what I use when making a fancy post layout: Font Styles, Font Colors, Symbols. Other than that it's just pure hard work and patience to master the coding. If you don't want to go through all that you can always look to hire someone willing to do it for you. Here's a little secret though: to cut back on the tedious hours spent coding you can take a blank white document and upload it to photobucket. Click edit and choose your font and color. Then, crop the image as needed. Save a copy, do not replace the white document, you can use it again later. Then what you have is an image file of the words you wanted to use, which you can then put in your posts for font that you know will stay consistent, such as your character name. It looks 100x better than what coding with gaia can do and it's waaaaay easier than fumbling around with the proper coding.
6. Modding Start off with a basic rules list because every story will need them. Otherwise things get really chaotic really fast. I also go with a clear genre so people know what they're getting into and don't make a horror-story character for a romantic comedy. Communication is also a key element which can be done a number of ways: PM's, polls, meebo chats, quoting, OOC forums, etc. OOC forums are especially helpful in planning ahead and making announcements too. Being an rp creator and mod can be a lot of hard work too! And it's difficult to play both good and bad cop when times it's needed...so one thing you can try is having a co-mod, someone you know and work well with to run the story as a team.
7. Read Every Post It will help you, trust me. I know it can be a lot but it's for your own good. And that goes for your mod's OOC posts too.
8. Keep a Personal Document Type a word document and keep notes about each rp you're in so you can keep track of everything better and the story won't lag. I can't tell you how many issues could have been avoided if people had just done this from the beginning. You can save a copy of your layouts, plan for the future, write summaries, all sorts of helpful things. It's sort of like an rp cheat-sheet but it's not illegal. Definitely take advantage here. And if you type your posts in said word document before you post them, it'll save you the frustration of having your internet crash and wipe out all your hard work cuz hey, I think we all have been there.
9. Know Your Limitations You can join more than one rp, just don't join a million of them. Between them and real life stuff you won't be able to keep up and you'll wind up letting everyone down. Major bummer when that happens. Likewise don't apply for a major role in a story unless you're willing to commit to it. That means posting actively, literately, and relevantly to the plot. Heroes are leaders but so are villains, after all, the villains give heroes a purpose: stopping them! Be honest about your skill level and your willingness to commit to the story, any story, before applying for a hugely important position.
10. Writer's Block If you need an original fantasy name, like for a character for another world or place, here's a couple of helpful links to some Fantasy Name Generators online: 1, 2. Now, for the dreaded case of writer's block, contact your rp members and brainstorm what to do next and what it leads to in the long-run. It's always fun to have plot-twists and surprises, but one wrong post by a well intentioned rp member could derail what you had in store, so communication is key to get everyone on the same page. No pun intended.
