Post by Shadowstalker on Jun 3, 2013 19:30:48 GMT -5
The Good Guide to Roleplaying
//in progress//
Some of you are senior roleplayers. Others might be beginners. No matter what skill a RPer you are, it's a good idea to read the guides anyways. The Good Guide to Roleplaying is a collection of ideas, tips, and general rules you should always use and keep in mind when you're playing out a storyline. This anthology isn't just about roleplaying, but about characters, plot development, and clan creating.
I've been roleplaying Warrior clans, tribes, and rogue camps for three years now, so I do have experience and I'm not just typing for the pleasure of my own writing. This thread is meant to help advanced and beginners alike realize and learn what makes a good player, what people find irritating, and how you can make your experience all the more pleasant and fun.
I hope this guide is useful to you, reader. And this whole introduction sounds like an advertisement for financial help. //facepalm//
I'll use an example character for this thread. Her name is Silverstar.
General Rules
This section is about rules that are found generally in almost all roleplays. Occasionally, you get ones like power RP's. But usually, there's a very good chance the clan you join will have these same rules. Here are more detailed explanation of what they are and why they are obstructed.
NO BASHING, FLAMING, AND FIGHTING
Bashing and flaming means picking on someone for a particular reason and harshly arguing with and/or insulting them. It's pretty obvious why this isn't allowed: it's upsetting and rude.
NO GOD-MODDING
Many people get god-modding mixed up with power playing. God-modding is when you...
(A) control another person's character. "Silverstar made Deeproot flinch with her steely gaze." OR "Silverstar slashed at Darkfur, making him wail and run off." In both cases, the god-modder does not own the characters Darkfur or Deeproot.
(B) create events out of nowhere to your own advantage. "Lightning suddenly flashed, hitting the tree and causing it to fall on top of Moonwhisker." OR "Silverstar led the enemy following her all the way to snake rocks so he would be bit by an adder."
The reasons god-modding is not allowed is because it's not fair to the other person's character. You are being too controlling of other cats and events.
NO POWER-PLAYING
Power-playing is often confused with god-modding. Power-playing is when you make your character too powerful. By this, it is meant they do impossible feats. For example, "Silverstar emerged from the battle without a scratch on her flawless pelt." OR "Silverstar ran faster than the wind itself." OR dodging almost or every move in battle.
It is not allowed, again because it is not fair to others. Unless your cat is in a prophecy (that everyone knows about and agrees on) and has some special power, or your roleplay allows special powers, it is almost like cheating.
NO SPOTLIGHTING
Spotlighting is when you constantly make your cat the center of attention. For example, saving kits and fighting off foxes heroically. Most of the time, the spotlighter will make up an event suddenly (having a badger randomly storm into camp) so their character can be the hero. It is also when you steal someone else's spotlight for your own glory. In this case, this is just annoying. It's okay to do it every now and then, but to be doing it constantly gets on people's nerves.
NO SPAMMING
What is spamming? The word "spam" actually stands for "Stupid, Pointless, Annoying Messages." In any case, spam is advertisements; posting for the sake of posting (like just putting "fhjhfghnbv" in a post), or posting about unrelated subjects. Spamming is also when you revive old threads. To "revive" an old thread means you post on an older thread that has not been commented on in months.
Mary Sues and Gary-Stus
(Perfect Characters)
(Perfect Characters)
WHAT IS A MARY-SUE?
A Mary-Sue is the name for a perfect character. Mary-Sue generally refers to females and Gary-Stu is for males. When I say "perfect", I mean they (a) are outrageously beautiful, (b) have flawless traits, and (c) are...well, perfect.
Let me show you an example of a Mary-Sue. This one is going to be an extreme, but you get the idea.
NAME: Silverstar
GENDER: She-cat
DESCRIPTION: Silverstar is a beautiful she-cat, whose pelt is like liquid silver as she moves. Her fur is glossy and smooth as silk, is never matted and is always well-groomed. A memorizing scene of golds, crimson reds and aquatic blues dance in her clear eyes like sunset over the ocean. She has dainty paws and delicate features, and is lean and slender. But don't let that fool you, because she is a fierce battler. Toms heads' turn to gaze at her when she walks gracefully by, all haven lost their hearts to her long ago. Silverstar can leap four foxlengths in a single stride and fell a cat with one blow from her perfectly muscular paws.
PERSONALITY: Silverstar's parents were killed by twolegs when she was just a kit, leaving her to be raised by her cruel and wicked uncle. He made her clean out the den and do all the hunting. When he was mercifully killed by a monster, she left and joined ThunderClan. A prophecy said that she would become the next leader, but the current leader, Ratstar, was jealous of her beauty and skills. She challenged Silverstar to a fight. Silverstar won with just a few blows and did not even get a scratch. StarClan made her leader and Ratstar was banished forever. She is incredibly gentle, selfless, and loving, forgiving all injuries even when she was attempted to be murdered. She is the perfect leader.
As you can see, I made it a bit exaggerated. But there are five ways to tell if a character is a Mary-Sue.
(1) If the word "perfect" or "beautiful" is used anywhere in the description.
(2) If they are overly-described. We don't need to know the exact shade of her eyes, thank you very much.
(3) They have a horrible background but still turn out to be a wonderful person.
(4) There are no vices listed (you should ALWAYS list at least one fault: cowardly, unloyal, easily confused, etc)
(5) The names. NEVER make names that are too unique or unusual sounding, or too pretty/evil. Some examples would be Angelwing, Dragonfire, Gemsparkle, Emeraldshine, Bloodpath, or Blackspirit. Notice how they are untipical and too perfect sounding. For the first two, cats don't even know what Angels and Dragons are.
Mary-Sues are just really annoying characters. A lot of times, they'll also be spotlighters, powerplayers, and god-modders.
There's many different kinds of Sues. There's the classic "Pretty-Sue," the "Evil-Sue", "Scary-Sue", and then the "Unusual-Sue." The Unusual-Sue is a Mary-Sue who's appearance is just weird. "Soulless" black eyes, pelt that looks like lava, two tails through some sort of mutation. STAY AWAY FROM MUTATIONS. They don't make your characters look 'cool', just strange and sometimes irritating. Having a blu-ish pelt with purple eyes just can be irritating.
Appearances
When you create a character, the appearance is everything. However, there are important things to remember.
Often times people are either unoriginal in their descriptions or too creative. It takes practice to get it with just the right balance. Cliche's are a huge problem. "What's a cliche?" A cliche (clee-shae) is an overused idea or unoriginal thought. For instance, a black cat with red eyes is just super unoriginal and has been done many, many, many times before. Or even a cat with leopard print named Leopard-something. Not only the descriptions but the personalities that go with them can just make an overall boring character.
NAME: Wolfeyes
DESCRIPTION: Gray tabby tom with darker undercoat and yellow eyes. Especially large and sharper upper fangs.
PERSONALITY: Loud, obnoxious, but loyal.
BOR-ING. Can't you do any better? It's so common for someone to have a cat named Wolf-, and then make them look like one. BE CREATIVE. Point out some special things that separate him from others. Perhaps one shredded ear, that he originally wanted to be a medicine cat, etc. HOWEVER, don't go too far. We don't need a paragraph description.
Names are a big part of it. Names ending in -whisker, -foot, -pelt, -fire, -eyes, and other body parts are getting unoriginal. Also, try not to use really common prefixes (like Wolf, Swift, Lion, etc.) Try something new, like Slatepath, Cliffstone, Mosswood, Rowanblossom, or Alderbloom.
