rusty kuhnts (igpayatinlay) wrote in rp_tutorials, @ 2010-05-06 18:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | resources: general, tools: general |
Role Playing Games for the Beginner |
RPGs can be daunting for people who aren't yet a part of a game and would like to be. To help you get started, RP Tutorials has plenty of guides for you to check out. This overview covers the following topics, with further reading listed below: [Creating Your Character] · [How to Play Nicely With Others] · [Further Reading] · What Exactly Is Role Play? In its simplest description, role playing is pretending to be a character who isn't you. There are many kinds of games, characters, and ways to play, but essentially people who play in role playing games develop characters and play as these characters, interacting with the rest of the game. It's a bit like acting, without a set script. Anyone can play in these games, there are no special skills or tools you'll need, but creativity, dedication, and in some cases an appreciation for writing can help you out. Individual games will likely have a few things they ask you to bring to the table or commit to, but most are also happy to help players new to RPGs get started. There are many rewards that come from playing; lasting friendships, the feeling of accomplishment when your character gain points or levels, and the fun that comes from playing a really neat plot with really nice people. The hardest step is often the first one, so if you think RPG might be something that you'd enjoy, don't be afraid to give it a try! Before You Start Your Game Hunt Role play is a fun hobby, but it's usually more fun if you also put some thought into it. There's a lot of different kinds of games out there, so just the same way someone might rather take up basketball than tennis, there is probably one kind of RPG that will appeal to you the most. There's nothing to say you can't pull a Michael Jordan and take on every sport out there, but finding the right fit to start with will help you get a good feeling about whether you want to branch out to different kinds of games later. Firstly, there are lots of different ways to roleplay. There are live action games, which are played in person with other people; they can be at someone's house around a table or out on a weekend getaway event, with costumes or without, and players become their characters, acting out and playing with the other players. There are table top games (aka pen and paper games), which are also played in person with others; they're statistics oriented (powers, points, status, etc.), and the characters follow a storyline along with the use of dice to decide outcomes of chance. There are MMORPG's, which is an acronym for "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game"; and these often rely upon you completing tasks, gaining items or skills, and challenging others to get points that make your character stronger. These types of games most often all have a Gamemaster (GM); the GM is responsible for presenting the setting, arbitrating the outcome of character actions, and creating a narrative that involves all of the characters' individual stories. They're generally more common for games where the characters work together, rather than battle each other. I've heard about chat based games, which take place exclusively on instant messaging clients, where you're chatting as a character. I know nothing about them, so, if someone does, feel free to comment and I'll add it in here! There are games which focus on interactive and collaborative writing, called PBP (short for play-by-post), where players also participate in moving the narrative forward. Play is done by characters replying to each other through comments/replies/posts. Forum-site games, which are based on sites that use formats similar to Invision Power Boards, are usually are set up with a series of forums and sub-forums divided by location, and players make an account for each character, starting a thread wherever they are wanting to play, and replying to each others replies. For the purpose of this little chat however, we're going to focus mostly on journal-site games, which are based on sites such as LiveJournal, InsaneJournal, Scribbld, Inksome, and Dreamwidth. There will usually be one journal dedicated to a game's moderator(s), which houses all of the information for the game. Most commonly, a player will need to create a journal for the character they want to apply with, and (once accepted) will use this journal to reply to the other characters. These games usually have a Moderator (Mod), who sets up and maintains the game's premise, resources, information, and sometimes also the key narrative events. Once we narrow down our spectrum of focus to journal-site games, we can break things down a little further. Fandom games are based around already established fictional works, such as Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings, Buffy, Final Fantasy, Star Trek, Star Wars, Jane Austen, House M.D., Merlin, Disney, etc. The games can be described as canon (meaning they've kept the plots and histories from their original source material mostly in tact) or AU (short for alternate universe, which means there are dramatic changes, such as putting the characters from the original source material on a spaceship or a dude ranch, or, altering major plot points that result in a "What if..." situation). Played By (aka PB) games don't revolve around existing storylines or characters, though they may take some basic ideas, such as fairy tales or magic. Similar to casting directors working on a movie, players and mods will often describe the characters that they have or want in terms of the actors who would play them, i.e., a shy, classical pianist played by Claire Danes, or a rude, snarky doctor played by Mark Strong. These characters can surely be inspired by existing ones, but shouldn't be identical to existing characters, or identical to real people. If you want to play a real person, you're looking for a Celeb game, where players pretend to be existing celebrities. They can be based in real life or AU (where these people are still themselves but not famous, or, they're all living in Tokyo, etc.), and often require players to have extensive knowledge of the celebrities they're playing. One more breakdown to go! You can do it! Thread Based games usually involve all of the character journals joining a community, where 'threads' are played. One character will make a post in the community that sets up the scene (time, place, characters, summary, warnings, etc.), another player will post a comment, and either the original poster or another character will reply to that. Play continues on, with characters replying to each others' comments. The most common format for this sort of play is third-person, past-tense, i.e. 'Harry drew his wand and quickly conjured a bouquet of flowers. "Happy Anniversary, Gin," he said with a sheepish grin.' Thread based gaming is often for people who are more interested in quality collaborative writing, as all the players work together to move plots along, discover new conflicts and connections between their characters, and generally create a story that has all the same elements of the more traditional story-telling formats; books, television, movies, theater. Journal Based games don't always have communities, because they use the premise of connected journals. These can be magically enchanted, online, using some sort of wired device - really, any way of linking them can be explained, but each character will have one, which they write in and the other characters can then read from. Players make a post in their own journal (some games allow for the assumption of special features to the journals, such as entries that are marked private, marking an entry as viewable only to select individual characters, PSL Based (short for Private Story Line) is a term that means very few characters will be represented. It can be just two players with one character each, or it can be a small group of players who have a few characters each - the latter is somewhat common when a game dies out, but there are players who still want to play things out. You probably won't find as many of these being actively advertised as games, but, some advertising communities allow for players to post PSL requests (usually something like 'I want to play Iceman in an Iceman/Kitty Pryde psl,' sometimes with a bit more info about what they want from Kitty, or from the storyline itself). These can be played in any format or style, in communities or in journals. Sometimes they're less daunting for new players who don't want to jump headfirst into the drama that can come with a game, but it should be noted that they don't offer as many interaction opportunities, so you'll really need to like writing with your psl partner a lot! Hunting For Your Game Hopefully the information above has helped you in your decision about what sort of game is best for you to try first. Once you're ready to look for a game, there's a few things you can try.
It's also a very good idea to nose around as much as you can. If it's been going for a while, reading (or at least skimming) the game itself will help you get a feel for the tone it sets and the characters in it, as well as an example of the format they're using. Getting familiar with the history of the game before you apply will help you get right into playing once you're accepted, rather than playing catch up for a week or two. Also, perusing character journals for applications can give insight into what the moderator(s) have accepted in the past, as well as who you would be playing with. Creating Your Character Once you've found a game (or, sometimes before!), you're going to need to create a character to play. The application process will help you develop your character for sure, but for people who haven't done this before - and let's face it, for some of us who have - there are a few tips to keep in mind.
After that, it's really just up to you to try and stay patient. Sometimes there's one moderator who's online for hours every day, and can approve your application in a matter of hours. More often, there's more than one moderator who needs to check out the app and weigh in. Occasionally, the opinions of the game's current players are solicited as well. All of these people have lives, so, while you wait, take the opportunity to review... How to Play Nicely With Others Once you're accepted to a game, be sure to follow all instructions from the mods as far as how to get your journal set up to play. These can include joining communities, friending mod journals, posting your application or a character profile in your character journal, etc. After you're set up, if there is an Out of Character community, its a great idea to head over and introduce yourself. If you're shy, you might not have a lot to say, but it's this first interaction that can set up a lot of history for your character and other characters in the game, help you identify who would be some cool people to play with, etc. The first thing about playing, for me personally, would actually be to try and do as much as you can, without overloading yourself. Don't be shy to ask someone to play with you, and if someone asks you to play, don't turn them down! If you're playing in a journal-based game, you will likely be posting in your character's journal, so that the others can respond. You don't always need to post big news in your character's life, sometimes a simple observation or opinion on something will spark a huge slew of replies. In the same turn, check your character's friends list and reply to whatever you feel they would have some sort of commentary on. Roleplay gets a bit more complex when you're doing thread-based stuff. Be sure to post all new in character interactions in the In Character Community. The most common sort of formatting involves a header that includes the names of the characters involved, a location, a summary, if it's open to all characters or just a few, etc. The exact format is usually provided for you by the mods. After the header, you'll want to make a journal cut (<lj-cut text="YOUR TEXT HERE">) and then write the start of the thread. It's good to set up the location, including the time of day, the weather if you're outdoors, if it's crowded or empty, etc. It's also a good idea to establish what sort of mood your character is in, and to provide something for other characters to respond to. When it's you who's replying to a thread someone else started, some games consider it polite to ask first before jumping in; in others, nothing would ever happen if people didn't just respond to open threads. You can likely check with a mod the first time you want to reply to a thread that you haven't planned OOC, and they'll let you know what's standard. In my personal playing history though, I have found that if you want to join a thread that's already in progress and doesn't have your character listed in the heading, it's good to check with the player of the character who started the thread. One of the benefits to roleplaying on journal-based websites is that, when someone replies to your comment, you get an e-mail letting you know - so, you want to do just that ("reply to comment"), rather than replying to the entry itself (sometimes the link will say something like "post a new comment"). Once you reach the point where your comments are all squished over on the right side, some players like to start a new thread - the term comes from the links below each comment, one of which is 'thread'. As you're writing your replies (also called tags, posts, comments), there are a few key "no-no's" of roleplay to keep in mind.
Further Reading If that wasn't enough for you, rp_tutorials offers plenty of other reading for players - both new and old alike - that will help make games better. Check out these awesome posts, and whatever you do, don't forget that this is a game, so have fun! :D [RP Types] · [Dictionary of RP Terms] · [Godmodding] · [Powerplaying] · [Puppeting] [Common Courtesies] · [More on Applying] · [Etiquette Tips for Various RP Styles] [A Survey on Etiquette] |