“I am a Jedi!” – How to play a character in an RPF RPG.

Welcome, new player! In this thread you will find a storehouse of advice on how to make the best of your experience playing in these forums. There is nothing in here in the way of ironclad rules – only the accumulation of almost ten years’ experience in roleplaying on the forums. Read it, be mindful, but above all be inspired.

Also, regardless of anything else in this post, you are also expected to read and abide by the RPF Rules when you play in this forum.

This post is divided up into sections as follows:

BASIC TRAINING:

• Introduction


• Basic Rules of Gaming


• What do GM, CS, PM, IC, OOC, and TAG mean?

INTERMEDIATE TRAINING:

• When Joining an RPG


• Grammar is not your mother’s mother


• How long should my posts be?


• Common Questions and Common Mistakes


• Characters, Players, and Knowledge


• When the Dreaded DRL attacks


• The Importance of Saying Goodbye

ADVANCED TRAINING:

• Small RPG or Large RPG?


• Character Reflections


• The Most Important Rule Of All

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BASIC TRAINING:



Introduction:
When you play in a roleplaying game, you take the role of a character within that game. Since you’ve come here, you probably already understood that.

However, the games here are a little different from games like World of Warcraft or Diablo.

Here, a roleplaying game (or RPG, or RP) is much like a novel. Imagine, for a moment, your name is Timothy Zahn, Michael A Stackpole or Karen Traviss. Pretend there is a large, leatherbound hardcover book with the name of the game written in beautiful gold leaf script on the cover. When you open up this hardcover, a few pages are full, but most of it is blank.

You, my RPing friend, have the pen to complete this masterpiece in the making. Along with others, post by post, you write the story (according to the gamemaster’s rules) of what your character does in the game. He can live, die, love, hate, get into lightsaber duels, blast away at Imperial stormtroopers – it’s all up to you.

That’s it. That’s what roleplaying here is all about in a nutshell.

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Basic Rules of Gaming:
Each RPG has its own rules according to what the GM wants. What’s below are four fundamental rules you’ll come across in virtually every game on the RPF (the Role Playing Forums, or RPF for short). Understanding what these rules mean will help you get into an RPG faster. It’s important to understand the rules of RPGs since if you don’t abide by them a GM does have the right to ask a moderator to intervene, including imposing a ban from the boards if necessary.

1. Obey the TOS.
Obvious, but it has to be said again. The TOS, if you don’t already know, stands for the Terms Of Service, and it sets out what you can and can’t do on the whole board system. Read it, comprehend it, post in accordance with it, and you will prosper. Swear, flame, bait, or spam a thread, and you’ll not only forfeit your place in the game, but you’ll also most likely be banned from the boards altogether.

2. No godmoding.
Godmoding is named for the “god mode” you often find in a computer game - a cheat mode where you’re invulnerable, have unlimited ammunition, can walk through walls, and so on. In an RPG there are two types of godmoding:

• Creating and using a character with no weaknesses, or a character with limitless or unbelievable resources or abilities at his disposal; and


• Writing your character doing things in the game that your character really has no plausible chance of achieving – for example, a ten-year-old padawan character taking on Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel and whipping the Sith Lord’s butt. Or saying you survived the explosion of your X-Wing fighter because "I had a force field".

Godmoding, in short, is cheating by another name, and it is looked on severely by Game Masters (GMs) and players alike. Don’t do it.

3. No auto-hitting.
This means do not assume someone else's reaction, because they might have a different idea for what their character is doing. You may suggest a reaction, such as the amount of damage taken from an attack, but if they can think of a viable reason as to why they shouldn't take that damage, so be it.

For example, you could write “Luke swung at Darth Vader, and it didn’t look like his swing was going to miss.” You would not write “Luke swung at Darth Vader and cut his hand off.” That is auto-hitting because you’re not giving the person playing Darth Vader a chance to come up with a defence. (And needless to say you do not kill another person’s character without permission from either the GM or the other player).

In a more general sense, do not manage other people's characters in any way, shape, or form. This means that you cannot control them, post damage for them, etc. unless they give you permission. This includes the non-player characters (NPCs) that the GM is running as well...unless told otherwise.

4. The GM’s word is final.
This is plain old common sense, but it’s important to say it anyway. The GM has the final say on any issue in the game. It doesn’t matter how harsh the decision is; it’s his game – his house, he is your host, and you are his guest. A guest does not make a mess in his host's house (and yes, a host does have to look after his guests, but that's not the issue here). If a decision is bothering you so much that you don't want to continue playing, you are always at liberty to leave - or why not consider starting up your own RPG?

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What do GM, CS, PM, IC, OOC, and TAG mean?
When you read some of the threads in these forums you’ll probably see some of these abbreviations. Don’t panic! Truth is they aren’t that complicated: they are there just to make life a bit easier for everyone participating in the RPG. Here’s what they mean:

GM is an abbreviation for Game Master. It’s the guy running the game, usually the author of the whole thread. The Game Master is basically “God” in the world of your RPG. He controls events and non-player characters, and needless to say his word is generally law. Where you are interacting with a character who is not a player, or attempting to do something which has a chance of failing, it’s typically up to the GM to say what their reaction is, or the outcome of your attempt.

CS is short for Character Sheet. The character sheet is a form that you fill out before playing in the game; it lists some basic things about your character like his name, age, species, gender, and things like that. Most GMs will require you to submit your character sheet to them before you start playing. Which brings us to the next abbreviation...

PM, or Private Message. This is a feature you can use anywhere on the boards, using the “Private Message” buttons either in the thread or at the top of the forum page. It allows you to send a private message to a person, including the GM. Usually you’ll see the request “PM your CS to me before posting” from the GM. This means you should send a private message with your proposed Character Sheet to the GM for him to look over and approve.

IC stands for In Character. It shows where you’re writing the actual story of the character. For example:

IC – Luke Skywalker

Luke strode across the room, igniting his lightsaber. He hoped the stormtroopers on the other side of the far door wouldn’t hear him coming.

OOC stands for Out Of Character. You use it when you (as opposed to your character) want to say something in the thread. Typically you do it before or after your IC post. For example:

OOC: Boy, this is turning into a nasty situation, huh?

IC – Luke Skywalker

Luke strode across the room, igniting his lightsaber. He hoped the stormtroopers on the other side of the far door wouldn’t hear him coming.

TAG isn’t an abbreviation. It means “Tag, you’re it” – it means you’re asking someone else playing the game to respond to something your character has done. (And needless to say, if somebody tags you, you respond to them!) You usually TAG another person by their username or at least something to identify the person by. For example:

OOC: Boy, this is turning into a nasty situation, huh?

IC – Luke Skywalker

Luke strode across the room, igniting his lightsaber. He hoped the stormtroopers on the other side of the far door wouldn’t hear him coming.

TAG: Game Master

See? Pretty straightforward.

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INTERMEDIATE TRAINING



When Joining an RPG

Group Captain William "Striker" Stryder (Telling the reader which character this particular RP is about is a good idea. Also note that ranks, when addressing a person, are capitalised. However, you are not "promoted to Admiral", you are "promoted to admiral". However, you will refer to Admiral Tyarr as, well, Admiral Tyarr, not admiral Tyarr. Also, I really hope I don't need to tell you to capitalise people's names.)

Starfighter Docks, SSD Knight Hammer - Imperial Center (Telling the reader the setting is a good idea, too.)

Clang! (You don't need to italicise onomatopoetic words, but it's always good to do so)

Several curses floated up from the ion engine of the TIE Defender and the owner of the expliciate phrases appeared rubbing the top of his head and holding a hydrospanner in another hand. "Stupid machine." Striker (Some RPers make character name bold, but this is optional) scolded the inanimate vessel.

"Having problems with your TIE, Captain?" A female Chiss asked from the walkway to his left. She wore the black uniform of an Imperial (Imperial, Rebel, New Republic etc are all proper nouns. Capitalise them.) pilot with the green piping along the shoulders and down the arm, identical to Striker's uniform.

"Yeah. It's fighting the improvments I'm trying to give it." He jested and tossed the hydrospanner into the toolbox and wiping his hands clean of most of the grease. The ace pilot climbed the ladder to the walkway and joined Shawnkyr.

"I wanted to congratulate you on your promotion." She said once he had joined her on the walkway.

"You mean re-promotion." (Emphasised word italicised) Striker leaned against the railing of the walkway and gazed his blue eyes on the female. She was tall, well-fit, and slightly masculine from working out with weights. Shawnkyr probably could pin down and hold a full grown man on her own. The thought and studying his friend almost made Striker want that to happen to him.

(In the name of God, paragraph your RPs. Please, I beg of you. When the subject changes, make a new paragraph. It chops your RP into digestable chunks; a big block of text is intimidating, paragraphs are not.)

If Shawnkyr caught his look, she made no indication that she did. Instead she continued the conversation as if he had not looked at her any other way other than as a friend and fellow soldier. "Do you get to keep it this time or will someone else make you a Wing Commander again?"

(Another time to put things on a new line is during conversations. Do as Mitthy does when characters talk to each other.)

"It's permanent this time. Though I would have preferred the rank of Major."

"Why are we here?" She asked him.

"In the Known Galaxy or the Knight Hammer (Yay, italicised!) itself?"

"Both."

"Well for starters you guys followed me back." William answered and shifted his position on the railing so that his back faced his TIE Defender (Do not italicise ship models, like TIE Fighter. Do, however, italicise ship names, such as ISD Invincible) and he stared out at the other rows of Imperial starfighters. "I returned because I thought it could help boost my career. And I thought perhaps upon returning I would be engaged in dogfights against the rebellion. But with the cease-fire, doesn't look like it'll happen any time soon."

"You did not hear the latest transmission from Mon Mothma?"

"What transmission?" He asked curiously.

"Apparently we attacked Brentaal (Planet names are proper nouns. Capitalise them.) and they are beginning to retaliate. So the cease-fire is off." Shawnkyr answered calmly.

"Good."

Zaarin held the blaster right up to his temple.

"I dislike your attitude. Please provide the answers I have requested."

TAG SuperJedi999999

IC – Ar’kalis, Jedi Knight

Ar’kalis gritted his teeth, sensing the evil atmosphere around the door. He was not born yesterday. Sith Lords hardly ever left their caverns open for business – and an ancient Sith trick was to hide evil inside innocent surroundings. He had learned much of such constructions over his life. Crouching, the Jedi peered closer at the activation plate, searching for anything out of the ordinary about the ancient steel plate. Saying a little prayer, he pressed the activation plate and, when the door had swung open, advanced slowly through the doorway.

TAG: GM

IC – Ar’kalis

I go thru door.

TAG: GM

Many thanks to Winged_Jedi, Ktala, LightWarden, DarthXan318, CmdrMitthrawnuruodo, AdmiralZaarin, Dark_Enigma and LightSide_Apprentice for their contributions to this article, which I have unashamedly ripped up and re-edited as I see fit in my own egotistical way.