Roleplay Assistance and Tips! Posts now allowed! Contributions to the thread too

[Teal Turken]

Hello beginner and experienced Roleplayers, this is the "RaT" thread or the "Roleplay Assistance and Tips" thread.
In here, I wish to spread some advice for helping people RP in a way that helps everyone better understand each other and prevent issues. I'm not going to point fingers but a few people seem to lack some of the things that seem to be common sense for others. I ask that if anyone finds anything offensive about this thread please let me know, I'm trying to help not smack faces.

All the posts below will go into detail about specific topics regarding RP.
I'd like to thank Lusterless Nova for helping me with this thread.

Section 1 - Basics
Section 2 - Beginner Knowledge
Section 3 - Your Character
Section 4 - Combat in Roleplay

[Teal Turken]

Basics

What is RP? RP stands for Roleplay, an activity or game that involves playing the role of a character.
It's best to understand this rule well, some people have taken RP very seriously and even emotionally. Remember it's a game, an insult to your character is not an insult to you.

What is an OC? OC stands for Original Character, one that had not existed before. Don't mistake this for making a character based off another character, such as one from a TV show. It's only a copy if it's EXACTLY like another character. You don't need to use an OC, it can be any character, as long as they don't break any rules.

What is OOC? OOC stands for Out of Character, which means it's anything that's not in the roleplay. OOC is typically seen inside Brackets (()) to easily see. In some cases, you may see character thoughts in single brackets (). Try to spot these differences so you don't mistake character's thoughts for OOC. Most of the time, an RP thread that is ment to last a while will have an OOC thread where Brackets are NOT used.

I don't have a character, how do I make one? It's easy to make a character, it usually comes in steps, which I will go into later on another topic. For now, here's a link to GeneralZoi's pony creator.

How do I enter RP with my character? One of the best ways is to ask the people using OOC (()) if you can enter and how you can enter. If your new to Roleplay, you should try to enter a thread that's "Jump In" instead of "Sign up", Sign ups are generally story based or require the RPer to follow special rules. Creating a topic to meet other characters is....unadvised. These topics don't get far and most often no where. It's best to join an existing topic.

Where is everyone? If you don't know where all the other characters are, it's best to ask in OOC (()) or to read the past view posts and pages to see if it says. It's better than saying you landed next to the other ponies when they are in mid air.

[Teal Turken]

Beginner Knowledge

This is all the information you should know about before Roleplaying.

Respecting and Disrespecting the Rules

The rules are the supports of an RP. Without rules, the whole thread would be chaos. Commonly the thread will have basic rules, but some have special rules to follow in order to keep things under control.

Where do I find the rules? You can often find the rules on the first page at the first post by the creator. Some RPs have multiple threads, a good example is Pony Cosmology. It has an RP thread, a Rules and Information thread and a sign up thread.

It's HIGHLY disrespectful to NOT read the rules. Breaking the rules is disrespectful, but far worse when you break them and you had no knowledge of the rules. NEVER complain about breaking a rule you didn't know about, it's most likely your fault for not reading the rules in the first place. However if it's a rule that was NOT listed, that's the GM's fault.

I don't understand a rule, what do I do? It's best to ask the topic leader/creator about the rule if you don't understand it. You can also ask other people if they understand the rule.

Boundaries of Roleplay

What are the Boundaries? The Boundaries is the limit of how far you can go in RP before breaking the reasoning of "Legit"

Here are some ways to break the boundaries of "legit"
~Knowing every other character's name, which is called metagaming. It's using information you learned in OOC in RP, including item locations. You know this but YOUR CHARACTER DOES NOT KNOW.
~Being immortal. It's quite self explanatory, it means you cannot die or fall in battle.
~Being "Unbreakable". This means your character cannot being subdued physically or emotionally. Your character does not fear anything, they take infinite amounts of pain and shrug it off as nothing.
~Bypassing the impassable, curing the incurable. This means you have done something to get past an obstacle that was supposed to be impassible or did the impossible without something special or curing something that wasn't meant to be cured easily.
~Breaking the fourth wall. This isn't a huge issue, you can break the fourth wall OCCASIONALLY but this does NOT mean you can break it all the time. Pinkie Pie CAN break the fourth wall but she does NOT do it all the time. If you break the fourth wall right, it's fine but don't over do it or abuse it.

Interaction with other Characters and RPers

This is one of the topics that causes many issues. Some people just don't like each other, in RP or in OOC.
In RP this can create conflict and story, in OOC, this can create problems and stop RP. Let's discuss a few tips to help you with interaction with characters and RPers.

In RP:
~Remember your character. if your character is afraid of spiders, don't just waltz into a house full of spiders and act normal. If your character dislikes snobby ponies, they probably won't like a trip to Canterlot.
~Don't be too strong. Unless your character's main attribute is strength, don't be superman strong. This normally applies to combat, when two characters are fighting. Don't arm/hoof wrestle a pony and win with superb strength. If your magic dueling, don't pull out a victory in the face of defeat unless it's part of the plot.
~There's not a lot of ways to act, personality wise, "wrong in RP" but one of few ways is being "Lusty", which means your character is searching for a pony to "sleep with." Another wrong personality is being too evil, don't threaten to tear someone's guts out and eat them, that's going too far. You can be evil but make sure it's more controlled evil. Please note, if the rules allow it and all the other RPers are okay with it, then this general guide line does not apply. In most cases though, especially in a story driven RP, these attitudes may be frowned upon.

In OOC:
~If someone asks you not to do something, be respectful and don't do it! It's very rude to deny a request.
~If you make a mistake and someone clarifies it, try to remain composed about it. Don't get upset if you made a silly mistake such as character gender.
~Be careful how you word things, sometimes using ALL CAPS can be seen as shouting or being angry.

Major Don'ts in Roleplay

~If you have less than 1 hour before you need to leave to go somewhere or have something time consuming to do, do NOT Roleplay. It's very annoying to be Roleplaying and have someone drop out only after a short time and make everyone else have to wait.
~Do NOT enter an RP, gain everyone's attention and go AFK or offline. Coupling with the above tip, this is extremely annoying. Again it causes everyone to wait because one person jumped in, got our full attention and then went off.
~Do NOT use a post only for OOC (()). Unless your asking how to enter the RP or your answering someone's question, do NOT use your post just for OOC. It's very annoying when a person is RPing, they make something like a spelling mistake and the other RPer uses their post just to correct them. It makes the other person have to reply just for the RP to continue. Another note on this tip, if you get into an OOC conversation in the RP thread and that thread has an OOC thread, bring the conversation over to the OOC thread.
~Do NOT direct the current plot/story over to your plot/story. If someone lost a cat, it's very rude for you to make everyone change their attention to looking for a lost dog.
~Do NOT tamper with the plot/story if it's not yours. This can be done is many ways, such as adding something that wasn't part of it originally or using a ghost catcher to get rid of a ghost that you're supposed to help.
~Do NOT be all knowing. This can be anything from knowing what an unknown disease is to knowing someone's hiding place to knowing what humans are. (My personal favorite)

[Teal Turken]

Your Character

This section will discuss characters, how to make them, what and what not to do with them.

Making your Character

There's a lot of ways to build your character. They can be big and kind or small and mean, Green and Yellow or Blue and Purple, Blind or Deaf, fat or skinny.

Typically most people use GeneralZoi's Pony Creator. There's a few others, but this is the most used variant.

Usually when your making your character, you wanna do it steps. It's best if you follow this guideline for building your character.

1. Character Gender & Race
2. Character Personality & Statistics/Status
3. Character Talent (optional)
4. Character Appearance
5. Character Name
6. Character Bio

Why the Gender and Race first? Well when you make a character who loves magic and they are a race that can't use magic....I'm sure you understand now.

Why is the talent optional? Sometimes it's best for your character to discover or learn their talent as you play them instead of coming up with one at the start.

Anything I need to know about the appearance? Yes, it shouldn't be anything offensive or anything that breaks any rules.

What's that "Statistics/Status" part? Statistics is everything from what your character's strengths and weaknesses are to their occupation and any illnesses and disabilities they are suffering from.

Any rules to the bio? Obviously it can't be anything offensive or that breaks the rules. But there is stuff that doesn't break the rules but isn't pleasant to see. Many people dislike backgrounds that have the character's parents killed and make the character become a warrior or fighter that seeks to find their parents' killer. It's cliche. The simplest way to put this is, don't be cliche and unoriginal.

One of the common problems with characters, especially amongst new roleplayers is Mary Sues.
Mary Sues are characters without faults, errors or problems. They have no fears, no bad traits and no grudges or dislikes for anything. They are characters who love everything, are perfect and never screw up.
Sounds boring doesn't it? It's annoying too. Avoid making Mary Sues. Give your character some kind of bad trait, make them bothersome or mean. Give them fears too and dislikes, maybe they dislike cheese or fear tight spaces.

One final tip on Characters, don't be afraid of change. Change can be good. Maybe your character develops a love for the ocean in RP or maybe he gains a new power. Just be aware of the changes that aren't good though.

[Teal Turken]

Making your Post in Roleplay

In Roleplays on threads and forums instead of video games, you create posts instead of adding to a text box or using voice communication. The biggest advantage over RPing on a video game is being able to take your time with your post, instead of coming up with something on the spot.

Before you make a post, make sure your aware of the setting of the roleplay.
~Place
~Time
~Who
~What
These are each essential. Don't worry too much if your character does not know any of the other characters in the setting, your character will get to meet and greet the others.

Post length is not one of the major issues, but some players prefer if a post is at least TWO sentences long. Three word posts are some of the most disliked types of bad posts. Anything less that three words is even more so.

Spoiler: Examples of Three word posts • show

He follows you.
*Follows you*
*Follows*

Never use a three word post for any reason. Your sentence should be 5-6 words or more.

Try your best to be descriptive. Fill up those words with something important. Sure you can just say that the setting is New York City, everybody pretty much knows what that looks like. However if the scene is someplace unfamiliar, like a space station you made up or another planet or just your character's house. You need to inform people of what it look like, give them the details of what's inside or around, what colors they are and a few small details to add some spice. Otherwise you get people with different visions and you'll be left wondering why the alien bug queen is located so close to your safest room on the ship.

Always try to have your post advance the story in some way. If you're greeting someone new in RP, try asking them a question or doing something. Don't just say "Okay" and let that be your post. It quickly makes the scene awkward.

Also be aware that in some cases, other RPers are too busy RPing with each other that they can't or won't openly greet your character, so you'll need to push yourself into the scene. Just be sure to ask everyone in OOC if it's alright for you to join them.

Grammar

Again, not one of the major issues but sometimes grammar is a big issue.

The most common grammar mistake is of the three "There's"
Their, There and They're.
Their is a possessive noun, so use it to say that you or someone else owns something.
There is a word all itself, as in "Look over THERE!"
They're is "They" and "Are" in one word, as in "They are here" or "They're here"

The point of this subtopic, make sure your posts are eligible and make sense.

Finally, never use "I" for your character, because you are NOT your character.

Spoiler: Lets say your character's name is Red Wagon • show

I went inside the store and bought a toy train.
It's not exactly YOU going into the store, it's Red Wagon. So...
Red Wagon went inside the store and bought a toy train.

Even if your character is supposed to be you as [whatever race they are], NEVER use "I". It's especially confusing when you have multiple characters and you use "I" for all of them.

From PPBG: Try to keep the same verb tense as your fellow roleplayers throughout the entire roleplay.

Last tip about posting, some roleplays require something in your post. Pony Cosmology requires gods to use BOLD TEXT for speech to better identify mortals and gods apart. Most will ask that you make your posts a certain length. Be mindful of these rules, breaking them is far easier than any other rule and are the easiest to spot.

[Teal Turken]

Combat in Roleplay

This is one of the very difficult to manage things in Roleplay. Many players will give their characters unique powers and abilities and that's fine. But most of the time these abilities tend to be OVERPOWERED.
Overpowered means "Too Strong". This occurs A LOT and is difficult even for experienced players to manage.

Along with overpowered abilities, there's also the issue of who your enemy is. Sometimes it's something weak like a wolf or a....goblin? Some other kind of weak enemy...but there's also enemies that are extremely powerful such as giants and dragons. It becomes difficult to decide what enemies to fight if you have a group that consists of weak and strong or even some characters that can't fight at all. So naturally it's best to be extremely strong than to be weak.

The best way I could suggest setting up enemies is to look at who will be fighting. If they're strong the enemies should be strong, vice versa for being weak characters and weak enemies.

A few tips for being in combat.
~If you are fighting with a group, let your allies attack too! It's no fun for anyone else when you take out all the enemies in one post.
~Don't make more than one post before the person controlling the monsters makes a post! This makes it nearly impossible for your enemy to make a move!

Spoiler: This is best shown in an example • show

Enemy 1 attacks Ally 1!
Ally 1 attacks Enemy 1!
Ally 2 attacks Enemy 1!
Ally 1 attacks Enemy 1!
When Ally 1 attacks again before Enemy 1 can make a post, it prevents Enemy 1 from doing anything. It's not fun for Enemy 1 either, don't do it.

~Don't make your attacks too strong. If your fighting a wolf, it's overkill to shoot it with an orb that size of the moon, but it may be appropriate to use on a dragon if it's big enough. Another side to this tip is similar to the first tip. If you defeat the enemy in one powerful move, it leaves nothing for everyone else! Be generous and use weaker, more appropriate attacks.

Playground Roleplays

What I like to call "Playgrounds" are RPs that allow RPers to bend and even break the lore of the source material, characters and the world to their liking. These are more often called Alternate Universes. These RPs can consist of alternate rulers of the land(s), technological differences from the canon source material, time setting and other scenarios.

In a Playground your character can freely be altered without changing the canon version of them. This includes race, gender, color pallet, talents, strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and so on.

The world is usually less altered but often times you'll see small landscape changes and more commonly house furnishing changes when characters are changed.

The lore will most obviously be changed if the RP is about corrupt law or apocalyptic wasteland. Be 100% sure you understand the new lore before altering or creating a character for the RP otherwise you might upset the thread host, and you'll likely be banned from entering.

Again, I just call them Playgrounds but you can call them what you like.

[Cobalt ZERO]

thanks for this, this really clears things up.. however it will be some time before i can join. still working on OC

[Teal Turken]

thanks for this, this really clears things up.. however it will be some time before i can join. still working on OC

That's fine.

By the way I'm just gonna make it possible for people to post now, they may have ideas that would be good to add to the Thread.

[Cobalt ZERO]

thanks for this, this really clears things up.. however it will be some time before i can join. still working on OC

That's fine.

By the way I'm just gonna make it possible for people to post now, they may have ideas that would be good to add to the Thread.

i dont know why.. but when i scroll the page fast while looking at your avatar.. i see a greenish blue trollface xD

[PPBG]

Tip: Try to keep the same verb tense as your fellow roleplayers throughout the entire roleplay.

(Difficult rule to follow. I'm particularly bad at writing in present tense.)
How about that for a tip?

[Teal Turken]

Tip: Try to keep the same verb tense as your fellow roleplayers throughout the entire roleplay.

(Difficult rule to follow. I'm particularly bad at writing in present tense.)
How about that for a tip?

Looks good PPBG.

[PPBG]

Tip: Try to keep the same verb tense as your fellow roleplayers throughout the entire roleplay.

(Difficult rule to follow. I'm particularly bad at writing in present tense.)
How about that for a tip?

Looks good PPBG.

Thanks.

[bleyd]

very good teal i put off my hat to you ^^

now post the guie of good dungueon master    

[Teal Turken]

Bumping for newer people.

[moonlight7starshine]

This was actuly useful

[Teal Turken]

Edited out a few grammar issues pointed out by Chirp. Thank you.
Post Merge
I also found a bunch of grammar mistakes on my own.

[Ryo_D_Disk]

Made this Sticky for you keep it updated and keep giving out the good advice to new players

[White Shimmer]

I would like to see more of that, if there is more to say about RPing.
It helped me already!

[Chirp]

If you want your posts to be more fancy whilst your character is saying a lot, you can use these words instead of "said":
Acknowledged
Added
Admitted
Advised
Agreed
Announced
Answered
Approved
Argued
Assumed
Assured
Asked
Babbled
Bargained
Began
Boasted
Bragged
Called
Claimed
Commanded
Commented
Complained
Cried
Decided
Demanded
Denied
Described
Dictated
Emphasized
Estimated
Exclaimed
Explained
Expressed
Feared
Giggled
Grinned
Grunted
Indicated
Insisted
Instructed
Laughed
Lectured
Lied
Mentioned
Moaned
Mumbled
Murmured
Nagged
Noted
Notified
Objected
Observed
Ordered
Pleaded
Pointed out
Prayed
Predicted
Questioned
Reassured
Related
Repeated
Replied
Responded
Requested
Restated
Revealed
Roared
Ruled
Scolded
Screamed
Shouted
Shrieked
Snapped
Sneered
Sobbed
Spoke
Sputtered
Stammered
Stated
Stormed
Suggested
Taunted
Thought
Told
Urged
Uttered
Vowed
Wailed
Warned
Whispered

[Renatan]

Another problem I see people of all experience having is with their OCs appearance. What do I mean exactly by that?

Recolors

Although many of us already know the meaning to recolor, let me explain for those who do not: a recolor is where you take the appearance of, in this case, a pony and give them different colors.
Example:

Spoiler: show

Okay, ignoring the laziness in that recolor that only makes it worse, it in itself is bad. Recolors take away the features an OC should have. After all: OC= Original character. They are meant to be created from imagination: not from another persons pony. Think of the main 6 as Lauren Faust's OCs. You wouldn't steal another person's OC, would you? Of course not! It is not hard to think up a mane and tail style for them. That's right: all you need to do is give them a new mane and tail and it'll be all yours! Oh, and if they're an alicorn, you may want to not make them Celestia's height. That's also pretty tacky. And cutie marks need to be changed...

Okay, that's only 2 or so steps. Recolors not only limit you on your OC's appearance, but tend to turn some people (like I) off. It's fine to use the pony creator, but just remember, you do not HAVE to stick to what's on it! I made my OC Crooked Path on it using straight maned Pinkie manestyle, but when I draw her I give her uneven bangs across her forehead and a mane split down the middle at the back of her head, draping over each shoulder; not to mention the fact that the creator gave her lots of grey stripes in her mane while I draw her with only 1. See? It's easy! Use creators or ponies from the show as guidelines: not the final product.