To start....Three Main RPing concepts
I would wager that we're all here for two reasons. 1. Because we like to write and create 2. Because we like to write and create with other people. Writing and creating with other people is either called a joint or pass along story, or, if it's less formal, Role Playing. RP combines three elements. Creativity, Skill, and Interaction (thanks, Vi, for this third one. And thanks, Angelfire, for pasting these three things just overhead...). By means of introduction, I'll briefly define these three elements:
Creativity: This is the ability to think on different tracks than everyone else. A creative RPer might occasionally fall into cliches, but his creativity will bring even cliches new life. Creativity requires a lot of thought and contemplation. It is the application of the question "What if?".
Skill: This is the ability to word creativity in legible and interesting ways. Creativity is often nullified by bad grammer, awkward sentences, or chaotic formats. A skillful RPer uses good grammer (save in dialogue when appropriate), sentence structure, and knows how to carry a train of thought long enough to keep the reader's interest.
Interaction: Even a brilliant writer is a tiresome RPer if this aspect is not developed. This is the skill that allows a story to branch in more than one direction, allowing different points of view. An interactive RPer will not force his will on others, or ignore other RPers. He will engage in dialogue and conflict and, although an RPer is sometimes forced to talk to himself through situation or boredom, he will do something BESIDES talk to himself when the oppurtunity presents itself.
That is the very broad definition of a good RPer, but as I will be here for a while, let us delve a little deeper and more specific. Let us start with the character itself:
1. Species. This is important. Not that this board is going to especially restrict you if you want to play something non British, like a coyote, even a lemur, but you do need to have provisions for how they got into the area. But that is only mildly important for most RPers (although it probably should be just a LITTLE more important, but anyway...). The more drastic error is forgetting what your species is...at least, that's how it looks from how you use the character. Remember, a shrew is small. A mouse is small. A mouse cannot drag a wounded badger or wildcat for five miles. A weasel cannot successfully wrestle a badger. A badger is not going to be as agile as a ferret. A wolf is faster than a hedgehog. This is basic, basic...try to remember your species' pros and cons, okay? Perhaps later I'll put up a more specific guide to those pros and cons, but that will require a whole extra webpage....
2. Gender. Maybe not as important as some might surmise, but it does make a SLIGHT difference. There's no reason that a female can't wear pants, especially if she's a warrior, but of course, she has to go slightly more clad than your average Hercules. A male can wear a habit, but not a dress...you get the idea. Females are generally a little more gentle than males, but not necessarily...the list goes on. Get creative for both, but try not to get outrageous.
3. Clothing and Body Form: This is almost a continuation of the last subject. First...logical! Leather is sometimes okay, but it doesn't make any sense on goodbeasts...as, if you think about it, it's the skin of other animals (Thanks Brother Durwood, for pointing that out). Polyester does not make sense. Daring clothing for females doesn't work either...not in THIS time period. "Belly tunics", low cut dresses, and the like, generally just invoke disgust and are not terrifically creative, no matter how much of a rebel you think you are. For that matter, it's sometimes assumed that Redwall females and males are built like human males and females...but I wouldn't trust that assumption. If you watch the Redwall TV show (a rather, er, enlightening experience) you might note that Constance is built in a rather...er, human manner, but NO ONE else is. Jacques is ambiguous on the matter. In any case...in this time period, modesty is the rule for females, and for most male goodbeasts. They are also highly furry...and that is not ambiguous at all. Don't tread the line.
4. PERSONALITY: This is the biggy. Little is more nauseating than a character with one character trait...if that. There's nothing wrong with making up a name on the spot, assigning a species, and setting him out in the hall...but you had better start thinking afterward. As soon as some other character notices yours, you have to know how to make him react. And TRY not to do this **smiles at Joeyman and says "Hello"**. Granted, some characters are going to do this, but at least have some thought process behind it. Like - **Glad for someone to reassure him of his own existance, he smiles at the beast and says, in a low, shy voice, "Hello."** (And no, asterisks are not at all required for good roleplay.) You get the idea? While in the first one, you just figure that the character is friendly, in the second one, you feel that the creature is lonely, aching for friendship, but for his own reasons, rather uncertain about how to go about it. That sort of first line places two traits at least, a very nice way to start out. Not to mention it makes the creator himself curious about why his character is acting this way. The character is not a cardboard cutout, but a personality to be slowly unearthed. We'll cover this even more in another discussion.
5. Talents/Powers: Think your character is a marvelous hero? Very well, but the even the best heros can't do everything cool under the sky. If he's some kind of great archer, it's rather unfair to make him the best poet on earth as well. Not to mention that even great archers can't perform perfectly all the time. Say, your archer has just been swimming across a river and (because you are a decent enough RPer not to make him the best swimmer in the world as well...) he's tired... A bunch of evil whatevers set upon him, well, remember that even a wonderfully talented guy will not be able to easily pick them off, recieving no wounds whatsoever. We'll cover this in another discussion...(are you dreading as much as I am how long this is going to end up?) As far as powers go, you're probably immediately thinking magic, as that's what power generally means when placed a little seperate from 'talent'. Okay, fair enough. Let's mention magic. I'm not going to say it's a no-no. I'm just going to say that you will have to be a very good RPer for the entire board not to immediately kill you. Throwing fireballs at passerby is a bad idea. If you have to use magic, try something more creative. Like an advanced technology that SEEMS magic (Warning! By advanced technology, I do not mean a car or a gun...I mean either something you made up (that does not resemble modern tech in any way, shape or form...something that could be made by your invented culture or specific inventor - no plasma gun or lightsaber look alikes) or something feasible like a bicycle (wooden) or a microscope (i.e. primitive lens kind)) or a mutation that allows for mildly enhanced senses or something of the sort. (Mutation does not mean adamantium claws or eye beams...behave.) Healing magic is a bad thing. We have a perfectly good infirmary and you are going to put Tonkis out of a job with your cheating methods. The only time where healing magic is even marginally okay is when it is a. especially creative and b. causes damage to the beast who is doing the healing. But in any case, Tonkis doesn't like it and will probably kill you.
6. Appearance: I support the CASM (Crusade Against Stupidity and Mooching) in most things, but I'm a little more liberal when it comes to fur and eye color. After all, if Jacques can make up pelt patterns, designs, or eye shapes and appearances, why can't RPers do the same? But don't go right out and make pink and yellow spotted mice with purple eyes! Keep to logical colors, such as red, black, brown, tan, grey, the like. Same with eye color. Now, I don't really care if you make, for example, black weasels with yellow eyes (because I have a couple of them myself), but here's a secret. The more realistic looking your character is, the more impressed your fellow RPers will be. It shows that you did a rare thing. Research. One last note: Keep AWAY from hybreds. Sure, I did quite a few in my naive youth when I didn't understand basic genetics. But in reality, you can't have a fox-ferret or a mouse-badger, or even a mouse-squirrel. Don't even attempt such a thing.
7. History: No, don't tell me. Some member of some species or the other slaughtered all your family as a child. Then you grew up and got married. Then some member of some species slaughtered your wife and children. Excuse me? Does every single member of the Redwall Online Community have to have such a traumatic life? And don't tell me you can't remember any of your past either. You don't all have to come from Redwall either. You can't all be Abbey warriors, and in fact, you can't all be warriors. Are there any nice, nerdy beasts out there who have never had a death mar their fragile life? Have never slain a hideously evil beast in the heat of vengence? Can't even lift a sword? If there's all types in reality, shouldn't there be a few more types in RP?
8. Alignment: Most RPers, on this board anyway, are not real set in the "goodbeasts are good, vermin are bad" rule. And that's marvelous. Forgive me, hardline Jacques fans, but there is positively no reason on earth for such a distinction. But any way, alignment. Is your character evil or good...or somewhere in between? And why is he what he is? None of this "born evil" stuff...you can do better than that. And very few are pure evil. Even villains can have spouts of conscience, pauses of guilt. Even heros can have sadistic impulses, depending on their personality and history. In fact, I would say that it's generally a good idea not to immediately decide good or bad. Play with your character for a while. What does he lean toward? He's a mouse, but he's very rude and combative, always has a paw on his sword? Why? What's the impulse behind it? Is he a sensitive guy trying to hide his own fear, or a reckless assassin trying to make a name for himself? It can go either way. Give this facet a lot of thought.
Okay, we've covered the basics of character. For the sake of pretended brevity, we will leave even deeper discussion for another essay and get to the important questions of behavior. Here are the broad rules of Redwall RP:
1. No profanity. Anyone can swear. It's much more impressive to express yourself without dotting the board with four letter words.
2. No sex, porn, etc. If you like this, why on earth are you on a board based around a kid's series?
3. No humans, dragons, Pokemon, etc. I admit that I've been all of these...and if you're doing it as a joke, it's okay...just keep the joke brief and clever. No permenant, recurring characters like this, or you'll probably end up a. getting everyone angry at you and b. getting banned (if you get people really mad). And yes, I've been banned before...for this very reason. You can make a joke, but don't get too annoying with it.
4. Keep it medevil. Again, jokes are fine. But you start blowing people away with machine guns and no one is going to want to play with you.
5. Avoid garish colors, cutesy terms, and over use of capitals, asterisks, etc. "OH MAN, I JUST LOVE BEING A ***~~~~* squirrel ^_^. Hee hee, I (giggle) love this board too. It's so sweet!" Come on, doesn't that get on anybody else's nerves? Try to take this a little seriously...and don't scare us all away in the mean time.
6. Keep romance low key. It's okay, if it's poigniant and driven in a more intellectual and emotional way, rather than kissing every other moment. No one else wants to read pages of that! Do that over email if you're really into this kind of thing (I can't imagine why).
7. Auto-hitting, even player-killing is acceptable, but to be used with skill and caution. And here's a tip...try not to kill off the characters of good RPers if you can manage it. Unless they ask you to. It's not a good idea to get good RPers mad.
8. Don't flame. It's fun sometimes, I know, and sometimes people tick you off. But a softer correction often works better and doesn't make enemies. Or when it does, it's not your fault.
(For more RPing tips, check out....)
CASM
Redwall Roleplayer's Ditionary
