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Reallia's Roleplaying Rules                   Greetings. Some of you may know me through various interactions in Gemstone III, or from my posts on the message boards. Others may have never heard of me. Whatever the case may be, I shall still attempt to scribe my feelings upon roleplaying in Elanthia.                 I understand that those of you who are reading this may already be advanced roleplayers, but I would rather have those of you skip the redundant parts than have tyro's not understand certain concepts.                 Let me introduce myself. I am known as Reallia Ashbar. Dark Elven wizardress. At the time of this writing, I am residing in Ta'Vaalor. My personality can be described as evil, mean. nasty, and crude. At times I'm is generous. All this stems from the fact that I'm interested only in knowledge, and don't care much about anything in the way. And I don't like dwarves. Hopefully I'll later explain the problems inherent in making belligerent characters.                 I. Greetings, I am...                 First, a name. I am assuming that you have already chosen a race and profession to your liking. There are those who may choose interesting combinations (dwarven wizard, halfling warrior, etc.) but they are hard to play, and definately not for the novice roleplayer. Remember that Elanthia is set in what would be called our Middle Ages. Cyberstriker, Duncan Hines, or any name like that is not only frowned upon, but your character will have to be rerolled. I think that there is a random name generator in the game, but I don't remember. If there is, you may want to use one of those names, or you can always create your own.                 II. When I was young...                 Now, decide what type of person your character will be. Basic personality. Depressed? Happy? Annoying? Helpful? Taciturn? You also may want to give yourself an interesting quirk, but some of them are hard to keep up. Evil is kind of hard to do, and I'll devote a paragraph or two to that. Now that you understand what your character is, create a history that explains why s/he is that way. Are you a non-drinking bouncy dwarf? Why? A dark and brooding halfing? What happened? Remember to keep your history in the borders of Elanthian facts. No space aliens. This history is simply a way of understanding how your character would react in a certain way. It doesn't have to be too detailed, but it can be.                 Ask yourself questions. What is my favorite type of food? Do I have a hobby? You may never use these in conversation, but know them just to understand your character. And you never know, maybe someone will want to know why you serve that specific Arkati.                 III. I'm evil! Really!                 Playing the evil character may be enticing, but I think it is quite difficult. Others may argue with me on this, but since I am writing this guide, I'll write whatever I want. So there! Anyway... being evil is a lonely job. For instance, I play Reallia as quite nasty, and at first, no one would speak to her, listen to her, care if she died, etc. In real life no one would want to hang out with someone who is mean, why would they in Gemstone? If you are set on being evil, try to move to a smaller town. The Landing is really great, but I think that it's best to go to a smaller town anyway. Closer community and whatever...(I'd rather not get into a Landing vs. other towns debate. Just take my word for it.) People will quickly recognize that you are roleplaying, and not just being a snert (annoying OOC guy).                 Never, ever, ever, ever cast at or attack someone without their consent. (It doesn't have to be explicit, it can implied). Just because you are a follower of Onan, and kill people for fun doesn't mean that Bob the Bard enjoys having his brains smeared across the landscape. When I was younger, I made the mistake of sleeping someone (Sleep!), and learned since then not to cast at anyone, at all, until I know that they won't mind.                 IV. Fashion Sense.                 This isn't so important, but I do think it adds to one's overall sense of self, and it also helps everyone else. Since this is a text-based game, we can't look over you with a casual eye, and see what you are wearing. We have to read it. So, please do these two things. One. Keep your stuff in order. Wear it from head to toe. Hat-backpack-armor-belt-pants-shoes. I like to keep my wrist stuff at belt height. So take off all of your stuff, and put them on, starting with your boots (assuming you have). Go up from there. What you put on first will be read last. And two, please keep it simple. I rarely read long descriptions. Try to keep it to a bare minimum. I've seen people who's clothing takes up my whole screen. No matter how beautiful they are, I wouldn't know, because I just give up on reading the descriptions.                 Remember, if you don't have anything on, it doesn't mean that you aren't wearing any clothing. You are, they just don't have much of a description. (Some GM said that.)                 V. The player and the character.                 Remember to try to keep you, the player, and your character seperate. First of all, it will save you a lot of heartache. Reallia's been beheaded, robbed from, cheated, and maimed. But I, the player, don't care at all, because 1)It's only a game, and 2) It was done with great roleplaying. Try to react how your character would react, not you. If someone is annoying you in real life, I doubt that you would put them on your 'to kill' list. So don't do that in Gemstone. Conversely, if someone bought something from you in real life, I doubt that you would smooch, hug, and bounce off of them. Don't do that in Gemstone. Unless, of course, you ar playing a really bouncy halfling...but that's a different story.                   I think that is all that comes to me right now, so I shall stop here.     Reallia