Post by Richard on Jun 9, 2006 10:49:55 GMT -5
I know many of you are experts and some are considered god like but im sure we have or will have a few newbies to Roleplay in the future, this is a short guide wrote by me for them. Feel free to copy it and put it on your own site but please credit me
1) Introduction
Welcome to the world of Roleplay, this is a vast place with many different styles and forms and many different genres. It may all seem daunting at first but stick with me and it will get easier
2) What is roleplay
Roleplay is hard to describe due to its many forms, but in essence its pretend. Remember as a kid when you played Doctor etc, well roleplay is like that only a tad more advanced
3) How do i roleplay
Roleplay in my opinion can be broken down in to 3 actions each shown in a different way, these are: Action, Thought, Speech. Each person will evolve there own style for each but below is a small guide to the 2 most common ways of roleplaying
Number 1, The stars
This is the most common in my opinion and easiest to use, below is a short example of a quick situation, after i will anaylse it for you.
*Richard walked forward and survayed the area and thought "Desolate, nothing for miles". He brought up his flask and drunk some and then spotted someone*
Hail (" 's optional)
As you can see its simple but effective, and gets the job done. Now then, as you can see actions and thoughts are placed in side *'s. Thoughts are usually surrounded by speech marks ("), though not all ways. Another example of this is:
*Richard slashes with his might great sword and watches the blade impact in to the wood, "excellent" he thought*
As you can see, its simple yet effective. Now then speech is usually placed either inside speechmarks or just written without them depending on personal preference, all so speech is never put in the *'s or it becomes thought. A good idea might be using Italics for Actions and Thougts and Bolding for Speech so as to aid visually (Italics [ i ], Bold [ b ] Only without the spaces)
Number 2, Story Form
This is a more advanced form to some people but its just as basic as the Star form in my opinion. It works like this:
Richard walked forward and survayed the oasis and thought to himself "A desolate waste", he walked on and spotted someone
"Hail"
As you can see, its not far off the Star form, the only difference is you now place thought and action in italics which was only optional with the star form. This helps to differentiate from the speech, All so the Speechmarks around any thought or spoken words is all so manditory.
A example of the speech is: "Back away foul scum", you see how the words are surrounded by speech marks to give a more storylike form. This is where this form gets its name Story Form, again if you wish to use this remember that Speechmarks and Italics around actions are now manditory unlike the Star form.
4) Examples of each in work
Below is the same bit wrote in each form for you to compare:
*Richard raised his arm to signal the first volley, he watched it fall short and thought to himself "Learn to aim", still he raised his arm again and called out*
"Fire"
Richard raised his arm to signal the first volley, he watched it fall short and thought to himself "Learn to aim", still he raised his arm again and called out
"Fire"
You see each is very similar but the difference is the Story form demands more grammar to be used.
5) Personal Preference
I used to use the star form but i moved on to the story form partly due to an association with certain "Pro" Roleplayers, i use the term Pro in speechmarks because they wernt anything special. Still, its up to you which one to use, just story is my personal preference
6) Thanks
Thanks for reading this guide, as i said its just a guide. So learn and improvise and develope your own style and all ways remember, if someone trys to preasure you in to there style ignore them and go with your own, no matter what they do. No one style is better than the other
1) Introduction
Welcome to the world of Roleplay, this is a vast place with many different styles and forms and many different genres. It may all seem daunting at first but stick with me and it will get easier
2) What is roleplay
Roleplay is hard to describe due to its many forms, but in essence its pretend. Remember as a kid when you played Doctor etc, well roleplay is like that only a tad more advanced
3) How do i roleplay
Roleplay in my opinion can be broken down in to 3 actions each shown in a different way, these are: Action, Thought, Speech. Each person will evolve there own style for each but below is a small guide to the 2 most common ways of roleplaying
Number 1, The stars
This is the most common in my opinion and easiest to use, below is a short example of a quick situation, after i will anaylse it for you.
*Richard walked forward and survayed the area and thought "Desolate, nothing for miles". He brought up his flask and drunk some and then spotted someone*
Hail (" 's optional)
As you can see its simple but effective, and gets the job done. Now then, as you can see actions and thoughts are placed in side *'s. Thoughts are usually surrounded by speech marks ("), though not all ways. Another example of this is:
*Richard slashes with his might great sword and watches the blade impact in to the wood, "excellent" he thought*
As you can see, its simple yet effective. Now then speech is usually placed either inside speechmarks or just written without them depending on personal preference, all so speech is never put in the *'s or it becomes thought. A good idea might be using Italics for Actions and Thougts and Bolding for Speech so as to aid visually (Italics [ i ], Bold [ b ] Only without the spaces)
Number 2, Story Form
This is a more advanced form to some people but its just as basic as the Star form in my opinion. It works like this:
Richard walked forward and survayed the oasis and thought to himself "A desolate waste", he walked on and spotted someone
"Hail"
As you can see, its not far off the Star form, the only difference is you now place thought and action in italics which was only optional with the star form. This helps to differentiate from the speech, All so the Speechmarks around any thought or spoken words is all so manditory.
A example of the speech is: "Back away foul scum", you see how the words are surrounded by speech marks to give a more storylike form. This is where this form gets its name Story Form, again if you wish to use this remember that Speechmarks and Italics around actions are now manditory unlike the Star form.
4) Examples of each in work
Below is the same bit wrote in each form for you to compare:
*Richard raised his arm to signal the first volley, he watched it fall short and thought to himself "Learn to aim", still he raised his arm again and called out*
"Fire"
Richard raised his arm to signal the first volley, he watched it fall short and thought to himself "Learn to aim", still he raised his arm again and called out
"Fire"
You see each is very similar but the difference is the Story form demands more grammar to be used.
5) Personal Preference
I used to use the star form but i moved on to the story form partly due to an association with certain "Pro" Roleplayers, i use the term Pro in speechmarks because they wernt anything special. Still, its up to you which one to use, just story is my personal preference
6) Thanks
Thanks for reading this guide, as i said its just a guide. So learn and improvise and develope your own style and all ways remember, if someone trys to preasure you in to there style ignore them and go with your own, no matter what they do. No one style is better than the other
