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A Guide to Role Playing
Topic Started: May 23 2009, 01:54 PM (57 Views)
Cool Confucius
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Newbie
I am aware that The Supes has already made an RP guideline. He has done a great job, but I can improve it by expanding it with more details and examples.

..:::>~The Supes~<:;1747686
 
Section Two: Basic Rules to Roleplay- Fairness and Possession

Everyone wants to be the best and strongest, right? While an entertaining dream, in a forum of multiple free-thinking people, this is not possible. If engaging in a fight with another character, remember these tips.

-Your character is yours, and your opponent's belongs to them. This means that they and they alone have the right to decide the effect of an attack on their character.

-To address the first rule's shortcoming: while it is true that it is your character and you have the right to decide, consider that it is unfair for you to expect your opponent to take damage willingly while you will not. There must be mutual progress. Take a hit, then hit your opponent. This does not necessarily have to be equal, but at least fair play.

-Your character's life is in YOUR hands. Your opponent cannot just kill you or place you in an impossible situation without your consent. Remember you have as many freedoms as your opponent.

Overall though, try to avoid excess fighting. And remember, you can't force someone to do something they don't want to do.


The first thing that needs to be addressed is possession. It may be common sense for RPers to control their own characters and not control the characters of other RPers. However, it is not just characters that RPers possess. RPers possess their characters’ life, their characters’ bodies, their characters’ forms, their characters’ equipments, and their characters’ moves.

Now I’ll give examples of violations and corrections in battle. Suppose X controls Huang Zee and Y controls Professor Thompson, and the characters are in a battle:

Scenario 1:
X
 
HZ: *summons a meteorite and kills Doc*

This is an obvious violation to possession. X killed Y’s character without giving him a chance to fight back.

Correction to Scenario 1:
X
 
HZ: *summons a meteorite to land on Doc*

Y
 
Doc: *quickly dodges the meteorite*


Scenario 2:
X
 
HZ: *uses fire magic and burns off Doc’s right arm*

X did not kill Y’s character but this is still a violation because he destroyed a part of Doc’s body. Repairable or not, an arm is an important body part that is often used in battle, therefore, destroying a character’s arm is the same as ruining the character’s life. The same may apply to any body part.

Correction to Scenario 2:
X
 
HZ: *throws a fire ball at Doc*

Y
 
Doc: *tries to dodge but gets burnt a little*


Scenario 3:
X
 
HZ: *uses a spell and turns Doc into a zombie*

HZ is a spell caster and possesses transformation spells, but that does not give him the right to disrespect other characters by transforming them into zombies or any creature or object. HZ should only transform himself, unless the RPer agrees to have his character transformed. In most cases, RPers don’t want their characters transformed.

Correction to Scenario 3:
X
 
HZ: *casts a dark cloud at Doc*

Y
 
Doc: *hits the dark cloud with laser beams*

X
 
The dark cloud disappears.
HZ: *throws water balls at Doc*


Scenario 4:
Y
 
Doc: *charges at HZ and hits him with his lightsaber*

X
 
HZ: *freezes the lightsaber with ice magic and destroys it*

It is common for characters to defend themselves from an attack, but destroying another character’s equipment is a violation. A character’s weapon is often strong and valuable, and shouldn’t be destroyed easily.

Correction to Scenario 4:
Y
 
Doc: *charges at HZ and hits him with his lightsaber*

X
 
HZ: *turns into water and moves away from the lightsaber*


Scenario 5:
Y
 
Doc: *throws a chao bomb at HZ*

X
 
HZ: *zaps the bomb with lightning magic and makes it explode in midair*

Calling this a violation would be strict. I admit that. However, if you are a completely fair RPer, then you would keep in mind that the moves of a character belong to the character and his controller.

Correction to Scenario 5:
Y
 
Doc: *throws a chao bomb at HZ*

X
 
HZ: *zaps the bomb with lightning magic*

Y
 
The bomb explodes
Doc: *fires laser beams at HZ*


Controlling your own characters and not controlling the characters of others is not enough to make you a fair roleplayer. I’ll explain how to avoid godmodding.

Of course, you want your characters to be strong so you make them strong. That’s reasonable. However, if you make your characters invincible, then you are godmodding. What you need to keep in mind is, while your characters are strong, the characters of other RPers are strong as well. Unless with an agreement, you shouldn’t conclude that your characters are stronger than the characters of others.

A key to not make your characters invincible is to let them take damage, not too frequent and not too rare. Here are some possible responses to an attack: Endure, defend, dodge, and counter. Here are the scenarios of those responses, this time with Snoke and Confusion:

Endure Scenario:
Snoke: *dashes to Confusion’s back and kicks him*
Confusion: *gets kicked and backs away a little* *quickly fires a candle beam at Snoke*

In this scene, Confusion endured Snoke’s attack. Endure is a legitimate response to an attack, since it means your character takes damage. After taking damage, it’s fair for your character to attack his or her opponent.

Defend Scenario:
Snoke: *throws a ball of destructive smoke at Confusion*
Confusion: *quickly surrounds himself using white dome*

In this scene, Confusion defended against Snoke’s attack. Defend can mean reducing the power of an attack, or making the attack ineffective. In this case, Confusion blocked Snoke’s attack and didn’t take damage. Defend is an appropriate response to an attack as long as it’s not used overly often.

Dodge Scenario:
Confusion: *fires a candle beam at Snoke*
Snoke: *moves away from the candle beam*

In this scene, Snoke dodged Confusion’s attack. Most of the time, a character is not damaged after dodging an attack. The time when a character is damaged in dodging is when his or her dodge attempt wasn’t successful. In this case, Snoke successfully dodged Confusion’s attack and didn’t take damage. Dodge is perhaps the most common response to attacks—at least that’s what I observed. If your character is a speedy character, it’s reasonable for your character to dodge many attacks, but that does not mean all attacks. Similar to defend, it is an appropriate response as long as it’s not overly used.

Counter Scenario:
Confusion: *fires a white sphere at Snoke*
Snoke: *dashes to the sphere and kicks it back to Confusion*

In this scene, Snoke counters Confusion’s attack. When countering, a character delivers the opponent’s attack back to him or her often without taking damage. The character’s opponent may choose to endure, defend, dodge, or counter back. This response shouldn’t be used often as it is actually a violation to Scenario 5. Counter only when you know the strength of your character’s opponent’s attack. If your character’s opponent used his or her strongest move and your character countered the move, then you are belittling the opponent’s attack.

How much is too often? Use your judgment.

Finally, you should know not to make your characters overreact to attacks.

Overreaction Scenario:
Doc: *punches HZ*
HZ: *gets pushed and bumps into a wall and falls down unconscious with his head bleeding*
In this scene, HZ overreacted to Doc’s attack. Doc simply punched HZ and HZ was half dead. It’s good that you’re not making your characters invincible, but it’s also bad that you’re making your characters take too much damage in a single attack. Overreacting can be annoying and can harm the other RPers’ respect towards you.

Now that you learned how to possess only your characters and how to respond to your characters’ opponents’ attacks, you are a fair role player.

I hope you find this guide helpful. If you have questions, feel free to ask by posting or by PM. Happy RPing and happy summer, folks!
Edited by Cool Confucius, Jun 5 2009, 04:33 AM.
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ShootingStar1
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I love this! Awesome job CC, now all the newbies can lear first hand before making any faux pas! ^^
Dreams are wishes your <3 makes every day...listen to it once in a while =3~NYA!
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Cool Confucius
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Newbie
^^ Thanks, SS
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