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The Guide to Role-playing; highly suggested for less advanced RPers
Topic Started: Apr 23 2013, 10:03 PM (201 Views)
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Character Creation!

Naming: This seems really simple right? Some parts of the naming process are very simple. But, forgetting the importance of naming would be a mistake. It can be a daunting task when looking through baby naming websites or even using a generator. You'll want something original, to stand out. So, you choose something like Starshine. Please don't do this. People will only think that you are wanting attention and won't want to role play with you. Also, avoid overly simple names like Fluffy. Again, it will only make you look immature and no one will want to role play with you.

Choosing a cat: Picking the right breed, the right color, the right eyes, the right everything, is very important. You want to know what you're looking for before you start looking through google images or wherever you crazy people get these images from. That, will help you eliminate some cats. I cannot stress this enough YOU DO NOT NEED THE PRETTIEST CAT ON THE SITE! Not every cat is a show stopping, eye catching, beauty queen. Some cats are just regular old cats and some cats are even on the unattractive side. It's normal to want a pretty character but you should consider that character's personality when choosing their appearance and if their appearance is giving the affect that you want. Let's say you have a a big, muscular tom cat in mind for a character. Don't pick a little slender modern siamese cat and then role play them like they're this massive behemoth of a cat. Or, if you have a little, long haired cat. Don't pick a cat with kinda long hair but not really and have them be a seven or eight pound cat. You're getting the picture with this I hope.

Writing Histories!

When creating a character history, it is best to stay as realistic as possible. If you have your character have a significant event happen to them in their early life, make sure it affects them later. If a cat get kidnapped, they aren't going to be the most trusting cats ever. When thinking of a character's history, you want something exciting but not too exciting. You want something that would be interesting to play off of but you don't want to cross that line into unrealism. It is best to have one or two major events or three or four smaller, less significant events. Don't make your character's history a big mess of dramatic events. Not only will it confuse you and make it more difficult to play that character but it will make that character unrealistic and thus making them less appealing to play with. If you need help with a history or how an event would affect a character, don't be afraid to talk to a staff member.

Creating Personality!

Strengths: When you create a character, the tendency is to create the most awesome, epic, perfect character as possible. Please refrain from doing this. It isn't fun to play perfect characters and it isn't fun to play with perfect characters. There isn't a perfect number of strengths that a character can have. This is because some characters are better than others. Some characters get along better with others than other characters do, some characters are better at fighting or hunting, some are better at being a leader. But, really think about the character themselves. Don't make them good at everything.

Weaknesses: Weaknesses are much more difficult to come with when writing a bio. This is because when we have our characters in our heads, we generally only think about what they are good at. It is very important for your character to have specific weaknesses so be sure to put them in your bio. Maybe your character has a hard time saying no, maybe they have a problem with gossip, maybe they take things that don't belong to them. The ideas are endless. A weakness doesn't mean that they are bad cats necessarily. It means that they are realistic. The same goes for weaknesses as they do for strengths. Some cats are not as perfectly behaved as others. Weaknesses should be something that causes your character's strengths to falter.

Faults: This is the toughest part of creating a character and most people just skim over it because of it's difficulty. I urge you not to. As opposed to a weakness, a fault is an actual character flaw. Don't give your character "fake flaws." These are flaws that people give their characters if they are afraid that no one will like their character if they give them real flaws. Some examples of "fake flaws" are: a bit shy, nervous about the future, doesn't feel like they fit in. These are really annoying and don't give them to your character as flaws. Real flaws would be something like: spiteful, vengeful, bitter etc. Flaws are things that affect your character in a major way. They should be something that affects almost every decision that they make.

Secrets: Everyone has secrets. I have secrets, you have secrets and characters have secrets. They are those things that we don't want anyone else to know and they are important for character development. Not everyone knows who killed their great uncle but everyone has something significant to them. The important thing in role playing is knowing how and when to incorporate them into role playing. If it's something that they think about a lot, write about it in their posts! But, your character shouldn't be spilling their guts to every cat that they meet. You will be giving up some fun role playing if all they talk about is how their mommy died. Keep in mind that secrets can make people feel anxious and affect their decision making.

Creative Writing!

Showing vs. Telling: This is a pretty common term that I'm sure most of you have heard. It is also very important when it comes to role playing. When you "tell" it can get quite boring for the reader and your thread partner won't want to reply. To make a post interesting, you must show the reader what is happening instead of telling them.

Telling: " Bob felt nervous when he saw the shadows" This statement is very bland and boring. It has almost no development and would be very difficult to write a response for. You may see what your character looks like when they are nervous but no one else can!.

Showing: "Everything stopped. Bob had been seeing dark figures following him around. But, every time he would look over his shoulder, they would disappear. Who was there? What was there? His heart rate quickened as he started to sprint homeward. His arms pumped rapidly and his legs pounded the the grass." See, now that was much more developed and would be much easier to respond to and is much more interesting to read.

Ask "Why"? When writing a new post for a character and you get stumped as to what to write, ask the very simple question "why?" Why is Bob outside, at night, alone. Why does he find himself in the situation he ends up in? Asking questions can help develop your characters and make writing for them much easier. In writing for your character, don't forget who they are. Use your application as a tool to help you. If you are unsure of how your character would react in a situation, refer to their bio and see what you wrote down. Use lots of action verbs. Don't overuse he/she said or did this or that. Don't say they were angry, describe how their blood pressure went up and they were seeing red.



Combat Writing!

[align=left] Combat writing can be very difficult. It consists of a lot of action and movement in the thread. It usually has a lot of emotion involved. For those reasons, many people love to do combat threads. They love the fast paced, high pressured, emotional posts. But, it is important to remember not to god-mod or power play. God-modding is when your character knows another character's thoughts or intentions or emotions without that character telling your character or making it very obvious what they are thinking/feeling. Power playing is when you control another person's character or doing something to that character without giving them time to respond. This would be considered power playing: " She hit him in the face so hard that his nose broke and it was bleeding everywhere." To the person writing the post, they may not see the problem. But, to the person whose character just got their nose broken, it sucks. Please don't do that to people. These mistakes are easy to make. She is assuming that he cant block or move out of the way.

Closed writing: " She swung her leg around and knocked him on his butt." This is a major no no. Don't do this to people. Instead, do something called "open writing"

Open writing: " She swung her leg around, aiming straight at his shins, intending to knock him on his butt." This way, He has time to react and that person's character doesn't get knocked on their butt without their permission. On this note, no character should ever be able to block or make every hit. It isn't fair and is punishable by the staff. If you feel that someone is doing this to you, talk to an admin and we will look it over for you. But, if you just don't want your character getting hurt, stay away from other characters who would hurt them. Don't allow your character to thread with a character who would hurt them. It's plain and simple.

Too much Action: When we write combat scenes, we get really into them and very involved. Sometimes, we lose sight of what that character is going through in other areas. Your character may be distracted because their mate just left them. Or, maybe they had a kit die and they depressed and can't fight to their fullest potential. Also, since we must keep our actions open ended, they can get short and boring to read without your character's thoughts of other things. Maybe they think about their family while they are fighting because they fear they are going to die? Maybe they think about the last words they said? Perhaps they believe they are going to win hands down and are thinking of the party that will be thrown in their honor? Who knows. But, try to get some thought into your fighting threads.

If you don't give a character a chance to respond to something, you are taking away their option to do something. Maybe when your character tried to hit them in the face, it was going to land and they were going to fall backwards. Or, maybe it wasn't even going to land and they dodged it. Also try to stay away from doing one attack and then doing another attack later. By doing this, you are assuming that they are still in the same spot as they were when you hit them first, assuming that you actually hit them. Try to keep your attacks to one attack per post. Yes, this can make fighting threads very long and yes, your posts may be short. But, remember all of the other tips I just gave you and you'll be fine. By keeping to one attack per post, you are allowing your partner to have the same creative freedom that you are getting.
Edited by Kisa, Apr 30 2013, 10:30 PM.
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