Role Playing Roles

Role Playing is one of my addictions. I love the whole experience, and I love being creative and either moderating as a GM and or playing. I don't mean to intimidate noobs because you have to start somewhere, but I am sick of cliches. Noobs, read this to learn, not to be turned away. I know you're not all published authors and are probably just trying to have fun, but please for the love of god, go into details.

In depth characters are good, but I hate when characters are god-mods and are invincible, or narrowly escape with their life and are fine the next scene. I understand this is fantasy, but most successful fantasy novels and movies have some believable characters and situations.

The Overview

Basic Rules

are sometimes misunderstood. Don't EVER take control of another character unless it is specified by the character's creator or the GM.

This means that you can't type: Joe slashed his sword and hit Jimmy in the gut.

You can type: Joe took a swing at Jimmy.

Remember that there is a chance they will dodge. But if they are dodging every attempt entirely, talk to the GM.

Of course, if they are unconscious, maybe speaking with the creator to see if they mind you carrying, dragging, throwing etc their character somewhere else until they come to.

God-mods

are illegal. That means as stated above, if you get injured, you do not recover next scene, unless otherwise specified by the GM, ie. there is a several month gap between posts.

Versatility

is a great characteristic. But be realistic. Being resourceful when you don't have a weapon and picking up a large branch as a last resort is believable. Being armed to the teeth with broadswords (that require two hands), swords (require 1 hand), a bow and unlimited arrows, a throwing dagger, a whip, a staff and a mace is a bit farfetched, don't you think? Keep versatility logical.

Spells

. Ah, magic, magyk, mana and so on and so forth. What fantasy lover doesn't love it?

Realistic character: Drizzt Do'Urden from his own series. He has the Drow given faerie fire which he uses to startle his enemies, scare them etc. He also has his orb of darkness which blinds everybody. That is all he has.

Unrealistic and all too typical character: Suzie Spellpower from most RP's. She has fire, ice, lightning, water, wood, shadow, light, wind, earth, metal, talking to animals, the ability to fly, magic bubbles, healing spells, telekinesis and some powers that I'm pretty sure are made up so the character doesn't die. That is all she has.

Please, pick a handful of elements and stick to them if you are a mage, wizard, sorcerer/sorceress, elementalist etc. If you are an ice mage, you should not be healing everybody.

Equipment

is a key factor.

A-In RPG's, you must improve your equipment for better stats to take on stronger enemies. In RP's men seem to all be wearing tight girl jeans and girls are slutting off for no reason wearing a dress that would be better classified as a belt and go-go boots.

B-Basic Weaponry. Swords, Axes, Hammers, Maces, Poles, Bows, Slings, Hands, Short, Guns, Staves, Wands, Shields.

Swords can be one-handed and fast or two-handed and slow. Fast weapons can attack more, slow weapons hit harder.

Axes can be one-handed and fast or two-handed and slow. Fast weapons can attack more, slow weapons hit harder.

Hammers can be one-handed and fast or two-handed and slow. Fast weapons can attack more, slow weapons hit harder.

Maces can be one-handed and fast or two-handed and slow. Fast weapons can attack more, slow weapons hit harder.

Poles are all two-handed. Scythes, Bills, Lances and Pitchforks are all poles.

Bows are either short bows which are intended for accuracy, long bows are intended to project arrows over a long distance, crossbows are used more for close ranged with bolts instead of arrows and are usually depicted as the smaller bows.

Slings are less heard of and include whips, chains, lassos, rope in general, sling darts, nun-chucks and sling shots.

Hand weapons are also unheard of. Allow me to make an assassins creed reference. The hidden hand blade worn by the main character is a hand weapon. As are brass knuckles, cat claws and such.

Short weapons is my way of saying knives, daggers, throwing knives, throwing stars, swords that are only used to block and wrist bands that are used to block.

Guns are a given obvious. They require bullets in the magazine or chamber and are usually used from a distance, save during intense kidnapping scenes. Scopes are added for accuracy with sniping and aim for the head xD

Staves are most often seen with wise witch doctors. The are fairly obvious, long, thick stick that hurts when Rafiki hits you over the head. Some are magical etc and so on and so forth.

Wands like Harry Potter. I accept these as weapons since we've already seen what they can do with the proper words read. Magical and so on.

Shields are self-explanatory. Use them to block. Unless you watch Troy, then you know to use them as an entire barrier with a handful of men to advance forward despite the arrows raining from the sky. Either way, big, bulky and require strength to move.

C-Magical items.

Also acceptable are magic rings, necklaces, orbs, stones, capes, crowns and so on. I'd like to see more of these in fact.

D-Thinking it through. Uh...let's not give a healer a great axe that takes two hands. And let's avoid giving a might warrior a wand and a magic pendant. Go with what makes sense.

E-Equipment and Characterization
Hummm...I'd know I could win if a warrior with a large 2-handed war axe was dressed in a snakeskin skirt and a tube top and had no balance or shock resistance in her high heels.

Scenario- a bartender, dressed as previously stated gets attacked by a mugger as she's leaving the bar. She hits him with her purse, gets out her pepper spray, sprays him, runs away and calls the cops on her cell phone. That is believable because that is what most people with common sense would do.

If said bartender is a mage, then by all means, blast away with your super powers, but don't mysteriously survive the knife sliding across your throat from the bombarded mugger's partner who sneaks up behind you.

A warrior should be dressed in armor that covers them. Warriors can take hits with their heavy armor and can afford to use slower, 2-handed weapons. Healers generally are dressed lightly, as are fast attackers with little weapon expertise.

Race

. Race is getting to be a bit cliche. I love vampires and elves as much as the next RPer, but by the gods, aren't the things rare? In a story about elves or vampires, you're the set character race. Fantastic you follow the rules. In modern day New York, I somehow doubt that vampires, elves, werewolves, shape shifters and demons are running around going from department store to department store. So tr to either follow the storyline or be original.

Hawtness

. Now looks are something that are important to those of us who can see. We want to paint a visual picture of or characters to the others with how we describe them. FYI: Your character can still be important being fat, ugly, normal, old etc. Experiment a little.

Personalities

. Now this is so often forgotten. Most people don't play in character when it comes to a personality. If your character is quiet, passive and afraid of confrontation, they should not be instigating a fight or having a battle of the wits with an opposing character without some explanation. If your character is rash, straight forward and jump-to-the-gun, your character should not be listening to a logical, strategic character without an explanation.

Maybe the quiet one was standing up for their gay friend who was being made fun of and the arguement was brought on by a bigot who pushed one of their buttons? If so, that should be obvious to the rest of us.

Maybe the rash one is only listening to the logical thinker because they have a love interest who is in danger, or maybe even a love interest in the logical thinker.

If you leave personality, only do so for a good emotional reason.

Personal Information

. This is something that can be expended on. First off, do not be afraid to play a character that is a bigot, or is fucked up in the head. Don't be afraid to play around and give everything a good reason, but making a whiny, sex-driven, angry character is cliche. Hell, go out on a limb and play a gay or straight character, the opposite from what you are. Or go out on a limb and play the opposite gender. Personal information should be somewhat interesting, but not over used. Down-to-earth but nor boring.

History

is another thing that could be worked on. We need a good history for our character so let's give them an abusive parent and no friends and no memories...right? No. I'd rather not interact with a character that is borderline comatose. If you're going to have amnesia or fugue, go for it. But only have one tragic characteristic, or a limited few. If I play with one more emo case, I'm cutting wrists.

Flaws

. Everybody has flaws. For instance, Achilles the great warrior's flaw was rage. It was something that made him not perfect. That is something that more characters need. Your characters should be believable people. They don't have to be and shouldn't be people you know, but they should have their limits and their flaws.

Sex

. Sex is a wonderful thing. It's a free experience that brings two people closer together. If it is a mature RP and sex is involved great. Have an orgy. But if not, keep it short, or hinted at.

"Suzy let John lead her to the ground..." will suffice if you want sex that badly in a PG13 RP. Keep it tasteful no matter how open-minded the GM is. And don't make it a porno unless it is an ERP (Erotic Role Playing).

The storyline

. This should really decide the making of your character. In modern day New York in a dramatic RP, there should not be sex in the middle of the road between an angel and a demon. Your character should fit into the storyline without having to be written in, and arranging the original idea around you.

Class

. This is something that I am going to adapt from WoW, Oblivion and other RPG's as well as my own imagination. Your character should not fall into more than one of these.

This is not an exact you have to match this guide. This is just an idea of well-built classes that are in several popular video games. This is supposed to help you make sure that your character is not god-modeled since each class has its strengths and weaknesses.

warrior-your character should be heavily armored and can afford to take a few hits, but are slow and more powerful attackers and are versatile when it comes to weaponry, including shields.

paladin-your character is heavily armored with some holy powers, but doesn't have the skills to do ranged combat with a bow, gun etc, though you can use a shield.

knight-your character is heavily armored and skilled mostly with swords, axes and poles with no ranged combat abilities and generally do not use a shield.

ranger-your character is usually wearing mail, scale and or leather. You do not carry a shield and are most skilled with a bow, crossbow, long bow, sling weapons (whips and such), guns. You can use close combat weapons, but you are not a skilled with them. You're a faster attacker, not really powerful.

spiritualist, witch doctor, shaman-your character wears leather, scale and mail and can use a shield. Generally you can use lightning magic, wood magic and a form of holy magic but you have no ranged weapon abilities. You are strong with close combat, though.

druid, beast master-your character wears mostly leather and is in tuned with nature. You can use some wood magic, wind magic and are skilled mostly with magic and up close fighting. You can heal as well.

rogue, thief-your character wears mostly leather and is better off sneaking around and using fast attacks with fast weapons.

witch, warlock, mage, sorcerer....-your character should wear cloth. Yes, picture the pointy hats and long robes. You should not rely on a weapon, except a last resort and you should be blasting magic. But even on WoW they give the classes specializations and things that they can use. Witches should either be good, evil or grey. Good witches are healers, grey witches play other elements like fire, ice etc. while evil witches curse and use shadow magic. With this, pick one or two elements and leave it at that.

monk-a warrior in cloth armor that is good with fist weapons, and is skilled in martial arts with no ranged capabilities.

spell blade-warriors that wear leather with one element of destructive power, ie ice, fire, lightning, water

barbarian-wears scale or mail armor and uses blunt weapons and a few ranged

bard-traveling singers who are generally well-liked and try to avoid confrontation, but who are specialized with swords, daggers and possibly shields if they need to.

All of these classes play roles. There are walls, there are clerics, there are hammers and there are sweepers. Walls can stay in fights longer with heavy armor and shields, clerics heal themselves and other and have very minute fighting capability, hammers are hard but slow hitters and sweepers are fast attackers.

That should somehow fit in to how you coordinate fight scenes.

Logic

. Now, I know that people like me can intimidate noobs unintentionally. Don't be afraid to try. If you do something wrong, a good GM will tell you what you did and will give you helpful suggestions. Using logic is a lot of the RPing experience. For instance, an 8-year-old girl should not be waving around a scythe. Using logic and believable instances is something that I personally crave.

Super powers

. Super powers are something else entirely. Your character can fly. Okay, but why? Is it a levitation spell? Are they a bird anthro? Give reasons behind such things. Breathing fire. Okay, you're a dragon. That makes sense. *points back to number 14*

The Chosen One!

Oh my God! Or as Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire called it the Golden one. Just...don't do this. If there is a chosen one, the GM will say so and should limit it just to one, unless the prophecy says there are two or four.

Half-breeds

. If you want to be more than one race, make more than one character. I am beginning to hate half-breeds. They're too common and predictable.

A Visual aid

. Unless you absolutely must, do not steal pictures frm the internet to depict your character. Draw them, even if you think it is horrible, or have somebody else draw them.

Original character

. Do not steal characters. Rutting a picture of Princess Ai up and naming her Lovell and giving her the same personality is stealing.

Be creative

. I know the imagination needs inspiration and motivation but come on. Don't give your person the same old this and that with birth marks and predictable appearances. You like white-blonde hair, then by all means, give it to your character. You like the thought of a half black, half Asian porn star going to rehab for an addiction to caffeine, have at it. Just let your imagination go to work. You have a history, appearance, personality, weaponry, special powers, cool names and so on. Your characters are what you make of them. Have fun with it.

Thank you *bows*