No matter how hardcore you are, real life comes first. Things will occasionally happen that will pull you away from your role play, and that's okay, but don't vanish. No matter how new you are to this particular setting or group, you are now part of the story and people are depending on you. If you leave them hanging, they might not be so keen on playing with you when you come back. And what is your character doing while you're gone? If the people who normally interact with him don't see him, then he's not just going about his daily life. Leaving your role play for real life reasons is perfectly fine, but you need to take care of a few things first.
-OOC:
How many people are involved? Is there a note board or a forum you can post on? Are you part of an established group like a guild? Everybody involved needs to know, but depending on the circumstances there are several ways to do this.
-If there are only a few people, then send them messages individually. I have yet to encounter a role playing medium that lacks a method to contact people while they're offline. If they happen to be online, then find someplace private or create a private chat channel so that you can explain without interruptions.
-If you're in a large group of people, then there is probably a website or something similar where your farewell can be seen by everyone without you needing to send them individual letters. If there isn't or you don't have access to it, then message the group leader or an officer and ask them to either post it there or spread the news.
-IC:
When you are gone, so is your character. You know exactly where you're going, but everyone needs to know where your character is. If your disappearance is only temporary, then this can turn into an opportunity for a new plot and further character development. Maybe your character was kidnapped, and when you come back you can arrange for a rescue event (always fun). Perhaps he was spying on some enemies, dealing with family drama, or simply forgot his map and got lost somewhere. The possibilities are endless and some can provide very fun welcome back events. If you are leaving permanently, it may be time to think about writing the death or retirement of your character - death if there is absolutely no chance you will return, and retirement if you may.
-Both:
No matter what you are doing, tell the group! Obviously if you are leaving for something personal, you don't need to share the details, in fact "something personal" should do, but these people are your friends. They should have some idea what's going on. A simple note that you're going on vacation and your character was kidnapped by pirates should suffice. If you know beforehand that you will be leaving sometime in the future, then warn them in advance and maybe you can use their help to work out a really cool plot (or moving death scene). Whatever you do IC or OOC, keep the group informed. Leaving them in the dark can cause untold problems and I have seen it happen more times than I care to count. They've all got real lives too and most, if not all of them will understand if you need a little time off.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Set in Stone
Recently I’ve stumbled onto what seems to be a lovely place
to role play. It’s a re-creation of King’s Landing from George R. R. Martin’s A
Song of Ice and Fire series that someone built in Second Life. The books are
full of squabbling nobles, political intrigue, and captivating plots, and the
Second Life role play in King’s Landing tries to capture the spirit of that. I
can’t say yet if it succeeds or not because I haven’t been there long enough to
see it, but it got me thinking that there are a few more considerations to be put into a fanfic role play than one set in an independent world.
– Canon – Lore is something you will obviously need to
read the books to understand. It is assumed that when you join a role play
based on some outside source, you are somewhat familiar with the source material.
If you botch the lore, you could ruin the story for everybody else, so read
(and re-read if it’s been a while) carefully and tread lightly.
Playing a canon character,
especially an important one, is to walk on paper thin ice. Your interpretation
of the character may differ wildly from everyone else’s and to ruin a good
character is asking to be lynched. If you’re playing with close friends, good
writers, and excellent communication it can be done. Outside of that setting I
suggest you steer clear of them. In SL, allowing this would likely result in
hundreds of Tyrion Lannisters in every shape and size, and twice that many
misspelled Daenerys Targaryens (about 40% of which will think her name is
Khaleesi). This setting in Second Life forbids playing any character in the
books, from Robert I Baratheon to the smallfolk they mention only in passing.
Good thought, King’s Landing.
Plot is another thing. In a world like this one where so much of the story and plot depends on the actions of characters, it simply cannot be the same without them. As far as I can tell, the people behind King's Landing gave us all of the setting and lore, but cleaned the slate of characters. People can play members of high noble houses, provided that they have permission from the head of the house. You could even raise your character from lower class to upper class if you're careful and don't get them killed on the way. From these new characters arise new plots and squabbles, which is rather interesting if you've read all the books and want something the same, yet different. This tactic will not work for everything, do if you intend to create your own fanfic RP, think long and hard about how much canon you want to use.
Plot is another thing. In a world like this one where so much of the story and plot depends on the actions of characters, it simply cannot be the same without them. As far as I can tell, the people behind King's Landing gave us all of the setting and lore, but cleaned the slate of characters. People can play members of high noble houses, provided that they have permission from the head of the house. You could even raise your character from lower class to upper class if you're careful and don't get them killed on the way. From these new characters arise new plots and squabbles, which is rather interesting if you've read all the books and want something the same, yet different. This tactic will not work for everything, do if you intend to create your own fanfic RP, think long and hard about how much canon you want to use.
– Read! – Or if you’re basing this off a movie or TV
series, then watch! And pay attention! The writers of these things have put a
great deal of time and thought into how they would like their worlds to run.
This is part of what makes the setting unique and is probably why you like this
one in particular instead of something similar, but I’ll bet that most of you
have never given that a second thought. What is the general vocabulary used by
the characters? Does it vary by region or social class? What is the etiquette
like? Which titles go with which social standing? Are there prejudices? Gender
inequalities? What do the people wear? Read. Watch. Listen. Pay close
attention. Apply what you’ve learned to your characters and watch them fit
seamlessly into the world you love so much.
– Do. Not. Write. – The novel has already been written,
and probably by someone with better skill and paid editors than either you or I
can hope to claim. You are not here to rewrite it, only to experience it from a
different perspective. If I had a dollar for every emote I’ve seen that
involved some form of precocious narrative, I could pay off my student loans.
YOUR ROLE PLAY IS NOT A NOVEL. If you would like to share all your character’s
mushy feelings and personal developments, go write a short story – your friends
will praise you – but in the middle of a conversation with a half dozen lords
about the murder of Lady Whosherface is neither the time nor place to wax
poetic about the injust deeds of man via emote. Not only is it pointless and
inappropriate, it’s bordering on telepathy, which any decent role player will
tell you is a definite taboo. I may write more about that later, but suffice to
say that no matter how profound that narrative of yours may be, there is not a
character in existance that can actually interact with it, and therefore it is
a (rather annoying) waste of space.
Friday, September 30, 2011
TL;DR
Ah, the glorious wall of text, how cumbersome you are. How effective an indicator of inefficient role player and all-controlling god moder alike. How we scorn thee, yet how you fill us with nostalgia of the time when we, too, were drawn in by your siren-sweet lure of endless gilded prose, for how else were we to convey the depth of our characters? If not by mountain of adverbs or page-long emotes, how were we to describe precisely what our actions were? For who in the many endless worlds of role play would not wish to know how many boogers brave Felodious had harvested from his heroic proboscis or at how much length dear Amelenieghertevuincie the half-elven-one-eighth-gnome-one-fourth-half-ogre-two-fourths-drow had learned to pluck her first chord upon the-
Had enough yet?
Nobody wants to read your poetic ramblings, or mine, or for that matter, even their own. You have a nice vocabulary, we get it. You know your grammar, and that's fantastic. You know every detail of your character down to that chip on his left bicuspid. You have all your ducks in a row! Good for you! There is, however, one thing you missed: your audience.
In a forum role play, a page-and-a-half-long response can be okay in the beginning because there are no visual elements and there's a whole bunch of set-up you need to do. We may get to that in a later post. MMOs and chatbox role plays, on the other hand, are very fast paced. By the time you're done typing your flowery prose, the person you were talking to has wandered to the other side of the city because they thought you were ignoring them. Leniency will of course be granted to newbies and those who type slower than others, but nobody will have any pity for you if you make them wait 10 minutes between each part of a 4-part emote.
"But how do I let them know all the details?!" you cry. It is a good question. The thing is, we don't need a paragraph of description to understand what you mean. You have a good vocabulary, right? (Hint: Yes) Use it! You could say "Felodious scratched his head with fury as a thousand lice found shelter in his flowing golden locks and, finding his life's fluid to their tastes, bit down upon his scalp," but it would be much easier for everyone if you'd just said, "Felodious scratched his head vigorously. If an onlooker were to study him closely, they might spot a louse or two." Both of them convey the point (Our dashing hero has lice and is seriously not happy about it), but while the first option beats around the bush until the bush begs for mercy, the second simply tells you what's going on. Let's try another one.
"The sword that our dashingly handsom hero, Felodious, bore into battle shone like the smiles of angels and had not a single nick or scratch. Its blade was crafted of the finest elven blued steel that could be obtained and its hilt boasted golden floral decorations and tiny yet vibrant gemstones of ruby, emerald, and sapphire."
OR
"Felodious' sword was well polished and well tended. It had a blade of blued steel and its hilt was decorated with gold filigree and an assortment of small gemstones."
Your audience may not see the same mental picture of your character that you do, but they can fill in enough blanks from a general description that they can get a good enough idea, and considering that you'll only interact with most people for an hour or two before promptly never seeing them again, that's really all they need.
In a forum role play, a page-and-a-half-long response can be okay in the beginning because there are no visual elements and there's a whole bunch of set-up you need to do. We may get to that in a later post. MMOs and chatbox role plays, on the other hand, are very fast paced. By the time you're done typing your flowery prose, the person you were talking to has wandered to the other side of the city because they thought you were ignoring them. Leniency will of course be granted to newbies and those who type slower than others, but nobody will have any pity for you if you make them wait 10 minutes between each part of a 4-part emote.
"But how do I let them know all the details?!" you cry. It is a good question. The thing is, we don't need a paragraph of description to understand what you mean. You have a good vocabulary, right? (Hint: Yes) Use it! You could say "Felodious scratched his head with fury as a thousand lice found shelter in his flowing golden locks and, finding his life's fluid to their tastes, bit down upon his scalp," but it would be much easier for everyone if you'd just said, "Felodious scratched his head vigorously. If an onlooker were to study him closely, they might spot a louse or two." Both of them convey the point (Our dashing hero has lice and is seriously not happy about it), but while the first option beats around the bush until the bush begs for mercy, the second simply tells you what's going on. Let's try another one.
"The sword that our dashingly handsom hero, Felodious, bore into battle shone like the smiles of angels and had not a single nick or scratch. Its blade was crafted of the finest elven blued steel that could be obtained and its hilt boasted golden floral decorations and tiny yet vibrant gemstones of ruby, emerald, and sapphire."
OR
"Felodious' sword was well polished and well tended. It had a blade of blued steel and its hilt was decorated with gold filigree and an assortment of small gemstones."
Your audience may not see the same mental picture of your character that you do, but they can fill in enough blanks from a general description that they can get a good enough idea, and considering that you'll only interact with most people for an hour or two before promptly never seeing them again, that's really all they need.
Monday, September 26, 2011
IC You
Who you are IC (In Character) and who you are OOC (Out of Character) is drastically different. There is not a fine line between the two, there is a brick wall. Most people with a decent amount of experience in role playing know exactly where this wall lies, but quite a few newbies (and a somewhat nauseating number of oldbies) tend to have trouble locating it. I'm not going to pick on anyone for this (as annoying as it can be) because frankly not everyone's mind bends to the rules of RP that easily, and there's no blame to be put on anyone for that either - man did not evolve with the intent of pretending he's a half-elf wizard every Thursday - but there is plenty of merit in explaining, for the thousandth time, how to figure it out and how to interact with people who haven't, and just on the off chance that you understand my particular explanation, here you go.
-For the Little Lost Lambsies:
Here is your golden rule for the lesson: You and your character are two entirely different people.
Remember that wall I mentioned earlier? Think of it as a one-way window. You can see just about everything your character is up to, but they have no idea you even exist. What your character knows, you know; what you know, your character does not. Obviously, there are some exceptions to that, but don't concern yourself with them right now. Think about the basics.
Imagine yourself in one of an endless slew of detective TV shows (Castle would be fitting). You are behind the one-way glass where the cops (or in this case, fellow role players) hang out and sip coffee whilst providing amusing commentary. Your character is on the other side, interacting with all the other characters. You can see and hear everything that's going on out there. You can even chat with the players of the other characters and maybe share hints about what is to come or ask them to critique your performance so far (awesome idea for newbies), but NONE of this has any affect on what happens on the other side of the glass. Do you recall any of the countless scenes where the detectives chatting idly behind the glass suddenly have an epiphany during an interrogation and then run off without the interrogator even knowing they were there? That's what's going on here. Your emotions toward characters and fellow players, knowledge of the plot and game world, personal speculations, morals, ethics, past experiences, and skills have absolutely no bearing on your character because it is not even aware that you exist.
On the flip side, your character will sometimes knows things that you don't. This happens so often that most of us, even the mighty elitists, don't even realize it most of the time. This is because most of the time it's about something small and unimportant, however if you learn to notice when you've come across something like this you can add an amazing amount of depth to your RP. You do not live in a fantasy world, and you are not an adventurer. You (hopefully) have no idea what a rotting corpse smells like, how a stab wound feels, what a magic missile to the face feels like, how to fight a spider twice your size, how to wield most of the weapons your character encounters, etc. The list could go on for the length of a novel and still wouldn't cover everything. You don't have to run off and research all of this, but a little homework may do you some good. Try making a list of things your character knows, but you don't. You'll be surprised how long it is.
Obviously you will never know everything your character does no matter how much research you do, but the point is to be prepared. If you realize, after making your list, that you have no idea how to wield a broadsword in combat, then you'll know not to write detailed descriptions of your character's fighting technique. If you don't know how to ride or care for a horse, then gloss over those passages in your stories with vague acknowledgements ("Phil then prepared his horse Winifred to rest for the evening").
But what if something comes up unexpectedly? When I still played World of Warcraft there was an evening when several of my guildies had gathered spontaneously in Ironforge (generic Dwarven city for those of you who never played). A good number of us were already there chatting about something or other, when a friend showed up with an emote revealing that she was smoking a pipe. The elf I was playing at the moment had a particular dislike of the smell of tobacco, so I emoted something along the lines of "/e wrinkles her nose at the smell of tobacco." The friend then promptly sent me: ((There is no tobacco in the pipe. My character is smoking mint.)) Oops. Mechanics of smoking peppermint aside (because that has got to clear the sinuses something fierce), the scent is something anyone within a 10-foot radius would recognize. I did not because the Smell-o-Puter has yet to be invented. My character knew this. I did not. There are two lessons here: 1. If you know that your character has something going on that most would not expect (i.e. mint in the pipe instead of the assumed tobacco), make sure that you include it in your description. 2. If you are unsure about something, or if you think somebody may have left out a detail, it never hurts to ask them OOC, or in case you mess up (like I did) then this is one of the few situations that, with the permission of the group, it's okay to retcon.
-For Those Who Know Better:
It can be trying to interact with someone who keeps letting their feelings or knowledge OOC bleed into their character's life. I don't think that needs much more of an explanation. This is not, however, an excuse to completely lose your temper and beat them into a senseless puddle (not even if they use the telepathy excuse). Depending on the person in question and your dwindling amount of willpower, there are a few options you could try:
1. Politely explain in an OOC whisper that what they are doing is very much breaking the basic rules of role play (and the poor, battered fourth wall) and how they can work around this ("You should totally go read this awesome blog I just found!"). The person may be new and honestly not know that they're doing anything wrong. Getting angry at them will only put them on the defensive and may even turn them into a dreaded Griefer. Nobody wants that.
2. Dismiss or ignore what their character is saying IC, just don't be too rude about it. If they insist on knowing that you are the Dread Pirate Wesley and you would really love to maintain your disguise of a simple farm boy, go ahead and tell them that they probably heard of another Wesley who is conveniently on another continent. If they insist, then do your best to steer the conversation in the direction of those lovely daffodils growing on the side of the road. Alternatively, you could ponder out loud that perhaps your new friend is a complete and total whackjob and maybe you'd better alert the guards before he does something rash.
3. If all else fails and the person is exceptionally thick and/or persistent, then you may fall to your backup plan: A convenient list of excuses to get the heck out of dodge. Simple, believable, and requiring you to leave right now with no further explanation. Fire alarm, emergency guild meeting, tornado warning, pet turtle on fire, roommate stole your cookies, sudden attack by geese, Spock appeared in your living room, etc. Or you could ask a nearby friend to come over and whisk you away because "OMIGOSH, Elle fell off a cliff again!" It seems cruel, but if you can't get through to this person and your patience is wearing thinner by the second, then logging off to play an alt they don't know about is a lot kinder than chewing their head off.
Lambsies, I am sorry if those last two options offend you. Please realize that somebody who has been role playing for years has come across more idiots than genuine newbies and because of this we have short tempers about this sort of thing. Many of us are very patient and even helpful if you give us a chance, but even we have our limits. Since RP flexes the mighty brain-muscles of word manipulation, we know how to RAWR with the best of them and some people I know could make you cry without trying. If you show an attempt to listen to our explanations and politely restrained gripes, then most of us will be more than happy to show you some leniency, but this is the internet we're talking about here. Thinly veiled hints that you're doing it wrong and sudden "power outages" are among the more merciful of outcomes.
-For the Little Lost Lambsies:
Here is your golden rule for the lesson: You and your character are two entirely different people.
Remember that wall I mentioned earlier? Think of it as a one-way window. You can see just about everything your character is up to, but they have no idea you even exist. What your character knows, you know; what you know, your character does not. Obviously, there are some exceptions to that, but don't concern yourself with them right now. Think about the basics.
Imagine yourself in one of an endless slew of detective TV shows (Castle would be fitting). You are behind the one-way glass where the cops (or in this case, fellow role players) hang out and sip coffee whilst providing amusing commentary. Your character is on the other side, interacting with all the other characters. You can see and hear everything that's going on out there. You can even chat with the players of the other characters and maybe share hints about what is to come or ask them to critique your performance so far (awesome idea for newbies), but NONE of this has any affect on what happens on the other side of the glass. Do you recall any of the countless scenes where the detectives chatting idly behind the glass suddenly have an epiphany during an interrogation and then run off without the interrogator even knowing they were there? That's what's going on here. Your emotions toward characters and fellow players, knowledge of the plot and game world, personal speculations, morals, ethics, past experiences, and skills have absolutely no bearing on your character because it is not even aware that you exist.
On the flip side, your character will sometimes knows things that you don't. This happens so often that most of us, even the mighty elitists, don't even realize it most of the time. This is because most of the time it's about something small and unimportant, however if you learn to notice when you've come across something like this you can add an amazing amount of depth to your RP. You do not live in a fantasy world, and you are not an adventurer. You (hopefully) have no idea what a rotting corpse smells like, how a stab wound feels, what a magic missile to the face feels like, how to fight a spider twice your size, how to wield most of the weapons your character encounters, etc. The list could go on for the length of a novel and still wouldn't cover everything. You don't have to run off and research all of this, but a little homework may do you some good. Try making a list of things your character knows, but you don't. You'll be surprised how long it is.
Obviously you will never know everything your character does no matter how much research you do, but the point is to be prepared. If you realize, after making your list, that you have no idea how to wield a broadsword in combat, then you'll know not to write detailed descriptions of your character's fighting technique. If you don't know how to ride or care for a horse, then gloss over those passages in your stories with vague acknowledgements ("Phil then prepared his horse Winifred to rest for the evening").
But what if something comes up unexpectedly? When I still played World of Warcraft there was an evening when several of my guildies had gathered spontaneously in Ironforge (generic Dwarven city for those of you who never played). A good number of us were already there chatting about something or other, when a friend showed up with an emote revealing that she was smoking a pipe. The elf I was playing at the moment had a particular dislike of the smell of tobacco, so I emoted something along the lines of "/e wrinkles her nose at the smell of tobacco." The friend then promptly sent me: ((There is no tobacco in the pipe. My character is smoking mint.)) Oops. Mechanics of smoking peppermint aside (because that has got to clear the sinuses something fierce), the scent is something anyone within a 10-foot radius would recognize. I did not because the Smell-o-Puter has yet to be invented. My character knew this. I did not. There are two lessons here: 1. If you know that your character has something going on that most would not expect (i.e. mint in the pipe instead of the assumed tobacco), make sure that you include it in your description. 2. If you are unsure about something, or if you think somebody may have left out a detail, it never hurts to ask them OOC, or in case you mess up (like I did) then this is one of the few situations that, with the permission of the group, it's okay to retcon.
-For Those Who Know Better:
It can be trying to interact with someone who keeps letting their feelings or knowledge OOC bleed into their character's life. I don't think that needs much more of an explanation. This is not, however, an excuse to completely lose your temper and beat them into a senseless puddle (not even if they use the telepathy excuse). Depending on the person in question and your dwindling amount of willpower, there are a few options you could try:
1. Politely explain in an OOC whisper that what they are doing is very much breaking the basic rules of role play (and the poor, battered fourth wall) and how they can work around this ("You should totally go read this awesome blog I just found!"). The person may be new and honestly not know that they're doing anything wrong. Getting angry at them will only put them on the defensive and may even turn them into a dreaded Griefer. Nobody wants that.
2. Dismiss or ignore what their character is saying IC, just don't be too rude about it. If they insist on knowing that you are the Dread Pirate Wesley and you would really love to maintain your disguise of a simple farm boy, go ahead and tell them that they probably heard of another Wesley who is conveniently on another continent. If they insist, then do your best to steer the conversation in the direction of those lovely daffodils growing on the side of the road. Alternatively, you could ponder out loud that perhaps your new friend is a complete and total whackjob and maybe you'd better alert the guards before he does something rash.
3. If all else fails and the person is exceptionally thick and/or persistent, then you may fall to your backup plan: A convenient list of excuses to get the heck out of dodge. Simple, believable, and requiring you to leave right now with no further explanation. Fire alarm, emergency guild meeting, tornado warning, pet turtle on fire, roommate stole your cookies, sudden attack by geese, Spock appeared in your living room, etc. Or you could ask a nearby friend to come over and whisk you away because "OMIGOSH, Elle fell off a cliff again!" It seems cruel, but if you can't get through to this person and your patience is wearing thinner by the second, then logging off to play an alt they don't know about is a lot kinder than chewing their head off.
Lambsies, I am sorry if those last two options offend you. Please realize that somebody who has been role playing for years has come across more idiots than genuine newbies and because of this we have short tempers about this sort of thing. Many of us are very patient and even helpful if you give us a chance, but even we have our limits. Since RP flexes the mighty brain-muscles of word manipulation, we know how to RAWR with the best of them and some people I know could make you cry without trying. If you show an attempt to listen to our explanations and politely restrained gripes, then most of us will be more than happy to show you some leniency, but this is the internet we're talking about here. Thinly veiled hints that you're doing it wrong and sudden "power outages" are among the more merciful of outcomes.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
We're off to see the wizard!
In fantasy settings, when something seems out of place or cannot be explained, the age-old answer is to simply say "A wizard did it."
"How do you even get a halfbreed of those two species?!" A wizard did it.
"This timeline doesn't match up here." A wizard made it happen.
As infuriating as this answer can be, it's important not to forget its true meaning: not to get so hung up on the tiny inconsistencies of a plot that you can't enjoy the story as a whole.
Sometimes the answer is that there is no answer; things don't make sense, and that's okay. That's what fantasy is all based on. But when you are in the position of writing fantasy, anything that can make sense should, even if not immediately or obviously, or you risk losing the reader. When you role play fantasy (or pretty much anything else in fiction), you need to balance the two. How do you avoid the already present wizards without adding too many of your own? The great role players know how to do it. Whether or not I'm one of them is something you can decide for yourself, but I have picked up a few useful tips over the years and maybe you'd like to know them.
"How do you even get a halfbreed of those two species?!" A wizard did it.
"This timeline doesn't match up here." A wizard made it happen.
As infuriating as this answer can be, it's important not to forget its true meaning: not to get so hung up on the tiny inconsistencies of a plot that you can't enjoy the story as a whole.
Sometimes the answer is that there is no answer; things don't make sense, and that's okay. That's what fantasy is all based on. But when you are in the position of writing fantasy, anything that can make sense should, even if not immediately or obviously, or you risk losing the reader. When you role play fantasy (or pretty much anything else in fiction), you need to balance the two. How do you avoid the already present wizards without adding too many of your own? The great role players know how to do it. Whether or not I'm one of them is something you can decide for yourself, but I have picked up a few useful tips over the years and maybe you'd like to know them.
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