Hit the Road, Jack

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.

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.

– 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.