Roleplay 101: The Art of Verbally Kicking Ass

The first stop in the wonderful world of roleplay is to read 'help [roleplay]'. It covers the basics of what you need to know to roleplay effectively. READ IT AGAIN. This stuff is pretty much common sense, but many many many people seem to gloss over it and do alot of the things mentioned. Not only is is poor RP, but can sometimes even get you in trouble with the IMMS. Read it one more time just in case you might have missed something. I'm serious.

How Not to Roleplay Poorly

Here is a wonderful, helpful guide written by one of our players, Alisa.

1. Bob tells you 'Will you help me to level?

OK, I realize that it’s mostly newbies that do this, but it is starting to happen a little too frequently.

• 'level' is an OOC term...try using words like 'train' or 'hunt' instead. * Saying please will get you a lot further with some people.
• Try introducing yourself first, and maybe strike up a bit of friendly chatter before asking.
• If your char is an evil loner, you'll just have to stick to leveling on your own unless you come up with a cunning excuse for pleading for help.

2. Bob tells you 'Hiya Alisa, this is [Bob's Alt (A Friend)]. Can you give me some equipment please?'

Very annoying. Players shouldn't expect people to help their characters just because they are friends with an alt. You wouldn't help a complete stranger unless that’s in your char's nature(Especially strange ones spouting jibberish about 'alts'!)

3. Don't stop RPing just because you want something.

i.e. If your role is evil, but you don't think anyone will give you what you want unless you say please...tough!

4. Use emotes befitting your character.

For example 'Bob the evil' won't go around 'smiling happily', even if he just won a fight. He would probably grin evilly to himself, or cackle etc. If your client allows aliases, try making a few of your own emotes, perhaps make some to replace the existing emotes.

Thanks to Alisa for this wonderful little guide!

Addendum:

One of the most common examples of poor roleplay is to reveal your own alts. If you're starting a new character and tell all your friends who your alts are in order to receive help or preferential treatment, that's poor RP. The same goes for using the same title or description as your past character and for transferring unique equipment from your old character to your new one (which is also a rules violation if you don't delete and remake with the same name).

IC Terms versus OOC Terms

For new roleplayers, figuring out what is IC and what is OOC can be very difficult. It's often helpful to ask oneself if a stranger would know what was meant if the term in question was used in real life. Below are some commonly mixed-up examples of OOC terms and how to express the same sort of idea in an IC way.

Level

OOC: Would anybody like to level up with me?
IC: Would anybody care to hunt with me?
EXPLANATION: 'levels' are an OOC way of indicating the progress of your character. As such, in the IC world, your character grows stronger by hunting, exploring, travelling, or killing monsters. Not by "levelling."

Tell

OOC: If Savannah or Nativyda is around, could I have a tell?
IC: If one of the Romany Elders is in the realms, may I have a word?
EXPLANATION: The notion of 'a tell' doesn't make sense in an IC context. You wouldn't be able to send your friend 'a tell' in school; you would be more likely to just talk privately. Similarly, referring to "channels" or "the IC channel" is totally OOC.

Stats

If you see a newer (or not so new) player tripping up over these terms, it's never wrong to politely point out their mistake to them; it is much easier to learn from mistakes when we know what mistakes we're making.

Just as a reminder, IC terms should always be used on the IC channel and in says, and the auction channel (with the exception of item stats) and guild channels are most often also IC.

Beyond the Basics

(Thanks to Flocrian and Divincus for some of these ideas)

Learn about your race

Some races come with RP already bundled up in a neat little package. If you're a Drow, and you don't know who Lloth is, you better come up with a creative reason why. Moreover, if you're a draconian, and two drows are speaking their native tongue, and you just happen to know how to translate it, you should have an IC reason why you know their language. See '[Talk the Talk]' for some good sites that reference race languages and roleplay. And finally, if you're lichnee, and you don't know who Suqlaheru is... delete. NOW.

8 times of out 10, you don't need to go OOC

Alot of players will suddenly go ooc to explain something about how their acting, or to ask a question/give information. Alot of times it's completely unneccessary. For the love of the Triad, don't let this be you:

Morthar says 'Stop making fun of Draconians!'
Morthar tells you 'My character was raised by a
draconian family, so he doesn't like people
making fun of them.'

(My appologies in advance if there is a char
out there named Morthar, I just came up
with it. Go with it.)

WHY did I need to know this OOC'ly? The point of roleplay is to BECOME the person you are portraying. You wouldn't be able to fill in a person about your past this way, so why do it on the MUD? The correct way to handle the situation would be:

Morthar says 'Stop making fun of Draconians! I was
raised by them, and they're good people.'

There are limitless examples of this, so I'll spare you. Before you say something ooc'ly (and by say I mean tell, any RP'er worth their salt will ignore ooc says unless it's painfully obvious it's a very very new player), make sure there's not a way to say it IC'ly. You're not a book, and I don't need a narrator.

Forced RP sucks. Period.

If you get in an argument with someone, and they go to slap you, do you have time to grab their wrist, twist said arm behind said moron's back, and beat them over the head with your half-full beer bottle? That depends on how many beers you had before.

Now if you're wondering what that has to do with RP, I'll show you:

Morthar glares at you, and you cower in fear.

Ladies, Gentlemen, and those in between, I give you forced RP. I might cower. I might grab the nearest beer bottle. It's up to ME, not YOU. And when you take my choices from me, I'm twice as likely to grab the bottle. Or in MUD terms, ignore you, leave the room, or pay Inferno to kill you twice. And this doesn't just apply to emotes, it applies to [descriptions]. For example:

Morthar is a orc ranger. He is twelve feet tall
and very scary. He is wearing hides made from all
the great beasts he has killed. He has a large
sword that has blood on it from all the people
he has killed for calling him a dumb orc. You
tremble when you look at him.

There's not a single sentence in this [description] that isn't example of some kind of forced RP. Forced RP isn't just forcing ACTION, it's also forcing you to THINK, FEEL, or inherently KNOW something that you wouldn't normally know. How do I know this person is a ranger? Why do I think he's scary? How do I know his clothes are from all the animals he killed, and he didn't just rob a trapper? How do I know the blood on his sword is from the people who called him a dumb orc? (Not that I blame them.) Why am I trembling? Because this desc blows, that's why. He should have put, 'You get close to vomiting' instead of trembling. At least that would be honest forced RP.

What Time Zone are you from?

Granted, if you've ever tried to figure out our calendar and how it pertains to real life, you've given yourself a migraine. I've got NO idea, ask Parviane. He likes questions like that, really. Don't blame me if you get slayed. In fact, to help answer the insanity of time, we have our very own [calendar] that lists the months and days.

However, to be remotely serious, this is set in midieval times. We tend to flex that rule quite a bit, but please try to stay in line with the era. Objects from the modern age, and most importantly, sayings from the modern age, are at odds with the time and ultimately with your character. "Git-r-done" and "Who's your Daddy", along with "Fo shizzle" and "What you talkin' 'bout Willis" just don't cut it. There are slips, and sometimes the humor of the moment takes precedent, (guilty as charged) but please try to keep it sparing and with a group of people you know well.

That being said, let's talk about time. Some people are sticklers about time being IC, some aren't. I'm not one of them. If I talked to Sidonie last night, I'm not going to type time every five seconds so that I can tell someone else,"I last spoke to Sidonie at 11 o'clock am, Day of the Moon, 21st day of the Month of Winter." Why? See above the point about DR time. It's whack, and we just have to deal with it. Don't take this as the absolute bible here, but if you say, 'last evening', I don't think anyone's going to call you out on it. In fact, most people will be glad to have something accurate. However, if the sun just rose and you're telling people 'Good evening', you're gonna get looked at funny. It's one of those things there's no good answer for, so use YOUR best judgement and not mine.

Mistells and Mischannels are your problem.

Meaning, whatever you say can and will be held against you. Particularly if it was juicy and meant for only one other person in a secretive type way. It's your screw up, not ours, so think on the fly and try to CYA. And if you can't, be prepared to accept the consequences without whining. If you're talking about someone and accidentally send it to them instead of the person you were talking to (guilty twice), it's your loss. Be creative or cut your losses. "Yes I meant you. Got a problem with that?" If you can't deal with it, you shouldn't have been talking about them in the first place.

Be Gracious.

Why? Because we all screw up. It's nature. Be it a typo or just a random moment, accept it and move on. Please don't make a huge deal out of it, because there's not a player here than can say they've never slipped up. It happens. And 9 times out of 10, we already know what you meant, and a good RP'er will always go with the flow instead of asking, 'What do you mean you jilled her and left her body to rot?' If we can't figure it out, trust me, we'll ask. More likely we'll just joke about it (gotta love those Freudian slips) and move on.

The Limitless Potential of 'Motes

The greatest gifts to a serious roleplayer are these three commands. Alot of newer (and not so new) players never use them to their full potential.

EMOTE
What you type:	emote smiles brightly.
What they see:	Arachnya smiles brightly.
This is about as far as most people ever get. Try this out for a little more fun:
What you type:	emote Leaning against the wall, +n looks bored.
What they see:	Leaning against the wall, Arachnya looks bored.
What you type:	emote A bright smile crosses +n's lips.
What they see:	A bright smile crosses Arachnya's lips.
NOTE: You must use +n, not +N. Otherwise everyone will see: Arachnya A bright smile crosses +N's lips.
PMOTE
What you type:	pmote smiles brightly at Verundal.
What Verundal sees:	Arachnya smiles brightly at you.
What everyone else in the room sees:	Arachnya smiles brightly at Verundal.
What you type:	pmote smiles brightly at Verundal, then smacks him and says, {s'Where's your imm profile?'{x
What Verundal sees:	Arachnya smiles brightly at you, then smacks him and says, 'Where's your imm profile?'
In case you didn't just catch it, the person you're using in the pmote would see you, and then him directly after it, which doesn't make alot of sense. A better way of doing that would be:
What you type:	pmote smiles brightly at Verundal, then smacks Verundal and says, {s'Where's your imm profile?'{x
What Verundal sees:	Arachnya smiles brightly at you, then smacks you and says, 'Where's your imm profile?'
What everyone else in the room sees:	Arachnya smiles brightly at Verundal, then smacks Verundal and says, 'Where's your imm profile?'
This can also be used for multiple names.
What you type:	pmote smacks Verundal and Pasha, then says, {s'Where's your imm profile?'{x
What Verundal sees:	Arachnya smacks you and Pasha, then says, 'Where's your imm profile?'
What Pasha sees:	Arachnya smacks Verundal and you, then says, 'Where's your imm profile?'
What everyone else in the room sees:	Arachnya smacks Verundal and Pasha, then says, 'Where's your imm profile?'
You can also use *name's* to show as *your*.
What you type:	pmote inches away from Verundal's icy gaze.
What Verundal sees:	Arachnya inches away from your icy gaze.
What everyone else in the room sees:	Arachnya inches away from Verundal's icy gaze.
What Arachnya sees next:	Verundal slays you in cold blood! You rise up from your body as a ghost.
Names MUST have the first letter of the name capitalized, otherwise people will see their own names and not 'you' or 'your'. Also, +n does NOT work for PMOTE. Using names with PMOTE will just show the person's name, and not 'you' or 'your'.
GMOTE GMOTE works exactly like EMOTE, but will only be seen by people in your group. GMOTE also has the advantage of working when you are not in the same room as the person, which can be creepy and fun. Using names with GMOTE will just show the person's name, and not 'you' or 'your'.

Have some advice? Send an email to imps@darkrisings.net. Not all submissions will be posted. Posting is at the discretion of the IMPS, because some things should just be kept secret!