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Post by Scribble on Nov 16, 2014 19:07:29 GMT
How to Role-Play
This guide is to help new members, for those who have RPed before will already be prepared to tackle role-playing for themselves. So for this guide we will just be going over the basics of role-playing and a few of the rules that Night Hawk's members must go by to RP.
How Role-Playing Works
A simple way to think of role-playing is like a story, but you only write one piece of the story. You leave off bits with your character and then someone else will respond, adding more onto the story. When you are speaking use quotations (") around the part your character is speaking. When you are doing actions, you can simply describe them, but with no quotations or stars.
Example:
Susie walked to the park after school. On the way to the park she saw a bird and said, "Hello Mr. Bird." Then continued walking.
Thoughts can also be included in posts and you can also state a reason. Like why did Susie go to the park? What kind of bird was it? That would be something you can add to the post to lengthen it if you need.
Example:
Susie walked to the park after school because she wanted piece and quiet to do her homework. She though, oh I hope I can find a nice quiet place in the park. On the way to the park she saw a beautiful robin that was singing a wonderful song and said, "Hello Mr. Bird." Then she continued walking.
Well, I guess that wouldn't quite obey the word count here on Night Hawk. So why not describe was Susie was wearing? Or what the bird looks like? Or what was the day like?
Example:
It was a beautiful and sunny day in Talinor. Susie, a young lady with long blonde hair and blue eyes, decided to walk to the park after school because she wanted some piece and quiet to do her homework. She wore a dull blue dress and pretty ribbons that tied her long hair in two pigtails. She then thought, oh I hope I find a quiet place in this beautiful park. On her way to the park she saw a beautiful robin, this robin had a bright red belly. Susie smiled and said, "Hello Mr. Bird." She then continued on her walk to find the perfect place to do her homework. The park had lively grass and many shades of green. It was simply beautiful.
Now that would do. Of course, there are other things you could describe, but I think it's best that you find your own style of role-playing and not let this guide make you a robot, but until then, I recommend following this guide.
Power-Playing & God-Modding
This is a matter that is explained in the FAQ, but might as well explain it here too. So lets start with power-playing shall we? Power-playing is when you control someone's character without their permission. The robin Susie ran into wasn't a character someone had made, so it didn't count. The best way to avoid power-playing is just to describe what your character does, but that doesn't mean let your fellow role-player be ignored. The best thing to do is read their description of what their character was doing and add that to your post.
Example:
Post 1 -
Susie was happily enjoying the park, she felt as though she had not a care in the world. Her long blonde hair avoided her face because she had it up in pigtails. The brown bench, of which she sat on, had chipped paint, but it was a quiet location, so Susie didn't mind the possibility of getting chipped paint on her dress. She lower her backpack and took out a red text-book that her teacher had given her. It was just basic math and she knew she could get it done within moments as long as she didn't get distracted. So she settled down on the bench and began to get to work.
Post 2 -
Billy was also in the park that day. He had decided he needed some fresh air before he headed home. His brown hair almost covered his green eyes, suggesting that soon he needed a haircut. As he walked he noticed a girl sitting on an old bench. Her hair was blonde and she had a book in her hands, a school book to be precise. Billy decided to approach her and have a nice afternoon chat. "Hello, I am sorry to disturb you, but I was wondering what class you are in? With this wall, we ought to be going to school here," Billy asked.
As you can see, Billy used features described by Susie, which means this isn't a power-play. Now lets show you a quick example of what a power-play is.
Example:
Post 1 -
Susie was happily enjoying the park, she felt as though she had not a care in the world. Her long blonde hair avoided her face because she had it up in pigtails. The brown bench, of which she sat on, had chipped paint, but it was a quiet location, so Susie didn't mind the possibility of getting chipped paint on her dress. She lower her backpack and took out a red text-book that her teacher had given her. It was just basic math and she knew she could get it done within moments as long as she didn't get distracted. So she settled down on the bench and began to get to work.
Post 2 -
Billy was also in the park that day. He had decided he needed some fresh air before he headed home. His brown hair almost covered his green eyes, suggesting that soon he needed a haircut. As he walked he noticed a girl sitting on an old bench. Her hair was blonde and she had a book in her hands, a school book to be precise. Billy noticed that the girl was coughing, making him think she was sick. He didn't like to be around sick people, but Billy decided to approach her and have a nice afternoon chat. "Hello, I am sorry to disturb you, but I was wondering what class you are in? With this wall, we ought to be going to school here," Billy asked.
Now if you recognized where the power-play was located, well you did a good job, but if not let me point it out for you. When Billy said that Susie was coughing, that was a power-play, Susie never said she was coughing or even that she was sick. So there is a good example of power-playing.
So, we have to go over what god-modding is now. God-modding is when your character is all powerful and doesn't seem to take damage, gets sick or anything that seems godly. (Yes, I am aware powers are allowed, but this is just a simple How to Role-Play guide, not a How to Play on Night Hawk guide.) So now remember, no powers are in this example, Susie and Billy are normal people. To make this simple, lets just continue from where we left off.
Example:
Post 1 -
Susie lifted her head and saw the boy who had approached her. Unfortunately he wanted to talk, and Susie was too kind to reject this kind gesture. Susie thought, I wish he didn't want to talk, I need to finish my homework! However, Susie was smiling and she sat up on the bench and looked at the boy. His hair was long and he looked as though he needed a haircut. "Hello, oh your not bothering me one bit!" Susie lied. She was happy she didn't know this boy, or else he might have seen straight through her lie. Susie shifted over a little to leave room for the boy to sit down beside her. "Here, have a seat," she offered kindly.
Post 2 -
Billy looked at the girl and felt bad since she had to finish her homework. He hadn't meant to disturb her! He craved to talk since at the moment he was like a social butterfly, but he knew he had to reject sitting down beside. Then she lied and said it was fine, that was what made Billy feel even worst. "No it's fine, you have to finish your homework, and yes, I know I need a haircut," With that Billy left the girl to do her homework. Besides, he could do more useful things, like get a nice haircut so next time they met, she wouldn't think that.
Now try to point out the mistake this time, and remember there are no powers. If you knew the mistake was that Billy knew what Susie was thinking, then your correct. Billy can't read minds, so he wouldn't have known that Susie wanted to finish her homework. God-modding can also occur in fighting, but lets leave the violence out of this guide and I will just explain this myself. Basically if you are god-modding in fighting it means you aren't getting hit or taking damage as suggested before. Just keep in mind that if your character gets into a fight with another, keep it even.
Night Hawk's Regulation
As the last part of this guide, we will go over the regulations for role-playing that you must use on Night Hawk. Earlier I had mention that there is a word count on the site. This just means you have to reach a certain amount of words, but no worries, our standards are not high. We just ask that you post 50 words per role-playing post (If your in the OOC section you don't have to follow the word count). In the bottom right corner of a posting you may see a small box that says words below. The more words you type, the higher the number will go. So just reach 50 there and your good to post that post. All posts must be in third-person, except for thoughts and speech of course. All RP posts must have proper grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. That is all you need to know, now have fun and obey Night Hawk's regulation.
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