What Is Roleplay

Welcome to the Roleplaying Guide! If you're new to roleplaying games or confused about how we use a website to roleplay, this guide is for you.

Definition

Roleplay, or roleplaying can have many definitions, though here in Karchan, we say it is "portraying a defined character in a specific setting with the purpose of creating a cohesive story in conjunction with other players and characters".

In short, you are writing from a first-person view as your character with other people doing the same in order to make a story that is fun and interesting to everyone involved.

Karchan is a consent-based RP game. You are here and participating of your own free will, and no one can force you to interact or play something that you don't want to.

This Does Not Mean

You have to like every character you interact with.
You have to like every player you interact with.
You have to join every plot that is proposed to you.
The story is conflict-free.
There is always a happy ending.

This Does Mean

Every interaction is consensual.
Characters die when it fits the story.
You are free to walk away from any RP or plot that crosses a personal boundary or makes you morally uncomfortable.
Everyone is held to the same set and standard of rules.

The Mechanics of RP

But how does RP actually work?

In order to RP you must first build a character concept, and then make a character in the game. Step by step instructions for that can be found in the Newbie Guide.

Once you have your character, it's time to look for people to interact with.

In the Land of Karchan, we use navigable, interlinked rooms as settings. As you go from room to room, the setting will change. At the top of each room is a description of what that room looks, smells, feels, and sounds like. Most of the time the room description will include a picture. Either you or your RP partner will pick a setting that is relevant to the story you want to create.

Once you have your room picked out, it's time to start interacting! We interact with other characters in Karchan by using specific commands in game that allow us to portray our characters as taking a diverse range of actions, including speaking. We call this action "posting", and refer to a single instance as "a post", so a conversation to begin an RP might go as follows:

"Do you want to post first, or should I?"
"Oh, you go first."
"Okay. Posting!"

A post appears in the game when a player types what they want their character to do into the in-game text bar at the bottom of the screen, prefaced by the appropriate command, and presses enter or hits the submit button. You can see an example of the game interface here.

The first post of an RP typically does a bit more scene setting, including things like time of day and weather conditions in addition to whatever the initiating character is doing.

If your partner starts off with the first post of an RP, it is now your turn. You will continue to take turns, back and forth, until you conclude the RP.

Expanded Mechanics

Usually RPs will include more than just two people. Again, it is customary to take turns, though in larger groups we like to establish a Posting Order just to stay organized. Posting order is usually set by what order characters appeared or entered the room that serves as the scene. Typically, someone will confirm the posting order by typing it into the game as an OOC comment. If you are confused or unsure of when you should post, just ask, "Who am I after?"

When in larger groups, you want to make sure that you read each post from each person so that you can include their characters and actions in your post. Though you don't have to acknowledge characters as your character every time, you want to at least include them in your post. As an example, Mary and John are two characters in a large RP. They are rivals, and not on speaking terms. George is a character that John is speaking to when Mary enters.

Mary flounces in. She smooths her fluffy pink skirt with her hands, holding it in place as she takes a seat in an empty chair as near to the door as she can get.

John is sitting with George at a table across the room from the door. John sees Mary enter, his lip curling upward in disdain. He promptly turns his attention back to George and answers, "Yeah. I'll have another ale."

While you should always acknowledge a character, you should never dictate what another character does or what happens to them. When this happens, it is called an auto-hit. Auto-hits are not only rude, but controlling toward your RP partner. The only character you control is your own. This one can be tricky when two characters come into contact, so let's look at some examples:

Bad RP
John grabs Mary by the wrist and drags her into the house, causing her to fall and get scraped up by sticks and pavement.

Good RP
John thrusts his hand at Mary, trying to grab her by the wrist. If he succeeds, he'll begin to drag her toward the house, hoping to end up back inside. He is so intent and unrelenting that, should she fall, he'll keep walking and drag her behind.

Because this game is all about interactive storytelling, we want to make sure that our posts leave a way and a reason for other characters to interact with us.

Sometimes, an RP will move into areas that are unnecessary to act out, against the rules, or just plain boring. In such cases, one of the players may ask to end the RP with a Fade to Black. An FTB implies that the set-up actions and interactions continued off-screen. If your partner requests that you end a scene with a Fade to Black because they are uncomfortable or unwilling to play the actions and scene out, you are obligated to comply. You may not hold someone hostage in a scene, and equally no one may hold you hostage in a scene, that they don't want to play out.

Sometimes there is no opportune or comfortable point to wrap up an RP. Sometimes we only have short amounts of time to play and interact in a day. In these cases, you can suspend your RP with your RP partner and come back to it. You can also choose to end the RP there and start a new one another time.

RP Etiquette

Have a good grasp on what your character is and isn't able to do. People have flaws and limitations. Your character being able to do everything, no matter the opposition or situation, is known as godmoding, and is heavily frowned upon.

Sportsmanship is important. There will be conflict, sometimes even battles or fights, and being willing to take hits and damage is essential to creating a good story and good fun.

You're not that lucky. That is to say, your character isn't. Avoiding every trap, unfortunate situation, or pitfall due to being "lucky" or "luckily missing it" is known as being a Mary Sue. You don't want to be a Mary Sue.

Your character shouldn't know everything. It's okay to be familiar with the world, and have a character that has grown up in it, but there will be secret societies, criminals, even entire races that your character has never seen or interacted with before.

Your character should grow, develop, and change with their interactions and experiences. This means that not only will you gain scars and fears, but that they will learn new skills and discover new talents.

You must keep information that you know about the people and places of Karchan and what your character knows separate. We refer to this as OOC (out of character) and IC (in character) knowledge. You will see the terms IC and OOC a lot.

Realism is paramount. In a world where magic exists and people can shapeshift, realism is imperative. This doesn't mean that we expect your character to have a regular bathroom schedule and for you to act it out, it just means that gravity still exists, physics still apply, and fatigue happens. For instance, a flying character may fall if they get too tired, lose too much blood, or in the case of magic flight, get distracted and lose concentration. In each of these cases, just like in the real world, colliding with the ground hurts.

Winning doesn't exist. RP is not about your character versus the other characters, it's about players working together to create a story. Your character can achieve goals and thwart enemies, but these are examples of the old saying, "winning the battle and not the war".

Your RP partners are just as important as you are. Sometimes plots will revolve around your character. Sometimes your character will get to be the hero (or the villain). Just not all the time.

Real life takes precedence. If you or your RP partner have to leave suddenly, unexpectedly, or on a schedule, it must be accommodated. It is unacceptable to guilt, emotionally manipulate, harass, or berate your partner for leaving. Sometimes emergencies happen, and they (or you) may not even be able to say that they're leaving, they'll just go idle.

Remember that it's just a game. Emotions happen. Creative spaces act as catalysts for emotions. That does not mean you get to take your feelings out on fellow players and Deputies. This is just a game and you are playing just a character. They are mercurial and unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

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Last modified on November 8, 2024, 04:33:17

Land of Karchan