RP TIPS ENJOY

Subject: RP TIPS ENJOY Fri May 09, 2014 1:22 pm

DISCLAIMER: these tips are not mine I got them from a different RP site.
General Posting:

Now, I am not one of those long-post snobs who thinks that the only good post is 4 paragraphs at a minimum, but longer posts do tend to move an RP along much better than shorter ones. Here I'll give you a few tips on how to lengthen out your posts and/or use them to help the flow of the RP.

1. Detail! Oh what you can do with lovely, glorious detail! Not only will your posts look longer, thereby giving the illusion of a better post, but it also helps immerse your RP partners (and yourself) in the world you're all (pretending to) inhabit. When immersion increases, so does enjoyment. Feel free to point stuff out that's happening around you, if you're the one leading the RP, or your character's specific reactions to things that other people have described.

2. Don't just be reactionary! Add something with every post that you make. And if you can't add anything through action, at the very least make a comment with some comedy or weight, depending on the situation. Even if you're not leading a role play, per se, you're still a super important piece in it! Remember that an RP is a team effort, and the story tellers don't want to be the only ones driving the story. They've posed things to see what you guys are gonna do with them and where you're going to go from there. Furthermore, if you only react to what others have done and dont add anything new to the game, other people find themselves with nothing to respond to.

3. Know your Role. Now, this isn't what you're thinking. When I say "Know your Role", I don't mean that you should understand your character. You SHOULD, but that's not what I mean in this tip. In any given RP thread, each person has a particular role to play in the unraveling of the story. Pretty much 9/10 threads will (or should) have either one or two separate roles/

Thread type A: Social mode. Type A threads are fairly simple: No bells or whistles, just two (or three or four) characters, in a predetermined environment, doing their thing. These types of threads usually include little more than talking and walking around, having some basic interactions with the world around them, and generally just being, well, social. Hence the title. In this mode, there is really only one character role: A participant. Since nothing major is happening, everyone can basically handle their own actions, and anything that happens in the world should be minor enough that it won't cause any conflicts anyway.

Thread type B: Story mode. Story mode is just what it sounds like. There is a story to be told in these threads, and they usually include something happening. A challenge to be overcome by the characters within the thread. In some way, they're fighting against something, even if it isn't necessarily in a literal sense. A Story mode thread could be something as simple as an unknown planet in which strange things are happening, leaving a mystery to be solved, to a full out Dalek x Cybermen x Sontaran war, with Earth caught in the crossfire. This type of story calls for 2 types of people. Players and a Storyteller. Now, listen up, because this next part is extremely important.

THERE SHOULD ONLY EVER BE ONE STORYTELLER. In general, this is the person who started the thread, but it's usually pretty easy to know who the storyteller is. The storyteller is the one who controls the world. The Dungeonmaster. This person usually has a character involved in the roleplay as well (In fact, I believe on this site it is necessary to have a character in the thread in order to join the thread). Again, there should be ONLY ONE of these. If you're not the storyteller, you should NOT be controlling the world. And if you ARE the storyteller, it is your JOB to control the world. Having too many Storytellers will lead to confusion and conflicting events. Have none, and you'll just be wandering around not sure what to do.