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Taken from Warrior Island

RP Tips

This is just a little guide to help make RPing a little more fun for everyone involved. These are not strictly "rules," however, your character is more likely to be taken seriously if you follow them. However, if there are too many offenses, and you bother too many people, you may lose your posting access in the RP forum over time, as continuously bothering people when you KNOW you are doing so IS against the rules.

Part one: Stereotypes

Here are some of the stereotypes to avoid. Pay attention to the obnoxiousness ranking. Lower is more tolerable, higher tends to make people want to punch babies, so whatever you do, don't do it.

The 4Kids Team Rocket Wannabe
Obnoxiousness rating: 4.7
Perfectly fine if there is a very GOOD explanation behind it (and at least one GOOD weakness), but otherwise...not. This one is immortal, despite being a mere human. S/he can be shot full of holes until s/he resembles Swiss cheese (and like Swiss chees, s/he doesn't bleed!), electrocuted, dropped from the roof of a 20-story building, thrown off a cliff onto a bed of extremely sharp rocks, eaten by a shark, and when s/he miraculously gets out of all THAT, will get impaled through the heart, and end up fine within 30 minutes. In a fight, even the strongest blow won't slow him or her down for half a second. A critical component of the demigod.

And for my next trick, I'll spawn the boss monster of your favorite game!
Obnoxiousness rating: 3.8-4.7
This is a person who can spawn ANYTHING from ANYWHERE whenever it's convenient. Maybe he or she has magical pants. Who knows, really? All we know is that if it's needed, he or she can spawn it from NOWHERE. The only cure for his friend's ailment is a drop of water from an ice shelf in Antarctica? Yeah, he's got that in his left front pocket. He always carries it around for some reason.
This CAN be tolerable to an extent if the character is mainly a "pack mule" for the other characters, and has his or her own weaknesses, but remember, even Magical Pants Man doesn't have the memory of an elephant.

The (ANYTHING!) Summoner
Obnoxiousness rating: 3.8
Closely related to Magical Pants Man, this one is incapable of losing ANYTHING. Oh, that's no sword, that's an enchanted boomerang! Even if it falls into the fiery pits of Hell, it will return to me unharmed in the next scene.

The Demigod
Obnoxiousness rating: 1.3-5.0
Also a critical component of the awful twins, Mary and Gary. Now, in Fantasyland, there are some extremely powerful people out there. What determines how annoying they are all depends on whether or not they ABUSE their power. Now, if someone goes "Oh noes! It's a bug!" *drops 16,461 flaming meteors on it* or "I'll get us out of here!" *punches wall and somehow creates an instant path to the outside world, despite being 948 feet underground* How is anyone ELSE gonna have fun, huh?
So, how do you spot a demigod? They're the ones with the powers of every fictional character and fantasy creature they know. Generally none of their weaknesses, or if they DO have a weakness, it's one of the most trivial ones.

The Drama Llama
Obnoxiousness rating: 3.0-5.0
This person is ALWAYS going out and getting hurt. He or she wants the RP to revolve around him or her, and what better way to make that happen than to get injured so badly that it ties everyone up, EVERY CHANCE YOU GET? If there's no way for that to happen, then this person will just get hurt out of thin air. Someone probably planted a bomb in their body while they were asleep.

The Evil Shoe Elf
Obnoxiousness rating: 4.4-5.0
Remember the shoe elves, who made all those shoes for the sick shoemaker when he went to sleep? Well, these guys are their evil twins. They wait for you to go to sleep, then go and do with your character whatever they please, because "you wouldn't want him just standing around, right?" Closely related to god-modders, sometimes ARE that severe, but only when you're AFK. If you know you're with one, don't be surprised to come home from school and find your character tied to a stake and being pelted with rotten vegetables.

The God-Modder
Obnoxiousness rating: 5.0
The God-Modder is very definitely the most IRRITATING person you will come across. He/she will take your character and do with him/her as he/she pleases. The fact that your character is, you know, YOURS? Pfft, who cares? Example:
Player 1: I walked into the room and took a deep breath. This was the place...the place where I had almost died before. I was finally ready to face it again, and this time, I WOULDN'T run away. It was do or die this time, and dying wasn't an option. My training was going to pay off.
I R GOD LOLZ: I appeared in front of Player 1 and punched him in the face. he fell to the floor and spat out a mouthful of blood. I pulled a knife out of my back pocket and began stabbing him repeatedly. After a few dozen hits, he begged me to stop, but I refused. Finally, he forced himself up and ran out of the room crying and collapsed on the floor outside, bleeding profusely and close to death.

The Hijacker
Obnoxiousness rating: 3.4-4.9
This is someone who will try to change the direction of the entire RP. Not always too terrible, as sometimes the changes can be expected with the way things are going, but it can get to be incredibly painful to a thread creator, especially when an important plot event is coming. Example:
Player 1: The bell rang, signaling the start of the day's first classes. [Character name] arrived into his first class, gasping for breath as always. He was a horrible procrastinator.
Player 2: Suddenly, the entire school shook as a massive bomb was dropped on the building. "Everyone run, we're all gonna die!"
Note: While in most RPs, here, everyone is allowed to join in with minor events, major events should ALWAYS be left to the thread creator or those given permission.

I AM Fear!
Obnoxiousness rating: 4.5
A critical component of a Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu, this person is fearless. He or she could be faced with 10,000 undead dragons, 552 snipers all aiming at his or her head, and 6 flaming meteors all about to crash right where he/she is standing, and s/he'd probably just yawn, if anything. When asked what s/he is afraid of, the general response is "I do not fear, I AM fear." Probably because he or she is secretly (or not so secretly) a demigod in disguise.

I ODed on Charisma Pills!
Obnoxiousness rating: 3.3-4.6
Huh, what stranger? Oh, him? Yeah, he's been my best friend for thirty seconds! This one will make friends with EVERYONE and ANYONE at first sight. And of course, as soon as they're friends, this one will do ANYTHING to save his/her new friend. No, losing your left eye, left toe, spleen, and right kidney, the necklace that has been passed through your family for 1000 years, the magical artifact you just worked for 4 years to obtain, and your father's favorite watch, for someone you hardly know isn't the LEAST bit creepy, right?

The Kei Wannabe
Obnoxiousness rating: 3.4-4.9
Who knows that scene from Moon Child, where Kei is shot at multiple times, yet he dodges every single shot? Well, that's what EVERY scene fight scene is for the wannabe. Now, agility is one thing...but somehow dodging every bullet fired at you by 59 snipers, diving out of the way of an oncoming train, AND avoiding an old lady trying to beat you up with her purse all within 10 seconds, while somehow chained to a wall, is completely another.

Lady Luck, or the Lucky Irishman
Obnoxiousness rating: 1.2-4.6
This will OCCASIONALLY happen by sheer coincidence. Usually, however, this is related to Miss Cleo, in the fact that out-of-character knowledge is abused. This could be anything from someone using notes about the setting to "accidentally-on-purpose" hit a switch that will save them, piecing together hints about the surroundings from past posts and using them to create a happy little accident, just happening to fall down a chute in a dire situation, and so on and so forth. How can you tell if it was a coincidence? The reaction to the action is not posted. Not horribly annoying unless it's repeated every time a bad situation is encountered; everyone needs to be lucky once in a while, but PLEASE, avoid making people wonder if your character is carrying a 4444-leaf clover in his or her pocket at all times.

The Lemming
Obnoxiousness rating: 4.0-5.0
Lemmings in real life are a strange creature, with an odd group mentality. Every so often, they will go and commit mass suicide, all of them following one leader, probably having no idea where they're going. Lemmings in RP are people who will latch onto a character they find interesting and do EVERYTHING they do. Their "leader" went into an old abandoned building? They go into the old abandoned building. The person they're following said "Don't follow me?" They follow anyway and say "Don't follow me." The character they're following loses their left eye, left foot, gets a faceful of scars, and ends up with a hole in their jacket after being narrowly missed by a bullet? The same thing happens to the lemming, with the scars and hole in exactly the same places. Who cares that the odds of that happening to are lower than the odds of being attacked by a shark and struck by lightning in the same day?

The Living Time Machine
Obnoxiousness rating - 4.3
Tolerable to an extent in an RP where the time period is unknown, where there is a very large gap in available technology in an area, or where alternate dimensions (or ACTUAL time travel) are involved. This is essentially a person who will put a Gundam pilot in a medieval RP, or try to bring down a starship with a wood and stone spear. Example:
Player 1: The year was 1624. [Character name] woke up and looked out the window, noticing that the sun was much higher than it usually was when she woke up. "Oh no! I must have overslept!" she cried as she ran outside. She grabbed the handle of her wooden cart and began pushing it down toward the market as fast as she could wthout losing her merchandise.
Player 2: FutureMan ran down the lane, when he spotted a girl pushing a cart at insane speeds. He pulled out his ray gun and disintegrated the cart. "Watch where you're going, you freak!" he shouted.

Mary-Sue, and her twin brother Gary-Stu
Obnoxiousness rating: 4.8-5.0
A character with NO flaws, and NO weaknesses. Usually also a god-modder and a drama llama, the Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu is, essentially, the spoiled little princess of the RP world. Yet, despite the fact that no one can stand to be around this kind of person in real life, everyone is somehow IN LOVE with Mary or Gary. They were probably god-modded into it. Usually has a name that is IMPOSSIBLE to remember, and is somehow rich and poor at the same time. Oddly enough, despite the fact that Mary-Sue is portrayed as a beautiful, delicate little flower, she has all the power she needs to crush a god's skull.

Miss Cleo
Obnoxiousness rating - 4.1
This is someone who uses out-of-character knowledge in-character, to give themselves an edge, and the reason some people will refuse to give too much information on a plot in their first post. Example:
Player 1: Character1 placed a poster over the safe, carefully positioning it before letting the woman into the room. He could not afford to have this item stolen.
Player 2: Miss Cleo spotted a poster hanging on the wall, and immediately went over to examine it. "Oh my, this is an interesting poster," she said, before tearing it down violently to reveal the safe. "Don't forget to call my psychic helpline! Free for the first three minutes!"

Out of ammo? What's that?
Obnoxiousness rating: 4.3
Wherever you are, whatever the situation, this one ALWAYS has a weapon on them. He or she could have been knocked out and strip-searched, but somehow, there's always something that was oh-so-conveniently missed. So, that girl is down to her underwear, and has fired all her bullets already? Look out, she's got another dozen cartridges hidden in her bra!

The Wannabe Cop:
Obnoxiousness rating: 3.6
This is the person who will accuse YOU of doing one of the things listed in here, when the only person who has made one of these moves was him or her. Example:
Player 1: My character is a vampire. However, he does not drink from anyone who has not harmed him or someone he knows. As with most vampires, he is violently allergic to sunlight; his skin will begin to burn off immediately if he is touched by UV rays. However, if he has drank from a victim recently, he has an amazing ability to regenerate. If he has taken a victim in the past 24 hours, he can usually recover from a bullet through the chest within 20 seconds. Unless he has gone for nearly two months without blood, he cannot be killed by bullets, stabbing, or any other such violent methods apart from beheading. At one month of "starvation," he might be killed by some poisons.
Player 2: My character is a 7-year old boy. Despite being a normal 7-year old, he is among the world's best vampire hunters. He carries a massive sword, sharp enough to cut off a victim's head from 10 feet away.
Player 1: Can he really be an "ordinary 7-year old" and one of the world's best vampire hunters at the same time? And how is a 7-year old supposed to carry a blade so big? That's gotta be over twice his size!
Player 2: STFU YOU STUPID GARY-STU! You're a fine one to talk, with your "amazing ability to regenerate!" *kills*

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Part two: RP Styles

There are good and bad RP styles, I'm going to show you a few different kinds.

#1 - Eliza dashes down the hall. "Man, they caught me!" She turns and runs toward the front door but is grabbed by a shadowy figure.

Now, this is what we call 'Present Tense RP' this is not /frowned/ upon persay, but some other RPers may find it horribly annoying. If you already do this, don't worry about it. If you don't, I wouldn't get into the habit.

#2 - Eliza dashed down the hall. "Man, they caught me!" She turned and ran toward the front door but was grabbed by a shadowy figure.

This one here is classic RP, the one you'll see around the most. Its done in Past Tense and third person. This is my recommendation for useage.

#3 - I dashed down the hall. "Man, they caught me!" I turned and ran toward the front door but I was grabbed by a shadowy figure.

You see first person past tense a lot too, I'm not against this either if you only have one character.

#4 - *dashes down hall* "Man, they caught me!" *turns and runs toward front door* *is grabbed by a shadowy figure*

I hate this form of RP. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. This has to be the worse way to RP. If you do this? Shape up your skills.

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Broken one of these in the past? Use a bad form of RPing? Don't worry! It's all part of a learning process.

For now, that's all...but keep checking to see if more tips have been posted. It may seem like a lot, but if you follow these tips, you will find that it makes things a lot more fun for everyone involved.

Have any tips you'd like to share? Feel free to post them.

To add to Treestar's comments about the Styles, if you have more than one cat/ like typing in those big walls of text we all love, here are some pointers:

Some other tips!

1) For more than one character, you can colour your posts like so. This makes the characters more easily distinguished.

2) For those people who just love to combine thoughts and dialog, you can use italics for thought and bold for speech. This gives people less of a headache when they read, allowing them to respond quicker to the response and not have to scan repeatedly to figure things out.

3) Use paragraphs for really long posts! This will help us out when searching for what you character did! In other words, be as literate you can be during the roleplay!

4) If you don't want to colour your posts, you can also colour the dialog. This means using colour for only when your character speaks, but not when he/ she thinks.

These four tips combined would bring something like this, the information for each one after and before the coloured text.:

A young woman walked out of her home in a village not too far from the main city, Eversun City, in the Mirror World. This village is known as Darkdale, home to few people who cannot conqueror the dangerous plains of Copperhorn Mountain and Placid Plain.
This girl was floating a couple inches off of the dirt earth, typical of her race. This race is known as Sylph, a mystical race that can use their telepathic powers to float in the air, and allow their weapons to float alongside. Her brown hair was brought back into a ponytail, revealing her violet eyes that scanned the ground for dangers. There were two pets with her. To her left was a red cat, flying in the air named Hobbes as to her right was a pale blue serpent named Hiedekio-kun. They to, were as alert as their master.
This girl, satisfied, began to go forward, both Hobbed and Hiedekio-kun following her. Her name? Summerstream.

This is an example of an intro post from myself. With the bolding/ italics added in, it would look like this:

Summerstream raised her eyebrows. "Your kidding..." she commented, astonished. "But how?" This puzzled her, what this male was saying. Thinking for a moment, she sat down in the air to think easier.
So...He was attacked in the Mortuary by a man named Uchila, who was being puppeted by a girl. This girl must of been the same one from earlier! It must be! her mind screamed, realization showing inside of herself and blocking out the puzzlement.
"Nothgiel...You mean that you were injured further than just the surface of your body...That half of your soul was taken away...Robbed of half on your humanity by that girl?" Summerstream rubbed her head as she spoke. "This is so confusing..."

That would be a traditional post from me. This is an imaginary scene from a Dream of Mirror Online roleplay I'm active in, a story was just told by another character with Summerstream, my character reflecting on it.

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All this aside, you do not have to post like this, only use these tips to assist your roleplaying and help others to understand it. Please remember, there is a span of ages participating in this roleplay.

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