The Fearghal Guide to Roleplaying in an MMO

repost from EU boards
thread by OculusTertius

=========================

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ The Fearghal Guide to Roleplaying ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Introduction

Hello all you great people of Aquilonia!

Disclaimer: Let me say this before anything else. I am not one to tell others how to play. If you ask I will give my opinion of course. But at the end of the day, -you- are paying for the subscription, not me. So you can play whichever way you want as long as you follow Funcom's rules. However, if you disrespect the most basic rules of rp, don't expect the roleplayers to welcome you into their world.

Contents
Introduction - Disclaimer, and the reasons why this guide was written.
Lets Have Fun! - An introduction to some of the most basic concepts in roleplaying. Written by Oculus
IC and OOC - and indepth look at these two terms and why they are both so important. Written by Oculus
Etiquette and Good Manners among Roleplayers - A guide on how to avoid those embaressing, awkward moments. Written by Oculus
RP and PvP - Role-Playing in a Player versus Player Environment Written by Caspian
RP and Inspiration - a discourse on ways to draw inspiration from every thing. Written by Sarai
Glossary - A short description of often used terms in roleplaying or this guide. Compiled by Oculus
Links - Links to useful roleplaying threads
Emoting - Some useful tips on how to express yourself through emotes Written by Akselvee

Why this guide?
Several people have requested me to do this, so I've finally decided to put in time and energy to make a guide to roleplaying on a PvP-RP server. I think there have been a lot of good discussions on these boards and many good points have been made - as well as a few poor ones. I believe this guide may help those who are still learning what roleplaying is all about in this kind of setting. I have no illusions of making the ultimate guide to rp that leaves no question unanswered. I only feel a responsibility to maybe help better the community.
This is in no way an attempt to pull down a set of rules on other people. I'm personally not pro regulating our way out of anti-rp behaviour. First of all I think it's impossible, second of all roleplaying is about letting your imagination take over and forget about rules. But if we all play with no respect to other people's immersion then we get one big mess. The following is more an attempt to outline the way many of us "heavy-rp'ers" (man I hate that term) conduct our rp, so everyone has fun.

My vision is to make this both accessible and understandable for new-comers in the RP world, as well as delving into more in-depth discourse for veteran roleplayers.

My background
First I'd like to mention my background for making this.
I've been a roleplayer since the early 1990'ies, mostly as game master. I've played and organized anything from basic pen and paper D&D, AD&D, Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling, Starwars, Call of Chuthulu etc etc. To systemless horror and intrigue events with more than a hundred players.


Let's have fun!
- An introduction to some of the most basic concepts in roleplaying.

Respect thy fellow RP'er
My number one rule has always been: it's about having fun! That's why it bears repeating in massive maroon letters. As game master (GM) I had a big responsibility for this. Say, the GM kills off all the players within the first few minutes of playing together, you can be pretty sure they won't come back. Most roleplayers put a lot of time and effort into creating a character, so always keep that in mind: we are here to have fun - all of us!

Immersion
Creating a character is more than getting out of Tortage and reaching lvl 80. In fact it's anything but! And what the heck does the man mean now? Well, this is where the important concept of immersion comes into play. Immersion is the concept of embracing the world of AoC and making it feel as real and believable as possible. Someone might say. Well, Oculus, there are dragons, magic and demons in this world, how the heck is that believable? Point taken, but let's for a minute assume that this is the case.
Right then, we live in a world that's magical - does this mean anything goes? The short answer is: no. I'll try to give a more detailed answer, in the following. First of all there is a lot your character will do in the game that would be absolutely absurd to accept as reality. A good example is that all players are virtually immortals. You die and you magically come alive on a shiny blue square rock. For this to be true for a handful of players may be acceptable, but for all players to have the EXACT same background story i.e. being a slave of Acheron that nearly drowns and is saved by Kalanthes etc etc is absurd.

The power of OOC
So we have established now that your character will do things in the game that we simply have to ignore from a roleplaying point of view, as it would make no sense at all. This is where the concept of Out of Character (OOC) is a vital tool. Basically you assume this did not happen to your character - he or she was OOC so to speak.
The same goes for anything you say that is not your character talking or emoting (doing something).

Quote:
Some good rules of thumb
anything in /say and /shout channels is in character (IC). Everything else is OOC.
put double brackets around anything you want to say OOC in the normal IC channels. For example: ((Be right back my phone is ringing)).
put an asteric around emotes. For example: *Oculus waves to you*
if you use /t in character (ICly) to for example whisper to someone, then it's a good idea to emote that you are whispering: *Oculus whispers something to you* and then the /t.
Dont use smileys or abbreviations like "HI2U LOL O_o"
If someone emotes along the lines of *examines/looks at/studies your hand/face/ring* then it's an invitation for you to describe the object of attention. This can be via a tell or through an emote in say.
You will find that most roleplayers will completely ignore the generic storyline we all have to go through, as well as raiding, etc. Instead we replace it with our own history for our character.


Your character's history
This is one of the most important things when playing your character. As we all know, people are who they are due to their history. Plain and simple. So if you don't make a background story to your character, you won't really know how they are going to act or why. Most rp'ers will start off with a basic concept and let it evolve as they play and add more to the background story as time goes by. Once you have a pretty good idea of the how's and when's of your character you can go into things like personality, social skills, etc etc.


We are all each other's Game Master
This may be a bit controversial for some, but I believe this to be very true. There is not one single Game Master (in the original sense) to guide us through the stories. To rely solely on game mechanics to fill out the role of the GM would be a very poor solution. We've already established that if that were the case, we would all have virtually the exact same background.

Instead we are a big mass of players who need to actually be each other's GM's when we start roleplaying. Some will fill out the role more than others, but for interesting and immersive rp we need to put ourselves in the role of the GM. And why is that? Well if we didn't then our roleplay would succumb to only dialogue and we would have to rely solely on game mechanics to decide the outcome of interaction with others and the world.

Say, I'm roleplaying a drunken barbarian in a tavern and I decide he is in the mood for tossing a potato out from the balcony he is sitting on. I am actually forcing this event into all the other present characters' world. How they react to it is solely up to them. Some may find it too silly and ignore it altogether. While others may find it a good opportunity for some good rp and play along, perhaps throwing it back up. This time a third person whose character is also on the balcony decides the potato hits her wine bottle, spilling wine all over. And so on and so forth.
Point being: this potato was initially just tossed over the balcony. The second player decides to "bend" the direction so it hits him. And lastly the third player makes the potato hit her wine. In a normal rp setup with a few players and gamemaster it would have been up to the GM to decide who the potato would hit.

The golden rule of "give some, take some"
There have been some heated discussions about certain players feeling that other players are "bending the direction of the potato" too much so to speak, or power-roleplaying/emoting as it's commonly termed.
I'm not going to take sides in the discussion, but the reason I bring this up is because this really IS a delicate matter. Many players rely on emoting in a fasion so that it leaves an option for involved players to avoid it (e.g. *Oculus reaches for your hand* instead of *oculus grabs your hand*). But having to do that every time you involve someone else in your emotes is absurd in some situations - for example if you want to punch a tied up prisoner.
In general you should apply the "open-ended" kind of emotes with people you haven't rp'd much with before. While rp'ing with people you know and are comfortable with might only need few of these kinds of emotes.
This brings me to the golden rule of "give some, take some". We could all roleplay strictly in a way that has no effect on others except by dialogue and thus prevent people from power-roleplaying. But that would quickly make roleplaying very dull. That's why many of us embrace this rule. Basically you have a consensus that in some situations it's allowed to power-roleplay as long as it goes both ways.

At the end of the day, when in doubt - use your common sense, and try not to behave in a way that would be absurd or immersion-breaking for others.

That's all for now - more to come.

Oculus

PS: This is just a potato tossed in the air. Feel free to do what you want.

EDIT: A special thanks goes to all the fantastic rp'ers out there for discussing these things with me - especially Nashara and Meos. This is all basically putting into writing what we have talked about.


~



IC and OOC
- and indepth look at these two terms and why they are both so important.

Ever stumbled into someone in-game who told you they were OOC or IC'ly not there and wondered what the heck that is all about? Ever had someone tell you something in tells and afterwards saying they don't know it IC'ly? Someone ever accused you of mixing OOC and IC, and you just went ?_____?
Despair no more! In the following section I will try my best to explain what these terms encompass and why they are so important for roleplaying on a pvp-rp server.

In Character (IC)
Being in character is what roleplaying is all about. Basically it means that your character is physcially present the place your avatar (the graphical image of your character) is. What do you mean now Oculus, isn't that so always? Short answer is, "no". I will explain further down why, but let's talk more about this IC term first.

IC is not just about where you character is physically, it also means what part of the environment and interaction your avatar takes part of you accept as part of your character's reality. As a rule of thumb you decide what is IC for your own character, and no one else.

IC also covers information. To be loyal to the basic concepts of roleplaying your character usually only knows what he/she has learned while being IC.


Out of Character (OOC)
Out of Character basically means everything that is not part of your character's reality. That could mean being decapicitated while duelling with a friend, all the mini pvp games, your horse magically appearing when calling for it, the guy saying "hi2u rp nub L2P" after he ganked you, killing Vistrix for the 27th time, what goes on in Global and Guild chat, etc etc.
In short, there's a whole lot of stuff going on OOC'ly all the time that your character is totally oblivious to. As has been mentioned in the above post, taking all these things as IC would be absurd, to say the least.

Keeping the two seperated
When acting IC'ly you always have to filter out everything you know OOC'ly. In short, there is no clear way to say this or that is IC or OOC. Some guilds play with their guild chat as IC, even though most consider it an OOC channel. It all comes down to that vital tool of common sense.
If it wouldn't make sense for your character to be in a situation that he/she is in, then you can decide it is OOC. In the above example with the barbarian tossing potatoes, you might decide it's just all too silly and ignore it as OOC for your character.

Making storylinesNEW
At times you will wish to add twists and turns to your character's life that you may not have the time to roleplay IC'ly. You might also want to draw others into a common storyline. A good idea is to contact these persons OOC'ly and discuss a foundation of ideas to base the rp on. Start by trying with people you are comfortable with e.g. some guildies. That way you get the feel of it and can work your way up to spiralling bigger storylines and perhaps combine events that are free for all.
There are as many different styles of rp'ing as there are rp'ers, roughly put. Keep that in mind. So sometimes it may take some time to find a good balance.

If all fails, or someone's play style is not applicable to your own, don't get angry or personal. Remember we are here to have fun. If you aren't having fun rp'ing with someone, then don't. Simple as that.
That said, I think it's important we let spontaneous and wholly unplanned rp take over some times. This is my personal preference, however.

Again, key thing here is that it's up to you to decide what is IC and OOC as long as you use your common sense. If you don't, other roleplayers might not want to let you take part of their characters' reality.

(IC and OOC - and indepth look at these two terms and why they are both so important continued...)

Multiple Realities - what has Oculus been smoking?
The tricky part, as some of you have probably already spotted is that there is not some place we can check what is OOC or IC. One player may decide that his character is a powerful demon and start shouting out his fury in the Market District of Old Tarantia and totally ignore anyone approaching him, as they are mere insects to him. At the same time players whose characters are there watching it may decide to IC'ly decide he is just a lunatic with no real powers.
If that were the case we basically have two seperate realities going on, both equally valid, but seperate from each other. In an ideal setting we would all have the same IC reality, but with thousands of different players with different ideas, there is bound to be differences that just can't be mixed.
For instance all those who do not roleplay, who use the IC channels for OOC talk. As a roleplayer you simply have to ignore that as OOC or better yet IC'ly as a foreigner you do not understand perhaps.


Turning annoying OOC into fun IC
This brings me to my last section of this chapter. I've seen a lot of people who decide it's a better solution to get angry and point fingers at people they think are roleplaying in a way they believe is wrong or immersion-breaking.
I personally think this is the wrong way to go. I'll give an example: Let's say your roleplaying guild has a problem with another guild who roleplay in a way that is immersion breaking for your guild. One way to deal with this could be to just consider it all OOC and not part of your whole guild's reality.
Or, and this is what I think is the best solution: if approaching them OOC'ly and trying to solve it in a mature fashion doesn't help, then come up with a good IC reason for them to behave in that manner. Are they role-playing they are more powerful than you think is realistic, well then view them as megalomaniacs. Are they just acting in a weird way? Treat them like they are village idiots IC'ly.
My point is: please consider the fact that you can usually turn something you inititally get annoyed or angry at into something fun without forcing your play style unto others.


~


Etiquette and Good Manners among Roleplayers
A guide on how to avoid those embaressing, awkward moments.

Did a roleplayer ever get mad at you just for saying his name? How about that time an rp brawl turned into a big mess because you spammed your guild chat to have all your friends come gank those pesky rp'ers? Did you stumble upon a naked couple in the wild that were making passionate love, and you were half disgusted and half oddly ingtrigued. Despair no more, here is your guide on those unwritten rules some of us roleplayers take for granted, but often fail to share with the rest of the world.

Hello Kitty – what's your name?
Let's start off with one of the more simple things, names. One should think such a trivial thing shouldn't be cause to any worries among the roleplayers. Well, it might be the first step you unknowingly made towards disrespecting your fellow roleplayer's immersion.

Say, you approach someone your character sees for the first time and go ”Hi -name- how is -guildname-?”. Then you probably haven't read the chapter on IC and OOC. Remember that just because there's a huge sign above all the characters telling you their name and guild, your character doesn't know it. With so many characters and strange names, you are bound to forget who you have met or not. If I'm not sure I usually just say something along the lines of ”I don't believe I ever got your name, friend.”.

You looking at something, punk? Hold on, I just need to sms my mates
Say, my ”friend” in the above example plays a proud Chieftain who sees it as an insult I didn't remember his name. Tempers rise and push comes to shove, a fight is appearently inevitable. The tavern is empty save two other men who step in to aide each of the angered men, seemingly a fair pvp-rp fight is about to take place.
But, behold, suddenly the tavern fills with the chieftain's guild members – characters that magically know that this fight is about to happen – our friend, the chieftain, had been using an OOC channel (guild chat) to send an IC message.
This will be frowned upon by the majority of roleplayers, as a mixup of OOC and IC like that is in the same ballpark as power-emoting. The chieftain is in fact forcing a major disadvantage on to the other player. Most roleplayers would probably play along in spite of this, but consider it poor sportsmanship and, well, just plain bad RP manners.

((brb dinner ))
There will be times you are engaged in immersive rp, but you simply have to leave the keyboard. In those cases it's highly encouraged to leave a message in the say channel, letting those around you know. Remember to put brackets or double brackets around the afk message, so they know it's OOC.

It has happened that AoC decides to crash on you in the middle of some exciting immersive rp. In such a case just make a similar message in say explaining that you are back after a game crash. In most cases one of the other players will send you a /t with a brief summary of what happened or simply copy paste it. If not, just ask.

If you are planning to be afk for longer than a short while it's usually a good idea to simply make a IC reason to leave the rp session first, instead of standing there like a statue.

”Hey, just give me a sex.”
You are bound to make typos or other typing mistakes when engaged in immersive rp. In most cases people will know what you mean, and making a bracket OOC message fixing the typo will often break immersion more than help anything. In cases where you've completely screwed a sentence beyond any interpretation that makes sense, it's a good idea to follow-up with a bracket OOC message clearing it up.
Generally, it's considered immersion-breaking to call out other people's typos in say, and, well, bad manners. If there's a hillarious typo send it in a bracket OOC message in /t or post it in guild chat. That way you can have your cake and eat is as well.

”OMFG eww, they are making out!”
E-RP or erotic roleplaying is something that also takes a healthy serving of common sense and mutual respect if we want everyone to be comfortable and have fun. A good rule of thumb is that it must be consensual between the players, and that it is private business – just like in real life. Sneaking up in hide to a couple engaged in e-rp and listening in is not alright – in fact it's pretty creepy, but it happens. If you accidentally stumble upon a couple engaged in e-rp who are obviously trying to enjoy an intimate private rp-session, show some class and spare yourself and them from snarky comments. Ideally, showing class and walking away and getting on with your own business would be the respectful solution.

On the other side, engaging in overly graphic e-rp in public is also poor judgement of what's appropriate for a couple of reasons. First of all, most people don't really find it that interesting to read two men playing out their transgender fantasies. Second of all while the game is rated M+18, there are minors playing as well. I know, it's the parents' responsibility, but still... I for one, as a parent, think we all should approach e-rp with care so that we don't accidentally spam the minors who _are_ playing the game with graphical sexual content.
Instead, if e-rp'ing in public is your thing, why not do it in tells? That way you are having your fun, without shoving it down other players' throats.

A last rule of thumb when rp is starting to turn into e-rp for the first time with another character, is to politely ask in a tell if the person wants to continue.
And, no, I won't tell you _how_ to e-rp, go get some kamasutra books at the library :P

Quote:
Some good rules of thumb to avoid breaking other people's immersion NEW
Dismount before entering buildings.
When you want to log out in the middle of an rp-session, it's advisable to walk out of sight, so that you don't disappear with a poof in front of the people still rp'ing
Don't suddenly (dis)appear to/from hide if there's clearly nothing you could have been hiding behind in the middle of a rp session. The game mechanics may treat hiding as your character being completely invisible, but (dis)appearing in a magical cloud out of nowhere, is considered immersion-breaking by most rp'ers, as well as power-playing.
The same goes for talking or emoting from hide where there's clearly nothing that could conceal your presence.
Dismiss your pets when in the city hubs. The game mechanics may allow an army of zombies in the cities, but from a lore perspective it's absurd.
Try to keep modern concepts out of your vocabulary when rp'ing. (e.g. "I'll be back in a second." "What's up dude?" "Gotta jet!" etc etc)
Try avoid jumping around all the time.
Don't swing your weapon in other people's faces even though they are pvp-disabled.



~

RP and PvP
- Role-Playing in a Player versus Player Environment

Written by Caspian (Encore1am)

Contents
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Handling death in RP PvP
2.3 Defeat and Victory
2.4 Agreeing the Outcome off PvP
2.5 Types of PvP in the world of Hyboria


Disclaimer: Before I begin this chapter in a guide to role-playing I think it’s important to stress these are just my opinions. RP is a personal experience and everyone should have his or her own ideas about what makes a good immersive experience. This chapter is likely to undergo changes once I gain a better understanding of the communities feelings towards the subject.


2.1 Introduction

Firstly I’d like to admit this is my first real time really role-playing in an MMO and I’m not the type to take part in dramatics of any kind in-person. Perhaps therefore it is a good thing I am writing this chapter since I believe no game to date has really effectively delivered an adequate system to combine both RP and PvP. Like views expressed in other chapters its up to us to recognize scenarios and act responsibly.

Later on during this chapter I'll explain the different terms used when referring to player versus player combat. Whether banding these types of PvP under different names and creating a segmented PvP game is a good thing is another matter of discussion. The main types of PvP that the beginner will experience are commonly referred to as world, duels, siege, war, planned and mini games. More on these later…

Taking the Out of Character Knowledge (OOC) here I hope this guide will help advise, warn or prepare the beginner for what is to come and hopefully will suggest ways to deal with these situations in a mature RP nature. I hope to pose the question, ‘Can PvP always be kept In Character (IC) during each of these scenarios?’

Probably the most important section that has been touched upon by Oculus already and has a pronounced effect on how RP’ers should deal with PvP is the theme of death. Handling the idea of death within Age of Conan is extremely important and what I personally feel is not adequately addressed within the game mechanics.



2.2 Handling Defeat in RP PvP

In my opinion this is the most important question we should all ask ourselves. How do we deal with death on an RP PvP server? We have been given a system where our character visibly dies once the killing blow has been dealt. Our characters then appear to be resurrected on a sacred stone. Most RP’ers will probably agree that this system simply doesn’t work. If so the most hardcore of role-players would be forced to press the delete button each time their character bites the dust.

It doesn’t make good practice to be repeatedly killing the same person over and over again. Some of you might be saying, ‘hey chill relax its only a game’ which is totally right but in an immersive world role-players like to keep a degree of realism during their day-to-day activities.. Trust me, this doesn’t mean role-players all act like unstoppable gods. I have seen quite a few role players kill off their characters when the RP has led them that way.

Right, so we are agreed the current system just doesn’t work for an immersive experience, but we have to work with what we are given. Some might say ‘This is a perfect excuse to suggest RP and PvP cannot work side by side’ In some ways you would be right but we all like to have a fight. You will find that role-players will bend these rules of death creating their own system to deal with what we call defeat and victory.

2.3 Defeat and Victory

So the system given to us by Funcom must now be used in a way to protect our prized characters, the avatars we pour so much time and love into. On that note there is no excuse for non RP’ers. To an extent we all RP the moment we choose the type of hair and colour of the eyes we want our characters to show to the world. Absolutely everyone gets that buzz seeing their creation on the selection screen and none of us want our characters to die prematurely.

Role players have a variety of ways to deal with victory and defeat. Now this changes depending on the scenarios I will mention later. I must stress the following options are what generally goes through most RP’ers heads even if the other person doesn’t quite learn towards the RP way of thinking. Generally our characters will either,


a) Become injured and left to fend for themselves.

Most commonly used by players is upon defeating the person to take pity on the character and leave them to get on with it or not to realise they still breath. This common curtsey to the other player that insures the immersion of the world remains intact. The defeated player still looses should act out that shame or his injuries at a later date.


b) Find themselves injured and then captured by the victor

This option is also commonly used by Role Players but as an act of curtsey should be requested Out of Character. It may sound a little immersion breaking to the purists out there but rest assured most RP’ers will say yes if time in real life (RL) permits. *Note upon writing this please don’t take me prisoner continually: s*. The golden rule here is act responsibly and give the other player some options. Bare in mind they just gave you a load of PvP XP. The most you can do is allowing them to choose what will happen.


c) Upon losing the defeated will flee with their life intact suffering the shame of cowardice.

This is generally used to keep up the IC immersion if a player suddenly presses the res button without regard to consequences of their defeat. No one can stop a player doing this but from an RP point of view most would interpret this the other character simply fleeing.


d) Or die their final death!

Game over… or is it? In RP terms if a player RP’s a death that is their final end. However some RP guilds have come to an agreement that in certain less personal situations their death should be interrupted as the final end of guild soldier no.XX. If the more zealous RP’er insists that they have killed their opponent then to keep the integrity of the world it is assumed the victor has just killed a generic soldier from the opposing faction. Now I and most RP’ers understand this does not work in all situations but during the less personal types of PvP this system can create an exciting constant PvP environment.
Last edited by Hellophatty; 3rd May 2009 at 12:49..

RP and PvP - Role-Playing in a Player versus Player Environment continued...)

2.4 How can two players agree on the Same out come?

The simple answer is rarely will two PvP opponents have the time or inclination to agree on one of the following. Unless the PvP occurs between two RP’ers that have a friendly OOC background this kind of cooperation will rarely happen. So what’s the point of this thread I hear the non RP’ers shout… Well my main aim is drum home the idea of creating an immersive world!

It actually doesn’t matter if any of the above scenarios are agreed. What is important is keep both parties immersive worlds undamaged. The only important detail is that there is a clear winner and loser. All parties involved however should have the common decency and maturity to compromise with each other if both wish to Role-play out the defeat/victory at a later date.

If both parties refuse to agree then both should adopt option D and therefore the PvP should be regarded as less personal.

Important point. RP and consequences should not be pushed onto an unwilling player. Both parties need to develop a mature understanding and be willing to give and take.

2.5 Types of PvP in the world of Hyboria


2.51 World PvP

First and foremost world PvP is the term used by players when experience combat randomly in any PvP enable zone. In most cases this takes the form of a random impersonal attack by a group or individual. It is also linked to large scale PvP between large groups or guilds. The important point is that world PvP can and will happen spontaneously and without warning.

It is important to remember that World PvP is not seen as personal RP in most cases. There is often no time for RP niceties before battle commences. So how do we deal with this in an RP fashion? Quite simply the lore of Hyboria tells us that outside major cities there is little to no law. It’s a dangerous game travelling the many roads know to be patrolled by bandits.

In my opinion all four rules of defeat and victory are applicable in this situation. Both the victor and the player defeated simply choose which option they feel their character would do. In such an impersonal form of PvP it is rare that the desire to arrange and agree on the exact RP outcome of each fight. It is already clear who the victor and the defeated are. Its doesn’t matter what the other person feels happened but it is agreed that the player did not die in an RP sense.

This system works perfectly well since in most cases one of the opponents will no doubt not be seeing the PvP from a less RP perspective. Whether or not the PvP was welcome or not the important point to note that the immersion of the Characters has not been broken.

Even if two RP’ers clash during World PvP the chances are the victor will assume that the defeated player chose either of the options (a, c or d). It is my personal view that in most world and larger scale world PvP that option (d) presents a happy medium for all involved. Option (d) being that the defeated player immediately takes on the role of a generic defeated soldier. We all know the extra with no words in Star Trek gets it but we except that the main characters will survive. This doesn’t ruin the immersion for ‘those’ that like the programme.

My reasons for this are simple. During this type of PvP combat its is rare your character is going to know who they are fighting. *Please read the section regarding IC and OOC* In an immersive world there are no name or guild tags just recognisable faces and clothes. Its more than acceptable to assume you killed a generic soldier or at the very least the identity of the dead would not be of interest. This suggestion presents some very interesting ideas, which in my opinion give PvP more meaning in an RP sense. It allows our characters to get up and re join the fight. Each kill almost has a point value, each death is a point deducted. In this sense it gives both sides a sense of how the outcome of a major battle can be decided when in essence we are all immortal or using my analogy, we are all William Shatner and therefore demigods!

In many ways this system already occurs. During massive world PvP we all have a sense of who is winning and who is loosing. The important point to remember during World PvP is this… No one can dictate whether they have killed off your character. It doesn’t matter how the other person views the series of events, but what does matter is allowing the other person involved the dignity to keep up a sense of immersion.




2.52 Mini games

Typically this kind of PvP is seen by all as OOC. Even the most hardcore of RP’ers like to kick back and take part in some mindless violence otherwise they would all be playing Habbo hotel! Whether certain tactics like res camping for PvP XP are actually an exploit is not a discussion for this thread. My own opinion is that a certain amount of maturity and respect for other players should be given no matter what the circumstances. Perhaps I really am an idealist!

Does this mean RP can’t exist here? I don’t see why not… Why not RP out a scenario involving two opposing clans settling their disagreement inside an ancient and bloody duelling ground? RP’ers currently deal with the zoning issues anyway.



2.53 Duels

Chances are you will come across this kind of PVP throughout your journey, some places more than others. As it sounds the term Duel is given to any PvP that takes place with both players consent. Regardless of your view, whether this is a valid kind of PvP is up to you. From an RP view seeing duels continually take place in one area may not be your idea of an immersive world but its not ridiculous opinion to assume certain areas in Hyboria would be known for warriors to test their strength.

Duels are common practise for RP’ers, used from testing a recruit’s courage to settling disputes between factions. It’s almost always assumed that the fight is not to the death but till the defeated gives up. A duel is almost always a personal PvP fight and allows both opponents to ‘square up’ to each other if they wish to do so.

For the beginners out there, a few common naughty OOC practises usually take place to begin a fight. The first being a sneaky slash to get your attention and the second the customary jump to alert the other player your ready to fight. Unless a duel takes place between two RP’ers your unlikely to get another player to call out for both players to begin so my advise this let these slide and interpret these two naughty OOC traits as shouts.



2.54 Planned RP PvP

For Most RP'ers this kind of PvP will appeals more than the above. Perhaps the purest of the PvP community might turn their nose up at this form combat. I hope in this section to try and dispel the myth that pre planned PvP events can be dull and lack the spontaneity of World PvP.

The term Planned RP PvP can be very misleading but is generally used by role-players to describe any combat that has a degree of preparation to make sure everyone involved has fun. There are many degrees to the preparation of an RP PvP event which ill go into more detail later but all have the one thing in common. Out of Character the combat is usually accepted by all parties and without any OOC stress. This is not to say that role-players should disregard other forms of PvP as non RP.

It is important to stress that I personally believe all 4 options of defeat and victory are applicable in the follow examples. The beauty of planned RP PvP is that organisers can choose before hand what defeat means for the loosing side!



2.55 Planned PvP is boring! Dispelling the myth

I’m sure many hardcore PvP'ers would suggest that planned PvP goes against the lore of Hyboria and destroys the sense of immersion. Again no one can disagree with this statement but as mentioned previously in this chapter, RP's make the most of what is given to them. The positive points of planned RP PvP are that it allows for a much more dramatic event.

Most events are used to enhance a RP storyline rather than PvP for PvPs sake. Actual real world meaning can be gained from partaking in the following types of PvP. Losing or winning a battle has real IC consequences and changes the way a storyline might go. In short by planning an RP PvP event we are giving our characters the scope to be effected by the outcome of a battle. Such outcomes could include whether a faction now controls a certain area or the fate of a hostage could be decided upon the outcome of a siege.



2.56 The two extremes of RP PvP

At the risk of misrepresenting what RP PvP is all about I thought id give two examples of what RP PvP means to me and hopefully get some of you thinking creatively. At the very planned end of the scale and not to everyone tastes are organised events with strict rules. Two opposing factions at odds with each other have met on the battlefield. Both leaders, respecting each other wish to discuss the problems and offer the other force the opportunity to leave the field of battle.

OOC it may well be decided that after the niceties have been dealt with that there will be a total of 5 rounds to the battle that will resemble up to 5 waves of attack. Clan Fearghal and Set Mosis have had such events multiply times. It may not be the most fast paced PvP but it certainly turns very tactical. With such tight rules of engagement officers and leaders are forced to really think about their pvp decisions. Their pride is at stake and mistakes can’t be made! … exciting (for some)

During strictly controlled planned RP PvP events organisers typically decide what defeat entails. In a best of 5 rounds for example the first 4 losses can be agreed as the death of a number of unnamed soldiers (Option D in the Defeat and Victor options). It may be agreed that on the last wave a loss sees all the actual Characters flee the scene in shame. (Option C).

Again I have to stress no one has the right to kill off your characters IC. You maybe wish to do it yourself rather than suffer the shame of defeat however!



At the other end of the scale is a world PvP approach where a time and place are arranged OOC’ly between leaders and an open slot of time is given for any number of attacks to occur without warning. This kind of planned RP PvP certainly is lot more fast paced and presents a whole new set of tactical decisions. Hopefully players are encouraged to employ different tactics rather than a simple ‘zerg’ found in most world PvP. Such scenarios might be a fight over the control of a bridge. Or one guild attempting to escort a prisoner across a zone. The point is there are still clear rules and objectives to follow but how they are achieved is another question.


No matter what type of Planned RP PvP it may be rules are given in an attempt to enhance the immersion and give players a tangible grasp of how a fight is won or lost. The aim is for both the winners and losers to enjoy the consequences of a battle giving them something tangible and real to role-play out.

~


RP and Inspiration
- a discourse on ways to draw inspiration from every thing.

Written by Sarai

Introduction
Inspiration is key to any creative advancement. As a student artist, and amature, and independant film/animation maker I understand that there is virtually no way to create a character, location, setting or whatever WITHOUT research. And research, no matter how large or small it might be, will eventually lead to inspiration! This research dosn't even have to be actively sought out!

If you are interested in RP, then you surely must have some degree of creativity and imagination! Some of you might be thinking, its only RP. And, yes, it is! You're completely right! But, do you have ANY idea how DIFFICULT it is to create a sodding character! Any character! Thats .. well.. not bland and generic!

I guess this and what follows won't apply to some of you as, understandably you'd like to keep your characters simple! Thats great! Simple is not only effective, but refreshing sometimes! But, for those of you who may want to incorperate a deeper personality to yours, some degree of inspiration would be necessary!

Inspiration from anything
This inspiration could come from anything, from music and video games, to books, films and even real events that have occured in your life or others! Anything and everything can inspire you in some way, and it doesn't even have to be positive. That is what insperation is all about, it doesn't matter what it comes from, it doesn't need to matter! The point is that whatever inspires you, it has had an effect on you in some way!

I'll try to explain this better, and more simply by describing how I came to create Sarai's character.

Now, when I first made her, I did NOT originally intend to make her what she is now! The, scary insane little girl that she is. For those who don't know what she was, she was actually.. a .. rather generic and normal character. Nothing too original. I wanted to set her character off in a direction that would change her completey; for better or worse; but at the time I didn't really think of what would be appropriate, and, well 'new' I guess!

A case example – how Tira inspired Sarai
I thought about it less as time went on, and just played her character how it was. Then, I played Soul Calibur 4 shortly after that came out.. Tira's character has had a huge impact on my creativty! I've always enjoyed mad characters, even more so when they're circus or carnival-like; as they're the most interesting in my opnion! No prizes for guessing what I used for
inspiration in Sarai's character then...
Yup. Tira.

And to those of you who have met Sarai's character, and, are aware of Tira.. well, things are probably making alot more sense now aren't they!
But, yes that was my main source of inspiration for her.
I love Tira's character, and, I try to incorperate my favorite aspects of her into Sarai's RP. The multiple personalities, of excessively jolly, and sadistic, that, seem to flip from time to time, the other talking to her in her mind. The strange, somewhat, trash like clothing that emphasize her personality such as her mental instablity, etc etc.

All these aspects of Tira I incorperated into Sarai. Hell, I love Tira's character so much, I can safely say she's probably one of my, if not my favorite fighting game character! And that her personality has helped me create characters far past rp on an mmo; I used her personality as core inspiration for a character I'm creating in an.. amature animation series I've been working on for the past few years.

What really made Tira special for me though, was that it wasn't just a character I like; its alot more than that. I really found her character appealing because of her almost .. performer like behaviour! I'm no performer, but I love incorperating those kinds of aspects into the characters I create! It's a bit hard for me to go in depth with though...

Do you see what I'm getting at though?

Let the things that you love inspire you
If you want to be inspired, just take something you love and work with that! Incorperate your favorite aspects of whatever it is into your character! It could be the way a piece of music sounds, that activates your mind into thinking about their personality; as, the musical theme of a character can say alot about them! Sometimes, in fact, no alot of the time when I need to make a character; after deciding upon their base personality and looks, I build up upon it by listening to appropriate music!



~

Glossary
- A short description of often used terms in roleplaying or in this guide. See above guide for indepth descriptions.


Absurd - utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false

Avatar - the graphical depiction of your character.

Background story - the events that have taken place in your character's life up until the present. Often, players will have written these down in form of a narrative or similar. Sometimes available for the public to read, other times only snippets or nothing at all revealed to others.

Character - your character is the person you are playing as in the game.

Causality - The principle of or relationship between cause and effect.

E-RP or Erotic Roleplaying - Roleplaying session with themes of erotic nature.

Emote - an action made by your character usually written in between asterics. I.E. *Oculus tosses a pie at you*

GM or Game Master - In traditional pen and paper RP a person who has planned a series of events that may or may not happen to characters and/or a person who decides the outcome of events in the characters' reality.

IC IC'ly, or In Character - Doing or saying things in the role of your character and/or events that affect your character.

Immersion - state of being deeply engaged or involved.

OOC, OOC'ly, or Out of Character - events, conversations and/or information that you character is not part of or has knowledge of.

Power-emoting - emoting in a way so that you are forcing your actions on to other characters with no option for them to avoid it. This is frowned upon by the majority of roleplayers in most cases.

PvP - Player vs Player; combat between two or more characters.

RP or Roleplaying - acting out the role of a character you have created. This may be based on anything from a few loose ideas to a detailed background story.

Rule of Thumb - a rough, practical method of procedure. I.e. not a rule set in stone.

Links
- Links to useful roleplaying threads and ressources in these forums.
The Hyborian Herald.
Kaizen's Old Tarantia Tourist Guide.
Azoth's roleplaying guide (from Hyrkania forums).
Cadoc's guide to Hyborian lore.
Rafnir's Roleplaying contacts post
Baardago's beginners guide to roleplaying
Guvadan's free guild-forum hosting service

Planned:

- Causality - keeping it real. (Meos)
- How to deal with Time, Distance (N/A - if no takers Oculus will)

Please post if you have terms you think should be added to the Glossary.
Feedback, comments, constructive criticism are all encouraged.

Emoting
- Some useful tips on how to express yourself through emotes


Written by Akselvee

What is emoting?
Emoting is basically when your character does something. It can be a smile, taking a drink, talking in a specific way, interacting. Emotes are put between two asterics (*'s), and can happen whenever you want others to know your character is doing something.
Why not use the in-game animated emotes? Because they are limited. Plus, you can only use them when standing. Self-made emotes are way more fun anyway!
You can’t really say there are right and wrong emotes, though some may be out of place. The most common mistakes are emoting things we don’t see, or power-emoting. I’ll talk about those later on.


Accents and volume
A very common emote is specifying how one’s speaking. It could refer to an accent he has, a language he speaks, or the volume of his voice.
Usually these emotes are before one starts speaking.
Examples: *with a Stygian accent* blablabla, or *speaking low* blablabla


To whom?
If you are RP-ing with more people at once, it could be smart to specify who you are talking to or interacting with. Especially if there’re more people of the same sex around, it can become confusing.
Mostly, when you don’t specify and use the same pronoun as your sex, people assume it’s about yourself. (Except if it’s handing something etc.)
Example: *Aksel smiles warmly at Annaji* instead of *Aksel smiles warmly at her*
Although, if let’s say one’s talking / interacting with the same person for a longer time, you only have to specify the person once, it will be clear to everyone who you are interacting with.


Let me give you something!
Of course! Physical interaction plays a big part in one’s life, even in role playing.
You can give people things, touch others, kiss others, whatever you’d like! But remember, wait for their reaction, maybe the person didn’t want you to do that!
Example: *Aksel hands Oculus a small pouch* or *Oculus puts his hand on Aksel’s shoulder*


I have a pet!
Why not have a companion or a pet? As a bear shaman my spirit bear appears around me, doing something aswell! Feel free to emote any pets, companions, anything that’s with you.
Example: *Aksel’s spirit bear walks around the table nervously*
You can even emote with NPC’s if you’d like.
Example: *Aksel gives a few coins to the trader, taking the pouch he’s handing to Aksel*


Mind reading
Is something most of the people aren’t capable of.
Always emote things one can actually see.
Of course, sometimes what we’re thinking of shows on our face, that’s is perfectly fine to emote. The only thing which is very discouraged is what one is thinking of specifically.

Let’s suggest there’s a conversation about Vanir around the table, and a character feels uncomfortable because Vanir killed his father, remembering his past.
*Aksel frowns at the mention of Vanir, seeming to remember something* instead of *Aksel frowns at the mention of Vanir, remembering how they killed his father*
We may gather he’s remembering something, but we cannot see what it is.

Another example, let’s suggest one has eaten something that tastes awful.
*Aksel spits the meat out with a disgusted look on his face* instead of *Aksel spits the meat out because it tasted disgusting*

It is also encouraged to let people know what you think, with your actions. Let’s say Aksel is bored.
*Aksel looks around with a bored expression* instead of *Aksel is bored*
Yes, we can clearly see he’s bored, but it's more engaging for your co-roleplayers if it’s actually written from where you can see it.


I killed him!
So called power-emoting is when you force your actions onto another person.
Of course you can hit, or stab someone, but let them reply before you say what the outcome was.
Let’s say a thief wants to pickpocket someone.
*Radley attemps to steal Oculus’ valuables* instead of *Radley steals Oculus’ valuables*
Why is that? Let’s take the example and say Oculus notices Radley before he manages to steal his valuables, and does something to prevent it.

The worst type of power emoting is when you do something permanent to a character, without asking if they want to. Believe me, many people don’t want their character’s arms to be cut off, or the worst.. killed. It’s smart to ask the person before you hurt their character seriously.
Again let’s see an example to this:
*Aksel swings his hammer towards Grothan* instead of *Aksel hits Grothan with his hammer, bashing his teeth out*
See how odd that is? Wait till their reaction. Though it’s smart to specify once again, in this example where Aksel would hit him with the hammer.
Maybe he will dodge? Or he plays along and does damage to himself. You can never know, so don’t force your actions on people!

The worst case of power-emoting is killing another player without their permission.
Big no: *Aksel bashes Grothan to death with his hammer, taking his necklace as a trophy*

That’s my short little guide on emoting in MMO’s, though the most important rule I left for last..

Use your imagination!

You beat me to posting this awesome thread to the new forum. :)