RP Rules, Tips and Guidelines

Yeah, this is an RP guide I wrote a bit of and a member of the site of my friend. It might be usefull...

What is RPing anyway?
Welcome to the magical world of RPing. A game were you play someone totally different than you, or perhaps like yourself.

When you RP, you basically play a character that is totally the way you want it to be and you let it go through dramas or happy moments, whatever you want. You're totally free to develop your charries personality and let him explore the world of the RPG you are playing.

But, How do I RP?
It's very simple. In every post, you describe your characters feelings, movements, and the things they say. From what I have experienced when I started RPing myself, I know it's hard to come up with long posts when you just start. That's ok, but you can practise that. But it's better if you don't post one-liners, since that can be quite annoying for the person you are RPing with. That reduces the options for your fellow RPer to reply.

Here is an example of what you shouldn't do if possible:

Lisa walked in, "Hey guys," she said to her friends..

Nothing wrong with that, but the next RPer has to think of all kind of actions to keep it interesting. Besides he doesn't know the way your character feels, so it's hard to interact..

It's better if you do it like this:

Lisa walked inside the common room. She was exhausted. She had tons of homework and that meant she wouldn't be able to hang around with her friends a lot. And that also meant she had to cancel her date with Tom. That made her furious. Lisa noticed her friends in front of the fireplace. She sighed, while sitting down in the only free chair there was left. "Hey guys," She said, in a rather annoyed tone..

That's way better, since you are describing the emotions and actions of your characters.

I'm sure you've asked that question before if you've clicked on this. "How do I make my posts longer?" Or you're just curious to know if you can spice up your posts a bit more. Well, I'll show you how to take your simple one-liner:

i.e.
"Emily walked into the common room and couldn't see anyone around."

And turn it into a post worthy of JK Rowling herself:

i.e.
"Emily walked into the common room. She had, had a hard day and the stress was starting to take its toll. She sighed as she looked around, seeing that the place was empty. Taking a seat she pulled out her homework and began to work on it but she couldn't concentrate. She hadn't spoken to her friends all day long and that was something she didn't like, being stuck in a classroom with a bunch of idiots and not being able to complain to her friends afterwards.

She began to pace, unable to think clearly enough to continue writing, she had already written the same word about 10 times. She got slightly distracted as she passed the window but something caught her eye, a small speck flying across the grounds. It became clear as she saw it was her owl Spot coming in and she smiled, taking the letter from him but hiding it quickly as someone entered the common room."


Okay, here's the general thing that makes this work: ELABORATION. You have to use heavy-description, and get inside the mind of your character. It's a matter of steps, and I'll show you them.

Step One: Generalizing Your Character's Mood

The first step is setting your character's mood. What mood are they in at the beginning, middle and end of your post? Are they happy, sad, depressed, anxious, upset, eager? What? This is one of the easiest parts. Just think of how you want your character to feel- let's say they'd just recieved news that their mother was attacked by Death Eaters and was killed. Instead of-

"Louise sat by the fire, she as sad her mother had died"

You might want to say-

"Louise sat silently in the common room, her cheeks stained with tears and her eyes reddened. She had just recieved a letter from her father saying that her mother, the one person she was closest to, had just been attacked by Death Eaters, not coming out on the good end of it either. She crumpled the parchment in her hand, not wanting to read the letter anymore, it was too upsetting for her to think that her idol was no longer around."

See? It gives readers more of a good feel on how the character is actually feeling. He went from just a one-dementional happy to very plainly vain and smug about his win the night before.

Step Two: Describing Your Character's Surroundings

The second step is a bit more difficult than the first for the simple fact that you have to describe more than just one thing about the area your character is in. For example-

"Judy walked into the library, it was noisy"

Could easily be lenghtened to-

"Judy walked into the library, carrying a load of heavy books. She sighed as she listened to all the noise that was surrounding them and frowned slightly. So this was what the library was like when people were getting ready for exams, the one place she thought she could get away from the hussle and noise of the main school and it was packed with students, talking and generally disrupting things. Disappointed she sat in her usual seat and tried to work."

Also describing the feelings and textures of a characters surroundings helps make your posts longer and sound better. For example-

"Emma lay on the cool grass. It was still slightly wet from the morning dew that had coated each blade elegantly. Her eyes darted to the sky, it looked like a bed of soft cushiony pillows."

Step Three: Adding Your Character's Personal Thoughts

The third, and most important and challenging, step in this guide is adding a bit of your characters own, personal thoughts into your post. It gives it a more personal and charming touch to your posts and gives the readers a closer connection to your character. If you character normally has a smug personality, such as Draco's, add that to your post. If your character normally has a witty personality, like Hermione's, add that to your post. Here's an example of each:

Draco's:
"Draco had finished an assignment that he had reluctantly sat down to do and decided to go on a little stroll afterwords. He hadn't seen much of Pansy, which he regretted. His thoughts had been on her a good deal lately since they had become more than just friends. Her image always seemed to dance in his mind even when he was trying to think of other things. Many people could probably never believe that Draco Malfoy, of all people, was in love... Or something like love. Whatever it was, it was delicious and yet haunting.

He crammed his hands deep into his pockets and wrapped the fingers of his right hand around the handle of his wand, doing it purely out of habit. Draco took slow and steady steps, kicking a small rock along as he did so. And then he grew tired of it and decided to step over the small stone and ignore its existence. This was something he had been doing to a lot of ideas and objects, stepping over them (physically or metaphorically) and pretending they didn't exist.

He came to a near-by tree and leaned against its trunk before taking out his wand and wondering what he could do to occupy his time. Even in a school of magic, one could easily become bored. Draco find someone to pick on perhaps, or maybe try doing something constructive.

Yet, as he stood there, nothing entertaining came to mind. Since the courtyard was void of other life for the time being, especially someone good to talk to, he found that there was little hope of being relieved of dull happenings about him. "

Hermione's:
"A pink tab meant Defense Against the Dark Arts, and a blue on Arithmancy? Yes, that was right, Hermione determined as she checked her Class/Color key. Biting her lip in concentration, Hermione pulled off several pink tabs, marking them on May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th. Now for the blue tabs. She pulled five blue tabs off, and placed them on the day just after the pink tabs, on May 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th. One day each week would be dedicated to studying for the exams for two classes, and every Sunday would be dedicated to studying for all of them. While Hermione knew she needed to be studying for each exam often and a lot, she also knew that if she studied for only two a night, she would be able to go into much more depth, and cover the material thoroughly.

Now green would certainly have to be Herbology, to fit in with the theme of the class. Pulling off more green tabs, Hermione marked them just after the blue tabs, on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st. Now she would have to start doubling up on days. It was a wonder to Hermione that Ron and Harry hadn't started to follow her lead yet with preparing for their exams in such a manner. They never usually studied until the week before their exams. Such a thing was unheard of for Hermione. In fact, she was even deathly surprised that she hadn't started making her studying guide until just then. Four months in advance was suitable. Three months though? How could she have ever let herself slack off in such a manner? If she missed something on the final that studying could have prevented, she would never forgive herself. Never. It was unheard of."

Step Four: Putting Them All Together

Now, take all the things we've learned from the previous three sections and you should have, at least, a good paragraph or two to reflect on. Following these steps will really help, and with time, you may even get to posting things with lengths like this: