Guide to RPing:
- Perfect characters are boring. Make your character unique. Everyone has flaws, so create some for your character.
- Complete Villains are also boring or have limited usage. Try and give them another reason for being around besides just being bad.
- Don't make your character invincible or always save the day. No one is always nice or always mad, or always sad. This is no fun for the other members and is a good way to turn people off from writing with that character.
- Don't start storylines alone by simply throwing out a start at someone. They may have no idea how to respond or no desire to write what you're starting. It's always better to do a little plotting first or just ask "would you like to write this?'"
- If you see a storyline already going on and you think your Persona could contribute, Email those involved and ask if they would mind if you jumped in.
- Don't describe everything about your character in your character sheet. Leave some mystery, allow your character to grow and change.
- Always leave openings for the other person when writing a post. This is essential to keeping a post going. Give them something to respond to, take an action or ask a question, and reply with more than just a single word.
- Always stay in the character of your creation. Don't forget their position at the Hold Hall or Weyr. A drudge will never talk back to a Lord. Neither will a greenrider mouth off to their Wingleader. Respect the chain of command. Not to do so is to invite in character consequences.
- Don't create a major plot which can affect everyone without discussing it with your local Level One first. They have plans for their area.
- When creating a character, ask yourself if this character is self-limiting. Will there be opportunities for good interaction with the other residents? Or will this character be sitting around, waiting for something to happen most of the time. This can happen when you create a character with a very specific focus. Remember you WANT people to want to play with him/her. A one note personality gets boring for other writers.
- Read the other posts. It helps you keep an eye on what's going on, and will be helpful when you interact with other characters.
- If you are going to be off for a while, write your character out of the plot and let the other writers know. It's not fair to the other players if your character all of a sudden drops out of a major plotline without notice.
- Before deciding to create a new character, ask yourself if you've devoted enough time on your current character. Have you taken the time to develop them, played them well, and had good interactions with other characters. If not, how do you expect to do so with your new character?
- Fulfill your reqs. Those characters have positions of responsibility and the others rely on them to be active and available to write.
Time for a reminder about co-posting
1) In character mistakes or behavior can lead to in character consequences. If you don't want your persona to suffer a certain consequence, stop and talk about it with the other writer. If an acceptable compromise can't be reached, backup and start again. As I've said in prior posts: "Always stay in the character of your creation. Don't forget their position at the Hold Hall or Weyr. A drudge will never talk back to a Lord. Neither will a greenrider mouth off to their Wingleader. Respect the chain of command. Not to do so is to invite in character consequences."
2) If someone makes an assumption about your persona (such as that they would like a particular thing, be wearing a particular thing, or feel a particular way), it's ok to stop and say, "Before I reply, that is not exactly keeping in my persona's character. Could we change that last bit?"
3) Remember that the way that we intend things in character might not be taken the same way by our co-poster. If you feel that your persona has been misunderstood, stop and discuss it with your co-poster to make sure you both understand where your persona is coming from. Snarky comebacks can only make things worse, not better.
4) Keep in mind that not every persona is going to get along. This is not a reflection on you. Please do not take it personally. But beyond that discuss in advance how your character is feeling about the post. Remember that someone being ICly unfair to yours may occur but it should be OOCly communicated about so it's not interpreted as a personal attack on you as a writer.
5) When in doubt, talk it out. No matter what it is. It's always okay to stop and discuss where a post is going, and to back up if necessary. If talking it out doesn't help remember the council can advise or act as arbiter
Also language barriers and cultural differences excist. Not every one here is native english speaker (Okay, I'm the only one right now, I think). That can cause misunderstandings.
Trust me, getting yelled because you picked wrong word is no fun.