Roleplaying Tips

[Strix Varia]

So I was thinking about all the things I've done with my charries in the past that has worked out and led to really muse-pumped RP, and thinking about all the things I probably would do differently because they led to me losing muse or my fellow RPers doing the same when playing with me, etc. I don't necessarily mean things that I've done in-character, either. Anyways, I thought maybe we could just have a thread where we post little bits of knowledge we've gained through experience, to try and help each other when we're feeling stuck or to help newbies who might not know to avoid certain pitfalls.

An example that we all know might be like, don't make a Mary-Sue. (Don't try to make a charrie who's beautiful, smart, funny, perfect, all the boys want her, all the girls want to be her, she can do no wrong, always gets what she wants, etc.) That sort of charrie gets old really fast not only for the player but for anyone trying to play with her, because "perfect" is boring. Like, everyone's run into that dilemma when you're playing a light (like a charrie aligned with a site's light side, I mean) and you fall into the trap of trying to make every thread happy and cordial and perfect to fit the alliance personality and then... you lose muse and your charrie goes inactive. (At least, I've done that more than once. I think I have the hang of 'em now, though, lol) That kind of thing.

So that's an example of what I'm looking for in this thread -- things y'all have done or noticed other people doing throughout your experience as a RPer. Either good things or bad things, and why they're good or bad. I want to know what everyone else has noticed and see if there are things I've never thought of before that might improve my RP or my charries. :D

My first tip would be to try and have your charrie have a purpose. Even if the purpose is not to have a purpose (think college student travelling the world or taking a year off school because they don't know what they want to do with their life, finding adventure / purpose along the way), a driving purpose behind your charrie can fuel a lot of good threads. Like Aster's purpose right now is to leave the desert and find out why her parents thought living in the desert was better than dealing with tribal politics, and now she and Bastille are on an epic Tolkien-esque journey to the tribal lands together. Super-interesting. If she didn't have that purpose, though, even I think Aster would be kind of boring. =/ (sorry, girl -pats her-)

[Tatiannista]

Random example: One thing that annoys me would be this (which has sadly happened once or twice to me): I play males better than females. Since that is the case, I put a lot more development into my males personalities and I like to get pretty pictures of my guys. I'm image obsessed. No big deal. What bothers me is when I get into a thread with someone who throws their mare at my guys. It's one thing for your character to flirt a bit, but if my posts aren't recipricating, obviously my character isn't really interested, right? Don't try to conform your character to attract a certain character. It actually makes me want to back out of a thread if I feel like your character isn't sticking to her personality, because her personality wouldn't attract my guy. Now, I'm not trying to be egotistical about my characters. Bastille is not perfect and has plenty of issues and he wasn't created to make the girls swoon. I'm just saying, don't proverbially throw your character at another because they are 'oh so gorgeous' or would 'be a great catch'. It makes people want to avoid threading with you, because it is awkward to have to repeatedly reject someone even in character. Now I haven't seen that on here, but that is why I have left a site or two. Because someone constantly put their girl in a thread with one of my guys and I got to where I didn't want to enter new threads and the admins didn't think you should be able to block a certain person from your threads. I've seen this happen to a few people and everyone of them were quite annoyed by it.

Also, like Strix thread,  perfect characters = lame. Really. Aster wouldn't be interesting at all to Bastille if she strutted around flirting and had no emotional issues. (How sad is it that he is drawn to emotional issues?) Everyone has a past and it is more interesting to thread with people when interesting little bits or thoughts about their past slip out here and there. It almost makes it feel more real, you know? It real life as you get to know a friend you learn of their pasts. No one likes to hear that one friend repeatedly bragging about how perfect their past was and all of the amazing things that constantly happen to them. Why? Because we all have a bit of crud thrown at us here and there in life, and we hate to imagine that there is someone out there that never has anything bad happen in their life and  they are as happy as a butterfly in Heaven. lol

ALSO: Evil. Your evil characters have to have a reason. Yes, they can be born a Psychopath or a Sociopath, but you have to give them purpose beyond that. I can't tell you how many characters I have seen that are dark without reason. That were raised in happy little families, have perfect mental health and for some reason are just inherently dark. Don't make it a think to have a character be dark just for the heck of it. Either give them a decent background story to match, or add a mental defect to explain it. Just like everyone has a reason for being good and doing the right thing, they have to have reasons for being evil and screwing up people's lives. ^^ Like Pern. He was born a high-functioning Psychopath. But that is not the reason he is just inherently a bad person to hang around. His mother died at birth, so he lacked the maternal love and care that he would have preferred. Being raised by another mare, he always reminded himself she wasn't his mother. His father was a no-account. Knocked his mother up left. So he essentially lacked the family core to develop a sound and healthy mind. Remember that if your character doesn't have the historical background to cause emotional/mental issues, they need a mental defect for it. Psychology 101.

[ALACAZAM]

Oooh this is an interesting thread that I'll probably have to come back to when I have more time xD But yes you guys make incredibly valid points that I've definitely encountered too many times to count in my roleplaying years (yet another reason I like this place so much - lots of character variety!)

HATE when people whore their Mary Sue mares around. Doesn't she have any goals? Life dreams? Why does she exist solely to get laid? I mean don't get me wrong, I love a good whore character (they're literally my favorite to play) but I like to think that I do it right. She sticks to her guns and reacts appropriately to the character she's interacting with.

I also love evil characters with purpose. They're my other specialty xD

Tips from me: I almost always start my characters off based on another character and they develop from there. For example, my favorite character of all time was based on Satine from Moulin Rouge, with a bit of Rose from Titanic and various other snobby types thrown in. And now I've got Sam who's based on Maleficent, with some Sweeney Todd and Elphaba for good measure Anyway, point is, if you find yourself getting bored of your characters after a short time, make sure you plan them well. Find inspiration in books and movies. Don't plagiarize the characters (I've seen that far too often too) but give them your own twist.

Um. I had another point but I forgot. I'll be back with it when I remember.

[vnes]

Oh, oh, may I chime in? ^^'

Let's talk DYNAMICS (along the lines of what has already been mentioned). Characters don't need to be a flat line. Give your character dimension with flaws and experiences. As your character interacts with more characters, your character will learn and grow and YES, even change over time. I used to play on sites where I kept my charries in their herds majority of the time, interacting with the same old group, hooking up on the first encounter with a character of the opposite sex. That got old real fast. If your character does get stuck in a rut and the muse starts fleeing for dear life, get out. Meet other equines, make friends as opposed to lifelong partners or lovers (though these experience may also be part of growth). Okay now I'm giving away one of my RP secrets, no charge because I <3 you guys. Sometimes get inspired by a character and create my own that is the exact opposite, and once I even created two opposing mares (white v. black, aggressive v. passive, pessimistic v. optimistic...they were both very wise faes). Nothing develops your character better then a good dash of conflict. This was really the reasoning behind Aeri and Nysa.

And TAKE YOUR TIME. ^^ Okay a lot of people are now responding on their smart phones or on the fly. Take the time to develop your posts and basically your character's story. Oh and there are tons of players on this site alone that can type a book for a response. Don't be intimidated. Point is Quality over Quantity. Can't go wrong with that. If you put more time, guarantee the better your posts will be and the better your character will develop. ^^

[Strix Varia]

Jun 21, 2014 21:56:27 GMT -8 vnes said:

If your character does get stuck in a rut and the muse starts fleeing for dear life, get out.

I love all the tips everyone's given so far, but I REALLY want to take the time to second this. It's kind of my life philosophy IRL. If you're unhappy, make a change. I've never thought about applying it to RPing before, but that's exactly why I started this thread -- to get epiphanies like this. xD