While doing the least favorite of my chores (dishes) and after chewing it over with a Twix, I decided that it may help people to make this post. Whether a good RPer, or one just starting, I hope you may learn something from my post: Tips on RPing!
-Be descriptive! It helps to describe what your character sees, what they don't see, what they smell, the weather, colors, size of objects, and almost everything! Describing the scenario helps everyone reading imagine what it looks like in their head, and greatly improves the quality of your posts!
-Don't always use the same words! Mix it up. Instead of saying, "Mythic does this... Mythic does that..." then I can use, "The young Hero," and other titles. Even using he/she is a step up from using the same name all the time. Also, it gets very trite seeing, "said" all the time. Use things like, "Exclaimed, boasted, lied, fabricated, stammered, inquired." There are probably
thousands of other words you can also use to describe dialogue.
-Know your character and the surroundings! For example, if the creator of the topic you're in says that it's raining, also mention the rain, or at the very least don't go posting about it being sunny. Also, the creator of the topic should always be in charge of things like weather, basic NPCs, time of day, and the other minor stuff. Controlling their things like that is... well, might feel a little bit like God-mod to the other person, depending on the extent. Knowing your character is a little tricky, but well worth while! No single paragraph can describe any human being (and especially 5 or so listed words can't.) But, this is just a fabricated world, and we all do the best that we can with making characters as real as possible, right? Well, if you're a decent RPer, then you should try. Don't do things that aren't out of your character's personality, if you want to get the most out of RPing. For example, if someone is described as, "Honorable and virtuous" then don't go stealing from shops, or murdering people. That might not be a good example, but you get my meaning, right? If you say your character acts a certain way, then by all means, follow that way as best as possible! And if you just can't get a feel for your character's personality, then maybe the Staff would be kind enough to let you make some minor changes, if you drop them a PM and ask nicely.
-Longer is good, but not always better! I'll admit, I prefer three paragraphs to a few sentences, but making a very long post (maybe seven paragraphs
) Might bore the readers fast, especially if it's not very descriptive or exciting. I'd rather play a short, very fun game like Mirror's Edge rather than a very long and boring one like Lost Odyssey. (Seriously, that game's really hard, and is four disks long! Boring! Drags on forever!) Being said, a medium sized post with all of the description, excitement, and flavor all packed into two or three paragraphs should be much better than ten long paragraphs. By the time I'm on the sixth one, I'd be asleep, drooling on my keyboard! ^^
-If you can't think of good, descriptive words, then maybe try a Thesaurus? Dictionary.reference.com has a pretty good Thesaurus. You just need to type in a small word like, "Solid" or, "Boring" and you get a long list of words that can help you. Also, even using simple words like, "Solid" or, "Boring" may actually be better. It's no fun being bombarded with a ton of very long and big words when reading someone's post. (plus it may make the poster look like a bit of a showoff!)
-Always, always, ALWAYS keep the audience in mind. Ask yourself after each paragraph, "Who's in the topic with me?" or, "Who might be interested in joining the topic?" or maybe even, "I don't think I should post this if there are 12-year-olds present!" It's good to try to make the readers laugh, or if you can, make a suspenseful post. Pretend you're Stephen King! ^^
-Try to have fun and enjoy yourself! RPing is for the entertainment of everyone on the board. If you're not having fun, then maybe you should revise your character, or the way you RP? (Whatever you do, don't quit RPing! You learn a lot, and your vocabulary gets HUGE. And you make a lot of good friends. ^^)
-Spell Check is your friend! Even if you just re-read your post, it almost always helps. Firefox is cool because the spell check is always on.
Mon May 11, 2009 11:01 pm