RP and you

[MJmalevolent]

Hello my fine friends!
I'm making this topic just to make known some of my thoughts about how to RP good. By RP, I mean individual, in the moment strategies to take in order to engage with and entertain your compatriots you meet in arelith. I'm not talking about faction politics or even creating RP events and adventures, just the little things!
First, however, know that I've been playing Arelith for about a year now, and it's made up most of my RP experience, so I'm still a rookie really. I don't want to come off as all high-and-mighty, so just know that these are but my thoughts, and I'd love to hear what y'all think and the strategies you use!

In no particular order:
1. Be ready to be vulnerable. Your character is awesome, yes. A skilled, capable individual, probably. But I've found that sometimes, it's better to lose an argument. To have your character seethe in frustration as you let someone else have the last laugh is often more entertaining than quickly dishing out another quip. Let your character be scared, let them hesitate, or if they aren't the type to do that, let them blunder. You don't need to always win, to always be the most valiant and honorable. It's alright, and much more fun sometimes, to be vulnerable.

2. Body language is a great tool. Try to find ways to express emotion through movements, even if they are subtle. A scowl, a dopey grin, rubbing your arm while looking at the ground, gritting your teeth, narrowing eyes, slouching, picking your fingernails. All great ways to showcase emotions from jealousy to boredom. It helps to pick a few go-to movements for a character's emotions I find, it will help define them. I often have Cel rub her other arm when she's nervous, while Melchior would instead look side to side, frowning. There isn't always time to come up with something expressive or type long emotes, so sometimes I default to just outright saying it. This can even be quite funny on occasion. But generally, using body language to describe emotion paints a fun picture of your character for others to play off of.

When I set out to write this, I thought I'd have more than two things, woops. Maybe I'll write some more if I think of anything.
What strategies do y'all use in your RP interactions to make things fun and engaging?

[Apothys]

Signature emotes. Something a specific toon does all the time to show some sort of emotion.

For example Aerik "scratches behind his ear" usually means hes not sure whats going on or is a little confused. Or i suppose he could have fleas...

I find having a bunch of basic signature emotes or sayings usually helps define and add to your RP interactions.

[Royal Blood]

I try to work in smaller emotes about things my character might be doing even if they don't have any particular purpose. Like when Ravares is busy pushing her hair back behind her ears there's no 'plot' behind it, it's just that her hair is in her way! Thinking about like what are motions I do when i'm just standing around or talking to someone then translating those small things into emotes IG I think is a small way to add some extra life to a character?

I think those small things can be conversation starters to. Like maybe Ravares didn't tighten a strap well enough on her armour so she's fidgeting with it while also trying to appear completely in control and prestigious. It's just something small and random but kinda fun.

Other than that, finding ways to describe how a characters gaze looks like... *Ravares stared, if her eyes were arrows he'd likely be filled with them by now.* Eyes are cool I think because they offer such dramatic reflections of emotion.

[R0GUE]

One thing that is hard about emotes, and believe me I am guilty of this myself, is it's easy to give away information about intent that the other player wouldn't justifiably be able to know just from your actions/body language.

Royal Blood's example about staring arrows is a good example of an emote done right, because a glaring look is something that can glean you information about another player.

A bad example might be emoting "Elly shifted uncomfortably, because she felt guilty about what she had just said". In this case you should probably just emote "Elly shifted uncomfortably" and let the other player decide what the meaning of that action is. Because just shifting uncomfortably isn't really an obvious indicator of feeling guilty. There could be a dozen other reasons to shift uncomfortably, including there is a pin in your backside.

Just pointing it out, because as it's something I struggle with myself, it might help others as well to be cognizant of it!

[JustMonika]

Describe your traits. Look at your character sheet. Are you wise? Smart? Charismatic?
Indeed, are you clumsy? Weak?

Find way to display those in your interactions. A clumsy character doesn't trip over every thirty seconds, but maybe once a session they miss a catch, or bump into someone, or are hesitant about leaping over that chasam. What are you wearing? How does that interact with the world?

What about your skills? Try to convey the character to the world about you. Their strengths, and as noted about, their weaknesses. Roleplaying low lore can be fun!

[KT28]

Whole books could be written on this topic - there are so many aspects that could be discussed about how to roleplay well, and the notes above about emoting are a great point.

I’m going to put forth an aspect of RP that has become dear to my heart the more I continue to practice roleplaying: “humor.” I have noticed a consistent pattern across dozens of my own characters, some of them successful but many of them complete failures: the more humor I incorporate into my character’s execution, the more successful they are and the more fun they are for me to play (and hopefully others around me!) Note that “humor” does not necessarily have to mean that your character is a jokester IC, but rather humor can (and perhaps ideally ‘should’) come from your understanding of what makes your character flawed, unique, and interesting and using your role as a storyteller to highlight those flaws in entertaining ways. A skilled roleplayer is able to do this while maintaining the integrity of the setting, bringing in the other players around her, and understanding that a backdrop of humor can make truly emotional moments all the more powerful when they do occur.

Additionally being able to “poke fun at” your own character, at least for me, helps me remain as divorced as possible from becoming overly invested in my character’s success, which I believe is perhaps the singlemost important status to strive for for ANY roleplayer. Remaining uninvested in your character OOCly is a constant pursuit, not an achievable destination - we are just humans after all and it’s natural to want your favorite character to be successful in what they aspire to. I find humor to be the most efficient and fun way to nurture a healthy OOC/IC separation. And this mental separation absolutely does require constant, intentional care. When I mess this up (and I do mess it up) is usually when I’m having the least fun in this game and is usually a sign I need to take a break.

Everyone has a different style obviously but this is what works for me - if I haven’t literally laughed at loud at least once every couple hours that I put into this game, it’s probably time for me to log off. I have also found that humor is absolutely a learnable skill; you don’t have to be some bubbly social butterfly IRL to learn it (I’m most definitely not), so I’d encourage anyone who wants to make the attempt to bring more humor into their roleplay to give it a try.

There are many other things I could write about on roleplaying in general but this single focus has probably had the biggest impact on my skills as a roleplayer personally; I hope someone finds it helpful!

[triaddraykin]

I just want to pipe in and say I appreciate that this is so far a thread of good RP tips, and not why one style or another is better than another.

[Opustus]

1. My characters suck and are devoid of personality. I probably tried too hard and made myself into a character.

Skulk in the corner and talk minimally. Emote only when emoted to. Read a book during events; this improves your inertia. They will be surprised to find out you're not an NPC.

2. My characters are devised to satisfy my own stupid sense of humour. Swear in fear of ban; my luck runs out one day. Pathologically violate any serious RP dynamics, because my character is an Snuggybear -- not totally unlike myself. Fail to become an insider in any circle. Write forum posts because I wake up too early and can't make any noise lest I awaken the wrath of the sleepers.

[woodbreeze]

Um, this might be straying from the original topic a little, but I've always wanted to post this sort of advice somewhere, so I hope you don't mind. It's not necessarily advice on actual writing techniques, but more so advice for people like me who struggle with anxiety but still want to engage in something they love. And to be honest, I think these are just good things to practice in general when it comes to roleplay.

So this is for you, anxious people.

There are good days and there are sometimes bad days when I play.

There are good days where I can get to a big point in a plotline and have exciting roleplay for hours and hours, where at the end of it all I'm like "wow! where did my day go?".

Then I can have days where I feel like I can't even write a sentence without feeling like a giant idiot, or I clam up and shut down.

Don't beat yourself up for having a bad day, just take a break and try again later. Don't let your anxiety win over something you enjoy. I have some suggestions that are maybe nuanced to fit me, but I figure it might be able to help someone else too:

-always have a plan when logging in. The goal could be as simple as "go from Point A to Point B" and rp with anyone you find along the way. It could be grinding to a specific level. Talk to the first person you run into. Whatever it is, it might sound simple, but even the smallest of interactions can slowly snowball into something exciting and great. Also, always have different goals for your character. I always write short term (daily), mid term, and long term goals for my characters. When you have an actual idea of what you want to do and how you can do it, you won't feel like you're drowning in the ''what ifs''.

-if you're having trouble approaching people in the first place, take a look at your character and your writing. I think a lot of times when I am having issues with this specifically, it's because I feel insecure about something with my writing or how I'm portraying my character. Do you understand your character, do you have the concept behind it truly figured out? Maybe you're struggling with finding their inner voice. Something I do sometimes is find a character in literature or a game or show that is similar to mine and note the specific things they do that make me recognize them and go "Yeah, this is [character name here]." Then I think of ways that I can use this example to help distinguish my own character and feel more confident in writing them. I just think having something you're able to relate to or reference is very helpful early into the character development.

Or maybe you feel like your writing feels repetitive or boring? I would suggest reading different things from different people, like poetry, books, etc- similar to art, I think a lot of learning to write is emulating the different styles that we discover and enjoy. I mean, you could probably even do this with good movies and shows and video games and taking your time to analyze the plot to understand what makes it so engaging, the points, hooks, ideas and all.

Try to dig up the root of the internal problem, and start working on it from there. Understanding what's making me freak out and acknowledging it in my head always weirdly takes a lot of weight off my shoulders. It's kind of like a reality check, and lets me address the issue more properly.


- Don't feel bad for typing slow, or if you're having trouble thinking of the right words. People are generally understanding of this, and if not, they aren't the kind of people you want to play with anyways.

-Surround yourself with people you can always come back to. While you should always challenge yourself to stretch far and wide (take as much time as you need, of course), it's always comforting to have stability. You can't build up without a proper foundation. So make sure you establish that early on with your character. Join factions, get involved, bend your character in appropriate ways so that they can do so, etc. This is also important because our characters are relevant through the relationships they develop. Get to know people, and they will want to know who you are. Roleplay is an exchange, and in the end this is what will make it enjoyable for you.

- Fight it. Anxiety can be overwhelming, but it'll only drown you if you let it. So keep yourself motivated, and remind yourself of the things you love about roleplaying. Look forward and especially cherish the special moments and the people that make it all worth it. Will it go away? No. But if you practice and play, you can get to a point where you can log on without feeling horrible.

I'm not the best at articulating my ideas, and maybe they aren't for everyone, but I hope this might help someone out there. :)

[dragonlad43]

A few things that I have picked up during my time here on Arelith:

1) Someone already kinda touched upon it, but there is a writing technique called "Show, Don't Tell." For example: Instead of saying: "He looked scared;" say: "His face went pale as a bead of sweat rolled down his face and his sword trembled in his hands." It suggests the mood you are feeling without outright saying it, leaving it open to the same interpretation we would have to do to read someone's emotions in a real life conversation (I know, scary, right?)

2) RP by yourself! When I would go out training solo with my characters in game, or I was running a writ (especially the courier writs), I would still try and spice up my game time by RP-ing by myself. For example, when Korlic, my current character, first got to the Nexus Falls, he was alone, but I still stopped and emoted the RP of him stopping and looking over the falls and talking to himself a bit. The great part about this is that: a - it's great practice, and if you slip up in the RP with yourself, no one ever knows [except maybe a DM that's stalking you ]; and b - it can be great for character development as it has been said many different ways- A person's true personality is the characteristics they exhibit when they're alone.

3) Have character flaws and personal strife. Everyone has their baggage... yes, even your Arelith Character (you know the one I'm talking about). Don't try to make your character perfect as that is not real. Real people go through strife and deal with flaws that can boil to the surface daily, once a month, or maybe only ever once in their whole lifetime. Needless to say it's still there. And even when they overcome an obstacle, try coming up with or organizing a new one for yourself.

4) My final piece of advice: don't be afraid to have a story. I've had times where characters return to the mainland for a matter of RL 3-day period, just because I wanted to advance their story somehow. And on this, character arcs don't have to be completed. My first character, Gareth, died with things left unfinished. It's always nice to have an idea of how you want your character to go out (but be open to RP-opportunities and chance).

I hope this helps someone! And if anyone has comments about my advice I'd love to hear it!

[AstralUniverse]

On my current character I look at people a lot for long, sharply, with a narrowed and appraising gaze "as if appraising their worth" as I like to emote often these days. I try to give the other side a lot of time and freedom of reaction and spark their creativity by putting their character in an uncomfortable position as if they have a camera in their face. As was said before by someone else, I also try to keep my emotes to what other characters can actually see/hear etc but I dont /always/ stick to dry details only. Sometimes it's more simple and direct to type that your character seems happy even though they're not currently smiling, because the other option is a wall of text that details things that will eventually imply nothing more than that the character is happy or unhappy. So there's a balance for each person to find for themselves in how they approach that.

The most important thing for me is to create tension and leaving some mystery. Never be TOO obvious with what your emotes mean. Never be too revealing about what goes through your character's head. I like staring fights a lot, also.

[The GrumpyCat]

Some great advice here. I guess my pro-tip for emotes is movement. I like to give a lot of my characters a specific word(s) for how they walk, I find that sort of signature line helps deliniate them a lot.
So my cowardly thief might skitter. My brutish halforc would lumber. My decidant bard saunters and my steadfast paladin marches.

[AstralUniverse]

Um, this might be straying from the original topic a little, but I've always wanted to post this sort of advice somewhere, so I hope you don't mind. It's not necessarily advice on actual writing techniques, but more so advice for people like me who struggle with anxiety but still want to engage in something they love. And to be honest, I think these are just good things to practice in general when it comes to roleplay.

So this is for you, anxious people.

There are good days and there are sometimes bad days when I play.

There are good days where I can get to a big point in a plotline and have exciting roleplay for hours and hours, where at the end of it all I'm like "wow! where did my day go?".

Then I can have days where I feel like I can't even write a sentence without feeling like a giant idiot, or I clam up and shut down.

Don't beat yourself up for having a bad day, just take a break and try again later. Don't let your anxiety win over something you enjoy. I have some suggestions that are maybe nuanced to fit me, but I figure it might be able to help someone else too:

-always have a plan when logging in. The goal could be as simple as "go from Point A to Point B" and rp with anyone you find along the way. It could be grinding to a specific level. Talk to the first person you run into. Whatever it is, it might sound simple, but even the smallest of interactions can slowly snowball into something exciting and great. Also, always have different goals for your character. I always write short term (daily), mid term, and long term goals for my characters. When you have an actual idea of what you want to do and how you can do it, you won't feel like you're drowning in the ''what ifs''.

-if you're having trouble approaching people in the first place, take a look at your character and your writing. I think a lot of times when I am having issues with this specifically, it's because I feel insecure about something with my writing or how I'm portraying my character. Do you understand your character, do you have the concept behind it truly figured out? Maybe you're struggling with finding their inner voice. Something I do sometimes is find a character in literature or a game or show that is similar to mine and note the specific things they do that make me recognize them and go "Yeah, this is [character name here]." Then I think of ways that I can use this example to help distinguish my own character and feel more confident in writing them. I just think having something you're able to relate to or reference is very helpful early into the character development.

Or maybe you feel like your writing feels repetitive or boring? I would suggest reading different things from different people, like poetry, books, etc- similar to art, I think a lot of learning to write is emulating the different styles that we discover and enjoy. I mean, you could probably even do this with good movies and shows and video games and taking your time to analyze the plot to understand what makes it so engaging, the points, hooks, ideas and all.

Try to dig up the root of the internal problem, and start working on it from there. Understanding what's making me freak out and acknowledging it in my head always weirdly takes a lot of weight off my shoulders. It's kind of like a reality check, and lets me address the issue more properly.


- Don't feel bad for typing slow, or if you're having trouble thinking of the right words. People are generally understanding of this, and if not, they aren't the kind of people you want to play with anyways.

-Surround yourself with people you can always come back to. While you should always challenge yourself to stretch far and wide (take as much time as you need, of course), it's always comforting to have stability. You can't build up without a proper foundation. So make sure you establish that early on with your character. Join factions, get involved, bend your character in appropriate ways so that they can do so, etc. This is also important because our characters are relevant through the relationships they develop. Get to know people, and they will want to know who you are. Roleplay is an exchange, and in the end this is what will make it enjoyable for you.

- Fight it. Anxiety can be overwhelming, but it'll only drown you if you let it. So keep yourself motivated, and remind yourself of the things you love about roleplaying. Look forward and especially cherish the special moments and the people that make it all worth it. Will it go away? No. But if you practice and play, you can get to a point where you can log on without feeling horrible.

I'm not the best at articulating my ideas, and maybe they aren't for everyone, but I hope this might help someone out there.

This is an excellent post that I wish to echo because Arelith is a persistent digital living world and as such, it has a lot of appeal to people with social anxiety. I find this post very helpful and instructive.

[Flower Power]

My tips.

Most of my best characters have started well before character creation actually happened. You don't need to write a 9-page essay on your character, but you'll probably get a lot more mileage out of them (and be much less likely to just randomly lose interest because they ended up not being fun to play) if you do some legwork beforehand.

So, pre-Chargen Advice:

1) Motivation: Nobody really just exists. Everybody wants something, but there's usually a reason why they don't have it (for example: I'd really like to be in Grad school right now, but it's just too damn expensive.) Your character should have some driving purpose, some internal desire, that informs how they act and the overarching path they'll take. Ask yourself "What does my character want - and why can't they have it" and go from there. This helps you set goals for your character that will help you generate story and content for yourself and others.

2) Backstory: Flesh out at least the basics. I usually pick at least a region or city, have a rough idea of my character's parentage and their childhood (good, bad, happy, sad, rich, poor, etc.) - this helps me decide on mannerisms/culture and customs and other things that can help ground the character in "reality" and give them some easy substance. The rest can really be made up on the fly as it becomes necessary or pertinent. A good rule of thumb is "if you can't describe who your character is in 1-2 short paragraphs or less, you're probably overthinking it."

3) Character Description: Interaction with your character oftentimes starts with your character description. A lot of people reflexively examine people as they go along - so writing something that's informative and spurs people to interact with you can help you get your foot in the door. Writing a good character description is tough, though, because you don't want to write a novel (nobody is going to read that, usually.) I usually go with 3-4 paragraphs of a couple sentences each. I start with obvious physical descriptors: height, build, complexion, hair color, eye color, etc. I include any easy identifiers (noteworthy scars, tattoos, markings, etc.) or physical tics that can help other people describe my character if need be. Obvious cultural tells or personal mannerisms or markers of group belonging (holy symbols, badges, etc.) help round the rest out. Your character description should be (relatively) short and sweet, and cover physical description, give an inkling of who your character is, and ideally give them a reason to talk to you.

General play advice:

4) Losing is !!Fun!!: Be willing to "lose". We're here to help generate a narrative collaboratively and no one is going to want to collaborate with you if the narrative you're spinning is "I win all the time always at any cost." Let other people have fun too.

5) Be Willing to Step Back: The difference between a good RPer and a great RPer is how often they're willing to share the spotlight. Most of the best RPers on the server aren't necessarily the ones whose characters you hear about 24/7 - but the ones who are willing to step back and help others take charge when need be.

6) Short & Sweet: Long emotes aren't always better than short emotes. Using complex or sophisticated language isn't always better (in fact, I would argue it's usually worse) than using simpler language. Emotes should inform on the physical and emotional state of your character - the greater amount of clarity and insight they provide, the better. Using fancy words and drawn out sentences doesn't always do this.

7) Inject yourself: Don't just stand at the edge of the crowd or walk up to someone and stand there saying nothing hoping they'll take the first step or someone will notice you. Inject yourself into the situation in a manner that doesn't make you (as a player) seem like an Snuggybear. Find a way to enter the conversation. Find a way to catch peoples' attention. Several of my characters have had the better part of a million gold before they hit level 10 because they hustled and interacted with people energetically. Several of my characters have made themselves vital members of large organizations before level 10 because they got involved and helped out however they could. Your character will go places a lot faster and a lot more entertainingly if you go out of your way to make them actually a part of the story.

[Seven Sons of Sin]

I'd echo everything KT28 said.

I'd echo everything woodbreeze said.

I'd put disclaimers on every discussion about "emotes" and "language", and tell you that so much of that is subjective and style. For example,

A bad example might be emoting "Elly shifted uncomfortably, because she felt guilty about what she had just said". In this case you should probably just emote "Elly shifted uncomfortably" and let the other player decide what the meaning of that action is. Because just shifting uncomfortably isn't really an obvious indicator of feeling guilty. There could be a dozen other reasons to shift uncomfortably, including there is a pin in your backside.

Don't think this is "bad" at all. In fact, I think this can be a very stylistic choice for certain kinds of characters. I get where you're coming from - you want to leave stuff up to interpretation. But you know how many times I thought I made a "woah so obvious hint" about how my character thought or felt only for it never to be picked up on ever? A lot. Sometimes bluntness and forthrightness accelerates the scene and the relationship. So it's subjective.

Good roleplayers are not evaluated on their language skills, or their prose, or their style. That's not what catapults fun (although it can help). I'd never worry about that.

Like KT28, I have also noticed a trend in my own characters that I cannot simply escape and to me, has always been lead to rewarding roleplay and fun. KT28's is "humour", and mine would be curiousity. All my characters ask a lot of questions. All my characters want to investigate things, report things, learn about things - learn from the server, learn from other players, learn from the scarred veterans and the noobies. To me, so much of roleplaying hinges on questions. "Who are you?", "where do you come from?", "what do you want?" - questions cut past the noise and really start to tackle the meat of roleplay. A question means you want to listen to not only another character, but a player. A question instigates a whole new scene. You can spend a whole afternoon tracking down a character to ask them a question because you want the answer. There's always some sort of desperation. I know when a character asks one of mine a question, there's immediately some kind of flattery - some player out there believes my answer is worthwhile (for whatever reason).

Whole narrative arcs can start with question-and-answer, and I think one of the most explosive and immediate radars for "character" is how someone chooses to respond.

So yeah, questions.

[The GrumpyCat]

First off - important question - Seven Sons of Sin, have you watched Babylon 5? Because you really should.

Secondly - mostly going to echo the points above...
It's important to have goals yes, but there's nothing wrong with having goals (especialy long term goals) that you know, oocly, arn't possible. That's fine. That's good even. Sometimes it's about the journey.

Sometimes it's good to have goals/questions that you yourself don't know the answer, but that plauge your character and help them develop. This is something I do, and I enjoy it immencly.

This next one isn't really a... 'roleplay' suggestion but more a well... 'headspace' suggestion.
Immortality in Arelity is less influenced by the effect you had on the 'server.' But rather, the effect you have on the characters and players around you.

Factions rise and fall. Leaders come and go. Even settlments crumble. What remains is 'Hay, Do you remember such-and-such' 'Yeah I remember him/That! That was awsome!'

It's the memories you leave of events in other peoples mind that are what remains, that are the true immortality of Arelith.

[TheRedMasque]

I love threads like these. Great storytelling with interesting characters and high stakes is what makes D&D (and PWs) so incredibly interesting.

Also love some of the advice made in this thread. Mine are probably more basic (geared more for newer players) than some of the finer detailed points expressed above, but they are essential in the foundation for creating memorable characters.

For newer players, you just have to ask yourself: what is roleplaying? Well it is easy! Roleplaying is essentially a player "playing" a "role". You may ask yourself: "what is my role?" That's an easy question too! Your "role" is pretty much your character - Trogdor Bonecrusher - or whoever it is you fancy. Once you've established this, there are only two things which are essential for creating a memorable high stake character. You ask yourself in any given situation your character is in (following server rules of course):

"What would Trogdor Bonecrusher do?"

-and-

"Why does he do it?"

And lastly, you always remember that your character is not you. If you were to find yourself in a bar fight, with glass being shattered, patrons throwing chairs, and the mage in the back corner ready to cast fireball...you might run and call the police. But what would Trogdor Bonecrusher do?

[Echohawk]

Play in game, not on discord.

[MJmalevolent]

I love you all. Thanks for making this a great thread

Also, I would totally invite a C called Trogdor Bonecrusher on a writ any day of the tenday. Would be my new BFF 100%