RP for Beginners
So you want to to start role-playing. You will find it’s surprisingly fun, and a few tips will make it even better.
Tip One: Look Before You Post.You found a thread you want to join, and you're ready to post, right? Take a moment to be sure. Never post when you don't know what's happening. Always read the first post of a thread and the last page as well. This will tell you where the setting is, and the mood of the thread. If your character walks into a serious and emotional thread and tries to start a conversation about the beautiful weather, they probably won't be welcomed.
Also, Magikal has been around for years. Check the date of the last post. You can find it right beneath the thread title. If it's more than a month old, you might want to keep looking.
Tip Two: Make Your Best Post.Most of us are not professional writers. In fact, I doubt any of us are. But if you know a few tricks, it’s not that hard to make an awesome RP post. The main key is detail so that the person reading it can see what's going on in their mind without wondering what's happening. Then they don’t have to ask questions about what your character is doing. This makes it more enjoyable for the reader and moves the RP along faster. A post does not have to be long to be good, detailed, and fun to read.
Bad sentence:
Eli walked into the room.
Good sentence:
Eli strode into the silent room, the dark anger that clung to him raising heads from their books to watch him pass.
Both these examples say the same thing, but the second one gives a much more detailed view of the room, making it easier for the imagination to see it all.
You don't need to overdo it, either. At some point, it will get boring rather than fun to read, when you are trying to keep the person on the other side interested in reading it. It can be hard to decide what might be a good level of detail and what would be too much. A good rule is to see how much the others in the thread have posted. You can also aim for filling as much of the Quick Reply box with text as you can manage.
One exception is your first post in an RP thread. The first post is most often used to describe the surroundings and what is happening around the character.
Your first post, if you're joining a thread, is showing how your character fits in, with how they're feeling or how they're reacting to what's going on.
Tip Three: Only Write Your Characters.The biggest, most important rule is
do not God-Mode. God-Moding is controlling another person's character. For example, writing that another character got hit or walked away, or that they looked shocked or upset. The ONLY exception to this rule is when the other person says you can do this before you post it.
God-Moding:
Eli threw a punch that landed squarely on his friend's jaw, knocking him to the ground.
Not God-Moding:
Eli pulled back his fist, aiming a punch at his friend's jaw, fully intending to knock him to the ground.
The difference is that in the second version, you give them the option to decide whether the move affects them, or how badly it affects them.
Tip Four: Imperfection is More Fun than Being Perfect.On a related note, let your characters take hits sometimes.
No one can always avoid a hit. Make sure you let your character get hit more often than not, or else it’s not fun. That doesn’t mean that your character always gets hit, however. That wouldn’t be fun either.
Also, you are not your character. If you know that the other character is a girl in disguise as a boy who has a weakness for the scent of apples, your character doesn't know, unless someone has told them or they have
seen it in a thread somewhere. Don’t have your character randomly calling her by her given name if she introduced herself as Joey. Likewise, if a character is plotting to betray you, your character does not know that.
Tip Five: Details Count.Most RPs will be in third person, past tense. (Example: Eli banged on the door,
NOT I am banging on the door.) It's easier to read through if everyone is doing it this way.
Also, careful with colors. Some of the brighter colors, like
yellow, are hard to look at against the black background. Some of the darker colors, like
navy, can disappear against it. You can always modify your post if you realize something isn't the way you wanted it.
Don't modify information after the next post, though! If you post that Abigail's feet were in the lake and she was thinking about swimming, and Eli comes along and pulls her into the water, don't go back and edit your post to say that Abigail is afraid of going too deep because she can't swim.
Tip Six: Getting a Thread.If it seems like everyone is busy, the first place to go is the OOC Board. There's an RP Request sub-board, and you can post a thread asking for someone to join you. Or, if someone else is asking, you can join them.
If all else fails, or if there's someone you'd really like to post with, you can send them a PM
asking if they'd post with you. Don't harass though. They might really be busy, or their character might be tied up.
Tip Seven: Relax!It seems like a lot of rules, but don't worry, when you're new, people will forgive mistakes. Just do your best. And if you happen to be on and not posting, feel free to read. The Daily Prophet is a good place to see who the major players are or have been in the past year, without having several pages to go through.
Again, do your best, and if you have any questions, ask someone. You can ask Headmistress Hells or myself, or even whoever you're posting with.
