RP Etiquette

RP Etiquette! In Offtopic, RP can be confusing to a lot of newbs/lurkers, or even terrifying, especially if one has introverted tendencies! And so an idea was created, and idea to inform and ease the fears of you poor lurkers! Roleplay has a couple basic ideas, that most anyone on the internet knows, but allow me to reiterate:

Rule One: The Almighty and All-damaging power of... God-Modding
God-modding, for those new to the RP scene, is the act of trying to overthrow the DM(what the master of the roleplay is referred to, the Dungeon Master) and his authority. This can completely cripple the RP, and not only would Ruin the RP, but you would most likely begin to gain a negative reputation! Here's an example:

DM: "5 wolves approach you, hackles raised. One jumps at you and attempts to bite your leg"

God Modder: "I kill them all with insta-death magic before any of them can reach me!"

While this might be a more extreme case, God-Modding can come in more subtle bouts:

DM: "The minotaur snarls, then swings his axe at you"

God-modder: "I whip out my magic sword and attempt to deflect"

This is not actually that terrible, but in this context the god-modder has never given the idea that his/her character could use magic of any kind, therefore, this can be classified as god-modding because the RPer spontaneously learned an ability

How to stop it!

God-Modding either comes from trolls, or people who are uninformed, so Inform yourself! Here are some basic tips to avoiding such a fate:

1: Tell the DM what abilities you have :
Make sure to tell the Dm some of your abilities, especially if combat is a major part of the RP! Make sure to keep it short, however, an essay on your abilities is not only time consuming but also pretty odd! Usually you can summarize your abilities and the DM will understand (If it's an obscure or unique ability relate it to a more well-known ability)

2: Have Limits to everything:
Even if it's a basic ability, No one should be all powerful (except for a few incredibly special cases) and that means everyone has limits. If you are a magic user, you should impose a cast time, or a maximum range, or it requires physical contact, ANYTHING!

3: The DM is the Governing power
While a DM shouldn't abuse his/her position, what he/she says goes, as it is their RP and trying to usurp their power is never a good idea. Know that when a DM says "Your strike misses", it misses, period. TO make it more fair, a lot of DM's use a d20 to try and see if it misses or hits, which I will get into later

(Editor's note: If anyone has any better ideas feel free to add them, I'm wingin' it right now)

Rule Two: It's Called ROLE -playing
When Roleplaying, you are playing the role of the character, which means you should act like your character. It becomes a problem when a character that is supposed to be an introvert acts INCREDIBLY outgoing, as it can confuse DM's. What ands up happening is your character becomes a different person entirely, and can ruin the experience.

The easiest way to stick to a personality is this:

Write it down
Simply just write your character's personality quirks down! If you wonder how your character might react to a situation, reference the document or paper and then act it out! Here's an example of what you might write down:

(Name here)

Generally extroverted

dislikes octopuses

enjoys really hot-hot chocolate

Has a carnival in his hometown he misses a lot

This stuff is what can make a character not seem flat, little personality quirks! Adhering to this, and referencing them every now and again can really bring any character to life! Bigger things can affect it too, like:

Has a slight african accent, due to time spent in africa, because his parents enjoyed exploring

He has mostly northern european decent

His dog died when he was 3 and it hurts him to this day

His biggest dream is visiting his hometown again, but due to current circumstances that makes it nearly impossible

Those things can cause a character to really flourish! However, a story or two is recommended to explain why these things happen, and give more background to your characters oddities!

What if you were your character?
Another very usable option is to make your first character's personality similar to yours, which means you can act like "you" and it would be accurate to the role-play! This makes it incredibly easy to roleplay, especially if you are new to the scene!

Rule Three: Things that should be common sense!

 * 1) The receiving party has to agree before you kill their character, you can't just destroy someone's work without asking them first
 * 2) I've said this but i'll say it again, what the DM says goes! Don't flippin argue about how he/she should govern his/her creation! (However, it may be prudent to politely notify them if you notice the DM is straying from rules he/she set for him/herself)
 * 3) Be polite to everyone. period. (Unless the RP says otherwise)
 * 4) During a fight between characters, agree on a system! Most people use either d20's or freestyle. D20's are more reliable, but freestyle is a lot easier for older and more experienced RPers. If you happen to begin a freestyle battle, do not argue with another person, but as most people referring to this article are newer members, using a d20 to decide who succeeds and who fails is more reliable, and helps sway people from the temptation to god-mod
 * 5) (will add more as I think of it)

Time for some text etiquette
While everyone has their own style of Rping, This section will detail some basic things that you should use whilst RPing in Offtopic:

1:Speaking
When your character is speaking, use quotation marks, "like this!"

2: Actions
There are two ways to portray an action, the first using *this!* and the second is simply doing nothing! the first method is more common for simple actions like *he looks around* with the second is used for longer descriptions combined with actions, like(italics used to differentiate): He looks around, noticing the ruined village, and heads towards it, humming to himself pleasantly.

3:Outside of RP
If you want to talk to someone outside of RP, use spoilers, which in Offtopic work like [spoiler] this! [/spoiler], and these, along with (parentheses) can be used to talk to the DM or whoever you are combatting outside of character!

(Another Editors note: This page is subject to change at any time, as I might think of a better way to word something, or maybe someone else comes up with another rule of RP)

A note from the Owner
As the saying goes, in regarding to credibility and sway in the RP world, "Seniority B*tch."