What is Roleplaying?

what is roleplaying?
basics
There are many definitions of RPGs (roleplaying games). The type of RPG which will be referred to in this guide is online literary RPGs (what Wikipedia calls storytelling games). People who play on literary RPGs make up a relatively small community, so kudos to you for stumbling across it!

Roleplaying (RPing) is all about writing "posts" with a character you have created, which other people then post back to with their own characters. Rather than writing a story by yourself, you end up creating (often spontaneous) stories with other writers from all around the world. RPing is a hobby for people who enjoy writing fiction for the fun of it. If you don't like writing then RPing probably isn't for you.

If you're the type of person who enjoys writing but lacks confidence, or perhaps doesn't like to share their writing with the rest of the world, RPing can be a fantastic way to improve your skills and get a little self-confidence. I know some people who were very shy about their writing, but after five or six years of playing on RPGs they now have publishers vying for the rights to their books. All these people needed was an uncritical audience who understood perfectly the need to express themselves creatively with words.

An RPG is a pre-designed world where your character can live and interact with other characters. Shaman, for example, is set in another universe far from Earth, on a small, magical planet verging on the brink of civilisation. Other RPGs may be based on Earth, or even in places in pre-existing works of fiction such as Hogwarts or Alagaesia. The setting is created for you, but the character is entirely yours to mold. At different sites you can play different species of characters - from normal humans to horses to wolves to dragons to dolphins! There's a great wide roleplaying world out there and, chances are, there's a site just for you. This guide is suitable for most RPGs and isn't specifically tailored to Shaman. If you're totally new to RPing and don't really think Shaman is for you but you're nervous about joining somewhere else, you're more than welcome to play here temporarily to get to grips with what RPing is all about before moving on to somewhere else. The Starground in the Outer Border is apt for this, because it's a freeform board where you can play whatever character you want, not just fairies.

how to create a character
The first step to creating a character is imagining them. If you already write then this will be easy for you, but if you're new to creative writing you might want to use the guide below to help picture your character. Here are some things to consider when making a character:

What species is your character? On most RPGs the species you can play as is fairly restrictive - on Shaman, for example, you can only join as fairies. You can, however, play as your fairy's familiar, which can be any animal. Other RPGs are multi-species or allow for sub-species of character.
What does your character look like? Really picture them in your mind. If it's a human, try to think about more than just hair, eye and skin colour. Think about the shape of their face, the body proportions, the type of clothes that suit them. Do they have thick eyebrows, freckles, piano fingers, fast-growing hair, a protruding chin? Remember that most people dislike something about their appearance, so even if you want a beautiful character it's important to give them some kind of visual flaw. Maybe the arch at the bottom of their foot is very high, so they struggle to find shoes that fit them. Or maybe they have big bones which makes them look overweight even when they aren't. Be creative! The mark of a good writer is the ability to take something very normal and boring and make it interesting to read about.
What's your character's history and how has that shaped their personality? It's very tempting to create a character with a tragic or dramatic back-story, but that's actually very common. Don't consider your character "boring" just because he or she grew up in a nuclear family in suburbia, and don't forget that there's plenty of interesting things which can happen to your character in the game. Think about where your character came from and how they came to be where they are now, and why. What was their family like? Their old friends? Did they work, go to school, do any extra-curricular activities?
What's your character's personality like? How do they treat people, and why? Personalities are such complex things that it may take a while for you to get to know your character completely. Sometimes you still don't even know them properly after months of writing them; secretive characters may take longer to reveal themselves fully, even to the people who write them. You know your characters are truly alive when they do things that even you don't expect even as you're writing them. If you're stuck describing their personality then try to imagine different situations and think about how your character might act in each of them.
What's your character's dream? What do they want? Why are they here, in this world? Is your character an ambitious type who will strive to achieve their goals no matter what, or do they sort of bop cluelessly through life without really knowing what they want to do?

When you've imagined your character, try and write them. Put them in a scenario, describe the scenario and then describe how your character deals with it. If you're struggling to write the character, think about why. Maybe you need to change them, or scrap them completely and come up with a new concept if that one doesn't suit you. Writing a character before joining them will help you to gauge how easily you can play that character and if you'll be able to write them long-term.

If you're not sure what to write, have a click around on Shaman and look at other people's posts on the in character boards to get an idea. Don't panic about word counts! Experienced RPers often write more than newbies, but some people have been RPing for eight or more years and still only write about 200 words per post. It's completely down to personal preference and has nothing to do with how good an RPer you are. You write as much as you feel comfortable writing and if you run out of things to say, just stop there. Don't ever let anyone bully you into putting more or less than you feel happy writing. The most important thing is that you're having fun and putting a good effort into the quality of your post.

how to post
There are two main types of RPG: board-based and forum-based sites. Shaman is a board-based site, so I will explain how to post on board-based sites here. For a guide on forum-based sites, you may need to find a beginner-friendly forum-based site.

Before you write a post, you must decide where your character will be. Check out some of the different places where you can post on the site. On a lot of sites, different places have different functions - one place might be a battleground, another someone's home, another an orphangage. As a first-timer, it's probably best for you to find a neutral social ground. Nearly all RPGs have one of these. On Shaman, the neutral social ground is called the "Silver Cove" and is found under the Outer Border section. Don't forget to describe the place in your post!

When writing your posts, we strongly advise you use a word processing software such as Microsoft Word. Some people choose to save their posts to their computer since the boards are not backed up.

Once you've written your post, it's time to post it on the website.

Step 1: Go to the place where you described your character being.
Step 2: Find a link saying "Post a New Message" or similar. On Boards2Go sites this will be just before the other posts start. Click this link.
Step 3: Type your character's name into the "Name" box.
Step 4: Type anything you like into the "Subject" box. Lots of people like to put famous quotes or song lyrics here. If you are posting to a specific character, put their name in the subject line. You can leave the email field blank if you want. If you put your email in the email field, you will automatically be emailed when someone replies to your post.
Step 5: Copy and paste your post into the "Message" box.
Step 6: You can leave the Link Name, Link URL and Image URL sections blank if you want, but it is advisable that you set a password so you can edit your post later if you want. Make sure it's something memorable.
Step 7: Press 'Post' and type the code you see into the box, then press "Post" again.

That's all there is to it! If you're replying to someone else, click on their post and scroll down until you see the boxes, then repeat steps 2-7.

You may notice that some people use special individualised layouts for their characters when they post. If you're new to RPing and HTML you may want to avoid this at first, and just get to grips with RPing itself. If you want, though, you can ask an experienced player to help you make a layout for your character.

how to use a roleplaying site
It may not seem like it to a newbie, but RPGs more or less all have the same basic setup. Navigation can often be confusing, so the best thing you can do is click around. There are three basic sections to any RPG: the "begin" section with information, rules and a place to join; the "play" section where you can post in character; and the "OOC" section where you can post out of character (as yourself, the player). This may be split into more than three sections (for example, Shaman has two "play" sections - one general interaction and one living areas), but the basic format is still the same.

When checking out a new site, be sure to check these things:

Useability. Is the site easy to use and navigate? Is everything laid out clearly, and can you read the text without having to highlight it? Is all the information written in good English that you can understand? Sites which have poor useability are just irritating in the long-run, even if they look pretty.
What type of RPG is it exactly, and what type of species can you play there? Is it realistic, semi-realistic or fantasy? Do you play humanoids, felines, canines, equines, marine or made-up creatures? There's no point joining a site if you don't want to write what's played there.
What sort of level are people writing at? Read a few posts and see what the general level of quality on the site is. People of similar writing styles and etiquette often congregate together so you may find that everybody is writing roughly 200 words, or roughly 500 words, or roughly 1000 words. Some sites are specifically tailored to beginners, others are tailored to intermediate or advanced RPers.
What are the people like? Are they nice? Post in the general chat area and see how people respond to you. Ask questions if you're confused about things on the site. If people are friendly and willing to help, then you may have picked a winner.

Once you've picked a site you like the look of, read all the information (usually under a "begin" section; on Shaman, this section is called "Adhere") and rules before joining a character. The join section is usually found under the beginning link too. Once you've joined, you can start playing.

All RPGs are individual, but one thing you can always do if you need help is ask in the general chat areas. Someone will always be willing to point you in the right direction.

good roleplaying etiquette
Etiquette varies from RPG to RPG, but there are a few key things which are generally agreed upon in the RPG community which you, as a new member of that community, should take note of.

Put some effort into your posts. It's supposed to be fun, but remember that it's no fun for the other person if they have to pick apart your post to try and work out what you mean. Be clear and remember to spellcheck and proofread!
When replying to someone else, read their post carefully and respond to all elements of it. Don't just reply to the dialogue, take note of every little action in the other person's post. Be thorough with your replies and don't just skip over things or say things happened when they didn't.
Don't have your character read minds if they're not psychic. Never forget that just because you can read something, doesn't mean your character knows it.
Don't powerplay or god-mode. Powerplaying/god-moding means having your character be more powerful than they should be, or making someone else's character do or say something they didn't do or say. This may be hard to get to grips with at first, but you'll soon get used to what people mean by powerplaying. Forcing interactions on another character (e.g. saying you killed or hit them instead of saying you attempted to kill or struck out at them) is also considered powerplaying.
Keep what's in character in character, and what's out of character out of characer. If you have a disagreement with someone out of character, don't just suddenly make your character hate their characters. Likewise, if your characters have a fight there's no cause for you to start hating the player. You and your character are separate people.
Always be polite and if you have a problem, take it up with a staff member. Don't try and resolve big issues by yourself - always get help from a more experienced player or a member of staff.
Always post in the appropriate places. If there's a board specifically designed for something, use it for its intended purpose.
Make your posts easily understandable. By all means use a thesaurus, but don't overdo it to try and sound clever. If in doubt, a simple word works just fine.
Try to be original and creative. Don't just copy someone else's character. Try and make your character unique and entirely your own creation.

the roleplaying community
The RPG community probably consists of several hundred people. That's not much when you consider the world is seven billion people strong and that there are hundreds of millions of internet users globally. Because the community is relatively small, word spreads far. The best form of advertising for all RPGs is word of mouth. Good reputations take time to build up, but they are important to have. Lots of people refuse to RP with people who have reputations as thieves (whether they're stealing characters, posts, images or layouts), drama queens or slackers who put no effort into their posts.

At the moment, one friendly site where everyone from the RPG community can go to meet and hang out doesn't really exist. There are several sites, but they aren't usually maintained well and often die very quickly. The best way to meet the RPG community outside of your chosen RPG is to scope out other games and post in their chat areas. Lots of sites now have instant chat boxes and encourage visitors.

other forms of roleplaying
If you know other RPers personally, there are ways to RP other than on an official RPG. Some people like to make a single board just to RP with their friends. Other people like to live-RP (roleplaying on an instant message program, such as MSN, AIM, Yahoo, Facebook Chat, or chat boxes). Live-RPing is very different to using RPGs, because you tend to only post a sentence or two at a time. Alternatively, some people like to RP via emails or even Facebook messages.

where to go from here
If you're interested in roleplaying on Shaman, go back to the Adhere page and read all the information and rules there before joining. If you want to try your hand somewhere else, try our sister sites page or advertising board to find an RPG more suited to your tastes.