Roleplay RULES - (archived)

Skymin · Apr 24, 2014

I think that if a roleplay has 2-3 people, it can be easily organised through Skype or PMs or some kind of chatting platform. I don't mind if players are previously organised, but four was my minimum.

Though I suppose it depends on the circumstances if it was 3. I think 2 can be just done through PMs.

Leòmhann teine · Sep 5, 2014

You definitely thought hard about these rules and did a good job now I shall try my hardest not to break any of them!

moon · Jan 5, 2015

We made a few changes, which you can see below, as well as a couple of minor corrections like spelling errors and whatnot :3

Where do I post my new roleplay?! Where can I find cool roleplays to join?!
Okay, calm down. The boards are separated into two different boards, the Roleplay Corner and the Roleplay Lounge. Each board plays a vital part in our little community and if you are new to the boards, you may need a helping hand to know where to post what!

Roleplay Corner
This section is the main section and is where the In Character (or IC) threads live. This is where most of the magic happens and where you'll most likely be spending a lot of time writing out your adventures and shenanigans. Note that IC threads should not be created until you have a decent amount of players accepted in the associated OOC thread!

Roleplay Lounge
This sub-board is for the Out Of Charater (or OOC) threads. This is where you should go if you want to sign up for a roleplay, and the OOC is the first thread you should post if you want to create a new roleplay. The OOC threads should include enough info to give you an idea of what the RP is about. Other than that, you may come to the Roleplay Lounge to relax, discuss plotlines, characters and other things relating to the roleplay, always out of character. Remember to keep on topic!

[*]All submitted roleplays need some kind of guidelines or rules, on top of the general Roleplay Corner rules! This is as to create a contract between the GM and the players who sign up - the GM should be able to fall back onto the specific guidelines the player agreed to follow, in case any arguments arise. If you are the GM and don't think any specific rules are necessary, you may simply state the rating and remind your players to read the Roleplay Corner rules.

[*]All active roleplays need a list of players. As soon as the IC thread becomes active, there should be a players list somewhere, but it does not matter if you put it in the IC or OOC thread.

Feel free to ask here or PM me if you have any questions or concerns.

Skymin · Jan 31, 2015

Made a minor adjustment now that language is optionally filtered.

gimmepie · Mar 15, 2015

So yeah, I wrote up a GMing guide and adventure said to post it in here

So You Want to be a GM?

Maybe you're a newcomer to the RPC and are looking to jump right in to being a game master of your own roleplay, or perhaps you're a veteran roleplayer that's looking to make a switch to GMing. Either way, creating and running a roleplay can be a daunting task for some people and it doesn't need to be. So long as you're committed and on the ball there's nothing to worry about.

The way I see it, there are two aspects to being a GM – creating the roleplay and then implementing it. That much is probably obvious enough so I'm going to break things down a little bit further.

Before You Even Start
Before you even start working on your own RP, read the rules of the RPC and familiarise yourself with all the important points. If you know the rules well enough it is highly unlikely that your roleplay will be denied and you will be able to act better as a GM.

Creating a Roleplay
The following is a creative process that I often use when constructing my own roleplays, it is by no means the only method of going about things and whether or not you find it to be the best way to go about things is up to you – I don't even use it every time I create an RP. It is however, a good place to start.

1. The Idea – Obviously enough, each roleplay starts with an idea. Maybe you've just thought it would be really cool to RP in a specific pokemon region or maybe you have had a completely original idea for your roleplay – regardless this idea is the very first building block towards your roleplay. So why am I even mentioning this? Because before you start writing you need to think can it work.

I'm not saying that all RPs need to be of a popular franchise or idea, rather I'm saying that if your premise is too complex the roleplay will struggle and probably suffer an early death. More often than not it is the simplest RPs that are the most successful and RPs that rely too heavily on reliable players aren't going to fare very well either since players will drop out regardless of how good your RP is.

2. Develop the Idea – Let's be honest, if you want to be a GM, you probably already have an idea in your mind about what kind of roleplay you want to create, but just an idea isn't going to create a fun and engaging plot. Starting from your idea you need to develop lore (fictional history) for your roleplay and you need to develop a basic idea of the plot., otherwise you just have a premise. So before you even start writing your OP, toss some ideas around in your head until you can create a history for your universe and build the basis of your plot from it (although creating history from the plot also works.)

3. Gameplay – This is probably the part I often have the most trouble with, how will my story actually work as a roleplay. Will the roleplay be sandbox, chapter-based or a hybrid (definitions below)? What mechanics will you use? Not all roleplay ideas are universal, it is important that you choose the type of roleplay carefully or else you could end up with too much to manage or limit the creativity of players.

Sandbox – This means a roleplay that is more or less "open-world". Characters can go where they want and when they want and the plot of the roleplay takes a back seat to the individual stories of the characters. This sort of roleplay can work great and allows for a lot of creative freedom, but can become problematic if the setting for your RP is particularly large or particularly small.

If the setting is too small there's really nothing for characters to do except interact, that can put a strain on players because of the amount of effort it takes. In a setting that is extremely large – say spanning over several countries – you then have a different problem: timelines become blurred and hard to manage and it becomes quite difficult (or illogical) for players who want to interact with each other to do so. So if you're going to go with a sandbox roleplay you need to have an average sized setting, I'd suggest a pokemon region as the absolute maximum and a single city as the minimum, and a slowly-paced underlying plot. To finish an RP a plot of some description is obviously necessary, but if your story is the major point of the RP and not the development of characters then sandbox is not for you.

Chapter-based – Chapter-based roleplays have a strong focus on the plot of your roleplay and are vastly more structured than sandbox roleplays. The fun of this type of RP is usually in trying to complete some sort of objective in order to complete the story of the RP. This is a great choice if you're looking to have more control over the events that transpire in your universe and whilst it isn't as free-flowing it can make for some really fun stuff. If you are going to choose this style though, make sure that your plot stands up and make sure that you plan ahead otherwise you risk leaving people bored whilst they wait for you to come up with the next step in their journey. Remember, chapter-based roleplays don't really have the same difficulties with scale as a sandbox roleplay might but the larger your setting the further players will need to travel and the longer your story must be. Don't create a setting bigger than your creativity.

Hybrid – This style of roleplay incorporates elements of both Sandbox and Chapter-based roleplays and the extent to which certain aspects are included is totally up you as the GM. Generally speaking though, hybrid roleplays are generally broken down into chapters but within those chapters players are free to do as they please so long as they are still able to follow the overarching plot – quite often the outcome of a chapter is determined by the actions of the characters.

This type of RP gives players a lot of creative freedom whilst still allowing you to keep control of plot events and steer things along. You do need a strong plot, but you will usually have more time to plan things out and players are limited to what they can do by the chapter so it's easy enough to keep track of people. That doesn't mean there aren't any troubles here though, these roleplays can become hard to manage when some people follow more side-stories or interact more than others. When this happens to extremes you can sometimes have people ready to move on very early whilst the others are a ways behind. One way or another this can lead to boredom so I recommend implementing the odd "free chapter" where the play is basically totally sandbox for a period of time allowing everyone to explore their own storylines and to catch up with each other.

4. Rules/Sign-Up Sheet – Once you have worked out your universe's history, your plot and how your roleplay will function there are only two more things to do; set guidelines for getting into and participating in the roleplay. Your sign-up sheet should be a guide for people that tells them exactly what kind of information they need to give you in order to participate in the roleplay. If characters need to be of a certain age, then you need to tell them and if they need to carry a certain item then they need to know. It's also a good idea to include an "other" section so people can add their own interesting tidbits to their character that don't fit in your own section.

Your rules are very important, they are the basis for what players can and can't do within your roleplay and as the GM are your tool for maintaining order inside your RP. You need to make your rules very clear and authoritative (but not to the point of scaring off potential players) but you also need to make sure that you only have a few simple rules otherwise things become too hard to keep track of and too restrictive for RPers and it won't be as fun for anybody.

Being a Game Master
Being a game master isn't nearly as hard as people believe, but there are definitely some important things to consider so below I have put together a list of helpful points that I usually consider when creating and managing a roleplay.

1. Be attentive – If you're the GM you need to maintain as regular activity as you can and you absolutely must read every post. If you don't read every post and observe the Out of Character thread (OOC) then how are you going to manage anything? It is important that you always know what is going on.

2. Be fair – This is something that is easier said than done, which I feel a lot of people don't realise. It is very easy to give friends or particularly good posters special treatment without even realising you're doing it and this can turn players in your RP off. It isn't your job as a GM to reward people for being great posters, nor is it your job to persecute bad ones. Rather you should praise good posts (encouraging others to do their best also as a result) and do your best to politely help those who seem to be struggling. In the same boat, if a particularly good poster or a friend becomes inactive, is breaking rules or otherwise causing strife they need to face the same consequences as anybody else.

3. You are a GM not a Moderator – Remember that as a GM you only have authority over what affects your RP. It is not your job to uphold PCs rules – in fact mini-modding is against the rules. If PCs rules are being broken your responsibility is to report it to one of the sections moderators and if necessary remove the offender from your RP.

4. Don't be Afraid to Remove Inactive Players – I admit I have been guilty of this, you don't want to upset people by giving them the boot for inactivity when you don't have the slightest clue why they are inactive. If a person gives you a valid reason, sure it makes sense to just allow a brief hiatus but if they are going to be gone for an extended time or don't give you a reason then it is unfair to people who would potentially join to keep them around. Nobody is going to hate you because you do the right thing.

5. Be Flexible – One of the most important things for a GM to do is to provide a fun experience for the people in their RP. You should be prepared to change the pace of your RP to suit the people in it and you should certainly allow people to experiment with their characters. Above everything listen to the players, nobody knows what they find fun better than they do and quite often they have very good ideas so you should listen to the advice of people in your RP.

6. Sell your Roleplay – If you want people to join then you are going to have to put the work in to achieve that. Make sure that your post is well-organised, well-written and appealing to people who read it. It isn't necessary but add some CSS, it doesn't have to be a lot if you aren't very tech savvy – just use some nice fonts and headers and maybe stick a picture in, you can do all that just by using the toolbar. If you want to go the whole hog and don't know how – just ask because there's plenty of people who'd be willing to lend you a hand. Either way remember that an attractive OP is going to be more appealing to people. Once that's all done you should slap an appealing title to it (ie. Instead of "Hoenn Pokemon Journey" call it "Adventures in Hoenn) and drop an attention-grabbing advertisement in the chit-chat thread.

7. Manage Yourself – Don't take on more than you can handle or you're only going to feel stressed and produce sub-par work. If you can only manage a short roleplay then make a short roleplay and make it the best it can be. If you're stretched for time then find a co-GM who can share the load and definitely don't try to run several roleplays if you're going to struggle.

8. Have Fun and be Fun – Don't just be a totalitarian goon who spouts rules and dominates with an iron fist. That's not going to be fun for the players and unless your kind of sadistic it probably won't be fun for you either. Encourage respect and enforce your rules, but make sure that you're also approachable and that you have positive interactions with people. Remember, RPing is essentially just a group of people writing a story together for kicks. If it feels like a chore for anybody it's not going to be fun and if GMing feels more like a job than a hobby you might want to take a break from it.

moon · Mar 15, 2015

What have you done! You just ruined everyth-

Nah I kid. Cool! I'll link to it from the op. Thanks for contributing :)

moon · Apr 13, 2015

Added the Hall of Fame (finished roleplays) to the rules post!

Tensano · May 4, 2015

Roleplaying the pokemon universe sounds fun. I have an idea for a character obsessed with teaching his starmie how to act in plays and theater. :P

Where do I start? Do I need to send my char's profile to a gm or something?

moon · May 4, 2015

Tensano said:
Roleplaying the pokemon universe sounds fun. I have an idea for a character obsessed with teaching his starmie how to act in plays and theater. :P

Where do I start? Do I need to send my char's profile to a gm or something?

Hello there! Here, we let Game Masters create roleplays and if you find one you like, you fill in the sheet that that specific GM has created for that specific roleplay. If you have a general idea for a character, you can often fit it into any kind of roleplay as long as you tweak it to fit into the universe you'll be playing in.

For your idea there, I'd recommend signing up for Begin Again! You'll be able to start with a Starmie and play as a trainer going through Kanto challenging gyms (and teaching his pokemon how to act in the process). You can sign up in Begin Again's OOC thread in the Roleplay Lounge subforum.

Any further small questions and concerns? Say hello in the General Roleplay Discussion thread! People there are always willing to help and chit-chat and give ideas. Good luck :)