This is a very basic primer. There are several more in depth posts in this section to help you improve your role play skills, but this ought to help get you started!
Anyone can type out something that they are supposedly doing, but it takes a bit more effort and skill to make it really believable, make it flow, and keep it from being boring!
So.. How to go about it?
► Pay attention to tenses and flow..
- Remember that, in game, actions will read as your name, and then the action, so don't type, :she does such and such.. as that will read as, "so and so she does such and such", which just looks dumb. Similarly, as the actions and speaking is in the third person (ie: Moreta does such and such), you want to keep it in the third person, rather than plopping an "I" in there. "Moreta blows her nose right in public, then she makes a poor slave clean the used cloth by hand", Vs. "Moreta blows her nose right in public, then I make a poor slave clean the used cloth by hand"
One flows.. the other doesn't.
- Keep your tenses straight. "warrior whatshisface stands by the lake.. he looked out over the water", is right out. If it is in the present tense, keep it there, rather than jumping around.
- Take the time to check your spelling and grammar before you hit send/add.
► Be descriptive.
"Slavie poo brings Master Handsome an ale", just sort of falls flat.. Instead, describe the whole process. Do keep in mind the post limits, and if there are only 2 people in there and one ISN'T staff, curtail it a little, but still..
For example, instead of the above...
>Slavie poo makes a mental note of his order, stands, backs 3 paces, then turns and scurries to the bar. She selects a clean mug, taking care to check for any chips or cracks."
>Slavie poo places the mug under the spigot and fills it with dark ale, a head of creamy foam crowning the top. She lithely makes her way back to the strong master.
>Slavie poo kneels before him gracefully, pressing the mug to her belly with a sultry smile, then lovingly placing a kiss on the edge of his mug, a lock of her silky, chestnut hair brushing her cheek"
>Slavie poo lowers her head submissively and raises the drink carefully in her hands, offering it to him. "This girl hopes her service and your beverage are found pleasing to you, Master."
BIG difference! Which one do you think Master Handsome will prefer? (or, for that matter, which one would you prefer!?)
► The thesaurus is your FRIEND!! I pretty much always have http://thesaurus.reference.com open in a tab next to the tab running the game.. It is a wonderful thing! Get creative with alternate words.
► Use adjectives! I know this is covered in the being descriptive bit as well, but it is worth stressing.
► Don't RP things that are just totally unrealistic within the framework. If someone has WAY more kills, HP, atk and defense than you and can totally trounce you in the fields, don't RP kicking their ass in the village or elsewhere with ease. Sure, you may get a lucky shot in or catch them off guard, but make it reasonable. Also, most people are pretty annoyed when you just "suddenly" manifest an amazing power and the ability to wield it flawlessly.
if it isn't something that you have RP'd building up and such already, then take the extra time to do so. It is well worth the effort and people are a lot more likely to want to RP with you.
By the same token, even if you are insanely powerful, let someone get a hit or something in once in a while.. Otherwise, it gets boring. Even the ultimately powerful super villain bad guy (mostly an NPC type character for storyline) who NO ONE could even dream of beating in PVP on a server I was on took a bad hit from someone who got lucky or was especially cunning sometimes. Really skilled RP deserves to be rewarded. On the other hand, some idiot who just tries to godmod their way through pummelling you in a totally unimaginative manner just tends to make most of us want to see their head on a pike
► Take heed of the time period the RP venue is set in and RP accordingly. If it is in the 14th century, don't RP mp3 players and electric guitars. If it's a modern warfare environment, don't RP a medieval Duke with a sword. Etc, etc.
► Also, pay attention to the passage of time within the "realm". How many "game days" are there in a RL day? How many days in a week, month, or year?
I would love to see more input from others on this thread! I know I couldn't have covered everything.
