Titled 4.5 cause i deleted 3 and 4 by accident V_V.
ALWAYS COMMENT ON THE OTHER PERSONS POST!
When working in an rpg with other people, there is a way to make sure that they will want to play with you again. One of these is quite simple, ALWAYS comment on the other peoples posts. There is nothing quite as disheartening as putting a ton of effort into a post, be it small or large and having the people who you are writing with simply ignore you and post. Some may say that if you have nothing good to say then say nothing at all so they prefer to simply ignore the post and move on. Whoever we then end up with a ton of people playing on the site who have never grown in their writing, if you do not like what someone wrote, then find a constructive way to help them out, abuse of course is NEVER the way to get your point across but there are ways to offer someone your opinion without negating them try "wow you put some great effort into your post, can I suggest next time though...." OR "I love what you were doing there, but can I suggest that you try to develop....." you get the point. Your opinions may never be heard and people may be happy with what they have done but at least you gave them some kind of option to grow.
SELL SELL SELL!
Battles are a source of getting your character known, training and just a good excuse to kick someone's a**, but there is nothing that will get you a reputation as a bad sport faster than never selling your partner in the battle. One of my favourite battles was with Andferne as the Grand Master, he is great at making your character look as badass as you would want, and he taught me how to do the same for his. Comments like " Like a caged feline who had been starved for far too long she lunged forward with a ferocity unseen" sold Surreal as a true badass, while also selling his own character by being able to retaliate and fight back. It's a way to sell your opponent without taking away from your own power and skill, it also makes for a much better read and a much better fight. Read any fight between Sha and Feral and you will see how well they sell each others moves and skill, while also building up their own. Its not just about etiquette here, its about showing yourself to be a fair and reasonable writer who does not ignore moves or belittle the other person, trash talk by all means, but not belittling. RPG battles are not a way to make yourself the big bad, they are a way to tell a story and build relationships as well as getting your skill set up.
Research, Research, Research!!
This seems very simple, but is something that really needs to be stressed in RPG etiquette. I will always happily allow people to move my character around but I ask them to make sure to read up on my character, or just ask me! Any time your in an rpg with someone that you may not be familiar with, take the time to get a bit of an understanding of their characters goals and motives. The Comicvine cards that Wandy and Reen put so much effort into make this a lot easier, just take a read of them and you will soon get a feel of what that character is all about. Skill sets are another area that need research, if your character has a skill set that is based off real life fighting skills, then make sure to research up on it! And on top of that STICK TO IT! If you write that your character knows Karate, then there is little point in using fighting skills based from another type of martial art as it simply does not make sense, how has your character suddenly learnt a Tae Kwon Do move, when you state that you have ONLY ever learnt Karate?! On top of that try not to jump around in powers mid fight, there is nothing more irritating than standing up to fight someone who has a skill set of water manipulation, who then turns around and throws a tree at you using their newly found ability to also manipulate earth. If you have trouble writing one set, then give your character the ability to do more than one! but never switch it up half way through the rpg and always make sure you know what your talking about! One thing I enjoyed in the fight with Andferne was his posting videos in the ooc of the moves he did, it helped me to research up on how to counter it, as well as better understanding what his character could do. It helps everyone and makes you look good as you know what your writing about!
You know it all!
Rpg rules, have pretty much been etched in stone, since Buckshot and Autowoman laid the ground rules for them ages ago; but since that time; the community has evolved, and in that evolution the rules slightly changed not by something, any particular person has decreed but just to that fact that people’s character properties aren’t being respected. Let’s say Solace for instance; though she’s been a hero for a long time, she has only ever used a fraction of her powers; so someone posting about her ability to speak to the dead, would be dead wrong because it’s ever actually been used. You could ask “How are we supposed to know? If you have a character that, can run background checks; for you to authenticate that check, proper thing to do would be to ask.
Plot holes, are fine it’s only when they prolonged the Rpg do they just get irritating, throw on top of that of not allowing another character to gain any leverage on your character, it makes the rpg just boring. IF you’ve been beat, accept the fact that you’ve been beat and move on!
"I only needed a D to pass!
As I’ve stressed all the time, every post should move the story, Story rpg’s are written Viner after Viner, so your post in a way should contribute to the story. One thing that I hate has to carry another person’s weight in a story. If, my post ends with me, in an airplane, YOUR post should at least elude to the fact that the plane is either mobile or have landed where we needed to go. If your post STOPS at the exact same place mine did, that means I have to not only give us a takeoff but I also have to complete the rest of the story, when in a One on One Rpg, Your post should ever end Behind the other person. There are instances that it will make it necessary, but when you are always rpging with someone and you’re not moving the story, it’s just boring!
I'll skip class today!
My final Point is this: DON’T JOIN A TEAM IF YOUR NOT GOING TO ATLEAST BE SEMI-ACTIVE. This is probably the most frustrating problem any team faces, having a team full of 20 members and only 3 do anything. You don’t have to participate in EVERY rpg, but your presence in the team thread is needed. I addressed most of the stuff about being active in teams In my blog just the other day, but I want to quote Daggerklutz whom also made a great point.
"Being a leader is hard. Do not think that it is a glorious position where you can boss people around, it is not. I have led the Syndicate for almost 8 months now, and we usually have at least 20 members. It has not earned me any recognition, I earned my fame from constantly RPGing. The hardest thing about being the leader is having so many eager people who aren't willing to RPG on their own. Don't get me wrong, these people are not bad RPGers but they are lazy and shy. I can only do so much with a team and with so many members it is hard to find something for everyone. So I have the expectation to find something for 20-ish mostly inexperienced RPGs and I have to add quality into the ideas. This gets hard really quick. Plus, no one thanks you for taking the time to be a leader."
Ciaocitos!
Written by Mistress Redhead and Sha
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