Getting Started

What does it take to create a good roleplay? I'm glad you asked. Really, getting a roleplay started is pretty simple. You just need a few simple ingredients and you'll be well on your way.

To get a very basic idea of the rules and guidelines to follow when roleplaying, go check out these roleplay rules that a friend of mine (the one who introduced me to this addictive habit) gave to me. I go into a little more detail below. (Do make sure to at least go and check out the character page in point 3.)

1-Someone to write with

Without a fellow writer, a roleplay just becomes a regular old story. Those are fun to write...but it doesn't really count as roleplaying does it? So, your first step to getting a roleplay started is to find a friend, or a couple of friends, to write with. 

2-World

Worlds, worlds, worlds! There are so many possibilities out there for world creation. If you have no idea what you want to do, here are a couple of tips to narrowing down your list. First of all, decide if you want to create your own world or if you want to write in another world. There's no harm in nabbing another author's world to create your own story, just make sure that you give them credit if you show your work to someone else. Personally, I usually prefer to create my own world. What can I say, I like making up my own rules, creatures, and so on, instead of having to be restricted by somebody else's. 

Besides, you can really go anywhere when you create your own world. Once, a friend and I were discussing writing a roleplay and decided we wanted to do one that involved magic. We didn't want to do the classic, medieval times magic with dragons and so on and didn't really feel like doing a "modern magic" story either. So we started randomly sticking magic in other time periods and seeing which one we like best. We discussed having magic in the future and even in caveman days. Though the last one came close, we eventually decided to place our story in the 40s. We had all these fancy 40s people going around, wtih magic! How cool is that? 

My point: You can go anywhere. You can do anything. Have fun! :) 

Keep one thing in mind though, you need to create some clearly defined rules when you make your world. For instance, if it's magic, what type of magic? Who can use magic? Do you have to read spells? Wave a magic wand? More to come on rule creating and following. 

3-Characters

What good is a story without some good characters? In a good story you need characters that grow and change, characters that you love, characters you hate, characters you love to hate, etc. The biggest problem that you are likely to run into when it comes to characters in amateur stories or roleplays is a thing that some folks in the writing world like to call "Mary Sues". 

A Mary Sue is a character who is practically perfect in every way. Unless you're character is Mary Poppins, this isn't a good thing. Not only do Mary Sue's suffer from Popin-itis, but they also for some reason, despite their perfection, are often disliked and treated poorly by almost everyone who they come in contact with, including themselves. 

Another problem that people often have with creating characters is making sure that they "match". Let me explain what I mean. Let's say that you have a character who never exercises, only ever eats junk food, and sits indoors all day. You probably just pictured someone who was a little to a lot overweight and at least a little pale, sitting indoors eating a bag of chips or something. Now what if I told you that this particular character instead had rippling muscles and a great tan. It doesn't make any since, does it? Sure there are some people/characters (like Shaggy and Scooby Doo) who eat all day but don't  get "fat", but the aren't body builders either. (And, honestly, they're not really meant to be very realistic characters.)

My point is, try to create characters that are actually believable. Give them strengths and weaknesses, try to make sure that they are what they do or reflect what they believe or whatnot. If you want a great test to see how to make sure your character is not a Mary Sue, try this one here

Before you start, you're going to want to get to know your character better by creating a bio for them. You can do a simple bio at first which just contains some basic information like what they look like, their history, and any strengths or weaknesses they have. Later on, however, you may want to fill out a more detailed bio so that you can know everything there possibly is to know about your character. It really helps, trust me! Instead of struggling to write someone, you almost become them and they basically write themselves. Here's a good example of a character bio that I often use to start off a roleplay. 

4-Basic Storyline

Now, as much fun as it is to just start writing with your characters, a couple of things should probably be discussed as far as where you want the story to go. Trust me guys, I've written a lot of roleplays before, and most of mine have died because we didn't have a good sense of where the story was going, so our characters just kind of wandered about and then became boring. Things will probably change or you'll find out more of your story as you begin writing, but you should at least know who the hero(s) of your story are going up against, why, and how. 

5-Formatting

There are (to my knowledge) basically two different formats that you use to roleplay. These are novel and script. When you write in script form, you are going to be writing just like you would a story. The only difference is that you'll switch off writing for your own characters. So you'll write a bit, then your friend will write a bit, and so on. You're roleplay therefore might end up looking something like this:

Lottie contemplated her rum for a moment before taking a swig. She looked almost angrily at the door, as though daring someone else to try to come through it. “Gersemi, me ear has caught the sound of treasure while we was here. A big one, sounds like.”

Gersemi’s ears perked up and she sat across from Lottie. “Where’d you hear ‘bout it?”

“In town,” She said casually. “Former pirate was ‘rrested over it I hear. They trying to find it themselves--the Queen and her Guard. Lousy lot.”

Gersemi huffed, “They couldn’t find treasure if it walked up an’ bit ‘em on their pathetic backsides.” She took a large swig of her ale. “Where’s this treasure s’posed to be?”

“S’posed to be in the Nor’eastern quarter. Not sure ‘zactly, no one else seemed to know fer sure. There be a key or map or somethin’, a gadget that’s hidden somewhere that we’d need to be findin’ before. Problem is, no clue where to look for the blasted thing.”

Gersemi took another drink, contemplating. Where did you find a hidden map or something to find a giant treasure? “If it hasn’ been found yet then the map er whatever it is must be with some idjit who doesn’t know what ‘e has. The question is where that fool’d be.”

“Trut’fully, I ‘magine the best collection of idjits around’d prob’ly be on this blasted ship.”

“I’ll drink to that!” Gersemi said, raising her mug.

Script formatting is very different. Instead of creating a novel, you're writing as if it were a script for a movie. You'll still switch off with your partner, but your roleplay is more likely to look something like this: 

Akuma:

*Running ahead of Etcha across the desert, turns around but continues running so she can taunt Etcha while looking at her.* *Laughs* Is that the fastest you can go?

Etcha:

*Has been chasing but stops suddenly and pulls out a contraption looking very similar to a rock with a handle, wires and pipes.* Etcha throws object which starts glowing then fires a beam of light at Akuma.*

Akuma:

*Glances at the ball warily and speeds up a little to make sure she’s farther away from it* *Taunts condescendingly* What’s that? An arts and crafts project you made back at home with Daddy? *The beam shoot straight at her. Looks at it in surprise and tries to jump out of the way but is caught in the glow. Falls to the ground, stunned.*

Etcha:

*Grimaces* *Runs then crouches at Akuma's stunned body.* *stunning device fades and zooms back to Etcha, who catches it without looking up.*

Akuma:

*Suddenly sits up as the stunning wears away. Puts her face right up in Etcha’s* Boo! *Takes a swipe at Etcha with her claws. Stands up and continues sprinting toward the city, laughing maniacally.*

Etcha:

*Falls to one knee, grimaces and glances down at the slice that was just a little under her collar bone* *Lifts her hand gingerly touching the cut* *Looks at blood then shakes it off and watches Akuma run for moment before bolting in pursuit.*

Akuma

*Glances back at Etcha chasing not far behind, looks back forward to looming city walls. Speeds up and tenses as she gets closer to the wall then sucks in a deep breath, bends down, and launches herself over the high wall. Lands on a building on the other side, trips and skids across the top.*

See the difference? While the novel focuses more on readablilty, the characters thoughts and feelings, etc. usually script format focuses more on what you can see. Both are fun, but personally I've had more success with the novel ones.  

Well, there are some basics! :) I may add more tips, tricks, and such as I go along, but for now hopefully you have at least a bit of an idea of what it takes to make your own roleplay. 

So, till next time, see ya!

ON TO ROLEPLAYING AWESOMENESS!

-psychogiggles