DR. BALLARD'S COMPLETE GUILD TO ROLEPLAYING
A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
Just as the title of this posts suggest, this is a complete guild to roleplaying. I aim for this not to only cover the FeralHeart system of roleplaying (trust me when I say that it varies from other site's systems), but also other styles of roleplaying, and what certain terms mean. A small table of contents can be found below, so if you need to know only one peculiar thing, you can skip to the right section. Nevertheless, I'm done with talking- I hope that my guild will be at least slightly helpful when you're roleplaying! - Dr. Ballard
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- What is Roleplaying?
- Different Styles
- Commonly Used Terms [Off-Site and On]
- Writing Recommendations & Warnings [In-Game & Out]
- Our Forum Roleplaying
- Other Site's Roleplaying
________________________________________________________________
1. WHAT IS ROLEPLAYING?
Roleplaying is a suprisingly common thing done upon the internet. Of course people that are unfamiliar on the internet seem to have the tendecy to mix it up with. . . other things, but let's not dwell on that. Roleplaying however, is more or less what this game is aimed to be full of (other than chatting). FeralHeart was specially constructed in order for people to have some fun doing lion and wolf based roleplays within a 3D atmosphere, which usually provides more fun than just writing without moving a character. Of course it's been well-known that this game was also constructed to chat and make friends with fellow animal-lovers, but seeing that this is not a 'chat tutorial', we also will not dwell on that. However, there is so much more to roleplaying that joining FeralHeart, learning what style to pick, and having fun. Several sites, even sites that do not entirely revolve around roleplaying, tend to hold one of the funnest things that novice writers and even proffesionals seem to enjoy doing.
However, if you are entirely clueless as of what roleplay actually is, I do imagine that knowing the fact that it is simply popular and a lot of people do it here on the web will not help you. Roleplaying is a bit like writing, really. Writing a story with another person, maybe more, yet under most circumstances you control only one character at a time. More information on different styles, what characters to roleplay, where to roleplay, and terms used within roleplay may be found below.
________________________________________________________________
2. DIFFERENT STYLES
Styles of roleplaying have the tendacy to vary. Feralheart has created it's own list of 'styles', which follow by order of this sites 'ranks', will be explained below from what is considered lowest to highest
Personally I'm not sure why this is here. I believe it's merely people typing in an atrocious manner and calling it 'roleplay', however? Often times this is confused with people that godmod/powerplay (see section three) and that also use a semi-literate or script style (again, see section three). 'Illiterate' style is actually not a style of roleplay and is not the same as another that might go under another term.
Semi-literate is considered the middle class of the FeralHeart community, though the so-called 'illiterates' also use this. The official name for this is actually script-style. I personally recommend this style for people just starting with roleplay that don't want to start off with the slightly more advanced 'Literate' or 'Paragraph-Style' (see section three) roleplaying style, which is considered the highest on the FeralHeart roleplaying tiers. There is nothing wrong with doing the semi-literate style, however.
Literate is basically just paragraph-style (see section three). It is most like a book you might read, and despite the fact that writing styles may vary when you are doing this kind of roleplay, usually it is the most fun. However it's usually best to slowly learn to write a bit before trying this simply so you do not make a fool of yourself. Paragraphs do not neccesarily have to be lengthy, however. Sizes may vary from a mere one in-game FH-Post to maybe even eleven!
________________________________________________________________
3. COMMONLY USED TERMS [OFF-SITE & ON]
This is a pretty short section. But it pretty well lists common terms used in roleplaying (take note that it will not include 'AFK' or 'BRB' because they are not entirely relevant to roleplaying). This includes what you might find off of the FeralHeart site and on. PLEASE message me or add something to this thread if there is something missing here that you believe is important.
OOC- Standing for 'Out of Character', this is usually what, as it says, purposely out-of-character posts indicating possible problems, perhaps chatter, or even suggestions are considered. Within FH OOC is usually chatter done in between paragraphs () that are typed when not roleplaying or while roleplaying and waiting for someone to post.
IC- Standing for 'In Character', this means that you are typing posts and you are currently in-character. IC context is what makes up the roleplay, and it's usually best to type more IC context than OOC when you are actually roleplaying.
OC- OC stands for 'Original Character'. This signifies that you have created this character. It is original and it is your character because you have created it. Original Characters usually are from either fandoms (sometimes they are title as 'fan character' then) or your own/someone else's created universe.
Script Style Script Style is actually the same as our very own semi-literate style. Because you might type in script-style does not mean that you are too stupid to type in paragraph-style, however. Script style is most often seen on sites such as MSPARP (See section six). It is most commonly seen in chatting sites, and you usually recieve a much faster reply than what you might get when using paragraph style.
Paragraph Style Paragraph style is what is considered FeralHeart's 'literate' style. Paragraph style is most commonly used when on forums, our mapped roleplays/more advanced roleplays, tumblr roleplaying blogs (see section six), and you usually have to wait a bit longer for a reply. However simply because of more dialogue, it is actually easier to understand what's going and and type up replies to than a script style's roleplay.
Prompt Prompts are something I believe the majourity of this site will be rather unfamiliar with. It is most common with roleplays that, despite having much more than one member, can usually only provide clear interaction between two people. Usually in roleplaying prompts, there is one set and specific setting to roleplay it. Despite there being one main setting, however, prompts and what goes on and them can vary. Prompts are most often seen on tumblr roleplaying blogs (see section six)
Faceclaims Faceclaims are usually actors or other people's drawing. They are usually used because the writer doesn't know how to draw their own character in a way the might like. There is nothing wrong with using faceclaims. Faceclaims, of course, tend to be used in roleplays revolving around humans.
Mapped This falls into the FH-only character. A mapped roleplay is a roleplay with it's own little place that you have to download. The place is called a 'map'. Flourite Plains, for example, is a map. Once downloading a roleplay's map, you can locate it one of the blue portals in Cape of Distant Worlds.
________________________________________________________________
WRITING RECOMMENDATIONS AND WARNINGS [IN-GAME & OUT]
When it comes to writing, especially paragraph/literate-style writing in roleplay, there are a few things you have to be cautious about. Because illiterate style is not an actual style, below you can find a recommendations and warnings about what to do and what not to do in each of these styles.
SCRIPT/SEMI-LITERATE STYLE
[spoiler]1. Even though Script/semi-literate Style is a bit less descriptive than paragraph/literate, try to be slightly descriptive in your first post so you and the other person may gain a better understandment of what's going on.
2. Avoid surrounding actions with paragraphs such as these (). Instead use ** and --. Anything surrounded in () may be confused with OOC.
3. Try not to turn script-style into paragraph-style that's just has actions/thoughts surrounded by **. Unless both of you are strangers that are kind of just awkwardly started out with script style, I'd suggest just changing to paragraph style in general.
4. Self-explanatory, do not godmod/powerplay if you happen to get yourself into a fight. This is harder to do in script rather than paragraph style, but remember that you and your partner should limit the force in the attacks, how many times you dodge, etc etc.[/spoiler]
PARAGRAPH/LITERATE STYLE
[spoiler]1. This is probably the most important. DON'T over-do it with thoughts and actions and descriptions of the surroundings. Length sometimes is important in post, but what's actually in it should matter the most. Avoid typing repeative walls of text, I did this before and trust me, once you read through your own posts, it gets pretty damn boring.
2. Related to the last warning, even if your character is doing something 'different', don't take too long to describe what your character is doing. There's not much wrong in length, but do you really think that people want to sit through eleven FH-game posts of your character eating a rabbit before they can post something? No.
3. Try your best not to godmod or powerplay. I pretty much explained it in the fourth section of script/semi-literate style.[/spoiler]
________________________________________________________________
OUR FORUM ROLEPLAYING
Our forum roleplaying is actually different from other's forum roleplaying. The style used tends to fall into the paragraph-style roleplaying. A lot of other forums do not require applications to jump in, however Feralheart's tends to require an application, usually depicting of the typical 'Character Name, Personality, Age, Gender, Appearance, etc. . '. Forum roleplaying is very different from game roleplaying, however. There is no characters to run around as, for example. I recommend the Off-Topic Roleplay section for actual forum roleplays, however. They provide a bit more of a variety as it is. Currently our Off-Topic roleplay section is divided into the following
Animal Roleplay, Misc Roleplay, & Human Roleplay (Shout-out to WhiteLightHeart who did a good job of sorting things out).
What the roleplays have and what you will be roleplaying as is pretty self-explanatory, of course. What you will often find upon signing up for a roleplay are the following
-Title of Roleplay
-What Roleplay is about
-Species you are permitted to play as
-Rules
-Application.
Applications tend to hold the as-mentioned-above standard "Character Name, Personality, Age, Gender, Appearance, etc. .". Common rules include no god-modding/powerplaying, keep cussing to a minimium, and be kind to fellow roleplayers OOC. There are occasionally some 'jump-in' roleplays, however, where you simply jump into a roleplay, putting faith into the first post made and deducing precisely what it is about.
________________________________________________________________
OTHER SITE'S ROLEPLAYINGBelow are a list of sites that I myself have roleplayed on, and an example of what it is like. The list is actually rather small, however, simply because I try not to go too far ahead of myself and I also make an attempt to stick close to one community. Nevertheless, here is the list and links to it.
tumblr.com This provides an especially wide variety of roleplays, and from what I have seen everything is sorted around with prompts. An example of a roleplaying blog on tumblr would be own of my own (http://bowtiesofridicule.tumblr.com/). Please do NOT, however, reblog/follow/like anything from that side blog. It is meant to be shared only among other people in the same roleplay, and the only reason why I'm putting the link up here is so that you can get a better understandment.
msparp.com This is a Homestuck roleplaying site that is usually script-style. You may roleplay as whatever you please here; fantrolls, cannon characters going from the beta kids to the alpha, troll ancestors to the pre-scratch, even the Midnight Crew! Be warned though that you're more than likely to come across some langauge. Also make sure to mark down the 'Safe for Work' box in order to be a bit more safe.
feralheart.com u r here u random person cant u see that omg[/list]
