IntroductionRole-playing a character that already exists in a canon world can be quite fun, especially for those who really love certain characters and would love to role-play scenes where they interact with others. It also saves the time and trouble of having to create a character if you don't like to do that, or just aren't in the mood at that moment. Just like making your very own character and role-playing them, however, it's not simple and easy. You can't just take a character from your favorite series and do whatever you want, or people might not enjoy participating in a role-play with you. Here's some tips on how to role-play your favorite fictional characters the best you can.
1. Creating
The very first step is to create the character on FeralHeart. You can choose whichever model you want, though try choosing a species that you think would match your character. For example, does your character like dogs, or can transform into some kind of canine? Choose a canine model then, that would match them more than a feline probably would! The canine model also fits human features more than a feline model, so if your character is a human then it might be better to use the canine model. It all just depends on who you choose, really! Unless it's just a straight-up canine or feline, then the choice is obvious.
Next, you need to choose body parts and markings for your character. Don't go wild on these, trust me. It's best to try and stick to the canon design as best as possible rather than just choosing random things! Does your character have long, loose sleeves? Try some tufts on your legs! Wires? Maybe a cat tail or a rounded tail could help. Long hair? Add a back mane! Choosing the right markings is important too. Though, there's usually two ways to approach the markings: You can either choose markings you think would look best if your character was really an animal, or try choosing markings based on their canon design. Colors also matter, don't choose random colors, try to stay with the design!
Or, y'know, you could use a preset for the character too. If you can't make your own, try finding someone who can make it for you.
2. Finding Partners
Now you've got the character made, it's time to go role-play! But wait, who exactly will you role-play with? Finding people to role-play with isn't always so easy. If you have friends willing to join you on FeralHeart, then that's great! If you don't have friends who want to join, then you can try finding some other people. Most of the time people on FeralHeart are using their own original characters, or characters that might not be in the same series as you. Do not worry, some people are willing to do some sort of crossover role-play with you! However, others will not. You just gotta look around and see if anyone would be willing to role-play with you, or wait until a friend comes online.
It's also important to know what kind of people you want to role-play with. There's normally three types of role-play:
- Literate Role-play: The most advanced type of role-play. People who are literate usually expect their partners to have a good understanding of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. They know differences between confusing words, such as their\there\they're. They also usually type in paragraphs, which are composed of three or more sentences.
- Semi-Literate Role-play: This type is a bit more laid-back. You don't have to type perfectly in English or have posts that are a paragraph or more long, but it's not quite like Illiterate either.
- Illiterate Role-play: This is the type that's seen the most often in public maps. Illiterate role-plays have barely any understanding of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It's also how a lot of god-modders role-play. Most people don't like this type of role-play, but some will still accept it.
Hopefully you're able to find someone, or maybe even a group! Heck, you could even form a group yourself if you really want to, whether it be for your series only or a big crossover group!
3. Acting
For some of you, it may be easier to role-play an existing character. For others, they'd much rather create their own character. Whatever the case, if you wish to use a canon character then you gotta know about them! What's the use of trying to role-play someone that you don't even know? What you can do if you don't know much about the character you're using is to search them up. There are wikis that you can look at to find more information, so there's not really an excuse to not know something about your character unless you absolutely cannot find a way to get information about them. If that's what ends up happening, then you should probably catch up on whatever series they are from before trying to role-play them, or at least until you know enough about your character to be comfortable.
Now, for the most important part: do NOT act out of character! It is very annoying to be role-playing with someone using a canon character and they end up acting entirely different than what they're supposed to act like. Of course, if it's because the character is from an Alternate Universe, then that's fine. This also applies to Alternate Universes however, stick to the character! No one wants to see Scar being unusually nice and cheerful, or Underswap Sans to just be the meanest, most aggressive guy out there! Role-playing your character with just friends who know them at first can help you understand how to role-play them better, if you really feel like that would help. Believe me, unless you've got a legit reason as to why they aren't acting the way they usually should, then don't act out of character. Most people don't like that.
This also means to not over exaggerate any traits that your character has, especially if they have mental illnesses (Here's a topic about role-playing characters with mental illnesses.) 4. Headcanons
I'm sure everyone has at least one headcanon for their favorite characters. It's alright to have headcanons, but what is not alright is when you start trying to force other people to believe them as canon. Not everyone is going to think the same as you, and you have to understand that. For example, if a character's gender is up to each individual of the audience, then everyone is allowed to believe what gender they are. Female? Cool. Male? Cool. Agender? Also cool. Arguing over something like that is not smart, instead you should come to an agreement. If that doesn't work, then they're probably not someone you're going to enjoy role-playing with. Really, people can have whatever headcanons they want about a character, so long as they don't force it on others or it ain't something that's highly illegal--
Conclusion
So that's about it. I've tried to do the best I could with explaining and making sense, as I don't usually make tutorials that often. I really do hope that this tutorial is useful to at least some of you guys! This took forever to write-- xD
Anyways, have a nice day, and happy role-playing!
