A Simple and Short Guide to Roleplaying

[CidNight1142]

A Simple and Short guide to Roleplaying

Intro
What I’m attempting to write is a simple, basic guide to the simple aspects of beginner Roleplay. The amount of roleplay on GK has gone down gradually over recent times, and until the past few weeks this has gone unchecked. Recently though more talk of Roleplay has burst out in Forest, who are arguing the basic points of their leadership, Zormite breaking free from its Bella shell and exploding in population, Samurai’s forced defense at the site of new war, and the pirates continued attempt to keep themselves strong and active. This has pushed me to offer up this simple course in roleplay, specifically designed for Crescent Pirate members, but certainly open to be read by any member of the GK community. (Any critiques, suggestions, and additions are fully encouraged, since roleplay is far from an exact science and everyone usually has great information to add!)

Character Development
The first and most important part of roleplay is its basic unit. The character. The characters are who create and meld the storyline of Graal Kingdom’s world and help it to evolve at whatever rate they see fit. The character is made by you! The character is NOT you, although it can and often will resemble you. Before even joining a kingdom one should already have the basics of their character. A name is important, a race of some sort (in the pirates humans are most common, but elves, half-elves, and those tainted with the blood of vampires are becoming more prevalent every day), an age (usually based on your race), hair color, eye color, any defects or abnormalities, a personality (usually one that resembles your own, but not necessarily), and a background or story. Lets list the absolute most important features.

Name
Race
Personality
Story

Kingdom Selection
That’s really it! Find the kingdom that best suits you after this. If you look for a life of adventure, CP is for you…Want to live in a system of fealty where kings and knights work hard to bring glory to your kingdom? Dustari! Wish that you could live in a place where code, ethic, and honor are what is most sought after? Samurai is for you. Perhaps you’re an elf looking for a place where you can live among nature, then you should build a ship and head to Forest.

Talking the talk, Walking the walk
It is extremely important when RPing to keep the idea that you are roleplaying prevalent in your mind. Try as hard as possible to keep yourself from slipping out of character. When it is easier to speak to another member of your kingdom while on tag out of character put your phrase within brackets like this ((Hey, I’m headed to the movies tonight bro, want to come with?)). A warning, when discussing the physics of graal that your character would not know of, remember to use brackets! IE ((Did you hear Stefan is planning to make GK turn based? What do you think about that?!)) Check here for more info on this

Conclusion
I will come back and edit this as I get more time! I’ll add whatever I can think of later, and add in parts suggested to me through PM and forum messages (with full credit given to those who gave the suggestion of course ^ ^) Thank you for reading, and keep that RP going!

[CidNight1142]

Additions 1.
First off, there have been some reports recently of pirate’s feelings being hurt because people were overly harsh in “enforcing” OOC brackets and rules. Crescent Pirates has always been semi-lenient on their RP rules and governor Alan and Governess Calico (Alisa) have expressed that they wish for CP to remain, more than anything else, a place for fun. I do not wish to change this. These guidelines are not meant to be used as rules. They are simply a tutorial in how to help enrich the GK storyline. Complying with these guidelines is entirely a matter of choice, I apologize if I did not make that clear.

Creating a character story

An important part of getting your character truly melded into the storyline of kingdoms is to create a storyline for him/her. This does not necessarily need to be formally written, it most likely will be mentally memorized and acted out through your character’s conversations and actions.

Some tips for creating your story

Learn the history of 2k2 (Graal Kingdoms)! Talk with older members in your kingdom and in others. Usually they will be very willing to impart with you the history of their kingdom and of yours. Check with kingdom leaders. Alan usually will provide a wealth of information, as well as the lady governess or many of the commodores, captains, commanders, mayors, councilmen, architects, the harbormaster, etc. Ask me, I know bunches! (mostly from talking to old kingdom players just like I’m saying you should) The same goes for non-pirate leaders.
Get yourself involved with other members! Join a family, become someone’s father/son/husband/daughter/mother/husband/wife. This will bind you into the already extremely rich storylines of many of the families. The Steele’s are a fine example. (You’ll notice I’m not an example of this, being the lone Night in this world, I find it a more fun challenge to go my own route, maybe you will as well?)
Make yourself a past! Pretty simple, after you’ve found out about your kingdom, maybe a few other kingdoms, and your family, create how you fit in. Who are your parents? Why are you a member of your kingdom – was it through a noble birth into a family of legendary warriors (samurai), an ascribed status in an iron fist monarchal rule in which you are struggling to make a name for yourself (Dustari), or were you a vagabond in search of a group where you could find adventure and booty (CP)? Some other questions, why did you appear in this world when you did? Why are you advancing, or not advancing, through the ranks of your society at the speed that you are?

Don’t Powergame!

The only thing to avoid in the creation of your character story is to try and be realistic about your characters strengths. You really can’t be the son of govannon sent to the kingdoms to train and become strong enough to kill ogma, unless of course the other players of kingdoms deem you to be that. You cannot story yourself to be better then everyone else, superiority in the roleplay must be earned through the gained respect of other players and advancement in the physics of the game. (Getting of good equipment, advancement through levels, advancement through ranks.)

Hope this helps mates! More to come of course, any suggestions and additions welcome!

[CidNight1142]

This message is not an addition, it is simply a clarification of rules and a clarification of what is expected of our pirates. This message is only for CP members, if you're in another kingdom, please refer to your superiors on your guild message RPing rules. Consider this message forwarded to you directly from the Lady Governess.

**In guild messages, RPing is not required! If you would like to lead by example, by all means, continue to use OOC brackets and speak within character at all times. If you choose not to, that is fine. This does not mean you can be rude or use foul language. The kingdom rules are quite clear on that. No mean words to other pirates are acceptable. If you have a problem with a fellow pirate and you feel they have violated rules, see an upper ranking member or speak to the governor/governess.
Feelings have been hurt by those who have taken suggested RP speech within guild messages as a rule, as opposed to a suggestion.
Again, RPing within PMs and guild messages is a personal choice, NOT a rule. To talk down to others for not doing so is more hurtful then helpful. Lead by example.
Thank you.

[CidNight1142]

I'm revising this thread as an all purpose thread for my training duties within the kingdom, it will serve as both my template for RP training and recruitment training. My trainers and recruiters will refer to here as a general source for applications and documents referring to the recruitment and training process of new pirates. Below is the application process, Read it carefully as it is not all to be given out to pirates at once.
---------------------------
Welcome to Pirate Training mate!!
As you know, you are not a fully enstated pirate yet obviously...there are a few things you'll have to do before you can be a true buccaneer...a fine and respected king of the seas...the scourge and fear of sailors everywhere!

First, you must prove you've earned the trust of your fellow pirates. You must earn the liking of two current pirates, and they must refer you to myself, Destiny (the other current trainer), a recruiter, or a high ranking official (preferably the governor or governess).

You must also prove your productivity and work ethic, as well as show us you have the basics skills of survival in this world. You'll have to get the materials for and forge a hook, which can be used as the traditional pirate weapon.

You will finally have to provide proof of the most important pirate skill of all, sailing. Gain the items necessary to build a ship and then navigate it to Crescent Pirate isle. After this you will receive the final application and rules and be fully judged to become a Pirate!

Thank you for completing the first steps towards becoming a pirate. Please complete this application so that we can welcome you to the finest community on Graal Kingdoms!
Please review these rules of the kingdom, and let us know whether you can
abide by them.
Pirate rules:

No foul language on tag
No PKing or KSing on tag
No scamming or stealing (except for boats)
Help fellow Pirates when requested by a leader
Participate in Kingdom events when on tag
When on tag, guild messages should be RP (Role Play) - use (( msg )) for
non-RP messages

Do you agree to these rules?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pirate Application:

Have you ever been accused of scamming?

What will be your first and last name on tag? (always wear when on tag)

Do you agree to donate 5 iron, 5 coal and 20 boards to CP before ranking
up from a Pirate to a higher rank? (this proves you are sincere and a hard
worker)

[Sam]

Good job, Cid, get on!

[Darklux]

You need to tell more about emoting.. iam playing ultima lowfantasy freeshards and i dont think rp is possible without emoting.
especially on a game that only has emotions for fights.

[CidNight1142]

Originally Posted by Darklux

You need to tell more about emoting.. iam playing ultima lowfantasy freeshards and i dont think rp is possible without emoting.
especially on a game that only has emotions for fights.

There are more segments to come, I'm actually working on one right now! I'll write that down as a definate subject for a future entry.

[CidNight1142]

Well, since it was requested, I suppose I'll do a segment on emoting. I am not an expert on this subject so I've been reading some other sources to make sure I get it right, if I misinterpreted what was meant, just tell me and I'll do a rewrite. But here we go, segment 3, emoting.
-------------------
Seeing as Kingdoms is a mostly text based game, and that as of now there is no K-Mode and no really in depth gani system for RPing, text is how you're going to do most of your emoting.

Some clarification, emoting is pretty simply the way in which you portray your character and your character's emotions. Finding ways to do this creatively, and in a way that keeps your character true, unconfusing, and unchanging can sometimes be a bit of a challenge.

Obviously your first step is to have a well though out and developed character, we've covered that already in earlier sections. Now decide what your characters goals. Are you looking for love, strength, power, revenge? After this, get yourself in tune with the combination of your character's traits and goals. Together, these facts will make up how your character emotes.

Is your character a womanizer looking for love or lust, or is he uncaring for women and a sexist bastard? Depending which of these is true will greatly effect how your character will emote in relation to women.

Now the secondary definition of emoting is using text to describe actions. As I said earlier, Kingdoms doesn't have a complex battle system for kingdom battles or a wide variety of ganis in which to express yourself. There are many different ways to show actions through text, the classic one that I used to use many years ago was to place the actions within double colons.
::Balls up fists in rage::
In recent years I've moved towards encasing the action in stars.
*Smiles subtly in the hope of catching her attentions*
It really doesn't matter what you do as long as its obvious that you're trying to portray an action.

Using these methods to portray your character through words or actions can enrich your character and allow you to more easily fit into the world around you.