hmm.. True, Shadow, true... Women are not emotionless.. you can't really make an emotionless woman...

And women aren't always beautiful, but what am I saying, I have Iris and Shakira and Kira. However, when I make a 'drop dead gorgeous' gal, I often make a major turn-off for her too, or some kinda characteristic for her that just wouldn't be the same if she was ugly. With Shakira, sure.. she was beautiful, but that was the deceiving bit, hiding the sadistic killer and cannibal within. Iris.. well... Iris is an atom bomb ready to go off at a moment's notice, and despite her beauty, is a staunchly defended virgin. And doesn't flaunt herself. And Kira.. well.. Kira is even less stable than Iris. Point is, if these three weren;t pretty, then they just wouldn't be the same, I feel.

However, it is good to make a 'not-so-pretty-but-not-ugly' girl occasionally. Liek my next gal, Elena. She won't be gorgeous, but pretty, depending on a person's tastes in women. And she won't be bedding every man she sees, I don't play that way.

And yes, talk to the gals, as they know best. It is fun though.. to delve into the unknown of the opposite six... but don't do it too often... For some reason, Lyran (What happened to him?) Mistakened me as a woman, thinking that only women played women... maybe I played shakira well, who knows... But guys, rping a woman is not that easy... trust me, it ain't...

Women are confusing. And I need to stop ranting...

Yea i know the feeling FC4.. As i have only played female charactes recently, those who dont know me, believe that i am a girl, hence that statement at the bottom of my last post. It sure damned isnt easy playing a female character when you are a guy, but it is interesting to see the responses of people, when they realise you are a guy, and they were trying to seduce your character. lol. bit it does get a bit disturbing too hence made me a better rper in those terms.

Very interesting what can occur, giving you a point of view you wouldnt expect. Kinda helped a few of my RL relationships strangely

Great job Illusionary. I will try to use those tips as much as I can. I hope this get stickied.

:goodjob:

Oh god!! Has anyone flammed me yet??....*opens one eye*....ok, good.

I actually read the whole thing and did enjoy it to a certain extent. I mean, I agree with Elgen that classes do limit your character, but then again, things like house cleaning, gardener, etc....just don't explain your characters defensive or.....fighting side. I mean things like house cleaning define and give definition to your character, but they aren't necessarily important each and every time you rp. For example: If I were to write a real life story based on the beginning of a hero, as The Trials of Man attempted and failed miserably, then personal interests and things of the sort would sorta be required.

Nothing I really saw that was lacking. Good job, Shadow. ^_^
I too am a male RPing a female character, but she's a major tomboy so she's a bit easier to RP than a girlier sort. In all honesty, parts of her are based off some of my friends, so I'd like to think I know what I'm doing.

And like Shadow said, whorish characters are just.. ehck. Mine can be flirty with others on occasion and even a little.. how shall I say this.. horny at times, but she's still morally sound in that aspect. Just stay away from the graphic detailing and you're good most of the time.

But, seriously, take care when RPing a character that's not your gender. Try not to stereotypicalize too much and be realistic; if their friend dies in front of them, as happened recently for mine, they're gonna likely cry, or at least be hurt by it. Emotions make people and characters interesting, so the more lively they are, the more fun they are to be with.

And like FC4 said, some wouldn't be the same without some beauty. Karst isn't exactly the most womanly in form or action, but depending on the tastes of the one viewing her, she can range from disgusting, from the way she acts, or beautiful if the person really liked her, or somewhere in between. My intended look was a rugged, tough girl with a similar rough-around-the-edges prettiness to her. She's a mixed box; she's got a heart of gold.. most of the time, and is kind and gentle, but she's got darker sides to her, like what you might see when she's mad or in combat. She's not intended to be beautiful like, from what I've gathered, Iris is, but she's certainly not ugly. And honestly, I can say she's more fun to RP than any male character I've ever played with, so it's really a player preference.

Aula is a Guy! Learned something new.... How many men cross-rping here?

And yes, Iris was intended to be beautiful, but its part of her character. Sure.. she's a beaut, but are you willing to deal with the snappy woman who could rage on you at a moment's notice? Not to mention, she refrains from actually using her beauty to her advantage. 'Tis good to not flaunt such a thing.

That's some good stuff, there. Some of that I did on other forums by coincidence (the telepathy in bold).

But I am very much guilty of nicknaming. Even though it's not the character's actuakl name (duh) it's still what he goes by.

(at this point, LN waits for his brutal execution)

Yeap. Now that I think of it, Karst's a heck of a lot like me.. well.. if I was had been a girl.
And I like keeping my gender from most people as its fun to have people not really know what the heck I am, but I figured you guys and gals deserve to know if I'm going to be RPing with y'all..

Amen to that, Illusionary (and FC, I was at work!). I agree that somebody needs to put a stamp down, and there are people who need help out there.

Now, I'll make some points and re-stress others, if I may be so bold. . .


On the topic of uberness:

So many people like to play uber. They don't want their characters to die, or they want their characters to be cool, or even "My character is better than that guy, though, so my character will DEFINATELY win". I've seen all three, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Realism. That's what I have to say about uberifica. If your character is realistic, no matter what level of skill or power he or she (or it) might have, then the character will not be uber. For example, I've RP'd Jedi, the Daedric Prince Hircine, a demi-god Argonian, even a thousand-year-old dragon in disguise as a polite but harsh Dunmer lord, but none of my characters were uberifica, and that's because they were played realistically. Sure, the Jedi might be able to do this and that, but there are limits, and there are the matters of distractions and timing and even mental distractions that might be going through his or her head (yes, I cross-gender RP from time to time, but more on that later), but I can't stress enough the importance of realism if you're going to play a skilled character.

Uberifica = bad. Epica = good, sorta.

Like Illusionary said, every RP needs an epic hero, but sometimes it just doesn't fit. Who would see a hero on a hunt for treasure or hanging out in an inn in the middle of nowhere? But then sometimes you need that hero. Sometimes you need that skilled warrior or mage or stealthy-dude to bring a measure of power to the 'party', but I believe only a responsible RP'er should RP a strong or skilled character.


On the topic of names:

Don't pick something ridiculous. "Shadow" or "The Scholar" or other random, but coolio names are not actually cool for an RP. Sure, it's kinda sweet and you're all like "Look at me, I'm the all-knowing Sage!" or "Look at me, I'm Doombringer, the most wanted criminal in Tamriel!".

As was stressed, pick something realistic for your character's background. A character born in the Summerset Isles would most likely have an Altmer name unless their parents were against Altmer society or something. An Argonian would have two names: The Hist original and the translation.

Further, a funky name isn't always cool. To use an example of my own, I had a character named Jrakissorkal. Now who wants to type all that out every time, and who wants to try and figure around that kind of name? It's ridiculous (though not so ridiculous for a Vratix, which was the species the character was). Again, something realistic and accurate is good. Even if it's something 'bland' or 'boring', it could be the best name you could actually pick for the character. What would be better for an Imperial guard? "Antonious Regiam" or some other random thing that doesn't sound Imperial at all? The Imperial name would be better.


On the topic of beauty/handsomeness and other character appearance issues:

Again, the most important word here is realism. A warrior would be scarred and natural, and a politician would be prissied up. People (Americans in paticular) like to have good-looking characters (look at American television and films, for example), even though such a high percentage of good-looking people is very unrealistic to find in the same place. Sure, there are good lookers out there, and it is truly dependant upon individual opinion, but again it's statistically not too likely.

I'm not saying that having a character who is 'attractive' or 'handsome' or 'schmexy' is a bad thing; but having such a thing to be so common is what I don't like. Every person has their own measure of beauty, I believe, and so I don't typically include such words as "Handsome" or "Beautiful" in my character descriptions. Instead, I am more detailed, such as describing key features (like a hooked nose, or a strong jaw, or soft features) and letting other characters decide if they find mine attractive or not based on my description (or more often, via screenshot).

Often I will 'muddy' any good looks or features my character has with a scar if he or she is a warrior, or with attitude problems. If a woman never smiles, she naturally wouldn't be as good looking as if she did smile, at least in most cases.

On the topic of being muscular and strong (which I feel has to be addressed, just because it has relevance with the above mentioned beauty and handsomeness)

In the world of Elder Scrolls, life is tough. People will typically not have soft hands, unless they are regality. Calloused fingers and hands, rough skin and lean muscles would be expected. Not bulky body-builder or wrestler muscles, but the lean muscles that you would see on a climber or swimmer or runner. There are exceptions, such as blacksmiths or loggers or miners or others who do such strenuous activity, but I think that a super-muscled or strong thief is ridiculous. No assassin should be bulky, and no warrior should be bulky either. It impedes movement. Again, the most important word is realism.

On the topic of romance vs. cybersix

The former is good. The latter is not. As Illusionary explained, people don't often just go "OMGZ, SHE'S HOT!" and then she goes "OMGZ, HE THINKS I'M HOT! HE'S CUTE!" and then *BANG BANG BANG* the next night. Sure, sometimes that sort of thing happens in real life in purely physical relationships. If you're that shallow to want to six somebody up just because they look good and not because you truly are in love with them, then you lose all brownie points from me and your respectometer goes below zero.

I do not believe that relationships are wrong in a roleplay. In fact, I believe they introduce new story possibilities and character development. However I do not think that people should get unrealistic in it all. Once more, the keyword here is realism.

If your character and another player's character do get in a close enough relationship that they would have six, do it tastefully. Nobody wants to have their roleplay clogged by a ton of described-six. In fact, it's against the forum rules to post up things like that. If you must, then go someplace else. If you want to stay here, here's a few tips:

1: Talk to the other player. Even if it's a Pm along the lines of "Hey, are our characters gonna have teh hotte sixy night?", SEND ONE. Nobody wants to get their character char-controlled into six, so decide amongst each other exactly when and how and IF it should happen, and how you should get it to happen tastefully.

2: Do it tastefully and in good timing, but don't force-fast-forward other player's characters. Being like "Our characters just did the nasty for three hours, so three hours have just passed so we can omgz post more!" when other players are in the middle of things like conversations isn't very nice. You're basically saying "I care more about being able to post my character more than allowing you to RP your own character, and I don't care about your character at all, just mine and my character's teh hotte partner."

And 3: Romance is good. It's called Foreplay, people. If your character is serious about another and must express his or her love in the ultimate physical form, he or she realistically wouldn't suddenly walk over and say "Hey you! Wanna go back to my room and make a baby?" unless your character were drunk or immature or any number of occasional exceptions. But 99% of the time that's not how it happens. There's romance involved. "Wining and dining", so to speak.

Cross-gender roleplaying Specifically; d00ds who RP chicks

Okay guys, you all know what I'm talking about. You're creating a female character in your head, so why wouldn't you want her to be graciously endowed with DD cups and a perfect sassy attitude? Truth is, guys who create characters like that disgust me. If you are going to roleplay a female character, have some respect for women. Don't throw your character at men or sleep around just because the prospect of a woman who would do that appeals to your nether regions. Keep your brain in your head.

Now I am a dood, and I am a teenager (19), so I feel the same hormones all you do, and I will admit to occasionally making a female character do something I wish a woman would do rather than something a woman would do. I won't profess to understand them, and I don't expect you to, but the key word here is not realism, it's Respect and Realism (:lol:).

So basically put, guys, don't roleplay a female character who struts her stuff around, has the chest of Dolly Parton and the face of whatever you think is hot with buns of steel the size of watermelons and wear virtually nothing at all. It's disrespectful and wrong, and nobody likes an RP character like that.






Okay, I think I'm all typed out now. Spent half an hour typing! But I know I can ramble, so I tried to keep myself brief. Anywho, HK-47 signing off!

EDIT: Okay, jumping into the convo!



My characters are each an extension of myself originally, then during character creation I flush it out to become an individual entity. For example: Veyar Nydelvu (End of an Era RP) is an extension of my sense of near-chivalric honor and my sense that people of any kind are people and need to be respected. That's where his personality began. Then I got into why he feels that way, which spawns a history that creates his other opinions and emotions.

Aril Yevetha (Treasure of the Gods) is niavete and the cold realism of science compared to compassion for life. Aril is like me in that she thinks things through before doing something, and in that she is typically slow in the head

Gul Ken'tar (Shroud of Darkness on my site) is like me in his cool-headed, logical assessments (and sometimes a tad smidge of arrogance), conflicted by the feelings I felt throughout my 15 - 18 years (that being rejection and a cold hardening of emotion to near nothing-ness).

As stated by several previous post, nice job on this guide. However, I would also like to suggest and comment on a few things you have mentioned.

First off, in regards to the, "Ninja" class, you are saying anyone who puts that in their character sheet or attempts to play one is a noob? I will have to disagree here. True, I have yet to see anyone play a ninja good at all and most people who do play them are noobs. However, I have, in real life, trained in ninjutsu. People drastically misinterpret how a ninja fights, acts, and wears. If I ever, in which I rarely do because I like normal characters, play a ninja, I make sure I only have him know what I know in real life. People need to do research about ninjas before playing them in my opinion.

For example, people always are having their ninjas wear all black of some sort. The truth is, faded gray is actually stealthier than black. As well, samurai are almost always better equipped than ninjas of any sort. Ninjas actually are like the cheap version of a samurai. The main way they had gotten swords, in the past, was by taking a broken sword, in which samurai usually discarded, and used it instead. Granted, the sword was much weaker than a normal one and ninjas would have to use their whole body in unison to actually be able to make it work. By this, I mean whenever they swing, they pretty much put their shoulder into the dull edge of the blade and step towards their opponent while swinging down.

Furthermore, I have never seen anyone have their characters fight like a ninja really would. There are these things in my ninjutsu class called, "Kihans" (sp?) and there's a particular Kihan which is labeled Kihan number 5. The normal approach to it is to pretty much strike your opponent after you've got them into a kneeling position after kicking their leg in which they attempt to kick you with out from him/her. The ninjutsu way is to confuse your opponent by first getting behind them while they are kneeling and proceed with a limb breaking, submission hold on their arm. They don't expect it, because they expect you to strike and thus you've managed to confuse them.

I'm not saying I know everything about ninjas, because I certainly don't and there is no set way to play them, but if anyone is going to play one, I would suggest actually studying up on ninjutsu beforehand.

As well, I would like to add something to this thread regarding general stuff. You have mentioned several good points, but I feel what I am about to say is also true. And that is that monologues that last several pages are pretty boring. You're playing with a group of people, not just yourself. I can understand if your character is going through something personal, but monologues that last several pages just seems so anti-social in my opinion.

This must be stickyed! This guide will help the new people on the forums if they are new to Role Playing or if they just need tips. (Or if they like to read a lot.) So what, im like the 1000th to agree on this being stickyed?

Im not new to Role Playing, but every forum has a different way to RP the way I see it. But this is the first time for me to RP online.(Im into RPing outside before I went online. Now I do both. What? Dont look at me that way!!!) So yes, this is my first RP forum.

Right everyone! Taking everything into account and a-editing I go once more! (P.S. Thankies to HK for his really really long list.)

Oh, And FC, your female characters (with the exception of Shakira, she was a right *coughs*) have no real turn-off. You'll have found in every RP you've been in with them that it's their so called 'turn-offs' which attract a mate.

Thus I grumble, the strong pretty gals always get the guy.


Hmm... and for the ninja thing, I agree that there are ways to RP ninja's, but as of yet, I've never seen anyone do it properly. Ever. And at any rate, Ninja's are always uber. But I shall edit to try and explain this.

And there's that long list I was waiting for... *sighs*


EDIT: Edited the guide, HK I quoted directly from you on cross-gender RPing, I thought that was really good, and as I have little experience in that area, it would seem silly for me to say it.

Also, in response to FC's thoughts on the disaster an RP making guide would be, I think the most important thing in such a guide would be to stress individuality.




Oh! And at Elgen, the how to make an RP Guide? I figured if this one was popular enough, I would make a separate guide for that. Role-playing a character, and making an RP are, to me, completely separate processes. You can do one without the other.

And also, my fingers might drop off if I tried to add it to this one, in protest.

wow.. i was completely ripped off there. *goes into a corner and cries* (kidding) I guess his explaination was better in that area, and that doesnt really bother me at all

Lol, sorry. I appreciated your input, but I think HK put it very clearly and categorically what's wrong with RPing a female in such a manner, and also it was well in keeping with the style of the rest of the Guide.

Afterall, newbies need to be whipped into shape. They don't grow ears to listen with until later dates. And occassionally not even then...

True. Yea i agree that he did put it into a better context, i just felt left out on the fun of whipping newbies.

I found this an exceptionally useful guide, Illusionary Nothing.

The RPs on these forums make me cringe with all the blatant Sues and Stus, and their godawful writing >_<

<.< The boards should really have a spell-check <.<

Dang this is awesome, I wish I had it when I started a week or two ago, but I'm glad I got the chance to read it before I got too involved, and as an addition I really do wish that people could spell and use grammar correctly, but I can live with it. It would be nice if it was stickified so that you could just point it out to people, if they started breaking these rules.

EDIT: I did message "Rohugh" asking for this to be stickied.

Heh, I almost managed to get her to melt that cold exterior of hers completely back in the Riders, but then I had to go and get dramatic on myself... Still hate myself for killing Perur like that, one o fmy less smart moments. <_<

Anyway! Wonderful guide Illusionary, beautiful guidelines. Many of the new players need to know these before they start RPing, indeed. Though I myself fell upon those categories myself at one time. *Winces* I think my character Flame Dancer (See what I mean? Love the character, hate the name) has a Bio that's what? 4-5 paragraphs at the moment? Though his past is getting rather deep over the course of the RPs hes in.

Bravo, Illusionary, you were one of my favorite RPers before, and you just ascended to Sage in my eyes. ^_^

:o Too much praise... My head is getting too heavy for my shoulders...

Seriously, thank you. I'm really pleased (and surprised!) you'd say such things about me.

hehe. Illusionary the Sage. I seem to be going against some of my own rules here...

Flame Dancer falls into the context of special names, Web. It is common for Dragons to have names such as Flame Dancer. After all, the Dragon language cannot be spoken in Human tongue. So they have a different name, a descriptive name.

Iris and Perur is an example of a relationship that at first doesn't work out. After all, they always fought and competed. Only bad side to that relationship was that it was suddenly thrown into the romantic aspect thanks to one event.

To me, the relationship between Jericho and River was the best. They bickered, they argued, they rarely agreed. And yet, they placed their lives on the line for one another, rescued each other, stood up for each other. Hell, they even had to deal with a fake affair concerning Maric. They went through hick, thin, and what not, and yet still managed to love each other.

I agree on the Dragon front. Dragon's are expected to have such names.

And as for River and Jeri... hehe. That was a fun relationship, what with all the problems. Took to nearly the end of the RP for them both to finally trust each other.

Surprised I would say such things? What for? You are one of the most elite RPers here, and one of the few qualified and experienced enough to write an accurate guide like this one. Besides, it's fun seeing just how far we can inflate your ego.

Yeah, Iris and Perur I did get a bit hasty on, that I admit. Though their little Mr. and Mrs. Smith relationship they had for a while was still one of the most fun scenes I have been in.

Hmm, I was not present for the romance of which you speak. So here is where I nod my head and try to look like I know what you are talking about. :nod:

We've been stickied...

I know... I'm so glad I could be of service here... guys, that means I need you all to keep telling me where I've gone wrong so I can edit...

Wow, congrats on the sticky Illusionary :goodjob: