READ THIS: Beginner's guide to Roleplaying

[Okamirei]

For people who are new to roleplaying, here's a guide. Anyone who wants to add to this, feel free to do so! 
--Resource: gaiaonline--

roleplaying vocabulary

RolePlay : To assume the role of

RP : or RPing means RolePlay or RolePlaying

OOC : Out Of Character or (())

IC : In Character (i.e. To resume the role I was rping as.)

God Moding : RPing IC, ignoring all rules of roleplay, making character a super-being who can't die.

NPC : Non Playing/Playable Character (i.e. Someone like Ian and Sasha. Sometimes a user that you're rping with will go into NPC mode. Reasons maybe he/she needs to go offline.)

Storyline : Every RP has a story in it...read the first page of every RP you're going to participate in before jumping in.

Close RP : A close RP means that it is restricted for ONLY the users that were invited. It's best not to disrupt other RPs that you're not involved with.(private RP)

Open RP : An open RP means it's open to anyone.

RP Rules : Every RP made by different users has their own set of RP rules, please follow them to avoid embarassment.

Closed RP : It means the RP has ended, so no need to post.

Original Characters : Some RPs will have users that have made their own character identity and name. Example: My username is Arwen but my RP character name is Dark Arwen.

Symbols : Sometimes you will see those asteriks * used during an RP. Those often times by most users are used to describe motion/action. But not everyone uses it like that. Some may use color on the text and others will use slashes / or make it to italic or small text or :: or ~.

Mary-Sue: A character who is unbelievably perfect, superstrong, and invincible. Usually has no flaws. Mostly based on the player who created that character (such as naming her after yourself, but not all the time). The male version of a Mary-Sue is a Gary-Stu.

To look for examples of a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu, please go here. Don't make the same mistake these guys made, ok?  [NOTE: see "God Moding" for details]

- Okamirei and Syaokura

[Okamirei]

Roleplaying Examples, and what NOT to do:

There are two widely accepted types of rps:

    * Story Mode
    * Action Mode

In story mode, you right like an author would, with speech in quotes and actions explain. Usually it's done in third person.

EX: Sei walked down a dark hallway cautiously, as he didn't know what could be around the corner. "Hello... Is anyone here?" His words echoed in vain, and the hallway seemed to be endless. He moved quickly now, and his footsteps told of his faster gait.

In action mode, actions are marked with symbols, such as an asterik (*), and speech is in quotes. Usually done in third person as well.

EX: *Sei walked down a dark hallway cautiously, as he didn't know what could be around the corner.* "Hello... Is anyone here?" *His words echoed in vain, and the hallway seemed to be endless. He moved quickly now, and his footsteps told of his faster gait.*

--things in rps that you want to avoid:

>

Sei: Sei found a dragon asleep on the cavern floor. He aimed a blow and hit the dragon, awakening it from it's slumber.

Dragon:The dragon launched a flame blast at Sei, and it hit him directly.

Sei: He rose up out of the ashes completely unharmed, and struck a lethal blow to the dragon, it's head had come completely off.

Can you see what's wrong? There's two things:

-The dragon cannot say its attack landed. This is godmodding, and you're controlling someone else's character. It has to say: "It fired a blaze of flame at Sei", which is giving him a chance to react. Likewise for Sei, he cannot just "cut the dragon's head off", but can "aim for the dragon's head, hoping to sever it."

-Sei should not just "rise up out of a direct hit from a dragon", it's not realistic. Unless the character has stated an immunity to fire, or has an armor that protects them, they have to take damage. You can, if you both rp properly, roll out of the way, but not if you rp like a godmod.

>

*walks into room*"o hi hawt gurl"*sits down in corner cuz hes kewl*

-Grammar and spelling a vital to good roleplaying. They're absolutely necessary to not look like an idiot.
-One-liners can be alright, but not when they're not even the faintest bit legible.

[Syaokura]

Hello! I'm here to show you of an example of what a typical Mary-Sue looks like since not many here know what it is:

[NOTE: This character is from a Sailor Moon RPG. Yes, this one is a Mary Sue.]

Negaverse name: Princess Umiko
Earth Alia: Hitomi Katsu
Grade: 4th
Age: 9
History: Her history begins during hte age of hte Silver milenium (I think thats what it was called) she was the youngest daughter of Queen Serenity. She was taken during one of the earlier attacks of hte Negaverse and instead of being killed was taught by metalia how to gather dark energy and use it all to her advantage. Her heart was turned evil and she has absorbed the dark energy realeased by each enemy the scouts have defeated making her more powerful then any before.She also has the power of a scout that no one has seen but cant use it due to her infestation of dark power she used to hold a special crystal taht was used in conjunction to hte silver crystal but it is now what she calls the Shadow crystal and is a power amplyfier for her.She has come ot hte earth to find the cause of all this outflow of dark energy over hte years. She has no memory of being Usagis sister or of any of hte other scouts because they were locked by the darkness.
Apearance: she apears to be a black haired younger version of usagi but is much cuter and isnt as clumsy though she does fail to understand the concept of school making her seem rather airheaded she has the same hairstyle as usagi.
Powers: All her energy comes through the shadow crystal though she can attack without it her powers are severely cut down without it due to it is where she absorbed al lthe dark energy from the others too.

Already, there are a lot of things wrong with the profile. First of all, Usagi didn't have a sister and neither did Queen Serenity, so therefore, it goes against canon (meaning that it makes no sense in the original show). Second, this character not only ripped off Usagi's appearance and personality, but also made "invincible" so to speak, lot more powerful and prettier. Another sign of a Mary-Sue.  The person didn't know much about the show, and her profile has tons of mistakes and all that crap.

Do Okamirei and me (and the other players) a favor: DON'T do a profile like this! If you want more examples: go here. Make sure your OC (original character) has some flaws, does not rip off other characters, and is very believable. *nods* Regular OCs tend to be realistic, playable, and doesn't ruin canon. =3