Forums / Roleplaying / Tips for New Roleplayers

Alright, this is for the new people with little skill in English, please listen carefully.

Tip #1
Run your post through word or some other spellcheck program before posting. That will correct most mistakes, but still, pay attention to what it does! If you don't, you will never get better.

Tip #2
Read books! I don't know how much better I've gotten by reading work by good authors, but it has helped a lot. If you don't want to buy or check out any books, then read stories and posts by better RPers, even those have helped me!

Tip #3
Don't grow impatient when hosting. I've done it a lot before, and that usually ruins the story.

Tip #4
Don't make any character that's invincible and infalliable. Those ruin RPs faster than you could say "God-Mod"!

Those should help for now, I will come up with more later.

Some person input about Septim's tips...

"Tip #1
Run your post through word or some other spellcheck program before posting. That will correct most mistakes, but still, pay attention to what it does! If you don't, you will never get better."

Grammar can make or break an RP.  If I open a topic and it looks like a 12 year old wrote it, I won't bother getting a headache reading it.  I will ignore it as just a crappy idea.  Grammar is something I always stressed about in the past.  USE SPELL CHECK.  It can make everything you say and write much more understandable and you do not have to tear out your eyes because the writing is so bad.  For non-English people, PLEASE use spellcheck.  Get Firefox, get Internet Explorer with the Google Toolbar(it has spellcheck), just don't ignore it and get pissed at people for pointing out bad grammar.

"Tip #2
Read books! I don't know how much better I've gotten by reading work by good authors, but it has helped a lot. If you don't want to buy or check out any books, then read stories and posts by better RPers, even those have helped me!"

I personally found much of my inspiration coming from many of the hundreds of books I read, and I am not even considered a nerd or w/e you want to call it.  Medieval fantasy, murder mystery, future sci-fi, modern non-fiction, and more can all add to your imagination when it comes to RPing.  It also can help you find better ways of writing.  Reading alone won't make you better of course.  It takes some practice and I usually do this by writing stories and getting input from people.

"Tip #3
Don't grow impatient when hosting. I've done it a lot before, and that usually ruins the story."

Two words:  Speed Kills! If you have a GREAT idea, but rush through it...it isn't so great.  If you have people willing to be active, you can keep an RP going for weeks or even months and it can still be dynamic, fun, and always with fresh ideas coming.  If you try fitting all of that into 1-2 weeks, it can end up turning away people who may not have the time to be on 3-5 times a day to post.  Sometimes slowing down and not doing huge time skips allows people to really interact and develop characters.

"Tip #4
Don't make any character that's invincible and infalliable. Those ruin RPs faster than you could say "God-Mod"!"

A few words can easily give some info on this: Common people in extraordinary situations can become extraordinary people. 

Now that those few words are out of the way....ranting time.

I am not saying make your character like...a doctor and turn him into Rambo.  I am saying get a seemingly common or unextraordinary person like a shop owner, and develop that person over a period of time until you have yourself an interesting and dynamic person.  He doesn't have to kill 20 enemies and save the world all by himself, but that person can be interesting to read about.  Ubering/Invincible characters cannot be developed well since they are already like superheroes, and they are boring.  Everyone plays the all-powerful superhero and it just gets so stupid and dull when everyone is the same.  Be the inexperienced person, give them personality flaws like being stubborn or being afraid of something.  Don't make them: Fearless, perfect physically and mentally, masters of whatever weapon they use, or wielders of super magic weapons.  THAT KILLS RPs!

try charly the unicorn

I read on previous threads that action phrases like
*smiles and looks away*
those don't count as role play and only phrases said within the character context only count as role play.

I just need some clarification on this matter cause it's against the rules of online role plays that I have engaged in previously.

so how describe your actions?

I nod gently as things come in perspective
" Thank you my dear lord William "

I am a bit confused about this.
in real life I get to move and smile and people see that but online when I role play people do not get to see my facial expressions and body language and moves and thats why I need action description. But on the thread "Hints on Gaining RP points" you mentioned that.. Quote: "There CANNOT be actions written in messages or they will not be considered for RP points."
Have the RP rules changed or it's still the same?

got it thanks