How to Roleplay on the forums:

First thing to understand about our grasslands is the RP's MUST be ponystar centric.  This means there can be a few limited characters that are otherwise but they can not be central characters.  This has been a huge problem in the past and it will result in an RP being locked.

Second thing of importance to remember is these are ponies.  They have manes, tails, four legs and hooves.  While it is pretty well accepted that our ponies are special, they lack hands, feet and most importantly, opposable thumbs.  All of these things need to be taken into consideration when posting.  It is also important to remember, ponies don't need to wear pants/dresses/skirts/tops.  Yes, ok so WE put cute little outfits on them from time to time but there is nothing wrong with a pony not in a skirt a dress or in pants.  The need for clothing is a human one, not a pony one and so should not be a major portion of posts. 

Other rules of RPing can be found in above.

Now that we have the rules covered, lets discuss etiquette.  Roleplay can be an exciting and fun way to interact with your friends and fellow players.  To truly have a rewarding experience though, there is some generally accepted behaviors which help to make it an enjoyable interaction for both you and the other players.

Joining an RP

When you join a Role Play, you are agreeing to play by the rules of the Game Master (aka Game Host, Original Poster or Storyteller).  This means if they make posts regarding the direction of the RP, refusing to acknowledge their requests could result in you being asked to leave. 

You will need to read through the RP hosts rules to see if they have any requirements for joining.  Most only ask you to make your character post in the thread and then wait for an ok from them before beginning.  It is good manners to send them a single PM letting them know you would like to join.  Continued PM's or OCC posts in the thread are more likely to get you a rejection then an acceptance.

Once you have met all the requirements, posted your character and wait to receive an acceptance, it is time to begin playing!


How to Play and Contribute

It is usually wise to keep your characters limited to two or three characters.  The more players their are, the easier it is to lose track of characters and confuse people. 

Picking unique names which won't be confused as another character can also help. Lets say you have Bob, Mob, Cob, Cab and Abe as characters in the RP.  It would be very easy for a player to confuse Bob with Mob or Cob with Cab.  Having something unique will help the other players identify you quickly.

When you are ready to make a post try to be descriptive and be sure to add quotes and separate the speaking lines.  I have provided both a bad example of how to post and a good example.

bad example a écrit:

Evie saw Cyler and walked over. "hi cyler" "Hi Evie, I felt like taking a walk, want to go?"

This post is very hard to tell who is talking and what is happening.

good example a écrit:

It was still early in the day and Evie was still tired and a little bored.  She spoted her friend Cyler a little ways off wandering towards the woods.  Evie tossed her mane out of her eyes and trotted over.

"Hi Cyler," Evie exclaimed running up to him.

"Hey Evie you are up early.  I was feeling a bit bored and was going to take a walk in the woods to look for some ferns to eat.  Want to come with me?" Cyler asked tilting his head to the side.

This post allows the reader to clearly see what is happening as well as know who is talking at what point.  This will prevent the dreaded OCC's of "I thought you were talking to me."

Remember that the only character you have control of is your own.  You can not make other characters say or do anything and any actions which effect them should allow the other player to respond. 

Examples, lets say I play Tara, and someone else plays Kayleen

bad example a écrit:

Tara saw her friend Kaylenn and ran up excited.  She bumped into Kaylenn and knocked her down on accident then helped her back up.  She opened a basket and shared her picnic lunch she brought and Kayleen ate the cookies

good example a écrit:

Tara saw her friend Kayleen and ran up to her excited to invite t he mare on a picnic.  In her excitment she accidentally bumped into her rather hard.  She paused a moment and apologized for her hurry before setting the picnic basket down and offering to share with Kayleen.

In the first post you can see I gave Kaylenn no chance to respond to either being bumped into, or if she would even like to share in the picnic.  The second post you can see where I allow the other person to decide if they want their character knocked over, or if they want to share in the picnic.


From time to time, there may be a need to post OOC (OUT OF CHARACTER) but it should be limited and clearly defined.  Most players will use a symbol to mark the beginning and end of an OOC post.  ((OOC: )) {{OOC:}} [[OOC:]] are the most common and easily recognized.

IMPORTANT Etiquette

Once you have made a post, it is generally accepted as polite to wait for all of the players to have a chance to respond before continuing.  Remember we don't all live in the same time zone and some of us have jobs or school which consume a huge portion of our day.  It is no fun to make a post leave the computer for a few hours and come back to find pages and pages of posts you now have to read through to try and catch up.  So when you do post, make the post count, add the detail, the explanations, the private thoughts.  The other players will much prefer to read through a few good solid posts and then respond as opposed to reading pages and pages of one line responses.  Most players will give up and either quit playing or simply post their own little thing and ignore you completely.

In role plays, often times there are more than two people who participate and on many other sites, there is usually a post order. Player A goes first, B goes second, C goes third, then Player A goes again. It's simple, but it can get icky, so it's not always required. However, what IS required is basic role playing courtesy: you do not leave the rest behind. If you find yourself and another posting back and forth for more than a page, it is courteous to stop what you are doing and wait for the other players to catch up. If you don't feel like waiting or would prefer to play with your friend only, then you and your friend need to take the RP to private messages. This helps keep the RP inclusive and tight, with no spam in the pan. Smile

To sum it up: Go more than a page with two person back and forth? Go to PM.



               

Player created guide a écrit:

A.    Player created tips & guidelines

Here are some Role Play tips that might be useful:

1. Mood Music! Listening to music for role play or any creative activity usually helps me get into the mood. If there is a particular 'genre' that seems to suit the character I am writing for, I play that.

2. Review and break-up other posts. Read through other people's posts, and don't just respond to the last sentence or two. Break it up into each individual action or spoken sentence, and slot in your character's response to each thing in your own post. You may discard some of these responses once you are ready to actually post, but this at least helps you to remember not to overlook anyone. If your character is actually ignoring or disinterested in what another character is doing, then make mention of it so that the player does't feel overlooked.

3. Interact! I can not stress this enough! Don't have a character written in that just does its own thing entirely. You may have an anti-social character but that doesn't mean you have to go off and do your own thing constantly. By doing this, it makes people feel as though you only care about your own character, or are trying to force other characters to follow to keep the scene rolling. By no means am I saying your character can't wander off, just do so sparingly and sensibly. Is a character offended by current company and leaves to cool off? Or are you, as the player, just disinterested in the scene and want to make your character for off and do something much cooler? Think about it.

4. Don't be afraid to 'float'. What I mean by this, is if your character is doing something time consuming, and rather constant (maybe casting a really large spell, or chopping wood) don't hesitate, to skip your turn, just telling people that your character will be doing one action repeatedly until he/she is done, or until your character has something new and relevant to say or do.
5. Inner thoughs and outward dialogue. If you are going to relay the thoughts of your character, be sure to make it clear that they are only thoughts, so that other player's don't have their characters respond to things that they shouldn't actually have heard or known. As the reader, make sure you read carefully to distinguish thoughts from spoken word. This can cause some unecessary misunderstandings.

6. OOC knowledge versus IC knowledge. This one is a given. If a player relays information about their character, their thoughts, or a scene that is happening elsewhere for the amusement, sake, or informing of the PLAYERS, do not use it IN CHARACTER. What the player knows and what the character knows are entirely different. If your character was not there to experience or hear something, do not play your characters as if they were; and don't just 'know things' as part of some intuition to cover up your mistake. Of course, if your character is psychic, then this rule can be bent ever so slightly.

7. Getting stumped... When you get stumped, and really don't know what your character actually would do in response to something, and it is taking you forever to respond, don't be afraid to admit it OOCly. Other players will most likely understand and not bug your or skip your character because of your lack of response. To help better imagine your character's response, refer back to some old posts of that character to try and get back into their mindset, and rely on their strongest attitude or personality quirk to pull you through. It may be shaky, and you may think later it wasn't the most in-character, but at least you tried.

8. Repeat dialogue out loud. When writing what a character is saying, actually say it out loud (unless you are in a public place - even then it'd be funny, yes?) with the tone you imagine. Say it a few different ways. Then when you have the phrasing and tone set in your mind, use commas, all-caps, exclamation marks, or even bolds or itallics to stress or emphasize parts of speech that you emphasized when you said it. Also, don't always end or beging it with "so-and-so said...". Try words like exclaimed, muttered, questioned, peeped, intoned, shrieked, chattered, inquired, yelled, cried, called, mocked, grumbled, remarked, responded, retorted, snapped, cooed etc. The thesaurus is your friend :D

9. Ask questions. If someone's post really didn't make sense, or it says one thing, but you wonder if they didn't mean another, go ahead and clarify. Simply and politely ask your question following the word OOC: in brackets. Also, if someone asks you for clarification, don't feel that they are nitpicking. Answer their question the best you can, and let the scene roll on.

10. Continuity! Reread old posts. Try to remember where every character actually is in relation to your character, what they have been doing, and heck, what they've worn, if they've interacted with an NPC recently, and so fourth. Most importantly, though, keep track of what you have written about your character. Don't say your character was running towards the lake, then next post suddenly have them talking to another character who is on the hill... in the opposite direction. Don't suddenly have items or powers or clothes that weren't there before. Don't have your character heaving and gasping from an arduous fight... only to have them start singing and playing the next moment. Lastly; everyone makes mistakes, so make some allowance room for those who do make continuity errors, but don't be afraid to POLITELY point them out, or ask about them. A lack of continuity, sometimes rarely, is part of someone's plot.

11. Differentiate between IC (in character) and OOC (out of character). In other words, someone's character may hate your character and be all kinds of mean. Do not, for the love of all that's good, take it personally and feel like the player has something against you, and certainly don't carry hostility OOC. Remember, the other person is playing their character as best s/he can, and that means reacting to your character instead of you. Sometimes characters just don't get along. :wink:

12. Respect freeform combat rules. Okay. This is really, really important. There are two basic kinds of rp: stat-based, and freeform. We aren't rolling dice to decide the consequences of our action, thus, this is freeform. So, how do you decide who wins a given turn? Honor system. Simple as that. Each player can call only their own characters' skill levels and responses.

Freeform combat works as such:
You say what you're trying to accomplish. Be specific, and be clear about your character's skill level. Do not, under any circumstances (unless, of course, you're running the game (are the GM),) actually succeed in doing anything to another character. Remember, you do not know everything about that other person, and they may have an ace to play.

Wrong A: Billybob lashes out with his sword and slices deep into Sarah's arm, laughing at the blood splatter.
Wrong B: Billybob starts to lunge with his sword, but sneakily leaps upward at the last moment, bringing his knee into Sarah's chin and stunning her so that he can grab her arms.
Wrong C: Billybob sneaks several coins from Sarah's pouch without her noticing. Heh. Money good.

Why wrong? You didn't give Sarah's player any say in her own character's skill or actions. This silly combat form is for chatrooms where there won't be any continuity, not games that will be sustained for any time at all. Sarah's character may have had the skill to avoid some of those--and maybe not--but you can't be sure. Don't play other characters' actions, or lack of actions, for them, and don't decide other people's skill for them. What if Sarah turned out to be a plant-monster? Oops! That blood splatter you said existed really couldn't. What if Sarah turns out to be a highly skilled monk with far more combat training than you. Oops! You wouldn't have been able to hit her. What if she were a sorceric thingie made of water and can't sustain damage? Hm. Too bad you already caused a continuity problem, right? Never make assumptions. If you think you've thought of every possibility, think again. Trust your fellow players to be creative, they surprise you.

Correct A: Billybob smiles. Then, out of nowhere, his sword flashes at Sarah's arm, blade aimed to bury itself in her tendon to paralyze it.
Correct B: Billybob feints with his sword, but then sneakily leaps up at the last moment, knee careening towards Sarah's chin.
Correct C: Billybob's hand sneaks towards Sarah's pouch, trying to withdraw three gold coins while she's looking at the robin. He's a very good thief, after all, and...well. Money good.

On the other side of the coin, this is an honor system. In such, for the love of gosh, be honorable. Stick to the skills that you outline in your original character description, and if the other person's character is better at that exact thing, then be honest. If you were to lunge towards my character with a skilled sword, she may be able to get away from it and redirect it judo-style. If that was a feint and there's also a sword slashing laterally at her side, it will connect. Because I'm honest about her abilities, and I know she won't be able to avoid that.

Here's a sample of freeform combat done right. Notice that the characters are affecting each other in a big way, but that every single time, the decision about what the result will be is left to the other player.

"Mary-beth smiled. Wow. Pig. Half a second later, her trademark 'manly-punch' careened towards John's cheek."
"John's eyes were wide...as he stared at a fist he'd just barely managed to catch. Wow. A woman should not punch that fast. 'I must say, Madame, that was rather unnecessary, and...' This was where he realized that he'd leaned too far off the stool. Mostly because it tipped, sending him tumbling off the back still holding onto Mary-beth's hand."
"Mary-beth shrieked as she went tumbling down with him. 'Help! Help! Murder! Kill'im!'"

...And wasn't that fun? If MB's player had just said "She punched him in the face, sending him tumbling to the floor," none of that would have happened. Trust your fellow players!

13. Remember that we respect you as a player, not a character. It doesn't matter how dark, powerful, awesomely skilled, mysterious, beautiful, or anything else your character is. Anyone can write a godly-awesome anime rip-off. We care about how well you interact with other characters, how you develop plot, how developed and realistic your character’s personality is, and just how awesome a player you are. Always impress each other that way, not by character coolness! :wink:

14. Roleplay Cliques Avoid them. Sometime when you get a large enough player base, characters split off into separate scenes running simultaneously with different groups. Soon players begin to choose particular players that they like to role play with, and will only respond to the posts of those who they like, and ignore the actions of other players' characters that they aren't so fond of. This is alienating and discouraging. However, it's also good to ask before joining a scene that has split off from the main 'plot'. Sometimes people have a valid reason to not want more people involved, but for the most part, don't exclude other players. Also, try to be inclusive of new players. If you REALLY REALLY have a problem with the way a person role plays, then be frank and politely tell them that the way they role play is unapealing, unsettling, or perhaps you are just not used to it and are at a loss as to how to proceed. Communication people!

15. Quasi-IC OOC spoofs. Sometimes in making fun of my characters helps me to get closer to their mindset in a weird way. With my close friends, we sometimes go off on 'spoof' scenes with our characters, portraying a strange charicature of our characters (weird huh?) doing things they actually would not do, or putting them in situations they would not be in. It loosens up after serious or tense (or boring) scenes, and takes off a lot of pressure of keeping your character in strict tune, but lets you enjoy your character in a different way so that you do not get burnt out. Sometimes, I even find inspiration in these random, crazy OOC-IC skits. In a forum style RP, of course, it wouldn't do well to interrupt RP with these...you can always PM other players in game or over the forums and do a little side goofing in character. It helps players to bond and connect a little better.

16: Don't play other people's characters. Everyone finds this annoying. Say someone has a character called Tom. He is roleplaying with someone else, who's character is Keely. He comes in and posts this:
"Hello, Keely! How are you?" Tom shouted at his friend.
Keely looked up. ""I'm fine. How are you?"
"I'm good." Tom looked at the sky. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"
Keely just nodded. As the two left where they were talking, their friends were left behind, bewildered.
Do you see what Tom did wrong? He was playing Keely, who is someone else's character. Here is how it could have gone: (Tom in Red, Keely in blue)
"Hello, Keely! How are you?" Tom ran up to Keely, panting.
"I'm fine." Keely said, just barely looking up at him. Why was he bugging her again? Didn't he know that she hated him?
See all the mistakes Tom made now? First of all, he was playing Keely. Second of all, Apparently Keely hates Tom. Now, Tom had just assumed that Keely liked him, so that's what he went by.

For the first thing, Keely could've gone, "Why are you playing my character?" And that could have started a whole new string of events and arguments out of character. Not only would Keely hate Tom in-game, but if Tom kept playing Keely's character, that might happen out of game, too! that would not be good at all.

17. Read over your post before pressing 'Submit'. You'd be surprised how many mistakes can be corrected if you just glance over your own post before hitting the submit button! Everyone makes mistakes, whether grammatically, spelling-wise, or in terms of rule-breaking*. Catching these before you post them may help other members understand your character's actions, as well as keep you from getting in trouble. No one's asking you to be perfect, but anything you can do to make role playing more clear and clean should be attempted!

18. Distinguish your post from other's using size changes, or font formatting. This technique is especially useful if there are lots of people role playing on one board. Often simply using a distinguished icon will help other's tell who is writing the post. It will help the role play move along swifter and aid those simply gazing over posts. It also adds a bit of spice and individuality to your post, so try it out!

Tips for making your RP GREAT

1. Provide a Setting.
This is a mistake I see time and time again. A thread is put up, character descriptions are given, perhaps even a plot is indicated- but who knows where everyone is. Are we starting out in a forest? a graveyard? a Texan square-dancing stage? Nobody knows. Joining players end up making stuff up that may or may not be compatible with the story (if any).

2. Beginning your Story.
If there is a plot to the role-play, post a good beginning. A good beginning is exciting and indicative of the direction the plot will take. Don't just start with a character description followed by your character doing something dull and every day. Dull and boring beginnings drive off potential players.

3. Build your Story.
Describe what is going on. Don't just post "We are looking for the magic leaf." Put some effort into it. Players will want to know what the magic leaf does, why they need to find it, and where they should start looking.

3. Story-line Consistency
Have your posts and your characters actions be directly related to your story. If your story is about how the evil faerie king has risen again and needs to be stopped, then your characters should not be throwing a birthday party or chatting about the latest accessories. They should be going on a quest, building an army, rescuing enslaved ponies or making a supply raid.

4. Character Sheets.
Descriptions can be tough. Some people tend to post way too much about their characters while others post virtually nothing. A short character sheet is a great way to tell potential players what kind of description of their characters you want. Do you care if their character is the son of overthrown royalty or do you just want to know what pony type they are and that’s it? Have your character sheet reflect this.

Sample Character Sheet
Name:
Gender:
Race:
Appearence:
Short History:

Running your RP once Approved

The Original Poster is the game master or story teller it is there RP to run as they see fit, keeping within forum and general RP rules.  If you decide to host a roleplay, you are taking on a very large responsibility.   Please make sure you post the same roleplay you received approval for, following the guide for approval

-You may not run more then THREE open/active RP's in the Grasslands at any time. Attempting to do so will get ALL your active RP's locked until you apply to get only three re-opened.

-When making a new thread, please specify your rules set for your RP making sure you have your rating in the title (G, PG or PG-13).

-It is your responsibility to keep a character log as the first post after approval is granted. Once you have approval stamp you will need to reserve a post strictly to keep a log of who is playing in the RP, what character and type.  Please use the code below to log each character you approve to play in your RP.

Character name:
Character breed/type:
Account name of Player:
Page character application can be found:[/ on

Any posts made before that reserved log will be moved off and deleted.  We have a hard enough time keeping track without having to hunt this information down.

-Any one person that is not following rules set by the original poster, will have their post edited, or possibly wiped clean and left blank, at the request of the OP/Storyteller.  This is your RP to run, you do not have to allow people to join.  We are here to help and support you.  If you are having problems with an individual try PMing them letting them know what your rules are and what you expect from players.  If the continue to break your rules, or ignore your request contact us and we can either remove their posts or PM them with a final warning before doing so

Please do NOT post in this thread.  This thread is for instructional purposes ONLY.  Players who post in the thread will have their posts removed and may receive a warning for failing to follow a moderators instructions


Reserved for changes and updates