NationStates Jolt Archive

Okay, you just created a nation. After a few jaunts in and out of the forum, you've noticed people making up stories between each other. Or wars. You're interested.

Congratulations, you've just gotten your first taste of RP'ing!

In this guide, I will explain the basic principles of RP'ing, and the etiquette that should be followed when doing it. I won't explain the symbols used in RP's, go to Sirocco's guide for that 'un.

BASIC RP'ING: Technology

If you're going to RP, your nation will be at a tech level. These are: Fantasy (Elves, Orcs etc.), Medieval (Knights, Trebuchets etc.), Modern (Pretty self explanitory) and future (Space ships, lasers and so on)

Your tech level is somewhat flexible: If you're a modern nation, you can still do a future tech RP. HOWEVER, it is bad manners to have modern troops with futuristic weapons. It's one or the other, not both.

BASIC RP'ing: RP types

There are a few types of RP.

OPEN RP: This RP is open to everyone who wants to join (Generally, it's a good idea to ignore these if you're joining after the 10th page. There are a few exceptions, such as parties.)

CLOSED RP: The opposite of an open RP. The people who RP here have been invited.

INVITE RP: See closed RP.

CHARACTER RP: Ah, my favourite. With character RP's, you make up a character (Who'd a thought it?) and use him to interact with other characters. These RP's usually follow a script of some sort, but there are exceptions. As a rule, YOU CAN NOT KILL ANOTHER PERSONS CHARACTER WITHOUT HIS SAY-SO. Sometimes, though, a person will say that you can bump off his characters if you want.

ROMANCE RP: *Shudder* Romance RP's are usually INSANELY boring if you're not actually doing the romance bit. In my humble opinion, these RPs should be classed as spamming, since most posts are along the lines of "He kissed her passionately". Still, this seems to be enjoyable for some folks, and it pretty much triples your post count by the time you've finished it.

BASIC RP'ing: Getting noticed

Let's face it: If you're below 200 million, most people will call you a n00b and ignore ANYTHING you post (RP wise). So you've got to make an impact with your posts. Here are some general rules I picked up pretty sharpish...

RULE 1: Spelling, spelling, spelling
I really can't stress this enough. If you want to be appreciated, recognised or respected, you've got to spell things properly! This isn't a text message you're sending to a buddy: You don't run out of room after 120 characters! Take this for example:

"i jmpd out th ewindw cos i m so cool!"

Respect=0

RULE 2: Punctuation
If people get the spelling right, then it just makes bad punctuation even worse! Excessive use of exclamation marks is a sure fire way of spotting a n00b (Or someone slagging one)

RULE 3: Realism
As much as you'd love to turn that 50 Million strong nation into a war-machine churning out weapons of all sorts for the whole world, it ain't gonna happen overnight. As a general rule, wait 'til you're about 250 million big before you start serious weapon manufacture. Until then, DO NOT TRY TO SELL UBER-WEAPONS! Do not advertise your latest "Nuclear Powered Anti-Planet Cannon". Stick to assault rifles, pistols or other handhelds. Then go up to artillery and tanks. Then start dealing with big stompy mechs. When you hit 500 million, the world is open arms to your latest killing machine.

OOC: I need to go for a while now, so I'll continue this later.

this should probably go in the Nationstates forum, although perhaps it could stay here as well.

Rule 2, subsection 1:

Use of the apostrophe:

The apostrophe is not used for pluralistation. Hence, the plural of RP is RPs, not RP's.

:P

*resists urge to hit Dregruk with a fish*

It's very interesting this, but in anticipation I'd better say this:

The moderators don't moderate roleplay except in cases of OOC flaming and such. We certainly aren't going to endorse rules of roleplay because roleplay is a free thing, and everyone has their own way of going about it. As such, we won't sticky this, so you'll just have to keep it bumped regularly. :wink:

EDIT: Also in anticipation, I know no one's said it should be stickied but I had a feeling someone would somewhere along the line.

I think this is a good idea (Siro, very amused to see you anticipate the request, won't be the one to ask though). I have seen players self edit an ecyclopedia of guides, definitons, and game tacticians in the last few months so it is smart to at lease be sure everyone's on the same page on topics.. plus help for those of us who only role-play-lite.