ICRP Workshop

[Silverback]

Hey gang!!! Coming soon to the Nexuscon nearest to you.

Gaberial Cross and Myself will be hosting a Roleplaying Workshop. I have started this thread for the soul purpose of asking everyone that frequents the RP section to tell us what they would be interested in seeing.

I am not saying that we will use everyone's ideas, but it would be nice to hear what people have to say on the subject. Especially those of you who have been here as long as us...or even you folks that are as old as the preverbial hills on these boards. This way we touch on the things that people believe needed talked about the most.

So put on your thinking caps and throw out the ideas.


Silver

[Khirsah]

-2D characters- people need to do a better job actually making a character, fleshing it out during the course of a thread, and truely giving it a personality and history.

-Reading- i really think people need to be encouraged to slow down and read posts better or even read them several times. We all do it, and there are times that not reading really can throw off a thread.

dang i know there's more...too tired to think...prolly edit in more later

[Kyra Starleaf]

Being more descriptive! :p Instead of posting only 2 liners, be more descriptive of what is going on around the character, setting the scene.

EXAMPLE:

- It was cold out so the man tried to build a fire to help keep warm.

- A fridgid wind blew down from the north carrying fingers of ice that seemed to grip and not let go, small pellets of ice rained down on the shivering figure as he scurried about gathering anything he could find that would burn long enough to keep him from freezing. Numb and shivering fingers struggled to light the match and keep it alove long enough to touch flame to wood however the blustery wind was relentless. Down to his last match, he sent up a prayer before stiking, his lips blue from cold yet a determined look in his eye he steadied his hands for one last stike.

[CountessZero]

- People who procrastinate in RP's! As in dragging out a scenario for too long. Admittedly that's often related to one-line posts but three pages of 'he did this' 'he did that' is not necessary.

- Keeping the tone. I've just finished an RP on another site where it was meant to be a serious RP, but someone came along and injected silly inane humour because it was 'boring'. No, it was meant to be serious!

- Spelling, grammar and punctuation. Need I say more?

[Saitheron]

I agree with the ideas stated already. I will add a few for the moment and return later with a few more.

* Flaws. The idea stands out and is obvious. Yet most characters I've read about in the RP section are only portrayed as being too good to be true. A character's drawbacks could just as easily be his/her saving grace, and I have yet to see this happen.

* Creativity. All too often do I read that one's character difuses any difficult situation in one or two posts. Draw it out and describe what's going on while also detailing the other side's story, as well. Spending as much time on your character's nemesis only helps in fleshing out your own.

* Wordiness. There are far too little of the things called words in the posts. As Kyra mentioned in her response, be descriptive. Expound on why your character is having a bad day. Even go so far as drawing upon his/her past as a sidebar imbedded within your response. The more background, even if we the readers only see it and not the characters, the better for character development (and possibly character interaction) in both the short term and long term.

[Ravenmantle]

Gang,

Keep in mind that this workshop is primarily targeted at relative newbies and, while veteran topics are ok, don't make it too technical. We don't want to chase peeps away :D

Ravenmantle

[Archangel21]

I have to agree with everyone, but working off of Saith's idea, what if in this workshop you made every Rp'er create a charecter with a major physical, emotional, or mental flaw...that way they wont have a perfect charecter that that may help them make a more 3-D charecter.

Just a thought
AA21

[TimeIsMajestic]

realism, treat the RP as it's all actually possible, during a fight it's not probable you would defeat 5 draconians with out a scratch. also this is no such thing as a perfect charecter so try to make it more real.-Kinda like what AA21 said.

Peace,
KWK

[Bong Bellowsmoke]

I have fantastic and diverse role-players in my thread, Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. One thing I think they (and other RPer's) should keep in mind is the amount of actions they take in any one post during a combat scene.

In DnD, for example, each person gets a turn, and during this turn they basically can do anything that can be accomplished in about 6 seconds - such as cast a spell, swing a sword a few times, as well as speak a couple sentences and move around. That way everyone gets about an equal oppurtunity to do their share.

During combat on the threads - things are looser than DnD, but if an RPer casts a spell, runs to the other side of the room and ties up a hostage, moves over to the door and closes it, and then draws their sword and stabs someone, then lights a torch - all in one post - this is too much.

It takes the sense of reality out of what's going on, because the RPer is not giving the enemy time to react - there is this long period of time (while the RPer's character is doing all those things) where the enemy is just 'stagnant'.

So though we don't want one-liners (we want fleshed out descriptive posts), at the same time we want a realistic limit on what actions the player can accomplish in one post. I'm just talking about during a combat scene here. About 6 seconds works great.

Other things that I think about have already been mentioned, but this subject is one that hasn't been yet.

[Archangel21]

I have to agree with everyone, but working off of Saith's idea, what if in this workshop you made every Rp'er create a charecter with a major physical, emotional, or mental flaw...that way they wont have a perfect charecter that that may help them make a more 3-D charecter.

Just a thought
AA21

I remember Aspen forcing me to do this in one thread, and it worked well for me. Make a minimum limit of how long a post can be. Say that a message has to be a certain length. This will help newbs (and some pros) become more descriptive and force them to give their charecter more life.

AA21

[Khirsah]

Oh yeah i forgot to mention this too, i ran into a group of people who didn't know that there was a difference in Dark Elves and Drow. Just for the record ya might wanna cover that too if ya have time.

[hawwaiian_dragon]

im gonna have to agree with Khirsah about the reading part. people do need to remeber to read the posts before them.

[Master_of_the_lance]

Being more descriptive! :p Instead of posting only 2 liners, be more descriptive of what is going on around the character, setting the scene.

EXAMPLE:

- It was cold out so the man tried to build a fire to help keep warm.

- A fridgid wind blew down from the north carrying fingers of ice that seemed to grip and not let go, small pellets of ice rained down on the shivering figure as he scurried about gathering anything he could find that would burn long enough to keep him from freezing. Numb and shivering fingers struggled to light the match and keep it alove long enough to touch flame to wood however the blustery wind was relentless. Down to his last match, he sent up a prayer before stiking, his lips blue from cold yet a determined look in his eye he steadied his hands for one last stike.


That right there is what truly makes a roleplayer. Through in some randomness have good instincts as to act like your charcter and build him/her. Orginallity is always good to me. You have to paint a picture for the reader. If they can see it, it is much more of an enjoyment rather than if you can't its like work. You know when you read a great book its like an rolling movie in your head and its so easy to read. Yet in a forced book you sometimes struggle to get the last couple of pages of each chapter in because you don't see it you read words and kinda decipher what is happening but you don't make it your own.
See what I'm saying painting the picture is the key. I know its hard sometimes for us lazy folks eh? :D

I have been rping at a mafia site and I believe it has changed my rping from the the first of her statments to the second.

lol when I was new on the old website. I had never read a dragonlance book and hardly new much about a fantasy setting. It was hard for me to through togther two liners that made sense.

[Dark_Magician]

I agree on the spelling, grammar, and punctuation. That drives me nuts! I try to be understanding of those who aren't good at spelling and typing, but some people just don't seem to pay attention either.

[Archangel21]

I agree on the spelling, grammar, and punctuation. That drives me nuts! I try to be understanding of those who aren't good at spelling and typing, but some people just don't seem to pay attention either.

Well you also have to understand that for some people English isn't their first language. I know of one or two people who were just learning how to speak and write English when they started RP'ing.

AA21

[Laistryl Krebayne]

My suggestion for a new role-player (on the boards) would be to have a basic idea of the mechanics of the game before beginning a thread. That is what provides the framework for the process of the mutual, cooperative story-telling/in-charater role playing, knowing what is roughly possible for the character to do.