PlaneShift
Gameplay => Newbie Help (Start Here) => Guides and Tutorials => Topic started by: XpYtZ on September 22, 2004, 02:56:37 am
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Well, I figured that since no one else has done it yet I would.
Below is my Role Playing Guide.
A: What Role Playing is not.
All too often I see people say that they don't want to be a role player on the simple grounds that role players are either disconnected from reality or that they always talk like idiots. I really have to agree that there are a large number of role players out there that take it way too far. I'd like to clear up that you do not need to talk like an idiot or be unplugged from reality to be a good role player. Look at it like Shakespeare did: "All the world is a stage and all men actors". That is in my opinion the best description of a good role playing environment. Something else that role playing is not is running around screaming "I am the l337zorz!!!1111!" and bragging about how you have leveled your character up to L120 with +9 everything. That is not playing a role at all, unless it is the role of the town crazy man. If you saw someone in real life walking around talking about their "+1 Silk underpants" you would probably think it was a joke at first and later wonder about their mental status.
B: What role playing is.
Role playing is defined in the Webster's as: Function: verb
transitive senses : act out <students were asked to role-play the thoughts and feelings of each character -- R. G. Lambert>
intransitive senses : to play a role
If you need a bigger explanation then stick with me on this example.
I am taking a trip in a time machine and without dealing in the quantum mechanics of it all (few of us are physicists) I do not want to cause too many problems with the future. In order to do this I need to fit into the time and area that I am entering. I need to speak appropriately (not using conjunctions that would not exist), dress appropriately and not talk about things from the future that the people I am interacting with would know nothing about. In the time machine example I would need to use an accent so that I don?t seem to out of place but that is not needed in a role playing game. Basically role playing is being an actor. A good actor does not break character while on stage and neither should you.
C: RPG
I see a lot of confusion as to what this is; especially among developers lately. A RPG is a Role Playing Game. "Duh!" you say. Well it seems that developers miss just what role playing really is. A role playing game has begun to be "any game in which an Avatar is able to grow in strength and abilities and become more than it was." Now I love the Final Fantasy games but I have to place some of the blame for this on them. The fact that you are getting stronger at your own discretion does not make it a role playing game. Remember what role playing is?
Some of the more recent games, in which you are making decisions that cause you to become one thing or another, are closer but still they are missing something. I watched a great friend of mine play a more recent "RPG" called KotOR. I liked that game a lot, but he considered it the quintessential RPG. If it were he would have lost the game terribly. He made decisions on what he thought would help him get to the end of the game, not based on what the character he was playing would do. Sure it hurt him in some instances, but for the most part the game did not care.
People dispute all the time what a RPG really is. You can define it as you see fit. I can't decide for you what one is. I do think that people use the term to loosely though.
D: So what makes you Out Of Character (OOC)?
Here, I'll give you a short list. While these are not all the ways that people slip out of character they are the most common.- Evil vs. Good: Sometimes people slip out of character and help when they should not, hurt when they should not, steal when they would not, etc. Remember that if you are Evil you will not help people unless it makes you more powerful and if you are Good you will help people without regard for yourself. There are a lot of areas in between Good and Evil in the role playing environment but people seem to play the Chaotic Neutral role a lot. This one gives you a chance to do whatever you want. I don't personally like any of the Neutral alignments, I think they are a cop out, but hey to each his own.
- Talking out of character.: People do this more than they know. It can be hard to keep from doing it. Especially when you are talking to someone about how you have been advancing in ranks. In most games there are "tell" or "whisper" commands that you can use to avoid breaking the common RP channels. Some games have added an OOC (or Out Of Character) channel to help people have an outlet. I don't think that the OOC channel is a bad idea, It can be really helpful; but the tendency is for players to use it as the only chat channel, never using the yell or talk commands and always being out of character. A bad habit to get in is to use this channel for talking. If you really need to talk to someone that you know in real life who is online, then get a messenger client or use the phone. Just try to stay in character while playing unless you have something that really needs to be said OOC.
- Marriage: I love games with this feature. My wife and I play a lot of games together and we always get married in game, but people tend to get married online for the wrong reasons. If you want to get married in a video game fine, do it but try to get married to someone that you spend a lot of time with online anyway. Don't break the mood by asking every other person that passes by to marry you.
- Monster bashing.: Every game out there has the ability built into it for you to kill, kill and then, you guessed it, kill some more. After all, what kind of game would it be if all you got to do was walk around collecting sticks and making arrows out of them? I know what kind: the boring kind! The problem that a lot of people run into while playing is that they see monster bashing as the only means to any kind of profit or progression through the levels of the game. I blame this mostly on game developers who make monster bashing the quickest, easiest and in many cases only way of gaining attributes and levels.
It all comes back around to what kind of person you are playing. If you are a hunter or a gatherer then by all means you would, indeed be out there hunting and killing everything so that you will gain what you need to sell for money or equipment. But if you are, on the other hand, a crafter of silken pillow cases the chances that you will be in the wilderness hunting bears is a little lower- no, a lot lower. Again trying to stay in character does not exclude you from hunting, it just means that you should have a reason for doing it. Be creative, you can find one.
- Too much knowledge.: Perhaps the most sad thing that I see in MMORPGs is the following exchange.
"Hey! How do I kill the Master Ogre?"
"You need the Orb of suffering. Just throw that at him and he'll die."
How the hell do you know that? Most people know this kind of stuff from reading the forums and asking on the OOC channels. I'm fine, in fact I encourage the exchange of knowledge. But if you are going to do it, for heavens sake stay In Character. The exchange could be redone this way.
Yell "Does the Master Ogre have a weakness?"
Yell "Yes, he can be injured by emotion altering magic. I would say that an orb of suffering might be what you are looking for."
Now how hard was that?
So what is the difference? Well one was overtly obvious while the other seemed to fit into the world. You have the same information but it has a reason in the world as opposed to just being what you should do.
All that said there are a hundred (at least that many) other ways that people slip.
E: Some easy ways to stay In Character (IC).
Having shown the most common ways that people slip out of character, I'll try to show you how to keep in character.- Do not use conjunctions. It's, we're, they're, they've- the list goes on. They are great in the OOC channel and we use them all the time in modern English, but they are generally frowned upon in role playing linguistics circles. You usually will not be ostracized by the people that have not taken RP too far but it does elevate you to another level. Do use proper techniques to create accents, slurs and gibberish though. After all everyone speaking high Elven would be boring.
- Avoid the use of numerals. We, in the English speaking world and those in some others, tend to use numerals (1, 2, 3, 4) interchangeably with the words to which they relate (one, two, three, four). Avoid doing this in the game world. It is in the same line and the use of conjunctions.
- Avoid the use of statistical modifiers. So you found a sword that has an increased attribute ratio of "+1". Great! But do not use that in your common speech. Try to use a more common word to identify it and then, if someone wants to know the actual stats they can ask via the "tell" "OOC" or other channels that do not break the RP environment.
- Avoid LEETting! We have all seen the people that use numbers and symbols as words and most of us can't understand a damn thing that they are saying. If you want to use that kind of language, then by all means- find an appropriate place! I also lump into the category of Leetors those that use MSN/AOL/YM short hand on the main channels. U all know who u r.
- Have a goal. Your goal can be to be the greatest fighter in the world, the most powerful mage or the most well known drunk. Just have a reason for the character to be alive.
- Have a history. It can be the hardest part of any RPG. Creating the character's history. Look at it this way though. It can be as easy as: "I was born a poor farm boy and came to the city to liven up my life." There is not a single Player Character in the world that is not looking for an adventure. You do not need a deep and adventurous past to begin -that should come with time.
- Do be a thief, murderer or assassin. Please be evil if you want. So few games have evil characters that are really, truly evil. Just be in character while you are doing it.
F: Naming conventions.: There are a lot of things that get overlooked in guides like this. Naming is one of those. You should already know that numeric characters are out. Characters that are supported but not necessarily normal to names, like ? or ? or better yet ? can make names look cool but also make them impossible to type. My name for instance, XpYtZ not a good in game name, which is why I have a different name in a gaming environment. I hear people complain about their name being taken already and the like. Pfft, most names of role-players are made from a series of random consonants and vowels anyway. Just make sure that it is A) pronounceable and B) sensible. Names tend to fit in certain environments as well, so just keep the setting in mind while typing out those names.
If I am in a tight spot for a name (Mine is "taken" or doesn't fit.) I take four consonants and two vowels and try to make something with them. I usually take about three sets and do this. Another good option is to add a consonant or vowel to a real name. If you can't think of many names or don't know many, don't worry I've attached a link to a good name site at the bottom of this thing.
[Formatting fixed --Santiago]
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G: Know who you are.: If I have seen it once I have seen it a thousand times. People who are just playing to see if they like the game and don't want to try and "be" something while they are there. They are just testing the mechanics to see if they like them. If you find you are doing this with a game it may be time to get out. A shooter or a Diablo type game is one that lives on it's mechanics but a RPG lives on it's community. I have been a member of a number of games that were nothing but forums and some pretty background stories before and they have been more alive than some of the mechanically sound, beautifully well illustrated worlds that I have been in. It all comes down to who you are in the world.
How do you know who you are? Well, if you took my advice from earlier and made a Background story then you know something about your character already; now you need to expand on that.
Let's take the guy from the demonstration. We know already that he has lived a simple life on the farm up until now. He probably left because he felt repressed, or wanted to get noticed. So we know that he is looking for recognition. Now if he has an alignment (Evil, Good, Chaotic, Neutral- there are lots more) he can look for recognition in a number of ways. Since I like playing Good characters the most we will make him good. Now as a good person our farm boy (let's call him Ned Flanders. I don't think Matt will mind a little more publicity.) can go two directions. He can either try to help people by rescuing them (as either a healer or something of the sort) or by serving them (as a hunter or gatherer) for the sake of this example we will make him a hunter.
Now what do we know about our character?
- He has come from the farm looking to be a somebody as opposed to a nobody.
- He is Good.
- His name is Ned Flanders.
- He serving his community through being an active member of commerce as a hunter.
What else can we have him do? Hmmm. Let's make him like to dance and go to recitals of poetry. Now we will add a crush on a random person from the game (Maud? Na, too obvious. Hmmm- Laura.) and we are about done. We now know how he is part of his world. One more thing will be added for fun's sake. We'll give him an accent; now all his words are shortened like so "I like 'em 'er purdy flowers." We have a character, and hopefully his player has read all the above suggestions and will try to stay in character.
Some other things that you can ask about your character are:
Does he/she believe in magic? Sounds dumb I know, especially if the game has magic in it. But you could be one of those people that attribute everything to something other than magic.
Does he/she follow a god? You do not have to believe the religion of the world that you are entering. You can serve your own deity or even none at all.
Does he/she have neuroses? These can be so much fun to play. A player who is afraid of spiders, bears, skeletons- oh man you name it. I played a Fire Dragon that was afraid of snakes, spiders and carrion (rotting, dead things) before. He was a barrel of laughs.
All this to say that the more you know about the character, and the deeper you play them, the better a role player you will be considered and the more depth you will add to the game. So as they say "Know thy self."
That about wraps it up.
I'm sure there are a lot of good things that I forgot, but you can learn those as you go. This little guide is supposed to help you avoid the common mistakes and help guide you toward what it really is to role-play. Above everything that has been written here, try to have fun. The only bad role-players are those that forget it is a game and make it into a reality. Those folks need counseling.
This guide will be updated on occasion to include things forgotten and to remove typos and points that are either mute, or repetitive. Please Email suggested revisions or topics to xpytz@yahoo.com.
Links:
http://www.behindthename.com/ ~Names, names and more names, with meanings.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20001222b ~An interesting quiz for those that can not decide on an alignment, but know how they would act In Game.
Footnotes:
The D&D personality alignments are: Good, Evil, and Neutral.
The D&D Ethics alignments are: Lawful, Chaotic, and Neutral.
Most characters are comprised of a dual alignment such as, Lawful Good or Chaotic Neutral, etc. While the D&D ones have become a standard for most game systems there are the occasional weird sets that follow way different rules.
[edit] Adjusted the 'Conjuctions' point for clarity.[/edit]
[Formatting fixed --Santiago]
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Nice job XpYtZ. i think it deserves a sticky
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Originally posted by snow_RAveN
Nice job XpYtZ. i think it deserves a sticky
I second the motion. Good stuff. :D
Mind if I put it up on our site?
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Monketh, empty your PM box! I can\'t verry well have a private conversation over the message boards.
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Originally posted by XpYtZ
if you are Good you will help people without regard for yourself. There are a lot of areas in between Good and Evil in the role playing environment but people seem to play the Chaotic Neutral role a lot. This one gives you a chance to do whatever you want. I don?t personally like any of the Chaotic alignments, I think they are a cop out, but hey to each his own.
You don\'t like Chaotic Neutral or any and all Chaotic allignments...Yes I am Chaotic Good but..how is that a cop out? I play my role to the farthest extent possible..and my values and ideals haven\'t changed even after I withdrawn my own guild.
Overall I think most of its true and thank you for a guide?
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Stickied as promised. ;)
Depth: In most cases, people who choose Chaotic do it because it\'s easiest. He\'s not saying *all* chaotic characters are copouts. :)
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Sorry, It should say Neutral, Neutral is a cop out. I forgot to edit that after the rewrite. *forehead slap.*
Besides it is just an opinion. I\'m not a journalist, I don\'t have any need to keep my opinions out of my writing.
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I often see Neutral characters as those who spontaneously jump from one end of the alignment spectrum to the other. That is, those who cannot stick to one. Perhaps the character is a devious individual who likes to cause havoc but at the same time will stop to help someone out.
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Kudos for the guide. It touches the basic concepts of RolePlaying and is a good lecture for those not acquainted with what RP is all about.
Do remember, though, that the D&D alignment system is just a general categorisation so that one knows more or less what to expect from a character.
It by no means implies that an evil character will be doing evil things every second he is a awake. It does mean however than this character\'s most common course of action involves personal gain and abrassive methods, and this is a characteristic that rules his way of life. But every rule has exceptions and it is not unheard of for an evil character to partake in a quest that, ultimately, benefits the \"good guys\" (Although his presence in the party will most likely rely on the room for his wealth and power to increase, even if ever so slightly).
Chaotic characters also deserve special consideration, although I will not be getting into that right now.
Alignment is a topic that demands a lot of focus and time to study the possibilities. So I recommend leaving it as a \"General mindset of the character\" rather than an \"Unbreakable rule\".
That is basically the only comment I have on the text, the rest I agree upon. I would certainly read a second installment should it ever be written.
Good job!
- Golbez
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Originally posted by Karyuu
I often see Neutral characters as those who spontaneously jump from one end of the alignment spectrum to the other. That is, those who cannot stick to one. Perhaps the character is a devious individual who likes to cause havoc but at the same time will stop to help someone out.
Or the character is devoted to the preservation of balance (D&D Druids are generally an example of this), or the character does not have a formed opinion or preference for the concepts of \"Right\" and \"Wrong\". Or the character simply is abstracted from the society\'s ways and chooses to live on rules of his own. There are infinite examples, and different conceptions of a character\'s neutrality.
Some see it as a constant switch from good to evil, going back and forth depending on whim and caprice. I prefer to regard it as a grey area between the black and white. A different mindset and attitude towards life, which does not allow neither to say \"Huh...this guy is a goody-two-shoes\" nor to make out if his affiliation tilts to the darker side.
Perhaps a neutral character will aid evil, and deliberately so, but for personal and maybe even unselfish reasons. Or do the same for good. However, always keeping in mind that he is not doing so in the name of this good or that evil.
In disagreement with Mogura, I would say that Chaotic characters present many intricacies and difficulties. In my opinion it has always been so that Lawful alignments are the easiest, being Lawful Good the \"piece of cake\" of the bunch. It just takes to know the laws and abid to them (Which does not mean that Lawful Evil characters cannot use non-conventional methods for their social escalation, for example).
I have long seen players saying their character is \"Chaotic\", justifying the election of the alignment with a \"He/She does as he/she pleases\". However, when put into the play, I see them being just as anybody else, when the premise of their alignment suggest a more spontaneous, rebellious and difficult to control personality that means they will constantly get into trouble because they cannot refrain themselves from crossing the boundaries of lawfulness.
A trespasser or an explorer that keeps advancing no matter what, or a general that continues his attacks (Even if the enemy is already retreating) choosing reckless courage to rational strategy are a couple of examples of classic Chaotic characters.
Of course, this does not mean that some players cannot find Chaotic alignments easier to play than Lawful. I just consider that the latter have less obstacles and contradictions in their actions.
- Golbez
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I understand that Alignment is tricky, but the text was more of an overview than a strict descussion on the subject. That is why I have the link at the bottom. The D&D alignments are also not the only ones.
No one sticks to an exact patern all the time. All I was saying was that an evil character should be acted as an evil character and a good character the opposite. My hope was to set people on a course to understanding character dynamics. If they want an article on Alignment they can go here (http://www.andycollins.net/Theories/alignment.htm) or search for one here (http://www.google.com/).
It is not my cup-o-tea.
*****/////ASKII\\\\\\\\\\*****
Thanks everyone and Mogura. I thought it was worth posting but wow. You dream of having your own sticky (well I do...did) but you never think it is going to happen. :D
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Originally posted by XpYtZ
Thanks everyone and Mogura. I thought it was worth posting but wow. You dream of having your own sticky (well I do...did) but you never think it is going to happen. :D
It\'s a worthwhile reward for such great effort in helping the community advance another step in the right direction. :)
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Great job on the guide!
*ties edooo to the chair, clips edo\'s eyes open, and make him read it* :D
EDIT I took the test and its pretty good, heres what I got (not surprising :))
Neutral Evil (true evil in ps terms)
A neutral evil villain does whatever he can get away with. He is out for himself, pure and simple. He sheds no tears for those he kills, whether for profit, sport, or convenience. He has no love of order and holds no illusion that following laws, traditions, or codes would make her any better or more noble. On the other hand, she doesn?t have the restless nature or love of conflict that a chaotic evil villain has. The criminal who robs and murders to get what he wants is neutral evil. Some neutral evil villains hold up evil as an ideal, committing evil for its own sake. Most often, such villains are devoted to evil deities or secret societies. The common phrase for neutral evil is \"true evil.\" Neutral evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents pure evil without honor and without variation.
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Originally posted by XpYtZ
- Evil vs. Good: Sometimes people slip out of character and help when they should not, hurt when they should not, steal when they would not, etc. Remember that if you are Evil you will not help people unless it makes you more powerful and if you are Good you will help people without regard for yourself. There are a lot of areas in between Good and Evil in the role playing environment but people seem to play the Chaotic Neutral role a lot. This one gives you a chance to do whatever you want. I don?t personally like any of the Neutral alignments, I think they are a cop out, but hey to each his own.
I have to disagree here. People in real life don\'t always follow a specific alignment, and neither do people in a fantasy world. You don\'t have to stick with good/evil constantly. Let\'s say there\'s this guy. He\'s a good guy, helps old ladies cross the street, gives money to charity, and one day, he steals a lollipop.
Or just look at any Mafia movie you\'ve ever seen. The wiseguys will help out a friend, even if they do kill and steal. Good and evil people are still people. Doing something not specific to the alignment you\'ve chosen for yourself is not a breach in role-playing.
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What, if I may ask, exactly do you disagree with? Is it that Good people should not harm people without reason or that Evil people should not do good without gain?
For all those that are having trouble with my alignment statement.
I was never placing a brick wall between Good actions and Evil actions I was only saying that you should attempt to play the character according to the Alignment that you have chosen.
Your actions move you on the D&D alignment wheel. If you chose to be Good and do something Evil you move towards Evil and must cross Neutral along the way. Instantaneous changes in Alignment are generally thought to occur when a major, catastrophic event changes the characters view of the world; which is what your alignment represents, your way of viewing the world. Good characters can steal but they will move towards Evil. Evil characters can rescue someone but they will move towards Good.
It was never my intention to make a treatise on Alignment nor will I make one. However people do break character in this manner all the time. To say that acting outside of your Alignment is not a break of character is to absolve the entire Alignment structure.
Be you Good Lawful, Evil Chaotic or even Evil Lawful, you will have to make your character view the world in one way or another and they must have a reason for acting in a way that does not agree with that view, or they risk acting schizophrenic.
No one said it was a foolproof system. It is after all representing human emotions and thought patterns in only one word. What I was saying was that people tend to ignore it.
The entire section needs a good rewrite, of that I am well aware, and one is in the works but it will never meet with everyone?s expectations because alignment is a very touchy and controversial subject. I am surprised that I have only received three posts about it actually.
Oh and that is not a request for more.
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Im sure we could create our own unique alignment system as I find the D&D system a bit to vague. We need an alignment for people like me who are evil but on the good side, but for now I guess I will just remain \'Unknown\'
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Originally posted by Syzerian
Im sure we could create our own unique alignment system as I find the D&D system a bit to vague. We need an alignment for people like me who are evil but on the good side, but for now I guess I will just remain \'Unknown\'
How can you be evil on the good side? Perhaps you mean \"evil\", but having a code of honour, respect for courtesy, and fair methods? That qualifies as \"Lawful Evil\" to some, due to the character abidding to very specific rules of society, although possessing ulterior motives.
The D&D alignment system is, quite right, very vague. It is supposed to be. After all, you are classifying the entire world under only nine different categories. Of course there are more than nine kinds of individuals, but what the alignment system finds is the \"core rules\" which \"govern\" their behaviour.
I am willing to consider other systems, but I believe the Lawful/Chaotic and Evil/Neutral/Good works just fine.
What I believe many people confuse is \"alignment\" with \"personality\".
I propose an example that due to its lack of variables, its simplicity eases the comprehension of the alignment system somewhat. Paladins are, in the D&D rules (2nd Edition, at least, I do not recall if it is the same for the 3E rule set) supposed to be \"Lawful Good\". Should they drift to another alignment they will lose their class (And therefore special abilities) and be known as \"Fallen Paladins\", or just \"Fallen\".
Now, Paladins are restricted solely to the Lawful Good alignment, and that cannot be changed. But does it mean our Paladins will all be alike? Absolutely not! They all act under the same principles (Honour, loyalty, dignity, respect, grace, etcetera), but they may conduct themselves quite differently.
A Paladin may be a charming young fellow, following every rule of proper conduct and speaking in a formal, knightly and courtly way.
Another Paladin may be arrogant and foolhardy, overconfident in his own skills and therefore faces the consequences of this quirk of his.
A third Paladin may even have schizoid problems, failing to build friendships and acquaintances due to his distrust for everyone and anyone, honest yet tactless mentality that some find abrassive and occasionally insulting, and problems relating with his peers.
Our last example of a Paladin may be a seemingly emotionless man. Ruled only by racionalism and careful analysis of the circumstances, and never allowing his sentiments to jeopardise the outcome in a given situation.
All of them are \"Lawful Good\" because they all have the same view on life. But all of them are different in how they live it.
And that is what a player must go for when creating a character: uniqueness, originality, and believability. The alignment is not a restriction, it is a method for us to say \"Well, my character more or less thinks THIS way\".
http://www.atfantasy.com/view/18 is an article that has a bit stricter view on alignment, but is a good approximation to the subject.
- Golbez
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I used to roleplay... Like 3 years ago but everyone became so insanely attached to it and ruined the fun.. :(
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:D the last three examples of paladins you mention are the reason they are immune to disease :D
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...By and large, good words...BUT...
The issue with conjunction is problematic.
1) People use conjunctions in every day conversation, especially in any group not required to keep up appearances.
2) This tends to become especially common in cross-cultural situations. For instance, in my Japanese class, they taught us the term \'biru\'. It\'s shore for \"birudingu\" or the like, and is a conversion of the western word \"Building\".
3) Language changes constantly. Words like \'because\' and \'cannot\' were not always words in themselves. Trying to pin point the longer form of each word is a bit rough, since you\'d eventually be speaking Old English.
4) Planeshift is NOT European Middle Ages Earth. Nor is D&D nor most settings where people start this up. There\'s no reason to think we\'re even speaking \"English\" in-game. This is not a Ren Faire (And most of those are horribly against period anyways).
With language, you should focus more on -tone-. Get the right feeling across. Especially pleasant if you have an -accent- of some sort.
\'Owdy guvna\" and all that.
Speak properly for your character, not for illogical sensibilities.
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I have struggled with this issue of language selection. In general, I go with a Southern U.S. post-civil way Mark Twain kind of thing. I feel it adds an element of eloquence to the game without sounding as wooden as \"God ye good den, fine sir.\" That\'s unnatural. I feel as long as we\'re not using \"k\" for okay and we\'re thinking about what we\'re *saying* rather than making compromised for *typing* then every dialect is acceptable.
Hmm, I think I\'m in the minority. Any eloquence is better than no eloquence, however.
As for alignments, I\'ve always had difficulties with them. In D&D I played a monk who was personally lawful good, in that he believed in strict personal discipline and self-sacrifice, but a sort of chaotic good when it came to governance, since the local governments were involved in hedonistic tendencies. I mean, the Shao-Lin monks didn\'t exactly respect the Chi\'Na government, but we\'re anarchists either...
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D&D alignments have always caused a lot of conflicts.
The trick is to play your character, than figure it out.
We once had an interesting thread on the D&D boards...
Some guy thought he was a CG elf-like person.
We determined he was lawful neutral.
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You usually will not be ostracized by the people that have not taken RP too far but it does elevate you to another level
The language rules that I suggest are not to bring people down or stagnate the language but rather to encourage good communication. Most people use conjunctions to often or wrong and not using them at all avoids the mess. I am not against the use of them all together but, like the quote says, it will usually elevate you to another level within a game.
None of these suggestion were ever meant to be PS specific (though many people have tryed to make them so) but rather just a show of good form for people who are interested in learning to RP and never have touched the subject. You can\'t make a rocking chair just because you have been given the tools, and neither can you RP just because you read this thread. But it is more an aid for those that are lost on etiquet.
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Using punctuation and so forth PROPERLY is good.
Avoiding things is just silly unless you\'re playing a butler or other high spoken character.
Butler: \"My goodness. You certainly are a rapscallion. It can not be denied, my lady.\"
Tavern-goer: \"Oy, roit then, yo\' a regula\' fireball ain\'chee? Can\'t be denied overmuch, now can it, m\'lady?\"
If you sound like the Butler when playing a random stereotypical drunken country bumpkin, I don\'t care how impressive your diction is, you\'re not RPing very well.
Good communication is for Tells. -Realistic- communication, on the other hand, is great for RP.
Think \"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn\".
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Alignments...hmmm....
D & D has a good system...for D&D. I\'ve played a few different games out there, and two that I\'ve dipped into have by far my favorite type of alignment \"structures\" (or lack of).
Rifts:
Principled
The classic \"lawful good\" alignment, respecting law, order, authority figures, self-discipline, and honor. These characters will never knowingly break the law. Principled characters do not use torture, nor will they kill for pleasure. These characters will always keep their word, and rarely, if ever, lie. Neither this character nor the Scrupulous character will kill or attack an unarmed foe.
Scrupulous
This is the classic action hero as portrayed by Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, and Jackie Chan. While the character prefers to work with the law, he or she knows the difference between law and justice, and often finds him or herself working outside or even against the law in order to correct injustice.
Unprincipled
This is the type of selfish character best portrayed by Harrison Ford in his classic roles of Han Solo and Indiana Jones. This character is generally out for himself, yet finds himself helping others and hating himself for doing so. This character will associate with both good and evil characters, and is often tempted to lie and cheat.
Anarchist
The Anarchist character epitomizes the term \"every man for himself\". These characters don\'t break the rules, they bend them... a lot. This character has little to no respect for authority, so long as, when the stuff hits the fan, he comes out smelling like a rose.
Miscreant
One step down from the Anarchist is the Miscreant character. Like the Anarchist, the Miscreant is simply out for himself. However, the Anarchist is not necessarily ruthless in attaining his goals; the Miscreant is. While the other alignments will not kill for pleasure, this character may.
Aberrant
This is the classic \"lawful evil\" alignment. This character is driven to attain his goals through power, force, and intimidation, but lives by a strict, if twisted, code of ethics. He will always keep his word or honor, but is careful to say exactly what he means, and he means exactly what he says. For instance, if this character says, \"If I find out that you lied to me, I will kill you,\" the person he said that to better not be lying. This character will always twist the law to meet his goals, and will never torture or kill for pleasure.
Diabolic
I\'ve seen this alignment is best described as \"your typical everyday slimeball\". This is the alignment typically reserved for merciless killers, megalomaniacs, and the like. Be extremely careful when playing this alignment, for the character may not last long. I usually reserve this alignment for NPC villains.
and...
Shadowrun:
Pretty much no alignments... just different shades of grey. Everyone has their idiosyncracies...good? evil? No way to be purely either....
Ex.: The shopkeeper is out for his own hide.. wants to make money any way they can..keep turning a profit...one day, a poor, bedraggled stranger walks in, faints on his floor, and is nearly unrevivable. Biting the bullet, the shopkeeper dips into his reserves (at a loss, no less (!)) and feeds/gets healing for the stranger (that way they\'re not laying on the floor, scaring away the business..big priority for the shopkeeper as the dollar/trias/gold/nuyen/whatever flow is the only thing keeping his undercover assassin ring supplied. ;) ).
These are just examples...myself, I prefer the second, although the Rifts example is a good framework. As far as the whole G/N/E L/C thing goes, I\'ve always found it a bit too limiting as far as expression goes.
Maybe its just me...
[DA@planeshift]# Dikoke? He\'s...well...that\'d be telling, now wouldn\'t it? ;)
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Originally posted by Golbez
In disagreement with Mogura, I would say that Chaotic characters present many intricacies and difficulties.
- Golbez
I agree. I see someone who is chaotic being very deep. They are undecided as to how they should react to the world, either because of their history, or because of present conditions.
Let\'s say, for example, as a child, you were raised on a farm (like the guide says). However, you did not have a happy time on that farm. You hated farmwork, but you were forced to do it. Your mother was very strict. You were forced to abide by her rules: eat correctly, wake up at 6 am everyday, and (blah blah blah blah blah). If you did something wrong, you\'d be punished.
Now you are free from the farm, roaming around Hydlaa with a new life, but some of those things from the past are likely to haunt you. One thing in particular, your freedom would feel rather weird if you were always told what to do. Now you can do what you want? This sudden notion of freedom can really go all over the place on alignment.
You may choose to stay on the same path as your past and abide by the rules (the lawful alignment). It\'s what you learned in your childhood. You\'re afraid to even bend rules due to the unconcious notion of \"punishment\" in the back of your mind.
On the other hand you may take a more chaotic stance and become rebellious. You may want to break rules. You may hate anyone who the least bit resembles the strictness of your mother. You may steal things, curse, anything to be rid of the mother inside your head.
To make things even more complicated, you could be all of the above. You may be undecided between the notion of the law, and the notion of freedom. Such a person could one day abide by the rules, and another day break them. It\'s not unrealistic for such a character to exist. It\'s really based on two things: (1) past experience and (2) the personality you were born with and how it reacts to that past experience.
The reason why people can be so complex is because so much experience goes through one\'s life. Experience is what shapes us to who we are today.
PS: Also, though I might add in another link to a name generator I\'m kind of fond of :)
http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/
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Off topic- I use that very same generator when changing character names. It\'s great! :)
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I love how you can control what comes out with that generator by creating your own template :) (I know I know....off topic ;))
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What an exilent tool! Why did no one tell me about it before? :)) *looks toward teh Moogie*
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I would like to come back to the conjunction issue. I have some hard time to understand what you are talking about. Maybe some examples comparing the \"with conjunction\" and the \"without conjunction\" of the same situation would help me (and my English)...
Thanks,
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Sorry there I was away in Canada for a while and I leave the computer behind when I go on vacation.
Here is a list:
- \'it is\' vs. it\'s
- \'we are\' vs. we\'re
- \'who is\' vs. who\'s
- \'that is\' vs. that\'s
The rule is: when combining (verbs?) terms like you see above you drop the preceding vowls and replace them with an \'
It can get confusing though since \"its\" denotes that something belongs to a genderless item where as with most of English adding an \'s (or s\' in the case of a word ending with an \"s\" ) denotes ownership (I.E. \"It\'s Sara\'s hat.\" ) Like everything else in English it\'s (note \"it is\" ) more or less played by ear. Mistakes will happen and people will point and laugh. Then you will knife them :]
As an aside, I see no point in not using it when done properly. It just bothers me to see people who can\'t speak without it and attempt to be In Character while using modern English. Incenjucar had it the right way round, there is a time and a place. I\'m all for conjuctions and short-words when the situation calls for it...or the character...The conjunction rules that I included, so long ago, were for the ovewhelming number of people that used it poorly who were flooding the community.
I see alot more of it done properly now. There may be a rewrite for today\'s more prominent issues.
P.S. Anyone who knows the proper terms can feel free to correct me. Hell I barely made it through the post.
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I think I still have a hard time understanding. Tell me if I can get it right.
Written english vs. spoken english:
Gellule turns to the sign on the door of the library: \"It\'s written It is possible to read books in the library since they are available \"
Gellule turns to XpYtZ: \"Indeed! It\'s possible to read books!\"
Emphasing:
Gellule asks XpYtZ about reading books in the library: \"It\'s not possible to read the books in the library, right?\"
XpYtZ: \"You\'re wrong! It is possible!\"
If you speak always use the short phrase unless you want to emphasize the verb. If it is written english, always use the expanded version.
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This would be a perfect walkthrough if it werent for the fact that the game is severely unfinished. Too many features are unfinished to actually get into the world For instance I would love to be a master blacksmith but as of yet the feature is completely unsupported.
The other thing is please dont act ignorant of the outside world when someone is out of character, it makes you seem like a rude fanatic. Just explain the basics. If you run new players off, the game will eventually die.
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Greetings,
It is perfectly possible to roleplay a master blacksmith - no game mechanics are actually necessary, they just make it easier. That\'s why it is roleplay ;) You can be whatever you want to be, as long as you keep it within the \"decently realistic\" bounds.
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Sorry I was ouot so long.
I\'ll only address this point.
Originally posted by eroles
The other thing is please dont act ignorant of the outside world when someone is out of character, it makes you seem like a rude fanatic. Just explain the basics. If you run new players off, the game will eventually die.
If I forgot to mention the use of /tells or an OCC channel for helping players get \'into character\' and keeping the main channel properly set up then I do appologize. Though I would have to agree that those who \'act\' ignorant and don\'t move it to the OCC channels are seldom truly acting.
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Play as you want , speak as you want but be respectfull to other ....
Just don\'t blame on people like I who is not good in english and who is speaking like \"Hulk\" in game
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One thing that always seems to be overseen when talking about language is that planeshift is international, not just england or america, my point is that it is incredible hard for someone (like me) to decipher or speak in certain slangs, plainly because the knowledge of the base language is insufficent. Therefore, you can\'t really require from an say austrian to perfectly speak Shakespeerean english ....
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Since we\'re discussing grammar and proper English, I should point out (purely as an FYI, not a slam or anything) that a \"conjunction\" is a small joining word such as: and, or, but. A word that is a combination of 2 other words, minus some letters and joined with an apostrophe is a \"contraction\".
As for spelling out dialects, I\'d say less is more. You can get the idea of a certain dialect across without having to make it so \"thick\" an accent as to be very hard to read. I\'d come up with an example, but my brain seems to be frozen at the moment :P oh well....
Nightflyer
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This guide IS a vert good guide for role play, with exceptions.
First, the proper language angle. It would certainly depend on a person\'s education and social atmosphere--contractions would be quite normal for most classes of characters I\'ve seen in PS. Contractions are in fact from the fact that most people actually spoke improperly. So, unless your character is haughty-taughty (high taught or arrogant) proper English would be ooc.
2nd, is neutral. In real life most people are actually neutral to the most degree, however, this isn\'t real life, so there are those who are Legal (supporting the system of government or the status quo) and those who are chaotic (for whatever reason, they may switch alignment in any given situation--according to how their current gestalt persuades them). Neutral, is for those who cannot support hurting people for no reason, but also do things that are not good (they may be happy drunks, or occasionally compromise their intentions during desperate times).
To me, a character being of the extremes of the alignment spectrum is a cop out, because it is easy to be this character simply by blocking out all other opportunities to be otherwise.
3rd, is that the real person playing the character, may not have a college education to know how to write proper English, or they may be disabled in some way so the shortest possible response is desired by them. Perhaps, they haven\'t even learned their keyboard.
Still, I agree with your rpg values and ideals, and I thank you for the guide--being that I have never actually done true rpg (but I like adventuring, even tho they get called rpg).
Thank-you xpytz (pronounced spits in English)
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Crimsonn\'s a Paladin who\'s too cowardly and too stupid and too clumsy to be knightly... he\'s kind of one big screw-up after another... so he\'s more of a Paladinic squire, really. And about the right age.
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Love it:) I knew about roleplay but not that it was so \"lawful\":D
I guess i\'ll start playing a good guy, as i\'ve always fir into that roll:)
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A good guideline to use would be: "Talk like the NPC that's most like your character."
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Thanks. That's a great guide. One problem: A conjunction is a word that joins to phrases together (and, but, or, nor, for, yet.) Contractions are those things with the "'".
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i don't see it's we're and so on as non rp words. And i do do the ' 's but it's just that, when i do i also hit enter sometimes. Now if you can't use the ' 's then don't use it's we're............. don't strackt them together :).
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Wow, I finally had the time to read this roleplay guide. I really wish I had when I first started planeshift. Would have saved me alot of headaches. Anyway the roleplaying guide was really well put together.
I found out something today that is interesting and proper punctuation. If you wanted to add an extra 's on the end of a word Like lets say "That is Zorbels's." the proper way is "That is Zorbels'." I thought I would share that.
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wow, Need to read more, lol. :thumbup:
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As an aside, I see no point in not using it when done properly. It just bothers me to see people who can\'t speak without it and attempt to be In Character while using modern English.
I must say I don't get it. Language must be modern English, or it would be impossible to play. Of course you should avoid references to any "modern" object or concept, but that's another matter. While IC you should avoid references to anything that's outside the universe, be it modern or ancient... Think any PS char would ever know anything about dinosaurs? Or egyptian mummies?
Strictly speaking, any kind of English (ancient or modern) is wrong inside the PS world, since there's no England (or America) there. I could use Italian while IC, and it would be just as wrong,
The language is something we (the players, not the characters) agreed upon. It's totally an OOC issue.
Of course if you're good at it, you may try and give your character a trait by consistently using a certain style or accent. If you're playing a nobleman, you'll speak differently from the local bartender. I'm not a native speaker, and very likely will never be able to use a "style". I'll have to stick to plain English.