Roleplay Tips and Tricks

[Morrolan]

Hello, I'm ShaLeah, and I _love_ to hemote.

"Hemote" (and I harp on this a lot) is awesome.  Hemote'ing is very good for RP. Is it something that not "everyone" in the Sanctuary would see? Hemote, not emote.

hemote scratches ^me nose.

Wear a veil? or keep yourself cloaked? You might consider moving all of your facial expressions to "hemote."

hemote smiles behind ^me veil.

hemote from the depths of ^me hood, @ smiles cruelly at %breed antics

Solo-RPing?

think (sad) I will miss her smile
phemote eyes tear up as #me stares off into the distance

Emoting always comes with a high level of commitment. Always, you did "X" and everyone there saw it.  Hemote draws you, the player, into representing what your character does.  It helps a higher integration of your actions with "think" and "feel" and creates a sense of depth. With "hemote" you can act for yourself (instead of an audience), deny you did things that you did (not everyone sees the exact same performance), and take risks with your poker-tells (instead of announcing them to the world).

Hemote is king.

Quoting myself from another thread...probably bad form, but there it is.

What are your tricks to help with showing your character off as a whole person?

I think a collection of the things we do to show more of our characters would be pretty darned cool.  So, please, add yours below.

[Jeshin]

http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,42065.0.html

^ just this!

[Morrolan]

Going further with emote/hemote, here is another suggestion:

On my client, the ";" character adds a line-break between commands, so you can stack them in one line.  If this is an option, then you can add details in "hemote" addendums:

emote after bowing, @ smiles at ~templar;phemote smile is patently false and plastered on ^me face. There is fear in ^me eyes.

Code Select Expand

After bowing, the tall muscular man smiles at the tall, fair-skinned templar.
You notice:
The tall, muscular man's smile is patently false and plastered on his face. There is fear in his eyes.


[Akaramu]

I don't really have any magical tricks, but... sometimes I just feel the flow and am 'in the zone' and sometimes I'm not. When I'm feeling it, I can literally see what my character is doing, and only have to try to wrap it into words. When I'm not feeling it, I just get annoyed by my repetitive emotes.

Listening to music can summon the flow, or simply interacting with amazing characters.

[Barsook]

That happens to me too.

[Iiyola]

I always express my characters emotions in my own face. It's really annoying sometimes, when my husband asks why I look sad, or angry, or smile. But I can't keep a straight face!

[Karieith]

[Insert joke post with long list of alternative words for penis and vagina to help along budding mudsexers.]

[Zoltan]

Internal consistency. I only feel like I'm playing it right when I constantly keep my characters' IC and virtual pasts in mind, and their current attitudes on those events. All motivations, goals, and characterization stems from there. I realize that's probably stating the obvious for a lot of you, but it's something I always have to keep mindful of. When I'm doing it right, I'm "in the zone", but as soon as that falters the fun wanes. I want to portray a character in the literary sense, not just me with a new skin on. Consequently, my characters tend to do a ton of thinking, especially pointless stream-of-consciousness stuff, because it puts me in the moment and keeps the thread of the character going. If I have to sit and idle even for a little bit, I start losing that connection. I can't multitask at all while playing Arm, so I always try to play when I -know- I have time and there's nothing else to do, and I won't be interrupted. It's definitely quality over quantity for me when it comes to playing, because I can idle away the hours doing a ton of other stuff, or play "crunchier" games when I need the whole action-reward sort of entertainment. When that login screen comes up, I'm in it to role-play!

So yeah, I'm a crusty old geezer that takes his characters too seriously. But that has consistently lead to my most fun and memorable Arm moments, so there! 

[Feco]

I always express my characters emotions in my own face. It's really annoying sometimes, when my husband asks why I look sad, or angry, or smile. But I can't keep a straight face!

Likewise, when you want your character to do something (say a hand gesture or something), just do it real quick IRL.  Makes it easier to explain.

[Iiyola]

I always express my characters emotions in my own face. It's really annoying sometimes, when my husband asks why I look sad, or angry, or smile. But I can't keep a straight face!

Likewise, when you want your character to do something (say a hand gesture or something), just do it real quick IRL.  Makes it easier to explain.

Exactly!

[Delirium]

Internal consistency. I only feel like I'm playing it right when I constantly keep my characters' IC and virtual pasts in mind, and their current attitudes on those events. All motivations, goals, and characterization stems from there. I realize that's probably stating the obvious for a lot of you, but it's something I always have to keep mindful of. When I'm doing it right, I'm "in the zone", but as soon as that falters the fun wanes. I want to portray a character in the literary sense, not just me with a new skin on. Consequently, my characters tend to do a ton of thinking, especially pointless stream-of-consciousness stuff, because it puts me in the moment and keeps the thread of the character going. If I have to sit and idle even for a little bit, I start losing that connection. I can't multitask at all while playing Arm, so I always try to play when I -know- I have time and there's nothing else to do, and I won't be interrupted. It's definitely quality over quantity for me when it comes to playing, because I can idle away the hours doing a ton of other stuff, or play "crunchier" games when I need the whole action-reward sort of entertainment. When that login screen comes up, I'm in it to role-play!

So yeah, I'm a crusty old geezer that takes his characters too seriously. But that has consistently lead to my most fun and memorable Arm moments, so there! 

This. I've tried the 'log in and halfway pay attention' thing and always regretted it.

You guys are making me miss playing. I need to quit browsing the GDB so much.

[Patuk]

You guys are making me miss playing. I need to quit browsing the GDB so much.

Alternatively, you could start playing again!

[RogueGunslinger]

I always express my characters emotions in my own face. It's really annoying sometimes, when my husband asks why I look sad, or angry, or smile. But I can't keep a straight face!

Likewise, when you want your character to do something (say a hand gesture or something), just do it real quick IRL.  Makes it easier to explain.

Exactly!

I even laugh when  my character would laugh and try to mimic the adverb behind it. (thoughtfully, wistfully, nervously)

[Malken]

I always express my characters emotions in my own face. It's really annoying sometimes, when my husband asks why I look sad, or angry, or smile. But I can't keep a straight face!

Likewise, when you want your character to do something (say a hand gesture or something), just do it real quick IRL.  Makes it easier to explain.

Exactly!

I even laugh when  my character would laugh and try to mimic the adverb behind it. (thoughtfully, wistfully, nervously)

As someone who muds often from work, that's... Not the best idea ;p

[Tuannon]

Delirium will probably start playing again when the planets align. Same as sundry other 'old' players.

[ShaLeah]

I always express my characters emotions in my own face. It's really annoying sometimes, when my husband asks why I look sad, or angry, or smile. But I can't keep a straight face!

Likewise, when you want your character to do something (say a hand gesture or something), just do it real quick IRL.  Makes it easier to explain.

Exactly!

I even laugh when  my character would laugh and try to mimic the adverb behind it. (thoughtfully, wistfully, nervously)

I realized after reading this that I do it. No wonder my husband looks at me funny.

I can't listen to music, it distracts me. I think I would if I was playing a bard.
I can only play characters if I feel them. If I flesh them out _TOO_ much, I find it restricting.

I always make them broken in some kind of way. A fucked up past, against the norm of the docs, a handicap from the start that can be used against her and I pray every time someone _DOES_.
I let my characters goals develop as they live. I think that's why I can't play dwarves.

I do _not_ shy away from the drama at all. It drives me crazy, my blood pressure goes up, sometimes it even keeps me up at night, but without drama for me Arm would be just a prettier hack and slash. I want all my characters to suffer, lose, win, hate, love, stumble, seek revenge, be stupid... I suck other people in to my drama all the time. Pretty sure some hate it. Muahahahaah!

I always make social characters in one way or another too. I can't do the loner thing.

[maxid]

I've always found this youtube video on acting lessons to be very helpful when roleplaying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyoWmkhRyp8

[MeTekillot]

Also, don't refrain from doing things that may very well lead to your character's death, if it would be IC for you to do so, despite what other people say.

Get in trouble a lot it is actually really fun.
Just don't be like, really absurd about it. Don't go chopping up beggars for shits and giggles. Templars don't like that.

[Delirium]

^ yes.

[Morrolan]

Just don't be like, really absurd about it. Don't go chopping up beggars for shits and giggles. Templars don't like that.

tell templar (looking up from ~corpse.beggar as he tries to hide ~bloodied.bone.saw behind his back) Oh. Hey. Sorry, man. Won't happen again.

[Comfortably Dumb]

Also, don't refrain from doing things that may very well lead to your character's death, if it would be IC for you to do so, despite what other people say.

Get in trouble a lot it is actually really fun.
Just don't be like, really absurd about it. Don't go chopping up beggars for shits and giggles. Templars don't like that.

In a similar but less lethal vein:

Allow your character to make bad decisions if it's IC for them.



My fave PCs are always imperfect and frequently idiots to boot.

[Iiyola]

Also another fun thing: murmur some things you mean to send over The Way out loud. Or find the wrong person.

[ShaLeah]

Also, don't refrain from doing things that may very well lead to your character's death, if it would be IC for you to do so, despite what other people say.

Get in trouble a lot it is actually really fun.
Just don't be like, really absurd about it. Don't go chopping up beggars for shits and giggles. Templars don't like that.

I agree, take risks! If your character is cautious, be so. If your character is a bit dumb, do dumb things. Ballsy? Go ahead and piss off that affiliated person or brawl that Bynner, smack the surmac off the gemmer. No guts, no glory!

[Nyr]

It sure seems like this occurred in the past year, so I'm striking it from the record.

[Dakota]

the best tip IMO to show your character off as a "whole person" is to be consistent when you're interacting w. others and when you actually do solo RP.

Consistency is the signal flare I look for to spot a well played PC. Not emotes or hemotes or fancy things. Those just add flavor. It's more about what you do and don't do, than how you do it. The 'how' (emotes, etc) comes naturally once you run with your PC for a while.