Roleplaying Tips

[Catena]

Do y'all have any Combat RP tips?

 

[Rygan]

Do y'all have any Combat RP tips?

Figure out what you want to do. Once you know that, it's your job to convey it to the person you're fighting. I keep a sort of mental checklist:

What am I doing, and how am I doing it? Where is it coming from? I'm sending a punch for their nose, and it's coming from their left in a wild arc. Descriptors like 'wild' help the other person visualize and respond more accurately.

 

[NIAH]

2 - Don't ask open ended questions Fully flesh out your character - this one applies to us least, since we all have our characters made beforehand unlike improv where characters are built during the scene. What I will say that is close to this point is instead to make well rounded characters. Starting off a character idea with one concept or gimmick is fine, but you have to flesh out your character to be more than just the gimmick or else it will feel bland to play with for both yourself and the other players that interact with it. Fill in the full backstory: their family, their alignment, belief system, influential friends/enemies, desires and goals, fears and weaknesses, ect ect. Make sure the character has flaws, as these add depth and humanize the character. This will help you play the character because a fully fleshed out one will always have something to work toward and a response for every situation, where a gimmick will not.

This is something I do too much of, but also, not enough of. In the past, I would make characters with these insanely detailed backstories and I had every angle of them figured out before I logged in. Vera, Niah, Eala, and Cena were that way. Admittedly, those turned out to be some characters with my highest play time. But I'd also make characters with that level of detail like Joanna Blackwood, Eudora, or Darja and it'd catastrophically fail. I'd find that once I was logged into the game, the traits and characters I'd made were great on paper but I lacked the capability to RP those traits, or to keep them consistent.

So then there have been characters that I make that are more open ended. A concept with very, very loose strings so that I could hone them in as I play them. Selene is an example. She started as a loose concept. Last night Lannis asked me what Selene did in her free time and it took me longer than it should have to make a proper answer. Even then the answer was lackluster because I hadn't worked out every detail of who that character was. Although she's also the only one I have that I enjoy playing right now.

All that to say my problem is that I sometimes detail myself into a corner to the point that I've made an unplayable character, because I just can't emulate those traits. So sometimes starting vague isn't all that bad either if you're willing to mold the character as you go in order to find something you're able to RP with.

 

[Azur]

The thing that I've constantly tried to tell to others, and struggled with back in my early time on the server, is to do what is fun to you. Keep things within the rules of the server, within the rules of the lore, but do what you find fun or what you are going to enjoy. Following the examples of others is a good way to learn what should or shouldn't be done, but at the end of the day you shouldn't think too hard on what everyone else thinks of your RP(As long as it's obviously not rulebreaking or something along those lines).

Not everyone thinks the same way, and not everyone has the same amount of fun at everything. That's just how people are.

 

[JoeJoe]

Figure out what you want to do. Once you know that, it's your job to convey it to the person you're fighting. I keep a sort of mental checklist:

What am I doing, and how am I doing it? Where is it coming from? I'm sending a punch for their nose, and it's coming from their left in a wild arc. Descriptors like 'wild' help the other person visualize and respond more accurately.

*Gets out a pen from his shirt-pocket-protector and small notebook, writing this down.*

 

[pyrocide]

Do y'all have any Combat RP tips?

I had a giant writeup a while back on combat rp.... Found it!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iCDidrSFSCrJZWmtHWbbWXcyblgYqbUINNg2XVTxMEg/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iCDidrSFSCrJZWmtHWbbWXcyblgYqbUINNg2XVTxMEg/edit?usp=sharing
This was written a few years back during my time on a different server, but the logic behind the article is still worthwhile. Apologize for the coloring issue during examples, it was on a different background before I copied it over to a google doc. Just highlight it and it should be readable.

 

[Jazzper]

Do y'all have any Combat RP tips?

Here go some super secret hushy hushy CRP clique tips
-Like Rygan said, be descriptive enough to let your opponent know what is up
-Don't be too descriptive. I dont know too many people who would like to see someone write up 6 lines in the MC chat describing one single action. I dont need to know what direction the wind is blowing his/her hair in, how white his/her teeth are, etc.
-If you get stuck, just ask. There's quite a lot to CRP on medieval servers because of the arms and armour and not knowing about them can put you at a disadvantage.
Not sure about something? Ask someone who's familiar with it. You'll eventually get the hang of it by asking people who know their stuff. I've heard the 'I clicked the first link and saw this one video clip where a guy goes through a thin metal scrap sheet with an arrow, so all bows must easily go through' one too many times
-Make sure things like consent are dealt with BEFORE things go down, to save you an argument.
-Make agreements about rolls, etc.
I personally prefer using rolls for things like 'can my hunter hit you with his bow within his usual comfy range while it's storming' instead of rolling for everything.
But that's because I'm confident in my CRP abilities and prefer dealing with things when they pop up instead of getfing an unfair (dis)advantage that makes no sense, like a child beating up a trained fighter.
-Have fun.
Plenty of times during CRP, there'll be an argument.
I see these types of arguments as a professional thing instead of a personal thing, but others can always get heated. Don't forget that it's a Roleplaying GAME we're using Minecraft for! So don't feel badly about giving in every now and then, within reason, to ensure you and your opponent still have fun. Losing isn't a bad thing.

 

[Naelwyn]

For some actual sincere advice, as it pertains to acting and/or writing and/or roleplaying games.

You cannot contain inside yourself something greater than the sum breadth of your experiences. If you want to become better at this, there is only one option at the root of it all.

You must become more experienced. Must try new things, must live.

The best non-fiction conveys knowledge. The best fiction conveys experience. Read. Write. Go out and live stuff. Every story you experience, be it through the lens of a writer or your own eyes, increases the breadth you possess as a person, if you keep those eyes open.

There's no way around it. All other points of advice are fragments of the fundamental truth - if you want to get better at it, go out and do it. On different characters and different viewpoints. Emulate these people, don't live them, and they will grow on their own.

The new player's mistake it to patch in pieces of themselves, where experience fails to give sufficient grounds to emulate - and this makes attachment to that shard of oneself nearly guaranteed. To truly make a person you need to understand and make that person's whole life. Questions like "What do they do when I'm not playing them" are actually paramount to making better characters. What do they dream of? What are their goals? What do they want in life, and what would they sacrifice for it? The more you have developed the character and have the character's answers to those questions instead of your own, the more real they will feel.

In that light I can concretely say "Losing is okay"/"Losing is fun" is absolute hokum to me. The way it is phrased is antithetical to an IC/OOC barrier. Remarkably few people have any intention of losing a mortal contest.

I say to you instead, a much healthier and character-immersive way to say it, and say it with me.

What happens, happens. If somebody outwits or outplays you, welp, they got you. What happens, happens. You lost, do better next time, because losing sucks, nobody wants to lose, and half the time it seems everyone telling you to lose just wants more people to win against. The people actually 'winning and losing' without a care don't bother with the emphasis because it's common sense, when what happens, happens.

 

[Michcat]

Do y'all have any Combat RP tips?

win

 

[Bartooliinii]

I hope this is not a necro since the thread has been inactive for a week, but I was on holiday
I just wanted to say that this thread is really good. It has some tips in it that helped me along as well, and I've been around for a while.
So thanks to everyone and especially the OP.