Best RP Practices

[Baron]

This thread is for clearly outlining what I believe to be the best RP practices. Disclaimer: This does not represent the views of the staff or HW unless I explicitly say so. Disclaimer outta the way, thread go.

Best RP Practices are what I consider OOC mindsets and IC behaviours that make RP fun for people besides you. By keeping these in mind, everyone benefits and there is a minimum of trouble for folk as a whole, and you won't come off as an ass either.

Firstly, and this is a huge one, there's accepting consequences. One of the most common complaints I see is people not accepting the consequences of an RP, or entering an RP with a specific goal in mind and forcing the RP to accomplish it even if that's not how things went. For example, if you enter a combat RP, you have no right to complain if you're injured or killed. There's always a risk when you get into a fight, and if you get blinded in one eye or stabbed through the heart, you're going to have to deal with it and not complain or want to retcon unless the person powergamed the victory, in which case you immediately report them to staff.

Accepting consequences goes further than combat, of course. If your character doesn't know how to properly fall, if you jump off a three meter ledge IC you might end up with a sprained ankle or scrapes, which you then have to deal with until they heal. This applies for all injuries. It's universally viewed as terrible RP to break your leg somehow and be back on your feet without aid in a day, and it actively harms your own development as you never see how your character behaves when incapacitated and lose out on sweet, sweet character growth.

This also applies politically, economically, socially, etc. In every single RP situation, it's universally better for everyone if you accept the consequences of your actions.

When a character can actually accept the consequences of their actions, they're a good character and will likely have more fun than if they constantly win win win, which irritates other people and makes them less willing to RP. The very best RPers will accept any consequence up to permadeath in some situations, and because people know that these characters will roll with the hits instead of shrugging them off, they actively seek to RP with them.

 

[Baron]

Oooh is it possible for you to do an RP practice for stealth stoof?

Stealth is often quite hard to do in RP, since you can't really do any motions besides a slight hunching thing. However, it is possible if all parties are cooperative and not orphan assassins with laser eyes and sonar dishes for ears. I'm gonna try to address this from both parties' points of view. I'm gonna use the PS dock district for any examples, since everyone is familiar with it.

1. The Stealthy

Stealth can be handled in several different ways: it's entirely allowed to douse yourself in invisibility potion and emote yourself as an odd distortion, and it's fine to wear dark colours and hang in dark places. You can also use cover freely. However, regardless of how you play the stealth game, you can't be in an open space for long at risk of being spotted. In both OOC and RP, cover is your friend. It's possible to use existing structures and adapt the use of things that would be particulate/fluid. For example, the melon barn near the PS Dockmaster: someone playing at stealth can RPly bury themselves in the melon pile and become unnoticeable to onlookers, but have their field of view severely reduced if not eliminated, while still being able to hear things near the melon barn's entrance (not behind it or beside it, you can't hear through solid walls and a pile of melons very well). It's also possible to skulk on roofs, climb trees, and hang around alleys.

When invisible through the use of potions, you still have to act stealthy: invisibility potions do not make you utterly invisible, just much harder to notice. If you stand next to someone, they're gonna notice your weird creeper breathing and the anomalous light effects in the shape of a person. Therefore, just as in the example above, stick to cover and keep motion at a minimum. However, contact with objects is inadvisable as the potion will rub off, leaving areas of you exposed.

Another way to handle stealth is to wear camouflage appropriate clothing, as mentioned above. Dark colours go well in cities, and neutral shades of green do well in nature. However, never, ever wear pure black. Black is not the colour of camouflage, it's the colour of a silhouette and is visible in all lighting except pitch darkness. Go for dark greens and shades of brown and grey, as it's much easier to blend into the background when no obvious silhouette presents itself so obviously and you're the same colour as a shadowed material. Describe what you're wearing in RP so players can react appropriately. OOCly, using an appropriate skin helps, since nobody will believe you're stealthy in that platemail or vivid purple outfit.

More variables factor into effective stealth as well. A 7'2" ninja samurai king with glowing red eyes won't be stealthy at all, mostly due to height. The smaller a character is, the harder it will be to see them and the less noise they'll make. Why do you think Thorin's Company hired a hobbit to scout out the Lonely Mountain?

Emotes are supreme when playing the stealth game, and the more descriptive, the better. The more description there is to each action, the harder it'll be for any listeners to find a flaw and spot you, since finding someone the same colour as the wall, making no noise, moving slowly, and at night is nearly impossible and can be called out as metagaming unless they can back it up better than "I heard you breathing from 50 feet away." Examples:

*Carefully moves around the shaded corner, keeping crouched low to the ground and shuffling along avoiding loose stones, profile obscured by a dark grey outfit*

vs

*goes around the corner stealthily*

Same exact action in both situations. Which is better? Which is less likely to be called out? In all RP situations, the more descriptive you are the better, and stealth is no exception.

2. The Stealthed-Upon

As someone being snuck up on, it might be fun to catch a spy in the act, but it's boring for everyone involved when you consistently do it despite not having any basing in it. If you can find the stealthy character at 50 feet behind you, stop playing Minecraft and go make Where's Waldo books because you're gonna make a killing. There's always more promising development and fun in letting things proceed as they might without divine interference in the form of seeing all sneaking people in a 100 mile radius. So, as the person being snuck up on or spied on, go with it sometimes. If someone is being stupidly obvious, go ahead and spot them, but if a person is RPing it properly and being descriptive enough, let them have their fun and keep having yours. Of course, if the person wants to give an opening to be found, they can always RP something like *steps on a loose twig, causing a sharp snapping sound* or *gasps at the revelation*. The role of the person being stealthed upon is much easier than the stealthy, but in RP, cooperation is always more fun than Main Character Syndrome where your character is the protagonist of all stories and all events center around them. That's narcissism and it's annoying for everyone. In RP, the goal should always be to progress stories together rather than have them revolve around you and you alone. Orphan assassin, king, soldier, peasant or barmaid, what everyone should do is do things together without trying to "win" RPs.

 

[Baron]

Tracking people:

Tracking, like most RP activities, requires participation from all parties involved. There's a couple of ways to go about tracking someone, which I'll list now, along with an explanation for each:

1. Dynmap tracking

How To: No. Don't be that guy.

2. Landmark tracking

How To:

As the tracker: Let's say you're pursuing someone and they've managed to get out of sight. Follow along the path you think they went and when you come across various recognizable landmarks, PM the person you're tracking to ask if they've left any signs that they've been there and if there's indicators of which way they went. Do not PM them asking which landmarks they've been to, since that rather defeats the purpose and is straight metagaming.

As the tracked: ICly, nobody just runs into the wilderness when there's things like bears and wolves and bandits in green tights in there. You'll tend to follow existing landmarks, like the farm outside of PS to Guard Post #15 to the Crossroads bridge etc etc. Places you know to exist already, and places you can seek refuge if the aforementioned bandits come after you. The wilderness is dangerous. OOCly, you want to have fun with the person tracking, and just running into the woods defeats that. Therefore, when they reach a landmark and you've been there recently, let them know about any signs of habitation or travel you'll have left. Everyone leaves them unless they're a levitating invisible ninja without fingerprints, and this goes doubly so for people in armour, people in groups, and people with animals. Simply leaving a clue as to your direction will usually do, e.g. "There's the remains of a campfire, and there's scuffed dirt in a northeastern direction."

3. Path Tracking

How To: As the tracker: Your prey has left the roads for some reason. Maybe the bandits in green tights got 'em. Who knows. What you do in this situation is PM the person and ask if they've left a path/track of any kind. Again, unless they're a floating ninja there's going to be one, though you might not find it. From there, PM the person on occasion to see if you're accurately following the path until you either lose it (like encountering a river) or find them (resting at a campsite, for example).

As the tracked: When asked OOCly, describe what kind of path you've left and where, and leave it to the person to use the clues you've given them to follow it. Example:

Tracker: I'm at the farm just outside PS and looking for tracks around it, would I find anything?
Tracked: Yeah, there's footprints headed towards the coast.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Tracker: I've reached a tree about halfway to the coast, are there any signs I might find here?
Option A)
Tracked: Some branches seem to have been removed, and you can see smoke from a fire some distance to the west.
Option B)
Tracked: There are no signs anyone's been here and you might notice the only tracks to it are yours.

In scenario A, the tracked is giving the tracker a chance to follow their path to a campfire. If it's the tracked person with their guard lowered or a trap is up to them. In scenario B, the tracker lost the path and will have to double back to follow it more thoroughly.

In both scenarios the dynmap is not used and your characters have only their actual IC knowledge to work with. No metagaming occurs and everyone has fun.

4. Other:

How To: Discuss things together and settle on a method that'll make things fun for both of you - e.g. you know X is headed for Azerport, but there's no way you'll get there first, so you give them a Y minute grace period before arriving and continuing your hunt.

 

[Teeke]

I'm looking forward to this, I loved your Good Character thread!

 

[Angryboy]

Brace yourself, epic thread incoming

 

[Baron]

doop

 

[JustTooRadical]

best

 

[Michcat]

Yay for common sense xD

 

[Angryboy]

Oooh is it possible for you to do an RP practice for stealth stoof?

 

[Sadko]

I like this. But sometimes I feel unmotivated to roleplay with people whose characters are mega super skilled and demigod and they actually earned it through RP, but because for example, a char like Scar, I don't even know what I'd do if I played such a chracter, unless it's about killing someone and they can't fight back. Sorry if I'm being childish.

 

[Axex]

The only issue I have with accepting consequences, is that sometimes they can be utterly ridiculous. Every man and their dog seems more than willing to commit murder in broad daylight in front of a million people, murder which often has no moral, social, or phycological effects.

 

[ACU20]

I like this. But sometimes I feel unmotivated to roleplay with people whose characters are mega super skilled and demigod and they actually earned it through RP, but because for example, a char like Scar, I don't even know what I'd do if I played such a chracter, unless it's about killing someone and they can't fight back. Sorry if I'm being childish.

It's not just that, you need to learn how to defend yourself, you can't just have a character and say "He's a great swordsman, yo" and have no RP combat skills to back it up with. Scardrac, to put it bluntly got shot in the face earlier this week and my character fought him and survived after a moderately long duel. Basically, you just need to learn how to fight back and do the proper strokes, stabs and parries. And Scardrac has very good rp fighting skills to back up his character with, you have to make the moves which makes sense.

 

[Sadko]

That's correct actually. Maybe it's because of my past relatively underpowered character whom I've kept for a long time. (and because I dont know much things about fighint, other than scary dirty tactics like throwing bricks at people.)

 

[ACU20]

That's correct actually. Maybe it's because of my past relatively underpowered character whom I've kept for a long time. (and because I dont know much things about fighint, other than scary dirty tactics like throwing bricks at people.)

Like take for example this, this might be a hard move to describe but

*A man swings his sword down at mine, and i block it with the blunt edge of my swords (the flat part*

*i then drag my sword along his keeping his up, stepping out of the blades reach, then let go of it and strike down behind his right knee wit ha left-right-down swing*

this is entirely plausible but everyone just do straight up parrying usually and they're like *stabs forward* *blocks* *stabs* *blocks* until someone eventually gets hit.

 

[Baron]

The only issue I have with accepting consequences, is that sometimes they can be utterly ridiculous. Every man and their dog seems more than willing to commit murder in broad daylight in front of a million people, murder which often has no moral, social, or phycological effects.

That's more a side effect of the revival system than anything, which has its flaws.

 

[Baron]

New post up

 

[Scardrac]

I know that there are lots of combatants out there that try and defend themselves. Such is why I have held Scardrac back from his true potential so fights don't lead to other fights (OOC fights). I certainly don't want people being OOC'ly scared/worried for their character or development because of my own character. I try to detail character consequences, as Scardrac's now just become even more dangerous.

Sometimes I actually offer people a chance to redact what they said/did infront of Scardrac because it would have triggered something. Unless it's entirely and importantly canon, of course.

 

[Angryboy]

Love the Stealth tutorial, and I've found my new signature

 

[Sadko]

Love the stealth tut too!

 

[Tybalt]

Stealth is often quite hard to do in RP, since you can't really do any motions besides a slight hunching thing. However, it is possible if all parties are cooperative and not orphan assassins with laser eyes and sonar dishes for ears. I'm gonna try to address this from both parties' points of view. I'm gonna use the PS dock district for any examples, since everyone is familiar with it.

1. The Stealthy

Stealth can be handled in several different ways: it's entirely allowed to douse yourself in invisibility potion and emote yourself as an odd distortion, and it's fine to wear dark colours and hang in dark places. You can also use cover freely. However, regardless of how you play the stealth game, you can't be in an open space for long at risk of being spotted. In both OOC and RP, cover is your friend. It's possible to use existing structures and adapt the use of things that would be particulate/fluid. For example, the melon barn near the PS Dockmaster: someone playing at stealth can RPly bury themselves in the melon pile and become unnoticeable to onlookers, but have their field of view severely reduced if not eliminated, while still being able to hear things near the melon barn's entrance (not behind it or beside it, you can't hear through solid walls and a pile of melons very well). It's also possible to skulk on roofs, climb trees, and hang around alleys.

When invisible through the use of potions, you still have to act stealthy: invisibility potions do not make you utterly invisible, just much harder to notice. If you stand next to someone, they're gonna notice your weird creeper breathing and the anomalous light effects in the shape of a person. Therefore, just as in the example above, stick to cover and keep motion at a minimum. However, contact with objects is inadvisable as the potion will rub off, leaving areas of you exposed.

Another way to handle stealth is to wear camouflage appropriate clothing, as mentioned above. Dark colours go well in cities, and neutral shades of green do well in nature. However, never, ever wear pure black. Black is not the colour of camouflage, it's the colour of a silhouette and is visible in all lighting except pitch darkness. Go for dark greens and shades of brown and grey, as it's much easier to blend into the background when no obvious silhouette presents itself so obviously and you're the same colour as a shadowed material. Describe what you're wearing in RP so players can react appropriately. OOCly, using an appropriate skin helps, since nobody will believe you're stealthy in that platemail or vivid purple outfit.

More variables factor into effective stealth as well. A 7'2" ninja samurai king with glowing red eyes won't be stealthy at all, mostly due to height. The smaller a character is, the harder it will be to see them and the less noise they'll make. Why do you think Thorin's Company hired a hobbit to scout out the Lonely Mountain?

Emotes are supreme when playing the stealth game, and the more descriptive, the better. The more description there is to each action, the harder it'll be for any listeners to find a flaw and spot you, since finding someone the same colour as the wall, making no noise, moving slowly, and at night is nearly impossible and can be called out as metagaming unless they can back it up better than "I heard you breathing from 50 feet away." Examples:

*Carefully moves around the shaded corner, keeping crouched low to the ground and shuffling along avoiding loose stones, profile obscured by a dark grey outfit*

vs

*goes around the corner stealthily*

Same exact action in both situations. Which is better? Which is less likely to be called out? In all RP situations, the more descriptive you are the better, and stealth is no exception.

2. The Stealthed-Upon

As someone being snuck up on, it might be fun to catch a spy in the act, but it's boring for everyone involved when you consistently do it despite not having any basing in it. If you can find the stealthy character at 50 feet behind you, stop playing Minecraft and go make Where's Waldo books because you're gonna make a killing. There's always more promising development and fun in letting things proceed as they might without divine interference in the form of seeing all sneaking people in a 100 mile radius. So, as the person being snuck up on or spied on, go with it sometimes. If someone is being stupidly obvious, go ahead and spot them, but if a person is RPing it properly and being descriptive enough, let them have their fun and keep having yours. Of course, if the person wants to give an opening to be found, they can always RP something like *steps on a loose twig, causing a sharp snapping sound* or *gaps at the revelation*. The role of the person being stealthed upon is much easier than the stealthy, but in RP, cooperation is always more fun than Main Character Syndrome where your character is the protagonist of all stories and all events center around them. That's narcissism and it's annoying for everyone. In RP, the goal should always be to progress stories together rather than have them revolve around you and you alone. Orphan assassin, king, soldier, peasant or barmaid, what everyone should do is do things together without trying to "win" RPs.

I love this soooo much
A good one on tracking people would be nice and accompany this one well