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Destiny

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originally posted in:Curators of Nostalgia
Edited by Last Omnitect: 8/26/2014 5:40:01 AM
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BECOMING DESTINY: Roleplaying Forum Q&A

[b]Hello, Guardians[/b]! It's your friendly clan leader, [i]The Last Omnitect[/i], and I'm here to chat with you a bit about forum roleplaying! As of tomorrow, we are at t-minus [b][i]two weeks[/i][/b] till Destiny's launch! And since our forum, [b]BECOMING LEGEND[/b] launches the same night, I figured it would be a good idea to start a thread for folks to ask any questions they may have regarding forum-style roleplaying. [i][b]So consider this an open invitation: ask any and all questions you may have about RPing and the forum[/b][/i]. Ask as many as you would like, and be honest: everyone starts somewhere, but that starting point usually tends to be rock bottom. I understand that and as such will do my best to help you all learn the ropes. Once you get the hang of it, it'll become second nature. On the flip side, if anybody here can answer the aforementioned questions themselves, feel free to chime in. I'll weigh in on the questions myself, but all helpful advice is welcome. Also, I will be posting a general summary of the forum rules, both player conduct and character creation rules, later this week for everyone's edification and digestion. May the Traveler light your paths, Guardians.

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  • Edited by Last Omnitect: 9/4/2014 1:12:08 AM
    You got it Butch! And thanks for being the first person to post a question on here; I know it's uncomfortable to be the first to ask a question in a crowded room/forum. Seeing as how Butch is not the only person on here with no background in forum roleplaying, I figure I'll just post a general overview of how a forum roleplaying game works [i](one that's hopefully more useful than the extremely generalized wikipedia one)[/i]. My apologies to everyone, but this is gonna be a big post. [i]So let me put on my Miyagi-hat and we'll get to the waxing on and off.[/i] [b][u]FORUM ROLEPLAYING 101[/u][/b] Forum Roleplaying [i](or at least the BECOMING LEGEND variety of it)[/i] is actually a game-masterless setting, and instead focuses on the players interacting with each other to produce plotlines organically. This allows players to write their own stories and explore their character the way they want to, while still having unexpected surprises and unique interactions that make it interesting. In short, while there is a dedicated forum GM, the players are the ones who provide most of the plot momentum and describe interactions with the world, while the GM merely provides arbitration to ensure players are behaving fairly, following the rules of the forum and staying within the lore of the source material. This is a storytelling style of roleplaying, ergo, it doesn't require dice rolls to determine outcomes, but rather on a player's ability to agree on how a scene develops and to accurately portray his/her character's actions. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning: [u][b]Character Creation[/b][/u]. Character sheets for these forums rely less on stats and more on descriptors and back-story, as these are the things most necessary to forum roleplayers. In truth, forum character sheets look more like dating profiles than they do like the usual stat-laden character sheets of a tabletop game. The majority of stats, for the purpose of this forum, will be covered by putting a link to your Guardian Character's in-game Legend on the character sheet [i](character sheets for Baddies and Civilians will require more traditional stats, but I'll have detailed descriptions of how to do it on the forum itself).[/i] This means your Guardian in the roleplay will be directly linked to your progress and appearance in the game, freeing you from the worry that your roleplaying character will be significantly underpowered or weak when compared to your roleplaying character. The next step after your character sheet is approved by the GM is [b][u]Actually Roleplaying[/u][/b]. The actual act of forum roleplaying isn't that different from tabletop roleplaying, except there are no dice rolls to slow you down, you can more effectively orchestrate your character's actions, you have to indicate *OOC* in a post as opposed to a conversation, and most importantly, you have to write it all down. Here's a solid example of an in-character post[i] (this post was from a mass effect roleplaying forum I had played on. User names have been removed from the post to protect the author's identity)[/i]: [quote] Alara made her way to engineering with the dual purpose of wanting to speak more with Alizah and to get another look around at all the tech. She had been feeling somewhat homesick for the past few days, which seemed particularly odd considering how well things were going for her. Perhaps it was that, or the appearance of another quarian caused her to seek out their company in the effort of simulating life back in the flotilla. Not that one other quarian could compare with seeing hundreds, but it was a start. She entered into the armory, giving it a cursory look to spot where the quarian was. If she wasn't here, she would proceed to the hangar. Having never really sought out the Technical Director she wasn't completely sure where her hangouts were. But she didn't mind the walk. It was enough that it got her out of the lab.  Alara shrunk into herself, fidgeting with her fingers. It almost felt strange being jumpy and self-conscious again, especially after she had gotten used to being herself with Sigold and the other Black Knight members. But then again she supposed old habits died hard, and three years on the Citadel having to tread on egg shells had ingrained the behaviors in her. Alara finally spotted the quarian, and approached her, fingers knotting themselves.  "Alizah, do you have a moment," she asked, her voice and demeanor timid. [/quote] The post above is a pretty good example of a well written post. The author posted this to open a new roleplaying thread, and so had to [i][u]set the scene[/u], [u]introduce her character[/u], [u]state her characters actions[/u], [/i]and then[i][u] set up a opening for someone else to reply[/u].[/i] She clearly spent a lot of time and effort on the post, as evidenced by it's [b]length[/b], [b]good grammar[/b] and [b]attention to detail[/b] regarding her character's actions and feelings. Before we continue, understand that not all posts have to be anywhere near as lengthy as the example above: usually one or two small paragraphs is enough to convey anything you may want to say. However, remember to describe any actions a character takes as best as you can: be specific. Don't just say "The Warlock fires his gun." Expand on that action; did he fire a well-aimed burst of rounds towards an opponent's head, or did he fire wildly, saturating the area with bullets? Was he emptying his clip in a rush of fury, or remaining professionally detached? It's the[b] Little Details[/b] that will set your posts apart from the rest. Speaking of little details, let's talk about [b]Grammar and Punctuation[/b]. Now I know that seems like something obvious, but believe me, I wouldn't waste my time on it if it wasn't something that was actually worth mentioning to everybody. We all make simple grammar mistakes and spelling errors. Heck, I'll be floored if this post I'm making doesn't show a few when I run it through Spell-Check. But that's what we invented Spell-Check for. That's why we proofread. So don't forget to take a minute to reread a post and Spell-Check it for good measure. Trust me, it's saved my ass countless times. [b](Continued in Reply)[/b]

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