Roleplay Creation Guidelines and Rules

So, I herd a hole buncha u guyz r complete retardz and no nothing about making roleplayz?

Oh, I kid, I kid. XD

Really, it's actually okay to know nothing about making your own roleplay. Everyone starts somewhere.

Spoiler:

That's why I'm here.

Nine years in, you'd think I'd have the foggiest idea on how to make RPs.

Well, I'm about to prove you wrong. I'm going to show you my old test subjects. Well, I'll show you the guidelines for making a roleplay.

Consider this post a Contents Page. Here, I will list the topics I will cover in future posts.

Contents

Basics

• Structure
  
  
  
  • Background Story
    
  • Rules
    
  • Character Sheets
    
  
  

Rules

• Godmodding
  
• Powerplaying
  
• The Five Sentence/Seven Line Rule
  
• The Proof Rule
  

RP Types

• Adventure Roleplays
  
• Anime Roleplays
  
• Battle Roleplays
  
• Life Roleplays
  
• School Roleplays
  
• Strategy Roleplays
  

Character Sheets

• The Basics
  
  
  
  • Name
    
  • Age
    
  • Gender
    
  • Appearance
    
  
  
• Recommended
  
  
  
  • History
    
  • Personality
    
  • Bio
    
  
  
• RP-type Advanced Add-ons
  
  
  
  • Stats
    
  
  
• Everything Else
  
• Limits on Bio/History/Personality/Appearance length
  

Quality

• Backstory Quality
  
  
  
  • Good examples
    
  • Bad examples
    
  
  
• Rules Quality
  
  
  
  • Good examples
    
  • Bad examples
    
  
  
• Character sheet Quality
  
  
  
  • Good examples
    
  • Bad Examples
    
  
  
• Sign-up Quality
  
  
  
  • Good Examples
    
  • Bad Examples
    
  
  

Miss Barton, you have some new students.

Don't give me that shit. I haven't had students in a- ohaithar.

You guys are my new students?

<.< … >.>

How can I be expected to teach people older than me?

Think of it like RP age. You're the oldest one here by far then.

. . . You got me -_-'

Alright then, so you'll be wanting to learn the basics first, right?

Ehehehe... I suck at teaching ^^'



So, first, you'll be looking at structure. You don't see an RP without structure. It's like this forum without If Time Flies and its sequels, like a body without a soul, like Scotland without ginger people speaking weirdly... It just doesn't occur, unless you're an insane lunatic writing dissipated fanfictions about true Scots who don't have ginger hair (I'm not a Scot. I come from Warrington in England *feels ashamed*) removing souls from bodies and destroying my poor stories so they never existed (What did my stories ever do to you, huh?).

There are three main parts to a successful RP sign-up topic – Backstory, Rules, and the Sign-up sheet.



Hehehe... Background stories are the base of your whole RP. Without one of these, your RP could be about anything (refer to fanfiction concept above).

Background stories can be rather simple. However, to achieve the best RP possible, you need a bit of detail.

All backstories should include character(s) and reasoning behind the story.

For example, this is inadequate:

Dude-With-Style (RPChat, back in 2003) wrote:

The Adventures of Razzle Dazzle is an RP about my character, Razzle Dazzle, and how he meets new friends and goes to different places.

First of all, this is our Dude-With-Style. You should see some of his other stuff (see Sign-Up Quality (Bad Example) – He used the name Razzle Dazzle for all of his characters. He tried signing up to all of my RPs and each time, I rejected his character (I gave him the character Kousuke in the original TAB-BR because he was begging me to let him join.)). Second of all, there's not enough detail. Where is it set? When is it set? Why is it set there? How does Razzle Dazzle meet new friends? Stuff like that.

Something like this is much more acceptable:

Strata (RPChat, back in 2004) wrote:

Legend of the Four Celestial Guardians – RP

Kusarugi was a quick runner. She was easily outrunning her pursuer, a large man dressed in a black trenchcoat. But she was tiring quickly and he was speeding up.

She tripped over a rock suddenly and was sent crashing to the floor.

The man was almost upon her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the strike that would end her.

It didn't come.

Who dares to harm the innocent? a deep male voice boomed.

Kusarugi opened her eyes slowly and took in the scene in front of her.

A heavily muscled man with pale skin and furiously wild white hair spiked in every direction imaginable was stood in front of her, so she could only see the back of him. He was stopping the pursuer from getting near her.

He clenched his fist and the ground shook violently.

Let this be your warning, the man continued, Next time, you will find yourself on Brother Death's front doorstep. Be warned.

The pursuer ran away, terrified. The man turned around and knelt down. He smiled softly at Kusarugi.

He won't hurt you any more, he said, I'm Byakko, by the way. May I enquire as to your name, young child?

Byakko..? The Guardian of the West..? Kusarugi stammered. Byakko nodded, I-I'm Kusarugi Stratachan... I-It's an honour to meet you, B-Byakko-sama...

Come with me, young Kusarugi, Byakko replied softly, I will introduce you to the others.

Kusarugi nodded. She didn't know it, but she was, there and then, selected to be Byakko's Consulate.

There are many gods in Japanese legends. It really depends on which ones you read. But, imagine that they're all real. That the gods really do exist.

Well, in this story, they do.

People are chosen to be the gods' Consulates. They're usually found in times of danger. They're always orphans that are chosen. Most of the time, they have nothing to lose.

You are one of these Consulates. Your job is to help defend the world from growing threats from monsters and other hazards whilst helping the gods with their own issues.

Much better, ne? And yes, it's our Strata.

But, can you see what I'm meaning by backstory now? Something with volume and detail is better than one line of crap.



You have more to teach them, Miss Barton.

WHAT!?

Aww... ;_; I was having a nice dream too...

Okay, okay...

Rules next, was it?

Okay.

Without rules, you have no way to rein in the chaos. It's like..........

. . .

<insert witty comment here>



There are basic rules that every RP should have.

Here's a list of what every rules list should include:

-Does it allow godmodding (ONLY BEGINNERS' ROLEPLAYS SHOULD ALLOW GODMODDING, UNLESS YOU'RE DUMPED WITH A BUNCH OF IDIOTS WHO DON'T UPDATE FOR MONTHS (Rudi, stop staring at me. I will update ITF when I'm finished with these guides))
-Does it have a sentence/line limit (every RP should have one, bar things like Plan-X, where basically anything goes)
-No powerplaying (Ever (Except Plan-X, but that kinda doesn't count))
-Do you want to include a proof rule?
-Good spelling and grammar should be standard, but you may want to include it in your rules just to make it clear
-Do you want to have a cap on how many people can join? (Please don't. I hate them and, with Rudi's permission, will replace this rule with a ragetoon whenever it's posted. Good day.)



Character Sheets... yes...

Well, this is covered more in-depth in a later chapter, but here we go...

Each and every character sheet needs these sections:

Name
Age
Gender

Optional yet STRONGLY recommended are Appearance and Bio/History and Personality.

I'll cover the rest later.

Until then...

Go have a break or something. Grab a cuppa.






*falls sound asleep from exhaustion*

Miss Barton, wake up.

What!? I was having a nice dream.

You still have much to teach.

Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine...

Okay, so you want to know about the rules?

Well, let's break it down a bit, shall we?



Godmodding is using another's character without permission. When godmodding is allowed, you don't have to ask permission to use another's character.

However, in certain situations, the host is allowed to control any character to move the story along.

Here's a very basic example of godmodding:

Dude-With-Style (from RPChat, 2007) wrote:

Akazu walked up to Kousuke and said hi. Kousuke smiled and said hi back.

In TAB - BR, godmodding is allowed, so there was no rulebreaking there.

If godmodding isn't allowed, you're not allowed to control any characters except your own without permission.



Powerplaying is going beyond your character limits. That is strictly prohibited in every single roleplay.

Let me show you an example.

Here, Razzle is a Level 1 Wavemaster just starting off in The World. RB (Red Bull), a Level 120 Twin Blade, has just caught Razzle stealing from his shop.

Squiggle wrote:

'You little shit...' RB growled, his emerald eyes gleaming with malice and hatred, 'I saw what you did there. Give it back!'

Razzle looked at RB, mocking confusion.

'Don't give me that look, Waveshit!' RB snarled, jumping on the counter in front of him, 'I know you stole a Wing Staff! Give it back to me or pay for it, you lousy nub!'

He drew his blades and launched his small figure at the rather taller Wavemaster. Even despite his size, he had the upper hand by far.

Red Bull
Level 120
Twin Blade
Lei Tribe

Wing Blades:

Skills

Chaotic Strike:

Ghost Falcon:

HP: 50000
Strength: 1500
Defense: 1000
Agility: 2000
Mind: 1000
Soul: 1000

Rengeki:

Flash Hack:

Banhammer:

(RB is an actual character in .hack//XXXX - he is only available through a hack, and is not a playable or partner character, just a salesman. You'll sometimes find Balmung on his ship, and Balmung will tell you about these abilities and claim them off as "the same as the virus", suggesting that RB could be infected by said virus that comatosed people. He also owns a similar item to the Twilight Bracelet, called the Flash Bracelet. Only a handful of people have managed this hack so far, and I used to live next door to one of them, which is how I know about RB. Ironic that he's an "accidental hacker" and most people who find him accidentally stumble across his ship when using the Walk Through Walls hack)

Dude-With-Style wrote:

Razzle wasn't too pleased with this. Sure, he'd nicked a Wing Staff, but usually, the Vital Vistas didn't notice.

'So, you're actually a player, huh?' he asked, keeping a stoic expression, 'Shoulda known. But still, I'm walking away with this. It's mine now.'

Razzle
Level 1
Wavemaster
Human

Wing Staff:

Base stats
Base spells

No Rengeki

Razzle started by kicking RB in the face, then jumped on top of the counter and launched Vak Kruz, dealing 400 damage. He then brought the staff down upon RB's head, ready for instant-KO.

See what I mean? Razzle is fighting a Level 120 at Level 1 and he's still reckoning for instant KO in the second move. Not to mention you can't deal 400 damage with a Level 1 spell. He also didn't say anything about RB's attack.

That's powerplaying and it's strictly prohibited. (Needless to say, I kicked his ass in the next post, and in epic fashion too - AND without powerplaying).



This rule is one of the easiest to follow. To comply with the rules of most RPs on ToW, you have to give five sentences or seven lines - and I'm not talking about a couple of words, press Enter, I'm talking about screen lines.

There's not really much to say here, so I'll just move on.



The Proof Rule. Easiest one to follow - if you bother to read the rules.

This is the rule that shows that you've read the rules. It usually comprises of "Put {word} somewhere in your post" or "Put {word} as your title" or even "PM me the rules".

Right. That's it?

Goodnight

*snore*

*CLANG!*

Miss Barton, wake up.

Ow! That hurt! What now?

A few more lessons to teach, and a database to write much?

Next lesson is RP types.

If you'd eve call 'em lessons.

You told him you'd do it, correct?

Yeah...

So you're going to do it, correct?

You got me...

RP types... there's several different types of RPs, just like their are many types of RPGs...

They're not always the same thing, and some types even overlap.

Here are the main types of RP:



Adventure roleplays are quite like strategy roleplays except that stats aren't needed. The character sheets for these are usually quite simple. The DisruptioN (hosted by powerrave) is an example of an adventure RP



Anime roleplays are, quite simply, roleplays set in any anime, manga and/or SRPG with obvious surroundings. These RPs have pre-set areas and sometimes even pre-set characters. These roleplays usually require very little information, especially if the character is pre-set. Medabots (hosted by powerrave) is an example of an anime roleplay, as it is based in the Medabot universe. Pokemon World is also an anime RP, though it's debatable about GTA RP's position, and I'd class it more as a Life RP.



Battle roleplays are RPs set around battles, usually in a tournament or the like. Sometimes the character sheets for these are quite complicated, but not always. Battalion Wars (on Marriland Forums, hosted by me) is an example of this type of RP.



Life RPs are based around anything where the main idea is to just live your life. GTA RP (hosted by powerrave) seems to be this, though it could also be Anime RP due to its source.



School RPs are RPs based in schools. They can be anything from normal life to supernatural with behind-the-scenes crap going on. Trouble At Bay - Beginners' Roleplay (Hosted by me) is an example of a School RP - a supernatural one.



Strategy roleplays are roleplays which require certain skills to work. They usually have stats that are either pre-set or need to be filled out - the latter being a rather complicated procedure. These kind of RPs usually contain different races/classes that affect your stats in some way. The character sheets for these RPs are sometimes quite complicated, although this isn't always the case. I will be posting up an SRP soon. Almost all whole-board RPs are SRPs. However, there's none of those on this site. An example of a Strategy RP is .hack//The World, mentioned above in the Powerplaying section.