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Island Living Slice of Life + Murder Mystery Role Play. NOW OPEN. -
The Sacred Timeline has been shattered. The Multiverse is in disarray, and branches endlessly criss-cross in absolute chaos. Many Earths have already been lost to Incursions, with no sign of the disaster slowing down. And yet, life still continues. -
A modern Harry Potter roleplay set in the hidden, magical community of Hemlock Hallow located in Antarctica. Outside the law, the interconnected biomes are home to researchers, students, criminals, and all those in between. All you need is curiosity and a questionable set of morals... This site is built by players, for the players, where writers are able to create and adapt their own plots. -
original sci-fi/fantasy - Every world in the multiverse is on a collision course with the others, and when the reality of one planet spills into another, the effects are catastrophic. Although they fight tirelessly to combat these Traversal Events, the Travelers, suffering from dwindling numbers and failing technology, are now losing the war. Meanwhile, the myriad worlds march on, unaware of their place in the multiverse, their struggling defenders, and the danger that threatens them all. -
The year is 2029, and our site is character-plot focused! You control the story for your characters, and events here are just like little parties for our characters to interact! Granger University was founded 28 years ago, and you are more than welcome to create university students if you wish! What darkness lurks beneath this new ray of light? Join us and find out! -
97 years after the signing of the Treaty of Treason the Capitol's influence has reached its peak, ruling over twelve districts with an iron fist. The Hunger Games, a time-honored tradition of sacrifice and authority continues to thrive, each arena advancing both in technological feats and entertainment value. A covert ceasefire holds true, allowing a single district the freedom to grow underground, free from the Capitol's grip. -
IT'S UP TO YOU TO DECIDE THE FATE OF THE GALAXY. Across the Stars is an intermediate-level AU Star Wars role play set in 3 BBY • sixteen years since Order 66 and a few years before the film A New Hope. The shroud of the Dark Side has fallen. In the sixteen years since the fall of the Jedi Order and the end of the Clone Wars. -
Hidden in the Abyss is a original warrior cats roleplay forum, loosely based on the books by Erin Hunter. This is considered a semi-literate community, with a minimum 100 word count and a site rating of 3-2-3. We are a player-driven community, meaning that the actions taken during gameplay have real consequences on the clans and can ultimately shape where the site goes. -
We're a premium, 18+ site. The war between mutants and humans has infiltrated every part of society: from neutral zones and businesses to hostile territory patrolled by sentinels. Genesis is an AU X-Men roleplay that focuses around the everyday lives of both ordinary citizens and their more gifted neighbors. The X-Men, the Brotherhood, the Hellfire Club, and more are all pieces upon an ever-shifting chess board. Will you be a pawn, a rook, or maybe a king? Join today! -
The world of CoSC features a forest where the illustrious Rusty never set foot. Instead the four clans have existed for what feels like time eternal: Keeping borders, raising apprentices, and staying alive. This revised warriors universe focuses on the tribal, visceral vibe of the earliest books, taking it one step further to give birth to a version of Warrior Cats where choices matter and human morals don’t apply. -
Established in 2018, Absinthe is the largest and most established Historical Victorian London site. Our group is closely knit and incredibly welcoming to newcomers. We are an 21+ community with mature themes, canon characters, and lots of want ads. Come explore the darkness and the macabre history of a bygone era with us on Absinthe! -
Jamais Vu is a present day American based Harry Potter Roleplay which allows for both students (years 5-7 & university) and adults of any age. We are a 3-3-3, laid-back site with no caps on character creation. We offer RP opportunities to roleplay at Ilvermorny, Le Fay University (original), and around the American Wizarding World in general! -
Our Homeland is a realistic wild horse rpg. With no magic, crazy colors, or humans in the world of Our Homeland, horses must rely on wit and prowess to survive. Realistic scenarios such as natural disasters, predators, overpopulation, territorial qualms, and more could threaten any life throughout Our Homeland . . . and it could take a miracle to ensure survival. Taking inspiration from equine rpgs of the past, we hope you can call this place your homeland too! -
I bought rpgs tabletop books called Cha’alt, which I can best summarize as a mix of Zardoz and Dune (at least before I can sit down and read it). If you’re familiar with other tabletop games, think Dark Sun, with a decent chance the Kool-Aid man will break out of a random wall that you’ll have to fight. It contains a massive black pyramid dungeon as it’s main centerpiece. Here’s part of a review: “If anything, the “Hail Gonzo!” room perhaps best exemplifies the dungeon: There, a statue of the great Gonzo can be found; lingering here has a half-demon show up, and whisper essentially a quest-hook to the PCs. Fumbling around with the Gonzo statue will open a secret compartment in the crotch, which contains a damaged trumpet. Blowing this one manifests Buddhist monks, who proceed to set themselves on fire, in a macabre way of lighting the room.” – Thilo G. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product_reviews_info.php?&reviews_id=386813&products_id=284600 Cha’alt is categorized as gonzo. This means everything and the kitchen sink. It tends to have humor, be surreal at times, have tonal shifts, etc. For movies think Killer Clowns From Outer Space, Phantasm, Monty Python and the Holly Grail, Time Bandits, or Suspiria (the original). This brought me back to the world of forum rp. We don’t have a lot of gonzo. When I look at various directories I see the same genre subjects done in the same way. Harry Potter, Supernatural, High Fantasy, Sci-Fi, are all ripe places to go crazy, but there’s a resistance to do so. I’m not entirely sure why. The biggest estimated guess I can give is the fear of loss of control by the creator(s) or the sad fact that most people just aren’t that creative. I’m told I’m creative, but it can take me months or even years to come up with a decent concept or idea. Once I get going, it’s better and more like a matter of weeks, but getting back into the habit takes me some time. When I’ve looked at sites on directories, I often find myself feeling restricted. Most of my character concepts can’t work even with tweaking. I have characters that are humanoid plants, are the personification of nothing, etc. They don’t encourage true creativity. One such idea I want to return with is to bring back Agostina somewhere and have her meat tenderizer weapon have the soul of a vapid stereotypical valley girl named Tiffany stuck inside of it. Maybe make it teleport and so Tiffany can be separate from Agostina. I’ve had some ideas knocking around for a few site concepts. I may write more about how or why I came to the results in future blog posts. I want to encourage creativity in potential future members as well as myself. I’ll write more about how I hope to do that and also have an open discussion with all of you so we can bounce off ideas. Until then, don’t be afraid to go gonzo! Cha’alt kickstarter:
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I DO care about my site. I love it, and I am glad that our interactive swashbuckling story is already eight years old, and counting, and that I can also count on a few people since six- eight years ago. This is an important achievement. BUT I DON'T CARE ANYMORE if some people think it's not active enough (it is, just way slower than it used to be). I don't care if those newer members decide suddenly a long time investment isn't worth and they leave. I had to accept the idea that these are who we are, this is our current rhythm and that we won't get new staying members unless our members bring their friends, to stay for writing with them. (Which they don't, because most of our members don't have friends interested in our setting, or writing - at all or in English). And when I see on the resource sites all ask for "active sites, not dying ones"... and that slow = dying for most people, I get angry. We aren't dying, even if our story is progressing way slower than a few years ago. Just that we have other commitments or health problems which don't allow us be as prompt as we used to be. Our main quality is of being reliable. We finish most threads we start (no matter when, but we do). Our story is coherent and consistent, and progressing. I let it lower with the advertising, knowing that I have to resign with the few members we have and with some of them quitting due to lack of interest, to the site being slower and slower and being able to do nothing to change it. All the advice on the resource sites are things I have tried in vain, one or another time. This is who we are, and I don't care if someone thinks it's a dead site, when we know we aren't. Just posting once at 2-3 weeks on average. We are welcoming. There is always a possibility to interact with a character or another, given that we are writing in liquid time. As for events... it's normal that some plots are for certain factions (nobility only, commoners only, seafarers only). On most sites it is the same. We are also flexible and willing to integrate anyone. The problem is that most people want replies at least every week, if not sooner, and only 2-3 people might be able to post as quickly. We aren't playing pretend with our characters, and this is also one reason to find less new members interested. Historical fiction is a niche, and there aren't many people who like doing research. In my opinion, the coherence of the plot is a bonus, it is something good, but others might not like that they have to... pay attention (even if it is required for any writer! ). Also I am shocked how little creative are most people. When I ask them, upon joining, "What stories do you feel more inspired to write? What stories have you created this character for?" the reply is usually a variant of "I don't know, anything". (which means "you think it for me, and I am just riding along... or not even). I used to believe that I, as administrator, have to be an example, to promote the activity I want to see. Now I don't care anymore about it. There had been too many years when I did it, without any result. I mean, I can control only my activity, and "activity begets activity" is not always true. People will post when they have time. And no matter how many replies are piling up into the OWED section, they would reply only when they are available. I learnt it the hard way. Lately I am in the same situation, having lowered my activity significantly, just because I can't do it as I used to, anymore. I am not flaky, and I still am going to finish everything I started, but it will take more time. I just have difficulty writing lately. Having half a day taken out and returning home unusually tired and mentally exhausted doesn't help. Having to spend some of the other part of the day cooking, shopping for our household or attending literary events adds to the lack of time for writing. And I have to split my writing between novels (and short fiction too, especially for certain contests) and the two RPG sites I am on. So... I do what I can. There are days when I can't write at all, and days when I can do only one writing thing (usually correcting/ editing what was already written). I don't care anymore if I don't meet self-imposed deadlines, because I simply can't. Sometimes I think (I might be wrong or I might be right) that if I was somewhere in the countryside, so that I could write outside, and have no other daily worry, I would succeed to do it. But as I can't go anywhere, that's only an excuse . Or a dream.
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THE MOUSIE GUIDE TO Writing a Quick-Start Guide How do you help potential new members navigate your site when you (and your staff) are not around? Perhaps your site has an unusual application process, lots of information available, or perhaps new members just seem to get inexplicably lost as they find their way around for the first time. The answer: A quick-start guide! WHAT IS IT? A Quick-Start guide is essentially an index, or a pathway, of everything new members need to know in order to set themselves up to play. It's usually a short document that ties together any topic prospective members need to read, and actions they need to take, to get OOC accounts sorted (if applicable) and character accounts applied. It may also go further and provide the member with tasks they can do after approval, to avoid that "I'm a member, now what do I do?" moment. So how do you write one? Let's start from the start. STEP ONE Make a list! Start by listing all of the actions a member needs to complete from registering their first account, to applying their first character. Include any topics that they should read along the way (or topics/forums that would be super helpful). Your list may look a little something like: Read the rules Read the plot Register an OOC account Get your OOC account sorted Read what character types we have Have a look at wanted ads/needed characters Register character account Fill out the profile Post the application Link your subaccounts Look at open threads Start an open thread Create a plotting thread Join the Discord This is a very basic list that might be used for a board that has both player and character accounts. You can see how it creates a logical pathway from reading those first important documentations, to getting involved, all in the rough order you would expect it to happen. STEP TWO Divide it up! Take a look at your list and see if you can start to spot sections. You might have "Getting your OOC Account", "Character Development & Registration" and "Once You're Sorted". Think about the stages that members are in as they work through this list, and then add them in as headings. GETTING YOUR OOC ACCOUNT Read the rules Read the plot Register an OOC account Get your OOC account sorted CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT & REGISTRATION Read what character types we have Have a look at wanted ads/needed characters Register character account Fill out the profile Post the application ONCE YOU'RE SORTED Link your subaccounts Look at open threads Start an open thread Create a plotting thread Join the Discord What these sub-headings do is help prospective members see where they are at a glance, rather than having a huge list of tasks to read down. It also breaks up the list a bit and makes it easier to follow. Sub-headings are great! Use them wherever you can. STEP THREE Write it up! Using these bullet points, write a very short introduction to the link, and then post the link to where the prospective member needs to go. Don't fall into the trap of putting too much information in your Quick-Start guide, let the posts you link to do the heavy lifting. This is just an index, so try to keep your points to a sentence---two at most. Remember, you can also use a direct link to the registration page, and also to the user settings (for custom-field based applications). You want this to be short, sweet, and direct focus to the links---and make sure that your links stand out as links! If your CSS has link colour very similar to the text colour, you may want to look into changing that, or using a bit of styling in the post to make sure people know it's a link. Below I've used bold text and red to note the links (they aren't links in the example, however). GETTING YOUR OOC ACCOUNT Check out our Rules Check out our Plot Register an OOC account using the name you'd like us to know you by Post in Introductions to get your OOC account sorted. Welcome! CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT & REGISTRATION See what character types we accept Need inspiration? Have a look at our Adoptables forum for ideas! Want more information about our setting? This forum has additional setting information. Fill out the profile. You may want to keep it in a word processor while you work on it! Post the profile in our applications forum. Hold tight! Our staff will review your application within 24hrs. ONCE YOU'RE SORTED Link your OOC and IC accounts -- this guide shows you how! Check out the list of open threads! Start an open thread of your own and post it to the list! Create a plotting thread to introduce your character to the community Join our Discord for more chatting and crazy plot ideas! You can see where I've re-worded some parts to more casual phrasing. "Read X, then read Y" can be abrupt, and destroy the tone of your documentation... but it's essentially what you're saying. I also added a couple of points, because... it doesn't matter how good your initial list is, you'll always think of something more while you're re-writing! STEP FOUR Style it up! You're basically done, but this is where you would add in your own header styles and other things that make it really fit in with the board visually. SO THERE IT IS Your awesome Quick-Start guide! Congratulations! I'd love to see what amazing guides this documentation helps to create! -
I admit I am confronted with an activity problem on my nearly six years old site. Most of the sites have one, at a moment or another. I feel it is something wrong with the very slow pace we have progressed with this year, and with people posting, instead of each week, only 1-2 times a month. In one year of writing, we have covered only two story months. In other years, there were three to six story months for a year of writing. If a quicker pace was possible before, and it created more enthusiasm for "the next episode" of the story, why it isn't possible now anymore? I think some people lose interest because the writing partners take too long to post. I am trying my best to stimulate people to write and be inspired, with everything I can, but it seems I am the only one doing it - and sometimes it feels damn lonely on my own site. This is when I get pessimistic and I think that nobody else cares about it, while I am giving all my best to the story and the community. It feels as one-sided as I am losing inspiration for stories I loved writing. I think this is my main problem, especially that I know this site used NOT to be like this. The community was bubbly, involved, there were people of all speeds, and the stories were written quicker... Now, they are disenfranchising from us by simply not posting and not being anymore part of our WRITING community. Being active means being connected to the community. If we, each of us, no longer feel like putting in the effort, then we have made the conscious decision to let our site die. I am always willing to make this effort, but I can't do it alone. And, unfortunately, not recognizing that we have an activity problem means not seeking consciously solutions, both within ourselves and all together. The inactivity is the problem, at the whole board level. And instead of being stimulated to be more active when others aren't, each one is complacent that "the others haven't posted either, I can procrastinate as well." Some do not even acknowledge it is a problem for the site, in order to seek solutions - both inside them and together with the others. When we can't get more writers (because, let's admit, older sites seem to be less attractive for newcomers, despite the reassurance that they are more established and less prone to disappear in a whim), the solution to keep going on is to be more active ourselves - and it is a collective endeavour. A person alone can't bring the needed activity, when the story is collective, needing various crews. Being needed is a nice feeling, and it should be one more motivating reason to find inspiration and time. (This is exactly why I am always writing more for others than alone; because I know that other people are waiting for the "next round"). I am thinking ”My posts are needed, people are waiting for me, so I’ll make time as soon as I can”. (Which may mean instead of watching a movie or of doing something else which is for free time). When I am sad, bored or tired of numbers or of drama in real world, I am starting to write, in order to get immersed in a different world. And I keep writing. But if one person not posting, doesn't lead to inactivity and site dying, when most persons on a small site aren't posting, the 2-3 who do... can they really make a significant difference, no matter how often they post? Because it is just a little part of the plots, and usually not the important ones, which get forward, and the others get waiting and waiting. I have seen this elsewhere in the past. Sites once busy, then one left, another stopped posting, if those two weren't anymore, others stopped posting too, either waiting for the others' posts, or just because - and in 2 months the site was a ghost town. And it is something which would naturally lead to the death of the site, if nobody stops it somehow. But how to stop it? What more can I do in order to make the plot running smoother, better? I really am trying my best. And maybe from here a big part of the lonely feeling... Don Quijote fighting windmills, misunderstood by the people around? I do care - about our writing community together, writing because this is what gathered us together. I can't do everything in this world, but I am doing as much as I can, and I am searching for what else to do in order to keep the community together, to keep the story going. And nobody else admits that inactivity might be a problem. I understand people being busy for a while and people having lost interest (in writing in general or in this story in special). It doesn't mean I am not regretting their good characters, their writing style, their warm presence and their interesting ideas. I do. But I know I can't fight something which belongs inside each person. If they don't have motivation from inside, to write, I can't give it to them with any outside intervention. And, in exchange, I start losing mine if my writing partners don't care about the story anymore, because I feel I am doing everything in vain, for no readers and no writing partners.
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It seems that people have interest in writing only certain characters, or only certain aspects of the characters' lives, while a story implies writing several character types in several circumstances which make sense for their lives. E.g. a Navy officer has in the story not only the role to charm ladies at a party, but mainly to take part in battles or to lead work scenes as well... to show only a few aspects. He should interact also with his superiors, with allied officers, he can lead an exploring team, enforce the law under his competence, etc. And among the Navy officers, if they were chosen for example, there can be (and should be) a diversity of personalities as well: the ambitious perfectionist, the drunkard/ gambler who can be blackmailed or can blackmail others into betrayal or extorsion, the womanizer (or soft lover, because he can be sincere too) who spills a secret to his lover by mistake, the one wh o isn't professionally good but he has the right upbringing and patronnage and power thirst in order to advance stepping on corpses.... So if the story needs these aspects/ scenes/ characters and nobody else is willing to write them... somebody has to. We are all here, first and foremost, to write an interesting story together, immersing ourselves in the right setting through this. it seems I will always be this 'someone', because I could never say/ think 'I have no interest in writing this character/ scene.' if it is a part of the story i love and it makes sense in our setting, then I should clearly do all research and everything possible to make the story happen. ...And this is how some people get with more temporary characters than others, and with writing for more NPCs than others who don't have interest in them or who see them less of a character because they have less writing time. They aren't less. There had been a while when I was regretting everything others didn't do, just because I was convinced that, since i am writing with others, everything should be shared. Now I don't care anymore about this, neither about other people's rants that people shouldn't have so many characters or NPCs. They are there because they are needed in the story and nobody else was willing to write them. That's all, folks. Somebody has to do it in order to have a well-rounded story, a well-rounded portrayal of the world we are writing about.
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Okay, aside from the $1mil I need, there are some other things that I'd dearly love that are role play related. This seems like a good post to start it off on! Time. Like seriously, can I just be Piper from Charmed and stop time to do rp stuff in the middle of my day? Because I think that's the only way it'll happen. Time. It gets a second one because it's that damn important. A Star Trek rpg. Like, Deep Space Nine. I love my Cardassians, and my Vorta (sexy little bastards). Doctor Who role play, preferably Nine's era. Because I love my 9. Time. Did I mention that one already? Benedict Cumberbatch. I just want him, period. A new house (that's not part of this, and it's more of a need, but I thought I'd throw it in there in case any of you have a spare one floating around. Beachfront works for me.) Sherlock Holmes. A sexy beast that man is. A great rp it would be, I am certain. To be able to talk like Yoda at will. I think I can type like him, maybe? A Harry Potter rpg. I want to ship Snape and my OFC. Seriously. Another Star Trek set after the latest new movie. Khan should be involved. And why? I refer you to 6.
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I had another entry on relationships a while ago. This is a spinoff on it, based on the creative writing articles at http://www.springhole.net/writing/relationships-romance-and-shipping.htm I fully agree with the writer, and I know I have found these concepts before, in other creative writing books and articles. Some of the rules of writing romance are: 1. The characters need to communicate with each other, not only to gaze silently and sigh. To engage their love interest in meaningful conversation. How are they supposed to bond if they don’t even communicate? 2. The characters need to be aware of each other’s emotional needs and boundaries and one shouldn’t hate a major trait of the other (unless willing to overcome that hate, because this is possible too), because one can't actually love a person without accepting what the person actually is. 3. Don’t rush or take shortcuts in showing the relationship develop – show them in detail. Glossing over important relationship developments doesn’t do the story any favour. It makes it impossible for the readers to believe in the characters’ relationship or friendship, because it doesn’t create that emotional experience. 4. Don’t drop in a romance or crush out of nowhere, without a logical explanation and a gradual approach. All these are true - however, how many times one has seen the opposite in their stories? How many times one has picked up somebody's request for a lover... just not having them thread enough together in order to develop said relationship? How many times characters are avoiding effective communication and apply to offscreen shortcuts which make the relationship feel flat? And how many times writers (and therefore characters) vanish mid-story, leaving the other character in the air, and trying the best to glue back the shards into something to allow them to go on? How can a character go on after several such misfortunes, especially if they happen in a short story time? And how believable can be such a progression? Or, by contrary, if seeming unaffected... how it is possible, either? Why don't all the writers keep into consideration the creative writing rules and don't want to keep consistency in their stories?
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You say you like your character. OK, then maybe you know that no character development can happen unless you post regularly and get involved with him in the story. That a character grows through interaction with other characters, while doing his duty, while partying or while fighting. There can be (and are recommended to be) individual plots too. But, again, just planning them and not actually writing them doesn't count. He has to be actively part of the story if you want exciting things to happen to him, to grow, to develop, to make friends. Equally, logging in and lurking on the site without actually writing doesn't count; your characters still don't get the development you want. There is no other magic solution than get to actually write.
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One hears it so often from RPG partners - "If you don't like it, go write a novel (or fanfiction) instead!" But is this really the solution, instead of talking with the writing partners and finding by negotiation and compromise a solution matching everyone's writing needs, halfway? Writing a novel? Been there, done that (in my mother tongue) - several novel-length stories. (The list is somewhere here, in this blog, but given that it doesn't allow me to past links in words anymore, I give up searching for it. Breaking my blog entry with http links splashed as such isn't an aesthetic I prefer.) And yes, I do finish what I start. But writing a novel is a lonely endeavour. Just me and the computer (or notebooks before) and the research sources. Then, it stays somewhere in a corner of the computer and this is it. If in the past some people were curious to read the manuscript, even when it was handwritten on paper because nobody had a PC (and the existing PCs were writing on colourful cards, not on paper at that time) now people don’t read as much in general, I have noticed this. Since I discovered that RPGs do exist, ie one can write a story together with other people, and get it published on the internet for more people to read it and to discuss about it, I have no more interest in writing alone. (I might return to it some day, I don’t dismiss the possibility. But maybe something would change in order for me to return. Maybe at that moment I’d have around me a support group interested in reading and discussing characters, plots, motives, literary techniques). I like more writing with others instead of writing alone, plotting with others instead of doing it alone, making come true both my stories and the others’, negotiating and finding a midway for aspects where the expectations are radically different, so that it keeps being fun and interesting for all of us, discussing what’s behind the story and the research process, gossiping and discarding several alternatives after choosing the one with the most ripples for the plot. Finding online likeminded friends of any ages, places, cultural, social and national background, interested in writing and reading, when there are none around me. So yes, this is the answer why I wouldn’t write a novel alone, but one with others (a RPG, how writing with others is called) but still applying the rules of creative writing to this writing endeavour, planning included (just planning together, no more alone, and writing together, no more alone).
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I understand that not all the characters are religious. However, if a religion is mentioned in a character's bio, one should use it at least a little - even if it means to highlight that he has evolved and doesn't believe anymore, and that his current beliefs aren't the same with the ones he was taught in childhood. Not to have it written in the bio, then act as if it was never mentioned. Why bother then to mention it in the first place? This is twice as valid when it is about somebody hiding his religion. There might be the desire to blend in, to seem unconspicuous and to deliberately not show any trace of the hidden religion. It makes perfect sense - but in the character's thoughts, there has to be this deliberate choice; an inner conflict, from time to time, between what he had been taught initially and what he has to do now. Or minor, delicate little things which still pertain to the hidden religion, even if they can't be directly traced to it. For example, there are two NPCs, one muslim, one Jewish - in a time where Inquisition still existed and... burned. The muslim one still believes in Allah as he had been taught, just that he can't say it in the open. He doesn't pray all 5 times a day, at least not visibly, but he surely says the prayer in his mind when he can. He gets up earlier than the others he lives with, for the ritual ablutions. This means he is cleaner than others, and a little teased for it, but nobody makes the connection between a strange (for that time) desire for cleanliness and religion. He does abstain from eating pork as much as possible; but when he crossed the sea (and not as a passenger) to the colonies, he had to eat what the others did. Salt pork and hard tack was the general menu. As he is isolated from any other Muslims, he doesn't keep any holidays because nobody can tell him when they are (moon-based religious calendar). The Jewish is a sailor; again, he does abstain from eating pork as much as possible; but when at sea, he can't. He eats with the others, so the notions of kashrut had to be forgotten. Even so, I think he'd never mix dairy and meat at the same meal, and he'd prefer drinking strong drinks or ale instead of wine (which, according to kashrut, is sacred and should have been only grown and harvested by Jews according to kashrut provisions). He also doesn't gamble, because he remembers from his bar mitzvah (the only torah studies he had ever done) that it is forbidden. He doesn't know much more than the basics about his own religion, so other precepts he might infringe in good conscience, without knowing. He also tried to avoid medical control aboard the ship whenever he could. At the transfer to a new ship he couldn't anymore, so he trembled what would happen when the doctor would discover the pledge of Abraham carved in his flesh. Fortunately for him, that particular doctor didn't care and didn't report. These aren't much. Just little details to flesh up more a character over time - and taking into account that these are NPCs, even more than needed. But still something to make the characters more rounded and more believable. I wished others would do the same. The Jewish sailor's sister never had a moment of thinking about God, of conflicting thoughts or anything. My Catholic characters, more or less believers, show their religious thoughts (or contempt towards them, for one who doesn't believe anymore). There is one who was once Catholic but turned Anglican because it was bad for business to be Catholic. He isn't much religious of any nature, still there are some inner conflicts within him between what he had learnt in his first school years with the monks and what he is doing now. My point is that if you gave your character a religion, show it a little in his thoughts, deeds or habits.
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NIGHTMARE ZERO'S POPULARITY ON THE RISE A recent new video game released at the beginning of this year has gamers from all over Nyxis flocking to play. The video game, which is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) is set in a fantasy land called Sedna, where players can choose a character from several different classes to explore, fight monsters, interact with other players, and more. The open-ended plot of the game, which involves taking on jobs, fighting monsters against one another, and joining guilds, is said to be a large part of the draw. Read more here!
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How Do I RolePlay? The concept behind roleplaying is quite simple. At the most basic, roleplay is done by two or more people taking turns expanding upon a story, whether verbally through tabletop games or textually through online text-based roleplaying. Tabletop games typically come with instruction books, informing players about the way their game is designed to be played as each one is designed differently. Online text-based roleplaying is the focus of most online roleplaying communities, and as such what I will be focusing on here. Roleplay can start multiple ways, but usually starts from a character idea or a plot idea. In the case of online roleplaying what follows is usually the search for a place to instigate this character or plot, although it can also happen the other way around with discovering a place to roleplay first and coming up with characters and plots second. Although roleplay takes place across multiple platforms online, they all function essentially the same way, with one player posting a section of the story with their character and the next posting a section with theirs. This cycle is repeated until the storyline reaches its end. In the case of most roleplay there are a few etiquette guidelines that participants are encouraged to follow, unless a prior arrangement has been reached. No Metagaming. To metagame is to use information that you, the player, know outside of the roleplay to guide what’s happening inside the roleplay to better assist your character in having the upper hand. This usually comes in the form of characters suddenly knowing secrets about the other character in any given scene that they have had no way to discover. No Powerplaying. To powerplay is to use your post to take control of the other player’s character. This can put the other player in awkward positions as perhaps their character would not actually do what it is that they have been shown doing. As roleplay is a collaborative writing exercise, it is better for everyone to write their own characters and not control others’. No Godmodding. To godmod, or to have a godmode character, is when your character is made essentially invincible within the confines of the scene in some way. This can come in the form of being all-powerful or all-knowing, in being unable to be killed, in always being able to escape consequences, or in always winning a fight or not being hit in a fight. Characters like these are difficult to play with as they can make it difficult to move the story forward. Other than those three basic rules, each method of online roleplay and each individual roleplay site or group have their own guidelines and rules to follow, so one should always be aware of those!
