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Roleplaying itself is when an individual sets aside their own personality or identity and plays out the actions, thoughts, and dialogue of a fictional (or semi-fictional) character. There are many games available on the market which make use of this concept, but all of these make use of assorted rules on how a character may act, what a character may use or know, and so forth. Most of these games also rely heavily on dice and other elements of random chance, if not the whim of a game master. Free form roleplaying differs from the above in a marked fashion. In free-form role-playing (FFRP), each character is completely controlled by his or her (its?!) player. There are no dice, there is no game master and there are no elements of chance; nothing can happen to your character that you do not wish to happen. "Sounds like a bunch of would-be gods and goddesses insisting on who's most supreme," you might say ... but you'd be wrong. The axis that this form of play revolves around is called respect. To fully enjoy FFRP, you must respect your peers and their characters if you expect them to afford you the same luxury. If you do not make this step, you'll find that you spend most of your time playing by yourself rather than with a group of players. In the Free Form Gaming area, FFRPing generally takes place in the chat or conference rooms. You will also find excellent examples of it in RDI Adventures, where more detailed stories are told. The idea you will often hear is to "support the illusion." Supporting or furthering the illusion means that when you enter the Free Form Gaming area, you are expected to have already checked your "real life" in at the door and are ready to live through the actions and words of your character. This is known as being "in character" (IC). Nothing is more disruptive to the illusion than slipping "out of character" (OOC) in the middle of a scene or story. This makes yourself and those you are playing with dive back into "real life" again, which is often not appreciated. The best amount of OOC material in FFRPing is as little as possible. You just walked into the Red Dragon Inn. Suddenly everything is happening in the present. A demon casually sips beer with a holy knight; some minor deity tries to demand obedience from a room full of people ignoring him; and a 7-year-old bartender just melted his crayons into a glass and hands it to you to drink. You are definitely in a different brand of reality. That's exactly what free-form role-playing is. So, in the absence of any rules -- except the Terms of Service - how do you get started? * Watch for a little bit. Keep in mind that in a room full of people, they're not all doing the same thing. So while it looks confusing, a little bit of attention will show you that everyone else is broken up into five or six little groups all playing together. You'll find they have their own brand of etiquette, and specialized shorthand to show actions. * Think about what you want to do. Would you like to be a dashing knight, coming home from battle to woo whoever you happen to stumble across? Do you want to be a space smuggler, one step ahead of the Imperial police? Maybe you want to be adventurous and play an aluminum siding salesman (Trust me, it's an adventure.). The options are limited only by your imagination. And because your imagination is what makes the Red Dragon Inn Forum fun for everyone, use it. * Remember, common courtesy. In this realm you act only for your own character, not anyone else's. You can't assume that what you do is immediately effective on them unless you send them an Instant Message first to ask permission. * Ask Questions. Have a question or two? Ask it. It's easier on you and others if you send an Instant Message to clarify something than if you make a mistake and have folks wind up ignoring you when all you want to do is play! If it's a more involved question, save it for later and send it in email or send it to the Community Area Manager. * It's Make Believe. The Red Dragon Inn rooms are filled with people who are pretending. That's what role-play is and that's why they're here. Until they get to know you they won't be interested in seeing Out of Character facts about your life flashed across the chat screen. Even when they do get to know you, the player - they'd rather not see anything out of character on the chat room screen of the Red Dragon Inn or any of the RDIF's various conference rooms. They are here to develop and nuture an Illusion of another place where genres mix and time means very little. If you play politely with concern for the person behind the computer, they will too. So with that in mind, throw away your sense of reality, accept that strange things are going to happen and enjoy yourself. In Free-Form Role-Play there are no rules governing character creation. Free Form Role-Play is roleplaying without rules. For example: the the Red Dragon Inn, the Red Dragon's Hall, the Star's End Bar, and the duelling conference rooms do not allow dice rolling in the chat rooms. The Red Dragon Inn Forum does not regulate the use of dice or dice based systems. These things are sometimes used as tools to free form gaming, but are completely patron run and player controlled. Likewise, character creation is left to the individual player's imagination. There are no rules for thieves or assassins or pirates or murderers to follow; no preset chart or graph that allows you to get the upper hand over other players. In order to do anything, you must have the cooperation of any player who's storyline you want to impact Be what you want to be. That's your choice and no one else can tell you "you can't be that!" In the Red Dragon Inn, Dragons have been known to wind their lithe necks through windows to drink from kegs of ale. In the Red Dragon's Hall, Demons have given lingerie as gifts at weddings. In the Nexus, Mages tend bar with accident prone elves assisting while giant cupcakes, startled, drop crumbs on the recently mopped floor. To create a character you can utilize what ever method you are comfortable with. Some players will use "rules" they are familiar with from games they have played in the past. Others will simply "make-up" their characters. And still others will "borrow" characters from fiction, Television, movies, or wherever else their interests lead them. Your characters can be as in-depth and well rounded as you like as well. Still, there is no requirement to start with a fully fleshed out character. There are those players that like to have a fully detailed, down to the day of birth, character while others prefer to start with simply a screen name and concept and build the character as they go along. All you need is that spark of imagination. Okay, so you've watched for hours on end, you've thought about what you want to be, you've been excrutiatingly polite.. but "what about interaction?" You say. "What are all these dots flying up the chat screen? How do I get into the game??" Free-Form Role-playing requires nothing more than your imagination. Really! You don't even have to create a new screen name! Many folks do, but it's not needed. Unlike traditional "around the table" roleplaying games, there are no rules or rule books. You only have to come to one of our chatrooms as a character you want to be and begin to interact. Here's how: In the Free Form Gaming area, the acceptable way to describe your character's actions and thoughts is through the use of a double colon ( :: ) bracketing the action. For example: ::Walks into the Inn:: ::sits at the bar:: ::sigh:: Conversation, what your character is saying aloud, is typed to the screen without special notation. Quotation marks are not needed, althought some folks will still use them. That's okay too! The chat rooms in the FFG are live real-time representations of the various areas available for play within our Forum. There are a few basic rules of the road to remember when playing out your character: -Remember that it is your character and not you. Many conflicts can be avoided if you keep the out of character (OOC) and in character (IC) line separate. -Remember that it is only fantasy. If you're not having fun, step away from the computer and take a walk or read a book and come back to it another day. -Remember that dice are not encouraged as a method for problem solving. The FFG chat rooms and the people who play in them advocate a diceless approach to solving conflicts as it is more creative than the randomness of dice. If you feel the need to roll dice, there are other forums more suited to your tastes, or you can move to a private room. -Remember that you should not call the appearance or damage taken by another character. In other words if you're fighting in free form, it's great to say: ::punches hard to Robert's face:: so that Robert can come back and say: ::the blow connects and crunches his cheek to pulp:: or ::the helm covering his face rings from the blow:: or ::quick reactions let him bob his head to the side which causes Ethan's blow to miss:: No matter how much you might want to, it's bad form to do this: ::punches Robert's face knocking him down and out cold:: -Remember TOS rules do apply. Putting your words in ALL CAPITALS denotes yelling and screaming. It is considered rude if done all the time (and not tolerated in other forums); but as long as you have a roleplay reason for shouting it is acceptable. Still, for the sake of everyone's eyes, please shout only in moderation. Out-of-character (OOC) commentary is put into double parenthesis, like this: (( )). It is discouraged in the FFG chat rooms. Out Of Character comments should be confined to IM or e-mail. Understanding these simple rules will help other people understand what you are doing in role-play and help you follow the action of others. There may be a delay before you find yourself interacting with others. Don't worry about this lag time. Just as you know no one there, they don't know you and may assume that you are already involved in some other play with someone else. It is just like any other social event your go to, a real life party or stop at a bar, where you don't know anyone. With a little patience and listening you will find a way to enter into the activity. Newplayer12345: ::bored!!!!:: How many times have you seen that? So you've created your character and you've talked to the bartender. Great! But you've wandered in and out of all the Inns, Bars and Conference rooms and you can't get anyone to interact with you. This can be a dilemma to thwart the most veteran of players, let alone someone just starting out. Take heart! The Free Form Gaming area is all about Cooperative Storytelling. What happens if you can't get anyone to cooperate with you to tell your story? To be honest, sometimes you simply can't; but, there are ways to try to be sure that doesn't happen. The most important thing to remember is courtesy. If you are polite about your interactions, people will notice and they will remember. Buy them a drink to see how they react. Attempt to cast a spell that fails to turn their shoes into cottage cheese. Get involved with what's going on around you and if no one plays with you, show them how creative you can be by utilizing the bar and the RDI on duty. Have fun with those who do respond to your character - even if it's not the character with whom you intended to interact. Say you're a thief - to use a difficult example - and you want to steal something. The best way to start is to simply ask the player you'd like to interact with through Instant Messages. Suggest that your character might lift a small purse from them or something of that nature. Be no more intrusive then that - no grand dramas or twelve act stories to start! Asked politely, most players will be willing to help you out. This can let them utilize being robbed in their storyline, if they so choose, and help you out with yours. After all, free-form gaming is all about cooperative storytelling. You may notice over time that other players will ask you to have your thief steal from them! Perhaps you have an assassin and you want to appear more authentic, you might ask if someone is willing to create a special character, slated to die, just for that purpose. If they don't want to play along with you, be sure to be polite and understanding - you never know when they might be in a position to help you in the future. If they can't help you out, you can always create your own NPC or Non player Character to be stolen from, killed, kidnapped - anything you can imagine within the lines of the Terms of Service. That's one of the best parts of Free Form Gaming - there's no limit to your creativity! To use the Thief example again, you might explain to someone in IMs that your character is a superlative thief, and rare is the person who can feel his fingers slip in to steal their money, their jewelry, etc... but someone else might have the amazing ability to detect your thief through sensitive magic or years of telepathic training. It's a matter of being positive, mature and cooperative. If someone won't cooperate, you can't force the issue. Remember: You act only for your character, not for anyone else's. Some folks characters never wear jewely.. some don't carry money... only they can decide that. That's why polite IMs are always best. In the long run, the roleplay will be more fruitful. It is your interaction with the other players that will build a story for you and an adventure perhaps worth writing about in the RDI Adventures or any of the many other story-oriented message boards in the Free Form Gaming area. [031224] |