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The RPG Guide; With full Permission
Topic Started: Oct 19 2004, 05:54 PM (82 Views)
the_curse
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This is an RPG Guide, written by Arwen of the UKHP (R.I.P). Harry Potter Library has had full permission from Arwen


1. Start out with a plot conflict of some sort.
This plot can be planned ahead of time and not revealed to the RPGers, or the conflict can be discussed in the first post of the thread. So you can either make the first post really vague ("Arwen sat alone by the lake plucking shards of grass from the bank. She heard approaching footsteps (yours), but looked away, up at the sky. She seemed preoccupied." This RPG would go from there and develop into a whole story.), or make it really detailed ( "You find Arwen sitting alone by the edge of the lake, pacing back and forth. She sees you and hurries over. "Somethings' happened! Someone's taken the sorceror's stone! We must get it back," she exclaims, hands in her hair, features all a-fluttered."). Honestly, it doesn't matter how you start as long as you have SOME plan of what's going to happen... just running around and acting silly is good for the SPECIFIC Common Room threads (that's what they're for). So the RPGers on these boards have done a good job of this

2. Proper use of OOC, OOG, and NPC:
You may see me running around editing and posting with "OOC:, OOG:, and NPP:" before my writing. Here's what they mean:
OOC: Out of Character/Context. This is when someone has to make a comment not in the context of the RPG. These should be used only when needed to ask questions pertaining to that RPG. For example: "OOC: I'm not going to have a computer for the next few days, can somebody NPC me?" (more on NPC later). Again, OOC is out of character, but still pertains to the game.
OOG: Out of Game. This is when someone has to make a comment that does not pertain to anything within the RPG. These should rarely rarely rarely be used. For example (RPG between myself and Gina): "Arwen and Witchy checked out the target, strung their bows and shot. Both arrows flew and struck the bull's eye at the exact same point. (OOG: Gina, check your PMs, I sent you one.)"
NPC: Not-Person Character. This is when you want to RPG with two or more characters at once. NPC is usually done in a different color. For example: "Arwen strung her bow and aimed at the target. It flew through the air and struck, dead center. The grey elf did the same. After his struck her's in half, he turned back towards her. I win.." (more on dialoge later) you'll usually only use NPC if you're doing a massive RPG and you need to make up a character to make your own story more dynamic. You also use NPC if one of the RPGers is on vecation and they ask you to NPC them through an RPG that they had already started.

3. Tense: Yup, you can do this anyway you want, but it helps to stay consistant. If you do everything in past-tense ("Arwen went to the water and put in her foot.") don't switch suddenly to present tense ("It was cold, but she does not draw it back. She looks up..."). I recommend staying in present tense as much as you can ("Arwen goes to the water and puts in her foot. It is cold, but she does not draw it back. She looks up...").

4. Dialoge:Same as with tense, do what ever you want, but be consistant. I like to use italics for my dialoge Example: "*Arwen approaches you but avoids your eye.* It's been a long time. Where have you been?." That way you dont have to bother with quote marks.

5. Actions: same with actions, be consistant. I like to use an *astrix* (sp?) before and after actions. Example: *Arwen approaches you.*

6. Names, Characters: People like to skim posts to see if they are mentioned. For this reason, it's helpful to make the names of other characters in the RPG bold. It's also useful to address them in color... for example, I'd address someone from Ravenclaw in bold blue, someone from syltherin in bold green, Dumbledore in bold purple, etc.

7. Of Colors: Colors are really useful, especially in large RPGs. Often times groups of people are assigned specific colors to post in... for example, all Ravenclaws would post in blue etc. If you are going to need colors, say so at the begining of your RPG, in the first post.

8. Of Laying Down the Rules: If you want specific rules for your RPG, feel free to lay them down at the very begining in colored, bold text. Sometimes they are really really helpful in making the RPG extremely interesting.

9. Ending and Continuing RPGs: You should probably either end your RPG when it reaches 10 pages. At the 10-page point, you can start up a new thread with the same title as the old one and contact one of the Mods (for example, me) to close the old one. You should put something like "THEAD CLOSED, FURTHER POSTS WILL BE DELETED" at the end of the old thread just in case one of the mods can get to it for a while. The other option for reaching the 10-page point is to just conclude the RPG. Find the maiden, destroy the ring, kill the dragon, what ever. You have 15 posts on the 10th page to do so.

10. Types of RPGs and where to use them: It's very important that you specify what type of RPG you're running (or at least make it obvious).
Pubs: pubs are loose RPGs. You're expected to stay in character, but a few OOGs are acceptable. You should still make your posts be interesting for people to read. Pubs belong in the GREAT HALL, HOGSMEADE, or similar. NOT in the common rooms.
Quests: Quests can be anything from trying to find burried treasure, to defeating the Mordorian army, to stealing potions ingredients from Snape. They have an objective and are strict RPGs in that the BEST writing goes on here. Posts are generally full of substance and well-written. These should be able to be turned into stories, but the RPG master (the one who starts the RPG) has the first say in where the RPG is going. Other RPGers should not make any drastic changes to the plot line, that is the masters' job.
Tag-Team Stories: These are written in story form. Kinda like the "pass the story on" game where one person starts and the other people add on. Any one can change the plot, but BEWARE! If you change plot too much, or change it for the worse, then people will get angry and your posts will be ignored (more on ignoring later).
Common Rooms: These are specific to the Common Rooms board and always have "Common Room" or "Dorm" in the title. They are like Pubs except are located in the Common Rooms section and have a theme. For example, the Girls' Dorm is (usually) all girls... except when the capture a boy and make him do handstands.
Games: Sometimes we'll have Games... the rules will be set down at the begining, and you'll follow the game-master's instructions and try to win... these'll usually involve either luck or logic. They're not really character-based.

11. Ignoring It is proper etiquet to ignore people who post irrelevent stuff, change the storyline completely, or just do obnoxious stuff. If they do such things and/or spam, you should let the Mod's know... we'll be sure it doesnt happen again

Well, that's all for now. If you post, I'm likely to take what you say and add it to this list and then delete your post (just to keep things clean).

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