RP: All You Need to Know

[Paige]

What is Roleplay? 

Do you remember when you were a child and you'd play with your barbies, cars, legos, or dress up in an outfit that allowed you to be someone else? For however long any of that held your attention, you were stepping out of the real world and into the shoe's of the character(s) you created. That is Roleplay. It's a natural ability of children, one that never leaves us, though recedes further into the back of our minds as we enter adulthood.

Text-based Roleplay, which is what we do here on --, is the same as acting it out, only that you are writing words down. You are the creator of your character and when you know that character in and out, you are able to write that character with ease. Their actions, feelings, emotions, etc. all belong to them, but are created by you. You connect with the character and bring life to them. And no one else could ever roleplay a character you did the same way. We each, as roleplayers, pour ourselves into the characters, and so there will never be two just the same.

Roleplaying Acronyms
RPG/RP - stands for roleplay game or just roleplay
1x1 - a roleplay between two people (hence one by one)
Crossover - a roleplay involving two different fandoms (i.e, The Vampire Diaries and The Hunger Games)
AU - stands for alternate universe, meaning the roleplay takes place in one
FC - stands for face claim, usually a celebrity who represents a character’s face.
PB - stands for play-by, the same as above.
Affiliates - are other roleplays that one would be associated with, to gain more popularity within the roleplay community
OOC/IC - out of character, in character
OC- original character (as in one you write yourself, not canon)

Roleplaying Terms
Alias - the name you go by; could be your name, a nickname, one you made up, or whatever
Ship - a romantic relationship that a roleplayer would support, whether it is canon or not
Canon - basically means “official”, so an official character created by the Admins that is not an original
Canon Ship - a romantic pairing that is stated as official by the Admins of the rp
Headcanon - a belief that a roleplayer has that did not actually happen.
Crackship - an “unusual” ship between two people that would most likely never happen (although we all want it to).
OTP - stands for one true pairing, meaning you ship them really hard and there is absolutely no one else that could be suitable for either character in the pair
God-modding/God-mod - controlling other's characters (including actions, thoughts, and speech). This is shunned and generally not accepted in the rp world.
Mary-Sue/Gary Stu - an attempt by an rper to make their character flawles, which is also frowned upon

Creating a Character
While creating a character, original or not, may seem daunting, it truly isn't. Usually, the creation of a character starts with an idea and during the creation process that idea can change, modify, or completely disappear depending on your final product. Always make sure that whatever sort of character you create is interesting to you, otherwise you'll have no fun rping that character and will eventually abandon the character all together. Abandoned characters are thoughts gone to waste and if that can be avoided, why not avoid it, right?

Each character any of us creates will always fit into an archetype (often times more than one when the character is more developed). There are many archetype, but I'm only going to list 12 common ones (taken from this site) to give a general overview.

The Ego Types

The Innocent
Motto: Free to be you and me
Core desire: to get to paradise
Goal: to be happy
Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong
Strategy: to do things right
Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence
Talent: faith and optimism
The Innocent is also known as: Utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.

The Orphan/Regular Guy or Gal
Motto: All men and women are created equal
Core Desire: connecting with others
Goal: to belong
Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd
Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch
Weakness: losing one's own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships
Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretense
The Regular Person is also known as: The good old boy, everyman, the person next door, the realist, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbor, the silent majority.

The Hero
Motto: Where there's a will, there's a way
Core desire: to prove one's worth through courageous acts
Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world
Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a "chicken"
Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible
Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight
Talent: competence and courage
The Hero is also known as: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.

The Caregiver
Motto: Love your neighbour as yourself
Core desire: to protect and care for others
Goal: to help others
Greatest fear: selfishness and ingratitude
Strategy: doing things for others
Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited
Talent: compassion, generosity
The Caregiver is also known as: The saint, altruist, parent, helper, supporter.

The Soul Types

The Explorer
Motto: Don't fence me in
Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world
Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life
Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness
Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom
Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit
Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one's soul
The explorer is also known as: The seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.

The Rebel
Motto: Rules are made to be broken
Core desire: revenge or revolution
Goal: to overturn what isn't working
Greatest fear: to be powerless or ineffectual
Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock
Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime
Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom
The Outlaw is also known as: The rebel, revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, or iconoclast.

The Lover
Motto: You're the only one
Core desire: intimacy and experience
Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love
Greatest fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved
Strategy: to become more and more physically and emotionally attractive
Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity
Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment
The Lover is also known as: The partner, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder.

The Creator
Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done
Core desire: to create things of enduring value
Goal: to realize a vision
Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
Task: to create culture, express own vision
Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions
Talent: creativity and imagination
The Creator is also known as: The artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer.

The Self Types

The Jester
Motto: You only live once
Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Greatest fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
The Jester is also known as: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.

The Sage
Motto: The truth will set you free
Core desire: to find the truth.
Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world.
Biggest fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance.
Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes.
Weakness: can study details forever and never act.
Talent: wisdom, intelligence.
The Sage is also known as: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, contemplative.

The Magician
Motto: I make things happen.
Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe
Goal: to make dreams come true
Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences
Strategy: develop a vision and live by it
Weakness: becoming manipulative
Talent: finding win-win solutions
The Magician is also known as: The visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, medicine man.

The Ruler
Motto: Power isn't everything, it's the only thing.
Core desire: control
Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or community
Strategy: exercise power
Greatest fear: chaos, being overthrown
Weakness: being authoritarian, unable to delegate
Talent: responsibility, leadership
The Ruler is also known as: The boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model, manager or administrator.

Now, some of these archetypes can be harder to rp than others. I know personally that my shy and quiet characters, which would fall under 'The Innocent' , were a bit more difficult to portray rp wise. Because quiet characters don't speak often, you end up writing more about their internal feelings on a situation and I know that it can get repetitive. So that's just a forewarning. Not to say, do not create this type of character. I love the shy/quiet characters just as much as all the rest. I just want you to be aware that this could potentially be a difficult character to rp and if it is your very first time rping, you might end up not so comfortable with that character. Or you might find that it is super easy for you to rp that type of character. My suggestion, though, is to pick a character that will fall into an archetype you know you won't have such a hard time rping, but only if you are a beginner. If you've been rping a while, challenge yourself with something new; something you've yet to write.