Roleplay Tips
Keywords:
ROLEPLAYING, ROLEPLAY-TIPS, RP-TIPS, ROLEPLAY_TIPS, RP_TIPS
Roleplay Tips from Tharn (slightly adapted):
Below we'll be going over two pretty broad concepts, but they can help a lot in creating enjoyable RP for you, and making it easier to interact with each other in general. Fun. Easy. Exciting.
So, first. Goals. We're not talking over-arching goals. We don't care if your characters ultimate plans are to dominate all of the western continents and dress everyone up in fursuits. Do you. That's great. We're talking more immediate goals. What is your character trying to do NOW. It's an easy thing to forget and overlook, especially in general RP like sitting in the square. But maybe your in the square looking for RP. Well. That's good.
But why is your character in the square? It's not a bad idea to have them be there looking for something. Whether it be an item, companionship, or just a general conversation with someone. If you take the time to think of this, and incorporate it into your RP, it'll go a long way. To give an example, Tharn's goal is, obviously, Clubbin'. Most people know this by now. But using this as a jumping board allows me to influence his actions accordingly, and his RP will usually avoid feeling disjointed, because it carries a common theme that helps you understand where the character is coming from.
This will lead into our second thing that helps a lot, and it's more of a structure thing. It's a bit more advanced, and we'll call this HOOKS.
A hook is the part of your emote/say/etc. that gives the other player/s involved a chance to interact with you. Why do you need to add something to give them a chance you say? Because it's a lot more fun to roleplay when people are seemingly interested back. Lets give some examples.
Jim says, "Hi, Sally. How're you today." Sally replies, "Hi. I'm good."
This is an example where Sally dropped the ball. You notice how there's no continuation, nothing to dig into, nothing to RESPOND to, for Jim. Due to her lack of actions, emotions, words, or anything, it's putting a lot more pressure on Jim to continue any RP here.
Lets try again, but with Sally roping in some RP, maybe attached to goals she'd been pursuing.
Jim says, "Hi, Sally. How're you today." Sally replies, "Hi, I'm mostly good." Jim replies, aghast Sally's day isn't magnificent. "Mostly?" Sally nods(We're bringing her to life people, she's moving AND talking.), "Yeah. It's been great, but I haven't been clubbed in forever. Seen any trolls?"
Now, before we get off topic, I think it's obvious where one word allowed Jim to easily carry on into more RP, and Sally showed some interest. This goes a long way in furthering RP. Small responses, without anything for the other person to 'interact' with, whether it be twitches, clothing, words, or something as simple as a 'hesitation' before speaking allow people to come further alive, and give much easier jumping off points to allow people to feel like they're interacting with eachother, instead of walls.
I could go on longer, explain more, etc. I'm obviously a big failure at all of this myself quite often, so don't feel judged. If I'm playing from a phone, and I do more than a social, you're winning the lottery. But all the same, a large part of that is because of how 'unwelcoming' RP often feels on TG because it lacks the 'goals' and 'hooks' that make you feel like someone wants to play with you.
Any questions about these concepts, concerns, etc., I'm on fairly often, feel free to note me privately or send tells to talk it over. I imagine this will come across arrogant, but I've been writing a really long time, and often times my writing has been appreciated by people. Tips like these are something that helped get me there. Anyway. Be awesome. Bye. - Tharn