How to Create Your Own RP and Run Plots for Your Friends

By Kit

 

Hi! Welcome to my Kit Talk! Today I will be talking about creating role play for yourself, but also how to create storylines and plots for your friends! 

 

Reve Songe presents a unique RP situation, where a character’s life is split into two, and he doesn’t even know it half the time! This gives you ample opportunity for different takes than usual in your RP. For instance, maybe in one world you’re married to one woman, but in the other you’re courting a completely different woman! Obviously, there are many more scenarios that don’t involve romance, you just need to tap into your creative potential. And I know you have it! Otherwise you wouldn’t be seeking to enjoy a cooperative storywriting group during your free time.

 

Remember, Reve Songe is a COOPERATIVE RP EXPERIENCE.

 

And I do mean cooperative. 

 

Cooperative Role Play

 

First and foremost, we (and other RP sim owners as well, I hope) want to stress that while there are heroes and villains in this plot, and sometimes, maybe even oftentimes, they clash, OOC we are working together to make fun, interesting and involved stories together.  If you plan to make an elaborate plot against a certain character, be sure to touch base with them OOC.

 

  Many people will say “let things happen organically,” which is good for some goals. If Little Boy Blue wants to become Merlin’s apprentice, he SHOULD approach him IC to ask and to work at getting the approval of the man he wants to teach him. But if you are planning to storm someone’s lair, or raid their apartment looking for secret documents, it’s common courtesy to approach them first. Maybe there are traps inside of it. Maybe IC someone would be there even if OOC they are unable to make it. 

 

Really think about the other person’s position, and try to plan things when they will be around, if not to be there to actively oppose you, then at least to tell you what you would be running into. You are an adult, and you know what sorts of things are dick moves. If it is something that you would be mildly to ragingly upset about if it happened to your character without consulting you, don’t do it to other people without speaking to them OOC first. You will find that with friendly communication OOC, a lot of people are up for way more than you would expect. As a storyteller, I have consulted people and asked if they were sure they wanted to do what they were doing, because it would have dire consequences, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “YEAH! Take a limb!” or “Whoops! Let it play, I can always reroll!” or some variant thereof. 

 

Usually, this is where we would start to talk about other dick moves, such as metagaming, thought posting and powergaming. But that’s over in the rules of the sim… and probably most other RP sims you’ve visited. You know not to do that. You’re smart, and you’re creative enough to come up with other ways to represent yourself as a player and your character’s behavior. 

 

BEING MEAN (IS GRRRROOD)

 

You know what is not a dick move? Being mean IC. Behaving cruelly IC. Lying IC. I love lying IC, but because I am a storyteller, I have to worry about people OOC taking what my character said seriously and as legitimate lore. The trick there is to never have the lie be an emote, only dialogue. It might help to be a little contradictory sometimes to give a hint that you aren’t giving the whole story. 

 

As for meanness and cruelty, remember that “this guy is mean” is not the whole of a personality for anyone, except maybe the Grinch (and even he had his good points). If you go the route of a villain, there are usually multiple reasons as to why they act a certain way. Everyone is different, but if you look at the roots of stories, from fairy tales to Greek myths, there is always a hint that there is more to the character. And just because they’re mean or cruel, doesn’t mean they can’t be congenial, or even kind to people on the surface while concocting devious plans.

 

On the same note, it’s OK to be naive, and a super goody two shoes. But good people can sometimes ALSO be mean, cold and cruel–if they believe they are doing it for the right reason. Just make sure that, if you want people to play with you, there is more to your character than being a stoic (or shy) loner. 

 

Joining In, Even When Your Tummy Hurts

 

Believe it or not, even seasoned roleplayers (like me) can be anxious about joining a scene that mostly has people or characters they have never played with before. My suggestion with that is generally to make a character that does not mirror your shy, real self, but is more outgoing. In lieu of that, remember that a scene in public is open to whomever wanders up. Watch for a round and then join in, and IF you are unsure how to enter, pick whomever sounds like they know what they’re doing best and IM them to ask: 

 

“I want to join the scene, but I’m not sure what to post.” Ask for suggestions, or even if they would be willing to get you involved somehow. Everyone (especially players who are Storytellers) should be willing to get you in there, though you might not like the consequences! 

 

If you don’t want to IM anyone, my go-to is thinking about improv acting. I’m not saying you should start reciting Shakespeare all willy-nilly, but to think about the various situations your character might get in. Getting in the wayback machine, I once RPed a young (19ish) thief and pickpocket in a semi-post apoc setting. He had a juvenile sense of humor, and he was always hustling. If I was on the street, I never had trouble approaching someone for RP IC (though I got a few people who mysteriously teleported away more than a few times). 

 

Some samples of scenarios I used to either start or join a scene. Disclaimer: Most of these end up with angry counterparts, so don’t be surprised when someone reacts by punching you in the face.:

 

• Asking for a dollar. Reacting according to the character’s reaction by pretty much anything but walking away.

• Hawking expired cans of nacho cheese on the street to passersby

• Attempting to pickpocket someone.

• Attempting to slap someone’s ass just as hard as he could then trying to run off.

• Shoplifting

• Yelling at a guy who sort of looks like a guy who he had an altercation with on a previous occasion.

 

Now, obviously, these prompts are not going to work for everyone, but it is a fun exercise to think of ways your character might interact with the world and the people around them. If some people stopped in front of their house, would they call them whippersnappers and spray them with the hose, or would they walk up to them and give them a pamphlet to try and convince them to join a cult? The world is your playground. 

 

KIT’S HOT, SEXY RP TIPS:

 

• Don’t be perfect. Sure, there are things your character excels at, but they can have a bad day. Just the same, it’s impossible to behave or do EVERYTHING perfectly. People will discount role play with you if your character has no flaws. Perfect is great for a diamond, Perfect for a person, ESPECIALLY a fictional character, is boring. Knowing everything (vs. being a know it all) isn’t fun. Maybe for the person playing the one who knows everything, but for the people around them, trying to make a story, nothing shuts down an exploration of a theme or a quest or whatever by speaking to someone and them immediately resolving everything with a nice, tight bow.

• Involve others in your RP. It’s easy! It’s fun! It helps your friend circle grow!  Now, you might think that your character has to be all smiles and rainbows to involve other people. FALSE! You can be mean! You can be kind! You can be maniacal! (dial it back Kit, sheesh. - Finn.) Be true to your character, for sure, but don’t close yourself off from RP opportunity OOC.

 

 If you see someone just hanging on the edges of a scene, or just sort of role playing by themselves (which can be fun, but isn’t it MORE fun to play with other people?) drag them in to play with you. Once again, improvise. You can create a small story on the fly. 

 

Ask a beggar to deliver a letter for you, ask a bystander if they agree with your opinion, “accidentally” throw whatever you were eating in a soldier’s direction, trip a waitress! Don’t just do those things though, try and tailor your choices for what would make the most sense for your character and the character you are attempting to bring into the scene.

• Pay attention to what others are posting and react to what your character would. Players, especially in this sort of text heavy role play, always leave clues about who their characters are in their posts, and from there, you can decide how to approach them from your character’s point of view. If you’re a fancy lad, you are going to react differently to a chaste, fair princess than you would a haggard witch reeking of the putressence. If you’re a beggar, you’re going to react differently to a nice young woman selling pies than you would one of the queen’s soldiers. 

• Don’t take things so personally, but also don’t go out of your way to be shitty in a way that may truly hurt a person’s feelings OOC. For instance, if you see someone arrive on scene and they have clearly put a lot of time and money making themselves look good for whatever the occasion is–but your character hates them–you might want to trash talk them IC. In fact, it’ll probably be great RP. STILL, make sure you message them either before or after your post (I would recommend before, if your action is going to be particularly devastating) and let them know that hey, that’s just the character talking, I actually think you’re a very cool person, your pants fit well, your nose isn’t pear shaped, so on and so forth. 

Furthermore, don’t go for low hanging fruit, or target something that is clearly OOC related. If someone is a slow poster, has trouble wording things sometimes due to English not being their first language, has spelling issues maybe due to a learning disorder–LEAVE IT ALONE. The only exception is when it is an inside joke that you are both clearly in on. If only one of you is laughing, it’s not a joke, it’s just bullying.

 

WRITING A POST FOR DUMMIES AND SMERTIES TOO

 

As you know, we RP by posting actions and dialogue, one at a time, in an order that is either predetermined or decided on the fly. You probably know the standard protocol for such things, but I’d like to go over just a few more tips before this Kit Talk is done. Some days, you want to just write and write, really paint a picture, make a splash, be the fanciest of fancies. Other days, you might be a bit tired and just want to have a little fun without getting too deep into things. Whatever the case, here are the things to keep in mind:

 

• Post Length. In some situations, such as RPs of Much Importance with just a few people present, you may want to write long posts with detail upon detail. For some reason, you just want to make sure that everyone knows your character’s suit has pick stitching and a hand-set collar. That’s great. You do you. Make everything romantic and gothic, describe how the candlelight reflects off his razor sharp cheekbones, yadda yadda yadda. However, as a player in a community of players, you have to carefully balance when you are giving information that adds to the scene, and when you are just giving masturbatory fluff that could be trimmed out. (I am guilty, and I fully believe it has its time and space.)  

 

Most of the time, in casual or public RP scenes, you will want to keep your posts more succinct. Not to the point you’re just saying one line of dialogue, but where you aren’t becoming repetitive or messing with the pace of the scene by bogging it down with too much extraneous information or too long wait times. Now, some of us (myself included), will always be a bit slow to post, and that’s fine! But still, try to be aware of when you should wax over your reaction and when you should just trust your gut feelings. 

 

A good rule is to let your entrance post have most of your character’s physical description (which we can all can refer to in SL as well) and let your regular posts focus on three major things: Reaction/Action, Dialogue/Observation, Emotion.  You can still describe yourself whenever and however if it feels right, but if you actively have a thesaurus open so you don’t type “His long, fiery locks,” exactly the same every turn, you might as well realize everyone knows you’re a ginger beauty already.

 

In very large or ST ran scenes, you may be asked to trim down posting time, which often means trimming down the length of posts as well. If you are a slow reader or writer and have to read and reread a few times, try not to sweat it too much, but also remember that in Storyteller scenes, you will need to keep most of your posts relevant to what is happening currently, rather than in the past. In large scenes, being clear and concise is far more important than being flowery or grand with your writing.

• Character Observations:   Now, we all decry thought posts, mostly because they are often used as a petty way to be hateful to another person without actually suffering any consequences. HOWEVER. Guess what? People think. They observe things. There are going to be observations in your posts, and likely feelings about them.

 

 If you look and your good friend Paco has arrived to help with the Big Battle, and you give him a super manly upwards nod of greetings, you have observed his presence, come to the conclusion that yeah, Paco’s cool as fuck, and then demonstrated to Paco in your subtle, completely macho way that yes. You are men. Men that will murder things. Now, if you look and your good friend Cathy has arrived with her hair is in some sort of bizarre, green beehive, and you stare for a moment before looking away quickly and yelling, “Can we get Cathy a hat?” You have just observed that Cathy is here, her hair is ratched, and if you are going to succeed at this dance battle, you need to cover it up.  See? You don’t have to think “Wow, Cathy looks like dogshit.” a lot of things can be inferred without being a dick.

 

I am often guilty of using inner monologues in my posts, one reason is because I do play anxiety ridden characters upon occasion, and when you have anxiety, a lot of what you are doing is in your head.  The caveat is that you have to do something, otherwise, those you are RPing with have just read 3-8 sentences of your character’s rambling thoughts with no visual cues in regard to… anything. You can have your heart race, you can zip around the room searching for something frantically, you can even play it up for comedy ala the “eat the chip normally” scene in Death Note. JUST REMEMBER THAT YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING.

 

• READ AND RESPOND: to other people’s posts!!!! I will give it to you straight where not everyone will. One of the most infuriating things in Role Play, is when you try to extend opportunities to a nearby role player to get involved with an ongoing scene, and each of your posts is followed up with them kicking rocks and waxing philosophical about how alone they are like a teen in their goth phase. If you want to role play, you need to do the courtesy of reading the posts of the other people there. If you don’t want to read posts, if you have poor reading comprehension, if it “takes too long,” I apologize, but this isn’t the hobby for you.

 

Well, now we have reached the end. I am sure there is more to say, and when I think about it, I will add to this! But for now, I hope we all have a good time in Reve Songe and the Land of Nod as well. I love writing stories and creating new worlds with my friends, but I especially love when I get to share what we have created with others, both fresh faces and old friends alike.

 

Creating a storyline:

In a grander sense, every player is empowered to run adventures for their peers. Naturally, we prefer that these stories be open to the rest of the player base, as well. It can, after all, only add to the fun. There are, however, a few things that one needs to do ahead of time to make sure their story is good to go.

 

• Open a ticket on Discord:

• detailing your story, plot points and who is involved with the story. (Keep in mind that there will be instances in which your story may overlap with another story being run, or that other characters may have a way to be aware of what is going on. We ask that story tellers be open to other characters getting involved.)

•  In your ticket be sure to include any ‘rewards’ or perks that have been proposed from the plot— Also keep in mind that these things may tie into other plots being run, either by other players, or storytellers, in the future.

• Be sure to include any NPCs needed for the plot. Names, powers, purpose.

• Plots do not happen in a vacuum. Understand that your stories will likely have a broader impact on the world at large. 

• Depending on the plot you are running, Storytellers may add to ‘rewards’ or impose unexpected consequences.