RP Guide
Originally written by Posco, revised for the new site by Magramba.
Everything you needed to know about RPing, and more!
The Basics
The "say" command
This is a command I actually do not use all that often. It is very basic, and you can not add any physical actions to your pose. Lately I have seen players use this command and attempt to add actions to it. While it technically works, it ends up looking sloppy since this command loops everything you type with quotations. (see ‘spoof’ command for the correct way)
Good example of say:
say Good morning, everyone!
Ratty says “Good morning, everyone!”
Bad example of say:
say “Good morning, everyone!” He heads for the door.
Ratty says “”Good morning, everyone!” He heads for the door.”
See how it looped the whole thing into “ “’s? It just doesn’t look very good!
The ":" command (or "pose")
A very popular command and a very good one at that. This is what you use when you wish to place your name in front of a pose. Beware though! Some are attempting to use it like a spoof or say.
Good example of ‘:’ -
- looks around the room.
Ratty looks around the room.
Bad example of ":" -
- “Hello!”
Ratty “Hello!”
Not a common mistake, but one to be cautious of. Always keep in mind that ":" will put your name in the front of your pose.
The "spoof" command
One of the most powerful commands, if not the most powerful! This is the perfect pose for starting RP’s. It is also what you should use if you wish to start your pose with something other than your name, or have a pose involving speech and also having actions. This is also what you will use if you are spoofing a character for a scene that none of yours would belong in.
Using for nameless start poses:
spoof The morning was bright and clear.
=The morning was bright and clear.
Using spoof for speech & actions:
spoof “Where are you going?” Ratty asked, looking worried.
“Where are you going?” Ratty asked, looking worried.
The Mistakes
I have mentioned some already, but I will go over them again
Capitalization and Punctuation
I shouldn't have to spend much time on this, because this is something we all learn at a young age. Though you may not feel like taking the time for it, I must insist that it will improve your RP, and the people you RP with will appreciate it. A quick example:
Ratty starts to eat the cheese “this is very good” he says with a smile
-or-
Ratty starts to eat the cheese. “This is very good!” He says with a smile.
Which one looks better to you?
Spacing
This has become, strangely enough, a large problem. It’s pretty self explanatory. You need spaces between words. I have seen many poses like this:
Ratty grabbedat the cheese”No! That’s mine!”he said.
See what is wrong with that?
Ratty grabbed at the cheese. “No! That’s mine!” He said.
Spelling
Ah, here is the big one! Spelling is something that seems to get neglected on the Muck these days. Now, excluding all accents that you use in your character’s speech, this is almost a MUST for RPing. Good spelling is key. You wont believe how much better your poses look and the better response you get from others if you pay attention to your spelling. This is really a matter of responsibility and respect for other players. But how do you do that?
1. In MUCKclient I know for sure that there is a spell check built in. It only takes me a few moments to right click on my miss spelled words and see if the right word is under their suggestions.
2. No spell check in your client? No problem! Write up your poses in your comp’s document program, and that will alert you to misspellings.
I can’t urge you enough to pay attention to spelling. It is one of the most important elements of RP.
How to do Actions and Speech in the same pose!
This is one of the most common mistakes people are making lately. Everyone seems to think that you can add actions when you use the ‘say’ pose… wrong!
What should you use? ‘Spoof’! (Alternatively, when using say, be sure to start and end with speech. And leave off the first and last quotes.) I mentioned this before! If you want speech to come first in your pose, this is a perfect command for it. Example:
Say I wanted to pose the following:
“Wait! Don’t leave me!” Ratty cries, bounding forward after his friends. “Come on, guys! Wait up!” He pleaded with them.
Here is what it would look like with ‘say’:
“”Wait! Don’t leave me!” Ratty cries, bounding forward after his friends. “Come on, guys! Wait up!” He pleaded with them.”
See how sloppy that is with that random end quote? Here is the same pose with spoof:
“Wait! Don’t leave me!” Ratty cries, bounding forward after his friends. “Come on, guys! Wait up!” He pleaded with them.
Much better!
Details and not repeating yourself
While in this MUCK we don’t force paragraph RP, you might want to keep in mind that a little detail goes a long way! You can communicate physically how you’re feeling to another player, and give them a feeling of your character.
Take this example:
Ratty says “Oh.”
Not bad, but lets add something.
Ratty glances up at the other, his face falling and his ears dropping gently. “Oh.” He mumbles, not at all looking happy about it.
Now, which one gives you a better feel for the character?
Another common problem is falling into the same habits. This includes having your character nod in every pose, using the same words every time. Here is a suggestion:
Smile is a very common thing to do in an RP… but that little word gets pretty boring after a while. Lets see what else we can use:
Grin, beam, smirk, simper
Wow! Look at the other words you can use! If you need to, thesaurus.com is a good way to spice up your RP.
And that concludes tonight's broadcast.
