Elements of a Good Forum Based Roleplay

[Mahzkrieg]

Version 1.0 (An updated, reorganized version will replace this soon)

Elements of a Good Forum Based Roleplay

By Mahzkrieg

The Format
Many threads, if not most, fail because the posters don't follow "the" format. There are two different formats: one for the first post you establish in a thread, and the other format applies to all following posts within the thread. Allow me to explain:

The first post you post in a thread---the "introductory" post---usually announces your character. The format follows:

- Where your character is coming from.
- What he is doing presently.
- Where he is going.

Where your character is coming from is a good place to include some history of your character. If your character is an arrogant mercenary, perhaps he just cleaned up a troll cave for some cheap payment and is joyous and self-pleased while he travels to his destination---which is where he is going.

Where your character is going is the most important part of the post. Make sure you leave it open. Perhaps you are traveling towards a town in a chariot. Just end with something like "and with one swift whip of his horse, Walter continued towards the City of Despair." This way, other players can possibly join or interact with you, but most importantly, events can occur within the destination. Look for opportunities where you may allow a character to interact with your character. This is very broad ideology, but instead of going from point A to point B in a single post, perhaps divide the journey between two posts and let someone interact with you on the way. Basically, you want to leave the end of your post open because it leaves the most options for all the other players.

Once you've posted your first introductory post, the format for any following posts of yours is basically the same, but instead of introduction, you just keep building your character up and focus on development and interaction as well as the plot.

- Respond to the previous post if it effected/applied to you.
- Do something.
- Leave it open.

Responding to the previous post is up to you. Your character doesn't have to respond and interact with every happening in the thread between now and your previous post. However, if another player enters within a reasonable proximity of your character, you have an obligation to interact with it because that's how you keep the plot moving collectively, as in, you aren't branching off on your own little journey.

Do something and leave it open. Do something, go to the tavern, grab a drink, and end your post. Someone may want to come in and interact with you. Get on a horse, start off in a direction, end your post. Whatever it takes, leave it open.

A very common mistake is to not go anywhere with your post. A good example would be when I was roleplaying within a different community. All the players were in a town, interacting and preparing to go somewhere. We kept leaving it open for the one player that wasn't in the town yet expecting his next post to be his arrival post. The thread ended up dying. He never made it to town. One post, he was in a meadow. The next post, he was dreaming. The next post, he completed some quest---all on the way to the town he never made it to. Don't let this happen to you.

As a thread starter, give your thread an initial and obvious direction. In the first post of any roleplay you start, you should always establish where you want the thread to go off the bat. A big mistake thread-starters make is that they post a beautiful first post explaining the scene and their character in elegant depth, but then never really make it obvious to potential participants what their role would be. A good initial post sparks ideas in the minds of your audience. The more accessible you make your initial thread post, the greater chance of participation is. If you can't think of a creative way of saying "We're about to rob a bank so feel free to create your own member of the mob and here is what I expect at bare minimum," understand that not everything needs to be in character by any means. In fact, you should just post that blatantly at the end of your post. Outline what you expect and what rules you want to see followed. Don't go overboard, but players generally want a structure and they want a thread leader that has control of the thread and knows exactly what he or she wants.

As a thread leader, advance the thread. Often thread starters seem to dilly dally and never go anywhere. The players feel like they are the ones advancing the plot single handedly while the thread started follows along. As a thread leader, you have the responsibility of preserving a forward motion in your thread. The most fundamental is:
- Thread starter advances the plot.
- Thread participants react and interact.
- Thread starter advances the plot again.
- Etc.
There are definitely exceptions to this of course. If you're playing with experience, reasonable roleplayers, they will generally be able to push the envelope of the plot themselves. It's always good to state upfront what powers and freedom you are going to allow participants of your roleplay.



Just remember:
- Interact with other players as much as you can so you can move the plot as a group instead of just by yourself.
- Leave your posts open so others can interact with you.
- Don't branch off on your own quest, as this is plain boring and pointless and makes others get confused or lose interest.
- If someone drops you a hint or option, try to take it.
- Don't be selfish. If someone posts and it changes your ideas for the plot (mostly directed to thread-starters), just adapt. This is natural and virtually unavoidable. It also opens you up to new options that could possibly enhance the plot and options that you didn't really consider on your own.
- Stay reasonable. Nobody likes the wizard that saves the group every encounter with evil. It's also just not interesting if you just ease through everything. If your group is being attacked and you one-hit nuke the enemy with magic, that's simply not fun or productive.
- Don't be selfish or roleplay other characters. If your group is being attacked, don't say that you all ran away, stay singular and run away alone. Also, don't kill all the enemies alone. It just isn't fun.
- Feel free to private message other participants in thread to make out of character comments or ask questions. Also, it's much better to settle out of character matters in an out of thread sort of way as excessive OOC chatter can hinder in character roleplaying.

[LordLynxx]

Addition:

- One liners. So called "one liners" can be eliminated with a bit more effort. To help it try these:

What time is it? How the surroundings looks like?
Weather?
Status, position and appearance of your character, if it's already written you can write if it changed or affected by the surroundings.
What your character thinks about the previous/current situation, event or discussion.
What motivates your character or what is not?
What should your character talk or do in the current situation, event or discussion?
What is the further plans of your character?
How will your character execute its plans?
What is your character doing when there is no exceptional situation, event or discussion?
How is your character feeling? How does it express it? How is this affects its surroundings?
Does your character needs something? Is it hungry, thirsty or exhausted?

Of course there is more, but answering at least six of these with rich content will make a good post.

- Grammar and spelling. Most of the roleplayers finds this optional or just doesn't care about it. A well spelled, word-rich post makes the story more enjoyable. Not to mention some cases when a incorrect word can cause troublesome misunderstandings. While spelling can be easily fixed with the right applications, grammar tends to be more difficult. There is a little help that might improve both.
SpellCheck.net - Free Online Spell Checker for spelling.
Guide to Grammar and Writing for the grammar.
Also, asking for experienced players for help will do the same trick.

-OOC. Necessary and useful, when it's outside the IC. I know almost every thread start with this rule: No OOC posts in IC. OOC inside the story can ruin the atmosphere. Not to mention when it's not even about the story.

- Text formatting. You don't have to be a literature-engineer to understand why is this important. While this is optional it increases the quality of your posts. Not to mention this makes it easier to read and more enjoyable. It's easy to get lost in a huge block of characters. Dividing it with paragraphs and spaces makes it easy to follow. But, too much of them will make it less comfortable and chaotic. Not easy, but with correct use it will increase the playing experience. Also underlines, italic and bold styles are good for highlighting important statements, but highly recommended to use them rarely.

[Manda-Panda]

+ Everyone is capable of writing more than one line in a post. Sometimes I think that people just are too lazy or uncaring to try to post more.

+ It would also help if everyone read what everyone else is posting, instead of skimming. When you show someone that you are paying attention to everything they are posting, they will react positively by paying more attention to the details in your own posts.

+ There should be more to a post than what your characters actions are. Built up your posts with interesting details about your characters thoughts, appearances, and feelings.

+ PS. -Everyone should use spell check, always!