Getting Started: The Roleplaying Sections
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Free Roleplay - No standards. For roleplaying involving one-liners, few-liners, speed-posting, and for anyone who doesn't want to worry about standards.
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Casual Roleplay - Some standards. Roleplay here if you enjoy writing at least a paragraph or two, character development, and some depth. Casual RP is more laid back and lighthearted than Advanced RP but more moderated than Free RP. It's a good middle ground. No one-liners.
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Advanced Roleplay - Elevated standards. Advanced RP focuses on longer posts that include character development and elaborate plot development. Suggested minimum of 2-3 paragraphs per post.
We also offer some niche roleplaying forums:
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The Arena - Combat-centric roleplaying duels and various other types of fights.
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1x1 (One on One)Roleplay - In pairs. All standards are represented here.
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Tabletop Roleplay - Roleplays focused on dice rolls and stat blocks where the narrative is driven by game mechanics.
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Nation Roleplay - Create and control a nation that collides with other nations through political, economic, and diplomatic warfare.
We also have 'interest checks' that function as a means of advertising one's roleplays or finding someone else's roleplay.
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General Interest Checks - A section for brainstorming new ideas and presenting them to other roleplayers. Every section has their own specific interest check (as a subforum of the above sections) also.
The Sections Explained
Roleplaying sections are arranged according to writing standards, rather than genre. This is largely so roleplayers can find partners that are compatible with one another and to simplify navigation. For example, someone that likes to speed post or post very quickly in an exchange with other roleplayers might want to go to the
Free section while someone who wants something that involves more intricacy and longer posts might consider the
Advanced section.
Casual exists on the middle-ground between these two.
The
Arena exists for combat-driven RP, such as duels and other types of adversarial combats, while the
1x1 section encompasses many different standards. (It is also easier to get an RP started here, because you have less players involved) Some players tend to venerate one section or the other as being the better section but you should choose the RP category you feel is right for you; if you are unsure which section is right for you, you should talk to a moderator or hit up the
chat for guidance.
Joining an RP: Interest Checks and Roleplaying Threads: Out-of-Character and In-Character
Interest checks exist in every category of RP as a means of advertising a new idea for an RP before committing to writing out more than a synopsis. The interest checks are a means of testing the waters and recruiting players.
The typical roleplay starts in an
Interest Check which functions as a place to put a rough draft of the idea in order to gauge interest. If interested, a other players will post that they are willing to get involved in the RP if it proceeds. The person posting the idea can then proceed with further development on their RP, knowing they have some people already on board.
Once there is interest, the roleplay moves over to the
Roleplaying threads where the plot is further discussed and developed and where players communicate with one another in the
Out of Character (OOC) tab of the topic, which is where discussion of the roleplay occurs. The
In Character (IC) tab houses the actual writing for the roleplay. The person in charge, known as the
Original Poster (OP) or
Gamemaster (GM) will then post a thread in its respective category, where the roleplaying actually happens.
It is entirely possible to join an RP in the topic, or even after the In-Character writing has started, but the most consistent way to do it is to do it through the interest checks -- while you can submit a character to the OP/GM of the thread, they make the final decision whether or not you can roleplay in that thread and are within their rights to reject submissions or ask players to leave -- this doesn't happen very often, because word gets around when people abuse that authority.
Editing note: I wrote the old guide, with help for some sections from @Genkai. I updated the guide to fit formatting here and to reflect recent changes to the guild. Otherwise, same stuff. I had it sitting on my hard drive. ;)
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