Roleplaying Etiquette

[HeySeuss]

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Proposed topics:

- GM powers in the RP...with a caveat about using power wisely.
- Being a douche in the RP means word eventually gets around if you do it too often.
- How to critique a character sheet and suggest changes.
- How to deal with someone that seems to be 'taking over' the plot.
- How to gracefully leave an RP.
- How to gracefully tell someone it's not working.
- A million rules make you look like a martinet
- Other ideas?

[UltikanaRe]

I fully support this. This will be a good guide for new players who do not know the functions and social nuances of RP.

[Jig]

- How to critique a character sheet and suggest changes.
- How to deal with someone that seems to be 'taking over' the plot.

@HeySeuss

Yes please, thank you please.

Also maybe guides on how to deal with someone (as a GM) who is not 'taking over' the plot, but in other ways just being 'bad' (for want of a better word). Eg: ignoring RP canon, writing something apparently irrelevant to the RP itself, or writing in a section where they basically aren't qualified for? On a similar note, how to reject a character/player from your game based on any of the above things.

I've probably come across as a total douche here, but I know I've had experience of people with major SPaG problems in Advanced or writing for a genre that the RP just kind of isn't, such that their posts seem out of place and a bit... 'wrong'.

[VATROU]

I would like to see an article on these topics as well. Learning how to use GM powers responsibly and how to critique a character sheet and suggest changes. Really interest me. As I find good Character Sheets that I tend to have minor gripes with, small things here and there someone who might have a bit more firepower than I'd like to see and such.

[HeySeuss]

Since interest has been expressed, I'm open to working on this as a group project and sort of edit the final effort and post it up.

[Rilla]

I would totally be down to participate though it'll be on a limited scale and kept to PMs here, as I lack a computer to do any real typing on.

[Darkraven]

Not exactly roleplaying etiquette, but more like something to keep an RP up that I'd learnt through years of roleplaying and brief stints in GMing that didn't go down well.

Simplify!

In one word, your chance of success could increase dramatically. The few RPs I tried to run didn't work because the systems I put in place was incredibly complex and thus taxing to run, hard for players to digest and overall the RPs died quickly.

It's the same with writing. You take out stuff that you don't need or will straight up damage your story.

[HeySeuss]

Yeah, simplicity isn't really a part of etiquette. That's a different topic.

[NuttsnBolts]

I've had someone take over the Plot of an RP before, partially through overpowering and loopholes in the way that I set it up originally. It was my first time being a GM so I wasn't sure what to expect. Having a guide on how to deal with that scenario and how to avoid it would have been really helpful at least.

The other problem was that if and when I did boot the person, the RP crashed because we had all written in a way that encased all the characters into an event in a major section, and without that person it just all fell apart so easily (Not to mention the giant argument that arose from RPers about each other that caused me to throw in the towel).

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So, on the flip side, I can offer some help if need be as I have some experience with some of the nastier side of things.

[User]

I love how you mention not being a douche. I have the best rep in free for being an idiot and being too OP. Id love to help others avoid the mistakes I made when I created opposites of gary sues.