Jaydom's Guide to Roleplaying

Alright, I've been wanting to do this for a while now, but I've never had the time to. But I decided to make this after I was about to jin a roleplay and THIS was the latest reply: Pearl: *summons spear* I'm ready to fight! THIS is why we can't have nice things! Every time I see a sloppy, one-line response like this one, it just tears into my soul. When I roleplay, people compliment me on my writing style. That's because I roleplay on another wiki where said writing style is encouraged, and sometimes required! Alright, I'm going to post a little guide to up the class of roleplaying on this wiki, and unlock a new potential for everything! TIP #1: If you are an OP (Original Poster) for a roleplay, the last thing you want to do is set requirements for how players post. I'm looking at you, Kindergarten Roleplay. Otherwise, you get a bunch of replies that are constrained by the writing style you are forcing onto people. That's a surefire way to limit the possibilites of your roleplay. TIP #2: If you want to break free of your limits, NEVER do this: <character>: *<action>* <talking> That format always leads to sloppy roleplays. That is just a really sloppy format for roleplaying. I call that "The Junk Format". What you want is "The Paragraph Format". What is that? Well, let's take that sloppy reply from above: Pearl: *summons spear* I'm ready to fight! And now let's convert it to paragraph format: Pearl summons her spear. "I'm ready to fight!" she says. Paragraph format, in essence, is like reading a book. Do you know why I own fifty books? They immerse you into a new world, a world you've never seen before. Imagine if a roleplay response was like a book. You can make it immersive, and pull people into your experience. The "Junk Format" above can't do that. TIP #3: Elaborate. That, in one word, is how you make something immersive. You elaborate, bring out every detail, and project it onto the reader's head. Let's take the newly-converted post from above: Pearl summons her spear. "I'm ready to fight!" she says. And now let's add elaboration. Think about it. What would she have to do to summon her spear? Pearl goes into a combative stance. She reaches up to her gemand grips an invisble handle. Suddenly, her gem glows with a brilliant white light, and the form of her spear emerges from it. It slides right into her grip, and she pulls it out with great force. The form ceases to glow, revealing a cyan-colored spear with an elegant design and white handle. She points the spear at Jasper, and whispers "I'm ready to fight". Bam. Add a few details and now we have a paragraph. TIP #4: Add Emotion. This is really simple, but EVERYONE forgets to do it. Let's take this almost-complete reply from above: Pearl goes into a combative stance. She reaches up to her gemand grips an invisble handle. Suddenly, her gem glows with a brilliant white light, and the form of her spear emerges from it. It slides right into her grip, and she pulls it out with great force. The form ceases to glow, revealing a cyan-colored spear with an elegant design and white handle. She points the spear at Jasper, and whispers "I'm ready to fight". And then let's sympathize with Pearl. See how she is feeling? Let's add that: Pearl goes into a combative stance. She reaches up to her gemand grips an invisble handle. She focuses on perfection, one of the most important things to her, and how she will enforce it. Suddenly, her gem glows with a brilliant white light, and the form of her spear emerges from it. It slides right into her grip. The mental strain on her body went away, as if it was focused into that spear. She pulled it out with great force. The form ceased to glow, revealing a cyan-colored spear with an elegant design and white handle. This was her last stand, and she was ready to protect her home, at all costs. She points the spear at Jasper, feels a surge of proudness and whispers loudly "I'm ready to fight!". Finale And with those four tips, we went from: Pearl: *summons spear* I'm ready to fight! to: Pearl goes into a combative stance. She reaches up to her gemand grips an invisble handle. She focuses on perfection, one of the most important things to her, and how she will enforce it. Suddenly, her gem glows with a brilliant white light, and the form of her spear emerges from it. It slides right into her grip. The mental strain on her body went away, as if it was focused into that spear. She pulled it out with great force. The form ceased to glow, revealing a cyan-colored spear with an elegant design and white handle. This was her last stand, and she was ready to protect her home, at all costs. She points the spear at Jasper, feels a surge of proudness and whispers loudly "I'm ready to fight!". And That is how you roleplay.