Wanting to take your posting and roleplaying to the next level? Beyond just “good” and into “great” territory! Roleplaying may seem easy on the surface and some aspects are! But writing a great roleplaying post and being a great roleplayer is much harder than it seems.
There are somethings you can do to craft a really great RP post — each and every time.
Timely RP replies - many of us a guilty of letting a lot of time pass between posts. Don’t feel pressured in to responding really fast to posts. If you are feeling pressured to respond more quickly than you can, make sure to take care of yourself and have a break or drop some threads or tell the person your character is in a conversation with. they maybe be able to give you ideas on how to respond or ease your worry.
Don’t respond to every bit of speech. - give some non verbal ques like nodding, funny looks, sighs and huffs. It can stop characters having an awkward speech patterns.
Don’t prioritise your template. - Like this for example Template/ forum
or Sophia1233 - RP Leader. Your writing should be the key focus. You don’t need to spend a lot of time choosing how it should look.
Don’t be over-controlling - Its important no to entirely direct the course and flow of a thread. Allow the other RPers to make some decisions, even if the plot is unclear thread—this is easily done by leaving open-ended replies. For example, if two wolves are hunting a moose, the first character’s reply could detail their approach, the second could detail the selection of suitable prey, the third could detail the actual attack, so on and so forth. Each RPer gets to dictate a different part of the interaction and advance the story line a little; it’s more fun for everyone like this.
Don’t overdo the action, either. - Don’t over-stuff with action, changes, and alterations. A slight change of scenery, like the sun beginning to set, is great. A major shifts like cliff side cave beginning to flood, may not be so appreciated by the other people. Ask others before doing this kind of thing.
Overthinking can be a problem. - try not to get too into your character head. For example if they may miss there dead parents or pet but its really hard for people to reply to thoughts.
Show don’t tell - This is important in roleplaying and writing. Rather than telling your audience flat out how your character feels, you should show them instead. for example.
Tell - Klaus felt awful for what he had done.
Show - Klaus’s ears drooped and his eyes fell to the ground, unable to look at the other canine. The corners of his lips drooped in the beginnings of a frown, and when he opened his mouth to speak, he found shame had taken the words out of him.
Don’t Forget the Scenery - Sometimes in long threads scenery can be forgotten about. if the characters are standing outside in a forest talking for hours, maybe the sun starts to set and they have to begin making their way home, its a great way for characters to bond. Or if a character is sitting in the main camp tent late at night, perhaps a few NPCs join them for drinks and dancing.
Give Action - Note your character’s quirks, movements, body language, gestures, and so forth. Don’t overload your posts with action. Do remember that if your post is all thought and speech, there’s very little for the other writer to respond to. If you throw in a little bit of action into each post, it makes the thread that much more interesting.
Respond to Action- If the other character made a move, action, or betrayed something in their body language if your character was likely to notice. Do respond! if their character stepped forward in their RP post, perhaps your character steps backwards. Or not depending on the interaction.
@RPers - feel free to add your tips on a good RP post.
