Komaeda
Senior Member
Hello there! Everyone tells you about what you should do, but does everyone really get into the things you should avoid? Not that I've seen at least. Roleplays list in their guidelines things like "No Mary-Sues" or "No Godmodding", but to those who have just started Roleplaying, that's like a foreign language. Not anymore. I will explain what the top roleplay mistakes are and how to avoid them.
First off, I will get into Mary Sues. This should be a fairly familiar term if you're into Roleplaying/fanfictions already. A Mary Sue is a character that is perfect in every way. Flawless appearance, flawless personality, knows every secret and is everyone's God/Godess. They make some readers want to throw up in their mouth, and are frowned upon in general. Here's a little tip, if you suspect your character is a Mary Sue, picture them as a real life person, a friend, classmate, whatever. Do they fit in like everyone else in terms of personality and background? If they stand out a little too much you may want to fix some things. Additionally, don't lean the other way and have too many flawed aspects. Try to keep their strengths and weaknesses even. For example, Person A may be very strong but is unable to talk to anyone without panicing, and Person B may be athletic and musical, but her grades may struggle. This is an example of balanced. Here's unbalanced: Person C is good at music, art, drama, and sports. He gets straight A's and has all the girls falling for him. With shiny bright teeth and perfect hair he can't be beat. That is exactly what a Mary Sue is. Your friendly neighborhood GM may have other guidelines too so talk to them.
Next up is "citrus fest", as I call it. This may not be a problem on RPNation due to the content rating, but otherwise it is so I will vaguely address it. Citrus fest is basically when two characters meet and fall in love in 5 minutes, and are banging by the end of the night. That's not how romance works, and it probably drives everyone else crazy. An actual romance would take much longer to form, and definitely would be cleaner for longer. Use your own judgement here, is all I can really say.
Next up, one liners. You can get away with them in chat roleplays but typically they are otherwise a big no-no. Sometimes it can't be helped that you don't have much to say, but you should always have at least 6-8 sentences. If you're stumped, try describing the setting you're at or have a character make a certain motion of gesture (such as stretching or looking around). It may be filler, but it adds on. A one liner doesn't leave much room for ideas.
There is also a flip side to this. In Roleplay, there is such thing as writing too much. Depending on your Roleplay there is an expected range. I specialize in paragraph to multiparagraph. These two categories together range from 8 sentences to 4-5 paragraphs. Try not to go overboard and write too much more, unless you're an extremely detailed person. If you have 10 paragraphs in one post with one character involved only, you might as well be writing a book. You've probably left at least 1 opening that got closed due to other characters being able to jump in. The rule of thumb here is, give enough writing for idea flow, but leave enough for other players.
The last thing I will go over is God modding/ power playing. These are both very common terms and you will see them a lot, so it's very important to know what they mean. Godmodding is, in a nutshell, taking control of a character that isn't your own without permission. There are a few examples. One is: Person A asked Person B "What is your favorite color?" Person B replies "I like yellow." The person playing Person B had no chance to react. The first bit was fine but it should have ended at the question mark. The more common example is Person A punched Person B in the nose, knocking him out. Once again, Person B has no time to react. A correct way to word it may be Person A swung a punch at Person B's nose. This way, Person B has time to react saying whether he was hit or he dodged, or even hit Person A.
Now, Powerplaying. This is really only an issue in roleplays that involve a lot of action or combat. Powerplaying is when your character has OP God-like powers, dodges every hit, is immortal, and never gets hit. Your friendly neighborhood GM will classify what is "OP" but the rule of thumb is basically the same. There is nothing wrong with not taking a hit, or having powers. Once again though, keep it balanced.
Well, I hope I helped you guys out. Enjoy my tutorial of sorts!
First off, I will get into Mary Sues. This should be a fairly familiar term if you're into Roleplaying/fanfictions already. A Mary Sue is a character that is perfect in every way. Flawless appearance, flawless personality, knows every secret and is everyone's God/Godess. They make some readers want to throw up in their mouth, and are frowned upon in general. Here's a little tip, if you suspect your character is a Mary Sue, picture them as a real life person, a friend, classmate, whatever. Do they fit in like everyone else in terms of personality and background? If they stand out a little too much you may want to fix some things. Additionally, don't lean the other way and have too many flawed aspects. Try to keep their strengths and weaknesses even. For example, Person A may be very strong but is unable to talk to anyone without panicing, and Person B may be athletic and musical, but her grades may struggle. This is an example of balanced. Here's unbalanced: Person C is good at music, art, drama, and sports. He gets straight A's and has all the girls falling for him. With shiny bright teeth and perfect hair he can't be beat. That is exactly what a Mary Sue is. Your friendly neighborhood GM may have other guidelines too so talk to them.
Next up is "citrus fest", as I call it. This may not be a problem on RPNation due to the content rating, but otherwise it is so I will vaguely address it. Citrus fest is basically when two characters meet and fall in love in 5 minutes, and are banging by the end of the night. That's not how romance works, and it probably drives everyone else crazy. An actual romance would take much longer to form, and definitely would be cleaner for longer. Use your own judgement here, is all I can really say.
Next up, one liners. You can get away with them in chat roleplays but typically they are otherwise a big no-no. Sometimes it can't be helped that you don't have much to say, but you should always have at least 6-8 sentences. If you're stumped, try describing the setting you're at or have a character make a certain motion of gesture (such as stretching or looking around). It may be filler, but it adds on. A one liner doesn't leave much room for ideas.
There is also a flip side to this. In Roleplay, there is such thing as writing too much. Depending on your Roleplay there is an expected range. I specialize in paragraph to multiparagraph. These two categories together range from 8 sentences to 4-5 paragraphs. Try not to go overboard and write too much more, unless you're an extremely detailed person. If you have 10 paragraphs in one post with one character involved only, you might as well be writing a book. You've probably left at least 1 opening that got closed due to other characters being able to jump in. The rule of thumb here is, give enough writing for idea flow, but leave enough for other players.
The last thing I will go over is God modding/ power playing. These are both very common terms and you will see them a lot, so it's very important to know what they mean. Godmodding is, in a nutshell, taking control of a character that isn't your own without permission. There are a few examples. One is: Person A asked Person B "What is your favorite color?" Person B replies "I like yellow." The person playing Person B had no chance to react. The first bit was fine but it should have ended at the question mark. The more common example is Person A punched Person B in the nose, knocking him out. Once again, Person B has no time to react. A correct way to word it may be Person A swung a punch at Person B's nose. This way, Person B has time to react saying whether he was hit or he dodged, or even hit Person A.
Now, Powerplaying. This is really only an issue in roleplays that involve a lot of action or combat. Powerplaying is when your character has OP God-like powers, dodges every hit, is immortal, and never gets hit. Your friendly neighborhood GM will classify what is "OP" but the rule of thumb is basically the same. There is nothing wrong with not taking a hit, or having powers. Once again though, keep it balanced.
Well, I hope I helped you guys out. Enjoy my tutorial of sorts!
