the_force wrote:

Riddliculuos wrote:

You know when ppl do this in RPs ^^^^? Its for when somebody doesn't reply right? Would you say that its okay to do that or, you know, it doesn't rlly matter…

Ye and to notify others that's the rp has proceed

^^^ is to notify other uses that the RP has moved on, restarted, or something like that - it's typically used every so often to make sure all participants are on the same page.

1.) Come up with an idea. This is an important step. Having a concept for your roleplay (RP) will guide it through all of the different stories that it will create. This is the first and most important thing you will need to create an RP. Most owners will usually make a short introduction storyline, or a backstory, on which the entire RP will be based. This almost always contains the main idea inside of it. Some RPs are also based around storylines from movies, books, or video games. If you use an idea from somewhere else, make sure to make it unique so others will find it more interesting and want to join

2.) Create a studio for your new RP. Roleplaying is prohibited on the Scratch forums, so you will need to create a studio for RPing. Title the studio however you'd like, but most RP owners use “{{Insert Concept here}} RP”. Examples of this would be Super Hero RP and Cops + Robbers RP. Many RP studios' descriptions contain a backstory and a list of characters along with the user who RPs as them.

3.) Create an attractive studio thumbnail for the previously-mentioned studio. Make sure that the thumbnail relates to what the RP is about in some way, and display the title. If your thumbnail is eye-catching and flashy, or relates to your studio's theme very well, you'll attract new members (see number 5), especially if they're into whatever the thumbnail is. The more members you have, the more fun your RP will be! If you just have a blank thumbnail, lots of people will just gloss over it and may not even read the title, and you don't want that to happen! Where would they find that thumbnail, though? They might find it on the RP members' profiles.

4.) Create a forum thread for your RP. This is not required, but it helps to advertise your RP and find new members to join. Make sure to have your backstory and a link to the studio in the first post. This is also where all team coordination will take place. It also helps you keep track of everything about your RP.

5.) Find new members. RPing with others is more fun. Ask Scratchers on their profiles if they wish to join your RP, but don't spam! You could possibly ask Scratchers who are known to have joined other RPs.

6.) Create a sign-up. This can be a posted in the comments, or in a project. For information, some good things to include are name, age, gender, rank, height, hair color, eyes, personality, alignment, backstory and other. If the sign-up is in a project, you may want to have a outline of the species that they can fill in for a better description.

7.) Create new storylines. Keep your RP interesting by throwing in new plot twists and curves that members need to respond to. This will help members stay interested in your RP. Compile these into a storyline, located on the first page of your RP. It might help to make a few projects with maps, names and all other information.

8.) Keep your team up-to-date. Help everyone keep up with the new twists and turns. This will create a much more enjoyable RP experience for all your members. Talk with your members, take input and keep your members with you. Keep those that RP invested and active. This will prevent it from going dead.

9.) Promote helpers. You may also want to give a few trustworthy RP-ers a “moderator status”. The moderator status means that they try to keep the RP fair and help mold it into a delightful activity. Moderators are your helpers and can help you with the repetitive work, such as accepting people, telling people what a RP is, etc. You are the one to decide how much power moderators wield. Be sure to only promote users that you trust to moderator.

10.) Keep the RP active. Make sure to bump the forum, accept interested members, and RP. There are many RPs that have gone dead, and you want to prevent that as long as possible. Have fun RPing!



This guide was written by makethebrainhappy, jromagnoli, MistickMage and WolfCat67. The guide was edited by WolfCat67, pianogirl84, and bigpuppy. The banner was created by bigpuppy.

This post should be called the great wall of china text

forever
if <kumquat detected> then
Deploy epic ninja kumquat destroyer of doom
Kill kumquat brutally with sword of unfathomable power
end
end

FP updated: Added “How to Start an RP Collab” and Key Terms with a new word

makethebrainhappy wrote:

Hello! My Collaboration the Services Planning Department has created this as an entry into the encyclopedia if it fits anywhere. Enjoy!

How To Create a Role-Playing Collaboration

1.) Come up with an idea. This is an important step. Having a concept for your roleplay (RP) will guide it through all of the different stories that it will create. This is the first and most important thing you will need to create an RP. Most owners will usually make a short introduction storyline, or a backstory, on which the entire RP will be based. This almost always contains the main idea inside of it. Some RPs are also based around storylines from movies, books, or video games. If you use an idea from somewhere else, make sure to make it unique so others will find it more interesting and want to join

2.) Create a studio for your new RP. Roleplaying is prohibited on the Scratch forums, so you will need to create a studio for RPing. Title the studio however you'd like, but most RP owners use “{{Insert Concept here}} RP”. Examples of this would be Super Hero RP and Cops + Robbers RP. Many RP studios' descriptions contain a backstory and a list of characters along with the user who RPs as them.

3.) Create an attractive studio thumbnail for the previously-mentioned studio. Make sure that the thumbnail relates to what the RP is about in some way, and display the title. If your thumbnail is eye-catching and flashy, or relates to your studio's theme very well, you'll attract new members (see number 5), especially if they're into whatever the thumbnail is. The more members you have, the more fun your RP will be! If you just have a blank thumbnail, lots of people will just gloss over it and may not even read the title, and you don't want that to happen! Where would they find that thumbnail, though? They might find it on the RP members' profiles.

4.) Create a forum thread for your RP. This is not required, but it helps to advertise your RP and find new members to join. Make sure to have your backstory and a link to the studio in the first post. This is also where all team coordination will take place. It also helps you keep track of everything about your RP.

5.) Find new members. RPing with others is more fun. Ask Scratchers on their profiles if they wish to join your RP, but don't spam! You could possibly ask Scratchers who are known to have joined other RPs.

6.) Create a sign-up. This can be a posted in the comments, or in a project. For information, some good things to include are name, age, gender, rank, height, hair color, eyes, personality, alignment, backstory and other. If the sign-up is in a project, you may want to have a outline of the species that they can fill in for a better description.

7.) Create new storylines. Keep your RP interesting by throwing in new plot twists and curves that members need to respond to. This will help members stay interested in your RP. Compile these into a storyline, located on the first page of your RP. It might help to make a few projects with maps, names and all other information.

8.) Keep your team up-to-date. Help everyone keep up with the new twists and turns. This will create a much more enjoyable RP experience for all your members. Talk with your members, take input and keep your members with you. Keep those that RP invested and active. This will prevent it from going dead.

9.) Promote helpers. You may also want to give a few trustworthy RP-ers a “moderator status”. The moderator status means that they try to keep the RP fair and help mold it into a delightful activity. Moderators are your helpers and can help you with the repetitive work, such as accepting people, telling people what a RP is, etc. You are the one to decide how much power moderators wield. Be sure to only promote users that you trust to moderator.

10.) Keep the RP active. Make sure to bump the forum, accept interested members, and RP. There are many RPs that have gone dead, and you want to prevent that as long as possible. Have fun RPing!

This guide was written by makethebrainhappy, jromagnoli, MistickMage and WolfCat67.
The guide was edited by WolfCat67, pianogirl84, and bigpuppy.

Wow XD I LUV RPS

makethebrainhappy wrote:

-Snip-

I'm pretty sure its RPers, not RP-ers.
Also, include that rather than telling people on profiles, you can invite them to curate instead.
I have some experience RPing, and if you are part of a large roleplay, you can make a list of people to invite. (I've got 100+ people on my list)
Especially if you have a large RP, it can be a bit too interfering if you try to change the story. Often, figures of importance can make changes, such as a leader of a Clan may break an alliance with another Clan, and they might go to war.
It's only really necessary to interfere if the story is dying or drama is going crazy.

If drama is going crazy, you may need to chat about maybe toning it down with the RPers involved.
Also, if people are breaking the rules, or inactive, you may want to make a list of those people so you and any other managers can keep an eye on them.

the_force wrote:

The Ultimate Encyclopedia for RPing


Ok since the other guide needs some improvement, I have with approval to replace the other one with this. This would be the exact description as the other one but with more in-depth and explanation on how to RP.

Introduction to RP's

The first question one might ask is: what are RP's? A logical question, and the one I'll answer first in this guide.

RP stands for Role-play(ing), which is where members act as a character and make choices regarding their character's actions and dialogue, interacting with other people in a form of story. Characters are normally fictional and original, which means they're completely made up. RPing is like acting – you just pretend to be someone else, and try to make choices by thinking as your character, not as yourself.

The next question is: why RP? And why on Scratch?

The biggest answer is just because it's fun. People who RP all have different reasons for doing so, but whether it's to pretend to be someone you're not, or to talk to or meet other people, or even because there's nothing better to do, the ultimate reason is because RPing is fun. Scratch's already amazing online community is more than active in the RPing area.

Just give it a try! You can first look how fun it is by look at the comments in Endless Realities RP thread. Link and details on what to look for is at the the last sentence of next post.

Key Terms

These are based on RPG vocab/terms. We also use these in RP (cuz they both are Role-Play genre).

Instance - This technically means a comment with all other chain-comments (replies of that main post). For example, in the section of Good RP at the bottom of the post the first example is an instance. This means that it is a “small” event or an excerpt like in a poem/song.

RP's on Scratch

On Scratch, you can only RP in studios. Most RP's happen in the comments – this can be accessed by going to a studio and clicking the Comments tab! When one person starts an RP thread, people reply to it in order to initiate the event.

Some RP's also double as collaborations in that members work together to create projects relating to the RP. Super Hero RP, one of the examples I will discuss later in this guide, is a good example of this.

Most RP's will require new members to fill out a form with their character details, although whether this takes place in the studio or in a forum topic is up to the owner of the RP. However, don't just join in an RP without doing this – it's considered rude, and chances are you'll just be ignored. Make sure you're accepted first!

How to Make RP Collaboration
This fantastic guide produced by Brains will tell you all about it! https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/2784393/

Making Characters

When you RP, you act as a character. Most of the time these will be completely original – sometimes called an OC, or Original Character. It is important to make an original, detailed and realistic character when RPing. Most RP's will have a template or form that you can fill in when joining, with details on what is needed. The following are often, if not always included, so try to include them in your character application/bio:

• Name – try to pick an original name! In other words, don't copy it from somewhere else.

• Age

• Gender

• Backstory – this is one of the most fun parts of creating a character! Essentially, a backstory is the story of your character's past. Go wild with ideas.

• Personality – you can choose to use some aspect of your own character, or try to make the character completely different from yourself. However, when you RP, make sure you're following the personality you've stated.

• Appearance

• Talents/Skills

• Strengths/Weaknesses – a good rule is one weakness per strength. You don't want to make your character OP (over-powered) – that just ruins the fun both for yourself and for others. Listen to the Admins of the RP you're joining if they say it's too OP.

When you've applied, wait until it's accepted before you start RPing.

A note on multiple characters: in many RP's, you can have multiple characters. This was designed so that you can participate in multiple story threads at once, not so you can have them team up and become a super powerful group. This is why I suggest preventing your characters from interacting with each other, or having any relation at all.

Also this form is a universal form and other RPs may need extra description like powers.

Originality and Overpowered-ness

A main issue with many RP's are the lack of originality and OP characters.
This is especially important in RP's such as Super Hero RP, where characters can have special powers.

You should aim to create a balanced, realistic and unique character. Trying to find a power? Flight is too boring. Plus, five other characters in the RP already have it. Honestly, think of something new. There's thousands of possible powers out there – google a list or something.

Another tip: concentrate on a single area of strength, or in the case of a power, a single main power. Don't try to have a character who's super versatile, has three different powers and is good at just about everything. If it's not rejected for being OP, RPing won't be fun when your character has few or even no weaknesses.

Weaknesses are key! For every strength, talent, skill or power, you should have a weakness that is just as powerful. This shouldn't just be limitations to your character's talents or powers.

A Good RP

A good RP isn't just about having professional RPers or making projects to describe something better. It is about creativity and imagination but yet staying to the theme. You don't have to RP in your current dimension like in reality of a RP. You can go deeper into RPing by RPing in someone's dream, a paradox (dimension), or just a (parallel) dimension (like the movie Inception). Endless Realties RP is based on future, sci-fi, and exploration like Star Wars and it has some good example. The theme is simple yet complex. This example shows what RP can look like.

Here I am Rping with Lachlan. My character is Mara and Dr Halsey who is a female commando and head researcher/ scientist respectively while Lachlan RP as Garry (a mechanic) and Toby (robotic cat). Here having two of your characters are okay if you are RPing with someone. This is just like a movie but broken into text rather than having a visual scene. See if you can visualize the scene in your head.

LachlanDS
@the_force Garry and Toby welcome Mara back. “Hey Mara! I've got something exciting to show you!”

the_force
@LachlanDS “Ok…”

LachlanDS
@the_force He turned half-cat and back again. “I have my powers back!”

the_force
@LachlanDS “Cool” without hesitation she walks to Hasley lab


LachlanDS
@the_force “Wait, wait, Mara!” He turned into a moth and flew above her. “Look up!”

the_force
@LachlanDS “I can fly too” turns on boosters


LachlanDS
@the_force “Yeah, but do you have a scorpion tail?” He lands and turns into a scorpion person.


the_force
@LachlanDS “I think the more u turn into something the more defected your powers will be. But I'm not dr Halsey so eh.”

LachlanDS
@the_force He turned back human. “Well, I'm not completely sure if I would want to know if that's true anyway.”

These quotes shows what their personalities are and while the scene was not really descriptive you can imagine where they can be. Here are some more examples:

Mctravish is another one of my character. He is the director of an agency.
Mara and Garry arrived to hq

LachlanDS
@the_force “How are we going to describe that experience we had to McTravish?”

the_force
@LachlanDS “Eh wherever I go always has a meaning.”


LachlanDS
@the_force “That doesn't exactly answer my question.”


the_force
@LachlanDS “Beats me”


LachlanDS
@the_force He shrugged. “Let's just recount what happened with him.”

This example shows some humor in Mara (which she does have).

@the_force There were more stepping sounds around them. There seemed to be more than one creature around. Garry nor Mara couldn't see much through the sandy fog. Eventually, six or seven creatures' silhouettes appeared. They appeared humanoid with a large scorpion tail.

the_force
@LachlanDS “My X Ray can't even see through this fog”


LachlanDS
@the_force The scorpions were getting closer. Finally, Mara and Garry could see them well. Garry looked around. There were scorpions everywhere. Mara and Garry were surrounded.

This example shows that everything you RP doesn't need to always work (they shouldn't be or it would be boring). This way climax can build up.

More examples will be on the next comment.
How to RP

This is the important part! RP's generally follow certain rules and conventions that it is important to follow, as it makes it easier and more fun to understand what each other's characters are doing, and respond with your own.

When you RP, post only one major action and/or dialogue at once. There's no point in having your character go through a whole bank heist without giving anyone else a chance to reply! Then again, it's also not fun if you count taking one step as a single action either. My point is: use your common sense and judgement. The admins of the RP will probably tell you if you're mis-judging things. Once someone replies, it's generally okay to continue.

Also, use third person. Most people use present tense, although past is also acceptable. Make sure you specify your character's name and action, and most importantly, use proper grammar and spelling! It's a nightmare when trying to read a post which has horrible sentence structure, sometimes even incomplete sentences. Just because you know what you're talking about doesn't mean other people do.

How much detail should you put into your RP? There's really no limit – you can add as much as you want as long as other people can understand what you're trying to say. However, the recommended amount is just basic information about actions and dialogue.

Most importantly, do not RP by saying what other people's characters do. Chances are, that's not what's happening. You can't say what your action accomplishes either, especially in combat. Saying “Tom fired at Lucy” is okay, but not “Tom shot Lucy in the arm, and she ran away.”

Lastly, make sure you're using the correct conventions. Just type normally for actions: walking, fighting, jumping, stuff like that.
For OOC talk (Out of Character, that is, talking as yourself and not as your character), put it between (brackets).
For dialogue, make sure you use “quotes”.

These are examples of how not to RP:

Angus flew into outer space, hacked into the government satellite and shot a giant missile at America. The missile exploded and destroyed the White House.

This attempt has multiple problems:

• It's unreasonable. Unless the RP is one with superpowers, and it specifically states in the character bio (application form) that Angus can both fly and survive in space, and is a good hacker, he wouldn't be able to do this. And even if he was a good hacker, would it be likely that he can easily get past government security?

• No time was given for people to respond. There was no chance given to anyone else to stop Angus from firing the missile, or stopping the missile before it hit.

Walked out of the house. I'm going to be late for school, I said to myself. Got in car and drove across the road. I didn't see Mary and ran over her and killed her. I have to go now for dinner I'll be back in 10 minutes!

Again, there are multiple problems:

• Make sure you use complete sentences. In this case, put the character's name in front. This is especially important if you control multiple characters.
  This allows other people to know who you're playing.

• Don't kill other people's characters without their permission. It's no fun. Also, make sure they have a chance to respond – don't just do something to their characters out of the blue.

• Use third person. It's convention, and it allows people to know who you're RPing as.

• Put dialogue in between quotes (that is, “like so”). It's convention, and clearer for other people so they know what is speech and what isn't.

• Put OOC stuff in brackets (like this!).

I'll push u out f the windwo ur so stupid

This is frankly the worst, and for obvious reasons:

• Firstly, respect everyone! Be polite and courteous. Insulting people is mean, ruins the fun of RPing, and will probably get you kicked from the RP.

• Spell things correctly. It makes life easier for everyone.

• Use third person, and past or present tense (unless this is dialogue, in which case quotes should be used).

This is an example of good RP:

“I'll show you!” Matthew slashes his sword at Ben, aiming for his throat. (I need to go, I'll respond later.)

Why?

• Correct grammar, spelling and punctuation.

• Stated the character's name, as well as his target's, so the other person knows and can respond.

• It's only one action, and I've only stated what my character has done, not what it's effects are. Ben has a chance to block or dodge the attack and respond, or perhaps let the blow through and see what happens next.

• It's specific, so other people know exactly what is happening.

• Dialogue is between quotes, and OOC talk is between brackets.

Overall though, you can always ask for help from more experienced RPer's, or just look at other RP studios (see Examples below) to see how other people RP, and learn from them. It's okay to make mistakes!

Starting an RP

It's fun to start an RP, so feel free to give it a go! Try to think of a fun, original and imaginative idea as the basis behind your RP's story.

The Concept
The main thing to think of beforehand is the concept behind your RP. All RP's are based on something, so what about yours? It could be high school, or outer space, or something completely different! It's all up to you! Try to make it creative – this will be the main reason why people join your RP – because it's interesting! Focus on the theme, and also decide on the technology or time period it's set in. Make sure you write this in your RP – otherwise you'll have laser rifles around your medieval story.

Story and Description
Make sure people know what your RP is about! It's all very well to have an awesome idea, but if no one understands what it's about, there's no use. A recommended way to describe it is to write a short story about what has already happened in the RP, or a backstory for the entire RP.

Character Application Form
It's definitely useful to have a character application form. This way, characters will have the same level of detail. This is particularly useful when the characters in your RP are special – whether they have superpowers, or are part of a specific faction, or are all aliens, etc. Remember, too much is better than too little.

Admins
Once your RP gets bigger, you should appoint trusted, responsible and active members of your RP as Admins (short for Administrators). These people can negate RP actions if they're unfair, accept or reject characters, and do other stuff for your RP when you're offline.

Expansion and Advertising
How can you make your RP known? Try some of these tips:

• Advertise in your signature, and give other people in your RP signatures as well!

• Tell your friends, and get them to join.

• Just RP! Eventually people will join.

Special Note: NPC's
At certain times you will come to a point where what happens next is based on the decisions of someone who is not actively controlled by a real person. These are called Non-Player Characters. What happens next is really dependent on the RP. Some will allow another player to take over that character for a short, temporary period. Other times you just decide in order to make the RP more interesting. It's really up to the owner of the RP.

Try to minimize the use of NPC's though.

Want to join an RP? Try these out!
Here's some free advertising. Here are some of the best RP's in terms of activity, organization and overall fun.

The following two are reasonably old and well-established:

Super Hero RP
Endless Realities

Athena is newer, but also quite a good RP. Also take a look at Adventure of the Worlds and Earth-2.

This is a growing new RP theme you should try:
Cops and Robbers RP

Thanks for reading!
I appreciate it! Feel free to share this guide. Also, I'd appreciate any tips or suggestions you can leave below

Tips from other People
Note: I've edited them to fit the guide a little better.

@the_force:

Your RP has to be logical as well as reasonable. For example, you can't just say, “Ben walked through the White House”. (Unless he's like, the President)
Ben can't just walk through the White House because there would be Secret Service at the gates. Even if he had access to get in, he still would need to be cleared. Unless of course he was cleared before, in which case say so.

@braxbroscratcher: (Microwolf's input has been added)

You can make one action for each character or object you control, including NPC's.
Note on endless stalemates: this is where nothing happens because every attack is countered. This is generally not fun, so try not to do this. Think outside the box, and find another way out. Also, when you're RPing, remember the goal is not to have an invincible character who always wins. It's to have fun. So don't counter every single thing the other person does, let something happen.

@Bryker22222:

Yet another example of bad RP:

*walks to door

Why?
Very vague.
Uses an incomplete sentence.
Hard to determine where or who the character is.

Methods of Role Play
When you are just learning how to role play, and what role playing is, you need to learn what you are best at doing. There are (in my opinion) three ways to role play.

• The Third Person method: When using this method, you are telling the story of your character one action at a time from a third person point of view.
  Example: Cody walked through the hall, and into the dorm room.

• The First Person method: The hardest method to use correctly, you tell your story from a first person point of view. It is suggested to point out what the character you are using is in parentheses before the actual RP.
  Example: (Cody) I walked through the hall, and into the dorm room.

• The Narrative method: The Narrative method sticks to the main guidelines, though using many details to describe your character from the third person point of view.
  Example: Cody, sneaking through the halls at night, crept into the dorm room without a sound.
  

Note from microwolf: On Scratch, the Third Person method is used.

If you want me to help you make a encyclopedia, im really good at spelling so i can help

This is super cool! Where do I find a good RP? (My friend helped me find this. She's @dolphin_24.)

Hey, do you think you could put my RP help studio in your post? It's so people can post their characters, RP studios, story hooks and miscellaneous questions.

Wow, the first time I went to the RP discussion, I thought the people were talking about making a cloud project.

Thanks for revising this guide! I have a roleplay studio if anyone's interested in joining it here.

I LOVE making OP characters!

My compliments to the github phroporus

thank you, fellow followers, Here's all my credit to my good friends!

ezfox17 wrote:

I LOVE making OP characters!

but that's the opposite of the point.

Please come to The Renewal Warriors Roleplay! Thank you! It is brand new today and has no members! Thanks!

CoderGirly wrote:

Please come to The Renewal Warriors Roleplay! Thank you! It is brand new today and has no members! Thanks!

Just to save a lot of people the “Oh! We have to tell her that the link doesn't work!”, this roleplay/studio is deleted. Thank you!

I typically do it like this

Name – britbotbot (example. its an electrobot, and not like the ones in battleblock, I made this original character)
Age – unknown
Gender – none
Backstory – not really much of one, build by professor dan.
Personality – very british in nature, usually quick to tell people not to destroy him.
Appearance – a bluish gray robot with two antennae, and legs and arms made of electricity
Talents/Skills – shocking.
Strengths/Weaknesses – usually overloads with its own electricity, assumed anyway. it hasn't happened yet. but can happen if it touches anything electric.

and just use the same set of bios for everything and just edit them accordingly.

are we allowed to advertise our RP studios here?

I think you should add ^ or ^^ and so on as a notification for multipeople RPs such as:

(LordKarnox) @InspiringWaffle
Jason walked across the street, absentmindedly walking.

(LordKarnox) @HaroldWasIt
^

(InspiringWaffle123) @LordKarnox
Aria greeted him. “How was the class?”

(InspringWaffle123) @HaroldWasIt
^

(HaroldWasIt) @InspiringWaffle
Jonathan rolled his eyes. “Boring, I'll bet.”

(HaroldWasIt) @LordKarnox
^

(This is just an example, I don't anyone with these usernames (Other than LordKarnox, which of course, is me.)

LordKarnox wrote:

I think you should add ^ or ^^ and so on as a notification for multipeople RPs such as:

(LordKarnox) @InspiringWaffle
Jason walked across the street, absentmindedly walking.

(LordKarnox) @HaroldWasIt
^

(InspiringWaffle123) @LordKarnox
Aria greeted him. “How was the class?”

(InspringWaffle123) @HaroldWasIt
^

(HaroldWasIt) @InspiringWaffle
Jonathan rolled his eyes. “Boring, I'll bet.”

(HaroldWasIt) @LordKarnox
^

(This is just an example, I don't anyone with these usernames (Other than LordKarnox, which of course, is me.)

yeah, that's why I find multipeople RPs a bit of a pain.