Rping For Dummies

Edit - I posted this on Vescrutia because, well, there are a shit load of n00bs on that site (most of them are higher ups). So any insults or slightly offensive stuff you may read, is not geared towards the people of Escellsian.

I decided to post this because I think that this shit should be posted on EVERY RP site known to man. I did not create this. I found this back when I used to RP on Gaia on a frequent basis. But some of the same annoying ass traits that I saw on there can be seen here as well. So I thought I'd help you all by posting rules. And no, these aren't MY rules, these are the general rules of RPing as a whole (meaning most of this is common fuckin sense). This should help the people who THINK they know how to RP, to become better RPers. Are we perfect? No. Am I perfect? Definitely not. But let's face it, some of yall need help and fast.

I always had a bad feeling I would have to post this for easy link reference. So. Since half of Gaia has gone n00bishly retarded. I have put the A.M.P. below. People worked hard on it, people who know godmodding is simply an annoyance, and as such it is on display right here. Keep in mind that I take absolutely zero credit for the entirety of the things written here. It's the compilation of many others work and I am just displaying its bulk for your reading leisures. However, I will take credit for repairing some horrid grammar and spelling, terms, and so on so forth so that it makes more sense to those who are of the verbal and literature Nazi persuasion and are attempting to read the damned thing. I have also added in several sentences to, again, make descriptions more understandable and clear. As such this is a version you won't find anywhere else, this is a repaired, and updated version revised by a guy with too much roleplay experience for his own good.

Anyways, don't be a n00b.

Follow the A.M.P. Why do I think people should follow the A.M.P. as a basic reference for roleplaying in a turn-based, text style environment? Because most of this shit is common fucking sense. It's no fun when people aren't on some form of rules because nobody can really go anywhere without them. Bitching out-of-character happens with all forms of roleplaying, tabletop or not, but at least when there are common sense rules it's a lot less of a frequent occurrence and things can actually get resolved without getting too out-of-hand. In short, it doesn't hinder roleplaying, it only puts one on a chain they need so that things actually make progress and aren't always one-sided with the people who can only bullshit their way out of or into everything coming out on top. Instead, it helps to make a proper PvP setting on this site, which it is, and as such in total it was a good idea to make. It keeps things fair and makes it so skill is actually needed, and important.

Without further adieu, here it is, enjoy.

Types of Roleplayers
Oldbies: Are veterans of roleplaying. They're generally known and differentiated best after many years of experience.

Elites: Elites are on their way to becoming Oldbies, but are still recently or newly changed Literates. Elites can be recognized by their "Elites only" policy, with no lee-way whatsoever. They are generally quite cocky, think they are better, and insist on using reams and reams of detail even when not necessary. This can be particularly true for magic users, who are convinced that their descriptions of the traits and limits of magic are unquestionable.
(Not all Literates become Elites before they move on to Oldbies. Don't worry, you may not be the next asshole.)

Literates: A growing minority, literate roleplayers are just that. They use correct punctuation and grammar, and roleplay fairly. Literates often refer to, and follow, the A.M.P. (Anti-Modding Project).

ne0-n00b: ne0s (never use a capital 'n' for them!) at first appear to be Literates. This falsehood becomes apparent after a few posts however, as they tend to break the A.M.P. a lot, and are actually just n00bs who can spell. They also tend to be jackasses who claim to be Elites more often than not. There are ALOT of these running around here.

n00b: (Don't use a capital 'n' for these either!) n00bs are the worst roleplayer available. A sad and terribly derogatory approach to take, but the simple fact of the matter is that they just cannot and will not roleplay fairly, even when outnumbered, out-gunned, and obviously dead in-character. They will often resort to flaming, leading to eventual bans, new accounts, and new bans. Mere n00bs cannot write properly either, and are usually drama kings and queens.

Newbie: A Newbie can at first seem to be a n00b... But fear not! They can learn to correctly roleplay with fairness and adequacy. Newbies are to be encouraged and treated well, and will often grow into skilled Literates so long as they have someone to cultivate (properly) their innate potential as roleplayers. Elites often think themselves better than these individuals and cast them aside, more often than not, an Elite will flame a Newbie alike a n00b or ne0, but Oldbies and Literates will usually stick up for these individuals and try to help them along with improvement and understanding, or at least, they should if they claim such a title.

The A.M.P Dictionary (Anti-Modding Project)
Aimbotters: Especially annoying when using NPCs, as NPCs don't get to argue about much....
Blue: Three hundred and seventy of my trained assassin-gymnasts crest the hill, sight you, and rush towards you.
Red: Luckily, I have three hundred and sixty-nine bullets in my chain-gun! I quickly mow them all down, each taking a single bullet to the head, and then I peg last one with a rock in the sternum.

Augustine's: Far, far too prevalent.
Blue: Given that this roleplay's technology base is medieval, I happily drive my cart to the market to buy some maggot-ridden meat.
Red: Too late! I already got there in my Gundam and blew up everything with my insanely overpowered weapons! And don't start whining, because my Gundam's already pre-approved in the "This Is Not a Medieval Technology Base Roleplay" thread, and anyways! I saw it in an anime so it's okay to do it!!

Autohitters: The people who hit you, do not word any "chance" of a hit, but just claim the hit. One of the most annoying and unfair of mods and is commonly used in conjunction with the Puppetmaster mod.
Blue: Standing in the boxing ring, I throw a right hook at your jaw, with efficient aim and good power to boot.
Red: Dodging the strike, I hit you in the gut, then uppercut you in the jaw with enough force to knock you out.
[Written by Ashen Frost (who doesn't think he should ever have had to).]

Baghdad Bobbitt's: An advanced (or is that "degraded"?) form of Puppetmaster and Aimbotter combined together to make something absolutely... astonishing.
Blue: I fire at the stationary target, hitting twice but missing with my remaining four rounds.
Red: I get tired of your realistic roleplaying style and poke you in the neck, collapsing your trachea. You die writhing in torment.

Batmen: Only a few, but they're a bitch to deal with and they're just plain disrespectful to the original creators of the characters. If the examples confuse you, let me explain; they're the people who play a canon character from a comic, a movie, an anime, or whatever it's from and completely rape the concept and persona of the character. See below.
Blue: In this Fantastic Four roleplay, I'll be Ben, the gruff rock-man with a heart of solid gold.
Red: I'll be Reed Richards, the living sex toy who hunts down innocent women to subdue with his incredible flexibility!

Boa Constrictors: Threads that have a long list of rules that prevent any characters except their own from roleplaying in that thread. No example will be given here, since that would be suggesting rules that shouldn't be used at all, though if used separately these rules would be fine. Boa Constrictors most commonly like to ban most forms of magic, guns, NPCs, technology, 'special' abilities, etc. The result is, as I said, a thread in which very few characters can venture. More recently, a favorite among Boas is to restrict character appearance to avatar appearance, and thus limit looks and powers to fire, ice, light, dark, angelic, and demonic. I do emphasize that threads should have whichever rules they want, within fairness to other roleplayers. Lists of rules which prevent too much are too, let's face it, n00bish and simply boring with absolutely no versatility.
[Suggested by oxymoron_02]

Daydreamers: Not exactly modding, per-se, but it does get extremely annoying and is a hellish waste of time.
Blue: In the middle of the intense shootout, I dash across the narrow alley, ducking and weaving in hopes to avoid getting hit. I'm unsuccessful; two bullets peg me in the shoulder, throwing me back into a dumpster.
Red: The bullets make me think back to my days as a youth, when I had to melt down tin soldiers to use as musket balls against the Redcoats... or was it Redskins? I can't remember. Anyway, I had to walk uphill all three ways to school and back, running from glaciers all the while. It was torture, lemme tell ya. And then there's the story of how I met my first wife....

Gaseous Snakes: An advanced (or is that "dumb"?) form of McFlys.
Blue: I walk to the door and open it.
Red: Being a fellow with a bit of foresight, kinda like a psychic ninja, I hooked that doorknob to a car battery an hour ago but didn't state it so you can't avoid it. You're thrown across the room like that guy from Home Alone.

Godmoders: Obvious.
Blue: Now that you're strapped to the end of a naval cannon, I fire it.
Red: Whoosh! I nimbly dodge, somehow forgetting the fact that I'm restrained by several three-hundred-pound chains, but that doesn't matter, cause I can do it anyways!

Hijackers: These are intensely annoying for thread creators. They are often members of that thread, also.
Blue: Okay! Our base is under attack and we have to defend it! HU-RAH!
Red: *Goes and activates the base's self destruct* Everybody run you have three minutes!11!1!!
[Suggested by oxymoron_02]

Hives: So named after such things as the xenomorphs from Aliens, the Klendathu bugs from Starship Troopers, and the teeming hordes they generally are. These hordes are always fearless, will battle until dead, and quite often have some excessive weapons and/or armor with absolutely no explanation for why this is even possible. Basically, it's the guys who have too many hardcore NPCs with no real cost.
Blue: *He sat alone in his one-man fighter ship, quickly scanning the radar for hostiles.*
Red: *He sat aboard his giant flagship, with his other 1000 ships around him. He ordered them all to attack the tiny fighter in front of them.*
[Suggested by oxymoron_02]

IDKFA-ers: Most likely people attempting to emulate Solid Snake or some other cheesy super-spy novel hero.
Blue: You're all out of ammo for all five of your Ingram submachine guns, 501!|). Since you're buck-naked, I know I can now safely step into the open and begin returning fire.
Red: Ha! Little did you know, I have twelve shuriken hidden within my pubic hair and a Desert Eagle with infinite ammo that came from places unmentionable!

Ironclad Sentinels: This is fast becoming a problem, and refers to when a threads subject organization/corporation/military has too many defenses, or defenses that are unrealistically powerful or just plain moddy.
Blue: I am attacking with a battalion of thirty tanks, air support of twenty gun-ships, and three submarines off the coast with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Red: Defenses - Forcefield that blocks everything but lets our weapons out, invisibility shield around the base, 100 SAM turrets, 100 machine gun turrets, 1000 guards with machine guns, 200 space fighters, and 200 tanks.
[This A.M.P. suggestion created by kodachi3]

McFlys: An all-too-common menace. Also known as "bullshitters" sometimes.
Blue: Ha! Now that the forcefield is down, I run inside your evil lair!
Red: Um... um... there's also a super-secret second force field which causes you to die instantly! I just didn't say anything about it because... um... I had to do my laundry! Not because I just thought of it now! Honestly, you think I'd just mod that up?!

Min-Maxers: Not a lot of these running around the site, thank goodness... that's more of a D&D-style paper game issue. But unfortunately it doesn't seem secluded to tabletop gaming and needs mention for those few, rare cases.
Blue: I've successfully broken into the facility which gave you your incredibly 1337 power armor. Now I pull up the file on it. What does it say about weak points?
Red: The metal of my armor is... um... allergic to praying mantis urine but invincible to absolutely everything else... and... uh... the urine is from a special mantis... that is almost extinct and only I know where the last two are.

Miss Cleos: Obvious.
Blue: ((There's a secret switch hidden in the lamp.))
Red: I suddenly think to myself-- why not check the lamp for hidden switches? Call me now for your free reading and leave that man, he only wants you for your money, girl!

NIMBY: The people who quite readily attack others threads, but then stop all attacks on their own thread.
Blue: They attacked us! Let's go and get them!
Red: Our base is protected by three forcefields, giant laser guns, automated robots with plasma guns, and a barrier blocking all weapons and magic!
-OR-
Blue: They attacked us! Let's go and get them!
Red: *Deletes any posts related to an attack and sends more people to attack their base.*

Oxymoron's: Luckily fairly rare.
Blue: I'm a farmer with a shotgun.
Red: I'm a black hole which emits blinding pulses of visible light!
(For those of you not familiar with physics, black holes allow nothing out of their immense gravity. Not even light can escape.)

Prosecutors: People who claim every one else is modding when they are the only one who actually is.
Blue: I, a powerful fire mage, cast a combustion spell at the old, dry tree you are in. Thus setting a large portion of the tree on fire.
Red: I think about what to do, do I jump off the tree or run down it? I choose run down the tree through the fire, but I don't catch on fire, or get burned at all; for no reason.
Blue: ((That doesn't really make sense....))
Red: ((Oh, but it does! The fire couldn't have spread fast on that dry old tree. It was still a small fire and it's just godmodding to make it all that big!))
[Thought of by Asmodeus The Crow]

Puppetmasters: Another overly common occurrence.
Blue: I step carefully into the room, peering around for occupants.
Red: Suddenly a dragon pokes you in the eye. You run screaming from the room, where-after you go home, make a pickle sandwich with mayonnaise and mustard, and then call your mother to cry about how she ruined your life.

Quakers: They can magically 'spawn' anything with no cost or gameplay mechanics in the works.
Blue: My character is wearing a form of armor only vulnerable to a drop of water from a holy well in South Dakota.
Red: *He pulls out the vial of water from a holy well in South Dakota* I don't know why I've always carried this, but I knew it would be useful one day.

Revisionists: Another prevalent problem. These are the people who try to take back an action when they find it was a mistake, and costs them, and also are the individuals who will even go back and edit posts to try and say they didn't do something. Usually, they also tend to deny it up and down, like most any modder does.
Blue: You chose the blue pill? Ooh, tough luck.
Red: Red! I said red! Don't go pulling that "I can read your previous post" mind-game crap, either!

Shoe Elves: Pretty obvious.
Blue: ((Well, gotta go to bed. Big neurosurgery test tomorrow and it's already too late to be up. Night!))
Red: Ho, ho, ho0o0o! Now that the loser's gone to bed, I can strap his character to a cross and peg him with rotten fruit!1!!

Speedhackers: One of the worst we have to deal with. It does not usually have to do with the attainable speed of a character, but instead, with the events taking place and an extremely warped concept of the passing of time with each post.
Blue: I walk to the door and step outside.
Red: Suddenly, twelve men grab you, carry you off to my secret lair in Tibet, and torture you for weeks. When you finally die from the agony, we bury you in the frozen wastes. Hundreds of years later, archaeologists discover your frozen body and try to determine if you're another Lucy. Oh and you have no time to react.

Trinity: The knowledge downloaders, the omniscience wizards. They can download knowledge whenever, wherever, with no reason, and no logic. Their characters aren't just omniscient, they start out ultimately skilled, and these people in general are just annoying to deal with.
Blue: My character was raised by a gang leader in the harsh conditions of a slum. From this, he learned to wield small firearms fairly effectively and has limited driving abilities.
Red: My character was born on a remote jungle island and can fly or drive anything and use any gun with perfect aim. He has no training or life experience, he is five years old too.

Twinks: Sometimes allowed in certain roleplays. If the roleplay isn't specifically about invincible deities and such, a simple rule is that if the strengths aren't counterbalanced with relatively equivalent weaknesses (or if the reasoning behind the phenomenal cosmic powers isn't eloquently and appropriately explained), you're dealing with a Twink.
Blue: A punch coming, eh? Well, seeing as you're a seven-year-old child and I'm riding in a twenty-meter mecha, I won't bother dodging.
Red: Fooled you! I have the power to DESTROY EVERYTHING when I punch it! I'm just like an X-Man, and therefore require you to suspend all logic when roleplaying with me! Oh, and I have the power to steal your girlfriend, too.

Zoicite: The people who alter their character as needed for the situation. For example; They can turn from an angel, to a demon, to a dragon, to a Gundam pilot, to a janitor, to a literal fly-on-the-wall, to an ogre magi, to the sacred holder of that important plot element that they need to do what they want. They use no logic, mechanics, or anything and just tend to do whatever they want. Usually, they are also McFlys.

hmmm since you seem to know the most about this sort of thing currently as far as i know, how bout you make a topic where as long as one person agrees to accept the terms you can act as their rp adviser. where your task is essentially to point out where they could improve in their rping in a non insulting way of wording it. this way all that nastiness caused by these above issues can be avoided as best as possible.

Would that make him like a therapist...a shrink....?

not realy just like an adviser kinda person because he is giving advice not asking how u feel XD

A GUIDANCE COUNSELOR!!!!!!!!!!! (sp)

.....well.....uhhhh.....ok sadly that works XD

hehehehehehehe..... I like it, Kazujin the Guidance Counselor.....

XD i wouldn't call him a guidance counselor more like a rp adviser XD more technical and professional XD

Come now, ruining my fun.....? Oh, well, it was a good idea though, I think he should do it, regardless of the term used to describe it.....

i always got good ideas i just wasnt appreciated in ves as if i was some noob that never ran a site when i have in the past

Indeed, alas, the reason we are here.....

XD they loved me for the most part on Vescrutia, that was until iI tried to nuke the chaos village and one of the users went power hungry and deleted every one of my posts.

And what can I do as a RP Advisor? Just answer people questions if they have them?

Well, more like you can advise their Rping style if they are breaking any of these rules.....or something around that......

How about we call it an Enforcer.

too enforcing its supposed to be optional to take his advice. i prefer rp adviser because then he is the kind person who kindly offers advice not enforces change upon some1 forcefully. think about it would u rather get advice from some1 forcing you to change? or some1 offering kind advice making it optional to take the advice

Personally Wi would rather not have people pick my roleplaying apart.

Well, if I was doing something wrong, I would like to be told.....but there is also a fine line between whats wrong, and what someone's opinion is too......

Oui and there this guy named Funk I know outside of Esc that tell me useful tips all the time. Half the time I argue back saying that I am right.

for the record outside esc u rp as some1 completely overpowered and ruin story rps. rp with anyone as him and they will see, btw i dont care if they know its me or not XD most of those advice u argue against is just plain common sense and actually some of the issues in the very original post here are what ur outside esc version of general break. im simply trying to assist you to be able to rp fairly so its fun for everyone

oh for the record let me provide some examples of his overpowered actions outside esc where esc rules arnt present. he managed to constantly fire CIWS weapons to stop all the nukes in the nuke barrage not letting one pass with no trouble. from miles upon miles upon miles away all the way across the earth located the launch base for the nukes and teleported probly half way across the earth with no trouble and overtook the launch base with no trouble despite the military security there to stop the nukes. and all this was done while general was in the data realm where the nuke barrage could not harm him, heck where nothing could harm him! does that not seem overpowered right there? i mean yes he had technology advantage there since he was from another time but still. plus on a side note id like to state general is supposed to be good yet he saved both military and the innocent lives in which the military were killing the innocents including woman and children and even during the nuke barrage they were designating once captured he still did nothing about it.


sorry for it being so long

hey hey, the General is neutral. he tries his best to save everyone. and CIWS stopped the nukes once they got close. and he can travel through data stream sand also send his people there.

please can we not start an argument here.

agreed

there we agreed on something XD

neway we are getting off topic, i say it is a good idea to be a rp adviser but those who wish help they agree to take his advise depending on it for example if its something like "you must stop autohitting" or some legit advise then fine but if its something that's opinion based as falx brought up the idea of (thanks for bringing it up btw) the rper doesnt have to take the advise, infact really all advise really would already be optional already so taking the advise is the rper's decision