Post by Sunshine on Oct 17, 2012 19:13:43 GMT 10
1. Biography – Before anything a bio is a very handy thing to have. It helps you get your basic character traits together. The bio then can grow as your character grows. It also gives others on site an idea of who your character is.
2. First Things – Before starting please read what is written in the posts before especially if they are recent posts. It gives you an idea who is playing in the section you are starting in and it also may give an idea of what direction the story is heading in. I would recommend that you start off in a Common Room as it is a non real time area and it is a good way to get to know your fellow house mates.
3. In general– If you plan on integrating your self into an already established role play it might be a good idea to contact the person/s involved to check if it is alright to do so. Most people are quite accommodating but some people are not.
4. Spam is the word - Some sites will have a word count limit but most don’t. Still most forum based sites do have spamming rules so please read the rules before starting out. Spam, in role play, can be anything from a couple of words to a couple of sentences or even up to a single paragraph it depends on the site and how strict the moderators are. If you can’t think of anything substantial to write or cannot get anything from the posters before your own then it is best not to respond at all until you do think of something or someone else posts.
5. Internal babble – One way to get over the spam issue is internal babble. This is when your character may have a lot of things to think about and are internally verbalising for others to read. Internal babble gives others an inside look into you characters mind with out them actually knowing it, unless your character has a mind reading talent but I would not advise that at all it very much frowned upon as you can never know everything about someone else and it is more fun to find it out for yourself.
6. NPC – A Non Playing Character (NPC) is just as useful as internal babble in regards to non-spam posting. In Harry Potter there are quite a lot of options for this as you can make up a student, ask a question of a ghost or portrait, run into Peeves or if in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley talk to a shop owner or fellow visitor. Naturally interaction with a real character is preferable but sometimes that is not possible.
7. Pre-writing – I know it is can be fun to write your post on the fly especially if you have limited time. If you do have time and would like to think carefully of what you want to write then pre-writing it is a good thing to do as it gives you an opportunity to spell check, this is an extremely good idea if you are doing lessons. I always feel like I am under less pressure when I pre-write. It also gives you a chance to save what you have written just in case you are called away and someone closes down your session in the middle of a post.
