RP style pointers

[wix]

Hello TI peeps,
I'm very new to the server and also not a very experienced mudder. I am looking to improve my RP style in a couple of areas specifically, but also just looking for any pointers that anyone might offer if asked. please discard your kid gloves, be brutal and direct if necessary, but also constructive of course.

What sort of qualities in a fellow role-player do you most enjoy RP-ing with? I try to commit to memory when I see something that I find particularly enjoyable, or particularly off-putting, and use those instances as examples of what to do, or what not to do, in some cases. Such as, don't slowrole farming scenes for rpxp without also trying to do/say something engaging or interesting, (if you want them to rp with you again in the future). roleplaying with someone who is genuinely uninterested in contributing kinda turns a fun interactive game into an xp grind, which doesnt exactly scream come back again tomorrow. dont be that guy who only RP's with his in-crowd and conveniently bounces when others are around (life happens, but when patterns also happen, the shoe fits). give people a chance to take their emote turn, if you see someone else putting a lot of time and effort into their interaction and you answer with a really short canned response, it might come across as dismissive.

What recommendations do you have for a player who struggles expressing their PC through emoted facial expressions and body language? I'm personally finding that I am very uncreative when it comes to writing body language and facial expressions, so I really like to roleplay with other players who are talented in these areas. I watch and learn, effectively expanding my creative toolbelt to better express my own emotes, but it is a slow process of change. currently my emotes are very speech heavy first, and then I go back in and add the body language, of which I have a very small number of go-to poses... and I feel like I may come across as a sort of chatroom user, or like some kind of talking head, with no physical aspect of roleplay to go with the spoken text. so I'm trying to work on that if anyone has pointers tips tricks, best practices etc.

Additionally, I find that OOC inclusivity is very key to a healthy player base, and when roleplaying with someone in small groups its usually easy to tell if someone else shares that value, which is very strong thankfully here on TI. I have some trouble being inclusive in large groups and also in scenes where there is conflict. How do you prevent IC offenses from becoming OOC offenses? If you are in conflict with another PC, what sort of measures would you take (if any) to make sure that the other player doesn't feel personally jilted, insulted, or cast aside, and to just roll with the scene (with mutual OOC respect even though your PC's might loathe or try to murder each other)? How do you manage Role-play in large scenes? If you are in a large scene with 10+ PC's in the room, what sort of tactics do you employ to adequately manage contact with so many people? If you are in an established smaller scene within a larger scene, to what extent would you reach to make sure that nobody is floundering alone in the larger room?

Thanks all, I look forward to running into you all in game!

[Whateverosaur]

What sort of qualities in a fellow role-player do you most enjoy RP-ing with?

Thoughtfulness and engagement in character-driven RP. Doing your character's job is exhausting all the time, and sometimes we don't have enough hours in the week to take care of our RL work, our IC work, and then to think or engage in our PC's hobbies and likes - but having hobbies and likes is a hallmark of a well-rounded character. Spending time to develop these things for your character is exciting because then I feel like I'm discovering and growing acquainted with a real person. Quirks, hobbies, insecurities, points of pride - if you think about these with your character, you gain so many bonus points.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Tropes and lampshading clichés: we're treading on dangerous ground here and the land is fraught with the perils of personal taste. Me personally, I don't particularly care for Dead Parents; I love family drama. One I highlight that I appreciate is from the player behind Andorig, whose character has parents but no siblings or cousins. The pressures that puts on someone whose family name relies on them and them alone is so interesting! A big mistake I see in RP, particularly in tabletops, is the Unattached Lone Wolf. Give me characters with complicated connections to NPCs and other PCs any day.

A sense of voice (and humor) is always appreciated too; if the scene isn't terribly serious or hinging its drama on another character, I do like to undercut a little of Sibylle's melodrama or whatever in the prose of the emote.

What recommendations do you have for a player who struggles expressing their PC through emoted facial expressions and body language?

One, don't feel shame to add in some clue words - smiles insincerely, a worried frown, tilts their head curiously. As you practice clarity you can work into more poetic descriptions of the above (makes a faint upturn of their lips, though the sincerity never reaches their eyes) until you are comfortable not being explicit. I don't think I've ever seen a pose that took me out of the moment with its "telling" instead of "showing".

Another tip is to find emotions/body language that you like and use them as the ancient poets did. "grey-eyed Athena" is an oft-repeated phrase, as was "wine-dark sea", and you can use stock phrases similar to these to build a consistency of character actions. I cannot count the number of times Sibylle has made a "faint and curious tilt of her head", and using grounding and clarifying actions for similar moods can help me feel more comfortable to add nuance of emotion (for example, a terseness in her tone during such a head tilt might signify a conflict in what she wants to know versus what she has to say).

How do you prevent IC offenses from becoming OOC offenses?

Practice. Mindfulness. Approaching the game from the angle of mutuality and friendliness. Going out of my way to recommend antagonists and finding the good in other people's RP. Recommend as much and as often as you can, which I definitely need to work on myself. Practicing positivity helps make a more positive you.

How do you manage Role-play in large scenes?

Depends on how caffeinated I am! At my best I tend to have an army of retainers and I can use these to fill in holes in a scene - this seems a little more 'realistic' to me than Sibylle carrying on 3-4 separate convos at once, and I can play different "mini-characters" and give myself some variety. When it comes to 'realistic' versus 'include people without hooks', I much prefer to include others, even if my pose length necessarily increases for the dialogue.

Preferably the scene breaks into smaller sub-scenes, though; places (help places) and jmotes (same helpfile) can help tremendously in this regard and give eavesdroppers (help eavesdrop) something to do. There's definitely a balance to be struck, since this can look like a dead scene to newcomers and might be intimidating to join in.

I find myself liking to mingle around and touch on convo with as many people as I can in large scenes (forming smaller sub-scenes), but prefer drawing in the unpartnered or new either through multiple streams of dialogue or with my retainers.

[wix]

What recommendations do you have for a player who struggles expressing their PC through emoted facial expressions and body language?

One, don't feel shame to add in some clue words - smiles insincerely, a worried frown, tilts their head curiously. As you practice clarity you can work into more poetic descriptions of the above (makes a faint upturn of their lips, though the sincerity never reaches their eyes) until you are comfortable not being explicit. I don't think I've ever seen a pose that took me out of the moment with its "telling" instead of "showing".

Whateverasaur! thanks so much for your detailed reply! I really appreciate your insight and suggestions. I have to say that the above suggestion specifically enabled me to roleplay far more creatively and removed a significant block in my writing style. Show-but-dont-tell was resulting in uninteresting unimaginative lacking descriptions and maybe I can return to a less obvious manner of body language in the future but I'm not writing a novel here, I'm interacting with other people who kinda need to know what social ques to react to, so thanks for pointing this out and encouraging me to drop hints and add a little color to my otherwise very grey poses.
i rolled an alt specifically to dive into your advice and I've already got a recommendation approved. This is the first time i got one of those on TI, which is a high point, at least for me, so thank you again.

[Satoshi]

Hiya wix! Whatverosaur has some super great points but figure it won't hurt to reply since I am... apparently on the forums today hah.

What sort of qualities in a fellow role-player do you most enjoy RP-ing with?
What draws me most towards other players in the game is, and has always been a player's ability to add to a scene and to engage me. Players who put enough thought into their characters to be able to answer questions and keep a real conversation going. I enjoy nothing so more as slowly getting to know a character--which, sadly, means that the player also has to avoid info-dumping their entire backstory in a single session. When a character's personality shines through, I know that I have something I'm going to want to come back for more of.

Additionally--engaging with the scene and the people in it. It might sound silly to say, but people who actively engage with the scene itself and the people by hooking YOU into conversation, asking you questions, and doing some give and take instead of just responding to questions with answers and not giving anything back. Or doing actions that give you something to respond to--that gets me on the edge of my seat waiting to know what will happen next.

And lastly, and this is an important one for me--they also start scenes with you. I have limited playtime so it's less applicable to me anymore because no one ever knows when I'll be on. But nothing made me happier than when I get a messenger and someone I recently scened with wants to play with me. Sometimes I was busy, and couldn't, but I always remembered and was more likely to reach out to that person when I was available again. Reaching out all the time by yourself can get tiring--so I've come to very much appreciate having someone else do the effort of hooking me every now and then.

What recommendations do you have for a player who struggles expressing their PC through emoted facial expressions and body language?

To add onto what Whateverosaur says, I've found great success just... thinking about my character's personality and how that would affect how they move, and trying to highlight that. I tend to prefer noting various motions and tics because to me they are an easy way to characterize without saying anything. Descriptive language accompanying the verbage of the motion is a great way to display not only current emotion but also a brief idea of the character and how their moods affect them.

When they're happy, are they unrestrained, do they laugh from their belly and make sweeping gestures, and clap someone on the shoulder? Or would they smile politely and laugh softly, too well-mannered to gesture so, and instead primly tuck their hands in their lap? If they're angry, do they show it? Would they be rude or mean in a fit of temper? Would they go for a weapon or clench a fist? Would they openly glare? Or would they seethe quietly and compose their expression to only brief irritation?

It seems a little silly writing it out like that now, but I find that motions and body language are a great way to show your character's personality. Movies and people-watching help me to see how actors convey these emotions, too, if you are able to see that sort of stuff.


How do you prevent IC offenses from becoming OOC offenses?

When push comes to shove, if I think someone is being oocly rude, I'd honestly just reach out to them to assure this is IC and not OOC. But if it's just on my end, I try to remember it's a game and negative RP can be as fun as positive--and certainly sticks in your memory more. I try to remind myself that it's nothing personal, and hope the other person does too.

How do you manage Role-play in large scenes?

Honestly? I try to find a group and attach myself to them. Join spots are my watchword and when scenes get too big I am the first person to remind everyone to join a join spot. Jmotes make it way easier to follow a specific group of people's emotes without worrying about what everyone and their brother is saying, especially since I have been guilty of skimming other conversations and accidentally reacting to something said outside of my character's general vicinity, which they probably wouldn't have heard.

If it's a big scene with a lot of people but they're all talking, I'll start to type up a bit of response before it's my turn, working so I can respond to a few things in each person's post as they go--just remember not to hit enter until it's your turn. I've found doing a few small reactions to a few key things in each person's emote is rather inclusive and tends to at the very least keep the ball rolling.