Role-Playing Guidelines

[Nickolas Bourne]

First and foremost, I would like to specially Thank Wild Hogwarts /TBHogwarts, for these Oustanding tips.

Grammar and RPing

This is a primer for those who are over 13 and still don't know the difference in tenses or pronouns.

First person present tense: I scream
First person past tense: I screamed
Second person present tense: You cry
Second person past tense: You cried
Third person present tense: Isis walks away
Third person past tense: Isis walked away

Only one of these is acceptable. Guess which one? It's the third person past tense. That means posts should be reading:

Isis walked into the classroom with her clipboard in hand. She looked over the students before she fixed her gaze on Professor Stu. She didn't like him personally but she was there to give an objective evaluation. That was the fair thing to do.

Posts should not be reading:

Walked into the classroom with clipboard in hand. Looked over the students before fixed gazed on Professor . Didn't like him personally but was there to give an objective evaluation. Decided it was the fair thing to do.
Should NOT be reading-


I walk into the classroom with my clipboard in hand. I look over the students before I fix my gaze on Professor . I don't like him personally but I was there to give an objective evalutation. I decide it's the fair thing to do.

[Nickolas Bourne]

Character Development

A site is only as good as its players. When the only material avaliable to work with is one line long or impossible to understand, it kills things off quickly.

First off...
lolz!!!!!! hahahahahahahah!!!! and *runs away before anybody can do anything* are not acceptable.

A word about posting etiquette: Actions are written out in the third person past tense

*Alice walked into the Great Hall

*With a sneer, Bellatrix raised her wand
Dialog is written within quotation marks

*"What's going on?" Tonks demanded before she tripped over her untied boot lace.

*When she saw the house-elf was still standing in the doorway Narcissa screamed, "Get going!"
Thoughts are italicized

*Oh great, here comes the Gryffindor Four. What the devil are they doing in the library? Severus wondered silently.

*Inbred hicks are more like it, Meda thought. She knew better than to argue with Bella about love. To her it was only a convenience.

Please, please, please use proper spelling and grammer. "Wut up dawg! Thas gr8!" isn't kosher.

More interesting things Posts should last several lines. What differentiates a verbose writer from a one-liner or worse, the one-worder? Details, details, and details. This is the only chance for your character to make themselves known. If the only thing they do is talk, then you've deprived your character of sharing anything else with us.

How are they feeling?

What are they thinking?

Do they have any nervous habits?

Are they doing something while they speak?

Is their hair a certain way?

Are they wearing something unusual?

Do they have a prop on them besides a wand?

Something as simple as going to sleep can be expanded beyond the travesty of *goes to sleep*

Example:
Narcissa pulled out the last of the pins holding her long blonde hair out of her face. She cast one more glance in Bella's direction but it seemed she was still angered by every betrothed female in Slytherin. It wasn't her fault Rudolphus didn't pay any attention to her. If she wanted a ring so badly maybe she should try being nice to him. It was bad enough having Andy rain on her parade, but Bella too? Why couldn't they just be happy for her and celebrate? She didn't really know if she loved him yet or not but there would plenty of time to make it happen. She fluffed the pillow one more time before she extinguished the candle on her bed and laid back. She closed her eyes, dreaming of Lucius and what life with him would be like.

[Nickolas Bourne]

Character Abilities

So you have a name and a house. What next? You'll need a wand, an animagus, a patronus, and knowledge of all spells from avada kedavra to unbreakable charms. Naturally you want your character to be the friendliest, most gifted, and pure-hearted wizard there is. Or perhaps you want them to be the most evil illigitimate person out there right? Wrong!

A cast of Harry and Draco wanna-bes gets very old quickly. How does the plot ever evolve if nobody gets hit with a curse or everybody is casting unforgivables? What about conflict within the story beyond shouting names at Slytherins and Gryffindors? A good character has strengths and weaknesses. A few examples from canon:


Lucius is a cunning leader but convinces himself that he's too smart for everybody else. Now he's in Azkaban.


Harry's supposed to be powerful but he's nothing without his friends. He never takes advice until it's too late.


Draco has family history to his name but he's living in Lucius' shadow.


Hermione's brilliant but a Muggle-born. Lily had the same trouble.

The easiest way to begin developing strengths and weaknesses is to start with classes. Take a look at your year. Have you ever used a wand before? If you're a first year it's not bloody likely. Are you going to be taking O.W.L.'s? N.E.W.T.'s? Pick a class or two to excel in, a few to not stand out in, and perhaps a few that are troublesome.

Not everybody is Hermione Granger. It takes far more effort and creativity to ruin a potion, mess up a transfiguration, or not achieve the charm. Anybody can copy the professor's instructions and call them their actions. Likewise anybody can copy and paste from the Lexicon but they must consider their character. How many people here, when answering a question in class, give a lengthy (multi-paragraph) answer complete with scientific names, etymology,and history? Now of those smart-asses who said yes, did you do so when you were 11?

Now that your character's academic side is figured out, look at their personal life. Do they want to be popular or are they a loner? Keep in mind the house they've been sorted into. A Slytherin is not going to be befriending Gryffindors left and right. Hufflepuffs probably would. Now for the interesting part, the enemies. You're not going to like everybody you come across, why should your character? What do they like in a person? What do they dislike in a person? They don't need to go starting duels and likewise they probably won't be smiles and sunshine to all people.

One player said your character is nothing without a good neurosis. Keep in mind I said neurosis, not psychosis. Neuroticism is primarily a personal quirk. Psychotics are beyond this reality. Examples:

Speaking primarily in a pirate dialect

Being obsessive compulsive

Napoleonic complexes for short characters

Biting your lip

Twirling your hair

Overthinking a situation

Naturally these are only starting points. The best way to develop your character is to plan it out. Write out at least a paragraph describing your character's appearance, their family history, what they expected in going to Hogwarts, their attitudes, and their quirks. Knowing your character will lead to better posts because they'll have more to do and say than:
lolz!!!
*jumps in lake*
oh my god!!! This is so fun!!!!

Also, keep in mind that Hogwarts is not filled with part-veela. If they were, Fleur wouldn't have been such a stand-out. For more traits that make up the characters known as Mary Sue/Gary Stu, see this site (http://www.theninemuses.net/hp/work/marysue.html)Note, these are not desirable characteristics to have. Check your score. The lower the better.

[Nickolas Bourne]

Thanks to HPDirectory for these

Power Playing

THIS IS TO GIVE YOU SOME GUIDANCE

PowerPlaying: Controling another character's actions,thoughts, or emotions

This is not made by me but from www.freewebs.com/dreamscapegames/roleplay101.html

Powerplaying is a major offense in all RPG's. It makes other players angry, destroys the powerplayer's reputation, and leaves a mess with the keeper of the RPG and the character who was offended. Normally, you want to distance yourself from powerplaying at all costs. Here are some examples of powerplaying for all those who don't know or understand fully what it is:

1. 'The warrior woman watched the knight step boldly up to her, the woman's face and eyes masked by her helmet. She flicked her sword up, the razor sharp diamond blade slicing through his armor and removing his head cleanly from his shoulders...'

-The offense in this is really quite clear. The player who directs and cares for the warrior woman had no right or place to say if his head came off from his shoulders or not. He had no time to block or retaliate the woman's attack. Therefore, that is Powerplaying. Whenever one character hurts another character without the attacked character getting a chance to defend or say what happens to them, that it's powerplaying.


2. 'The red horse rears wildly and slams it dangerous hooves into the blue horse's side, blood spilling from the cut and the blue horse choking and instantly dying. The red horse walks away... neighing triumphantly.'

-Once again, the Blue horse had no say in this. The Red horse does not have the right to say whether the blue one dies or not, and it certainly has no right to say it won when it violated such a prominent law. Just remember the others right to block and retaliate.

3. 'Alaida flicked her hands and vines came up and tied up Kassandra.'

-Almost the same as the first two powerplaying examples. Don't ever control your opponent or dictate what they do.

These examples are the ones most commonly found in games. As stated, don't say that the other character was harmed without their consent or kill them without their consent.


THE DO'S AND DON'TS:

DO follow the rules set earlier in the game. If the laws set up by Guardian or creator state that certain professions and characters are allowed to powerplay, then they are allowed to powerplay. However, restrictions are set up, so don't think that they have free rein.

DO talk with another player if you are fighting against their character. If you do this in OOC notes or over e-mail, discuss who wants to die and who wants to live. If both characters want to live then the fight should be settled with the help of Guardian or creator.

DO keep in mind that you have a right to tattle-tale if someone powerplays. Powerplaying is an offense if the powerplayer breaks laws and the offense needs to be reported. It will be handled from there.

DO respect the other player. If their character is mean, it does not necessarily mean that their player is cruel. Don't use their low attitude as an excuse to powerplay or kill without permission.

DON'T assume that the other player wants to die. Ask them and find out. Remember, respect is a key thing in all fights, even if your own character is good or evil.

DON'T make excuses if you have powerplayed. It will only make everything worse and earn you disrespect. Be nice and apologize. As stated in almost all laws of the land, be adult.

DON'T throw a hissy fit when someone spots you for Powerplaying. Apologize and undo the act if at all possible.

DON'T make it an OOC thing. Stay In Character and keep to their attitudes. It makes everything harder for everyone if you go into an OOC fight.
The thing to remember is, a properly executed fight with no powerplaying involved will have no winner. If neither of you wants to lose, neither can. However, if you always want to win everything, the game will get boring, trust me on this. If you are in a fight, discuss this ooc with the other player and decide who will win, or how you will resolve it. There are ways to resolve fights where both may save face, such as agreeing in a draw, creating circumstances to pull your character from the fight, etc. However, you cannot just decide that you're gonna win it no matter what, the heck with the other guy. The best way to resolve arguments is with a roleplay judge or a dice roll done by a neutral third party. Morgan and many of the Guardians are quite happy to perform either service for you; just ask in the Guardian's Cave.

Overall, stay away from Powerplaying and just play true to your character and the laws. That will never set you on the wrong path.

[Nickolas Bourne]

Special Thanks to Crossfade on HPDirectory

Quick Tips

Here are a few tips written to help improve your roleplaying...hopefully!

Post Length
Having lengthy posts when roleplaying isn't always a good thing if you don't know what you are writing about. However, in most cases one liners aren't good! They make the quality of the roleplay drop and it's quite hard to reply to a one liner like "Bob yawned, he was tired." DESCRIBE, DESCRIBE, DESCRIBE!! If you describe the atmosphere, surroundings and your character in detail it always adds more depth to your roleplaying and makes your post look a lot better!

Expand Your Vocabulary
Instead of using the regular and slightly boring words like "said" and "walked" etc. try looking up more interesting words that will describe your character better. Instead of using "said" use screamed, mumbled or whatever else you can think of. The same with walked! Use words like pranced, shuffled, bustled, skipped or sprinted. Most people have a thesaurus, if you don't you can find an online one! That's what a Thesaurus is for! Use it!!

Spelling!
Spelling is an important thing as is grammar as people might not know what you are going on about in your post. Always try to spell check your post before clicking that post reply button!

God-Modding in Roleplaying and Fights
The single most annoying thing in roleplaying is god-modding! Basically, GMing is when another user starts to control your character's actions. For example:

Draco wrote: "The wand gleamed in the sunlight, Draco fired the first spell that came into his head. It hit Harry directly in the chest and he flew backwards across the grounds of Hogwarts."

As you can see Draco has god-modded Harry by saying that the spell hit him without giving him the chance to even attempt to counter it. A good tip is to end your post with your characters action and perhaps a brief description of what your character thinks will happen or what would happen if the spell hit Harry.

Draco wrote: "The wand gleamed in the sunlight, Draco fired the first spell that came into his head. If it hit Harry, he would be knocked across the grounds of Hogwarts. However, it was likely that Potter would counter it."

God-modding another character is okay, as long as you have the permission to do so from the person playing that character!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Examples

Original
"Bob yawned, he was tired."

Improved
"Bob's mouth opened wide as he released a long and drawn out yawn. He was very tired because he had to stay up all night finishing off his History of Magic homework. Although he didn't get much sleep he did manage to hand it in on time as always."