Sucal's Guide to Fun Roleplaying

Sucal · Sucal's Guide to Fun Roleplaying

A Guide to 'Fun' Role-playing
Ok people, recently I've had a lot of people tell me that this site seems to be getting more like work then the fun activity that it should be. Many times I have had people tell me that everything seems to be getting more and more tense, so I have a message for everyone...

Ok now that we have that out of the way, let’s get a few things straight. Yes this is a rp about Ninja's... and yes, we are aware that this is a battle of Life and death, with the lives of an entire village resting on the shoulders of the few and the proud... But that doesn't mean that everything has to be Serious Business all the time... with people doing nothing but Training and fighting. There is a little thing known as Work Life balance, and people who spend all their time doing nothing but training and fighting tend to end up doing an Itachi... Dying to save a little brat who wasted everything you ever did, and then goes and plans the destruction of the village you sacrificed your life in to save.

Seriously though, we seem to lose a lot of members like you who end up doing nothing but training and fighting, only to end up extremely bored with the whole thing, so in the aims for avoiding that, I figured I will give you a little guide to actually enjoying yourself.

1. Make Interesting Characters....

Blah Blah, Blah, Refuses to follow orders, Blah Blah Blah, Bishie, Blah Blah, Blah, super strong, Blah Blah Blah, serious.

That is the reason why I never look at the Character Profiles section anymore... Because every single bloody character seems to end up as clones or exactly the same, as if you were all a bunch of sheep... SOYLENT GREEN IS MADE UP OF SHEEPLE.... and it happens to be Kawada's favourite food, but that is a little off topic. Make characters that people will actually to play with, this isn't FF7; all making a Seperioth clone does is ensure that you will be playing with yourself.

Flesh out your characters personalities; make them seem more than one dimensional. Your character has a sword which he removed from his father’s body and lives only to thrust that throbbing sword through his daddies Murderer... Congratulations, not only do you have a Walking Cliché... (Resisting homoerotic sword jokes), but you now have an 'n00b' label which is larger than my ego. However don't take it too far, and make a lazy slacker type character, and get angry when people refuse to take you serious, and administer beat downs the first chance they get.

If you really can't think of anything decent, then look at people around you in the real world, even if it’s just those who you see walking down the street. Why not make a ninja who only joined to avoid having to work behind the counter at his family’s food store, and struggles to keep up with everyone around him... Or perhaps an old man who has decided to rejoin the ninja force to prove to himself and everyone around him that he can still do it.

Or Give your character some kind of personality quirk, one that can be played for either laughs or even tragedy. Kakashi from the show for example had his porn addiction and chronicle latess, while Gai had his flames of ‘Youth’. Or you could do something completely revolutionary and make a character which is actually ugly, or just mean for no reason, instead of being a wannabe bishie.

2. Actually live life.

Contrary to most people’s opinions, Ninja don't spend all their times trying to fight and kill each other. Though it is rarely shown on the show, ninja still have to do things such as eat and sleep, not to mention shopping and hanging out with friends. Why not just make a topic for socialisation, with little or no combat or even ninja related talk. Hell the most fun topic I had so far basically involved one of my characters turning up at another’s place drunk while that person was in the shower.

http://narutorpcenter.com/ftopic12976-0-asc-0.php

Its possibly the least ninja like topic on the site, but we both had a blast writing it, quite possible because of that fact. Also before any of you mention anything, I would like to point out that I’m aware it was extremely egotistical for me to use one of my own topics as an example, but I couldn’t be bothered trying to find a similar type of topic done by someone else. Besides, we both managed to double rank train while doing it, so we had to have been doing something right.

Why not make a topic that is just one of your characters going to visit another one of his/her friends, or perhaps give them a secondary job or hobby which has little/nothing to do with being a ninja, even if you have to think it up yourself. Also collecting the ears/noses/testacies of those that you have killed in battle does not count as a hobby and will likely lead to you being sent to a padded cell. And if worse comes to worse, there is always the good old fashioned pub crawl for drunken character fun.

Also while we are on the subject, Contrary to popular opinion the character plots thread is for more than just applying for SA or trying to find a team to join. Why not use it try and find yourself a rival, or a group of friends or even a roommate. Also contrary to popular opinion, there isn’t really enough girls to go around, so unless you play a Bi-sexual or can get several people to agree to a love triangle type situation, it’s extremely unlike that you will be able to get a relationship type plot. Unless you’re playing a female character, but then you will likely end up finding yourself receiving several hundred private messages asking if your character will be their girlfriend.

That doesn’t mean that it won’t happen, but you should be prepared to face that fact. I would also like to stress one major point, which is at the heart of basically all Role-playing…

Prometheus

You know, this is a pretty wicked topic. More people should take into account that shinobi are human beings and occasionally need to take a break from training/kicking the crap out of each other.

In fact you've inspired me to try and flesh out the other areas of my character. Now I'm off to think.

Emmy_Bear

Awsome, simply Awesome. I read that thread you linked as well and laughed so amny times. I beleive that Karen will be getting a roommate very soon. Nothing like bad roommate conflict to make for good writing.

Velidina_Shiatamme

I try to flesh out my charries even more, but I do have some things I could do. >.<

The only one I really have fleshed out is Velidina, thanks to the Rank Train I did a while back.

And it was going to be even more... but Pein never came back to be her brother...

Ari Phoenix

My characters always have some character development, I usually start out early on character development, while doing training and stuff only sparingly unless my characters are building up for something, still great job, I would love to see this become a common thing, of people building up their characters, instead of their character's abilities.

Edit: I also noticed you spoke about making interesting Characters, now that is fun, A suggestion, take a stereotype, and then do the Anti for it
IE: Kimera, Ava. She is a Mad Scientist type, with an inferiority complex, contrary to that of a Mad Scientist with a Superiority complex.
Wahrheit, Tiana. Warm on the outside, Cold on the inside, unlike those that are softies with a cold exterior, just to list a few.

You could also take something that isn't normal, or isn't often done, like make a Masochist, it is tons of fun to do in battle, and leads to interesting situations out of battle.

Sucal

Here is the continuation of the thread which hopes to make a difference to your roleplaying experience... but thats enough stroking of my ego, we don't want my head to get stuck in the door on my way out after all. Now I believe I was supposed to be covering something extremely important.... Ah yes thats right

3. How to be a good sport
(Otherwise known as Don't be a Dick)

I know you most likely love your character, and after all the hard work and effort you have put into training/ranking him/her up, you feel you deserve to completely dominate all opposition that come across you, and completely devastate any enemy ninja that are stupid enough to face your almighty throbbing sword...

You wanna know a secret... that's almost exactly what the other guy is likely feeling,

Weird isn't it... If you stop to think about it for a second, other people also want to completely dominate you on the battlefield and often wont say no for an answer. So what happens if two irresistible forces meet head on (besides the destruction of existence)... That's right, someone will end up calling a mod, to accuse the other person of cheating, only to have the same accusation thrown back on them, until there is a massive argument and the topic breaks down into a massive brawl.

Then likely it will bring more and more mods into it, Until Either AJ, Kawada or Uchiha Katsuga are forced to step in, firing out punishments and swinging their Almighty Banhammers of Adminship©, which leads to everyone being unhappy about it. Trust me, you don't want to see AJ or Kawada after they are forced to make an Intervention... last time it occurred I almost lost an arm, and will bear the teeth mark scars for the rest of my life.

Ok, despite all my joking around, this really is the most important part, hence why I left off half way to make sure that I would be able to do it properly. I really can't stress the importance of good sportsmanship when roleplaying, despite the fact that even saying that makes me sound pretentious and stupid (since role-playing isn't really a sport [outside of the bedroom at least]). This is a game, more or less, and just like any game there are rules. More importantly, there will almost always be both a winner and a loser in a game, and sometimes , despite all your best efforts, that loser will be you. The difference between a good player that people want to play with, and one that nobody wants to even talk to is one that can take his defeat well, and the other who has to bring the mods into it kicking and screaming.

While everyone on the site has an equal chance of winning a battle if played both smartly and right, you have to be Gary Gygax to even think about having a chance against a SS when your only a E rank. While I will go into more detail later on when I talk about how to avoid dying, generally as a rule you shouldn't zerg rush forward at someone who is more then two ranks above you, no matter what your uchiha god complex might tell you. There is a reason why they have those two ranks, (unless they are auto-rank training cheats) and chances are there is a fairly good chance you will be blasted with some kind of attack or jutsu which his a higher rank then you. The most dangerous rank for this is generally D rank, with the lack of decent defensive jutsu, not to mention that B ranks and higher have S ranked Jutsu.

Ok, dragging myself back on topic, (or at least my editors are, who are threatening to remove all chances of me ever learning kinjutsu), if you proceed to get your ass kicked by someone more then two levels higher then you and they play fairly, then there isn't anything that the mods and admins can really do about it, especially if you decide to interfere in a topic which is pretty much a SS/S rank war... *cough Angeal cough* If you deliberately go into their topic and annoy them until they pick a fight with you, not only will we have no sympathy, but we will generally come down on the Higher ranking persons side. Please don't accuse us of being biased or pricks, as the majority of us have short tempers, Kawada in particular is said to be cheating on his girlfriend with the banhammer, due to the frequency in which he uses it.

Chances are by now you are most likely wondering what excatly the point of this article is, since I have pretty much been off topic the entire time. So to save time Ill make a handy little guide of dos and do nots for people to look over.

Do
Talk to your opponent
Take Damage from attacks
Be polite and Courteous to all members
Take damage

Don't
Auto-hit
Powergame
Exploit rules for your own personal use
Yell at and abuse people OOC for IC reasons.
Mix up the difference between the player and the characteristic
Pick fights that you can't win then cry when people hurt you
Come running to a mod unless you can't come to a peaceful agreement with your opponent's
Avoid taking any damage at all
Instantly break every Genjutsu cast on you, even if its extremely obvious that its a genjutsu

Special note for Uchiha players
Using your sharingan for no reason makes you a prick. Using your sharingan and claiming you can predict and dodge every single attack makes you look like a dick. Claiming the Sharingan makes you faster, makes the rest of us sick

In my next article I will be talking about the importance of communication between players.
EDIT: So that I can pretend to be user friendly and all that, if you have any serious suggestions for an article post it here and I might turn it into one. And here is this humorous picture for the day

Sucal

This isn't another proper update but I have to share. If you think are being too strict on you when it comes to grading... take a look at http://narutorpcenter.com/sutra185771.php and see the type of rank training post that we all want to see.

I almost had a heart attack trying to grade it lol.

OzanaruSyra

Emmy_Bear

aahh, harsh Syra harsh. well I at least tried doing something different for a change at least right?

OzanaruSyra

TheGreatWarMage

I wish to express opinion cause i have nothing better to do today as my topic is at a current stand still.

Characters without exp in battles or missions can't be considered super strong, unless background says something. If you have never killed someone then it should effect you somehow, if you have never seen a friend die or badly injured, again, effects you. Injuries don't heal instantly, this is a good way to RP something, make friends possibly, and affect your future of your character as a whole. When on your way to a mission, this is a good time to interact. You don't always reach your mission destination by taking one step outside of your village. It can take days to get their, and urgency isn't always needed.

http://narutorpcenter.com/about13448.html

Not to pick on but this is a good example of past effects, and high rank. Though Background for me fell a little at the end, it is replaced at the top with her personality being affected by an event.

Reminder, always good to say something in your history anytime something different or unusual happens to your character. This can help you and others down the road later.

Special Note: UPDATE often

OzanaruSyra

Pfft, if you want background, check out Syra's background. And I still haven't finished it.

TheGreatWarMage

Background should never be finished. If it were finished then you would be dead...

OzanaruSyra

TriggerHappyTurtle

I'd like to watch and post afterward about a chat-box. XD Kidding don't kill me.

However on a more on topic note: Meh, lighten up people it's an RP not the end of the world have some fun have your characters do some crazy shit etc.

TheGreatWarMage

I am so sorry OzanaruSyra, it is a lovely background. Smile

Born during a two week assassination mission, was interesting. And why is it always the Psychiatric Ward... So much battling, and changing of sides..
Though missions count isn't updated Sad

but it is obvious plenty of battles happend. Though i guess numbers of missions don't matter to much, unless we make a System that utilizes them

And Sench was mean to you... So much hate..

Back on topic....

Sucal

We are interrupting your regular scheduled dose of sarcasm to bring you something that I found in my message box after a drunken night of debauchery. After reading several threats of what would happen if I didn't post it up... here it is...

Also, Contrary to what AJ might have said... I did not have sex with that women... and those photos were artistic

How To Post Something Worth Grading

Hello everyone, it's your forum-friendly trigger happy Admin AJ Gray. I was asked to bring my expertise in grading into the limelight by Sucal. So, I've decided that I will to appease him before he threatens to send me another nude photo that I will not look at more then once. Semantics aside, you may have noticed that each mod grades each thread differently then the last. This is called Preferences, not I hate your post you cheap ass mother-edit-. So let's break down some general ground rules that will help you get a good mark no matter who the grader is.

1) Size matters.

Yes you, with the small.... post. Pony up! Get in there hard and give it all you got till you can't no more and finish with a big finale. Sexual pun aside, most mods don't read. The ones that do, look at how long you're posting. So Mr. 1 Paragraph is likely to get laughed at, posted up on Facebook as the worst RP'er ever and be ridiculed by the RP world at large. (This is untrue, we won't do that.... yet.) Still, readers want something that will GRAB their ATTENTION. So make it long and thick. And yes, I was being serious on that last one.

2) Keep Consistent With Personality

I've seen this once. A shy girl goes into the woods with her trust friend, the kunai. Any girl going into the woods alone with a Kunai is a nymphomaniac or just plain insane. This doesn't mean it's true for all women, but in this case it was. She was shy and collective. Then she went insane and ripped off all her clothing like if she were an extra in 300 and began training in the most bizzare training ever since Lady Gaga's outfits during her music career.

Lord knows personality is important. A great mod will be looking at your template for personality before reading. If you RPC is a Hulking lunatic and he's feeding bunnies, I'm certain the mod will think your RPC is not only gayer then bikers who red leather, but you'll generally lose points for your thread.

If you're all emo-y and stuff, cutting yourself while training is expected but not looked well on. Keep on track and remember who your character is while training.

3) Focus on being real.

Using TP? Awesome! That makes you as lazy as most Americans and 20% of Asians. Going all the way down to one post? Great! That also makes you a cheap ass! Nice! Prick. It's completely possible to lessen one's thread down to one point. This also means you have 0 life and have raped every mission posted. Congratz on being a reject of life. =)

Anyways, even if you manage to lessen your Training, that doesn't mean you can say "He walked to the store. Jutsu Learned." What the hell does walking to the store have to do with anything!? You didn't even train!! You went to the store. Not even that, you didn't even mention what you bought!? Who goes to the store without a list of things to buy!? How are we supposed to assume you bought some Granny Smith apples to go with the training you never did!!?

Let's assume you're a coherent human being. You're training. If you go to the store make it relevant by saying maybe s/he bought a scroll to help them ease out the training. Not because he bought tomorrows dinner. Keep focused at the task at hand. It's okay to add filler but make it relevant.

4) Filler....

You ever just packed a box with stuff and noticed it's only filled half way? so you throw in your old clothes from last year that you're still wearing because your mom refuses to buy you new gear? That extra is called filler. In animes, filler is usually known as "OMFG! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?" Filler is the stuff that fills the gap in the void of a story. In some ways, it completely ruins the storyline by interrupting in such a fashion that you didn't realize you traveled back 2 weeks into the past.

Filler is a necessary evil and it's done poorly. People focus too much on filler and not enough at the task at hand. I don't need 2 paragraphs of you sitting by the lake contemplating how the water's surface reflects your soul when you're going to summon a demon who looks like George W. Keep filler down as much as possible. And if it isn't possible, try to make sure it keeps on track. It's okay to say you're going home to rest from being exhausted but it's not okay to say you're going home to whack off because you're bored.

5) Spell Check and Grammar

If u canz reeds dis, den u haz prblms. If you look at it and go what the hell is that, then you're not a total noob. RPing is about grace. To express yourself in a medium of writing. Not to butcher the English language. I mean, it's okay to misspell but you you say "I went store, bought milk to drink. Went home." You're either having a Pokemon Induced Epileptic Seizure or you have no brain.

It's an eyesore to see a huge amount of Spelling errors and grammar problems. It's even worse when we see what should be a paragraph...

spaced out like this.

As if to give the illusion you did a lot of work.

What you really did was be a douche.

And made your thread look skimpy.

Remember spell check is your friend and firefox gives it to you free of charge. If you're using or have Microsoft Word, then you have no fucking excuse. who do you think you are? Kira!? Use the damn spell check! =D

Anyways, I hope these tips enlightened you like LSD enlightened every musician in the 70s. Take these tips to heart and don't mind my spelling/grammar errors. IGNORE ME! =D

Peace hos.

TheGreatWarMage

Teddy

He proved you can say all seven still be good.

TheGreatWarMage

Well i am not going to go on a wild tangent and say F this and F that and Fin Fer. If someone has parents who will be seeing this, or have a personal problem with this that are below the age of 12, say so now, cause otherwise..(obligatory words here)

ElmaSuyu

TP is training points.

You earn htem by missions, and reducing a jutsu costs 10 tP. So if you have to post 10 posts, and have gathered 90 TP, and use all 90 of them, you need to post just one post.