Post by Aureus on Jan 26, 2007 17:19:14 GMT -8
Grabbed it from 552 for people here to read.
::Golden Rule to Becoming a Great Role player::
written by duelist
I realized that very few people know how to create a Role-Playing character that is not merely good to others, but to themselves. I have decided to tell everyone on this board of my personal Role-Playing philosophy. This is not one created out of one conversation, not one post, but out of thousands, and many hours of thinking to myself. What I have to offer you is my own insights on my past two years of being on line. All of what I say is based upon my own true experience, and have not been 'guessed' up. What you take out of this is your choosing, but I beg you to think about what I say, to take it into your own being for a moment and reflect.
First and foremost, only the character is important; nothing else is as important as the character. Not grammar, not size of post, not the ability to detail, nothing. All of these come later, after the creation of a character that follows these rules. It must be remembered that a character can be created out of anything, at anytime. What the character begins as is irrelevant. It is what they become. A true Role-Player, in my mind, is able to take his or her character and evolve them from what they were in the beginning, into something that makes the creator feel fulfilled and pleased at what they have done. The fact is, it does not matter how pleasing your character is to others. If you do not enjoy your character, you will never become a good Role-Player. The size and detail of a post is a minor thing compared to this. To an extend, the skill used in writing a post is also minor. In my opinion, the most important aspect of Role-Playing is the character his or herself. Nothing else. That is the First Golden Rule, the character comes first and foremost out of all the things concerned with writing.
Take the flames used against you and turn them into a fire raging within your own imagination. When you are insulted for a lack of words or a misspelled one, take that hate and embarrassment and turn it into something beneficial. You can never become a good, or even average, Role-Player until you understand that. You must use all insults and criticisms to wield your own character from what they began as into something better. This is the Second Golden Rule, the character is created through mistakes, but these mistakes will help your character grow.
No matter how well planned a character creation is, until they have lived and they have fought, felt pain, love, the entire spectrum of emotions and ideals, can they truly be a good character. Having a character without any conflict or problems is creating a character that is useless and should be removed. These conflicts are what create a character, and are what binds them. They are an influence to everything. This is the Third Golden Rule, your character must have flaws and evolve from them over time.
To do as I have stated in Rule Three, you must not merely write down what your character does. No, this is wrong. You must become the character in question. You must become their eyes and their ears, able to look into their world and experience their emotion. You must take what you see from their eyes and fine tune the actions of the character to fit what you see. You must take what you hear to predict the coming of the next move. You must live both their past and their present, and share with them their hopes and dreams for a future. This is the most important rule. Your character must become one with you, and you must become one with your character. To do any less creates a character unable to exist naturally within the universe you have plunged them, no matter the circumstances behind their mental and physical dealings. You must feel their pain, and their loss. Their joy, and their love. If you cannot do so naturally, then create those feelings within yourself using your character as a template. There are no excuses otherwise. This is the Forth Golden Rule, see through your characters eyes and ears and become them. Never let one day go by without creating something new concerning your characters universe. No matter how large or small, create something. By doing so, you will enrich your characters world and add to their past and present in ways you could never of imagined. If one idea conflicts with another, or seems out of place, change it. Alter it in such a way it creates a better idea than what you had, or allows it to combine with another idea. In this way, you will have a character who is unique without question. This is the Fifth Golden Rule, everyday allow a new idea to come forth without fail.
Taking from the Fifth Rule, to create a past and possibly a future for your character, you must make a thousand ideas from one. Never create many ideas at once; this will cause confusion and hinder your attempts. Begin with one idea, and take this idea from absolutely anything you find which can inspire, or make you pause to ponder. When you have this idea, expand from it. Let it grow within your heart and soul, allowing it to become larger and greater than you could ever of thought possible. Incorporate this idea, and then create new ideas from it. In time, you shall have created a basis from which to evolve your characters past and present actions from, while allowing infinite alterations to occur easily and fluidly. This is the Sixth Golden Rule, create a thousand ideas from one.
Never forget the first, but do not allow it to rule you. When you create your very first RPG, or have your very first RPing battle, you shall never forget it. Despite how badly is goes, or how well, it is something that shall be with you forever. You shall remember every post that you made, every word, every mistake, and every thought during it. You cannot escape it, and if you try, you shall be doomed to failure as a Role-Player, and doom your character to destruction earlier than needed. Instead, take what you created from that battle, and use it as your one idea. Refine what you did into something new, something better. Use it as the first experience of endless experiences you will have with your character. Do not try to relive that first RPG or battle. Doing so only leads to depression and the slow death of your character. You shall never have that battle or RPG again; you only have the memories from it. Use them to create something newer, better, an idea you could never have seen if you drowned yourself in woes and tried to forcefully repeat the original. This is the Seventh Golden Rule, never forget the first, but do not allow it to rule you. Live up to your characters life. When you create a character who has lived for eons and has done many things, you must live up to that characters life. You cannot merely ignore all events to happen before their coming to whatever place you want them at. The larger, the more grandiose, the more incredible character you have, you must think about and create something to bolster that past, no matter how lion like or meek it is. Without doing this, you are not worthy of what you have created. Without the willingness, and the want, to create a past and something grand enough to fulfill what your character currently is, you do not deserve what you have created. This is not only for your benefit. Others will see this work, and believe that your character is a work of not only a few seconds, but of many months and years. And they shall be correct. Upon receiving such a belief from others, your confidence will also grow, allow bigger and greater things to be created as you work to fulfill the promise of your character. This is the Eighth Golden Rule, live up to your characters life.
Do not be hasty in killing a character you have been for a long time. You must not allow momentary discomfort or nuisances to drive you to destroy a character you have created many things for. Once a character becomes one with you, to destroy that character is to destroy a part of yourself. The feelings of pain and death the character feels, you shall also feel. To end a characters life, three things must be first answered after much thought. Your character must first have fulfilled his or her purpose or goal in life; they have grown old, accomplished goals, and are ready to pass away, or they are going to die in a battle in which after they are no longer needed. Second, it must be asked if you, the creator, are truly ready to allow your character to die. If for one moment you say you are not ready to let them die, take that as an indication and think more deeply on the subject. You, not only the character, must decide the end has come, but do not feel forced to allow the character to continue living if they would only suffer something meaningless. Third, you must realize that once the character is gone, citing reincarnation or some other form of revival, they are gone forever. Their uniqueness and past are also gone; take note from this and do not create a carbon copy of your fallen character. Even the descendants or relatives of a dead character do not have anything close to the same past or thought processes; you must begin anew with a new character, if you choose to make a new one at all. This is the Ninth Golden Rule, do not destroy what you have built if you are not sure.
written by duelist
I realized that very few people know how to create a Role-Playing character that is not merely good to others, but to themselves. I have decided to tell everyone on this board of my personal Role-Playing philosophy. This is not one created out of one conversation, not one post, but out of thousands, and many hours of thinking to myself. What I have to offer you is my own insights on my past two years of being on line. All of what I say is based upon my own true experience, and have not been 'guessed' up. What you take out of this is your choosing, but I beg you to think about what I say, to take it into your own being for a moment and reflect.
First and foremost, only the character is important; nothing else is as important as the character. Not grammar, not size of post, not the ability to detail, nothing. All of these come later, after the creation of a character that follows these rules. It must be remembered that a character can be created out of anything, at anytime. What the character begins as is irrelevant. It is what they become. A true Role-Player, in my mind, is able to take his or her character and evolve them from what they were in the beginning, into something that makes the creator feel fulfilled and pleased at what they have done. The fact is, it does not matter how pleasing your character is to others. If you do not enjoy your character, you will never become a good Role-Player. The size and detail of a post is a minor thing compared to this. To an extend, the skill used in writing a post is also minor. In my opinion, the most important aspect of Role-Playing is the character his or herself. Nothing else. That is the First Golden Rule, the character comes first and foremost out of all the things concerned with writing.
Take the flames used against you and turn them into a fire raging within your own imagination. When you are insulted for a lack of words or a misspelled one, take that hate and embarrassment and turn it into something beneficial. You can never become a good, or even average, Role-Player until you understand that. You must use all insults and criticisms to wield your own character from what they began as into something better. This is the Second Golden Rule, the character is created through mistakes, but these mistakes will help your character grow.
No matter how well planned a character creation is, until they have lived and they have fought, felt pain, love, the entire spectrum of emotions and ideals, can they truly be a good character. Having a character without any conflict or problems is creating a character that is useless and should be removed. These conflicts are what create a character, and are what binds them. They are an influence to everything. This is the Third Golden Rule, your character must have flaws and evolve from them over time.
To do as I have stated in Rule Three, you must not merely write down what your character does. No, this is wrong. You must become the character in question. You must become their eyes and their ears, able to look into their world and experience their emotion. You must take what you see from their eyes and fine tune the actions of the character to fit what you see. You must take what you hear to predict the coming of the next move. You must live both their past and their present, and share with them their hopes and dreams for a future. This is the most important rule. Your character must become one with you, and you must become one with your character. To do any less creates a character unable to exist naturally within the universe you have plunged them, no matter the circumstances behind their mental and physical dealings. You must feel their pain, and their loss. Their joy, and their love. If you cannot do so naturally, then create those feelings within yourself using your character as a template. There are no excuses otherwise. This is the Forth Golden Rule, see through your characters eyes and ears and become them. Never let one day go by without creating something new concerning your characters universe. No matter how large or small, create something. By doing so, you will enrich your characters world and add to their past and present in ways you could never of imagined. If one idea conflicts with another, or seems out of place, change it. Alter it in such a way it creates a better idea than what you had, or allows it to combine with another idea. In this way, you will have a character who is unique without question. This is the Fifth Golden Rule, everyday allow a new idea to come forth without fail.
Taking from the Fifth Rule, to create a past and possibly a future for your character, you must make a thousand ideas from one. Never create many ideas at once; this will cause confusion and hinder your attempts. Begin with one idea, and take this idea from absolutely anything you find which can inspire, or make you pause to ponder. When you have this idea, expand from it. Let it grow within your heart and soul, allowing it to become larger and greater than you could ever of thought possible. Incorporate this idea, and then create new ideas from it. In time, you shall have created a basis from which to evolve your characters past and present actions from, while allowing infinite alterations to occur easily and fluidly. This is the Sixth Golden Rule, create a thousand ideas from one.
Never forget the first, but do not allow it to rule you. When you create your very first RPG, or have your very first RPing battle, you shall never forget it. Despite how badly is goes, or how well, it is something that shall be with you forever. You shall remember every post that you made, every word, every mistake, and every thought during it. You cannot escape it, and if you try, you shall be doomed to failure as a Role-Player, and doom your character to destruction earlier than needed. Instead, take what you created from that battle, and use it as your one idea. Refine what you did into something new, something better. Use it as the first experience of endless experiences you will have with your character. Do not try to relive that first RPG or battle. Doing so only leads to depression and the slow death of your character. You shall never have that battle or RPG again; you only have the memories from it. Use them to create something newer, better, an idea you could never have seen if you drowned yourself in woes and tried to forcefully repeat the original. This is the Seventh Golden Rule, never forget the first, but do not allow it to rule you. Live up to your characters life. When you create a character who has lived for eons and has done many things, you must live up to that characters life. You cannot merely ignore all events to happen before their coming to whatever place you want them at. The larger, the more grandiose, the more incredible character you have, you must think about and create something to bolster that past, no matter how lion like or meek it is. Without doing this, you are not worthy of what you have created. Without the willingness, and the want, to create a past and something grand enough to fulfill what your character currently is, you do not deserve what you have created. This is not only for your benefit. Others will see this work, and believe that your character is a work of not only a few seconds, but of many months and years. And they shall be correct. Upon receiving such a belief from others, your confidence will also grow, allow bigger and greater things to be created as you work to fulfill the promise of your character. This is the Eighth Golden Rule, live up to your characters life.
Do not be hasty in killing a character you have been for a long time. You must not allow momentary discomfort or nuisances to drive you to destroy a character you have created many things for. Once a character becomes one with you, to destroy that character is to destroy a part of yourself. The feelings of pain and death the character feels, you shall also feel. To end a characters life, three things must be first answered after much thought. Your character must first have fulfilled his or her purpose or goal in life; they have grown old, accomplished goals, and are ready to pass away, or they are going to die in a battle in which after they are no longer needed. Second, it must be asked if you, the creator, are truly ready to allow your character to die. If for one moment you say you are not ready to let them die, take that as an indication and think more deeply on the subject. You, not only the character, must decide the end has come, but do not feel forced to allow the character to continue living if they would only suffer something meaningless. Third, you must realize that once the character is gone, citing reincarnation or some other form of revival, they are gone forever. Their uniqueness and past are also gone; take note from this and do not create a carbon copy of your fallen character. Even the descendants or relatives of a dead character do not have anything close to the same past or thought processes; you must begin anew with a new character, if you choose to make a new one at all. This is the Ninth Golden Rule, do not destroy what you have built if you are not sure.
