Quote:How would I integrate myself into a RP group?ÂMy tip, especially for a newbie... is to lurk. Even if you're rolling an alt so you're not associated with the creepy voyeur in the corner. You can read handbooks and check on LS/FC sites and view profiles until you're blue in the face, but what you can actually sit and observe is often the best tool. You'll get an idea of who you could be compatible with and what some of the IC topics/issues are.
(If you need a lurker buddy, hit me up. I'm new to the community myself and still doing the lurker thing a few times a week.)
Once you've gotten all the lurking out of your system, it's time to start taking chances. To quote a quasi-RP-leader I knew in another game, "Welcome to the Community, wallflowers need not stay". Don't just sit in a chair, waiting for people to 'click' on you like you're an NPC. Emote getting yourself a cup of coffee in whichever tavern you're in, have problems getting on your porter 'bo, lose your money purse and have to go find it... you don't have to think up something earth-shattering, just something do for ten-fifteen minutes to get yourself out there.
From there, you'll eventually cultivate a group of other players that you get along with (ICly, OOCly, or both), and likely from one of them you'll find an RP LS or FC that suits your style.Â
Quote:How does one progress their characters storyline?ÂI always like to base a character on, or give/assign, a goal to be achieved. Nothing huge or horribly specific, just something for them to work towards and can be achieved through multiple paths (for example, my main character has a goal of... finding a goal in life. She's spent her life so far 'surviving' and 'existing', which was fine for her before, but now that she's been introduced to the concept that there might be something better or maybe even special for her to do, she's struggling to figure out WHAT that something better or special is). Some people like to plot out/semi-script what their character is going to do from start to finish. Others make a character and just throw them out there, and what happens happens. It's all about your play style.
Knowing the extent of your morality is also important. Not just your alignment, but where your character sits on the greyscale and how far you're willing to move in one direction or another. Sometimes events will pop up that if you go by alignment alone, it seems you would have no reason to go/participate. Whereas if you look at the greyscale, it's within your limits. Don't cut yourself out of events just because you're strictly adhering to your alignment.
Quote:When is it acceptable to become OOC? Easy. Whenever you don't feel like RPing. Don't push yourself to RP when you're not in the mood for it, or when you're doing something that needs your complete concentration or you're in a time crunch. Or when you're doing something that doesn't make IC sense.
Quote:How powerful is too powerful? (Even though my characters aren't really all that powerful anyway.)ÂYou've already heard about godmoding, and a couple people have touched upon being too perfect/being the best at everything. Personally, I like to go on the idea of "if you can't use the ability normally, then you can't do it". Of course, that gets messy when you consider the game gives you the ability to change job/class at whim...Â
Use your best judgement and, when in doubt, ask.
Quote:Can I use my character for OOC stuff with my friends that have no interest in RP?Of course. And, y'know... there's always the chance you might infect them with the RP bug...
Quote:Oh another question I have is how do families work? How do people have kids etc.?Some people just make up family trees with names listed and mentioned from time to time. People who are prone to writing supplement stories to their RP often feature the family members that are 'off-screen'. Some people make siblings/spouses/cousins/whatever as alt characters and cameo them. Sometimes friends/RL couples will roll related/engaged/married characters.
I saw you asking questions about having relationships with other player-characters. Two tips: don't revolve your entire plot around having a relationship with someone, and if you get in a relationship, make sure you have good OOC communication going on. Oh, and keep things classy; if you are not one to go with 'fade to black', double, triple, and quadruple-check to make sure you're not about to throw some awkward MT's into one channel or another, and just emoting "/em gives <insert target of affection here> a passionate kiss." is just fine for a PDA, you don't have to go into description on how you're making out with someone.
Having kids... my honest opinion (from personal trial and a LOT of error) is to avoid having kids (unless you've got a character that's older and could have children that are at least in their mid/late teens, or you're basing your character's entire plot around finding your lost/missing child). Realistically, if you've got a female character, getting pregnant means you're not going on any fun adventures for a long, loooooooooooooooong while. Giving birth doesn't free you up; recovery time and... feeding... the baby will keep you homebound. MAYBE at this point, if you're a Keeper of the Moon, you can start leaving the baby home and have the father take care of it alone, but for the most part you now have a little NPC that, if not glued to your ti--hip, you really SHOULD be home with before dinnertime every night. When in doubt, save the babies for when you retire a character.
Quote:I'm used to writing stories and what not, I used to do em a lot but my problem was always the timelines and so on, like I'll really want to write a scene between two characters and I'd quickly gloss over some things to get to that point which isn't good story telling, it's like I would leave it barren then something interesting then barren againI personally love short stories. They're little snippets and glimpses into character's lives, thoughts, and sometimes dreams that sometimes just aren't easily conveyed through RP. Even just typing up a section of chatlog is good reading, because it puts a special emphasis on an event that may have seemed insignificant to others, but to your character had a great impact.
I haven't had an opportunity to fully poke through the section, but I think the Town Square is for stories? Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that part. Anyways, there is a way to make a sort of timeline in a forum thread by using short stories and a few content tags. You could also use a blog site. So go ahead and write the short stories, just make sure you note down the date that an event happened ("Based on RP that occurred on 4/2/14" or "Aftermath of RP on 2/27/13" or "Events that transpired before RP on 3/15/14"). Yes, the game has its own calender, but considering that one in-game day = 1 real-world hour... it can get confusing.
If I missed questions, I'm sorry; I skimmed the last couple posts. Just one other thing I'd like to toss out, though, since you're an RP newbie...
You're new, you're going through growing pains. That being said, you are likely to find (major) things about your character's design early on that you suddenly don't like (storyline, behaviour pattern, etc), or even can't RP. I know the Handbook here says to avoid retconning, though this is more in relation to events (if I'm reading the entry right) that effect others. If you need to retcon something out of your design to make the character something you want to continue to play, then do it.
