For those of you who have always wanted to start or be in a game, but haven't found the support, we hope that these guides will help you out.

Contents
Moonshadow's Game Master Guide
Vriishnak's Thoughts
Luc Arkhame's Player Guide
Chili's RP Guide

Moonshadow’s Guide for Game Masters

Overview:

1. Game Master
2. Dos and Don’ts
3. How to construct the plot
4. A couple things to remember


1. The Game Master
The Game Master (GM) is the person who runs the game. GM’s create the story, create the non-player characters (NPCs) and decide everything that happens that isn’t the player’s choice.

2. Dos and Don’ts

• DO: Know your rules back and front. If you haven’t mastered the rules, the rules are the master of you.
• DON’T: Do not tell what’s happening, show what’s happening. Remember that the characters are in your world, and in real life, you aren’t “told” what is happening, you see it, you hear it, you smell it... use the five senses.
• DO: Move the game along. If there are parts that seem to drag on and on, try to move on as fast as you can. Otherwise the players will lose interest.
• DO: Make sure the players are involved. If you notice inactivity, try to contact them. Also, get feedback from your players. That way you’ll know how to keep them involved.
• DON’T: Do not abuse stereotypes. Interesting characters are those who break out of the stereotypes. Try making characters who break the mold - strong, intelligent goblins, a kind Chaos Warrior who doesn’t quite agree with his army’s plans. You have the power to break any stereotype you can, so don’t be lazy.
• DON’T: Don’t be too generous or too stingy. Make sure that the players get rewarded for doing something good. If they do something that the characters worked hard for, give them an appropriate reward. However, don’t be too generous with the reward. If you give them too much, they may expect that much later in the game.
• DON’T: Do not be a bully. You have the power to do basically anything, as this is your world. However, if you dislike a player, please keep it out of the game. This makes the game very unenjoyable.
• DON’T: Don’t worry. The game will probably turn out alright, if you put in some effort. Sometimes the players will do something unexpected, and that’s ok. Just try to adapt. Maybe they’ve thought of something that could happen in the story that you didn’t think of, and could be really cool. Go with the flow.

3. How to construct the plot.

When creating a plot, think of the format of every good story. Beginning, middle and end. Think of everything that happens during these points in the story. In the beginning, you are introduced to character, setting, and the problem. In the middle, there are complications, there may be a journey, a couple fights. At the end, there is the climax, the part of the story with the most tension, and then the falling action which leads to the resolution. Some of that may seem complicated for someone who isn’t used to writing or creating storylines for RPGs. Just look at them all separately.
Beginning
• Introduce characters. Show the NPCs from the players’ points of view - how they look, act, and what they say around the characters. (I’ll go deeper into characters in section 4)
• Introducing setting. Where is the story taking place? What does it look like, feel like, what is the climate, why does the story take place there... all these are questions you can answer.
• Introducing the problem. This may be a little more difficult, because this is the part of the story that is most important. You need to introduce what the characters must do, and why they must do it. You don’t need to reveal everything about the problem yet, just enough to keep characters interested, and most importantly, wanting to solve the problem.
Middle
• Complication. Maybe certain NPCs aren’t what they seem, and have different intentions than the players thought. Maybe the problem they’re trying to solve is just the beginning to a string of problems. All of this is up to you. All complications make the story more interesting.
• Rising Action. If there is no action until you reach the climax, the story is boring. Make sure that something happens between point A and point B.
• Foreshadowing. Give clues as to what is going to happen at the climax, or clues to a mystery, depending on the story.
End
• Climax. This is the point in the story with the highest tension. Maybe the mystery has been solved. Maybe it’s an epic battle. Once again, it all depends on the story. Make it memorable.
• Twist. This can be part of the climax, and makes a story much more interesting. Maybe a certain character isn’t on the players’ side after all, or maybe they were tricked into doing something that they now need to stop.
• Falling Action. Sometime must happen after the climax to bring you to the resolution. Maybe the journey back home, maybe saying goodbye to an NPC or something like that.
• Resolution. This is how the story ends. It is the closing. Make sure it closes... unless, of course, there is going to be a sequel. ;)

Use anything you’ve learned about stories to help you. Old notes from English / reading / writing / literature class will help.

A couple things to remember

• All characters have motives. These motives don’t need to be known to all the players, but they must be known to you if you are going to play a NPC correctly. Why does this person help the party? Why is he chasing after the players? You must ask yourself questions like these if you want to make effective characters.
• To help organize your original story thoughts, make an outline. Write the different parts of the story under Roman numerals I, II, III, VI and so forth. Next, add detailed parts to those, A, B, C, etc. And under each of those, add 1, 2, 3, etc. This helps you go from a general idea to something more detailed.
• Add more than one story aspect into the game. While it might be an epic battle type of game, if you put in some mystery, it has that aspect for those players who are more into mysteries than epic battles. The more genres and types of stories you cover, the more you are appealing to the players.


That’s all for now. I hope this was helpful.

-Moonshadow

Vriishnak’s Thoughts on Running a Game

So, we’ve got a number of members now who enjoying running, or even playing in, RPG’s on the site. Obviously, some are better than others, and some players prefer different styles. There’s no way to satisfy everyone all the time, so my tips are going to be based on what I personally like to see, without trying to give general advice that may or may not work for you as an individual. Take it or leave it as you will, but the more your game matches my criteria, the more likely it is that you’ll be seeing one of my characters wander through the door into your collecting room for would-be adventurers.

The Qualities of a Good GM
An RPG, unlike a story, needs more than one person to function. The players contribute characters, the protagonists who will try to complete their objectives in the face of challenges, while the GM controls the rest of the world, providing both the challenges and the other people who populate it. Without a good GM the game falls flat, seeming no better than a cast of puppets travelling through a cardboard world.

So, what is it about a good GM that makes the world seem real? There are a few things I look for in the original post and character collection topics. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll make it a list.

1) Command of the language.
I know a lot of people don’t think that spelling and grammar are very important in online posting, but especially when roleplaying they come to the forefront. Beyond that, storytelling, especially descriptive writing, can make or break a game. Tell me, which of these examples would make you more interested in contributing a character?

“The rain pattered down softly onto the cobbled street, gathering slowly into puddles which faintly reflected the luminescent light of the moon shining down from overhead. The impact of each drop hitting the ground seemed distinct, the only sound that could be heard above the harsh wind that ever seemed about to rise to a howling gale. All else was motionless, the shadows in the alley hanging still against the walls, resisting the efforts of both air and water to dispel them.
Then, suddenly, the darkness was torn, a hooded shape dressed in rippling silks moving through with deadly grace, his clothing seeming even blacker than the air around it. Drawing a cruelly shaped blade, he stepped forth into the torchlight of the main street, moving swiftly toward the door of this town’s inn. Slipping through a door unlocked and opened with practised ease, he disappeared from view, and the shadows settled once more.

The next morning, the bodies of the emissaries from Bretonnia were discovered, their throats torn open by a weapon of unknown design. Fearing for both peace and safety, the leaders of the town sent out an open call for any who believed they could capture the culprit.”

Or, say, something like this, which seems to be the more typical way of introducing a game:

“I’m going to start a game, based in the Empire. Bretonnian emissaries are dead, and your goal will be to find out who did it and capture them. I want 5 characters.”

Both give basically the same information about the plot, so what makes the first one better? First, it shows that the GM is willing to take the time to describe things, rather than tell you them, which makes for a much better read. Second, it gives some idea what you can expect from the game itself as it develops; personally, I’d rather read about the actions taken by the characters rather than the results, especially in a dice-based game. Out-of-game info means nothing to the character, so why bother giving it to the player, especially in an online game? It’s just info for them to worry about without any real gain. Finally, it sets a tone for the game. The description above is rather dark and oppressive, so I wouldn’t expect to see any happy-go-lucky characters entered, and I’d be rather disappointed if they were accepted into the game. I don’t think it really needs to be explicitly stated, either; it makes it quite clear what types of characters will do best, I think.

2) Creativity and plot.
I’d rather not play a game where the plot is horribly clichéd, or obviously stolen from somewhere else. The more unique it is – while still following some archetypes, and fitting into the setting as a whole, obviously – the more interesting it is to design a character for. Fighting orcs and goblins in a dwarfen campaign is only fun for so long, and I don’t think anyone really wants to be opposing chaos and it’s effects all the time in the Empire.

3) Rules.
I want a good, complete set of rules for everything that is likely to happen in the game. Sure, feel free to modify as necessary to keep the game moving and fun, but I don’t want to be noticing major differences each time something comes up.

Good Roleplaying
I look for pretty much the same things here as I do with a GM. First and foremost, if you aren’t willing to take the time to run your post through a spellcheck, don’t bother applying. A typo every now and then isn’t a big deal, but the majority of the post had better be good.
Again, creativity is good. Don’t rip off a character from a book - create something new.
Oh, and a big one that applies only to players: avoid metagaming. If your character doesn’t have access to information, don’t act on it. You can’t hear things that are said far away from you, you don’t know that another PC is a vampire unless he’s given you reason to believe it, etc. You can only act on things your character has learned.

Yeah, that’s about it. Make an effort with the spelling and grammar, be descriptive and original, and base decisions on the game world, not the real one. Doesn’t sound that hard, does it?

Balance in All Things
A Role Playing Guide for Players with Professor Luc Arkhame

Contents
1 – Creating a Realistic Character
2 – Keeping in Character
3 – General Writing Tips
4 – End Notes

Creating a Realistic Character

Just like you would start writing an essay for English class, so must you construct your character. When coming up with your character, you need to create a skeleton of what you want them to be.

Personality
Start with the basics, what kind of character do you want to play? Do you want a loudmouthed jerk who will rub all the other player characters the wrong way while still being an indispensable member of the team? Or how about the contemplative sword master who doesn’t want to resort to violence? No matter what it is you want to play as, this is the first and most important step, choosing the personality you will play. Always choose something that you can get into, if in real life you are chivalric, it may be difficult to get into the character of a heartless ruffian.

Gender and Race
Once you have the personality, associate a gender and race to it. A flamboyant womanizer isn’t a good character to play as a dwarf. Just use common sense here, and note that I stated that personality comes first, do not let the race dictate what you are playing, just be realistic in what you put together.

Background Basics
Now think of the basic pieces of their background, what created this characters rampant hatred of all dwarves? Answer the question of how this character came to be, but do not go into the details just yet, it is important to know where you are going before you start the journey. Think here of the character’s roots, a fishing village, a son/daughter of a great lord; where is the character from that would shape their personality so?

Motivation
Here is a key step in character creation, you know who your character is now, but what is their goal? Are they joining this expedition to get some extra cash? Do they have a personal vendetta against vampires and have gone on every hunt they can find? It is important to set out now what your character hopes to accomplish as it will set the tone and direction of all your future posting.

The Necessary Balance
The next step is to determine the character’s strong points and obvious flaws. Is he a dashing knight who sweeps every damsel off her feet but secretly nurses a horrid fear of failure that sometimes forces him to back out of difficult situations? What does the character like or dislike, have this in mind so that you can be sure how you should react. Having too many strengths or flaws doesn’t make a very good character, think of giving each thing a point value, like being a prominent figure is +2, but having several enemies who would love to see you fail is a -2, try to keep a moderate balance.

The Actual Character
Here you physically create the character, what do they look like? What weapons do they carry, if any? Fit everything together and keep the setting and your character’s personality in mind, a recluse is not going to wear a neon pink shirt. Think of how others would see the character; how do they carry themselves? Would they stand out in a crowd, and would they want to do so?

Realism
Now thinking of where the character comes from, try to get into the language they would speak, for the sake of simplicity every role playing game has what is considered the common tongue, and all regular talk should be in that, but if your character should have a heavy accent, research how that would affect them speaking normally and try to incorporate that into any posts you make, it adds a large piece of realism that reader’s love.

Naming the Character
Sometimes the most difficult part of any creation, you can have a perfect idea but still be unable to put the perfect name to it. When in doubt, go simple; think of a very plain name while taking into account race, gender and location. Chances are a High Elf isn’t going to have a human name like Jeff, and a Tilean Pirate doesn’t need a name like Lauranalanthalassa.

Submission
Now that you know what you are doing, put it together. The key here is to give the basic background of the character, and then give a brief overview of their history, even if it is not very eventful. Don’t give too much here, you don’t need to write a novel, but definitely don’t give too little, make sure the past shows how this character came to be. Give a description of what the character looks like, again from the view of other player characters, not from your own. Make sure to leave nothing out that the game master would need to know, but if there is something you don’t want your allies to know, make sure you specify that.

Keeping in Character

When playing it is essential that you do not forget who and what your character is. Remember what your character's motivation is and play to that extent. As I have alluded to earlier, try to add little touches to everything the character does to add more realism. If the character has an annoying habit, act it out; if they have a thick accent, speak in it; if the character hits on every member of the opposite sex they run into, do so. Even if the character is a fool, the added comedy of their realistic actions will lead to a much more fun role play. Just don’t overdo it, even the most foolish of characters knows when to shut up and throw down.

Moderation in all aspects of role playing is important.

Here I need to stress something that every other teacher will speak of, don’t metagame! If your character could not realistically know something, then they don’t know it. If you learn of something out of character, don’t transfer that information into the game, doing so just ruins it for everyone. If a task is not realistically possible, don’t undertake it unless you expect to fail.

Lastly, never overpower the game master, you are in their world, and if you attempt to modify it for them; it could lead to unfavorable results for your character if the game master does not have infinite patience for such antics. Don’t try to run the game, it is not your job and takes away from the experience of the other players.

General Writing Tips

When writing, whether you are the game master or simply a player character, there are several things to keep in mind.

Originality

As you are part of the game try not to do the same thing as everyone else, if you are entering a tavern, maybe have your character wander around before finding a seat, rather than just saddling up to the bar or finding a dark corner to sit in. Being original in your writing is important to keeping it interesting.

If you are writing the actions of a duel, it does nothing for them to have the same words describing the same actions, use synonyms where ever possible, or simply find a more descriptive word to express what you are trying to write. If your post is too simple, it is dry and boring, and a streak of such boring posts can weigh heavily on the mind of game masters contemplating your application. If your post is difficult to understand it can have the same effect, confusion is a bad thing to leave in the mind of any reader.

Length
Length of posting is very important in contributing to a role play. Making your post longer than it needs to be is not a positive way to add to a role play. If your post is massive, readers may lose interest and ignore it, hence leaving out what could be a very important action or event.

Of course at the same time it is possible to make a post too short. If you are simply answering a question, give more than just the answer. Include the character’s demeanor in answering it, do their eyes shift side-to-side, or do they reply in indignant anger?

It always better to go longer than you feel comfortable posting than shorter, as you never want to leave anything out, but always remember that the key to role playing is balance in all things.

Aesthetics
Spelling and Grammar are the last things I will mention as they are constantly being done to death. Always spell check your posts with a word processor program and go over it with a fine tooth comb if you have the time to make sure you are using correct grammar. Multiple avoidable mistakes look very bad in writing and can take away from the ideas the role play is trying to get across.

End Notes

Now that you have an idea what it takes to be a good player and what is needed to have a great character, use this knowledge in your future role playing. This may sound horribly cliché but always remember to have fun, if you are not having fun playing your character, there is no point in playing at all. Be patient with your fellow players and your game master, everyone involved has a life outside of the internet, so there is no point in getting angry at someone for being a little late in posting compared to everyone else.

Good god, I'd forgotten all about this... suppose it drifted out of my mind while I was waiting for some of the people who said they would write something.

Alas, it strikes me now... I've emptied my PM folder a couple of times now. Goblit had something, I know... and I think there was someone else's in there too.

Tarnation :(

Yeah, I had completely forgotten writing it. How long ago did we start working on it?

Hopefully everyone else who had something to say will be able to get it to someone again, so it can be added here. Could be a very good resource.

Avast: mine still be on file! Here it be, shipmates...

CHILI'S RP GUIDE

Well, here’s my own take on the most important elements of a good roleplay. It’s split into 3 parts: The three most important things about GMing, the three most important things about RPing, and the two most important things about writing in an RP in general. This is mainly a GM’s take on affairs, so it doesn’t cover everything – that’s why we have other people to cover those things ;)

3 most important things about GMing:

1. Providing a “plot skeleton”.

This seems one of the most obviously important things – any GM should always know where he’s taking the warriors, and via what route. Usually, there’s not room to allow them to determine the ending by themselves – if you leave things too open-ended, then there is a real tendency for different opinions and ideas, at least one of which will be wildly wrong, to drag your warriors off-course and more often than not into a situation you’ll have to pull a few obvious tricks to drag them out of. On the other hand, you’ll notice I say “plot skeleton”, not “plot” – if you shut things off too much, then players will become bored very rapidly. Why not just write the whole thing yourself? You need to
i) Leave room for the players to interact. One of the most important things – often your players will have hidden agendas and motivations for their characters which will lead to interesting tensions within the group, adding another level of storytelling. This level can also start to interact with the main plot in fantastic ways – see both Mirroseth and Konrad’s actions at the “climax” of The World’s Edge.
ii) Leave all your plotlines neutral. Never write down “After the warriors do this and that” – you never know where they will take your plot. To shamelessly pinch material from the WHQ Roleplay book:

Case study: towards the end of the World’s Edge, I had never planned beyond the group meeting with the Kislevites, and (sic) “getting past horde, into hold”. When they got there, I developed some circumstances in which they could give themselves an edge and get into the hold, mainly according to their planning – I gave them a method of finding a minor weakness in one of their main enemies, mainly due to one of the warriors intelligently enquiring to find out whether this method was possible. You see, the players can actually tell you brilliant ways of getting things done! Furthermore, another character developed a fantastic plan of sneaking down, ambushing a Kurgan patrol and using their gear under cover of darkness to sneak past the opposing horde – which I duly ensured was possible. This is the critical difference between keeping your plot rolling along and spoon-feeding the warriors – they will give up in exasperation if you simply hand them a pre-fabricated set of actions which they MUST perform to succeed, whereas if you simply leave them adequate information and a relatively challenging objective, they will generally push your plot forwards for you, in a way that usually you would never have thought of.

However, that’s not to say you can leave it all to the players. As I said before, you need to provide the bare bones of the story – the beginning, the middle, the end. You need to decide on any major clues you’re going to give the warriors, and when you’re going to give them, and how. You need to develop any major NPCs before you actually introduce them to the warriors, and you need to place them in your plot. Without this kind of pre-game organisation, your RP can very quickly degenerate into a messy tangle. And if the players don’t have a clue where the adventure is taking them, they’re likely to become bored or frustrated. And then they stop posting…

2. Creating a world.

The players have not signed up to play a puzzle or logic game. As well as giving them challenges, goals and opponents, you have to immerse them in the alternative world. The whole idea of role-playing centres around acting as someone who you could never really be, in a world excitingly different from our own. So let them know they’re there! Players who only get to see what they’ve got to do, who’s stopping them and the things they have to let them do it, will at best react in a very mechanical way, performing the tasks as you would in a computer game. At worst, they’ll say “to hell with this” and fall inactive. Describe the scenery. Describe the NPCs. Describe the weather. Describe EVERYTHING, but don’t let it get too heavy-handed. No-one walks along the street making sure to see, smell, touch and hear everything on that street and mentally catalogue all that information – you want to create a general atmosphere without going over the top. If you’re going through a sweeping mountain pass studded with fortress-towers, that might warrant a paragraph or so of description – if it’s an Altdorf back-alley, a line or two will do. I’ll do more on the dos and don’ts of evocative writing later on. The important thing here is to give an impression that there’s a world existing outside their “mission”. Don’t ever, EVER unless you absolutely HAVE TO, warn off the warriors directly – to filch WHQ advice once more,

3. Maintaining interest.

‘Fraid this isn’t anything like as artistic or fun as the other two – you need to make sure the players aren’t losing interest. That means running your RP in an interesting, fast-paced and exciting fashion, using the important techniques outlined above, AND chivvying people. People have a whole range of personal reasons for being inactive at one time or another – if their response is needed, then you need to make sure you can gently badger them into making the important posts anyway. Use the PM system. Post little OOC reminders when general posting seems to have fallen off. Here’s some more stolen stuff from WHQ (very useful, the WHQ roleplay book – if you can get your hands on a copy, I’d recommend it):

Something else you need to get the hang of: learn to recognise when people are waiting for other people, and learn to recognise when they’re actually waiting for the GM. Very basically (because all I can do is outline the crude symptoms, it’s a bit of a knack working this stuff out), if activity falls off after someone proposes doing something and a couple of people agree, or if it falls off after one or two posts in conversation with an NPC, then everyone’s staring at you, waiting for you to post. Don’t disappoint them ;).



3 most important things about RPing:

1. Developing your character

For those who read the GMing article above, you’ll notice what I said about not allowing the players to mechanically perform the tasks presented to them, and nothing else. Play a computer game if you want to do that. “Legend of Griselda” or whatever those jobbies are called. You should also be looking into developing your character – building along the same lines of your concept and his/her history to create a complex and involving personality. To this effect, avoid being one-dimensional – a character, for example, whose overwhelming single characteristic is, say, arrogance, gets VERY boring after a while. Work in believable aspects of character in believable magnitudes. Furthermore, don’t be afraid to break the mould – again, this is not a linear computer game. If you want to betray the group, betray them! If you have your own agenda, don’t be railroaded by the majority goals – pursue it! All you need is a motivation for your character to be actually working with (or, I suppose, covertly against) the group – to be physically with them and at least appearing to be on their side – and you can do whatever you want. Most GMs will actually enjoy this, especially if you actually keep them guessing as to what you’re up to. For a GM, a roleplay can at times take on the aspect of a chore, as they know what’s coming. It’s the players’ job to make things interesting and surprising for the GM as well. Case studies: Mirroseth in The World’s Edge, Vaclav in Storm Clouds over Middenheim (that was via PM, so I’ll tell you what happened – Vaclav was a vampire, working for ulterior motives. At one point, in the catacombs, a fellow party member was attacked by a giant spider, which poisoned him – Vaclav offered to take him back. I was convinced this was simply because the character was tired of going around dusty tunnels, being both fastidious, self-serving and slightly snobbish – as it turned out, he wanted to be rid of the party member [a witch hunter] before he could be found out by the plethora of methods and devices on the witch hunter’s person, and thus killed him and threw his body in a hole. Bit of a shock for me, and very fun).

2. Reacting well to GMing

If the GM gives you a big chunk of information, or an emphatic event, think hard about your choices. PLEASE, don’t just soldier on with your plan regardless, thinking of these things as obstacles – more often than not, when a GM has things attack or impede you, he’s trying to give you a message. In SCOM, when the group went down into the catacombs (something I desperately wanted to avoid), I decided the catacombs would be infested with monsters. A couple of encounters, I reasoned, would damage the group enough to convince them that going on would be suicide, and also bring across the message from me. Not so the bold warriors… they soldiered on, splitting up when they had to send people back for medical treatment and *shudder* going onto PM rather than using the thread (which is why the SCOM thread looks so titchy compared to TWE). This nearly killed the RP. Similarly, fights can be used to draw your attention to certain aspects of the plot, to get you thinking – why were those things there? What are they doing? Why did they attack us? Who’s organising this?

Fights are, of course, just one aspect. When a GM gives you a little plot spur, you’ll make him very happy and make the RP more fun if you seize on it rather than let it pass. Case study: The battered remnants of the free company in the World’s Edge. The warriors took that small amount of intriguing information and turned it into a brilliant chapter in the plot. That links in to what I said for GMs – that these plot spurs should be there for the warriors to build on.

3. Maintaining a little realism.
Do you know anyone whose every other sentence is something like “The foul beasts shall not live long – by my blade and my faith they shall fall until I fall myself!”

No?


Didn’t think so. If your warrior is constantly being melodramatic, he will begin to lose credibility and realism. Case study: Alric (LordKjarl’s character) in Felsenhausen during The World’s Edge. Save those big, dramatic lines for REALLY rare occasions – otherwise, try and keep your manner of speech relatively normal. Avoid clichés and melodrama. And while stereotypes can help in building the basics of a character, try to avoid being the stereotype of your role or race in every aspect. Sometimes it’s best to use indirect speech for really insignificant things, as well, if you can’t work out a way to say it that doesn’t sound too modern or too close to a hammed-up stereotype.

RIGHT: Jurgen waved an armoured hand at the passing innkeeper, calling out for more ale.

WRONG: “Ho, my good man!” roared Jurgen, the bluff White Wolf thumping one fist on the table as he lifted his empty stein. “More ale for us four! Killing orcs works up a terrible thirst, you know.”

Again, this is something that you’ll have to develop a knack for to avoid its more insidious forms – to get the best possible picture of what to avoid, try to think back to all those dreadful movies you must have watched if you're anything like me, with their cliched, impossible, one-dimensional characters and their stilted, hammed-up, laugh-out-loud "serious" dialogue. Any of the new Star Warses would be a good example... or if you've ever seen Kevin Cosner's "Robin Hood", that's even better. Sometimes something seems great on the first draft, but the second you read it back you realise it's pure Cosner...

2 most important things about writing:

1. Dynamism
This is most important when writing fight scenes, but is also important when writing about travel, and is generally a good thing to have at all times. Basically, read back over your text. Does it flow? If you were reading it out loud, how would it sound? Rhythm and punctuation are two closely interconnected things that are EXTREMELY important here. Read some poetry, why not (make sure it’s some that you don’t hate, which I appreciate may be difficult) to get an idea of what I mean when I say rhythm, and then water that down and transpose it onto prose.

When I said this was most important in fight scenes, I wasn’t joking. I’d actually put this at the top of my criteria when judging a fight scene – make the flow and emphasis of the words echo the action. Make everything seem to dance in your writing, use the natural beat of the language to imbue the scene with energy. I’m sounding like some New Age guru here and loathing it, so I’ll try again.

A good film with fights in has dramatic fights. A lot of people don’t like the reality of fighting, especially close to – vicious, uncontrolled movements, resulting very quickly in people going splat. That’s not what we’re looking to create here – we’re trying to create spectacles, big, exciting scenes inside the reader’s head. So think of a couple of people fencing, first. It’s almost like a dance, isn’t it? Watch their feet. They’re constantly moving. There is a lot of motion, and a lot of grace, in a skilled duel. Now add in, in your imagination, that these two are trying to kill each other, and instead of silly floppy wires they’re actually wielding some decent weapons, with weight and an edge. Got an idea now? Now go to an English Heritage event (if you don’t have English Heritage, go to French Heritage or what have you. And if your country isn’t old enough to have medieval re-enactment groups, then you’re a rebel colonial and I want you out of my thread, good sir! Out, I say!). Watch a good tourney, with skilled re-enacters, in progress. These guys aren’t exactly fighting like real knights – they’re semi-choreographed. That’s kind of what you’re aiming for. Finally, I’d recommend watching the fight between Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom towards the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean. It doesn’t matter what you think of the film, just watch that scene. Now you see what I mean about fights having a rhythm and pace? You need to transfer that to your writing. One final tip on dynamism, especially in fights – listening to the right kind of music can help a lot. I have the Pirates soundtrack, as well as the LotR soundtrack, on my hard drive. I tend to use Pirates for fights, with LotR for big villain fights (the music for Pellenor or the charge down towards Helm’s Deep) or epic-style travelling. I also have some Scottish traditional music which tends to be good for inns and the like, as well as a couple of songs which are great battle songs. Ah yes, and the Shrek soundtrack. I don’t know why I have that, but it has a few songs which are useful in this context. I also have The Producers and Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, but I wouldn’t recommend listening to either of those when writing a fight ;). So get some music that helps you, and play it while you write. If it works for me, I’d hope it’ll work for you too.

2. Suspension of disbelief

This is split into two bits: One, avoiding clichés and maintaining realism. Two, developing the world around the warriors. These are both things I’ve touched on before – here I’m going to apply them more generally, to show how both player and GM can use them, as well as giving detail on the specific literary devices that you can use to help you.

First of all, clichés and realism. I already mentioned this under character development – making a character realistic and believable, avoiding melodrama and cliché. For players, you can just skip down this, because later I’m going to detail some technical devices to help you achieve this. GMs, however, should keep reading straight ahead – this is something that applies equally to them.

NPCs seem so simple. They don’t require intensive roleplaying, they’re entirely under your control as GM. However, they are also a measure of how well you can produce a realistic “world’ around the players. Are all innkeepers rotund, red-faced and jolly? Are all mercenaries scarred, unshaven and smelling of alcohol? Obviously not. So make sure you don’t fall into the trap of mass-produced NPCs. Your players will notice this. Also, try with any NPC who’s going to have more than a couple of lines of dialogue to get behind at least a basic personality – NPCs must appear to be more than just part of the plot mechanism to be interesting and convincing. Without having him or her give an impromptu musical rendition of their life story, make the major NPCs act as much like real people as you can – if there’s something you need to be said, but your NPC would never say that in character, then you’d better find another way to let the warriors know it! Furthermore, all the stuff I said about avoiding melodrama and cliché in character dialogue earlier on applies just as much to Joe NPC. Make your NPCs seem real, rational people, with their own motivations and drives. There is nothing more transparently rubbish than the utilitarian, blank-faced NPC, only there to convey some information.

Expanding on this, avoid stereotypes in your settings and villains. Try to explore new aspects when you are writing about them – when I was composing the descriptive passages for the World’s Edge, I knew that everyone has seen the Peter Jackson-style mountains, and determined to work in some other elements – I emphasized the weather of the Storm of Chaos, and the terrain and scale of the foothills which the warriors were actually travelling in, using the Scottish Highlands of the West Coast as my model. Everyone knows the half-timbered inn populated by a mix of fantasy sorts – so explore different elements that you don’t see emphasised so much, giving a couple of lines or even a couple of words on the basic, well-known appearance so your players have a mental foothold before launching into something that the myriad of movies or standardized writing don’t bring across – the smell, say, that you would get from rushes on the floor. Heavy, stone walls and fortifications characterised my waystops in TWE, differentiating them by the necessities of their location – try to bring across the variety and infinite differences of a full-blown world by making sure you break any moulds you need to use in at least a couple of minor ways.

On to the general advice. Something I don’t mark but make notes on when evaluating characters is the user’s capacity for “triviality”. It sounds bad, but it’s actually a positive in my scheme – the idea is that some users have a far greater capacity for giving the little, non-dramatic moments to a character that make the entire thing seem more real. To help you get the idea, think about this: how many days do you get through without making a joke? Of course, the main emphasis of an RP has to be drama, tension and excitement – going overboard on this element will drive an RP on the rocks irrevocably. Anyone whose character starts making knock-knock jokes is going to be ostracised out of frustration. BUT people who can manage a bit of quiet humour, who have a talent for not hamming up dialogue and who can manage to make their characters talk in a casual way without resorting to modernisms tend to make some of the best GMs and players.

Another thing: read back over your text. I can’t emphasise with words how important this is – if something catches your eye as OTT, out of place or melodramatic, make sure you decide whether you get rid of it or not before you post. Don’t just ignore it. These things are the superglue-smeared speed-bumps on the road to a good RP.

Right. Suspension of disbelief. For those who haven’t heard this term before, it refers to the idea that when reading a story you don’t start thinking “That’s fiction”. The good story immerses the reader in its description and plotline, making it difficult for them to laugh at it or pick holes in it. So, you need to build a realistic world with realistic characters – as I’ve gone into many times now – and you need to make sure your writing doesn’t let you down.

A final word on realistic world before I go on to the writing point – use the senses. That’s one you hear time and time again, and I’m going to repeat it because it’s good advice. A movie can’t bring across smell and touch and taste – take advantage of that, because you CAN. Try and submerge the players in your world, giving them interesting little details, portraits and photographs out of the fantasy universe. Don’t burden your RP unduly with it – in the end, these are embellishments, not part of the story – but if they are worked in efficiently and elegantly they will really improve the quality of your game. Imagery and evocative writing are the most important things you can learn here – ask your English teacher about the different techniques of imagery, use the ones you like. I personally have my favourite sonic metaphor that I love to use in fight scenes – “the peal of striking weapons”. It’s great ‘cos it rhymes with “steel” ^_^ . It also, to my mind, conjures up a very vivid impression of the pell-mell chaos of a fight, the cacophony of striking steel and the disjointed scrapes and thuds of feet… marvellous :thumb:. Develop a few of your own favourites, find different ways of saying them to avoid repetition… it’s all good. Once you’re getting into imagery and metaphor, that’s when your writing begins to climb above the average line, generally.

My goodness, I’m into the technicalities of writing already. Alright, I’ll continue: SPELLING. No reader’s disbelief will remain suspended after hitting six spelling mistakes, I can tell you that. Every spelling mistake is a reminder that the writing isn’t real. Plus it looks amateurish. So, put your work on Word, set it to your correct version of English, and spellcheck. And THEN read it over, because the spellchecker couldn’t find its bottom with both hands… if it had hands. Not only will reading it over help you iron out the flow and pinpoint anything you’ve written that you’d actually like to change, but it takes very little time and will make sure your post is readable. Capitalise, and use more punctuation than just full stops. Commas are good – if you can use semicolons, colons and dashes, that’s even better. Try to use punctuation instead of font tools (bold, italics, underlining) to achieve emphasis on certain words and phrases – in creative writing, bold and italics and so on can look very artificial. Italics are good for non-spoken dialogue, e.g. schizophrenia or simply thoughts, but not too much else. I used bold to represent an unearthly voice once… I wasn’t sure how well that worked out, but in the end I suppose I could have done just as well or better by finding a non-repetitive way of reminding the players of the qualities of the voice in every episode where Vorbis spoke. In the end, whenever a player is conscious of the tools you’re using, you’re beginning to break up the old SoDB – so try and find a style that sounds and looks natural, and SPELL EVERYTHING CORRECTLY.

Hope I’ve helped (and I do realise I’ve written far too much to do anything of the sort – your eyes are probably bleeding),

LCP

If anyone else has an article that they made back when this idea was first passed around, or simply some pointers that they did not see covered in the above guides, go ahead and post them in here.