2017-08-09 01:15:49

Fair warning to you all-- this is a novel of a post. It's huge. The reason I decided to write it out was simple. I noticed a lot of confusion revolving around the topic of RPing, so I figured I'd give as in-depth an explanation I could on the concept. Read at your own risk.

As an avid gamer, i'm always gaming in a variety of ways. Whether i'm playing resource management games, text based MMOs, side-scrolling arcade games, first-person shooters, or a hell of a lot of tabletop dice rollers, i'm always playing something. However, one particular form of gaming that i've become quite accustomed to enjoying is the role-playing game. But what exactly is role-playing, and what is a roleplaying game?

    In it's simplest terms, roleplaying games are exactly as they sound. They're games in which the players assume the role of a fictional character within a fictional setting, and create a narritive for entertainment . They come in a variety of forms. From text based forum posts like the one you're reading right now, to MUDs like Alter Eon, and even through audio games like Survive the Wild. It's popular among blind and sighted communities a like, and is totally open to people of all skill levels. Casuals, hardcore players, anyone and everyone in between. It's a concept that dates back to tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, the Call of Cthulu, Pathfinder, etcetera, but what exactly is it all about?

     Fun is the goal

    Whether you're a group of scavengers upon a stallward space frigate mining for minerals, soldiers on the run from bloodthirsty robots, or survivors waging a war of attrition against an endless zombie horde, you all have one thing in common. You're having fun! Ultimately, the reason people roleplay is because they're looking for a little bit of fun in their life. Some individuals want to accomplish a goal for themselves-- reach the highest level, beat the final boss, and explore every inch of the games they play. Others take it a step further, and enjoy that game on a different level with their own narritive and characters thrown into the mix.

    Take swamp, for example. The game in and of itself is great-- level progression, a horde of enemies to slay, a series of huge and accessible maps to explore, and a difficulty and learning curve that's up there with the best of them. As you level up and slay the horde, you can actually feel your progress in your hands, especially in the first few missions you get under your belt. But the longer you play the game, the more routine it becomes. Death becomes less frequent, you learn the layout of the maps, and you discover which weapons are the most effective at maintaining your survival. However, one can really experience a lot of what the game has to offer relatively quickly if one really wanted to. Though the story is there, it's very light. You get a brief glimpse of what the world has become in the wake of the zombie apocalypse, but not much more than the brief snippets you read inside of the safe zones, outposts and forts. I personally love a story in a game, light or not. The bits that were there got my imagination going, and as the game began to lose it's appeal for me, I started a new character and began playing the game in a bit of a different way.

    With this character, i've taken to attempting to experience this game in a different light. Not from the perspective of myself, at my computer, playing the game and levelling up, but as my own character within the narrative of the world. He's human; Isaac has his own past, experiences, and problems alongside the ever-present infected. In addition to playing out the personality of this character to the best of my ability, I tend to add a few more self-set rules into the equation as well. To use a brief example, Isaac is a human being, and in real life, human beings can't efficiently travel while carrying 16 weapons and several thousand rounds of ammunition. So, I limit myself to what I think Isaac is capable of carrying as the individual he is. He usually sticks to the shopkeeper's glock, an old (yet serviceable) Remmington 30-06 rifle, and a sledgehammer in the event that something gets too close. Believe it or not, actively playing in a limiting fashion like this, challenging as it may be, adds so much more depth into the gameplay. Obviously rules like that aren't for everybody, but I've always gotten a certain satisfaction out of it when I'm able to challenge myself in this manner and successfully overcome the odds. Immersing myself in this game from the perspective of this character is just fun for me. It's nice to escape my own relatively mundane life for a change and step into the shoes of what, to my perception, is an interesting character who has an interesting story to tell. I do this out of my love for the game i'm playing, and out of the desire to get as much out of it as possible. It's a little bit different than what i'm used to, considering i'm roleplaying with a smaller group of people, but things definitely get a lot more fun when more people are involved, getting just as immersed in their characters as I am. Some of the most fun i've had while gaming was while roleplaying with a group of six or seven different people. Unfortunately, I haven't really found that group of people here in the audio games community as of yet.

    Though I digress; Every roleplaying game (or Roleplay for short)  is different, and every roleplayer has different tastes in gaming-- it's simply all about what you want to get out of a game. Usually, the players agree to a list of do's and dont's for the sake of entertainment before a roleplay begins, but these rules vary from group to group. Some individuals place more thought into their set of rules whilst others are more relaxed. Ultimately, the way gamers play their respective games is always up to them. The prodominant rules of thumb within the roleplaying communities i've been a part of is always to treat others as you'd like to be treated yourself, be cool like The Fonz, and above all else, have fun with it!

    So now that you have a brief idea of what roleplaying is all about, there's just a few short things I'd like to slap onto the bottom of this post for reference purposes. In my hopes that I've gathered a little attention, and perhaps sparked an interest in roleplaying in some of you, here's a brief explanation of some common roleplaying terminology.

OOC: Stands for, "Out of character". Out of character chat is exactly what it sounds like-- it's you, the player, speaking outside of the context of your character. OOC chatter is the basis of a roleplay's functionality, and all of the details of the roleplay itself are established out of character. A few good examples of OOC conversation are as follows:

    "Where's the entrance to M1?"

"Anyone know where the better loot drops are on this map?"

IC: Stands for, "In character." In character chatter is words spoken from your own character's point of view. In the terms of an audio game, Survive the Wild is the best example of a game that distinguishes out of character chatter from In character. The IC chat, your radio, acts as your character's connection into the desolate, strange  world you've found yourself in. Where the OOC chatter is full of people asking for assistance, or just having general conversations from player to player, the IC on the radio is specifically meant for roleplaying your character. It's a bit harder to give a concrete example as to what IC conversations look like, but it's relatively easy to understand. Any sort of dialogue that maintains the immersion of the narrtive, like the dialogue between your character and other roleplayers, is in-character. IC dialogue is from the character's perspective-- You want to do your best to portray the emotions of your character in response to a situation that they're in. Isaac is going to be more panicked and hasty when he's surrounded by the infected. If someone fires off their assault rifle while they're in the center of the horde, he's going to get pissed off at them and start screaming-- his life is now at stake, after all. When you're in character, death is an ever present threat. When you die in real life, you don't respawn, do you?

    CS: Stands for, "Character skeleton" or, "Character Sheet". Though not always used, a CS is a brief summary about who your character is. Isaac's CS would look something like this.

    Name: Isaac Hawthourne

Age: 26

Gender: Male

Physical description: (This is usually done as a short paragraph, but for the purposes of this example, i'll simplify it into a list. )

    Height: Six  feet, three inches (6'3)

Weight: Two hundred pounds (200 lbs.)

Hair: Shoulder-length, shaggy and dirty looking, colored black.

Eye color: Green

Other: (Any other aspects of the character's appearance you'd like to note. Piercings, tattoos, physique, etc.)

Personality: (Usually, one should do their best to give a brief snapshot into interacting with the character)
    Isaac is a snarky, smart-mouthed and jaded individual. Before the infection, he was definitely what one would call an outgoing and friendly person, but in the wake of the apocalypse, he's become a little bit more hollow. He's aware that at any moment, any of the people he's living alongside could be struck down and rise again as a shambling flesh-eater. As a result, he's taken to distancing himself from people to a certain extent. He's no stranger to casual conversation, but his words are usually accented in the tones of cynical nialism that most of the survivors of the plague have adopted. He does his best to remember who he was before the infection, and has a tendency to make references to classic films and comedies rather frequently. All in all, Isaac's a likeable, decent man if you take the time to warm up to him. It's just a little bit hard to see through the shell of sarcastic pessimism he's wrapped around himself.

History: (As it sounds, a brief snapshot of the character's past.)
    Isaac was a car salesman before the virus began to sweep throughout the swamps. It was a modest living, but provided for his needs adequately enough. He had dreams of bigger and better things-- a family. A business. A future. But all of that changed with the plague. They were everywhere, and everything that made them human was abandoned in the wake of their insatiable hunger. All he could do was run. He wasn't a fighter, he wasn't a badass, he just wanted to be safe. The military funnelled civillians from the more populus areas of the city and out toward a secure little general store near the outskirts of town, and that's how Isaac ended up where he did. He was scared, he was unprepared, and he didn't know what to do. But so was everybody else that was crammed into that store. As the days piled up and the infected kept on coming, supplies were dwindling and it became rapidly apparent to the meager group of survivors that somebody would have to venture out of the safe zone in search of something. , Whether it was weaponry, ammunition, food, water, gasoline, or anything else, The shelves had long since began to empty and more and more survivors kept wandering into the store seeking refuge. It was then that Isaac realized that he had to do something. Whether he risked his life or not, he'd be damned if he was going to just curl up fearfully and die. So, armed with a glock that the shopkeeper had kept under the counter for protection, and a weathered old axe he'd brought along from his old home, Isaac ventured off into what the world had become.

GM/DM: Stands for, "Game Master" or, "Dungeon Master" alternatively. This is the individual who is in charge of the game. Sometimes, the DM also plays a character in the narrative, and usually they do. However, the DM's true duty is to settle disputes over characters, enforce the rules of the game, and in most cases, ensure that the narrative continues to move along at a smoothe, enjoyable pace. At times this role is divided amongst a small group of people, usually between 2-4 depending on the size and scope of the roleplay in question, but more often than not a single DM will suffice. In certain situations, it's not necesary whatsoever! But I avidly stand by the principle of at least one player taking the role of the DM in any given roleplaying session. That way, everybody involved has the greatest potential to have fun with it.

    Well, that's about all I can think of for now. Questions and comments are greatly encouraged, and I'll edit things into this post as I see fit to make sure that the greatest explanation possible is given. Thanks for sticking through to the end guys!

2017-08-09 05:55:45 (edited by Haramir 2017-08-09 05:56:40)

Swagtastic, nice work out there. I sort of had an idea, not sure how catastrophic may it be. But what if we recruit people whiling to participate in  a forum driven narrative? We can use this topic to decide who's going to join us, what rules, if any, would be used, and create another topic either somewhere else, or here at the audiogames.net forums to start playing. What say you?
Best regards, Haramir.

The true blind is the one who refuses to see.

2017-08-09 07:20:16

most of the players use OOC chat to insult others and say words like ba**s f**ck you and...

how's the online version of swamp? is it good?

2017-08-09 07:34:35 (edited by Swagtastic 2017-08-09 07:42:08)

Haramir wrote:

Swagtastic, nice work out there. I sort of had an idea, not sure how catastrophic may it be. But what if we recruit people whiling to participate in  a forum driven narrative? We can use this topic to decide who's going to join us, what rules, if any, would be used, and create another topic either somewhere else, or here at the audiogames.net forums to start playing. What say you?
Best regards, Haramir.

Thanks, really appreciate tha compliment. I'm not exactly feeling quite up to a forum based RP right now-- i'm a bit tapped out on them. But my feelings on these things change pretty frequently, so I might be up for one in the future. In the mean time I can reccomend you to a pretty good website that's chock full of people blind and sighted alike who love forum RPing.

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/


AlirezaNosrati wrote:

most of the players use OOC chat to insult others and say words like ba**s f**ck you and...

how's the online version of swamp? is it good?

It seems people's experience with the STW chat seems to vary. People dont' take it very seriously, but I don't think it's bad. I've been trying to look for people to roleplay with me on that game since I downloaded though. No such luck yet, unfortunately.

In regard to swamp, I think the online is brilliant. The chat's not incredibly active, and it's definitely not active in terms of roleplay, but I find a person who goes along with it every now and again. I usually just RP on a different radio channel than the standard. In terms of gameplay, the missions are fun if you find the right people to do them with. I'd say it's worth the cash, but it's not a game that I can play endlessly in it's base form. I had to give it my own polish to make it more replayable.

2017-08-09 08:38:29

Hi Swagtastic.
Thumbs up for a great summary,  you might consider putting together an article on this subject for our articles room.

I confess for myself, I have been a little spoiled in rp terms by getting used to tabletop games with a gm, which tend to mean when I play rpgs I am more interested in roleplay by exploration of the games' world and mechanics than rping with other actual humans.

This is for two principle reasons.
In a tabletop game, the gm can make the story and  evolve around your characters.
For example in a 7th sea game I played last year, we  to actually go and find the authorities when we found a conspiracy at a nobleman's house rather than storm straight in, so the gm had us jumped in the woods  mysterious henchmen and injured to the point where it was clear we had to finish the conspiracy before the conspiracy finished us big_smile.

An online rp world does not have that flexibility in it's plot. Suppose for example in a swamp mission, you might decide that the warehouse is too full of zombies to risk going in via the front door, and so decide to ram raid the area where most supplies are stored with your truck instead.
A human gm, since they are as flexible as you are can go along with these things, whether in major changes in plot, or just in some idea you have of an alternative way to combat your enemies, ---- eg, in our last 7th sea game my character (a magic user), used an oil lamp and torch to light a trail of burning oil across the mouths of a couple of caves containing vampires so that we weren't attacked by a hord  minerd minions  while the fighters in our greep kept the main boss busy.

This is of course where free form mushes and forum based rp do have the advantage, though there is a second problem, that of significance.

In a tabletop game, the gm can make sure to play all the miner npcs necessary for a story. All the shop keepers, news reporters, school mates, villains' henchmen etc.  since online mmorpg worlds are full of a bunch of human players, all of whom want to be a significant character of some sort, there isn't generally a room for npcs  exist  as side players in the individual story  a set group of characters, ---- not unless (as sadly does happen), the gms of the mud or online world basically revolve their game and the evolution of its events around a few very high level players.

This is why I personally tend to view role playing computer games, even those that are online, as basically my own solo exploration of the games' world. They are a chance for me to play a character who explores the world, does quests, helps people out and is an over all hero. This is why I will level and improve my stats and explore and find new items, to go and see more of the world and do more significant deeds. It does not matter to me that the people I am a hero to are mostly code in the background of the game, I still myself just enjoy the story, the atmosphere and the chance to explore.

that is why for me, interaction with other human players is waaaaay down on the list. I will say hi and  courteous in ooc channels, and I will share ooc quest info and tips if I can and maybe even drop off a helpful item or spellup, but I just don't have much interest in trying to chat to people in character or playing my character as a real person, just one among millions of other online players all doing the same thing.

Of course, this is just me, I know there are others who feel differently, and there are certainly games that cater to enough tastes out there.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-08-09 15:54:10

Lol my dm is funny. I play a monk in a dnd setting. I was practicing my kata in the house of a noble whom we were traveling with and she had for kicks a maid dump a chamber pot on me ass i was practicing lol it's little random things like that that makes tabletop fun.

2017-08-09 17:49:57

Hello folks! Swagtastic, thanks for the link, I'll have a look.
Best regards, Haramir.

The true blind is the one who refuses to see.

2017-08-10 14:09:59

hello everyone, I saw this thread and just thought I'd weigh in here since this is a topic that peaks my interest thoroughly which is why I became a mudder in I believe 2009 or so. The reason I love roleplaying so much is because it quite literally allows you to do things and go places you would never even think of doing or going in real life. On that knote, when I play roleplaying games, and by the way, I would love to play dungeons and dragons, but the audio chat room has gone away and they just haven't brought it back which stinks. As I was saying though another reason I love roleplaying so much is because it allows you to think such things as hmm, if I had powers and abilities like this in real life, what would I do with them? how would I use them? for example, when I play some sort of mud, I never ever ever play an evil character. I'm always the guy wielding the sword and on the side of law and order. Usually the paladin or warrier, and if the world allows it, a warrier mage wielding both sword and magic proficiently. Another plug here, I absolutely love anything that iron realms entertainment does because their muds are so in depth and well written, and you can really do a lot in their worlds and I'm looking forward to seeing starmourn come out. In achaea for example, my character is a paladin named quanshee. Well that's my two cents for what they're worth, this is a fun topic. Would it be cool if I shared my experiences in achaea as the character quanshee? that is, it would be Quanshee speaking and sharing his life here. Let me know, and if it's not cool that's okay too if you'd rather I create a separate thread for that.

2017-08-10 16:46:27

"Karate25, I'd be interested in hearing your iron realms experiences, both ic and oc, since I've heard various different opinions about their muds and a new take would be nice, though perhaps a separate thread  be handy for that since this one is more about rping in general than the iron realms muds in particular.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-08-11 08:02:34

Wow. Big thumbs up for the first post. It's really explained well...

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2017-08-12 15:18:08

the problem i have with tabletop is a lot of the books are not in an accessible format so it's hard for me to learn the system. any thoughts? I'm mentaly looking at dark when i ask this since he seems to be big into tabletop. lol.

2017-08-13 05:09:23

Well on the one hand Michael you can get books as pdfs, though last I tried to read one of those stat tables were a bit of a pest to convert which isn't what you want for an rpg source book.

However to be honest you'd be amazed how many roleplayers come to the table not! knowing the books by heart, indeed the better ones tend to be the ones who don't and pick up system as they play, using the system to enhance what their character does rather than trying to minimax everything into next week.
I did this for 7 years in our weekly Mutants and masterminds game and I've done it in the 7th sea games I played, and so long as your able to pick up things like combat mechanics fairly quickly its not an issue.

This also isn't something that is unique to visually impared players either, last year our gm wanted to run 3rd edition 7th sea, which he had the book to but nobody else did. We discussed character concepts over lunch, then statted characters in a phone call a couple of days before we started playing (it was a long weekend game), and on that occasion everyone! was picking it up as we went along.

I was particularly pleased how well my lady took to things as someone who hasn't done any role playing before, either tabletop or even with a game, indeed she wasn't exactly certain what role playing was until  explained it, but as someone who is a gifted actress she took to it like a nyad to water big_smile.

The main problem with tabletop games actually is just finding somewhere to do it! I was lucky firstly in that I was at a university, and secondly in that a good friend of mine is a serious larp fan, and some of her larp friends also ran a tabletop game, which was the one I mentioned playing for 7 years. Unfortunately, with the gm now being a father of a rambunctious two year old, we don't have weekly games anymore, ---- though I can say our mutants campaign ended most amazingly!
My lady and I are moving house and again we  to locate some people through friends of friends and find a game running where we're going.

Sadly, most hobby shops now that used to advertise rp sessions and run  games are these days much more about the tabletop war games and collectable card games, and actual tabletop role playing seems to have fallen off, or while shops still sell the source materials, they don't promote or run the games anymore.


This is rather irritating, given that tabletop role playing is %100 accessible, while ccgs and war games are most definitely and assuredly not!
If were feeling cynical I'd say this is of course because having to constantly buy packs  collectable cards to duel with or models to war game with is more lucrative for the shops, so they just those in order to hook more people and make money, which, like the huge graphics in game monsters puts blind people out in the cold once more, ---- insert rant on evils of capitalism!

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)