An Incredibly Useful Guide
to Role Playing Fun
1. Creating a Character
The current character list can be found here. Character descriptions should be posted only in the topic ABOUT THE CHARACTER LIST. Do not start a new topic to submit a description.
Please set out your character descriptions as shown below, and try to use correct spelling and grammar (believe me, it makes it a lot easier for the mods). If your character description is not set out correctly, it will not be added to the list and you will be asked to rewrite it.
Character name - preferably full name (your username) ~ A short description that might include year level, house (if a student), physical description, a short bio (no need to tell the whole life story), personality, other miscellaneous information, etc.
For example...
Jane Doe (mulgabillfromeaglehawk) ~ Jane is a rather slight, third year Hufflepuff. She has wide, blue eyes, a rather pointed nose and mousey hair. She can be depressingly cheerful and is rarely seen with her mouth shut. While she is rather talented in Potions and Herbology, she fails dismally at Transfiguration (much to her dismay, as she would love to become an Animagus). She is a half-blood, with a Muggle mother and a wizard father, who works in the Ministry as an Obliviator. Jane dreams of being transferred to Slytherin. She has a barn owl with beady eyes named Simon Crean.
A couple of things that should be noted: We don't allow people to "own" book characters. They are common property, and generally would not appear in the role-play - with the exception of teachers, who have an annoying tendency of popping up wherever they're least wanted (or so my character Meg tells me :P). This isn't to say your character can't be related to a book character, though we would advise against it as it can cause problems - and, if you're intending on playing Harry's long-lost-sister, don't be surprised when you meet his son, great-granddaughter, second cousin, brother-in-law...
Try to be original with your character and give them flaws as well as attributes. They don't have to be perfect - don't need to have unnatural beauty, an amazing history or fantastic powers - to be a great character. In fact, characters with faults are much more believable than the much-hated Mary Sues, and generally far more interesting. I hope you don't feel that I'm trying to stop you from giving your character a cool bio or whatever, because I'm not. But if you're just giving your character (for example) air elemental powers because you want to feel important, that's just stupid. You don't need powers to be a valuable part of the RPG.
Your character does not need to be a student or teacher. You could create a Muggle character, if you like, or a ghost, a vampire, a Ministry member, Death Eater, evil-bad-guy, Saint Mungo's resident, someone who sells second-hand, flimsy-bottomed cauldrons in Knockturn Alley... you get the picture. You could even do a crossover, and use a character from another book/movie/TV series (for example, a while back iluvharry had a character - Erin, I believe her name was - who was an Elf from Middle-Earth, and a looooong time before that, eek was conducting FBI interviews ~.^).
2. Role-Playing
There�s really no right or wrong way to roleplay (well, for the most part), however here we tend to roleplay in third person, and in story form, like so:
"Cliodna's cauldron!" Meg moaned, collapsing into a squashy crimson armchair by the fire...
People roleplay in both past or present tense. Neither of these is wrong, it�s really just a matter of which you prefer.
The Dos and Don'ts of Topic Creation
Do use your imagination. Think outside the square. Go anywhere! Do anything! The more wild, new, original - the better! In the time I've been in Role Playing Fun, we've had characters being transported to the ever-shifting Chateau... uh, Castle of Nightmares, propelled into alternate realities, sent back in time (1871 - good year), caught under an old curse, forced to dream dreams as real as the waking world, break a pair of supposed friends out of Azkaban,
accidentally sent back to a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, banish a powerful Chaos Demon, meet the Queen of the merpeople in Hogwarts lake, discover a link between Ollivander and Tom Riddle (whoa, that was way back when), find a
Basilisk's egg, get caught in a bus crash, realise that Hogwarts is actually a castle within a larger castle, attempt to save a village trapped by ancient magic - even survive a Yule Ball! Crossovers are fine - anything is fine, so long as it's got something to do with Harry Potter (the fact that the characters are wizards is not sufficient, by the way). The more magical, the more original, the better. However...
Don't restrict yourself to adventures. You can still have heaps of fun in the confines of your
common room, dorm, classroom, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley... If you want to write about a perfectly ordinary and 100 per cent non-adventurous day at Hogwarts - provided there's not already one in
existence - go for it!
Do think before you post. Two or three sentences is not a sufficient length for a topic starter. You don't necessarily need to ramble on for as long as I tend to, but make it at least two good-sized paragraphs.
Don't centre every topic around yourself and your own characters. This isn't totally out of the question, it's fine once in a while but seriously, after a while people may just get sick of hearing "The Truth About Meg", "Meg's Day Out", "The Meg Dynasty", "Meg Once Again is Accosted by Evil Bad Guys", "The Incredible Sufferings and Woes of Meg"... etc, etc.
Don't post threads devoted to introducing a new character. You may introduce your Characters in The Great Hall. This is a non-adventure thread. You don't need to read it and can jump in at any time.
Do make sure that your topic isn�t too similar to any current topics. For example, if there�s a Yule Ball thread, don�t go off and post "The Christmas Eve Ball".
Don't post too many topics/post topics for the sake of it. Yes, I know your head is bursting with ideas and you just don't know which one to start with, but one or two every month or so is really all we need, or else the forum gets crowded. As for posting topics for the sake of it, well, unless you enjoy having your eyes gouged out with a screwdriver I would advise against it.
Do keep it in the world of Harry Potter. This doesn�t mean it�s gotta be set in one of the locations in the books � it doesn�t even have to be set on this earth, if you don�t want it to! � but just remember that this is a Harry Potter RPG.
Don't be intimidated. Of course, we oldbies are all big and scary when hiding behind our user name and four/five digit post counts, but once upon a time we were na�ve annoying newbies, and if you don�t believe me and want proof you can even come and see how we used to make idiots of ourselves in the topic archive.
Do try to use proper spelling and grammar. Nobody�s asking you to be perfect, but just try to be a bit aware.
3. Spam
Spam (n.) ~ 1. canned, regurgitated dog food which is unfit for human consumption. 2. the equivalent of it in writing.
Basically, spam is the undesirable stuff. Topics that have nothing to do with roleplaying, with the odd exception, are spam. Topics which advertise other messageboards/websites, etc. are spam. Roleplaying topics which are not in accordance with the rules (for example, a character intro topic) can be classed as spam, too. If you�re not sure whether your topic is spam or not, wait 24 hours and if it�s not there anymore or it�s locked, it was spam.
4. Important note on newbies
Newbie (according to Wolf) - 1) Someone who is unfamiliar with the way the boards work. 2) Someone who judges other members based on post count, status, or the length of time they have been on the boards or at a certain place 3) In RPF, someone whose posts contain no relevancy, has an extremely Mary-Sueish character, and/or does not attempt to improve themselves. 4) Some one who does not follow proper
grammar and spelling and uses an excessive amount of net slang.
[Newbie probably comes from new member, but it's a shortened version. It used to mean someone who was new to the boards, but it is more appropriately defined above, even though many (not all) newbies do fit the original definition. The word often has a negative connotation.]
Basically, this says that just because someone is new, they don't have to be a newbie. I've seen people with 1000 posts and more act like "newbies." This is for both older and newer members so pay attention. If a new poster proves him/herself, he/she should not be called a newbie.
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