Forum Roleplay Rules

[Telanir 6432]

Forum Roleplay Rules

Engaging & Quality Roleplay on LotC | Nov 22nd, 2019

Roleplay here is about immersing yourself in the LotC Story. It is the primary way we weave and craft an intricate and fascinating experience. And, of course, forum roleplay is no exception. Forum roleplay serves an important purpose as it helps us build a sense of ongoings in out-of-character—but also, it opens the doors to your roleplay events for those of us who may not share timezones or schedules. The forums are open to a broader audience and enable the community to stay up to date with upcoming events, changes in politics, or fascinating stories outside of their roleplay circle.

 

With this in mind, we must follow a few core rules when roleplaying on the forums:

1. Your posts should primarily consist of roleplay. If your reply is only OOC, then the entire reply should be in a spoiler. The content should be character-related and PG-13 and try to incorporate emotes and dialogue.
   1. You may only use characters which you control & play.
2. Avoid “memeing” in roleplay, or trollplay. The roleplay should correspond to server lore and outside references should be kept to OOC sections. Low-effort posts which do not contribute any character development or compelling value to the thread will be removed.
   1. Please keep OOC content within spoilers (or made clearly distinct from RP content), especially videos and pictures that don’t pertain to the roleplay.

Trollplay        Using roleplay to mask out-of-character messages and intentions, especially in low-effort content and “laffs, goofs, & gaffs”. Trollplay, a form of concealed metagaming, pulls your personal self into the in-character world and often in a manner that undermines the story.

3. You must obtain consent from the player of a specific character to write a post regarding their death.

 

Please also keep in mind a few tips to promoting quality in your roleplay:

• Focus on the action within your post, instead of thinking try to show what that looks like! Your character isn’t just “angry”—their face flushes, their grip hardens, their eyes fixate and stare. Show it!
  • Try to keep “thinking” out of your roleplay. No other character knows what your persona is thinking—and they can’t use it!
• Describe your character! Try to avoid anonymous character posts, but, if you do exclude their name then paint a visual for your audience! 
• A 1-2 sentence roleplay reply is difficult to write in an engaging way and unlikely to promote any character development. It may work for certain cases, but oftentimes it just generates low-effort content.
• Keep IC problems & beef in-character! Some roleplay threads can become heated but it is important to remember that we’re playing a game and we’re here to have fun. OOC arguments have no place in an IC thread, so talk it over in private!
  • Targeting players but masking it in “roleplay” also counts as trollplay.