Basics of Roleplaying

**Clagius** · April 16, 2012, 08:41 AM

Roleplaying, as the name describes is taking a role of the character with character's own emotions, reactions and such. (not your own!) It is important to show off your emotions, and act as a character, if not, you just notice you are being yourself with a different role.

Now I will explain some basic terms, which are not familiar to some players.

OOC - Out of Character; This is the 'real world', everything that is OOC is nothing of your character and you can use abbreviations and such in OOC.

IC - In Character; This is your character's world, roleplaying. Everything that happens IC, is for your character, and for your character only. OOC is not to be taken to IC, nor should you anger or anything about IC issues, like if you are offended in roleplay; do not anger over it.

MG - Metagaming; Using OOC information IC, and vice versa. For example, if you read something that someone had done ICly, but your character does not know it: your character doesn't know it even if you do yourself. This is very important, since people get unfairly advantages for doing this; and this is forbidden to do. Another example; if you see some people roleplaying and telling each other their names; you can't just pop in and say "Hello (name) and (name)." You must been there to know their names.

PG - Powergaming; This means doing something that you couldn't do. Like, "Bob jumped to moon and landed without injuries upon his arrival." This is not possible (unless the rules say so), and is not allowed and usually moderators will clear such things up; but it is forbidden. Also powergaming can be similiar to metagaming. Some people may read about a hidden army in the forest for example and then send there a spy and march up with their own and kill them. This is not allowed. Also, harming another player without any attempts (not giving a chance to react for the opposite side) is highly, forbidden.

**Majonga** · April 16, 2012, 08:47 AM

God Modding - Another forbidden action that is similar to Powergaming.

http://malkavian.wikidot.com/godmodding

Godmodding occurs when a character describes an event or a series of events he or she has taken against a player character in the RPG, with the person who plays the character acted against then describing actions taken that completely nullify the original actions against them. Godmodding is thus used like a "Get Out of Jail Free card" when things don't go the way a player wants, rather than working with previously unfolded events. It is also used as a single word definition of having an invincible character or unbreakable armor, limitless power, etc. For example, the following exchange would be godmodding on the part of player A:

* Player B states, "Having exploited A's mistake and caught hold of him, B strikes A."
* Player A states, "B completely missed A, and A takes no damage."

Godmodding at the expense of others

Godmodding can also refer to the case where a player describes the outcome of their own actions against another character. For example, player A stating, "A strikes B and B takes damage" would be considered godmodding on the part of player A in most situations. Another less common version of this is when a character is facing multiple enemies, and he directs an attack from one foe into another foe. This takes the format 'Player B states, "A misses B completely, and strikes C instead."'

**Clagius** · April 16, 2012, 09:31 AM

Powergaming means the same thing; attacking another player without attempt includes to it.

**Majonga** · April 16, 2012, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by Clagius

Powergaming means the same thing; attacking another player without attempt includes to it.

I posted it because I thought that your explanation of Powergaming didn't cover the fact that you can't make actions for another player or use another players character without their consent. Which is often termed as Godmodding, although the quotation that I used perhaps didn't put that point forward clearly.

**Clagius** · April 16, 2012, 10:17 AM

Ah yes, it did. I forgot to mention it myself, editing main post.

**Bonez** · April 16, 2012, 12:25 PM

Great job, I'm going to sticky this for new players to read so that we (hopefully) won't have many characters using LW play style.

**Bjorn** · April 16, 2012, 12:37 PM

One thing I think must be reminded, that is paramount in a Westeros setting is that: Characters must be flawed. We not only should disencourage Mary Sue characters, but overall "im a nice guy" characters. They should be rare. People in Westeros are not black and white.