A Glass of Blood Wine with Lady Julnara

Greetings Venexia,

While admiring the exquisite Roman Baths sparkling with Blood ..They are Gorgeous !

I, Lady SeaBreeze was taken by a striking female vampire, Lady Julnara, who was quietly enjoying

her very own glass of Blood Wine, observing the beauty of the evening in

this magniffiant city ,outside the Caffe Grand .

We had a most refreshing exchange in character .

This led to a friendly exchange in OCC.

Our topic was : The delight of good role play character dialog .

You see,the creators of These Sims have gone to great lengths and out of their way to present

guide lines for all .. They have created an amazing stage, given us all a

World wide venue for all to interact in and with. Including, Note Cards on every and any topic,

 The elders to help and advise all .

What is often lost and does Make the difference between Great and Good in role play

is truly respecting not only the space but,  the many characters around you .

Sure you might have a grand story line and a mission .

However with out the support of others, how far shall you and your character go ?

At Best in that moment?

The key is long term role play and achievements..

*** Respect and interaction flexabitity with all is Key***

Below is a well thought out outline written by Lady Julnara'

I asked her permission to share with all ..

Why ?  Real Simple !  Because it is good stuff !!

Good material and guides are always helpful .

My humble opinion . Thank you for your time

Please Enjoy your evenings and adventures !!!

Lady Julnara sips her blood wine out side the Caffe Grande.

No one knows all , and one would hope each of us are open to,reviews

perhaps learning some new venues, researching and reading to expand ourselves .

A Roleplay guide

written by Lady Julnara

Introduction to role play
Role play is the impersonation of a fictional character within the context of a time and place, collaboratively with others in a setup developing with the characters to where it may yet with the consent of the participants and the moderators of the realm.

The purpose of role play is the fulfillment with the story line and collaborative creativity through the input of the participants. Depending on individual discretion actions are limited towards the participants within their acceptable moral code and liking. And though the story might turn against one's own planning it yet requires open mindedness to accept the developments of the events based on the impersonated characters. Bottom line, the whole thrill in role play is living a chosen character with it's strengths and weaknesses experiencing its accomplishments and failure within a random community who share the same neutrality towards the story and it's outcomes.

Role play Mechanics

1- Character Creation (Human beings)
The basis of any entertaining role play is building a well defined character,

 with particular strengths and weaknesses that reveal within the scenes of the story.
Some strengths are obvious and predefined like physical strength,

 others are revealed within the story like speed, intelligence or cunning
There are several aspects of each character which are not obligatory or limiting to role play realms.

 Some realms are about physical violence, others could be a political dilemma,

 but down under are the four basic and more general ones.

Physique (Physical strength, stamina, endurance, speed, intimidation) Power - Fear
Mentality (Logic, analysis, planning, lying, argument, knowledge) Leading - Following
Sociability (Connections, making friends, luring strangers, requesting favors, gossip,

information gathering, entertainment) - Attraction - Repultion
Spirituality (Supernatural powers with consent depending on the role play,

ultra knowledge, discernment, magic) Foretelling - Believing

One way to balance your character personally or within your community

 is the points system which varies from a community to another.
Let's assume there are three levels of each trait (Minimum - Moderate - Maximum)
Minimum = 1 point
Moderate = 2 points
Maximum = 3 points
And each character has 8 points to spend on those 4 traits

with a minimum of one point to the least trait

Example, the barbarian warrior:
Physique: maximum

(Able to win against physical threats that are within his size or smaller yet could render him equivalent to a very fast enemy or one that is cunning)
Mentality: moderate

 (Has fair perception of matters yet could fall to mind tricks or manipulations)
Sociability: moderate (Might not be popular enough to make enough friends to support him in need yet has few that he can trust)
Spirituality: minimum

(Could be defenseless against spiritual powers or subject to follow a spiritual leader or even misguided by them since his discernment is very low)

Another example: the temple temptress
Physique: minimum

(would likely loose physical confrontations against higher physique characters)
Mentality: moderate

 (Able to justify her logic yet not perfect leaving some clues for her intentions)
Sociability: maximum

(Charming in nature and very well connected, could influence others to do her some services)
Spirituality: moderate

 (Has a fair sense of purpose justifying her actions yet follows a stronger spiritual character)

This is one of the several ways to help you think as realistic as possible of your character making you avoid issues like 'god moding' and voiding the scene for yourself and those involved.
Please note that those traits are not to be made public before the scene, let them reveal themselves within your actions and let the participants figure out your personality and try to work around your strengths if they are your adversaries, this is one of the true pleasures of the role play specially if those traits reveal slowly over few scenes and not all of them at once.

Creating Characters (Animals, fantasy or supernatural)
This is very flexible depending on the simulation, yet one rule stays still. Every character or creature must have it's own failings and weaknesses other wise it would definitely turn to a 'god mode' character and that is a serious disappointment to other players who would shortly void their role play.
For instance the Dragon character, Massive, Overpowering, Flame throwing but also could have bad night vision and low sensitivity to touch letting sneaky slayers to climb on its back and it wont feel them for it's thick skin, also it could never reach into tiny groves and people might escape its grasp, their wings are thin membrane that arrows could tear apart and so on.

Character Development
Though the basic character traits are very dominant to your decisions, yet even a mentally fragile character could learn from it's previous failures if fooled or manipulated by another, the development of the character is not dramatic to the extent that the character can gain maximum physique in a day, it must take him a long time to develop yet will have to sacrifice some of his other traits to gain this one. For instance if your character was a scholar who got robbed on the street and decides to stand up for himself, he will have to train physically but that will consume his time and will decrease his mentality as he devotes more time to the exercising and training. Same thing with an entertainer who goes deeper into spirituality will loose his social abilities to an extent as he spends more time reading and meditating to reach his breakthrough. So the character development is highly encouraged as long as you keep the balance of your character and do it over a longer period of time and not just a few scenes. It also ads more interest for other role players to discover or support your endeavor depending on where they stand in the story avoiding any boredom with your collaboration to the story.
2- Scene Creation
Place
Unless you are setting up your own simulation within Second life on your parcel or land, the place is mostly set. So wherever you are that's where your scene is. And though it is visually detailed, scenes always lack few items that should be noted within a descriptive role play or previous consent like the smell of the atmosphere, or the motion of the wind if the scene is on a ship that might be hit by a storm.

Time
This has to be agreed or enforced by the moderator or the simulator's time setting, in one on one role plays it's acceptable to choose one's own preferred time but in one that could involve several players and entrees then the time should be fixed to an agreeable period, night or day.

Preceding or current events
This is always overlooked, but before role playing a new scene one must put in mind the outcomes of the preceding scene and its consequences. For instance if someone was stabbed in the leg then night before, the next day he should be limping or least of all having a weak spot on his leg that might not let him act in his full physical abilities. Same thing with another who might have had an exhilarating spiritual or emotional experience should give him a boost of intelligence or strength. General events like a plague or a war should also be put in mind before role playing a new scene, those can greatly affect the characters and their reactions. For instance if there is a revolution going against the nobilities, one character could be dismayed, another could be infuriated by it.
Such a detail could be mentioned or agreed upon in 'out of character' chat yet will add a great depth to the consequent scenes aiding the development of the characters.

Anatomy of the scene
Every scene must have three phases,

Establishing - Buildup - Resolution
Establishing is done on individual basis upon entry to the scene, using body language, actions or words. This is crucially important for new entrants and established role players as well to let all players reveal where they stand. So if a scene entrant slams a door open, other players in the scene could have been in a conflict themselves and are already holding swords or on high alert and not taken away by the new entrant's surprise.
Building up is the medium part of the scene where everything escalates emotionally, physically, mentally or spiritually where the characters face their greatest challenges in that scene.
Resolution is always the end part of the scene where players reach some sort of conclusion, it could be a battle's defeat or an hasty escape or simply a kiss good night.
Any scene must resolve to something yet keeping a chance for continuity for the next session, scene or another player to continue upon it.

Now as the character is prepared, the scene is set it's time to post.

3- Posting
The Form
To be able to post a recognizable line you will need the following simple form: Action / Description > Words
So before you speak, always describe your body language, voice tone or gestures then add in your line. So if you walk towards a group of young girls in a nursery you should describe how you approach them, either gently with a smile bending a knee to reach for them or violently slamming the door. This instantly tells between a well practiced role player to a new one.
In Second life and several other programs you can write "/me" command before the sentence and that will substitute it with your name, down under are few examples of decent role play lines.

Example:
Edmond approaches the office door firmly gripping its knob turning it to open the door to the secretary's office, he glances with his eyes towards the secretary nodding once and murmuring

"Morning" then walks on to his desk.
Linda piling in letters into the folder turns to the man as he passes by and gives him no attention as she attends to her work silently crossing her brows.
Edmond walks to his desk dropping his leather bag to the ground by his chair leaning to the desk

and staring at the city scape.
Linda closing the file in her hand, skids back with her desk chair, stands and walks to Edmond's desk addressing him in a formally strict tone "Sir, your mail for today has arrived. Shall I leave it on your desk?"

Note, you can always do an action without speaking, but you can't speak without an action. This way the participants would understand your body language and voice tone to be able to assume your mood. This could be used to either express yourself openly or hide your emotions. It is also advised not to reveal your thoughts in role play, let the others guess from your apparent reactions, sighs and shrugs could be more interesting than interluding with the dream that is on your mind. The more role players use their mind and perception the more your character becomes interesting to role play with. Obvious characters are boring.

Also note that sometimes you need to react to the action of another person, this is a good way to reveal your motives without having to talk about your thoughts and feelings and make others figure those out.

So the form would be ( /me action "speech" ) or ( /me action )

The Order
This is the arrangement of posts, if it is a scene with only two role players then each will post once and wait the other's response, yet in more than two members should note the previous arrangement of posts and keep its order as it is. Participants should post once each with his action and words, with either a reaction to a previous player or his own. This is very important and confuses many role players when one posts his contribution then while the next is writing the first adds something that could change the later's reaction. So again, write all you want to do at that instance in one paragraph and do not add till your turn comes.
The order of the turns is always based on the participation timing, so the one who starts the role play is the first to post, then the second then if a new comer joins

 in at his point of entry he shall be on that turn and so on.

The size and pace
Some role players tend to post their life story within each post with over ten lines on every post, others could just smile and write couple of words. Both are not satisfactory to eloquent role play.
The first category makes the role play boring as you have to wait very long periods of time for each post which might not be a luxury with real life interruptions and would end up with unclosed scenes.
It is recommended to focus your post on that instance of time, describe your body language without excessive elaboration, only state the important signs, describe your voice tone, and where you are looking at if that would add any importance to the story then add in your words, don't turn it to a speech, just make sure you use the language that your character would use. Make sure to use proper spelling and add a description of the accent if you happen to speak one briefly

once at the beginning of your posts once, not before each post.
Make sure your actions are not like that of an octopus, a secretary could gather a folder while standing up, but she definitely can't be doing that and putting on her makeup. So bear in mind that your post would descibe barely a minute of real life and even less than a minute in some cases.

The Fighting and Violent Actions
This is the most important and yet the most controversial. Based on the character you have established you will be able to act and react putting in perspective the obvious strengths and weaknesses of ones opponent.
In every move or action done towards anyone whether stronger or weaker it should be an 'Attempt' leaving that character to respond according to your description of your action and to their own character. The quality of role play here depends only on the player's commitment to their characters and to the general story, the more the players are objective and neutral towards the outcome the more exciting the role play becomes other wise it mostly turns to either voids or vendettas which is likely to consume

the players energy for nothing.You can always use those terms

 'Attempt, try, aim, seek or hope' to describe your attempt

Example:
Elvin instantly twists throwing his goblet with what's left of wine in it aiming at the wolf from the distance hoping it would hit him as he leans back seeking an escape through the window.
The wolf pounces quickly backwards as the goblet misses him yet wine splashed all over his eyes taking him a few seconds to shake his head and regain back his blurred vision.
Elvin seizing the chance sprints towards the window in horror climbs the window dangling his upper body out of it as his legs kick the air desperately seeking an escape.
The wolf turns to the man as his legs barely show out of the window and right before they disappear he leaps with his jaws wide open aiming at the the man's moving legs

in his attempt to bite into his flesh to pull him back
Elvin failing to escape in time feels an intolerable bite on his leg, screaming in agony he violently kicks with his other leg hoping he would hit the wolf and free his other leg form its teeth.
The wolf gripping hard with his teeth on the man's leg then suddenly hit be the man's other kicking leg knocking him back off the ground

swirling to reorient himself to stand again.

Pace of action
The timing and the actions are important, it is not really logic for one to draw his weapon and attack at the same time even ninjas take some time. The pace of the role play is called 'instance' the instance is not a period of time its only the unit of time for the role play and it should be long enough to make one or two reactions at most, and sometimes characters would freeze and fail to do anything. it's up to you just keep it realistic to the standards of your character, too much actions are considered 'god moding' so avoid it as much as possible. It's better to have short reactions and a lot of posts than to have one post with a thousand reactions this way it helps the participants to enjoy every detail of what you write and respond, the response in this case will also enrich what you are writing and could inspire you to a better input.

Hit, Injuries and Loss
Mimic how much damage your character would take within a hit, so as the previous example when the wolf bit Elvin's leg he will definitely have to limp his way around till he ends up in an infirmary to heal other wise he might even get fever and get so sick. Injuries and hits could lead into more role plays so don't be afraid to get wounded it could draw the sentiment of other players around

and could start some admiration to your sacrifice.
As for loosing one could choose his limits, some characters loose their lives, some loose limbs, some loose their freedom even temporarily and some runaway or fall unconscious and that's where it ends. You must be clear before hand of what you where you wish to go with your character and no one should enforce their desired end on yours without consent other wise it's also god 'moding'

Winning
Depending on why that conflict started winning must be rewarding to the winner somehow, either he gets the honor of defending the village or saves his life from danger or just captured another creature for his purpose. Though I must warn you, winning and loosing should not be taken personally or be over done so as not to offend the other player. in the end we do get attached to our characters on certain levels so always be sensitive to others yet faithful to the character and the story.

Allowed overpowering
Overpowering is forcing an action on another, in most cases it's called god moding as I mentioned before but in few cases its allowed. For instance if you capture a character in combat and is tied down to a tree pole and you poured water on his head, he will definitely get wet, your action would not need to be an attempt because the prisoner can only wiggle in his place. Also if a character gets unconscious and you put your hand in his pocket to rob it then definitely they wont wake up. But bear in mind that sleeping characters are a different matter, those could be alarmed and awake. So make sure that the character has given you permission to overpower it by letting you place it in a zero resistance position like those examples above.
A lesser form of overpowering is when in wrestling position where one character is pinned or when one character is given to grab another by his clothes or hand or hair, this give you a limited option to overpower them yet also giving them a chance to react. So again be sensitive and give room for others to react.

Forbidden role play
god mode / power play
Any character that has all strengths and no weaknesses.
Any character that does not fail within a struggle ever and remains virtually untouched by any of the attempts.
Any character that seems to do everything at one instance of the role play.
Any character that leaves no room for reaction or enforces the consequences on another.
Those are all considered god moding or power playing

 (Both terms are used differently depending on the role play realm)
This is the major disappointment for role players so please to avoid it just make your character well balanced and give it a chance to win or loose and respond realistically.

meta gameThis is when a player uses any information on another that has not been given through direct role play.
Minor meta gaming is like calling character with his name without being introduced. Always address the character with their looks (the man in dark clothes or the woman in the red scarf) something specific visually to that character yet not identifying their name till it's told to you in role play either by that person or another.
Major meta gaming is done when a character gets into the scene and reveals information about a previous scene or your secret identity if your character is in disguise for instance or even identify you without you revealing it cutting off your role play to manipulate or attempt to deceive that person or a third party.
Meta gaming is frustrating and it's the second deadly sin in role play after god moding

Dealing with role player's issues
Those are the few steps to take when dealing with any issue with role players
1- Send a private message to that player and state a warning about their actions either by crossing the red lines and limits of your role play or power playing and meta gaming
2- If the player responds, then try to fix that mistake and carry on with the role play
3- If the player does not respond fairly to such then you are entitled to 'Void'

the scene which means that you can drop it, leave it.
4- Further more if that player turns into drama and takes it personally then stay apart from him, either muting or ignoring him depending on how far they are taking this drama
Always remember that no one needs the drama, better use this energy on creating a vivid scene instead of a meaningless argument on private messaging.

Terms
RP - Role Play
IC - In Character
OOC - Out Of Character