Guidelines?

hey, i have recently started CoV and have much enjoyed it, i am still rattling my mind trying to decide on a archetype i enjoy but nothing is perfect . I thought something that i would enjoy would be r/ping, i had never r/ped before on an MMO and i thought it might be fun to try on a game with such obvious diversity.
My basic question is this, what do i do to Rp? lol, i am really not sure, sometimes r/ping in a game is putting "rp" in ur bio, whilst in other games i have been kicked for not r/ping correctly.... Can anyone give me some advice or point me too the thread i need

Its quite easy when you get the hang of it

As there are many ways to roleplay and no one set style it can be hard to give advice on 'how to RP'.

What I will say is; Do not do or say anything your character would not do. For example; Your character (although there may be exceptions) would not say 'lol'. He / she, would also not know heroes names (unless psychic) so introduce yourself and others will do the same.

There are no set guidelines and what I mentioned above is how i play my character.

Basically, put youself in your characters boots.

I would add that you should never put someone else's character in a position where they do not have the choice of how to react. Sometimes called godmoding...

Example: Character A punches character B in the face.

This is godmoding as character B's player has no choice but to have the character punched in the face.

Better to put: Character A swings a punch towards character B's face.

Now character B's player can choose to be hit or not.

Of course it's often best if you do reach that sort of situation to go over it first in tells with the other player...

I think the only "hard-and-fast" rule shared by every group of roleplayers (and for some, the only rule of roleplay) is "no god-modding": basically, don't try to say how any other player would react or be affected by anything that you do. So,

bad rp: *I punch KeeperOfSorrows in the jaw, shattering bone and knocking him unconcious*

while...

good rp: *I swing my fist at KeeperOfSorrows, holding nothing back and aiming for his jaw.

...and then wait to see what the response to that situation would be. (Note: not all good RP need feature me )

Some groups might have other rules they like to follow, but if you avoid the "god-modding" most are friendly enough to help you through learning anything else.

ONe Question I have asked and never get answered... do we take in the back story of the game itself?, Such as you Ravenswing, is near godlike with magic, but the game says that the most powerful magical bless person in the world is Mirror Spirit, so even thought raven can become more powerful thatn he is, he will never be more powerful than MIrror Spirit as she is detine to be the most powerful magical person ever? ( bad english me knows but me half no sleepy yet ) And if raven is godlike adn mirrorspirit isn't wouldn't that contradict the game?

I guess the simplier questions is do you take in account the backstory or to what degree

Generally speaking: Yes.

In this instance, I'd say "consider the character you're playing in Paragon City to be a parallel universe version of the character who is not the most powerful, but nonetheless potentially very powerful."

Besides, realistically any player character is never REALLY going to be any more powerful than any other could potentially be. We're all playing by the same rules.

[ QUOTE ]
ONe Question I have asked and never get answered... do we take in the back story of the game itself?, Such as you Ravenswing, is near godlike with magic, but the game says that the most powerful magical bless person in the world is Mirror Spirit, so even thought raven can become more powerful thatn he is, he will never be more powerful than MIrror Spirit as she is detine to be the most powerful magical person ever? ( bad english me knows but me half no sleepy yet ) And if raven is godlike adn mirrorspirit isn't wouldn't that contradict the game?


[/ QUOTE ] One, War Crow isn't that powerful anymore.

Two, Mirror Spirit's information came out what... 6-8 months after the EU release of CoH. So at the time, none of us had a clue who she was and what title she held.

I think it's fair to assume we take the backstory with a grain of salt, not in a small part due to it not being openly known without trawling through fan sites and such.

Basically, we take events into account: WWII, the Hollowing, the Rikti invasion, the spanish inquisition, and so on.

But their claim of 'most powerful magically blessed', well... that's easily amended by adding 'known' to it.

Statesman might be the incarnation of Zues, but if we have Zues himself running around... well, you get the picture (not saying we do, and doing so would be somewhat bad taste imho, just giving an example)

On the other hand, you could easily have someone like Batman's "Maxie Zeus", who BELIEVES that they're Zeus even though all they are, infact, is nuts.

ok ty for ur info guys, interesting stuff

One more question, anyone here in an rp guild willing to put up with me making the occasional slip, compared to others games r/ping doesn't seem looked down on here and i would love to start anyone got suggestions???

and i am srry, a strange question but once in game how would i describe myself to ask for a mish team. Is it ok to say lvl 2 stalker? ot has anyone worked a way around this?

I would normally suggest E.V.I.L. for this sort of thing - but they are very organised in terms of VG structure (they're on Union btw) - having said that they are all friendly and often do 'coalition' things, with lone operators as well as other VGs.

Look out for Echo Hammer, LaughRiot, Big Lunk et. al

Just using it as an example zortel

Roleplaying is virtual reality. Or, as real as pixels can be. Think of it as an extended version of the Sims. Your character has needs, habits, wants, personalities and skills all of his own. You need to tear away from the guidelines and limitations that the game gives you originally. Even if you were a Tanker in game, you could be the local pansy paperboy In-character. There *are no limits*, and your chosen power pools, enhancements, archetype and even origin have NOTHING to stop you.

Its about looking at the situation you're given realistically. If you, in real life, were looking for a bunch of mates at school to hang about with, I doubt you'd shout "Lvl 8 student, LFG!". no. Wrong. Thats just playing City of Heroes.

Roleplaying is *not* playing the game, so to speak. Its something completely different. You'll often find, in RP missions for example, that the game mechanics get themselves involved, but you don't have to worry about that too much.

Its about looking at the situation and addressing it with one question in your mind; "WWID" - "What would *I* do."

[edit] With that, you have to consider "What will I see?" after all, how many people do you see in the streets with their name floating in green letters above their heads? Would you really be able to touch them with your middle finger and suddenly you're able to read their history, descover their powers and know how many badges they have? no. The only excuse for that is psychic powers, and even then its best that you consent and ask for details before trying it. You must sever EVERYTHING thats connected to game mechanics in order for it to work. [/edit]

As you go on, you'll descover how flexible roleplaying is. The more flexible you are with your characters, the more enjoyment involved.

Thats roleplay. Thats my 'guideline'. Thats all there is to it.

Take reality, put it in a game and have fun with it.

Just a few little things that I found helped when I started to try RPing (and have stuck with ever since)

1: open your options window and turn of the character name display (or just set it to appear when you hover over them with your mouse in case of complicated names to avoid annoying someone by constantly mis-spelling their name)

2: Anything YOU know is to be flushed from your mind, sure you might know that mob type X can be found in location Y, but unless your toon has seen them there, he/she will have no idea. This goes for everything.

3: Building up a relationship with other characters takes time. DO NOT be put off if people don't accept you into their group right away. The best way I can think of putting this in RL terms is that your character is the new guy at school, people might wander over and talk to him/her out of curiosity then wander off. But if you keep your eyes and ears open you'll see or hear people that clearly share interests with you, then just find a suitable place to join the conversation. (I think someone already mentioned various options for the more adventurous such as asking someone for directions to a well known place or person, and IT DOES NOT matter if the toon you decide to RP with is lvl 1 or lvl 50, it's RP, you can play either as a new resident to the city with a little thought, lvl 50 hero just moved from another city, needs to check in and register for active duty to avoid unwanted tangles with Long-Bow peeps as their face won't be a recognised one locally)

4: To make things easier for yourself, make your first RP toon based around something you can identify with personally, this will help you behave and react more realistically and will also reduce some of the work-load for yourself which means more time to have fun with them which is what the whole purpose of RPing is. (I used this for my main Veskit, who was given severe memory loss and the associated side effects of this, and played him from personal experience. This made life a lot easier for me)

5: This might well be the most important bit of advice anyone has ever given me (and it covers almost any situation in any area of life) IF YOU'RE HAVING TROUBLE, ASK SOMEONE FOR HELP. send them a /tell and ask for advice which is focussed on your problem, or if they know anyone that can help you. 9 times out of 10 there will be someone around who has had a similar problem, or knows someone who has. Learning from your mistakes is a vital part of human advancement, learning from other peoples mistakes is just the same but you cut out the middle man, savig yourself both time and trouble.



I hope these have been of at least some use to you, as I said, they helped me when I first started out, and continue to do each time I visit the GG meet. As with all advice, you might find it isn't something you can use, but on the other hand, who knows.

ty again for even more great help, i think i am definitly going to try this, i still have to decide on a story but i have archetypes/name etc figured out, my in game name is Zodian and i hope to see you all around

another question, what is the best way to get in touch with u guys in game? i can't say Looking for Rp on broadcast if i want to do this seriously lol but are there any general meetings, anywhere where r/pers can gather to r/p, and in my case learn?....

Ty in advance for ur help, Zodian

On Union - 9pm at Galaxy Girl (the lady reaching for the stars behind the Back Alley Brawler) - City of Heroes

Although I know some people do hang around Atlas Park, I've personally only ever encountered hostility there and lots of arrogant lv 50s power spamming as if you're supposed to be impressed by yet another Phantom Army...

As for City of Villains, a lot of the roleplay I've experienced there has been in bases - because of the more linear nature of the Rogue Isles (Mercy is the only zone for low levels), and Mercy Island not having a real focal point it can be difficult to get started. But perusing other threads, if you either don't mind the risk or your char. is already a higher level, the square in Aeon City can be used to RP, the Pyramid Casino in St. Martial, the dock in Nerva, similarly the quay in Sharkhead can all be used for Roleplay.

Sorry for the long list but hopefully something in there will help.

There is also our IC mission of the milta you could join, just look for the milta thread

Pocket D, of course, is also a good place to "hang out". And excellent for those face to face villain-hero chats.

Some of the best hero/villain interactions take place when they're not able to fight. Like the whole Highlander "We must not fight on Holy Ground" thing.

You want the guidelines? You can't handle the guidelines! Son, we live in a world of imagination. And that imagination has to be guarded by men with puns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Zodian? We have greater derangements than you can possibly fathom. You weep for reality and you curse the fablers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: that reality's destruction, while tragic, provides fun. And our existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, provides fun. You don't want guidelines. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want us using that imagination. You need us using that imagination. We use words like character, plot, dialogue... we use these words as the backbone of a life spent imagining things! You use 'em as punchlines. We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ourselves to a man who logs in and plays under the blanket of the very fiction we provide, then questions the manner in which we provide it! We'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, we suggest you pick up a character and start a plot!


*coughs* Sorry. Still working the kinks out of my mind-control cap. Here's the guidelines you wanted.

-- Don't be a jerk.
-- Respect other people's fun as well as your own.
-- Respect the shared reality.
-- Don't hog the limelight.
-- Have fun.
-- Be weird.
-- Enjoy the trip.

[ QUOTE ]
You want the guidelines? You can't handle the guidelines! Son, we live in a world of imagination. And that imagination has to be guarded by men with puns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Zodian? We have greater derangements than you can possibly fathom. You weep for reality and you curse the fablers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: that reality's destruction, while tragic, provides fun. And our existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, provides fun. You don't want guidelines. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want us using that imagination. You need us using that imagination. We use words like character, plot, dialogue... we use these words as the backbone of a life spent imagining things! You use 'em as punchlines. We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ourselves to a man who logs in and plays under the blanket of the very fiction we provide, then questions the manner in which we provide it! We'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, we suggest you pick up a character and start a plot!

[/ QUOTE ]

Fantastic!
Leif_Roar, I'm going out to buy a hat to tip it at you.

*tries to squeeze it all into sig box* It won't fit!

/e forlorn look


Oh, and as for guidelines: remember that In Character Actions have In Character Consequences and have fun!

[ QUOTE ]
You want the guidelines? You can't handle the guidelines! Son, we live in a world of imagination. And that imagination has to be guarded by men with puns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Zodian? We have greater derangements than you can possibly fathom. You weep for reality and you curse the fablers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: that reality's destruction, while tragic, provides fun. And our existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, provides fun. You don't want guidelines. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want us using that imagination. You need us using that imagination. We use words like character, plot, dialogue... we use these words as the backbone of a life spent imagining things! You use 'em as punchlines. We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ourselves to a man who logs in and plays under the blanket of the very fiction we provide, then questions the manner in which we provide it! We'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, we suggest you pick up a character and start a plot!


*coughs* Sorry. Still working the kinks out of my mind-control cap. Here's the guidelines you wanted.

-- Don't be a jerk.
-- Respect other people's fun as well as your own.
-- Respect the shared reality.
-- Don't hog the limelight.
-- Have fun.
-- Be weird.
-- Enjoy the trip.

[/ QUOTE ]

rofl, very funny and some useful info

someone mentioned IC mission of militia? what is this?

Argh, my aching sides. I want to call Jack Nicholson and pay him to speak those words right now! Plus, love the sig Leif, love to go there but it's a bit of a tourist no no...

Anyway, Zodian, you were asking about the Militia. Put simply, we are a supergroup put together my some mysterious organisation for no given reason. We meet every Thursday around 19:30 and play missions in character until around 21:30. (Well, some play all night to be honest...) We all started at level 1 but we've managed to get up to around level 16 now but we can accommodate pretty much anyone who wants to join. It's not about levels, it's about fun. If you want to join the craziness, please feel free. Have a read of The Milita thread for an idea (everything on there is IC (in-character).

I know there are other roleplay supergroups around but I'm not personally aware of them. But do drop by GG as well for some socialising, I occassionally drop in when I can.

ok, i think i just made a post on there as well, i thought it was a story post, srry for any offense, are you on atm??