How to RP in this forum

Today we're talking about RPing in this forum. Note that these aren't exactly rules, these are just recommended things that will make everyone's stay in here easier. If you're a first timer, you should read this carefully. This will answer most of your questions and address most of your concerns.

A fair warning: This will be very TL;DR, as in lots of text in the next few comments. I like to be thorough. However, I'll bold the most important parts so you can easily browse this.

Onwards to the lessons!

General things


Label your RP threads with "closed" (or "private") or "open" to indicate who are allowed to play there. Closed means that the RP has all the players it needs/wants and random members aren't allowed to jump in. Open means that anypony can join it. Once you have all the players you want in your thread, edit the thread to label it 'closed'.

Decide on the posting order in your RPs if there's more than two players. You don't want anyone to be left behind because of different timezones and such. This might slow down the RP, especially if there's many players, but at least everypony will have the time to react to things.

Please mark any OOC talking clearly. ((Using double brackets is a good way)).

Clop is the norm here, so if you don't want that in your RP, say it before starting! Otherwise your partner will very likely assume that there will be sex scenes later on in the game.

You're allowed to play as canon characters and they don't need to be claimed anywhere. Just don't play a character that someone else in the thread is already using.

You're allowed to RP as side-characters whenever you feel that you need one - like the massagemare or the evil homophobe or the neighbour of your character. Just be mindful of the others in the thread and don't hijack their side-characters unless it's stated that anyone can play them as needed. Note that canon characters can be used as side-characters just as well.

If you get bored of your RP you can always call it quits. You aren't bound to it eternally and forced to continue it forever until death do you apart. Feel free to start an RP at random and then just quit it if it doesn't suit you any longer. Don't let the fear of commitment stop you from starting a game.

If you start one RP and pair yourself up with someone, this doesn't mean that you can't start another RP and pair that same character with someone else. Think of it as alternative realities. There is no such thing as RP-canon for you unless you want there to be. Feel free to be in as many RPs as you want to and do what you want there without worrying about ruining your character's canon.

No, you don't need dice here. If you've never RPd like this before, just check some existing RPs to see how things work.

How do I find RP partners in here?

There's three ways to go about it:

Ask someone at random in their character sheet, introduction thread, OOC thread, anywhere if you find them interesting.

Start an open thread. Just make an RP thread, write an opening post and wait for someone to jump in to play with you. Remember to edit the thread and label it closed once you have enough players.

Start a "Wanted Ad" -styled thread where you ask if anyone would like to RP with you. Start your own thread instead of leaving comments on the existing ones unless you want to RP with the thread starter there. Especially so if the existing threads are older than a few days or have lots of replies already.

You can be as specific or unspecific as you want in your RP request. For example, you could ask if anyone would like to RP a workplace romance setting with you, one-on-one. Or if someone would like to come up with a plot with you here and now and then RP that. Or if someone would just like to jump in and RP whatever with you and see where it leads. It's your call. Remember to specify how many partners you want and whether or not they'd all be in the same RP or in separate one-on-ones, it'll make things much simpler for you.

After you have found a partner (or more) and figured out how you want to go about the RP, make an RP thread and just start playing.

How do I start RP threads?

Rule of thumb: the one who asks for the RP will also make the thread for it.

Press the "New Topic" button on top of the "Role Plays" forum page and you'll get a thread started. Now you just need to type in the content.

In the new thread you can either start the game yourself by writing the first post or ask your partner to start the game. It doesn't necessarily need to be anything fancy, a simple walking through the city happily and doing window shopping will do, then your partner will just pick it up from there and introduce his/her character one way or another. It'll just flow naturally from there.

Remember to label your RP threads with "closed" or "open" to indicate who are allowed to play there. Once you have all the players you want in your thread, edit the thread to label it 'closed'.

Decide on the posting order in your RPs if there's more than two players.

How to be a good RP partner

Respond in a timely fashion. It's okay if it's only once a day but it's kind of a bummer if you take days to write a single post (unless of course it's temporary and your partner(s) knows about it).

If you will be unable to RP for a while, let your partner(s) know about it. Otherwise they will be worried and you don't want to worry others needlessly, do you?

Contribute in the RP in an equal manner with your partner(s). While your partner may have the aura of being the driving force in the RP, it's still team work - they will quickly exhaust themselves if you only float along with their replies without adding anything into the game yourself. If your characters are having a conversation don't only answer your partner's questions and be done - have your character add something into the conversation so that your partner's character has something to respond to as well. Don't rely on your partner to always describe the surroundings or bring your characters into new situations - you're just as responsible for that as they are.

Don't meta-game or expect your partner to do so. Meta-gaming means that your character has information they shouldn't have, for example your partner explains their character's thoughts in their reply and your character somehow reacts to those thoughts in your next post. No. Your character shouldn't read your partner's character's mind. Also the other way around, don't expect your partner to suddenly comfort your character if your character is only thinking about how bad they feel without actually showing it in-game.

Don't control your partner's character(s). As in, no posts like "Star Twinkle tossed the ball at Discord and then caught it with his magic when Discord threw it back" because you can't just assume that Discord will throw the ball back, Discord's player might very well want to keep the ball or toss it away or eat it or turn it into a duck or something. You can't know it, unless you and your partner have established that they will keep tossing the ball until further notice and you're allowed to assume that it will be thrown back.

Describe your OC, especially if you haven't filled a character sheet. It's difficult to play with you if all we know about your character is that he is probably a pony.

Communicate. Talk OOC with your partner if something is bothering you or you have an idea you want to put into the game or if you just want to squee about your cat being adorable. Most of us like to chat.

RPing styles

The RPing style is free. I'll give you examples of the two most popular styles:

Quote :

Jadeile: Discord was walking in the streets of Ponyville, whistling to himself and watching with amusement as the ponies around tried to be subtle about avoiding him. It was really funny, everypony supposedly knew that he was good, yet they were still so scared of him that they fled at the sight of him. He idly wondered if they would calm down once days went by, but for now he just enjoyed their reactions while it lasted. He did try to be good but it was still fun to be a little evil whenever he could get away with it.

Quote :

Eliedaj: Star Twinkle was slowly making his way out of the Quill and Sofa store, carrying a huge package on his back. It was big and heavy, not to mention valuable and expensive. It contained his new telescope that he had ordered a couple of weeks back and that had finally arrived. He was very excited about this and wanted to get home soon to unwrap the package and take a look at his new toy. He smiled to himself and stepped out of the store... only to crash right into somepony.

Quote :

Jadeile: Discord saw a particularly funny expression on a scurrying pony's face and turned his head to look at the pony run, only to crash into someone right the second when his attention wasn't on the road ahead of him anymore.

"Oof!" he huffed as something pointy made contact with his stomach and he found himself doubling over and falling forward, on top of the pointy and apparently blocky object plus, from the sound of it, somepony.

And the same thing with different style:

Quote :

Jadeile: *walking down the street of Ponyville, whistling and looking amused* *the ponies around flee at the sight of him* *enjoys this a whole damn lot*

Quote :

Eliedaj: *slowly comes out of the Quill and Sofa store* *carrying a huge and heavy package on his back* *about to head to home, but crashes on somepony*

Quote :

Jadeile: *watches somepony scurry away and grins in amusement* *suddenly crashes into somepony* Oof! *falls on top of said somepony*

I actually RP in both styles myself, though in forums I prefer the first one. Feel free to use either one yourself, or any other style you're used to. Try to match your partner's style though if you're the one entering the started RP.