A Beginner's Guide to Roost RPG

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A Beginner's Guide to Roost RPG

Postby Matilde Rayne » Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:07 pm

Welcome to the Ravenclaw RPG section!

As a note to those who may have enjoyed the section in the past, all old topics and profiles have been moved to archive. If there’s anything you’d like to revisit, reuse, or reference, please let one of the mods know and we’ll make it available for you to see. We hope you’ll find the revamped section an equally great place to create and partake in exciting and engaging stories with your fellow HOL members.

Role playing is a fun way to immerse yourself in the fascinating world developed in the Harry Potter books - or in any other universe that you would like to explore. You’ll notice that in addition to the main section, where you can play as your own HOL character and interact with others’ personas, there are also sub-forums for “Harry Potter” role plays (where people can choose to play as characters from the books) and for “Other” role plays (where people can choose to role play as characters from any other book, series, TV show, movie, etc. that they would like).

We welcome role players with any level of experience, from complete beginners to seasoned storytellers. If you’re not sure how to get started, feel free to send a message to either Leonie Hauri or Matilde Rayne (the current mods of this section of the Roost), and we’d be happy to give you some pointers.

Keep in mind that this section is a part of HOL, and as such, HOL rules should be followed. Make sure to keep topics and language appropriate for all age levels. Those found to be in violation of HOL rules will have their posts edited (or possibly deleted, if the subject matter is serious enough) and will receive a message from one of the section moderators. We don’t say this to be harsh, but to ensure the section remains a welcoming place for all of our members to post.

That said, aside from that which we have no control over, we would rather avoid as many hard and fast rules for the section as possible, since rules aren’t very much fun. However, there are a few things we ask our role players to do, to help keep the section organized and easy to navigate.

    1. Before role playing a new character, please post about them in the character profile section. Please read this topic for a better explanation of how the character profile section works.

    2. Though this is the Ravenclaw RPG section, members of all Houses are welcome to post here. You can create a character from any House, not only the House you belong to.

    3. Please remain “in character” when replying to role playing topics. If you would like to ask a question or make a comment in one of these topics, please give some indication that your post should be taken out of the context of the RP. An easy way of doing this is to include “OOC:” at the beginning of your post, or by surrounding the part of your post that should be taken out of context with parentheses - (like this) or ((like this)).

    4. We ask those who create new topics to make their intentions for the topic clear in their first post. Some things to consider are the lengths of replies you would like, whether you directly want to control the direction the plot takes, or if you don’t mind others pulling the plot in new or unexpected directions. Those who join RPs should take into consideration the original poster’s wishes.

    5. Try to avoid using more than one character within a single post. If there is, however, a good reason for more than one of your characters to be included (ex. two Quidditch players taking part in a pickup game), please clearly indicate which character is being role played when.

    6. Possibly most importantly - powerplaying and Godmodding are forbidden. For clarification on what these terms mean, see the post below.

And let’s leave it there, shall we?

Keep in mind that each sub-forum may have additional rules, mostly related to topic titles and where to post certain things. Please check the appropriately labeled topics in each sub-forum to learn more about that.

We understand that mistakes can happen. It’s pretty easy to think you’re posting something in the right place or in the right way, but then be just a little bit off. And that’s okay! We will never fault anyone for genuinely trying to participate. If you receive a message from one of the mods asking you to change something, please understand we only mean it in a helpful way!

If you’d like to get started, head on over to the character profile section to start building your character(s)!
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Matilde Rayne
On my way to breaking the Roost!
 
 
Posts: 1152
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 12:25 am

Re: A Beginners Guide to Roost RPG

Postby Matilde Rayne » Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:09 pm

Powerplaying and Godmodding (sometimes written as Godmoding) are terms sometimes used interchangeably. At the root of things, they both refer to problematic in-character actions that truly take all of the fun out of role playing.

We’d like to give an explanation of such actions, as well as some examples using the moderator’s HOL personas, so those posting in the section are aware of the problems that can arise and will do their best to avoid them.

    1. Never take control of another player’s character, either directly or indirectly. Only the person who owns a character can decide what happens to that character. Never assume you know how a character will respond.

      Example: Mattie sent a well-aimed tickling charm at Leonie, hitting her opponent squarely in the chest. She cheered as Leonie collapsed in fits of laughter.

    In the above example, Mattie assumed that her character’s spell would hit Leonie and gave Leonie no chance to have her character dodge the attack. Leonie’s response to Mattie’s attack was decided for her - Leonie may instead have chosen to cast a shield charm, or dodge to the left, or duck, but those possibilities were taken away. This makes the role play less exciting for Leonie, who may then be discouraged from continuing.

    2. No character should be outright unbeatable or outrageously overpowered/overskilled. Apply this with reason. A third year Hogwarts student should probably not be able to perform every spell ever invented, for example, but a character having an aptitude for a single subject, like potion-making, even far above his or her peers is not all that unreasonable.

    3. A character is limited to the knowledge that character should have in-universe. Again, try to reason through this. For example, if Mattie and Leonie have a personal conversation, no other character should know what was spoken about, unless they were explicitly shown as having eavesdropped on the conversation or they were told. Another easy way this problem can come into play is by taking information from a character’s profile. Things like physical appearance are almost always okay to reference. One character meeting another for the first time should probably not know that character’s life story, but close friends more likely know a great many more things about each other.
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Matilde Rayne
On my way to breaking the Roost!
 
 
Posts: 1152
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 12:25 am


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