Alright, i've noticed quite a few things are becoming a little too common amongst roleplayers, i'd like to address them here.
1. Leaving a scene earlyPlease refer to this topic about leaving a scene before others have a chance to stop you.
http://sculptyworks.com/lismore/index.php?topic=642. Power gamingYou CAN NOT use abilities above that of an average human that have not been approved by a GM prior, nor can you use magical items that have not been approved.
Example - Character A is carded to use Ice Magic and have Healing only. He cannot use Fire Magic
Example - The player of character A adds fire magic to Character A's card, and sends it into a GM. It has not yet been approved. Character A may still not use fire magic.
3. Meta GamingQuoted directly from the general rules notecard -
-METAGAMING:
Metagaming happens when your character does something that you as a player know or have access to, but the character you play should have no knowledge of. An example would be having an OOC conversation with another player about your character's abilities, and then later that player's character takes an action using that information about your character that his character should not really know. This is frowned upon and you should never do it.
I have a few more examples to add, they seem necessary at this point.. This is where having your characters know each other tends to get messy. Say you have two characters. Character B learns that Character A has an assassin after him. In this instance, let's say Character B has never met Character A.. You cannot have Character A discover information about the assassin from Character B. That is metagaming.
Another example - Character A is in combat with this assassin, and the fight is going poorly - You can NOT have Character B run to assist Character A when Character B was nowhere near the scene. (It's also not very well looked upon to have your alts assist each other out of the blue..)
You can also not 'switch out' characters during an event, IE. Having one leave the scene and bringing another one in to take it's place.
4. Unapproved/Civilian CharactersI don't have a problem with either one of these, I have a few of each myself. But PLEASE note, that just because your character is unapproved, does not mean he/she will not be killed for doing something unwise to the wrong people.
If your card is completely unapproved, or you are on a civilian, your character has the abilities of an average human. No exceptions - No poisons, no extra gear, no super strength or super speed. Also, note that you will lose any fights your characters get in by default.
5. Common combat issues..Blocking/Parrying - Blocking is not so simple that holding a sword in front of any oncoming object will stop it deftly.. If a physically powerful character swings a sword at a weaker one, and the weaker one attempts to block it head on, it will not end well. The weaker character will likely stagger, possibly even drop the blade. This also goes for blocking large weapons with small ones.. Not likely to end well.
Weapons are also not invincible, with the exception of adamantium. If you attempt to block a claymore with a rapier, you're probably going to need to visit the smithy, assuming you're still alive.
Dodging - It's okay to dodge attacks. But realize that deftly avoiding a melee attack is not a basic and easily repeatable feat. Having your character avoid every single blow that's made against them is excessive, annoying, and really against the spirit of the RP. (And for what it's worth, is also not very realistic.)
Doing too much in one post - The events that unfold in the space of a single post should be what happens in an instant, not everything that you want your character to do before waiting for a chance to react.
Example: Character A is in combat with Character B and Character C. Character A attacks Character B, then runs after Character C and attacks him afterwards. This is far too much action in one post. Note that what happens in each round of posts should practically all be happening at the same time.
6. RARE/UNCOMMON ITEMSThese are called rare/uncommon for a reason. Seriously. Please visit the native materials notecard found within the character creation guidelines notecard. You'll see many metals are noted as rare or uncommon, meaning they should be far less common than what's standard.
Example - Steel is common enough that it would likely be stocked in a smith's shop
Mithril is rare. It would likely have to be specially ordered, is expensive and is difficult to find sellers for.
Adamantium is almost unattainable. You are not likely to even find weapons made of it, let alone convince the owner to part with it.
I'd like to add another point here..
7. Deciding the effect your attack has on another character. You
never decide what happens to someone else's character without their expressed consent. Example . Character A swings a sword at character B. Player A may NOT assume player B's character reacts to the attack in any way in his post ,he must give player B a chance to decide for himself. Remember - the defender should always decide what happens to their character. If someone is being unreasonable about it, don't start calling hits - Contact a staff member.
Please also read Bami's points below - They are very good points that didn't occur to me. If more of these were focused on, I think our overall quality of roleplay would improve vastly.Actually roleplay problems come in two forms - those done by a player, and those that work against players and the game in general.
How about these problems:
Exclusive plots
A plot that is only open to two or three players and has no scope for inclusion of others.
Ignoring other people in the scene
I'm so fasicnated by Mary, and Mary is so fascinated by me that we're going to ignore others, even if they pose to us directly...
Ignoring "hooks"
Fred enters the scene, he's limping, he's bleeding, his clothes are torn and he's whimpering in pain, but he doesn't come and join the group, he hides behind a tree. Let's.... Ignore him?
Not knowing how to "hook"
Don't enter the scene, just hide at the fringes. Don't engage with others, don't speak, don't.... I don't know, trip over the apple bucket and land on someone's feet. Sometimes new players in particular enter scenes badly, don't know how to engage, and don't know how to "hook." Let's just ignore than and not help them out a little, OK?
Cliques
I only roleplay with other Temple members.
Requiring "Membership" to play.
You can't join the Temple unless everyone agrees to let you in. And we don't like your type.
Respond very sloooowly, if at all.
Why.... should... I.... pay... attention...? It's just a game, right? It's not like you're talking to real people.
Enter a roleplay scene and just stand there saying nothing.
Hey, everybody loves the strong silent type, right?
Ignoring new people or unapproved players
Well, it's not like new players are the future of the game or anything, is it?
Hmmm?
There's more than one kind of common roleplay problem.
We should all try to make our characters, our plots and our in game institutions open and accessible to all, especially necommers. It may be a bit meta to think about roleplay design in this way, but an open game works better than a closed game. Think of your plots as a gift you give to others. You're going to kill someone and get thrown in prison? Great! Try to drag as many others into the story as possible!
Thanks
Bam
