Guide : Roleplay for beginner and casuals

 

 

Role-playing adds another dimension to the game: it provides more depth, more meaning, and it allows you to explore your own personality, or to express a part of yourself you did not know existed! It exercises your imagination and stimulates your creativity, and before anything else, it is a whole lot of fun!

 

This guide was created to help beginner and casual role-players, and to maybe convince those who have not yet dared to make the jump to try out this aspect of the game to do so now. You will find tips on how to start the creation of your character and their background, links towards helpful websites, and what not to do as role-player. I hope you will find this information meaningful.

 

Note1 : I'll update this guide with fansite and other links, once I've explored the galaxy of fansites available and find the most useful ones.

Note2: There might have some typo left. I'm not english native, so don't be affraid to correct me by PM if you find any. I'll correct it as soon as I can.

Note3: Do not hesitate to share suggestion or to ask me if you wish to see something added.

 

 

1. General rules
   
2. Where to begin?
   
3. How to roleplay : from theory to practise
   
4. What to never do
   
5. How to be a pleasant roleplayer
   

General rules:

 

• Channels /S (say) and /Y (yell) are IC (in-character). That means that when you use it, you are not <your real life name>, but you are <character name>. You are your character. Therefore, you cannot use smileys and abbreviations (like lol, rofl, lmao etc.) in the aforementioned channels. You need to speak as your character would.
   
  
• Others channels are OOC (out-of-character): /party, General, Trade etc. Guild channels can be OOC or IC, depending on the guild you are in. Just ask your fellow guild members and they will tell you whether the guild chat is OOC or IC.
   
  
• You will see a lot of people being and behaving OOC. These people are not appreciated by the population of the server since they break the immersion one achieves when role-playing. If you do not want to role-play, fine. But then, at least be discrete and do not disturb people when they are role-playing.
  

Edited December 14, 2011 by Elloa

Where to begin?

 

 

• Read the lore of your race and your class. This is the minimum requirement asked before you create your first character.
  
• Read the lore of the game. At least know about the story in general. SWTOR Universe is very vast, it will be difficult to know everything. But more you know, the better.
  You can start by reading The Holonet
   
   
  
• Now that you know a bit about your race and your world, you can imagine a background for your character. Believe my experience, it is a lot more fun to role-play after you first create a background, even a short, basic one, than to immediately jump into role-play without knowing who your character is exactly.
  
• Enjoy the story line : SWTOR is a very immersive game, with a heavy story line, cut scenes, and conversations with multiple choices that affect the game. Just let yourself get caught. You will see, it's magic. Roleplaying your character will come naturaly
  

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• Optional, but useful : Read the lore of your guild: as you have madee a character to be in a particular guild, it might be a good idea to make it fit with the guild’s own theme. It is not an obligation, but it can be more convenient in this particular case.
   
  
• Optional, but useful : Read the lore of your server. Each server has particular lore due to the activity and the creativity of their players. Guilds are interacting with each other as they create stories and plots. It is a lot more fun and immersive to know what is going on, who are the important characters, and what guilds are at war with each other.
  

Edited December 14, 2011 by Elloa

How to role-play? From theory to practice!

 

You know your race, your class, and what is happening in the world. You have your background (biography) and you know the personality of your character. But all of this is theory. Let us see how to put this into practice.

 

• Get a role-playing outfit! It is fun, and immediately gives a lot more depth to your character than if you walk around in your raiding gear. You can even have different outfits for different occasions, or just for the pleasure to change yourself often. I would recommend you to choose a main outfit, so everyone can spot you and recognise you easily. But this is, however, really up to you.
  A role-playing outfit is whatever dress your character would wear to fit its role/personality or the situation.
   
   
  
• Use emotes! SWTOR have a lot of emotes that you can access easily in the emote menu (top of your chat box), or by typing them : "/dance", "/angry" etc.
   
  Emote list
   
   
  
• Interact with the world. Everything in game is made to be used. Use chairs, benches, and trees. Use your imagination to make the world more alive. Do not hesitate to speak or salute a NPC. Yes, it will not always answer, but it makes the world more alive.
   
   
  
• Don't be shy! Do not hesitate to start a conversation with other players. It's not always easy to find a good reason to start roleplay. There is some little tricks however, to get the attention of possible roleplayers arround you.
   
  -Walk instead of running : that generaly tag you automaticly as roleplayer
  -Talk to yourself aloud, or to your companion : that will show that you are roleplaying and may encourage other roleplayer to come to you
  -Bump into someone, and excuse yourself : that's generaly a simple and good trick to start interact with other players. You don't need two pages background to justify to bump into someone. It's easy, and anyone can participate.
  -Ask your way : this is another good excuse to start roleplaying when you don't know how to start.
   
   
   
  
• Participate to Roleplaying events! This is probably the best way to get aquainted with Roleplay when you are a beginner. A roleplay event will immediatly give you the opportunity to meet other player and a good excuse to be present. Find yourself a outfit that match the situation (you will not be dressed the same for a Cantina party, or for a battle against the Empire). You will see a lot of player arround you roleplaying, you will see how they are doing. You can stay quiet and observe, or participate immediatly if you feel like it. Do not be affraid to do mistake.
   
  You will find your server events listed in those forums
  

Edited December 14, 2011 by Elloa

What to never do:

 

• Power Emoting: you impose your role play over someone else with a powerful emote. The person in front of you has no choice. Bad, immature role-players abuse this, making them unpleasant to play with.
  Example:
  * gives such a powerful kick in Ukri’s belly that the Twi'Lek floes over the room and knocks his head against the table.*
  *uses her magic powers to control the mind of Leena and force her to bow in front of her magnificence.*
  * is so beautiful that every man in the vicinity can’t help but sigh in admiration.*
   
   
   
  
• God Emoting : your character has magical powers, or powerful abilities which do not match the lore or are just ...too much. In World of Warcraft we could think about all kind of vampires populating the bars of Silvermoon, demons, demi-gods, dragonkin (aka Onyxia) etc. We still have to see what kind of Sith Lord we will meet at the Naar Chada Cantina. If it can be interesting to have a more powerful character than weaker characters, it is still not fun to role-play with someone stronger than the end boss of the current content. Often the players choosing that kind of background are also (strangely) bad losers, immature, and drama queens OOC.
   
   
  
• Metagaming is when you use information that you, the player, know about but your character does not know about. It is mixing what you know OCC and IC.
  The most common mistake you might do at the start is to call someone by the name you see above his head before the character told you what his name is.
  Sometimes it can be confusing, but always try to make the difference between what YOU know, and what your CHARACTER knows.
   
   
  
• Cheezy roleplay : avoid clichés, copied-pasted background from an existing hero, the usual drama of the orphan seeking to revenge the death of his whole family, the hero ravaged by a curse, or mind controled by a powerfull beeing. A roleplayer need to be excellent to give a renewed dimension to a cliché.
  If you are beginner, favourise something simple. You will see that the world is filled of extraordinary heroes, and that often it's more original to be a unremarkable person doing its job, with its two parents alive.
  

Edited December 14, 2011 by Elloa

How to be a pleasant role player!

 

 

The difference between a pleasant role-player and a boring role-player is not only the quality of your background, or your knowledge of the lore. I would say the main quality of a role-player is to not behave as the centre of the world.

The secret is to think about others always, and not be ego-centric. Will your role-play be amusing for others or annoying? Will your intervention bring something new to the situation or make it more confusing? Will your intervention be constructive and push the story further, or will it block the story?

 

Something you learn is to always make an opening for others. Refusing everything is not a good idea. You character disagrees, okay, but always leave a door open for negotiations. Always let the possibilities for other to interact, to choose, and to add something.

 

One of the most annoying things I have personally seen when role-playing was a guy controlled by a demon. Suddenly, he would speak with a dark voice, do stupid stuff and require everyone’s attention. What others were doing have no importance, now he is the centre of the story! Sometimes, this can be extremely annoying, even if the guy plays well, even if his “possession” make sense, and has a solid story etc… The guy is not respecting other people’s fun, and requires all the attention for himself. He is not a bad role-player, but he is greedy and not fun.

 

 

 

 

If you liked this guide, I suggest you to read another article about Roleplay that I've written for +1 Internets : Roleplay, another way to experiment yourself

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 14, 2011 by Elloa

Thanks for a great guide mate...i intended to play on RP-PVE server and now i'm sure i'll like it...but i have one question for you...

 

Imagine this situation:

 

Cantina

Two tables

Two groups of Jedi and Sith sitting and drinking

I (Sith) don't like to sit next to Jedi slimo

I'm walking to their table and asking

- You said something about my Emperor?

- No.

- So you have nothing to say about our Great Emperor Jedi scum?

And here we go dueling...

 

Will that be appropriate in terms of role-playing?

Edited December 14, 2011 by DarthVic

Very nice guide. Looking forward to lots of RP in this universe.

Thanks for a great guide mate...i intended to play on RP-PVE server and now i'm sure i'll like it...but i have one question for you...

 

Imagine this situation:

 

Cantina

Two tables

Two groups of Jedi and Sith sitting and drinking

I (Sith) don't like to sit next to Jedi slimo

I'm walking to their table and asking

- You said something about my Emperor?

- No.

- So you have nothing to say about our Great Emperor Jedi scum?

And here we go dueling...

 

Will that be appropriate in terms of role-playing?

 

Seems fine to me. You are a provocative Sith, looking for troubles (or making troubles), it can be a good way to start roleplaying aswell, considering than in SWTOR we have the plasure to be able to speak with the other faction.

Just be careful in this situation ot not be too imposing your aggressivity and let to the other the time to react, and maybe be less aggressive than you.

Thanks for a great guide mate...i intended to play on RP-PVE server and now i'm sure i'll like it...but i have one question for you...

 

Imagine this situation:

 

Cantina

Two tables

Two groups of Jedi and Sith sitting and drinking

I (Sith) don't like to sit next to Jedi slimo

I'm walking to their table and asking

- You said something about my Emperor?

- No.

- So you have nothing to say about our Great Emperor Jedi scum?

And here we go dueling...

 

Will that be appropriate in terms of role-playing?

 

If you are pushing too much, then it's

 

but if he says "long live the emperor", what will you do?

If you are pushing too much, then it's

 

but if he says "long live the emperor", what will you do?

 

I think i'd say "Every Republican slimo will say this after we conquer you!" and just sit back to my fellow Sith comrades...kinda like that...i don't want to be too rude or too persistent as topic starter suggested...

 

And thanks Elloa...i'll keep that in mind...

Edited December 14, 2011 by DarthVic

Good post to help us extremely light RP'ers get into things.

 

I usually maintain an appropriate name, try to respect others and keep a little back story for my character, usually in my head. I am not a very fast typer so I don't usually do the /say stuff.

 

Thanks for posting it.

Great start, but it could use some corrections.

 

1.) This is Star Wars. Roleplayers, and guide authors, should know this. As such, proper terminology should be used: Canon, Species, and other terms should be correctly added.

 

2.) No roleplayer can be made to accept the in-game class missions. In fact, most will be ignoring it. Honestly, that should be explained in this guide so avoid the issue of: "Wow, you're looking for your lost ship/competing in the Great Hunt/etc, too?!"

What to never do: RP Duels. Lamest freaking thing I have ever seen in the history of ever. Most games have a duel function. USE IT! I've seen some lame things where some level 1 toon would want to win against a 50. Sorry man, no...just...no.

So... now we have two of these then?

Hell, wait until more people get to playing.

Thanks for this.

Really nice guide. Reading this helped me a lot because this is gonna be my 1st mmo where I'm rping and I'm only familiar /w pnp rpgs.

Something to add here.

 

Character Bleeding n: To let the actions of a character or player becomes as such there is no difference between the player and the character. Often the result of an inability of a player to separate themselves from the roleplay.

 

Common occurrences

1. RP relationship where one or more parties tot eh relationship become emotionally involved out of character. This is dangerous unless both parties are fully aware of each other. More often one party becomes enamored while the recipient does not return leading to jealous, and possible real-life implications.

2. A person allows there own rl failing to make them unable to handle the failure of a character. Could lead to god moding.

3. Someone takes offense to anothers in character statements as being the opinon of a player not the character.

3 ex: " This bar doesn't serve your kind, get out." The sith bartender(player) stated with a spit. "But I'm human?" The player answers confused. "You might be human but I don't like dark skinned humans so get out of my bar."

 

It is perfectly in character for a sith to be speciest perhaps even racist within his own species the player behind that character may even be the same race as his/her prejudice. It could be perfectly ok for your character to hold that statement against the character but if you assume that since the character is racist the player is you are bleeding into your character.

 

TLDR: Keep IC, IC and keep OOC,OOC

Edited December 15, 2011 by JaxinRiens

I've never participate in any role-playing game. So it's totaly new for me.

I've played both KotOR and KotOR 2 so i have some knowledge of the game lore.

I want to give it a try, but one thing holds me down - english is not my native language and it is far-far beyond from perfect really. And i'm afraid it can affect the role-play hard because of the situations where i could not find the words or spell it correctly to stay in role. I'm worrying about ruining other people's fun because of it.

What do you think about it? I can go on the normal server and be fine with it. But i would like to give a try to RP... although i'm not decided yet completely.

Edited December 16, 2011 by Kligan

I've never participate in any role-playing game. So it's totaly new for me.

I've played both KotOR and KotOR 2 so i have some knowledge of the game lore.

I want to give it a try, but one thing holds me down - english is not my native language and it is far-far beyond from perfect really. And i'm afraid it can affect the role-play hard because of the situations where i could not find the words or spell it correctly to stay in role. I'm worrying about ruining other people's fun because of it.

What do you think about it? I can go on the normal server and be fine with it. But i would like to give a try to RP... although i'm not decided yet completely.

 

People should be willing to help you out, whisper them and tell them that your English isn't that great, I'm sure they'll be willing to accommodate you.

People should be willing to help you out, whisper them and tell them that your English isn't that great, I'm sure they'll be willing to accommodate you.

 

So, yeah... That's what i'm concern about. That would break immersion into the game for other people, isn't it?

Edited December 16, 2011 by Kligan

Great thread.

 

I have the same concern as Kligan. English isn't my first language and I still have a lot to learn... I just don't want to ruin people's fun and immersion because of it, especially because I've never roleplayed before (at least, not in a mmorpg and not in a language other than in my native one).

Hello everyone!

 

Thanks for your observations and remarks. I'll update this thread regulary with your suggestions, and with my (future) experience of roleplay in SWTOR. Indeed I've been writting this guide with my previous experiences, in World of Warcraft mainly, and there might have a lot to add that will be specific to SWTOR roleplay. For example, how to deal with the storyline. Ignore it? Take it as part of your background? Be discreete about it? But that, I will want to do it only after have a certain experience in the game, so this part of the guide will come later.

 

 

 

Concerning the problem "English is not my native language" : in Europe, it's the case of most players. I've myself be very affraid about it the first time I migrated from french server to EU servers. I was affraid to not be able to speak good enough for a roleplay server. And I was appologising all the time. But very fast, I became at ease, and I could drop my online dictionary after few weeks.

You should not be affraid, really. Even if your english is not very good today, you will see your improvements fast. On a roleplay server, you will be encouraged to read and write stories. You will be encouraged to use the language regulary, and write in more "beautiful" way than if you was on a non RP server just communicating useful informations.

Don't be affraid, and just try. With practise it will become easier and easier. And if you really feel embarassed, don't hesitate to say to the players arround you that english is not so easy for you. They will understand it.

I've never participate in any role-playing game. So it's totaly new for me.

I've played both KotOR and KotOR 2 so i have some knowledge of the game lore.

I want to give it a try, but one thing holds me down - english is not my native language and it is far-far beyond from perfect really. And i'm afraid it can affect the role-play hard because of the situations where i could not find the words or spell it correctly to stay in role. I'm worrying about ruining other people's fun because of it.

What do you think about it? I can go on the normal server and be fine with it. But i would like to give a try to RP... although i'm not decided yet completely.

 

Work your English deficiencies into your role play. For instance play a character that's first language is not basic that way any "failures" will simple be in character.