A Guide For Roleplaying!

This is just a guide for how to to roleplay at Potters Army. Please read it, because in addition to advice, it gives several rules you need to follow.

WHAT IS ROLEPLAYING?

Essentially, roleplaying is to take the role of a character in a fictional setting, which is a Harry Potter setting of course. The main point of roleplaying is to interact with other characters and watch your character develop. There are plenty of members and characters at Potters Army to roleplay with. To roleplay, you need at least one other character in your topic. You then either interact with that character, present the character with a certain event and see how they react to that.


HOW TO ROLEPLAY WELL

We say try to write at least 100 words as an approximation, though more is always good and less is not a crime, unless it is under 70, which is considered one liners. How to write 100+ word posts? Keep on reading!

Well, your post can be broken up to four main parts.
Description
Action
Dialogue
Thoughts
Keep this in mind if your having problems posting 100 words.

Description is the best one to start off with. And the most important in the first post of a roleplay. It's not as important in the following posts, as the setting doesn't change much, but you can still describe other stuff. The description is usually the longest one as well, especially for roleplayers who are not so advanced. Firstly, think of what you see, and this is important. Whats the setting that your character is in? Moving on, what can you hear? Are there birds chirping? Are there people talking? Smell and taste aren't as important as the first two, but of course, you will be using them a lot in the description as well. It is also important to say what other characters, especially NPC characters, are doing.

Darren entered the great hall along with the other first years. He looked around, amazed at the size of the hall. At the hundreds of candles which floated over each of the four tables. The part which struck him most was the ceiling. Instead of a normal ceiling, the Great Hall looked like it opened up to the heavens. Soon, Professor Mcgonagall told them all to form a line.

Action is usually second or third. it is also the easiest. Simply, what is your character doing? Standing or sitting? Moving or staying still. How is he or she interacting with other characters? You can add why they are doing it. Are they tired and want to go to bed? Or are they hungry and want to go eat? The possibilities are endless.

Darren, along with the other first years, did as they were told, forming a disorganized line.

Dialogue is usually the second or third. Your character has to interact with other characters in roleplay, however, it is not necessary in every post and especially not in the first post. However, you will have to at some stage in your roleplay. This particular post, where my character is in line to get sorted, is an example of such. Oh, and try not to use 'said' after every set of speech, there are many other words to use instead which detail the expression or tone of the character better, such as screamed, shouted, muttered, mumbled, told, yelled, replied, answered and etc. If you are going to say said, use an adjective to describe how you said it. Such as "he said nervously, or anxiously.

Thoughts/Feelings is throughout the post and the most important. The reason why you make a character application is to see how your character will react in a certain event. In this case, the character is being sorted, what are his feelings? What are his thoughts? Is he nervous? Is he scared? Or is he enthusiastic? Remember, you created a character application to know your characters personality. You can describe your characters thoughts and feelings for hours on end. In this case, the character is a shy and nervous character, and therefore, he will react as such.

Darren spared a brief glance at the other students who were watching them. He felt nervous and uncomfortable, surrounded by so many people. Why are they watching us? he thought nervously. Was he looking odd, he thought. Quickly, Darren tried to tidy his messy hair.

And now you add it all together! Remove parts that you don't need, and replace your name with he or she sometimes, as you don't need to repeat it multiple times.

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Darren entered the great hall along with the other first years. He looked around, amazed at the size of the hall. At the hundreds of candles which floated over each of the four tables. The part which struck him most was the ceiling. Instead of a normal ceiling, the Great Hall looked like it opened up to the heavens. Soon, Professor Mcgonagall told them all to form a line. Darren, along with the other first years, did as they were told, forming a disorganized line. he spared a brief glance at the other students who were watching them. He felt nervous and uncomfortable, surrounded by so many people. Why are they watching us? he thought nervously. It was an old habit of his, uncomfortable when others were watching. Was he looking odd? he thought. Quickly, he tried to tidy his messy hair.
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Thats 146 words right there. Easy isn't it?


ROLEPLAYING REALISTICALLY

At Potters Army, you need to roleplay realisticallly. If you don't, moderators will report you! It is essential that you roleplay realistically, not only for yourself, but for other members who will get annoyed by unrealistic roleplaying as well.

What is unrealistic roleplaying? Well, take the above post, and compare it to:

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Knowing his way around the castle, he turned and walked into the Great Hall, confident and not nervous at all. Even if they did have to do do a test of magical potential, he would pass easily, after all, he was a great wizard. Soon, he found out they had to just put on the sorting hat. A little dissapointed, he walked over confidently to the hat and was sorted into Hufflepuff.

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This is an example of a post that would NOT be accepted. Its a horrible post for many reasons, but the main one is that the character is acting unrealistically. You have to take account for who the character is, and what he would be doing in such a situation. This character is in Hogwarts for the first time, so how would he know his way around? He is a first year in a hall full of 400 students and 15 teachers, so how can he be confident? He is 11, and has hardly done magic with a wand before, so how can he know that he is a great wizard? Furthermore, the character did not describe the setting or what the other students were doing. From where did he turn and move into the Great Hall? How were the other students reacting? How can a first year, walk into the Great Hall through the entrance hall without being told to, dodge the line to the sorting hat, and then instantly get sorted into Hufflepuff? This post would be very annoying to anyone who is reading it.

When you roleplay, keep in mind what your character would do in a situation. That is why you need to know character well, and make a good character application. Your character can not be perfect, no one likes perfect characters. And while PA does welcome roleplayers of all levels, we won't tolerate unrealistic roleplaying.