Besides, beginning roleplayers may find it difficult to even keep writing after a certain point. What more is there to say once your character has spoken what they will speak, and done what they will do? Thereâs also a trick in all of it, that is slightly different than if you were writing entirely on your own. In roleplaying, you need to leave latch points in your writing so that the other players can react and in turn interact.
Letâs start with an example of a post taken straight from the Multiverse. Iâve changed the characterâs name, but thatâs all that has changed in this post.
Dakota walked in, looking about 12.
Already you can see a number of problems with the post, and Iâm not just talking about the fact that a kid is in a bar. This is Dakotaâs first appearance in a roleplay, all we know right now about this character is their name and a rough guess of their age. We donât even get a hint of gender, or get to know if this character is even human.
So the first thing I would like to do is to fill in some blanks about Dakota. So letâs see if Dakota here can do something other than walk into the bar, and while weâre giving this poor kid something to do other than walk inside, letâs try to paint a picture and see who this kid is. A little description shows a lot more than just appearance. Done right, it can show us their personality as well.
Dakota walked into the bar, and paused to scan the interior with grass green eyes. The cherubic boy tugged on a blond curl as he considered what to do next, then took a seat at an empty booth. He pulled a menu placard to him to hide his face. If they couldnât see his face, maybe they would think him just a very small adult, rather than only a 12 year old boy.
Check that out! We know now that Dakota is a green eyed, blonde haired boy, age 12, and more than likely looks incredibly sweet and harmless. We still donât know if heâs human, but most people will likely assume this is the case unless something changes. We also get an idea of this childâs personality from his actions. Still, even though we know a few things, and weâve gone from 6 words to 73 with just a few more actions. Of course, describing how your character looks in every post doesnât work well. Instead, consider trying to describe the surroundings as well.
This time, instead of how he looks, letâs go into where he is. After all, you wonât be mentioning his appearance every time you post.
Dakota walked into the dingy bar, and paused to scan the interior. He took in the neon signs of different brands of drink, the scuffed tables and chairs, and most thankfully the booths lining the sides of the place. Good. The boy tugged on a curl was he considered what to do next, then took a seat at an empty booth. There was a sticky spot right where he put his hand down, and he wrinkled his nose as he chose to pick up a menu placard. The 12 year old could hide his face behind this, and maybe block out some of the stench of spilled beer. The booth he had chosen to sit in already blocked at least a portion of the murmur of conversation. Besides, maybe if the other patrons couldnât see his face, they would just assume he was a very small adult.
Wowzers! Just by trying to engage the senses of touch, scent, and sound in this post we went from only 71 words to 147. Thatâs a pretty respectable amount for interaction, but I find that now this post lacks real details. Weâve gone from a horrible blurry picture to one where you can actually almost see whatâs going on. But itâs possible to do better, we also want to see if we can add detail in such a way that someone could interact with our character.
Now Iâm going to be completely honest; a twelve year old in a bar has a few things that stand out as potential interaction points. First off, heâs twelve, so whatâs he doing here? Second, why is he alone? Those are two big ones, but with him sitting in a booth on his own, thereâs really not a whole lot more we could add in naturally. So what weâre going to do is provide those latch points to grab the other playerâs attention we discussed earlier. Letâs give the kid a bit more detail to start, and make him a little suspicious seeming. We can also have him say something that makes his youth more obvious and may attract attention. Or alternatively you could have him do something attention getting during one of his actions. We can also continue to try engaging the senses, if it works into the additions.
Dakota limped into the dingy bar, the knees of his khakis scuffed, and the sleeve on his now filthy white polo torn. He paused a few feet inside the place to scan the interior with jaded green eyes and to catch his breath a little better. Neon signs advertising different drinks held his attention only briefly, and the scuffed tables and chairs held his attention even less. The booths that lined the sides of the place brought a spark back to his eyes and lit his cherubic face as he scurried over there, hunched slightly and trying not to bump into any of the patrons of this filthy place.
The twelve year old took a seat at one of the booths, placing his hand on a sticky spill of dried beer on the table as he did so. It didnât matter, he convinced himself as he picked up the menu placard to hide behind. He was already dirty and filthy from running from the bullies anyway. Besides, with the booth to block the murmur of conversation around him it was almost quiet here. Of course, now his hand reeked of beer, but he could put up with that. The waitress came up to him, and he lowered the menu he was hiding behind.
âMay I have a coke please?â His high pitched voice didnât belong in a place like this. It was too young and made it clear just how out of place he was.
At 245 words, this is a respectable post length for most settings. The logic displayed in getting the post to this length is the same logic used to make posts even longer. Other tactics can include having the characterâs thoughts clear in a post, or sometimes adding more detail to the background. Longer posts often have more actions in them, whether it is from fidgeting in place, curling your toes, or walking great distances and doing various activities along the way. Using metaphors, or similes can also increase post length. Instead of saying âwith grass green eyesâ for instance, I could have said âwith eyes the shade of summerâs softest grass.â Instead of merely calling him cherubic, I could have said that his face was like an angelâs. In general, it is best to limit the more lyrical similes and metaphors to simpler ones. While some roleplayers greatly enjoy poetic posts, many do not. Besides âas green as grassâ is less pretentious sounding than âeyes as green as the softest summer grass.â If your character isnât pretentious, donât write your post to sound pretentious.
To make your posts even longer, consider interaction with NPCs, though be careful with that. It can be tricky for a beginning roleplayer to successfully manage two characters at once. Even many more experienced players have difficulty managing more than one character at a time. For NPC interaction, consider the adage âNPCs should be seen and not heardâ at least until you are a more confident writer.
In general, using the tips in this guide can easily net you a 1000 word post. Practice writing with detail, and youâll soon find that what was once a difficult task is easier. Just remember, in roleplaying you have to leave room for others to respond. Most of all though, donât stress too much over word count, and focus on having fun.