Role-playing
From FiranMUX
These pages are meant to provide a brief introduction to role-playing, with an emphasis on role-playing on Firan in particular. Here, as well, you will find links to useful articles as well a our own specialized guides on how to role-play various vocations on Firan.
Role-Playing on Firan
Role-playing in an online environment can be defined as the art of stepping into the role of a persona and breathing life into it, putting yourself in its shoes and reacting to the world as that character would. This can be likened to taking a role in a play, except in this case, the play does not have a strict script but rather a framework to follow, and what you -- and your fellow role-players -- do determines the direction the story takes and how long it takes to get to its ultimate goal. It is truly writing the story on the fly as you go, and what you do affects not only your character's life, but also the lives of those around you and the story as a whole.
Role-play on Firan follows a very strict rule of In Character Actions = In Character Consequences (ICA=ICC), and the play is reinforced through non-consent. The non-consent style of role-playing means that the plots and storylines that your character may be subjected to are not always under your control. A commoner might start vicious rumors about your noble, without your permission. Someone could attack your guard without negotiating the scene first.
The flip side is consent-based gaming, in which every scene is negotiated between the players involved, though one's actions inevitably have consequences that you cannot ignore. Some people feel that consent-based role-play is The One True Way, and that's fine. We ask them to try our game for a while. We feel that NON-consent gaming can toss surprises at you and challenge you to role-play through difficult situations, and it also avoids a lot of the out of character angst that sometimes accompanies consent-based negotiations. Instead of spending your time talking about the scene, you can just play it out.
Many consent-based players have found this to be refreshing, and usually not much different than how they may have played in a strict consent-based environment. In any case, there's nothing stopping two players from agreeing to negotiating a scene if both are agreeable. Just don't expect it. We think the non-consent-based style of role-playing works very well on Firan, and we believe that the quality of our role-players is very high.
Useful Links
The web provides a wealth of articles on role-playing for the new and experienced player alike. We've assembled some of our favorites that deal directly with role-playing.
Advanced Guide to Role-Playing - Although focused more towards the more advanced role-player, this article is good advice to anyone who role-plays. While many of the details that are mentioned are taken care of for you on Firan (such as your background and description) it bears repeating that no character is stagnant, so development can always continue and be expanded upon.
Role-Playing a Villain - A villain or bad guy is one of the most difficult roles to fill. This article provides advice on how to do so effectively and keep yourself from becoming one-dimensional.
Tinyplot Manual - This article details the intricacies of organizing a tinyplot, be it big or small. This is quite useful for even small scenes.
Firan Guides
A few players have created websites that deal with various topics of interest for new players on Firan and old alike. Those valuable resources are worth mentioning:
Firan Survival Guide, written by Unsel's player. An excellent resource!
The Unofficial Smithing Guide, written by Ishani's player. Easily applicable to all other crafts as well.
Officer Walkthrough, created by Arik's player. A discussion on the OOC/IC aspects of leadership and military life.
RP Hooks & Scenes, written by Donos' former player and Ladonna's player.
Stressful RP: How To Survive A Hard Scene
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