Tardtorial

[omgasmod]

• The Basics of Online Text Role-Playing and omg[Adult Swim]
• Role-Playing via Instant Message
• Role-Playing on LiveJournal
• Important Tips for RPing on omgAS
• Role-Playing Terminology and Acronym

The Basics of Online Text Role-Playing and omg[Adult Swim]

-So you've decided that you want to try and role-play a character. Role-play is a little different from writing fan-fiction. It requires you to interact and cooperate with other writers. You're only responsible for the character that you're playing, which both limits and frees you. You can focus on the dialog and growth of your character, however you can't decide how someone else's character would react to your character.

When choosing a character, it's usually a good idea to choose a character that you identify with rather than just one that you like. Liking a character doesn't necessarily mean that you can capture their voice, and when you role-play a character you want the people that your character is interacting with want to be able to imagine your character's actions or hear their voice in your posts. Also, choosing a character that you can identify with somewhat or has traits that you envy makes you less likely to read too much of your own tendencies and history into your character.

It is impossible to play a character that's not your own completely canon, as unless you are psychic you can never know the true intentions of the creator, no matter how many DVD extras you hear or interviews you watch. Usually the original meeting of the character is polluted from creator, to character designer, to script writer, to voice actor. What it means to be IC though is to have the character that you're playing use plausible dialog and perform actions that would be typical of the character depending on what situation it was placed in.

While assuming more than what is shown into a character is reasonable, such as vague backstory or emotional reactions. However, what you should avoid is completely forsaking a character's canon personality and giving them attributes similar to your own. For example, if you're a fan of Shania Twain, and you are playing Skwisgaar, it wouldn't really be IC for Skwisgaar to be a fan of her music. Similarly, if a character that you're playing uses words that you don't approve of or has beliefs that you don't agree with, you can't censor their language for your own comfort. Assuming that a cold-natured character has had a difficult childhood or that a violent-natured character would watch certain violent films (or scoff at their unrealistic interpretation) would be IC.

This is why when you're choosing a character, you need to choose one with attributes that you share or admire. That way you're less inclined to alter the character too far from their original portrayal.

Other people can't make decisions for your character and likewise you can't decide for them. If you take over control of someone's character, make your character invincible when they shouldn't be, or don't allow another character to perform actions that they need to without getting permission from the player, then you will receive a warning. Repeated and you'll be removed from the RP.

If you take over a character that's been previously played at omg_adultswim, you have a right to retcon. This will be the fault of a continuing anomaly created by Mentok the Mindtaker, where people remember an actual event or a situation, but not specifically the people (i.e. your character) that were involved (see below in the Important Tips For Role-Playing on omgAS section). It is recommended though for the sake of not breaking up story that you try and keep as many elements as you can from the previous player(s) that doesn't go completely against your interpretation, such as deals or vague friendships. Redoing a "meeting you for the first time" thread gets tiring.

As part of a group, you want your character to interact with as many characters as possible, which makes it easier to do plots and establish relationships. As with any group RP, before you join you should familiarize yourself with the RP and read through a few posts. You also need to listen to your canon nazi (see below in the "Important Tips for RPing on omgAS" section) so that you're on the same page as everyone else.

For more information on how the RP itself works, consult the community profile page.

Role-Playing via Instant Message

-The role-playing here mostly occurs in journal, but many of the players actually have IM names on AIM. When Role-playing in AIM, there's a couple of methods that you can use.

One style which I usually refer to as prose style, but is casually referred to as "long posts" or "real posts". If you ever learned how to write a "round robin" story in high school, it's similar to that. One person writes one or more paragraphs, and the next person adds to it. Only instead of it being shared contribution to a single story, it's taking turns portraying the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the characters that you are playing. Usually once the scene is done, it can be read almost as easily as a story.

Example:

Monarch: "Wouldn't dare?" Oh you're talking to the wrong villain, kid. Monarch would dare to do a lot of things. Even things most people would find suicidal. He was bold like that. Or oblivious. Whichever.

Long fingers snapped. "35! I think our new guest needs a small demonstration." Yes, he'd planned ahead. Nothing proves your point like a visual.

35 was undoubtedly one of the larger henchmen he had, and he lumbered over to pluck Gimpy from the ground, one thick hand holding to his shirt tightly and the other on the belt loop of the little guy's pants. Wouldn't do to have Gimpy slip out of his clothing-- not with the demonstration that was about to take place.

A button on the sidewall was hit, and in the next moment a rather sizable hole had slid itself open from the floor panel, revealing a healthy drop over a great, green expanse. 35 steadied his stance, and then lifted the small geek over, allowing him a goooood look. Monarch cackled-- and god did that feel good to do. Whoo.

"While we've been having this little talk of ours I've had the henchmen pilot us to hover over one of the great forests of this country! Miles and miles of protected wilderness landscape." A cocky smirk. "And no wireless signal. So. Do we... have an understanding?"

Gimpy: "H-hey! DON'T TOUCH ACK!" Not that he would have NEEDED one of his larger henchmen to do the job, the geek weight like... less then a phonebook. Gimpy suddenly found himself being accosted rather unfriendly like up off the ground. His thin arms and legs swung pathetically, spitting and squeaking his outrage.

But when the hole opened in the floor and he was actually heeeeeeeeeeld over it, looking down into the vast green younger below; the geek stifled. His good eye shrunk to the size of his bad one and he swung his disheveled head toward the cackling villain. "YOU'RE A MADMAN! THERE IS NO WAY I CAN GET UPDATES ON THE LATEST JABBA REPAINT REALEASE OUT THERE." He gulped. "I will die!"

Slumping in the big goons grip (eye twitching thanks to a wedgie), G-prime lowered his head in defeat, a dog-whine escaping him. DEFEATED! DEFEATED BY TREES! "...Fine... fine. I'll do it."

Another style which I usually refer to as script style, but is casually referred to as "chat style" or "short posts". If you've ever read a movie or play script, it's similar to that. Actions are marked between asterisks, colons, hyphens, tildes, or put in italics. While colons can be used, I don't recommend them on AIM because the program tends to warp the characters into various smilies depending on what letter you follow a colon with. This style usually works best for chats involving multiple people.

Example:

[02:30] Rummy: Cause Ed gonna be comin' by too an' I wanna know how much food I oughta get.
[02:34] Pip: Yeah, think I am. Usually let the Geese off fer the holidays anyway. Got no where else ta go.
[02:37] Rummy: A'ight. I ain't got nowhere too an' I ain't mind makin' dinner, an' Dawg's a real good cook too. So be nice to do somethin' for the holidays. *glance to Dorochet* *oh, now he's frowning*
[02:38] Dorochet: - and dissecting another sandwich, doesn't like to eat as much as take food apart. -
[02:41] Rummy: *still drinking even if you guys aren't, since we've obviously lost count anyway* You ain't gotta problem with helpin' me cook do you? *little head tilt*
[02:41] Pip: Sounds good ta me. *yawns and rubs his eye*
[02:42] Dorochet: "mm" -glances back up, licks melted cheese from his thumb. wasn't paying attention. -
[02:42] Rummy: *nudges with foot* You gonna help me cook?
[02:42] Dorochet: "Oh... uh huh."
[02:43] Rummy: You' such a damn good dog, yes you is! *reaches over and rubs the top of Dorochet's head, leaning over table*
[02:44] Dorochet: - Blinks at the head rub, was balanced dangerously on two chair legs so almost falls back when he leans into it a little-
[02:45] Pip: Gaaaaaaaaaaay. *snickers*

Out of character conversation during a scene or chats is usually contained within brackets. ((Your Text)) or [Your Text] are most often used. Again, parenthesis might make AIM make a smiley.

If you can't download many chat programs to your computer, you can try using meebo, which allows you to chat and IM from a browser. Besides the official releases of many IM programs, there's also Trillian, Miniaim, Terraaim, Kopete and Pidgin for Windows, or Fire specifically for Mac.

Role-Playing on LiveJournal

-Many Role-plays exist around LiveJournal, and not all of them work the same way. The way that omg_adultswim works is that you treat your character's LiveJournal as their personal LiveJournal that they would keep track of their own ideas and thoughts in, and recount their recent experiences. However, here are a few helpful hints that should help you with any LJ Role-Play.

In omgas_zaaz, we use tags to organize entries. Every character and frequently used place has its own tag. Your character's tag is located under your character's "Played by" information on the taken character page. You type in your tag to a zaaz post you participate in by clicking "edit tags". If you click the link by your tag, it takes you to a page with all the posts you've participated in.

A good way to keep track of threads that you enjoyed participating in or reading is to add a post to your memories. After you've added the post to your memories, you can organize them here. The only problem is that if a thread occurs in someone's journal who later leaves the RP and removes their journal, the thread is lost. Otherwise it's a good way to keep track of what happens with regular players.

Aside from the contact page, a good way to contact people in character is to go to use the LJ private message system. If you wish to be emailed when your character journal receives a private message, you have to go to message settings and check the appropriate boxes. If you want to send IC messages to other characters, use omgas_text.

For those of you playing more than one character, you might find a widgit handy if you use Mozilla Firefox. The LJLogin Firefox Extension make it easier to switch between accounts without having to repeatedly log out / in.

Important Tips for RPing on omgAS

-Because omg_adultswim is a primarily Livejournal based role-play, checking your friends page and commenting is especially important. You can't just comment to comments on your own entries, though. You have to comment on the entries of other people. Not every entry if you don't want to, but some of them at the very least. Also, so long as a comment isn't marked with "[Lock to NameofCharacterhere] Comment Here. [/Lock]" then your character can reply to it if they have something to say on the subject. Ignoring comments or the journals of other characters is really rude and uncalled for, and eventually if you don't comment on other entries other players will ignore your posts.

It's generally in bad taste (unless you plan to expand in comments) to do a one-liner entry. Many of the players at OMG_AS have full time jobs or are full time students and don't have the time to keep constant track of their friends page, so if you post more frequently than you need to, we will ask you to slow down for the sake of keeping the friends list short. As previously stated, commenting is especially important, moreso than the journals themselves.

You will not be added to the taken character list until you've joined all three required communities (actually joined them, not just friended or watched). Once your character journal is approved for membership in these communities, your name will be added to the taken character list.

If you have any questions when you join about your characters canon, we've assigned certain players to help out with the canons that they're a part of, calling them "canon-nazis". For the most part, they're players that pretty regularly follow the storyline and set the initial canon to go by. To find your canon-nazi, go to the contact post and see what names are highlighted in red. If there is no canon nazi for a certain show, there is no set canon for it yet.

Within the RP, we have some helpful rp-canon Macguffins you can use to enable plots:

• The Mentok Anomaly: Thanks to a bad burrito once had by Mentok, the indigestion he experienced resulted in a time anomaly removing people from events. If a player quits and removes their characters, the events that they were part of still occured, but the remaining participant isn't quite able to recall who they were with. They're also not stressed to remember who it was, either. Even if it was a deep relationship, they shrug off the identity of the person they were with and instead remember the incidents with them. If the character you take up has been played before, then you have the choice of keeping the events or start your character from scratch. Mentok has also been responsible for dream DVDs, genderbend, and mindswap.


• The Nexus: In Mordhaus there is a circular room with a series of labeled doors that lead to various places around where other characters live. Offdensen had these doors installed to save on transportation costs. They lead to almost any location and the other side of the door leads to a public outlet, such as a discretely marked door in a mall. If you know someone in Mordhaus, it's easy to get a key and access to the doors; however, if you're not employed by Mordhaus and don't have a gear card then if you go into Mordhaus from there you will require an escort.


• The Joycan Incident: The effects of Dr. Venture's joycan escaped the parallel universe it was trapped in and infected ours. It made the fantasies of others manifest themselves in the real world, and it could affect how you acted or create a duplicate version of you if you were fantasizing about someone. Most of these fantasies disappeared, but it does give you the ability to play "imaginary" characters as tangible ones.


• The Dethwater Serum: Plan B for the Dethwater attack was a serum that made people into sea animal hybrids. The music of Dethklok drives these hybrids nuts. Offdensen had the original supply destroyed and used stolen samples in the Mordhaus science laboratories. The Dethwater serum can be used for monster plots where existing canons can't supply you with exactly what you need. Most samples of the Dethwater Serum are in a secret vault in Mordhaus, though some might be scattered thanks to Fujikitty.


• The Hotel Basement: In the hotel owned by Greed, there are a number of portals to alternate universes left in the basement. These enable you to play alternate versions of your characters. In order to do this, though, you must approve histories if they compromise other characters; and you must contact one of the moderators.

Role-Playing Terminology and Acronym

Bouncer: At OMG_AS the mods responsible for non-essential RP lists and dismissing problem players.

Canon Nazi: At OMG_AS a person to assist you in deciding your character's place in canon.

Canon Pimping: An OOC post update on your character's canon.

FTB: Fade to Black. The end of a scene.

God-moding: Playing your character in a way that controls others characters/ makes yours invincible (this is to be avoided in role-play)

IC: In character

Mun: A term for a character's player (ex: Venture-mun or Pickles-mun)

Mod: A moderator, or one of the people that oversees the community and handles all essential RP lists.

NPC: Non-player character (the various extras that are used or mentioned during role-play)

OOC: Out of character

OC: Original Character

Pup: infrequently used alternate name for a character.

Retcon: Revoking previous RP history (usually pertaining to a single character)

RP: Role-play

Scene: A role-play session

SL: A storyline, or ongoing plot

Tail: A fiction or story involving a single character from the RP

TBC: To be continued. When you end a scene and continue it later.

UST: Unresolved sexual tension. When a character is attracted to another character but rather than following through on that attraction resists for whatever reason. Can be useful in building a story or relationship.