Basic Elements to RP

Basic Elements to Good and Professional Roleplay

Introduction
You have decided to become a part of Excel's marvelous Half-Life 2 Roleplay server. If you didn't already know, Half-Life 2 Roleplay is a serious and professional Roleplaying gamemode created by Cloud Sixteen set in the world of the game Half-Life 2. This guide will be telling and showing you the basic rules and elements to good and professional Roleplay, what to do as each faction and more.

Rules and Definitions
As with all games and servers, there are a number of rules that need to be followed. Not only will this make you a good player, but it will enhance the experience of your Roleplay and make it more enjoyable for you and your fellow peers. Some of these rules don't always apply to Roleplay gamemodes while some of them do hold the key elements of every Roleplay gamemode. Let's take a look, shall we?

1. Out-of-Character - Out-of-Character is a chat in-game or a status in-game where you are not Roleplaying or in a Roleplay situation. This means you would use things such as emoticons and silly expressions, but this isn't always allowed as it can annoy the other players.

2. In-Character - In-Character is a chat in-game or a status-in game where you are in a Roleplaying situation. You'd be playing strictly as your character and not use things such as emoticons or silly expressions. This is like being in a play; you'd act out your character accordingly and stay in-role as best as possible.

3. Actions/Performing - Obviously when you want your character to perform an action let's say like, taking a sip of tea then you'd type in the chat the command /me. This will make your statement into a special form which lets players know it was being performed instead of being said. Actions which are environmental let's say like the creak of a house wants to be made, then you would type the command /it. This will make the statement into a special manner which will let players know it was environmental/informational.

4. Metagaming - Metagaming or referred to as meta/metaing is the act of using information supplied in an Out-of-Character fashion, In-Character in order to allow your character to gain instant knowledge of something. An example would be a player saying in Out-of-Character "I've stored all my guns in the warehouse " and you went to that place In-Character. That would be meta, because you used information provided Out-of-Character to gain an In-Character advantage.

5. Powergaming - Powergaming is the act of forcing your actions onto other players without any kind of attempt. This is not allowed, as it doesn't allow the other player to try and counter your action. Here's an example of powergaming:
Bob: /me stabs Dave, making him bleed to death.
This would be powergaming, because Dave did not get a chance to react to Bob's action. A good way of performing this, would be as shown:
Bob: /me attempts to stab Dave in the stomach.
Dave: /me dodges Bob's attack, and runs away.

Obviously not the best example, but it isn't strictly power-gaming.

6. FearRP - FearRP or Fear Roleplay is an extremely important element in Roleplay. This is the act of making your character scared/fearful when necessary. This shows you are a good Roleplayer. An example of FearRP is your character cowering away when seeing a large group of units.

7. Grammar - Grammar, punctuation and spelling are all important when it comes to Roleplay. It means you must use proper spelling, capital letters, full stops et cetera at all times. This makes you look clean and professional and makes it easy for players to understand what you're trying to say

8. Play-to-Lose - Play-to-Lose or simply referred to as P2L is the act of Roleplaying in a situation logically. Say, if in a situation logically speaking you had the disadvantage, you'd Roleplay having the disadvantage. Say a weak, malnourished citizen versus a unit the unit would obviously win. This is a very important element of Roleplay and is the most used.

8. Play-to-Win - Play-to-Lose or simply referred to as P2W is the act of Roleplaying in a situation logically. Say, if in a situation logically speaking you had the advantage, you'd Roleplay having the advantage. Yes, this is very important and a key element of Roleplay.

9. Shoot-to-Miss - Shoot-to-Miss or simply referred to as S2M is the act of Roleplaying a gunfight in a way where you would miss most of the time. This is the most used in large gunfights as it's realistic and does not take the action out of the scene. Note, that you can still hit targets sometimes during S2M but most of the time you will miss your target.

10. Shoot-to-Kill - Shoot-to-Kill or simply referred to as S2K is the act of Roleplaying a gunfight in a way where you would hit your target most of the time. This can sometimes be unrealistic and take most of the action out of a scene. Note, you still have to miss targets during S2K but most of the time you will hit your target.

If you'd like more information on rules such as these, there are plenty of guides and tutorials on the Internet for you to view at your leisure.

Development of Your Character
Development of your character is vital in order to become known in the world of Roleplay as it is one of the key elements. This doesn't mean collecting a load of badass items to look cool, it means making interesting stories, looks and traits for your character to make them more well known and fabulous.

In order to be successful in the world of Roleplay, you'll want to develop your character as much as possible. An important trait of your character is your physical description as it lets other characters and individuals remember what yours looks like. Good physical descriptions are hard to come across or make so here's a little tutorial on how to do so:

"52 yers old lots of friends loyal happy brown hair green eyes"
Not the best physical description in the world, mainly because it isn't PHYSICAL. Physical means what your character looks like. Here's one I came up with:

"Quite tall, very skinny, brown hair, green eyes, blue jumpsuit, brownish shoes"
Okay, that's a little more decent but we could make it even better!

Here's a good physical description:
"Slender|About 5'8"|Short Brown Hair|Sea-Green Eyes|Slight Stubble|Faded Blue Jumpsuit|Old Worn Shoes"
This is a lot more decent than the ones above and will make you and your character look a lot more like professional Roleplayers.

The key to making a good backstory for your character is including exact and correct DATES. Dates are key in the world of Roleplay as it allows other players to follow the timeline of the canon and your character both at the same time. So remember, if you want to make a good backstory make sure to include exact and correct dates for other players to follow.

Another key element of character development is traits. This can include your character's personality, their looks (see above), their likes/dislikes, their skills/talents and disabilities. In order to make a good character, you need to make sure your skills and disabilities are balanced correctly. This means making sure your character isn't over-powered or under-powered in any way possible as this can make you look unprofessional.

STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. ( I don't claim copy rights for this guide, more guides and such at www.excelgaming.net

It's alright but when is it gonna be updated?

I pretty muched finished it, Though if anything needs to be added just reply below. Also keep this topic free of any unrelevnt questions and suggestions. Thnx

Lock this for the time being.

This was copy and pasted wasnt it..
If not Why the hell does it say,Introduction
You have decided to become a part of Excel's marvelous Half-Life 2 Roleplay server,etc,etc,etc....
Besides that its good.

It is. I don't clam copy right.

Still a good guide.