In role-playing, participants adopt and act out the role of characters, or parts that may have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. Role-playing, also known as RP to some, is like being in an improvisational drama or free-form theatre, in which the participants are the actors who are playing parts, and the audience.

~ Referencing Wikipedia; Roleplaying | link

Introduction

Suncrown is a serious role-playing guild and view ourselves as a medium to heavy level role-play guild. We strive to create rich, compelling characters that interact within the confines of our guild lore as well as with the World of Warcraft environment and Blizzards established lore.

So with this role-play guide, we hope to communicate our role-play style and the rules we abide to in hope to propagate role play interaction and have fun! While we do not have anything against silly role-play, it is not characteristic of Suncrown. To learn more about the lore we follow and the lore we’ve established, you will want to check out Guild Lore section.

What are the general RP rules Suncrown use?

All our role-play is done in-game through /say, /yell, /g, and /emote commands and in our forums, interactive role-play in generally conducted in the Forum RP section. However the medium, we follow these simple rules:

Don't act on another player's character without permission!

You can never assume that you know how a character will react to any given situation--unless that character is yours. Just as you wouldn't want other people to take liberties with your characters, you mustn't take liberties with theirs. Don't spoof other people's reactions unless you have their permission. This also includes involving other characters that are not yours own in fiction you write. Seek someone approval before posting it. In-game, ask permission to perform actions on another character or emote your action in such a way that leaves it open for the other character to react to it.

**Even non-player-character (NPC)'s. Any major actions affecting NPC's should also be requested through their creator. All NPC's have a purpose too.

Absolutely no godmoding!

A definition of godmoding can be found here, curtesy of Wikipedia. I would encourage everyone to link to it and read it. It would be wrong to assume that everyone understands the nature of godmoding.

Nonetheless, for our purpose, it comes down to not force an action on another player's character without their permission and not role-playing your character as invincible or above the established laws of the world/gender/race of your character.

Please note that refusing to participate in a role-playing situation that affects your character in a way that is not within the scope of your character morals and beliefs without your prior permission is NOT godmoding. As is making an OOC choice to ignore harmful or objectionable actions against your character is NOT godmoding (i.e. You say or emote nothing in character and go about your business when another character sneaks up behind you, steals your coin purse and stealth away before you noticing).

Communicate with other Players!

None of us are telepathically connected and we cannot hear your thoughts. So if you want a certain outcome to happen or steer a conversation a certain way, then communicate that with the other player(s). Preferably before the role-play event takes place. Work it out with them and don’t be afraid to come to a compromise. Otherwise, you may end up with undesirable circumstances.

Courtesy is important. This does not mean your character needs to be courteous, but a player must always be courteous to the other . The general rule is to make sure anyone you are interacting with knows and agrees with your character's behavior toward their characters. Don't assume everyone will get it because "it's your style." There are many ways to accomplish this, such as the use of the grams or message boards or even ICQ or email, to discuss the situation in an out of character environment before acting out the situation in character.

Know how to use Granted vs. Not Granted Information!

Granted information is tidbits of a character or storyline that have been made public either in or out of character for the benefit of other players. For instance, their character is short tempered. The player wants you to know that, so your character can be prepared for it and to give you an idea that it is coming. Granted information is just simple foreshadowing.

Not granted Information is tidbits of a character or storyline that have not been made public in-character but is made known out-of-character to keep things straightforward so people don’t get lost. This type of information would not be made public in character and therefore cannot be role-played as common knowledge. However, the author or originating character may opt to share this information with your character at which point your character would have knowledge of it and can therefore role-play that accordingly.

Remember the difference between In Character and Out of Character discussions!

Don't get the two confused and you have to remember that even if another character may despise or ignore your character, this may not reflect the other player’s thoughts and opinions of you. It is important to try to keep a firm boundary between the two aspects.

To help with this, keep all OOC communication in the designated OOC channel or you may elect to use either double brackets (()) or box []. Keep in mind that it’s important to keep /say, /yell, /g, and /emote in-character and use the double brackets or box sparingly in order too keep the role-play flow going.

Sharing the limelight!

Everyone wants to be in the spotlight; it's human nature to want to be the center of attention. It's an ego-boost. That's why it's especially important to be polite and share the spotlight with others while playing with them. If you absolutely cannot stand being in the background in group stories, then you need to seek out more one-on-one RP which, by nature, puts both participants in one another's spotlight the entire time. But while in large groups, remember that you're not the only one there to have fun, and let other people have their moment in the sunlight...or better yet, manufacture ways to put different people on center-stage. You'll be surprised how often people will drag you up with them in gratitude.

Traditionally, in one-to-one role-playing there is a constant trade off. One person says something, then the other, and then the first player has a turn again, etc, etc. It is a good idea to maintain this in two-player situations; allow your fellow player time to react to your words. In larger situations, the feasibility of this guideline breaks down somewhat, however it is still always a good idea to give players time to react to your actions before assuming that they do not react. By nature, role-playing on the Net is a somewhat time-consuming affair. Don't accidentally cut off the other players in a rush to include everything you want included.

Joining in existing storylines!

If you enter in an existing storyline where a group of people are planning for a specific mood or direction, do not change that mood or direction or story without asking first. Whiles out-of-character, ask if the session is open to others if the mood seems intimate, and if you want to bring in a radically different mood, ask the participants if they would mind the change of pace. Sudden mood-changes by incoming characters can be very jarring to people who are in mid-play.

Conversations, threats by evil characters on good characters, saber rattling, etc. should be fine spontaneously. But attacking another's kingdom, or coup attempts, attempting to steal from them, being the other woman (or man) all require some kind of OOC confirmation before hand.

This is a MUST as failure to do so will result in bad feelings, complaints, and in a worse case scenario, get one banned. Basically, think before you act, and be polite and respectful of other players as a player. It will make RP fun for everyone. And it may have the added benefit of making friends in the process, even for those with evil characters.

Grammar is important!

One more thing, another factor that will drastically affect a forum RP is writing skills. Capitalization, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary and complete sentences are all important parts of a good role-playing experience. Typos are often unavoidable as well. You can always correct yourself if you choose to by typing a * before the correction. But don’t rag on other people if their spelling/grammar is not up to par. Excessive arrogance can ruin your reputation.

In-Character Etiquette

In our Suncrown Universe, we operate in a two tiered society. There are nobles and then there are commoners. While in-character, you Should observe the proper courtesies of one position in society. If a commoner address a noble then the proper respect should be observed. (Sir, Dame, Lord, Master, Lady, m’lord, m’lady, etc…) For instance, a soldier would address his superior with his proper rank this works the same in our elven society. If you choose to stray away from these courtesies you may be corrected or even dismissed in-character. If you do not know the title of a character, simply ask. There is no shame in that.

Be attentive to characters emotes; do not over-use them either unless for instance your character is mute. Emotes are the games way of communicating physical and emotional changes in your character. Even sometimes thoughts when emoted correctly. However, thoughts remain personal and unless you vocalise then in say, then no other character would know what your character is thinking. So it is important to use emotes properly.