RuneScape Forum Archive | In-Game RolePlay Guide & Help

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Character Development and Balancing

Character development is possibly the core aspect of every (serious) roleplay you'll do - the decisions your character makes, those it goes along with and the rewards, or lack of, are always determined by your character's personality, conscience and contribute to their perpetual development. It is important to keep this in mind, and every time something contradicts your character's preference or morality, it will have an effect on the character which leads to growth. Everyone has a potential that is reached through this turmoil.

On balancing, it is important to remember that your character should have strengths and weaknesses though it is not necessary for them to have major penalties that hamper them, unless you're making them more powerful than the average Joe. It is common for characters to have more 'moderate' strengths than weaknesses, and it is not something to get hung up on unless you are deliberately trying to make the character stand out, or you're unfamiliar with the normalities of the Type/Race/Species you are playing (examples being any non-Human whose lore you're unfamiliar with, or if you're mimicking the Rock).

Development is constant, and almost every scenario shapes the path of your character and their hitherto development will shape their reaction - their reaction will have an impact on their future development. Balance is a creation issue and is largely done by simply being informed as to the formalities of the type of character you are playing.
Remember: If someone points out an 'issue' with your character's development or balance, they're not necessarily right but it is definitely advisable that you hear them out and assess the criticism, and see if there's any merit in it by self-critique or asking a friend. The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:03:37 - Last edited on 06-Jan-2018 11:56:16 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Character Death

Oh dear, you are dead!

get fkin owned kid...

Unless it was a scripted part of a plot. Either way, your character isn’t done yet! They don’t have to be done, anyway. There are choices.

Die - Your character leaves the public realm of roleplay, moving on to the afterlife. From there, you could roleplay your character interacting with other deceased. Do remember, your character goes to the afterlife of the world it calls home. Fremennik are taken by Eir to Teregard's Afterlife, whereas Gielinorian Natives pass on to the Grim Underworld, Goblins to Yu'Biusk, etc etc. Mahjarrat don't have an afterlife. When they die, they are dead and cannot return, exploding their life force either into the world or other Mahjarrat.

Haunt - From the Book of the Underworld: "Although he is unwilling to shed much light on the subject, I believe that Death is sometimes unable to completely sever a soul's tie to the physical world. It seems this is due to an overpowering will to stay or 'unfinished business'. This is why there are ghosts in the surface world; they still remain attached to the realm of the living. In some extreme cases a person may return to life, with Death refusing to reap their soul as their fate yet holds great importance."

Though there is little chance anyone but the most potent of liches would know that about Death - slain individuals of unyielding resolve may yet continue in one way or another.

Revival - If you’re roleplaying through gameplay and you happen to die at a boss or such, no one is going to hold it against you if you say your character was actually incapacitated. If this happened through a more text-centric ordeal, a necromancer has to locate your body and raise it, which is no small feat and may require sacrifice. The revival has to happen quickly, otherwise Death can claim the soul of a character, and Death's deals can be...grim The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:04:20 - Last edited on 09-Aug-2017 10:52:06 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Spheres of Roleplay

Public

This is the sphere that the common rules of roleplay apply to as a given. This is the intersection of individual scenes who can do their own thing, but in here, some sense of order needs to be maintained for the sake of coherence and fairness.

Public Roleplay is a generic form of roleplay accessible to anyone and everyone. Freelance, POCs, many military groups, lore-based factions, and many, many more roleplays exist within the public spectrum.

Public roleplay adapts to new lore Jagex offers, always keeping with most of the continuity offered. It is simple, and easy for others to jump in and understand the roleplay, and in some cases so spontaneous you don't even need to ask to join into it.

Because of the nature of public, arguments happen often about character death, lore contradictions, and other things we don't know.

As a whole; these are the basics to prepare you.

Nobody needs permission to kill your character. An OOC mechanic, the Character Death Courtesy has emerged into several communities, at least with the more text-centric roleplay. It offers the player who is victim to a kill-move to let the killer inflict a crippling, or incapacitating blow with permission; rather than end the life and story of the character. Regardless of what is said, no, your character doesn't have to resort to killing. (ransoming, crippling, abandoning, or listening to pleas of a yield are perfectly fine for most.) And also, no, the courtesy is just that, not a rule but something to ask to be polite and have both players leave the situation happily.

Obversely, anything violating Jagex's rules in any roleplay, cannot be roleplayed in any sphere, whether it be public, private, or sandbox.

Blacklists or exclusions are not allowed, unless someone cannot conform to the rules of a public setting. In this case, just ignore them. The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:05:47 - Last edited on 11-Aug-2019 14:15:57 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Private

Private roleplay is a magical place. Whatever the GM decrees is law. A good Gamemaster will manage to shift the story away from their characters and make just about everyone feel important to the story as it develops, but even more intricately comes the careful balance of RuneScape and custom content. Often, the leaders of a private roleplay will expand RuneScape lore rapidly to fill in all the holes of lore left by Jagex. This may mean there is more than just the metals or gemstones provided, highly magical items with large enchantments, custom races, custom ethnicity of existing species, and even custom religions.

When an argument between players or a lore contradiction surfaces, it is up to the GM to figure out an outcome that allows the roleplay to progress with peace OOC, or to decide which lore to follow. They can then forward concerns to the leader, who can place a permanent ruling on the situation.

Some players use terms such as "semi-private" or "semi-public" to describe their roleplay. Semi-private tends to mean an application process is needed to become involved, as with private roleplays or group membership. (Most POCs will rarely require you to apply to interact with them, especially when performing diplomacy.) Semi-public, on the other hand does not require applications but allows the roleplayer to know and acknowledge the rules of roleplay and lore will be bent or broken.

Lastly, in the logical consideration of the labels we're using here, it's good manners to not block off a clearly public area on the overworld for a private event. Like a popular tavern, or in the middle of a city. A citadel or player owned home or some actually remote pocket of the overworld is more appropriate. If you do need to use a public area, you can hop to another world. You may get a few strange looks and rude people, but trolls are on every world anyways. The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:05:47 - Last edited on 30-Mar-2017 16:11:43 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Sandbox

Sandboxes are the fun little worlds we build where we lack the resources to try otherwise.

Ever wonder what Gielinor might look like in year 2014 of the Seventh Age? Or Year 1 of the First Age? Ever wonder what something outside the Runescape Universe would be like?

In a Sandbox, RuneScape is your clay and sand to build and craft an elaborate world of your own design. For everything from "What if..." scenarios to helping implement a piece of story you plan to work on writing outside of Runescape, Sandbox roleplays have vast potential.

Jagex Rules state you can roleplay mostly anything, but for creativity's sake you should really avoid unoriginal crossovers with other pre-established universes. If you can make it fun, then nobody will stop you...but few people will be interested in RS-Meets-Naruto.

However it is against the rules to have any roleplay related to real world politics, religion and all of that real stuff regardless of if it is a sandbox or not. Few things cause conflict like real religion and politics. It's a can of worms and it doesn't belong here.

Lastly, in the logical consideration of the labels we're using here, it's good manners to not block off a clearly public area on the overworld for a sandbox event. Like a popular tavern, or in the middle of a city. A citadel or player owned home or some actually remote pocket of the overworld is more appropriate. If you do need to use a public area, you can hop worlds for the event. You may get some strange looks from people, but there are trolls on every world anyways.

All in all, it's just a spectrum. With public, you can expect close adherence to usual canon. With private, you can expect to encounter interesting and neat custom content that makes sense. With sandbox, you may end up on Azeroth or something crazy like that. The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:05:48 - Last edited on 09-Jan-2017 02:52:36 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

EVENTS IN ROLEPLAY

- Hah! Got your hopes up. No roleplay event posts made here yet. Yell at me if one was made and I didn't post it before it ended, or if one's still up after it ends.

If you wish to have your event posted in this guide, post about it. The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:07:10 - Last edited on 09-Jan-2017 02:53:51 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

EXTENDED GUIDES

By this point, you know all you need to know to get started. Now you could plunge into roleplay and start your journey. However, there is more information to learn that is optional. If you fear information overload, don't sweat it! If you’re more studious though, keep going.

Other Guides

• Saint Khaine's Fight-Writing Guides
Plate Armor Guide
Longsword Fencing Guide
Multi-Way Combat
Footwork in Combat
Taking Hits
Martial Wrestling

• Lore Goddess' Guide to Gielinorian Metals (If Claire comes back to update this it'd be great, if she doesn't I may rip it and update it myself in one of my Spare posts)

• The Monetary reference table by SsVivid for realistic pricing of objects in Roleplay.

•The Encyclopedia Pharmacognosy continues to be a great boon for any herbalist, or would-be assassin trying to mix potions. The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:07:11 - Last edited on 04-Apr-2019 08:50:03 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Unofficial Rules of Roleplay

Most role-playing communities ascribe to the common rules/do's and don'ts of roleplay or some approximate adaptation of them in a reliable way. Following that trend, the various communities on W42 have a number of unofficial rules of roleplay that are usually unspoken, unwritten, or generally spread by word of mouth rather than by concrete list of what to do and what not to do which is unique to the community. Not everyone follows these rules, but know that following these will probably make you more liked. Everyone appreciates a courteous person.

Ask before you kill : It is considered polite to obtain permission from a player before attempting to kill their character. This courtesy is a respect for the sentimental connection that can form between a player and his character. Some users feel that each individual has the right to chose the circumstances of his character's death. A common variation of this rule is to, rather than ask permission, warn the player of your character's intentions so that the player may have his character make decisions to help allow or not allow the kill. Common exceptions to this rule include characters who initiate combat, characters who have committed acts such that they know they have enemies, characters in high-profile positions like kings who should expect frequent attempts on their lives, and characters on battlefields.

Attack justification : It is considered polite to, if a player controlling an opponent character requests, offer legitimate justification for your character initiating combat. This is a protection against metagamers in that the opponent player wants to make sure that your character is not attacking for out-of-character reasons, like personal disagreement or boredom, and that player's character is in danger fairly.

[cont. below] The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:07:11 - Last edited on 11-Aug-2019 14:17:42 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Assault warning : It is considered courteous to provide a reasonable period of warning to an enemy group out-of-character before launching a multi-player assault on that enemy group's territory, holdings, or so on. Such grace periods can last anywhere from an hour to a month, but it is best to give as long of warning as possible. The justification for this warning is that any major city or organization is likely to have a formidable organized force ready to defend it from attack at a moment's notice, but the availability of players to be present and represent such defenders fluctuates. The grace period in this unwritten rule is meant to allow the defending clan to alert its members to be online and available at an agreed upon time, thus making the conflict as realistic (IC'ly) and fair (OOC'*y) as possible. The unspoken understanding on the other end of this rule is that groups given warning are expected not to abuse the warning and metagame character knowledge of the incoming attack so as to prepare special defenses against what would realistically be a surprise assault.

Private is Private : It's widely understood that, in private role-playing groups that do not interact with stray freelancers or major public entities, anything goes. Players in private role-plays can be as overpowered as they want, can break any lore, can be mary-sues or god-modders or anything else that appeals so long as all involved players agree. However, if a player uses a character in a public role-play who has also participated in sandboxed events, that player is expected to nullify any questionable character developments for public appearances. For example, if a private plot line led a character to discovering an ancient ritual that would allow him to summon 200 ancient demons on a whim, that character may recognize that he discovered an ancient superspell in his life history, but should not actually ever use that in public.

[cont. below] The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:09:54 - Last edited on 09-Jan-2017 02:56:00 by RiDaku

Oct

2012

RiDaku

Posts: 6,003 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Temporary royalty : Though based on the social hierarchy and monarchies of medieval Earth, royalty is not necessarily a permanent position in the realm of RuneScape roleplay. While the crown does not have an expiration date, monarchs are rarely expected to last for remarkably long periods of time. That is not an OOC expectation, rather an IC probability because Gielinor is a very violent place. On the flipside, this game of musical thrones is actually getting pretty old by now. Assassinating rulers is rather overdone by now.

Contemporary values : Though there are many scenarios in roleplay made to resemble medieval Earth society, like social hierarchy and romantic-style combat norms, there are still many very contemporary values exhibited in the in-character society which are treated as normal despite being far from the reality of medieval times. To name a few, characters on different social castes often treat each other as equals, torture and unnecessary cruelty are usually considered abominable, and many government systems practice innocent-until-proven-guilty. Along similar lines, it is also considered normal for a commoner to earn a private audience with the monarch himself. Racism is almost non-existant, and LGBTQA (and the rest of that alphabet soup) characters are also more prevalent these days and should come as no cultural shock OOC'ly. (RuneScape has had magic dedicated to flawless sex change since 2002, after all.)

[cont. on the next page] The Sicarius |

They think they are "the many", and I "the few". They think this gives them the right to walk over me.

Want to Role-Play? Click Here!

09-Jan-2017 02:09:54 - Last edited on 30-Mar-2017 16:21:58 by RiDaku

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