Guide to Roleplay

Friendly introduction - First things first, allow me to welcome you to the server of Desert Rose! Or in this case the wiki, and specifically in this case the Guide to Roleplay. Whatever reason you may be here, whether to touch up on old knowledge or to learn, this guide can help steer you in the right direction. We're all here to to have some good fun after all, so at least try to keep all the things you might learn here in mind. But, if you feel like there is any way to improve it, or if any subjects need be added, feel free to give feedback! Other than that, on to the guide!

The pillars of storytelling
Why they matter - So, first things first, its about time to learn about the essentials. Setting, Character, and plot. Needless to say, the three of these combined make a story feel complete. Even in terms of RP, it is very important to keep all of these things in mind. They can assist with blending into the chosen setting, to make a proper character to produce the almighty plot. Whatever it may be, whoever you may be interacting with, everyone has their own story. Experiencing it through RP means every can contribute, of course.

Setting - Before you make a character, before you make about a thousand different overcomplicated plot threads, always ask yourself where does the story take place? That includes things such as the current year, what kind of technology(or lack thereof) is hanging about, the list can go on and on. The most important thing though, is to always keep the setting in mind. It sets the basis for your character, and it definitely helps set the course for the plot. Of course, all of these things blended together make a good story whole, but learning about each piece is always vital.

Character - So, you finally got your setting down pact right? Well, now its about time to see just what kind of people fit, in the world you have built. Or maybe it's a world you yourself are choosing to participate in, like a great many other beside you. Whether it comes to RP, or just making your own story, the characters need to fit into the world that they are in. As a prime example, lets take the setting of fallout. A post nuclear wasteland with warring factions and people just trying to live. In a world like this, you would never expect to see something like a space marine from Warhammer 40k. Nor should you expect someone to really be summoning dragons or using outlandish magic. In another setting, in another world, sure, but not in the setting that is fallout. Always keep that in mind when you're making your character, think about how well they fit into the chosen setting, and how they will contribute to the plot!

Plot - The plot, the story, the lesson learned, anything and everything you can think of regarding the word plot. Well, almost anything, but it is basically the story that is being told, from beginning to end. From the rise to the climax all the way down to the end of the story. A good plot makes a good story, but when it comes to RP it can be very... very different. When you make a character, you start engaging with other people. You'll have a goal in mind, maybe a way you want the character to go. They might be a throwaway, or something a bit more on the permanent side. Either case, the story surrounding your character, the plotline you planned for them might change, and that's okay. Not everything goes according to plan, and that can make it fun, or not so much. The reason being is that the plot is not entirely defined, the ending to the story may never come, and as such everything can change. Your character may fail, go through changes. Maybe those changes can help, help you build another plotline that can give some more fun for everyone involved. Always keep it in mind, you may be the hero of your own story, but so is everyone else.

What is Roleplay
Roleplay - It is to act and speak as the character that you are portraying. Whoever, and whatever that character may be, it is your job to get into their mindset and do what they would do, in the chosen environment. Let's give a small example, in the form of Joe Fixit. Joe Fixit as you can guess, is a born and raised mechanic, who works on cars, trucks, motorcycles, anything with a motor or a plasma core. To roleplay as Joe Fixit, you'd have to know his personality, how he would act to the situations surrounding him, and how he fits into his chosen setting. Now with that being said, depending on the kind of RP, you might play him out differently. There is Light Roleplay(LRP/Light RP), Medium Roleplay(Medium RP/MRP) and Heavy Roleplay(Heavy RP/HRP).

 Light Roleplay  - Think of this as the, "Everything is loose-" kind of RP. You don't actively have to stick to the specific personality and actions that your character would do, and can namely go around doing memeing and all. However, there is still some suspension of disbelief to be kept, since you are still actively engaging in roleplay. Let's go back to Joe Fixit in this example. Normally speaking, Joe has never seen a medical tool in his life. But you as the player know exactly how to perform surgery on someone else... So you drag your dying friend and get them back up to health, with no prior training what so ever. Without being said, tossing aside the character's experience, personality, or otherwise to do what you want to do that doesn't fit what they want to do(memeing or otherwise) is LRP.

 Medium Roleplay  - Already much more serious than light, but let's go back to our name-brand Joe Fixit. In a MRP scenario, you would stick much closer to acting as how the character actually is, and their specific skillset. Joe wouldn't be able to actually stitch his friend back together should they get blown up, but maybe through some stroke of luck they succeed. Never the less, when engaged in MRP, the memeing and blatant out of character options need to be dialed back by a pretty substantial amount.

 Heavy Roleplay  - Now finally, we get to the meat. Where as with light and medium, you might do some things out of character for your character to do just because, when engaged in HRP, none of that can be done. Joe Fixit has never touched a medical tool in his life, so his attempts to stitch his friend together will only end up butchering the person he tried to save. Why? No medical training of course, he's a mechanic, not a god damn doctor. The same as how the doctor he drags his friend to, can't tune up a damn car to save their life. When in HRP, always understand that the suspension of disbelief must be kept at all times. Joe Fixit isn't just a character, he's a person living in an actual world. You're just the pilot guiding his actions for some fun/interesting scenarios. So, to put all of this in some basic words, don't think about what you would do in this scenario. Think about what Joe would do, if confronted with any amount of problems.

Roleplay on Desert Rose
Desert Rose is a HRP server, first and foremost. Please keep that in mind when you join in and when you are making your character. Think about how they would fit in the world of fallout, or hell how they were raised in the world of fallout. it is always crucial to remember the setting, and if it needs to be stated more than once, Desert Rose is set in the fallout universe. To be very specific, it focuses on the canon elements from Fallouts 1, 2, and New Vegas. If you need more info about the fallout timeline up to two, there are various links on the Main Page that can guide you to what you need to know. Not to mention the bar at the top that leads to the various rules, factions and other guides that can help get you situated and ready for RP on Desert rose. But to cut it short, just have some fun and make some memories you'll look back on with a smile.

Character
So, let's start here with the main question, just what is a character? The answer should be obvious, but the character is someone, or hell even something, that acts and contributes to the story. Now the story could be yours, belong to someone else, or something in between for a clash of excitement. But to harp on one of the earlier examples, Joe Fixit. He's a character that fits into his world rather nicely. A topic like that though, will be covered in character creation. As for what is covered here, the character you make should ALWAYS be something that you know you could play out. It doesn't have to be one hundred percent accurate, we're all humans and we make mistakes, but learn from said mistakes and make the character believable. That should always be your priority, because a good character has depth to them. Emotion, morals, actual goals, things like that.

The basics
It's good to at least have a general concept of what your character is, or how you want them to be. Course in RP just about everything can happen, but at least have the core concept of your character be consistent. With a very clear goal of what the core concept of your character is, including how they fit into the world, we can move on to actually making them.

Physical and Psychological attributes
To explain, this is how your character looks, as well as how they are going to act. Their motives, a bit of their quirks, specific marks and scars, all of these things go here. These are essentially your bread and butter. The backstory being the meat on this lovely character sandwich, but that is for later. Arguably speaking, you can go with backstory and character look first, or character look and backstory after. As long as you keep the actual world the character is in, mind you, then both cases can work. But, these go hand in hand anyhow.

Backstory and the importance of setting
Everything needs to fit into the chosen setting, never forget that. You can't have your laser shooting dragon in fallout, those things really don't exist... lasers do, but dragons don't. Always keep in mind the setting while working on your backstory, if the backstory doesn't fit with the setting, everything kinda just falls apart. Now, it is your character, and it is your job to list their origins, how they grew up, how they became the person that they are today in a believable manner.

Where did your character come from?
Still a good question to ask during the process, since where they grew up could definitely affect just how they grew up. If they grew up in the west, with the NCR, they'd most likely be surrounded by some odd sorts of military propaganda and with firm ideals of democracy and such. If they grew up in the east, basically Legion Territories, there ideology... Hell even their name would be much different than that of someone of the NCR. Same can be said if they came from down south, central america, or even Canada.

Different places you can learn lore for story inspiration:

Fallout Fandom Wiki

Fallout Gamepedia Wiki

Oxhorn's Youtube channel

The Storyteller: Fallout

Character development
Yes. Over time your character should grow as a person. The adventures and the encounters that they survive should impact them in some kind of way. That is what keeps things somewhat interesting in a sense, since this person is living and breathing in their world. The world you are seeing, writing these character's experiences in. Of course, as treating them as a regular person, the shit that they go through, their memories will change them. For the worse, or for the better, is up to you.

The importance of consistency and the role of immersion. Persistence plays key.
It may or may not have to be said, but make sure the actions and reasoning of your character is consistent. To give an obvious example, don't play an outlaw that goes on a murderous rampage, just for him to turn around into a good Samaritan a few seconds later. Unless they have a split personality disorder but that is a whole different can of worms. Not to mention, make sure your character isn't spouting jokes and memes they wouldn't know, and no text speech. Text speech is against the rules, and only can be used when actually texting someone.

Mary-sue, Powergame and other cliches to avoid
Making a Mary-Sue, Gary-Sue, and powergaming is something you should entirely avoid as much as you possibly can. In fact, don't even attempt to make them in the first place, because we're all here to have fun. Having the perfect mary sue forcing another character into a situation they, and their player, don't want isn't fun for anyone. Always keep in mind that we're all here to have fun, so please... Make sure your characters and actions don't fall under this category.

How to make a non-organic
Ah yes, so you're a robot... a cyborg? An AI? First things first, decide which of the two you are. Are you an artificial intelligence, or a brain put into a robot body? Both of these are of course, very distinct and unique from one another. One being able to actually comprehend the full range of human emotion, morals, list goes on... and the other is well, advanced robot brain. The AI in fallout is extremely sophisticated, but they always have that certain quality to them that makes them non-human. For example, their clear cut personalities. All the nurse droids, Mr. Gutsy's, and everything in between can simply feign emotion, but they might never truly understand it. After all... it is just programming.

IC and OOC
A character's thoughts, actions and motivations are different and distinct from the player's, ie. the person behind the screen, and this can be hard to keep in mind sometimes. Their memories are different, the people they know and the things they know are different, and each character should be distinct from each other. Keeping things as in-character as possible is important not just for good roleplay, but to also avoid any toxicity or negativity.

Distractions - What to avoid
The entire goal of roleplaying is to immerse someone in an environment and have a shared experience; something memorable. The more distractions from the experience, the less satisfying overall the experience will be. This includes low RP, excessive LOOC, use of discord or the OOC channel while roleplaying, or anything else that breaks the sense of connectivity one feels with good, immersive roleplaying. When too much OOC is brought in, it no longer "feels" believable. The opposite also holds true: the more things are kept IC and the "flow" is maintained, the better the roleplay (this is a similar effect in the brain to watching an excellent movie or reading an engrossing book, something akin to self-hypnosis!).

Metagaming: IC != OOC
Players should avoid sharing knowledge between IC and OOC both ways, either their character knowing simply too much (due to the player knowing the mechanics of chemistry, let's say, they decide their character knows chemistry), or the player knowing too much (they know a person they're interacting with is a spy lying to them thanks to ghost knowledge, and grill them uncharacteristically hard until they give in). Using OOC knowledge or any other kind of out of character help in an in-game way is called Metagaming. This includes things like collaborating with people on Discord to clear a bunker or even just convene at a location, despite how apparently harmless it is - it's still using out of character knowledge. A better way is to tell in-character friends a location to meet up each round and go from there. Knowledge should not be shared between different characters played by the same player - these should always be entirely separate from each other, otherwise it's just more mixing IC with OOC.

Persistence: ICA = ICC
An important rule of roleplay is "ICA = ICC" which means 'in character actions have in character consequences'. The 'actions and consequences' are just as important as the 'in character' part. Things your character does should be recalled in-character, not by ghost knowledge, or even never discovered at all if nobody actually saw it. OOC knowledge of something ahead of time can "spoil" what would otherwise be a fun surprise or interesting experience. Character change and growth are important to keep things in character, otherwise, again, the sense of immersion is broken. This should include aging!

Retcons
In the same sense, a retcon is something that sharply breaks immersion and ideally should be avoided at all costs. A retcon should only really be used in the case of a genuine rule break, as otherwise the flow of continuity is spoiled. A player's character is not the protagonist, the entire game is, and part of maintaining immersion is the feeling that things will happen that are outside their control.

It's the story that is ultimately what's important, and the primary driver of all good roleplay; a collaborative storytelling effort with many parts and players, all equally important. If all players aren't "on the same page" and in the same immersive experience, the story falters.

How do I express my character on the wasteland?
A few things to take note of. First things first, do try your hardest to NOT DIE at round start. Sure people might save you, might get an aheal, but dying before anyone can meet ya can be a... hazard, for all of the obvious reasons. So, if it need not be said, live! Live so you can interact with others and make a proper story with them.

Second things second, you are given a bit of context when you first spawn in. For whatever reason, you have come to Yuma. It need not be said, but you decide whatever that reason may be, for your character to come to a place of neutrality. With that in mind though, just think about how your character would act when they meet other people!

Always remember that you're like everyone else, just trying to survive in a harsh world that keeps on trying to kill you. May they be farmer, raider, outlaw, or citizen of whatever local military, everyone's doing their own thing!

How do i approach other people?
With all things, it all starts on the kind of character you are playing. Keep in mind how they act, how would they act when encountering a random waster? Honestly speaking the best way to approach is to take the jump and say hi! There's nothing wrong with trying to start up a conversation, just make sure you know who you're talking to at first glance. A lot of raiders, outlaws, and legion that'll give you a bad time. NCR too, if you're one of the previously three mentioned. But still, just take that first step, and find some friends.

How do I roleplay proper?

Well, if you've skipped to this part, allow me to say to go back up and read through the guide. For those that read through the guide and are here, Hi! But, if you really need a TLDR, synapsis, etcetera, it should go like this. Consider the space you're in, whether its LRP, MRP, or HRP. From there make sure that your character adheres to the setting and the established lore. From there, make sure your character acts like a person. No one likes a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu. Everyone has flaws, everyone has fears. RP is also a two way street, always consider how you are going to be making the other person feel, and if you are ever unsure, use OOC or LOOC to check in. Roleplaying properly usually just delves into good writing, and expression. Long as you have those locked down, you should be okay. Now please, have fun!