Author: Original by Serael, editing and additional content by Kilarra
If you're new to roleplaying, some of the words more experienced roleplayers use might be very confusing! Below is a summary of the most common terms, and what they mean.
»» • Roleplay: To assume the role of. Example: I am roleplaying a knight. I am pretending to be a knight.
»» • RP: An abbreviation of the word Roleplay. Example: I'm going to RP for a bit.
»» • Profile: A character sheet depicting the qualities and information about a certain character such as name, gender, inventory, powers, etc. Example: Name: --- / Age: --- / Appearance: --- ...
»» • Out-Of-Character: Commonly abbreviated as OOC. Means to talk outside of one's role; to talk as yourself rather than the character/role that is being roleplayed. Commonly is surrounded by symbols such as (()), []. Example: ((Drat, my keyboard is a mess.))
»» • In-Character: Commonly abbreviated as IC. Means to talk/post as the character/role you are roleplaying (i.e. To resume the role I was roleplaying as.)
»» • God Moding: Roleplaying in-character but ignoring all rules of roleplay, dictating what happens to other roleplayers' characters, making their own character a super-being who can't die. Generally used to describe a character being roleplayed in battle situations (e.g. every attack they perform hits, they dodge every attack directed at them, they are unfairly powerful compared to other characters).
»» • Non-Playable Character: Commonly abbreviated as NPC, also referred to as Non-Player Characters. A character that isn't controlled by just one roleplayer, such as an innkeeper in a tavern or a guard at a gate. An NPC may be controlled strictly by the person in control of the roleplay, or the roleplay creator may let anyone control them. Example: The following are non-playable characters: Billy, Bob, the goblins, and the guards.
»» • Puppeteering: If a roleplayer has to leave for an extended period of time, sometimes they may permit their character to be 'puppeteered', or controlled by other roleplayers, so that everyone else can continue with the story without waiting.
Example: ((I'm off on holiday for a week now, guys! Feel free to puppeteer my character if you need to))
»» • Storyline: Every roleplay has a story in it...read the first page of every RP you're going to participate in before jumping in. Also called the plot.
»» • Closed RP: A closed RP means that it is restricted to ONLY the users that were invited. It's best not to disrupt other RPs that you're not involved with.
»» • Open RP: An open RP means it's open to anyone who wants to join.
»» • RP Rules: Every RP made by different users has their own set of RP rules, please follow them to avoid embarrassment.
»» • Quest RP/Long-term RP: These RPs are very committed. If you're not the 'serious' role player than this isn't recommended for you. The reason is a Quest RP can go on for a long time, with a very carefully crafted story. These RPs are often organized by "serious" roleplayers who know their stuff.
»» • School RP: A place for those that would enjoy a good educational RP. Class is in session! The University/School subforum has plenty of these!
»» • Anime/Manga/Game RP: These RPs are mainly based on the series itself. For example: A thread was created called "Final Fantasy RP" and that means the RPers on that thread may RP in character as Cloud or Tidus or be original characters that they have made up RP with the FF characters.
»» • Original Characters (OCs): Often used in roleplays based on existing book, cartoon, game or movie series. Just because you choose to roleplay in the world of Final Fantasy VII doesn't mean that you have to play one of the game's main cast, like Cloud or Sephiroth. You could make up your own character within the Final Fantasy VII world e.g. a shopowner who works in Midgar called Claude. Claude would be an OC, or original character.
»» • Canon Characters: 'Canon' characters are those which already exist in an existing series. If you play Cloud in a Final Fantasy, he would count as a canon character. The word 'canon' can also be used to describe anything already established within a game, book, movie or cartoon world. For example, Squall and Rinoa's relationship in Final Fantasy VIII is considered 'canon' because it happens in the game. Sometimes people will want to roleplay scenarios which are not canon - for example, roleplaying a romance between Squall and Selphie instead.
»» • Symbols: Sometimes you will see those asterisks * used during an RP. Those often times by most users are used to describe motion/action. But not everyone uses it like that. Some may use color on the text and others will use slashes / or make it to italic or small text or :: or ~. Please for the love of God, do not use this.