Ducky's Guide to Roleplay.

[Creeding]

This wonderful piece of literature was written by Molested Rubber Ducky, I havent been able to ask him for permission, but I dont think he would mind me moving this fron the zone, to the HGN.

I take NO credit for this (I just copy pasted from locke who copyed it from Ducky.)

Read and take this in, its a great guide. its a little outdated but it helps! Edited slightly by me.





Introduction
Welcome to the world of roleplaying. Roleplaying is a very addicting hobby and is rising in popularity everyday. The point of roleplay is to play the role of something you cannot in real life. And ever since the dawn of the internet, it has taken off. This is guide to get you roleplaying in a proper, enjoyable way. This guide mainly focuses around Garry's Mod roleplay, but the basic knowledge can be applied to forum roleplay as well.


Basics of Roleplay
There are many types of roleplay, but each of them revolve around two basic elements. The characters and the setting. Without the setting, the characters would not know what to do. But without the characters, nothing would happen within the setting. So it is important to know what the setting is before creating a character. The character could do anything that is within the logical sense of the setting.

Creating Characters
Creating and devoloping your roleplay character is every important. Lots of roleplays will ask you to fill out profile, and think of that as a canvas. And you want to paint your character on it. This is where orginality counts, there are dozens of characters that are 18-21 years old, are perfect in everyway, have had their parents killed by [Place generic cause here] and have no weaknesses. Those characters are usually very boring to roleplay with and are frowned appon. Make a orginal character, and for the love of god. Your parents do not have to be dead. The more orginal, the better.

Interacting With Other Characters
This is the best part of roleplay. Roleplaying can be described as making a story, and letting others add to it. And this is where the creative genius of two or more people collide to make a clusterfuck of amazment and wonder.
Dialouge is extremely important in roleplay, dialouge can usually propel a roleplay farther and deeper than action. It is extremely important to know how to approach someone for the first time. If your character is a dick, make him/her great the stranger with a "Hey Cunt!" instead of something your character would say if he/she was nice. If your character is nice, do not just great someone with "Hi" This seems to be the downfall to many roleplays. If you were sitting next to someone, and they just said "Hi" that usually signals being boring and very uninteresting small-talk. A better way to talk to someone else's character for the first time is to ask about something that went on in the setting, or ask something of what the other character is doing. Now what seems more interesting "Hi..." or "Did you hear about that drug lab getting busted a couple blocks down?" the second statement is more likely to trigger interesting roleplay. The next portion we need to cover is interacting with the enviorment and other characters through actions.

Interacting with Actions
Powerplaying, it is something that everyone hates and you should never do it. Powerplaying is when you take control of someone elses character. Like if I was roleplay with you, and in a reply I said something like: [Your Character's Name Here] trips and falls over a rock. When you had no intention to do so. That would be powerplaying. That is controlling someone else's character and you will most likely be considered a jackass. Just don't do it. Another example of powerplaying would be in roleplay fighting. This is where powerplaying seems to happen the most. If I was in a fight with someone elses character and I said something like: Gatlin kicks Rick Vanz in the face. That would be powerplaying. You can attack another character, but yet again, give the other player the choice to get hit or not. This may seem retarded because you will probably think "He will just always dodge my attacks!" that is wrong. This leads us to our next subject. Godmoddding, there is a difference. Godmodding is making your character invunerable practically. For example, if my character got shot 30 times in the face, and he lives. That is just retarded, like my character is a god, hence the term. Those are the two worst things you could possibly do in a roleplay. If you do that in the middle of a serious roleplay, people will ignore you and label you a idiot.

Again, the proper way to interact with other characters is to give them the choice to complete the action. For example, this is the correct way to punch someone in roleplay: Gatlin pulls his arm back and goes for a punch to the man's chest. Since I put goes instead of hits then that gives the other player to make the decision if he/she is hit or not. And if they dodge everything, then they are godmodding, and stop roleplaying with them.

Gunfights
When going into a gun fight with 2-5 people, use the strategy "shoot to miss" it is more realistic, and can be a lot more fun than just: pew pew, *headshot* I win lululullulul. Actually roleplay all the actions that go into real tactical combat is great roleplay. If I ran for cover, ducked behind a car, loaded my AK-47, blind fired, then fired a couple aimed bullets, and missed; that would seem a hell of a lot more fun than just plain shooting a enemy dead on with no roleplay.

There is a exception to this rule though, if the fight ranges in the numbers of 6-10. Then, you can aim a little more accurately. Cause if you are typing out some elaborate action, a sniper could have roleplayed aiming at your face, and pulling the god damn trigger. This happens way to often, and hence why in large open conflicts, rp is still important, but you can shoot to kill.

Robbing/Muggings
Robbing is very hard to roleplay on both sides. If I were to run up to someone in a world where every motherfucker and their grandma has a gun, I would be scared shitless if they made any movements. If you are robbing someone, do not just shooting them the second you think they are pulling a gun. Wait for a reply with action of them drawing their weapon or something of the sort. If they do not give any warning, report them to a admin. When being the victim of a mugging you will probably think: "I could give him my money, but that would be stupid cause then I would lose stuff. But if I die, I would just respawn!" This is a horrible thought, do not ever think like that. Think of your character's life as your own, do whatever you can to keep him alive without godmodding or powerplaying. So, give them your money, or fight back. Do whatever you think would be the easiest safest way out of the situation.

Killing Another Character
This is a very hard thing to explain to most people new to roleplay. They think since it is a video game, killing characters does not matter since they can just respawn. This is a horrible thought. Kill characters should be taken seriously. Why do you think you try to keep your character alive? So they will not die. But, if you are the one about to kill the character. Think for a second. Think of it as taking another person's life. It should be done as a last resort in self defense. And unless your character is a hardened killer, it should be hard for him/her to pull that trigger.

Perma Kills
This is probably the worst possible thing that could happen to a well developed character. A perma kill is where you kill another character but they stay dead. The player who the character belonged to can never be played with again. Do not think of every death as a perma kill. Perma kill is usual discussed in OOC where both players agree to it. Only ask a player for a PK if it is truely a epic roleplay that ends with their death. After all, they put time and effort into that character. Now if it were you, would you want to lose your character?


Faction Roleplay
Factions are hard to understand. Each faction has their different goals and different beliefs. Now lets go through each one, in detail.

Freedom
Freedom believes in opening the Zone and all of it's knowledge to everyone. Freedom is the most laid back of all the factions. They are unorganized and are friendly to most STALKERS. They are at constant ware with DUTY and are semi-hostile towards the Military. If you are in the faction, be nice. That is the usual mood of Freedom, unless your character is really pissy.

DUTY
These are the first Para-Military sent into the Zone. They survived and soon formed a strong goal to eradicate all Mutants and traces of the Zone. They are at war with Freedom, since their beliefs are the exact opposite of each other. Since they were once Military they are extremely strict and most of them have a good amount of combat experience. They are not usually nice to random STALKERS, but they favor ones that help them. They do not let STALKERS go into their base or hang around their, unless on important business.

Military
The Military in the Zone are semi-spetsnaz (the most dangerous soldiers in the world) who took special training for the Zone. They are usually their to keep everyone from going to hell. If a raid gets out of hand, they are the ones that silence it. They are allies with DUTY and hostile towards Freedom. They are generally dicks to anyone who isn't Military or DUTY. Very few STALKERS are loyal to the Military.

Mercenary
These are Mercenaries that were hired by a private imployer to do missions in the Zone. They have barely any experience in the Zone, but you will find no better in combat. These guys are true masters of combat. They a generally hostile towards anyone who is not a imployer. I suggest just staying away from them.

Monolith
These are the crazy religious fanatics, what would the world be without em? They believe there is a rock in the center of the Zone that can grant wishes. They are extremely hostile towards anyone that is not a Monolith. They will give their lives to protect the "Monolith" or "Wish Granter." They are usually spotted deep in the Zone. Unfortanately they have been driven out of this sector.

Traders
These are the fat bastards... that give the missions and sell/buy things. They are generally dicks and aren't friendly.



Loners
This is the largest faction, even though it isn't really one. Loners are just regular STALKERS that come into the Zone to make money. They will help another that is in need, they do have respect for each other. News of a well known Loner's death travels quickly.

Bandits
These are regular STALKERS, but they are more interested in robbing others for their artifacts and roubles. They are not generally nice to anyone. Most of them were criminals before they came into the Zone, possibly hiding from the law.  Also there awesome.


Terms
OOC- Out of Character - This is when you are speaking out of your character, as in not dialouge. If I needed to report someone to a admin for something, speaking out of character would be the right way to do it.

IC - In Character - This is when speaking with your character. This includes both actions and dialouge. If I needed to say Hello to another character and give him a high five. This would be the right way to do it.

PK - Perma Kill - A kill that results in the characters "Permanant Death." That character can never be used again by that player and should only be done in the case of truely epic roleplay.

RP - Roleplay - Acronym for roleplay.

DM - Deathmatch - Killing without reason. You are the scum of the earth if you do.

RP.I.P Ducky.