L2RP: Terms, Etiquette, and Pie
While most of these terms won't come as a surprise to the more seasoned RPers out there, they do form a pretty good place to start especially if you're inexperienced or even a little shy about starting to RP.
For our examples, I'll be using my own characters as well as Blizzard's and occasionally guild characters to illustrate my points. I'll be including the various bits of etiquette in with the terms as I go.
IC - In Character - Actions or statements that your character makes or would make based on their past actions.
Example: Indurain worries that he'll have nothing to offer in a potential match, believing that status can play a part in the decision as well as mutual affection; therefore, he seeks to take part in important events to build his reputation and to earn a title. I like to keep his in-game title as Crusader to show his prowess at the tournament.
OOC - Out of Character - Actions done outside of roleplay by the players of the characters or actions that do not seem appropriate for the character to perform.
Example: Korathan was a cleric and a peaceful man in life, and now that he's been reanimated as a deathknight and has regained his will, it would be out of character for him to continue to terrorize the countryside and burn villages to the ground.
Scene - The series of dialogue and actions that form the storyline.
Pose - A segment of a scene such as dialogue or action. One's turn, as it were.
ICA - In-Character Actions - A little redundant, but this refers specifically to acts your character performs in roleplay. This leads to...
ICC - Icecro- *cough* - In-Character Consequences - Newton's Third Law as it applies to roleplay. The reaction to your character's actions. If your character performs a good act, logic follows that they'd receive praise and warm fuzzies for the deed. However, if your character behaves poorly, be prepared to have others treat your character the same way.
Those who attempt to weasel out of negative consequences for their character's misbehavior are largely considered to be bad players. Therefore, ICA=ICC - In-Character Actions lead to In-Character Consequences.
Example: We all know what happened at the Wrathgate with Varimathras betraying Sylvanas and trying to take over the Undercity. Because of his actions against her and the Horde, he received the negative consequence of permanent death. If he had not been killed and attempted to come back to work for her without punishment, by RP standards, he would then be considered a bad player.
Godmoding, godmodding, powerplaying, powerposing, etc - These all refer to when a player controls the action to such a degree that others in the scene find that that have little to no choice as to what happens.
Example - Perhaps while sparring, Korathan lands a devastating blow, shattering Indurain's shield and bloodying his arm with the deathknight's massive axe.
Now pretend that they're played by two different people instead of the both of them being played by me. Korathan's move leaves no room for Indurain to block or even decide the severity of the blow, whether it glances off his shield or cuts through his bracer into his forearm. In worst case scenarios, a bad player could write that they've killed the other character without that character's player having a say in what happens. This is bad.
The way to play better in this instance is this: Korathan swings his massive a... that sounds dirty. Hold on.
Korathan brings his massive axe down in a deadly overhand swing, seeking to break the paladin's shield.
This would allow Indurain's player to decide what to do - do they want Indurain to fully block the blow and mockingly laugh at the deathknight or should they have him grimace in pain as he blocks the strike but feels the force of the blow travel up his arm?
IC =/= OOC - For players: the actions of two characters should not reflect on the behavior of their players. This one is difficult, honestly. It's easy to become frustrated when your toon can't find a way to come out on top, but please don't take it out on the other player.
For characters: the knowledge that you trade back and forth about your characters in OOC chat with other players should not be used in play. For example, if I read Velsharoon's backstory, I don't have the right to bring it up in a scene where Indurain and Velsharoon are talking, but Velsharoon hasn't shared that part of his past with Indurain. This is also known as FOIP (Find Out In Play).
How to be a good roleplayer:
Now that we've gotten some of the bad behavior defined, we can hit upon what makes roleplaying a fun experience.
It is something like writing a story with another person. Often, people like to keep logs of what was said in order to go back over it. Plus it helps to avoid mistakes like forgetting a bit of information like where someone's son is (I've done this. It resulted in pain. Mostly because the child in question was MIA and possibly in danger.).
Good players will trade the spotlight back and forth. While they won't neglect their own character, they will let others shine and have their own moments in the sun.
If you like, set up consistent times to play with others. If you find yourself unable to get time with your intended partner, see if you can get an idea of what their schedule is, so you two can make plans.
Do. It. If you never actually start, you never get to have all the fun that roleplay can offer you.
Hopefully, next, I'll talk about character creation. :D
Oh. Right. Pie. Here you go.
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2006/09/26/how-to-make-a-schadenfreude-pie/
I wrote this little tutorial for my guild in WoW to help them get an idea of what some of the ground rules might be. >.> Hopefully, this works.