Examples of pieces of roleplay from guestbook-like roleplaying forums

Descriptions

*Suddenly, the animalistic sounds outside stop as if they were turned off by a magical hand. Seconds later, a man cloaked in a black robe enters the inn. His face remains invisible, but for a second a blue flash under his hood turns to red, and fades away again.*

*An ancient, but beautiful voice can suddenly be heard.*

"Hail to thee all. I am terribly sorry of those annoying beasts outside, but fear not, no harm will come to thee or thy flesh."

*In walks a very fair elven maiden who's hair flows like the rivers in the mountains and who's eyes are deep violet pools of infinite depth. She is tall and thin. She caries herself with dignity and grace unsurpassed in the wilds of the frontier.*

*Murmuring and growling in himself, the old man scares away a pair of squirrels who were, just a second ago, chasing eachother across the path. His remarkably light blue eyes stand deep within his wrinkled face as he looks at the ground before him with an angry frown*

"Of all people, she had to send ME.. Her most faithfull servant, oh sure.. but only when she had one of her rotten tasks to fulfill. Not the nice ones nooo.. the nice ones can be done by the junior students... But when she gets a request from someone far away, in great need.. oooh.. let's send ol' Nathan.. he'll fix it.. nooooo problem. Well after this assignment, I'm out.. no more being humble and curing the weak and helping the poor. I am going to find myself a good king and get paid for my duties.."

*Using his cane, he tries to hit a bird flying in the opposite direction, trips over a root and falls flat on his behind.*

"Now even nature is attacking ol' Nathan.. It seems as if the whole wórld is against me. Well, I'll have my turn. One day.. Just you wait and see.."

*Nathan gets up and continues walking, still looking at the ground and murmuring to himself he walks in the direction of the eastern border, further into the woods..*

As you can see in the above fragments, physical descriptions usually are not very long. A part from that, they are often part of actions that are described. Take, as an example, the last fragment. We already knew that the man was old from the first part of the description. We did nót know that he was using a cane. That was told to us when he swings it at a bird.

Descriptions are often in this shape to make sure that they keep the attention of the reader. In the second fragment this is done more by the language used. The description is only one line and does not only paint a picture of the character, but also of her character.

The first description is of a person who likes to cut his descriptions to little pieces, and bring them to his readers at the beginning of every post. The rest of the post he uses to describe his actions.

Actions

A cloaked man walks in front of the inn, on his back he carries a small pack. As he slowly walks by the inn he turns his head a bit and peeks through the windows. You notice a tear dropping on the ground.

The man walks further into the dark forests. To the unknown whats behind them...

Running a hand through her short raven black hair, a cloud of dust went up. Ruffling the hair slightly, she managed to get the worst out, but she couldn't wait till she could wash properly. Dismounting, she untied her saddle bags, slinging them over her shoulder, and led her mount to the stables. Calling out, there seemed to be no one tending the stables. The eerie emptiness made her feel slightly uneasy. The place was immaculate though, fresh hay in all the stables, bags of oats neatly piled up in the corner, the spare tack all gleaming as though it had just been polished. Stabling her horse, filling up its oats bag, she quickly removed its equipment, hanging it upon the hooks available. Brushing him down, she worked out the worst of the snarls, promising herself that she will come back and do it properly later. Picking up her bags, she heads back outside, and heads inside the tavern.


Again there seems no one in site, yet the place was dazzling. The table tops were polished to a mirror sheen, the fireplace clean of soot and ash, the glasses and goblets behind the bar all polished like crystal. Setting her gear on top of a table, she calls out, “Hello?” Walking through the tables, she stops in front of the bar, also polished to a high sheen. Leaning against it she mutters out loud, “Where in Hades name is everyone?”

The first example is a goodbye. I posted the sad message here because it uses suggestive language. I mean, the fact that a tear drops to the ground leaves the reader to conclude that the character is crying. This kind of insinuating language is in my eyes, one of the best forms of roleplay. However, you should not use it too much because it would become incredibly irritating.

The second fragment I picked because the writer described in detail every action the character takes. For some people this is what good roleplay is all about. In my opinion, you should be able to do this, but too many long posts can be quite annoying for the reader so do not overdo it.

Language

Cucalen went upstairs and after about 5 minutes came down again. He was wearing a shirt of elven mail covered by a cape with a bow over his shoulder and an interesting sword in the scabbard.

As they walked on, they heard a THWONK!, and a spear shot through the air to bury itself in the heart of a large tree. They advanced very cautiously, as they saw that it held a banner, and was intended for message, not attack. It was written in the black speech.

I stepped out of the door and into a darkening sky, with thick grey clouds and the heavens ready to part. This was the first steps of my journey and already I could see that it would not be easy. I walked slowly, but steadily along the pathway humming a little tune to myself as the first drops of rain started to tumble downwards. I headed for shelter under a large tree just off the side of the forest path and set my sack down against it

The above texts show examples of the different writing styles. It’s pretty simple to work out the differences with third person being looking down on the character, and first person being actually playing the character as I or WE. Also, there is Second person but as a roleplay this is hard to do and confusing to the reader.

 When using these make sure that you stick to the same type. It is easy to write a great roleplay but the entire quality to be brought down simply because it is written with a mixture of third and first person. It can stand out, and generally makes the RP read considerably worse.

 The first two are examples of roleplay in the third person, and the third is an example of roleplay in the first person.

"I would be delighted to sup with ye, but am I not intrudin' upon your friends company?" *she stands upon her tiptoes to whisper in his ear as her scent wafts to fill his senses* "Beggin' your pardon NazG'ul but the coins I picked up are all that I 'ave. Ye think it tis enough to pay for my supper? I would not like to be intrudin' upon your kindness."

*Her free hand brushes a stray wisp of hair from her cheek as her eyes regard the gentleman seated and his little sister. With a kind smile to the wee one she regards them both and nods to them as her heels again rest upon the floor.*

"My name is Rhiannon Branwen and I am pleased t'see such fine folk within this wondrous establishment."

There are many forms of English. Next to standard English, a dialect like the above one is also possible. Shakesperean English is probably the most common "dialect" among roleplayers. I suggest you do not use them if you do not know how. (For tips on how to use Shakesperean English, click on the UO-Stratics link on the link page and browse that site for a while.)

Ofcourse it is possible that someone from a distant land, speaking an unknown language enters a roleplay-area. It ís kind of annoying to the other roleplayers though.