Roleplay
Forgotten Kingdoms is a mud where roleplaying is emphasized. While you are here, you are expected to "get into" your character, to act and speak and dress as he or she would.
When you play a character in Forgotten Kingdoms, you are assuming the life and personality of that character. You are immersing yourself into a fantasy world of which your character is a part. Your character should behave as though he were actually living in the world as presented in the mud. This means keeping in mind such things as race, class, and alignment.
This is a roleplaying mud. The immortals can and will judge you for the way you roleplay your character. Some of this judgement will be based on your character's race, class, and alignment. You may be rewarded or penalised for the quality (or lack thereof) of your roleplay, though roleplaying should not be done simply for the possible rewards. Roleplay enhances yours and others enjoyment of the game.
This is your chance to live another life, away from the stress and troubles of real life. Become a paladin in shining armor, a sneaky and backstabbing rogue, a powerful and arrogant wizard, or a kind and helpful priest. You can live as a tall and graceful elf, a short and mischievious halfling, an evil and cunning drow, or a bowlegged and obtuse orc. The possibilities are vast, limited only by your imagination and by the race/class/guild combinations allowed by the mud. Just remember that your character should behave as one of that race, class, and alignment would act.
A few examples of good and not-so-good roleplaying follow. This is by no means an exhaustive list, especially as people's views on roleplaying will differ, but this may give you an idea of some things to look for or to avoid.
Good RP:
- a good aligned char giving money or items to a beggar
- a priest/priestess preaching the word of his/her Deity to others
- having debates with people of opposing views, rather than attacking on sight
- an evil character being as willing to hurt friends as enemies
Bad RP:
- using out-of-character (OOC) information for in-character (IC) purposes
- spending much time out-of-character...this is a roleplaying mud, not a chat channel
- power-levelling (spending all of your time training, rather than roleplaying with others)
- not behaving respectfully in the presence of -any- immortal, even one whose spheres of influence you may not agree with...they are gods, after all (see help conduct)
- Attacking any players you see just because you are evil.
IC and OOC
IC and OOC mean In Character and Out of Character.
The most important thing for you to remember is that you are playing an IMAGINARY CHARACTER and not your REAL SELF. There are many differences. For instance, you might be playing an Elf character, but you could never be an Elf in real life. This affects the way you must interact with other people playing the game.
You will see the terms IC and OOC a lot in this game. IC stands for IN CHARACTER and OOC stands for OUT OF CHARACTER. Another term you will see is RP; it stands for ROLEPLAY. Roleplay is what you do in the game. You play the role of the imaginary character you create. Let’s pretend you have a character named Salazar. In this case, you are RPing Salazar. Anything Salazar does and says is considered IC; while anything YOU say or do is OOC. To talk to other characters IC you type say followed by what you want to say. To talk OOC you type osay instead of say. You should try not to talk OOC very much. Here are a few examples:
- Salazar says: Hello everyone. This is a great day! - (IC, very good)
- Salazar says: Hey Amber, r u gunna go to the mall later? - (OOC, not good at all)
- Salazar says OOC: Mom sez I gtg now, cya peeps L8tr! - (OOC, but OK, because it says OOC)
When talking IC, don’t use words that your character would not know. Here are some examples of words not to use: Dude, Bummer, OK, Hi, ‘Sup, Wazzup, Gtg. Use the way the characters in the Forgotten Realms books act and talk as positive examples of good RP.
Players caught using information gained outside of IC experiences will be reprimanded. Punishments may include loss of experience, money, equipment, time in Hell. Repeated offenses will find stiffer penalties.
DO NOT use the question channel to attempt to find out IC information. Repeat offenders will find the question channel privilege removed. Do not use the question channel as a chat channel to the gods. If they want to chat with you, they'll let you know. They are usually busy RP'ing or coding, or supervising game play.
Do not use outside communication methods such as AIM or ICQ to share in character information. Telling Bob the priest you need a raise over AIM and having them log in and raise you without any roleplay will result in a strike.
DO NOT use the tell command as a means of gaining OOC information. This command can only be used to communicate ICly with players which you have already met and greeted. Likewise do not use the otell command to share IC information. Abuse of these channels will see their removal from the offending player.
ICLY and OOCLY
These two terms are commonly used when refering to being in and out of character. If you are new to the world of roleplay then these terms may be unfamiliar to you.
ICLY means to be in character. OOCY means to be out of character.
Roleplay in Waterdeep
Waterdeep is a Lawful Good city that is host to many adventurers. It is the City of Splendours and attracts many different types of visitors from all over Faerun.
It is also the city that is recommended for new players to begin in, as it is the easiest of the start cities. Because of this it is very important that Waterdeep remain a newbie friendly city. If you are in Waterdeep you are expected to help your fellow players both ICly and OOCly. This does not mean you have to give them anything, but if questions are asked they should be answered in as helpful and polite a manner as possible.
Waterdeep is a 'friendly' city. This will be enforced by the Immortals. If you wish to RP in Waterdeep you must refrain from 'unfriendly' or controversial RP. No starting fights, no insulting people, no actions that would lead to someone wishing to start a fight or a PK situation.
If an Immortal requests that you stop a behavior or line of RP you are expected to do so immediately. This is not an effort to tell you how your PC should be played, it is simply telling you that if you wish to play your PC in that fashion you must do so outside of Waterdeep.
IC Consequences will be enforced by the Immortals in these cases. Repeated incidences may result in a strike.
See also: