Roleplaying resources and community connections

What is roleplaying?

Roleplaying (also known as RP) is acting out your fictional character's personality, motivations, and actions instead of those of you the player. It can be grand or small-scale, but the experience is very fun for many players!

This page is intended as a resource that DragonRealms players can use to help foster and build the RP community, and to house useful information both for brand new players and established players to feel more confident in how they can jump into RP in DR.

See Out of Character and OOC Euphemisms for behavior that may be considered objectionable among role-players. It is also useful to familiarize yourself with Common Roleplay Terms and Concepts which are listed below.

How do I find others to roleplay with?

There are a number of popular gathering places throughout Elanthia where characters regularly socialize. Some are more permanent fixtures or more highly trafficked than others. You will not always find roleplay in those locations, but the areas below are places where people that prefer to engage in roleplay specifically.

Roleplay Locations

Half Pint Inn

• Atmosphere - General tavern roleplay. Drinking, stories, darts, songs, etc.
• Location - Crossing, Zoluren
• Directions - From Bank, Southwest, Northwest, West, GO Half Inn, GO Arch

Common Roleplay Terms

Common Acronyms

• IC - In Character. This is the term used to denote that something is being roleplayed, or only applies to a character, and not the player behind the screen.

• ERP - Erotic Roleplay. This refers to mature roleplay between consenting parties that has a sexual theme. This type of roleplay should NEVER be done in open areas, on gwethdesuans or without the express consent of your roleplay partners. Please keep this type of roleplay private, or you could wind up in trouble with a GameMaster.

• FTB - Fade To Black. This term is used for roleplay that a player may be uncomfortable with, wishes to hand-wave, or is seen as not interesting. It's effectively a "skip-forward" so that players may assume something happened without actually doing it.

• NPC - Non-Player Character. Refers to a character that is not player-controlled, such as Innkeepers, bankers, merchants. Sometimes, players may choose to pretend to emote for them, but in general, these characters are non-actors or only controlled by GameMasters. When controlled by a GameMaster, some people will refer to these as GMNPCS.

• OOC - Out of Character. Sometimes called OC, this is anything that is strictly communicated to players and are things that your character does not know. Often, this is denoted in game chat with brackets either before, after, or on both sides of a statement.

• PC - Player Character. Also sometimes called a PA or a Player Actor. Refers to a character that is player-controlled. Your character is a PC. When a PC is controlled by a GameMaster, it is called a GMPC. These are typically notable people in the game setting such as nobles, royalty, alterers, merchants, or guildleaders. Interacting with them generally means you will receive a Role Playing Award.

• RP - Roleplay. Roleplay refers to actions, emotes, or words that are performed not by the player, but by a character.

• RPA - Roleplay Award. These are awards that can be used to boost experience gain. Please see RPA for more information.

Common Terms

• Godmodding - During roleplay, this is when one player takes control of another player's character with emotes. It is extremely bad practice.

• Lore Bend - A little more common, but also much more acceptable depending on the group of people you may be RPing with. This term refers to a player that may or may not know the game's lore, and is utilizing a concept or ability that is not quite supported by lore.

• Lore Break - Less common, but lore breaking refers to character concepts or abilities that are outside of the genre of the game. These are typically pretty obvious, even if you don't know the lore of a game. An example of a lore break in DragonRealms would be pretending to be a vampire.

• Metagaming - Another bad practice, this term refers to using OOC knowledge, or knowledge gained from Storytelling, and having your character act on it. It also refers to making your character do or say something that is not within their normal personality, because you as a player know that it will advance a plot.

• Mary Sue - This term refers to characters that is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses. It can also refer to a character that unrealistically has the ability to perform many unique skills. Note - in this definition skills does not refer to Skills but things that must be roleplayed such as having a talent for animal husbandry, solving puzzles, or having an eidetic or photographic memory.

• Powerplaying - Sometimes confused with godmodding. Powerplaying is similar, but only involves your own character in a way that manipulates the scene or negates the actions of another character.

• Open RP - Refers to roleplay that is unstructured and has no expected or desired outcome. Most player to player roleplay in DragonRealms is considered Open RP.

• Retcon - Retconning is announced oocly and refers to when a player wishes to "take back" character's actions or words. Most often, this is done because of an OOC misunderstanding.

• Scripted/Event RP - This is roleplay that is usually run by a Dungeon Master or DM that has an outcome in mind, but is allowing the players to drive parts of it with their own actions. This type of roleplay is generally found at player and or GameMaster organized events or world events driven by GameMasters.

• Self Insert - Self insertion is when a player has made their character an extension of themselves, rather than making the character different or unique. It is most common in new RPers and is considered poor practice.

• Storytelling - This refers primarily to emotes/actions in RP that reveal information that other characters in the area would not know. This can include inner monologue or internal thoughts, or anything that reveals new information about a character or their backstory that is not explicitly spoken.

Distance Communication In Game

You can also communicate in-game with other characters over long distances via:

• Gwethdesuans, known popularly as "gweths". Gweths can be purchased from other player characters in game.
• The Thoughtcast spell. This spell allows the caster to send a message directly to another and communicate with the target using SEND for one minute.
• The Distant Gaze spell allows Moon Mages to observe or relay messages to any room where they have a moonbeam.
• A Warrior Mage's familiar, which can relay messages from its master.
• Some other special items, such as gwererest shells and whisper charms (also called "bird charms").

Out Of Character Communication

While out-of-character (OOC) communication is not necessary for roleplay, there are several OOC resources that can be used to communicate and plan interactions with other roleplayers:

• Discord - The main DR Discord has a channel dedicated to roleplay.
• NEWS 4 10 and NEWS 4 3 give information about scheduled events in game.
• https://forums.play.net/calendar?game=dragonrealms is the official event calendar for DragonRealms.
• Spontaneous RP Event CalendarThe unofficial Spontaneous RP Event Calendar for events that fall under the two week notice for the official calendar.
• The forums have topics for Events and Happenings in DragonRealms' Elanthia, Player Guilds, Clans and Families, Official and Player-Run Organizations.
• Creating a Roleplay Event Guide - A how-to in taking a more active leadership role in DR plotlines