Basic RPing 101 - Lesson 1 - Actions

Welcome to Basic Play by Post RPing 101. I’m your professor, Sairai the Soft-Hearted. Just Sairai will do. Alright, without any further ado, let’s get started.

RPing, or role playing, is an ancient art dating back many centuries, in the form of acting or pretending. Play by post is no different, except that a different set of skills is required. Imagination is still key, since there is no set script. However, there is something else added that makes this form of RPing both harder and more rewarding than the live action or tabletop equivalent.

Writing skills. Let’s think about this for a second. Why would you need writing skills in an RP like this? Why not just write what you’re doing and leave out all the rest?

It’s simple. We don’t just write for ourselves. As writers, we write so that others see what we write and hopefully enjoy what they see.

The key requirements for being a good Play by post RPer are as follows:

- Creativity
- Writing Skill (as long as you’re willing to improve, even the most basic skill is applicable here)
- A Cooperative Nature
- A Willingness to fail a lot before you get to a level you’re even remotely satisfied with

With those four basic requirements fulfilled, you are ready to RP.

We’ll start with something basic, the most basic of RP practices, action.

If anyone needs to touch up on grammar for this class, I would be happy to help you. For this class, all assignments are to be done in third person limited (you can only hear one character’s thoughts) and in past tense.

Action

This is the keystone of all RPing, combative and noncombative alike. Action describes what your character does. However, it should not be something as simple as “Character A punches Character B.” Add a little spice to it. Make it interesting. Instead of regaling you with all these possibilities, I’m going to give you an example of what a decent action piece would look like, without using a fighting or training theme.

Sairai stood among a field of flowers, his eyes closed. His tail swished from side to side absently as he felt the wind lightly licking his skin. He smiled lightly, his lips curling upwards. He opened his eyes, his ice blue orbs beholding the scene in front of him. The flowers spread outward from around him in a beautiful symphony of sights and smells. He plucked a purple bellflower gently between two fingers and took a deep whiff of the petals. The fragrance was faint, but enjoyable nonetheless. It reminded him of happy days he had spent on Earth, and he knew every time he smelled a bellflower he would think back to all the good times he had shared with his friends and teachers on the planet.

He crouched down to one knee and fell forward onto his torso before rolling over. His tail hung out easily from beneath him, making little movements that made the flowers around him sway gently. He could lie there like that forever, and never have another care in the world.

Pro Tip: While this is a very combat centered RPG, it doesn’t always have to be the main focus for your character. A peaceful walk through a field of flowers can be just as touching and enjoyable to read as any fight. It’s all in how you write it.

Also, avoid use of anatomical terms unless it is absolutely necessary. A lot of readers will feel put off by being given such a name for parts of the body. Instead of larynx or trachea use throat. Instead of vertebra use spine. My general rule is, if a normal person would need a biology or anatomy book to look it up, avoid it like the plague.

Your assignment for this lesson will be as follows: Write a post of at least 100 words describing your character doing something. It can be as simple as eating a cheeseburger, or as complex as fighting a really powerful opponent. Whatever you do, make it interesting, keep it clean, and use proper grammar. While I’m not teaching a grammar class, I will offer my help after you write the post, if you need it. I will also offer pointers on your writing once you’ve written it, if I find it necessary. Keep in mind, this might seem simple, but it is important. Action is the foundation upon which all great posts are written.

You have until Sunday at 5 PM EST to complete the assignment. If everyone completes the assignment before then, great, and we’ll move on. If not, we’ll wait for the cutoff point.

Alright, kids… Remember, Uncle Sairai is here if you need anything, and will be happy to help. Also, have fun with it. This game was designed for the players to PLAY, not to take it seriously. If you’re taking this site too seriously, something’s wrong.

Jeraph stands on a hill overlooking Central City, and a meadow, the meadow is full of flowers of every shape size and color. As he stands there he beings to smell the smell from the flowers, their sweet aroma carrying to him on a soft breeze blowing across the meadow. The soft breeze barely tousles his hair as he continues to sniff the scent. As he stands there some animals emerge from their hiding places and begin to do their daily routine of looking for food and water. The scene brings a smile to his face, as he continues to watch it for several moments. Eventually he plops down with a "thud", landing on his tail bone and bottom.

"This is beautiful" Jeraph thought, as he plops down, "This is something worth fighting to protect"

Then he remembers what he felt when the strange being destroyed the life of the bird so easily. The memory creeps back to him like a nightmare, how the being showed no remorse for snubbing a life. As the memory seeps further into his mind, he feels the anger rising. Unnoticed at first by Jeraph a group of foxes begin to play in the meadow, as he notices them the anger subsides and he is back in the bliss of the beauty of nature.

Then he remembers what he felt when the strange being destroyed the life of the bird so easily. The memory creeps back to him like a nightmare, how the being showed no remorse for snubbing a life.

We'll use this part of your post as an example of what you need to do. Your prose is strong, but you're still using present tense, which throws off threads when everyone else is using past tense. Try it like this:

"Then he remembered what he felt when the strange being destroyed the life of the bird so easily. The memory crept back to him like a nightmare, though most frightening than even that was how the being had shown no remorse in taking a life."

The Earth was a battle field of death and destruction. But something soon stopped Ava in her tracks as she flew, trying to run from her past and actions. A town, that hadn’t been destroyed. Something caught her eye as she stared at the little town in the orange gold glow light of sunset, dancing colours and lights in the dark forest over to her right.

Just as the town had, a forest church had escaped the blood thirsty battle and was still standing. The golden sunset rays shone through the stained glass windows above tow heavy set dark wooden doors. The result was a rainbow of colours streaming out into the green forest around it and grass in front of it. It looked like a living, animated, moving rainbow of hope.

The church itself was beautiful, deserted, but breathtaking. This would be her haven for the night, this full moon night. She floated down to the entrance and stepped up into the rainbow.
She lifted her arm and looked down and watched as the colours played on her creamy skin. She smiled and walked up to one of the doors. She reached out and pushed open the heavy wood door and slowly stepped inside. She closed the door behind her and turned around and saw that in all this violence, this place was pure and untouched.

She walked down the red carpet and looked at the altar ahead of her. It was ornately carved with flowers and a forest scene with animals and humans living in harmony with each other. It was even more stunning with the coloured lights streaming in through three stained glass windows high up in the wall behind it. Ava didn’t know the people depicted in the coloured window glass, but the Earthlings must have liked them, because the work of the glass was immaculate and spectacular.

She took her rucksack off and put it down on the ground. She knelt down and pulled out her pillow. It would be dark soon and the moon was already starting to show. She flew up to the high cathedral windows and drew the curtains closed. She flew down to the door and locked it. She made sure no light was coming in the windows or door.
Satisfied, she began to walk over to her pillow but stubbed her foot on a pew.

“OW, damn it!” she shouted, bending down and grabbing her toe with the sound of her screech reverberating through the room.

She looked around and saw some candles nearby in a rack next to the altar up ahead. She shot a small ki blast at it and lit one candle up.

It was just enough light so that she could get to her bed. She lay down and looked at how the moon’s light shone through the coloured windows. It was more beautiful than anything she had ever seen.

Well, almost.

Her and Kaval’s first date, when he took her up to the mountains on a far off island with the moonlight blocking glasses. It was the first time she had ever seen the moon, and the first time he had ever kissed her.

She felt her heart jump at the memory, and a smile played across her lips. Then she felt the tear run down her cheek. She rolled over and shut her eyes, hoping she would fall asleep soon. She shot a blast of air at the candle and blew it out. She shut her eyes and all she saw was his face, angry and cold, telling her she’d never ascend.

“I miss you…” she said, her tears falling onto the red carpet.

The church itself was beautiful, deserted, but breathtaking. This would be her haven for the night, this full moon night. She floated down to the entrance and stepped up into the rainbow.
She lifted her arm and looked down and watched as the colours played on her creamy skin. She smiled and walked up to one of the doors. She reached out and pushed open the heavy wood door and slowly stepped inside. She closed the door behind her and turned around and saw that in all this violence, this place was pure and untouched.

I've noticed this small detail in some of your posts before now. You hit Enter after Rainbow and started a new line, but you either didn't press it twice to start a new paragraph or didn't mean to put a line break there.

She shot a blast of air at the candle and blew it out. She shut her eyes and all she saw was his face, angry and cold, telling her she’d never ascend.

Alright, took me a few minutes to find this little piece of gold. When you shot the blast of air, how'd you do it? What kinda power allows a person to do it? How does the energy flow through and out of the body to allow them to manipulate wind currents? Keep these things in mind and feel how your character feels the energy of their ki. Learn how your character controls their ki, how they visualize the energy currents in their own body.

Here's an example paraphrased from one of my own RPs, my spar when Crono was still Trunks.

Extending his hand and pointing a single finger at the man in front of him, Sairai opened himself up to the flow of his chakras, increasing his energy output as far as he could before channeling it all into his arm, through his hand, and concentrating it into a single point before his right index finger. His eyes took in all of the surroundings and then zeroed in on the man before him with brutal efficiency.

Without a word, he unleashed the signature attack of his race, Death Beam, on his sparring partner. The beam, colored blue like his own aura, shot through the air with unerring precision.

As for seeing the face, "telling" probably wasn't the word you were looking for. Instead of "telling her she'd never ascend," which is an absolute, try something along the lines of, "causing her to fear for the very fate of her soul," or something to that effect, because it is less absolute and makes the reader more uncertain as to whether or not she will actually go back to Hell or not.

Luka shielded her eyes from the sun’s reflection on the water. She drew in a deep breath and smiled as the briny smell of salt filled her nose. It had been weeks since she had time to herself, and the ocean’s call could be ignored no longer. With her surfboard secured in her arms, she made her way into the water.

When she was about waist deep, Luka rested on the board and paddled out past the point of the waves breaking. She knew spotting the right one would take patience. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the rhythm of the waves as they flowed beneath her. She had always thought of it as listening to the ocean’s heartbeat.

When she was certain of the pattern, she waited until she could feel the dip in the water as the wave formed beneath her. Making sure her timing was right, Luka dove forward and paddled with all her strength. She could feel the water lifting her higher until the crest of the wave was beginning to form. With shaky legs Luka stood up and felt the spray of sea on her face.

If I seem like I'm nitpicking, I am, but only because I have to.

Luka shielded her eyes from the sun’s reflection on the water. She drew in a deep breath and smiled as the briny smell of salt filled her nose. It had been weeks since she had time to herself, and the ocean’s call could be ignored no longer. With her surfboard secured in her arms, she made her way into the water.

Let's take a look...

Alright, your first sentence, just to change it up a little bit, you might say something like, "Luka held her hand out in front of her eyes, shielding them from the sun's reflection on the rolling waves." That would add some flavor without "fluffing" your post, and add a decent Word Count on top of it.

The second sentence... Hmm... It looks fine, but maybe instead of "the briny smell of salt," perhaps "the briny smell of the ocean water."

The third sentence, try something like, "It had been weeks since she had last had any free time, but the siren song of the ocean could be ignored no longer."

Now, I know I'm nitpicking and just changing the wording, but a little flair can turn a standard informative sentence into something mysterious, new, or even downright amazing.

Though his eyes weren't open, he knew he was now awake. He could tell by the beating of his heart, pumping solidly in his ears as though he were in a life threatening situation. In a way, that was true. Broly was always in danger from something or another, whether it be those jealous of his power, or his own monstrous might placing him in jeopardy. To most, that would have been an agonizing existence; living in suspense on whether or not you'd be alive the next day, every day. To Broly, it was comforting. It was a away to prove that he truly existed. The pounding of his heart against that of the high, piercing silence only affirmed that for him.

He opened his eyes to a sanguine sky above, filled with twinkling sparkles of white light that were scattered haphazardly throughout it. A situation that would have ordinarily been deemed beautiful served only to enrage the warrior, as he turned his head to the side in order to escape seeing it. He traded the view of the stars for the more chaotic soil, favoring the tiny ridges and spears of summer grass over the blanket of blackness that existed above. He did not want to deal with it; the overwhelming sensation of hatred that spawned in his heart whenever he thought of everything else. He didn't want to imagine his future there, nor did he want to relive his past. He merely wanted to exist in the now, and on Earth, what better way was there?

He traced each rise in the soil with his eyes, slowly glancing over the tiny forms of life that were dancing for him. While he knew that they were truly pathetic little organisms, he could shockingly sympathize. They knew not of their true purpose, they knew only their surroundings, their perseverance, and dedication to whatever they were doing at the time. Almost hesitantly, Broly shifted his weight, sliding his fingers along tips of grass toward a specific ant in the dirt. He could see it clearly despite the darkness, each of it's tiny little legs struggling to free itself. It was stuck underneath a pebble, an obstacle which would have proved easily surmountable by his standards. Would he save the little creature?

No. Broly watched intently as the tip of his thumb gently tapped the tip of the pebble, toppling it before springing upon the ant without the same gentle manner he had used to move it. His feelings were suddenly hyper sensitive as he became more awake, the heart pounding in his skull now coming to a climactic level while he became aware of each, individual blade of grass prickling against his skin. The ant's legs wiggled briefly beneath this thumb tip, as if he had a chance at escape. In honesty, the both of them knew the futility of it's struggle, but it fought anyway. Broly himself could not understand why it fought, merely the fact that it was fighting to escape, fighting for it's very life.

But as it seemed, it was not destined to survive. Something in his pulse quickened as he felt the rush, however small, of snuffing out a life. Lifting his thumb tip off of the dirt, he briefly shook it to scatter the soil from his skin, and send the ant flying ragdoll back to Earth. It's colony mates would find it soon enough, and take it home, if they even cared. For only a millisecond, his eyes lingered on the ant's body, before he rolled back over onto his back. Now, he was star gazing with a different look in his eyes; what had once been evasive and surly was now dangerous and fiery, a marker of his determination to display himself.

Whatever civilizations were unaware of him would be well aware soon enough. However, as he once more felt his body prepare for sleep, he realized that it did not matter when it was. He would simply live each moment as it came, and follow whatever flow he made for himself. He was not an ant, he did not follow a colony mindset. He was a Legendary Warrior, determined to carve his own path throughout the universe with his might; something he would do readily. For Broly, such a thing was only natural.

WC:724

The sky was cloudy as Yamcha awoke from his nap in shadow forest. The wildlife was running for cover as they sensed a storm comming. Raccoons and Rabbits were dashing towards their shelters that they made for themselves, birds flying to their nest to protect their children and foxes heading to their holes in the ground as the clouds began to form in the sky.

Crackles of lighting and thunder were heard above as Yamcha got up to his feet yawning. That was a good nap, where's Puar? I sent him to get something to eat awhile ago...wait. The human martial artist then sensed the familar spiritual energy of his shapeshifting friend There he is, he should be right above me...

Yamcha looked up and there was Puar, in the form of an eagle with a picnic basket of goodies. "Wow Puar! That a big basket of food! Quick come down, it's going to rain!" He yelled as Puar decended to the ground. He dropped the basket in Yamcha's arms and turned back into his original form.

Yamcha then felt raindrops. "Alright, we're gonna enjoy this snack inside our capsule house." He then took out his capsule and pressed down on it. then threw it near a clearing in the woods. The capsule bounced then exploded in a puff of smoke. As the smoke cleared, the capsule house emerged from the capsule.

Yamcha then ran inside the capsule house with puar and the picnic basket to snack on some goodies.

255 words

For Broly, the only advice I can offer you is don't overload the reader with TOO much information. Doing that causes what I call "Skipping Syndrome" in a reader, where they'll ignore all your descriptions and skip to the dialogue and "good" action bits. Try to keep it at a happy medium between keeping them informed and inundating them.

Yamcha... Well, let's get started.

The sky was cloudy as Yamcha awoke from his nap in shadow forest. The wildlife was running for cover as they sensed a storm comming. Raccoons and Rabbits were dashing towards their shelters that they made for themselves, birds flying to their nest to protect their children and foxes heading to their holes in the ground as the clouds began to form in the sky.

Crackles of lighting and thunder were heard above as Yamcha got up to his feet yawning. That was a good nap, where's Puar? I sent him to get something to eat awhile ago...wait. The human martial artist then sensed the familar spiritual energy of his shapeshifting friend There he is, he should be right above me...

I'm going to just straight out rewrite these two paragraphs. If you have any questions of why I did what I did, let me know. I am going to show you how this should look from a mechanical standpoint and from what a reader would normally want to see.

"The sky was beginning to cloud over as Yamcha woke from his nap under the shade of a tree in the forest. The animals of the forest were running for cover. Raccoons and Rabbits were dashing towards the shelters that they had made for themselves. Birds were flying to their nest to protect their chicks. Foxes were heading to their foxholes as the clouds began to darken in the sky.

Flashes of lightning and peals of thunder were filling the skies above. Yamcha jumped to his feet with a start. That was a good nap. Where's Puar? I sent him to get something to eat awhile ago... The human martial artist then opened his senses and felt out for the familiar spiritual energy of his shapeshifting friend. There he is, he should be right above me..."

The warm breeze which belonged to the Spring season dangled continually through the horizon.

The teen darted and danced through the long colourful flowers of the olive foliage that was set on this hill, his feet changed quickly between various positions, the flowers were affected by his movements, as they were gently dancing with him.

This hardly seemed to make sense, as nature was sharing in these events. After a few moments of happines, he was tittering at the wonderful view, as this meadow was at it's best in prettiness.

This scene brought good memories to his mind, the place where he lived in his childhood seemed to be somewhat like this area.

As the sayian stopped his dancing, he glanced up at the open sky, the sol had it's rays upon Earth's surface, as every figure was shinning strongly. Various kinds of birds went flying, as they were singing small meaningless poetries.

Squirrels went searching for their favourite food, nuts. Whilst, Raccoons went for their search of their unknown meals, every kind of animal went up for their daily routines.

Gohan gazed at the surroundings, the view was unimaginably beautiful...

---------------

W.C.191

Bardock's body was in a very peaceful state as his foot sat on the very tip of a mountain. His left foot was tucked behind his right. His arms stayed on his side while his head faced downward. His mind wandered to a place deep in the mountains where two kind people trained with each other. Each had tremendous power. One was male the other was female. The male had loose fitting clothes on and the girl had a green uniform. The two people took training seriously. Each punch and kick was filled with lots of power , the males punches, however weren't quite as strong as the girls.

Bardock watched as the image disappeared, fading away as Bardock sucked in more air. The Saiyan switched feet to stand on and went back to meditating.

W.C. 134

The warm blossom of Spring dangled continually through the atmosphere of this beautiful umbrage stuck into the ground, the emerald or rather colourful terra was very smooth, it almost made the resting structure of the half-sayian into his bedtime.

The teen's eyes were glancing up and down at the frame of how the sky looked, the clouds were moving to a side, each and every cloud were connected to each other, ending up their figure into a familiar shape.

As the sound of the running water beside Gohan reached his ears, the teen jumped up into his feet, onto a standing position, there was a sapphire alabaster liquid that was running endlessly upon the long hole that was made by nature.

Forgive me if I seem harsh, but we all have to learn from our mistakes. "The warm blossom of spring," I didn't realize Spring had only one blossom. And then this: "the atmosphere of this beautiful umbrage stuck into the ground, the emerald or rather colourful terra was very smooth, it almost made the resting structure of the half-sayian into his bedtime."

I'm afraid I don't even get what you're going for here. Are you trying to imply that the scenery is making Gohan sleepy? If so, don't beat around the bush. There are ways of making your post more artistic, but there's a point of getting hung up on technique to the point where it drags your posts down and makes them extremely unclear to the point of confusing the reader.

Bardock's body was in a very peaceful state as his foot sat on the very tip of a mountain. His left foot was tucked behind his right. His arms stayed on his side while his head faced downward. His mind wandered to a place deep in the mountains where two kind people trained with each other. Each had tremendous power. One was male the other was female. The male had loose fitting clothes on and the girl had a green uniform. The two people took training seriously. Each punch and kick was filled with lots of power , the males punches, however weren't quite as strong as the girls.

Your writing is pretty solid, Bardock, but you could use a little polishing. Take for example your opening sentence where you're describing how Bardock's body looks in vivid detail. Try making it sound a little less dry and informational.

"Bardock stood atop a mountain peak, balancing on a single foot, one leg behind the other. His arms were relaxed at his side, his head tilted toward the great expansive world below, though he could not see it through his closed eyes. As his senses expanded themselves beyond the boundaries of normal perception, he could almost see a pair of fighters training, deep within the mountains."

Apologies for the double post, but Gohan has edited his post and I feel the need to address it. Gohan, your head is in a good place, but you writing feels overly complicated. I'm not going to rewrite your post, but I am going to point a few things out.

The warm breeze which belonged to the Spring season dangled continually through the horizon.

The teen darted and danced through the long colourful flowers of the olive foliage that was set on this hill, his feet changed quickly between various positions, the flowers were affected by his movements, as they were gently dancing with him.

Instead of "The warm breeze which belonged to the Spring," how about something more like, "The warm winds of Spring." I'm afraid you might be trying to fluff up your word count but lending no more substance to your posts than what could be said in much fewer words. Another example: "The teen darted and danced through the long colourful flowers of the olive foliage..."

Foliage, while perfectly acceptable in some cases, is completely out of touch in this sentence. Foliage = flowers and leaves, thus having flowers and foliage both used to describe the same thing is redundant. That's like someone saying, "Look, flowers!" and as soon as you look, they say, "Look, foliage!" while pointing at the same flowers. It's good to show your grasp of vocabulary, but there's such a thing as making it seem like you're just trying to impress the reader with fancy words, style over substance.

I also noticed a few miss spellings in your post. Run your stuff through a word processing program with a spell check if you want to see what I mean.

Was it all that difficult to say that Mello was a heartless creature? Was it devastating to anyone who knew him to say that he was surely a putrid excuse for a human, handing over his flesh, and most of his body, to become of a race that was just barely alive, that probably lacked a soul? No...To say in the least, any one who had known Mello before he'd altered himself would probably say something along these lines; if out of sorrow for losing something they'd considered a friend, if not out of disgusting jealousy with the boy. But, there was a certain trait with Mello that might digress any given mortal from noting Mello's lack of a human heart- and that was his eating habits.

The Construct sat quietly in his favorite- and what could have been the only- bar on Arlia, The Midnight Crawler. His left leg was tugged up to his chest, right leg hanging lazily down the length of the mahogany-and-steel stool he sat in. There was a cushion, but he was unable to feel it through the haze of odd happiness that the beer on tap had brought. It was extremely watered down, of course, per Mello's request, but it still did the job fairly well.

Slowly, as if daring himself, Mello hauled his arm upwards, a few coins clenched tightly in his fist. Haruko had warned that he should try to stay under three cups of the watered down stuff, because it could potentially destroy his body. But then, what did she know? Some old spiritual hag had no knowledge of modern science; just rubbish about the human body Mello no longer needed to hear of. But then...What if the alcohol somehow clogged his gears, caused him to collapse? Then his "immortality" would be virtually useless, as he'd spend the remainder of eternity in a comatose state. He closed his eyes tightly, bringing his right elbow to the bar to rest, then placing his head in the opened pale hand. Would alcohol really damage him? Surely it couldn't- he was almost certain he still had a digestive system, and he knew for fact he still used the restroom on occasion. He could regret not taking the drink later, if his taste buds remained as dry as they already were. But then, he was supposed to go home after this, because he'd fought every day last week. Or was he scheduled to fight today and had everyday last week except Friday to fight?

Eventually, annoyed, Mello rose to his feet and began pacing, which drew a few wandering eyes. What if Haruko found out and decided to stop teaching him about Ki? Or what if he actually did have to fight today, and the small dosage of alcohol he'd had was going to cause him to lose? Or what if it helped him win somehow? What if it actually made him stronger? Vaguely, Mello felt his feet padding against the floor as he considered every possible outcome- and there were a lot of them. And, man, was the room spinning now? He thought his hand might be bleeding- or was that sweat of some kind for gripping the zenni so tightly? Shit! Was everyone watching him?

Now paranoid, Mello stumbled out of the room, certain he'd somehow over drunk, certain he'd regret the mistake. The few people actually in the bar offered laughter- but they were mere blurs in a tornado of colors, sonic booms in a storm of super novas. With an effort, he reached the only form of solid light visible- the door- and escaped the hellish place.

The bartender, throwing a laughing fit, turned towards the wall behind him, opening a slot that revealed a mess of purple hair...Followed by a rather old lady. She gave a (rotten) toothy grin, saying, "And that, my kind friend, is what Earthlings call the Placebo effect." As the bartender's laughter elevated, Haruko hopped from her place to the bar, then to the ground, following after Mello at an old-womanly pace.