User:Llol111/How-Do-RP
How do Ahr Peh?
This page aims to give you a rough and basic idea how one might achive thiss illusive and sought after good known as "RolePlay".
The ideas and suggestions on this page are not rules, but they are meant to outline what exactly we're looking for when we say "Ahrr Peeh".
Where as the rules generaly say what you shall not do, and rarely what you must do, this is meant to be a collection of best practices and thing you should probabbly do (dont dont strictly have to).
The Basics
be a character n stuff
sub point
explanation
Other Things
other things
Improv
Improv is a style of roleplay/comedy that works extremely well in SS13's environment. Many player 'gimmicks' are an instinctive attempt at improv, and when that player's gimmick doesn't go anywhere it's often because other players are breaking the basic rules of improv without even knowing it. This guide is mostly intended for Clowns, but it's a recommended read for any job. I guarantee you, you will start to enjoy the game more if you apply at least some of these rules, they will make people start to notice you more, and they are a great cure for the "must win" syndrome.
- 1 Always agree
- 2 Say 'Yes, and'
- 3 Don't ask questions, make statements
- 4 Use your environment
- 5 You can look good by making someone else look good
- 6 You don't HAVE to be Funny
- 7 Just make a choice already
- 8 Go line for line and LISTEN
- 9 Play The Opposite
- 10 EXIT WITH A PURPOSE
Always agree
This is the most important rule of them all. Whatever scene another player has started or finds themselves in, if you just say 'No, fuck off', the scene is immediately destroyed and all players now find themselves in a silent and tense shuffle.
Make it a good habit to just say 'Yes!' to anything, even if it wasn't a question! It's the easiest way to start a scene, the easiest way to continue a scene, and it will lead you to all kinds of memorable situations. Remember: It's more impressive to be bold than to be funny.
Basic example:
ASSISTANT: Clown! Let's go mug someone!
- If you say 'No, we'll get in trouble', the scene is over and there's almost no way something funny can happen here. If you AGREE, not only you contribute to something funny happening, but you'll see it happen as well. -
Say 'Yes, and'
Always keep a scene moving forward! Don't just agree, but throw in your own bit of improvisation as well. You don't -always- have to come up with something on the spot, but it's a good habit to make an effort to.
Example:
ASSISTANT: Clown! Do you like my gun? [ASSISTANT shows a mop]
- If you say 'That's not a gun', the scene is over. If you say 'Yes!' and nothing else, then the conversation stagnates anyways unless the Assistant is witty enough to keep it floating. If you say... -
CLOWN: Yes! We could totally mug someone with that!
- ...the scene moves forwards, and best case scenario, the Assistant will ALWAYS AGREE! -
Don't ask questions, make statements
Questions, especially open-ended questions, slow down the scene and force your partner to answer them for you. Besides, the more unknown there is, the more wiggle there is to make some shit up for a joke, or even for an antag to get away with doing something creatively. Rhetorical questions are fine, since they're basically a disguised statement.
Of course, you will have to wiggle your way around this somewhat if you're a role 'important to the station'. But try to sometimes be a little more bold and dull your instincts of caution around people you know are antagonists - don't interrogate them, come up with some outlandish idea of what their plan must be.
Use your environment
Point out the mood of a room. Make a mental list of all the props on the tables, especially things that aren't usually there. Come up with outlandish ideas of what must have happened here. Look through the people in the room, one by one, and start coming up with gags or ideas that use all of those. You're not always going to come up with something amazing, or something at all, but it's a good habit to consider your environment as a source of interesting-ness. It can be as simple as remembering fire extinguishers exist!
You can look good by making someone else look good
Don't be the star of the show! Your hilarity is multiplied with the hilarity of everyone else around you! Anytime your partner does something, make it your first thought to do a follow-up (or just a background action) that will make what they did funnier. And if your partner makes a mistake, that's a golden opportunity to turn the mistake into something funny! Or at the very least, do the exact same mistake to make it look intended.
Simplest example of this: If your partner slips on their own banana peel, you slip right on top of them and pretend they are a genius.
You don't HAVE to be Funny
Funny is good, but the real goal is to end up in interesting situations. The kind of stuff that you know is going into someone's greentext. Often, these won't be funny. They'll just be bold, or surprising, or just naturally come out of you being there at the right moment. Bottom line is: Not everything is a joke, but everything is a play.
Just make a choice already
It's better to be confidently wrong than to "uhhhhhhh..." and drag on an problem for way too long. The more you're busy thinking what the right thing to say is, the more you miss. The more you plan, the more you miss. The more you judge (yourself or others), the more you miss. The more you think about the really funny grenade that someone threw at the security officer last round... the more you miss! Don't take more than a couple seconds to decide anything, and don't try too hard to make the right choice either. Be spontaneous, trust your imagination, and keep going forwards. Did you fuck it up? Good, now keep going.
Go line for line and LISTEN
You have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you shout. Listen. I mean really listen. More than hear, you watch, feel, smell and taste. You pay attention to what people say and do. Not just to bits of it, but right to the end of their act, because the ending is often where the gold stuff is. Don’t bother planning what you’re going to say or try and second guess their act or what the other person might say, because you won’t be able to.
Play The Opposite
Trying too hard to be clever or funny can sometimes make people freeze up instead. Doing the opposite and being obvious allows everyone to relax and be in the present moment and discover things line by line, moment by moment. What’s obvious to you is oftentimes massively creative to someone else, because they don’t see the world through your eyes.
EXIT WITH A PURPOSE
There are certain things people just don't like doing, like dying. That's because they would be out of the round. Leave the round before it's over? Never! In fact, any strong action: dying, arresting, killing, or otherwise removing someone from the round is likely to be avoided as much as possible.
You're told one of you has to die. Minutes go by and people are making veiled threats. Hours pass. Night falls. Everyone is alive. Just get it over with, man. Sometimes you just have to take a strong action. It may seem like drawing it out adds drama, but in reality it adds time, it adds talking, it adds boredom. Rarely does it ever actually add drama, because you're not resolving the unknown factor. Taking a strong stand does add drama, because you're resolving the unknown factor. Just hurry up and bite the bullet, literally, so we can all find out how it plays out.