The Blue Mountains Regiment

Role Play, or roleplaying, is akin to improvised acting; where you pretend to speak and act as your in game character. Roleplaying (often abbreviated as RP is not complex or secret. You do not need to be an expert.

Most people have played a childhood game like cops and robbers, or doctors and nurses; some may have played pen and paper or tabletop roleplay games. Roleplay, while similar, is in general a mature form acting.

Not every player pretends to be a hero; many are “ordinary" people caught up in the world. This character can be as similar or distant to your real personality as you wish.

When you first start roleplaying it can be a good idea to find what style suits you with the least stress and most enjoyment; some like the challenge of playing a character vastly different to themselves, whilst others opt for similarities.

Remember; your In Game (IG) actions and the way you interact with other players may or may not be appreciated. There are all kinds of people in the world, so think before you say or do something that you may regret.

Above all, remember to have fun without ruining the enjoyment for others. You may make mistakes along the way, and that is okay, that is how we learn and grow.

Try to have some flexibility in your roleplay and give other people a chance. Remember to respect other people's roleplaying.

Not all of us talk like that; although some do and some borrow from the idea. We do use complete sentences without abbreviations (“thanks" instead of “thx", “you" instead of “u").

Some more experienced roleplayers may choose to write in a style that invokes an accent when read aloud. For example, “A'right lad?" instead of “How are you?".

Most roleplayers are happy to interact with other roleplayers of all experience levels. Roleplay, just like raiding has a mix of different styles, mindsets and attitudes. As many as there are people, so there are opinions.

Whilst there are some “perfectionists" (just like with raiding), most do (and should) treat everyone equally.

Some roleplayers are shy, perhaps even suffering from social anxiety in real life, others are flamboyant extroverts who spend more time down the local tavern in real life than they probably should. We are all human.

Roleplaying can be liberating. Some women pick male characters, and some men pick female characters. Just as they have personal choice over all other aspects of the game.

Men picking female characters (or vice versa) can be for many different reasons. It may have nothing to do with sexuality, so try not to be judgemental.

Some people like the challenge of roleplaying the opposite gender. Some roleplay the opposite gender better than their own, even when they're happily married to the opposite. Whatever their reasoning, it is down to the individual liberty of each player as to how their character identifies.

There are alot of different aspects to roleplaying. From the very casual roleplayer to the full-time.

Staying in character in /say and /emote is the most important aspect, but you have to remember that being understood takes the higher priority, especially in /fellowship and /kin chat.

If you are not interested in roleplaying one evening – that's okay. Let your roleplaying group of friends know that you are burned out. Friends should understand.

There is no set rule, although some roleplay kinships will define themselves as casual, regular, or full-time.

The amount you roleplay is entirely dependent on how much you are willing to put in to your character. The more you roleplay, the more you will get out.

Casual roleplaying is how many start out. Perhaps they are dipping their toe in the ocean, wish to make gathering more enjoyable, give reason to their trade caravans, or perhaps they wish to do something in between mercilessly slaying their foes.

Some Out of Character (OOC) communication will occur depending on gameplay and groups. Most will try to stick to In Character (IC) for /say and /emote, with lots of OOC information in /tell, /fellowship, /kin and so on.

Character development can be minimal, but for the most part, casual roleplayers try to act and respond as their character would.

Full-time roleplaying involves very little OOC communication, which would in any case be restricted to /fellowship, /kin, and so on.

Absolutely no OOC in /say or /emote occurs, with /emote being used solely for physical actions. (/e winks.)

Character development is detailed and players are sometimes referred to as “hardcore roleplayers".

Most roleplaying kinships play In Character (IC) in /say and /emote. Some or most communication in /fellowship and /kin will be Out of Character (OOC).

Player names are often expected to be believable, and character development is relatively fleshed out overall. This means your name should not include titles, double X's or Q's, offensive words, and so on.

Most roleplaying kinships try to act and respond as their characters would. Almost always, communication channels such as Discord are Out of Character (OOC).

Whichever category you feel you fit in to now, it is important to remember that characters and real life people adapt and change. You may start out casual and progress towards full time, and vice versa at different times in your life.

/say, and /emote should always be in character.

Think about what your character would say before you respond. It's okay to take a moment. It could be totally different to you normal way of talking. Never reply like you are sending a text to a friend (smileys, slang, abbreviations, etc.)

Whilst some value grammar, spelling, proper capitalization, and punctuation. It is more important to be understood and make an effort. Finer details will come with practice and everyone should be understanding of mistakes.

Also, remember that one region or race of Middle-earth may not talk like another. Whilst Lord of the Rings Online™ provides us with humans to roleplay, the human race certainly has a wide variety of accents, and that's before you start thinking about dwarves and elves!

Emotes are for expression of physical actions related to your character.

Using emotes to express what your character is thinking, or for entire sentences, is pretty much the same as going OOC.

Some roleplay groups are liberal on the usage of emotes, as long as it’s not overdone or abused.

Those emotes tell us literally what your character is thinking. Our characters would never know this! We are not mind-readers.

These emotes express similar messages to the previous but as a physical action, and are therefore considered better for roleplay.

Using nameplates can be seen as metagaming, which is using OOC in an IC way. The same advice can also be considered for lore and other game related information.

Consider this scenario; you are looking for a member of the Blue Mountains Regiment called Snjorblom. You as a person see the nameplate Thonin floating above a characters head. In character, you have never met Thonin and they are not wearing their ceremonial uniform..

You may see Thonin and Blue Mountains Regiment over the characters head, but your character does not. So, until you are properly introduced, Thonin is just another dwarf at the inn.

When you are starting out, or meeting new people for the first time, you often find yourself asking “What will I talk about?"

You can get an idea from your own backstory - interests, dislike/likes and history. Perhaps herbalism is your hobby? Talking to traders and asking questions related to your hobby may be an ideal start.

Not all roleplay chatter is long dramatic speeches. It can be as simple as everyday small talk whilst waiting for an expedition. Small exchanges between other players often make for great adventures in the future.

The same happens in real life; when heading to the mall or seeing some friends that have returned from a long trip.

There may be times when you can't think of anything. Some call it “roleplayers block" (like "writers block"). That's okay, wing it as best you can, and if you really feel burned out, let the other person know Out of Character via /tell.

Metagaming is using Out of Character (OOC) information to influence your In Character (IC) decisions and story; for example, lore and information that you know, but your character does not.

Know your boundaries and respect the boundaries of others.

An example of bad metagaming is the names of players. Although nameplates can be switched off, most people play with them on. As a result, Out of Character you know that Person A is not Person B. However, In Character (IC) your character may not know this as they never see floating names.

Godmodding is manipulating another players character, making decisions for them at an event or during a story-line with little or no debate. It is largely frowned upon by roleplayers.

Godmodding is when a player is over-stepping personal boundaries to sway the story-line in their favor.

This includes “permanently" killing characters, player emotes, “impossible" acts that break game rules or agreed terms, controlling actions of NPC's, and so on.