Equinox
Radio Bob Approved
Advanced Roleplay Guide
By Equinox
IntroductionBy Equinox
This guide is a collection of insights that I have on my time as a roleplayer in both HL2RP and other roleplay mediums. In specific, these tips and bits of advice are meant to help you enjoy your time roleplaying, rather than improve your roleplay in the eyes of others. Of course, that doesn't mean your roleplay won't improve drastically when following this, which is definitely good, but know that this is all focused about you and how much fun you have with a character. With that being said, keep in mind that this is an advanced roleplaying guide. If you are new to roleplay, you are much better of checking out the New Player's Roleplaying Guide, which is meant to teach you how to roleplay in HL2RP. Once you have those basics down, simply improving on them will make you a "better roleplayer" than simply following this guide. Fundamentals are important!
A little background on me here, I've been roleplaying for about 6 and a half years on HL2RP, along with a lot of roleplay in different mediums such as chat/text RP, and DnD. I also have written quite a few things, and have done writing in worldbuilding for over 10 years now. While I don't claim to be the best roleplayer (since I don't really like to rank roleplaying in general), I can at least rest assure that I know how to write and roleplay fairly well. In the end you take what you want from this guide, whether it be a grain of salt or an entire shift in how you RP.
A disclaimer here, this is not meant to be a catch-all guide or a definitive guide to roleplay. Roleplay itself is different for everybody in a sense, and like writing, it has many many many different styles and manners of going about it. In a sense, roleplay is just collaborative story writing. As I said earlier, this is meant to be a guide on making roleplay better for you, not adapting to some sort of standard or rule. With that out of the way, let's get started!
This guide will be presented topic by topic, each one focusing on a piece of advice I can give to make RP better. These are not presented in order of importance, so don't think one bit is more important than another, even if it may appear so. I will also go ahead and put a boldened statement near the bottom that acts as a summary.
Don't worry about your character's personality being "edgy." Focus on making your character a good antagonist.
There's this bad stigma going around HL2RP communities that if your character has any dark facets to their mannerisms, or if they do anything remotely antagonistic with a less than average guilt, that they are "edgy" and "silly." This is false, to an extent. Yes, there have definitely been characters that may even deserve that "edgy" title, but it has gotten to the point where you have plenty of characters who are your by the books brute, or simply the same cookie cutter antagonist. What makes a character "edgy" or not is how well they pull off being an antagonist.An antagonist (in the context of characters) is a character who serves as the source or cause of conflict, whether it be minor or major. A character who is acting rude is just as much an antagonist as a character who murders multiple innocents. However, emphasis should be placed on the fact that not all antagonists are evil, at least if you were to organize good and evil into a measurable variable. A rebel bombing the Nexus can be seen as just as evil as a Loyalist giving a pro-Union speech in the cafe.
What makes a good antagonists however, in HL2RP (and many other works of literature), is how realistic that antagonist is about their decisions, both in making them and after the fact. This can be seen in the following scenario:
What sets Coy McHardy from being an "edgy" character and a good antagonist is why he acts like this, and how he deals with acting like this.
A bad antagonist, an "edgy" McHardy, has McHardy doing this with seemingly no reason. He has no forseeable backstory to back up his behavior. He just acts like a shithead because "that's who the character is supposed to be." When it comes to the aftermath, he brushes it off completely and acts cool about it. Perhaps he shows absolutely no guilt, and when it comes to his mental state, which should be looked at as possibly messed up, he is seemingly flawless.
A good antagonist on the other hand, is a more developed McHardy. His backstory includes a career of drudging through horrible conditions, both before and after service. Perhaps brainwashing of some sorts has left his mind in an altered state, where in the aftermaths of his violent episodes, he sits down and questions his outbursts, unable to pin a reason as to why he did it, while ignorantly ignoring his own past. Perhaps he even realizes his mental issues, but can't admit it under fear of being deserviced which only amplifies the problem.
This all comes down to what a good antagonist is. An antagonist has a reason as to why they act the way they do, and has flaws in their character just like anyone else. "Edgy" characters are only deemed as such because they often have no real reason to act like they do, and have no, or minimal character flaws, as well as little afterthought to their actions.
Focus on making a good antagonist, not a character who is simply "evil" for the sake of being evil. Remember that they are a character first and foremost and should be developed like one, before they are an antagonist.
Turn up the music. Roleplay in the moment.
Music is an incredibly powerful tool for immersion and atmosphere. It is so powerful a tool, that some people may read this and wonder how this wasn't an obvious method of increasing RP. I bring it up because I myself would often just hop on a server go in silent. If I did it at one point, I think it's safe to assume that others do it too.It's a big game changer to have music going in the background. In the end, any music will do, as long as it fits the moment. Personally, ambient music is the best option in my opinion, but it's whatever works for you! I chose ambient music because it is non-intrusive, in the background, and often compliments what is happening instead of being what is happening, if that makes sense. Have an album/playlist of songs to play, and make sure you don't have to switch to it too much. Extended songs go a long ways, especially if you don't have that many pieces of music in the list itself.
So put on some music, and let it immerse you. It'll go a long ways to really put you in the world that you are roleplaying in, and let's you feel as if your character is in the moment.
Don't make self-inserts.
This is a common trope that a lot of newer roleplayers follow even after learning the basics of roleplay, and probably one of the more "controversial" bits of advice on this guide. Many players often see fit to simply put themselves in the world, and react to roleplay according to how they would react. Of course, if you have fun doing so, than go right ahead, but keep in mind that this is a fictional world you are in. Because of this, you can make a vast assortment of different personalities and characters, so why would you go with your own personality?Don't worry, I'm not saying you are a boring person by any means, but the idea behind roleplay is that you are playing a role, and making a story. What often happens with self-inserts is that players will limit their responses to a very different kind of personality than that which may exist in the world they are roleplaying in. You do not live in the dystopian cities of Half Life 2. You are not on the brink of starving (at least I hope you aren't). You are not actively a part of this world. While self-inserting can help immersion when there literally is no character to be had (such as many silent protagonists), you kind of have to have a character in HL2RP.
Self-inserts limit your roleplay potential in Half Life 2 Roleplay. Even if you may be good at it, you will have much more fun by playing a character that is made for the world itself, instead of yourself who belongs to a different world.
Turn off the OOC.
This is a big one, and I stand by it completely. OOC interference ruins immersion. I've seen it happen firsthand more times than I can count. People get on teamspeak/discord and suddenly, their roleplay is either incredibly simple and short or they just outright begin not roleplay, and just start walking aimlessly, or god forbid, minging about. This also applies to any OOC messages in-game-Turn it off. Hop off the voice chat, turn off the OOC messages in-game, and if you have to keep them on, perhaps ask others to tone down the LOOC during RP. I know that I along with many others cannot roleplay when I'm trying to hold a conversation somewhere else. It's a task in multi-tasking, one that can never be perfected. You will find yourself much more in the moment and into roleplaying if you simply turn off the OOC messages and hop off any voice chats you are in. Do you try to focus on reading a good book, or watching a good movie while holding a convo? I'm sure most of you don't. You want a silent movie theater. You want some peace and quiet to read that fiction novel you are invested in. The same applies to roleplay, and the worst part is that it's a spiralling issue. People get caught up in OOC, their roleplay begins to suffer, and then they try to entertain themselves further by paying more attention to the OOC which just repeats the cycle. Tune out the OOC, and immerse yourself IC.
Don't be afraid to be "out there."
This kind of goes hand in hand with the first bit of advice. To a degree, HL2RP is supposed to be realistic, but it is still a work of fiction. Imagine if everyone tried to be as realistic as possible in HL2RP. It'd be a snooze cruise. If I wanted to play ultra-realism mode I'd go outside. When you make a character, don't be afraid to give them quirky personalities, or characteristics that appear to be zany or "unrealistic". The key here is moderation of course. Don't go overboard and make some complete blithering idiot. Try to keep it in theme and moment, but do try to push it a little.You can even see this in Half Life 2. Characters, especially Citizens, say a lot of silly, sometimes downright crazy things. It makes for some good moments. If the Citizens in Half Life 2 can act it, so can you. Don't shy away from making characters with a more lively and/or unconventional personality.
Don't take a PK personally.
Another big one here. This issue alone is so bad that it can cause people to leave a server entirely. PK's suck, they really do. It's the end of a character's story and you effectively can't RP them anymore. Often things can be worked out either before or after to keep PK's in low occurance but it'll happen at some point.But, PK's are really not a reason to call it quits and find another place to go. Every character has an end. It's a matter of perspective. Look at a character's death as the end of a story, and the beginning of something new. Make a completely new character/personality to roleplay. Start completely anew and with a fresh new start. You can even possibly incorporate a character's death into the story of another. Perhaps it's the child, sibling, or parent of that character? Perhaps they were a good friend? See PK's as the end of a story, and the start of a new one. There's an infinite number of characters you can create.
Invest in the moment. Reciprocate!
One of the biggest buzzkills you can experience in HL2RP or any RP (at least in my eyes) is when you put in effort to portray an action or turn of events on another character- and then they give you a completely lackluster and lame response. Whether it be a very short response, or a completely uninterested response, it sucks. Of course, we probably don't want to blow up on them and proceed to end the interaction immediately, but making sure you don't do it is a big one.From having a gun pointed at you (with a threat to boot) or a simple conversation, it is important that you give back what you are given. While you don't have to match their posts length, especially if they post a paragraph, you should at least give at least two sentences. Now this all depends on context. Sometimes you don't need more than one sentence, but make sure you get your entire response in it if you only need one sentence.
What is more important than the length of the posts however is how invested you are in the RP. A whole paragraph means nothing if all it has is subpar writing with your character blowing off the fact that they are having their life threatened. Yes, I have said before that one shouldn't be too realistic with characters, but I also said that one shouldn't be a complete idiot either. React appropriately to RP. Don't half-ass your response. Make your RP mean something to participants.
Don't be reactive, be proactive.
Often times I walk around ANY roleplay server and find that there's tons of people either not RPing at all, or all repeatedly offering RP. It's really silly to see multiple people all asking for RP yet none of them think to just go to another person and just, you know, start the RP. It works a little differently in HL2RP of course, but it comes down to the same concept.Don't be that person who just walks around, and hopes somebody walks up and tries to RP with them. I myself will often just walk up to other characters and start an RP whether they asked for it or not. Hell I'll even place myself in the middle of a conversation if need be, as long as they aren't obviously trying to keep it private. Doing this adds the same element of surprise and uncertainty that is present in realistic social workings and makes RP all the more fun. Get out there, find another character, and just start roleplaying. Don't bother asking, and even better, don't even worry about what kind of character they are.
Put some flavor in what you write.
This one isn't a correction of any sorts, but instead an addition. If your character is scared, make them seem scared. If they are excited, use an exclamation point! Write your character out as if you are writing a book. Hell, even the use of stutters and speech mannerisms goes a long way to make your character seem all the more engaged and real. Modesty is important here though. M-m-m-making your c-c-c-character have a s-s-s-troke is bad taste if you are trying to make them scared. Similarly......... an overuse of punctuation is rather cheap and cheesy!!!!! This kind of speech flavor should be used to compliment what you write, not substitute for bad writing. Remember that what you make them say and do is much more impactful than how you type it. Once you have got it though, feel free to spice up what you type so that you can really get the point across. A few examples are s-stutters, onomatopoeia (again, don't go overboard with this, especially with speech), emphasis marks to /really/ put some -weight- into things, and speech writing that resembles how they actually speak instead of just a straight line of text.Use /me's.
This does sound like a basic bit of advice doesn't it? Well of course this is more than just using /me's and whatnot, or else it wouldn't be here. /me's aren't just for actions, but also allow for a much greater level of customized writing than just saying something:Sounds a lot less interesting than
Not only does this let you get more roleplay in, but it also adds a lot more to the RP in general. Again, write your RP as if you are writing a story, use /me's. It goes a long way. I often only use the regular "[Name] says: XXX" way if I'm trying to give a quick response or a very short message.
Make a Character Sheet!
Whether it be a biography on the forums, a private file, or even a written down character sheet, writing out your character helps you visualize exactly who they are. You can even go further by adding things such as flaws, strengths, and more. This helps you better RP with the character you make, as well as remember their nuances. Write a character sheet of sorts that details the characteristics of your character. It will help you make sense of what you make and more.Sometimes, less is more.
When it comes to roleplaying with another player, I've seen too many times where a player will dump paragraphs of /me's for a scene that does not call for it. Paragraphs of /me are not bad in of themself, and are especially useful if you are the only one /me'ing (medical RP) or if it is a rather intense, or deep moment. However, grabbing a drink off the table doesn't usually require a paragraph which boils down to "They picked up the can of water."Of course, if the other player likes to post paragraphs, than by all means, go ahead, but realize that often times the best option is to just describe what you are doing, and nothing more. 2-4 lines is often the sweet-spot when it comes to roleplay, but use one line or even less if that is all that is needed. Some actions don't even require more than just a few words, and if that is the case, than do it. Just make sure whatever you type is meaningful and properly describes what your character is doing.
Conclusion
There are many, many more bits of advice that could be added here, but we gotta end it somewhere. Remember that these bits of advice are not the "definite" solutions to becoming a better roleplayer or to have fun while roleplaying, but are likely to at least help you out, whether you be new, or a long time roleplayer. In the end, whatever lets you have fun is the solution, as long as it doesn't impede on another player's roleplay.
Let me know what you think down below,
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