But What Would My Character Do?

And now it is time for me to post about my favorite activity, well one of them. I have to say I was a bit torn on this matter, I wasn’t sure what to go with. I already posted an entry about drawing in the form of a very unhelpful work in progress explanation, so, I don’t think I’m going to talk about that again. Then there’s my absolute favorite activity, watching TV shows and videos online while chatting to a friend. I don’t think that would make a decent blog entry. So, I think I’m going to talk about play-by-post or post-by-post role-playing.

Now, an explanation for those who do not know: Post-by-post role-playing is sort of like acting in the form of collaborative story-writing. You have your character(s) and you post from their view point while people you are playing with do the same from the view point of their respective characters. This form of RPG can be done on almost anything from e-mail or instant messaging to forums. I don’t think I will go any deeper than that in my explanation because things vary depending on your preferences and where you role-play and so on. Here’s an example of an RP, I’m quoting an actual game I have going on, and the quote is from the middle of a thread so it might be a bit confusing to follow, but you get the basic idea of that role-playing might look like.

• Player 1: Kylie Velasquez

Relief flooded her system as she saw the ambulance. She listened to Gaines talk, then said, calmly, "You two can go, the rest of us will follow." As soon as Caine was on the gurney and in the ambulance, though, Kylie whipped around, facing the way they'd just come. Her hand found her sidearm and drew it slowly as she stalked back to the soldiers. Both hands were on it as she pointed it to the ground, moving closer. 

She raised her weapon slowly toward the soldiers, still walking. She was not about to let them get away with this shit.

• Me: Nancy Lawson

Nancy had been backing up away from the crowd, following the group treating Caine, while remaining several steps behind to keep an eye on the crowd and the soldiers. When the shots were fired, she felt one of the bullets fly past her leg, nailing a man's calf. He tipped over like a cow. She, however, kept her gun pointed at the ground and didn't look away from the soldiers, it was better for everyone that at least she knew what they were doing. Luckily, most of them seemed to be completely oblivious to Nancy's presence and no one was pointing a gun back at her. 

When she heard the rustle of steps from behind her, she turned, only to see Velasquez sneak towards the crowd with her gun pointed at the soldiers. Her eyes widened slightly and she immediately considered her two options: Disappear into the chaos for safety now, or talk. Usually Nancy was the one doing the stupid things, but even she had her limits, and in this particular company, her limit came up faster than usual. She edged next to Velasquez. "Don't tell me you're about to do something stupid." Her voice was lowered to avert attention from others.

• Player 1: Kylie Velasquez

"They're shooting at civillians, Lawson," she hissed, slowing a bit. Lawson was making her think, now. Damn it. Even if they were shooting at civilians, it didn't seem like the were aiming directly at them. And what was one cop going to do against ll these soldiers? 

Show them that not everon was just going to bend over and take it from them, that's what.
She continued on, but didn't leave Lawson in the dust. In other words, she was willing to hear the woman out if she wanted to reason with her.

• Player 2: Faina Song / Victor Cage

Faina was thrown into a horrible bout of indecision as soon as the colony founder was in the ambulance with two seemingly capable people accompanying him. She was going to be left to do something else now, but she had no orders. She could go back and join the Allies in breaking up the scene that had been threatening to turn into a riot, but she could also leave. She could resume her patrol or return to the ARF for new orders. 

What time was it? She looked to a thin watch around her wrist. Her patrol was almost over anyway . . . 

Vic recognized her uncertainty as soon as the ambulance doors closed and the Happy Medical Bunch seemed to prepare to take off at the speed of light. So, he approached her, getting close to her so he wouldn't have to be loud as he said, "Get out of here. You were told to escort the group transporting Marcus Caine. Once that was done, you didn't have orders, weren't aware of the expectations in dealing with this mess, didn't want to make the situation worse by unknowingly going against the orders given to the group tasked with handling it."
Faina looked up at him blankly. 

"You don't wanna be here," were his final words before he turned to look for Kylie, only to find her being a complete idiot. 

Yet again he found himself calling after her: "Velasquez!" and hurrying to catch up with her and Nancy.


As soon as he was close enough, he grabbed his partner's shoulder and tried to pull her back enough to stop her. "Unless you wanna get killed or tossed in jail, you're gonna want to be heading the other way now. You too, Lawson," he added, tossing a look at the other woman. "And if you're looking to get killed or jailed, I'm gonna have to be annoying, pretend I've got superiority because of the equipment between my legs, then toss you over my shoulder and take you away . . . or just drag you. I'm feeling a little sore after carrying Mr. Caine."

• Me: Nancy Lawson

"Sure they are. But don't you--" Nancy began but was interrupted by none other than Victor. Which was good, she was not particularly skilled at this whole convincing responsible statement thing. Although she had a killer 'this is how you survive' speech.


As Victor threatened them with the powers of his equipment, Nancy turned to him, lowering her gun completely. "I hope to god you meant your partner here and not me. I was being a good girl for once." She blinked at him. "And my legs, not that tired."

• Player 1: Kylie Velasquez

She'd been set and ready to argue with whatever rationale Nancy had to throw at her.
And then Victor showed up. Fuck him. 

Kylie groaned, turned to the man and got in his face, finger pointing at his nose accusingly, ready to tell him off. "You--" She just seemed to look angry about everything, and then made a frustrated noise and whipped her hand back down to her side. "--are significantly uglier when you're right." She shoved her gun into its holster and stormed off, pushing past Cage to head away from the trouble. 

Victor Fucking Cage. Since when was he even right and reasonable?
Damn it.

• Me: Nancy Lawson

After Kylie stormed away, Nancy placed her gun into her holster and gave Victor a long estimating look, narrowing her eyes. "...Nah. Still handsome."

• Player 2: Victor Cage

Vic had nothing to say to Kylie. It wasn't like he was going to argue with her, especially since she was doing what he wanted her to do. He didn't need to argue his merits as a potential mate, and hell-- it wasn't like he was one to take insults very seriously.

Of course Nancy got his attention with that look she gave him. Her words prompted a small frown and a shrug. "That's what I thought," he responded before raising a brow at her then putting on a nonchalant face. "Let's get out of here."

It was time to let this mess be whatever it would be-- to survive to fight another day.

So, yeah. I mainly role-play on forums, it‘s where I started playing and I‘ve found it to be best suited for me - it allows me to have as much time as I want to write my reply, there is no risk of hitting a character limit, and I don't have to be online for my fellow players to be able to write their responses. Forums also provide a nice, clean looking format, which makes it easy and enjoyable to read a thread.

I have maintained several RP forums, I’ve been a moderator on several (including an RP resource site) and I’ve been a member on many, many more. Right now I’m a member on three RP forums (one of which I also help maintain) and they are enough to keep me busy, especially when I have several characters on two of them. At its best, RPing is fun, exciting and addictive, and you might find yourself surrounded by a wonderful community. It's a great creative outlet for me (especially since writing a single story alone feels difficult for me) and, can't lie, it's also a nice form of escapism. Hell, I think I owe a great deal to role-playing, it improved my English significantly, and thus it allowed me to do better at my studies and at my matriculation examination.

All right, I think that's about it. (If you have any questions about play-by-post role-playing etc, do ask!)