by How To Roleplay
If you are interested in roleplay, but not too sure how, you've come to the right place. As long as you can write, roleplaying in very easy. The roleplaying that you can find on Anonymatrix is text-base roleplaying. This is like writing a story with other people. You have your characters and they have theirs. You share a setting and a plot, and you can decide whatever your character does. Your character can react to other people's character's and other people can react off yours. This means that you can create your own character(s) and insert them into a setting and plot and have them interact with other people's character(s). On AMX, there is no dice-rolling. It is completely your imagination, which also means that there must be a level of self-restriction.
Appropriate character-to-setting matches
Whether your find a pre-made roleplay on AMX, or your create one yourself, your imagination and creativity can be limitless. If you create your own roleplay, you come up with a setting and plot idea in any genre you want. You can set out a list of potential character positions that other players can take (brother, sister, alien, cowboy, husband, victim, murderer, etc.), or you can let other people decide for themselves. When you create your character(s), they must fit the story (so you can't have a roleplay set in the 1800s and have a character who is an computer graphic artist). If you find a roleplay to join that someone else has created, you can create your character(s) to fit their setting and plot, or use one that you have previously made.
Creating your character
If you need help creating your character's biography, you can use our premade blank sheet found here. When you create your character, you can make them look however you want. You can make them like or dislike whatever you want. You have a lot of freedom. However, try to keep your characters realistic. Even if they are aliens. You don't want to create the perfect character (super strength, super speed, super everything and unlimited powers and their only weakness is a plant found on mars that no one else knows about). If you create a character like that, I can guarantee that other people will get annoyed and not want to roleplay with you. You can also create as many characters as you like, and you can create your own thread in the Character Biography section and keep all of your character's information there. You can use them again and again, or even just once. You can also provide a link to your characters on the roleplay post you have chosen or created, or even in your signature.
How much/little can I type for a roleplay post?
The rules of Anonymatrix are that you cannot post one (or two) words in a post only. You must have at LEAST one full and complete sentence. For roleplays, you have to do the same. Depending on whom you roleplay with depends on how much you are allowed to write. Some people (especially in one-on-one roleplays) let you post only a couple of sentences if you wish. Other people specify that they like roleplayers to join them if they type at least a full paragraph or more. If you create your own roleplay, you can create your own roleplaying rules (as long as they are within AMX rules).
What if I'm not very good at roleplay or I am a beginner?
Here on AMX, you can try any style of writing you wish, including roleplaying. If you are a beginner, or don't believe that you are "good" at roleplaying, that doesn't matter. Practice makes perfect. Some people only like to roleplay with people whole are good at writing and write a lot, but other people are happy to roleplay with anyone. The more you roleplay, the better you will become. We don't want you to feel alienated or left out just because you're a beginner.
Some of the rules
Some people who create roleplays will create their oen rules. "God-Modding" and "Power-Playing" are just two of them. If you are new to roleplaying, you might not know what these mean.
God-Modding is when you create a "perfect" character. This can become very annoying to other roleplayers. If you have a character that has the power to do anything and if never hurt nor destroyed, you have essentially created a god. God-Modding is a very common rule in roleplays because it limits what other players can do, and causes the roleplay in question to lose its fun.
Power-Playing is sometime confused with God-Modding. Power-Playing is where you, as a roleplayer, take control over other people's characters. In a roleplay, you can control your own character, and part of the fun is that you don't know what other people are going to say next, or how they will react to or reply to what your character has just said or done. An example of Power-Playing is "My character kicked this other character, and the other character fell to the ground in pain". This is very common. You may have intended your character to harm the other one, but you have no control over whether or not that character felt pain and collapsed, even if they probably would have. Just like in real life, if you intend to hurt someone else, you can't control what they feel. Perhaps the other roleplayer didn't want their character to fall over. Perhaps they dodged the kick. That being said, if your character ALWAYS dodges or is never hurt, injured, or fallen, that is a form of God-Modding. Your characters do have to experience negativity sometimes, but you can't control that in someone else's character. There is an exception to this rule, and that is when interacting with Non-Player/Playable-Characters (Or NPCs). An NPC is a character that no one has claimed. Perhaps a shop keeper. These characters are there to keep the story alive (for example, if you are in a One-On-One roleplay, the entire town isn't just populated by you two. There are other people living there, they just aren't controlled by you or your partner). These NPCs aren't important characters, but very minor ones. Some people choose to control what these NPCs are saying (and assigning their speech a different colour), and some of them carefully dance around them. For example: "Setting my basket on the counter, I pulled out the individual contents for the teller to scan. Once complete and he had told me the total price, I handed over my money, picked up my bag, and left the shop." So I didn't give the teller speech, but I did control the fact that he scanned my shopping items and told me the total price.
The number of characters that you use in a roleplay is up to the creator. You can usually play as many characters as you wish (as long as you don't confuse yourself or ignore one of your characters), but sometimes creators like you to only play as one character. That being said, you are free to create more than one character and post them in the Character Biographies section.
Interacting with other characters
So we already covered God-Modding and Power-Playing, but there is more. If another character tries to interact with you, you cannot ignore them. That's rude. And they WILL notice. If you wish to interact with another character, make sure it fits the story line, and although you may be able to interrupt, try not to butt-in and be rude about it. If your characters are at opposite ends of the town, not only can they not hear you if you shout, but you can't magically teleport to them (unless you have a magical teleportation power in a fantasy or sci-fi roleplay). You have to mention that you travelled towards them somehow (and how you knew they were there), because not only does that add more to the roleplay, but it gives other roleplayers a chance to interact with your character. Perhaps on the way to finding your friend, you came across someone else.
Typing in colours
You might notice some people giving their character's speech a certain colour. You don't have to do this, but it is a fun idea and it makes your text easier for other people to read. It's up to you whether you do this or not, and you can choose your colours.
How do you finish a roleplay?
The same way you finish a story you write alone. We're still trying to figure that one out. That doesn't mean our roleplays go on forever though. People get bored and the roleplay stops, but that leaves it wide open for people to resume posting again in a few weeks once they have new ideas, or someone can create a new roleplaying based off the one that "ended".
If you have anymore question, or have anything you would like to add to this post, comment/reply below or find a regular roleplayer and ask them how to roleplay. I hope this is helpful!
If you are interested in roleplay, but not too sure how, you've come to the right place. As long as you can write, roleplaying in very easy. The roleplaying that you can find on Anonymatrix is text-base roleplaying. This is like writing a story with other people. You have your characters and they have theirs. You share a setting and a plot, and you can decide whatever your character does. Your character can react to other people's character's and other people can react off yours. This means that you can create your own character(s) and insert them into a setting and plot and have them interact with other people's character(s). On AMX, there is no dice-rolling. It is completely your imagination, which also means that there must be a level of self-restriction.
Appropriate character-to-setting matches
Whether your find a pre-made roleplay on AMX, or your create one yourself, your imagination and creativity can be limitless. If you create your own roleplay, you come up with a setting and plot idea in any genre you want. You can set out a list of potential character positions that other players can take (brother, sister, alien, cowboy, husband, victim, murderer, etc.), or you can let other people decide for themselves. When you create your character(s), they must fit the story (so you can't have a roleplay set in the 1800s and have a character who is an computer graphic artist). If you find a roleplay to join that someone else has created, you can create your character(s) to fit their setting and plot, or use one that you have previously made.
Creating your character
If you need help creating your character's biography, you can use our premade blank sheet found here. When you create your character, you can make them look however you want. You can make them like or dislike whatever you want. You have a lot of freedom. However, try to keep your characters realistic. Even if they are aliens. You don't want to create the perfect character (super strength, super speed, super everything and unlimited powers and their only weakness is a plant found on mars that no one else knows about). If you create a character like that, I can guarantee that other people will get annoyed and not want to roleplay with you. You can also create as many characters as you like, and you can create your own thread in the Character Biography section and keep all of your character's information there. You can use them again and again, or even just once. You can also provide a link to your characters on the roleplay post you have chosen or created, or even in your signature.
How much/little can I type for a roleplay post?
The rules of Anonymatrix are that you cannot post one (or two) words in a post only. You must have at LEAST one full and complete sentence. For roleplays, you have to do the same. Depending on whom you roleplay with depends on how much you are allowed to write. Some people (especially in one-on-one roleplays) let you post only a couple of sentences if you wish. Other people specify that they like roleplayers to join them if they type at least a full paragraph or more. If you create your own roleplay, you can create your own roleplaying rules (as long as they are within AMX rules).
What if I'm not very good at roleplay or I am a beginner?
Here on AMX, you can try any style of writing you wish, including roleplaying. If you are a beginner, or don't believe that you are "good" at roleplaying, that doesn't matter. Practice makes perfect. Some people only like to roleplay with people whole are good at writing and write a lot, but other people are happy to roleplay with anyone. The more you roleplay, the better you will become. We don't want you to feel alienated or left out just because you're a beginner.
Some of the rules
Some people who create roleplays will create their oen rules. "God-Modding" and "Power-Playing" are just two of them. If you are new to roleplaying, you might not know what these mean.
God-Modding is when you create a "perfect" character. This can become very annoying to other roleplayers. If you have a character that has the power to do anything and if never hurt nor destroyed, you have essentially created a god. God-Modding is a very common rule in roleplays because it limits what other players can do, and causes the roleplay in question to lose its fun.
Power-Playing is sometime confused with God-Modding. Power-Playing is where you, as a roleplayer, take control over other people's characters. In a roleplay, you can control your own character, and part of the fun is that you don't know what other people are going to say next, or how they will react to or reply to what your character has just said or done. An example of Power-Playing is "My character kicked this other character, and the other character fell to the ground in pain". This is very common. You may have intended your character to harm the other one, but you have no control over whether or not that character felt pain and collapsed, even if they probably would have. Just like in real life, if you intend to hurt someone else, you can't control what they feel. Perhaps the other roleplayer didn't want their character to fall over. Perhaps they dodged the kick. That being said, if your character ALWAYS dodges or is never hurt, injured, or fallen, that is a form of God-Modding. Your characters do have to experience negativity sometimes, but you can't control that in someone else's character. There is an exception to this rule, and that is when interacting with Non-Player/Playable-Characters (Or NPCs). An NPC is a character that no one has claimed. Perhaps a shop keeper. These characters are there to keep the story alive (for example, if you are in a One-On-One roleplay, the entire town isn't just populated by you two. There are other people living there, they just aren't controlled by you or your partner). These NPCs aren't important characters, but very minor ones. Some people choose to control what these NPCs are saying (and assigning their speech a different colour), and some of them carefully dance around them. For example: "Setting my basket on the counter, I pulled out the individual contents for the teller to scan. Once complete and he had told me the total price, I handed over my money, picked up my bag, and left the shop." So I didn't give the teller speech, but I did control the fact that he scanned my shopping items and told me the total price.
The number of characters that you use in a roleplay is up to the creator. You can usually play as many characters as you wish (as long as you don't confuse yourself or ignore one of your characters), but sometimes creators like you to only play as one character. That being said, you are free to create more than one character and post them in the Character Biographies section.
Interacting with other characters
So we already covered God-Modding and Power-Playing, but there is more. If another character tries to interact with you, you cannot ignore them. That's rude. And they WILL notice. If you wish to interact with another character, make sure it fits the story line, and although you may be able to interrupt, try not to butt-in and be rude about it. If your characters are at opposite ends of the town, not only can they not hear you if you shout, but you can't magically teleport to them (unless you have a magical teleportation power in a fantasy or sci-fi roleplay). You have to mention that you travelled towards them somehow (and how you knew they were there), because not only does that add more to the roleplay, but it gives other roleplayers a chance to interact with your character. Perhaps on the way to finding your friend, you came across someone else.
Typing in colours
You might notice some people giving their character's speech a certain colour. You don't have to do this, but it is a fun idea and it makes your text easier for other people to read. It's up to you whether you do this or not, and you can choose your colours.
How do you finish a roleplay?
The same way you finish a story you write alone. We're still trying to figure that one out. That doesn't mean our roleplays go on forever though. People get bored and the roleplay stops, but that leaves it wide open for people to resume posting again in a few weeks once they have new ideas, or someone can create a new roleplaying based off the one that "ended".
If you have anymore question, or have anything you would like to add to this post, comment/reply below or find a regular roleplayer and ask them how to roleplay. I hope this is helpful!
