Writing your first RP

[Pluto]

Role-playing Basics

Role-playing means to develop a character and then to write texts and stories regarding that very character. It means to read what other people wrote about their characters and then react to it in written form. The first and maybe the primary step to do this is the creation of your own character.

Character Creation

The first thing to decide is whether your character is a good guy or a bad guy or something in between. Deciding this is very important for your character’s role, so give it some thought. Of course your character’s behavior can change over time, but not from good to bad and back to good in the time of three shows.

Next you should put some thought into your character’s looks, for example hair color, hair style, how tall is he (or she), is he rather fat or skinny, does he have any tattoos, does he wear short or long trousers etc. The more detailed information you give, the better everyone reading your texts can imagine the scene, and of course it makes your character unique. Another thing to consider is his personality: Is he the serious type of guy or rather playful, is he calm, discreet or does he get angry very easily?

Something very important (mostly for you) is his biography. Think about what your character experienced in his life, and why he got into wrestling, and even more important: Act like that in your role-plays! For example a kind-hearted character can suddenly loose it when something triggered a memory to one of his traumas. And a character that grew up in one of the worst surroundings on earth will never turn his back to someone he doesn’t know or trust.

Try to make your character unique and interesting. And don’t copy any real wrestler, because nothing is more boring than a roster full of guys who want to be Jeff Hardy (or any other superstar). And believe me, it’s much more fun playing a self-made character than something that isn’t you. Remember, there is no “wrong” or “right” in creating a character, only “interesting” and “I-already-saw-that-a-hundred-times”.

Writing a role-play

After giving life to your character, it’s time to make him live it. There are a lot of possibilities in a role-play and I can’t talk about all of them, but there are some things one should always consider while writing. A role-play always means that your character wants to give someone a message. That message can be to anyone else in the federation: another wrestler, the GM, the audience, the staff, a group of wrestlers, some journalist or all of them. The most important thing is what your wrestler has to say. A simple role-play shows your character in front of the camera, saying what he has to say, and basically this is the core of every role-play.


This already contains all the information I want to give, but of course it doesn’t really look like much. Nevertheless, this is the core of the role-play, and everything that follows after this step can be changed to your liking. To make a role-play more interesting, describing the surroundings always is a good idea. Often used surroundings are the ring in the arena, the backstage area, some locker room or the GM’s office. Of course that also depends on who your wrestler is talking to. For example, talking to a journalist on some submarine hundreds of miles away from the next coast would be a bit weird ( but not impossible if you can give a proper reason why the wrestler AND the journalist are on a submarine hundreds of miles away from the next coast).

A dialogue is often the easiest way for a role-play, because it’s very easy to let the participants react to whatever is said. A monologue is much more difficult to write in an interesting way. But always remember: Only write what people can see in the ring or through the camera. That means you can describe the looks on the faces, but you can’t write the thoughts of the characters.


And that’s it, you now know how to create an interesting character and how to give him life. The only limits left are the ones of your imagination. Nevertheless, here’s some more advice what to look out for:

1. Check you grammar and spelling. I know that there are a lot of great roleplayers who have trouble with the English language, but look at this post and remember I’m German. If you can’t write proper English, don’t worry, there are enough people around to help you. But give it your best, it makes reading your story much easier (and it’s less work for the guys who edit the shows).

2. Don’t just start writing without a plan. You don’t have to draw yourself a map, but it helps if you know before starting WHAT you want to say and TO WHOM you want to say it. I speak from my own experience when I say that writing without a plan almost always ends in chaos.

3. Have fun! That’s an order!

And some advice for different characters:

Face (crowd pleaser):
Being a face doesn’t mean you have to be good. Being a face only means you do what the crowd wants to see. As an example: The Rock was never a “good” person, but he was a face. He was loved by the crowd, despite being a complete asshole. As a face you can do anything, as long as the fans agree with it. This means you have to relate to the crowd, please them, and if some bad guy tries to bully them or another face, stop him. On the other hand, being a face doesn’t mean you’re invincible. Faces do loose matches, they do get beat up from time to time. So let him loose in some role-plays, but in a way the crowd doesn’t agree with it. A character which can do anything and nevertheless takes win after win is fun for the first three shows, but gets boring very soon.

Heels (bad guys):
Heels are pretty much the opposite of a face. They beat people up for no reason, they hate the crowd, etc. For a heel, there are only two rules: 1. Nobody likes heels, and 2. Heels do stuff no-one can approve of. This means you are allowed to do everything, you lie, break the laws, create chaos. But always remember, one day you will have to fall because people love to see the good guys win. But when that day has come, make sure you lose in the most spectacular way you can imagine, because this means an even more spectacular win for the face beating you.



And Finally a RP Example:

Silver Bullet walks down to the ring with a mic in hand as his theme song
plays while the crowd wonder who's theme song is this

Silver Bullet: Well Look I Came out here to talk to you pathetic fools. Well Now that I think about it You Pathetic fans dont deserve to here what I have to say.

The Crowd starts to Boo before Silver Bullet gets to say something else

Silver Bullet: Shut Up. You Pathetic Fools. How Dare you boo the next champion.

Crowd starts to boo more


Silver Bullet: But Since I am out here n have nothing to do. I minus well let you all here what I have to say. And what I wanted to tell you pathetic fans is that I don't care about you, anyone in the back. All I Care about is my self.

Crowd chants you suck

Silver Bullet: And you know what else! I Dont Think that you fans deserve to be looking at great talent such as myself. And I Can promise all of you this, I Will Destroy whoever I face in the ring and there is nothing any of you can do to stop me.

[TK Kenta]

Awesome man, thanks for posting this...