Zeldryn's Guide to Everything (An Ongoing Guide to RP in Clok)

[Zeldryn]

A/N: Pardon any spelling/grammar mistakes. I'll edit later, but for now, I just wanted to post this. I'm lazy, sue me.



Dear reader,

Welcome, one and all, to the wonderful world of roleplay in the Lost Lands. The quarantine's a dangerous place. Grab your rations and rapiers.

My name is Zeldryn, and I've been roleplaying through a variety of mediums for the better part of fifteen years. Here on Clok, I've been hanging in there for about 4 or 5 years, now, give or take some time that I can't remember as a result of miscellanious breaks. But time and time again, I come back. Clok's a fantastic world to roleplay in, and I really do enjoy the experiences that my peers and I have brought to life here throughout the years. That's a result of the characters themselves, the lore, and the mechanics-- and all of the imperfections that come along with the combination of those factors.

That being said, every RP game has it's criticisms. Every medium has it's limitations, and the culture and community's only so great as the individuals that make it up. Clok, like many other text-based RPEs/RPIs that have come before it, has had it's fair share of ups and downs. But despite those shifts, I love it here. It's not perfect, and no game is. But it's good enough for me.

I can say with a fair degree of certainty that the crowd here is full of brilliant RPers. But it's not for everybody, and that's okay! If it's not for you, it's not for you. Everybody has their own preferences in terms of interface, mechanics, and RP. But it's important to understand that clok's a bit of a niche. Even among similar games, it's sort of become it's own thing and developed it's own way, as games do.

Not everybody has the privvilidge of experience playing here for as long as, say, me. A lot of folks are coming here for the first time, trying to find their place, trying to understand the RP culture here, and don't really know where to begin. In the same vein, there's a ton of long-time players who take long breaks, return, and aren't really sure how to hop back in-- especially as the culture and tide of activity and events changes, and the player base waxes and wanes.

Clok's a bit of a niche game, among a niche genre, among a niche form of roleplay and gaming. So, from the outside looking in, things can look a bit puzzling. And from the inside out, it can become incredibly easy to forget that above all else, we're here to RP and have fun.

Introductions aside, however, what I hope to accomplish with this thread is simple. I, as an individual who has had his own fair share of quality IC/OOC interactions with a fair share of quality individuals here on Clok over the years, wish to offer my own guidance toward more fulfilling roleplay here in the Lost Lands. Whether you're new, a veteran, or an aged fossil such as myself, I think that I can put forward a few (hopefully) good suggestions that anyone can keep in mind to really.. Put a polish on the experience you have here. Again-- I want to repeat that these suggestions aren't for everyone. I'm not an expert (What would that even be, really? A novellist?), and I certainly don't claim to find my own interpretations, style, or approach any more or less valid than someone else's. I've just heard a lot of conversation from time to time that, well, folks aren't really sure how to find, start, or progress RP in various situations.

So, consider this post, and all that follow it a sort of, "Zeldryn's Guide to Maximizing your time in The Lost Lands."

Originally, it was conceptualized as a sort of bulky, mass-compilation of information constructed into one big guide. Instead, however, I've chosen to approach this in a sort of blog-like format here on the BBS so I, and my fellow nerds have a place to come and ramble about our thoughts on RP as we carve out our destinies through blood and spores. I mean cold and iron filings. I mean angry yelling and... You know what, I think you get it.

I had a bit of trouble focusing in on a single topic for this first post. So, rather than ramble at length about a single subject like character creation or choice in guild, I figured I'd instead include a list of suggestions in this post that acts as a sort of catch-all complilation of general RP advice to keep in mind here as you play the game. Think of it as a sort of tease of topics to come.

So-- All criticisms, posetive and negative are welcome. Feel free to ask questions that I (and others!) can respond to in between our miscellanious ramblings. Look for my bulky blog-style posts (Like, Oooh! The one below this one! Spooky!) every once and a while, and occasionally, if they'd like-- special guest speakers who have their own opinions! I like other people's opinions. They're usually better than mine. Now. Without further digression;

ZELDRYN'S SUGGESTIONS OF THE DAY


I. DON'T LOSE FOCUS AMID OPTIMIZATION-- AKA: MMOing


As gamers, we know how to game. We understand that, all suspension of disbelief and roleplay aside, we're playing through a medium that has set mechanics that work within fixed limits. After you play a game for a while, you know how the weight system works, and how the temperature system works, and how the nutrition system works, and which weapons are mechanically more advantageous for skill gain, and so on, and so on, and so on. Whether we realize it or not, we try to optimize things the best we can to give ourselves the best result for the number-gain that we're all so used to through other sorts of gaming.

I realize that, even I, myself, do this on occasion to make my experience less painless. That's okay. You as an individual are going to best know how to tailor your experience to your own particular interests and tastes as you spend more time here, regardless of the means. But one thing that I constantly encourage, and will scream to the heavens and the ends of the planet about is taking a step back from that MMO mentality of efficiency and optimization. You could be selling yourself short on some genuinely great experiences in RP. For the sake of discussion, I'll use equipment as an example.

Let's say that you figured out, through virtue of trial, error, and experience, that you can mechanically maintain your ability to do double-backflip 360s even though you're wearing four scabbards, three backpacks, and a celestium breastplate. You did so because you've micromanaged the weight of all of your items to the extent that your sick hangtime is unaffected by the mighty throws of the quarantine's cyber-gravity. On one hand, you have four different kinds of swords, three different backpacks full of food, bandages, different kinds of poultices, and the ability to do Nuumic Mctwists while screaming, "YEEEEAAAAH!" while spin-kicking bison in the teeth. On the other hand? That's. Um. Understandably too much amazing for any individual human being to contain within one humble mortal form.

Extreme nonsensicalness (And awesomeness) of the example aside, the point I'm trying to make is that by being too focused on optimizing your character, you're missing out on a lot of RP potential. Nuumic Mctwisting Celestium Bison-Kick-Man might have glorious optimization and anime on his side, but he spent so much time balancing his build that he.. Never roleplayed on the roleplaying game he's been optimizing on. Running out of food, or being cold, or running low on bandages, or getting lost, or not knowing where a particular area is (even though, OOCly, you might know from previous experiences on a different character) are great oppurtunities to invoke the almighty rule of roleplaying. He might be the sickest swordsman who's ever teeth-kicked a bison, but if he's done so.. All by himself, without making any friends. I mean. That's not half as awesome as it was initially. Ultimately, RP's the reason we're here. Clok's a medium to facilitate great RP experiences. Otherwise it'd be a hack and slash, not roleplay-enforced. It's okay to optimize to a certain extent, but there's a much better way to approaching experience in Clok, I think. And that is by trying to...


II. REMEMBER YOUR CHARACTER IS A HUMAN BEING


This one seems kind of obvious. But specifically as a result of the reason listed above (and a lot of other ones) it can be easy to treat your experiences as bound within the mechanics. Because, well, they are. But even though you know this OOCly, because, you know, you're sitting on your chair/bed/throne/flying nimbus and playing this game, your character doesn't know that. Your character's a man or lady who's stuck in the quarantine for one reason or another, just like everyone else.

I'm Zeldryn, OOCly. But I'm also Zeldryn ICly. Zeldryn's not just an idea, or a bundle of code and letters and stuff. He's a person. So I try to think of him as a person when I'm in his shoes. (Boots)? He's a bit of a snooty guy, so he doesn't like to eat rations. He thinks they taste bad. So he cooks his own food, because he likes his own cooking. He usually only wears one bag on his back, because wearing more than one in actuality is. Well, sort of uncomfortable and encumbering, especially when they're both full of garbage. And inside that bag, even though mechanically I know it can hold a lot more, I think of it's contents as realistically as possible in as many situations as possible. I wouldn't want to put my food with my gunpowder, so neither does Zeldryn. He gets wounded a lot, so he keeps his bandages clean and tidy for easy access. They get a container of their own, bundled neatly together on the belt or cloak for quick access alongside some other medical-like tools like a needle, or fishing line, or cloth strips.

If Zeldryn has to eat rations-- and he does sometimes-- he gags, or spits, or has a hard time stomaching them via emote, because he hates the taste of the things. If he's carrying a bunch of heavy bags, he's going to moan, groan, sweat, whine and squirm about it-- because he's a twiggy, skinny little man who doesn't understand the value of manual labor. If he gets wounded, and it's bad, he winces, and hisses, and his tone of voice and speech patterns change. He changes the way he fights, and, when I can, I like to RP out the treatment of said wounds beyond the mechanical use of the poultice-- because It's fun. But that's just my personal preference. Everybody's different.

I can't taste those rations. I can't feel the weight of those bags, or know exactly how much space they're taking up on my shoulders. I can't feel, treat, or, really, even SEE what the wounds I have are from a mechanical perspective. But I can certainly fill in those gaps through imagination in RP. I can imagine what a dried travel ration that never goes stale and is described as extremely dry and filling tastes like. (Bad). I can imagine what it feels like to be carrying a backpack on each shoulder, one filled with locked footlockers, the other filled with riln and rations. (Uber heavy). I can do my best to conceptualize what I (and the person I'm with) feel would be a good representation of a light-severe wound, and what sort of treatment it would take based on what inflicted the wound. (None of us are doctors, but it's still a game! Suspension of disbelief and all that.)

Basically-- I know what it's like to be a person. So I know what Zeldryn should be feeling like most of the time, too. And when I don't have the experience myself? I have enough, well, knowledge and interest to fill in the gaps creatively for the sake of RP and fun. Obviously I've never been stabbed or fought sporemen/spooky ghosties. I'm also not a cockney-ish swaggery pirate man from the western isles who's the town drunk. But it sure is fun acting like it as realistically as possible, and it's created a lot of golden moments along the way. Is it always time-convenient? No. Is it always efficient? No. But is it fun? Yes, absolutely. Does it make more impact in the long term as a result of that fun? Again, absolutely.

But sometimes, even despite that fun, I had to...


III. TAKE RISKS, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY ACCEPT/DISREGARD THE CONSEQUENCES OF SAID RISKS


This one's a little less straightforward, so I'm going to try to explain it as simply as possible.

From an IC perspective, The Quarantine's got a lot going on. A lot of that involves rules. There's a lot of off-limits areas depending on who you are and what you do, and a lot of stuff that, by all appearances, is met with a lot of seeming "No-nonsense" response. But that doesn't, without any fragment of a doubt, mean that these areas can't be explored without risk. It's just on you. Your own risk, your own reward. People might get mad ICly, people might yell at you, you might get confronted if it's particularly severe-- but just like in real life, it's on you to accept the consequences of your actions. Sometimes, even if everything seems like a totally awful idea, it ends up being an amazingly fun RP experience.

Let me take this moment to stress that i'm talking about the IC RULES. Not the OOC POLICIES. Policies are NON-NEGOTIABLE. FOLLOW GAME POLICIES. POLICIES ARE GOOD! BREAKING POLICIES IS BAD! ORDER GOOD! CHAOS BAD!

Though I digress. Allow me to provide an example. Just for transparency's sake-- this is a fictional example of a fictional area with a fictional conversation that would occur that falls in line tone-wise pretty heavily with the sort of normal responses one might realistically expect.

Let's say Jim-bob, sunshine-purple, is scoping out a house in Shadgard. He's heard lots of rumors about this place, and there's a sign outside warning him to stay out. He's pretty sure that, because of the sign, people will get mad if he doesn't listen to it and creeps inside. But the door looks unlocked, and nobody's really stopping him, and he's pretty curious what's inside. So, he goes in. Then, ruh-roh. The door slams behind him, and suddenly, he's inside the house and he can hear some drunken mumbling drifting toward him from the western hallway. Clearly, his days are numbered, so he turns to the trusty mental network to solve his issues. He's taken his risk, but, now that it hasn't paid off and he's stuck, he has to face the consequences that he initially disregarded for sake of his curiosity.

*you feel a something something of Sunshine-purple gently patpat the back of your mind*: "Hey, what's up with this place with the wheel on the door next to the infirmary in Shadgard?"

*Your trusty belt buckle shines with a something something of moonlight-green that tingles the front of your brain*: "Don't go in there!"

*Your trusty belt buckle shines with a something something of apache rose peacock orange that tingles the front of your brain*: "Yeah, the last four guys that pulled on that wheel got pulled in by some drunken Parron with an accent. We haven't heard from two of them for days. The other two had to get pulled out by force-- it was a long fought battle. There was a lot of blood and broken furniture involved. Don't even get me started on the crap the militia gave us afterward. . "

*Your trusty belt buckle shines with a something something of moonlight-green that tingles the front of your brain*: "Yeah, ever since, we posted that sign outside that says Beware of drunk, stay out under penalty of death and dismemberment. We really don't like that guy. "

*you feel a something something of Sunshine-purple gently patpat the back of your mind*: "...Let's say i've hypothetically already pulled the wheel."

*Your trusty belt buckle shines with a something something of apache rose peacock orange that tingles the front of your brain*: "Ugh, I'll come save you, but totally not cool."

*Your trusty belt buckle shines with a something something of moonlight-green that tingles the front of your brain*: "Read signs, man. Someday, someone isn't going to come save you."

Sometimes, if you've particularly influenced people ICly, for whatever reason, they'll seek you out and talk to you face-to-face, even after these conversations on the network occur, facilitating further RP! Again, RPE/RPI game. Don't take personal offence to this. There's IC and OOC boundaries at play in Clok constantly. Take it for what it is. A pressure situation that is either going to go good or bad depending on how you, your character, reacts to the other parties involved. We're all amazing people OOC, even if we can be sort of mean IC now and then. I pinky promise.

Sometimes, risks don't pay off. But sometimes, they do. You take on things at your own risk, and at your own reward. Taking chances and breaking the rules IC isn't always the worst move. You just have to be ready to accept all of the consequences that can come from them, good or bad. Particularly the bad. Good consequences are easy to deal with. But the bad ones are the ones you have to accept the most. Luckily, in my experience? When the odds are stacked against me, that's when I have the most fun. But again, that comes down to personal preference and style. Not everybody likes to take a shower with the same temperature water, and wash with the same scent of soap.

Wow, that was a bad example. Let's move on, before I embarrass myself some more.


IV. THINK. THINK. THINK. AND RITUAL! RITUAL RITUAL RITUAL!


Sometimes, it's sad, because you're playing this roleplaying game, and you have no one to roleplay with. You're all by yourself, and it's nothing but you, your trusty copper sledgehammer, and those dirt-covered scavengers that keep harassing you for past-due taxes. Other times-- your character feels in a particularly strong way about a particular situation, and isn't in the sort of circumstance where he can speak freely about it, but you feel it's a strong character moment. Alone, or with others, sometimes, speaking and emoting alone just doesn't cut it to properly portray what's going on in your character's head.

Whether you're in the midst of a negotiation for your shiny new *iron* sledgehammer, you're knocking back a few tankards at the local tavern with the boys, or you're pulling the sixth arrow out of your eyesocket after forgetting to wear your helmet on your journey westward-- there's always another way to add a bit more depth to the experience. Thinking about it. Your character has thoughts and feelings just like anyone else, and those thoughts, mannerisms and actions are all directly shot to the staff whenever you use the think and ritual commands.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but they're really valuable tools. They can say a lot about your character in individual moments, especially if you're pretty good about doing it on a regular basis. The staff-- and you, really-- can start to get a really good feel for the kind of person your character is, and the ways that they carry themselves that make them an individual that stands out from the horde. Sometimes, you might feel like you're doing it too much, or too little, or that your thoughts aren't really of substance or contribution to anything you're really trying to do or put forward. But in my opinion, that's okay. It's better to swing and miss than to not swing at all, for lack of a better comparative reference.

REMEMBER: Nobody can see your thoughts but you, and the staff. If you think something mean about someone who was mean to you, they don't know it! If Zeldryn calls you a tosser and makes fun of your mom, you can respond with; think "Wow, that Zeldryn guy sure is a big fat meanie for making fun of my mom like that." And I'd never know you did it. But the staff would, and they'd know that you have a good reason for being mean IC to Zel if you were mean to him the next time you met.

Here's a couple examples of thinks and rituals Zeldryn would do in different situations.


When being told his strategy is suicidal: You think to yourself, "Uncle H always said I had a deathwish. It'd be a shame to prove him wrong now, really."

When witnessing something that he personally doesn't like whatsoever, but can't comment on: You think to yourself, "<Person>, my good <sir/madame>, you've just earned yourself a mugging."

When sorcererers say things: You think to yourself, "I really, really, really hate sorcerers. They're just.. So full of themselves."

When fighting giant inhuman monstrosities, particularly upon serious injury: "Mommy, I don't want to be in the lost lands anymore. I just want to read and sail like you always said."

Rituals are harder to give examples for, because they're physical actions that take the same form as emotes. Think of them in the same way you would an emote in the structural sense, but as moments that are more significant that you'd feel would be meaningful or entertaining or educational in some way to an observer. Like clutching a pendant to your heart after narrowly escaping with your life, or callusly cleaning the blood off of a blade on the shirt of a fallen foe. Or even something like swaying on your feet at the smell of your favorite pie-- really, it's all subjective to the situation at hand, much like thoughts are. Unlike thoughts, however, your rituals are visible to others as they occur. They go directly to the staff, as thoughts do, but if you ritual-- others can see it as they would an emote. So keep that in mind when you're doing it.

I think it also sort of goes without saying that it's okay to be funny sometimes, if you're trying to play a funny person. But you should try to take yourself seriously. I mean, in general, we take ourselves seriously as people, because we live in objective reality. Comedy's great on occasion, but when you're nothing but puns and schtick, I can imagine it gets old and loses it's effect. But! I'm not a staff member, and I have no idea for sure what the opinions on this are. RP the way you want to RP. I'm not one to judge.

Some of these thoughts, to people who know Zeldryn, are fairly obvious. Some aren't obvious at all. These aren't the best examples either, because in my experience, thoughts are very situational things. I do it frequently. Sometimes about major things that are of substance, a lot of times, about things that otherwise wouldn't matter at all that I'd find entertaining if I was reading it from the perspective of a GM.

Honestly, that's the best advice I can offer you for think/ritual. When you do it, think of the situation as an ongoing scene in a book, TV show, movie, or video game cutscene. Think of how your character would respond in it, and things you want to portray that you can't through the normal lines of communication alone. If you do something of particular significance that you feel is a defining moment-- ritual it instead of emoting it, because then, the staff'll see it too. If you have things you've worked on in your backstory that you think the staff should know about, think of different, organic sorts of thoughts your character would have that can slowly offer up that backstory to the staff members themselves in a less direct means than, "I'm now going to explain everything through this conversation, now." Or sending an email to the support email. This is a huuuge thing. I feel like a lot of people underutilize the think tool. I have a lot of fun with it, personally, and I'd hope that others do too. (I've slacked off in recent months, but I promise-- I'll get better! I need to take my own advice.)



I do believe I've rambled on for a fairly long time now, though. I do hope the quality of these suggestions aren't lacking, and that this is a nice enough starting point for all of us to use as a springboard for our IC activities moving forward. Do expect more posts in the future, and expect them to be a lot less scatter-brained and focused on particular topics. The next I have planned is revolving entirely around character creation, and what sorts of decisions I made along the way to have so much fun as I have, and how I think those decisions could help others!

Thank you all so, so much for taking the time to slave through this novel of a BBS post. I plan on posting here semi-regularly, so do hope that it's appreciated. All criticism and feedback is absolutely encouraged and accepted. Feel free to ask questions, critique me heavily on my form, and, well, discuss RP! Muse in your own respects, do a long-form blog post like this one. Tell me i'm dumb for thinking about it-- disagree with me, if you like. All I ask is that you do so in a constructive, polite manner. We're all here to have fun, right? I don't think anything I've said here, or will say in this thread is end-all, be-all advice. I'm just here to offer my two riln, as it were.

Anywho-- Thanks again, and happy clokking! Clok it up! Clok your brains out! I'll end with two questions.

Q1: What's the thing you struggle with the most in terms of RP here on Clok? (Speech and tone? Emoting? Long term goals? Portraying your personality as you invision it?)

Q2: What's the most fun RP consistently in your opinion here on Clok? (Be specific. Combat in specific areas, certain types of conversations or events, etc.)

[Alila]

Voice

Once or thrice, the topic of voice has arisen here in the forums, on Discord or chat, or so forth. A writing voice is a uniquely powerful tool? Material? For expressing demeanor and intent. It is the cloth from which words are sewn, useful in scholarly papers and less fictional articles insofar as the way their contents come together are the first—and possibly the last—indication of the person behind the piece for its reader; it is important in rp to add an element of immersion beyond the at-hand things like room descriptions, equipment, scary monsters, weather, and so forth. This is an attempt at writing about voice and conveying meaning which is hopefully useful to you beyond CLOK, maybe even beyond rp, if you decide to write, or already do so. This being said, while voice is excellent to have command of in any setting where self-expression is key, this post is here, in the Guide to RP thread, and thus will be aimed primarily at the rping context.

Maybe the first important question to address is: what is voice? It is not always a very literal ic concept, even if often it can be. To me, voice is less about the what is happening and more about the why and how of it. Why is this article being written, or why should it be? How do you intend to present the topic: educatedly, endorsingly, mockingly? Why would your character use the drawl speech? How should it read to others? Consider the example,

Zeldryn drawls, “Hello, my name is Zeldryn. You were asking for a pie?”

Zeldryn drawls, “So, now…I hear yer in the market for a slice o’ the good stuff. S’that right?”

We are, as living bundles of emotion and thought and memory, not always very conscious or transparent with ourselves abut why we act or say or do things. Voice exists between the writer and the character, in the words chosen to describe anything because it is the player attempting to express an equally multifaceted spirit. Sometimes the response may be immediate or instinctual—and this is perfectly okay! The character is your character, and no one understands them more than you will, but voice is what allows for this understanding: who is your character? They may be unavoidably a little you, but how should and should they not be?

Less philosophically, there is a difference between the first and second examples which reaches beyond the yer and similarly informal contractions. It is in word choice, and even in sentence length. While much of the art to word choice is in its interpretiveness, in communicating where the same things can mean different things and different things can carry similar meaning, for a possibly useful deconstruction:

Drawling conveys some voice already, in and of itself. If one is drawling, they are speaking slowly or in a lazy roundabout way. We can express this with longer less direct sentences, occasionally starting them with a so or well, or adding pauses like commas or ellipses to convey the idea this person is not speaking hastily. Inversely, shorter sentences are brief, simple. They say things quickly. They feel choppier. Contracting some words, like yer and s’that help provide character to the drawl. For comparison,

Zeldryn drawls, “So, now…I hear you are in the market for a slice of the good stuff. Is that right?”

Zeldryn drawls, “So, now…I hear yer in the market for a slice o’ the good stuff. S’that right?”

In this example, voice is also straightforwardly accent--these two says feel entirely different! In fact, for a very different kind of drawl, consider,

Zeldryn drawls, “I’ve been hearing the most unsavory rumors, you know. Is it true? Are you dealing in pie?”

Herein is possibly the most capable tool for voice: word choice. Is your character learned and well educated? Would they unironically use complex words? Are they generally soft spoken, or do they have the experience and technique to project their voice well? Maybe your character is an artist or musician and sometimes remarks upon something others might not think to, such as describing the arc of a sword as a pirouette or approving of the color contrast between a gold armband and an azure dress. Are there cultural references your character may use in speech, or misunderstand? Arad is a very diverse continent, without the benefit of Google and Wikipedia to immediately transfer knowledge between very different places. Someone who has lived in the desert their entire life may have never been in a jungle, and someone who lived on the lovely tropical isles of Parr may have no tolerance for or understanding of a frigid mountain top. Are there words you, as a writer, feel would fit your character better than others? Alila uses ‘okay’ above more definitive words like ‘yes’ even when she might mean them because ‘okay’ connotes affirmation or acquiescence, and this suits her character much better. In this way it is possible to convey even subconscious meaning with the words a character prefers or avoids.

Voice exists in a curious place between ic and ooc, in the same way any other aspect of character creation is not purely either. It is where a player designs the interface between themselves and their character; you are the one to decide what appeals to you, and then it is your character which sets out to explore and express those themes. This is all to say: find inspiration and be someone you enjoy being. Also, motives for playing a characters are yours and yours alone. Whether it is something as deep as exploring the meaning of hope as a canim whose chronic illness promises either sudden death or a loss of sanity, or as silly as deciding not to use the word okay every third sentence, or—more likely—both! It is perfectly reasonable to want to enjoy playing a game.

These are all questions worth considering to make your characters’ actions and dialogue feel distinct, but of course, keeping all of it in mind at any given moment is not so feasible. While thinking as your character is excellent to strive for, it can help to develop some kind of framework to help you slide into the mindset, or even to fill in later, in the process of developing a new one. So now you have read all of my rambly advice and questions, here are some hopefully useful guidelines, accompanied by yet more long-winded considerations, to follow as closely or loosely as you like:

• First consider your culture and name. Even if you have no concrete background at the moment, consider how these might influence it. What lore is available, to draw some form of arena or platform for character concept? This includes things such as social system and values, sense of esthetics—both architecturally and in clothing, naming and familial conventions, and so forth. IN essence, your character is an adult and they will have preconceived notions of the world. Shailah is not an elemancer, but she finds elemancy awesome in the formal sense of the word: it is something amazing used to shape the very world around her, beautiful because it stems from a person and aligns with the cultural ideal of independence.

• Read through the tone and speech list and settle upon a number of them which your character might commonly use. Atypically but sometimes use? Maybe even never use? Consider also the variety: someone generally less expressive may need fewer than someone you are characterizing as more emotive. Alila uses #quiet and occasionally #soft or #polite. Shannah used warm, simple, wistful, and sometimes sharp, scold, or weary. Like many things, these can be powerful also in their subversion—departing from them appropriately can emphasize a message. Speech and tone are minor in comparison to emotes, but they are very pervasive on CLOK. It is not necessary, but learning to use the shorthand for $ and # may provide encouragement to use them more often than setting them before speaking every single time.

• Attempt something similar with words. Find a handful of words or phrases your character might use, and allow them to shape how they speak. It can even help to find some words to explicitly avoid. Importantly, these do not need to be extraordinarily defining—it can even help to add some authenticity if some are very subtle! Yer, lookin’, and similar accent-creating contractions or letter drops are maybe the most defining here, and the explanation behind Alila’s use of ‘okay’ is an aforementioned example. Another might be the difference between referring to something as blue or cerulean, where the latter implies the character has some formal knowledge of colors.

• The second half of the nuance to voice: grammar. While a formal paper, email, article, or any such document may call for perfect grammar at all times—and even then there are disputes, ahem, such as those who incorrectly insist on not using the oxford comma—in reality, or, well, in rp, people speak, not write! It is entirely reasonable to have odd grammar quirks, maybe due to the structure of a different language? This is more than the beloved classic “I smash!” Shailah’s common is her second language and she was mostly self-taught, so I often strive to make her sentence structure feel a little bit stilted. It can help to read sentences aloud. Remember fills—and but so well like um, and how they might combine or contrast with pauses from punctuation. If reading something leaves no room to breathe, then it is very likely the character saying it feels the same way!

• Design some tasteful expletives or sayings. Things which can distinguish moments of high stress, excitement, or any other emotion. These can be extraordinarily fun—as stepping into a character’s shoes should be—and an easy way to emphasis character traits such as devoutness or upbringing. Were you raised in Ivial believing in aengels? Maybe you were raised at sea, on a ship? Copperbear is the master of these.

• If your goal is to write anything a specific way, reading is invaluable. Often, voice travels hand in hand with inspiration. Here is hopefully one of the suggestions which proves helpful even beyond rp: steeping the mind in related works, inspirational material, or other context is absolutely the fastest way to learn the feel or atmosphere of most anything.

• Finally, Voice is an art and there is no right or wrong to it. I worry that in all of these bullet points a bigger picture is being lost. If there are words, they will have a voice, and this is not saying any voice is better or worse than any other. Writing your character in CLOK or any other setting should be enjoyable. I am refraining from saying “not a chore” or “it should feel easy” or similar because, really, it can be. Breathing life and vibrancy into words, like any other form of art, demands an investment. What is important is your interest in the process; your engagement and love of the world, all of those other characters which will be interacting with you, and, of course, your character themselves.

Remember, these are at best advice for a template, and not a checklist--there is no need to follow all of these. In fact, sometimes you may even create something more unique by not doing so!

Thank you to Zeldryn, for starting this thread. He mentioned the guide several times before and I was very excited to read it. And, of course, thank you for reading this far. Hopefully something in this mess speaks to you or helps you inspire others in some way. Feel free to ask questions or voice relevant complaints or comments here or elsewhere. Thank you again!

P.S.: No pies were harmed in the writing of this post. Sorry for making you the word example dummy, Zeldryn.

[Zeldryn]

Voice


Thank you to Zeldryn, for starting this thread. He mentioned the guide several times before and I was very excited to read it. And, of course, thank you for reading this far. Hopefully something in this mess speaks to you or helps you inspire others in some way. Feel free to ask questions or voice relevant complaints or comments here or elsewhere. Thank you again!

P.S.: No pies were harmed in the writing of this post. Sorry for making you the word example dummy, Zeldryn.

First of all, no apologies needed.

Second of all, this was an absolutely fantastic addition to this thread. Thank you. You've covered a lot of substance in a lot better of a fashion than I believe I rightly could've. For that, i'm grateful. A lot of this is sincerely amaizng advice.

Seriously. Like, thank you so much for contributing. Really-- it was great. <3 I always look forward to your contributions.