Since 1999 the Star Wars Role Playing Forum at TGC has played host to thousands upon thousands of stories set in the universe created by George Lucas. While the vast majority of these stories fail to out live their own existence, a more select group have survived to become "defining" moments in careers of many role players. With this in mind, I have compiled the RPG Guide to help you craft role plays worthy of remembrance in the Role Playing Hall of Fame.
I. WHAT IS ROLE PLAYING ANYWAY?
- Roleplaying, as we see it at The Gungan Council, is a creative way of using typed messages (play by post) to experience the point of view of your
original character, while at once interacting with other role players who are doing the same. In essence role playing allows TGC members to escape the
drudgery of the real world by becoming someone else for a few hours every day.
II. A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW?
- To an overwhelming extent role playing at TGC is carried out in the Third Person Limited point of view.
EXAMPLE: *General Ceel collapsed to his knees and mourned the site of his deceased daughter.*
- An Omnipotent point of view, however, can be found in the introduction (aka: Opening Scroll) section of a many role plays.
EXAMPLE: "There is unrest in the Galactic Senate. Several hundred solar systems, under the leadership of the Rebel Leader, Count Dooku, have declared their intentions to secede from the Republic."
III. ITS NOT THE SIZE THAT COUNTS
- One common misconception is that long posts yield better role plays. Statistically, however, role plays driven by long posts are more likely to burnout
and fail before reaching a conclusion.
- Many of the best and most enjoyable role plays contain short, concise, two to three paragraph posts, of a higher quality.
- Short posts are what put the "Play" in Role Playing. They allow you to bounce ideas off of your fellow players, effectively causing the story
to take on a life of its own.
- Your best bet is with alternating between short and long posts as the occasion calls for them.
IV. ALL KINDS OF STORIES
- At TGC there is no win or lose. The primary goal of role playing is to create an enjoyable story. All the fun is in the telling of that story.
- There are three (3) primary modes of role playing at TGC
-the Story
-the Duel
-the Fan Fic
- The three primary modes of role playing can be further broken down into an infinite number of literary conflicts, however all must remain in a Star Wars
setting. No cross-over role playing is allowed.
- The center of every story is its characters. With all of the fun Star Wars technology available far too many have forgotten basic principle. No where is
this problem more prevalent than in Fleet Role Playing. If you keep your character at the heart of your story you are sure to find success.
V. "SETTING" AN EXAMPLE
- While it is legal to set your role play in any location found in the Star Wars novels, comics, games, and other official Expanded Universe locations, the best place to tell your story will always be the locations seen in the movies. The movies are what got us all into Star Wars, and so they are the one source that all members hold in common. This means that if you set your story on, for example, "Naboo", all the other role players will know exactly what you intend.
