Here We Go Again

Common Vernacular

Canon- The actual story events from the media you are playing in the space of

AU- Alternate Universe, can range from slight differences to canon or be an entirely different world/scenario

Headcanon- What you, as an individual, believe about a character or world you’re playing in. This is not canon, but in general derived from it or sometimes not at all

OC- Original Character

OOC / OoC- Out of Character, this has two meanings depending on context. The first is when you wish to speak with your partner outside of roleplaying or ‘above the table’ if you’re more familiar with DnD terms. The second is when you or your partner is writing a version of the character that is not their Canon selves— of course this only applies to already existing characters

Prompt- The post you or a potential partner make in order to get a roleplay started

Starter- The starting reply to kick off the roleplay

Para- Paragraphs, an older term primarily used on Omegle and sites similar in order to specify the kind of writing style you’d like to do for your roleplay. In this instance, Para means you want writing more akin to how one would write an actual story with prose and dialogue and proper grammar

[Insert number here]+- This means how many paragraphs you or your partner are expecting to be the standard for the roleplay. For some 2-3+ paragraphs work while some people want 4-6+. Sometimes even 8+

Text- Another older term from Omegle and forums to specify writing style. In this instance, Text means one of two things: writing your characters actually texting each other (and usually signing off with their initials at the end of the message ex: I love you, Dean. -C // Don’t do this, Cas. -DW) or writing actions and dialogue without proper grammar or prose (ex: *takes out gun and shoots you* Oh wait this isn’t a camera)

[Insert Genre]!AU- This one is still used in fandom spaces but much less now than before. This is the way people communicate to you succinctly what kind of AU they’re advertising. It can also be used as a way to describe in a single world what your or your partners chosen character’s main attribute is (ex: Pirate!AU, Medieval!AU, Ballerina!Sherlock x Football Player!John, In Love!Light Yagami x Pining!L)

Godmodding- A big no no. This is when you or your partner control a character without the other’s expressed permission. For instance, say you write your character going into a room and picking up an apple and taking a bite. Then your partner sends their reply saying your character starts choking and begs their character to save them. Unless it was explicitly stated before that it was alright for you both or one of you to control both characters, this is godmodding

Multimusing- Playing more than one character

Smutfishing- When you or a potential partner puts this in a prompt, it means to look for smut or NSFW primarily for the roleplay

PWP / PwP- Porn with Plot, this is self explanatory

Lit- Literate, specifying you or your partner want the roleplay to have proper grammar and prose

[Insert age number here]+- You or your partner advertising they prefer either the characters or the person writing themselves to be at or above a certain age (ex: Looking for 21+ partners! // Characters must be at least 18+ for smut)

Bumping- The act of sending a message OOC to check in on a partner who hasn’t replied in a while (ex: Hey just bumping this to check if you were still interested!)

Volleying- When you are both available to immediately reply and can write many replies in quick succession

Matching Length- When you or your partner specifies that they want you to match or get close to matching how many paragraphs they/you are writing

Asterisks and Slashes- Common ways to emphasize a word as though you were italicizing (ex: She looked *beautiful* // She looked /beautiful/)

Ref- Reference or Reference Image, usually you or your partner provides some kind of image of a character being played or setting

Timeskip- When you and your partner decide to skip over a period of time in the roleplay

Etiquette

(These are things I have picked up over the years, they may vary depending on who you interact with)

This is the most important rule to remember: always, ALWAYS, give your partner something to work with for when they write their reply. It is the absolute worst when your partner writes something that effectively shuts out or doesn’t push the scene you’re in forward. From Para to Text, Lit or not, give your partner SOMETHING they can bounce off of. This is improv, writing on the fly! It’s either yes and or no but. Never just one or the other.

Discuss expectations before beginning the roleplay. Some people like to just jump in and reply to a Prompt that already has a Starter attached, but it’s always good to talk OOC beforehand. Telling each other triggers/preferences is important, it doesn’t kill the mood. Whether it’s just setting a standard or literally plotting out the entire story, talk to each other.

Let your partner know when you need a break/hiatus. Another very important rule: Life comes first. It has to. For both you and your partner. You may be at the very climactic moment of your rp, the whole reason for the rp to be done in the first place— only for your partner to say they need to step away for a few days or weeks or (god fucking forbid) months for one reason or another. More often than not people will just silently let roleplays sputter out, try not to take it personally. You have no idea what your partners life is like or what they’re dealing with

NO GODMODDING like seriously just don’t unless you’re allowed. It’s the worst and was very rampant circa 2016

This is more of a rule I like to follow that isn’t shared across the board, but allow your replies to fluctuate in size. For instance, if you’re writing a scene with lots of dialogue, it’s best not to hunker it down with exposition to meet the required length you need to match. And in turn if you’re writing an action scene or a big moment or something very cerebral, write as much as you like! Be sure though to make this clear to your partner and have them agree. There are many people who want to have a certain amount of paragraphs set, usually the lowest is 2-3+

Try not to be too random. You’re writing a story on the fly, not performing in an improv show. Keep to the tone of what you and your partner are doing

Don’t yuck other peoples yums. If you’re not used to seeing extremely NSFW stuff, you are in for an awakening with roleplay. You will discover kinks and fetish you never even knew existed. You will encounter things you are extremely morally opposed to. Unless the site you’re using to rp explicitly states they are not allowed to do the thing they’re advertising in their prompt, it’s game on. Do not connect and lecture them about what they can and can’t do or harass them and make them feel bad

Let your partner know when you love something that they wrote! It’s an incredibly kind thing to do and motivates your partner to keep writing!

If you are underaged, DO NOT roleplay explicitly sexual scenes with an adult and vice versa. I remember what it was like to be a teen and wanting to roleplay with adults because they wrote so much better than other teens. I implore you to resist the temptation. It’s literally illegal! It can also happen on accident sometimes due to anonymity but there have been many times in the past where a parent will find their child’s roleplay, contact the authorities and have the adult arrested despite the adult not realizing that they were roleplaying with a child. Sites that can verify age or just using logic can help avoid this (Omegle, as you can imagine, was notorious for this)

Tell your partner if you don’t like the way a scene is going and you want to change things/retcon. There’s no shame in it and it can actually make the roleplay better for you both

Be flexible, keep an open mind, and have fun! You’re writing a story together, they’re your partner and you are theirs. Enjoy the thrill of seeing and reading your partners reply and coming up with ways as to how to respond

That’s about all I can think of for now! This is a passion of mine (15+ years worth of built up passion) and it’s important to me that new people can enjoy the hobby like I do and perhaps even improve their writing skills! The primary site I use to roleplay on is cherp.chat (the format is similar to AO3’s tagging system as well as blacklist and search engine) but you can post prompts anywhere it seems appropriate (Tumblr, RP Discord Servers, Reddit pages dedicated to roleplay, Instagram, etc).