An advice blog dedicated to answering your questions about how to navigate the rough seas of Tumblr roleplay. Ask box is open, admin is listening, potoo is standing by. By golly, let's learn to RP. Mission Statement
So you want to make an OC?: A Masterpost of Ways to Create, Develop, and Make Good OCs!
i made this masterpost in hopes that it helps you in making your own OCs ah;; it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! if you’d like to add more resources then go for it sugar pea (´ヮ`)!
How to Write Better OCs:
basic tips on how to make your oc even better
tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great
writing specific characters
a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character
kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME
Character Development:
how to actually make an OC
Q&A (to develop characters)
more Q&As
giving your character a backstory
how to write an attractive character
Diversity
adding more racial diversity
avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it
writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)
masterpost on writing more diversity into your story
cultures of the world
guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)
Villains
villain generator
need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam
villain archetypes
what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?
Relationships
character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)
how to write strong relationships between two characters
8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others
OCxLove Interest Handbook
develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!
how to write realistic relationships
how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)
ARCHETYPES
12 common archetypes
8 archetypes for male/female characters
female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)
a list of archetypes
NAMES
how to name your character
random name generator
most common surnames
surnames by ethnicity
APPEARANCE
tips for better design
basic appearance generator
pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)
clothing ref masterpost
DETAILS
give your character better powers
a list of professions
proactive vs reactive characters
positive and negative traits
interest generator
skills generator
motivation generator
123 ideas for character flaws
list of phobias
again, this is to help inspire you or help establish your OCs! i hope you get a lot of info and help from this ahh ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ
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What is Godmodding? (And how to not do that) - Part 2
The little things...
So the big ways that godmodding happens got detailed in the previous post, but there are lots of little ways it happens all the time too, and those need to be talked about. So here we go, a list of very common ways godmodding takes place.
Stating why the other character is there.
This happens most often in greeting posts. Say a character runs an information agency, and the mun posts a starter for a specific new follower asking what information they are looking for. Congratulations: You just godmodded. While they might roll with it, often this leaves the other mun scratching their head, trying to come up with some reason their character might have done this. Or more than likely, they'll just get annoyed and ignore it. Don't do this to people. It assigns a motive and action to their character that the mun may not agree with.
Note that this does NOT apply to opens of this sort, where anyone is free to choose if their character has come to you or not. Only to specific, non-plotted, closed, tagged starters.
Touching/hugging/kissing another character.
I never noticed how much this happens until I picked up a muse that doesn't like to be touched. Basically, if the other mun headcanons (or in some cases, canon states) that their muse doesn't like to be touched, and you force a hug on them, that quickly becomes very awkward. Invading personal space without allowing the other mun a chance to dodge or otherwise evade the contact is just as bad as autohitting. Don't do it.
Forcing setting.
This mainly applies for multi-fandom threads. Don't assume automatically that they are in your character's world. Especially true if the other mun plays a character that would stick out in it, and you highlight that (i.e. a supernatural creature in a normal street). Maybe the other mun doesn't want their character pointed out like that. This is another situation where a simple ask to establish a basic plot idea can save you a world of trouble.
Assuming knowledge of events your character has no way of knowing.
This one gets a lot of paragraphs cause it's important. Did your character see it happen? Could they reasonably have learned about it? If the answer is no, then they do not know about it. This is metagaming, kids: Bringing outside knowledge into the thread. Just because you know who the Kishin Asura is, sure as hell doesn't mean your character does. If you play a Soul Eater muse, sure, you could reasonably assume they have some knowledge of him. However, if you play, say, Haruhi Fujioka, she should not know that.
This applies doubly to events that happen within RP. Do not bring up things that occurred with other people's muses, unless yours was directly told by someone who would know, or has some other reasonable way to have learned it.
The one tricky exception to this is with god-characters or those who can read minds or are otherwise omnipotent. It can be a hell of a lot of fun to have someone reveal your muse's deepest darkest secret and goad them with it. But not everyone is on board with it. Sometimes people have info in their About sections meant only to explain their muse's actions and backgrounds to other muns, with no intention of it being known 'in-game'. So basically, this falls under the eternal advice: When in doubt, ask. A simple, "Hey, my character is a mind-reader, are you cool with me plundering your headcanons for stuff?" is a super easy way to avoid hurt feelings.
Bonus: Hey, remember that thing I just said about godmodding and how to never ever do it? I'm about to contradict myself.
So despite the seemingly ironclad rules above, you should know that godmodding is not actually always a bad thing. Yeah, I know, I just committed sacrilege by saying that, but it totally isn't. Truth is nonconsensual godmodding is uncool, but with permission, it happens all the time.
I personally have several long-time partners who know they have permission to godmod my muses, to an extent, because I trust them not to take that too far. Being able to pick up the pace a little, and move both characters makes moving plot along a hell of a lot easier, and oh lord does it ever make smut easier. But it's tricky, and it's easy to overstep.
Generally, it all boils down to communication. Talk with your partners and learn what's cool and what's not cool with them. If you need to move their character in your response, take a second to ask if that's chill. Plan out and talk to each other to learn how much control each of you is comfortable in giving up over your muse. And, if someone does step over the line, let them know in a polite, private way. A simple, "Hey, in your last response, you called that hit, but I was kinda planning to dodge. Would you mind to re-write it?" Is all it takes. It's happened more than once among my closest RP friends, with no love lost.
I was wondering, would it be a good or a bad call to weaken a character who's extremely strong in canon (DBZ characters, Gods, etc) so you don't seem like your godmodding? I can't help but worry I'm making my character too strong whenever I RP a fight or anything of the sort.
Oooh baby, I am so glad you’ve asked me this. I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while.
This is a super tricky problem that anyone who wants to tackle writing a powerful character faces. It’s simple enough when you play a god and you’re talking to a perfectly human character: Of course yours is stronger. There’s no need to worry about it, because even weakened it would be a non-issue. The real problem comes into play in those fight scenes, and when they meet another super-powerful character.
The fact is, no one plays a powerful character without wanting to be powerful. So it can quickly get under someone’s skin if they play someone who is canonically the strongest being in their universe, only to have that brushed aside by a non-fandom god or some such (in-universe they just gotta kinda suck it up, sorry peeps). Basically (since you already brought up DBZ, hehe), nobody wants to feel like Hercule. Having a very powerful character’s standing and abilities invalidated by some super-being outside the normal rules is annoying at best, infuriating and likely to make them not want to thread with you at worst.
This is something very near and dear to me, as I play a character who is a god, and in fact the canonical strongest, in his series’ universe. Having someone show up and invalidate that, frankly, pisses me off. It is a form of godmodding, because in many cases, being the strongest is something people take as a serious plot point. But does that mean you should water a god down until it means nothing? Not at all. You just need to take some precautions.
First off, make sure you have a detailed page listing abilities and powers. If they are canon, you can kind of shrug this off, since there will be Wiki info to fall back on, but if you’re doing an OC, you HAVE to have this. Not knowing what a character can do makes it feel like it’s being pulled out of thin air and made up on the spot.
Second, feel your partners and their muses out. Oftentimes, they other person will let you know in their writing that they see your muse as being more powerful, which solves the problem. Personal example: I play the Kishin Asura, but I was chill saying that Blue Exorcist’s Satan is stronger, and having Asura acknowledge that. Problem solved, crisis averted. And a sidenote for those who play a mortal character: There is nothing wrong with showing fear and respect for a god character please for the love of all do this if it comes up.
Third, and most important, if in doubt, ask. You do not have to scale to the same level each time, keep that in mind. Talk to your partner when a fight starts and just straight up ask who they see winning and what they are comfortable with. Especially in cases where canon treats relative power differently, this is important. If you play from a world where broken bones and internal injuries are negligible, and your partner’s canon treats them realistically, then y’all need to decide on a middle ground. Perhaps for this fight you decide to go the realist route, and say that a broken arm puts you out of commision, even if it would be glazed over in canon, or perhaps you go with the idea that being tossed through a wall wouldn’t actually do much. Either way, you discuss and decide on a comparable level.
This does not mean however that you have to scale your power so far down that it does not matter. If you play a powerful character, and you have done your part in making that clear, then it is the responsibility of your partner to recognize that fact. Coming up to a god character and mouthing off, then being shocked when that ends in a fight that cannot be won, is bad playing on their part. If they didn’t want to acknowledge the strength of your character, then they should have played with less powerful muses. We play powerful characters because we want that acknowledged, and to play that aspect up. Ignoring that is rude and frustrating. No matter how much of a badass martial artist a character may be, if they end up fighting someone who can set shit on fire with a snap of their fingers they should want to get the hell out of that fight. Not doing so is unrealistic writing.
So, short answer: A possible yes in cases where you want to play out a fight, but never to the point that it ceases to matter. If you play a god, then baby play a god. There is nothing wrong with expecting your partners to react to that realistically and fully.
One of the biggest (if not THE biggest) pet peeves in RP is being godmodded, but a lot of newcomers can be left confused about just what that means. Commonly, people are paranoid about transgressing this most unholy of sins, and that fear can hold a lot of writers back from engaging in the type of threads where it's most likely to come up, such as fighting and smut threads. But it doesn't have to be that way! Simply understanding what godmodding is, and how to get you and your character's intentions across without doing so can open new worlds of possibility and give new players more confidence. To keep these manageable, this one will stay mainly on the topic of fighting threads, and a second will detail other areas godmodding comes up. So let's learn about godmodding!
RP godmodding is, at its simplest, controlling another person's character within a thread. It includes autohitting (stating that a blow lands without giving the other a chance to dodge), writing reactions and emotions for the other mun's character, physically moving the other character, and a pretty much any other way you can possibly think up to control a muse that is not your own. Basically: Don't do it.
But there's more to it than that, isn't there? Not godmodding is easy in script and one-sentence threads. Since you're only writing a tiny blurb of what your muse is doing anyway, or just giving dialogue, you almost have to go out of your way to control the other character. Essentially, as long as you're not writing anything that does not describe your muse's specific actions and words, you're probably okay.
It gets more complicated in longer threads. Novella length (5-7+ paragraph responses) threads are especially difficult to keep godmod free. How can you write that much if you have to wait for feedback for every little detail from the other mun? The trick is in the wording. An example, from a fight thread.
Natsu leapt forward, his flaming fist leading the way as he took the fight to the air. His punch hit Gray dead in the cheek, knocking the ice mage to the ground with a crash, where he groaned in pain and anger.
This paragraph is godmodded to hell and back. It first off calls the hit, distinctly saying not only that it hits, but where, giving the other mun no say. Secondly, it physically moves Gray to the ground, again taking the choice from the partner. Thirdly, it directly places vocalization and emotions onto the other muse. Basically, writing a paragraph like that would be quite enough for most people to drop that thread in a heartbeat.
This is where a lot of people new to RP are confused however. Especially if they are used to writing alone. The desire to move the plot forward and achieve some goal, keeping control, can be a hard one to shake.
"But wait!" You say in anger and frustration. "That's exactly how it would have happened! Besides, how can I get X to happen if Y doesn't? If need for Gray to be knocked down so he can get up and....."
I tune out of your tirade, mainly because I have a short attention span, but partly because you are wrong. If you cannot move past this level of control plot thinking in your writing, stick with fanfiction. RP is a collaborative effort.
For those of you going "...oops," because you are facing the uncomfortable realization that you've done one or more of these things, stick with me, I'm show you have to do better. Here's the non-godmodded version of the paragraph:
Natsu leapt forward, his flaming fist leading the way as he took the fight to the air. He aimed his punch for Gray's face, hoping to knock the droopy-eyed ice mage back down to the ground where he belonged.
The difference is that while this version lets your partner know what you want the attack to do, it still lets them react and write in the aftermath. Maybe they will let it hit, and knock them down, but if so, it's their call for how to write that. More importantly, maybe they'll dodge. Either way, this way lets them decide their character's actions, and keeps the control of their movements where it belongs.
Smut threads are another place that godmodding comes up a lot. Without going into any examples, since I want to keep this post SFW, it can be a heck of a challenge to write what your muse is doing to another without actually controlling them. This is why OoC communication is key. Pop in with a 'hey is it cool if my character does X?' and see what your partner says. As always, state your intended actions, but leave room for the other muse to react in their own way.
Godmodding can be complicated and scary. Being accused of it is the greatest fear of a great deal of newcomers. But you can learn, and you can gain confidence. A secret is that we've all godmodded at some point. That's no excuse to do it of course. But should it happen, learn and move on. Keep these points in mind, and if you are ever in doubt, talk to your partner. Letting them know what you're thinking and asking if you're going too far can stop 90% of all arguments before they begin.
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Gather ‘round, kids, gather ‘round ! Momma Kenia will tell you all a story!
Sometimes we rpers don’t feel like doing replies, sometimes we are too busy, sometimes we take too long to reply, sometimes we just feel like replying to a few people in particular
But that’s part of the struggle of being a rper, right ?
And of course, sometimes we come across ocs and rpers from other fandoms
And guess what, IT’S OKAY IF YOU DONT WANT TO RP WITH THEM
It’s okay if you feel like being picky with them, it’s okay if you decide not to reply to them if you don’t feel like it
it’s BEYOND frustrating to having to rp with an rper that lacks information and is a “self insert” but i still do it because i feel like i have to
But you guys, you don’t have to do it, YOU CAN RP WITH WHOEVER THE HELL YOU WANT, because it’s YOUR blog
Now, what’s not okay is making someone feel bad because they don’t reply to you, because they take their time to reply
GUESS WHAT ? we rpers have a life too, we have other things to do, rping is not a job and it’s no one’s obligation to reply to your stuff
it’s also not an obligation to follow someone back, and don’t you dare be a rude ass motherfucker to them if they don’t follow you back
Now, if you ever go and send hate to someone because they take their time to reply or they simply don’t want to reply to you then you are gross being and deserve no respect
if you DEMAND a reply constantly you are forgetting just how stressful is to get this and you are forgetting that you are not the only one we owe replies to
SO DONT EVER MAKE SOMEONE FEEL BAD BECAUSE THEY ARE SELECTIVE, THEY ARE IN ALL THEIR RIGHT TO BE SELECTIVE AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE SUCH A CRY BABY ABOUT IT
So, Mephisto, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about OCCs? There's a character that's technically canon, but only mentioned, never seen. How can I make a good character out of them without stepping on toes? I mean, they technically have canon relationships, but I don't want to force that on anyone? Is there anything I should specifically avoid doing with an OCC?
Ah! Of course! Anything for my dear students~<3
If they have canon relationships the rpers that play the canon characters probably already know about the relationship their character may have with your occ. If you want to be safe the best way is to simply talk to whoever it is you would like to roleplay with. It never hurts to ask!
The only thing I can think of that you should avoid is contradicting any little bit of canon information you have on the character and as with OCs make sure their abilities and backstory mesh well with canon and make sense. If your character is manga only make sure potential rp partners rp according to the manga. If the rp partner rps based on only the anime they might not be a good rp partner for you.
Basically make sure all parties involved are on the same page.
Communication is always one of the most important things in roleplay so talk to your rp partners or potential rp partners and make sure they are on board with you and your occ.
Oh! I almost forgot! If your character is based on something preexisting do some research on what they are based on. For example; the demon kings in Ao no Exorcist are almost all based on demons or fallen angels in mythology/religion, I am no exception. If you google my names you can find a lot to base head canons off of. Or if you plug Azazel into google you will find that he was very into beauty and perfecting one’s image. He taught humans how to be beautiful with makeup and jewelry. Azazel is only mentioned in the manga but by doing research I can make up how he might behave and what his personality might be like.
There will be some OCCs that you can’t find any information on like my brother Egyn. I tried to look him up on google and I found absolutely nothing on him after hours of searching. At that point you just have to do your best and make sure you don’t contradict what is already established in canon.
I hope this was helpful! Feel free to ask me more questions if I wasn’t clear or if I missed something!
When creating a character, there’s a lot of questions you ask yourself. Whether it’s an original character or one you’ve been playing for a long time, using a character sheet to get to know your character better can always be a nice idea. With its help, you’ll be able to think about things you didn’t necesarily thought about, and ask some important questions to yourself that might activate your character’s voice, or help you to get your muse back with them. Everyone has their favorite character sheets, some people prefer to have a lot of questions, some others like it a bit more vague, so here’s a masterlist of the character sheets I found on various websites and found quite interesting, plus some other things that could be used to help you see, for example, how other character view yours.
Blank Character Sheet (+370 Questions)
Abridged Character Sheet (100 Questions)
Big-Ass Character Sheet
Character Creation Form
Character Sheet by Jody Hedlund
Creating a character Bio Sheet
Character Analysis Worksheet
100 Character Development questions for writers
Create a Character Profile
Character Development Worksheet
Original Character Bio-Sheet
Character Chart for Fiction Writers
A Character Chart By Charlotte Dillon
Fiction Writer’s Character Chart
Detailed Character Sheet
Character Sheet Template
Character Twenty-Question Worksheet
In-Depth Character Sheet
Character Worksheet
Character Interview Sheet (First Person)
Background Questionnaire (First Person)
Characters Perceptions (How do other people perceive your character?)
A lot of questions to develop your character here
(23/05 Edit) Character Traits Meme
With these sheets, you could also try to find your character’s Jung and Enneagram Type or use the Moral Alignment tool. All of these things can be really useful to get a better grip on a character.
Then, if you’re trying to create a character, and do not have many ideas, or get stuck, I’d suggest for you to roam around TVTropes, which gives you a lot of tropes used for character creation. Maybe you could try to mix a few of these and create an original character?
Or, if you’re a skillful writer and know how to make your character different from another, make a list of characters in fiction you happen to find interesting and why. Try to keep it short. Then, maybe, try to mix and match things from two or three characters, take a character and change their backstory, to see what would change. Play with them to inspire yourself and create something new, original and truly yours.
Oh, and here’s a little guide to Mary-Sues and OCs, just in case you want to make sure your character isn’t going to become a Mary-Sue or a Gary-Stu
And last but not least, this article about building fictional character definitely seemed interesting to me, and is full of many other links that could guide you during the creating of your character and help you file one of these sheets.
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Now~ my dear students, before I begin I would like to clarify that you are all free to disagree with what I am about to say. However, if you have a problem holding onto rp partners you may want to lend me your ear and perhaps consider what I have to say. Any information I am about to share with you is information I have gathered from many years as an rper myself. These are things I have noticed along my travels that seem to be a common problem for OCs and OCCs and a reason some rpers of canon characters may be weary to rp with them.
Alright let’s begin.
Bios:
When making an OC it is important to keep your story straight. Writing up a bio before you begin to rp is always a good thing. I personally will not follow an OC that does not have a bio. Why? Because it’s like jumping on a bus without knowing where it’s going.
Now don’t start thinking it’s just me~ I have a great deal of friends that are also like this and know many other people that will simply refuse to so much as talk to an OC without a bio. It’s not just OCs either I know a lot of people who want nothing to do with canon characters without a bio as well.
Bios give us rpers something to work with. It gives us an idea of what your character is capable of and what we can expect while writing with them. Bios are your friend. Do not fear the bios.
"Ah! But Mr. Faust my character is supposed to be a mystery and one should get to know them by talking to them~ :D"
Bullshit. That is little more than a cop out. However if you don’t want to write a bio it is, at the end of the day, up to you. Just don’t complain when no one wants to rp with you.
Background:
So you have decided to write a bio~? Fantastic! But what are you going to say? Well a good place to start is where we all start. The past or their background. Tell us a little about their child hood.
"Orphaned as a child. Watched parents die. Is half angel, half demon, half elf. Holder of the long lost eighth millennium item."
Whoa! Hold on now. If I may~
Orphaned has been done. Now there is nothing wrong with having an orphaned character but do keep in mind it is somewhat cliche at this point. If that is going to be part of the background for your character try to spice it up a little. Perhaps not make the rest of their past as tragic. I can not tell you how many OCs I have seen with the same exact tragic background.
As for the half half half please see below~
Hybrids:
Now. There was something about jumbling up a bunch of things onto one, yes? Ah~ Well. You see… that too has been quite over done. Now! There is nothing wrong with having a hybrid character but… do at least pick a hybrid that makes sense… If you can not rationalize why a demon and an angel got it on and made a baby don’t do it! Being a demon myself I can already tell you it is quite unlikely for an angel and demon to, erm…. do the do. Human and demons are a fine hybrid though this has also been done a lot both canon and OC but it makes sense!
I think the biggest problem people have with hybrids is they try to give them all the powers of both parents and that simply does not work. A few powers from each parent would be more appropriate. Also do not make a hybrid more powerful than the strongest pure bread and do not give them full control of their powers right off the bat. Power is obtained through years of training and hard work. There is nothing more annoying than a character with every power. -cough-Ichigo-cough-bleach-cough- Excuse me.
Just like with backgrounds try to avoid cliches. If you have seen it done a million times perhaps it is wise you try something else.
Messing with canon:
Don’t do it. DON’T DO IT. Unless it is AU and all parties are in agreement DO NOT CONTRADICT WHAT IS IN CANON.
For example: There are seven millennium items canon in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist. Do not make a character with the eighth millennium item. … er… well… you can…. but prepared. Some people may be fine with it and that is all well and good, however, some might not be so open to the idea. From what I have seen many rpers don’t like it when you contradict canon.
Another example is there are Eight demon kings in Ao no Exorcist it is probably best not to make a ninth, tenth, or three hundredth king. Sure you can, but idon’t expect everyone in the fandom to like or accept it. there are some people who like things to remain as close to canon as possible. Do NOT send them hate about it. Just as you are free to do as you please they are free to rp with who they want.
"Free? You just listed a bunch of things not to do!"
Ah~ that I did. But these are mere guidelines. Whether or not you chose to follow them is strictly up to you. We are all free do do as we wish in this wonderful world of roleplay~ but do not expect everyone to agree with your character or want to roleplay with your character. The above are simply common complaints I have seen.
Power:
Now before you get the wrong idea I have had my fair share of OCs and OCCs in my many years of roleplay. Some people didn’t like them and some people did. In fact one of my most popular ones was a rather over powered character but his power was balanced by weaknesses.
Balance in a character is important. Perhaps your character can control time and space, for example of course, but that character feels no desire to use such power. That is balance. Maybe your character is unable to die, but he can be incapacitated. That is balance. You can have vastly overpowered characters but give them a reason not to use their power or give them something that counteracts that power a little. Give then a restraint.
Consistency:
One final point I would like to make is BE CONSISTENT. Now what does dear old Johann mean by that~? Well let me explain~
Keep your characters abilities, bios, backgrounds, and power consistent! It isn’t fair to those you rp with to constantly be changing what your character is and isn’t capable of when/if it suits you. Now development is one thing. To have a character gradually learn a new power is fine but it should be foreshadowed and put somewhere in that handy little bio of yours so other rpers can expect it. However, if just suddenly POOF your character has a new power out of no where there is a good chance people are going to call bullshit.
You can’t just change your character out of the blue and expect everyone to be okay with that. It isn’t fair. Before you make any changes make sure your rp partners know about it before hand. Rp is about communication after all.
"But this is what I want! It’s my OC! I can do what I want, you elitist prick!"
Is this what you are thinking~? Well before you hit that anon button and type me up a rude, grammatically incorrect, strongly worded ask allow me to explain~
Whether or not you take my advice is up to you. I can not actually hold your hand and tell you how to write for your OC. Clear~? I am simply sharing things I have learned along the way to make your rp lives a bit more enjoyable and to, hopefully, help you avoid ooc drama with other rpers.
It is true that you are the only one who can write your OC but I have seen so many people complain about canon characters not rping with OCs that I wanted to highlight a few common complaints I have seen about OCs.
In all honesty I am sick of seeing OCs acting like martyrs. OCs have been given a bad reputation because often they are abused. They are given too many powers and they change their abilities left and right and they all have the same cliche tragic background.
I personally like OCs but only when they are done well and not forced down my throat.
Remember, I also have run OC blogs so don’t think I haven’t been there, because I have. I am not picking on OCs I am just trying to give guidance on how to make your rp time more enjoyable and what canon rpers look for in OCs in case you are interested in rping with canon characters.
I have seen many successful OCs and there are many OCs I and many others enjoy rping with.
There are OCs I like and some I don’t but there are also canon characters I like and some I don’t. It’s simply a matter of taste.
The How to Make an RP Blog Series: Episode 2 - How to 'Sell' Your Blog - Step 3: Pages of Pages
It all looks perfect. Now to make it come to life. Hop down to the Add a Page section on the Customize screen and crack your knuckles, it's time to get to work.
First thing to add is an About page. This should contain the meat of your info. Some stats wouldn't hurt, but don't get carried away. We don't need a medical chart.
A good outline for an about page setup is:
Stats, including: Full name
Age
Gender and sex
Species (if non-human)
Job (if pertinent)
Hair and eye color
Maybe weight and height
And, if you plan to ship, sexuality and availability
Who their faceclaim is (if applicable)
An intro paragraph that tells us a bit about who they are. If playing a canon character, this should be canonical information. (This is a good paragraph to write IC)
A second paragraph telling what you might play different from canon, and/or what time in canon you play them. If you play after series and your character canonically dies for example, this is a good place to say how you've brought them back.
This might take a third paragraph as well.
A brief discussion of what they can do if they have any magical powers makes a good fourth paragraph. If you catch this getting too big, you might want to consider an additional page for powers and abilities, but you should mention at least a bit here if they are superhuman in any way.
Fifth should be any MAJOR developments that have taken place in RP that anyone RPing with them needs to know. If Edward Elric now has a huge scar running across his face from a fight with a behemoth, you should let people know that here.
And that's it really. If you're getting longer than that, you need to split it up into other pages. Chances are, in that case a lot of what you have is headcanon. Save that for another place and time, my friend. Also, you should keep those paragraphs on the shorter side. No more than say, 5 sentences. Don't go thinking you're James Joyce and give a wall o'text. No one will read it. Sad but true, it makes people go all glossy eyed.
Now, a bit more about those paragraphs, and some stuff to avoid: Do not copy from the Wiki. I've seen this so many times, and just...no. We can Google them on our own, thanks. We need to hear it in your words. This tells us who YOU play them as, and what parts of their character you think are important. You can link to the Wiki of course, for more info, but keep anything actually on the page in your own words.
Secondly, don't give us a sob story here. While the the tragic deaths of their parents at a young age may be valuable information, I can promise you that we have all seen 857 pages that start off with it. If you must, add it in the top stat block under Family: Father's Name, Mother's Name (both deceased).
"But I worked really hard on the story and it's important to who they are!" Good. Cool. Let my muse find out why, or add it in a headcanon or drabble later. Don't shove it at me right off the bat. If it's that important, you can add a Backstory page that goes more in depth. The About page should only skim the surface, getting me interested in learning more.
Other pages you NEED to have are:
A Rules page that lets us know what guidelines to follow.
If you ship, and if yes, if you smut. (Note that if you are underage, you should REALLY put that in here, so people know, as it is illegal to smut with you.)
What you will RP, and what you won't. Some people love angst, but hate writing fights for example. Others do not like to roleplay certain scenarios.
Restate if you are open to multi-fandom RP's, and if so, any guidelines you may have for them. Some people for example, will play outside the fandom, but do not consider it to be part of their main timeline.
Restate your shipping policy. If you only want one, main relationship, then you are a single-ship blog. If you are cool with more than one, you are a multi-shipper. Being either of these is PERFECTLY FINE. Also, if you are a multi-shipper, you should state if those relationships are to be considered AU from each other, or if your character is polyromantic/polyamorous.
Whether or not you accept random starters, M!A's, meme responses from people you haven't threaded with, etc...
If you have any triggers you would like tagged, put them here.
Anything else you feel the need to make sure people know about what you are comfortable doing or not doing.
Headcanons!
I like to set mine up as url/tagged/headcanons rather than making an actual page, so the link will go to anything you have tagged with 'headcanons'. It makes it easier to add them, and just looks nicer to have them in individual posts rather than a wall or in bullet points.
Some other, optional pages are:
Relationships
You won't have any of these yet, but you can add them later! Just set it up with 'Coming Soon' for now.
Powers and Abilities
You can go into more detail about what they can do here.
Backstory
This is especially great if you have an OC from a world of your own creation. People can read their story here.
Last piece of advice: You might have noticed that I've littered this and my own pages with block quote insets, bullets, italics, and all sorts of other things. Do this. It adds visual interest and breaks up the text wall, making people more likely to keep reading. The internet is primarily a visual medium, and while you as an RPer are here to deal in literary text, the design and browsing part of your blog should follow normal web text conventions for interest. Here are a couple places with more info on that, in case you are unfamiliar. 1 2
A few pictures here and there are great for your info pages too! For example, why describe an attack your character has when you could add a cool gif to show it? Just don't go overboard with that, or you'll make the page hard to load.
And that's it! By now, you should have a hell of a blog, all ready to go. Congratulations! I'm so proud of you, you little go-getter you. Pop back in next time for Episode 3 - Finding Partners.
The How to Make an RP Blog Series: Episode 2 - How to 'Sell' Your Blog - Step 2: Gurl Look at That Theme
So you've got the coolest fucking url ever. Great! Let's get up on that theme game. This is the tricky part. Do not go with Tumblr's default themes. Yes I know it's easier, and that like two of them look maybe decent enough, but don't do it. It looks lazy, and we've all seen them too many times. So are you supposed to...pay for one? Hell naw. We're all too broke for that. Pop on over to the themes tag (just put it in the Tumblr search bar), and browse away. Or, if you'd rather not wade through the whole damned tag, you could try a theme blog, which post themes exclusively. Like this one, which not only has a lot of great ones to pick from, but a lot of helpful info about how to customize them to your liking, because I am not getting into that here, and they do a much better job explaining it than I would anyway.
There are a lot of others out there too. Spend some time looking, try a few out, and find one that doesn't just work, but is perfect.
Now, there are a few specific things you're going to want to look for in a theme for an RP blog:
Easy to navigate. Different themes are made for different things. Multi-column, artsy themes can be great for photography and other visual arts blogs, but they suck hard for RP. You want people be able to easily find your info and posts at a glance.
Attractive, easy to find additional pages are a must. If they're tiny and moving around the screen, that's a deal breaker. The first thing people are going to do is look for your about page. Make it easy on them, kay?
A place for a pic or two. This is a big reason the default themes suck. You need a place to put a picture of your muse. It's a small touch that makes a big difference.
Single column. PLEASE use a single column theme. Trying to figure out which post came first in a multi-column is a nightmare for your partners or those trying to read your threads, and it looks messy with a bunch of text posts anyway.
Once you've found one that fits the criteria and looks good, play around with it. Yeah, this is going to take some time. Honestly, you should be prepped to spend a day or two getting your blog ready before you start. Try not to groan at this. It should be fun. You're making a customized little home for your new baby muse. You should spend the time to make it perfect. Find some pics you like (remember to add an art credit somewhere if it's not yours or official art), play with the colors and sizes some, fiddle with everything you can, and for god's sake take infinite scroll off.
Congrats! The coding part is over (for the most part, we might be adding a few links here and there), and you can breathe a sigh of relief. Now, on to the last step!
The How to Make an RP Blog Series: Episode 2 - How to 'Sell' Your Blog - Step 1: My Name is Url
This part can have you tearing out your hair as you come up with brilliant idea after brilliant idea, only to find out they are already taken or worse, hoarded by an inactive, empty blog. Keep at it. Do not give in to the temptation to just add some dashes or your birth year or '13' or what the hell ever to it just to claim it anyway. That's lazy as shit first off, and secondly this is not your Hotmail account from 2003. Your url is important. It's the handle people will know you as, and the single phrase you will build your empire around. So you should, you know, pick something catchy.
The best url's follow a few guidelines. (Keep in mind these are subjective, but in general, you won't go wrong if you follow these.)
Canonically connected. If you can nab a nickname the character has, something they are officially known as, or a short line they are well known for, then you're A.) Lucky as shit, and B.) Probably golden. Proceed to the next step.
Failing that, go for a clever twist. Something that invokes the character in an interesting way. One of my personal favorite url's is clinicaldissection, a blog for Stein from Soul Eater. It's not immediately obvious who the character is just from the url, but once you do know, it fits very well, and is unique and catchy. Catchy is always good. You want to give people a reason to want to click you and learn more.
Short, and easy to read and remember. This one's important. While making a deep, meaningful url in another language might seem cool, remember that other people are going to be typing it a lot. That's kinda annoying when it looks like esunavardenfelakanaipisfrackthisurlundakarvaruna and you have to copy and paste it into your tags every damn time because no one remembers how to spell that. Short ones are probably fine, since they can be memorized, but you're better off sticking with English (or whatever language you primarily RP in) in general.
No numbers. Unless it's specific and important to your muse themselves (A Mikasa Ackerman named 1stof104th would make sense and fulfill all of the above as well. Note that I did not check to see if that was taken. If it is, congrats on the url bro. If not, and you're aiming for Mikasa, well...you're welcome.)
No symbols either. No xxxactualpertinenturlxxx or any of that stuff. This is not Gaia.
Dashes are...an arguable topic. I don't generally like them, but there are some url's that just look weird without them. Keep in mind that dashes do not index in Tumblr's tag system, so if you do have dashes, you'll need to track the dashless version, both with spaces in place, and all scrunched together.
Once that's done, you can go ahead and add a description. The blurb should contain the basic info people need to know: Character's name (and possibly series, especially if not well known), the word 'OC' if they are one, how open you are for ships and cross fandom, and whether or not you are affiliated with a group, or an independent player. This can be in character or out of it, but you should keep it under a paragraph. And for the love of all that is good and holy, PLEASE spell check it and use proper capitalization and punctuation. Nothing is a more immediate turnoff than bad grammar in a description.
Sample blurb: "Indie RP blog for Ash Landers from Black Butler. Single-ship, Multi-fandom and OC friendly." And that is literally all you need, although you can have a bit more if you like, but keep it short. You'll be fleshing it out in the info pages (spoiler alert).
The How to Make an RP Blog Series: Episode 2 - How to 'Sell' Your Blog - Part 1: Introduction
Welcome to the second in a series designed to get new soon-to-be-roleplayers off their feet and ready to start threading like a pro in only five a few easy text posts.
Alright, so you've picked your character and made them your muse. You've put more thought into this character than anyone ever has before. You've got headcanons for days. You know their birthday, their favorite food, color and Ninja Turtle. You are all kinds of ready to do this thing. So this is the easy part, right? I mean, you just slap a couple random numbers and dashes on their name until it stops telling you the url is taken, make a post, and beat away the hoards of sweet thread partner hunnies with a stick, right?
Er, no.
This is where a lot of newcomers make their fatal mistake. See, the thing that a lot of people fail to grasp, is that there are a lot of RP blogs out there. It's up to you to give people a reason to want to follow, and thread with, yours. You have to 'sell' your blog to them. I don't mean you actually need to make them pay cash money (I don't think that would be very effective, actually, although if you can figure out a way please pass it on. I need $$$), but that you need to package and present your muse and skills in a way that make people interested.
We all know the cliche that you can't judge a book by its cover, but despite that, no one wants to buy the dogeared one with the suspiciously stained crappy 80's Harlequin cover. How you present your blog says a lot, and the sad fact is, a whole lot of us do believe you can judge a blog by its theme.
The reason isn't that we're all elitist assholes, although you might think so. It's actually just that how much time and effort you have put into your blog is usually a good indication of how much effort you've put into your muse. Now I've emphasized that because I do realize there are exceptions. You can be a kickass writer, amazing at characterization, descriptions, and gripping plot, and not know the first thing about how to ht any ml's and be firmly under the impression that a Cascading Style Sheet is that one Homestuck clip that broke the internet. It's not really fair to demand that everyone that has half a desire to RP learn to program like an expert, BUT, in general, we all learn along the way, from dirty, painful experience, that the blogs with default themes, no information pages, and no effort pretty much at all into their appearance, are probably not run by people we want to thread with. Sad, dirty, painful truth? Maybe, but truth none the less.
"Well poopy," you say, huffing at me angrily as you pull your animal themed kigurumi tighter around you (all RPer's have one. If you haven't gotten yours yet, it is in the mail as we speak), "How much work is this going to take? I wanna RP now."
Patience homeskittle. A little work now goes a long way to getting you well on the way to being up to your eyeballs in threads. So, stay tuned, cause I'm gonna walk you through it.
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The How to Make an RP Blog Series: Episode 1 - How to Choose a Character
Welcome to the first in a series designed to get new soon-to-be-roleplayers off their feet and ready to start threading like a pro in only five easy text posts.
So you wanna do this thing. You are READY. You need roleplay. You can feel it in your bones, and man are you ever pumped.
Just one problem: You have no idea who you want to play.
A minor speedbump, but one that we can fix relatively painlessly. The first step is deciding whether you want to play an OC (original character), or an existing, canon character. There are benefits and drawbacks to both, and ultimately it comes down to deciding which of the crappy parts you can live with the easiest.
Playing an OC:
Absolute freedom in design
No pressure to compete with others who play your muse
More room for changes if something isn't working out
Can be hard to get interest
Many people are hesitant to play with OC's - especially if they play canon
Will pretty much always have fewer followers than canon
Slower starting, but relationships can feel more individual
Playing a canon character:
Need to be VERY familiar with canon information on character
Have to be able to 'get in the mind' of the character and imagine them in scenarios far outside canon
Easier to keep in character, since you always have something to refer back to
A lot of the work is already done for you
Pre-established relationships (I am NOT talking romantic, I mean in general)
People are more likely to follow, due to recognition
Might lead to feelings of insecurity that someone else plays them "better" than you
As you can see, neither is exactly easy. Despite the occasional arguments that spring up about it, both OC and canon character players have a lot of challenges to overcome. The trick is picking the one that feels less like work to you. For the remainder of this post, I will be assuming you have chosen to play from canon. OC creation will be addressed in the future.
An OC sounds cool, but you kinda had your heart set on being an Avenger. Great! Progress! Progress is good! Next choice is a bit trickier: Do you want to play someone who is similar to you, or very different?
Personally, I think it’s easier to play someone who you have things in common with, than someone different. But sometimes people get bored doing that, or feel like they are basically self-inserting, so they pick someone with an opposite personality. So just think about it, do you want to play somewhat as you would react, or have fun stretching your mind into a different personality? Neither is wrong or better, it just comes down to you.
Once decided, pick a character you like (duh) and just give them a try. BUT, don’t just jump in to threading. Pick your character, and think about them. Come up with some headcanons, figure out how you want to portray them, work out their past a little. It takes more time, but it will help you figure out if you really want them to be your muse. RP writing is different from other types, it’s basically a months-long character development marathon, and you have to pick a muse that can really speak to you for that. You can’t just pick someone that you think is kind of cool and repeat a few of their catch phrases. You’ll get stale, and honestly a bit boring, very soon. You have to pick someone you want to take FAR beyond canon and develop into a 3 dimensional character.
This may mean you pick your favorite character, but it may NOT. Sometimes people pick a character they know every single thing about, and obsess over, only to find they run out of things to work on too soon. Personal example, Asura was NOT my favorite Soul Eater character; that’s tied with Maka and Kid. But I know I can’t play Maka. I couldn’t take her very far, because I love her in canon too much to take those risks. Asura gave me more room, because there was less information and I could develop him how I wanted.
So, basically, take someone that you like, but that you have questions about, and ask those questions. What does this character like to eat? How do they feel about dating? What is their best memory? And don’t find those answers in canon. Make it up, and stretch them out - as long as it doesn't contradict canon, and it feels 'right', anything is free game. Write all that out. Congratulations. You've made your first headcanons. Try filling out a character development sheet (like this one) to come up with some well rounded questions. You don't have to answer them all, and you may never use all the information you come up with, but it will help you to get a better feel for your character, and transform them from being just 'that character you kinda like' into your muse.
If doing any of that for your chosen character sounds like a chore, then they are not the muse for you. Thinking about little details, really getting in the character's head, should make you so damned excited you can't freaking stand it. If you're not that interested in them, it will really show in your writing, and you (and your partners) will get bored damned quick. You should feel pumped to learn more about your muse, not like it's homework. It’s a great hobby, and super fun, but there’s more to it than showing up and being like “Hey, I’m Eren today” and expecting everyone to just go with it.
Now, you're not ready to go just yet, you still need to follow the steps in the rest of the series, but you've got a great start already! Keep thinking about those headcanons, and then hop over to step two (if you're reading this after I've written it <.<) to learn how to really 'sell' your blog, and get them threads rolling in!
A final note: Just because you've done the work and chosen a muse doesn't mean you're stuck with them for eternity. Sometimes, despite all the love in your heart, it just doesn't work out when you actually take your show on the road. That's fine! Don't be afraid to give a new muse a spin after a few weeks (Yes, weeks. Give it time!) if you aren't syncing up. And of course, there's certainly no rule you can only have ONE muse... Just make sure you give each the time and thought they deserve, and you'll be fine. I wouldn't really recommend more than two for a newcomer tho. That's a lot to manage.
You kids have fun getting to know one another now, and I'll see you for part 2!
