Otherworld Roleplay Official Guide


 * This page is currently heavily outdated, and will very likely see a rewrite in the near future.**

Introduction
Hello, and welcome to the official guide for the Overworld Roleplay Wiki. Here, we will teach you the setting of the RP is. We will also be giving a comprehensive demonstration of how our roleplaying system works as well as definitions for a few terms we use throughout, some basic terms that you've probably already heard of but are still important nonetheless. Most importantly, we will also be showing you how to create your character, and what to do and what not to do when making your character, and when roleplaying.

RP Setting
The current year is 2284. The primary setting is the planet Centralis, located in the expansive Tyr System. Centralis is a massive hub of trade and travel that was set up in the year 2149 by the species referred to as Homo Sapiens, or colloquially known as "mankind" or "humanity". Most likely, you're going to be in or around the city of Corona; a massive metropolis that serves as the planet's capital, populated both by man and by various types of other species.

Technology has widely advanced due to both alien interference and a massive technological "boom" that occurred during the late 2090s and early 2100s. Magic does indeed exist in this universe, but it is nowhere near common.

RPing Style
There are several different ways to type when roleplaying, but this is an example of one used by Aronanners, the owner of this wiki:

Speech=
 * When a character is speaking:

Name: "Speech." Actions=
 * When a character is performing an action, I like to add hyphens ( - ) to each side of the action, but making sure to add a space between the hyphen and the text, before and after. If the character talks and then performs an action, I like to do one and then the other as separate messages. Here's an example with a man named Bob, who went to grab himself some food:

''- Bob walks over to the tree, and plucks an apple from one of the many low-hanging branches. -''


 * However, if the character performs an action and THEN talks, then I usually merge them like this:

''- After grabbing the apple, Bob raises the apple up to his mouth and takes a large bite. - "Mmm, this is delicious!"''

One last thing, please be detailed with your descriptions and take whatever you're writing down seriously. This will make your writing look much more professional than if you only type a few words per action; this doesn't mean that you need to be unnecessarily verbose all the time, of course.

RPing Terminology
As a roleplayer, you may come across several acronyms and terms that might seem unknown to you. So I have decided to define a few in my own words for you:

OC: OC is the short version of "Original Character". An OC (as you will see them in this place) is a character created entirely by an individual for the purpose of roleplaying.

Mary-Sue: According to Urban Dictionary, a Mary Sue (its male counterpart being a Marty-Stu or Gary-Stu) is "a character that is usually written by a beginning author. Often, the Mary Sue is a self-insert with a few "improvements" (ex. better body, more popular, etc). The Mary Sue character is almost always beautiful, smart, etc... In short, she is the "perfect" girl."

OOC: OOC, or "Out of Character" is a term used to refer to everything that isn't directly related to what is going on in the current roleplay. General chatting between users is an example of what might be considered OOC.

OP: This is short for "overpowered", and it stands for any OC that has a power level so big it is basically impossible to take them down.

Metagaming: The act of using outside or previously gained knowledge within a certain universe for personal gain or advantage. In other words, having your character know external information that they couldn't have possibly known.

Godmodding: An extension of the term "OP", "godmodding" is when someone’s character has the ability to do practically anything without limits or boundaries, such as blocking everything thrown their way, or injuring/killing off another individual's character without letting them get a chance to retaliate.

Voiding: Ignoring a previous action, usually to correct a mistake in spelling, unintentional metagaming (which is possible), and so on. This shouldn't be used to correct mistakes you did as a character. No one is perfect, and your character shouldn't be either, as mentioned in the "Mary Sue" definition above.

How to Create Your Character
First of all, your character should come in naturally, by this I mean you should not make a character just for the sake of making them.

Once you have a good (or at least fairly decent) idea for an OC, you should undertake the task of getting to know your OC and adding details in; their backstory, looks, etc. Also, copy-pasting and recoloring characters is something you can do if you are trying to piss everyone off, reminder people: OC stands for ORIGINAL Character, so try to remain original with your content.

If you would like to add a tale about your character you should eventually be able to do that on a section of the wiki, also, feel free to make and share any drawings or any sort of visual aid you wish to provide for your content. We are more than happy to receive every bit of artistic talent your mind offers.

Another very big point I want to make in here is adding flaws to your character. Every individual has flaws, so your OC should have them too. Adding weaknesses can be as easy as having them be a drug abuser or being a loner, think about the good points your OC has and use said points to give a corresponding bad points. If you do this right, RP should be more interesting for you and for other, and the character will seem more three-dimensional and realistic.

Last but not least, here is a good template page for making your character's page.

There are also nine different alignments that one might know of from DND that can be used as a base for their character, three good, three neutral, three evil; here are the official categories for examples of those using that alignment.

GOOD: Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good.

NEUTRAL: Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral.

EVIL: Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Evil.

Dos and Don'ts, Pt. I: Character Creation

 * Don't create a Mary Sue/Gary Stu type character, this is the last time I'm going to say this. 100% of the time, these characters are absolutely horrible in terms of quality.


 * Don't rush creating your character; make sure to put actual thought into their creation.


 * Don't plagiarize. Ripping characters, locations or events from your favorite video game, movie, TV show, and such, and then putting it into RP like you created the damn property [or properties] themselves. Using said things as rough inspiration is fine, but make sure to have it mostly if not entirely be your own creation instead of someone else's with your slight tweaking! They're called ORIGINAL Characters for a reason!


 * For coming up with likes and dislikes, don't just throw a list together. Come up with a paragraph or so to describe your character, which makes your character seem more fleshed out.


 * Do use the "Show, Don't Tell" principle: No one likes getting exposition shoved in their face, especially when you're saying this BEFORE whatever you're planning has occurred. This removes all tension and surprise from it, and has no upsides to it whatsoever.
 * Due to a massive influx of magic-using characters (despite the lore clearly stating that magic is a rarity), there can only be a maximum of seven magic users alive at any given time (number may be subject to change based on community feedback), as this enforces the fact that magic is again supposed to be rare and also encourages content creators to put higher value and thought into their magical characters before creating them.

There are currently four out of seven magic users alive, this cast being: Ki, Ronin, Naresee, Melanie.

Dos and Don'ts, Pt. II: RPing

 * Do follow Wheaton´s law: This law is the sum of the notion of Natural Law theory, the base of most ethical conducts in several nations and the main pillar of ethics: Don't be a d*ck.

Guide Credits
Aronanners: Co-Writer

CryingWeevil: Co-Writer