The one and only, the holy RP GUIDE!

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A Guide to Roleplay by Spunky.

Table of Contents

1. An Introduction to TSRP (The Specialists Role Play)
2. Strict TSRP
3. IC and OOC
4. DeathMatching
5. Revenge Killing
6. Metagaming
7. Powergaming

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1. An Introduction to TSRP

TSRP (The Specialists Role Play) is a specially designed modificiation of a game called The Specialists, which itself is a modification for a game called Half-Life. TSRP is built on the AMX Mod X scripting engine, and is an extremely large modification, introducing an entirely new way to play the game.

In TSRP, you assume the role of a character. The character you choose can be virtually anything (within the rules of the server you play on). You can be a janitor, a hobo, a cop, or even a foreign intelligence agent if you really wanted to. Note that different jobs have different skill levels. You need to know a fair bit about the type of character you'll be controlling in order for everyone around you (or even yourself) to truly have a good time. If you want to be the mayor of the city (the city being the server's map. i.e. Mecklenburg), it might help to know a fair bit about political and economic sciences. Note that a lot of server don't require such knowledge. Only the stricter servers require you to roleplay this way.

There are two kinds of TSRP: Loose RP, and Strict RP. Loose RP is any server that doesn't require you to play the game realistically. By realistic, I mean acting in the game as you would act in real life. Hence my above statement about knowing your character's role. This is critical in a strict server, because if you don't know anything about what you're going to be playing, you will ultimately fail in anything you do as that character. If you're asking yourself how you're supposed to know how to play that character, the answer is quite simple: http://www.google.com. Trust me, Google saves lives (both ingame and out tongue.gif). If you want to learn about something, run a search on it and read until you're satisfied that you know enough to move forward with what you want to do.

2. Strict RP

Strict RP is an enhanced and more realistic version of TSRP. Strict RP as we know it, was designed to create a virtual, realistic world in which people cannot jump from rooftop to rooftop, rob stores repeatedly, or generally do things they would not or could not do in real life.

So, basically, in strict RP, you can only act as you would act in real life (as your character, of course). Real-world experience is very helpful when playing on a strict RP server. Those who don't fully understand how a government functions, for example, probably wouldn't get very far if they chose to pursue that career in a strict RP server. However, the proper research through online reading can make all of the difference. Some people spend hours reading topics that are relevant to what they want to do.

The old saying, "knowledge is power", applies very much to strict RP. The more you know about what you'll be doing, the better off you (and your friends) will be when you sit down to play on a strict RP server.

3. IC and OOC

In TSRP, there exist two different kinds of text speech. IC (In Character) and OOC (Out of Character). Knowing the difference between the two, and when one is appropriate and not the other, can save you a lot of embarrassment on a TSRP server. IC chat is necessary when you're roleplaying. OOC chat is used for anything else. Here are some IC and OOC examples to guide you:

Quote :

Fred Jacobs approaches Ted Williams and asks if he can bum a smoke. - Proper IC chat usage, improper OOC chat usage.

Quote :

Ted Williams tells Fred Jacobs that he doesn't smoke. - Proper IC chat usage, improper OOC chat usage.

Quote :

Fred Jacobs tells Ted Williams he is going AFK. - Proper OOC chat usage, improper IC chat usage.

Quote :

Ted Williams tells Fred Jacobs he is having fun on the server they're playing on together. - Proper OOC chat usage, improper IC chat usage.

Quote :

Fred Jacobs tells Ted Williams that he's gonna go back to his apartment. - Proper IC chat usage, improper OOC chat usage.

So you see, IC chat is used for roleplaying, and OOC chat is basically used to chat about the server, or whatever the topic may be at the time.

* NOTE: You CAN speak OOC in IC chat, as long as you prepend a "//" before your message. For example:

Quote :

Fred Jacobs: // Hey man, do you know when the admins are going to add that super neat plugin they've been talking about? I <3 admins.

4. Death Matching

Death Matching (or "DMing" for short) is difficult to describe, but it's basically the use of force without a reason. However, that's a shallow description, and I believe that DMing can most effectively be described through examples, so here are some:

Quote :

Fred Jacobs walks up to Ted Williams and attacks him for no reason.

Quote :

Ted Williams decides to kill Fred Jacobs because he said something OOC that made him angry.

Quote :

Fred Jacobs doesn't like the cop who's arresting him. As soon as he is let out of jail, he attacks the cop because he doesn't agree with why he was arrested.

There you have just a few examples which should give you an idea of what DMing is. DMing (on most TSRP servers) is unacceptable and will most often result in the player being banned for an amount of time. Almost everybody is against DMing because it destroys a lot of good RP. Some servers allow a "DM hour" where players can kill each other for fun for a set amount of time before roleplaying resumes. Most serious servers, however, don't allow this (unless it's late at night or early in the morning, or there's no roleplay going on anyway).

5. Revenge Killing

Revenge killing (or "RKing" for short) is whenever a person kills another person as a way of revenge. Here are some examples:

Quote :

Fred Jacobs arrests Ted Williams. Ted Williams doesn't agree with why he was arrested, so he attacks Fred Jacobs the moment he is let out of jail.

Quote :

Ted Williams kills Fred Jacobs during an RP. Fred Jacobs mistakes it for a DM and comes back to kill Ted Williams as revenge for the botched RP.

Quote :

Fred Jacobs breaks down Ted Williams' door to search his place. Ted Williams walks in during this process and is angry with Fred Jacobs because he believes the RP is bad, so he kills Fred Jacobs.

As you see, RKing is just as bad as DMing. It destroys a lot of good RP and can result in a player being banned from a server for an amount of time. RKing is by no means acceptable, and will be punished to the utmost extremes, same as DMing.

6. Metagaming

Metagaming is when you say something OOC in IC, and vice versa. This can be incredibly annoying to other players, as it can sometimes cripple a roleplay situation. Refer to the section above titled "IC and OOC" for information regarding the proper use of both IC and OOC. Here are a few examples of metagaming:

Quote :

Fred Jacobs: Hey Ted, can I join your top secret organization?

Quote :

Ted Williams: (( Hey Fred, come meet me at the Edeka! ))

Both of these are examples of metagaming, and here is why:

In strict RP, you need to introduce your character to other people's characters in order for your character to know them. If your character doesn't know their character's name, you can't walk up to them and greet them by their name. And it's even more annoying when you ask if you can join their organization, unless they told you who they work for. So in this case, metagaming is cheating to grant your character more knowledge than he/she actually has about a person. This is unacceptable, and will result in at least a temporary ban on most servers.

Using OOC to ask someone to meet you somewhere is also a great example of metagaming. Cell phones exist in TSRP for a reason. That reason isn't so that people can bypass the need for them by using OOC. So, in short, use a cell phone, unless it's for something OOC (like helping someone fix a bug in the server, for example).

7. Powergaming

Powergaming is when you strip away a person's free will in an RP scenario. Here are a few examples of powergaming. Each example is followed by the corrected version:

Powergaming:

Quote :

(Action) Fred Jacobs wrestles Ted Williams to the ground and takes all of his weapons.

Not powergaming:

Quote :

(Action) Fred Jacobs tries to wrestle Ted Williams to the ground, and attempts to disarm him.

Powergaming:

Quote :

(Action) Ted Williams pushes Fred Jacobs off of the roof.

Not powergaming:

Quote :

(Action) Ted Williams tries to push Fred Jacobs off of the roof.

The only time it is acceptable to "Powergame" someone is when they are either:

1.) Outnumbered 3:1

or

2.) already handcuffed by police or "tied up" through a previous RP

It's awesome seeing my RP guide again. I lost it a long long time ago, but now I've found it again.

We need some people to read this because some rp is going down the hole due to shity RPers its turning more in the HL2DM RP

Well, Don and I aren't in there to police the server, so yeah, I'd imagine it's chaos.