Type: undefined
Date: 2016-05-21
Time: 2:30pm-4am PDT
Stable: Frilly Filly Farm
Host: Giannia Rossini
Information:

RP Class Outline

Participants are expected to read this notecard before the class, and to have the notecard handy for reference during class.  This information will be referred to, but not repeated, during class-time.  Class time will be used for questions about these concepts, and for attendees to post examples from which others can learn.

There are two types of examples in this notecard.  Illustrative-examples are highlighted with *stars*, and should help highlight the concept, without necessarily being examples of good roleplay.  Examples from actual roleplay, that use the concept in ways that may not be so obvious as in the illustrative-examples, are identified with time stamps.


IMPROV-CONCEPTS:

Open-ended leads to more options:
    Do you want to go to Franks Elite Jazz club?
    Do you want to go dancing?
    What do you want to do?

Just say yes means to make what the other guy did work.  Make the other guy look good with your reaction to their roleplay.  Validate it by your actions.
[22:32] Kira sees Kaci holding a match to the fuse on the cannon, and covers my ears*

Using the Mind's-Eye to help you picture what you are trying to describe in your post, will lead, over time, to the Mind's-Eye showing you what to do, before you post.

The Rule of Three refers to never hit the same running joke more than three times during an act.  In roleplay the concept applies in two ways: Posts with three ideas are a good match for people's attention spans, and it also is easier for people to understand complex actions, if they are broken into a three-post plan.

(Numbers added for clarity)
*[01:34] Kira folds my body to fit to yours(1), and being shorter, my lips rest on your collarbone(2), as i whisper words of devotion and adoration(3)*

Post one: Lead pony to cart
Post two: Hitch pony to cart
Post three: Get into cart

Walk the plank with nothing, and trust that you will find something before you reach the end of the board.  Embrace unpredictability.  In a good interactive roleplay, nobody knows what will happen.  That's the point.

The destination is not the goal, it's all about the journey.

ADVANCED ROLEPLAY:

Copy/Paste from word-processor (or notecard), so you can see entire post, and easier edit what you have already typed if you change something.  You can often write parts of your next post, before it is due, and edit it to fit your partner's post, when it arrives.  It is clumsy at first, and even seems to distance you from the roleplay, at first.  But once you get used to it, what you gain in clarity of mind while writing, and clarity of posts for your partner - more than makes up for the learning-period.

Suggestive-detail is better than exhaustive-detail:
[22:34] Kira gazes at you with ice-blue eyes as cold as morning-tidepools on a Viking beach.*

Shakespearean-Dialog means: Imply what you are doing by what you say:
[22:10] Kira: i am tired of sweeping this floor!  i am going to the farm to run steeplechase.

Your character lives there 24/7, even when you are not online.  Advanced roleplay can continue, in your imagination, long after you log-off.  Allow yourself to imagine what your character would be doing, if you actually lived in your roleplay.

A Premise is a basic idea to roleplay around: What would happen if a Dom used pony bondage and ponyplay as discipline, to break a captured Gorean Panthergirl to collar?
A Storyline is the detailed roleplay of a premise: How does Kira's Gorean background impact her approach to performing as a ponygirl and training others?
A Pretext is a seeming reason for a roleplay or action, that is not the real reason for it.  For example, on Gor, serving a beverage or food is not the real reason for the roleplay, which would be to display the beauty of the serving girl.
In really advanced roleplay, NOTHING is what it appears to be, on the surface.

Phasing time means make time run faster during boring parts of a storyline, and slow down the passage of time for meaningful roleplay.
Phasing detail means be less descriptive during some parts of a storyline, than in the important parts.

Backstory is a technique where you roleplay what you already did by discussing it, even though you did not actually roleplay it:
Dog: I really enjoyed our dinner-date last night.
Cat: I did too, until you tried to sniff my butt.
Dog: That was no reason to ________________

Backstorying is a technique where you work what already happened into the roleplay to introduce new players to the the storyline, or introduce yourself to others.
[22:35] Kira had been left tethered to the cabstand in the rain all night as punishment, so she is very happy now to be in her warm stall, even though she had been complaining alot lately about being left there.*

Backstory is how you got to be who you are now.  If you don't have one, imagine one.
[22:36] Kira grins, having formerly been a Gorean Panther-Girl before being broken to life as a ponygirl, knowing exactly how the new pony feels to be helplessly bound, bridled, and forced to pull a ponycart against her will*

Embedding is a technique whereby you use language tricks to embed complexity or detail into simple actions:  
*kira walks the pony, that she bought at auction, to the trough.*
*kira walks the pony, who now looks prettier in better tack after she was switched out of her auction-outfit at the park, before being walked to the park, that was built in honor of ....*
[00:36] Kira gasps for air, turning my face away from your lips on my neck, with enough snap in the movement to swing my hair back and away and expose my sensitive throat more fully to your kisses.  It's not like your collar is heavy, but i had gotten used to the Turian-collar over the years, to the point where i was not really conscious of it.  But the weight of the stone in the collar you now keep me in makes this one sit differently, more forward and lower, and i am aware of it, feeling it on my body, every minute of every day.  As aroused as i am by your hand between my legs, i am more overwhelmed by how much i feel your possessiveness over me, that emotion even more powerful than the sensations your touch gives me; so i cling to your even tighter, with my arms and my leg, wanting to be so much yours i am a part of you.*

Thought-Emotes can be appropriate when:
1) They justify the action taken in a post:
*kira punches you in the face because she thinks you are an idiot.*
2) Describe what might be discerned by observation and/or common sense:
*kira is excited and happy to be near her Mistress.*
3) Or include descriptive cues in support of what was thought.
*kira's adoring gaze makes it evident to any observer how much this pony loves her Mistress.*

Bad Thought-Emotes:
*kira thinks you are an idiot.*
*kira wishes you would get hit by lightning*

How to work around other people's thought emotes, from an OldGor roleplay guide:

“No one can read your thoughts, so if you thought-emote, that means your expression and mannerisms are such that you are clearly and undeniably communicating whatever thoughts you just emoted through them.  Therefore I will respond to your thought-emotes as if you had just said them aloud, since they are so readily evident in your expressions.  If you don't feel your thoughts should be considered, keep them to yourself, as you should have been doing to begin with.”

Example:
[10:49] Chloe Silver looks over at Amber, nodding slightly as she rests a hand on Amber's shoulder and one on Krissy's shoulder, "I do admit that Dommes make amazing subs."
[10:51] Kira: i just wonder how much personal experience Mistress has in the collar-end of the broken-dom thing.
[10:52] : Ƹ̵̡ .Amber Skaði...̵̨̄Ʒ: which Mistress ?
[10:52] Mrs. Kristen A. Delaney-Martin shifts eyes to Kira, wondering why she would ask such a thing out loud...
[10:54] Kira reads the look on Krissy's face and smirks, knowing that many of the things i do will seem odd to someone with the background in strict discipline that she has.*

Conclusion:
Everyone plays thought-emotes differently.  For me, i see a balance between strict roleplay and clarity of roleplay.  If you are too strict, people can get lost.  So i will often post my thoughts, and leave it to the other players how much of they can discern from my demeanor and expression, and what remains unknown to their character, but understood by their typist.

Softballs, Curveballs and Screwballs are techniques for initiating improvisational, interactive group roleplay.
 
Softball: *kira turns away from krissy, wriggling her butt to wag her tail.*
Curveball: *kira turns away from krissy, wriggling her butt to wag her tail, hoping to distract Krissy long enough for Kaci or Demi to sneak up behind her.*
Screwball: *kira winds up a mechanical-mouse rubbed in catnip and caramel, and sets it in motion towards the circle of nekos and ponies standing around chatting on the barn porch.*

Perspective shift is a technique to draw attention to some kind of change in the roleplay:
*kira kneels serenely on the rug, her knees held modestly together, until a loud clap of thunder startles me to alertness, and i jump to my feet and go running to herd all the ponies into the safety of the barn.*

In my view, what separates the elite-roleplayers apart from the merely advanced, are two things:

Elite-roleplayers do not excessively coordinate with “and”.  

They use hierarchies connected with words and phrases like:
While, because, during, meanwhile, consequently, as a result of, in the meantime, simultaneously ...

AND

They make it look easy, but they are actually working very hard.

PLUS

No matter how serious their roleplay, they never lose their sense of humor nor self-awareness:
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/roleplay/103503-elite-roleplayers-only.html