Fed II Star - March 26, 2006

ROLE-PLAY CLASS
Sunday March 19
by Catspaws

After a short absence due to health reasons, the role-play class was back this week, and we had a large crowd in attendance. To start off the class, special attention and thanks was given to Asterix and Lynnea for their report in the Star on their Bar Crawl antics. In this article, they gave a perfect example of how much fun role-play can be in Fed.

The topic for this week's class was Scripted Role-play and when it might be appropriate. A scripted role-play will run much like a play, where each participant has a specific purpose and role to perform.

One example of a loosely scripted role-play could be a wedding, where the script could read: guests arrive, wedding party arrives, ceremony begins, ceremony ends, party starts. Loosely scripted role-plays leave plenty of room for surprises and spontaneity and can be a lot of fun. Humboldt asked about the bachelor party beforehand, and I replied, "If you have to script that, I worry about you!"

Tight scripting takes the fun out of role-play, IMO, unless your role-play is to put on a play. It leaves no room for improvisation and frankly puts me to sleep. It is much more interesting to put an idea out there and let the participants run with it. You never know what will happen.

We discussed when tight scripting might be necessary. Jessecka pointed out that when you are trying to build a character or begin a storyline, it may require a bit of scripting to get it going, but after that it is best to let the role-play go where it will. We also discussed Zand's problems with his Smuggler's Guild role-play, and taking care with role-play over the comms.

After getting side-tracked for a while, Lynnea brought up another point, "Please remember while RPing where people are at in the room. It doesn't make sense for someone to sit next to someone else, then for that same person to magically be across the room." Which, naturally, led to discussing power-gaming and how disconcerting it is for someone to move oneself without permission.

At the end, we discussed what to do when you are role-playing in public and others don't want to participate in your role-play. A good rule is, keep it in good taste, and don't break any of IBGames rules, as Jessecka pointed out. Another rule could be, "First Come, First Served." So if you want to hold a personal role-play at a location where they are holding a wedding, it's best to do your role-play elsewhere. As Humboldt summed it up, "in other words use common sense and be courteous". Zand added, "and don't get caught".

We hold the role-play class every other Sunday at 4.00pm eastern in Chez Diesel on Mars. Be sure to join us for our next exciting class.