Roleplay Help

So, you've decided to join an e-fed. You took some time and made a character, and you've found an e-fed you want to join. So you sign up, and the next day you get an e-mail from the Prez saying you were accepted! Hooray! Then he tells you your first match is going to be on this weeks card. Great! Just one problem...you still don't know how to roleplay!

I like to consider RPing a story starring your wrestler. It can be anywhere, involve anything: There are no limitations. Whatever you say goes in the world of RPing...so have fun saying whatever the hell it is you want to say!

There are, of course, rules to the game. For example, you can't use your opponent in a RP for obvious reasons. If you're fighting me and you go and kill me, how am I supposed to reply back!? I can't, unless you're in one really weird e-fed where reality doesn't apply in the rules. Most of the rules will be written on an e-fed's web page, so make sure you read through them before you do anything.

There are many many MANY different ways to RP. There is no perfect RP style, though, no matter what anyone may try and tell you. You may find that in the first e-fed you're in, the Prez thinks that you RP fantastic and you win every match. Then you join a second e-fed with a different Prez who happens to hate your RP style and you lose every match. You'll never win every match you fight, so don't get locked into the idea of being the best. There is no best RPer out there, always remember that. Here are a couple of different examples of these styles:

1 - Story Telling: This is the most popular form of RPing. Your wrestler is at so and so place, he does this or that, interacts with some people there, etc. It's a 3rd person short story with your e-wrestler as the main character.

2 - Straight Talk: The simpliest style of RPing, straight talk is exactly as it sounds. There isn't much focus on description...it's your wrestler saying whatever he has to say to win the match.

3 - Parody: Taking a TV show, movie, or something of that nature and mimmicking it, but tailoring it against your opponent.

The most important thing is probably that.....

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER

Before long, you'll learn how to judge your RPs by kb (kilobytes), lines, words, letters, and a thousand other different ways of measuring RPs. When the booker reads your RP, he will weigh in his mind what you had to say and what your opponent had to say...and whichever of you he felt made more sense, got their point across better, and sounded more determined will win the match. 90% of the time that has nothing to do with any form of measuring RPs, despite what some e-wrestlers will tell you. Don't get overwhelmed with writing a ton...just write enough to drive a point across.

There are a few key things you want to try to remember when RPing:

1 - Focus on your opponent: Keep your mind on your opponent when you write. If you place your wrestler in a grocery market, tie in something to the upcoming match or feud. While other dialogue can be very important in a RP, it won't matter much unless you mention your opponent.

2 - Target mistakes: If you see your opponent write something that isn't correct (such as calling you a shrimp when you're taller than him), expose that and focus on it. Your opponent can't reply back to a mistake he made, giving you a free edge over him.

3 - Keep the angle: If your arm is broken in a match or previous RP, don't come out lifting weights or doing jumping jacks. Instead, be in the hospital or being driven home...something that follows the context of what happens to your wrestler. React to situations, don't just pretend they never happened.
4 - Be funny: Who doesn't appreciate a good laugh in a RP? Clean jokes are the best ones...if you have to resort to racism and sexual referances, you're as low as every other e-wrestler out there. Remember, there are people behind those e-wrestlers and they may be offended by something you say. The goal you should try to attain is to make your opponent, the Prez, and anyone else who reads the RP laugh without being offended in any way. If you can pull that off, you're doing a good job.

Don't be afraid to ask for advice or criticism from other e-wrestlers. They are your peers, they will help you become a better RPer. If you lose a match, review what you wrote compared to what your opponent wrote...perhaps you'll learn what they did do that you didn't, and can use that to your advantage the next match.

Also, remember to revise your writing. Spelling and grammar are fairly important in RPs...if every other word is misspelled, you will get made fun of by your opponents. Also, a lot of the time you'll contradict yourself...say one thing, then go against what you said later on. Always check to make sure you don't do that...otherwise, your opponent may capitalize on your mistake. Likewise, if you see your opponent contradict himself, tell the world he did it and let him feel like an idiot.

One more simple thing to keep in mind: You are not, nor will you ever be the greatest RPer in the history of e-wrestling. Nobody ever will be, simply because e-wrestling is too big. Nobody could ever compare every e-wrestler ever to each other. With that in mind, drop any idea that you'll ever be the best. There are so many gigantic egos in e-wrestling that it's become the prime problem with the game. If you believe you're the greatest thing ever, you'll find yourself losing a lot, leaving feds because you lost, and just drifting about without ever become a well known super star anywhere. Your best bet is to keep your opinions to yourself.
Dos

1. Analogies: Compare your opponent to a salad tong, a rhinocerous, a piece of paper, ANYTHING original. If you can point out how they're a lot like some random object, what are they supposed to say back to you? "No I'm not"? If you can make sense out of something that shouldn't, you're doing fantastic.

2. Common Logic: If you beat Wrestler X and your opponent lost to him, don't hesitate to point out to them that you did something they couldn't. Every single flaw your enemy has is a major weakness, take advantage of all of them as much as possible.

3. Be a Face: There are a LOT more heels than there are faces in e-wrestling. It's SO much easier to try and piss everyone off...a real challenge would be trying NOT to piss everyone off. It takes a lot more skill, and shows through...

4. The Big Picture: More on this later.

5. Get under their skin: Try and make the handler really hate some of the things you say. Don't make offend him or make him hate you...just focus on saying things that would upset him. When a person gets angry, they'll type without thinking...and then they'll be open for a mistake.

Don'ts

1. Catch Phrases: This isn't the WWF or WCW...it's widely felt that e-wrestlers could easily pull off a better interview than any real wrestler out there. A catch phrase or two will do fine...trying to say the same things over and over again just looks monotonous (and it is).

2. Say Stupid Stuff: We don't think this can be emphasized enough. Promising that you'll "Kick someone's ass", repeating yourself too much for no reason, dumn slogans and obvious moronic threats are just a waste of time. Don't even bother. When fed heads see "I'll kick your ass" written in a RP, they just have one more reason to make you lose.

3. Be racist, anti-semetic, etc.: This was mentioned in Lesson 1, but can't be stressed it enough: Calling someone a name just because you think is an insult can not only REALLY hurt a person's feelings, but it makes your e-wrestler look like garbage anyway. To some extent, you could compare this to a real fed: When's the last time you saw someone making fun of Farooq for being black?

One of the best ways and most popular forms of RPing is called storylining. In this style of RP, your RP starts where your last RP left off. In this way, you essentially make one very long RP...these storylines can help to keep focus on a particular subject while having all kinds of plot twists (and lots of fun). It's a lot harder for your opponent to counter these, too...the only way they can really say anything back is by writing a storyline of their own. Just make sure you keep your opponent as the focus of your storyline...

At this point, I want to point out a simple reminder: Championship Belts are not the entire world. If you try hard enough, you'll be rewarded with a title reign sooner or later. If you get a title shot of any sort and lose, use it as a stepping stool. No one can make fun of you for losing a title shot...at least you got it in the first place. Don't waste your time arguing with the Prez of the fed either: You'll either wind up having to find another e-fed or on his bad side, and won't see another title shot for awhile anyway.

Earlier I mentioned 'The Big Picture'. This is the defining point of e-wrestling...if you can manage this very simple task in every RP you do, you'll find your way to greatness. The Big Picture is the reason why you're writing the RP. What's the point? Who are you going after? Why are you going after them? Why will you win? How will you win? Answer all the questions in your RP in any style you choose...but if you do it each time, every time, you'll become a fantastic RPer.

It's that easy...so many people just write with no true direction in their RPs that you can capitalize and beat them just by stating simple facts.

So, now you've read this you should be a master roleplayer!

Full credit goes to fwlnet.com <http://fwlnet.com>

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