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New to Roleplaying?

What is Roleplaying?
To put it simply, roleplaying is an activity in which players assume the roles of various characters in a fictional setting and control them. Players act the roles through narrative posts while taking part in building the story with the other players. You might have seen some examples of this on the RMB with our sporadic nation roleplay. Roleplaying is extremely fun and widely practiced, mainly because the only limit to roleplaying is your imagination. Do you want to be a fire angel wizard, fighting on a huge space station against Nazi goblin aliens who are at war with communist dwarves who want to destroy the Gods? You've got it.

Basic Terms and Abbreviations
RP: Roleplay. A single story written by two or more participants.
LM: Loremaster. The founder and host of the roleplay who creates the setting and acts as "everything and everyone else".
CO-LM: Co-Loremaster. Although not widely used, the CO-LM is appointed by the LM to help manage the roleplay and review applications; essentially a smaller LM.
GM: Guildmaster. The Thane of Roleplay, who is elected every three months to manage the RP community in Wintreath. Also called the Patriarch.
RPer/Player: A person participating in the RP and controlling a character.
Thread/Topic: A continued line of interconnected roleplay, written by two or more players. A thread consists of an initial opening post and subsequent replies as the players move through a storyline.
Post: A single instance of roleplay, written by one player, usually as a response to an above post. Posts can include initial posts which start the roleplay.
OP: Original Post. The initial post in a thread that contains the introduction, title, application forms, and/or other useful information relevant to the thread. May also mean Original Poster.
IC: In Character. When a player makes a post as a character in the RP. IC threads are reserved for and only for in character posts. The story and the real roleplaying go in IC threads.
OOC: Out of Character. When a player makes a post as their real self, not as their character. OOC threads are reserved for discussions related to the RPs so that players do not break character in IC threads.

General Rules of Roleplay
To follow is a list of common roleplay rules that every roleplayer should understand and follow. Always keep in mind that the purpose of roleplaying online is to have fun - for everyone, not just yourself. Casual RPs are generally more flexible on these rules.
Do Not God-mod: God-modding is when a character features god-like powers, such as invincibility, mind control, or the ability to do practically anything without limits or boundaries.
   - Example: Saying you pulled a Neo and dodged every single bullet shot at you.
Do Not Auto-hit: Auto-hitting is when a player performs an action on another character without giving the affected player a chance to respond. More advanced roleplayers will go into detail with their actions and emphasize their attempts instead.
   - Example: Saying you chopped off another character's arms and legs before they had a chance to dodge or parry.
Do Not Power-play: Power-playing is when a player controls someone else's character without the other player's consent. Not only is this unfair to the other player, but it's also discouraged because often players will misconstrue the behaviors and personalities of characters they didn't design.
   - Example: Saying you taunted another character into foolishly falling into your trap.
Do Not Meta-game: Meta-gaming is when a character acts on knowledge that the OOC player has access to but their IC character should not. May apply to knowledge of other characters' backstories, thoughts, actions done in secret, etc.
   - Example: Tricking Medusa to stare at a mirror when the character has never heard of Medusa before and would therefore not be aware of her petrifying stare.
Do Not Lore-break: Lore-breaking is when a character breaks the established lore, which is anything that likely affects a character or scenario. Lore-bending, a similar term, is when existing lore is lightly modified, often with ideas that are neither supported nor contradicted by existing lore.
   - Example: Having your WW1-era soldier pull out his modified AK-47 with ACOG scope, suppressor, and grenade launcher attachment.
Do Not Play Mary Sues: A Mary Sue is a seemingly perfect character who is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses. They can usually perform better at tasks than should be possible given the amount of training or experience and are judged as poorly developed characters, too perfect and lacking in realism to be interesting. They are often recognized as self-insertions, where the character is an idealized proxy for the player in the RP.

What Now?
I want to participate, but it all sounds so complicated!
It may seem complicated at first, but it becomes really simple once you get started! If you need any help, just ask the current Thane of Roleplay or any of the individuals listed in the Guild Halls.

I understand everything! Where can I start?
1. Look in the Gathering Portal for RPs that have already started. Just post an application in a signups thread!
2. Look in the Roleplayer's Gathering for RPs that are trying to get off the ground!
3. You can also check the pinned threads in the Roleplayers' Gathering for RPs on Discord!

New to Wintreath?

RP Areas on the Forums
The Roleplayers' Gathering: This is the base forum for discussion on the RP community as a whole. Interest threads for all organized RPs are also posted here before they start.
The Gathering Portal: This is where all organized RPs on the forums take place. Each RP has several related threads, usually including at least an IC, OOC, and signups thread, though they may also include others. Feel free to join an ongoing RP by posting in its signups thread; we'll find a way to fit you in!
The Wonderful World of Wintreath: Here you'll find regional lore, info on familial houses, casual RPs, and more.

Current RPs in the Gathering Portal
Multiverse Collision (on hiatus): When an unknown god plucks characters from all across fiction and places them on a strange planet, it is up to them to work together and survive.
Wintreath Bleeds (on hiatus): Noble houses, cutthroat politics, and evolving storylines set in the lore world of Wintreath sound interesting? Come join Wintreath Bleeds!
The Fighting Thirteenth (on hiatus): A new regiment of Elven scout cavalry conscripts traverse the wilderness to war for their nation.
A Tale of Icy Proportions (on hiatus): An untested band of heroes led by a powerful mage attempt a quest to destroy a cunning snow demon wreaking havoc upon the land.

Creating New RPs
Want to create and host a new RP? Follow the steps below, and make sure to read the next section, "To All Prospective Loremasters".
Step One: Create a new topic on the Roleplayers' Gathering board with the title of your RP and the word "Interest" in brackets (for example, Wintreath Bleeds [Interest]). Then go on to explain the premise, tech level, genre, setting, and whatever else you think is relevant for others to know about your proposed RP.
Step Two: See if it gains interest. If 3 people or more commit, then you may move on to the next step.
Step Three: Create new topics for at least the IC, OOC, and signups threads with the title of your RP and the type of thread in brackets (for example, Wintreath Bleeds [IC]). Depending on the complexity of the RP, you may wish to create more threads, such as for factbooks, technology, maps, etc. The Guildmaster may also make further recommendations.

To All Prospective Loremasters and Guildmasters
In the interest of keeping RP alive, it is vital for our LMs and GMs to realize that they have taken a great responsibility upon themselves. If hosts go inactive, our role should not be to just look on as the situation deteriorates, but 1. Report that a clear problem exists, and 2. Come up with a possible solution. Please read this guide and reflect long and hard on whether you will choose to accept the responsibility of being a Loremaster or Guildmaster. If you decide not to accept this responsibility, and you'd rather just play in a game, that's perfectly fine, just please be honest with yourself.

Do you have what it takes? It's a major responsibility and a lot of work to run a thriving RP group. Before you try your hand at the role, ask yourself the following questions. Do you have enough time to dedicate to the group? Do you have thick enough skin to endure inevitable complaints without burning out? Are you willing to play less and work more? Is the group concept one that will keep you fired up for the foreseeable future? When you become the leader of a group, your loss of interest usually means that the group dies, and the plots and characters your players had created will vanish for them, too. So make sure that it's something you will want to stick with for a long time. If the only reason you want to run a group is to be "in charge" or to write your own setting, you should probably reconsider.

Defining the roleplay's setting: A setting, at its most basic, has well defined lore and clear guidelines for what types of characters can be found there. It provides players with the feeling that their characters have a specific, "realistic" place in the universe, and the fact that what they do carries over into tomorrow's plots can provide the immensely satisfying feeling that your actions matter. Once you've got your basic setting in place, how thoroughly you want to flesh it out before opening your group for play is a matter of personal preference.

Introducing players to your setting: Provide players with a basic primer that they can read and refer to that continues all of the most important details to get them started. If you have more detailed lore that people may need to refer to but won't necessarily engage with on a daily basis, be careful to give it its own section(s)/thread(s) away from the primer so as to not overwhelm your new players. Provide guidance to new players as they are crafting their characters for your setting, offer encouragement, and be gentle but firm when you have to say no.

Recruiting help: Few things kill an RP group faster than the admin abandoning their post. If you are starting to feel burnt out, and your group just isn't as fun as it used to be, you need to get yourself some help that you can trust as soon as possible. Find someone active who understands your vision for the group and wants to help it grow. If there is some part of leading the group that you are not very good at or strongly dislike, and you know someone who is excellent and enjoys doing that thing, that might make them a good candidate. Just make certain that they understand what is expected of them and to always stay on the same page.

Finding balance: Even though there's been an emphasis on responsibility in this guide, to avoid burn out you must occasionally find time for yourself. Ask for help and make the time. Most admins never do find the perfect balance between playing in their setting and keeping it running. This is why it is so critical that you find a way to love the work that you do for it. You do sacrifice 'fun' to some degree. You're doing administrative duties, which means you may not have the time to roleplay as much. But you get to watch people create and develop characters, you get to watch the community grow. It can be enormously rewarding to lead an RP group as you see something you created flourish and come to life. If you haven't been scared away yet and feel you're ready and willing to shoulder the responsibilities of turning that group you've been imagining a reality, jump in and learn from experience. If you get stuck, you can ask a community full of RPers with vast amounts of experience for advice.