General Overview[]
Before you begin delving into the world of roleplaying, there are number of things that you should know. To begin, here are a few pointers for effective and fair roleplay:
- Be descriptive: Despite being obvious, too often it is one of the most common things that are overlooked in roleplay. Try use to use an enhanced vocabulary with proper grammar and punctuation. For example, instead of saying: "Bob saw his father dead. He cried", say something like: "As Bob turned the corner, he spotted a figure laying crumpled on the very steps of the Forum. Blood flowed from the corpse like waves on the beach and as he reached down to turn the body over, he gasped. His father lay on the ground, several stomach wounds located on his abdomen, his bloody hands clasped over them. Blood soaked through his toga and his lifeless eyes gazed far past Bob to a land known only to him. Bob lowered his head to his father's chest, tears welling in his eyes, threatening to spill as he vowed to avenge his father's death".
- Do NOT Powergame or Metagame: What is powergaming and metagaming? Powergaming is a roleplay scenario where, for example in a fight, you force a certain outcome onto the other roleplayer that is in YOUR advantage. An example of this would be saying: "Melody slashes Bob's throat and kills him". This is unfair and advantageous to the player with the character Melody because he/she did not give the other player a chance to defend himself/herself. Instead, use key words such as attempts or tries when roleplaying. For example: "Melody slashes in a downwards arc at Bob's throat" Although it doesn't have the key words, you are stating that she slashed at his throat, and did not state an advantageous outcome. Metagaming is when you use out of character knowledge and apply it to roleplay where you give your character knowledge that they do not yet and thus, an unfair advantage. For example: Let us say that Melody is chasing Bob down an alleyway. Let us say Bob turns a corner suddenly but Melody does not know that in roleplay. However, since it is roleplay, the other roleplayer controlling Melody is aware of it out of character. Metagaming would occur if the roleplayer controlling Melody roleplayed Melody as if Melody knew where Bob had gone when in reality, Melody could not possibly have known where Bob went.
- Regularly Roleplay and be up-to-date on new and ongoing roleplay scenarios with other Roleplayers: Despite this being obvious as well, it is too easy to forget sometimes that you are in the middle of roleplay and have not posted yet. Thus, it is suggested that you keep tabs on where and with who you are roleplaying with, as well as any relationships, marital/relationship statuses and any key roleplay aspects that impact the roleplay of your character considerably.
- Stick to your character background and personality: This cannot be stressed enough. Too often have players written a character history and background only to completely abandon it later on. Do not abandon them. Stick to your characer's personality and background. Always use the same story of his/her life when stating it in roleplay. Also, use the same personality. If you attempt to have her have multiple personas (unless he/she has a split personality disorder), it will reflect badly on your ability to roleplay and it will seem as if you did not make an effort to roleplay effectively.
- Roleplay effectively: Another obvious, yet important guideline. Don't just have your character mill about doing nothing and making meaningless conversation such as: "I like Pie" or something pointless like that. Diversify what you roleplay. For example, practice combat, do flirtatious roleplay, have your character make friends with other charaters. That sort of thing.
- Take orders without hesitation: Another key concept, especially if we are to roleplay members of a Roman Legion. The Roman legion was a structured and methodically organized army and had a key chain of command. If you are a regular footsoldier or one of those of Probatio, do not question the authority of those above your rank. However, that is not to say you should always just mindlessly follow orders. If one of your superiors (in roleplay of course) orders you to do something blatantly (really obviously) unintelligent or something that would be paramount to suicide in battle, tell them politely and courteously. If they disagree, report it to a superior in the legion.
Roleplay in the the Legion and Civilian Roleplay in New Rome[]
Officer Roleplay:[]
As officers of the Legio XII Fulminata, you are expected to have fully developed roleplaying skills. As leaders of units of men and women, you must be competent in leading. Officer ranks include from that of the Vexellarius and Tesserarius even up to the Legatus Legionis and Praetor [Refer to the Legion Guide]. Infantry commanders, including the Centurions and Optiones (Optio) should be fairly confident and effective at leading a unit of soldiers and as such, are expected to have at least a basic knowledge of Legion drills and formations. All standard bearers (Vexillarius, Signifer) are under the direct command of the Aquilifer, while all medical staff are under the direct command of the Medicus Legionis. All infantry (soldiers that do not specialize in the medicinal field and do not carry a standard, which is a flag/symbol such as the Eagle) are answerable to the Centurions of their respective cohorts who are in turn answerable to the Legatus Legionis who finally answers to the Praetor. Be prepared to take orders. If you are unsure of how to roleplay your part, you may consult this user or one of the Administrators.
Soldier Roleplay:[]
As soldiers of the Legio XII Fulminata, you are expected to be (or soon to be) well trained, disciplined soldiers fighting in formation. There is none of this "Oh I can do whatever I want" rabble/nonsense. You either take the orders or you are flogged/whipped for not doing so. Accordingly, you should have a considerable degree of effectiveness when roleplaying. For those of the rank Probatio/Tiro and Miles, you are expected to roleplay as such. Obey commands from your in roleplay superiors unless they are illogical, in which case you should tell the officer character in roleplay respectfully. However, you must remember that officers reserve the right to flog you and discipline you at will. If you are one of the medical staff, you are expected to be knowledgable to a certain degree in the field of medicine (and medicine roleplay). If you are one of the standard bearers (those who carry the Vexillum or Signum), you must remember that to the Romans, the standards were important. They were not just flags/symbols carried around randomly at will. It was considered a GREAT SHAME if you were to lose them. These standards were a symbol of the pride and honour of Rome and if standard bearers typically hid them, destroyed them, or fled with them rather than let an enemy take them. Thus, you should roleplay as such, treating the standards with care.
Civilian Roleplay:[]
Not all aspects of roleplay involve the military and as such, you have more variety. Characters are free to wear what they want (provided it is appropriate to the roleplay situation) to a considerable degree. If you are a member of the Senate, please acknowledge that the Legion High Command will wear purple togas and those who are officers of the infantry (Centurions, Optiones and Signifers) will wear red togas when the Senate is in session. Civilians can choose to wear traditional Roman clothing or modern clothing. Traditional clothing for men would be either a tunic or an informal toga. For women, you would be wearing the stola (Almost like a Roman dress). When roleplaying, don't stick to only one type of roleplay, diversify! Go to the Hippodrome to watch chariot races! Go to the bakery to get bread! Etc.
Word Bubbles and Roleplaying[]
Roleplaying[]
Roleplay is conducted by users on the comment sections of individual places where typically, comment chains signify a conversation and/or list of events that happen between two or more characters. To roleplay, one's character must have a word bubble, a template which is used to signify that one is roleplaying and which character is speaking and/or performing the actions. This will be explained below.
Word bubbles[]
The most basic template should looks something this when you are making a template page (without the spacing between individual rows - spacing added to prevent example from becoming the actual template):
{{Word Bubble
|image =
|color =
|color2 =
|textcolor =
|textcolor2 =
|line =
|fonttype =
|charpage =
|charname =
|title =
|cohort =
|god =
|width =
|time = {{{1}}}
|text = {{{2}}}
}}
Titles: If you do not know what they are for, you may just delete that row entirely. However, it is suggested that you put your character's rank within Legio XII Fulminata (Refer to the legion guide for ranks).
Charpage: This is case sensitive and will provide users a link to the character page. As such, use correct spelling when writing your character's full name (or whatever the name is on the character page)
Charname: This may be a nickname or just first name. It does not have to be case sensitive as it's just a name and provides no real link to anything.
Utilizing the character templates[]
The following is how to use character templates. When doing this, exclude the spaces. The spaces have been included here so the actual template is not used.
{{
Character Template name | Put four tildes here (~) | write your text here
