What makes a good RP?

[Viola Moonlight]

To continue on from the different era's feedback, I will prove and disprove that theory with how I've evolved during the years and managed to be the guy that got most of his success from going against the tide.

When I first joined WZCW with Steven Kurtesy and formed a tag team with William Teach, we were the only comedy act in a fed full of super serious, simplistic/effective (Frankie Smith; Zander Young; Everest) or supernatural/dangerous characters (Ty Burna; Phoenix; Lars Reidar). Nobody was doing the comedy thing so when we came together to make some hilarious RP's, we got to the top of the tag team division quickly

Years later, during the boom of comedy characters (Saboteur; Action Saxton; SHIT; Alhazred), I morphed Steven Kurtesy into a super serious character and managed to main event Kingdom Come IV and walk out with the World Heavyweight championship. During a period where darkness wasn't exactly prevalent, the whole Kurtesy/Zeus feud occurred and we tore it up RP-wise.

So what I'm saying is that whilst you can look at the different era's and pick out who was topping which era and why, you can also go the opposite direction and still manage to be on top. You can follow the trend or be the lone wolf to go against it but either way, you're going to need to do something special.

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From my perspective, I've been in WZCW for 5 consecutive full years. For a majority of that time, I've been a member of creative and had the most draining task of judging RP's for many characters and even more matches. I've seen the good, the bad and ugly. I've seen many takes on the same gimmick and I've also seen some very unique gimmicks that no-one has tried again. I've seen the best RP's and the best RPers. I've also seen the worst RP's and the worst RPers... what I'm trying to say is that I've seen a lot come from WZCW.

If you really want to stand out to me, you can't write some generic story in your RP's and make that the entire basis of your RP/character. It simply doesn't work. Why should I be interested in your character going to a soccer match and discussing with NPC's who I don't exactly know? Should I really care how your character's family is going? I'm only interested in how your character will fair against your current opponent; storyline; title match; etc. If you want to take your character on a journey or write a specific scenario in your RP... and I can't stress this enough... make sure it's relevant to WZCW!

We are here to write fan-fiction about how certain characters would react and adapt to the professional wrestling world that WZCW has become. If you are writing something else than you've come to the wrong neighbourhood to write fan-fiction. In a different context, these RP's might be awesome but when it comes to WZCW and being judged against other opponents, it's completely worthless.

Only use backstory, other characters and anything else that has nothing to do with WZCW as something to transition/compare/act as a catalyst to discuss stuff happening between WZCW and your character. For example, Steven Kurtesy being stored in solitary confinement to prepare for his Hell in a Cell match or Steven Kurtesy explaining his patients to showcase that he is mentally superior to take on the mentally-unstable Barbosa.

If you can relate it back to WZCW, you can make a solid RP. If you can relate it back to WZCW in a clever and/or funny manner, you've got a better RP.

 

[Miko]

Just go to fucking town, write whatever you want and make it look as easily readable as possible, all the other stuff like good use of language and that should come along naturally. I like to use odd analogies and subvert stuff, make something funny serious, make something serious funny. Lock a fat person in a submission hold.

They are wrestlers, wrestling and wrestlers are by their very nature ridiculous. You're character might be incredibly serious, don't change the fact that they're going to get oiled up and grapple with other men.

Basically like Falk and Yaz said, don't write about a nice day out just for the sake of background unless its fascinating in some way, if you have no background then don't use any, just focus on your character as though they are sitting alone in a dark room. And don't bore the piss out of people.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I'm not on creative, so anything they look for obviously trumps anything I look for, but I do read the RP's for fun so I'll share some thoughts of my own in case it may end up helping someone. You guys may have noticed I've been repping a good number of you for many RP's. I get enjoyment out of reading them. I like to see character development. Give me a reason to care about them. Why should I want to take time to sit down and read about your character? If you give me a reason to care about them, I'm more likely to read more of your RP's. My favorite characters all got me interested within the first RP's I read of theirs, making me keep wanting to see more every round, and then consistently kept my interest in this same way when I have read RP's of theirs. Have a goal of some type in mind for your PPV round and build toward it somehow during the other rounds in the cycle.

For me, formatting is important too. If your entire RP is all in the same font style and the same font color, chances are I won't want to read it unless I'm bored. Make your character be the only one who speaks in a particular font color. For me, Theron is the only one who ever speaks in red font. I tend to use purple for my opponent that round or anyone speaking on their behalf. My most important NPC's have a font color almost exclusive to them (pink for Kirilah, olive for Sheshmish, etc) which rarely gets used by other characters. Make the reader stop by to read the RP in the first place with good formatting. The character development and story content I addressed above, gets them to come back again for more reading.

Also, I may or may not be in the minority but I prefer the script style to the novel style. I clearly don't speak for everyone, it's just a personal preference. I want to know who is talking without having to scroll up again if I get lost. For example:

Theron: Let's go save the princess from the dragon!

Let's go save the princess from the dragon!

I like the first example of this line better. You'll always know when reading an RP of mine if Theron is speaking or if someone else is. This organizes it better. You never want to make a reader get lost while reading it, or else you risk them not wanting to read your material again.

Again, I'm not on creative but these things to me make a good RP and hopefully it will be of help to someone if they are struggling.

 

[ShinChan]

A simple question for everyone out here:

"What makes a RolePlay good to read for you?"

I would want to know just your point of view individually.

Although I am quite new, yet I have been through some amazing RolePlays out here like about Eve, Cooper etc. So with my quite new knowledge of RPing, I am sharing my reading experience.

For me, It consists of two portions:

1. Error-Free : No grammatical errors.

2. Emotional Connect : The reader should be able to connect with the RolePlay.

I could compromise with the first one if the second is fulfilled. But not vice-versa.

How about You?

 

[Lee]

Bumping this 18 month old thread for reasons.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

This thread

Thanks Lee.

 

[Lee]

I'll add to it later as a lot have changed over the years.

 

[Lee]

First piece of advice. The original thread was made 8 years ago, the fed has changed so much in that time. Heck I think I wrote it before I was on creative.

My advice is be yourself in your RP's and not to put what does work but avoid what doesn't work.

So instead of what makes a good RP here's what makes a bad RP:

Always talking about your losses. If you lose you lose, move on focus on your opponent. How often do wrestlers mention their losses? Rarely. Think of Bo Dallas, he loses all the time but thinks he can win every match. That's the logic. BoLieve.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

First piece of advice. The original thread was made 8 years ago, the fed has changed so much in that time. Heck I think I wrote it before I was on creative.

My advice is be yourself in your RP's and not to put what does work but avoid what doesn't work.

So instead of what makes a good RP here's what makes a bad RP:

Always talking about your losses. If you lose you lose, move on focus on your opponent. How often do wrestlers mention their losses? Rarely. Think of Bo Dallas, he loses all the time but thinks he can win every match. That's the logic. BoLieve.

Good advice. I'll add announcer abuse to the thread. Creative staff don't like when the announcers get abused by your wrestler or if they get bullied.

 

[Coco]

If it's good enough for Kevin Owens and Stephanie McMahon, it's good enough for us!

 

[a0161613]

Good advice. I'll add announcer abuse to the thread. Creative staff don't like when the announcers get abused by your wrestler or if they get bullied.

I have to ask, what is this based on? A good heel has at some point chastised Leon. Sure, if it's done badly it can be terrible but if it's done well then it can be entertaining.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I have to ask, what is this based on? A good heel has at some point chastised Leon. Sure, if it's done badly it can be terrible but if it's done well then it can be entertaining.

I was thinking more of a physical nature, like grabbing an announcer and pushing them around.

 

[a0161613]

Well violence has always been against the rules, particularly against the "on-screen" staff.

 

[Lee]

Yeah that rule was brought in very early in the fed (may even be at the start) as a lot of other feds at the time pretty much had those sort of rp's every round.