RP Terms
Each role-play forum can claim its own idiosyncratic parlance, but the role-play community as a whole shares a small compendium of terms that may be confusing to the newcomer. Below are some commonly used terms:
• PBP: Play-by-post.
• RP: Roleplay.
• PC: Player Character - a character controlled by a player.
• NPC: Non-Player Character - Any other character in the game world. Most common examples are a bartender at a tavern, commoner on the street, or the town's local blacksmith.
• IC: In Character - Anything that happens in the game world, e.g. a conversation between two characters, traveling to a distant town, bathing in the lake and so on.
• OOC: Out of Character - Anything that takes place outside the game world, e.g. a conversation between two players or chatting in an OOC thread.
• Free-form: Free-form roleplay is roleplay that has no long-term or concrete plot.
• Structured: Structured roleplay is generally moderated (DMed) and has a set plot.
• T1: A descriptive, turn-based battle style in which you attempt to logically trap your opponents in fatal scenarios, ending in character death or incapacitation.
-- RM: A subset of T1 also known as Realistic Melee. In RM, there are no "powers" allowed, powers here being any sort of magic, psionic (telekinesis, telepathy, pyrokinesis, and so on), or enhanced attributes. Both characters must be human, though statistics, background, gender and weaponry can vary. Usually there is no projectile weaponry allowed, such as guns and arrows, as the use of projectiles often causes an arms-race scenario (you have a pistol, I bring an AK. You have an AK, I bring a sniper rifle). Melee weaponry is the standard. The objective is to kill or incapacitate your opponent, and in RM the focus usually centers around the finer details of angle of body, positioning of weapon, and so on.
-- MP: A subset of T1 also known as Mild Powers. In my opinion, this is where things get interesting. Different races and variants come into play (Elf, Orc, Vampire, Werewolf, Goblin and so on) with access to their innate abilities and powers. One can access the arcane powers of the mage, the wizard, and the paladin or use the magical attributes of the enchanted sword, mace, bow and so on down the list. Superhero abilities, such as enhanced strength/speed/senses, sonic attacks, flight, invisibility and so on are all accessible. This is where reality and fantasy mesh to form combat.
-- PC: A subset of T1 also known as Power Character, not to be confused with Player Character. In this subset of T1, we see characters manipulating and distorting the laws of physics. Here, it is not unusual to see a character traveling at superluminal speeds, manifesting blackholes at will, replicating the power of the sun, causing nuclear reactions in surrounding atoms with a mere thought, and even colliding realms of reality. I try to stay away from this, it ends up getting too messy.
Paige in Celtic Dressings
• T2: A fast-paced style of combat that focuses on typing speed, (not applicable on forums) the customary rules of which are 7-10-7*. 7 word attack, 10 word connect, 7 word dodge. It is important to note that these are minimums, and not maximums, though the more words you type the longer it takes and that is not recommended. Usually, once a character has been hit five times, they lose. The amount of hits needed to win a battle, however, can be changed if both players agree beforehand. There is a maximum of 3 typos allowed per attack/connect/dodge before the move is counted invalid.
-- T2 Royal: T2 Royal is consummately identical to standard T2 with the sole exception that even a single typo will invalidate the attack/connect/dodge.
• S15: Stands for Speed 15. Similar to T2 in that it is a speed-based fighting style, it differs from T2 in the length of the attack/connect/dodge action. The difference is in the word requirement for each move. As one might have been able to guess, the word requirement for each one is a minimum of 15 words.
*Example 1 (Attack and connect)
1: James moves his sword to Daniel's chest.
1: The sword splits flesh easily and leaves behind a jagged wound.
The attack has landed.
Example 2 (Attack and dodge)
1: James moves his sword to Daniel's chest.
2: Daniel steps back and ducks under the sword.
1: The sword splits flesh easily and leaves behind a jagged woun