CRP 101: A quick guide to Chat Role Play

Welcome to the Chat RP environment!
Chat Role Playing (CRP) it's fun, but it's also a minefield. Those who are used to play Pen & Paper RPGs know that the Role Playing fun comes from interpretation and interaction of your characters with someone else's character and the development of situations, sometimes funny, sometimes intense, sometimes (to use a tumblr slang) "#FEELS!"
Now, CRP mechanics are not always clear to new players, and even veterans sometimes take some false step and get stuck in a mess that it's up to the Game Master (GM) to solve.
This is not a "How-to manual" for CRP, but a collection of the most common problems and some tips on how to deal with them.

Topics covered in this guide:

1. Interpretation
2. Questing
3. Combat
4. Misc. and final notes
   

I. Interpretation - And reasons you should keep a cool head and warm attitude!

• First and most important rule: Don't take it personally!
  To fully enjoy role play (not just CRP), you must keep separate what happens "in character" (IC) and "out of character" (OOC), meaning when you are playing, interpreting a character, and when you're not, so you are yourself. Whatever a character does to your character, doesn't mean the player did it to you.
  

  If character A hates the guts of character B, this doesn't mean that A's player hates B's player. In fact, hate an rivalry can be an enjoyable and entertaining thing to RP!
  Similarly, when a GM lets something bad happen to a character, that doesn't mean the GM hates the player. Sometimes bad things happen in life, and a GM is there to make it true in RP too.

• Always remember that whatever your character does on a quest their actions are not final until a GM acknowledges and confirms them.
  Sometimes character actions overlap and get in conflict. A GM is a referee: they put things in order and tell you what really happens in the chaos.
  
  • Outside of Quests, when a GM is not present, we rely on the maturity of the single players, and their capability to improvise credible reactions. Every player is equal!

• People are not machines and they can miss things. Consider this: TMM plays on IRC channels, and many IRC client don't alert you when the other people in the channel are writing.
  
  • Sometimes it takes a moment to write the action a character is attempting or what they're saying, and sometimes it happens that other players write without looking at the screen and so don't acknowledge questions or actions that appear in chat before their action. Sometimes players miss lines entirely until they are pointed to them! Again, don't take it personal, it's not that their character is ignoring yours.
    
  • Most of the time when a character actively ignores another they STATE that ("B ignores C and keeps talking to A").
  • If a player IS ignoring you, it's probably without malice: players who already are playing together often focus on following just the lines of their RP partner, and skip over the posts of players who are not yet acknowledged in character.
  • It happens especially during busy times, when keeping up with all the writing becomes a strain. Don't take it personally! Poke the player OOC if you think they might not have noticed you!
• Always be patient! We play in English, but not all of us are native English speakers. Some learned English as a second language, some don't even know the grammar and speak English "by ear". Even English speaking players may be just slow typing, tired, or distracted sometimes.
  
  • This means that many players may:
  • Be slow to write because they have to look for words in dictionaries.
  • Use words improperly or loan translations.
    
  • Accidentally make up words by 'English-ifying' a word from their mother language.
  • Why play in English then?
  • For many players, playing in non native English language is a thrilling learning opportunity.
  • Chat RP groups in native languages can be hard to find, dead, tiny, or otherwise non-functional.
  • TMM embraces all well intentioned players. Don't make a fuss of language problems.
  • However! The group still insists that RP in main channels happens in English. If you want to play in another language with a friend, take them to a private channel.
  • If players use foreign languages as substitutes for in-character fantasy languages, they are expected to provide translations along with the post. Especially if they use online translators for generating the text: software translators make errors, and a reverse translation can mean something utterly different from what was intended!

II. Questing - And how to put the "functional" around the "fun"

As a player:

• Golden rule for players is: GM is God. The game master represents "the story", hence whatever the Master says, it happens. Many GM have different styles and methods to sort out the consequences of the actions, but regardless of method whatever they decide, their word is law.
  
• If you keep hitting a character the GM needs to survive to go further in the quest, the GM can make them extremely tough and just take your blows, or incredibly lucky and dodge all your attacks. A GM should improvise a plausible solution, but if the characters death ruins the whole quest, then a GM may attempt less realistic options.
  
• In extreme cases, A GM may also negotiate a time rewind with the players, starting the ruined scene over, letting players choose differently.
• As a player, keep your focus on what's happening and what your character is going to do about it. Being away from keyboard, or keeping being distracted by other chatter or RP on the side is rude to the GM, who has put effort into preparing the quest.
• If you need to go away for some a bit for whatever reason (grandma calls on the phone, nature calls elsewhere, parents or spouses call you to dinner) at least warn them: if necessary they can make a pause or put your character in "NPC mode" until you return.
• If a GM asks to halt speech/pause and let them describe a situation or let an NPC explain something, let them.
• If your character does not understand something, ask about it IC. If you yourself do not understand something the GM says, or if you think the GM neglected to give you some info that your character requested or should have gotten IC, ask about it OOC.
• Players shouldn't be stubborn. If an action doesn't work, don't be afraid to change your strategy. It's fun to play strong willed characters, but try not to let that deadlock a quest. If your character can't make anything of a situation, give up and allow someone else to try.

As a Game Master:

• A GM must be flexible. You can carefully plan a quest, have all the possible choices planned out but you still never know what the players will throw at you. A quest is not a deadpan script the players must obediently go through, but an interactive plot that changes according to the players' choices.
• A good GM does not rest an entire quest on guesses on unpredictable player choices, but comes prepared for multiple possible outcomes.
  

  Even the best prepared GM will get surprised at times: unpredictably, instead of either killing or bring to justice the villain of the story, the players may want to set him free; if you think players will pick sides in a conflict, they may stay neutral instead...Embrace it! Let things get crazy if needed! The ability to cause and get away with mayhem and chaos is one part of a fun quest!

• If strictly necessary, a Deus-Ex-Machina intervention can be used for steering a quest towards a necessary ending, but don't overdo it! Players get miffed if a GM wants to run quests like a dictator. Player choice and problem solving is what questing is all about. A GM who regularly snuffs the players and rails the quest hard along planned lines may soon find herself out of players for future quests.
• Don't be afraid to give a little push to your players in the right direction. NPCs (and your own playing character) may be useful that way. Try not to OOC bully the players into picking your alternatives. If the players need a nudge somewhere, think of something that's in-character. Set the wrong alternative on fire if it's really critically important nobody picks it.
• Check the time! Usually attention starts fading after two/three hours of roleplay (though usually the average quest is 4/5 hours long, so be careful when you place your combats and plot twists!). If takes a long time to finish a quest, and players start coming off as sleepy or ill-motivated, don't be afraid to pause the game and split the quest in two parts, or just be flexible and shorten the quest by for example making the combats a little easier.
• Splitting a quest is a reasonable option, though it may be difficult to pick a suitable time for a specific globally-scattered player group to come together again. Sometimes it's better to soldier on through the fatigue.

III. Combat - and, generally, usage of your character abilities (if they have one)

Chances are that if you joined this group you played Dragon Age videogames. Well, forget about them and their mechanics. We tried, it didn't work, we moved on onto something that did.

• The only effective way to manage combat in CRP is turn-based combat. Don't expect to fight in real time during a quest. Have your character perform one action per turn (unless the GM tells you you can perform another one under special circumstances) and wait for the GM to tell you what your opponent does before performing another one.
  

  How doest it work? Easy:
  

  1. The GM says "ROUND 1!" or "TMM TURN", and each character attempts a single action, or talent use.
  2. The GM describes the results, says what the NPCs do, then calls "ROUND 2!" or "NEXT ROUND!"
     Some GMs prefer to alternate between "ENEMY'S TURN" and "TMM TURN". It's the same thing. Really.
     
  3. Repeat step 1 and 2 until the fight is over.

• The general rule is: Do not attempt a new action before the GM has responded to your old one! If a GM skips over your action and calls next round, don't hesitate to poke the GM about it! It's guaranteed to be just human error, and the GM will hurry to fix the mistake!
• GMs usually don't consider character attributes. IE. Strength, Spellpower, etc.
  The TMM way to consider them is: Warriors are strong and tough, Rogues are quick and agile, and mages are squishy, but they breathe fire. We don't get much more into detail than that: GMs tend to base their decisions about an action outcome considering mainly the character description and how the player describes their actions.
  
• A GM can decide when players run out of mana, even if they do not actually count spell mana costs or numerical mana pools. Spells description help them with it
  

  If a talent states "completely depels the character stamina" the GM will consider the user as fatigued, so he will forbid them to use talents for at least the following round.
  If a spell has an "inconspicuos" casting, the GM may allow the mage casting it a few times before saying "you can't cast spells anymore".
  

• In chat RP, there is no way of accurately describing the difference between an immolated character, and an immolated character wearing a +10% fire resistance belt, that's why we have a different Enchantments and Runes system which is easier to manage. And as we don't have passive abilities, enchantment and runes must also be activated to kick in.
  
• Some GMs prefer you write GM (or whatever GMing nick the GM is using) every time you perform an action in combat, or any action that calls for GM attention. This is because some IRC clients notify when your nickname is mentioned and it helps GMs to sort out the actions.
• When you use a talent, remember to specify which talent you use after the description of the action you're attempting. Writing an action description based on the talent description itself it's preferable, since the GM may not remember ALL the talents and what they do, but it's not mandatory, let's say that it helps. Some GMs also prefer you PM them the descriptions of the talents you used, so be sure to have them at hand when questing.
  
  • Examples:
    

    Character A turns around and attacks NPC (Punisher, GM) <= Bad. A GM might not remember what a particular attack precisely does. Using imprecise descriptions can give the GM significant unnecessary work. Please be more accurate.
    
    Character A turns around and slashes NPC three times with his two daggers, attempting to stun the NPC (Punisher, GM) <= Good. Even a not-so-literal description may have worked, but this describes quite accurately what the attack does.
    
    Character A spanks NPC with a dagger (Punisher, GM) <= Nope. The attack does not match the talent description at all. If conflict arises between IC attack description, and the talent description given in the group's list of talents, then the IC description overrules.

• Don't expect to deal damage if you describe entirely dysfunctional attacks!
  

  Example: "I climb on the mainmast of the ship with my two swords, I wait until the dragon flies near me and then I jump on him and stab him in the eye."
  

   - Actual description of an action a player (not on TMM) attempted to perform.
  The GM let him do it, and the character fell in a sea full of sharks and manatees.
  Unfortunately, the character survived.
  

IV. Misc and final notes - Free roleplay and general IC and OOC tips

Remember that the most important part of CRP is to have fun!

• Don't be afraid to jump in and introduce your character! Take initiative, and ask for people to roleplay with you! You may be new, but every single one of us was "new" when they started roleplaying. Most of the old players are eager to meet new characters, but they might be preoccupied so they simply won't think of asking you to play.
• At the same time don't intrude. If two characters are in the middle of an in-depth and personal conversation, they probably will scoff at any stranges trying to push in to make introductions or other fuss.
  
• The worse your character behaves, the better you should behave! IC is not OOC, and actions speak louder than words. If you play a rude and disrespectful character IC, try to be the opposite when out of character, so that IC and OOC doesn't get mixed! Don't play arguing and hostile RPs with people who you are not on good terms with!
• IC snark and sarcastic banter is approved of, but make sure the IC remains IC. For example, don't criticize a character's OOC design with the same sarcasm your character would use IC, that's insulting the player who designed the character.
  
• TMM keeps pretty strict tabs on what characters get in the game. Characters that actually warrant being called out on bullshit are currently an extinct breed, and they never were protected species.
• Don't be afraid to ask. If there's something you don't understand. No one will judge you or think less of you if you ask a question, in fact it may help the admins find issues and solve them!
  
• Don't be afraid to request for quests or share your ideas. Even if a GM isn't available to adopt your quest idea, someone will surely be available for helping you design and prepare it yourself! Anyone can be GM!