The Last Guide to Role-Playing You'll Ever Need!

From beginner to expert, anyone will find out something about roleplaying here! Learn about it or find new strategies and inspiration!

Depending on your online social groups, you may have already encountered roleplaying, or your communities actively roleplay. But for someone who's never even heard of it, having such a big word might be intimidating.

Roleplaying is a straightforward concept. Generally, roleplaying is the act of pretending to be a person or other character with other people and trying to enact a variety of scenarios based on personalities.

Or, to simplify, you can boil it straight down to pretending to be someone else online with other people. See? It's not that difficult. You 'play the role' of someone else, fictional or real, and guide yourself around with other people who are also in on it. You could have a group of television show characters meeting each other, or trying to enact a U.N. Treaty as important world leaders.

Now, you see, due to roleplaying being so open, there will always be topics that interest you and others that don't. So we'll cover ways to find people to roleplay with, finding roleplaying communities, and coming up with your ideas for scenarios or subjects.

Why roleplay?

Depending on you, there are all sorts of reasons to roleplay. Many people are struggling with mental illness like depression or anxiety and may feel alienated. In this case, roleplaying could help them escape from themselves and become the person they're roleplaying.

Or maybe your average joe nine-to-five employee roleplays to escape the mundane. It can be a pretty fun past time while always bringing something new to the table.

Many creative writers or novelists also roleplay to help them understand their characters better. It can help with writer's block or get those creative juices flowing.

As you can see, there are all sorts of reasons for roleplay, which can be beneficial, but at the end of the day, most people roleplay simply because it's fun. You get to meet new people, laugh, and make friends easily.

Finding people

On most of these roleplay sites, there will be a section where you can try to reach out for groups or partners to roleplay with. Create a new post either with "Looking for Group" or "Looking for Partner" in the title, so people know what they're going to get.

In the rest of the posting, you can talk a bit about yourself or the types of characters you'll be roleplaying as. This is also where you put general ideas/scenarios/subjects. People with similar interests will begin 'applying' or will accept this invitation and get in touch with you.

You can also add extra details, like if you would like to roleplay off-site. Here, you can choose any messenger app you have, like Kik, Facebook Messenger, or the new and popular Discord.

Chatting on these sites usually isn't too bad, but it does take quite a bit longer than using a messenger app, so try to find an app you both can use to roleplay off the site grounds. There's usually a lot more to do in the messaging apps anyway, like games or sending different pictures.

Finding groups

When posting, don't forget to reach out to others as well. Have a look at other posts and try to join in. Don't be afraid to reach out to people; roleplaying communities are often very friendly and welcoming to new people. Others aren't afraid of reaching out to you, so don't be scared to return the favor!

You'll be able to find all sorts of roleplayers, groups, and ongoing roleplaying threads by scouring your roleplay community sites. And as you keep active here, you may come across other public roleplaying communities, some which might suit your interests better.

If you find a group based on a messaging app, join it. It's a great way to get into lesser-known groups. Lesser known groups may have smaller communities, but these communities are often much tighter and closer; everyone knows everyone and everyone roleplays with everyone. You could go as far as calling these groups 'friend groups' because they'll be as close as friends.

Inspiration

Once you begin roleplaying, it'll be fun. But after a while, you may start to notice that people aren't broadening their horizons as much, and many scenarios begin to pop up multiple times.

If you regularly play as the same character, consider changing that character. Try to see something from a different perspective, and try to imitate someone new as well as you can. You'll find that it's a lot of fun, and will revitalize roleplaying quite a bit, bringing you back to that 'new' feeling.

If you see the same scenarios, then maybe try to lead your partner or group into something new. This can be from something you read in the news or exchange in a comic book. If you're an avid reader and have read lots of novels or short stories, try to pick out an event from there, explain it to your partners and reenact that!

If maybe you're beginning to get bored with that subject, perhaps you could try joining a different group with a slightly different focus. Not only will it get interesting again, but you may also end up learning a bit about similar subjects there, broadening your horizons once more.

And don't just sit around doing everything yourself! Encourage others in your group to do the same. If you share similar interests, you may all begin to enjoy new things altogether. Then you're all set to start yourself a new campaign with new characters and situations.

Starting a group yourself

You're a veteran. You've been adopted into the world of roleplaying and are enjoying it too much. But the groups you find don't have a single specific focus that you're looking for. It's time to start your group.

It might seem simple, you need a platform and somewhere to find people, right? Well, sure, but that would be no different from playing with friends. Think bigger, think better. Create your community around a specific topic.

As a group leader, you need to be responsible for everyone's behavior, so create rules to protect others, but don't limit people from having fun. Try to lead discussions and organize events for roleplaying. Come up with schedules where you can organize group roleplays, or just let people have fun on their own.

Just as you would lead any other group, have fun, and make sure people are having fun.

It's that simple

So now, if you're a beginner, you'll know if roleplaying is one of your interests. Maybe it isn't, and that's alright too. But if you are interested, you've been primed, so don't wait any longer. Get started on roleplaying all kinds of adventures. Don't limit yourself, be as free as your imagination, and bring your creativity to life with other people.

If you're an expert, you might have picked up on a pointer or two. If not, then you might be one of the best within the roleplaying community.

So have fun, meet friends, let your creative juices flow free, and roleplay to your heart's content!