Reallia's Roleplaying Ramblings

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Thoughts on Roleplaying.... by Xyphyre LucentEye, an aspiring Empath           Well.... many of us get caught up in hunting rats, kobs, thyrils.... etc... and making money and exp that we forget that one of the major purposes of this game is to interact with other people. If i wanted to just kill monsters i sure wouldnt be paying $3 an hour to do it, id just fire up the old nintendo or genesis. Anyway, roleplay is also a great way to increase the fun of your online adventure through Gemstone III.           Some choose to go the drastic route, and take on the trying task of impairing one or more of their senses. I have met many people in my day who have roleplayed as mute, even blind, once even deaf people. This is a great way to undertake roleplaying, and i applaud all that can successfully pull it off, as i doubt i could do myself, but might someday try. It is very difficult to take on such an impairment, as in the example of muteness you can not speak, you can only use gestures to explain your feelings. (Although, i once witnessed a great roleplayer who was VERY convincing. She was mute and she carried a chalk board or a pad of paper with her at all times and wrote on it as a form of communication. I applaud whoever it was or is, as i have forgotten the name.)           Another way to roleplay (you dont want to and shouldnt use just one method, you should use a conglomeration of all roleplay aspects to portray your characters personality as you want it to be, but we dont need too many blind, deaf, and mute people walking around. It gets very confusing, so i dont advise you use the impairment thing unless you have rerolled many times, and are very used to the game.) Anyway, another way to roleplay is to use verbs. You have probably already figured this out, but i will cover it anyway. Verbs such as bow, wink, smile, tap, jump, dance, sing, curtsey, kiss, hug, pet, grin, and probably about 1000 more that i cant think of at the moment are great methods. You can use many of these alone, such as smile, as well as with someones name. so you can type smile and just smile or you can smile at someone by typing smile and the name of who you want to smile at. This is very elementary, and if you have ventured any length into Gemstone, you already know this, so i appologize for the repetition. But there are newbies out there that are not yet informed.           Also, there is the act command. You can use the act command to do something that there is not an implemented verb for. for example, if i typed: act looks toward the sky knowingly. the output on everyones screen would be: Xyphyre looks toward the sky knowingly. You can experiment with this, but dont get too corny with this, as it can become very annoying sometimes. Also, people use this command to essentially rob others, so beware. Always sell stuff to other players using the EXCHANGE command dont give them the item first, and expect them to give you your money, because they could just type: act gives Joe 100 silvers. This has happened to me before, so take heed.... however, it doesnt pay to offend anyone and be paranoid... so its basically a judgement call.           Another method is through items which have absolutely no other use than fun. For example, visit the grocer and type LOOK ON COUNTER. The items there are great for roleplay, as they add a twist of real life tangible objects into the scheme of things in Gemstone. For example, once in a while i sheathe my drake falchion to take a drink from my bottle of sparkling spring water, and i also offer a swig to my companoins who take a drink and hand it back. I usually do this in between kob and rat fights.... etc...... Use your imagination, and make it seem as real as real can get.           Probably the best place to roleplay is the bar. You can always meet interesting people there, and have lenghty conversations that can be much more rewarding than hunting or delivering messages. You will hear stories of great lords and ladies adventures as well as stories of thievery and gossip. So go on over to Helgas and drown yourself in friends and mead for awhile!           To sum it all up, develop a personality in your character and make him/her as real as possible. You will make friends and enemies, and this will make the everyday struggle for wealth, life, fame and popularity in Elanthia much more enjoyable. So what are ye waiting for? Start roleplaying! Any thoughts, questions, corrections, etc. can be Emailed to ICESHARD@AOL.COM Once again, im sorry if i bored anyone, and i hope this little tome will aid your days ahead. Good luck always. PS~~ ALWAYS BE KIND TO EMPATHS, AND DONT YELL IN TSC PLEASE! =) Also, Id like to thank Eillie Lindenleaf for her outstanding guide for Empaths, which really enlightened me.