Roleplay is for everyone!
Beginner guide and tips and tricks for RP in FFXIV
Beginners and basic guide
Just uttering the word “roleplay” brings a lot of different thoughts and feelings to people. Excitement, imagination, nervousness, confusion, intimidation, and sometimes downright fear.
conversing in RP
Different RPers have different preferred styles of conversing and interacting in RP scenarios. Let's go over the basics...
RP Etiquette and Glossary
Just like in real life, consideration has to be taken with your roleplay partners. Also definitions of common RP terms.
If you prefer to watch videos, the series from The Floor Tank (first link) is entertaining, good, and covers the basic info here. The video from TheoryElement (second link) covers more of the etiquette of RP.
Beginners and basic guide
What is roleplay?In FFXIV, the phrase “roleplay” (RP) may evoke excitement, imagination, nervousness, confusion, intimidation, and sometimes downright fear.This guide provides tips about how to have fun in RP and dispels some of the stereotypes about roleplaying.The best explanation of roleplay in FFXIV: it is improv theatre, in pixels.Unlike tabletop roleplaying games (D&D etc) with rulesets, stats, dice or other mechanics to adjudicate what happens, RP in FFXIV centers around consent and collaboration between players.To RP with another person, you write the actions of your character as you conceive them, as does your partner. Any action that impacts the other character must be agreed upon by both RP partners.Your CharacterThere are no hard and fast rules on character creation. Everyone has a different preference. This diversity of styles makes RP in FFXIV dynamic and fun! Here are a few tips to get started.Our recommendation for folks new to RP:Think about your character and their personality - how do they behave when around other people? With this sense of personality, you’re ready to RP as a random adventurer with no real history other than what you come up with on the fly.That’s it! Now venture forth and have fun.After a while, you might be inspired to write a detailed backstory for your character. Go for it!From playing the MSQ and traveling around the game world, you have a basic idea of the regions, races, people, and histories of Eorzea (ie: the game “lore”). Draw from these details to create your backstory.Don’t stress over lore details, for three reasons:1) Spoilers are frowned upon in RP just as in the regular game. Not all players are where you are in the game. Respect that and please don’t spoil it for anyone else.2) Roleplayers are not expected to know every minutiae of the lore. Even people who have been doing this for years and own the lore books do not know every single detail.3) The story you’re creating in the present in RP with another player is more important than the details of your individual backstories.All this said - this is YOUR character, YOUR story, you do you!So…. That’s really about it. Once you decide what kind of character you want to be, get out there and start improving!Find some friends to RP with and get the hang of conversing and interacting in RP.Locate an RP venue and go in, even if just to observe the flow, then interact when you feel ready. You could start with the Quicksands in Ul’dah or Gridania Aetheryte Plaza / Carline Canopy. There are many private RP locations - the #botspam channel in our Discord provides a daily list of locations on Mateus, or check Party Finder.You’ll find Light-RPers and Heavy-RPers and everything in between. And that’s what makes this such a fun and engaging hobby. There’s a place for everyone to enjoy RP the way they want.
conversing in RP
Conversing in RP:
Different RPers have different preferred styles of conversing and interacting in RP scenarios. Some use all emote speech, some use a combination of emotes and /say, some stay in party chat or a linkshell. It all depends on the person. The most common tends to be emote and say, so that’s what this will cover.Anything you type as a description is usually done in the emote style of writing, using /em before what you type.
Example:
/em walks into the Quicksands, dusty and tired after a long day of fighting the good fight as the newest Paladin on duty.
This will become:
(your character name) walks into the Quicksands, dusty and tired after a long day of fighting the good fight as the newest Paladin on duty.Anything you say in discussion would just use /say
/s A drink, if you please Momodi, this Thanalanian heat has left my throat as cracked and dry as the fields beyond the gate!Some RPers choose to combine the two, emote and say into one. To do this, just put the words you wish to speak in quotes.
/em walks into the Quicksands, dusty and tired after a long day of fighting the good fight as the newest Paladin on duty. "A drink, if you please Momodi, this Thanalanian heat has left my throat as cracked and dry as the fields beyond the gate!"
This will become:
(your character name) walks into the Quicksands, dusty and tired after a long day of fighting the good fight as the newest Paladin on duty. "A drink, if you please Momodi, this Thanalanian heat has left my throat as cracked and dry as the fields beyond the gate!"Once you get that part down, you can get fancy and add action emotes if you’d like! Like so:
/em walks into the Quicksands, dusty and tired after a long day of fighting the good fight as the newest Paladin on duty.
/s A drink, if you please Momodi, this Thanalanian heat has left my throat as cracked and dry as the fields beyond the gate!
/sweat
This will become:
(your character name) walks into the Quicksands, dusty and tired after a long day of fighting the good fight as the newest Paladin on duty.
A drink, if you please Momodi, this Thanalanian heat has left my throat as cracked and dry as the fields beyond the gate!
{your character fans themselves and wipes their brow}There are many more ways to use the chat features to enhance your RP, heck you can even make macros for strings of conversation and emotes you use often. Using <t> in a emote or /s macro will automatically add the person’s name you are targeting at that time. Pretty cool! The options are endless, but you now have the basics covered!
RP Etiquette and Glossary
Roleplay Etiquette:
Just like in real life, consideration has to be taken with your roleplay partners. Some pitfalls to avoid, and considerations to take are as follows:Consent:
Do not make a change to another character without the player’s explicit permission. This includes injuring them, touching their body, using magic on them, or declaring how their character behaves in response to your actions. If ever in doubt, ask the player OOC and check on their comfort level throughout the process. Just like in real life, consent may be withdrawn at any time.Two common ways to ask for consent are:
-An OOC discussion
-Stating that X character attempts to do an action, and allowing them to respond in their next statementExample:
Writing: “Fred reaches outside the doorway and grabs Zed’s arm, pulling him into the room.” This assumes we have permission to yank the other player’s character into the room. If you don’t have that permission, you need to use “unassuming language” to allow the other player the choice to succumb to the action or reject it.Such as: “Fred reaches outside the doorway and grabs at Zed’s arm, attempting to pull him into the room.” See the difference? Instead of “grabs” it is “grabs at”, and instead of “pulling him” it’s “attempts to pull him”, giving the other player the choice of their character’s reaction.In some situations like combat, romantic, or sexual scenes, partners discuss and agree upon what is and is not permitted before writing the scene. These rules may cover the entire scene or the duration of the relationship.After a scene, it’s always a good idea to do a quick check with your partner to see how they’re feeling. RP can be intense at times, and some people benefit from support afterwards.God-moding:
A broad term for RP behavior such as: making your character overpowered in ways that bend or break the laws of the game world entirely, making them perfect at everything, or forcing reactions on other players without their consent.Note: Being the Warrior of Light is generally considered god-modding in FFXIV RP. Think of the RP world as an alternate reality from the FFXIV MSQ, where your character isn’t the center of all reality.Other Examples: RPing the spawn or incarnation of a God or godlike powers, being from another world, being a race/species/supernatural being not common to FFXIV game such as a vampire/werewolf/esper/angel, RPing a character so powerful that they can dodge every attack thrown at him constantly or kills other players with one hit, RPing an emote which assumes control over another character in some way.Metagaming:
Using out of character information you obtained elsewhere, in roleplay. This may include the character’s bio or carrd, OOC conversations, etc. All that you can know about a character is what you obtain through RP with that character or others who know them.Simple example: If you were roleplaying for the first time with someone you know out-of-character from your FC, you would not greet them by name, you would introduce yourself and get their name first. Anything you know about them outside of the RP is gone, if you have read their card, know them personally, etc. RP starts with a clean slate and the character is a stranger to you until you get to know them and their story through RP.OOC vs IC relationships:
You must keep emotional distance between your character interactions and your own feelings. Remember, although your character may be feeling anger, love, hatred, or lust, you ARE NOT feeling these things. Expressing those feelings personally to your RP partner is a breach of boundaries and will likely cause the RP to end. It’s not always necessary to make friends with your writing partners, a polite professional relationship is fine.
(Reprinted with permission from Krinwick Vyr)Glossary:
ERP – Erotic Role Play. Sexually themed RP content or interactions.
Heavy RP – More lore driven. Players usually have developed backstories for their characters
IC – In Character
Light RP – Less lore driven. Players may not have backstories for their characters.
MRP – Mature Role Play. Violent themes such as murder, assassination, dark arts, acts of evil etc.
NPC – Non player character
OOC – Out Of Character
RP - Roleplay