How to Role Play

This page is a guideline as to how roleplay works on Transcending Zenith and what is required before roleplay starts and expectations for roleplayers.
== Building a Character ==
=== Idea Pitch ===
The first thing you have to do is discuss your idea with a member of staff. Our current staff include:
* User:Axis of Destruction
* User:ChaosWyvern-i
We generally don't want a character page made until we approve your rough draft. For examples on what we want to see with your rough draft, we are looking for a lot of thought put in terms of the history and powers. Appearance and Personality are also very important, as without those, you're not much of a character and more of an incomplete idea. See Example Character Sheet for an example of a character page layout and the content involved.
=== First Draft - The Basics ===
Once staff gives the go ahead for your character idea, write down the details in Character Sheet Form. This is done by pressing the add button and typing in the character's name in the page name. Once you have done this, it's time to put the details onto the page. Your first draft should be done with the following formatting standards:
# Appearance and Personality
# History
# Powers
All of these, and additional sections, must start as a Heading format. When wanting to make smaller headers inside of these sections, simply scale down with the appropriate size header in order of priority.
Infoboxes are *not* required when first starting, as we won't fault you for not knowing how to use our infoboxes. For infoboxes, you may ask a member of Staff to edit it in for you. If there is an issue with your current draft, you may see a: Under Review alert appear on your page like the one below: 
If you see this notification, please discuss it with the Staff member who issues it with respect and answer all concerns and questions politely. If you follow their instructions, they will remove it and your page will then become Approved.
=== Second Draft - Refine ===
If you receive a 'Under Review' notification, here are the following steps to get a Review removed:
# Double-check your page. Make sure format is consistent with Wiki policy.
# Remember the Wiki Rules and Guidelines when making your character. Violations of our rules and policies are not tolerated and suspected infringements can get a review placed on your page.
# Discuss the issue with the mod/admin politely. They're here to help, not to harass you. It is their discretion to allow or deny a character if they feel something doesn't work yet.
=== Final Draft - Approved ===
You're now ready to roleplay!
== Playing Your Character ==
Here's a few general tips to remember:
* You are not the same as your character. If a character is being hateful to your character, it doesn't represent the views of the other roleplayer, and attacks on the character are not attacks against you.
* Don't break the fourth wall. This means if a roleplayer explains something to you out of canon, your character should not reference it in canon, as they have no way of knowing.
* Life is not all about fighting. Make relationships with other characters and be willing to grow outside of the initial concept- -it's surprisingly more fun when the unexpected happens.
* Stay in character: don't do things or say things beyond a reasonable circumference of your character's typical range of personality traits. This isn't to say don't mix things up, but rather to show appropriate restraint.
== Roleplay ==
=== Starting Points, Realms, and Roleplay ===
All roleplay happens within certain location pages. These location pages are the only place serious roleplay is done aside from Events. At the start of your journey, you will typically be based in one of the Central Hub realms, ones easily accessible to beginner level characters, unless you have a specific world your character comes from that can be easily accessed - say through a stable portal. More advanced locations are typically reserved for roleplayers with more experience.
You will typically be paired with another roleplayer with substantial experience such as a staff member, and they will establish the direction of your story. As your world and story expand, don't be afraid to build up a mythos and start taking more control of events for yourself.
=== What to Do ===
=== Paragraph Style ===
A much more complicated style for roleplaying, these are mainly used for people who desire to set a particular atmosphere or just enjoy to have more detail in general. This style lives up to its name as usually, when posting, it's a block of text describing pretty much everything. An example will be as follows:
Among the ruins of a desolate destroyed city, smoke plumes the ground and reaches up to ten feet. Two monstrous figures veiled within the smoke, with only their outlines and actions being visible, a demonic laugh booms and echos throughout the ruins as they destroy another building, taking more lives. "Ha! This is too easy!" One taunts at any survivors. "Oh shut up and let's just get this over with." Sneers another.
Note: Now some users have little differences when they go with this style. Some won't use italics, or they use them only when their character is thinking.
# Among the ruins of a desolate destroyed city, smoke plumes the ground and reaches up to ten feet. Two monstrous figures veiled within the smoke, with only their outlines and actions being visible, a demonic laugh booms and echos throughout the ruins as they destroy another building, taking more lives. "Ha! This is too easy!" One taunts at any survivors. "Oh shut up and let's just get this over with." Sneers another.
# Among the ruins of a desolate destroyed city, smoke plumes the ground and reaches up to ten feet. Two monstrous figures veiled within the smoke, with only their outlines and actions being visible, a demonic laugh booms and echos throughout the ruins as they destroy another building, taking more lives. "Ha! This is too easy!" One taunts at any survivors. "Oh shut up and let's just get this over with." Says a little voice in another demon's head, his own thoughts displaying his annoyance.
== Dos and Don'ts ==
While the general rules of the wiki are presented in Wiki Rules and Guidelines, there are some additional tips that don't directly fit in there.
* Villains are typically not a good fit for new players as their starting character, particularly of these 'kill everyone and be the very best there ever was' ones. They are the least engaging characters on average, and most people tend to avoid them for this reason. If you must create a villain, you should ideally present an equal and opposite foil hero, or have one be created to tie the villain in to the rest of the wiki by another member.
* As stated in the Omni power section of the rules, Omniclass powers are generally prohibited, with Omnilock being banned. This is because of extensive abuse of the powers in the past that created undue amounts of drama. Please respect our rulings when Omnipowers are approved or denied. 
Category:Guides
Category:Main Guidelines