Hi! Can you make a guide on how to get your roleplay rolling? I just made my rp yesterday and don't know what to do ... like ... how do I officially start things?
I’m terribly sorry for the delay in answering this! Life has been a little crazy for me lately, but I’m trying to keep up. I hope you’ll forgive me!
I definitely can, lovely. I think I am actually going to make a whole series of guides covering roleplay creation, because I don’t want to put it all in one guide - I think the amount of information will be overwhelming! Check back within the next couple weeks; I’ll try to do it a guide in between each of my school projects so I can get everything done in a timely fashion. In the meantime, if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask them on or off anon and I’ll try to get to them more quickly than I got to this one! As well, here are some things I would suggest you do:
Work on perfecting your plot, first and foremost. Ask for opinions from friends and from RPC/Hs. Edit and re-edit. Polish it. Shine it. And still, bear in mind that it will never be perfect and you may always have to go back and add things to it or edit again. But get it to the best it can be for now!
Choose a really well-organized, aesthetically pleasing theme. Try to choose one that reflects your roleplay really, really well. Check here and read this for places to get really good themes. Then, ask for opinions from friends and RPC/Hs! kgillsrpc, by the way, would be a fantastic person to ask for an opinion on your theme!
Then, work on getting a really nice colour scheme for your theme. Look here for some fantastic colour schemes - (x) (x) - or create your own, and then ask me or other RPC/Hs for opinions (once again, this is kgillsrpc’s specialty)!
Try to get as much of the page set up as possible! Work on getting all the pages filled and the links working. The following are some things you should definitely think about including on your roleplay’s main page:
- “Full Plot” page- Short version of plot in sidebar, with “read more” link leading to full plot page (like the blurb on the back of a book, to draw the attention of potential roleplayers!)- Rules page- Application page or application above submit box- “Characters” page, with a variety of choices (open male, taken female, by species, by age, etc.) and with all links leading to a tag (even if there are no biographies in that tag yet)- Clear, organized navigation page- “Follow” page, or tag, or some way that your characters can find links to each others’ blogs so that they can follow each other
The following are optional:
- “Locations” page- Roleplay specific information pages (for example, a period roleplay might have pages full of information on the time period so that roleplayers can write with accuracy; a futuristic roleplay filled with robots might have pages full of information about said robots)- FAQ page- “Meet the Admins” page- Challenge/prompt tags- An audition password hidden in your rules so you can be sure people have read them
Definitely start working on biographies as soon as possible (unless, of course, your roleplay is an OC roleplay). Aim to have as many written as possible before your roleplay starts, but I’ve found that a good number to start with is ten girls and ten boys, just for balance and variety.
Graphics. Get some good graphics done and up as soon as possible, because they are what attract people to a roleplay. As much as it really should be the plot that attracts potential roleplayers, we as humans are very visual, and we like pretty things. People won’t be likely to give your roleplay a second glance if they can’t stand to look at your graphics for more than a few seconds! If you’re not very good with graphics, you can always find an RPC/H who fulfills graphics requests and ask them to make your graphics for you!
Get a promo post in the tags! Make it a photo post (using your promo graphic) and put your plot (or a short version of it) as the caption. Make sure you include a link to your roleplay’s main page! Tag with “rpg,” “rp,” and “roleplay,” as well as two other tags that are specific to the genre of your roleplay (e.g. “supernatural rp” if your roleplay involves the supernatural). Tumblr only accepts the first five tags, so choose wisely!
I feel like there are some things I’m missing, but once again, just ask if you have any specific questions! And thank you for the request, lovely!