have you been wanting to get into rping on discord but just didn’t know where the heck to start? never fear: discordhelp is here to present our beginner’s crash course guide to discord rp! in this guide, we’ll go over some commonly used terms, give some ideas of what to expect when joining your first discord rp, and link to some resources to help get you going.
one of the great but trickier parts of rping on discord is the fact that no two groups will ever be exactly alike -- each server you join will always have its own unique layout, culture, etc. so of course we can’t give you an exact description of each and every one of them, but hopefully this will help you feel a little more comfortable in getting ready to check one out for yourself.
our inbox is always open for questions about this guide, anything else we make, or discord rp as a whole, so if there’s anything we forgot to include or you’d like more clarification on please feel free to drop us a line! please like & reblog if you found this useful!
GLOSSARY
SERVERS. servers can be thought of almost as a self-contained, private forum. generally they’re inaccessible to anyone without an invite -- some groups do publish an invite link to allow anyone with the link to join, while others only send their invite link out to members who have already applied & been accepted into the group. this will be your main hub of activity! some bigger groups will also have multiple servers for organizational purposes, such as one for ooc interactions, one for para threads, etc. each server will be laid out a little differently based on the group’s needs and the admins’ preferences, but to get an idea of what some potential server layouts may look like, you can take a peek at some of the server templates we’ve made and reblogged in the past right here!
CATEGORIES. these are essentially folders within a server meant for grouping channels together. most servers will have a category for ooc channels, important group information, various different setups for ic interactions, and so on. the great thing about this is that categories are all collapsible, so you can minimize them to hide its channels. this does not mute anything, however, so every time there’s an unread message in a channel in a collapsed category, you will still receive a notification for it, which will pop up beneath the category accordingly.
CHANNELS. this is where the magic happens. you can think of every channel in a server kind of like its own little group chat, with each channel having a clear intended purpose. from your general ooc chat, admin announcements, starter & plotting call channels, and ic interaction channels, these are used for just about everything. it’s important that you make sure you’re using them how they’re intended, so if you’re uncertain what a particular channel’s purpose is, check with your admins!
THREADS. these are still a pretty new feature and not all groups use them, and the ones that do tend to have extremely varied ways of implementing them. we’re actually working on a big masterpost right now all about threads and we’ll come back and edit this post to link it once it’s up, but for now what you need to know is that threads basically function as temporary channels that offshoot from an actual channel. they auto-archive after 24 hours if no new messages have been sent in them.
below is an example of how categories, channels, and active threads look in action.
PINNED POSTS. server admins (and members with the specific permission) have the ability to pin posts in a channel, which basically just bookmarks it for easy access later on. this might be used in certain channels to make important information more easily accessible, so it’s always a good idea to check the little pushpin icon in the top right of the screen on desktop or above the users list on mobile.
REACTIONS. one of the fun parts about discord is that you can add a reaction to just about any message, which is an emoji that gets tacked onto the message itself (example below). mostly this is just used to emphasize or respond to messages as you’d expect, but sometimes reactions are used for other purposes as well. for example, many discord groups gauge group activity via interest checks rather than activity checks, in which everyone in the server will be tagged by the admins and have a specific amount of time (usually 24 hours) to add a reaction onto the message to show they’d still like to be in the group. there’s also the use of reaction roles, in which adding a specific reaction to a specific message will allow a bot to assign you a corresponding role in the server.
ROLES. roles can be used for all different kinds of things, but generally they’re used to group server members together in some way. for example, most servers will have a role for admins and a role for members. some servers have roles for members’ pronouns, muse names, and other various purposes. server members can be tagged by role so that all members with that role will get a ping, but others in the server will not.
TAGGING. this is just @’ing another user to get their attention! it’ll give them a red notification bubble and highlight the message they were tagged in. in discord rps, people will often tag each other in their para replies to make sure their partner sees it, or when starting a new thread / channel. it’s also possible to tag @/everyone and ping the whole server, but this is generally frowned upon if you’re not a server admin.
PERMISSIONS. these aren’t anything you have to worry about too much if you’re not a server admin, but there are different things you may be restricted from doing in parts of the server as a member -- for example, you may not be able to send messages in certain channels, add your own channels in certain categories, and so on. if you have a question about or difficulty with permissions, talk to your server admins!
BOTS. these are automated programs that can be added to a server to assist with various functions. there’s a huge variety of bots out there and which ones your admins decide to implement is up to them, but some common ones that are used are moderator bots (which help with admin duties such as sending admins a message when someone joins or leaves the server, setting up reaction roles, etc), bots that allow users to send anonymous messages (click here for more info on those), dice rolling or randomizer bots, and of course...
TUPPERBOX. tupper is probably the most widely-used bot for discord rp. it’s a bot that essentially allows you to create your own character profile for each of your muses, so when you post in character it looks like it came from them and not your own account (example below). we have two guides on how to set up your tuppers here and here, and a few other tutorials about tupper usage you can check out right here!
JOINING A GROUP
now that we’ve got the terms down, let’s look at what to expect when you join your first discord rpg! we’ll break it down into steps below:
REVIEW RULES. this is one of the first things you should do upon joining a new server. even if you found the group through tumblr and there were rules on the main or advertisement, make sure to look over them again! sometimes there will be additional, server-specific rules only found here.
APPLICATION. some groups have members apply in the server itself rather than via a tumblr main or other method, so if you haven’t applied to join the group yet, now’s the time to do so! in groups like this, there should be a channel for applications, so head on over there and make sure you follow the format as laid out by the admins!
INTRODUCE YOURSELF. once the above is taken care of, make your ooc introduction! most servers will have a channel specifically for this purpose, some with a predetermined format and some without, but it’s usually always a good idea to include your name, age, pronouns, timezone, and muse(s) at the very least. it’s also a good idea to go say hi in the ooc chat while you’re at it!
TUPPERBOX. if you haven’t done so already, you’ll want to set up your tupper for your character(s), and like everything else, typically you’ll find a channel dedicated in the server for this very purpose. again, we encourage you to look at the tutorials we have on tupperbox registration linked in our glossary!
EXPLORE. lastly, go ahead and poke around the server and familiarize yourself with the layout and different categories! if it’s a smaller group, usually admins will assign a category to each mun or muse, which means you’ll have free rein to add whatever individual channels you see fit. this includes muse intros, musings, tracker, etc! however, if it’s a larger group, there will typically be a category dedicated to muse intros and musings and other ooc things. it just depends on how the admins organize things!
otherwise, don’t be afraid to ask questions! the world’s kind of your oyster from here!
IC INTERACTIONS
PLOTTING & STARTER CALLS. open starters aren’t generally much of a thing in discord rps, so interactions tend to rely pretty heavily on making plotting & starter calls. there are typically channels for this, and usually how it works is that you’ll make a post in that channel offering to plot or write starters, and anyone who adds a reaction to it is looking to do so! plotting is generally done in the dms.
TEXTING & PARA THREADS. there are typically two different kinds of interactions in discord groups, and the prevalence of each definitely changes from group to group, with some being more balanced between the two and some leaning more towards one or the other. there are of course para threads, which are your typical face-to-face style narrative interactions, but a popular draw for discord rps is the ability to implement texting threads -- basically text messages sent in character. these tend to be much more fast-paced, in the moment interactions, and are good for furthering character relationships when you don’t necessarily have time to do a whole para. there are also often in character group chats that serve a similar purpose, which can be a great way to get your characters to interact with ones they normally might not!
and there you have it! hopefully this will get you off to a good start when it comes to joining your first discord group. happy rping :)