#I wanna rp more but I never have motivation and the characters I'm really interested in I can't find

[hollowfaith]

I was just blog hopping and I wasn't gonna send these out (I'm toolazy and while I wanna send it out to everyone I've interacted with sbfjivbfjil) ANYWAY before bed I just wanna say that your writing is just...CHEF KISS BEAUTIFUL. I know Gri said something like that too, but really...it's very flowy and very--like you can sing your writing. Your characters are so in-depth and I love them all! Whether they're OCs or Canons you really put your mind into them. I feel that you get into their actual headspace and like to question 'well what would they do in this situation' and stuff. Aurelius specifically...he's such a character. there's a lot for him to learn and slowly he's learning. I think you did a really good job in giving Aurelius a voice! I was worried you would tire out on him, but god he's still here and I'm so happy! He's a great character with all his flaws. Thank you for making Aurelius, but also thank you for just making ocs with me AND interacting with me too! Your writing is hella admirable

portrayal meme!

jade (and KLAUS) muh love U3U sankyuu for gracing my inbox between ur 12 children and 288 more OCs:

happy happy that aury grew into his voice! for that im grateful u let me play in ur world since he literally started as an excuse for me to RP a handsome dude *cough* and now he's not only handsome but hated!! and loved by klaus ofc which makes everything 200% okay HAH take that haters (affectionate)

i will say i've never written so much for OCs even in my own spaces so u take the credit for motivating me into stepping onto this path in the first place, i know ur saying nice things to me but i also gotta say nice things to u too & ur muses and honestly it's been interesting just playing mine off urs and sees what randomness happens.

i am glad Klaus is here too u kno!! if aury is the soul then klaus is the heart, without a heart even something living is lifeless and honestly that was aury before he met his soulmate

im so sorry he keeps causing trouble for u klaus;;; but at the same time *grabs u by the collar* if anything happens to Klaus i will riot ahhhhhh

now im the one sounding like i have an obsession

[ask-theshadowcyborg]

It's time to take a step back

Hey everyone, Mod Dimitri here. I think it's time that I officially get this out of the way, because if I don't, I'm probably just gonna keep holding it off. So essentially, I think I'm officially taking a step back from the ask blog scene. Whether it's permanent or temporary yet, even I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I've had such a fun time with these blogs, and it's really helped with fleshing out characters like Shadow and Xander! However, I've come to realize that the motivation for doing anything related to Tumblr has sorta just died out. If y'all hadn't noticed, I pretty much took an unmentioned hiatus just to kinda take a break to see if I'd ever get that spark back. But unfortunately, it never came. If anything, I only became more and more unmotivated to continue with just about any of my blogs, and that pretty much killed any bit of hope I had left for it. So, I figured that maybe it's in my best interest that I let y'all know what the final decision is, and the final decision is to step away completely and officially from any ask blog activity for a bit. Honestly, who fuckin' knows if I'll ever come back to this? Honestly, I just don't know if I'll ever gain inspiration to continue with these blogs again, but I'm really gonna miss the time I've spent here. To everyone who's interacted with any of my blogs and helped me to develop my characters, I really appreciate it! And to all the anons and many others who've come to interact and have mentioned that they loved my characters, thank you for helping me to make such lovable characters! Y'all are the reason that I've had so much fun here, and I honestly hope that one day, I'll be able to pick this back up. But for now, I think this is my official goodbye to Tumblr and to any ask blog content going further. If you maybe wanna keep in touch with me or keep up with stuff I'm doin', I do have a Discord where you can message me or potentially rp with me. It's TheShadowPotato#9508, feel free to add me if you so choose. I also have a YouTube channel where I'm beginning to regularly livestream games and a bunch of other content. Check it out in the link below and feel free to subscribe to keep up to date. With all that being said, thank each and everyone of y'all for the wonderful times spent on this amazing app. I hope that maybe one day, I can come back and bring my lovely characters back to the fun of these blogs. For now though, this is goodbye. See y'all on the flip! - Mod Dimitri

[hellrager]

I hope this isn't bothersome but do you have any tips for rping? I really wanna start my own blog but I'm not sure how to begin

It isn’t bothersome at all! Though I feel like @thezomblr would be way more qualified to answer your question, I’ll gladly do my best to give you some pointers. I’ll try to not make this too long winded and just give you the most important bits - of which I think are important when starting a RP blog.

1. Have Muse not Hype

Okay, I think this is important because I fall victim to this myself very often. What I basically mean is, be motivated and inspired to roleplay the character you chose. No matter if its your OC or a CANON character. You gotta put your heart and soul into it, like you do with every hobby! Don’t just make a blog because you have a sudden hype about the character, which might die within a week. Its a waste of your and your roleplay partner’s time. I mean, I’m not your mom - you can do whatever you want. I’m just telling you that people who keep making blogs which they barely use for roleplay, end up looking really unreliable rp wise. 

2. Have a Bio, About & Rules

Once you picked your character, open your good old office and start writing! Tell us about your characters past, if you already got as far. Most important are the About and Rules section. Tell us about your character. Who are they? What powers, likes, dislikes do they have? Whatever you think is important! And the rules are mainly to make sure that interactions go smoothly. Like, there are rules to sports, roleplay needs rules just as well. Not everyone likes to roleplay the same thing, and not everyone wants to see certain things on their dash. Tell us what you like and dislike being done in RP so we can make sure to make the roleplay experience fun for the both of us! If you need examples, you can check out my blog. I have no Bio for Damien but you can check out my About and Rules section.

3. The Theme 

Pick a theme that works for YOU. Don’t go with trends. Pick a theme that’s easy for you to manage and which you think looks good! Don’t pick a theme that’s too overly complicated at first. Editing basic stuff like your information can quickly become a pain in the ass. (unless you’re an html hero - then go wild). Also make sure your theme is practical before beautiful. Don’t make it so overloaded with nice effects and art, that people can’t even find your links. Its annoying and might cause people not wanting to bother reading about your muse. Just pick something that’s easy on the eyes but with your own touch!

4. Icons

That’s not something you have to use, many people just like to use them! If you want to use icons for roleplay, there are many ways to go on about it. You can draw your own or crop them from screenshots, mangas etc. Just be careful with what you crop - there are many artists who don’t want their art being used without asking them first, or without proper credit. So always make sure the artists are fine with it and credit them! There are also some blogs who already offer icons of certain muses. If you can find them that is. 

5. Promo

When you are all set up and ready for RP make a quick Promo. Like mine for example. You don’t have to start dropping your sick Graphic Design skills. A small promo with a bit of an introduction is enough to make people notice your blog. Start by following people you want to interact with and then surely some will reblog your promo, and the word gets around!

6. Communication

Once you got some roleplays going - please make sure to always communicate with your partners. Nothing is worse than for a roleplay to end up being dropped because there was a lack of communication. Talk to people, show interest in their muse and make sure that you create roleplays you both can enjoy. Be respectful and hey, if you can, make some friends! I met the most awesome people through RP

7. Have Fun

The most important rule of them all. HAVE FUN. So many people start treating RP like a chore, please never do that. If you don’t feel like writing a certain thing, then just don’t do it. Do something else. Just make sure you have fun, otherwise your hobby will quickly feel like homework and you end up procrastinating, even though you are supposed to enjoy it.

And..  that’s it from me! If anyone feels like I missed something important, feel free to add it to this post. 

[sadistic-sakamaki]

I've been wanting to start an RP blog for a while, but like the other anon I'm kinda terrified on multiple levels. It's not so much about the other RP bloggers I see, because you guys have been very friendly and approachable. It's more about my own self-doubt, and the fact I've never really RP'd on this platform. I'm not even sure where to get started when it comes to an RP (or OC) blog. I don't know if you've ever answered this, but do you have any tips? Thank you for your time!

Ooc; Hm… I get what you mean. It is tough to overcome one’s self-doubt, that’s for sure. And if you have never made the transition to tumblr, then it might even sound more scary. But it is not as hard as it seems, I promise! I did once writing an entire PSA regarding this issue, but this was years ago and I’d much rather give an answer anew, possibly more detailed (if there is something that I’m not covering here, though, always feel free to send me a new ask with your questions!).

The fact that you’re telling me that you’ve never roleplayed on this platform tells me that perhaps you have roleplayed outside of it, which makes things a lot more easier to a certain degree. The first thing you would have to do is, of course, CHOOSE A MUSE to write. Personally, I have always defended the argument that starting with a canon muse (that is already existent) is easier than starting with an original character. Why? Because there is more room to study the character and develop them in the first stages. For example, you might post an open that reflects one situation that already has happened in the show/game/whatever franchise you choose from. Plus, you have material to look at, which will definitely inspire you and somewhat mold your answers when you feel less secure. Look at it as a guide of sorts. When I’m not feeling certain of my portrayal, I always rewatch an episode of the anime or play the games, or even listen to drama CDS. While roleplaying is a new experience and you should eventually expand from the already existent situations, there is no law that says you can’t use the canon material as a resource. Most people do, whether they wish to portray a certain state of mind, mannerisms, or even replicate and incorporate their character’s way of speaking (Ayato’s has loads of slang, for example) into your roleplays.

Now, you may also argue: but isn’t an original character easier to write? It is unknown to others, so I will never have this pressure on me to always act 100% according to the character, like in canon! (there is always the possibility of having a canon divergent muse, although I won’t go in much detail because of obvious reasons haha). Yes, you won’t have pressure. But I believe starting a complete character anew and see how they adjust to things may be harder than expected. I say this from experience. With Ayato, I always have this impulse, because I know how he works. With my OCs it is tougher, because I spend more time figuring them out, and I might feel a bit lost during the process, because I have nothing to guide me. That’s why I say that canon muses are better than original characters, because you have something that will serve as resource.

Secondly, CREATE A BLOG. There is this… myth about pretty graphics and beautiful themes and all that —– Forget it. For now —- and always, really —- that should not be one of your concerns. Just choose something that you enjoy, mayhap even decorate your blog and customize it with colors that remind you of your character. While yes, having a pretty blog full of graphics CAN give a special aura and feeling to it (hell, looking at it might even motivate you to write! I usually change themes when I’m feeling stuck with Ayato. It’s kind of a fresh new start kinda feel.), it is not necessarily a requirement. Just do your thing with something that makes you feel comfortable. Although first impressions may be important, people will ultimately follow you for you and your writing, not the aesthetic of your blog.

All right, let us say you have created your blog, decided on your theme. You might be really excited to start things, but it is better to GO SLOWLY, truly. The next thing you should do before you start up the blog is to write the ABOUT & RULES pages. It is so, so, so very important! People have to know what you, as a mun, like and don’t like; are willing and unwilling to do. Therefore, take a few moments to think about your rules and always read the rules of the partner you’re interacting with!! It’s common courtesy.~ Then, the about page is crucial. Let’s say someone gets across your blog, and decides to check you out. Well, but you don’t have an about page!! And they don’t know you’re character at all!!!!! It’s 2164684654 gazillion times worst if you roleplay an original character if you don’t have an about page!! People can’t get into your head now, can they?~ So, you must have an about page. But please don’t make it a copy paste of your character’s wikipedia page, for example… No one likes that, and people will understand that you didn’t put the effort in creating your about page… 

Just try something for yourself, make the information more personal than just saying «x is a boy/girl, was born in w and does this for a living». While yes, that is good info, that’s just an introduction. Try going a bit deeper. What are their likes? Dislikes? Is there something they are really interested in? Is there something that happened with their past that marked them forever? How do they deal with people in general? Are they nice/bad? Do they have reasons for such? What are their personality traits? And so on. Of course, there are different ways to make an about page. You don’t want to reveal every single thing about your character, but you must present something important to them. For example, I have Ayato’s past in my about page. Some might consider it a huge spoiler, but I personally don’t, simply because I use his past to explore his way of acting, his flaws, and how he acts and deals with feelings in general. I’m explaining his character by sharing this important event, but I’m not spelling everything to the point that discussing that in a roleplay is useless because people already know what happened. Might be a tricky task --- to create these pages ---, but people appreciate it, because the moment they enter your blog, that will be the first thing they will consult.

So you have your about and rules page done. You might want to add a NAVIGATION PAGE, but before that you might want to create TAGS, so that it is easier to organize your blog. Once you have them figured out, create the navigation page. It will be sorta like a map to your blog, something similar to this: http://sadistic-sakamaki.tumblr.com/navigation Once you have your tags, make a blank post, or something among the lines «Tag dump!», and then insert the tags in the tag section. This will prevent tumblr from forgetting your tags, so once you start typing a certain tag of yours in the future, it should automatically pop up in the tag section. 

Tumblr is tricky, though. Let’s say you go on a long hiatus… Tumblr is only human… And he will forget your tags. My recommendation is that you create a word document and place all your tags there. Save it. Whenever tumblr doesn’t pop up the tag you want to use, open the document and copy paste the tag you want to use. Also, your blog will have ITS OWN TAG, so if people wanna nudge you, they will write to you through that tag. That tag will depend on your blog’s name. IMPORTANT: HYPHENS DON’T WORK IN THE TUMBLR TAGGING SYSTEM. I put this in all caps because my url has hyphens, and people still continue tagging me as «sadistic-sakamaki» despite my tag being «sadisticsakamaki», as I explained in my rules. That’s because some users have an automatic tag system that writes urls as they are… Result: most of the things that people write to me without using the correct tag, sadisticsakamaki, and using instead sadistic-sakamaki, ARE FOREVER LOST IN OBLIVION. So you will have to go in the depths of their blogs to see if they mentioned you in something or not… Easy way to resolve this: Choose an url with no hyphens. For the love of God, listen to me. You will thank me later. :’D

OPTIONAL: You might want to roleplay while using icons. Personally, I feel that this is very important, simply because I like to have a visual complement to the reply, so that it is easier to imagine one’s reaction to something. Plus, it might even help you describing an event in a more detailed way, so it’s a plus x plus relationship. Of course, not everyone uses them, and some even don’t want to in the first place. Why? It’s a lot of work. I can already hear a groan coming out of everyone’s mouth whenever they collect images and open photoshop (or any other program) to icon them. It can be fun, but most of the times it’s… eh. But it’s totally worth the process!!! Also, you can also style your own reply via html codes (i.e. making your text smaller of bigger, using italics or bold, etc etc). But this is getting really huge, and I don’t want to make it sound overwhelming. :’D IT’S EASIER THAN IT LOOKS.  Trust me on this one.

So, my friend! You’ve done all of this… It’s time to start up your blog! Everything is in order, so just write a post introducing your muse. I recommend doing so and tagging it under «anime roleplay», «anime rp», (if your chara is from anime) and «insert your character’s fandom here rp». You don’t have to be too serious or detailed, this post is only there to give a shout out to your blog and make yourself known. Example: http://sadistic-sakamaki.tumblr.com/tagged/anime-rp . From then on, start following people, send them asks, ask them to interact, make starters!!! And have fun!!!