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Roleplay is one of the world’s many gateways into storytelling, and through it, you’re given the opportunity to wield your creativity in new ways: you get to be a character in the very story you’re writing. Whether you’re an avid reader, aspiring writer, moviegoer, TV buff, daydreamer, or simply looking for a new hobby where you can have boatloads of fun online, Roleplay allows you to step into any story imaginable as a character yourself. And if that wasn’t enough, online Roleplay allows others to participate and enhance your story with their own characters, an exciting dynamic that sacrifices some control in favour of a rich storytelling experience not unlike life itself. Here, you steer the narrative, and the narrative steers you.

The format is simple. Dive into your preferred genre and time period, then slip into the shoes of a canon character (a pre-existing fictional/nonfictional character) or an original character, and partake in text-based Roleplay. Your narrative can come to life across one or more of three avenues: Stream, Chapters, and the Plotting Chat Box, and can be either individual or collaborative, private or public. It’s acting, it’s reacting, it’s improvisation, and it’s totally free!

If you’re a beginner, fear not. Keep reading to get a quick rundown of Roleplay terminology, RPnarrative’s unique features, rules and etiquette, and some Roleplay tips. Plus, we’ve got a step-by-step guide to get you started, so allow us to bridge the gap to your wildest fantasies.

Welcome!

RPnarrative is a platform optimised for the perfect role play experience! It’s a welcoming, safe space for you to carry out good old, conventional roleplay, but we offer you many unique features that will elevate your craft to the next level. How? On RPnarrative, your full roleplay potential is brought to light via three different roleplay avenues: streams, chapters, and chat. These three features create a one-of-a-kind mishmash of interpersonal opportunities and dynamics unlike anything you’ve ever experienced in online roleplay before. We have more information on streams, chapters, and chat further down in our manual, but here’s a sneak peek on what makes our platform so special to us and, hopefully in the future, special to you too!

For one, you’re able to create multiple characters in a single account, which lets you carry out your roleplays simultaneously and receive notifications in a centralised space. Each of your characters have their very own character cards, customisable profiles and aesthetics sections, where you can attach photos, songs, and videos that you feel match their vibe.

You’re also given the opportunity to kickstart multiple roleplay chapters with a writing partner, and there, you’re provided with various tools including text formatting and picture attachments. You also get to browse other roleplayers’ chapters on the platform, and most importantly, you can control who sees your own. Do you want them visible to everyone? Visible only to your connections? Or do you want to keep them for your eyes only? And outside of this longform roleplay, you also have the stream, our standout social media feature available to each of your individual characters as a simulation of real world banter and online interactions.

All of this and much, much more is available on RPnarrative, both on desktop and mobile, so you can take your roleplay with you wherever you roam

The RPnarrative Stream is our platform’s answer to social media while roleplaying. This is where you participate in banter or "stream play”, a quick, impromptu-style roleplay accommodated by 100 characters for Core users and 300 characters for those with the Stream upgrade. You may attach links to RPnarrative chapters or external addresses, and the posts can be edited within the first 24 hours of posting. Want to post out-of-character? That’s possible too, just make sure to tick the OOC checkbox!

The RPnarrative Chapters are your traditional destination for roleplay narratives. Here, you can choose to create content in three formats: para (one prose paragraph at a time), multi-para (more than one prose paragraph at a time) and one-liners (one sentence at a time). You may also embed pictures in your chapters and format your writing accordingly to complement the feeling of your prose. When collaborating on a chapter, you share that chapter with a partner and participate in back-and-forth interactions formatted in para, multi-para, novella, or one-liners. Once the scene roleplayed in this chapter is complete, the chapter can be archived and downloaded if permission is granted by your partner. Remember that your chapters can be either published publicly or to your connections only, and may also be kept completely private.

The RPnarrative Plotting Chat Box is meant to facilitate and keep track of the plotting process with your partner across multiple Chapters. The plotting can be done either in character or out of character, but keep in mind that you only get one chat box per partner (the same chat box across all collaborative Chapters with that partner).

Our three genres are hopefully meant to make your roleplay choices a little simpler and more straightforward. Although we don’t intend to limit you, it’s preferable that your choice reflects the feel of your story to an adequate degree. The stylistic nuances of your story that aren’t represented by your choice of genre can be explored in the Aesthetics section.

The seven options below are there to serve as a guideline for the time period your story is set in. These are not meant to limit your universe’s timeline to any specific chronology, rather they should be seen as stepping stones contextualised by our universe’s order of events. For example, Star Wars would be set in the Distant Future, Harry Potter in Current, and Game of Thrones in Ancient Times. Any diversions not represented by your choice of time period can be explored in the Aesthetics section.

Beginning of time: From the beginning of space-time up until the emergence of the first intelligent species (14bya - 2mya earth-time).

Ancient times: From the emergence of the first intelligent species to the first recorded use of ground breaking technology. E.g. gunpowder, electricity, or the printing press in earth’s timeline (2mya - 10th Century earth-time).

Old times: From the first recorded use of ground breaking technology to the beginnings of modern nation states (11th Century - 19th Century earth-time).

Current: From the beginnings of modern nation states to today (20th Century - current earth-time)

Near future: A period projecting either advancement or decline of the modern nation state’s pillars in culture, science, politics, medicine, agriculture, etc. (Latter end of 21st Century - 22nd Century earth-time).

Distant future: A new state of existence borne of the remnants of past decline or the fruits of past advancements. E.g. post-apocalypse, intergalactic travel, species extinction (23rd Century - onwards earth-time).

End of time: A period of time where the universe is slowly becoming incompatible with life (D22b AD earth-time).

As with any other artform, particularly one where communication with and exposure to others is implicit, roleplay has its very own rules and etiquette. Here, we include both general roleplay rules and RPnarrative rules that are meant to foster yours and everyone else’s positive experience.

• Be kind and respectful – RPnarrative is meant to be a safe space, and everyone is welcome. For further details, please refer to our community guidelines. You can help uphold this by reporting repeat offenders (report buttons are available on Stream posts, Aesthetics and the character’s profile).

• Create and keep aware of trigger and content warnings if needed, and make sure your partner does the same.

• Mature or sexual content is not permitted on public Stream or public Chapters.

• Do not control your partner’s character or force them into situations they don’t agree with. For example, your partner might object to you punching them successfully, or lifting them off the ground.

• You are not obligated to begin or continue any story that you do not connect with, and the same is true for your partner. In that case, respectfully inform your partner that you wish to end your story or implement changes.

• Be mindful whenever OOC interactions are involved. Some roleplayers desire in-character interactions only; some are willing to establish real life friendships and banter; others may want something in between. Make sure you establish and respect each other’s boundaries early on.

• To avoid confusion when interacting OOC, a good rule is to use parentheses or any other agreed-upon indication. E.g. (OOC: "…”).

• Read yours and your partner’s replies well, then reread for good measure.

• Try to match your reply length to your partner’s, and respect your agreed-upon reply speed.

• Do not plagiarise! It’s okay to be inspired, but blatant stealing is prohibited.

• Do not bring your real-life issues and events into your roleplay space.

Always remember: you are not your character!

1. Read the entirety of this manual. Yes, really.

2. Familiarise yourself with our roleplay rules and etiquette.

3. Browse and read content from fellow roleplayers on our website. What genre, time period, fandom, or writing style do you like/dislike?

4. Determine your preferred roleplay genre and time period, then determine who your muse or character will be. If you’re a beginner, we recommend starting with a maximum of two characters.

5. Conduct extensive research on your character and their canon, be they fictional or nonfictional.

6. Research some more. In fact, research should be a staple of your roleplay journey.

7. Create an RPnarrative account! Choose an appropriate pen name (one different from your own) and pinpoint your writing preferences. Don’t worry, your preferences can be adjusted later if you wish.

8. To complete your account, you need to create at least one character. Input your character’s information into our character creation menu (these can be edited later on). Anything concerning them or your canon that is not available on the menu can be included using keywords in your Synopsis.

9. Upload images to the vibes aesthetic album to have a feel for what your character’s main attributes are. Refer to this regularly to remind yourself.

10. Write your Preface out-of-character detailing your roleplay rules and what your expectations are as a writer and roleplayer. Write your Prologue in-character detailing the attributes of your character and roleplay canon.

11. Determine whether you’ll be writing Star Roleplay (encasing actions between asterisks) or Novel Roleplay (narrating your actions in novel-form). Novel Roleplay is the preferred method.

12. Choose whether you’ll be writing in first, second, or third person. Third person is the most common and preferred.

13. If using third person, choose between Limited or Omniscient POVs. A limited POV would mean your persona is unaware of anything unknown to them, while an omniscient POV gives you, the narrator, knowledge of all things unknown to your persona.

14. Choose between past ("He laughed”), present ("He’s laughing''), or future tense ("He will laugh”). A combination of all three can also be used for variety.

15. To practice, begin roleplaying solo on your Stream or in Chapters, or both. Remember that your chapters can be privated.

16. Once you’re comfortable, head to "Search Characters” to find a partner to roleplay with according to your preferences, then request a connection.

17. If your connection request is accepted, you may now communicate through the plotting chat box to coordinate your roleplay plans.

18. Start a Collaboration Chapter together or begin Stream play.

19. Participate wholeheartedly in your roleplay and try to honour yours and your partner’s preferred reply speed and length.

20. Have fun! Keep in mind that roleplaying is a hobby and meant to be a positive presence in your life. If you’re ever overwhelmed, it’s time to take a break.

• Use name generators online if you’re having trouble doing this yourself.

• Participate in timed writing challenges online (or individually) to hone your craft in conjunction with your reply/improv speed.

• Get yourself comfortable with the idea of behaving as someone else: how would you react to a given scenario in real life? Would your character do the same or the complete opposite?

• Test the flow of your writing by reading what you write out loud.

• If lacking in inspiration, search for writing or plot prompts online. The internet is your partner in roleplay!

• Wait for the appropriate and opportune moments to introduce new plot points or devices (major or minor) to your roleplay, especially if you are collaborating.

• Follow the rules of your canon as closely as possible, stay true to your character, and do not haphazardly switch/change stories; inconsistency is detrimental to storytelling!

• Aim to show instead of tell; it makes for better storytelling. Don’t simply tell the reader that something’s happened, show them when, where, why, and how it happens.

• Enhance your descriptions by utilising the five senses, but don’t overdo it.

• Ensure your writing is grammatically correct and precise for the sake of coherency, but don’t be afraid to stray from language conventions – this isn't your high school English class after all!

• They say that acting is reacting; well, the same goes for roleplay. When collaborating, make sure you react to and acknowledge your partner’s content in your replies. There’s no higher praise than that!