Guide to Role Playing, Part Deux

(Repost - I felt it necessary to have multiple copies in the RP sections for ease of finding.)

This is a work in progress. Please use the links at the bottom of the post for additional information. I am updating this thread as I get time to do so.

- IR, 10/23/2010 (dated so you know this is a current thread and still being worked on and updated)



Getting Started

Congratulations! You've joined Tiberiam, registered on the forums, and found your way to my little ol' thread. I'm very pleased you've come and we're thrilled to have you here with us.

If you haven't done so already, I ask that you head on over to this thread and claim a spot on the regional map. This is step number one in starting role play. Can't RP if you don't exist!

The next is an optional step, but it can be very informational and fun to put together (and it helps out the Secretary of Culture in rare cases when he/she needs to intervene in RP issues). Once you have been a forum/region member for 48 hours, you may request a national database here. The purpose of the database is to provide as much (or as little if you're feeling uncreative) information as you want to share about your nation. This includes (most importantly) your national finances and military figures, as well as any information you would like to include about your nation, cities, events, or anything else you deem worthy to share.

For an example of a database, let me direct you to Rasvidi's database. Rasvidi has a wealth of knowledge in his database. You can be just as creative (or more so!) as he has been or you can provide just basic information as I have done. I'm not nearly as talented as Ravidi is when it comes to stuff like that.

When putting together your database, or before initiating an RP, there a couple of rules we need you to follow for the purpose of a more realistic RP experience.

Quote :

Rule Number One! We use the statistics of the nation currently represented in Tiberiam. We are not going to allow you to increase your population as you see fit or your economy. I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but it's just the way it has to be for fairness. If we allow one exception, then we must allow another and another.

For economic statistics, divide everything by 10 (including population), except for GDP per capita, unemployment rate, tax rate, and exchange rate. Use this for RPing purposes. You can find your economic statistics here. Type in your nation name into the "Find Nation" section and press Enter. Voila!

For military statistics, read down to the "Military vs. Population" section of the guide. It's very important you follow these guides. If not, the Secretary of Culture might come and ruin your fun. We don't want that.

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Guidelines for Roleplaying

Role playing is a great source of fun. It allows you to use your imagination and write out the unfolding of your own little world. While we do ask you to follow certain guidelines, we try our hardest not to hinder your creativity. Try it out! Describe the history of your city, sign alliances with other nations, or even engage in wars with them. The RP world is your ball of clay. Mold it in what way you see fit.

All of that said, however, there are rules you will need to follow in order to keep role playing fair and balanced for all members concerned.

I would say that the number one thing RPers should remember is to communicate with the other members of the RP. If no one knows what you're up to, it tends to lead to issues. People get grumpy and storm off and it's just a pain in the rump to deal with. Talk to each other via PM or telegram or even "(OOC:)" inserts. Whatever you need to do. In regards to an RP war I've been participating in recently, I've been quite pleased with the sheer volume of telegrams sent my way in regards to plans, tactics, and behind the scenes stuff to play along with.

Not every one is an award-winning author and we certainly don't expect you to RP like one. We're not going to harass you over typos, missing words, errant commas, capitalization or anything of that sort. That said, however, we ask that you try to put at some thought into what you're writing. You don't need to write a novel detailing every last detail of what you're playing out (unless you really want to - we're always happy to read it), but coherency is a must. We need to know what you're getting at. If there's a point you're trying to make, please try your hardest to make it as clear as possible for the rest of the RPers involved.

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War!

Warring. It's terribly fun to blow stuff up, isn't it? Roll out the tanks, prep the planes, and getting your marching boots on, we're going to.... WAIT! Hold on to that thought.

Before declaring war on every poor creature that moves anywhere within a quarter mile of your nationa borders, perhaps you should talk to the person whose cities you're planning to drop bombs on. Talk, discuss, plan. Agree on something, and have at it. RPing can be fun even if you know the ultimate outcome. The fun lies in getting there! And who knows? That ultimate outcome may not be the end of the ordeal afterall. You don't have to know how everything is going to go down before you start it, but having some sort of plot is generally a good idea.

If you do decide to war, great! Just make you sure you follow the rules. Militaries, despite what might exist in the world in your head (and farbeit for me to question those), are not infinite. Most real life militaries are roughly 3% of a nation's total population. 20%, 30%, 80%... all terribly unrealistic, unless, of course, you are counting those capable of picking up sticks and stones and hurling them at your enemies armored brigades. Take into account things like military size and your military budget. A 2,000 man army might be better than 20,000 if you have a better military budget. The larger the size of your military, the more it costs to adequately equip and arm them. Please take all of this into consideration before you go picking fights. As stated before, please talk to your RP partner during your roleplay.


Military vs. Population Calculations

Warring via RP is great fun, but it must remain orderly in order to be fair. This formula is a great way of determining the size of your military force, rather than pulling a number out of thin air (which often results in the Secretary of Culture having to step in and address the issue).

• Your military should be 3%-10%* of your total population. ( * Dependent on your nation size. Larger nations will be capped at 5% of your total population while smaller nations will be allowed up to 10% for the sake of parity.)
  
  As an example, we will using "Nation A" with a population of 20 million (RP) and assume they are using the maximum of 10%.
  
  
• Multiply your total population by the percentage you choose to employ.
  
  Ex. 20 million X .10 (10%) = 2,000,000 military personnel
  
  Based on Nation A's size and percentage employed, it will have a maximum of 2 million troops at its command.
  
  
• Next, multiply your total troops count (in this case, 2 million) with the percentage of your Defense Budget, as indicated by NSEconomy. This percentage is the percentage against your total national GDP.
  
  Nation A has 35% war defense budget.
  
  Ex. 2,000,000 X 0.35 (35%) = 700,000 military personnel
  
  Based upon the percentage of Nation A's Defense budget, it will have a maximum of 700,000 active troops.
  
  
• Now subtract 700,000 from your total 2 million.
  
  Ex. 2,000,000 - 700,000 = 1,300,000
  
  Nation A will have 1.3 million troops on reserve.
  

Nation A can only use 700,000 troops for offensive operations against an enemy. Nation A will be able to activate and use the remaining 1.3 million troops in the event that its nation is invaded and it needs to defend its borders.

Note from the Secretary of Culture: If you care to reverse the numbers (using Nation A's as an example), you may use 1.3 million as your active force and 700,000 as your reserve, so long as you bear in mind that a lessened reserve force may be detremental to your nation in times of war.

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Use this thread in the meantime. Rasvidi was kind enough to provide us with the original.

Go here, too.

And here. - Use this thread for RP thoughts, suggestions, and complaints.

One of you mods, please sticky this. I seem to have lost that ability.

Will do, great guide Isis, good work!