Quick Links for Sections:
➡️ Roleplaying
➡️ Sensitive and Explicit RP Topics
➡️ Languages
Even if you’ve never RPed before, it’s easy enough to start. RP is a little blend of storytelling, acting, and improv. Your character is no longer a little video game character, but an approximation of a real life person, and it’s your job to imagine how that person would act in various "real-life" circumstances.
You should view your character through the lens of real life actions. Are they talking to other characters like a normal person would, or are they leaping into a group and barking like a hyena and expecting other characters to be chill with it? Do they have complicated feelings about the apocalypse and the world to come, or are they a badass no-feelings zombie-killing Rambo that’s here to strike down every NPC they see (because the Storytelling Team loves that, right)?
More importantly, your RP character isn’t you. Though we all put a little of ourselves into our characters, making a self-insert character is the fastest way to become upset the second something bad happens to your character. Try to view your character objectively, and allow obstacles to be to be an opportunity for growth, instead of freaking out when things don’t go according to plan.
RP is a lot like real life. You won’t click with everybody, and not everybody will click with you. Your character’s personality often has little bearing on how interesting they are to interact with; rather, it depends on how dynamic you are, and how much you are engaging the other player. A grumpy, evil, introverted, or shy character can still form connections if you put them out there as an active scene partner. Taking interest in other characters, instead of only seeking to show off your own, will help you form connections.
That said, definitely don’t skimp on the personality! Give your character goals and ambitions and interests. Experiment with giving them views that may be different than yours, and thoughts and feelings that might seem illogical to you. Make them a little flawed, the way all humans are.
Lastly, the quickest way to become bored on the server is to play a god. Making a character who is already badass is far less exciting than a character who grows gradually to badassery. This server is not meant to be hard because you’re meant to create your own challenges as an RPer, to make a story interesting. If you rely only on the game mechanics to keep your character down you’ll soon find yourself with no conflict at all.
The fun part about roleplaying, instead of just writing your own book, is that other players bring an element of chaos to the mix! But that means that the other people involved might not do things you want them to do. It can be hard to relinquish some elements of control in a situation where a lot of other people are involved, but spontaneity and improv is the name of the game in RP.
Roleplay is best when it is done collaboratively, not to “win.” We’re all telling a story together, even if the characters are miserable (misery is good for them).
When you plan to do a scene with another player that is potentially tense or uncomfortable, RP Planning Tickets are your friends. They are found in the Create a Ticket channel and are private spaces for you and anyone you personally add to the ticket to discuss how a scene should go down and see if there are any boundaries that would make someone unhappy.
By the very nature of RP you will at some point have something happen to your character that was not pre-planned and you are not happy about. Maybe you were robbed. Maybe another character is spreading lies about your character. Maybe someone was dating your character and decided to end it. These things can be emotionally taxing, but it’s important to remember that things that happen in character should stay in character.
Must be at least 18 years old.
Must be largely an original concept. Playing characters ripped straight from other media or real life is not allowed.
Must be realistic. Funny character concepts are accepted; purely “joke” characters usually are not. The character concept should be somewhat grounded, and not a badass-of-all-trades. If they are military, they should not be "all military, all the time", and should have other defining characteristics.
Should avoid gratuitous childhood trauma and abuse. Not every kid has a happy childhood, but skip abuse for the sake of it, and use trigger warnings when appropriate. We don't allow SA of underage characters in a backstory, and we draw the line at children being sold into slavery or raised (either voluntarily or involuntarily) to be the "ultimate weapons." Your character can be badass without starting their training at 12.
Should not be based on any real-life “hot button issues.” No real-life terrorist groups, no extreme political parties. Avoid stereotyping.
Cannot know any of your other characters, or benefit from their hard work. They cannot be in the same faction, cannot share resources, and should not share identical feelings about other characters.
May only go by the name listed at the top of your character sheet, unless you include the character's real name in brackets. If you intend to go by a nickname other than the name in the Firstname Lastname portion of the bio, and you are not using a disguise kit, then you must include your character's real name in brackets, such as Titan [Bob Smith]. You can put in a ticket to have your character's name changed to that nickname, as long as you mention their real name somewhere in the bio.
Must showcase any mental health conditions with nuance and care. Staff will often reject character applications where a mental health condition is used in a ham-fisted way, or else pull you in to a ticket to discuss your intentions with the character and your familiarity with the condition at hand, to make sure we're not perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
Must be, mentally, an adult. "Childlike" characters are not accepted.
Must be able to speak in a way that is realistic (avoid caveman grunts, gimmicks like only saying their name, strange speech patterns like referring to themselves in the third person [they ain’t Khajiits], talking like a toddler, etc.). People who were raised without formal education can still speak well.
If you have questions about the rules, or want to pitch an unusual character concept, you can open a Application Question ticket on the Discord.
Your character should have features grounded in realism, like eye and hair colors that are naturally found in humans, and a lack of pointed ears, fangs, etc. To avoid height creep, they should be at or under 6'5" (195 cm), or under 6'9"(205 cm) if you specify that their height is a disadvantage to them.
Character pictures should:
AI-generated pictures are allowed, but we recommend commissioning an artist whenever you can. Picrew is also an option.
Sexual assault, racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc., cannot be a part of your RP. You cannot wield these topics as an IC accusation against other characters. Any violation of this, IC or OOC, will result in an immediate strike. Read through the "Your Character" section above for more info on this in backstories.
Mutilation/gore (dismemberment, permanent injury, explicitly bloody scenes), torture (physical or psychological), suicide (on-screen/with other people-- a tasteful graveyard post with a TW is fine), and degradation of basic rights (stripping characters of dignity, starving them, denying them person hygiene), can ONLY be RPed with clear, prior consent in place through RP Planning Tickets. It must be clearly communicated that participation in these types of roleplay is entirely voluntary. Players should feel free to decline without fear of retaliation or negative consequences.
Erotic Roleplay (ERP) is allowed, but anything steamier than a kiss should be kept to the in-game Private Chat function (use the cogwheel on your chat box to initiate). ERP is far from the focus of this server, and the same should apply to your characters. Additionally, staff accounts can hear /whisper at /shout range, and storytellers frequently teleport to random people on the map, invisible, to see about delivering a random event, so no moment outside of Private Chat is ever truly private. If you are caught ERPing outside of Private Chat, you will receive a strike.
Wasteland has a very basic alignment system at play. When you are new to the server, you will notice that you only have the ability to play Peaceful and Typical characters to start, and that you are not able to select the Violent alignment right off the bat.
In order to be approved to play a Violent character, you will need to take a quiz in Discord to make sure that you understand what playing a violent character entails, and to make sure you understand how to play an antagonistic character effectively, to make sure a scene is fun for everyone.
Of course, Violent characters don't have to be villains. Sometimes, good people will use violence to further their goals. To help make sense of the alignments, here is a breakdown:
Peaceful characters are more peaceful than your average person. They will go out of their way to avoid violence, either because of a personal morality that is important to them... or just because they're cowardly. Peaceful characters don't have to be good-- it's very possible that a manipulative, scheming, villainous character may still abhor violence just as much as a strong pacifist. Peaceful characters may use violence as a very last resort in self-defense or defense of their loved ones, but they should not lightly brush off what they have done when it's over.
Typical characters are your average person. They will use violence in self-defense or to protect their loved ones, take up arms if they are pushed to the brink, or occasionally get mad enough to get into a fight. However, violence isn't fun to them, and they shouldn't jump headfirst into using violence or wielding threats in situations where they could navigate the situation in other ways, like talking things out first. Most humans exist here; most people "don't want trouble", but will engage in trouble if they absolutely must. If you would kill a person for killing your loved one, you probably exist here; if you would go to great lengths to hunt them and their friends down and brutally torture them before you kill them, you might exist in Violent.
Violent characters are more violent than your average person. They're much more willing to escalate a situation, get into brawls, or use physical force to get what they want. Violent characters can range from mouthy bastards who can't resist riling people up at the bar, to highwaymen who wave a gun around and will shoot if goods aren't handed over, to your most sadistic gang members and killers. You don't have to be evil to be Violent-- you can be a heavily disassociating ex-military person who will "do what needs to be done" for those who can't stomach taking up a gun, or a mask-wearing vigilante seeking to bring about justice in the world.
To be approved to play a Violent character, make a Violent Character Approval Ticket on Discord. If you're unsure whether your character concept would be violent, open a ticket and ask!
Wasteland is an English-based server so you are expected to RP in English-- but what if your character knows other languages? That's where the language system comes into play.
The available languages are:
Afrikaans, Albanian, American Sign Language, Apachean, Arabic, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Farsi, Filipino, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Inuit, Iranian Persian, Iroquoian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Korean, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Marathi, Muskogean, Na-Dene, Nigerian Pidgin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Sehaptian, Salish, Serbian, Sinhala, Siouan, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uto-Aztecan, Vietnamese, Welsh, Western Punjabi, Yiddish
We also have Native American language families: Salish, Na-Dene, Uto-Aztecan, Apachean, Algonquian, Inuit, Iroquoian, Siouan, Sahaptian, and Muskogean. More info about why we don't have specific Native languages can be found here.