FFRP Anyone?

[Vlis]

Hey, all.
As you can probably tell, I'm fresh to these forums and don't know much. However, I do believe I have something to introduce into your lives. You're almost there--the first step has been taken. Hint: I'm talking about collaborative fanfiction aka RPing.
"RPing?" you ask.
Yes. RPing. FFRP specifically. Free-form roleplaying.
It may seem like a daunting prospect, starting up a thriving RPing community on a forum like this, but it is very possible and extraordinarily fun. Trust me.
But, to get started, a few expectations must be put into place.
First, there is no ultimate goal. The purpose is character development, gaining writing experience, and creating connections between writers. There is no winning or losing, no "good" or "bad".
Second, no god-modding. What's that? In FFRP, people create characters that they control. God-modding is when other writers take control of those characters. It's rude and generally looked down upon.
Third, FFRP is regulated by consensus. I can come in here and toss these base lines at you, but if the general public decides that they want to let one another possess characters, that's what'll be allowed.

Then again, this might just fizzle out and die.
An important thing is not to question yourself. Don't compare yourself. If someone is more experienced, that's all right. You'll make it there in time. Everyone makes mistakes too. Don't be embarrassed keep going. Characters die. That's life.

I'm going to halt here for now and wait to see if there's any interest. If you are interested, stop by, say hello. I don't bite. At least, not most days. (Why is there no ninja emoji? The ninja emoji is the most utilitarian thing out there!) Depending on that, I'll write up some more background and maybe we can get started.

(Credit to my friends of the 17thShard for the definitions of FFRP. Also, mandatory plug, read Brandon Sanderson. )

 

[Slytherin Princess Sky]

This sounds so cool!

 

[Vlis]

All right!
Three plus me. Small, but not necessarily a bad thing. We have some interest. If anyone else sees this, know that new people are always wanted and welcome.

Character sheet time!
This is what lets other RPers (roleplayers--I'm going to expand all the abbreviations I catch myself using, for now, to try and prevent miscommunication and confusion) know about your character. It also serves to reign people in a bit and cut down on the number of OP (over-powered) characters we have running amok.

Spoiler: Character Sheet (Blank)

Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Skills:
Equipment:
Weaknesses:
Magic:
Family:
Backstory:
Personality:
Theme Song:

Things in italics are optional, and, well, most of this is just suggestion. I know a guy who subcategorizes the appearance section down to the color of the character's left eye. You can be vague, you can be specific. This is a guide.

Here's a filled in example, as a reference.

Spoiler: Mel Lewis

Name: Melanie Henrietta Lewis
Age: 11 [Any notes you want to specify that aren't specifically relevant can be inserted like this for clarity]
Hogwarts Year: 1st
Appearance: Dark brown hair, bangs. Average height. Brown eyes.
Skills: Mel's intelligent, but not brilliantly so. She's compassionate and a decent intermediary in an argument. [These can be as detailed as you want. "Exceptionally skilled a embroidering images of happy blue elephants on doilies" is a perfectly valid skill. ]
Weaknesses: Often puts others before herself. Easily distracted and taken advantage of when she isn't paying attention. Mel's also young and won't always see the bigger picture.
Magic: Yes. [I've been imagining a Hogwarts based RP here, so at least at the beginning, most characters will be witches/wizards. Unless any of you disagree, in which case, speak up!]
Family: Three older brothers, a third year, a fifth year, and a sixth year. She isn't all that close with any of them. Her parents have jobs working in the Ministry of Magic.
Backstory: Mel's grown up overshadowed by her siblings. No weird tragic, traumatic accidents occured during her childhood. She's very excited to attend Hogwarts. [Here is where you'd explain the reason your character is so depressed, dark, and moody, should that be the case. Like OP characters, a few of those are okay, but too many are overwhelming.]

And that's about it. I stuck the character sheets in spoilers out of habit, but since we're still quite small and these seem to be not all that long, not doing that probably would be okay too.
If you have any questions, ever, feel free to ask them here or PM (private message--is there a different term for that around here?)
I look forward to seeing your characters!

 

[Charlie_Lupin]

Name: Charlie Lupin
Age: 15
Hogwarts Year: 3rd Year
Appearance: Pastel hair/ white/ brown hair, sometimes with a flower crown on top. Rather tall, and green eyes
Skills: Charlie cares for people a lot. He will be by a friend if they are having a hard time. He is very compassionate
Weaknesses: He puts people in front of himself. He is kind of clumsy
Magic:Yes. He found magic at a rather young age. His mother taught him things when he was a bit older and could understand the different sides of magic
Family: He is the youngest brother. His mom Poppy who was a single parent. His brother Sebastian was like a father figure to him
Backstory: Charlie at a young age always wanted to learn. His mother taught him how to cook and she taught him flowers and how to read them. He had a good childhood. He never saw his father before due to reasons.

(more information about Charlie you can click here He happens to a multi-roleplay oc I have for IG and that's why it has two lovers on there. You click run and then when it loads, you can click on the star and brush and those to see more. WORKS BETTER ON COMPUTERS.)

 

[Mandrake Scamander]

Name: Bowen Mandrake Scamander
Age/Year: depends on the story
Appearence: built like Theseus but resembles Leta
Skills: Herbology, Potions, Care and Charms, Fair Keeper, soft spoken
Weaknesses: shy, withdrawn at first, has trouble with social cues at times
Magic: had bouts of accidental magic growing up.
House: Hufflepuff
Wand: Ebony and Phoenix Tail Feather 9 1/2"
Broom: Overhauled Silver Arrow
Family: Grandparents (Theseus and Leta), Great Uncles ( Newt and Jacob), Great Aunts (Tina and Queenie), Parents (Killed by Death Eaters)
Backstory: Following his parent's murder, Bowen was raised by his grandparents. At age 11, Bowen received his Hogwarts letter. He befriended Teddy Lupin on the train ride to school and both were sorted into Hufflepuff house. Bowen sometimes has trouble with social cues which Teddy helps him with. In his second year, Bowen became House Keeper of the Badger Quidditch team.
Of note is that he witnessed his parent's murder and remembers it vividly. He is especially close to his grandparents and great Aunts and Uncles and family is most important to him. He likes to write because he feels his words come out better on parchment as opposed to verbally.

 

[Mandrake Scamander]

Theme Song: Demons by Imagine Dragons or Crazy Knights by KISS

 

[Mandrake Scamander]

My other OC is
Name : Adam Diggory
Age : 2 years younger than his brother Cedric
Appearence: 5'8" , Slim, dark hair and eyes. Not quite as overtly handsome as his brother
House: Hufflepuff
Skills: Herbology, Potions, Ancient Runes, became House Seeker following his brother's death.
Broom: his brother's
Weaknesses: sensitive about his brother
Family: Amos (Father), Mrs. Diggory (Mother), Cedric (Brother, Dec)
Wand: Hazel & Unicorn Tail Hair 12 1/4" Hard Flex
Backstory: Adam is the younger brother of Cedric. He is also a Hufflepuff and is a member of D.A. After his brother was murdered, Adam reluctantly took his brother's spot as Seeker on the House Quidditch team and used his brother's broomstick.

 

[Vlis]

Sorry, guys. I'm a forgetful procrastinatory mess sometimes.
Okay, so let's just jump in. Think of this as ping-pong--what you write opens up for someone else and responds to what was previously said. Many interactions can ensue. People can hate eachother. Try not to kill anyone, but beyond that, the sky's the limit. Sort of. Also, let's work to not contradict one another. E.g. If someone says they're holding a blue book, don't say it actually was red.
Alright. Time to stop talking and write.

Mel ran her fingers through her bangs, the satisfying tug distracting her from her frustration that seemed to grow daily.
Go to Hogwarts. Have the best time of your life. Her brothers painted it as a utopia.
Maybe it was. For them. They hadn't been dumped into Gryffindor. She fidgeted with the insignia on her robes. The only one in her Ravenclaw clustered family.
Why?
She wasn't daring. She had no nerve. Nor was she chivalrous. Clearly, the hat had made a mistake.
Which was why she was sitting in the library flipping through Hogwarts: A History, hoping it might contain the information she seeked. So far the search had been largely unsuccessful. While fascinating, the book didn't seem to contain anything on the sorting ceremony.
A shame. But also a good thing. It meant she'd have further excuse to stick around in the library, perusing the shelves, exemplifying her Ravenclaw characteristics. Yes, a good thing indeed.
Mel scootched in her chair and kept reading.

Now, I'm not even going to pretend that's stellar. I last reread HP years ago and am very concerned about getting something blatantly wrong. Some days will be like that--you'll have great writing days and some less great ones. You probably all know that. The same applies here. Don't stress. It's all good.
Anyways, I established a setting. No NPCs (Non-player characters, people everyone can control) yet. You can toss some in, start somewhere totally different, but work for the ping-pong. We all know how to write individually, I'm sure. The fun part here is existing in the same universe and not exploding it.
Finally, as you've no doubt noticed, I'm writing OOC (out of character) comments in quote boxes. You could do the reverse, if you wish, or just use a different color, or nothing at all. Try, though, to create some distinction between IC and OOC. It makes it easier and causes less misunderstandings, I've found.

 

[Charlie_Lupin]

I don't think I'm doing this correct XD. So I was reading this and I was kind of confused. Probably because my brain is dead. XD. So all we are doing is putting our character 3rd person passive, and then like explaining something... >.<

 

[Vlis]

Nah. Your brain is probably just fine.
So, yes and no. A very big sort of.
I like third person, past tense, but everything is fine. I have a friend who once even went for second person. Whatever is most comfortable for you.
I’m a smidge confused by the “explaining something“ thing, but will try anyways. Every character has a motive, a personality, yeah? That drives plot in fanfics, stories, etc.. You take those attributes and they drive whatever your goal happens to be. Here, that goal doesn’t exist, at least not yet. What’s happening is a snippet of life. Those motives may conflict, may align. I guess that’s what’s being explained?
Hence, free-form RPing. Free-form because we aren’t tossing dice to determine if an attack worked. All written and strongly dependent upon the person behind the character.
And, once more, I don’t have ultimate power here. I’m happy to suggest, but truly, try stuff out. The best way to learn what works is to try. Worse case, we scrap and start anew. Consider this experimental. Very experimental.
Hm...here’s a link to something that might help: https://www.rpnation.com/threads/parac-city.473111/
It’s to a two person RP. I don’t know that community well, only a friend mentioning it in passing. I can’t pledge for it in terms of, well, anything. This one linked seemed safe and reasonable from my skim. Hopefully that‘s useful. And if you want further explanation, feel free to ask.

 

[Charlie_Lupin]

Charlie stares at the empty table in front of him. It was the first time that the table he was at, empty. Almost as if it was deserted. He didn't know why, but he probably knew due to the time and day, and maybe the season.

In front of him sat a flower book. It has a few sketches in white ink on the front. Inside of it was each and every sketch of the flowers he found each and every day. Some of them he saw a lot but other's he wasn't sure.

His white-blonde hair fell down right above his eyes and his tongue was sticking out of his lips. He looked focused. On something. Not really sure what he exactly was focusing on, but he was focusing on something.

In his lap sat a vine. A bright green vine. With out thorns. A few daisy's sat in the pot that was near by. Charlie was trying his hardest to start his own flower crown. He normally wore flowers above his ears, but he thought maybe he could make crowns. He never knew what he was doing and then only thing he did was to just try it and see how it turned out.

I don't know if I am doing this correct XD

 

[Ginny Lovegood]

Name: Olivia-Lydia Greengrass-Hale
Age: 16
Appearance: Long wavy black hair, bright ocean blue eyes very pretty)
Skills: Quidditch, schoolwork, manipulation, kind, loyal, fierce, hardworking
Weaknesses: Stubborn, hold grudges
Magic: Yes Pureblood
Family: Parents: Daphne Greengrass, Leo Hale, part of the sacred 28, Siblings: Twins, Maddison and Willow)
Backstory: Parents stopped accepting her after being sorted into the Hufflepuff house.
House: Hufflepuff

 

[Ginny Lovegood]

(Flashback)

Hufflepuff? Olivia-Lydia stared at her empty plate in stunned silence. She was oblivious to the chatter going on around her. Hufflepuff? She repeated to herself mentally. However, she wasn’t oblivious to the whisper about her that were coursing through the hall.

“But she’s so pretty!”

“Isn’t she a Hale?”

“I heard her parents were Death Eaters.”

Nothing was right. She knew she was supposed to get Slytherin. She had been prepared for Slytherin. How was she going to help her little sisters? Unless her sisters… no, Olivia-Lydia couldn’t think that.

“Wasn’t what you expected?” A girl with a round face, brown hair in curls and big brown eyes leaned over to her.

“No. Not exactly.”

“Well, I’m Alice Longbottom, so I was really expecting Hufflepuff or Gryffindor,” the girl said cheerfully.

“Oh,” Olivia-Lydia said uninterested.

“I’m probably being so boring right now. I swear it’s because I’m a morning person.”

Olivia-Lydia watched as Roxanne Weasley was sorted.

“Hufflepuff!” The hat’s voice resonated as the Gryffindor table fell into silence.

The Hufflepuffs cheered and Olivia-Lydia followed Roxanne, who nervously sat next to her.

“Hi…”

“I can relate,” Olivia-Lydia blurted out,

Instead of looking at her weirdly, Roxanne simply smiled at her.

“Thanks.”

She barely heard McGonagall say her welcome speech as food appeared and she stuffed herself with chicken and treacle tart. After eating everything Alice, who was on her left, and had her face covered in sauce and chocolate asked,

“How do you eat so cleanly?”

“Practice,” Olivia-Lydia smiled at her.

“God, and I thought I was special,” Roxanne chuckled.

“I’m not special,” Olivia-Lydia laughed.

She turned to the Slytherin table and saw Scorpy as in Scorpius Abraxas Malfoy staring at her.
‘I’m sorry’ she mouthed to him. He turned away. But the truth was, she wasn’t really sorry. She turned to Roxanne and Alice.

“So, Hufflepuff?”