Role Playing Tips

Try to visualize your character. What sort of person are they? How do they act? You need to know how what interests them, what they are is likely to talk about and what they want to accomplish.

If you do voices or accents develop a “voice” for your character. If your character’s voice is different than your normal speaking voice, it is easy to tell when you are in character. If you can’t do voices - no worries. Many players can’t. It’s just a nice flourish if it is something that you can do.

If you want to break character, do it quietly (and if you do, always use the OOC gesture described on the next page). No one expects you to stay in character for the entire duration of the event, but no one wants to hear you talking about the something happening in the real world while they are trying to suspend their disbelief. You can always go to a designated “out of character” area.

Be mindful of other players “scenes”. From time to time, there will be important dramatic confrontations going on and it is not always appropriate to try to involve yourself. If it is appropriate and correct for your character to get involved, do so, but don’t get involved simply because you want to. And if you do get involved, be prepared for any in-character consequences.

Be prepared. If you have some time, you should figure out things to do when there is a lull in the action. Some players gamble, some just rest, tell stories, juggle or even embroider. Having a “bit” to do is insurance against boredom during down time.

Play your character, not the game. It’s easy for all of us to think too hard about what seems to be going on in the game plot, or between some other characters, and react with a degree of insight or awareness not appropriate for our characters. A prime example of this is when a player elects not to take some action out of fear that it will screw up something we have planned. In nearly all cases, we encourage players to play their character and leave worrying about the effects actions will have to the staff.

Remember - all we are really doing is playing “lets pretend” together. If you have a question or concern, ask a Guide player with the question mark on their badge or someone from the Staff and they’ll tell you what we recommend.