Game Guides Archive

The first rule of role-playing is that there are, essentially, no rules. There is no "right" way to role-play just as there is no "wrong" way. Role-playing has been described in many ways, but perhaps my favorite description is "shared storytelling." There are no limits. The wonderful thing about role-playing games is that the direction of the story and the decisions are made by the players...not some game developer that thought he had a cool idea.

The first thing involved in any role-playing game is creating a character. This alternate persona is your in-game role. Who that character is and will become is entirely up to the player. SWG sets you up with a certain number of available skills and classes, but you have the option of going beyond that. Outside of the box, so to speak. Take the Jump to Lightspeed expansion for example. You may be a "Novice Pilot" skill-wise, but that doesn't mean your character can't be a hotshot pilot...or a terrible one that has a nasty habit of crashing everytime they sit in the pilot's seat. With role-play, you are allowed to take certain liberties that stretch the limits of the game provided they don't stretch too far. So on to guideline number one....

1. Create a character to play

If you're playing SWG you already have an avatar. You know what she looks like, you know how tall or short she is and all kinds of other physical attributes. But there is more to a character than the physical. What are the character's strengths and weaknesses? Most of the abilities they have are defined by skill points, but it doesn't have to be limited to that if you use your imagination. Put yourself in that character's mind and see how she thinks. She can be as similar or as different to your real-life (RL) self as you want. You put the words in her mouth, the reason for living, and the personality that makes her real. You can be shallow, deep, brooding, or just kick a lot of butt. Where did she come from? What was she like as a child? What are her habits, both good and bad? What are her dreams and goals? All of these things are important in creating a character that is as real as the person playing her.

Another tip for making your character believable is to think hard about what goes in to their line of work (crafter, military, mercenary, scout, etc.) and get an idea of what the daily kind of thing that goes into it. Talk the way they would, based on the things in their line of work or the immediate world they live in or where they grew up. A character that grew up in the underbelly of Coruscant on the streets isn't going to talk the same as a high-honors graduate of the Imperial Academy or as a member of the Royal family of Naboo. You are by no means limited to that, but it's just one more way of immersing yourself in their world and bringing others into it.

A written biography is a great way to flesh things out for your character and to give other players an idea of what you want your character to be. It doesn't need to be an extensive dissertaion on the entire life of your character, and it is never set in stone. A person's biography doesn't end until that person dies; this is true for characters as well. Information in a biography isn't necessarily all common knowledge, but it can give another player an idea of why your character acts a certain way so they can respond accordingly or perhaps get ideas for creating new stories. They are also useful for sharing information that would be readily known about your character if someone asks a few questions.

You don't have to limit your character to things you know. Player knowledges don't necessarily carry over to your character. You may be a doctor in real life, but your character may not even know how to put a band-aid on. Just as you may have a character that is a master doctor when you've never even taken a First Aid class in school.

2. Play your character

No one is expected to be in-character (IC) 100% of the time, but it's best to be IC as much as possible when playing. It is a role-playing game after all. There are always going to be times when you need to do something that's out-of-character (OOC), but simply letting the other players know is more than enough to justify it. Not all conversations need to be IC, either. Guild chat or group speak is more often than not done OOC, although they can both be useful tools for storytelling. In general, though, it should be obvious in those places whether or not you are IC. The simplest way to denote an OOC comment is to use parantheses. Once you've established with the other person or persons around that it is an OOC conversation, you don't necessarily need to keep it up unless there are other IC conversations going on as well.

There may be days where you just don't feel like RPing, and that's fine, too.

You may also, at times, have skill points in a class that is OOC. Maybe you have merchant just so you can place a vendor, or you pick up another class so you can make a component necessary for another class. This is also perfectly acceptable. There's nothing wrong with OOC things so long as you make other players aware of what takes place OOC.

Many times, people make playing a character more difficult than it is. Playing a character really is an easy thing once you know who she is. A good piece of advice is to keep it simple. Not everything that happens has to have some grand or elaborate explaination. Many times things can justbe the way there are. Everyone knew that Indiana Jones was afraid of snakes...you never found out why until The Last Crusade came out and it was a very simple explanation.

For some people just starting out in RPGs, it can be easier to play a character that is very similar to yourself because you already understand the thought processes. For others, it is easier to play something completely different from your RL personality. There are pros and cons to both, you may learn something new about yourself or find an escape from your life. Many acting theories stress the importance of finding a bit of yourself in every character you play, no matter how far from yourself that character is. It's a good theory because it readily gives you something to identify with in order to begin to understand how your character thinks. A very important thing to remember, though, is that you are not your character. No matter how similar you may be, you have to be able to think like your character in the game and be able to recognize that you may think one thing while your character would react in a completely different way.

It's very easy to get caught up in the creation of a character and never be able to get to the fun of playing that character. Don't get stressed out or bogged down in the creation process. Get the basics in line, but then let go and have fun. The rest will fall into line. Your character will evolve as you play and many times will stray so far from your original concept to make it difficult to recognize...and that's ok! All it means is that you allowed your character to grow on her own and make her own choices, rather than be tied to the decisions you personally would make.

3. Live your story

Going by the previous idea of role-playing as "shared storytelling" you have to have a story in order to tell one. Things have to happen to your character in order to make it more than just a list of events that have to be done before you're finished. Like your biography, your character's story doesn't end until she's dead. Just like life, your character's life should have things going on in order to keep things interesting. This isn't to say that you constantly have to be caught up in some kind of drama. In many ways, role-playing in SWG can mirror our own reality: some days are busier than others, some days are better than others, and bad things can happen to good people. It's not always going to be action-packed, more often than not it will be mundane. There has to be some kind of story or events going on, though, in order for the game to be interesting.

You can't always be the "lead" of the story, although often groups will have one or two people that may lead the pack. It can be just as much fun, if not more, to be a background player or a support player. Think of some of the ensemble cast TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends, or Angel. There may be one or two people who are the lead characters in the show that are focused on, but there are episodes that will focus on one of the other characters where those "main" characters take the background.

Just like "play your character," "live your story" means thinking and acting IC. You need to distance your way of thinking from your character's and act accordingly. No matter how much your character may be like you, they are a separate entity. If another character insults your character, they are not insulting you personally (and hopefully they will have made it clear that it is an IC thing), likewise two characters that love each other does not mean that the player behind the character is in love with you as a player. This is a critical point for people who are RPing with others they know in RL. Perhaps that player is your best friend or your significant other in RL, but your characters don't share the same experiences as the players unless you make it so and it's not fair to have RL and IC overlap. This doesn't mean that a RL couple can't have their characters be a couple in-game, but it's important to establish an in-game relationship and not rely on RL experiences. Player knowledge is not always character knowledge.

Telling Stories

When you role-play in a group, everyone has input into the outcome of the story. That's where the phrase "shared storytelling" comes into play. In a game like SwG, it is possible for some people to work together with nothing but a basic goal for the story. Occassionally, in partcular large scale story driven events, you need someone to take charge and direct the characters through the story. The idea of a game master is at the core of all table-top RPG games and can translate well into the MMORPG setting.

Your stories can be based on in-game events, but don't be afraid to expand out of the limitations of the game AI. A spawn of an assassin droid can lead the characters to investigate who sent the droid which can lead your group to the droid caves on Lok. You can also create your own events, too, and it doesn't have to be combat based. There are tons of possiblities for creating stories if you use your imagination.

Interaction is essential in an RPG. It's great when someone comes up with stories to involve other players, but it's important that you don't force a player to behave a certain way or change their background unless they are a willing party. That's not to say that you can't put them in situations where they might have to make a hard choice, but there needs to be free will for the characters to choose. For example, don't have a character find out his parents were murderers unless you've gone to them with your story idea and they've agreed to it. If it's something that could alter another's character, it's always best to check first.

And don't be afraid to take chances. It is a game, after all, and if something happens that you really don't like or change your mind about the "continuity fairy" can always come pay a visit and sort things out. Again, communication with other players is the key. A simple "I really don't like how that turned out, just pretend it didn't happen," is perfectly acceptable as long as everyone involved is informed.

Tips for a Game Master in SWG (and beyond)

Since SWG isn't set up like a traditional table-top RPG, a player trying to be a game master for an event needs to be especially creative. It isn't feasable to always have a dev or event coordinator drop things in for your event (which is available by coordinating with Pex), nor is it necessary. There are quite a few Player Event Perks available from Event Coordinators throughout the galaxy, though, that may have something helpful for you.

--Use /tells and /groupchat to deliver GM information to your players. It's also helpful to use /groupchat if you are in a populated area or if you're spread out in order to keep your players in the storyline. Keep in mind, though, that RPing in public is a great way to invite others in.

--Recruit others to be Non Player Characters (NPCs) in your story. It can be an alternate avatar dressed up to be someone else or even another player (provided you give them all the information they need to play that other characer) as long as everyone involved in the story is aware that just because the floating name says one thing they can be someone else. In-game NPCs can also be useful. The gamemaster just lets the players know what that person says to them. You can also rent NPC actors to deliver a short comment to any player that comes near them.

--Stay as close to the canon Star Wars as possible. You don't have to be bound to it to the letter and can create other major players for the Star Wars Universe, but it's never a good idea to let a player kill Darth Vader no matter how good the RPing is. If you stray from the movies, it's necessary to let your players know. Even when using Expanded Universe characters (such as Thrawn, Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, etc) because not everyone has read the books where most people playing SWG have seen the movies at least once. If you create a major NPC character to fit into the Star Wars universe, give your players some background on that NPC. If they are any kind of public figure, they would know something of them more than likely.

--Be flexible! This is the most important thing for a game master. The best stories are often the ones that didn't turn out exactly the way the game master thought they would. Characters and players may make decisions you didn't expect or come up with things you didn't think of. Just go with the flow of things. Don't let players walk all over you, but let them be free to make their own choices.

It is by no means necessary to write out stories of events or happenings for your character. It's a nice way to share things with other players, though, out of the context of your character. As with biographies, the information learned in a story won't necessarily be known to every character. It all goes back to the difference between "player knowledge" and "character knowledge."

A few words about factional game mechanics and the "floaty name" in SWG

In the context of SWG, factional status and glowing symbols are mostly a game mechanic. We get so accustomed to seeing the glowy name above everyone's head that it's easy to forget that you wouldn't know their name unless you asked in most cases.

Take a camp of Rebel NPCs for example. If you have a group milling around with no uniforms or nothing to distinguish them as Rebels (like a big banner or something), how would you know without the little symbol by their name? The same applies to swoopers, CorSec, meatlump, plasma thieves, etc. You may be able to recognize a thug group as being thugs by their appearance and demeanor, but unless you're really well-versed on the particular group that you may recognize certain members (post office mug shot lol) you may not know exactly WHICH group they are.

Remember...these are simply guidelines. Role-playing and storytelling can take many forms and can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be. All it takes to be a "good role-player" is a willingness to step outside of yourself and into someone else that you create. After that, all it takes is imagination. Just don't forget to have fun!

Great guide! I hope people read this and decide to try roleplaying.

- Omadda Szool


- Oma-Aul Zolaar

June 26th 2003 - July 28th 2006
Final Suggestions For SWG's Success

Collection Of Written Stories