What is Free Form Role Play?
Most people have heard of role playing games, the most familiar
being Dungeons and Dragons. Refereed role playing games, or RPGs,
involve statistical information and dice rolls under the supervision
of a gamemaster, who creates a situation and determines the outcome
depending on the players choices and rolls. Free form role play, on
the other hand, has no set scenario and no gamemaster. Everyone
contributes to the storyline in a sort of interactive writing forum,
simply responding to other characters and situations as they
arise.
How do I start playing?
First, read the forum guidelines.
Then write a character. Consider
the setting of the game and write your character accordingly. For
example, #CyberPunkCafe is set in the Dark Future of CyberPunk
2020, a RPG from Talsorian Games. The year is 2020, and the
rapid advance of technology has resulted the downfall of the
government, with huge corporations taking over controlling small
city-states and dictating the lives of their employee citizens.
Cyberpunks are the rebels against the system, struggling to keep
their independance in a violent world. Most of them are "cybered up"
with various technological implants. Solos, or hitmen, roam the
streets, Netrunners fly the fast paced world of cyberspace,
Rockerboys sing their message of rebellion to the wild crowds in the
underground clubs, Medias keep the corps on their toes publishing the
truth behind the company soundbites, Techs and Medtechs keep the
technology going, Fixers make the deals that keep the cyberpunk
society functioning, Corps, well, they rule the place. Pick of these
roles, or make your own role. For some examples of
characters, check out the bios page. Once
you have your character, join Delphi by following the link for the
Sierra
Survival Dataterm and simply start interacting. Read the current
storylines going on in the forum
and make an introductory post, usually your character walking into
the Cyberpunk Cafe and either approaching someone or else behaving in
character if they're not the friendly sort. Be patient, play-by-post
is done at the convenience and opportunity of each player, so it may
be a while before your post is responded to. I recommend checking in
at least once a day to see if there are any new messages.
Where do I play?
Currently CPC roleplay is going on on the Delphi Forums at
Sierra
Survival Dataterm. You have two options for play, either realtime
chat when
other players are on, or play-by-post on the forum
message board. Joining Delphi is free and you can use nicknames
for posts if you have more than one character. It's recommended that
you post an introduction for yourself and your characters in the
introductions and bios folder so other players have a reference point
to go from. This can include a character description and any other
information you want others to know about your character. Other than
what can be seen with normal vision, players are not to use the
information in the introuctions and bios unless there is a reason for
them to know it already. For example, most people would recognize
Delorean Davis and Angel Davis from the televised DeathGames, but
wouldn't know the full extent of Delorean's cyberware just by looking
at him or know what they've done since then, so a character just
meeting them would probably know their names and that they were
DeathGames champions, but won't know they work for Sierra Survival or
be able to pick up Delorean's cybervision without running a scan on
him.
How do I get my character's bio posted on the website?
Email Lyssa with the
information and a picture if you have one and your character bio will
be posted as soon as she's able to get it up.
Can I contribute to Cyberpunk Central?
Of course. Email any submissions to Lyssa
and if they are added to the site you will be credited. Submissions
are accepted for any article relating to Cyberpunk, Freeform
Roleplay, or the Cyberpunk Cafe, Cyberpunk or Dark Future artwork,
fiction, fanfics, or play logs based on Cyberpunk or Dark Future. All
submissions remain the property of the creator, so please include
copyright information with your submission and permission for it to
be posted on Cyberpunk Central.