Roleplay Glossary: 22 RP Terms in Plain English

Newcomers to a roleplay chat usually trip over the words, not the plot. Someone writes "OOC: brb, dinner," someone complains about another player's "godmodding," and the GM asks everyone to "stop metagaming." Let's go in order: the basics first, then roles, then the mistakes that wreck a scene, and finally everything about canon. If you're just getting to know the genre, start with what is RP.

The basics: what a game is made of

• RP (roleplay)A shared story where everyone plays their own character. You don't describe what you'd do yourself; you write what your character would do.
• Playing in characterStaying true to a personality. Is your character a coward? Then they won't be first into the basement, even if you as the player are dying to know what's down there.
• Game master, GMThe host. Describes the world, plays side characters, settles disputes: did the arrow hit or not, is the door open or locked.
• PostOne message in the game. Some posts are one line, some are three screens long. Better to agree on length ahead of time.
• PaceTempo. One player replies every minute, another once a day, and both are miserable. Agree on a rhythm that works for you.
• SettingThe world where it all happens: a medieval town, an orbital station, a cyberpunk megacity, an ordinary school.
• Setup (hook)The starting situation. "Two people are stuck in an elevator, and one of them has someone else's gun in their bag" is already a setup. You can grab ready-made ones from roleplay ideas.

Roles and boundaries: who's talking right now

• IC (in character)Everything said as the character. "You're three hours late. Again," the captain says. That's IC.
• OOC (out of character)The player talking outside the role. Usually in parentheses: "(OOC: I have to leave in ten minutes, let's wrap the scene at camp.)"
• Off-topicChat that has nothing to do with the game: cats, TV shows, the weather. Group chats often have a separate thread for it.
• Multi, multi-character playerA player running several characters at once. Handy in a small group, but you have to keep the voices straight.
• NPCA side character with no player of their own: an innkeeper, a guard, a random passerby. Usually played by the GM.

The parentheses rule is simple: characters can't hear anything in parentheses or marked OOC. If something in the game starts to feel bad, say so exactly that way: out of character, calmly and right away.

The fouls that make scenes fall apart

These words have a sour ring to them: they name the things that ruin the game for others. The good news is they're all easy to spot in yourself and fix.

• GodmoddingThe character is invulnerable and always right. The bullet missed, the poison didn't work, the argument was won with one line. Playing against that is boring: the outcome is known in advance.
• PowerplayingDeciding for someone else's character. "I hit him and he fell unconscious" is powerplaying. The fair version: "I swing at him," and whether he falls is up to his player.
• MetagamingThe character uses knowledge they couldn't have. You read in someone else's post that there's an ambush behind the door, but your character wasn't there and shouldn't know.
• Mary Sue, Gary StuA perfect character with no flaws: gorgeous, saves everyone, everyone falls for them. A weak spot isn't a character flaw; it's a hook for the plot.
• RailroadingThe GM already knows how it ends and won't let players stray. The choices exist only on paper.

Caught yourself godmodding? Let your character lose, even at something small: trip, fumble for words, get scared. The reader instantly wants to know how they'll get out of it.

About canon: how far you can stray from the original

• CanonWhat's in the source material: events, personalities, the rules of the world. If a character can't swim in the book, they can't swim in canon.
• FanonSomething fans made up that everyone suddenly accepted. Like a character's favorite drink that never once appears in the original.
• AU (alternate universe)Familiar characters in unfamiliar circumstances: wizards in a modern office, knights in space, everyone working as baristas in the same coffee shop.
• CrossoverCharacters from different universes in one story. A detective from one anime investigates a case in another's world.
• OOC meaning "out of character" behaviorSame term, different meaning: the character acts unlike they do in the original. A cold captain suddenly starts baby-talking. That's OOC, and fans will notice.

How strict to be about canon is something you agree on. In some chats you'll get kicked out for the wrong eye color; in others AU is the main genre. Ask up front and there won't be any fights.

What carries over to chatting with AI

Almost all of it. When you play with an AI character, the GM, the NPCs and your partner are all one, but the rules are the same. On my-idol.ru, a character keeps their personality and remembers what happened in the conversation, while you write as yourself or as your own character.

• IC and OOC: write your character's actions and lines as usual, and put requests to the host in parentheses: "(let's skip ahead to morning)."
• Powerplaying works in reverse too: don't decide for the character how they felt. Let them answer for themselves. It's more interesting that way.
• Godmodding is especially boring in an AI chat: if your character always wins, the other character has nothing to answer with.
• AUs and crossovers work well in a group chat: gather characters from different universes and give them a shared setting.

How to open your first scene is covered in detail in how to start a roleplay with AI. And if you want to jump right in, the button's below.