General Text Roleplaying and Information

[ERT-RPG 2]

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Roleplaying through text is essentially multiple people writing one big story. To help this flow, there's some information that can help even the most inexperienced players have a lot of fun and tell a great story. 

Topics: 

1. Guide to Firearms
2. Roleplaying 101

[ERT-RPG 2]

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1. Guide to Firearms

This guide is taken directly from RPG Directory, courtesy of their member The Badger.

Badger’s shitty excuse for a writer’s guide to firearms.

Foreword:

So, you want to write a character that uses guns, eh? Well then, sit down and get ready to read folks, because we’re going to go over terminology, the do’s and fuck-no-please-god-no’s, as well as other such fuckery. I know, I know. I’m using adult language. This guide isn’t perfect, it’s not going to tell you everything that you need to know, but it’s not a bad start, really, it’s not. Don’t adhere to what I say alone, but instead try to do your own research in the end. Some of this I wrote myself, some of this I gained from the input of friends, some of this I found laying around on the internet. It’s right, for the most part. It’s not an academic paper, it’s not for profit, so uh, don’t expect it to be. Other than that, have at it.

Basic Safety Rules

Yeah? You wanna write a big, bad-ass, super secret agent type? Ha, well, even the biggest and the baddest follow basic safety protocols. It’s not just good for safety, but it’s good for foundations. You don’t wanna drop your gun, or shoot a team mate.

The gun is ALWAYS loaded. It doesn’t matter if the person in front of you just did a “brass check” and made sure the chamber was clear. Until you check it yourself? That weapon is hot and ready to go. Even if the magazine is out and the slide is racked back, you still adhere to the rules of safety.

ALWAYS keep your gun’s muzzle pointed in a safe direction when it’s not being pointed at something you intend to destroy. Keep the muzzle pointed downwards, because accidents happen. The only time you should point the muzzle of your gun at something is when you fully intend on pumping rounds into it. This is sometimes referred to as “muzzle discipline.”

Never put your finger in the trigger guard until you’re ready to squeeze said trigger. It only takes a few pounds of pressure to depress that trigger, and being surprised could cause your hand to squeeze into a fist, making that gun go off, and if you do that at the wrong moment? You’re gonna have a bad time. So, keep your trigger finger off of the trigger and out of the trigger guard until you’re ready to fire. Safeties fail, but your training won’t, stick with it. This is sometimes referred to as “trigger discipline.”

Know where your target is, and what’s behind your target. Don’t just go spraying and praying, you’ll do more bad than good, especially if you’re just target practicing.

Basic Terminology

We’ve all heard phrases thrown out there that we may not have quite understood when it comes to guns. Some of it is actually used incorrectly, the terms ‘clip’ and ‘magazine’ are two of the biggest, to the chagrin of most firearms enthusiasts, mix ups around. In this part of the guide, we hope to clear things up, so such things aren’t done! Well, at least aren’t done as much, or done intentionally. Remember, this isn’t all inclusive, it’s just a basic glossary to help you find your way. Also, obviously, this isn’t in Alphabetical order!

Chamber : The portion of the barrel or firing cylinder in which the cartridge is inserted prior to being fired. Rifles, as well as pistols generally have a single chamber in their barrels, while revolvers have multiple chambers in their cylinders and no chamber in their barrel, hence why they’re called revolvers. Also, someone may ask ‘what caliber is this gun chambered in?’ They’re simply asked what caliber gun it is. I.E. A Smith and Wesson Model 10 is chambered in .38SPL, a Colt M1911A1 might be chambered in .45ACP.
Clip : A device that’s used to hold multiple cartridges so that it can assist in loading the magazine of a repeating firearm, or assist in the actual loading of a firearm. It’s typically used to speed up the loading of a firearm, usually by several rounds at once.
Magazine : An ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating firearm. Magazines may be integral to the firearm [fixed, and often internal,] or removable [detachable]. The magazine functions by moving the cartridges stored in the magazine into a position where they may be loaded into the chamber by the action of the firearm. Often mistakenly called a ‘clip,’ especially by popular. They come in several different varieties and hold a varying number of rounds. Stick magazines, curved magazines [often mistakenly called “banana clips,”] drum magazines [because of the resemblance,] and so on and so forth. Some magazines can hold as little as five rounds, some can hold as many as a hundred or more. Some regions may restrict magazine capacity due to legal reasons, but there does seem to be a standard for the most part, with most standard rifle magazines holding thirty or so rounds.
Recoil : The backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile.
Stopping Power : The ability of a round to stop a target where it stands. Of course, quite a few veteran shooters refute stopping power, preferring to state that it’s “shot placement” that stops a target, not stopping power.
Suppressor : Often mistakenly called a silencer, a suppressor is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm to reduce the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon. This doesn’t mute the gun entirely, and in truth, just makes the report of the gun firing sound like a smaller gun. Revolvers, except for a rare few, can’t be conventionally suppressed due to the gap between the cylinder and the barrel, which allows for gasses to escape.

Types of Firearms

Obviously, this isn’t every single type of firearm aren’t there, but it’s a fair amount, and while it’s not fully comprehensive, it’ll be enough to get you on your way to figuring out what’s what, and how it can be used. It won’t make you an expert, but it’ll give you a rough idea of things.

Assault Rifle : An assault rifle is a selective fire [which means it can be safetied, set to semi-automatic, or fully automatic/burst fire] rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge [a rifle cartridge less powerful than battle rifle cartridge such as 7.62x51 NATO], such as 5.56x45 NATO, and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are currently the standard service rifles in most modern armies. An example of common assault rifles might be the M16A2 or the AK47.

Battle Rifle : A battle rifle is a rifle that fires a full-power cartridge, such as 7.62x51mm NATO. While the designation of battle rifle is usually given to post-World War II ,select fire, infantry rifles such as the FN FAL, This piece of terminology is also used to describe older, full-powered, semi-automatic rifles, especially military ones, such as the M1 Garand,

Sniper Rifle : a sniper rifle is a precision-rifle used to ensure more accurate placement of bullets at longer ranges than other small arms. Just because a rifle has a scope, however, does not mean that it’s a “sniper rifle.” Your average sniper rifle is built for optimal levels of accuracy, often fitted with a telescopic sight, or scope, and chambered for a military centerfire cartridge. The Media typically uses this term to describe any type of accurized firearm fitted with a scope when it’s used against human targets, although "sniping rifle" or "sniper's rifle" is the technically correct term for such a rifle. Also, the rifle isn’t to be confused with ‘anti material rifle,’ which while it’s similar in aesthetics, it’s usually more powerful and meant to be deployed against light armor.

Carbine : A shortened version of a service rifle, often chambered in a less potent cartridge, which can be anywhere from an intermediate cartridge to a pistol round. An example of a carbine would be the M4A1.

Machine Guns : A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of three to eighteen hundred rounds per minute. They can use full sized rifle rounds or intermediate cartridges, sometimes even using the much heavier “.50 BMG” round. They range from light machine guns to general purpose machine guns which can be picked up and fired, though it’s not recommended, and to the somewhat more famed ‘heavy machine guns’ which are almost always mounted to sometimes.

Pistol : A type of handgun that has one chamber integral with the barrel, making pistols distinct from the other main type of handgun, which would be the revolver. They can range from single shot, to semi automatic, to fully automatic [often referred to as ‘machine pistols.’] Pistols often utilize magazines, but some older ones might actually accept clips. A common example of a pistol might be the Glock G22 or the Colt M1911A1.

Revolver : A type of handgun that has a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers. evolvers feed ammunition via the rotation of a cartridge-filled cylinder, in which each cartridge is contained in its own ignition chamber, and is sequentially brought into alignment with the weapon's barrel by an indexing mechanism linked to the weapon's trigger [I.E. the Colt Python] or its hammer [I.E. the Colt SAA.] These nominally cylindrical chambers, usually numbering between five and eight depending on the size of the revolver and the size of the cartridge being fired, are bored through the cylinder so that their axes are parallel to the cylinder's axis of rotation; thus, as the cylinder rotates, the chambers revolve about the cylinder's axis. An example of a revolver would be a Smith and Wesson Model 29.

Shotgun : A shotgun, also known as a scattergun, is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug, or just multitude of various rounds from highly explosive rounds to various saboted rounds. They also come in different firing mechanisms from breechloading and pump action, to semi-automatic and fully automatic, the most common being pump action [I.E. The Remington 870.] and semi automatic [I.E. the Benelli M4/M1104.]

Submachine Gun : is an air-cooled, magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire pistol cartridges. They’re usually compact and unlike assault rifles, there’s no real fear of over penetration. They’re also far more easily suppressed and have much lower noise signatures. In the Commonwealth, they’re even sometimes referred to as ‘machine carbines.’

Types of Firing Actions

All guns don’t just go ‘click, bang.’ They have different methods, different ways that they fire. They’re not all the same some are vastly, wildly even, different. And while these are just a few of the different actions, they’re probably definitely the most common out there.

Bolt Action : “Bolt Action” is a type of firearm action in which the weapon's bolt is operated manually by the opening and closing of the breech, with a small handle. Bolt Action rifles are probably the most common type of bolt action firearms but pistols and shotguns exist. Most infantry rifles in world war one were bolt action.

Break Action : “Break Action” is a type of Firearm Action where the barrel, or barrels, are hinged and can be "broken open" to expose the breech. Shotguns, rifles, carbines, and pistols can all be “break action.”

Lever Action : “Lever Action” is a type of firearm action which uses a lever located around the trigger guard area [often including the trigger guard itself] to load fresh cartridges into the chamber of the barrel when the lever is worked. Most Lever Action firearms are rifles, but shotguns and pistols of this type of action exist. Lever action firearms were immensely popular back in the late 1800s, particularly in the American West.

Pump Action : A “Pump Action” rifle or shotgun is a gun in which the handgrip on the forestock can be pumped back and forth in order to eject a spent round of ammunition and to chamber a fresh one. It is much faster than a bolt-action and somewhat faster than a lever-action, as it does not require the trigger hand to be removed from the trigger whilst reloading. When used in rifles, this action is also commonly called a “slide action.”

Semi Automatic : Essentially, it means that the gun produces one bullet, per squeeze of the trigger.

Fully Automatic : It means that for every squeeze of the trigger, there’s always two or more rounds leaving the gun.

Blowback Operation : “Blowback Operation“ is a system in which semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms operate through the energy created by combustion in the chamber and bore acting directly on the bolt face through the cartridge.
Examples of Blowback Operation :
Simple blowback: Halcon M-1943, Uzi submachine gun, Varan PMX-80
Lever-delayed blowback: FAMAS, Sterling 7.62, AA-52, 2B-A-40, TKB-517
Roller-delayed blowback: SIG 510, HK MP5, HK P9, HK G3
Gas-delayed blowback: Volkssturmgewehr 1-5, HK P7, Steyr GB
Toggle-delayed blowback: Schwarzlose MG M.07/12, Luger rifle and Pedersen rifle
Blish Lock: early Thompson submachine guns
Hesitation locked: Remington Model 51 and R51 pistols
Chamber-ring delayed blowback: Seecamp pistol

Blow-Forward : “Blow Forward” operation is where the firearm lacks a bolt, but has a moving barrel that is forced forward by the friction of the projectile against a spring as means of reloading a fresh round

Recoil operation : “Recoil Operation” is a type of locked-breech firearm action used in semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms. As the name implies, these actions use the force of recoil to provide the energy to cycle the action.
Examples of recoil operation :
Short-recoil: Colt M1911, MAB PA-15, Browning Hi-Power, HK USP, Glock, Mamba Pistol, M2 Browning machine gun, MG42, Vz 52 pistol, M82
Long-recoil: Browning Auto 5, Femaru STOP Pistol, Mars Automatic Pistol, Chauchat
Inertia: some Benelli shotguns

Gas Operation : is a system of operation used to provide energy to semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to extract the spent case and chamber a new cartridge. There are three basic types: long stroke gas piston [where the gas piston goes the same distance as the operating stroke of the action parts, and is often attached to the action parts], short stroke gas piston [where the gas piston goes less than distance as the operating stroke of the action parts], and direct impingement [AKA "direct gas", "gas impingement", where there is no piston, and the gas acts directly on the action parts]. A fourth type, now considered obsolete and ineffective, are those systems based on the Bang rifle that utilize a muzzle cap to capture gas after the bullet has left the barrel. While this system is successful in boosting the operating power of recoil operated guns, it is insufficient and too susceptible to fouling for use as the primary operating system.
Examples of gas operation ;
--Short-stroke gas piston: FN FAL, SAR-87, HK G36
--Long-stroke gas piston: M1 Garand, AK-47, FN FNC
--Direct impingement: MAS 49, M16, AG-42
--Gas trap: Gewehr 41, Bang M1922 rifle.

SOURCES:
The Gunblr Community.
Wikipedia.
Other places. Like I remember.

[ERT-RPG 2]

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2. Roleplaying 101

This guide is taken directly from RPG Directory, courtesy of their member Kaeneus. Formatting and some corrections have been made by myself. Some ERT-specific things have been added, and are always [bolded and bracketed]. Irrelevant items, or items we do not use in ERT have been removed or struck. 

 

RP 101: the Gist & the Jargon
Roleplay Resources | How to Role Play

This guide is primary made for those new to play by post roleplaying. Of course, even if you are experienced, there might be some info in here you find useful. As a response to this request.

So, you've just come across play by post roleplaying, and you're trying to wrap your head around how all of this is supposed to work. Fear no more, your friendly local LumberDad is here to help.

We'll start at the start.

What is Play by Post Roleplaying?

From Wikipedia, 'A play-by-post role-playing game (or sim) is an online text-based role-playing game in which players interact with each other and a predefined environment via text. It is a subset of the online role-playing community which caters to both gamers and creative writers. Play-by-post games may be based on other role-playing games, non-game fiction including books, television and movies, or original settings. This activity is closely related to both interactive fiction and collaborative writing.'

This is a pretty accurate basic understanding, but it lacks a bit of nuance. PBP RP's are a type of collaborative story telling, in which writers come together to take the roles of certain characters, and play with them via text based posting. Sometimes, this exchange occurs over email. More over, it occurs on 'Boards' run by a single person or small board of people, which other people can join.

The idea can be a bit much to get used to at first, but the only way to truly understand is to get started. So, next;

How Do I Get Started?

1. First, you'll want to choose a board.
2. Make sure to read through all the rules and lore on that board. Every board is different, and while this is a general guide, anything written in that site's specific rules will over rule this.
3. Once you've found one you like, you should register. Normally, the convention for username choice when registering is to register with your intended character's first and last name eg, 'John Smith'. Again, any specific rules on the site over rule this. [For ERT, register an account with an out of character name. Characters are created using an Invision plugin that links the character accounts to your OOC account.]
4. Apply for a character. Most sites have an application process for characters, which usually involves filling out and posting a html based application template for the admins or mods to approve. To see an example of what an application board and form may look like, you can see mine. Most sites will have specific application rules, so make sure to follow those. Certain sites are 'no application' which means you can jump straight into it.
5. [Due to the nature of ERT, there isn't much plotting to do unless you are plotting off-duty plots.] Time for plotting! A lot of people get confused at this stage. After you've been accepted into a board you like and done your claims... how do you actually start to RP? Well, you plot with people. Most boards have 'plotters' (sometimes called shippers), where members post about their character, in order to get responses of plot ideas from other members. Read through other people's plotters, and if you have an idea, reply to it. Sometimes plotting is also done through the CBox or PMs.
6. [ERT does not make use of post templates. A guide to formatting for ERT can be found in the Support forum.]Threading. After you've decided on what you're gonna RP, you'll want to get into actually 'threading' with your partner. Threading is the bulk of what RP is; posting and replying and posting again. Most boards are broken up into location, so you'll want to decide where that thread is set and navigate to there if you're posting first. Most sites use 'post templates', which are those fancy html templates used to make posts look like more than just text. Most people get their templates from RP resources sites. There are some popular ones listed in 'Sites to See'.
7. Reply! You wanna keep a good thing going, so once your partner [or crew] has gotten back to you, make sure to return the favor in a timely manner.

Glossary of RP Terms & Abbreviations
(If I missed any here, please set me know, and I will add them ASAP. Sorted Alphabetically. )

AD - Advertisement. It's common for boards to advertise on each other to attract members.
ADMIN - Administrator. The person who runs a particular board.
ALIAS - The 'nickname' used by RPers while out of character. Can be a real name or username.
BBCODE - The simplified code used in most non html forum posting.
BOARD - An RP forum.
DEV - Development. Usually refers to character development.
IC - In character. Post's or actions made as the character, not the RPer.
MOD - Moderator. Lower than an administrator, but helps to run a board.
NPC - Non playing character. A character which does not belong to a member. Normally, these are controlled by staff, and are often used to further the plot when necessary.
RP - role-play.
OC - original character. A non canon character created by an RPer.
OOC - out of character. Used to describe posts or actions made by the RPer, not the character.
 

Godmoding, Retconning & Mary Sues: How to Get People to Hate You
This was originally going to be included under etiquette, but there's so much here that it actually deserves it's own section.

Doing any of the aforementioned is the easiest way to get everyone on a site to not want to RP with you. You'll get a reputation as 'that guy'. Now, we all went through a stage of being 'that guy' don't worry, but hopefully this can help save your some future cringe when you think back on your earlier RP days.

All the following fall under the category of 'Godmoding' (with one d. Think 'mode' instead of 'mod)

• Powerplaying is assigning unrealistic talents, luck or skill to characters, or writing them out of a situation unrealistically. Essentially, it's using 'cheat codes' to become invincible.
  • Player A: The door was sealed tight behind A and B. There was no way to break through the thick, solid metal.
  • Player B: Player B charged at the door and, miraculously, it creaked off it's hinges.
• Godmodding is taking control of someone else's character without permission, and writing actions and/or dialogue for them in your post.
  • Player A: Character A goes up to Character B. "How are you?" Character A says.
  • Player B: Character B shrugs. At that moment, Character A begins to cry. "What's wrong?" Character B asks.
• Metagaming is using out of character knowledge to inform characters actions, thoughts or behaviours.
  • Player A: (has discussed, while OOC, a plot involving betraying Character B)
  • Player B: Character B senses something wrong, and suddenly gets the feeling not to trust their ally.
• Retconning (retroactive continuity) is ignoring already established events, and 'rewriting history' to serve your own purpose.
  • Player B: Writes thread in which Character B looses their sword.
  • Player B: Writes another thread, set later, in which Character B has their sword again without any explanation as to how they got it back.
• Mary Sues are characters who are unrealistically powerful. They are often meant to be 'one of a kind' and super unique, but are really just an awkward mishmash of personality traits that make everyone else roll their eyes. Wanna know if you've got a Mary Sue on your hands? There's a test for that.

Godmoding is encouraged by the ERT. When a player has been inactive for 12+ hours, or during a call weekend, their character can be godmoded to progress the nature of the call. 

Powerplay, Retcon, and Mary Sues are against the rules of the ERT.