Suggestions on How to Play a Guard/ Police Character
The role of a guard serves many functions IC which players may be familiar with. They are generally the first line of defense against attacks of any kind, they uphold the laws and maintain order, and they are on hand to meet out justice and serve the court when necessary, among other things.
In the modern day, we know what police are for. Protecting the people. In the middle ages, Guardsmen were the ‘police force’ and 'standing army' of a kingdom. In times of crisis, they were often merged into the kingdoms army, while in times of peace, they were upholders of law for cities and townships. Each city and town would typically have a small guard force, sometimes not more than five able bodied men while others hand a standing guard force of hundreds if the city was large enough. They have the power to bring even lords and ladies to justice if so ordered by those of high enough rank or when laws are clearly broken, which makes their particular role rather interesting. Even someone of low birth that earned a high enough rank could be given more authority than those of born nobility in certain situations.
From an OOC standpoint, however, the guard has certain other duties that help an rp community to function better. When playing a guard, one needs to remember and be familiar with the IC function of the guard as well as the OOC function of the guard.
1. It should be stressed that Guard/ Police players are, essentially, minor storytellers. While not an administrative position, more often than not, they will be pushing plots along, and if the players are unavailable for extended periods, it slows things down considerably.
- Players in positions of power (such as guards) should try to be on at least twice a week, and by that it means actually RP, not log in, sit OOC, then log out. They need to RP and pursue RP and ask others to RP. This includes alts. If a player want to keep their position, if they want their character to remain in their position/ rank/ role, then they need to play it - who they know, who they are or who their main is does not give them special privileges. This goes for administrative positions as well.
- If you don't, your position will be revoked. The only excuse is pending special circumstances, (like moving, family crisis, military deployment, etc.). For it to be considered a special circumstance, the guard player needs to tell an admin, otherwise it is an unannounced absence, and their rank will be removed. No exceptions. This is not to be mean, this is to help facilitate the flow of rp.
- HOWEVER. In the event that an unannounced absence occurs (Real life happens) and a player wishes to return, say so and the administration will have no trouble reinstating their character. Remember that communication is important oocly as well as icly.
- In the event of an absence, an IC excuse must be created to help explain the characters absence. This is to help facilitate the flow of RP. This excuse should never, unless approved by the player, result in IC punishment. In the event of a community banishment, however, while the player can move their character on to a new playground, what occurs to their character in the banishing community is up to that communities administration. This can include indentured servitude, banishment, or death, as long as it makes sense to that communities continuity.
2. Have humility. Be respectful. RP is about writing stories. It's one thing to have your character be a dick, but OOCly have the decency to not make a show of 'how much better you are at something than so and so', especially in OOC commentary. Honey gets more flies than vinegar, and if you present yourself as a decent person, people will respect you OOCly as well as enjoy your RP regardless of if your character is a douchenozzle or not.
3. Know the community/ dreams rules and canon to the best of your ability. Players of guards/ police are, to a lot of individuals, people in positions of authority. If an admin isn't available, nine times out of ten, a new player will go to a guard/ police player for confirmation on rules. This also means don't abuse them, loophole them, or lie to make yourself look good. If you don't know, be honest and tell them you don't know, then try to direct them to someone that might. If you make a mistake OOC, admit it. You’re representing the community/dream, and the staff OOC, even if you do not have an administrative rank.
4. Don't hoard information. Yes, everyone wants to be a hero. Everyone wants to sit in the limelight and show others 'how it's done'. But that's not how RP works. Share the love as best you can. Learn to delegate and get others involved when you can. While this is supposed to be common sense, it goes double for people in positions of power. If you don't share things, give other people time to shine, people will become disgruntled, will become bored, and will come to see things as being cliquish. Just as honey attracts more flies than vinegar, so does offering useful information and posts, and asking questions of others brings others to you for more RP.
5. Lastly, practice guard/ Police things. A player is not required to be an expert at combat rp to become a guard/ police character. There is more to a guard/ officer than swinging a sword around or punching people or firing a gun. But combat is a significant part of the role. So practice sparring with other players. Practice how to phrase various ways of attacks and defense, learn new words to make things easier. Watch how the other player posts and interprets posts. Watch what they do and phrase well that is easily understood and what it is you don't like or can't understand, and learn from this. Compare it to what you write and how you phrase things to better your own abilities. If you are 'teaching' combat IC, help teach it OOC too: Offer phrases, words, and information and feedback about what is confusing in their post, and do it nicely, especially what is working well for that player's writing skills.
When to Play a Guard/ Police
Play a Guard/ Police if you are willing to pursue plots, protect people, and be willing to step out of the spotlight just as often as you stand in it. Guards/ police need to be unselfish individuals OOC. They are one of the driver's of RP. Guards are needed to empower bad guys, evil plots, main-dream plots, and other players. Without guards there's no protection against 'bad guys and evil doers' and so the plot will faceplant or the bad guy will simply win the game and we won't really have RP anymore.
Do not play a guard/ police if you find RP to be 'difficult'. If you are unwilling to seek out plots and join the plots of other players when it isn't centered around your character, this is a very bad position for you and it will only end up stagnating things because the 'guards/ police' aren't 'doing anything' about the IC problems.
When approaching a scene, there are three things to remember to Do:
1. Ask to join. Typically, public map/ public thread means public rp. But sometimes a scene is very large and adding more people will slow it down and make things confusing. Do not take it personally if you are asked to not get involved. (People already involved? Be respectful.)
2. If allowed to join, establish that you will join in 'X' rounds. Base your entry on where your character was last, even if you were coming from the ooc room. Establish where your character has been before he or she would stumble on the conflict zone or conversely be summoned there (Loud explosions pointed the way, for example). Then observe so you know what the situation is. This will make it so your entry post will fit the situation. It does not make sense to arrive calm as a dandelion when there is fire and brimstone hailing down.
3. Your entry post should be your characters arrival and scoping out the situation (much like you did oocly). While you might know oocly what is going on, your character does not. Do not just jump straight in and have your character cutting and slashing through enemies. That would be a form of powergaming and metagaming.
If it is an event with a DM/GM/ST in charge, communicate with them. As much as it would make sense ICly to use some form of magical communication/ modern technology to alert the rest of the guard/ police to trouble and bring them all in to help, it is not always conducive to the scene on an ooc scale. Confirm if it would be okay to alert the rest of the guard/ police forces. If the DM/GM/ST is okay with it, good.
If not, do not request additional help from the guard, but DO ALERT THEM to a problem. The Guard/Police is supposed to communicate ICly, so communicate.
If a guard/ police force has one a separate channel for that kind of communication (such as a discord server), make use of the OOC channel as well as the IC one so the other players are aware the scene is cluttered. This will hopefully mitigate frustration for everyone involved.
Moderators: Jenn