RP Tutorial

Ok guys, I have been meaning to write this for a few seasons now but have never just sat down and written it.

There are a lot of you who don't think you can RP very well or you just submit an RP that is a few sentences, so I am putting together a RP Tutorial for you guys so that I can see your talents flow a bit more and so that you can see that you can do it.

1.) The first thing to look at is the construction of your RP.


Hey man, lets go and win this match. Yeah I want to win and destroy
these guys!! Well we will destroy them and not only that but we will
take their titles and make them cry like the little kids that they are!!


Does anyone see what is wrong with this sample RP? No, it was not written by the WWE Creative team, or by that person that you can see looking at you through your window every night. It is the construction of the RP. The first thing that can be pointed out is that you have no idea who is speaking. So let us edit that first. I am going to use Dan Babyface Dragon and Bobo the Clownkiller in this example.

Dan Babyface Dragon: Hey man, let's go and win this match. Bobo the
Clownkiller: Yeah, I want to win and destroy these guys!! Dan Babyface
Dragon: Well, we will destroy them and not only that, but we will take their
titles and make them cry like the little kids that they are!!

Ok, now we can see who is speaking. But, it still looks like a jumbled mess of dialogue. When you have anybody speak in your RPs, if there is a transition in who is talking, you should double space before you start writing the next sentence. So now we are going to edit it like so.


Dan Babyface Dragon: Hey man, let's go and win this match.

Bobo the Clownkiller: Yeah, I want to win and destroy these guys!!

Dan Babyface Dragon: Well, we will destroy them and not only that,
but we will take their titles and make them cry like the little kids that
they are!!


All right, now it is beginning to look like a conversation. The last thing you want to look at in the construction of your RP is whether or not you need edit your RP due to spelling issues. Mine is good right now, but make sure you look at it before your submit it into the RP section of whatever show you are on.


Written by Esgaroth from this point forward

Role-playing Basics

Role-playing means to develop a character and then to write texts and stories regarding that very character. It means to read what other people wrote about their characters and then react to it in written form. The first and maybe the primary step to do this is the creation of your own character.

Character Creation

The first thing to decide is whether your character is a good guy or a bad guy or something in between. Deciding this is very important for your character’s role, so give it some thought. Of course your character’s behavior can change over time, but not from good to bad and back to good in the time of three shows.

Next you should put some thought into your character’s looks, for example hair color, hair style, how tall is he (or she), is he rather fat or skinny, does he have any tattoos, does he wear short or long trousers etc. The more detailed information you give, the better everyone reading your texts can imagine the scene, and of course it makes your character unique. Another thing to consider is his personality: Is he the serious type of guy or rather playful, is he calm, discreet or does he get angry very easily?

Something very important (mostly for you) is his biography. Think about what your character experienced in his life, and why he got into wrestling, and even more important: Act like that in your role-plays! For example a kind-hearted character can suddenly loose it when something triggered a memory to one of his traumas. And a character that grew up in one of the worst surroundings on earth will never turn his back to someone he doesn’t know or trust.

Try to make your character unique and interesting. And don’t copy any real wrestler, because nothing is more boring than a roster full of guys who want to be Jeff Hardy (or any other superstar). And believe me, it’s much more fun playing a self-made character than something that isn’t you. Remember, there is no “wrong” or “right” in creating a character, only “interesting” and “I-already-saw-that-a-hundred-times”.

Writing a role-play

After giving life to your character, it’s time to make him live it. There are a lot of possibilities in a role-play and I can’t talk about all of them, but there are some things one should always consider while writing. A role-play always means that your character wants to give someone a message. That message can be to anyone else in the federation: another wrestler, the GM, the audience, the staff, a group of wrestlers, some journalist or all of them. The most important thing is what your wrestler has to say. A simple role-play shows your character in front of the camera, saying what he has to say, and basically this is the core of every role-play. As an example, I will post a role-play of my wrestler Esgaroth and then develop it further as this “lesson” continues.

Esgaroth: Hello, I am Esgaroth. I am a former rock star, but my band split up and now I’m here at Rock & Roll Wrestling.

This already contains all the information I want to give, but of course it doesn’t really look like much. Nevertheless, this is the core of the role-play, and everything that follows after this step can be changed to your liking. To make a role-play more interesting, describing the surroundings always is a good idea. Often used surroundings are the ring in the arena, the backstage area, some locker room or the GM’s office. Of course that also depends on who your wrestler is talking to. For example, talking to a journalist on some submarine hundreds of miles away from the next coast would be a bit weird ( but not impossible if you can give a proper reason why the wrestler AND the journalist are on a submarine hundreds of miles away from the next coast).

A dialogue is often the easiest way for a role-play, because it’s very easy to let the participants react to whatever is said. A monologue is much more difficult to write in an interesting way. But always remember: Only write what people can see in the ring or through the camera. That means you can describe the looks on the faces, but you can’t write the thoughts of the characters.

For my example, I wanted my character to give a speech to the audience in the ring. I still keep it simple so everybody can identify the points I talked about.

Esgaroth makes his way to the ring and grabs a mic. Esgaroth: Esgaroth: Hello, I am Esgaroth! The crowd cheers. Esgaroth: I am a former rock star, but my band split up and now I’m here at Rock & Roll Wrestling. I hope we all will have a wonderful time here! The crowd cheers again and Esgaroth makes his way out of the ring.

Of course this still looks horrible, but is much more interesting than the first example. While describing the scene, the more detailed information you give, the better every reader can imagine the scene the way you imagined it.

Another point to consider is the ending of lines. For me, it’s one of the greatest tools in role-playing (no joking!). Using several lines helps the readability but also has a real cool side effect: In TWG, the shows are shown line after line, just like in the matches (if you don’t press “go to the match result”). This means, you can make dramatic pauses in your character’s speech, which in my opinion is a really cool thing. So instead of writing

I have an important message for you: I will go for the title!

It’s much more fun like this:

I have an important message for you:

I will go for the title!

This way every reader holds his breath what the important message might be until TWG shows him the next line. As you can see, I always used an empty line between my written lines. I recommend doing it like this, so the guys who edit your role-plays and put them in the shows know which line break was intended, and which one is only because the text didn’t fit in one line. In my next example, I used this method as well as the more detailed information, and I also added some more text to give the role-play more soul, so to speak. I considered the facts that my wrestler is a former rock star in his way of behavior, as well as him being a crowd magnet.

Music starts to play and a new wrestler makes his way to the ring.

The wrestler has long, blonde, curled hair and wears long trousers with flames on them, while one can see his naked muscular upper body.

He dances to the music and the audience seems to get in a good mood.

As he enters the ring, he grabs a mic and faces the audience.

Esgaroth: Heeellooooo, Rock and Roll Wrestling!

The crowd cheers in response.

Esgaroth: Some of you might already know me for my rock star career.

There are some more cheers, and one man holds up a sign with the cover picture of one of Esgaroth’s records.

Esgaroth: (chuckles) Wow, I was told that this federation has a great audience, but I never expected such a warm welcome!

The crowd shows their approval.

Esgaroth: Well, now that my band split up, I thought: Esgaroth, you rocked so many stages. Why not become a wrestler and rock the best and greatest audience in the world?

The whole arena erupts into cheers and begins to chant the wrestler’s name.

Esgaroth: So now that I’m here, I want even more. I saw pictures of the title belts hanging everywhere, and since I saw them, it was clear to me:

He makes a pause.

Esgaroth: I want to become champion!

The audience applauds again.

Esgaroth: So guys, are you ready to roooooooooooooooock!?

The crowd goes completely crazy as the music starts again and Esgaroth dances his way out of the arena.

This pretty much is it. As you can see, I described the surroundings and the appearance of the wrestler in the beginning. I also wrote about the reaction of the crowd to the wrestler and his speech, as well as his reactions to the crowd. Another thing I used was a catchphrase, which can be a trademark of my character. Things like catchphrases or nicknames also make a wrestler more unique, and in my opinion every character should have at least one of each.

The last thing to consider is coloring the text. Especially when using more than two people in a conversation, coloring the text will help the reader to better understand who is talking, and in many federations there is a rule somewhere how to use the colors (for example one color is only allowed to use for the GM or the commentators. In the next example I used the color rules of this federation and added some comments of the commentators to show what I mean.

Music starts to play and a new wrestler makes his way to the ring.

The wrestler has long, blonde, curled hair and wears long trousers with flames on them, while one can see his naked muscular upper body.

He dances to the music and the audience seems to get in a good mood.

Dr. Louve: All right, here comes one of the new guys, Esgaroth!

As he enters the ring, he grabs a mic and faces the audience.

Esgaroth: Heeellooooo, Rock and Roll Wrestling!

The crowd cheers in response.

Esgaroth: Some of you might already know me for my rock star career.

There are some more cheers, and one man holds up a sign with the cover picture of one of Esgaroth’s records.

Esgaroth: (chuckles) Wow, I was told that this federation has a great audience, but I never expected such a warm welcome!

The crowd shows their approval.

Mr. Robotoo: Apparently this man knows how to treat his fans.

Esgaroth: Well, now that my band split up, I thought: Esgaroth, you rocked so many stages. Why not become a wrestler and rock the best and greatest audience in the world?

The whole arena erupts into cheers and begins to chant the wrestler’s name.

Esgaroth: So now that I’m here, I want even more. I saw pictures of the title belts hanging everywhere, and since I saw them, it was clear to me:

He makes a pause.

Esgaroth: I want to become champion!

The audience applauds again.

Esgaroth: So guys, are you ready to roooooooooooooooock!?

The crowd goes completely crazy as the music starts again and Esgaroth dances his way out of the arena.

And that’s it, you now know how to create an interesting character and how to give him life. The only limits left are the ones of your imagination. Nevertheless, here’s some more advice what to look out for:

1. Check you grammar and spelling. I know that there are a lot of great roleplayers who have trouble with the English language, but look at this post and remember I’m German. If you can’t write proper English, don’t worry, there are enough people around to help you. But give it your best, it makes reading your story much easier (and it’s less work for the guys who edit the shows).

2. Don’t just start writing without a plan. You don’t have to draw yourself a map, but it helps if you know before starting WHAT you want to say and TO WHOM you want to say it. I speak from my own experience when I say that writing without a plan almost always ends in chaos.

3. Have fun! That’s an order!

And finally some advice for different characters:

Face (crowd pleaser):
Being a face doesn’t mean you have to be good. Being a face only means you do what the crowd wants to see. As an example: The Rock was never a “good” person, but he was a face. He was loved by the crowd, despite being a complete asshole. As a face you can do anything, as long as the fans agree with it. This means you have to relate to the crowd, please them, and if some bad guy tries to bully them or another face, stop him. On the other hand, being a face doesn’t mean you’re invincible. Faces do loose matches, they do get beat up from time to time. So let him loose in some role-plays, but in a way the crowd doesn’t agree with it. A character which can do anything and nevertheless takes win after win is fun for the first three shows, but gets boring very soon.

Heels (bad guys):
Heels are pretty much the opposite of a face. They beat people up for no reason, they hate the crowd, etc. For a heel, there are only two rules: 1. Nobody likes heels, and 2. Heels do stuff no-one can approve of. This means you are allowed to do everything, you lie, break the laws, create chaos. But always remember, one day you will have to fall because people love to see the good guys win. But when that day has come, make sure you lose in the most spectacular way you can imagine, because this means an even more spectacular win for the face beating you.

I think this is enough to consider. If I missed anything or said anything wrong, tell me!