The Spirit of RPG

I recently ran into a girl who was part of a short campaign that I was running to help new players get oriented in the ideas of role playing games (henceforth RPG).  This girl had the spirit of RPG as did her new comrades in arms.  Only she had a previous experience, but it was limited.  So allow me to elaborate on a few dos and don'ts of RPG.

Do: have a backstory.  Know who your character is and what motivates them to do things.  A Game Master or Dungeon Master can only throw so many plot hooks before they will give up.   This will give depth to a character that would otherwise be: "I rolled a 24 with my sword and did 12 damage, now where's my loot?"

Don't: tell your backstory to every warm (or even luke-warm) body in the world.  We appreciate your character, but we would rather see how their past affects the future than have it told.  This does not explicitly count the DM/GM, but at least keep it within reason for them.  They need to include your character in the history of the world, but don't need you to tell the whole story.

Do: play nice with others.  This is a team sport...sort of.  You need to work as a team to defeat the enemy.  Use your strengths to HELP the cause.  Remember, this is their story too.

Don't: play someone else's character for them.  Who knows the character better than the one who created them?  No one likes to have their character stolen.  Telling someone HOW to play their character or what to do is equally frustrating.  Let them decide what their character does no matter the consequences.  If you want to tell all the characters what to do, write your own novel instead.

Do: let the story tell itself.  The world is bigger than just you or your team.  Many things happen as reaction to your actions, but many things just simply happen.  Let the GM/DM tell that story as much as you participate in it.  Many times, if you force a GM/DM to do something for your character, their will be unintended consequences that may result in a worse situation.

Don't: be a kill-happy jerk.  If you walk into a town and start slaughtering citizens, the world screeches to a halt and fights you.  If you stab your teammates in the back without good plot development, you end the campaign (or at least your character is now a corpse, possibly on fire).  Know the targets, act rationally or your character will have a very short run as either GM/DM or party members target you instead.

In short, have fun!  The more secrets you reveal, the harder it is to do the unexpected.  The more unpredictable you are, the more likely your campaign will go on without you.  Play nice with others or you will play by yourself.  Open your mind and imagination and the universe is open to you!