This is a serious look at serious role playing. Of course you are always allowed to joke around and bend the rules of role playing, but this is a look at how to properly handle yourself as a monster in the world of Uthgol. I will be frowning upon any out of character joking around (although there are some VERY FUNNY examples in here to those with a sick humor of course). 

Whindanser's Guide to Role Playing in Grendel's Revenge

When entering the world of Uthgol, the setting of Grendel's Revenge, you have to realize that you are taking on the role of a Monster, not a Human. Monsters act differently than Humans, being more animalistic and carnal than their pink skinned brethren (more on Pinkies and Uglies later).

Because you are a Monster inside the game and a Human outside the game, there can be conflicts between what your Monster thinks and what you as a (weak and pathetic) Human thinks. This is called In Character (you playing the game) versus Out Of Character (what happens in real life outside the game) conflict.

Quick Guide to Grendel Revenge's Shorthand

Be familiar with the shorthand that people use within the game as they play.
In Character = IC
Out of Character = OOC
In Game = IG
Lag = Mist
Ugly, Pink Skin, Pinkie = Humans...your enemy
Bonie, Deady = Some IC terms for a player of the Undead Caste
Birdy, Birdy-Cat, Kitty = Some IC terms for a player of the Chimera Caste
Bull, Cow = Some IC terms for a player of the Humanoid Caste (in those two cases, specifially Minotaurs)

Guide to speaking In Character and Out of Character (IC and OOC)

When speaking about something OOC always use brackets instead of saying regularly. This denotes that the knowledge or topic of conversation is not meant for the world of Uthgol. For example:

In Character talk:
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "How did the battle between you and Malice go?"
Blackhand the Orc mutters, "I got killed"

Out of Character talk:

Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "[Have you heard about the War in Iraq?]"
Blackhand the Orc yaps, "[No, I live in a box.]"

Another good suggestion is to whisper what you say out of character to the person you are talking to. That way only the person you want to hear it, actually does hear it. Nobody else can hear whispering.

For example:

Blackhand the Orc whispers to you "[I think youre kinda cute I saw your picture on the internet]"
Whindanser the Gryphon shudders.
Rythgen the Minotaur roars, "What are you shuddering about?"

Rythgen doesnt know what was said to me. He should thank Grendel too!

The In Character vs. Out Of Character Conflict (IC vs. OOC)

This is a concept which is very difficult to fully grasp. Even players who have been in the game for a year can have a difficult time distinguishing what their character knows versus what you as a player knows. What it boils down to is that you MUST separate the real world, from the world of Grendel's Revenge.

The very first hurdle you must overcome in the In Character (IC)/Out Of Character (OOC) conflict is your choice of name. You must choose a name that fits your character, NOT you as the person sitting at the computer.

For example, BritneySpears the Ogre, while slightly amusing can not be taken seriously inside the game world. There are two problems with that name. First is that it is two words within the name. Having two words as your name can be confusing and it is not good form for role playing. On occasion it can work, such as Swordbreaker the Minotaur. It fits well and has a good flow to it, but generally you should stick to one word. The second problem is that you are taking something you know from Earth into Uthgol. Your character does not know who Brittney Spears is, even though you do know who she is. An example of a good name would be Magnar the Ogre. Its a fantasy/made-up name that seems to fit well with an Ogre. You can have a fantasy name and still have a problem IC. For example Fairy the Ogre, Gryphon the Ogre, or Gandalf the Ogre all are names that really cant fit with an Ogre in character or they come from other sources and distort your character's image.

In Character problems that arise...
When you are in character (IC) you are taking on the role of a monster; you are no longer a person at a computer. You are in Uthgol, not Earth. What you know is the knowledge you gain within the game. For example:

Rythgen the Minotaur rumbles, "I got a new car today."
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "Whats a car?"

Because he didnt use brackets [] to surround his speech, I have to react as though he is speaking IC. As a Gryphon, I have no clue what a car is. But of course OOC I know what it is; however YOU CAN NOT act on something in character when it happens or deals with something out of character

Situations arise when people use OOC terms and items within the game. These should either be ignored totally or you should ask the person to stay in character. For example:

Shadar the Basilisk pulls out a gun and pops a cap in your arse!
Whindanser the Gryphon stares blankly as nothing happens.
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "[Dude, you dont have a gun]"
Shadar the Basilisk snaps his talons.

In Uthgol there are no such things as guns. This was Shadar taking something out of character, and bringing it IN character. This can also be called Power Emoting, which will be discussed further on.

Many, many, MANY, people fall into the trap about talking about your character and other character's statistics and information that they gained out of character while in character.  An example:

Bear the Ogre grunts, "Im a level 24 tyrant can I be in your clan?"
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "What do you mean a level 44? You're weird, no you cant be in my clan"
Bear the Ogre grunts, "Aww but I put 200 ranks in my Warmongerer and Spirituality, I'd be so good!"
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "What do you mean 200 ranks? And what is Warmongerer and Spirituatlity?"

You can absolutely talk about your character and its statistics. Either put brackets [] around it, or talk about it in character. For example:

Bear the Ogre grunts, "I'm a young ambitious leader bent on tyranny and destruction. Do you have a fitting place for me in your clan?"
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "We have ambitious leaders already what skills can you bring to us to make us better?"
Bear the Ogre grunts, "I have trained hard in learning ways of teaching warriors how to fight better. My warriors fight with more skill and strength than others. Furthermore, I have aligned my spirit with Grendel so that I may take power from my prayers. My Shaman are able to concentrate better at their healing having more energy to do so."

In this way he didn't specifically say what he had, but you can easily surmise what his skills are by the way he described them. Some skills such as Heal and Hide are self-explanatory so a statement like, "I can heal people" or, "I can hide" is perfectly acceptable.

In Character Power Emoting and Abusive Emoting

Power emoting refers to doing an action to another player that forces them to take an action which they did not take, often times outside the game mechanics. This can be EXTREMELY bad form because it is very unrealistic. An example:

Jinn the Scarab whines to Whindanser the Gryphon, "Im gonna eat you!"
Jinn the Scarab picks you up and swallows you whole!
Whindanser the Gryphon taps his foot idly.
Whindanser the Gryphon snorts, "[Uh...no you didnt]"

He didn't eat me and he can't possibly eat me because he's the size of a beetle and I'm the size of a lion, also it's not within the game mechanics. Now, if Jinn and I wanted to fool around a bit, it can be done while staying in character, granted the situation is a bit ridiculous, but it's possible if I wanted to eat him and he wanted to play along.

Whindanser the Gryphon picks up Jinn the Scarab and swallows him whole!
Whindanser the Gryphon pats his belly contentedly.
Jinn the Scarab crawls through Whindanser the Gryphons intestines using his hard shell to defend him from stomach acid.
Whindanser the Gryphon squirms uncomfortably.
Jinn the Scarab flies from Whindanser the Gryphons backside letting out a savage roar!
Whindanser the Gryphon faints!

Because I know that Jinn is a person who will role play, I can do this and see what happens KNOWING that he will role play out the situation. A good practice is to whisper an out of character message to the player asking him if you can do something to him and if he will play along.

Abusive Emoting is doing something over and over and over again that will annoy other players. A quick example:

Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "Stop"
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Whindanser the Gryphon sighs.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.
Synchar the Hobgoblin pokes you.

As you can see this is very annoying and bad form.

Do not talk like you are talking on an Instant Messaging service. Stuff like "Stay here Ill brb : - )" and "Yo WTF man" are not gonna fly inside the game. Furthermore, terms like n00b l33t R0x0Rz etc. are WAY out of character. Do not use them inside the game.

Out of Character problems

A main out of character problem is using information you gained outside the game world to benefit your character inside the game world. This information can be gained on forums, messenger chats, and out of character discussions in the game. For example:

Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "[Yo where is your den?]"
Cedextra the Dwerger grunts, "[Next to the Nested Aerie]"
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "I'm gonna destroy your den! I know where it is!"
Cedextra the Dwerger grunts, "Noooooooo!"

If I were to go and destroy his den, that would be a serious abuse of outside information being used in the game. Cedextra told me where his den was while OOC. This means that my character Whindanser has no knowledge of it because he was not told IC. Therefore it would be impossible for Whindanser to know where Cedextras den is. Information like this should probably be kept secret and should not be acted upon to hurt the other player.

Another common problem is posting forum messages insulting a player for something that happened inside the game. You must always remember that what happens in the game stays in the game. If you were sitting next to the player you were fighting and he defeated you inside the game, would you jump over your computer and fight him (Brothers excluded)? If the answer is yes, then you are probably too immature to join the Grendel's Revenge community. If the answer is no, then you should realize that regardless of what a player does inside the game, it does not require you to insult the player himself just because he beat you. To make an example of it:

Arkhano the Hydra claws you for 1345 points of damage!
Whindanser the Gryphon falls kicking and screaming into Grendels Embrace!

As a forum post I write, "Arkhano if you ever do that again Ill put a virus in your computer you ***hole! I hate you and your mother! You're such a cheater!"

It is bad etiquette and rude to display such behavior. Avoid it at all costs. Conversely, if I were to post something OOC like the one above, Arkhano should not take it out on me in the game. If he wants to argue outside the game on the phone or through Personal Messages (NOT in the public forums!), that's fine. But within Uthgol, I never said a word to Arkhano after he killed me, thus he has no reason to be mad at me IC. This is an example of very bad behavior by taking OOC comments and bringing them IC.

Forum post by me: "Arkhano is the biggest cheater in the game! He uses bugs and lag to win. He should be kicked out of the game."

Within the game:
Arkhano the Hydra roars, "[I dont cheat and I dont use bugs to win]"
Whindnaser the Gryphon yells, "[Yes you do, you cheater and lag hitter]"
Arkhano the Hydra claws Whindanser the Gryphon for 1834 points of damage.
Whindanser the Gryphon falls kicking and screaming into Grendels Embrace.

This is very poor form in character. Avoid this behavior at all costs.

Problems with having Multiple Characters

People with Premium Accounts may have more than one character. Each character is its own separate identity completely unrelated to the other. For this topic, my two characters will be: Whindanser the Gryphon (level 1000) and Magnar the Ogre (level 5).

It is perfectly acceptable for you to talk about your alternate character with the character you are currently using. For example:

Magnar the Ogre asks, "I heard Whindanser was the strongest Chimera alive."
Magnar the Ogre cowers.
Galenth the Ancient Gryphon growls, "He is strong but not very smart. In fact the average Scarab could outsmart him. That limits him."
Magnar the Ogre asks, "Ooooh so you could beat him"
Galenth the Ancient Gryphon growls, "I think so"
Magnar the Ogre smiles at Galenth saying, "You must be reallllly tough"

This is perfectly acceptable because there is no indication that Whindanser and Magnar are being played by the same person. Problems arise when something happens to one character and you react to it with another character. For example, I will continue with the conversation above.

Magnar the Ogre falls asleep.
Whindanser the Gryphon wakes up.
Whindanser the Gryphon growls to Galenth, "So I heard you think you can beat me."
Galenth the Ancient Gryphon growls, "Who told you that?"
Whindanser the Gryphon growls, "Don't worry about it."
Whindanser the Gryphon claws Galenth the Ancient Gryphon for 3432 points of damage.
Galenth the Ancient Gryphon falls kicking and screaming into Grendels Embrace.
Whindanser the Gryphon grunts, "Guess you were wrong."

Magnar had knowledge that Whindanser didn't but I as a player combined their knowledge and acted upon it without it being possible in character. Therefore I used information that one character gained and reacted with different character. People tend to do this to get revenge or settle a score. This is bad practice in that your revenging character has no idea IC what happened to your character that got killed. Avoid this at all costs. Characters should be kept separate at all times.

Now for some Character Concept tips....

Character Concepts

The point of having a character concept is to make your character unique to you. Make it have its own flair. Sure there's plenty of blood thirsty Minotaurs out there, but how many of them are scared of water? Perhaps you could make a Mummy who can't seem to keep his wrappings on the right way. You could make a Sphinx who refuses to talk to any body who isn't Chimera. The possibilities are endless.

Having a unique character can be a LOT of fun, but its also more difficult to remain in character. You may wish to create the concept before you make your character, or you may wish to wait and see how your character develops. My character, Whindanser the Gryphon, is a fairly good example of having a character concept.

His concept came when an event that happened within the game altered his behavior. In the event, metal bugs crawled into his skin and took over his mind and he became enslaved to a being named Tilisi. After the event was resolved, I chose to have Whindanser feel permanent effects from the event. Instead of calling my master Galenth, I called him Galisi, a combination of Galenth and Tilisi. Because bugs took over my mind, I grew a hatred for Scarabs who are bug-like in appearance. Thus, I created a character concept for Whindanser through an event that happened in the game.

You may wish to create background stories for your characters to create a character concept. For example maybe you hate all female monsters because when you were little, your mother tail whipped you bloody! Again, do what you feel is best and most fun for you.

The main rule with character concepts: If you create a character concept, stay consistent and role play it at all times Otherwise it will just be considered quirky behavior that you do occasionally.

That about wraps up the first edition of Whindanser's Guide to Role Playing. Remember, have fun and always remember you're a Monster not a Human sitting at a computer (you weakling). Welcome to the community!