The importance of roleplaying for your character

Your standing among your contemporaries is, for most people, very important. Since it is you who decides what your character says and does, all relationships which you strike up with other players will be real and continuous. Hence deciding upon a role is one of your most important decisions. It would not be possible, for instance, to form lasting relationships with folk dedicated to protecting life if your immediate aim was to rape and pillage. Try, as often as possible, to stick to your chosen role. Ensure that decisions your character makes are consistent with its role.

One of the most beautiful things about Avalon is that all start equal, and anything is possible. There is no reason why you should not rise to be the greatest Knight in the land, or the mightiest Enchanter. The following sections describe in detail the aids Avalon provides for fulfilling whatever role you have chosen for your character. Avalon charts your physical progression through skills, experience levels, status and feelings of other civilisations towards you.

Genesis, the Creator of the realm, coined the term "realplay" to describe the kind of roleplaying unique to Avalon. It is a blend of out of character passions and in character depth, built on the foundation of these real achievements, consequences, personal histories, and relationships. They can and have stretched far beyond Avalon and promote an emotional intensity you cannot find elsewhere. You are encouraged to be yourself, first and foremost, and allow your character to be the extension of yourself that others see.

The analogy is actor and character:

=   Enforced roleplaying is like being the character Hamlet in the play, distant to you the actor and emotionally objective.

=   Realplay is being the actor Lawrence Olivier, speaking the lines intensely and passionately, with all the fervour of believing himself Hamlet.

See HELP SADISM for an example of roleplay versus 'realplay' and the distinction between a character's actions/words and the potential abuse of Avalon's freedom from "rules of behaviour" and its liberal policy of trusting its players to self-regulate their conduct.