In this business,
the business of fantasy wrestling, the emphasis is on your
Roleplaying skills. While nearly all applicants to the
EPWA will be experienced Roleplayers, even veterans sometimes
need a little good advice to get back on track. What follows
is a collection of several hints and good advice accumulated
over time, designed for your benefit.
1. [ The
Gimmick ]
Perhaps the most
important part of the wrestler, at least when it comes to writing
Roleplays (referred to in the EPWA as interviews to maintain
a sense of realism). Your wrestler' gimmick is what determines
how he acts, and speaks, as well as determining the ring attire
he wears. For example, the "old" Undertaker (Pre-American
Badass), was supposed to represent the epitome of evil in the
WWF. As a result, he talked all demonic and preached how
his enemies would rest in peace, he acted quite morbid during
all his interviews, and his entrance costume was designed to
complete this look. In the EPWA, before you even apply
with a character, you need to think of what sort of character
you want to have, and then modify everything on the application
accordingly. For example you may want a wrestler who is
cocky and arrogant, in which case of course he wouldn't be doing
interviews in a cemetary except in extreme circumstances.
Your gimmick is the cornerstone of your character, and as such
warrants the most attention.
2. [ Alignment
]
Your character's
alignment determines how the fans react to him. Your alignment
should coincide with your gimmick, so if the fans are supposed
to respect your character, don't make him a monster heel.
In the EPWA, alignment is classified as follows:
BabyFace -
The fans love this type of character, and give him a huge pop
the second they hear his music. (e.g. The Rock)
Face - Although
he doesn't get as big a pop as the babyface, this character
is still a fan favorite and gets cheers when he enters the arena.
(e.g. Too Cool)
Neutral - The
neutral character is just that. He gets a mixed reaction
from the crowd depending on what he's done as of late.
This is sometimes said to be the best alignment because you
can be both a face and a heel at the same time (e.g. Chris Jericho)
Heel - The
opposite of a face, this character is the cut-throat type who
will resort to cheating in any way possible to win. He
is booed upon appearance and is generally hated by the fans.
(e.g. Big Bossman)
Monster Heel
- The worst of the worst, the fans absolutely despise
this character, although he always seems to win when everybody
wants him to lose. This character will resort to any trickery
possible to win, including stacking the deck against his opponent
and blatantly cheating. The second his music hits, he
gets booed out of the building. (e.g. Triple H/McMahon-Helmsely
Regime)
3. [ Moves
]
All wrestlers have
a list of their favorite moves; that is moves which they more
often or not perform during matches, to either get the fans
attention or to establish their alignments (i.e. cheating for
a heel). However not all characters can perform the same
moves. What we mean by this is that if your character
is based on the Big Show and is 7'3" tall and say, 400 pounds,
don't say he can do a shooting star press, because it's unrealistic.
Choose moves that would compliment your gimmick, so if your
characer is supposed to be a great technical wrestler, then
list a variety of suplexes and basic wrestling holds as his
favorite moves. If he's supposed to be a high flyer (a
la Hardy Boyz) list daring aerial maneuvers like senton bombs
and 450 splashes.
4. [ The
Interview ]
Having established
the character, now comes the all-important interview.
While each of us have our own preferred methods of interviewing,
there are a few basic hints that can and will help you if you
follow them. Just always remember the interview should
not contradict your gimmick, and remember not to act contrary
to your alignment in an interview (for example, if you're a
face and you start beating up old ladies). While this
guide will not dictate what you should do when writing your
interview, we can give you some advice:
Always include a description
of where the interview is taking place, even if it's something
as trivial as an EPWA camera crew approaching your wrestler
for an interview. While you don't have to write a book
for an introduction, try to describe the general surroundings
as well as what your character is wearing.
While not
required, per se, it is generally helpful to pause every so
often during an interview, even if you only say something
along the lines of "[Wrestler's Name] pauses for a few seconds
before contuing".
Try to use HTML
to spice up your roleplays. HTML is not required, but
it increases the overall appearance of the roleplay.
A list of HTML codes that are normally used in Roleplays is
provided in the next section
5. [ HTML ]
What follows is a
small sampling of basic HTML, for those who do not know it.
Remember to close the HTML tag after the section you use
it on by insterting a / before the tag. Ex: to close a bold
tag, use </b>.
<p> paragraph
tag, used to seperate paragraphs. If nothing else, use
this code to make your interview easier to read.
<b> for
bold text
<i> for italic
text
<font color="red">
for red text
(note you may substitute any basic color
name in place of red)
<font face="Courier
New"> to
change the font face (note you may use any font on your
hard drive, but others will only see it if they have that same
font installed. We reccomend using basic fonts such as
Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman, etc.)
6. [ Conclusion
]
Remember that everyone
has their own style of Roleplaying, and we enocourage everybody
to Roleplay differently. The important thing to remember
is that a Roleplay has to go along with your gimmick and alignment,
or else it's no good at all. If you honestly and truly
require more Roleplaying help, get in touch with the EPWA Executive
Board, and we will be happy to share some tips with you.
We hope this Roleplay guide has been helpful to you.
