Pitfalls
Mixing IC and OOC
This is usually the first and perhaps the worst of the pitfalls of RP. It's when you identify so much with your character that you forget he or she is not the same as you and you start to take things personally. For instance, when you make a character and are new to RP, you tend to think of your character as you-in-another-world. Same values, same views on the world. You react to things happening like they were happening to you.
Another example is that you put hours of playtime and care into your character and you forget that in the end, it's just a character
These are two examples of mixing IC and OOC, and very bad things tend to happen when it occurs.
You are not your character. It is really important to keep the two apart.
Signs that you're mixing up IC and OOC:
- when your character is criticized / insulted ICly and you react as if it's you.
- when you take a pvp defeat very personally and get offended or angry ooc.
- when you find that you need to 'win' all the time
- when you rp a romance and you start feeling personally involved with the other player instead of your character being involved with their character.
Lore - Too Much and Too Little
FR is a huge and very well developed world. The first book was followed by many others. There is now an extensive 'history' and lore developed.
There is a balancing act between keeping within what's generally accepted as lore and ending up so obsessed with the minutae that it becomes oppressive.
Some people will try to work so far inside what's 'lore' published by WOTC that they end up trying to dictate your rp. The best way to deal with it is to consider if what they're saying is reasonable and if you can, check it on the FR wiki and / or google, or contact a DM.