Roleplaying is a complex subject, and entire books could be written on the subject. (In fact, many have been.) Rather then attempting to cover all the intricacies here, which would be impossible, I've tried to cover the main points. Stick to these, and you'll find that the rest follows quite naturally.

Since this is a complex subject, what follows is a categorized set of links to the pages of help on roleplaying offered here. Please email me with any comments on how helpful this information is, or with any suggested additions.