How does forum roleplay work?

In all honesty, roleplaying is something you need to learn through actually participating in it. That is, as far as learning how to play through a roleplay effectively.

In essence, it's a lot like writing a story, if you've ever done that. The only difference is that you're typically writing that story with three to five (sometimes more than that) other people. It's this difference between working alone and working with others to make the plot come together that calls for certain adjustment. The most typical of roleplays have a plot planned out, but that plot is generally flexible enough that the members don't have to bow down to the will of the RP's creator at every twist and turn in the road. On the same token, if it's a plot-driven roleplay that you're going for, that plot needs to be given enough importance to keep everyone in the RP on track, so that they don't stray off and do their own thing that's completely different from what's been intended. Really, it's all about finding that balance between your own ideas, and the ideas that get brought into the picture by the other people joining.

 

And then there's freerailing, that glorious balance point in between the two, where pretty much every roleplay should fall.