Fantasy Role-Playing 101: Part 1 - Call and Answer
Role-playing between two people will often follow a call and answer type format, with one person being the story leader, and the other person(s) participating in reaction to the environment, or the leaders actions.
Usually if both parties attempt to run the story, it will derail and flop around in several directions. Actions will overlap and it just becomes messy and ruins the imagery.
Alternatively, if no one is the leader, and everyone retains a passive stance, the role-play will usually lull into an inactive state. This usually ends up consisting of everyone in the scene role-playing lazy dull tasks, or interacting with the environment.
The leader in the story, is not always the most dominant character in the story, or person. But can be anyone, who wants to propel the story forward through their characters actions. Often the person who begins the role-playing will be the leader initially, however if the other participant gains an upper hand on the leader, they are now in control of the situation to an extent.
I say to an extent, because there is some proper etiquette to follow in regards to forcing and domination, but we will discuss that a little later. To be fair, everyone in the story really helps propel it forward, however the more dominant character will usually steer the direction of the story based on the reactions of the other participants.
Adding People to the scene:
In a case where there are more then two people participating, often it is best to ease the others in after a leader and the first follower have established their parts in the story and the setting. Then having the other person introduce themselves into the story in a neutral position, which will not initially effect anyone else. Introducing each other person one at a time is ideal.
Group role-playing can become hectic, and fast paced. Because of this, usually shorter replies are ideal, and imagery tends to suffer. Therefore it is always best to try to maintain a turn order for everyone in a group RP situation, to try and retain order and enhance the overall quality of the story.