Well, seeing how you said you never worked up the courage, I would suggest just simply asking people to rp with you. Even advertise yourself as someone who really wants to rp, because if you just hang in the background, you never really "learn". But rp isn't entirely dependent on how well you play a character, or describe something. To be honest, at times it is somewhat better to describe what you're doing in three sentences, then in three paragraphs. But what rp is dependent, on how you understand another person, and how you treat them. Many good rpers at least know to ask what their partner's limits, what they want, and how long they want to do the rp. If you don't ask what your partner's limits are, then you would be walking in a minefield blind-folded. You have no idea if a direction you want to go in, would at least step on your partner's toes, or make them suddenly want to stop. For example, let say a group of 5 people, who never talked/meet each other before, are rping in a adventure, with somewhat defined rules. One of the rpers/players did something in character, that upset another player out of character. This might cause the entire session to be halt or cancelled at the very worst, depending on how the players react to the whole thing. In general, I would say just put yourself out there, and always be mindful of your partner. They're the only sharing the story with you, so make it something both of you would enjoy.