Forum Roleplay Discussion

Rather than continuing an off-topic conversation on LW's "Interactive Stories" thread I wanted to open up a thread to discuss the state of play with play-by-post RPs.

I'm really glad SS took a tangent with PJK's excellent observation and I agree with both of you that forum RP has been... slow. I haven't whinged about this (in public) cos I didn't want my wrists slapped with a reminder that it's optional.

I love this play-by-post stuff and think a new RP or two for the newer members is a great idea but what about my poor three characters, and other vets like me, currently busy (I use the term 'busy' lightly)?

Does anyone have any ideas on how, *Red puts on a tie* going forward *Red takes off tie*, we could prevent RPs stalling for such long periods?

I open the floor...

About roleplaying on the forum. Is it a definite requirement to write and join in role play stories on the forum or just really optional? For me personally I would love to join in but I'm awful at writing and creating stories. I do love to read though. I'd hate to join in and maybe spoil a good story with my possibly lame attempt at story writing. I will have a go, and have done in the past. I'm just saying I'm no where near on the same level as you guys.

I am with the "smuggler" on this one, my RP was mainly 18th century in the past and right now i am way too busy with getting my life back on track as many already know!

Don't want to ruin anything or attempt to create right now, love to read though!

For what its worth, I think the RPs should remain optional and nobody should feel under any pressure to get involved with them.

That said, I think that those who have chosen to participate in them need to do just that - participate.

Purely from a writing perspective I find it damages the flow of a story massively to keep stopping for long periods. Its akin to picking up a book, reading chapter 1 and then waiting 6 months before reading chapter 2 and wondering why it feels disjointed.

In short, I think those who chose to play in the Forum RPs could do with getting involved a little more as joining them in the first place should be optional but once you commit yourself then its important to keep the story moving.

I appreciate everyone has different levels of busy, but one post every one or two days shouldnt be a stretch.

Those are my thoughts as well LW, but its 12:30 and I can't think clearly ..bleh

I think just a few loose rules would be enough to keep an RP going, have a schedule for when the story leader is going to update the RP and maybe have a post requirement of 2-3 days for the contributers (under punishment of death) but that could change to how many people are playing and what the leader wants.
Also if people get busy then they can use the story discussion mirror thread to say so and someone can take over their character.

Its been mentioned a few times that we should start a new RP up for newcomers but nothings come of it and BHs away for a few days so he won't be updating ROTC, so why don't we do a role call for a new RP?list all the new guys who hav'nt had chance to RP yet and see who wants to join in. Run the role call thread untill next Friday but we could have first posts on the RP as soon as we have have a story tied down?
Whoever wants to run it can pitch their ideas to LW via PM or a thread,

As I think its pretty clear now, RP on here is optional however I really do think that if people have joined an RP guild then they should at the very least give it a whirl, but thats just me. You don't have to be the worlds greatest writer to do it either. It really is one of those things where the more you do it, the better you get at it. The reason I put up the RP (as does LW and BH) is because it's nice to get a feel for the characters before the game starts. I can honestly say that I feel I've got to know a few of the characters already which is realy cool! I feel like I've known Net'ra, Redwatch, Ree'tak/Valik, Aliendra/Masu, Raif, and Nex for years!

Another reason that I think it's important is because it lets me know that a player is genuinely interested in roleplaying, and that they'll most likely attend RP events when the game goes live. Personally it really bugs me when people join RP servers and don't roleplay and I'm sure some of you feel the same way. When we finally get on the game then I really do want to represent our guild as a really active RP guild that attend and run lots of roleplaying events. If I find people aren't roleplaying or attending guild events then I will be forced to consider their position in the guild.

Anyway I'm going off a tangent a bit but as for the forum RP, I think we should allocate a day where we all participate in it, and like Lunarwolf's new interactive story move it along if people haven't particpated. If people haven't participated in a while then their character should be somehow written out of the story. It's harsh but fair.

PrioryJK wrote:

Its been mentioned a few times that we should start a new RP up for newcomers but nothings come of it and BHs away for a few days so he won't be updating ROTC, so why don't we do a role call for a new RP?list all the new guys who hav'nt had chance to RP yet and see who wants to join in. Run the role call thread untill next Friday but we could have first posts on the RP as soon as we have have a story tied down?
Whoever wants to run it can pitch their ideas to LW via PM or a thread,

Well the problem is and I'm not being funny here, I think more people do actually need to start some of their own RP as well. It can't always be myself, Lunarwolf and Black Heart starting the stories as we all have other roles within the guild that we have to complete too, as I'm sure you all understand.

I do like your idea of a role-call thread though, maybe just to see who would be interested in actually joining in. The only problem I can see is that it'll always be the same old people joining. Some have already stated that they only want to RP in-game and I fully understand and support their decision if thats what they want to do. However I do think this is a good idea and I'll start a thread on it soon.

Here's a mad one - what about an RP for New Recruits only?

(I meant to write something a lot more detailed here, but my mind fell out)

Doh! LW sneaked in a post whilst I wasn't looking! Anyway...

Sureshot wrote:

I really do think that if people have joined an RP guild then they should at the very least give it a whirl...

...it's nice to get a feel for the characters before the game starts.

I whole-heartedly agree with these statements.

And I think this:

Sureshot wrote:

If people haven't participated in a while then their character should be somehow written out of the story. It's harsh but fair.

is a fair statement too. I don't want to bad-mouth anyone but there's one roleplay I'm involved in (which I'm really enjoying!) that keeps stalling, in the main because of one member who is absent for weeks at a time. It's really inconsiderate that they haven't removed themselves from the RP imo. So I'm all for having a deadline system implemented.

I'd plumb for something like the following:

Minimum of one post/week per RP. (Or how do people feel about two? Is one post every few days too much to expect?)
Once the allotted period has passed with no input, the DM RPs the abandoned character (responsibly). NB/ The more you have RP'd with the character the better the DM can follow your lead in how the character is played.
Two weeks with no input sees the character written out of the story (alive and well of course).

Redwatch wrote:

I'd plumb for something like the following:

Minimum of one post/week per RP. (Or how do people feel about two? Is one post every few days too much to expect?)
Once the allotted period has passed with no input, the DM RPs the abandoned character (responsibly). NB/ The more you have RP'd with the character the better the DM can follow your lead in how the character is played.
Two weeks with no input sees the character written out of the story (alive and well of course).

/Agree

I think 1 post per week per RP is fine, because is everyone involved in an RP does that it'll move along just nicely. (That means 3 posts per week for me, which I am more than happy with... well 3 + an Episode of Urban Predator, hehe).
If people are going to be absent, thats what the 'Absences' thread is for, and I also agree a player should be moved to NPC status if absent too long. I think (especially with the 3 running so far) that the Storytellers can be trusted to NPC absent players quite safely, and if the players comes back and is unhappy with how their characters were portrayed, well I'm sure something can be sorted out.

I have to say its giving me a warm fuzzy glow that people are talking about the RP again - I was starting to get disheartened before!

Over at "A Wayward Son" (Sign Up/Discussion) Red has recently posted the following, which I'd like to address.

"..I think it's quite important how our band gets together. I was under the (mistaken?) impression that these introductory RPs served the purpose of both introducing folks to play-by-post and introducing our characters to each other. Meetings and first impressions are very important in forming relationships (fictional or otherwise! lol) and I like to play these things out. I can't speak for anyone else but I really don't like the idea of folks making assumptions on how my characters 'are' in relation to their own without my input.”

I'd like to start by saying that I am not pulling H2 up on this as it would be hypocritical. I've made this mistake in the past and its all part of the process that comes with doing lots of role-play.

Its one thing to have two players agree on a mutual idea of having their characters know one another and write that into their background. Its another thing entirely to presume it of others players and their characters.
You'll notice that most of our RP's so far on this forum start with bringing characters together for the first time. This is not an accident, but rather a tried and tested way of forming relationships between characters that allows each of the individual players to create personalities for their characters through interaction.

To say that your character just “knows” everyone else takes a part of the character-building process away from the player whose character it is. This is a huge RP no-no, up there with 'god-modding' and meta-gaming (if anyone is unsure of these terms I'll explain them via PM/Post) and really stunts character growth.

H2 has recently contacted me about having Sku and Ree meet in a story he's doing. I've said thats fine so long as it happened before Dark Secrets. This is not only to aid continuity (she's in hiding) but also makes sense because Sku wasnt at the Swollen Shaak Cantina RP and therefore it doesnt make any presumptions that the characters knew one another.

In short, do as you will with your own character, that's your right as creator and developer of the character but please please don't make assumptions on other people's characters as this can be heavily disruptive and even make people pull out of RP or “write-off” their characters altogether.

Good point Red/Lunar. That I'm afraid is actually against forum RP rules as well as I personally consider that a form of "bunnying":

Quote :

Bunnying is taking control of characters other than your own in order to make the storyline go the way you want it to.

As far as I'm concerned people can make agreements that their characters have met, are brother & sister or master and slave to their hearts content, but without the other persons consent that IS godmodding I'm afraid.

However, there are ways around it. I myself have had to introduce you all at some point and instead of saying I've met your characters which I clearly hadn't by the time Swollen Shaak Cantina started, I mentioned that my character (The Falleen) had actually been spying and keeping tabs on all of your progress over the years - which of course your character has no control over, but still please remember to check that something like this is ok. Seeing as I started an introductory RP though I'm sure all of you were 100% happy with it anyway otherwise you would have said so or not joined in the first place!

But yes, please if you can use this pre-game time getting to know each other characters (unless you've planned othwerise) as I find it actually leads to a richer story in the end. The important thing to remember of course though (and I'll say it again) is NO bunnying! Check with the other person in the stories roleplay discussion section first before making any rash decisions that could end up ruining someones RP. Consideration is key in roleplaying as I'm sure most of you know by now anyway.

Lunarwolf wrote:

Harlequin2 wrote:

I'd like to know how I handle it when I'm first introduced into the guild in-game...

Well TOR is a long way off so I suspect all of our characters will have a chance to meet one another in RP before the game starts.
The plan is for all of us here to be aquainted so we can start the game and form groups realistically by knowing one another.

Sorry to be all over the place in response to this but as LW has pointed out, this thread is a better place than PJK's RP discussion to talk about generalities.^^

There's plenty of time for all our characters to meet before the game comes out, but if folks don't want to play-by-post much or in the unlikely event of a few characters busy in different RP's with never the right combinations of characters to allow for introductions, this isn't too big a deal I think. We can work around it and make either scenario part of a dedicated in-game RP meet (much like my recent in-game into to LW's LORTO Kin). 15mins of "Nice to finally meet you" and we're all good to go!