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Post by pristorn on Feb 7, 2011 3:17:32 GMT
I thought it might be nice to share ideas and thoughts on our various games (if you are running one). Maybe a nice spot for brainstorming or what have you.
I personally am running a Call of Cthulhu game on the roleplay online website. I've placed it in early 80s NY, to maintain the gritty detective feel but without all the bells and whistles of DNA technology and CSI stuff. It deals primarily with a group investigating a series of brutal murders as well as a number of child abductions, though they aren't entirely sure if they are linked as of yet.
I've noticed recently my game has begun to slow down. I don't fault this to myself, as I've currently running 4 or 5 of the characters on my own, and I do try to keep the story going. It just seems like some of the players have stopped posting. Any ideas?
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Post by Bogwoppit on Feb 7, 2011 7:32:30 GMT
Ooh that sounds good... I mgiht think about joining if I didn't have all these charries here and two other games of my own From what I've heard RPs on RPG do tend to drift away to nothing after a while. I guess there are always so many new ones starting on there all the time that people get lured away. Also perhaps most people are younger on there and fantasy games appeal more? Don't know that for certain of course, just guessing. Have you spoken to the people who are in it with you? Perhaps they've been lured away by other games? Also of course people have things happen in RL which get in the way. The other sites I'm on slow down around Christmas for instance, and I don't post as much in the Summer as I'm away a lot. It's difficult when you're really into something and you really want to get others as enthusiastic about it! That's why I did this with this one... I was so impressed by the interest and I didn't want it to disapear amongst all the others too quickly. I have a forum that is a crossover between LotR and Stargate of all things!! I absolutely love it, it actually works really well, but there's only me and a friend of mine on there because it's not everyone's cup of tea (I suppose not many are into both fantasy/historical stuff and Sci-Fi!). Neither of us have posted for months now because we're both busy with other RP stuff, but we know it's there if we ever need it! I'm also on a King Arthur (movie) based RP site, which has been going for seven years! It works because there are a few really dedicated members who keep it going, and it has a good storyline with lots of actual history as well as all the fantasy surrounding King Arthur to follow.
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Post by pristorn on Feb 7, 2011 12:59:04 GMT
yeah, I've noticed that with the RPG site. My game came to a stop with the holidays (which I expected) but recently, it's slowed again, and I don't really have much reason for it, other then lack of participation.
I've mentioned it to the players, but no one's given me much in responses. It might end up dying out (which I noticed many games there do) but I'll simply just hold onto the idea then, and work it over until I'm ready to try again (causing it to be even better!)
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Post by snow on Feb 7, 2011 18:34:23 GMT
I've repeatedly found that players on RPG lose interest, become distracted, or simply forget. It's something I genuinely can't understand. The bigger the group, of course, the harder things are to manage, and I've become increasingly selective over what I join and who I allow in my own groups. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't have signed up for this one, except there was something immensely tempting about this interesting Michael character...and the scope for development. I also did a fair bit of stalking, came across New Alliances and thought "Well, if that works, so could this."
No regrets, nach~ I've been planning a very structured gameshow roleplay for a while, with lots of scope for individuality but a limited cast of eight because of the restrictive setting. I'm going to be very, very choosy. I also have the power to give it direction, which is important. The fault is that, being a gameshow, everybody needs equal chance to post, which could mean things get very slow...
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Post by sonata on Feb 7, 2011 19:51:04 GMT
So far, based on my experiences not just posting RPs up on RPG but also on other RP forums, I feel that players have short-attention spans. As mentioned previously, they do get not exactly distracted, but once they find an RP that they feel dominates their interest, then they tend to appreciate that RP more. Eventually, they begin to find excuses to leave the RP they're already in so they can focus on others. My longest RP that's been going on for 5 years now has only three dedicated players in it, but one of them is beginning to slack off. I think she's losing her writing enthusiasm. Smaller RPs do tend to last longer than bigger Rps. The only problem I have with small RPs sometimes is when I find a bunch of people interested in the idea but I'm only allowing 5-7 people. It makes me worry because if any of those people waiting to get in were just as dedicated as the ones I already have signed up, I would rather have them, but then I can't go to my players and say, "Hey, I don't want you anymore. Leave. You, post your profile."
A method I'll recommend is to make a RP that has a character limit, an RP that encourages interaction (so no one is left out), and that has a well-defined mission so players know the general idea of how the RP is going to go. Put a posting limit (like twice a week or less) and if anyone goes quiet for a week, PM them; and if they say they can't do it or they're quitting, save the screen names of the players who had previously said they were interested and PM them and tell them there's a spot open. If they want it or don't want it, then just find new and eager players. Always cycle your inactive players and always keep your main OOC topic updated. People look at your RP every second. I can't stand GMs who never update their topics saying who joined their Rps or what positions are already taken. It is lazy and unorganized.
I have made a topic of debate on Gateway once called, "Are you a writer or a role player?" People didn't exactly know what I meant the difference was, but the difference was the "mindset." There are players who do not know how to carry their character's story or a story period. They need someone else to guide them along or give them something to write about. While the writer, once he or she makes a character, can pretty much join a game and role play by him or herself until interaction. They can carry a story and develop a story just fine. They're very independent while the general Rper is dependent on others.
On Gateway, there are more RPers than writers. I consider fanfiction authors writers to a point, even though they aren't exactly writing something based on their own creativity but innovating on an already made piece, but if you're lucky to find writers on a forum site, then your RPs will last much longer. Like my 5 year one.
Rpers I believe tend to be the short-attention span dependent players who need the GM to guide them along and give them something to do because they don't know what to do on their own. Age doesn't really matter because I have Rped on an adult site, and a lot of those adults wrote like children who have never had an English lesson in their lives.
Any who, I hope to make an RP on Gateway soon. I put one up but I think it's too hardcore and too broad in perspective. I plan to narrow it down and base it on Norse Mythology. I'll also make select races since players didn't seem to like the liberty of being allowed to make whatever kind of race they wanted. I'm just going to be hacking it down like a tree lol.
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Post by Bogwoppit on Feb 7, 2011 20:04:41 GMT
I think a lot of what you say is right Sonata. I tend to give people too much credit in thinking they will know not to be too OTT with their characters, or that they will have the common sense to know what will and will not fit into that particular RP. I think I need to be stricter, but I'm too nice, lol. I don't like to hurt anyone's feelings so I'm probably not strict enough on profiles for instance. Then again, I do like to give everyone a chance, so even if they aren't the most experienced RPer I always think, we all had to start somewhere.
I do think if an RP runs for long enough the less dedicated players are weeded out, leaving those who really want to make it something special.
I hope you guys let me know if you want any guidelines ever! I'm aiming to write something soon about where the plot might go, but I do like to get feedback and interaction, as well as ideas. I think too many RPs fail because the GM has a set idea with no room for improvement or adaptation.
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fabledtales
Fallen
Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.
Posts: 148
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Post by fabledtales on Feb 7, 2011 20:33:43 GMT
There's way too many rp's I've been on that have gone dead. There was one recently I got really into, then the GM stepped in and ended it in a week I honestly stopped putting a lot of effort into character on roleplay gateway, I spend about 10 minutes doing them now. That's part of the reason why Dahlia was changed for here, I put more effort into her and made her feel more like a real person and less like some npc. But sonata you make me feel like a junior high student trying to rp...do you take apprentices? lol j/k I'm only running two roleplays. I recently started up a 3.5 D&D roleplay and its a HUGE freaking plot, its an dungeons and dragons style end of the world (the drow did it again ) and its all underwater so the 4-dimensional combat plus the fact that its a player-created world keeps me busy, so I've sadly neglected my western freeform Don't want to say anymore about the D&D campaign, not going to give pristorn the one up on the other players
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Post by snow on Feb 7, 2011 20:40:25 GMT
The GM is the most important person in an RP, for sure. I'll sign up to anything if I trust the person running it. Somebody clearly enthusiastic about their own idea, which is usually obvious in, as Sonata said, whether or not they update. On RPG in particular, I won't touch a roleplay with the auto-generated post on the OOC (or at least, with no follow-up by the GM) and no feedback on any characters, et cetera. Communication is key! I don't know if anybody has ever looked at the "What makes you the most cross in RPs?" thread that continues to be popular. I did a list of 10, and bad GM was number 2. No communication was number 9, but I think it's higher now. ( Interested in the rant?) Friendly and talkative OOCs can make usually lazy or unattentive roleplayers pay attention. It guilts them
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Post by sonata on Feb 7, 2011 21:02:47 GMT
Yes, I agree completely and I think that topic you linked is interesting lol. The GM is one of the number one reasons why I quit RPs. I feel...a rage building up within me, but I must literally rage this. I have to. I hate it when the GM puts up a RP idea and expects other people to run the story. WTF? WTF! FHSKJHDFKSJDHKDJHK!Okay, I'm good now but GOD! *breathes in a paper bag* It annoys the hell out of me. fabledtales - lol I swear I'm not trying to sound like Mr. Modesty, but I honestly have two phobias with my writing: 1) I'm not being descriptive enough or I have no faith in my readers to be able to generate some sort of vivid mental image on their own, which leads to me feeling like my posts are crap because I didn't add enough description, and 2) I don't use a college-level vocabulary or enough wordy vocab to make me sound like my brain is above that of an eight grader. I fear my work being compared to Stephanie Myers. I placed a piece of my writing in this fun little site located: here (It's never gave me Stephanie Myers though she exists in there) So yeah, I tend to feel that I need to use the thesaurus more, although, some people like H. P. Lovecraft's vocabulary. I dislike it because it sounds like an engineer was blessed with literary creativity. I don't like reading literature that has words that don't give me an idea of what they're talking about. I forgot what those words are called, but my creative writing teacher described them to be dead words where they don't generate a mental image or appeal to the senses.
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Post by snow on Feb 7, 2011 21:09:23 GMT
I tried that site. I put in two different pieces, one a teenager's first person narration, and the other a third-person description of the protagonist's death. For the first one I got Ursula Le Guin, and the second, Dan Brown. I'm not sure if the latter is really a compliment...I pride myself on character development!
As for running the story...well, it can be hard. My first GM group roleplay, which took place on RPG, was character driven in a very difficult setting, and though we lasted around four months, I have recently reconsidered and decided I should have worked harder and been a little more daring. It was a murder mystery, the twist being the players didn't know who the murderer was either.
MAJOR FLAW IN THE ROLEPLAY: If the players don't know the answer, how are the characters supposed to? >_< Oops.
The idea generated a lot of interest, but it was very hard in practise. I now think I should have worked closer with the player whose character I had chosen as the murderer, and sent various clues to the different players, asking them to include these hints in their posts so that a conclusion could be actually reached. With this in mind, I may try this again at a later point.
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Post by sonata on Feb 7, 2011 21:15:05 GMT
Well, lol, I literally meant when a GM is like: GM: "I have this idea, and I want it to be about warriors, saving a princess, with space and blah, blah, blah, in there." Players: "Wow, that sounds great. Sign me up!" GM: "Here's the character sheet!" Players: "All right. Awesome!" GM: "Yay, I have enough players. Let's begin." Players: "Yay!" -RP begins with people posting randomly in a forest. People keep posting around. The GM enters the game as a character and is just standing there. People are eventually thinking wtf is supposed to be happening? Eventually, the GM goes off with this one warrior, leaving the others still lost on what to do. The RP fails.- That happens almost all the time. ALL the time. I can't stand it!
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Post by Bogwoppit on Feb 7, 2011 21:22:22 GMT
*Runs to take forest off future places idea sheet* One thing I don't like is when players seem incapable of interaction... like, someone posts something, and I'll try to find one of my charries to go and talk to them if the post has been there for a while, then they'll come back and take their charrie away in the next post! Can't see the point in that... then again, maybe they just don't want to talk to me!
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Post by sonata on Feb 7, 2011 21:36:12 GMT
lol I'm sorry if I do that with my posts. Usually everyone is doing some thing, and so I just tend to move Matt around. I was going to have my last post be in either the Church or the Cafe. I didn't think the church was adopting the IRL closed-door policy, but it did. And then I was thinking the cafe was going to be a 24/7 thing, but then Nataisha closed up shop. So I had to create a Waffle House v_v. My character doesn't exactly have the money at the moment to find an apartment or a place to stay, so he has to freeload and loiter.
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Post by snow on Feb 7, 2011 21:42:09 GMT
He could drop into the missionary? I'm sure Phillip or Julian would let him stay a night, the civillised, virtuous men that they are ^_^
Speaking of which, do angels actually eat/sleep?
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Post by Bogwoppit on Feb 7, 2011 21:42:31 GMT
Aw no I wasn't getting at you Far from it, I love reading your posts! And I did think when I saw the Waffle House post, damn I should have left Natasha at work longer, lol. No I was meaning in other RPs where you try to interact with people and they don't seem to want to... it's just a bit odd because why would you RP if you don't want to post with other people? I feel bad about seeing you keep posting by yourself because I've got no one to reply to you atm, but I can see you're perfectly able to carry it off so I'm not too worried Edit: That's a good idea Snow! Phillip was going to leave in his next post so he could meet Hue on the way out and go back in to be nosey!
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