Your RP Preferences

crawls out of hibernation

Got some stuff I want to pick everyone's collective brains' with. Basically about your preferences when writing/collaborating and some of the qualities of your favorite and most successful previous roleplays here on the site. It's a bit of a read, go on if you wish.

A) What genres and/or settings do you prefer?

B) Do you lean more towards open-ended content, or towards content that's more linear and defined? Sort of like the traditional "Story vs Sandbox" debate that usually comes up, but less binary.

C) NPCs. We all know and love 'em. Or hate their guts, depending on the circumstance. Do you prefer the majority of the plot-relevant NPCs to be player-created, or brought in by the GM? How big of a role should NPCs play in your ideal storyline? What's your favorite example of a good, proper use of NPCs?

D) How do you feel about the use of statistics (numbers, rating, etc) to represent a character's skills and abilities? Does it seem out of place to try to quantify those aspects, or rather something that you think would be interesting? Building on that, are there any other significant RP mechanics that you've enjoyed?

E) What's your ideal group size?

F) It's pretty common for roleplays to die out not long after they start, for a plethora of reasons. What's your take on keeping things going? Posting deadlines? RP end goals? Virgin sacrifices?

Yeah, that's about it for now. I'll be watching, so leave your eloquent replies and heated debates below. Thanks in advance.

A) I think the list of what I prefer is longer than what I don't like. I run a lot of fantasy based things, but any genre works well with enough creativity and twisting. The only thing I don't see myself joining without it being a very creative take would be a Journey or PMD. Or one of those battles only RPs popped up all of a sudden.

B) Were it earlier this year I would have said a sandbox, but I've done a full 180 on that. Sandboxes are slow and boring to me now, it just becomes "write a fanfic that occasionally features other people's character". Plot and a good use of rails I think helps form a cohesive experience for everyone and actually leads to getting stuff done. But with everything the dose makes the poison, and an entirely railroaded campaign is likewise someone writing a fanfic. Except this time it's the GM and the players are just around of the ride.

C) I like NPCs. Want to take a break and solo post? Just grab your local friendly NPC and it's like having friends who want to write with you! On the discord I discovered I'm the odd one who slightly enjoys solo writing to JPs, so I of course like NPCs to keep a character social even when I don't want to be.

Now, I feel that while NPCs can be important, but shouldn't be the star of the show. That's the player's role. Likewise there should be almost an inverse of their "power" and "plot magic". It's like Gandalf, the NPC shouldn't appear and fix every issue as that makes the players worthless.

D) Lets be honest... stats are weird to me in text based RPing. Unless you want to introduce a roll system to actually utilize stats (and holy crap would that slow things down) then you can do the same thing by describing your character and RPing them as such. The scrawny girl isn't about to lift up a car and throw it, I don't need something like "STR 3/10" to tell me that, the scrawny descriptor already did.

As for mechanics, I've played some pretty vanilla and loose rules RPs. I've taken to dabbling a bit on my own time with what seems like interesting systems, but nothing I can say works or is even interesting upfront.

E) Smallish. I like maybe 6-8 people. Larger RPs just become a mess as people need to catch up in order for the plot to progress. Likewise, as a GM, why would you want to have to keep track of 12+ people like I've seen some RPs? I already have a job where I have to keep track of people, and I don't want another one.

On the other hand, I wouldn't ever want to play with the minimum number. 6-8 is my magic number because even if one or two people drop, there's still enough to keep coasting until you can fill their slots or just power through. With 4 the loss of 1 is crippling, and the loss of 2 is just death for the RP unless the two remaining players really like back and forth posting,

F) I've seen deadlines, but people just blow through them and it's often more of a hassle to replace the offending player than it is to just ignore them and let them go at their own pace (sorry GP). End goals can also be problematic. I'd say most RPs have an end goal that they want to reach at some point, but often it's too far in the future to actually be a reasonable carrot to keep the proverbial donkey marching along.

What I want to experiment with more is a better sense of accomplishment and failure as well as starting on the plot early and having plot happen often. The former is actually just common sense. Make the players feel rewarded for their progress and even punishment for failure can be motivating. For the latter, the players need to be invested. I've lost interest in stories where you just mess around doing nothing of value while the GM promises the plot you joined for is happening "soon". It doesn't matter how great of a plot you made and how much your players will love it if you never actually start it. Some people can be pretty resilient with posting and passion projects, but when they shiny new RP pops up and the hype train is a-boarding while you're writing big scenes of nothing, I can't blame you for jumping ship.

GreyBidoof said:

A) What genres and/or settings do you prefer?

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I don't know if I'd say I really have any specific genres or settings I favourite. I guess, with the exception of the odd journey RP, I typically gravitate more to darker settings than I do the fluffier ones. I just feel like there's generally more you can explore in an RP that's got a darker tone usually. Genres I'm not picky about at all, it's more about the premise itself than the genre.

B) Do you lean more towards open-ended content, or towards content that's more linear and defined? Sort of like the traditional "Story vs Sandbox" debate that usually comes up, but less binary.

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Both! I like it when there's a definite direction that the RP is headed, but I also like for there to be a lot of freedom to explore my character's personal story. I feel that RPing is a very unique medium in the flexibility it allows in exploring different characters as well as overarching story. That's what I try to employ with most of my RPs and also why I really enjoy Z.

C) NPCs. We all know and love 'em. Or hate their guts, depending on the circumstance. Do you prefer the majority of the plot-relevant NPCs to be player-created, or brought in by the GM? How big of a role should NPCs play in your ideal storyline? What's your favorite example of a good, proper use of NPCs?

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I think that it's the job of the GM to introduce NPCs that are relevant to the main plotline of an RP or otherwise integral to its running. However, I think it's great for players to introduce their own NPCs that are relevant to the personal arcs and development of their characters. As for the role of NPCs in the RP, I think that it can and should vary according to the needs of each specific RP so long as the NPCs aren't overshadowing player characters. GM NPCs should exist specifically to further the RP while player NPCs should exist primarily for the sake of allowing the character to develop. For example, in Capes Ben and I used La Fenice Villain NPCs to advance into a more unified plot and in Z I have a character whose primary purpose is to act as a mentor for my player character

D) How do you feel about the use of statistics (numbers, rating, etc) to represent a character's skills and abilities? Does it seem out of place to try to quantify those aspects, or rather something that you think would be interesting? Building on that, are there any other significant RP mechanics that you've enjoyed?

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Completely pointless unless you're in an RP that is heavily mechanics focused like Outbreak. Speaking of which, I really liked the weight mechanic that Outbreak used to determine what your character could carry.

E) What's your ideal group size?

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6-12 as a player. As a GM I don't really have one.

F) It's pretty common for roleplays to die out not long after they start, for a plethora of reasons. What's your take on keeping things going? Posting deadlines? RP end goals? Virgin sacrifices?[/QUOTE]

I think two things are required to keep things going. Firstly, direction. There needs to be a sense that the RP is going somewhere. Secondly, conversation. Talking about things and planning keeps people invested even when they aren't writing a post and keeps the hype going.

Ok, let's see if I can answer these.

A. I don't like Sci-Fi and although I don't mind modern day, I prefer older times. To me, it is harder to describe, if not impossible to describe a gun battle vs a sword fight. Single Shot guns aren't too bad since you can describe stuff easier. I also prefer pokemon in general when it comes to RP.

B. A mix. I don't RPs with a straight end. I don't like a completely open Sandbox. There must always be a story, but one person or however many GMs there are shouldn't tell people what to do. GMs shouldn't have to check every single post to make sure it goes with the story. So i like a Sandbox, but there still needs to be a story.

C. I think both the GM and the RPer should bring in NPCs, but not an insane amount. One or two here and there isn't that bad, but an RPer shouldn't bring in their entire family and they shouldn't always come up.

D. I hate ranking systems. Most people who RP should know what is acceptable. A rank system would just be annoying to keep up with and is too much work for something that is supposed to be for fun.

E. 3 or 4 to 8. There is no need to have more than 8 unless it is a massive open world. The only RP I have seen successful was PTA when it was still up and running. The RWBY RP has also done well with a lot of people.

F. Just find people you can RP with. I think that is the only way a RP can last. I think there should be a dead line of at least 1 post every week or two, but that shouldn't be a problem with a smaller group of people. That is another reason I don't like a large amount of RPers in an rp.

A) I have to mimic what GP said here. There's not really a setting that I don't care for, but I do prefer them to be darker in nature. That's not to say that a fluffy, cute RP couldn't intrigue me, but I'd just rather spend my time letting my mind roam free in a dark world rather than one constrained by a rating or other rules.

B) I prefer it to be entirely one or the other. I don't like the hybrid formats too much, but I don't truly have a preference anymore.

C) The stories we make are mostly about the player characters. NPCs are nice, but I can't imagine... I actually can't continue that thought. Normally I would say that NPCs shouldn't have too big of a role in the overarching plot, but there's been a few times where I've created an NPC or two that I just can't help pushing just as hard as my PC. NPCs should be a joint collaboration between GM and player(s) so that their objectives and reason for existing in the first place are fleshed out and understood by both parties.

D) It varies by the RP. Some should definitely have stat systems, while others should never touch them.

E) 6-8

A) Fantasy or Science Fiction typically. I like to be weird.

B) Open-ended. I don't like feeling like everything I do is meaningless because the carts going to arrive at its destination no matter what.

C) NPC's are insanely important. They are what define the world as alive. Personally, NPC's are better when they're created by the players, for the players. It's fun to create characters and make side stories around them. Occasionally a GM introduced NPC will be necessary, a big bad guy typically would be a great example. Gym leaders in Pokemon RP's would be another example of GM NPC's.

D) Stats all come down to playstyle. They're okay as long as they fit with the theme of the RP.

E) Ten. Five. Somewhere in between. Depends on the type of RP. If the players are expected to interact, then 5 because I don't want to be forced to read ten different peoples stories just so I don't seem out of place when writing. If cooperation is optional, then skies the limit, but I'd still keep it to a moderately small player base for convenience's sake.

F) Don't worry about it. It's going to die out. Have fun while you can. We can always sacrifice a Shak though if you're really worried.