The Furry Forums
Furry Chat => Rants and Advice => Topic started by: Gabag on July 25, 2009, 06:42:54 AM
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I dunno if I posted this in the correct thread, but I was wondering
how do you keep the Roleplay interesting and how do you make it last?
any advice would go a long way.
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Yes.
Have you're Mom go on the Computer XD
Sorry I couldn't help myself I just had to say something stupid and off topic. Won't happen again.
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Well, first thing is have a story. Then you have to know what type of story you want to do. Make a plot, some evil king is after some innocent furs with powers, something like that. (Yah, I based that example on one of my RPs xP)
You also need people that are available to post in it at least twice or thrice a week. That is, if you don't want to leave anyone behind. I know some RPs that died because people suddenly had to stop coming to the Forums as frequently as they did, or because someone had to travel, or had computer problems.
There's more stuff, I guess, but I woke up an hour ago so I'm still not thinking like I should lol
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I agree with everything said before, but also
carrots... no this isnt a rabbit thing, it's a carrot in front of a donkey.
A good story is great, but not if it's slow to build with no obvious direction to a moment that everyone would enjoy, and that moment needs to be brought to quickly. Also, multiple threads help people feel like they're important and exciting in this world, so let each character have stuff happen to them even when they're not involved in main events. Also, action is great but mindless action for the sake of action can be a bit boring. Either make it mean something to the characters or be really unique and interesting.
None of this is easy and i'm probably talking half-rubbish, but that's my opinion (I have never organised an RP before.)
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I might as well add my two-cents-worth in, if the story/RP is made so complex that no one can keep up, then it will not be easy to follow. I learned that the hard way in the only one I made.
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I'm probably stating something I heard from a friend earlier, but not all of the players have to be the good guys....
have some bad, some good, some idecisive... its nice when you know about half the people you roleplay with are at least going to have one conflict, gives more reasons to stay...at least it does for me :3
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i second that
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I agree with everything said before, but also
carrots... no this isnt a rabbit thing, it's a carrot in front of a donkey.
A good story is great, but not if it's slow to build with no obvious direction to a moment that everyone would enjoy, and that moment needs to be brought to quickly. Also, multiple threads help people feel like they're important and exciting in this world, so let each character have stuff happen to them even when they're not involved in main events. Also, action is great but mindless action for the sake of action can be a bit boring. Either make it mean something to the characters or be really unique and interesting.
None of this is easy and i'm probably talking half-rubbish, but that's my opinion (I have never organised an RP before.)
thats my problem, how to make it quick that interest is maintained but not too quick that the rp is over in 5 hours
any advice on how to control the speed of the rp? (like story wise)
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well make some long and distant goal, such as defeat the evil eye at mordor, whilst putting lots of little goals in between, such as meeting the ranger at Bree, or bringing the ring to Rivendell to decide what must be done with it. Make sure it comes quickly, or atleast that nobody is left waiting around.
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one other thing that is good to help keep rp's going would be to try to include character's. it's cool if people can go off and do their own thing for a while. but it's good to send them a pm once in a while and ask them if they'd like to be brought into the story if they don't make a move. sometimes the roleplayer doesn't want to but into other's character's stories so they will wait on the fringe until someone notices them. just remember to ask if people want to be brought into the main story or other people's parts of the story.
asia's idea i agree with. giving us little goals to complete so we aren't left in the rain. (like in your rp for example only, you the story teller says thunder is brewing above, we must make a shelter to stay in soon, but the ship is unsafe due to debris and possibility of lightning strikes)
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I'm still wondering on how to do this. I've tried a lot. Nothing's worked, really.
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Can you list what you have so someone can find something to add or modify to help?
can't tell what a car needs until you look under the hood :3
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What I usually find that helps is watching and studying the plot of some good movies. Yeah, you need a plot (then there wouldn't be an RP) and a seemingly unreachable goal which is then achieved by smaller but significant goals. The kind of RPing I do COMPLETELY steers away from magic mainly because you always have at least one person who thinks they're a real cowboy and can do whatever they want. For example: "Oh, we need to get all the way across the country to pick up this really special order of chicken fries." Then this guy comes in: "Yeah we do. We COULD hitchhike or walk, run, but why don't I just teleport there!?" *ZING* "K, I got it." Yes, RPs like this REALLY upset me. You have the oppertunity to go on some whole misguided adventure somewhere and have all this cool stuff arise, but no, there's always the guy who can teleport or just make it appear AND RUIN IT. Where's the fun? Making things harder and more challenging make things interesting. Aimless fights with magic and powers make me facepalm. They're something about them that seem really pointless and stupid to me. If I wanted to watch a round of Yu-Gi-Oh, I'd go do that. I don't need an RP to do it for me. THAT is what makes me want to leave.
Interesting plot lines could include going somewhere and having your best friend fall in love with your sister and you may not like that but it turns out, he was trying to ruin you life the whole time. You find out WHY! and he could end up killing your parents or something I don't know. Yes this is random but I'm just taking shots in the dark. Ever seen the Godfather or Goodfellas? Mafia furs? You got the rookie cop, crime boss, goons, arson, murder, action, mystery! There is so much you can do to keep things going.
But I must say a lot of RPs die because of people failing to post on time. You could have the most awesome plot going and it stops at the climax because someone decided to go offline for a month. When I controlled RPs (when was REALLY into it) I never waited for people who didn't care to show. You don't show for exactly 3 days w/o notice, you're kicked from the story. That's how I ran things. In the OOC, WANTED: someone to fill in for ______ If no one filled in, I played the part myself. I had an RP go for 3-4 years called Pacco Di Lycan (my record on HumanPets) with about 74 people playing different characters and it was based off the epic movie, Death Sentence. It is possible to achieve.
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so what you're saying is this
Super Powered people are boring
boring people adapting to the situation is better
Have a thought out and well constructed plot, with an impossible goal with plenty of smaller goals LEADING up to the main goal.
and if no one posts just take their character and BE that person
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No.
A SEEMINGLY impossible goal and exploit a blank character position BEFORE taking the position or you can act like they never existed.
You got the super power part a little off but you go the gist of it. Do you know the difference between super powers and magic?
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Do you know the difference between super powers and magic?
Super powers are unnatural feats that come naturally, needing little to no energy to prepare (eye lasers). While magic may take from a few seconds to as far as several years depending on how complex and powerful the spell is, and not without a price equal to or more than the magnitude of the spell(Immense power at the cost of flesh or mind).
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I understand the difference between magic and super powers... Super powers coming naturally and needing training, but once mastered creates a powerful force
magic you need to give equal measure of energy to cast a spell, without energy, you start to give your whole being away to the spell
i mean by boring character, i mean like your Average Joe type person. Like a Lawyer or Office worker or something... but they adapt to their current situation, like say.. a city got hit by a massive earthquake, their survival instincts kick in and they learn as they survive how to do/make certain things that normally wouldn't be accessible under normal circumstances
but what do you mean by 'exploit' a blank character, explain what you mean...
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i mean by boring character, i mean like your Average Joe type person. Like a Lawyer or Office worker or something... but they adapt to their current situation, like say.. a city got hit by a massive earthquake, their survival instincts kick in and they learn as they survive how to do/make certain things that normally wouldn't be accessible under normal circumstances
Yes, exactly.
By exploiting a blank character position, I mean let people know the character is free for anyone who may want to play as them. If someone messages you saying "Oh hey, yeah, I can play that character for you!" and you say "Awesome. Here's what's happened so far...(insert summary)." That is exploiting a character position. But if no one replies who wants to play them you can either: play as them or kill them off.