[quote=@ArenaSnow] Fun idea, and yet, I think the least hassle is a system where the roleplayers are 'modular'. In effect, they can be put into the game at relatively easy checkpoints, and they can be removed by simply encountering vague GM circumstances (fell sick, injured, sent on a subtask where they return Soon[sup]TM[/sup], etc). In effect, people can bring in their own characters through those checkpoints and make sense, and old characters by design can be phased out. I don't believe in roleplays where characters are so essential that the roleplay literally collapses in character without them (except for the GM, but if the GM is dead, you're buggered anyways). [/quote] Yeaaaaaa no. In your first few paragraphs, you said yourself that you don't like playing other people's characters because there wasn't enough material to work with. If an RP is half over, you can't possibly expect anyone to care as much about the new guy as they do the character who's ceased activity a month ago into a year-running RP. Sure, the easy thing to do is to fade out characters with a generic death, generic get sick, generic dismemberment, what have you. But it's never that interesting. Because most of the time it's predictable. That type of treatment can be done well, but I've found it's more interesting if I take control of the characters for a while. Sometimes they die right away, or sometimes they live until the end of the RP. the players don't roll their eyes every time an imminent ailment/death/quest splits up the party. And if I'm going to control them, why not let someone else do it? Also, the really cool thing about characters is that they can change. Is the character too cheerful? The loss of a friend or a horrific accident can change them. Is a character too edgy for your liking? Try to reverse engineer that attitude by making them fall in love or otherwise replacing what was lost. I don't run RPs to be hassle free, I run them to create memorable experiences.