BrokenPromise

Quantity is Not Quality: My Gripes with Advanced.

...but then you have to go into the conversational section of the writing which is where the bloat I was talking about comes from. I feel like if you have to write constantly when there's not much to say, then you're setting yourself up to practice Purple Prose.

@Candelabra

Then don't? I've never really had that problem. If everyone's seated at a round table having a discussion, You can collaborate, bunny, or simply write less. I've never really thought to myself: "Shit! I need to blow this up to five paragraphs so that nobody thinks I'm slacking!" I must stress I have yet to really write in this forum's advanced section, and am simply familiar with that style of role playing.

Though I do think that you can very easily integrate that kind of lore in a Casual RP.

@Candelabra

You can, which is probably why I've never felt the need to post outside of casual.

Quantity is Not Quality: My Gripes with Advanced.

<Snipped quote by Inkarnate>

How do you mean?

@Candelabra

They treat them like a string of solo posts, so there's a lot of head hopping, repeating, and other unpleasantness. if I had to guess.

Quantity is Not Quality: My Gripes with Advanced.

@Penny Interesting way of handling the situation of people using your character.

I tend to just collab with people.

Quantity is Not Quality: My Gripes with Advanced.

Back when I started off roleplaying, I always saw the Advanced category as something to aspire to...

@Candelabra

And that's really the problem, isn't it? You saw the advanced section as some special elite force that you wanted to be a part of, and were disappointed when it wasn't. There is no air of superiority. I only ever post in casual and I've had people invite me into their advanced RPs. I have friends whho primarily participate in Free invited to advanced RPs.

I can't say I've played in any advanced RPs on this forum, but it use to be the only thing I did. There are plenty of ways to bulk up a post that are interesting and don't involve writing page after page of inner monologues.

You can describe objects, places, and the like. Not just how they look, but their history.

So instead of writing "Bob thought that he had the most amazing mug in the world, because it was his favorite color and had a nice smell etc etc." You can instead be like "Bob held a mighty fine cup. It was carved from the ivory tusk of an elephant, and had to be made out of a single piece to avoid seams etc etc." The difference being that while only mind readers would know what bob is thinking moment to moment, other characters could be familiar with the history of an object. So then someone can post for Gary noticing the cup and being familiar with all of its details.

What I notice mostly about looking at how things are written between free and advanced is that the players care more about stuff aside from their character. Free players just want to know and write about what their character is doing, while the Advanced players want to know how every bobble works and what the mountain people eat every morning. If you don't care about lore, there's little for you in advanced.

Please Reserve Free Sections ONLY for Free RP!!!

Casual:
There was a faint howl from the hinges as the door opened.

@NuttsnBolts

That's not quite correct. You need two posts to properly show off Casual.

Post #1:

Anyone looking at Noel would see a beautiful young woman, but she was broken. She didn't look like a slave. Noel's silken white dress was the envy of the upper class, but it might as well have been a chain collar. She had been taken from her real parents at a young age. old enough to remember her origins, but young enough to be molded into what they wanted her to be. Her hopes, aspirations, and dreams had been beaten out of her every time she tried to escape. Few would blame her for trying to escape the prison that she lived in, but she was made to realize that escape was impossible, and just attempting would do nothing but subject her to greater levels of humility and and suffering. Her clothes hid her scars, and she was properly cleaned before being put in a room with her buyer. "What would you have me do, my lord?" She was committed to doing everything he asked.

Post #2:

Robert took off his shirt and handed it to her. "Iron this."

Please Reserve Free Sections ONLY for Free RP!!!

Just posting because OP getting fired up over an RP having standards is hilarious.

Real talk though, you're not going to fit the wants and needs of every GM neatly inside of 3 sections. Honest bullet points for all the sections would look something like this:

Free: For people who don't take the writing aspect of RPing too seriously and prefer a fast post pace.

Casual: For Free roleplayers who don't mind reading longer posts, and Advanced roleplayers who don't mind reading less-than-perfect writing.

Advanced: For people who want to challenge themselves, take the writing aspect very seriously, and/or prefer a slower posting pace.

How to engage other players effectively

Engaging other players is about good communication, and good communication is everyone's responsibility. I've played both the "outsider" who is alone at the start of the story and the social butterfly who makes as many connections as possible. How effective each approach is depends on their execution as well as the type of RP it is.

One of the weakest ways to get other people to engage your character is to enter a crowd and have your guy/gal shout "Hello everyone! I'm *insert name here*, how are you all doing?" While it's clearly an open invitation for anyone to approach your character, it's not personal enough. It gives other players very little to work with. Not only that, but how many times have you seen someone do this in a group of strangers? Few people have that kind of ego and/or are that out of touch with proper etiquette. You need to be a bit more selective. That's not to say you couldn't open up with something like that, but then if your character is a womanizer, maybe then have them approach a female player character and be all like: "And you especially, I think we might have a few things in common." followed by some suggestive brow movements. Now the character you have approached has some material to work with. They can react cautiously around your character, or maybe they enjoy the attention and continue to converse. Maybe this bothers another character who thinks your character is being rude, and says their piece. Then maybe another character reacts, and before long everyone's taken notice of your character. Alternatively, the character your character just hit on might choose to ignore you in favor of someone and something else. That's fine, there are plenty of other players to engage with.

For a loner character, it's basically knowing when to join the story. Which should be as soon as possible. Just keep an eye out for an opportunity. The GM may push you along, but it's not their responsibility to give you special treatment. I would much rather join the story on my own terms before being forced into it. What Penny said holds true though. Some people just want to play in a setting without doing anything with the story.

You'll also be a lot more successful if you get to know the players. Pay attention to their antics OOC/on discord and you'll know if they are interested in being interacted with. The silent guy who never comments? They might need some more time to establish their character or to get invested in the player base. The other one who occasionally comments and is either ignored or is swept aside by some of the more vocal members? Ripe to engage with. There's also no harm in asking if anyone would like to write with you. We are role playing for collaborative adventures.

Loner players might just want some time to set up their characters or want to be outsiders, and might not be engaging because they aren't ready. Other times it's their lack of experience or inability to compromise that keeps them distant. Again, it's really easy to solve these issues by just talking to people.

Though in really big roleplays, I would argue that people who want to have their character know and be friends with everyone can be just as irksome as people who want to stay solo. I mean we all want a big ol' anime harem, but come on, even if you like all the players, your character can't like all the characters!

I guess the short version of all this is:

-Communicate, communicate, communicate!

-Players genuinely prefer personalized experiences. "Hey y'all!" will not get a reaction as strong as "Hey, Cindy!"

-The better you know your players, the easier it will be to engage with them.

-Loners probably plan on joining the story later, or might need some help.

-You can't waifu them all, don't even try.

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

@ERode

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

Forgot to tag @DarkwolfX37

Darkest Before the Dawn: A CYOA Magical Girl Roleplay [Completed]

”You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.”

— Nuncio

Nuncio had to leave the shop when Brittany closed up. He thought that she would just rub her crystal ball or something to get some information, but it seemed that she had something else in mind. Perhaps it was best that Nuncio wasn't present as she continued her search.

Regardless, he was a magical boy. The monsters weren't going to stop attacking just because Sammy was missing. He headed off towards one of the Lich conflicts. Or more specifically, the sound of cars racing.

---

“Beyond Level 5.”

— Vermin Killer

More of Shion's clones would stop giving out reports, always the ones closest to her position.

The owl's head crashed into the pavement before bouncing and landing on it's feet. It let out a ""hoo" before wobbling side to side and flying back into the air. The owls had to be protected by magic, if they weren't otherworldly beings in disguise.

But the owls were the least of Shion and Ko's woes now. A murder of crows arrived, and they perched everywhere from the tops of buildings to windowsills. Some were even bold enough to land on the ground. At the very least there had to be two dozen, possibly more.

"I wonder if your furry friend can take on all of those, or if she plans on letting her lackey do that. She's certainly paying you enough for that, right?" His voice was close, too close. "Oh yea, we haven't introduced ourselves yet." Even with all the birds around, his steps were the only thing Shion could hear. "I'm obliged to your clones, They were an entertaining distraction." Sarcasm was practically drip from his lips. "I should be grateful." He had to be right behind her now. she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. "I'm Vermin Slayer." He said before leaning closer. “Nice to meet ya.”