Brovo

defusing a bomb

Magic Magnum said
I wasn't asking why it's accepted by culture, I was simply highlighting there are ways to run an RP without a GM and it can still work well. It should also be noted RP's are not the same as say running a nation. There's far less people to deal with, and really only one main focus/goal in the end. To have a successful roleplay, as opposed to say covering all the necessities of living.While no set leader in a political system is suicide, it is something commonly proven to be a viable system in running an RP. I'm mainly just arguing the "One size fit's all" mentality approach that seems to be happening here in that all RP's need a GM, and all GM's must get themselves involved on player conflict.

... Because it works. If you have a group of individuals attempting to decide the fate of player X you are more likely to encounter problems than just having the GM do it.

Also most people who argue don't actually stop arguing long enough to really think about things and attempt to come to compromise.

Oh, and you brought up "common culture", so I expanded on it for you and noted why it's a natural glove fit to have a GM & players: It matches how the rest of society typically functions. Yes, you can do it without a GM, but why would you? That's incredible pointless. The GM's role is to play God and make the world and plot, to manage the excess details so that the players can focus purely on their own characters and on each other. I mean, yes, you could distribute that responsibility over the whole, but... Why? It's not like having a GM stops the players from making suggestions and requests... And it provides a central authority figure from which direction and rule can be established...

defusing a bomb

Pachamac said is whether or not they're a decent, communicative person who can react to disagreements and constructive critcism well.

^- This is the most important skill set any player can possess. You can easily teach the basics of writing, such as word control and variance or grammatical rules... And, at the end of the day, whether a character is a typical knight in shining armour or something altogether atypical, what matters is their attitude. If they can take criticism on the chin, consider it without sacrificing what it is they enjoy most, work with their fellow players in collaborative plots and posts, talk to the GM about future character developments or to inquire about the plot and/or world... -That- is the best kind of player there is. There are sadly not too many of them, but alas, those are the ones you start, plan out, and finish RP's with. Everyone else is usually just along for the ride... If you're lucky.

Also...

@Gwazi Magnum: The reason having a GM is "accepted culture" is because people naturally tend to congregate in groups, and typically, follow someone who has authority of some kind, through charisma or strength or intellect or other such qualities. Whether someone takes power as a dictator or a democratically elected candidate is irrelevant to that fact. If you think otherwise, you ignore the real world, and its various societies and subcultures. Because last I looked, there's not one successful anarchist society on the planet. Plenty of dictatorships and democracies, though, which both have chains of command that distribute power out to what are essentially "lesser leaders" at "lesser levels" that micromanage the details while the "greater leaders" macro-manage the rest.

Also because if two players get into a fight, it's a lot easier to resolve with one person in power just saying "yeah okay that's enough of that, A, please change X, B, please do Y, both of you, please agree to Z so this won't happen again" and then committing the ritualistic execution move if either fail to do as told.

Characters growing in power without getting OP?

Also, growth is a skill, and comes in two varieties, bell curve and flat.

A bell curve growth is one where a character grows faster the longer they live. The flip side to this for a story is that, often, a character doesn't grow too quickly to start with. So for example, farmer boy Tom needs to learn how to swing a sword. He spends several IRL months learning and perfecting sword swinging. In a magical setting, this probably isn't too phenomenal in terms of power growth in comparison to, say, becoming a master wizard and blowing up towns, or a super ninja who can turn totes invisible while wearing orange.

However, once Tom has all the basics down, he quickly learns other, demonstrable stronger techniques, faster. This usually goes under the premise that one learns how to learn faster by learning the basics of learning. As well, Tom can now likely find his way to powerful artifacts to help amplify his basic power, like a fire sword, or a lightning sword, or a sword that makes dead grandparents appear to their enemies to tell them how bad they're being today. Obviously Tom's power curve has suddenly sped up, this might all happen in the course of a couple months instead of the several it took to make Tom a competent fighter. Welcome to the Bell Curve: The stronger you are, the faster you grow, because it enables you to grow faster.

Naturally Bell Curves are better in stories with a definite ending, like rescuing the princess from a tall tower that is being guarded by a dragon. In literature and film you most often see Bell Curves in Coming of Age type stories.

A flat growth rate is exactly how it sounds and is easily the most manageable: Every "level" a character has they gain 10 points in X skill or stat. It always grows at this rate, there is nothing dynamic to a flat growth rate. However, that being said, it's very easy to manage and apply said growth rate to the antagonists of the protagonist as well. If the protagonist gains 10 "strength", then maybe the antagonist gains 10 "magic". Bell Curve can also do this but it can be harder to logically map it in comparison to flat.

Just remember: Antagonists should grow, too. If the heroes are suddenly capable of punching out Cthulhu, then the Antagonists should thusly now be capable of punching out their God. The only thing that should remain consistent at its own power level is the setting itself: If you're in modern day New York as a super hero, and you keep growing in power, the amount of collateral damage you could incidentally do to New York would grow with each step you grow. The only difference is that the villains just don't care about such things and will happily murder four million people if it means taking over the rest of New York. Growth in a super hero sense, when handled properly, merely means upping the ante. Where it gets silly is stuff like Superman sneezing destroying a dozen solar systems. (Yes, this happened.) Aside from that, go wild.

defusing a bomb

Captain Jordan said
Finding a balance between this, and being a dictator, is the crux of any good leadership. Good luck!

You -are- the dictator, though. That's not the question. All the power is in your hands, you made the world, its denizens, problems, ideologies, and geography. Right down to the last droplet rolling down a leaf is your doing, you are, for all tense and purposes, a god of this world, and get to supremely judge who can and cannot be within its boundaries which you have set.

That being said, when two players argue, you can either let em' go at it to the inevitable conclusion that one or both leave, or you can step in and tell them both that continued argument warrants being dropped due to ruining it for everyone else, over what is likely a petty dispute that can be resolved amicable. If they refuse to listen and continue to argue, drop them. If they continue to post in your thread, request a moderator to remove them and give them a slap on the wrist.

If they won't listen to you when you tell them to stop arguing, they won't listen to you when you tell them that some such behaviour or another in the IC was unacceptable, and that completely removes your ability to create any sort of suspense or danger, seeing as how they'll just rip straight through it with a plot hole the size of the one at the centre of our galaxy. Ergo, they're harmful, remove them. If they listen, then you can calm them down, intentionally delay "negotiations" for a day to let them cool their heads and give you a chance to talk to each of them individually to address the problem, then come to a resolution, and state that resolution as the Word of God. Blam, it's now canonical. Problem solved. If one or both erupt into arguing again, refer to the "plot hole black hole" comment earlier.

So... How Do OC Characters Work...?

OC = Original Character. It applies whether or not in a fandom RP when you create your own character that has their own name, ideals, and abilities, separate and distinct of those of their compatriots, or, in the case of fandom, the characters whom canonically exist.

Everything else is moot. It doesn't matter if your character is a talking tea pot or a master of the universe, if (s)he is their own distinct entity and not "Alladin as a tea pot" or otherwise, you've probably got an OC. If the character is literally Naruto, then you're not playing an OC.

Clear 'nuff?

Legend of Renalta 2: Reborn

Posting on Wednesday, folks. After that, I'll have an update system-wide for both LoR 2 and TLB that should help those with busy days remain useful without my necessarily having to puppeteer them against their will... Stay tuned.

Also, if I seem distracted, well...

The Last Bastion: Bunker Chicago

Posting on Thursday.

Religion in Role Plays

(2/10) Alright. Here's an upgrade in controversy from Romance, obviously, so in the interests of keeping a civil discussion, I'll be playing neutral arbitrator. It's okay to discuss or debate, but if any personal accusations or flaming comes out, I'm reporting it. If you become a repeat offender, don't be surprised if your posts aren't just deleted, but a moderator might temporarily ban you to let you cool your head.

Also, in the interests of remaining reliable neutral, I won't be commenting personally on the things people say. I might inquire further to encourage discussion, but I'm not going to judge people's personal beliefs here. Consider this a "judgement free zone" if you want.

Now that that is out of the way...

What do you think of religions in role plays? How should they be used and how do you use them? Do you have explicitly religious characters, a-religious characters, or do your characters never really feel strongly one way or the other about such things? Do you avoid the topic altogether, or embrace it whenever you get the chance?

Opinions on faking sickness to skip school, work etc.

Magic Magnum said That has a number of factor's to it. There are those who take fake sick days but do so responsibly.

Just pointing out that abusing sick days because "fuck it" is probably not helping.

Magic Magnum said But then you got those who skip school because they have no concept or grasp on the real world and think it's more 'cool' to ditch all the time.

Yep. "Fuck it."

Magic Magnum said Assuming the sick day isn't parent approved, which in my experience of both myself and friends it often is. However, we were the kinds who did it rarely (I think only ever did it when Mass Effect 3 came out and I planned to marathon the game right then).

So you called in sick to marathon a video game?... Hmm... No, sorry, I don't think I could really get this. I'd have never gotten away with this level of irresponsible behaviour. Two different lives, though, I'm struggling to comprehend why you would even want to ditch what is quintessentially free education for a video game you can play anytime.

When do you consider an RPG to be "Dead"?

Magic Magnum said Basically what Brovo... said?

It's just something I say to every single person who is concerned with RP death or asks about when an RP is dead and so on. It's a commonly reoccurring question so my #1 piece of advice is it isn't dead unless you give up on it. After all, it's an idea, and ideas are bulletproof. If in the extremely unlikely event you are literally the only person who wants to keep it going, you simply remake it and try again. If nobody wants to join it, ask for help in figuring out its flaws or what might be confusing people or so on, and play smarter. If your RP isn't getting out, use better marketing. If it confuses people, find ways to simplify it. If it's niche, search out those who enjoy that niche and reel them in with the prospect of something they likely don't get to enjoy often.

Don't. Ever. Quit. The moment you quit is the moment it dies. You can take a break once in a while, you can take a breather, stop to examine its flaws and ponder what you can do better, but the only time an RP dies is when you give up on it. Like every other idea that's ever existed.

It's just that I've made this call to arms speech about a hundred times so Rilla was kind enough to shorten it for me into one line. Because that's Rilla for you: A gentleman.