Ellri

RP's dying out ?!

Threads with GM tips pop up every now and then. While many people here aren't ready for GMing, there is a decent number of those who have passed the threshold of readiness.

another thing that could be interesting to have made is a "Am I ready to GM?" test. one that would provide the sort of example problems like sudden RL work and such. Quite a lot of the ones who do start RPs could become great GMs, but they need guidance and to know some of the possible realities. And most of all, they need persistence. Just because an RP doesn't work the first time, doesn't mean it won't work the second time.

Tabletop Campaign/Encounter Ideas.

Many characters, all speak.

Tabletop Campaign/Encounter Ideas.

Well, we don't have encounters written out @Shade, but we think it would be rather fun to expose players to a mimic. In particular, the sort of mimic that isn't out to kill them. Say a mimic that craves licking the players. Or other ways of being a nuisance. Preferably a recurring nuisance.

RP's dying out ?!

Indeed. In our current aftermath iteration, we've got a problem with syncing up the two separate timelines, with one being about 30 hours ahead of the other. Its not easy to make time go faster in many settings.

RP's dying out ?!

No minding at all, @NuttsnBolts. Some could've been avoided, others were unexpected.

Being based on a prisoner / captor concept, the chief design flaw was lack of hope. The architect of the prison had designed it after reading and using the Evil Overlord list. Thus the security systems were well beyond what you'd find in even maximum-security prisons on Earth. In addition, even if they had escaped, we had no system in place for what characters could do then.

Other mistakes we made involved imprecise mechanics. Being a high-end large-group RP, we did not have mechanics in place to keep track of IC time. Not in any good or consistent fashion. The current iteration has 28 characters spread out across 17 different players, so managing IC time is mandatory.

One tip we have is this: never underestimate the value of a good pair of Co-GMs. The larger the RP, the more necessary. People will have problems in real life and that includes GMs. Having a couple of reliable Co-GMs means that at least one GM is available most days.

We've also found it valuable to be critical in the CS process. Not rushing things there eliminates the majority of problems later, be they godmodding/Overpowered characters, players out of their league or earwax incontinence. (ok, maybe not the last one)

Another issue we had was overcomplication. If something in the RP is so complex the GM(s) alone understand(s) it, then it probably doesn't belong there. A timestamp system needs to be simple and easy to understand. If the RP is based after a certain event, it might seem logical at first to use minutes/hours after event, but that stops making as much sense once you get into events on the following day. Most don't want to bother trying to figure out how many days after the event 432 hours and 19 minutes is.

If a captive player population has no hope at all of getting away, it will not encourage them to try escaping.

We think we deviated a bit above, but some of the mistakes weren't easily quantified into a single sentence.

RP's dying out ?!

A lot of it can be blamed on inexperienced / unskilled GMs. Its relatively easy to come up with a good RP concept. Its quite another to make it work long-term. Sometimes, a good RP needs to be run twice to pan out right.

In addition, RL often gets in the way for players. If the RP doesn't have mechanics in place for efficiently replacing characters belonging to those who drop for RL (or other) reasons, it will eventually die.

We're into the 5th month of iteration II of Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath, but the original dates back to before the guildfall. It took a long while to fix the errors between the iterations, but in the end it was worth it.

Reading RPs that you are not part of...

Do you do it?

Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath

@Archangel89If you look in the CS tab, you'll see the CS rules. In particular, this one:

There are restrictions on character species. No one may play a miraluka, and you may not play any species that cannot speak basic without technological aid.

CS rules

As @Fallenreaper mentioned, Wookiees speak in growls, grunts, roars, etc. That is not basic. Thus it will not work.

You will have to consider other species. And we're not going to open the can of worms that is Yoda's species. So long as it is not defined in the lore what his species is called, we're not going to approve any individuals from it. Right now, that species is marked as "Yoda's species".

We have one tip that you should consider upon character creation: Don't try for a special snowflake. We've had people try that before, and it didn't work for them. We're saying this to not waste time for you or for us. We recommend thinking about a character that is relatively "normal" as Jedi go. Not too weak, not too powerful, having an even balanced spread of powers, skills and flaws. (we're very fond of flaws)

Aggravated with Align BB Code

there aren't buttons for centered or right-aligned, and unless either of those are specified, text will be left aligned.

Its like you're asking for a button to make sure your posts don't come out as raw binary data @ZayZe, something the posts won't do in any case.

I'm an idiot who didn't know how to use the [Characters] tab.

if you don't get help anytime soon, @Lugia, PM one of the mods or send them an [@mention]. They can fix it faster if they see it.