Hedgehawk

Is forum Roleplaying beginning to slow down?

I think the issue is more of a supply vs demand issue. I don't think that the number of RPers have dropped over the years, I just think things have become more centralised. Rather than the load of small sites that we had in the late 2000's instead we have ended up with as all trio or so of larger communities.

The biggest thing is that we have ended up having too many GMs. I.E we are creating more RPs than there is demand for them. That means GMs have to market themselves rathe than focus on building a decent RP. That puts them under immense pressure etc and I could go really and write an article on the whole thing. I miss the old days where there were few GMs and RPs were fewer. You had to really commit to it to get in and as a result everyone was invested and you got like 100 posts out of it before it died. Now, getting past page one is seen as a crowing success it seems.

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The Satsuma Rebellion - A Magical Incursion RP

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Melville politely listened to everything that everyone spoke. He could tell there was still some uneasiness in the room. That was to be expected though. After all, Most people in the room had only just met and they were expected to perform an entire mission together. No one could reasonably expect the group to gel together and become comrades at the drop of a hat. The Guild did have some rather bizarre practices that didn’t always make sense.

Still, Melville had things to do. He had to go get the documents from the printer and start to think of a plan. Everyone else could just go do their own thing. He had wondered how many of them actually thought they were on vacation? It didn't pay to think like that however. It would ultimately lead to resentment of his newfound allies. Walking off, Melville would make his way down the newly revealed stairs to investigate. The underground facility seemed to revolve around a single central corridor which had been painted rather unimaginatively white. To the left were all of the dorm rooms: small units that still managed to fit in a full sized bed and a ensuite somehow. On the right housed the gym, meeting room and a second kitchen/mess hall. It seemed entirely plausible that you could love down here with no one upstairs ever being aware of your existence.

Walking into the meeting room, Melville surveyed his new surroundings. The room was dominated by the table in the center. There was a TV and a laptop mounted to the far wall with a printer in the corner. The sole light in the room was based above the table and really helped to give the room that 'underground' vibe. Walking over to the printer, Melville noticed that the print light was flashing, something was waiting to print. It must have been the documents that Aloysius had promised to send. He must have finished eating. Releasing the print job, Melville watched as the printer spat out sheet after sheet of printed paper. Once the job had finished Melville scooped them up and took a seat at the table. His fingers stroked through the pages subconsciously as he began to digest the rest page of information.

It become apparent quite quickly that Aloysius had sent over alot of information. Realising he wasn't going to be able to digest the information in one go, Melville began to skim read instead, spending time looking at pictures and titles instead of the small print. As he was done with each piece of paper he would slide it into the centre of the table, creating a neat grid of paper.

"Well. There is certainly alot of information." Melville muttered. Mostly to himself, but also to anyone who had joined him in the room. "So the nightclub that Sakura runs ended up becoming an impromptu hang out for the Rebellion it seems. Sakura may be afraid to talk. We will have to be careful. As for the warehouse. I doubt anyone is even there now. It is probably picked clean, but it is worth a look, just incase they left anything behind." Letting out a soft sigh, Melville slowly raised his hands and ran them through his hair. He wasn't stressed out at this point. More tired. Travelling had taken a lot out of him.

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Gone and Gone

The Satsuma Rebellion - A Magical Incursion RP

Okay Everyone,

Next cycle of posts is up and the deadline is Monday 6th July. Thank you so much for your amazing posts so far. You are all such great writers.

Feel free to have your characters go down into the lower level and drop their stuff into their rooms. I will go into more detail regarding the secret area later on. Also start to think which of the two jobs your character might want to go on.

Hedge.

The Satsuma Rebellion - A Magical Incursion RP

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It seemed that everyone had practically arrived almost at the same time and Melville didn’t have time to react to everyone entering. He didn’t notice many of the people who were entering the house. He naturally noticed Salem enter, How could anyone not notice her?

”Hey!” Aloysius chimed back at Salem’s remark. ” You probably wouldn’t understand most of the stuff on TV anyway. Besides, you should be more thankful, the alternate solution was to put you in a warehouse with sleeping bags.” Aloysius was about to speak more but Faye had decided to chime in and comment on the upstairs situation.

”Bed in the bathroom? Are you sure you are okay? There are two bedrooms and a small bathroom up there. One was my old childhood room and the other is my parents old master bedroom. Though, I do understand the issue regarding lack of space. Which is why I have something to show you. Melville, be a darling and look to the wall on your left, see there is a photo hanging? Twist it to the right and then push.”

Melville looked slightly confused as he walked over to the photo frame. The photo in question was one of both Aloysius and Salem when they were young teens. Being so close in age they practically ended up being glued to one another for childcare and education processes. Taking the frame Melville rotated it to the right until a click could be heard, it was then he began to push. As he pushed a door-sized segment of the wall pushed in, revealing a small landing and a bunch of stairs to the right.

” Down there you will find that there are a bunch of bedrooms, meeting room and a training area. The area is padded very well and enchanted so you can scream down there and no one on the outside will hear. I would recommend that at least one of you sleeps in the master bedroom though, just to give the house the illusion it is being lived in. But that is your choice to make as to whom. The only other thing I ask is don't go into my childhood bedroom and start messing with shit. Got a lot of memories in there I don't want to lose." With the door now revealed Melville went back to sitting on the sofa.

”Anyway back to the mission. Normally we would have more information for you to work with but with the last safe house gone our entire network is dark. I wouldn't advise going to investigate the wreckage of the safe house. It might still be under watch by the Rebellion. However, I do have two leads for you to look at. First one: There is a nightclub in town which is run by a mage, who stereotypically is called Sakura. She isn't part of the Rebellion but a few of them do drink there. She might be open to talking or at least wanting to co-operate. You probably wanna catch her in the afternoon when she is setting up, as opposed to in the middle of the night when everyone is there.

” Secondly, we have, sorry had, an old warehouse out in the industrial part of Satsumasendai. We used it to house supplies for the safe houses, stuff like that. It might be worth having a sniff around and see if you spot anything. Maybe the Rebellion took it over rather than just steal something. The bigger they get, the more supplies they are going to need. Either way, both of those jobs will probably require your attention tomorrow, so I suggest splitting up into two groups. But again, totally your call. With that, I am going back to my cereal. I will send the rest of the details over shortly. For now, get yourselves settled in".

With that done, Aloysius closed the call and left them all to their own devices. Standing up, Melville turned and looked around to everyone who had now entered. There most certainly was a lot more than he imagined there would be.

” Well that was something. Though it's Aloysius, so I would say that was rather good. Anyway, I suppose I should introduce myself, Name's Melville, Heir to the Louis bloodline. But I don't really care about the whole bloodline thing. I am thinking that we should perhaps get our stuff moved in and then meet down in that meeting room to discuss what we are going to do. Sound good?"

Shuffle your music player and post the first 10 songs

You're Gunna Go Far Kid - The Offspring
Welcome to the Black Parade - MCR
Ignorance - Paramore
This isn't a Scene, It's an Arms Race - Fallout Boy
Teenagers - MCR
Misery Business - Paramore
You Call Me a Bitch Like It's a Bad Thing - Halestorm
Castle - Halsey
Final Dictvm - Motionless in White
Hard Times - Paramore

Story Flow (Story-Driven vs Character-Driven)

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Story Flow - Story-Driven vs Character-Driven RPs

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This is a guide intended for GMs that are looking to read more into GMing theory and how to run better RPs. This by no means a way of saying ‘This is the only way to do RP.’ There are many other guides and theories out there and I encourage you to go and read them too.

Story Flow

Story Flow describes how smoothly a story goes from beginning to end. Reading novels is a great way to see story flow in action. You can see how a story has a clear beginning and end, how the character transitions from a nobody to a hero is a classic story flow. In a good novel, the flow is seamless, with character development progression at just the right pace it compliments the story. Harry Potter is one of those classic examples, especially in the first novel.

Story Flow in an RP, however, is significantly different. Since each person is writing the perspective of only a single character generally, it can feel as if you are as a GM, trying to weave several threads of individual character story flows into a singular narrative. Such a task appears almost impossible Throughout my many years of RPing I have discovered there seem to be three main ways to deal with this.

Story-Driven RPs

A story-driven RP is very similar to a novel. Think of it as train where the GM is in the driver’s seat and the players are in the carriages. The players are essentially in it for the ride. The GM already has the entire story plotted out on paper, and the characters are simply there to react to the events that the GM puts in front of them.

On paper, it appears that this is quite a simple style of RP and that it should succeed often, mostly because players don’t need to think too much. Instead, they simply react and post. Rinse and repeat until complete. You will find a lot of free RPs tend to follow this formula as it is the most simple one to follow for new roleplayers to pick up.

However, it does have its disadvantages. Players can become bored just being dragged around for the ride. They might be able to come up with amazing posts, but will find themselves being held back for lack of creative expression. This style also puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the GM to do well. If the GM doesn’t bring their ‘A’ game to every post, then they run the risk of losing the interest of their fellow players and accidentally killing their RP. Which brings us to the opposite:

Character-Driven RPs

If Story-Driven RPs is the GM driving the train, then Character-Driven RPs is the equivalent of the GM sitting in the back carriage and letting the players do all the driving. At first, this might seem like a better idea for some GMs. You did all the work setting up the OOC and the first post, why not let your players have some real control over the story?

This kind of style can work, and when it does it gives rise to possible some of the best RPs you have ever seen. However, the chances of success are extremely slim. Firstly you need to have a bunch of dedicated players who aren’t afraid to put in the leg work required to create their own subplots. While I know that they exist, I tend to find they are in short supply. This isn’t so much a dig at the community, but it would seem the majority players prefer to be spoon-fed or at least have the spoon handed to them first.

In this kind of RP, the GM creates a sandbox and lets the players run free in it. While it can create dynamic and interesting storylines, there is always that threat a single player might try to dominate the story, or do something so utterly stupid it ruins the fun for everyone else. Sadly a single one of these events can be RP-killing and unless there is a tight restriction in the form of rules, can hardly be avoided.

The Hybrid Approach

Like most things in life, the best approach is to take the best elements from both things and find the middle ground. The best RPs are ones where the GM has a loose plot they want to follow, but allow the players room to develop their subplots and push their own development in parallel to the main story.

Different RPs will call for a different balance. Linear RPs, like murder mysteries, for example, would require there to be more control to the GM, while a Tabletop RP would give more control to the players. When creating an RP ask yourself: ”How comfortable would you be if a player threw a wrench into the works?” If your answer to that question is “Devastated as now my plans are ruined!" then you probably want to have more control over your plot.

As with all things GMing it is all about the experience. Don’t be afraid to go out there and try. If it fails, it fails, you still will have learnt something. Hopefully, with this guide, you should be more familiar with the styles of RP, and next time you read an Rp you might be able to judge the kind of style used.

If people have found this useful, then I will consider making a larger guide around the topic for GMs. So do let me know if this is something you would like to see.

Hedge.

Starline - A Sci-Fi Tabletop-esque Rp for Non-Tabletop Players!

Awesome, glad to have you both onboard. Just waiting to see if anyone else wants to jump on.

Starline - A Sci-Fi Tabletop-esque Rp for Non-Tabletop Players!

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“We are limited only by our imagination and our will to act.”

Ever wanted to do a tabletop RP and then get scared of by the rules and the character creation? Don't worry. Most of us have been there. For a while now, I have been toying with the idea of creating a system that allowed players to enjoy a tabletop RP while not forcing them to read massive rulebooks and calculate lots of dice rolls. After many months of writing and planning, I believe I might be in a position to give this a go. Soooo *Deep Breath* Here it goes...

Starlight is an open universe RP that allows players to explore the galaxy in whatever way they feel fit. The RP is extremely free form with quests and plots made up mostly on the fly. While there is a story line it will be upto the players to discover it and go with it. There are no restrictions on what players can do but be advised that characters can and will die. The beauty is that you can simply rejoin the universe as a new character and go do something new. Players are also free to work on their own or together. The universe of Starlight is one that will always be ticking away, even if you leave, things will still keep on rolling when you jump back in.

Humanity was never going to stay on Earth forever, destined for far better things than a single planet. First the moon, then Mars. One by one more and more colonies sprung up across the system. Stations were built further and further out, until there simply wasn't any room left. However at the edge of the system, something was discovered: A dormant gate. Where it led to, who built it? No one knew. Suddenly there was rush to figure out what the gate did, and how to get it working. Attempts to reverse engineer the technology had failed, but the insights gained from the gate had advanced humanities ship building technology by at least 200 years. After nearly 20 years of fiddling and repairing, the gate was now operational again, even if humanity didn't fully understand the technology behind it.

On the otherside of the gate lay a new solar system, empty and free. Humanity poured in, building new colonies and stations. As charting of the system began more nonfunctional gates were found. They were rapidly bought online and more empty sectors with dormant gates lay. The process continued to repeat itself until one day, they discovered alien life. Sentient alien life. It turns out they were not the only ones who had an dormant gate in their systems. Five races had discovered the hypergate network and had one by one began to expand.

50 years after first contact, and all the known systems have been claimed, bar the odd rebel or pirate system. The remaining inactive gates were being studied for reactivation by each empire, but so far the universe is in deadlock... but for how much longer.

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For now I would like to gauge potential interest. I will be looking for a least a small group before I put it all together. But if enough people want to give this a go, I can start writing up the systems and create the universe.

Hedge.