New way to play

[Mallow]

In order to solve the problem of roleplaying threads going silent, I propose a new kind of roleplaying thread where there is only one playable character.

Anyone can make moves and decisions for the playable character. The rest of the rp is filled in by the game master which is also controlled by anyone (or perhaps only controlled by council of chiefs members?). The player character starts and the game master responds. Each post the game master makes, the player character will respond to and each post the player character makes, the game master responds.

In this way, anyone can make the next move instead of abandoning or waiting on their character's turn. I expect this will result in more responses and add an element of community by allowing members to contribute to a fan-based story.

I suggest the story follows a stout and handsome buck named Pine Needles. According to the book, when the men poison-gassed the Sandleford warren, he somehow got out through a hole that led to the woods. Since he got to the woods, it is unknown what became of him in the destruction of the Sandleford warren. And we start there in the woods next to Sandleford. Obviously Pine Needles never finds watership down but we can make his own epic story in another direction.

I need us to generate some rules and guidelines to ensure an amount of realism and also that it will proceed properly. Dice throwing systems perhaps. Any suggestions?

[Chipster-roo]

I have no experience in roleplaying, although I would be interested in taking part if a new WD RP got started here.

This idea you described seems good and will probably prevent the RP from dying out.  However, using only one character may pose some problems, I'm afraid.  There is a limit to the adventures this one character can have without meeting anyone else.

Also what is this dice throwing system you are talking about in the last paragraph?

[Myrkin]

So, to sum up: there will be one player character that can be played by any/every member of the forum and there will be one game master who will be playing the whole world (minus player character) of this RP? In other words, one person will be providing challenges for character, while everybody else will be controlling actions of that one rabbit?

[Mallow]

Yes I agree. Although I suppose there can be more than one game master so we can minimize time between responses.

[Hammy]

May I cut in? It's an interesting idea that could work, certainly. I'd like to see how it would play out, maybe even participate, but it sounds more game-y and less write-y, not to mention that it might get a little cluttered and perhaps inconsistent with this single character's reactions.

Personally, I've always thought that roleplay was fun, in theory, because of the element of many characters behaving around each other around one multi-layered situation. This has been the nature of the most successful roleplays I've participated in, though, all of those have been done in small groups with a high amount of communication between players. I think both ideas can work, really, but communication needs to be heavily employed. Google Docs has been a godsend for the long-term roleplays I've been in. Easy to work and talk with each other right away, and work out what needs to happen.

I say all this not having seen this particular board's roleplays die off, but I know I've seen a lot of them die and generally it was due to either too many cooks in the kitchen or lack of communication. But do ignore me if I'm totally off the mark.

[Mallow]

Thank you for the insight. I've been told I'm not that good at roleplay but I really like to do it so I don't think I will give up on it. Can there be an alternative way to organize a roleplay thread and keep it alive and running while allowing players/anyone to freely choose their participation? This thread was created to discuss how we might do this.

I would prefer if there was some element of the separation of control over the characters to keep it from seeming like a run-along story. Just a bit of baseless speculation.

[Hammy]

Yeah, I know how that is. Keep trying and you'll get better, no doubt about that. If there is a way that will ensure activity in and of itself, I haven't seen it. Best you can do is create something of reasonable quality and seek the best people for the job. I like you idea of having a dedicated game master, but I also think that having a group of dedicated group of core players is important so that things keep moving no matter what, in your idea and any other, really. Flexible with other players, but keeping that core there so things don't go completely off the rails or up and die. Roleplays live and die by the players, ultimately, so that's what I'd focus on. I hope I'm being at least somewhat helpful, I really do.

Hm. That's kinda one of those situation where it's like you want to have your cake and eat it too. I'd suggest a time-sensitive turn system of some kind to be established from the beginning so control can be effectively separated, but that would also undermine the desired consistent flow and interest, at least a little. As for rules to be followed, my mind goes to character traits and limitations, maybe even a true stat system, depending on how heavy you want to go on the RPG elements. I'd definitely agree that at least a basic dice roll system would be in order if you want to go that way. These things combined, you got a fairly solid base for a consistent, single-character roleplay, tabletop RPG-esque experience, in theory. Seems like a matter of balancing rules and improv abilities at the heart of things, balancing the subjectivity of multiple players and objectivity of a single character. Maybe my perspective is just totally off.

It's a strange thing to talk about in theoreticals and I'd say that it would be best to start something like you're describing as soon as possible to see how it goes in execution. Learn by doing and keep trying until it works. That is about the only formula I've seen work in practice, but someone else might know better than me.

I didn't intend to talk this much or this long. I'll stop now.

[Mallow]

Establishing a good base for how we play is important and sometimes takes a bit of thought.  I'm okay with this since a good rp usually takes loads of man-hours so spending some time elaborating on the idea is almost never a bad thing unless it takes too long. Thank you for sharing and thanks for the words of encouragement.

I absolutely love the idea of a time sensitive system. I will post a rule set this evening and let's tweak and adjust it until we're mostly satisfied.

My original post was only one way of tackling this idea. I'm sorta just waiting to see if anyone has any alternative ways and then we just pick one that sounds good. Speaking of theory is fine, but hopefully there is someone who has had experience with a similar problem.

Hammy lay narn... frithaes!

[Acacia Heartstrings]

For a long time I have wanted an RPG adventure here for rabbits or something like that does. The only bad thing is that my English is not very good hehe  

[Hammy]

Establishing a good base for how we play is important and sometimes takes a bit of thought.  I'm okay with this since a good rp usually takes loads of man-hours so spending some time elaborating on the idea is almost never a bad thing unless it takes too long. Thank you for sharing and thanks for the words of encouragement.

I absolutely love the idea of a time sensitive system. I will post a rule set this evening and let's tweak and adjust it until we're mostly satisfied.

My original post was only one way of tackling this idea. I'm sorta just waiting to see if anyone has any alternative ways and then we just pick one that sounds good. Speaking of theory is fine, but hopefully there is someone who has had experience with a similar problem.

Hammy lay narn... frithaes!

Oh, definitely, on all accounts there. I definitely agree that a more solid, detailed idea should be established initially. And you're very welcome. Always happy to help.

Sounds good to me. Can't to see what you've come up with.

I getcha. It would be convenient if someone with more experience could come along and help out, it's definitely best to take as much initiative as we can with the resources we have now. Still, we can hope.

Aw, thank you. I think that was a compliment. I hope it was. My Lapine is rusty.