Here are the top five reasons why I think forum based RPs fail to meet expectations.

[Mathias]

Here are the top five reasons why I think forum based RPs fail to meet expectations. This of course is coming from a seasoned Dungeon Master (DM) from Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), Advanced through 3.5, and no actual forum RP experience. So whatever you do, take this list with a grain of salt. :foot:

5. "So what do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do want to do?" "Man, why hasn't anyone asked me, I mean Hoji, about my, I mean his, blue dragon steed I left in the parking lot, yet? Didn't anyone read my three page description of myself?

Leaving it open-ended causes boredom, little direction, and nothing but frustration. The player need a cause and a reason to come together to do something, anything. Everyone wants to do their on thing, but very few can agree upon it.

:soapbox:

Lesson learned: Someone needs to step up and be the narrator or story teller of the RP session, much like a DM in D&D.

4. "Oh no you didn't! Hoji, the 2nd level fighter / 21st level goat herder of the ABYSS would EASILY have dodged the swing of your 8th level Blackguard. Take that post back now!"

A lot of people try to make their characters sound "cool" or too high-level. They get upset when things don't go their way. Whether it's losing a fight, being injured, or hurting their pride.


:sword:

Lesson learned: Listen to the story-teller and follow his or her lead. They want to have fun with the RP as much as you do.

3. "Fafnir the almighty sorcerer raises his mighty goat-bane staff to squelch Hoji's goat animal companion." "Ah yes, then Trog the troll, heh, heh, clubs Hoji into the ground." "Oh, but not before Tittle the evil pixie sprite makes him dance in place to the twist, ti-he, ti-he." "Um, I think Hoji would like to make a deal to join your evil alliance, to avoid the pain, I mean join in the fun."

:twist:

Everyone loves the idea of being mean to someone they don't know in a forum, because they can do it without consequence. Of course this isn't fun for anyone except that person, and even that doesn't satisfy their thirst of revenge for Bob stealing his stapler this morning.

:mad2:

All of the players should be good guys. The good guys should work together. This means including them in your posts. Keeping their part of it slightly vague until they get to know each other's characters better. Even then, be ready to edit your post to accommodate your adventuring buddies minor requests.

:bigthumb:

Lesson learned: There should only be ONE person in control of the bad guys.

2. "The green goblin's bald head glistens with a thick sweat. His lips snarl into an evil grimace. Dirt clouds follow in his wake as he charges towards you. He raises his shortsword high in the air and screams a mighty war cry. What do you do?" "Uh, Hoji like, kills the goblin, and stuff."

Some people love to write. Some people like to read. Some people can't do either. If I'm talking about you, I'm sorry. No, seriously, I'm sorry, go back to school and get some help. Remember, it's cool to stay in school.

Luckily for you, there are a few on this forum, probably lost in Wonderland somewhere, who can help you. We love to write and don't mind writing on your behalf. If you just don't know what to say, then post your reply saying what you want to do in plain English, and oh dare I say it, ask for help.

Just be up front and honest. The story teller can take your suggestions and with a few minor changes, with your approval, weave an epic story. The worst that can happen is that you get flamed, I mean no replies.

HELP

Lesson learned: Ask for help. The DM is always willing to help you describe your actions.

1. "Hoji sounds the alarm and throws himself at the goblin horde." "Dude, that war ended like three threads ago, and were playing Gundam Wing now. Where have you been?"

Time is fleeting. It drags on and on when you send up a post and wait for a reply that may not come back until the next day. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do about that.

The best suggestion I can give is to schedule sessions and develop the plot, so that it can be finished in a single thread within an hour or two at most. The longer it takes, the fewer number of people will be able to make the commitment.

If each session has a foreseeable start and end point within a short time frame, more people will be able to participate. However, if you have too many people joining in the session, then it will take too long to complete. I recommend roleplaying a session with only two to four others in a single thread or session.

:cow:

D&D game nights work in a similar fashion. You run a quest within a short time frame of two to four hours. Two to four quests can form an adventure. Two to four adventures can form a campaign and then you're done. This will allow multiple long-term plots, possibly with multiple DMs to bring together an epic story, at least in forum terms, with roleplayers joining in with those quests they can attend without stalling the entire campaign.

Lesson learned: Time is what you make of it. Schedule sessions for short periods with only a few people.

Are you still reading this?

:jab:

Okay, I may have gone over the edge with the detail. Who knows, I may have been drinking too much with Hoji when I wrote this. However, I think it's a good start and would really like to get some POSITIVE feedback.

:wino:

[Gundam-Ranger-X]

:clap: Well put.

[Mathias]

Enough said.

[Sledgstone]

Everything makes sense... O_O

[Strider Hiryu]

Being a veteran of forum based RPing and D&D (oh how I miss playing) I agree with some of your points however I've noticed in my 6 years of forum based RPing a set story/plot in an RPG fails miserably after about three or four days when people start getting pissed at the one running the show. Frankly I find a mix of the two to be better. Have one person lead for awhile then switch to someone else in the RP to lead for awhile. Makes the people happy that they get a shot to lead where the RP goes and also keeps things constantly changing and adding a new flavor to the RP.

Plus you can't schedule time to do a session online since everyone has their own things to do. It's easier in real life to schedule a time when people can get together to play D&D. It's harder online and thus it's up to the members of the RP to keep things going by posting in a timely fashion and at least posting once a day.

Otherwise I agree with what you said on you're other points. Sadly I'm losing all interest in forum based RPing anymore. Everyone and their mom wants to make one but they don't want to take responsibility for keeping it going or making something original (I've been in too many RP's based off of anime shows and games. If you can't think of anything original please don't make an RP).

[Mathias]

First, I'd like to thank you for your positive feedback. I thought I might have hit a sensitive subject and find out that my brother banned me and delete all my posts. Wouldn't be the first time. Sledgstone, you know what I mean.

I understand the points you bring up and have a follow-up.

Instead of one long running campaign on a single main plot-line like the Lord of the Rings and such, have it run more like a TV series. Before you say I'm off my rocker, which I may very well be, here me out.

TV series are usually episodic, meaning you can usually miss a few episodes without ruining the entire series for you. Usually you can watch a single episode and figure out what's happening without seeing previous shows.

As an example, the Justice League Unlimited, at least what I remember of it, was based around many different superheros who teamed up, fairly randomly at times, to fight crime or complete an adventure. The overriding theme was to stop crime no matter how big or small. A small plot thread may run through the series, but no one episode effected it as a whole. Each episode had its own flare as well as if each episode was run by different writer or storyteller (shh, if you watch the credits they're not done by the same person each time).

Season finale's were usually big deals, but not every character throughout the series participated, just those who were there when the crisis hit. I think you see where I'm going with this, so I'll let this idea simmer for a little.

I understand your point with the time issue as well. With D&D you get up and go somewhere, or you have people come to you, but the point is the same. The people are actually there and you are forced to participate. A schedule is easier to manage, because your friends can call, visit, or more easily motivate in some other way to get you there.

That is not as easy with the forums. There isn't as deep of a connection with the people there as you do with the friends you physically visit. It's also too easy to be distracted by the goings on in your own home and other activities, that keeping an appointment with someone you hardly know for an RP that you may not be stimulating your interest just isn't as important.

This, of course, brings me back to the episode idea where people can come and go as they please with very little commitment. If the thread / episode is kept to a definitive start and end with a limit of a few posts for each particpant or say an hour block, then it might be possible to finish a thread / episode in a single setting.

I would suggest running a few simple quests at first to gauge how complex the plot and scenes can be before setting down any definitive rules. Of course, I have no forum RP experience at all. Before I start anything, I would'nt mind hearing more lessens learned from the experienced players.

[Strider Hiryu]

Speaking from experience on the episodic RPing, it's a touch and go thing sadly. I've run 5 different forum based RP's in my 8 years on the net (all Gundam based where episodic based RPing works great pending on the interest of the members) all of which have used a mission/quest based storyline with rather big events that played later as we progressed through the story (encompassing the whole forum in the battle). One mission lead into the next where people could come and go as they pleased, eventually leading to a major climatic battle between the opposing sides. Of course my whole message board was dedicated to the RP and thus I didn't have to be on constantly to watch things play out and it made it easier for members to schedule times to be on the board to play out a certain mission because a staff member was alway online watching the board (and my staff were also co-creators of the missions and storyline so they knew what was going on and what to do as missions went on).

What I can say is episodic role-playing requires the right genre. Certain genres do not work well with episodic role-playing (fantasy, medieval, etc all have problems working in an episodic fashion on forum based RP's. However, Sci-Fi and modern based RP's work extremely well with it. This is based entirely on my experience when running episodic based RP's, people seemed more open to allowing things to be played out in an episodic fashion with Sci-Fi and modern based RP's and less open to the others being run in that fashion).

The only real things I can point out as lessons learned is you really got to watch the people you let join this RP. Like any other watch out for those who will lead you into trouble in the long run. Even in an hour long D&D session one member can bring the group down if they don't agree with what you're doing. This is even more evident in forum based RPing since the factor of being anonymous plays a fact into it and people just want to run things down.

Other then that I really having no other light to shed on the subject. Give your idea a shot here by testing the waters. It might be what the RP forum here needs for a revival. I'd help out by helping you test it but with WoW, homework, work, and the forum based RP I'm currently in I'm extremely stretched for time.

[Mathias]

Thanks for the advice. I understand all too well the problems of players bringing a game to a halt. I had a two year, bimonthly group meeting for D&D and it ended badly. I could go into the details now, but it's actually a part of the preface and afterword of my book, "The Orbs of Lucious", written based upon half of that campaign. Once my redesign is finished, I'll post a link in Wonderland for advice and review.

In the meantime, I plan on starting a simple RP with only one or two people to get a feel for a forum based RP. I'll keep the entire campaign fairly short, and keep it to only a few threads in length. Based on the results, I'll improve the design and try again. I think the toughest part will be finding someone to join me for a half hour or so every few days, or maybe on a weekend. Hint, hint, Sledgstone, this could be you!