View Single Post
Old 02-05-2011, 03:30 PM   #105
Mnemosyne
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
 
Mnemosyne's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Between the past and the future
Posts: 1,166
Mnemosyne is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Mnemosyne is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Send a message via MSN to Mnemosyne Send a message via Yahoo to Mnemosyne
As someone who got here "too late" to be involved in much of anything, but who would really love to do some concrete RPs, I hope you don't mind my ducking in.

First of all, what Fea said. The RPs that never end have to go, because the longer an RPG lasts, the more likely people's RL circumstances are going to change and they're going to have to drop out of the game. This, in itself, isn't a problem per se--this happens in Werewolf all the time. It's a problem of critical mass. Even if not everyone can be playing at one time, enough people need to be to keep the plot moving forward. This is more complicated in an RP situation as well, because if you have three players who have the time and desire to post, but they're all playing minor characters who don't really interact with one another, it's going to be harder to keep the ball rolling.

One way around this situation (and it's not a very desirable one) is shared characters, or at least understudies. In March there was a month-long RP challenge thing for Back-to-Middle-Earth Month, and because I knew my commitment time would be spotty, I shared a character with another author. We emailed one another to see who would post next, depending on our time and commitments, and luckily my really busy/not feeling inspired times were all times when she had the time and energy to post for him--and vice versa. Because I have a number of characters who are much closer to me, that I wouldn't share, I understand if that feels weird, but we created the character together with the expectation that we would have slightly different ideas of what we wanted to do with him, and we ran with it. Certainly character quality goes down in this situation, but I would prefer "okay" posts to no posts at all.

In any case I think that the RP fora need to be leaner and meaner. Gondor has long been naught but a dusty mathom room, and that breaks my heart. I don't know whether that means we should consolidate all of our playing into one forum, though, or keep Rohan and the Shire separate. The elitist in me wants to keep the two separate, because I really do feel that the net writing quality in the two is different, but if we want to jump-start this thing we may need all the help we can get.

So, 1). Definitely have shorter games. That means not only having a deadline, but also having a cleaner plot. I'd love to see some two-week RPs (okay, we can make them longer) that cover the plot equivalent of one chapter in LotR. If the players can dedicate another two weeks to the plot, move another chapter along; if not, put it on hold. There's nothing saying you can't keep the same characters, setting, and big plot between two RPs, and I think a lot of people would be happier with ending an RP on a concrete episodic note than trying to drag it out to the Grand Finish. Keep the subplots to a minimum.

1). will mean having a dedicated core of 3 or so players who don't mind moving the plot along and not waiting for the others to post. Players should be familiar enough with each other's characters that they can carry them with the party even if the writer isn't there to post, trying to take the middle-road between forgetting them and god-modding. Obviously the RP founder should be one of these, and no one should found an RP if he or she won't have the time and energy to see it through. Smaller chunks of time should make predicting that easier.

The other thing is, once and whenever we settle on RP reforms, we need to test them out immediately and prove that they work. If they do, and if we get enough people who are willing to play to keep them running, then we can add back in some of the longer timelines and more complicated subplots.

Well, those are my thoughts, and I'm more than happy to admit that I don't have nearly enough experience in these matters to know whether they'll be much good. But I do want to see the RPs get some life in them again, and see a finished RPG in my Downsian lifetime!
__________________
Got corsets?
Mnemosyne is offline   Reply With Quote