So, I've done group RP's in the past. And some of them were really fun and turned out really great. And then some turned out not so great... :/ I've thought about how they ended up as a dead rp and so far I think that these few things are why.
-No specific posting order.
If you don't post in a certain order, then some people may be jumbled together or apart and maybe a character will be left out there fore forcing the person to either quit the rp because they feel left out or just because it doesn't involve them anymore.
I get that posting in a specific order can be hard too. Because that sometimes it will do a "scene jump" And then it may be confusing. So maybe the only time we break the order is if there is a specific conversation between two people...I'm not entirely sure on that but maybe it's a start to help it.
-Randomly quitting RPS
I understand whether the RP isn't interesting or you don't have time for it, or maybe you just have too many RPS going on...whatever the case is, people normally, will quit the group rp without any notice ( I realize that this happens with a lot or 1 on 1 rps as well) but the case is, if you are posting in a specific order it messes the balance up. Or maybe they will wait on the post that will never come. So maybe just have your character leave the RP...whether they die, move, go crazy, go to prison I DON'T KNOW...but atleast it will fix the order and won't have a person randomly go missing. I figure that would help with the problem..
Non-Active Characters
As I've been roleplaying, I've never had this problem with anyone on ARR, but I have seen it in other role playing sites...but the characters aren't really active to the storyline. Or the roleplayer his/herself isn't posting a long enough post for the people to bounce off of. Ofcourse there are those days where you just reply to do it either cuz your sick, or using a mobile device...heck...I do that...which I am sorry for I don't mean to. ;-; BUT! In Group RPS it's kind of hard to do that because it's not just you and one more person...and so everyone needs to get an idea and find a way to weave there portion into the story.
Character Profiles
I don't really know if this is a big deal or not, but the fact that I don't know how a character's personality is or their background history or anything of that nature has actually ruined one or two rps for me. Or the other people involved. I realize this isn't such a big issue and I also know that sometimes people just throw a name on a person and make it up as they go along. I do that most of the time. But for a group rp it probably would be better to get a character profile Down so everyone knows the information and doesn't get confused or ruin the character accidentally. If you just have trouble getting ideas for your character's daily life, personality, likes and dislikes you should check out the Character Resources topic Sanguis did. She did an amazing job at explaining it and has some very good links on character building. I used it for a fantasy RP I'm doing with Frozenflame and I love it.
Rules/restrictions
Those are definitely not the words I wanted to use to explain this but I can't think of the word I wanted to use so please forgive me but, I think that also another problem is sometimes a person will go out of anothers...comfort zone...or...there 'rules' on RPS...Everyone really does have their own rules for an rp. Whether they want it to be more than 3 paragraphs long or Very good grammar no cussing no sexual content unless it portains to the storyline, or no sexual content at all, Sometimes people push away that barrier and it get's weird or someone is so unhappy with it they quit. So maybe laying down your own specific rules to the rp would help keep everyone in their own RP Comfort Zone.
Anyways...I know there are more things but these four I feel are important and can sometimes be the main cause of a group rp not surviving.
And I know it's not MY place to tell anyone how to rp and I hope no one is offended by me preaching or anything,
But, I would really like to do a group rp and I hope that if it does get started, these few things can help make it last longer or even be finished.
Now, to the actual ideas...
Fantasy Idea(s):
There is an Academy of fantastical creatures...any kind at all. And they attend the academy because the humans will not allow them an education on there own grounds. Well the mayor's daughter/son is human and as trying to stop this segregation he makes the kid attend this academy. But they face problems all of the characters do because they either befriend the human or hate them so bad it causes them do turn to violence. So as in this rp it would be necessary to have the following
Fantasy creature who is befriending the human
The Human
and a Fantasy creature who is more or less the antagonist of the RP.
I can play any character I don't care which one. and I know it needs more work and Ideas.
That's with atleast 3 people. I don't know if Sanguis has a restriction on how many people can be in a group rp but if more than we will figure it out.
This RP was one of my favorites and was extremely popular on a rp site I used to be part of, it was also a lot of fun.
But it's a Magic Academy deal...Basically all the characters in the RP go to a Magic Academy and are trying to to be the most powerful mage. or magic...wielding...person whatever, anyways! A group of the kids who are ranked the highest are kidnapped by an unknown person and even though they dislike eachother at the beginning they start to work together and to get out of the Prison they've been locked in and discover secrets about their school.
And another...
But each character has some special power. some may not even know about it, or maybe they can't control it. But for whatever reason their family has dumped them off into this manor and they begin to live by the rules of the man who lives there. Although they do not like him and he seems shady. They eventually learn there powers and then things begin to get nerve wrecking.
I realize that all of these need more ideas and need to be worked on so I can take Ideas and hopefully one is settled. and if anyone else has ideas for a group rp go ahead and tell me about it. I'm sure it's good.
So...would anyone like to try?
