Part 1 of 2: GM Guidelines: Beginning, Middle, and Ending!

[Brovo]

Sheesh. I've been delaying this for months.

Part 1 of 2: GM Guidelines.

This is a set of guidelines for GM's about how to craft and continue a successful RP, from being a mere idea floating about in your head to an RP going on for months. There are a few steps to this, obviously, from deciding on a genre to world-building and plot generation and how to deal with dropouts. I will divide these up into sections to attempt to keep them organized. Just remember the golden law of role plays: No matter how good you are at them, you will have more failures than successes. That is just how the ball rolls. This article will also be updated several times before it is 100% perfect, both in formatting and in the general information presented, you'll see how many times through the version number. Finally, if you encounter any terminology that you don't understand, chances are, I have put it in an index at the very bottom of this article. So without further adieu, I give you...

The 101 Article to GMing! V1.2

Note: The Article was written from the perspective of a CRPG (Character Role Playing Game) GM perspective. While I attempt to address other forms of RPing, you will find most of the examples oriented towards CRPG GMs. Fret not though, when I get more information about Nation RPs, Arena RPs, and 1x1 RPs, I will add specific lines and paragraphs about them, and most of this information is transferable to any of the four primary systems of role playing. :3

Book 1: Creation and Marketing.

Chapter 1: Having an idea.

You don't just suddenly sit down and in a furious clacking of keyboard keys craft the most mesmerizing role play ever in ten minutes. Honestly this is probably where a good half of RPs instantly get their more assured death warrant. You have to have an idea, a concept of a world and its plight, perhaps even a character or two within it. It can be cliché, cheesy, even outright fan fiction based in the world of a video game, novel, movie, anime, etc. Sit down and just think about whatever kind of fiction excites you the most. Is it raw science fiction with entire nations going to war against one another? Is it a fantastic fantasy RP with wandering swordsmen for hire? Is it a high school with normal students having endless amounts homework? Whatever the idea is, you will know when you genuinely like it. Because you won't have to motivate yourself to want to do it. You'll simply want to do it.

I am going to emphasize the point here: Don't force yourself. Take your time. Find an idea you love. Spend a couple of weeks just sitting on it, brooding on it. This is the litmus test for ideas. Many people get bored of an idea for a role play merely a week after thinking it up, which contributes highly to RP death rates. So if you are still excited to do an idea after two weeks of sitting on it, you have something golden right there. Which leads us to our next step in the seemingly labyrinthine process of being a GM.

Chapter 2: Developing an idea.

You now most assuredly have the greatest idea ever made to man. It's so awesome that if you released it everyone would gawk at it and wonder how they could have ever lived without you. Now, how do we get it to the masses? Send the idea to a couple of friends. Active friends preferable. Work on it, tweak it, see if they are interested in it. Keep working on it with them for a good one week at the least. If they are still interested in it at that time, chances are you may have a couple of dedicated players you can trust to stay with your RP when it launches. If you don't have any friends yet, join a couple of role plays first and befriend people. Find active people who stick to role plays and don't have the tendency to abandon them. Just make sure to find a role play that suits your tastes so you will enjoy it.

During development with your friends who are inputting to and editing your idea, you should be starting to work on the plot and world-building aspects of your RP at this point. I will address how to do these later on in the guide.

Chapter 3: Sections 101.

I see a few people struggle with this regularly, so I will quickly and summarily describe to you how to choose which level will be right for your idea based on your quality of writing and the quality of writing you expect from others.

Free: Choose this section if your expectations are very open ended, where you don't care if people reply with one line or one thousand lines, have terrible grammar or excellent grammar. You should also choose this section if your grasp of the English language is severely limited until it improves through repetitious usage. If you post more than four paragraphs, don't go to Free. Ever.

Casual: Choose this section if you have moderate expectations of people, about one paragraph or more a post with decent grammar, crafting an overall legible, understandable post with variable consistency in each post. If you regularly write more than one line but less than four paragraphs, this is the section for you.

Advanced: Choose this section if you have moderate expectations of people, about one to two paragraphs or more a post with decent grammar, crafting an overall legible, understandable post with variable consistency in each post. If you regularly write one or more paragraphs, this is the section for you.

Naturally the specific requirements can vary from role play to role play, but this is how the sections tend to work ideally.

Chapter 4: Interest Check.

Once you are finished crafting your idea fully with a couple of good friends, write up an interest check in your literary level of choice and see how many hits you get. Hope to get at least 2-3 times as many people as you wish to have. 5-8 People is usually a solid number, so hope to get at least 16 people interested, the reason being that a few people won't make it to your out of character (OOC) thread from the interest check, and then further still people will make sheets and drop out within the first couple of months of the RP. So having a lot of extra people is not a bad thing, considering you will lose a few people before the RP even really starts anyway. Don't be ashamed if you don't get 16+ people interested either. This isn't the rule, this is a common occurrence. Rules come later.

Try to format your interest check to look, well, interesting! Space out your paragraphs so they aren't walls of text, use eye-popping font colours, along with the bold, italic, and underline codes to draw people in. This will help attract additional role players. Don't abuse them by any means, but use the tools you have at your disposal. Attempt to keep the information simple, concise, and don't hide what the point and purpose to your story is and what the players will be doing. This is all part of marketing your role play to the masses.

Finally, remember to write towards a specific audience or group. Nothing is worse than getting a whole bunch of people whom end up not fitting into your role play. Understand and attempt to iterate what kind of people you want. Don't be too specific, but if you want a dialogue-heavy role play you probably don't want to bring in every Rambo from Roleplayer Guild, or vice versa. Also consider what literary level you want to aim for. Casual is typically good for faster posting times and is more open towards game-like progression, or experiments. Advanced is typically good for posts with a metric ton of content and is more open towards novel-like progression.

An example of a good interest check can be found here. It literally states what the role play is about, what the players will be doing such as the various abilities and power they can expect their PCs to be able to acquire, and even immediately made sure to encourage questions to be asked and discussion to commence.

Discussion = Activity.

Activity = Good.

Chapter 5: Out of Character thread.

So you have crafted your idea, have a couple of loyal and reliable friends, and the Interest Check has collected some role players for your wondrous creation! So now what? Now you create the out of character thread, otherwise known as the OOC. The OOC is a place where you set up the world and plot for people to see, format it to look pretty, create a character sheet, review and accept/deny sheets, and converse with your role players. OOCs can vary in the details between each RP, and with experience you will learn what kind of setup you like the most for your role plays. Here are a few tips to help you on your way concerning CRPGs. When I gain more information about Nation RPs, I will input information about that as well.

Character Sheets: These are, essentially, resumés for your role players to put their credentials in. You need to get as many details as you can, without asking for information overload. Typically I find adding the fields “Strengths” and “Weaknesses” can help you judge at first glance if a character is too powerful or plainly absurd for your role play. Each role play's requirements vary, but I find asking for as many weaknesses as there are strengths is the key to making well balanced characters. Make sure that when you design your character sheet, that you refuse to accept any characters who would become plot integral. The more of those characters you have, the less likely your RP will survive. Because all it will take is that one person dropping out to throw a giant wrench into the cogs of your machine!

Again, though, there are exceptions, and it is ultimately up to you to decide what you need and what you do not want.

Character sheets will be addressed more specifically in another article.

Interaction & Chatter: Interact with your role players regularly. Keep your OOC alive and well with chit chat both about the role play and about other topics. The more active your role play is, the more likely it will remain alive. If you can, share instant messenger information. This lets you instantly contact and discuss the role play, such as asking someone when they can post, or planning out and executing a collaboration post. (Collaboration post information below. Will be addressed more specifically in another article.)

Chapter 6: The first two months.

You will have dropouts. You will have many dropouts. No matter how hard you try to make the most irresistible role play ever made, you will get likely half a dozen drop outs within the first two months. At least. SO! How do we deal with dropouts? How can we at least attempt to avoid dropouts?

1. Never make any character integral to the plot. Let any and all characters be capable of being killed off and either replaced immediately by a permanent NPC or simply having no replacement necessary to begin with.
2. Since no character is plot integral, you can just let new characters fade away into oblivion without needing to explain why they no longer exist. If you absolutely must, keep it simple. “They got lost” “they left the group” “they died” etc. Anything, so long as it is short, sweet, and to the point.
3. If you find your number of role players running low, open the role play up for recruitment again. If your role play has been running for a few months, create a new interest check for it and put a summary of what has occurred so far into your first post.
4. Remain motivated. Do not get disheartened by people leaving. Even Legend of Renalta, which has gone on for almost two years now, had points where it had a mere three players left and it survived because the players and myself refused to allow it to die.
5. If your role players are eager to move and explore on their own, allow them to do so and merely tell them what they discovered. If they are shy, you may need to shove them in the right direction for them to get moving. If your role play has a mixture of shy and aggressive players, encourage the aggressive players to lead. The shy players tend to follow suit and then everybody feels like the RP is going somewhere.
6. Encourage characters or nations to interact. Encourage it to death. Reward people for working together during battles or when they attempt to combine their brain power to solve a problem. Interaction is the bread and butter of role playing. You need it to live!!!
7. The worst case scenario occurs: Your role play dies. If you still love it, go ahead and remake it! Learn whatever lessons you can from any mistakes you may have made, remember the role players who left it and don't let them back into the remake. Send invitations out to the people who stuck through it to the end. Never give up on your idea.

It took Legend of Renalta a grand total of seven attempts across four forums to get it right. Now, it has lasted almost two years. So again, I emphasize: Do not be disheartened if your idea dies initially. Learn from your mistakes, remake it, and try again if you really love the idea. You will eventually succeed and a find a style that fits you comfortable.

Chapter 7: Writer's Block.

So you contracted the horrible sickness that is writer's block? Motivate yourself and lower your usual standards down! If you normally write four paragraphs, allow yourself to write a meagre two. If you normally write two, go ahead and write just one paragraph. So long as you reply in a way that keeps the plot moving, it doesn't have to be fancy. Often just mentioning to your players that you have writer's block will cause them to not be bothered by lowered standards. Most of the time when I have writer's block just getting the post started will break through it and cause me to be more creative again, with any luck you will feel this way too!

And now, for the juicy details and inner workings of RPs. This could be some heavy stuff so you might want to prepare your brain for information overload. Also, most of the information presented below will be about creating a strong role play, as opposed to keeping it alive.

Book 2: Plot.

Chapter 1: What is this?

Note: Since I personally specialize in CRPGs, I will use examples for CRPGs. While all of these elements are transferable to Nation RPs, Arena RPs, and 1x1 RPs, realize that they may not transfer word for word to these styles of RP. I'm likely to work on something for Nation RPs in the future with Nation RP GMs and hopefully with discussion created by this thread, but I cannot promise the same for Arena RPs and 1x1 RPs.

Plot: The overlying concept, theme, idea, or otherwise that connects all the characters and more together towards a common goal. Examples include epics from “dethroning the evil King” to “passing high school without getting socially ostracized.” Plot is one of your most vital tools in your toolbox. It is especially important in 1x1 and Character-based RPGs, though its importance wanes it is still necessary in Nation RPs. You can virtually disregard it for Arena RPs, though not entirely. Don't be overly concerned with making a very complex or in-depth plot: You can make a simple, cliché plot complex and original by acting through it with the characters involved.

Here is a simplistic example chart for what a typical plot looks like.



Chapter 2: Exposition.

The majority of this stage should be taken care of in your out of character thread, your OOC. Here is where you explain the problems and conflicts emerging within your world, such as a lack of freedom or extreme poverty or some virulent disease, and the ultimate goal for a resolution. Examples include epics from “getting a magical sword to decapitate the otherwise invincible evil King” to “learning the secrets for magical spells required to pass your class.” Broad, far-reaching goals that can bind several people together from a variety of backgrounds are usually the best kinds.

You can keep the resolution in the dark and get people bonded together for short-term goals like “mercenary missions” or “scavenge supplies to survive a zombie apocalypse”, but even these will eventually require an ultimate goal for everyone to get behind if you want your role play to have any sort of ending. Note though that not all role plays need to have an ending. Especially RPs that are Event-Based or Mission-based, where the plot changes with each new mission like with the mercenaries, or with each new town as with the zombie apocalypse. More details later.

You can choose to start in the latter part of the exposition, allowing people to meet up before setting off the initial incident, or gathering them together through common necessity after the initial incident. What is the initial incident? Well...

Chapter 3: Initial Incident.

Sadly not shown on the example chart, the initial incident is when the story goes from a flat, stable exposition and into the rising action, triggered through an event that starts causing rising tensions and suspense. It's usually easier to start just after the initial incident, since it's easier to justify at that point why strangers from a variety of backgrounds might be motivated to band together to deal with the issues and conflicts presented by the exposition. The broader and more vague your initial incident, the more colourful variety you will see in your cast and crew, be it anywhere between a small group to a few scattered nations. Be too vague though, and people won't understand the point to your plot.

Examples: The King executes his daughter and imposes martial law on his kingdom, forcing people into the military and taxing his people to the point of starvation and misery, causing a small movement to want to dethrone him. The teacher for your magical class refuses to give the characters the answers and blatantly tells the characters that they only have a certain amount of time to learn a few new magical spells before they fail, and refuses to assist them whatsoever in this task, causing them to start exploring options in the library, for instance..

Chapter 4: Rising Action.

The events that occur within the role play itself that add more suspense and imperative towards finishing the ultimate goal. Near the beginning things should be more relaxed and easier. The closer you get to your ending, the more epic and dangerous and suspenseful your role play should get to reflect this. In more complex plots the rising action can be cooled down with detenté (calming) points, allowing your plot to fluctuate in intensity but still getting more and more exciting and dangerous with each step towards the climax.

Examples: Near the beginning the King will note you among the many bandit groups in his kingdom and offer a small bounty. Later on when he learns that you have found the sword that can kill him despite his invincibility, he might send assassins who end up killing beloved group members, or start sending elite soldiers after you. In the magical class RP, you discover that you need secret ingredients or an old magical book that is located within an ancient forest. Later on when you retrieve the book, you piss off some ancient Lich who uses it for his immortality and he does everything in his power to attempt to murder you and your classmates. In his awkward PG way of course.

Chapter 5: Climax.

The ultimate, highest action point, where all the suspense is at its grandest. The grand finalé to your story. Note that the story doesn't have to end on a good note. Plots with more advanced tendencies can easily mix good and bad endings to come up with neutral endings, such as succeeding at your goal of killing the King but losing members of your party doing so, or saving the magical school from the Lich but failing to pass your class.

Examples (good endings): The good guys succeed, decapitate the evil king, the love interests became king and queen, and the people live happily ever after. Until the bubonic plague arrives, anyway. The magical class escapes or even defeats the Lich, learns the spells from the book, and returns triumphantly passing with A+++ grades from their teacher, who is secretly the headmaster and long lost father of one of the characters, etc etc.

Examples (bad endings): The good guys can die and the evil King who rules the kingdom can solidify his rule for millennium longer, you could fail your magical class or die to the evil Lich. Hell, you could even heel face turn and end up becoming the evil you sought to destroy, or destroy the things you hoped to preserve from evil. The options are limitless, just be careful, as these kinds of endings can be incredible upsetting.

Chapter 6: Falling Action.

You just saved/destroyed/conquered the world. Now you either hint at a sequel or you start wrapping up people's character arcs.

Examples: Do the King and Queen have children? Does the comedic relief finally get all the gold he wanted or has he become a heart of gold character? Is the evil destroyed or sealed away? Do any of the magical class students become teachers or powerful wizards? Does the Lich have a cat named squiggles? The list of things you can wrap up are up to you. You can even leave it open-ended to let people decide for themselves, their own versions of the ending.

Chapter 7: Resolution.

The very last page. The end. Everyone's character arcs are wrapped up, the kingdom is saved, those kids from the magical class finally got to use biggus explodus on certain unmentionable parts, and everyone is happy. That or the heroes heel face turned into evil maniacs who end up being worse than the evil king before them and destroying the whole world over who gets to be the next immortal Lich.

Chapter 8: Job's done.

If you combine all of the examples I gave above, I just painted out not one, but two open-ended, vague plots that have an open beginning for a variety of characters, are easy to follow and very flexible middle points to the story, and a grand resolution with a multitude of viable endings which you could format into role plays with ease. I'll leave them in the hiders below in case you find the ideas exciting and want to do them, or in case you don't want to go and picket through all the examples again. Plus I'll clean up the grammar so it's easier to follow.

In order to kill the evil King, a small group of brave people must get a magical sword to decapitate the otherwise invincible evil King. The King executes his daughter and imposes martial law on his kingdom, forcing people into the military and taxing his people to the point of starvation and misery, causing a small underground movement to dethrone the King. Near In the beginning the King will note you among the many bandit groups and offers a small bounty for your heads, not considering you a threat. Later on when he learns that you have found the sword that can kill him despite his invincibility, he sends assassins who end up killing beloved group members such as Sir Redditus Shirtus, he also starts sending elite soldiers after you, soldiers you have to avoid in order to stay alive.

Good Ending: The good guys succeed, decapitate the evil king, the love interests became king and queen, and the people live happily ever after. Until the bubonic plague arrives, anyway.

Bad Ending: The group of good and neutral characters die and the evil King who rules the kingdom can solidify his rule for millennium longer, no longer worried about his own demise as the sword is now safely in his hands.

Evil Ending: The group decapitates the evil King, but decides that they love having power over the people and believe that they know what is good for them, taking power instead of having it given to them openly and being even worse than the King before them. Some of them probably assassinate each other.

The only questions that remain are epilogue, after the fact text: Did the King and Queen have children? Did the Kingdom survive their rule? Etc.

Learning the secrets for magical spells required to pass your class. The teacher for your magical class refuses to give you the answers and blatantly tells you that you only have a certain amount of time to learn a few new magical spells before you fail, and refuses to assist you whatsoever in this task, causing you to research your options in the library. You discover that you need secret ingredients or an old magical book that is located within an ancient forest. Later on when you retrieve the book, you piss off some ancient Lich who uses it for his immortality and he does everything in his power to attempt to murder you and your classmates. In his awkward PG way of course.

Good Ending: The magical class escapes or even defeats the Lich, learns the spells from the book, and returns triumphantly passing with A+++ grades from their teacher, who is secretly the headmaster and long lost father of one of the characters, etc etc.

Bad Ending: The class fails their magical assignment, later dying to the evil Lich whom they didn't have the power to defeat, who then promptly destroys the whole school which didn't see it coming. Somehow.

Evil Ending: The class takes the book, unlocks its secrets, turns into evil little necromancers and warlocks, kills the Lich, and then demolishes the school with their UNLIMITED POWER!!!

Finally, make sure to remember the difference between a plot and a story. A plot is the overlying concept, theme, or idea that unites everyone together. A story is the actions partaken within the plot by the characters and is created by the characters as they progress through their development. In simple terms: Plot is what drives the characters. Story is each character's actions and perspective put together. Story will get addressed in a different article altogether.

Chapter 9: Mission-based Plots.

Mission-based, sometimes known as Event-based plots are where the story is segmented into individual stories all tied into the same world, like TV Episodes. This can range from having a central mission hub where people take a mission, go out and complete it and then return to the central hub for another mission, or when an overarching plot is divided into several smaller, mission-based sections. Such as if everyone is travelling aboard a ship and each stop at an island or port became its own story that is identifiable separate and distinct from the other stories of encounters and adventure.

Essentially: The goals and stories change all the time, it's the characters who typically stay and grow and change with each mission.

Chapter 10: Final Notes.

When presenting your plot in your OOC, remember to only present the exposition, the initial incident, and the goal of the plot. If you spoil the entire plot in your OOC, you may cause potential players to leave! At the very least, there will be few surprises within the plot itself. Finally, the more vague the middle and ending of your plot is, the more flexible it will be. Keep this in mind when writing your own plots.

Nation RPs: Typically you focus less on plot and more on story. The story being created by the actions and points of view of each nation in your role play. You still use plot for random events such as piracy or raiding parties or magical disturbances or cosmic events, but these tend to take a back seat to the actions of your players. So keep in mind that world-building is a more important skill set to have as a GM of a Nation RP than plot is. Because World-Building sets up the in-house rules that your Nations have to follow, such as in a Fantasy RP you may want to rule away ultra destructive magic or gunpowder, or in a space RP you may want to set up a system of rules to prevent one ultra violent military nation from simply demolishing everyone who doesn't go ultra violent military. The list of reasons goes on, but I will have a more specific idea of what plot means to Nation GMs at a later date. For now, consider it the random event generator.

Arena RPs: Depends on the type.

A: A quick 1x1 brawl: Typically the only reason you would use plot is to excuse away why two or more characters are murdering each other in brutal ways. This isn't a bad thing by any means, this simply is a way to do it and it is perfectly efficient.

B: Guru's Method: I spoke with Guru on it for a while. This is his edited response to what plot Arena RPs have.

Most commonly there is some little twist in Arena RPs which gives them a 'reason' to fight.... Especially in tournaments. However, many good fights tend to have a thicker plot and those seem to finish more than most other Arena fights cause they tend to be boring and repetitive and people just lose interest.

Often tournament tournament style arena fights will have a storylike plot.... But is very open in general to allow players to die. Tournaments tend to be very long, as they are basically a bunch of 1x1 duels in one RP so it is always good to have a thick plot in them. It keeps things interesting.

1x1 RPs: The plots for these tend to be more centred specifically around the two characters created by the two people involved and tends to be more about the emotional and psychological states of being as opposed to the physical state of the world. Plot for you tends to be more used to facilitate the growth and fluctuating relationships between two characters that are trapped within their lives, or within a specific world.

Book 3: World-Building.

You now have your most epic, fantastic plot ever made to man and it will make all the great GMs of RPG tremble before your mighty mightiness! Now you just need any ole' world to house it in right? Well... No. You need to work on the world itself. After all, you need to know specifically where you are going and not just why you are going there! World-Building is also one of your most vital tools in your toolbox. It is especially important in Nation RPs and Character-based RPGs, though its importance wanes it is still necessary in 1x1s. You can virtually disregard it for Arena RPs, though not entirely.

The primary difference between plot and world-building is that the former addresses the “why” of a role play, while the latter addresses the “where” of a role play.

Chapter 1: Genre, sub-genre, and mixing oh my!

The first step is deciding on the genres, sub-genres, and if you want to mix any genres together. There are probably hundreds of genres out there between video games, television, animation, novels, and plays. This is a fairly straightforward step luckily, but to quickly explain the differences between the three terms:

Genre: The primary, most influential element of your world. If you have swords and shields and dragons and magic and warlocks on an alternate plane of existence, than your role play is most influentially based upon the Fantasy genre.

Sub-Genre: The secondary but still present elements that make up more specific details of your world. If your role play contains steam-powered weapons and air ships in your fantasy, then you have a steampunk sub-genre.

Mixing: If you have a modern world with magic and dragons and swords and shields and knights and princesses and what not, then you are mixing Fantasy with Modern to create “Modern Fantasy.” This typically only applies to Genre and not Sub-Genre, but there are always exceptions to the rule that can surely be found somewhere.

How does this apply to world generation: It allows you to solidly identify your world for your potential role players. We all have built-in cultural conceptions of what the Fantasy genre is for example, so the moment you detail your world out as a Fantasy world, people will immediately understand large amounts of it through built-in tropes and stereotypes. Essentially, stating a genre plainly allows everyone to be on the same page when reading a book, which is immensely important for players to understand and thus create proper characters who fit into the world.

Chapter 2: Location crafting.

Destinations in plots are inevitable, such as in our magic class RP we label out specifically a forest. When crafting places there are two primary methods that I am aware of for doing so.

Open World: Typically used for CRPGs, you set a string of loosely placed locations with players encouraged, either in the OOC and/or in the IC, to reach and explore. You do not have to label all of the locations to the players immediately, you merely have to keep them in mind or written down somewhere. You can change these locations, edit, remove, or add new ones before the players even know about it, but once the players know about these locations, you should explain why you are changing the general path that they must travel in order to continue the plot. Even if the plot goes by like TV Episodes.

Example: You wish to add the following locations as obstacles for the junior wizards: School with class rooms, alchemist labs, etc. A mysterious forest. A dark cave. A training yard. These are all important locations that you wish to have in your role play. Instead of detailing them heavily, you simply state that the junior wizards discover that they need to “travel through a mysterious forest to reach a dark cave where an old tome is located.” That way, no matter where the players choose to go, you can state that they reached the forest, and no matter where they go in the forest, the dark cave. This also allows players the immense creative freedom of detailing many aspects of the forest and cave themselves, giving them more to write and causing them to become more connected to your role play without you having to lift a finger to do so.

The illusion of choice is a powerful asset. The sooner you master it, the sooner you won't feel as though you have to railroad your players into doing what you wish them to do. Because they already will be. Don't forget to offer genuine choices once in a while, though, giving them actual control and power and incentive them to remain active to alter their stories with their decisions.

Sandbox World: Typically used for Nation RPs, you set up an empty Universe or World and then ask the players to create locations, nations, cultures, towns, and monsters themselves, under your supervision. Once these places are created, you then set them up on a world map using anything from paint to photoshop to a hexagonal map creator and then set up your plot within these locations. In the specific case of Nation RPs the plot is usually downplayed in favour of the individual stories painted by each Nation, with the Universe molding and changing according to their actions, whereas in a CRPG-styled way it would mold and edit the plot to fit the world built by the players, with each player being a form of co-GM whenever the role players reach the part of the world created by that specific player.

Example: Any Nation RP. Though more seriously: Players Fred, Bob, and Sarah set up the Kingdom of Alucard, the Fire Forest, and the Fogs of the Undead Hordes. If we take the “Evil King” plot from earlier, we can place the King in the Kingdom of Alucard, the Fire Forest as a location the players have to pass in order to reach the Fogs of the Undead Hordes, where they will find the sword that can slay the evil King. In a Nation RP, you typically intentionally set up smaller nations in locations where they will have a better chance of survival against the larger, more powerful nations, though this rule can get subverted by especially crafty GMs.

Semi-Sandbox World: This is a very common and popular way to set up role plays on Roleplayer Guild, it operates much like a sandbox in being flexible about how players can add additional portions of the world with one key difference: It has key plot locations that exist for the purposes of, well, plot.

Example: The Kingdom of Alucard, The Fire Forest, and the Fogs of the Undead Hordes from earlier are all set up as "key plot locations" by the GM. Locations that are referenced and will be visited for the sake of the plot. Players however can add additional areas for the purposes of putting their own ideas into the world, such as if Bob added the Mirror Mountains so that he could explain where his orc named Fluffy comes from.

Fanfiction and Real World locations: This is fairly straightforward, but to quickly summarize it: Whenever a real world location or a world from an established TV show, video game, novel, or otherwise is used as the world for which the role play exists.

Example: Naruto RPs, RPs which use a real world location like New York even if the GM chooses to omit or edit a few details, etc. Again, fairly straightforward.

Semi-Sandbox Real World: When places such as "New York" are the main setting, which has a few key buildings such as "Library, Empire State building, etc" but where the minor buildings are pretty much anything, such as houses, grocery stores, secret lairs, etc. This can stretch from superhero roleplays to school roleplays.

Chapter 3: Universe Rules.

You now have an absolutely fabulous plot in a wonderful world. Now, how do we stop those pesky game-breaking characters and nations with a million fire mages from destroying everything? We keep rules for the game world. Clearly set up whatever rules you find are necessary for your world, and then move on. This is especially vital for Arena RPs to prevent someone from pulling a new power out of their ass to save themselves and for Nation RPs to prevent the million fire mages scenario just depicted, though less important it is still very useful in CRPGs, 1x1s can usually disregard most Universe Rules. Typically a Universe Rule is a law which applies to just about everyone, limiting and locking away choices for the purposes of preserving a plot element or some tinge of sanity still left over.

Example: In a Nation RP, use a numeric system to make people have to “purchase” their army compositions, and make powerful things like fire mages expensive to purchase. Ergo, limiting the number of fire mages you can possible have in your nation. In CRPGs, force players to have weaknesses equal to their powers. Maybe a pyromancer (fire mage) has to use his own life force to cast spells, or his spells take time to fully charge and cast, maybe they have travel time to make them dodge-able. It is important to note that mental weaknesses are typically not equal to physical weaknesses, as a player can choose when to suffer from their mental weakness as opposed to their physical weakness. In Arena RPs, force all combatants involved to immediately show all of their abilities from the word “go” and swear off auto-dodging and auto-hitting attacks. Auto-dodge and auto-hit will be addressed in the index at the bottom of the article.

Book 4: Numerical Systems.

You now have your absolutely undoubtedly uber awesome RP of awesomeness. It has a fleshed out game world and a plot packaged to go with it. A toy that comes with batteries included! However, your toy feels incomplete somehow. It feels as though all those players with those characters and the nations you will soon see, you cannot properly weigh their power against each other, a complex toy without an instruction manual. In Nation RPs, numeric systems are the bread and butter of it, you absolutely need it. In CRPGs and Arena RPs they are a completely optional component. If you want to have a more game-like approach to RPing, use a numeric system. If you want a more novel-like experience, don't use a numeric system. 1x1s typically don't require a numeric system of any kind.

Chapter 1: Systems for CRPGs.

-Work in Progress. I need time to think about this.-

Chapter 2: Systems for Nation RPs.

-Work in Progress. I need additional information.-

Book 5: Additional Tools.

This section is dedicated towards additional information that should be addressed but doesn't need its own section, such as GMPCs, and how viable or non-viable they are.

GMPC: Game Master Player Character. This tool is often criminalized and mocked or revered and worshipped with little to go between it.
What does it do: It's a player character controlled by a game master, for the purposes of allowing a game master to participate in his own plot like a player would.
How to use it properly: Not as a main protagonist. Use a GMPC to help bring the group together, to serve as cannon fodder when you need to kill someone off, to use as collaboration post material when other players need a helping hand, to answer questions and solve problems that the players cannot solve on their own (important: Not before the players try, after the players shrug and say “we can't figure this out”), and occasionally to gather the group together initially to get them moving.
How to use it improperly: As a main protagonist. If the character is too important to kill off, if the character answers all of the problems the group encounters, if the character is seemingly stronger, smarter, or faster than anyone else in the group, if the character is nothing but a Mary Sue or the author imprinting themselves in.

A good GMPC is just another character. A bad GMPC is a character who takes all the spotlight unto themselves. Final note: As a GM do not feel pressured to use a GMPC. If at any time your GMPC would be directly in conflict with the players, do not use a GMPC. Use an expendable NPC who has little plot importance instead.

[Brovo]

Book 6: Epilogue.

Here lies additional information that I haven't catalogued into a specific category. An index of terminology and a special thanks list for everyone who has helped to contribute to this article, as well as any and all final notes.

I will get around to writing an article for players specifically. Mostly on character generation and development, character archtypes, and more. It's just that my head hasn't finished exploding from attempting to disseminate all the information provided to me by the many helpful sources I've had and yeah.

My brain megahurtz. I hope this is helpful. Please discuss and comment below so I can improve this article, or at least get told that it's working! If the article isn't working, please inform me as to ways I can repair or improve it. Nothing is more irritating than critics with no identifiable reasons. : | Otherwise I enjoy criticism.

INDEX

• GM: Game Master. It's a carry-over term from the old table top days to denote the narrator, the head of the role play.
• GMing: GM converted to verb format. “He started GMing for everyone at the table.”
• RP: Abbreviation for role play.
• RPing: RP converted to verb format.
• CRPG: Character Role Playing Game. Sometimes also called CBRP (character-based role play) or CRP (character role play). This form of role playing is the traditional “small group of adventurers” style that is most often seen on Roleplayer Guild.
• NRP: Nation role playing. Sometimes also called Nation RP. This form of role playing is something of a cult classic on Roleplayer Guild, where people create entire nations and role play as the various military commanders, assassins, diplomats, and politicians within it.
• Arena RP: This form of role playing is something of a niché genre on Roleplayer Guild. It has its own section of the site. It is dedicated towards two or more characters fighting one another for any reason imaginable. What typically separates Arena from 1x1 is that Arena is dedicated towards two people beating the tar out of each other: 1x1 Is usually more about romance and sexual contact, though not always.
• 1x1: One on One role play. This form of role playing is dedicated towards two people specifically crafting a role play about their own two characters and nobody else. It often deals with romantic and sexual encounters.
• Detenté: Is a French word for “relaxation”, often used to symbolize a point in fiction or history when the suspense and tension is starting to calm down. The latter half of the Cold War is littered with classic examples of detenté at work.
• Lich: A classic folklore creature, usually the result of a Necromancer or Dark Wizard achieving immortality by sealing their spirit in an object and transforming into a floating spirit, sometimes in armour. When they perish, they reform themselves a few days later nearby the object that contains their spirit. When the object is destroyed, they too are destroyed. They are typically depicted as spell casters of monstrous amounts of power.
• Steampunk: A genre in which steam is used to power various fantastic pseudo-scientific creations, such as steam-powered clocks and watches, firearms, golems, airships, and more.
• OOC: Out of Character.
• IC: In Character.
• Collaboration Post: A post where two or more individuals write back and forth to each other quickly with their characters through private messages or an instant messenger to have a conversation, then compile it all together and have one person post it up. This allows for relationships to blossom and for lengthy conversations to be had without spamming up four pages of the IC with one paragraph posts asking about what double rainbows mean.
• Railroading: The act of forcing the players in your role play to commit a specific action or travel a specific path. Essentially: If there are three doors to choose from, and the players choose the “wrong” door, the act of railroading would be to force them into the “right” door, regardless of how unreasonable it may seem at the time. Taking the choice away from the player and forcing them to be your puppet. Avoid using this method as much as is humanly possible. Nobody likes to be railroaded.
• Auto-Dodge: When you write in your post about dodging an ability or attack. Against any and all attacks. “As the giant wall of fire rushed towards Alfonso he dodged it, and then charged at his opponent.” If you can't think of a logical way to avoid the attack, or if you are avoiding too many attacks, you may want to reconsider and simply take the hit.
• Auto-Hit: When you write in your post about hitting an opponent and giving them no choice in the matter. “Alfonso charges at his opponent and stabs him in the neck, killing him instantly.” Not only is this lame, but it's Godmoding, and it will quickly lead your players to hate you. Leave it up to the other player to take the hit, and only enforce an auto-hit against a character whom is auto-dodging all attacks thrown at him.
• Godmoding: When a character or NPC is, for all tense and purposes, impossible to defeat and always manages to murder everything that gets in its way. Even people who have vastly superior abilities than it does. Note that while not advised to be done all the time, Godmoding can be a useful tool for GMs to use with bosses, or to punish specific players whom are auto-dodging or being generally harmful to the role play. Use it cautiously.
• Mary Sue: A character whose personality is sickeningly perfect. Any flaws the character has will merely be endearing. Typically in their history, the world is out to get them for no more reason than it simply is. “Mary's parents died when she was young, she then grew up in an orphanage where everyone hated her cuz' they were teh evil, but they taught her basic education n' stuff, then they teh beat her because they teh evil, she then escaped. Oh and she learned how to use a sword. She's cold but not really. She gets angry a lot because.” Etc. Bonus points if anything she knows is “just because the author wanted it to be so” and not because of anything to do with her past. You can have male Mary Sues, they're often called Gary Stus.

Additional threads of interest for aspiring GM's include...

• The X Steps to Survivalist GMing by Dudel.
• Why RPs Die by Contra Fates.

Special Thanks

Kadaeux: Nation RP expert. Also my arch nemesis. Yet also a friend. Funny how that works.
Kestrel: An awesome GM who was quick to answer my questions and make me question what I had written. For informing me about "aiming at a specific audience" when writing Interest Checks.
Kagamine: For reminding me that I did have to write more than just how to start a role play, but also how to continue one.
The Comrades: For encouraging me to write this through the GM Interview they did with me.
Guru: For kicking my ass into doing it. For inputting additional information about Arena RP Plots.
Dudel: For offering several pieces of critical criticism which allowed me to add several pieces of information; too numerous to mention. Thanks Dudel!

Most importantly...

You: For reading all of this and hopefully leaving a comment and entering discussion about it. Seriously. Thank you for having the patience to read all of this. You are awesome and I hope this article helped you on presenting that awesomeness to the world.

Final Note: I am looking for experienced Nation RP GMs to leave their opinions in the thread about plot, world generation, and more! My lack of experience in the area of Nation RPing has left something of a dry spell where there should be information.

I welcome information from experienced Arena RPers and experienced 1x1 RPers as well.

I'm looking for input about numerical systems. Something short and concise is preferable.

[Brovo]

-Reserved for future edits, just in case I need more space... O.o-

[Slade]

tl;dr

Just kidding, this is a great and well written article that I hope gets stickied somewhere in the forum for all to read. New GM's I'm sure will find this really helpful down the road.

What I think should be addressed more though however is how does the GM and the players go about improving their characters?

In Character Sheets, most of the time we don't really go into detail about things like weapons and equipment. It's normally just A pistol or A long-sword or brass knuckles etc. Players like to see their characters get stronger and it's a core aspect of RPG's in general. But how do you do that, specifically in CRPG (since I'm not familiar with other RP forms)?

Does the party just stumble onto a treasure chest that the GM placed there conveniently containing better weapons for all of the players? Kinda farfetched. Or do the players buy better stuff and creates a Merchant NPC who sells him the SWORD OR ETERNAL DAMNATION for one gold piece (lulz). Or does the GM create an NPC who sells the powerful stuff at a reasonable price but the players still can't afford them so it doesn't matter.

Obviously I feel this is an important aspect of an RP or else I wouldn't be jabbering about it so much. But when the climax comes and the big bad Evil Jesus Christ battle is about to begin, if the players can defeat him with the same powers and weapons and equipment they had when they first started the game, what kind of threat was the big bad to begin with?

[Brovo]

tl;dr

Just kidding, this is a great and well written article that I hope gets stickied somewhere in the forum for all to read. New GM's I'm sure will find this really helpful down the road.

What I think should be addressed more though however is how does the GM and the players go about improving their characters?

In Character Sheets, most of the time we don't really go into detail about things like weapons and equipment. It's normally just A pistol or A long-sword or brass knuckles etc. Players like to see their characters get stronger and it's a core aspect of RPG's in general. But how do you do that, specifically in CRPG (since I'm not familiar with other RP forms)?

Does the party just stumble onto a treasure chest that the GM placed there conveniently containing better weapons for all of the players? Kinda farfetched. Or do the players buy better stuff and creates a Merchant NPC who sells him the SWORD OR ETERNAL DAMNATION for one gold piece (lulz). Or does the GM create an NPC who sells the powerful stuff at a reasonable price but the players still can't afford them so it doesn't matter.

Obviously I feel this is an important aspect of an RP or else I wouldn't be jabbering about it so much. But when the climax comes and the big bad Evil Jesus Christ battle is about to begin, if the players can defeat him with the same powers and weapons and equipment they had when they started the game, what kind of threat was the big bad to begin with?

This will be addressed in part two, where I write primarily about characters, interaction, growth, story arcs, and more. Though I'll keep in mind to address the problem of stagnant power specifically and how to escape it or deal with it.

For quick advice though: Talk with the GM about a point in the Plot where you all go through and, say, acquire the Lich's power book from the example Mage plot. In there you could add magical gloves which enhance specific kinds of spells, or a headband that increases awareness, or a battle staff of +2 lightning, etc. Be creative and talk with the GM.

As the GM, set up these areas specifically. Reward your players.

[Heroguy]

Hey Brovo! Nice article! I'll get around to reading it someday, I'm sure.

[Brovo]

Hey Brovo! Nice article! I'll get around to reading it someday, I'm sure.

Yeah yeah okay, captain.

I couldn't help it with the length. There is just so much to being a GM, especially if you include creating RP's of several kinds... o_o

[Heroguy]

That's all right, I'm not exactly the tl;dr person. Merely stating that it will take me a while to read all this.

[Catherine]

I read about half of the first post, but I still added a link to it in my signature because it seems like something anyone can use here, new or old.

[Brovo]

@Heroguy: Ahh. Well no problem captain. xP I didn't figure this was a "read and finish in one sitting" type thing anyway.

@Puss: Thank you! The more people I can get to read this, the more information I can acquire about it and the more people I can assist!