RPG News GM interview Archive

**Lillian Thorne** · 02-28-2012

This is where I'll be putting the GM interviews from the bi-weekly newsletters to make it easy to find them. We appreciate all the work that goes into them and don't want them lost in the news forum. Enjoy!

2.24.12

What do you feel is your most successful RP?
Legend of Renalta: Reborn. It's been going for almost two years and the group that is in it loves it to death. That is "success" to me.

What do you see as the reason for its success?
In no particular order,
1. Good group of players, dedicated and who continually add additional content into the world themselves. The only thing I do is put the puzzle together, they're the ones with the pieces.
2. I don't railroad characters, and I attempt to keep a consistent posting schedule of about once a week. Sometimes a little longer, sometimes a little shorter.
3. Plentiful collaboration posts and direct contact between characters keeps people interested, since one of the foundations of role playing is interaction between characters.
4. Finally, no single character is "most important." Any character can die or be removed without destroying the RP.
Everyone in it has left at some point for life concerns or otherwise, and the RP never died from it. Most of them have come back at some point, and their characters were still there, available for them to play.

What inspired you to GM in the first place?
An idea. I wanted to make a fantasy world with a one thousand year old princess beating some tyrranical authoritive figures. (Teenage rebellion!) Since I had the idea, I made it and shared it with close friends, who made suggestions to it until it was "finished." Since it was my idea, I put it up on forums.

After a couple of miserable failed attempts I realized that if I tried a few things differently, I could make things better, and so on, until I eventually came to realize that I was making the RP better for the players within it. My idea, I'm running the show, huh, I guess I'm the GM.

How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?
Yes and no. I write open-ended plots. I'll have a series of extremely generalized areas in mind, and a generalized end point. The purpose being that I know where I am going without having to make it so specific that I have to railroad my players into it.

EG: If the players advocate to go east instead of north in your role play, and you want to go to a "kingdom of zealots", just place it in the east instead of the north. When you get there, detail it more as is necessary for your players. Otherwise, so long as you have a general idea of where you want to go without being too specific, you can always find a way to get there.

How much control of the story do you allow your players?
Where it concerns their characters I allow them complete control. Where it concerns their characters acting against or towards other characters I leave it between the players involved to resolve, and only step in when required to prevent a flame war or unreasonable action. (Instant killing, for example.) Where it concerns characters against NPC's, I'll determine the outcome myself and warn the players if they are doing something which is inadvisable or outright dumb so they have a chance to change their minds. Finally where it concerns a player adding or editing the world, plot, or otherwise, I plan it with them through private messages so as to retain control over my RP while giving players the ability to create and edit the world they RP in.

How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?
Easily and quickly. For new characters I just let them fade out into oblivion. Anyone interacting with these characters are free to move on in any form or fashion they wish to get themselves back into the role play. For long standing characters I turn them into non-player characters for a while and then either write them off, or hold them in a state where they don't interact with other characters until the player who controls that character returns, even going so far as to simply cease mentioning them in the majority of my posts.

What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?
http://roleplayerguild.com/showthread.php?t=49041 <- That. The plot is weak and directionless, the premise is dumb, the npc's were two dimensional and boring, the formatting makes me wonder if I was drunk making it, and I failed to make an open universe for the open plot style I typically do.

The players in it also crafted some pretty awful characters. Take a look at this RP for a 101 class on what not to do.

Ever.

Period.

Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's
It depends on the role play. Some say that GMPC's (NPC's which are PC's controlled by a GM) are the bane of existence while others say that GMPC's are necessary to remain connected to the story. They're both very wrong. A GMPC is a tool, and like any other tool can be used poorly or wisely.

For example, in Legend of Renalta, I have one GMPC and two consistent NPC's. Legend of Renalta essentially required a GMPC, so I made one, and it's almost two years old now with a loyal group of players. The GMPC did its job; it connected people without becoming a main protagonist.

For a counter-example, the IEF Venture which I linked earlier. I made three GMPC's and all of which didn't do their jobs. Quite frankly if I made that RP again, I would probably make no GMPC's and only make consistent NPC's to fill in certain roles, consistent NPC's being able to vanish from the plot and return whenever necessary.

What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?
Find an idea that makes you excited, that you adore. Work on it, craft it. If you still adore it after a couple of weeks, find a couple of active people (especially friends) and share it with them. Ask for advice, ideas, and more. If they still like it after a week or two, put up an interest check. See who you get.

The most important piece of advice I can give above all else is simply to have fun, and enjoy what you are writing and taking care of. You will fail several times trying to make a good role play. It will be hard. Look to your failures and learn from them. Learn every mistake you made.

Improve from your mistakes, refine the next role play to iron out these mistakes. Soon enough, with determination and genuine enjoyment out of writing and taking care of your role plays, you will hit a gold mine that people will enjoy for months.

Other notes from Brovo:
Feel free to ask questions on the forums, or ask specific users such as myself or one of the comrades. Especially the comrades. They're there for you. Ask anything. The more tools you discover, the more ways you can solve problems, but you'll never find more tools if you don't experiment and look around for them.

3.19.12

What inspired you to GM in the first place?

I had a very clear idea of how I wanted some plots to go in my head, it was as
simple as that.

What do you feel is your most successful RP?

I'm not entirely sure at this point, but at the time I was running my RP Far Colony the first time, I had a very heady feeling about it, I was enjoying the complexity of the plot that I had figured out.

What do you see as the reason(s) for its success?
It was the first time I'd really mapped out the general plot and the way things were going to proceed -- not so much a restriction on the players so much as having a clear sense of the overall direction of things.

How thoroughly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

I plot major events, but I try to avoid getting too detailed. I also give people a sense of the direction so they can write toward that.

How much freedom to affect the plot do you allow your players?

As much as they want. If someone has a good idea, I'll vary things to accommodate that idea.

How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

Worst case scenario, from too many dropouts, I restart the RP at a future date. Before that, I start to work up NPC's to handle the situation or figure out a way to run a character -- in one RP, where a vital character dropped suddenly, I decided to have her be a sociopathic 'by e-mail' manager, since it's a science fiction RP and anyone that's ever worked in the corporate world knows about e-mail obsessed managers that forward everything without editing. I just take that real life example and turned this person's character into that. The other thing I do is put out calls for replacement characters, if the RP can plausibly allow it.

What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

Trying to keep a secret -- you can keep plot twists to yourself if you let people know that you're doing that, but otherwise, answer questions and give people a sense of where the future is headed so they know which direction the characters should go and which way the plot is headed.

Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? for example: do you have GM-PC's or just NPC's

I experiment around with this, but I usually play PC's and NPC's. Sometimes I do not, however. I vary in how I get involved depending on the RP, but I usually pitch in with a character somewhere.

What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

Flexibility, RP'ers are going to take the plot in directions you don't expect or want to do things. Communication too -- give them a sense of direction where things are going.

3.26.12

What inspired you to make the move from player to GM?

Well really I hopped into GMing very soon after joining the site. I was in a couple of RP's at the time, I think, but they were all pretty slow/dying, and I couldn't find any replacement RP's that fit my interests. One day, an idea came to me- Pokemon coming to life. All our characters are big Pokemon fans... yes, yes... and then one day they all find that their favorite Pokemon has become real and become their partner. And then- VIOLA! Interest check posted very shortly after I had the idea. Things moved along very quickly at first, but, alas, the IC was only active for a few days before everything sort of ceased all at once... But aw well. That's trial and error. But yeah, that's basically what inspires me to make every thread I GM. An idea. Something comes to me, and then once I have some time to flesh it out in my mind, I eagerly put it into action.

And also, I wouldn't exactly call it a "move from player to GM"... there are threads I'm in that I don't GM. I'll join something if I like it. I don't stick to one or the other- instead I find it fun to do both.

What do you feel is your most successful RP?

Ahhhhh easy question! That is undoubtedly my Glomp! roleplay- a mega crossover about a bunch of characters from a multitude of different animes all suddenly appearing in the real world for mysterious reasons, and are found by a group of otaku girls who fangirl over them try to help them and figure out why they're here, as an evil group called OA tries to hunt down and kill every last one of them. The thread has been around for about a year and two-and-a-half months now and is 255 pages long, which is far longer than any of my other RP's have lasted. I personally thought it was a fantastic crossover filled with some amazing plot and just great crossovers in general, and I wanted other anime fans to read it since I thought they would like it, buuuuuuut the first 50-100 pages of Glomp! consist mainly of myself and a few other top players acting pretty newbish with our writing, and to be honest it's kinda embarrassing! But since I still thought people would like the story, I wrote a fanfiction based off of it- keeping the majority of the events in the fic as close to the thread as possible, only much better written. Truthfully I haven't updated it in a bit, but currently it covers up to about page 50 in the thread.

What do you see as the reason for its success?

Glomp!'s success can be largely credited to two key factors:

1) A dedicated cast whom we know will never leave us. At first, the thread consisted of a good number of people, about 7-8 I'd say. However, it started off very character-based (meaning, circling around a group of characters and what they're doing) and very fast-paced for a casual thread. However the most active and most influential members on the thread were myself, Cheetay and Animegal, and we eventually became the only three people around at all, as everyone else either felt the thread was moving too fast or simply lost interest- and dropped out (and the thread was afterwords soon closed to new members due to the story becoming too complicated). However, it is fully understood that the three of us (and OverlordRoo, our fourth player who joined under special circumstances around page 100) would never quit Glomp!, and while the thread can get pretty slow sometimes due to real life, we still post when we get the chance.

2) A very important part of roleplay- plot. Crossover threads like this are abundant, but it seems that not so many of them are successful. What Roo has pointed out to me is that the problem with most crossovers is that they don't know where to go after crossing over. There isn't enough plot development. Glomp! was the same way, originally, when the story went no further than the anime characters appearing and the otakus finding them, and then things started to slow down... and then, luckily, I had the idea of adding an actual antagonist around page 20- OA, short for Operation Anime, the group solely dedicated to capturing and 'exterminating' all the anime characters that appear- so that they can't cause problems in the real world. The addition of this group brought not just plot but also some real depth, action, drama, and overall just made Glomp!, previously a thread for fangirl fantasies, so much more interesting. (Oh and not to mention the magic purple flying cat added around page 70, but that's another story.)

How clearly do you plot your RP, do you go so far as to plan for an end or do you leave it open?

Well on Glomp! we have a very vague ending planned, but we do plan to have it come to an end eventually, probably when we're done with our current arch (which has just started). One reason for this is because all good stories have to come to an end, and if they don't then they'll just drag on and on forever until they're not nearly as good anymore (*COUGHBLEACHCOUGH*). And another reason is because we've planned that, sometime after the first thread is over, a sequel should be made, which will probably be set a few years in the future, and will give us the opportunity to invite a few new members to roleplay long with our usual Glomp! crew. However, this is still far off into the future, judging by the pace things are moving at, so our plans may change between now and then.

How much control of the story do you allow your players?

In Glomp! as well as other threads, I like to let the players come up with whatever ideas they want, which has proven to be very beneficial considering a few great ideas and plot advances in Glomp! were not of my own. However, I also love collaborating with players and coming up with my own plots, and it seems sometimes my plans overshadow someone else's just cuz I'm GM. However, that usually just happens cuz we don't share our ideas with one another 100% of the time (which is understandable, if you want something to surprise someone) and then one plan will mess with another and prevent it from happening, and this is something we on Glomp! have experienced plenty after Roo joined. Now I'm not blaming Roo, but when it was just Cheetay, Gabby and I we pretty much shared all our ideas with each other and moved forward doing whatever we wanted, and then Roo joined and had plenty of plot ideas, which were good ideas, but it didn't feel like sharing any of them, so quite often our plans messed with it's our it's plans messed with ours... I commonly referred to that as the plans clashing, which was a fairly accurate way of putting it. It was a bit of a burden at first, but with the whole thread made a lot more complex with a fourth member, it is something we have come to expect. We just have to make sure we communicate a bit better so that we don't crush anyone's hopes of something happening. (This idea stays true on other threads I GM, as well, as I like to give players creative control, but I also have plans, and if I don't know what theirs are...)

How have you handled the inevitable player dropouts?

In many of the threads I'm in currently, like Data Spell, dropouts can quickly cripple a thread if it was someone with a lot of characters, as now we have plenty of characters tied up with nothing to do. What I try to do in these situations is, if I know someone has dropped out, see if we can think of something vague for what happened to the character they were interacting with, and then they can go on their way as a free character. And the character who dropped out, if it is still early in the thread and they have made no major contributions, usually just vanishes, as the rest of the thread pretty much forgets about them and it's as if they were never around in the first place (which rings exceptionally true in Glomp!, as our early dropouts were completely omitted from the fanfiction).

Now Glomp! has some interesting stories to tell about dropouts- as mentioned, all our early dropouts really left because the thread was so fast, and they pretty much vanished from the scene without being missed. No player has ever had to write off/kill their character because they were leaving, which is ironic considering all the character death the thread has. Other than that, our main problem is not permanent dropping out but rather hiatuses due to real life. Someone disappears for a prolonged period of time and then all our characters are tied up. Once, this was solved by bringing in a new player to the thread, since we could not continue with only two people (enter Roo) and then Cheetay (the one who disappeared) re-joined the fray once she had her Internet back. But for the time being, we pretty much just continued without them and let them re-join when they were ready. More often, however, we've been doing something that has been a lot more effective. When someone is gone, and we know they will be gone for a while, we request permission for the rest of us to divide up their characters and temporarily play them until they return. This has happened when I had to be gone for a bit (everyone claimed to be having a great time without me... =.=') and is still going on with the disappearance of Animegal, who has yet to return and whose characters we are still borrowing. Sure it's one less mind adding ideas with this technique, but at least we don't lose any characters.

For another interesting story on dropping out, read the bottom section...

What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

As far as a thread goes, this. I really liked the idea and I suppose it made a nice work of fiction, but it was not well set-up to be a successful roleplay. Not only did I give the players no idea where to go or what to do after discovering their dragons (I was trying to allow for the players to come up with their own ideas...) but also all eight dragons were GMPC's. This was mainly due to the fact that I knew the dragon's personalities and stages of awakening the best because I was the GM, however the problem was that there was almost no room for players to interact with each other, as they really only interacted with their dragon, played by me. (And it made me pretty busy, too, since I had to play eight extremely important characters right off the bat... ><)

All in all it just wasn't fit to be a roleplay. I have considered trying to re-make this idea many times, but was never really sure how to make it work. I really liked the idea, though, and I thought that maybe if I let people play their human and dragon (almost in a Glomp!-esque way with the fangirl and anime character) then perhaps I will get better results...

Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's

A lot of times (Stone Dragons excluded) I think of myself as another player in the game, just with more authority. I do typically have GMPC's, like in Glomp! I have Miku, the magic purple cat who is bringing characters into this world in the first place, but I also play Alyssa, the fangirl, who is basically myself, Kaito from Vocaloid, Sealand from Hetalia, Rin and Kuro from Blue Exorcist, Sebastian and Snake from Kuroshitsuji, Lord Ghirahim from Zelda Skyward Sword, and likely many more later, so in that sense I'm like another player on the thread!

I really don't see why a GM would want to stay so hands-off because A) an active thread is a strong thread. A GM should provide one extra player to ensure things keep running, and because B) it's their thread! They came up with the idea and put it into action because they liked it, so they should get a chance to experience it, too!

What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

First off make sure it is something you like. It's sad to see a thread die because the GM themselves has lost interest, and that actually has happened to me before. So try to avoid getting other people to spend time making CS's and putting all sorts of effort into a thread you won't want to continue.

Secondly SPREAD THE WORD! Make sure you tell your friends about it and see if you're interested, and hopefully you can conjure up a team of dedicated players before the thread even starts! I remember when I started Data Spell, I told my friends on every thread I was on about it before I even got the OOC up, therefore when it finally was up it was flooded with members right away! And I wound up with 20-something accepted characters before the IC was up.

And lastly put as much effort as you can into the concept and plot, otherwise people won't know what to do and the thread will crumble (see Stone Dragons). Also, if you can arrange plenty of information and detail about a concept in a very professional-looking way, well, it'll certainly impress people and make them think you really know what you're doing (see Data Spell).

Oh and uh... be smart when you're looking over CS's. I tend to be too lenient with accepting characters, which is something I need to work on, but basically make sure that the character fits the thread. Also if you're GMing a higher-up level like casual or advanced, then you can use the CS as a quick literacy test to see if the person joining is up to standards.

Anything else you want to add?

For those of you dropping out of a thread, I've got an interesting story to tell about a certain Player who had been a member a total of three times on Glomp!. The first time it was pretty much with everyone else, except instead of from speed-posting, it was a problem with being frozen, as instead of playing both a fangirl and an anime character she only played a fangirl, and had someone else be a character. And the person playing the character dropped out and left her with nothing to do. (Lesson here: if the GM makes a suggestion, it is usually for a reason.) And we probably could've found a way for her to get out of that situation and re-join the rest of the group, but instead she quit without a word.

I later managed to contact her, though, and told her she could try coming back into the thread with a different set of characters, so she'd have a chance to start over. This time, she did play both characters as suggested, but instead of picking a character she liked, she picked one she couldn't stand, and was an absolute pedophile (Dren from Tokyo Mew Mew, if you cared). It became quite a nuisance to watch Dren constantly sexually harass the Player's fangirl character, especially when our characters were trying to do other things. Really it was like she was just begging for attention. (Lesson here: do not try these types of things just for attention, especially if the thread is clearly headed in other directions. That'll get people annoyed.) At any rate, she was around for a bit but then eventually faded away like the rest of our drop-puts, the rest of us not particularly noticing at first or caring.

However I managed to get a hold of her a third time. I asked her where she went, and she claimed that, while she never directly contacted me on the subject, she did tell my co-GM, Cheetay, who must've just forgotten to relay the information to me. Being understanding of this, I mistakenly let her back in once more...

This time, she didn't play any anime character at all, and worse yet wasn't even playing a character who was into anime, which made her fit into the thread so well... [/sarcasm] I remember rejecting the character at first but she did fight me on it a bit, and for some reason I felt lenient enough to let them in. (Lesson here: make characters that fit the roleplay...)

This character stayed around the least amount of time. We had a bit of fun scaring the crap out of her at one point with all our anime characters, but she quickly disappeared very shortly after that. I contacted her, and asked where she went. The player claimed that she specifically stated she was leaving and that she got an acknowledgement from me. I remembered no such thing. I finally came to my senses then, though, that I had no idea why I kept urging her to return, anyway. All she ever did was cause problems for the thread and make dumb decisions, so I should've kept her out.

(Lesson here (to GM's): If a player who was a problem to you wants to leave, LET THEM.)

And lastly, I was looking over the IC once, and came across something that left me absolutely infuriated- the player's very last post on the Glomp! IC;

Try to imagine the frustration I felt when I realized what had been done here. That was her saying goodbye, and because my character did not try to stop her, she took it as an ok.

(Lesson here: That is not how you drop out of a roleplay!! DX)

[/rant]

So uhh... yeah, that concludes the long rambling that I wrote throughout the course of several hours in one sitting... I hope this gave you plenty of insight, and I hope to see you guys out there GMing!

4.6.12

What do you feel is your most successful RP?

My most successful Original RP would have to be Allaria(Int. Chk/Characters/]OOC/IC/SQ/IRC/Co-GM Int. Chk)

Allaria is basically a classical RP, wherein a group of, let's face it, baddies, have talked or fought the faith from those Allaria. This in turn has prevented the Gods and Old Council from stopping the Apotheoses(Baddies) themselves. As such, a group of rag-tag adventures have been charged with fighting against impossible odds to restore faith and bring back balance. But, along the way, they have to fight with each other and come to realize that everything is not cut and dried as it seems. Their decisions have a huge effect on the way things go, and how people view them, as well as how they view each other and ultimately work together. Even through it all, they remain fighting an uphill battle with no chance of victory, especially inside the proverbial hornet's nest, where most stories dictate that they are at their strongest.

When I started Allaria, I honestly didn't think it would be as successful as it turned out to be; each time garnering 10+ people in the interest check, and even more in the OOC. The current incarnation, recieved 18 different interests; not counting my own. It's been posted three times, and neither has been a particularly disappointing fan turn-out, when compared to other non-canon roleplays.

What do you see as the reason for its success?

What do I see as the reason for it's success? Several things, honestly.

1) Player Interaction: This has always been a big one for me. Most RPs I've been involved with, as a player, had limited character interaction at least compared to Allaria. Whereas in most, a lot of ideas are already marked, Allaria offers the players a chance, within reason, to dictate different plots for their own characters, as well as offer up new races to be a part of the story. Even after Allaria dies, their additions are(Up until the third incarnation), always included increasing the race pool, as well as the God pool. Further still, deep in the core of it all, there is a lot of chatter in the OOC(Though it has died down recently), keeping things interesting and not always focused on the RP at hand. In fact, half of the posts probably have nothing to do with Allaria. It allows the players to learn more about each other and want to stick around with the RP and keep up the friendships. Most of the people whom HAVE dropped out, were ones who really weren't OOC active anyway. Very few ideas have been turned down(Like Jude's idea of having his character talk members of the opposing army to turn against their boss, in exchange for money and such, when they already had the run of the town; on the other hand, one of the accepted, and upcoming ideas, is having a members of the initial party in a sexually displeasing situation)

In essence, you're not just playing, you are also building the world, step by step.

2) Class Expansion: Whereas in most RPs like Allaria, everyone comes in as a warrior, mage, healer, ranger, etc., etc; these have been curbed, and the players have been asked to think outside of the box in order to create characters. While I'd accept a warrior or mage character, I'd prefer they come in as someone not ready for battle and this is reflected in their starting levels. Plus each different class brings something different to the table, a cook character coming in, while not being exactly tested in battle, could keep the group together using food. Same with a builder, in some situations. Living out in the wilds with dangerous animals lurking around is dangerous and a good builder could put up a rudimentary shelter better than someone who isn't a builder. The options are limitless.

3) Posts/Morale: Allaria makes use of all the posts given in the IC -- instead of pushing on with the main story in most cases, the actions of the characters are taken into account. The players aren't limited to a linear function of play, their posts are as free as they want them to be(within reason), thus effecting how the NPCs and such reply. For instance, one could kill a popular member of the community, and recieve the ire of the group they are with and the town, whereas in another RP, this may be perfectly acceptable. Morale is a feature I added, where, it takes into account the likability of a character, as it concerns the group or town; the higher your standing, the more people are likely to go along with you, and the opposite is true with how low it is. It also effects the information you'd recieve from NPCs and the like.

What inspired you to make the move from player to GM?

This isn't a shot at other GMs, but you have more freedom to do what you THINK is right. I've been in a number of RPs where, you have a say, but it's small. For instance, I was in a zombie RP with Aweena and MrMystic, it was a great RP, but in my case, I couldn't fully explore my character which was built to be THE bad guy. The only bad act he could do was kidnapping a mother and child, after that, it was expected that he began his change into a good guy, and that really put me off.

I suppose it's the freedom of knowing that you can run something the way you want to and implement the ideas that you think will make for the better RP than if you were just a player in it.

That and I've been said to be a good person to run things, like when the old PW was up, I was stated to be good at answering the questions when they arose without getting pissed off. Or something to that effect.

How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

I have an idea for the end, but I don't clearly tell them what it is. I tell them their goal for the RP, but not necessarily the ending of it. Only one person knows that ending and he's in the military. But otherwise, I plot it out and stick to it enough that it's always the main focus, but not to the point it's the ONLY focus. As much as Allaria is about the story, it's also about proper character development, and how working with others, can change a person for better or worse.

How much control of the story do you allow your players?

A reasonable amount. Ask anyone who has stayed in long-term. If they have an idea, and it fits, it goes in. For instance, the sexually displeasing scene coming up, wasn't really my idea. Part of it was, but it was also part of a discussion I had with some of the players. Had they not been okay with it, it would have been dropped on the spot. Another example is, I encourage them to push the story. As a GM, and RPer, I don't WANT to have to hold the hands of my players - I want to be able to focus on building up the next location and some events in the current location, while they take the story and move it how they want too. Not everything goes through(Like trying to bribe an army who already has everything)

I want to give a special shout-out to Lyzan, in this regard, because in the current incarnation, he has really been doing a good job with the Side-Quest thread and pushing it. The Calamity, from the first one, did a good job at that as well; and ReonenMiruel, who is off for Officer Training or something for his military(Hope he is safe) has always been my go-to guy, and has helped come up with some of the characters that are prominent in the roleplay.

The Side Quest thing you talk about is interesting Would you care to expand upon it? How and why have you done that and how does it work? It is a lesser storyline and if so what makes it lesser?

Basically, the SQ thread, was made to keep the people who didn't have a spot in the MQ thread busy so they didn't get bored. They have their own quest and stuff, which ultimately transformed into being a bit of a main quest in itself. Originally, they were just supposed to find out about a dragon/Find a mysterious power that has been spiking, but we decided to throw one of the baddies in with them and such. It basically works on the same principle as the main quest thread, except, I am mostly hands off with it. I let Lyzan and the rest sort it out themselves, and however they want to do it(As long as they don't immediately guess the bad guys and what not).

They have their own thread, and play by the same rules as the MQ thread, including the morale set up, and excluding the summaries. It's worked out pretty well. Some people were put in it for having characters too strong for the Main Quest, others were put there just because they were late joiners. Allaria is more or less, always open; depending on how many people I get, I just open up another quest(There are currently two), and group three or four people together for it. They are also not on a strict posting time. Whereas the MQ is on a week basis(though that has been neglected by me and the players), the SQ is on a 'Post whenever you like' basis.

How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

Funny thing is, I don't really have to do anything. I mentioned that Allaria gets a lot of interest and I meant it. Whenever someone drops out, for instance in the new Allaria incarnation, I just switch them out with whoever is in the side quests thread. This is because, well, people are going to drop out and there is no use sulking over it when you have a pool of talented people willing to take their place at the drop of a hat, waiting for a chance to be a part of something big, waiting to be a part of a group of people ready to shape a world.

That and, at the beginning of the RP, I tell them "Your spot isn't safe, there may be some points where you are switched out to promote oher relationships; if such is the case, when you return, if you return, your character will be stronger for it." It gives them a reason to 'drop-out' with the chance of coming back, when and if they are able to.

What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

I honestly don't know; maybe not applying some advice I got from other people? I think a lot of people probably suffer from that, but then again, how else are we going to learn? But yeah, if I had to pick anything, it'd be that, or trying to do too much at once.

Both are pretty big in my book, especially the latter. I have a tendency of trying to do a lot in a short amount of time and end up renigging on some of them, and forgetting them.

I learned that i have to pace myself and not throw myself at everything in a relatively short amount of time. Specifically, for Allaria, it was not to try to run it, without a Co-GM, for how popular it was(Funny note: I asked Guru's forgetful ass to say I was looking for one for me and he didn't. Bastard. <3)

Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's

I used too, honestly; but for Allaria, I've transitioned to only playing NPCs, to help push the story, or guide the group in the proper direction. I've also stated in the RP, that out of game players and/or side quest players can help with this, but having a character from a certain region play guide to the group. This does several things:

1) Gets them through it without to much trouble.
2) Allows others to have a hand in the RP
3) Test out potential additions to the group, by having them form some sort of relationship with them before just tossing them to the sharks.

Otherwise, I might not have a NPC with the group and let them figure things out themselves, and how to proceed. It allows me to build the world around them, so I don't have to rush to do it in a smaller time-frame.

What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

It honestly comes down to not being afraid to do your own thing. A lot of people are going to tell you that you should do this, or do that, or do these two things. While the advice is good, ultimately, it's going to amount to personal experience and your own spin. What works for another doesn't mean it'll work for you -- or everyone would be doing it and all roleplays would be wonderfully successful. I took a chance with Allaria and while it tends to die in a few months(Mostly due to personal reasons), it is people grabber, and it is, ultimately a great RP.

Also, don't be afraid to step outside of the box; if you see something that isn't working, try something new, you might like it.

Anything else you want to add?

The first Chapter of Allaria is coming to an end in the next round or two, so more space in the main quest thread may be opened up, and some people may be switched out.

Yes, voice your opinions now - tell the Mods you want me to be a Mod <3

4.20.12

5.11.12

How long have you been Role Playing?

That's been a while. Can't tell you the very first roleplay I was part of, but it started becoming a regular thing April 2008

About how long did your Role play before you started Gming?

Not too long actually. The IC of my first game was posted in September the same year, on rpgateway.

What made you decide to take up the mantle of GM?

Same story as everyone else, really. You got an idea you want to act out and share with other people. That is roughly how every GM starts out, isn't it?

So what do you feel is your most successful RP to date?

That's really something that ain't that easy to just say. I mean, what's successful? What I see as a successful game is an RP in which everyone is enjoying their selves. Now I'm getting a lot of good feedback on the game I'm running now (technically co-GM'ing with a lazy bastard called Rilla) so I think in that sense, the Library so far is a very successful. On the other I've also ran some completely different games.

The Library has a huge focus on action and adventure, exotic settings, giant monsters and superpowers, you name it. Now when we compare it to another game I ran, the Alluring, was a slower-paced RP that relied much more heavily on plot and character choices. People had a lot more power per post and the feel of the game was naturally completely different. There were a lot of detective and drama elements brought in. When we finished the Alluring, I also got some great feedback from the remaining players.

So which is more successful? Can't tell, because measuring how much fun different people have doing different things is pretty much impossible.

So was there a RP you learned the most from as a GM? One that really helped you firm-up your techniques as a GM?

It's more of a process than seperate lessons, honestly. You never stop learning. On the one hand, I could say it's my first RP, because that one died and my second game (Sandcastle, hosted on your very own roleplayerguild) we finished. Although the degree to which my first RP failed is rivalled by, ironically, the sequel to Sandcastle. Ever since my games have been pretty consistent.

On the other hand, most of my experiments (I experiment in my RP's a lot) were performed in the Alluring and to a lesser extent; Brave. By testing different elements and approaches, then gathering the feedback I like to think I learned a lot of things that I'm currently applying to the Library. It would never have been as 'good' if those two hadn't existed.

It’s really something about what you feel is more important. The basics or the more 'advanced' elements. On a site like the guild or gateway, where a ton of games die prematurely, the basics are something that are very uncommon. So anyone mastering these basics is, by our standards, inherently a good GM and being much better won't get you that much more players.

Now, if we take an environment where lots of games survive, it won't matter if I know the basics or not if I put up a game there, I'll need to make sure it's better than other people their games. Or at least covers a niché, so that people want to play it. So which lessons were more important depends on what environment you're in.

Do you plot out your RP's or leave them open ended?

To certain ends. It's good to have a sense of direction, but plotting every step along the way, something I like to call the Shon Harris-approach (

hi Shon,) is something that really doesn't work for me.

See I create games I would join. I wouldn't join a game where my actions were pre-determined. So I tend to stick to having an abstract objective in mind, but try to remain open-minded about how this objective can be reached. It does require the players and GM to strike a bit of a balance, which isn't always easy, but when it does work out; people feel their posts are influencing the course of the RP. That's a philosophy I like to see in other GM's.

You mentioned creating games you would want to play. Do you play in your games, i.e. do you tend to run GM-PC's and take part of the Game or stick with NPC's?

In most games I ran I had GMPC's, but you can easily do without. The tricky thing about GMPC's is that you want to avoid having your GMPC compete with other PC's. That's a bitch, especially for someone like me who likes to play characters that bring a lot of antagonism to the table. So most of the time, if I do use a character they play a more passive role in the RP.

Whether I'm using a character or not depends on if I want to use one. I mean hey, collaboration is good and all but it's my game too! Still. Strictly speaking, if I were to advice someone on what is best to do on a technical level I'd say stick with NPC's.

How do you handle drop-outs and vanishing acts?

Depends if their vanishing act needs to be explained in order for other people to continue the RP. If they don't need to, I tend to ignore it altogether. Otherwise; preferably murder them in the most brutal way possible. A love my co-GM Rilla shares. We have been one-upping each other by murdering drop-out characters. Although I must say he dropped the ball on the latest one. Shame on you, Rilla!

But honestly, pretty much in a way I see fit. If I desperately need the character or like them so much I want to use them as NPC's, I'll do that. Although I also don't mind throwing in a plot twist by killing off an important character. Because hey, having no strict plot leaves you with a ton of freedom! But yeah as I said earlier, most of the time it's ignoring them or making them go out with fireworks.

Well in that vein, what was your favorite PC death as a result?

Well, that one dates back a while. It was in Sandcastle's sequel. Sarzu(m) had told me he wasn't going to continue the game, so I decided to use his character to introduce a new antagonist. As it turned out, his character was pinned down, had a shitload of bugs and birds pushed down his throat that ate him from the inside out. Needless to say I had a stupid grin on my face all the time I was writing it. Thanks, Sarzu!

How selective are you about people joining your RPs? Do you limit the number, do pick based on CS or first come first served?

Honestly depends on the game. As mentioned before I run a good variety of them. Let's pick these things apart. First, numbers.

I used to go by the golden eight player rule, but the thing is, you don't want eight characters in the same place at the same time. You've been in advanced games, I'm sure you know how it is. We have a posting round, we see eight posts, usually at least around thousand words long, but the only real progress is made at the first post every cycle. I don't know about you, but for me that just doesn't work. There is too much information and too little action going on. Nobody pushes the game forward because they'd end up godmoding the others if they did, because they don't have the time to react. This just doesn't work. So instead you want less people at the same place at the same time.

Now you can do this two ways. Either you limit your number of players and work with that. I believe Genkai is a very vocal fan of this. The pro's to this are that you can have everyone interact with each other and form a more coherent group as the game progresses. Another major advantage is that if characters play important roles, they will be able to shine more easily when you have a small number of players.The big downside to this is that... Players drop. A lot. Recruiting for a running game is always harder than for a game you're just starting up. So every replacement you're gonna need will be harder to find. What makes it worse is having to turn down players because you've reached capacity, further limiting your pool of potential RP'rs.

The second way to do this is to just have that big group of players and split them up into small groups. That's what Rilla and I are doing in the Library. You still have the same advantages in terms of progression per post (cycle,) although due to forming different groups per mission, you might lose a few points on the group-feeling of the characters. The major plus to this however is, you are much, much better equipped to play the inevitable numbers-game. Because you have a larger pool of people, a few of them dropping isn't as big a deal because you can reform groups at the next mission anyway. We can also take in new players all the time, just add them to a mission. I mean the optimal number is probably three players per situation, excluding the GM. A fourth really doesn't hurt that much. And if there's multiple people joining, just spread them over the missions.

As for who joins... Most people who apply to my games get in, sometimes with an edit or two. I am very careful with my interest checks; I make sure I know exactly what I'm selling and to who. So I know the type of people that join my games and what they expect. The interest checks work very well too, Brovo even refers to it in his GM-guidelines article.

Also, I don't take twenty interviews only to turn down twelve of them. I really can't politely answer why I don't run those kinds of policies, so I won't.

How do you typically handle trouble players?

You know the funny thing is I never had to kick someone from a game. Decline a character sheet, yeah I did that. I don’t accept things that aren’t up to 'standards,' which usually means game-breaking or out of synch with the world, but I do give people a lot of room to improve it, which sometimes... Ends up with "Hey dude thanks for the interest, but I really don't think we're the kind of RP you're looking for. Sorry about the effort, but I'm going to decline your character sheet. Best of luck finding another game!"

I've not yet had te decline a sheet because of the person submitting their selves was trouble. Which is probably because most people who I dislike on a personal level stay the hell away from me by their own accord and those often are persons that cause trouble and inter-player conflicts.

How do you handle inter-player conflicts?

Haha that’s nasty nasty, nasty question. See the problem is, people only have conflicts at the times I’m sleeping, in school or out. Never when I'm online. So it usually escalates before I even see it.

Either way, I prefer to cut things clean ASAP. Inter-player conflicts you see, are destructive to games. Last conflict we had was about a game-mechanic a player couldn't throw her full support behind, whereas other players defended the mechanic. Now the thing is, this wasn't really something we could resolve by argumenting perspectives; we plain disagreed. Which kinda went downhill.

I ended it with well... A climax, although technically speaking a conflict was no longer going on, I made a post about how I don't want things like certain comments in my games. Then I PM'd both parties seperately, giving it some afterthought and explaining shortly why I did what I did. It was a little over the top, but I wanted the situation to be clear with everyone. As a result nobody left and both parties continued playing without further issue.

Although I do have to give everyone involved credit for that. Usually at least one person leaves because of a conflict, or begins to harbour some kind of grudge. But not here. So in that I believe my players to be great sports.

How do you balance out Character screen time? Do you try to give each player equal time to shine or do you base it on how much they are putting into the RP?

The first thing I make sure of is that a game can continue if someone drops. A lot of people will disagree with this, but if your character is irreplaceable you are a danger to the RP. When we can make sure of that I typically let people fend for their selves. I give everyone opportunities, but I'm not just going to give them the spotlight. I might give a little more or a little less depending on the person, but... People are really gonna have to take it for their selves.

How many opportunities you give people will typically depend on the RP and how they respond to them. If your RP needs to be very character-driven, you are pretty much waiting for someone to take initiative. So you give a lot of opportunities. A more event-based game, you typically don't.

At the same time you have players that are leaders and followers, and followers who want to be leaders. This is pretty much about striking a balance. If a person is too loud, hand their character a little less opportunity or make them work harder for it. If someone is shy, throw them a couple bones. If they react you know they want to give it a shot, if they don't you leave them be.

Never just say “This arc is about you!” because that's asking for trouble. GM's should give opportunities, but never the spotlight itself.

So which do you like better, RPing or GMing?

The issue with that is that everything I don't GM myself dies. There's only a handful longstanding games I've been in that weren't my own. In that sense, I see myself more as an emergency leader, you know? If shit starts falling apart I jump in and take the reins, but I prefer having good leadership I can support. It's... well, easier, therefore more befitting of a way to spend my free time.

So I guess that in that perspective I prefer RP'ing, but honestly I have a lot of fun with GM'ing too and those games are the ones that last and evolve; ultimately making them a better experience. Of the games I didn’t run there's only one that's still going on. Although this one has like 1-2 months interval per post nowadays, we've been at it for years. It's pretty awesome, everyone is so relaxed about it.

What advice would you give to a new GM starting out, tricks, tips etc. Something you wish you had known at the beginning?

Well that's two questions in a way, but I answered Brovo a similar question when he was making his gm article. This would be my advice;

You're going to fail.

I'm not even kidding. GM'ing is like a lot of things in life are; you can read dozens of books about it but you're not gonna get good at it until you get some experience under your belt. People are fickle creatures and there's little room for mistakes while managing them. Or not managing them, for that matter. You're going to need to find your audience and you're going to need to find your style. You're going to experiment, see what does and doesn't work for you. So don't be afraid to fail, but make sure you learn from your mistakes when you do.

As for what I wish I would have known; I learn best by falling flat on my face and standing up again. Realising mistakes and analyzing the things I run into. I think that my ability as a GM would have been hindered greatly if someone had taken me by the hand and taught me things instead of me trying to find my own way. That's pretty much the core of my advice too; find your own style and way. Don't be afraid to experiment but by all means, don't try to be something you're not.

5.25.12

How long have you been Role playing?

I guess I’ve been roleplaying since... 2006/2007. Oh my, that seems so long ago! It was when the TV series Heroes first started; there was an RP in the forums there that I had joined, and it became my first introduction to roleplaying. I actually found that thread the other month and read through it. I was immediately embarrassed at my writing from back then. Never again will I go back and read it. The horror, the horror.

How long before you took up the mantle of GM?

I honestly can’t remember... Back when I first started roleplaying, the GM had instantly vanished, so we had no definite GM – all of us took on the responsibility. Like a group-GM dynamic. But I think I officially became a GM when I found the Roleplayer Guild website and started my own RP – which was back in 2009. Again, that was so long ago – I feel so old now!

What do you feel is your most successful RP?

By far, my (and my wonderful co-GM MrMystic’s) remake of (fellow RPer) xDyScOrDiAx’s Apocalyptica RP has been the most successful. I’ve had other RP’s that have taken off, but, naturally, the one I didn’t even come up with myself (which makes me seem so unoriginal) was the one that lasted for close to a year and was so great we brought it back for its fourth run.

All my other RP’s start off great and exciting – and I’ll put days (sometimes weeks) into making them, but they die. I don’t mind when they do though, because even if they were great ideas at the time, it just tells me that maybe they were just better as an idea in my head. Or I had all the wrong people on-board. But either way, I don’t think anyone who is naturally sane wants to write in a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-inspired world filled with retro ‘50s robots and round, limbless Victorian-esque civilians.

What do you see as the reason for its success?

I think there are multiple reasons why Apocalyptica was so successful. First off, I think everyone just loves zombies – and a well thought-out zombie RP set five years into the bleak aftermath of the zombie apocalypse? I mean, as a child, who doesn’t daydream of that? While all the other little kids were planning their wedding or astronaut careers, I was busy thinking of charging into a field of thousands of zombies with nothing but a broadsword. And I think that’s part of where the attraction stems from: the ability to imagine ourselves triumphing as a survivor in a bleak world. Real-life is boring and irritating, but to replace it with a post-apocalyptic world where we can write characters that grow to survivor-heroes is a great outlet. And, with any writer, we channel parts of ourselves into our characters. So when I write about my strong-willed protagonist struggling to ensure she lives, there’s an undertone of me hidden in there. I want to know I can be stronger than I am, and others do too, and Apocalyptica provides that chance for us, as writers, to explore that concept.

Secondly, the people involved make it work. Both runs when I was co-GMing Apocalyptica we had a great cast of writers on-board. We did our best as GM’s and we provided a large setting full of possibilities we worked endlessly to create, but the RPers were what made it succeed. I know they all have at one point been personally thanked/complimented by me or called my weekly favorite. Of course, my co-GM MrMystic was a main contributor to its success as well, and though I could write an essay on why he’s great at what he does, no one except him would read through it all. He’s dedicated, helpful, knowledgeable (which helps when I end up seeming dumb) and an all-around great GM. I’ll just leave it at: MrMystic, thank-you.

What inspired you to GM in the first place?

My frustration with people. It sounds horrible, but it’s actually why – but I swear I’m a nice person! I would just get irritated with some GM’s and think, “No! You’re doing that all wrong! Let me do it!” So after deciding I’m too much of a control freak when it comes to RPing, I shifted my attention to being a GM. That way I have more control over what happens and can do a better job at what I’m interested in. There’s nothing worse than a GM who doesn’t care.

Which do you prefer and why: Role Playing as a player or a GM?

Hm... that’s a tough question. I mean, I love role playing and when there’s a great setting and story involved, I love to be a part of it and contribute by writing. But even more than that I love being the one who created everything and who monitors it. I’m torn between which one I prefer more, but I think I would have to go with being a GM. I love being the one who invents the RP itself and the one who keeps it afloat; I’m good at nagging and keeping people involved. I feel like I’m better at being the responsible (sometimes irresponsible) leader. And that way, when I’m the GM, everyone has to love me or I’ll kick them out!

How much control of the story do you allow your players?

As much control as I have (well, maybe not quite as much). I’m always urging people to go ahead and make something colossal happen that affects everyone (as long as it’s reasonable, of course). I want people involved in my RP’s to know that they’re more than allowed to add-on. I may create the world and the story, but I create it so it can be manipulated by everyone. I’ve never liked the idea of putting my RPers in a streamlined path they can’t step out of. That just takes away the element of creativity and excitement RPing is all about.

Do you take a hands-on or hands-off approach to GMing? Ie. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC’s.

Well, the reason why I love being a GM is because I can create the world and put so much work and effort into it, so I don’t see why I wouldn’t want to have my own characters involved like every other RPer. I want to explore I created like everyone else! I may have NPC’s, but ultimately, I always have at least one character that isn’t just an NPC. And even though I may fail hard at it sometimes, I love character development and character interaction. With just NPC’s, I feel that’d be a little stagnant; too “behind-the-scenes” for my liking.

You have a lot of players in your RP, do you worry about making certain they all get "screen-time" or leave it up to them?

My biggest pet peeve when it comes to roleplaying is speed-posting. I get so infuriated by that! Thankfully it’s never been too big of a problem while I’ve been GM, but I try my hardest to ensure no one is left behind by enforcing rules like “don’t post until three other people have,” or “one post for every few days.” But I’ve gotten lucky as all the people in my current RP are good for sharing – no one really dominates all the attention, and even if we do get some colossal posts, everyone paces themselves equally.

How do you handle problem players or inner character conflicts?

It depends on what the person has done. If it was a generally rude comment or upsetting conflict towards another person or myself, I will publicly address it. Normally I’ll tell them what they did is unacceptable and ask if they could stop whatever it was they were doing – and most of the time it stops there. But if it’s an on-going issue or is extremely uncalled for, then I’ll PM them and simply remove them. There’s no need for immaturity – and even if the internet is filled with it, I have no patience for it. That’s right, I can be strict. I don’t like to be, but it’s possible.

How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

Horribly. I cry every time someone decides to abandon my RP as though it was an adorable puppy who grew up and became ugly.

No, I’m actually pretty understanding when people drop-out. I’ve done the horrible deed of joining an RP only to then discover that I’m either too busy or my brain doesn’t want to cope. Which is too often. So I myself am guilty in that sense and I feel bad for the GM every single time, so coming from both sides as both a dedicated GM and a heartless dropper-outer, I’m more lenient. The only thing I tell people is to make sure they do say something. Nothing’s worse than that one ghost member who never said a word.

But if the dropper-outer is still interested but is too busy at the time, I give them the option to be put “On-Hold” – that way they’re still a part of the RP, but they’re excused until they can return. I don’t want to remove someone who is still interested but is busy dealing with real-life nagging at them. I’d rather find a way to make their character still fit in the story reasonably than get rid of that character and RPer altogether.

What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

I’ve made too many mistakes. But I’d have to say, my number one biggest mistake that I regret doing all these years, would be being too selective. I’m a very picky GM; I want only the best characters who make me envious, so when I would get a bunch of character sheets that are just average, I would get a little annoyed. I mean, I really don’t care for the orphaned eighteen-year-old boy who is an anti-social thief with dazzling eyes – I want the mentally handicapped worrywart mother. Characters that aren’t strong, can be built upon drastically, (maybe too) original and interesting are what I always wanted.

But there were instances where someone who didn’t wow me at first ended up being one of my favorite’s; one in particular instantly had me hooked on his story, and even if his character seemed bland originally, his talent in writing made me fall madly in love. I would marry his talent if I could, but I think that would be awkward to explain at family reunions.

So, in the end, I learned the old tale of “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Even if I can be too nitpicky and have high standards, I learned that anyone can be surprising and to not base it off of how original their character is, but how original their story turns out to be.

You mentioned being too picky about players as your biggest mistake, how do you select at this point?

Well now I’m more... how do I put this without sounding like a stalker? I do extensive background checks – let’s say that. So when someone applies, I’ll go through their recent posts, see their posting style, how they behave in other RP’s, etc. It gives me more insight to how the person is as a writer and team member and not just someone who made up a character sheet. So, pretty much, I stalk people who apply. My life really is that dull.

What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

I would tell them it’s okay to not know what you’re doing. Just as long as you have an idea and you are passionate about it, then you’re set. I always say that some people can sit at a piano and light up the entire room with their talent, but when you have absolutely no clue what you’re doing, you really can create magic. Sounds cheesy, I know. But you don’t need to know where the middle C is or what note you just hit, because you’re still making music. The same goes for GMing; you don’t really need to know what you’re doing to still make it work. Just be dedicated and actually care about making it happen and you can easily run a successful RP.

And if anyone reading this does need help with it, feel free to PM me. I may not be the best GM out there, but at least one other helping hand will make it better, right?

6.8.12

6.22.12

Lillian How long have you been Role Playing?

Kadaeux Hmm, *Checks age* about 14 years, close to 15 now in fact.

Lillian wow, nice. How much of that has been forum RP?

Kadaeux Maybe five or six years. Though before coming to the guild it was generally poor quality stuff.

Lillian so then how long have you been on the Guild?

Kadaeux About little over three years now. A hell of a ride too.

Lillian When did you start GMing?

Kadaeux Hard to pin down, if you mean all-together, probably about 10 years ago when enjoying other RPGs (On this ancient paper-like material, with physical dice even!), if you mean on the Guild, pretty much straight away. I decided I liked to create and see people explore my worlds more than just play in them.

Lillian Do you still do table-top?

Kadaeux Not as often as I once did but yeah. It helped inspire my tendency to create reasonably complex rules-sets for my RPs, though mine is quite different to most TT RPGs. *ignores the ocassional aneurysm a new player has*

Lillian So what do you love about GMing?

Kadaeux The ability to build complex rules sets and worlds around them and watch my players get horribly murderised ... I mean explore it and discover all there is to discover. And it throws out some interesting things due to my rules. For example, Sarz (Sarzu on the guild) last night in a collab was fighting a full scale battle. His leaders proved about as useful as a bag of rocks in it, but his men made up for it. And even got to promote one from the rank and file for badassery when he picked up a heavy weapon on his own and mowed down the enemy. Entirely unexpected.

Lillian So you use rules and systems more than is generally found on the Guild. Does that generally go over well?

Kadaeux In general yes, Sarz (mentioned above) has been RPing with me almost all my 3 years on the guild, and some other members of the old guard have as well. Additionally I regularly get new player. The trick is to strike a balance between complexity and fun, without being over balanced. I've gone the far too complex route a couple times and those RPs didn't fare well. Became too inundated with bean-counting. And that just wasn't fun. My people mostly love the random events I use.

Lillian You are well known around the guild and frequently lauded as a great GM, what would you say you do to have earned yourself such a great reputation?

Kadaeux Mind Control.

Lillian That works over the internet?

Kadaeux Indeed, fairly reliable too. But in all seriousness, I just listened to the players, made compromises, made things interesting and did my best to keep players talking amongst one another and... Well the biggest trick is to keep shitstorms from OOC or IC. As such when a player does something wrong I don't yell at them or give them orders. I punish their character IC. If a player's character god-mods they might get something like a broken leg for example.

Lillian And that doesn't produce whining?

Kadaeux It's never up for discussion, but no, the more a decision is challenged the worse it goes for a character. The worst examples for a God-Modder for example is the instant death of their character, thus removal from the RP. I've never had to go that far. But I make sure players know breaking the rules will effect them In Game more than anything. The nature of my rules that lets people make characters curbs the bad players usually though.

Lillian So do you employ stats.

Kadaeux Depending on the RP yes, my currently running RP does, and the next one on the rank will as well. But mostly I employ "traits". Most prevalent in my nation RPs, the next version of Stellar Empires will have a little over six hundred to choose from. Big enough I actually store the rules as PDF files on Scribed and just give out the link. For example: "Wealthy Parentage: You have good connections with your family and their deep pockets. As such when the pennies need to be pinched you might find yourself with a longer leash than someone with a tighter budget.” Lot of work though

Lillian I can imagine.

Kadaeux I have been known to spend more than six months on some rules sets.

Lillian Do you plot your RPs as extensively as you concoct the rules?

Kadaeux Depends on the RP in question. Usually for my nation RPs I’ll create a 'big bad' or two that will crop up to cause havoc but otherwise leave it relatively freeform. For character-based I do more plot-work. Like the next RP off my rank when I post it is actually going to be based off of the universe from the book I’m writing. Obviously it'll be more structured than is normally the case for me. Railroading players = evil to me though I've known a few GMs who the sound effects Chugga Chugga Chugga are constant.

Lillian Do you plot an end?

Kadaeux Usually? No. Especially with nation based, I'm happy to let it go as far as it goes, let the players define the length and depth of the story. I create the world to see what people do with it. For a character-based I might be more inclined to do a chapter-based structure, but I never plan for an end. After all, if I, and others, are enjoying it why should it end?

Lillian How do you handle drop-outs?

Kadaeux Again depends on the RP, in character based it's both easier and harder. Easier in that push comes to shove there's nothing to clear the metaphorical schedule like killing the drop-outs character (freeing other players of any obligations there). For nation RPs I tend to just go "Free for all aisle 5" The players are usually happy to invade and make it interesting.

Lillian When you GM for character based or Nations based, do you RP in them as well or just maintain GM distance and use only NPC's?

Kadaeux I usually participate as well. Since a lot of things I do are randomly generated for results participation works without being imbalanced. But they do serve as tools I use to help players do plots they want. And random results are fun. For example: Andi went on a small side-quest of her own the other day. Was supposed to just be a chat with an NPC, but the dice were nasty, by the time the event finished she'd been in two firefights, had two minor characters wounded, one nearly killed and failed to do what she set out to do all while attracting the attention of a big bad to herself.

Lillian Do you employ a dice roller or just roll them yourself?

Kadaeux I used to just roll the dice myself, but started using an online roller so I could take screenshots to show the player involved if the dice are being particularly nasty. (Or good for that matter)

Lillian So on the topic of nasty and good, Do you have a favorite RP or one you consider your biggest success?

Kadaeux*Whistles lowly* Now that is a hard question to answer. In a way I'd have to say despite its short length my biggest success was my first proper nation RP on the Guild, not because it was overly long or chock full of players. But because it served as the foundation for the continued use of my rules on the guild and was where I met the first few of my regulars

Lillian How about your biggest failure and what did you learn from it?

Kadaeux Now that one is easy. Stellar Empires 2. It was designed to be epic, unfortunately I overburdened it in complex rules and the numbers game played against it, so while it lasted a little while in its prologue, the main RP for it bombed out faster than a boat made of sugar. The numbers were far too much to keep track of.

Lillian So you mentioned earlier how you handled problem players, how do you handle accepting players/characters?

Kadaeux Well a player has to go through my rules sets to make their character or nation, there is always a provided sheet so people can see what is accepted. People spend their points and/or traits depending on the RP. Then they do the little details. Once done we go over the sheet, if it complies with the rules (haven't spent too many points or taken mutually exclusive traits) then typically we accept the sheet. It'd take a pretty badly done sheet to be denied and I have a habit of giving everyone a chance. If they're bad to start we might be able to help improve them with patience. If they're good well... good

Lillian So do you have any tips you'd give to a fledgling GM?

Kadaeux Be patient, listen to the players, help them where needed and give them a chance. But don't be afraid or hesitate to crack down on trouble elements, you let a god modder slip one thing through they'll expect to get away with it until you're awash in trouble. But most of all remember. The players are there to enjoy themselves. Remember that and act to make sure of it. The fastest way to get a ragequit is railroading or one player feeling left out or unrewarded. *Whispers* or hide the bodies.

LillianAnything else you want to touch upon?

Kadaeux Hmm, just remember. Reality is what you make it, just don't forget the players for your own vision. That is the path to the slightly vomit-coloured side.

7.6.12

How long have you been RPing and how long did it take for you to take up the mantle of GM?

I've been roleplaying since I was eight, though it was usually with a small group of friends and was carried out through a number of methods such as texts, instant messaging and even some LARPing. I had barely heard anything about RPing online until a few years ago, and it was only a year and a half ago that my friend Kagamine introduced me to the Guild and encouraged me to try out online RPing.

While I've GMed offline plenty of times before, it took me a little while to get the hang of GMing, and my first few attempts barely got off the ground. For a long time I prefered Co-GMing, and honestly I still kind of do. ^_^;

What inspired you to GM in the first place?

If I have an idea I'm real queer for, I will see it through, which often leads to having to take the initiative to run an RP myself. That's usually the case of why I GM.

The only exception would be Tenshi Jigoku Academy. That RP was original established by my friend Sofyasama, and for a long time I Co-GMed for her. However there came a point where Sofya couldn't manage the RP anymore, and seeing how much TJA means to me I took up the role of GM.

What do you feel is your most successful RP?

That would undoubtedly be Tenshi Jigoku Academy. The current installment alone has been going on for almost a year now!

What do you see as the reason for its success?

All the members of TJA are pretty tight. Many of us have known each other for a long time, and through our OOC we talk to each other every day. So even when the RP itself is having problems, the majority of our members will stick around and see to it that the RP continues on. Sure, we get some who join and then leave without a word, but it's our most faithful members like Captain Ivan, DarkGrey, Zelpheon, Neko, Kagamine, Nocturnia, Goldilocks and Tatoba who have really made Tenshi Jigoku so successful.

How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

I'm more of a "make-it-up-as-I-go" kind of person. I find that starting more open ended allows the RP to be carried out longer, as there's more potential for plot twists and other creative additions to the story that make it all the more interesting and interactive. And I've never planned for an end before.

How much control of the story do you allow your players?

I never really have one consistent plot, rather allow the members to throw in their own sub-plots. Tenshi Jigoku, for example, has a variety of plots ranging from the random appearances of a chaotic deity, the rise of a powerful spider king, a battalion from another dimension and so much more, and each plot is brought in by various members. While I also contribute, I've only got as much control on where our story is going as everybody else.

How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

Usually drop outs are not a big deal. Most of the long-time members have a plethora of characters at thier disposal, so if one or two get frozen by someone who suddenly disappears, it's not the end of the world. I'll wait a short while, contact them about whether or not they have any intentions of returning, and if I don't get a response or if they decline, then we move the RP along without them and the characters they left behind essentially become playthings for our more bloodthirsty and homicidal characters.

It is extremely rare for someone to stick around for a long enough time to become real valuable to the story and then drop out, though I have had it happen a few times. The original founder of TJA, Sofyasama, has been trying hard to return since she was forced to leave for reasons offline, and in her absence we basically had to do major rearrangements to make up for all the characters she had made to run the academy. And more recently one of our Co-GM's left after staying with us for over a year. We're still figuring things out about what to do with the parts of the RP he controlled, though since many of the members of TJA are so dedicated, we generally build new plots around the drop-outs in order to keep our RP alive.

How do you handle problems, inter-player conflicts etc?

It depends on the situation, I guess. I prefer handling things in a logical and sophisticated manner and talk players into a rationalized solution that works best for the RP and everyone in it.

However, I find that not everybody is interested in working things out peacefully, and for the more melodramatic and boisterous players I tend to take a more dictator-like route, which can get pretty nasty. Fortunately I don't have to use this approach to frequently, as if the problem is blatantly addressed, the players usually strive to find a solution before things get ugly.

Keeping a list of banned people also helps keep out unwanted riffraff.

Do you tend to handle such things in the OOC or via PM?

Unless things get real personal I tend to leave everything out in the open in the OOC. I mean, it's there for discussion, right? Besides, in the OOC I can get the help of other members when solving a problem. A second opinion is always helpful, since I sure as hell can't always fix everything.

Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's

I always play a part in my RPs. It's not like I'd want to sit out of my own creation. In fact often times I make a multitude of characters, which can get a little out of hand on occasion.....

For example?

I may be more or less addicted to creating characters...I've had RPs where the number of characters I had escelated pretty quickly, and before you know it I have almost as much as everyone else combined. It's not that I can't handle a great amount of characters, though it admittedly makes my posting a teensy bit slower, which is why I usually only get involved with casual RPs now. To give you a good idea of how out of control I can get, my record is having over 70 characters in one RP.

How did you manage that many without over-running the RP? Or was it more a matter of them being NCP's vs. GM-PCs?

It rarely gets that extreme, but I've found that the RPs that I've had really massive amounts of characters in, the other members tend to increase the amount of characters they have as well. Afterall, I'm not a big fan of having alot of NPCs. In TJA, for example, it's pretty common for our long time members to have ten to twenty characters, myself included. In Glomp! - a private crossover RP I've been in for quite some time - all four members post for at the very least five characters at a time, often more. I feel an wider assortment of characters leaves members with more posting oppertunities and allows them to interact with the plot from different angles.

Do you have any organizational tips for handling so many characters?

It's best not make your characters interact with eachother too much. Focus on interacting with the other members' charcters instead. You can also have alot of characters and not have to use them all at once, as long as you keep track of what the characters were doing while "off screen", so to speak. Don't make more than you can handle; if you find yourself losing track of where all your characters are, what they're doing and such, then you may want to keep your numbers low. And finally if you're going to have a significantly large number of characters, take advantage of the oppertunity to spread them out; make each of your characters involved all over the plot. Like in my friend Kagamine's RP, Data Spell, we have characters all over the island, and I personally have one flirting around the town, one invading the Aquilia Kingdom, another running through the forests...and having all these characters allows me to be in a variety of places at once.

What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

It really helps to get to know your members, 'cause if you know eachother outside the RP chances are they won't just abadon ship. I've seen RPs go weeks without a post live on with almost no drop outs because the GM keeps in touch with the players. Also keeping the idea of the RP pretty general and open to new ideas and plot twists from the members is a fantastic way to get everyone involved with the plot and thusly keeps them interested. You'd be surprised how complex even the most generic of RPs can get if you let everyone toss in thier own sub-plots and such.

7.20.12

Lillian: How long have you Been RPing?

Pockets: Some college buddies introduced me to the concept back in 2003 so nine years now off and on. We started with D&D table top games then I found the message boards a few months later.

Lillian: What inspired you to GM in the first place?

Pockets: It seemed like fun to be honest. I had a story I was working on and thought it would be a fun game so I gave it a shot.

Lillian: What do you love about GMing?

I love how different people can look at the same event and see it in different ways. Example one of my NPCs summoned another player from his bath as a demonstration of magic in an attempt to garner interest in learning from the other characters. It instead totally pissed one of them off which had NOT been my intention. I was forced to think on my feet to try to mitigate damages in game and that fascinates me.

Lillian: What, if anything, do you hate about it?

Pockets: having to ask people to leave an rp, either due to inactivity or an unwillingness to cooperate. I have a rule where I reserve judgement to kill of a character and boot a player from the game if they're behavior is not of good sportsmanship or cooperation with the other players. I dislike most having to exercise this rule.

Lillian: You are a self-published novelist, how is it using the characters and setting from your novels in a RP setting?

Pockets: Its easier I think in some ways than trying to create a separate story. Since I already have the world and characters I've been writing its easy to create side stories based in that world. Almost like writing a Fanfic.

Lillian: What do you feel is your most successful RP?

Pockets: By far 'Against the Jade Empire' is the most successful RP I have yet attempted to run. Its in its fourth month with a fairly steady rate of activity in both the OOC and IC threads.

Lillian: What do you see as the reason for its success?

Pockets: The players. If I didn't have a good group of players that enjoyed the story and their own characters it wouldn't be nearly the success it is.

Lillian: How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

Pockets: I basically try to get just a rough outline. Point A as the beginning and point B is the end. Everything in between I make up as I go along and frequently some of the best plot points and ideas come from reacting to or building off of ny players actions in game. For example there was a very amusing scene between my NPC Jade and a high priest played by Affili that was entirely on the fly with no previous planning. In the end I think it was one of the funniest moments in the entire RP so far.

Lillian: How much control of the story do you allow your players?

Pockets: I allow a great deal of player control. Like I said sometimes the best ideas for the story come from the players. Sometimes the story meanders away from the main plots but I drag things back when needed and everyone seems to have more fun that way.

Lillian: How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

Pockets: Cry, rage, beak things and drown my sorrows in Monster energy drinks. After the inevitable caffeine crash I figure out a way to adjust. One character met an ugly end from some monstrous creations of mine. Others might take off on some random quest, out of sight out of mind.

Lillian: What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

Pockets: Allowing any and all who wanted in the rp to join. Some peoples style of writing doesn't mesh well with others and some personalities clash. I've found that sometimes you need to be a little more choosy about who can join but that doesn't mean you have to be mean. Let them down easy whenever possible.

Lillian: How do you handle those inter-player conflicts?

Pockets: That one is a bit tricky. I try to allow people to resolve their own differences. I don't want anyone to feel as if they're being picked on by the GM and I don't wish to alienate anyone. If it comes down to it though I will speak to the individuals privately or leave a general message in the OOC. No naming names but I will leave a vague message to encourage cooperation or at the least limit direct interactions in order to avoid riffled feathers or hurt feelings. Worse comes to worst I will ask someone to leave the rp if it is required to keep a fun atmosphere.

In the end that's most important to me. I want my players to enjoy their time in my games and not to feel as if its work to go post or have to deal with someone they don't get along with. I try to be fair whenever possible.

Lillian: Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's?

Pockets: Yes and no. I have in the last run RPs where I ran just a few minor NPC characters just to help direct the story along a bit. In 'Jade Empire' I have several characters that may be a little more than a simple NPC but I try not to take over the story and to let my players find their own way. Occasionally I'll do something overt just to push the story along but I try not to be too heavy handed, you'll have to ask my players for an estimate on how successful I am at that.

Lillian: What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

Pockets: Run a story that you really like. If you have any doubts about your story and your plot the players wont be able to love it either and if your players don't really enjoy the story they will be less inclined to continue with it. End of the day did you have fun with the RP?

8.3.12

Lillian How long were you role playing before you began to participate in Nations Role playing?

Kadaeux About four years? We were playing a normal campaign when I ended up king instead of rolling a new character we just rolled with it.

Sinistred About two years and a half. I first learned about the concept of Nation roleplays here on this site in fact. The first one I was in was a Classical Age one, ran by Elendra.

Lillian Do you have a preference for either?

Kadaeux Not really, but I enjoy the disposability of characters in NRPs. The story is oftentimes told from dozens to hundreds of perspectives instead of only a handful

Sinistred I must agree with Kad here. You're dealing with a plethora of characters in NRPs, but sometimes that's the same as in normal RP. Personally, I like to spice things up by playing multiple characters. I play and run NRPs because I like the mechanics and the politics participants engage in. Though I find NRPers are very competitive, which is something I'm not really a fan of. That's why there's regular rp: collaborative writing.

Lillian How would you explain a nations Role Play for someone who has never witnessed one?

Kadaeux How would I explain a nation RP? To use a clichéd title, it's a game of thrones. You're not part of a party throwing itself against unknown horrors. You are the ruler of hundreds of thousands you have few heroes and you must play the game of politics, intrigue assassination, and of course. War. Players often get attached to their characters in a normal RP. In a nation RP you have thousands of characters that you can create and discard as the situation requires. From creating a farmer just so he can watch your army passing by and describe it and never use that farmer again. To your ruler who you try to protect from foreign intrigue, or even internal strife.

Sinistred I think Kad covered it pretty much. Like I already mentioned in my former answer, NRPs can get very competitive. In the Game of Thrones, you win... or you die.

Lillian So how are interactions handled? In a normal RP it is character to character but with so many smaller characters do the players interact or simply react to each others posts?

Kadaeux There is really a wide range, at first it's a lot of in-nation business to describe their nations, how it runs, who runs it etc. As time goes on there is often a lot of talk between diplomats or nation leaders. In one Fantasy NRP I was involved in those of us who were "evil players" literally kept secret over 6 months (real time) plans and actions to start a global war against good. And pulled it off completely. The good players hadn't organized into an alliance of their own and had sent off a lot of their troops to help defend a "patsy" nation we were "threatening to invade” You learn quickly that interaction between nations has many steps. From leaders to thieves to merchants.

Sinistred I have yet to pull of such a hat-trick like Kad did. Usually it's very varied. Either players work things out in the OOC, which is easy to monitor in that case, or over pm. Then there are of course those who like to team up and write a collaboration. I myself often do this and use google docs as a medium.

Lillian Do you find them to be slower builds then?

Kadaeux Honestly no. But action is spread out more than normal. Politics and scheming is more important than battle.

Sinistred Sometimes. But that might be because I'm very strict on details.

Lillian So how are such things determined? Is the scheming then done off screen or is it done IC with people being careful not to use OOC knowledge of such things?

Kadaeux It really depends on the scale, the plan mentioned above was carefully not mentioned to any but one of the good players and done off-screen. It was the sort people wouldn't be able to help but metagame to discover. Hints were left all over the IC thread, but discussion of it was a tight secret. But pretty much anything smaller and they are expected to have it mentioned IC. If they want it secret my only condition is that I'm informed what it is when its planned so that, as GM, I can relegate whether it is discovered or not. Metagamers are typically punished by a disaster random event whose effect scales to the seriousness of the offense.

Sinistred Exactly. Metagamers are our worst enemy, and so are whiners. I've known metagamers who, as Kad mentioned, got punished or didn't have their way ragequit from RPs or start an entire flamewar. Those things can kill a roleplay. Therefore I usually check out the players, screen them if you will.
As far as the planning is concerned, I'm counting on the maturity of my participants. So it happens both on as off-screen, I just ask that I'm updated on everything important. If people turn out to shame that trust, I intervene.

Lillian Which brings me back to the construction of the Nations. How are "CS's" for nations determined?

Kadaeux My Nation RPs are build on the system I developed, a nation has so many points to spend on traits that then represent them. These can range from traits like "Loyalty" that make the people much more loyal than normal. Resulting thus in more loyal troops. And there are even flaws, such as Dangerous Cults. In this way I keep the nations balanced in accordance with their size. A player can be a larger nation, and field a much larger army, but the downside is much more territory to defend, more crime etc. A Large nation will spend a lot of time controlling their own borders where a small city-state (tiny nation) can control themselves much more easily, and will fall beneath political radars. (Enforced balance to keep larger nation powergamers from trying to conquer their smaller neighbors without damned good reason.)

Sinistred I don't really use a fixed system. I provide a template, setting and a fixed set of rules to counter OP and then allow everyone's creativity to flow. I carefully read every CS and weed out stuff I don't want in there. You might call that arbitrary, but so far it has worked decently enough.

Lillian How do other GM's handle nations and balance?

Kadaeux Honestly, I have no idea, my experience with other GMs for nation RPs (excepting those who've adopted my system) is that balance etc is very arbitrary. Not necessarily bad. But I couldn't do it that way. It's the structured approach that makes GMing them easier to my mind.

Sinistred The ones I've been in usually employ a trait system and a very narrow pattern. There are so many rules. And they're probably necessary, but I personally find they hamper my liberty, though that's just me. It's hard to just let everyone do what they want, you need to balance things out. Armies and military is always the number one issue I deal with, as there are a bunch of folks out there who want to play with a militaristic super power. But, where's the fun in that?

Lillian So have you done much Nations RPing under other GMs?

Kadaeux Not a great deal, but, maybe 1/3rd? The same lack of structure I mentioned keeps me wary as a player of joining. Those who use a structured approach like mine are more likely to keep my interest.

Sinistred I'm the opposite I guess. I find the entire adhering to an extremely tight structure cumbersome. And I always mess up one or two things.

Lillian How contentious do you find Nations RPing to be?

Kadaeux Hmm, if you mean how competitive, then honestly at times they feel more laid back, in a party environment there is often a sense of underlying one-upmanship in place. In a nation RP the nations are often so wildly different from one another that sense is much lower. But when a conflict starts it can grow to a very competitive environment. Which is why I regulate combat with dice. I take what people are using, what their plans are, and assign them value on a dice and let fate decide.

Sinistred I practically the same system. I listen to both sides ICly then either we decide who wins through discussion and if that doesn't work, I roll dice. Like I already covered in my previous answers, my experience is that competitiveness can kill nation roleplays.

Lillian Is there generally a goal for such RPs or are they open ended?

Kadaeux They're typically open ended, though i'll often throw in a "Big Bad" whose purpose is solely to mix it up.

Sinistred Again I have to agree with Kad. There are several NPC or GM-nations that I throw in my RP just to keep things moving and give me the necessary tools to intervene ICly. It does cause me to have a lot of work but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In my last rp for example I had a huge empire on the brink of going to war with the player-nations to see what they would do.

Lillian So how do you handle things if and when a player vanishes?

Kadaeux RAIDING PARTY! Basically if a player vanishes or leaves, their nation has a doormat to invasion and conquest laid out. Though if they had strong allies sometimes that nation would just be subdivided between said allies.

Sinistred That usually is decided in the OOC. Depends on what the nation was doing exactly. In most cases I'd just *assume direct control* (ME - reference).

Lillian lol, sounds like fun.

Kadaeux Not for that nation's citizens. I ran a Steampunk nations where that happened. A recurring joke of one of the players was a pair of looters carrying this couch they nicked throughout the whole invasion.

Lillian nice.

Kadaeux It was hilarious, every time her commander turned around, there were these two looters carrying the couch.

Lillian So are nations ever conquered while the player is still around, through game play?

Kadaeux It is possible, but has yet to happen. I typically regard nation-ending prospects as requiring the 'victim players' permission. A couple times when it was planned the RP didn't survive to see it happen unfortunately.

Lillian So what are some of the highlights of one of your more successful nations RP?

Kadaeux Well, there was the clusterf**k invasion mentioned above, that had something like 6 nations invading this one player who'd dropped to claim their slice of land. Another highlight was in a scifi nations I ran, the game basically was headed for a psychic vs non-psychic war. So much happens it's hard to pin highlights.

Sinistred Probably a massive backstabbing betrayal. I'm usually the rooter for the underdog. There was also this one time a player rp'ed as a nation of evil, whiskey-drinking hobbits/halflings.

Lillian What do you see as the best part of nations Role Playing?

Kadaeux The broad scope, you're not toying around with a character and those around him or her, you're defining the future of a nation, engaging in politics and war. You can (And I have) literally created characters just to throw their lives away. Everything is done on such a grand scale, and you're never limited to only a handful of perspectives of it. In a normal RP you're often caught being only able to describe things from the narrow perspective of a character or two. In a nation RP if you need to describe something from the perspective of a character you don't have to try and find someone who fits. You just create them on the spot.

Lillian So you are painting in broader strokes then it seems. Interesting.

Kadaeux Indeed. Often in a normal RP it feels to me that the rest of the world often is only as big as the players surroundings, when they move on the area they left ceases to be relevant. Working on a nation scale, there is none of that. Even your farmers are relevant.

Lillian So how would you suggest someone new to Nations Role playing get their foot in the door?

Kadaeux Sit down, think about what sort of nation you'd like to run, look at the rules, if need be speak to the GM, and then leap across the threshold with both feet forwards and hands tied behind your back.

Sinistred For new players I'd suggest to participate in a carefully planned NRP. So with a fixed template to follow, and a rule-set similar to Kad's with the trait-system. It provides an anchor-point to those new to the genre.

Lillian I think I might be tapped for questions. Anything you wanted to add?

Kadaeux Nothing much, just remember to talk with other players, political talks and that are what fuel a Nation NRP as its one of the limited interactions available between them.

Lillian Do you find the OOC is used more in a nations RP than in a typical one?

Kadaeux *Thinks* Yes, almost certainly. Oh... and don't buy snow globes from strange alien salesmen that appear in random events.
<.<
>.>
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Sinistred I don't think so. It really depends on what rp you are in. For example I'm in one now as a co-GM that is somewhat of a nation-rp, but at the same time it's not and it has the most used OOC I've ever seen. Though I should add in general the OOC of a NRP is more crowded than a 'classic' RP.

Lillian is that a typical Nations Scenario?

Kadaeux It's a running (and gross) gag of mine for Scifi NRPs.

Lillianis afraid to ask

Kadaeux keeps quiet. Don't want to spoil it after all

8.17.12

Lillian So tell me about this Role Play you all have.

pumirya I first came across Twisted during a period of boredom a couple years ago, by chance. Not even sure if the Interest check was on the first page. Seeing that it was set in a mental institution where almost any creator could be, I checked it out. It was a genre which I had no delved into hardly at all and playing a character with mental illnesses seemes like a interesting challenge.

Mairzy Twisted is crazy fun. Literally. There is no plot, but a consistent setting. Imagine an insane asylum between worlds which held every matter of being and psychosis possible. The conflict comes from the faults of own characters, which are so fun to exploit. I started around Xmas 2010. There was a recruitment drive, and I had seen the thread around. I tend to favor long runners because the people in them are more dedicated.

Kally It was so long ago, I can't remember really how I came across it, but I remember it was the first ever "Horror-Esque" RP, I figured I would take my chances and try it out. It was a Genre I'd always said I'd never play, but the way it was laid out, the setting, and the leniency, I decided to go for it. It's currently the longest-running RP I've ever been in, and the most fun by far. The people are so dedicated, it makes you want to keep playing.

Lillian It's been running over two years now hasn't it?

Mairzy Yep

pumirya aye

Kally Since May 2010

Kally I've been in it since the start, but have had to take breaks every now and then, what with outside-life popping up now and then. I'd always keep up with the thread, and keep in touch when I could. Even if I wasn't posting, I was still always interested in what was happening.

Lillian So what brought about the first change in GM and who was it?

Kally Maiden, at first - She was recruited as Co-GM, but the Original GM had to leave so Maiden took the reins. Maiden was already quite 'into' the role as a GM though, so it was an easy switch in my opinion.

Mairzy Well, our first GM was Petal Rose. She got more busy with her family. Maiden was already taking care of all the nuts and bolts so she took over as GM.

Lillian So it was a planned switch over?

Kally I think behind the scenes it was, but if I remember right, we were never actually informed, hah. I might have been away that day though,

Mairzy Only one of those two can say for sure LOL Or Pum *stalks*

pumirya I don't remember a 'formal' announcement, but yeah, Maiden took over following Petal's leave. The transition was pretty seamless.

Kally Yeah, I don't think it disrupted anything particularly. I think the only thing we got use to was going to Maiden with ideas/issues/whatever - instead of Petal Rose, but we did that sometimes anyway.

Lillian How far into the RP was this?

pumirya hmmm.... Trying to think of a specific day, but as for me, the best i can recall is that it occurred sometimes in 2011, so I'm thinking at least a year in?

Mairzy Yeah, she just sort of faded out, as real life kicked in didn't really go with any plot point I can think of either

Kally I don't remember either, but yeah, it wasn't a sudden thing, it was a slow process of her appearing less and less. Probably about a year or so into it. By the point she officially stopped coming, we'd all really already accepted Maiden as the main GM in the RP.

Lillian So there wasn't a huge style difference then? Would you attribute that to the focus on the setting over the plot?

Kally I'm not sure what you mean by style.

Lillian Was there a big difference in Feel to the RP when Maiden took over?

Mairzy Not that I saw, but I never got to see a plot orchestrated by Petal.

Kally I don't think so. If anything, it got somewhat more detailed, because Maiden was a descriptive writer. But other than that, she tried to keep as much "In essence of Petal" as she could. Of course with different writing styles, though, there was a slight difference.

pumirya I didn't notice one... I didn't sense a dramatic shift. Perhaps because Maiden had already been helping so much.

Kally I think we were distracted to be honest, Maiden was in the process of creating something for us all to do, perhaps to keep us moving on or to distract us. Either way, it wasn't bad at all.

Lillian So how long was Maiden GM for and who was next?

Kally Aha, *WELL*

Mairzy Maiden had to leave suddenly.

Kally Maiden was GM for a good lot of months I think, I don't remember numbers. But, like Petal, she had to leave, a lot of RL things she needed to do.

Lillian Oh I don't need numbers, just a rough idea.

Mairzy it was about summer to November.

Kally Mairzy and myself sort of took over, both of us adamant that Twisted wouldn't die with our GMs MIA

Mairzy: Yes, we both did different things.

Kally Yeah, that's right, because we worked on another story to start on! I remember.

pumirya Yeah; that's what I was thinking, looking back on it.

Mairzy I did a recruitment drive, and Kal made an awesome sauce new plot. Oh yeah!

Kally We just did what we could, really; nobody wanted the RP to die. It had been going on too long for it to just die like that, lol.

Lillian So this wasn't a planned switch?

Kally I think the only planned switch ever was Pumirya xD

Mairzy No, we did what we could all of a sudden.

pumirya One thing Maiden did do that was/is cool, was make the discussion thread to go along with the rp. And no, I don't believe it was a planned switch

Mairzy In fact- that Halloween plot Kally was talking about- we had to do some sidestepping to deal with that.

Kally Oh yeah, the Group - that's a great place for plot discussion, it's a very handy little (its kinda big actually) thing we have. And yeah, the Halloween & Christmas plots, they were fun. I don't remember much of the Halloween one though actually

pumirya Those were fun, true.

Mairzy No what I ended up doing for Halloween was more of a distraction than a plot. In fact I channeled a lot of my despair over Maiden into my main character he responded to the Trick or Treating a lot worse than he should have.

pumirya wonderfully though.

Kally Oh! Now I remember! Yeah. Okay, now I'm with you all. And agreed Pumirya, Mairzy handled the Halloween plot very well.

Lillian When Maiden went AWOL how long did you wait before you took over?

Mairzy It wasn't long, I think. I mean, I was GMing A LOT at that time so it was probably second nature.

Kally Not very long, I don't think. Maybe a couple of weeks or so, at the most? Twisted is very... freestyle kind of thing, a lot of players had their own sub-plots to keep themselves occupied for a while, so I don't think there was a huge rush to keep people together.

Mairzy Two weeks at most.

Lillian Was there a noticeable change in style at this point?

Mairzy Pum? Only you can answer this subjectively.

Kally I think it was definitely different without Maiden playing, because her characters had such a standing in the RP. But yeah, like Mairzy - leave Pum to this one, we're biased.

Mairzy I still think of Remy and Buck as the main characters, with the rest as supporting cast it's going to be weird without them.

pumirya Well; looking back n it.... I think it did change somewhat. I think the rp became more player focused perhaps. Though not without focus, I mean. I think it focused less on the weirdness/horror aspect Because Maiden had also controlled the main baddies and Petal before her.

Mairzy Yeah Maiden had all these plots for the NPCs too...it's interesting she didn't tell us of course, so we kind of used them as tools.

Kally It's impressive how.. in depth the NPCs became

pumirya Indeed.

pumirya For example, one of the staff, a gremlin, is quite prominent at times. And the clones, though none of those have names. They're just all Buscemi's.

Mairzy Clones of the actor, by the by, Steve Buscemi.

Kally There are a few little quirks in the RP, lol

pumirya Only a few, lol

Mairzy You could say we have a weird sense of humor.

Lillian So how long did you two run things and when/how did Pumirya take over?

Kally A few months, I think. Until the Christmas plot was over, at least.

Mairzy Kally and I were never official. I would answer questions, but I would usually refer to the older members. When Maiden came back, it got more confusing, because all three of us were acting like mods. The new players didn't know who to refer to and, to be honest, neither did we, so we decided we needed one official mod.

Kally We had a vote after a while, to keep it fair, and Pumirya was voted GM.

Lillian So when Maiden came back was there awkwardness?

Kally You could say that.

pumirya I think there was some, but confusion too. It was a situation that was difficult to deal with because, I don't believe Maiden was expected back.

Lillian So once Pumirya was voted in did the transfer go smoothly?

Mairzy All but for me. I lost track of the thread, and didn't even realize he was boss for a few days so he'd be like, "I can't allow that" and I'd be like "huh? Why is he acting all moddy?" Derpalicious.

Kally Lol! I didn't know that Mairzy. Okay, so other than Mairzy, lol, I think it went over well - people were welcoming and accepting really.

Mairzy Yeah, and it was the perfect choice.

Kally I agree

Mairzy No one other than Maiden is as dedicated. I mean this guy watches movies about asylums in his free time for research.

Kally Yeah, Pum is always offering up links with torture methods and mental afflictions to go with our characters and plot lol

Lillian So did he bring his own style to the RP?

Mairzy I think so.

Kally Me too

Mairzy He tried to make it fit more with what it had been in the first year, I think. And you know, I'm surprised, Pum is a nice guy but he can really bring the GM hammer down!

Kally I think Pum (and correct me if I'm wrong) focused more with how it had been originally, which was basically just putting our characters in horrible positions and torturing them xD And yeah, like Mairzy said, that's a good quality to have, to know when to be Mr. Nice Guy and know when you need to put on the GM-Hat

Mairzy Yep

pumirya I believe in the ideology of "speak softly, and carry a big stick."

Mairzy *shivers in Siberia*

Lillian So what would you all say you each brought to the RP?

Kally I'd like to think I've been a peacekeeper of sorts over the years I've been playing. I also try to have my characters have a Comic, sarcastic side to them that I hope adds to the feel of the RP

pumirya I'd agree with that. Kally has been most helpful at times,not just to others, but to myself personally on several occasions. She is, among some others, a person I have, in some small ways, tried to emulate and learn from.

Mairzy Since they can't speak for themselves, Petal laid down the framework. Maiden is he evil genius who colored the world and made it come to life. Kally is the politician- she comes up with the best ideas, like the vote. I think she's secretly the dark lord controlling Benevolent Dictator Pumirya; she just doesn't want to be in the sight of assassins.

pumirya lol Guess Mairzy has to vanish now /sigh

Kally I know Pum, tis a sad day

Mairzy Quick! Pum! Banish me somewhere else!

Kally Mairzy I feel offers the most originality to the plot - because her characters are just so different. Most people go with what they know, from TV shows or folk-lore, but Mairzy managed to come up with a completely original race that I'd never heard of before.

pumirya True, Mairzy comes up with and plays some of the more unique characters. Kally's characters are also unique in their own rights and are usually quite interesting and complex.

Mairzy Pumirya is the one who keeps us cool and laughing in tough situations.

pumirya Cool as the other side of the pillow

Kally I agree with that, Pum is very laid back, and it doesn't take much for him to diffuse a situation. His characters are also very interesting, and the effort that has gone into fleshing them out is very outstanding.

pumirya Well; that latter two anyways /sigh

Mairzy Nah, it's true they might look simple on the surface, but you dig deeper and deeper...

pumirya My first one would be much better now though, I admit.

Mairzy Pum is always asking questions. *Would Henrietta do this? Does Elsa like this?*

Kally They're very three-dimensional, which is hard to achieve in a character a lot of the time.

Mairzy Someone who thinks that much about it ends up with really cool characters. I also agree with Kally.

pumirya I do leave the computer too, lol. True But I quite enjoy the whole character process

Mairzy I think we all do. My characters in Twisted come alive so much more than in other rps...it's mad

pumirya I try to think 'how would I react, what would I say, do, etc, if I were in said situation. There are rl things which have occurred, that I feel help.

Mairzy I get that.

Kally I agree with that, there's always a bit of your own personality that slips into your characters

Mairzy Zacky is so different from me- so outgoing, that I literally have to think like someone else. But yeah, I guess that's true. Zacky pretty much has my values, since he's my only heroic character.

Lillian Unfortunately GM vanishing isn't unheard of. What advice would you give Players in a RP where the GM has vanished to keep it afloat and make the transition smooth?

pumirya This I can say. If you have a core group that believes in the rp, that loves it enough, then yes, don't give up right away. Look forward and try to resolve the situation.

Mairzy Don't despair, first of all.

Kally Think of something to do. The longer you leave it, the worse it's going to get. Even if it's something silly, just find something to keep the players with you, and keep their attention. A little plot to do while you think of how to keep it on track.

Kally That's my opinion, anyway. In my experience, after the first week of nothing happening, it's about 75% likely to go down the drain. you really need players who are willing to join in and add to the story, and not just follow the GM. I'd say it takes a lot of initiative to take up the reins. It's difficult to take up a RP that isn't originally your idea, because of plans you may not know about, or taking it a different way than the creator imagined. It kind of stressful. But I suppose if the original GMs aren't around, and you don't want to lose the RP you put so much effort and time into, then you have to decide if you're willing to change the way it's played, in order to keep it going. That's what we had to do in some instances. Granted, a couple of the decisions didn't go over well with some people, but that was all we could do with what we were given at the time.

Mairzy And if the GM gives just a little bit of secret info to just one of the players, that player is more likely to want to step up to help the gm realize what she was trying for. Basically, if you, as a player, take ownership of a plot arc, instead of just a character reacting to the plot, then you are more likely to want to see the roleplay do well.

pumirya I am in another rp where the gm left, but it has survived also. Another good group of people who wanted to keep the rp alive. So we did.

Mairzy Here's another idea: have characters that WILL change. Characters without an arc aren't fun in the long run.

pumirya tis true

Kally [2]

Lillian So do you think this would work if the RP were more plot driven and less setting/character driven?

Mairzy with a plot driven rp, one person or one group of people hold the cards to the plot. It's not impossible, because I had a long running plot driven rp, but it's different things and different considerations. Twisted never had one plot, but a bunch of character arcs. When Maiden had to leave in November, we mostly focused on those until the crucifixion arc.

Kally I've have a plot-driven RP before, on another website, that was about 2 years long too. It's possible, but not very easy. Like I said before, it takes dedication and effort to keep it going.

Mairzy But then again, so does Twisted

pumirya There is that balance, but it can be difficult to achieve. In its own way, as Mairzy said, Twisted has had lots of small plots, but the characters drive the plot, so to speak, more then the other way around, if that makes sense.

Lillian I meant in the sense of another GM to take over.

Kally Oh. Then unfortunately I don't think so. Not in the way we've done it.

Mairzy Only if the GM knows he's leaving really preps his CoGM I think...but even then, the CoGm will start telling his story...

Kally We didn't have any information about the Roleplay. If it was plot driven, we wouldn't know where we stand, what was in store. If we'd known the plan then maybe, still with work. Otherwise, I think it would have died a very long time ago.

pumirya Agreed

Lillian Is there anything any of you would have done differently in your tenure as GM if you could?

Kally Hmm

Mairzy I would have relaxed a bit, let hings happen as they happened. I was so worried about the rp dying that sometimes I could get a bit...terrible, to people

Kally Yeah, I agree with that I think, it was quite chaotic while we were GMs, with recruiting and plot advances, I would have maybe done them one at a time, which way around though, I don't know. Do a plot with only a few characters, or do a recruitment drive and risk losing ones you already have because of the wait?

Mairzy Most definitely

Kally It was hard to integrate new characters into the plot, and it wasn't fair to let them join then ask them to wait because they wouldn't be able to just jump headfirst into one of the plots, we like to establish characters at least a little before we start torturing them xD

pumirya I'm fairly at peace, though perhaps I'd have been slightly more assertive from the start.

Lillian So what would you all say was the best thing you brought to the RP during your time as GM?

pumirya Kally and Mairzy both brought interesting and fun ideas and things for the characters to do and leadership, direction.

Kally Thank you, Pumirya, aha.

Mairzy See why we keep this guy around? JK

Kally xD

Mairzy You know, it's not really a big deal, but I'm actually pretty proud of how the dinoclones were integrated. I did that, with a suggestion from Pum as a springboard.

Kally Pumirya bought great plot twists into the RP, every now and again he would throw out a curveball, something I guess he'd been keeping to himself. His characters were very well written as I said - and yes! The Dinoclones! They were a fabulous invention lol. Like Pumirya said too, Mairzy bought great plots into the story. Her characters are great.

Mairzy Well don't forget Slasher Santa.

pumirya Yeah

Kally Yeah, aha, Santa lol

Mairzy I mean, we got some super dark material out of that! And thank you, guys :3

pumirya The dinoclones were/are a ode of sorts to my first character actually. And Mairzy comes up with some fabulous ways for her one character 'Casey' to get into things, m&m's, lol

Mairzy Yeah, all of my characters do play the comic relief role, I have to admit. Just can't seem to do serious I guess, lol. That being said, as far as characters, it's my main I'm most proud of, and how he's developed. Not that all the development has been a good thing, for him, lol.

pumirya agreed

Mairzy His best friend, Pum's second character, has actually developed more in the right direction, creating a dramatic contrast.

Lillian Anything else you all want to add or share about the RP?

Mairzy Join! We're getting hungry! I mean uh... we have cupcakes!

pumirya I'd like to say that, I believe, the rp and the people in it have allowed me to grow as a writer and without all, well most of them, I wouldn't be as decent as I am now.

Kally It's the best RP I've joined here on the Guild. I've grown a lot as a writer there, and owe a lot of it to Twisted, and the other writers who have driven me to get better, and to develop my characters more and make them more three-dimensional and believable. Lol Pum

Mairzy too many emotions. ^What yall said

9.14.12

Lillian Tell me about your Role play, what is it about?

KijiMunaWell, it's a "superhuman" RP with a history not far off from reality.

TheForgeWell originally, before the others got involved, it started as an anger issue I had

KijiMunaSorry, "Supernormal" since Forge hates the term superhuman.

TheForgeI like to approach things logically. Since super powers tended to be anything but logical I always liked to think of how it could be done better.

megafire7 Essentially, we thought superpowers weren't realistic enough, so Forge sought to make a setting with more realistic superpowers that followed the laws of physics to a great extent.

KijiMuna"better"

TheForgeSo I started to compile a list of all the ways traditional powers could be done in such a way that they were internally consistant and bore more reliance on high-school level physics rather than theme based magic. Of course this wasn't done right away. It's taken years to get to the point where it is now.

BlackIcee With help from all of us

TheForge I'm not sure if you know this already, since you choose to interview us, but this RP didn't start on RPerGuild.

Lillian I did not know that. Very cool.

KijiMunaHow long did it take us to get a full background? six years?

BlackIcee The very old days. Where everything sucked and we don't talk about our characters.

Lillian So then tell me the history of this RP, how did it get here and how long has it been here?

KijiMunaEhh...

TheForge IT's been Six years since the original 'SuperHuman 2036' was first made, I beleive. Possibly seven years?

KijiMunaprobably.

TheForge I've never been very good at telling time and my memory is awful. LEt me start at the beginning.

KijiMunaand we migrated with a handful of people from our old site after the group we'd constructed decided to explode.

TheForge Have you ever heard of the Halo series Red Vs Blue?

BlackIcee Oh lord.

TheForge Often Credited with popularizing MAchinima

BlackIcee This is far back.

TheForge We started on the forums of that website.

KijiMunaforge, let's NOT start pre-Superhuman.

TheForge Just a few sentences before, then I'll dive in.

KijiMunafine.

TheForge Basically there was a sub forum for games. IT basically consisted of non-RP games such as tag the person above you. There were a few scattering of RPs but we sort of built a grassroots campaign to support RPing on the site.

KijiMunaWe did?

TheForge SuperHuman 2036 (or maybe it was 2037, I don't remember for sure) was our flagship. But we also put together a club. At the time the two were very closely related to each-other. You have to understand of course that this was partly because, in those days, OOC was done inside the RP itself with parenthesis.

BlackIcee *Shudder*

TheForge And Posts tended to look like *He slices you with his sword* "Take that!" type stuff. Instant RPing was all we knew at the time.

KijiMuna But we grew out of that, wanting more story.

TheForge Oh yes.

BlackIcee And less suck.

KijiMuna Heh.

BlackIcee So many mary sues.

KijiMuna Icee, I don't think you were with us yet.

TheForge We even developed "For the Plot" as our mantra for a time.

KijiMuna "How the hell did he get seven tons of C4?!"

BlackIcee I joined up about a year or so before everything died.

KijiMuna "FTP!"

TheForge The thing is, though, RvB was never very friendly towards our kind.

KijiMuna Borderline hostile.

TheForge And over time even those in power seemed to exist just to harass us. So I decided it was time to look for a new website.

KijiMuna Fajahad? was that his name?

TheForge something like that I always called him Fajitas

megafire7 And so we ended up here. That was, what, two years ago?

KijiMuna That's not the whole story, at all.

TheForge I basically googled a bunch of forums that were for RPing and choose the one that had the best control system for checking alerts.

BlackIcee We tried a couple others. This one did have the best design.

TheForge We tried to move a few times.

KijiMuna you missed the part where internal conflict fractured the group, Forge.

TheForge Once we even tried to make our own website. Again, my memory is not the best.

KijiMuna But that's beside the point, let's move the f*ck on.

TheForge Feel free to add onto the story when you can. That's why I'm not doing this by myself. Anyways, the first thing I did was invite everyone from the old site, the regulars, to this new site.

Lillian So through a long and arduous process you wound up on RPG

KijiMuna Wait- everyone? even Delph?

TheForge Basically

Lillian And did most of the members translate?

TheForge I don't know who told Delph about us, actually. About half of what I Would call the regulars made the transfer.

KijiMuna About half of them did, the ones we left behind were either weaker members, or the people who instigated the conflict.

TheForge There's only about four originals from that site, now.

KijiMuna five.

TheForge Sinisnalp, CalPal, Tzer and I know I'm forgetting some people

megafire7 And the rest of them are us.

Lillian Do you invite new blood from RPG?

TheForge Oh yes.

BlackIcee As it happens, I wasn't very high up the chain of the RTRPC and then I ended up as a moderator.

TheForge In fact actually let me say it this way. When only a few made the transfer the first thing we did was rebuild the story to accommodate a lack of characters who belonged to those left behind. OF course we had rebooted a few times before so we were used to this process already.

megafire7 As well as once again refining the powers.

KijiMuna Oh god don't even start on tha tMega. Don't give Forge any ideas.

TheForge We were used to working with rather large groups of RPers at a time, each with many characters.

BlackIcee Fun times.

TheForge So one of the first things I did was start an invite programs. Not a literal computer program, though. I type out all my invites by hand with my keyboard. The RPer List is one of the main sources I use.

megafire7 We also had an interest check up.

TheForge Anytime someone posts a profile that seems relevant I Send them a personal invitation to join the RP.

BlackIcee And the 'Introduce yourself' threads.

TheForge yes, those as well. Actually we recently rebooted the RP to no longer include aliens. This is our first reboot on the new site.

LillianSo how long has it been here?

BlackIcee Two years-ish. Anyhow, the new Reboot streamlined everything. The timeline matches up. Powers work better.

KijiMuna at least you think it did.

BlackIcee Characters ages don't conflict any more.

KijiMuna Nowadays I feel like most of the life is in the OOC thread, not the actual IC threads.

TheForge You know, I think I figured out the secret to making a long-runner a while back.

LillianWell that secret is one of the things I would love to hear about.

megafire7 Likewise.

TheForge It pretty much just comes down to intention. When you build the RP you make it a world, not a specific story. IT has to be a world were interesting things can happen. A story has to end.

KijiMuna Metaphor incoming.

BlackIcee We also put more work into getting player to interact with each other more.

TheForge and an ending can have a sequel but that sequel also ends.

megafire7 Right, we created a setting more than a story.

TheForge If you think of our RP as more of a TV show rather than short runnign RPs which are more like movies. Like a Tv Show we drift between characters and their own personal stories.

megafire7 I think comics are a better metaphor.

TheForge Those characters interact and those stories take place. We actually tried to make a comic, once, but we couldn't find anyone to draw it.

BlackIcee *Original idea, do not steal*

KijiMuna so basically, we took a sandbox, and built a playground on top of it.

Lillian So you've created this world with realistic superpowers, do you have some kind of system to regulate the powers?

TheForge We actually have a disclaimer in the first post of our RP for it, we just haven't actually made a comic yet.

BlackIcee All powers have limits.

TheForge Some of the ideas come from the concepts behidn points systems.

megafire7 A lot of painstaking hours have gone into making the system balanced.

TheForge but rather than points we have GMs watch and remind people to be reasonable. Because points are bull

KijiMuna "balanced" and "realistic" tend to clash. a lot.

BlackIcee Each PK ability can only control one molecule.

megafire7 Yes, yes they do.

TheForge We did have to sacrifice a lot of realism for game balance

megafire7 one 'type' of molecule. Yeah.

BlackIcee Regeneration isn't a game breaker as well...

megafire7 And we generally 'playtested' it ourselves to figure out unreasonable powers.

KijiMuna It's a very convoluted system, but it works.

BlackIcee Terra- never met the cut.

KijiMuna shut up and just use Macro.

TheForge Interestingly (well, I find it interesting, anyways) The realism did a lot of the main steps in the balancing.

BlackIcee Also having a standardised system helped.

TheForge Calories and raw materials are often outright ignored in regular fiction. The use of caloric intake and chemicals to make powers run made our RP more balanced from the get-go simply because no one can nuke entire armies.

BlackIcee And making sure to remind people that tech is expensive cuts down on people running around with lasers the entire time.

KijiMuna If you use your powers too much, you pass out/die because your body lacks the energy to continue to function. As for tech, their drawback is energy sources, and weight.

TheForge I'm rather guilty of forgetting to remind people how expensive their tech is, to be honest.

BlackIcee Most people tend to favour powers over tech though.

megafire7 Aside from Icee and Kiji.

BlackIcee ^

KijiMuna Mm.

TheForge IF it weren't for my fellow GMs I'd just be a power-mad idiot running around forgetting things, though. I couldn't do it without them.

BlackIcee In the reboot we made all the mods equal.

KijiMuna Mainly because you couldn't figure the Tech section out to save your life.

BlackIcee A distribution of power if you will.

TheForge I understand tech, I'm just not very good at thinking it up.

Lillian You talk of "tech cost", how does it cost?

BlackIcee Cash.

KijiMuna Money.

TheForge Things like teleportation devices tend to be rather too expensive for most people to buy.

KijiMuna If you buy a suit of powered armor, it's going to eat your wallet and your entire bank account.

TheForge That's why people still drive cars.

BlackIcee A pocket reactor costs more than an HD cell.

TheForge An HD cell being the electric battery equivilent of a gun clip of ammo.

megafire7 See, none of this means anything to me.

BlackIcee And HD cells cost more than batteries.

KijiMuna You're our people-person Mega.

Lillian but how does that translate IC?

TheForge Well, for example

BlackIcee ...

TheForge IF your character is a street dweller. Like a a gang member or something.

KijiMuna If a character is poor, we're not going to let them have a suit of power-armor.

TheForge Then they're not going to have cutting edge top of the line tech for everything.

KijiMuna Potentially not even a laser weapon.

TheForge But they might steal a shipment and then have a bunch of copies of the same thing.

BlackIcee HardeWare is a multi-millionaire with military contracts and as such has access to high level tech with the cash flow to fund it all. So most of the time it's in the backstory.

KijiMuna stealing is one way around the rule, but if you do THAT, you're on the DSE's/Ministry's Sh*t list.

megafire7 Essentially, our secret is that people think powers are better than technology.

TheForge His company is also the source of technology for most people with the money to buy it.

megafire7 Because if you want technology, there's always some circumstancial way to get it.

TheForge This is another situation were realism happily works in favour of game balance.

KijiMuna Powers are legal, they don't weigh anything, and they're self-maintaining. Tech is harder to maintain.

BlackIcee We're all very happy to have other rich characters in the thread, but they don't really pop up.

TheForge OF course having powers also makes it easy top starve to death if you're homeless

KijiMuna Indeed, but I don't think we have any hobos.

BlackIcee HardeWare and Peter are the only rich humans in thread.

TheForge For the most part you could say we've set up the game in such a way that it balances itself. We added a few extra rules for the sake of balance, though.

Lillian How many players are in it currently?

KijiMuna Reality is not balance.

TheForge Realism doesn't do everything. Current number of players is aroudn a dozen, I beleive

KijiMuna Off the top of my head? Eight?

TheForge active, is more like half that, thogh.

BlackIcee Around 10 I think. If you include us.

megafire7 I was going to say ten, as well.

TheForge Also inactives sometimes don't come back at all. Sometimes people stop playing, but we're used to that.

BlackIcee Across two threads.

TheForge We counteract it with a steady source of new players.

BlackIcee Although people play on both.

KijiMuna The fact that we're in a sandbox also helps.

TheForge That's the main reason we're open ended and always inviting new players.

BlackIcee Drop in - Drop out.

TheForge Actually if you could say, in your article, that we're always needing new players that'd help us keep the population up.

KijiMuna Maybe we'll get a few long-term players.

LillianSo are there over arching story-lines or is it entirely player driven?

TheForge Also we tend to let the players build stories themselves so if they want to set the ball rolling on a plot they're perfectly welcome to.

BlackIcee A bit of both.

KijiMuna Both.

TheForge There are a few storylines that go long term.

BlackIcee We have arcs in the work and a few in storage.

KijiMuna Players can consult with any of us to draw up a storyline.

LillianAnd are all of you the GM's of the RP?

BlackIcee Yep.

megafire7 Yup.

TheForge The main two that I can think of is Mia's Safety and HardeWare's relationship with Aurelia.

KijiMuna For example, Sini just had Icee's character, the multimillionaire, kidnapped.

BlackIcee And he has to macgyver his way out.

KijiMuna let's not get into pointless details.

TheForge He didn't even get a box of scraps to work with.

megafire7 But yeah, we're the only four moderators at the moment.

LillianWhat do you each feel the other GM's bring to the RP?

BlackIcee Mega is the people person. Forge deals with powers.

TheForge Mega was an unofficial consultant for a while rather than a mod but now all four of us are equal.

BlackIcee Kiji is tech.

TheForge We actually had a discussion about this the other day.

BlackIcee I stop everyone from killing everyone else.

megafire7 Forge is the founder and made the power system, Kiji is the tech heavy guy who's remarkably good at hazing newbies and Icee keeps us from killing each other.

KijiMuna Oi, it's not hazing.

BlackIcee I also help with tech from time to time.

TheForge And MEga will kill you in your sleep.

BlackIcee And powers... I guess I'm a jack of all trades.

KijiMuna When a newbie steps out of line, I'm the mean guy they run into.

megafire7 That.

KijiMuna I make all of you look good.

TheForge Icee has nearly the same biochemical knowledge that I do when it comes to PK powers so I consult him for that sometimes.

BlackIcee I also wrote up the latest additions to the P&T thread.

KijiMuna And he has a good understanding of how the Tech works, so he's good at that too.

megafire7 Also, Forge is our physicist, Icee or chemist and Kiji our mathematician.

TheForge To put it in archetypes, I'm the nice one, Icee's the fun one, Mega's the polite one and Kiji's the angry one. but we don't always stick to our categories, of course.

KijiMuna Mega and Kiji, Good Cop Bad Cop.

megafire7 Yes.

TheForge Heaven help us if kiji was angry ALL the time.

megafire7 Very much yes.

KijiMuna Shut up Forge.

BlackIcee I'd have my work cut out for me.

megafire7 We don't always get along, though. I have to pull you guys back together.

TheForge "Also, Forge is our physicist, Icee or chemist and Kiji our mathematician." That makes you our bookkeeper, I think.

BlackIcee I also got us through the revisions with as little body harm as possible.

KijiMuna Lucky Forge.

BlackIcee Mhmm.

TheForge I'm just lucky they can't reach through their screens sometimes.

KijiMuna It also helps that we're all basically friends.

megafire7 Yup.

TheForge I tend to make idiot moves when I Don't think first.

BlackIcee We skype.

TheForge That's why I'm a planner and not a decision maker. We're the sort of friends who argue a lot and still stay friends. That's how you know we're good friends.

LillianYou all seem like a very tight-knit group. Do you ever encounter issues with people feeling like outsiders in the RP? If so how do you handle/counter that?

BlackIcee We have an open skype chat that we invite everyone into.

TheForge Often times people feel left out of an ongoing story.

BlackIcee We work though issues and have a laugh.

KijiMuna I think she means in OOC.

TheForge And also many people feel intimidated by all of the info in our introduction packet. I personally try to help people out whenever I can. I like to do question and answer.

megafire7 People are sometimes intimidated by us, too, which is why I try to be the friendly one.

TheForge I'm always telling people; Ask me Anything.

KijiMuna If they feel left out, they don't exactly tell us.

TheForge That's why I tend to get hands on. If people seem to be hanging back I like to give them suggestions on what they might be able to do. A lot of times they don't follow the suggestions but those do give them ideas of their own.

BlackIcee We also have a rigorous acceptance process that most people are guided through. Ideally we work out the character concept and integrate everyone in though that.

TheForge Which can also be intimidating

megafire7 Honestly we're very high-end casual when it comes to our process.

KijiMuna No kidding. it's a long process.

TheForge We've thougth about moving to advanced a few times but honestly advanced still seems above us. I for one would feel like a fraud there.

BlackIcee Post length is the biggest draw back.

TheForge Though, we've gotten fairly used to a paragraph or two per post. We didn't used to do that much. So maybe eventualyl we'll get there.

megafire7 Yeah.

KijiMuna I don't think a sandbox-RP would work in Advanced.

megafire7 That might be a good point.

KijiMuna sorry, I'm off-topic. We can discuss this later, when we're not being interviewed.

TheForge Did you have any specific questions you still wanted to ask us?

BlackIcee Back on topic.

TheForge Question and answer is my favourite.

BlackIcee The skype chat helps with everything. So much.

TheForge Well, that and storytelling.

KijiMuna feel free to ask again if we got derailed.

Lillian How do you handle problem players?

BlackIcee kiji.

TheForge Stephen, edit this part out.

KijiMuna I do.

megafire7 Kiji.

TheForge Oh we're leaving it in? Great1

TheForge Problem players?

BlackIcee Forge, on topic.

TheForge We don't have many but when we do... oh boy.

KijiMuna When a player steps out of line, they are directed to me. I explain to them in detail why they're not getting what they want.

BlackIcee We're pretty good at verbal beat downs.

megafire7 We can be huge dicks. Seriously.

KijiMuna "we"

TheForge I hate to admit it, but mega is right. I try to stop it anytime it's not fully deserved and so does mega

BlackIcee It's usually because someone doesn't read the GOD DAMNED FIRST POST!

TheForge ICee and Kiji can get pretty berserk when they get going.

KijiMuna If someone throws a tantrum in the OOC, we turn off the "nice helpful GM" light and start pushing back.

TheForge Though, to be fair, that first post is huge.

Lillian Do you handle things in the OOC or via PM?

TheForge but yeah, pretty much ALL the info is there to be had right away if you read the first posts.

BlackIcee OOC or skype. PM is rare as far as I know.

TheForge We handle the majority in OOC since most players don't have skype.

KijiMuna Either or. It's up to the player.

TheForge Skype is like a lounge for messing around. I pretty much only do PM if a player approaches me that way.

KijiMuna We just had a discussion a day or two ago in Skype, forge.

TheForge Even then I Tend to direct them back to the OoC. well I'm not saying we don't discuss things on the Skype channel. The difference being I guess, the skype is better for rapid fire idea shooting and OoC is better for leaving something for someone to see next time they come online.

KijiMuna It wasn't ideas Forge, it was discussion the "no outside media" rule.

Lillian So you take the public method so all can see how it is handled?

TheForge We reposted that in the OoC, though

megafire7 Essentially, yes.

TheForge We do almost everything in public but we do have a private channel in skype.

KijiMuna Personally, I don't have a preferance. If a player wants to be trouble, they tend to gravitate towards OOC.

megafire7 It also gives us the opportunity to keep tabs on one another.

TheForge We use it to discuss possible rule changes and other things we don't want players seeing till we all agree one something.

BlackIcee And PMs are always open.

KijiMuna If they want a solution, they'll take their pick.

TheForge again, though, if someone PMs me I'll try to redirect them towards the OoC or Skype.

BlackIcee Character creation is always the biggest problem.

TheForge I like to have the other GMs thoughts on any matters I handle.

KijiMuna communication between the four of us seems to be pretty commonplace. So much so that we don't even have to question it.

BlackIcee We have a several conversations in skype, one for Mods, players and the arena for fun and testing.

megafire7 Yeah, we do most of it publicly so we can get each others opinions on everything we do.

TheForge We've tried to turn the Arena into its own RP a few times but it tends to be a firing range for WFP most of the time.

Lillian What makes your RP so successful?

TheForge I've often wondered that myself.

BlackIcee Me.

TheForge I'm not sure it's actually succesful so much as it is tenacious.

megafire7 We put a lot of work in the system behind it, and a lot of people find that interesting.

TheForge We're a stubborn group and we don't let it die.

KijiMuna I'd say our handfull of long-term players, and the way we set it up for them. They get a lot of pull when they enter.

TheForge and the more work we put into not letting it die the less we feel we can let it die the next time.

KijiMuna "them" being the players in general.

TheForge Not many RPs are set up to accommadate regulars and temporary players at the same time. That helps.

BlackIcee And we have our own characters to spice things up from time to time. HardeWare's always fun.

TheForge Unlike the other GMs, I do very very little actual RPing. I used to, I'm not sure why I don't anymore.

KijiMuna the kinds of power we can only put into the hands of someone we trust. usually when we do, we get a fun mix of chaos and fun in the IC

BlackIcee HardeWare has his suit and Bluehood is Bluehood. Peter/Shift has control of the underworld (Criminal that is.)

KijiMuna Those two are only fun concepts. IC they've yet to spice things up. same with Shift.

megafire7 Yeah.

TheForge I've sometimes wanted to make a GM-level Power character of my own but I've honestly never had a good idea for one.

KijiMuna Right now they're only setting-changers

BlackIcee The three mod characters have great chemistry on their own.

TheForge If I was to put one into the setting it would probably be the Forgeling. I haven't really used the Forgeling since the old site.

BlackIcee Here comes conversations about aliens...

TheForge As you can see I feel a bit left out in this reguard.

megafire7 You know, we're saying a lot of things people who don't actually play in the RP will not get at all. Like talking about our characters.

KijiMuna exactly

TheForge Yeah, everytime I reference something from outside the common scope I Feel like I ought to explain.

KijiMuna I think we're spending too much time in Skype, not enough doing stuff in the RP.

TheForge I've been having trouble finding the time between college and my job to do anything worth while.

Lillian Were there any major mistakes made in the RP and if so did you learn anything from them?

BlackIcee Aliens. They made the setting so damn complex. Especially because no one really used them

TheForge In the beginning there were lots of mistakes. A lot of it was just clean-up and making things work together better. The majority of this seting is ripped from other settings and set down again adjecent to each-other.

megafire7 We've matured a lot, both in the setting and in our writing.

TheForge That means everything had to be reworked to work together.

megafire7 It's a bit difficult to pinpoint exactly when we learned what.

TheForge Sadly we never found a decent way to rework aliens. So they had to be dismissed.

BlackIcee Moving to casual helped. I don't think I could go back to free level.

TheForge We don't really tend to look back other than in terms of specific moments of epic IC.

KijiMuna One mistake I can point out is leaving Forge, one guy, with complete control over the power-list.

BlackIcee Heh.

KijiMuna At one point he managed to invalidate a still-active character.

TheForge I was making changes every other week rather than discussing all the changes at once with the others.

megafire7 Forge is a perfectionist, and he was constantly trying to improve the powerlist.

TheForge Which, honestly, is what should have been done in the first place.

megafire7 Even though the rest of us agreed it didn't exactly need improving.

KijiMuna Forge, I think you either forgot to say something, or you're implying something else.

TheForge I was replying to myself

BlackIcee I made a call and we talked through it all and we reached an agreement

TheForge I was saying we should have ALL sat down together and reworked all the powers at once in the first place. Rather than waiting till very recently.

KijiMuna Ah.

TheForge One thing I've learned; You can't change just one thing.

KijiMuna Don't forget" don't look too close.

TheForge Everytime I observe too closely I get that urge again.

KijiMuna No, wait, that a lesson our players tend to learn.

TheForge That old urge that created WFP in the first place.

BlackIcee We also had to learn how to explain our justified hand waves of certain aspects of P&T.

TheForge What are our main handwaves? Can we list them?

BlackIcee Fusion reactors.The connection between Calories to kinetic energy.

KijiMuna repulsors (+Shieldmetal), PK, HDCells, Fusion Reactors, anti-grav.

BlackIcee Portals.

KijiMuna sorry "Repulsion Focusers.

TheForge We have these things explained as simply being organs in the body or pieces of technology. There's no actual functional model.

megafire7 Once again, none of this means anything to me.

KijiMuna It's P&T Mega, it's not your forte.

BlackIcee There's what we can get from current tech and then we work on that.

TheForge Basically physics has some added functions in this world that seem to be rather easy to make use of. Those functions tend to mainly be the PK powers and tech that's based on them.

KijiMuna Basically, our own packet of addons.

TheForge Also most everything listed under unusual powers

KijiMuna We also toyed with genetics. Just a little.

TheForge Basically we take for granted they work (using a traditional physics model for the actual functionality) and leave it at that. We like to refer to this as Superphysics.

BlackIcee I can't tell if we're still on track...

TheForge Maybe we should let the actual interviewer talk.

KijiMuna We went from the mistakes we made, to this.

megafire7 We were on track for about three lines.

KijiMuna ^

TheForge We tend to vear all over the road when we explain things.

KijiMuna Like a drunk driver on an empty highway.

TheForge For every thign we explain we feel the need to explain four others connected to it.

Lillian So what bit of advice would you give fledgling GM's about running a successful RP?

megafire7 Don't do it on your own.

BlackIcee Keep your universe consistent.

KijiMuna you need friends and players to make RPs work in the long run. You also need to keep a good grip on the idea of what you want.

TheForge but not too tight a grip if no one else wants it

BlackIcee When in doubt add a dragon.

TheForge ...

megafire7 Thank you for that insightful comment, Icee.

BlackIcee Hehehe. Keep a light mood maybe?

TheForge Lay things out before you try to impliment.

megafire7 But yeah, if you want a succesful RP, managing it is a lot of work.

KijiMuna I'm trying to keep my language in check.

TheForge IF possible have someone else look them over with fresh eyes, too.

KijiMuna and you made it difficult Icee.

BlackIcee Don't circlejerk?

TheForge Also, you should pretty much assume that your first few tries will fail and be willing to restart.

KijiMuna ... Icee. I have some VERY coarse language for you.

TheForge It's the rare RP that becomes wildly succesfgul right out of the gate when it's your first RP.

BlackIcee Hey, Imagine if Forge had three of himself instead of us.

TheForge That WOULD be a circlejerk.

KijiMuna Doom.

BlackIcee That's the point I'm trying to make.

megafire7 It hurts being the sane one sometimes.

KijiMuna I'm sane, I'm just also angry.

megafire7 Fair enough.

Lillian Any thing else you each would like to add?

TheForge We can all be immature. The important thing is not to be afraid to go back on your mistakes.

BlackIcee Needs more HardeWare.

TheForge And if you're TRYING to have fun you're probably not having fun. If you want to do something, do it.

KijiMuna I don't have anything insightful, really.

BlackIcee Learn to take a joke, identify sarcasm in text and be a good sport.

megafire7 Nope, nothing to add either.

BlackIcee I could probably go for days...But I'll stop now.

KijiMuna And how much of it would be complete nonsense?

TheForge I still can't get sarcasm in text most of the time.

KijiMuna all of it?

10.26.12

Lillian What do you feel is your most successful RP?

★LunaLight★The Art of Magic(TAoM) is by far my most successful RP. TAoM is currently full, containing 12 Rpers, and I have a few requesting to be waitlisted. Not only is it my largest and longest running RP, but it also has kept a good tempo despite being such a large group. In the Summer, I had players posting once every three days, and now it is once a week. It really is a rare thing for an RP to remain posting regularly after the initial hype, so I would say that is a good sign that TAoM is going to last.

LillianWhat do you see as the reason for its success?

★LunaLight★Attempting to keep it brief:

1. The Cast- They are dedicated, aren't afraid to ask questions, take above average interest in the Rp, take pride in their characters, and above all are able to rise to or above my high expectations for them. I am very happy to have them.
2. Effort- I have put, and continue to put a lot of work into maintaining the thread. I have created an entirely unique magical combat system just for the purpose of TAoM, and created a guide. Also, I am on as frequently as possible to respond quickly. It is my opinion that it is the job of a good GM to put forth the most effort towards the launch, betterment, and continuation of the thread.
3. Continuous Improvement- I am always trying to find ways to make TAoM better. The Rp actually failed twice before, but each time it came back more thought out. Even now that I've found something that clearly works, I still experiment and request user feedback. I want my thread to be the best it can be.
4. Sense of Community- TAoM allows players a lot of freedom and flexibility through both the IC and OOC. Rping is a great way to see new ideas, network, and just have fun. The interactions I have with my Rpers are all meaningful, and I can honestly think of them as my friends. The amount of loyalty and trust between me and my roleplayers is what I believe makes me feel the need to go out of my way for them.
5. Zata sama- My Co-GM Zata has been around a while, and I trust him with anything and everything. He has been with me for over a year now, and was a large part of why I took an interest in the idea of a magic school. He helped me learn how to make better characters and posts. He has even helped me through real life struggles. I could have no better person to Co-GM my Rp because I know that even if I am cut off from RpG for a month he will be able to keep it going.

Lillian What inspired you to GM in the first place?

★LunaLight★I was inspired to GM by Zelpheon when I first joined the guild. I was still a shy little noob who had never done a Rp before, yet I already had an idea for a story. It was with his encouragement that I set up my first Rp. It failed miserably, but it managed to get to the IC launch, so it opened me up to what GMing was like and most importantly taught me the skills I lacked to be an effective GM. So I spent a few months just trying to learn the basics from other GMs, and then once I got a grip on things started trying my hand at GMing again. I've failed a number of times, but each time, I just thought back to that first experience. Knowing that I can always become better if I am willing to learn from my failures is what continues to make me enjoy GMing, and I owe that to Zelpheon for encouraging me to put out my ideas back when I was new.

LillianHow clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

★LunaLight★I always have a plan for the major plot events, especially the end, but a majority of the plot is planned very shortly after players act or a plot action suggested by a player is acted on. Letting players suggest what happens next allows for a range of creativity far exceeding my own, and it is simply more fun. I wouldn't say that it is smart to make up everything as you go along because plots are always better when there is a clear connection between events; however, a flexible plot in which you are able to modify based on player input can be a valuable tool. I plan my plot as a flagged progression(the line shows the more subtle events going on that are only hinted at towards the players, while flags represent an event in which players are directly effected), so that way if I want a new event, I just stick it somewhere on the line. To more directly answer the question, my plots are very well thought out, but easily subject to change.

Lillian You sound really organized. Do you have specific organizational tips for Aspiring GM's, such as a way you organize your OP?

★LunaLight★I am going to say that every RP deserves a personalized organization system, but there are a few tricks anyone can use. First of which, make your OP a tool, not information to be memorized. Many GMs make an information dump that they expect everyone to read entirely, but it is proven that walls of text scare away potential new recruits as well as make it harder for current players to find relevant information. Instead, make an effort to say things in an effective manner, separating up your material into easy to handle hiders. Place the most commonly used information at the top, and least used at the bottom. Also, try playing around with the formatting and asking your cast for their opinion, after all, it is them who you are trying to help. When applicable, tables are a great way of organizing information. Sora explains how they work here. Lastly, the latest trick I've come up with is having a newcomer's package. It contains everything someone would need to join the RP in a nice little hider at the bottom so that current players don't have to bother with that information. If you are doing things right, the player should not need to read everything, but always know where to find the information. When answering questions that were already answered in the OP, don't get mad, just respectfully answer their question and then direct them to that part of the OP so that your cast becomes increasingly self managing.

Lillian How much control of the story do you allow your players?

★LunaLight★So long as they don't break any rules, players are only limited by their ability to create material. I have to approve any new NPCs, locations, and plot events, but it isn't so much for me to decide if I want to use it or not. The reason I require approval is so that I can help expand on the idea, I can add it to my plot diagram, and possibly fix up small hiccups.

Lillian How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

★LunaLight★Simple, I write them out. I actually can avoid/predict most dropouts because of my harsher screening process. When a long term member leaves, it is a bit harder, but I can take control of their character long enough to write them out. More often than not, I blame everything on the school counselors

.

Lillian What is your Screening Process?

★LunaLight★My screening process involves a detailed scan of their post history, previous RPs, and join date. Whenever a user is under a week old or has under 25 posts to their name, I always ask them to check back in at a later time before accepting their character. This is because new members who intend to stay will stick around a few extra days, but the ones that don't will quickly get bored and never be seen again. Furthermore, you don't want a crowd of only new members as they are more likely to leave or have bad habits. Don't exclude new members entirely as they are a valuable asset, but don't over invest in them because you have no real way of knowing how they will behave since they have no posting history. Checking through the post history, make sure they match your expectations of site activity, and more importantly look to make sure they don't have a habit of vanishing. I have often found gaps of several months in people's history, and looking at their Rps, they never rechecked in. These people are more than likely going to vanish again, so tread cautiously with this kind of Rper. Regardless of why they left, Rps can only handle so many vanishing players before they are forced to restart. Lastly, I ask for a CS higher quality than the standard post. The amount of effort someone puts into their character will carry through to their initial excitement about the Rp as well as serve as a double check that they can post at the level they say they can.

Lillian Have you encountered any Problem players or trouble between players and if so how have you handled it?

★LunaLight★Yes, despite all my precautions, I still have had problem Rpers, the most common of which is metagame and whiners. Whiners are the kind of people who make a real fuss when you tell them they need to change something. These people are very rude, and try to make you feel bad for them by lying through their teeth. The only real way to handle these is to kick them out, and if they continue whining report them. It is a bad idea to be a weak GM, but always try to be as fair as you can be. Part of the reason I have a Co-GM is so I can differentiate between when I am being difficult, and the other person is being disrespectful. For metagamers, I usually tell them over private messages that their character is using information he/she shouldn't have. Metagaming, unlike other forms of problem Rping, is most often not intentional. It is often a result of the person attempting to insert themselves into their character on some level, and leaving a small slip up. It is a bad idea to embarrass people by pointing out their mistakes in the OOC, unless it is just something simple, or it is a mistake others are likely to make. Most instances of metagaming have been cleared up for me simply by having a peaceful talk over PMs. The key to handling anyone is to be calm, be fair, look out for the thread's best interests, and stay in control of the situation. I have yet to have any major conflict between my cast, but if I did, I remember Zata sama stopped a really big conflict in an Rp I did not GM in the past. From what I observed, having a sense of authority, and making quick and powerful judgement was an effective way to cut the losses.

Lillian What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

★LunaLight★I would say that my largest mistake concerning GMing was trying to make a Rp which relied entirely on the players to provide plot events. The fact of the matter is that people join Rps because they want the GM to have a well thought out idea, and they want that GM to keep things orderly and interesting. If you haven't put any effort into your idea, expect a lot of problems to pop up later on. On the other side, putting a lot of information on a page is not effort, when I put too much to read I scared away a large number of players. What the majority players really appreciate is when the GM is able to condense information in a way that is easy to understand, and I'm still learning how to become better at that.

Lillian Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's

★LunaLight★I am actually a part of my Rp. My character is just as much affected by the plot as anyone else. However, both me and Zata sama have one teacher character which is highly powered, and does help quite a bit for steering the plot and dropping hints. Though more often than not, plot events are discussed in the OOC, and reacted to IC. I would say that my GMing style is about allowing for players to decide how they would like to see things work out with the occasional surprise to keep everyone on their toes. It works well for slice of life, so that element shows up in all my Rps.

LillianWhat would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

★LunaLight★This is going to sound really corny but... If I had to pick out one thing I saw in every successful Rp, it would be that people were involved in the story. By encouraging people to share, and making an idea in which people can unleash their creative outlet, the GM provides a medium in which people can connect to on multiple levels. GMing is quite the challenge because you have to make everyone accepted care about their role in the story enough to keep them coming back regardless of other factors. And the funny thing is, people have found a lot of different ways to make it happen. Some Rps have their own chatroom, OOC chatter, creative works, social groups, and I've even seen one with a fanfic. Somehow someway, all the really successful Rps display interaction beyond just the IC. Figuring out how to bring out this extra level of connection is really something that just comes with experience, and if you are lucky just happens to pop up all on its own. Personally, I try to bring it out by sincerely caring for others, and I just hope that if I care enough, I might just have the feelings returned. I advise new GMs to find a way you enjoy running things, an idea that you are really interested in, and friends to call on who support your ideas and GMing style. And lastly, I wish them good luck and an open mind.

11.23.12

Lillian: What do you feel is your most successful RP?

Gerontis: I think that would be Naruto : The Rising Generation ( or sometimes called : Naruto : Generations, by some )

Lillian:What would you say makes it successful?

Gerontis: I think or believe that it would be that I always try to be there for that RP. Trying to help the members with their questions for characters, plots and such. But I rather think it's successful because I had real great help of some people, who I really started to like and formed some good friendship with. Of course I also would like to mention that I had some great help of a Co- Head GM. Some would say he was the harsh one and I the friendly one and with the help of other people, Generations became a rather successful RP

Lillian: So what defines success for you?

Gerontis: Hhmm, I think that would be that a good number of the RP'ers like the RP and want to be active to write for it. Also I believe that once a RP has become very active and then to slow down, it always will be around. To be honest, I have thought sometimes to give it up and just scream of frustation at some points. But with trying to be always polite and patient ( or at least acting like I was) I think people still wanted to continue with it. And so, even while the RP might be progressing slow, it's always alive and people are still enjoying it. That is what I think is what a RP needs to succeed in : Letting people have some fun with each other and their characters in the story

Lillian: How much control of the story do you allow your players?

Gerontis: Hhmmm, I am the one who made up most of the plot in the begin. It's like that I always want to set different chapters/arcs in the RP. To define important events and such. But if somebody has a great idea, I am always open to it and ready to talk about it with the other person how we can include it in the story. Of course, if it involves other people's characters, I also want to be sure they would like the idea as well.

Lillian: How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

Gerontis: I often plan for some time, like for four or five arcs but I would like to keep it open, since planning a end means that the characters have a limited time. I dislike to have to plan a end, because that would mean it's a end to the characters who some are just going to like or love to much to see them ''end'' in a story

Lillian: Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's

Gerontis: I have some people that help with all kind of tasks. Often I say that I am lazy and let people make jokes about it, but while I have some good experience with leading a RP, I always like it when more people help in it. I even have a PA (personal assistent ) to help me with some little tasks and for characters, it's the same story. I let some GM's control some important NPC's, that I have some free time to focus on other stuff. Also, that would make things more fun, since then more different kind of characters may pop up in the story and I like to see how people react on that

Lillian: So you don't have a PC of your own?

Gerontis: I do, even have more then one, after all, I want to join with the fun and also control the story a bit through my characters.

Lillian: How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

Gerontis: Well, when I made Generations with a very good friend of mine, we had had given some thought about that. There had been a rule already that somebody needs to make a rookie before he could ask for a more powerful character, but we felt that we need to see that one would be active enough or if we trusted that person enough. In that way, we wouldn't have a lot of powerful characters being inactive and once somebody has been inactive or if I get the idea that they are maybe dropping out, I am then already preparing to make sure that it won't hurt the progress of the story much.
Sadly, I have already had some situations where we even had to kick people out of the RP because they didn't behave well, even after several warnings.

Lillian: Well that leads into my next question: How you do generally handle Problem players?

Gerontis: Well, most of the time some are making jokes ( which I find funny myself) that I am too nice to handle them, but like I said, we already had some Problem players. As for how I handle them, I often try to talk first. Why they are acting like that, what they think could be better and see if we can sort things out. Just some questions about their point of view. Often I also call somebody of the GM team or somebody who I highly trust to talk with me and the Problem Player. To kind of making it like a normal talk and not a talk that might make me decide to kick them out. While I thought it was a good idea, I also noticed it doesn't always help.

Lillian: Do you do this via PM or in the OOC?

Gerontis: Depends. We have a chat where some players come in and through Skype we also have a chat. But if there is no other option, I do it through the PM. I rather keep the OOC clean from such subjects.

Lillian: I guess what I meant was do you have such discussion out in the open or privately?

Gerontis: Privately, though if the Problem player is talking about somebody else I often ask if the person, who was named, want to join the talk and then see how it goes.

Lillian: And this is largely successful?

Gerontis: Well, so far the Problem Players ( we had 3 very annoying ones) have all been kicked out but It has been successful, as one of the Problem Players had some trouble with my (cute) PA . So I had made a chat with them and talked a bit though it was more a talk between them, with my PA trying to be polite as she could be, and then they came to a result. It resulted in some good agreement, though the Problem Player still didn't made up his promises and was thus kicked out of the RP. Oh, there has been one situation where I was being the person who had some trouble with a Problem Player. He said I was kind of a Hitler or such. So I asked if the other Head GM, my very good friend, at that time when he hadn't resigned as Co-Head-GM, wanted to talk with us. So he did and it kinda resulted into a straight kick. Seeing that the Problem character began to call me a Hitler and the other Head GM a Stalin.

Lillian: So teamwork and a firm hand. That didn't sound like he was willing to work with you.

Gerontis: Well, at first it seemed like he, and also the others did but once the talking advanced, they seemed to behave still...Well, childish and foolish might be not nice to say but for the moment I have no other words for it, other then maybe some more harsh ones to name how they were acting. Though I must admit while I have some good patience, once they have crossed the line (which means one has really acted bad, because those who know me know that I can take a lot before I get a little pissed), it's hard to change my mind with simple promises, once they have crossed the line, thus it can be said that I was maybe sometimes too harsh. Though some say that I took the right action with acting harsh against the problem makers.

Lillian: What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

Gerontis: Well, I would love to say to let one person say that I was cute at sometimes and now kind of regret it, because now my RP'ers joke sometimes that I am more cute then cool. But to be serious I think my biggest mistake is that I was sometimes too nice and it had let some little problems, though they were fixed soon.. By letting some situations get bigger, before I took a action to subdue it or dealing with some inactive people, who were slowing down the progress of the story, but still hoping that they would come back active when they were promising that I have learned that I should take a decision sooner and also be sure in it, so that others won't suffer of me trying to be nice to some inactive player.

Lillian: How do you strike a balance with such inactive players? I know it is something I struggle with, what is too much nagging?

Gerontis: Well, at first I just had to trust what some people said about others, but now with an active team of RP'ers, I have a good idea of who is active and who is not I often try to put the active together, but also need to make sure it's logical to have the characters of the active people being put together. And while I dislike inactive players, I give them some time to come up with a post and if they come up with something like : The story is going too fast for me, what is happening? Then I am always there to answer them back with a little summary and thus giving them little excuse to say that they can't do a thing. However, if they have a legit reason why they are inactive, college or private things, I let them be inactive for some time and try to make sure their characters move more to the back, thus not freezing up other ( active) people. Though I always ask if the person who says he/she is going to be inactive for some time, to keep me updated on their situation ( if they can come back or how long that will take). So far, it has been working out great, as I even get a PM of some who are just going to be 2 days away, but wanting me to know that they will try to come back as soon as they can. But to admit I still listen much to people who I trust when they say somebody is quite inactive or drops a RP quickly. And then we do some screening to see if that is true or give them a chance with a rookie, to test out how active they are. We often give them a chance if the results of the screening isn't really showing anything.

Lillian: What would you say is your greatest strength as a GM?

Gerontis: I think that would be that I always try to be polite and listen to what people say. Helping people with their questions, characters, (sub-)plots is also what I love to do and think that is what many of the RP'ers that join my RP appreciate...I hope at least.

Lillian: What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

Gerontis: I think that would be : Be always ready to help the players that join your RP and be open for their ideas and suggestions. Don't try to arrange everything one your own. Even when you think you can handle it all. Try to get some help of experienced or people who can be trusted. And always try to make fun with them, both in the IC as in the OOC or where else. After all, without a fun group, where a GM can even take some jokes of his players or where players can't make a laugh with each other, there can't be a fun RP. At least, that is what I think and feel about it.

Lillian: Anything else you want to add?

Gerontis: Well, first of all, I want to say thanks to a number of people who are part of the Generations RP, as we have formed a little group that chat a lot with each other and make a lot of fun with each other. I want to thank them all for being there and supporting the RP with their advice, love and such. Not sure what I would be without them.
Also want to say some special thanks to some people, who have meant a lot of me these last times.

Doc : ....DIE~ ( He understands why).
Holy : Stop saying I am adorable, while we both know who is the adorable one ( you are the adorable one). Thanks for helping me out with the little tasks. Love you <3
Hillan : Bro..I can't think of a more better Swedish friend then you. Pimpcane or back of my hand? <3
Verbande : I don't have a harem..Really, I don't have one. Keep up the awesome work ( except for the Harem)
Ganryu : Your one of the nicest person I know...Not evil at all..Except for your plotting then You rock Gan!
Fiery : Love you as well, thanks for you advises and the fact that we always agree...About every subject we talk about.
Yoshua : As long you don't take out your tools, you’re awesome.
Sloth : Best rival-friend I can think of as a Sloth.
Roran : Also wanted to thank you for you're cheerful and funny mood and that I always enjoying a RP when you are around. Thank you for that mate.
Vuur : Thank you for everything mate...Really, thanks for always being there for me and helping me out. Know we don't always agree, but we always end up laughing about some silly things and though you have stepped down from being a Head GM, I still consider your words and advise as one...I wouldn't want to think about how far I would be without your support.
Rest of the Generations RP : Thank you all for being there and love you all...
Last words : Pancakes <3 ( They understand why ^^ )

12.7.12

Lillian What do you feel is your most successful RP?

hisagi My first one that I gm'd Humans Vs Magic-Users

Lillian So tell me a little about your RP, do you have more than one?

hisagi I am in other RP as well yes but, Humans VS Magic-Users is my pride and joy. It is a story of two waring races. The Humans who crashed a space ship into this planet and the other are the Magic-Users the ones who originally inhabited this planet first. Basically what I am going for is both races trying to live in peace and harmony however there are certain groups that just will not allow that to happen. So of coarse they fight everyone's characters are basically stuck in the middle of all this and want peace so they are willing to do whatever it takes to see that it happens. That is the general idea of it. The specifics behind it is that this is well interactive somewhat life like RP meaning that it is rated Mature or MA if you will due to the swearing, the gore, and also the fact that there now some female characters who are indeed pregnant. I try my hardest to make this as if those who are not involved are reading a story or watching a movie I guess. Hehe..

Lillian Are players allowed to be either race?

hisagi of course!! I needed there to be both sides like that... which is also why I allow for people to control multiple characters so long as they can keep up with them

Lillian What do you feel is the main reason for its success?

hisagi Well to be honest just how fast it blew up and all the people who wanted to join. so it has a huge cast. granted it did get smaller shortly after it started but then we got others to join in later. Also the fact that so many people read it and seem to like it as well. People who just read it for the fun of it and are not even involved in it

Lillian That must be gratifying. How does that make you feel?

hisagi Makes me feel great! well accomplished seeing as how this is my first one that I GMed. I love the constant feedback i get from certain scenes.

Lillian What makes a RP successful in your eyes? How do you measure success?

hisagi well to me the best thing that makes an RP as good as it is... I would have to say the people who join. Making them happy as best as I can. You can’t really have a group RP without people. I measure my success by the fact that there are so many people involved and I still get people asking if they can join

Lillian What inspired you to GM in the first place?

hisagi hehe... Well to be honest when I first joined I mainly stuck to 1x1 RP. Easier to manage I thought. Then one day I got bored and was talking with one of my partners Lexzah and poof it happened. She inspired the initial idea and I took off from there. Now we are working on the second part of this RP as we speak.

Lillian Do you work alone or do you have co-GM's?

hisagi I have co-GM's Lexzah at first was my only one because she helped the most with the story batting ideas back and forth. Then one of the guys that joined named Ishnorb also came up with some great ideas and helped out immensely with plot issues or conflicts in the OOC in my absence when I was offline. So naturally I asked him if he wanted to co-GM and he said yeah. Lexzah handles the accepting of characters.... Ishnorb looks out for anything out of place or with new ideas as well as listening to my crazy ideas. So yeah I have a good team I think

Lillian How much control of the story do you allow your players?

hisagi Basically just about everything except killing off others. I allow them to manipulate the time of day certain actions like that. however I have a stern rule regarding killing or auto hits and that is so long as the other person agrees to it then I am fine with it. like I said before I try to keep them all happy as best I can.

Lillian How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

hisagi I have planned out just about the end of part 2 right now.. (currently in part 1 at the moment) so yeah it will end.. right now my players know how the first part ends with a huge battle... then a slight space in time then the second part or The After Story as i like to call it begins... however only i know how the After Story ends. At the same time I also run it by Lexzah mostly and Ishnorb as well to see what they think... But in the end neither of them knows how it ends either... my ultimate secret if you will fufufufu...

Lillian You've spoken of people coming and going, how have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

hisagi well if they drop out i try to make them post this and I quote "*insert character name here* walked off into the horizon but was never heard from again." Unfortunately no one really did that hehe... but yeah I just roll with it for the most part... seeing as how for the most part the drop outs happened early in the beginning. We had a few that had to get kicked for reasons and well that is unavoidable at times

Lillian How do you handle problem players? Any advice for that?

hisagi I generally try to pm them and ask what the problem is instead of causing a huge fuss on the OOC... if they feel that they want to leave I tell them alright and hope they have better luck elsewhere... then there are some that just continue on and on so I just again pm them and ask them to leave then post in the OOC saying that they are done. Sometimes one has to be stern no matter how bad they might feel afterwards. Advice I can give would be try to bring it to pm as best you can... and if that doesn’t work the mods are there to help if absolutely necessary however I generally use that as a LAST RESORT!

Lillian What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

hisagi Well my biggest mistake honestly is having have others wait for the after story in order to start posting makes me feel awful I wish there was indeed a way I can add them in however where the story is now they would be very confused I imagine, More specifically though not giving my players enough time for development at the moment trying to move the story along for the others to join in as soon as possible. I plan on remedying that by having The After Story go on a much more slower pace

Lillian Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's

hisagi oh yeah i play the cast of all the enemies they face... as well as the enemies they will be facing... i call them the Killable characters.. an idea that I had a while back that had huge success so I plan on doing more in terms of that. So that way if someone is not able to interact with other players then they can interact with me on some level one of my biggest pet peeves is when a person is stuck or is bored because they are role playing with themselves basically

Lillian So you don't have a "PC" of your own?

hisagi Ido... I have 3 different ones at the moment but my main one is the key player for me.... the one with the most emotion and depth. His name is Executioner 27.... many love him outside the RP but in the IC he is quite hated.... he even had a tragic death scene that actually made people cry in real life, but then other stuff happened and he is back now

Lillian I'll bet those tears tasted sweet.

hisagi hehe for me they were yes.. to be honest I was so surprised at the reactions I got from that scene. When I heard that some cried I smiled and felt that I did a good job then... the pm's I get asking me if that really just happened from readers was just epic... I loved it.. I try to keep everyone on the edge of their seats as best I can and I think it has been working for the most part

Lillian What is your favorite part of GMing?

hisagi the satisfaction I get every day when I log on and see that so many people are into this story... as well mind blowing people all the time with a new crazy idea that fits perfectly in the story. hehehe

Lillian What is your least favorite part?

hisagi hmmm..... thats a good question... I would have to say when the ending comes... and it all ends... because every good thing must end sometime...

Lillian So any bit of advice that you would give a new GM just starting out?

hisagi yes keep everyone's thoughts an ideas into consideration... a good RP is made up of a good plot and good players.... so try your hardest to please everyone and it will turn out great

Lillian anything else you'd like to add?

hisagi other than i feel honored for this interview?? No not really, oh wait yeah I do. I wish to thank all of my players in Humans VS Magic-Users for making this such a good story... all my friends I have made throughout being on this site... as well as you Lillian and all the mods for making this site a possibility for us. I have traveled throughout the internet been to several other RP sites and I must say this is by far the best one in my opinion. So thank you everyone ^_^

Lillian Well thank you.

1.4.13

Lillian How long have you been GMing?

Azseth Ugh. Making an old person think back isn't that nice. I've been GMing for roughly...6 years. Maybe 7.

Lillian What made you decide to GM in the first place?

Azseth I think what made me want to GM was what makes many people hesitant to GM or even jump into RPs. Failed RPs. I had joined a handful of other RPs in one form or another, and they all folded and left me with thoughts and plots in my head, and characters hanging around like, "Az, what the hell just happened?"

I am not sure how most players are, but I know most GMs and all good players have this thing where they put thoughts and feelings and the most important thing, time, into things they create, be it a character, a world, whatever.

Sure, you can put those thoughts elsewhere and make new characters, but some people like me feel empty after that happens. And. You can't get time back. That's the real bitch of it. So when I started GMing, I figured I may not have ALL the power to keep an RP going and keep it from folding, but I have more power than being a player in someone else's RP.

Lillian How would you define a "Successful RP"

Azseth that's somewhat tricky, but in its more simple form, I say an SL (storyline, an old AOL term, sorry) that meets the GMs' and player's goals. Some RPs are made with a certain end in mind. Reaching it is "a success" in my eyes.

But deeper than that, it's when an RP captivates people, gets them really looking forward to more and challenging them. I know sometimes, I sit up at 3 in the morning and my mind is RACING with ideas and thoughts and all that. I think THAT is successful, in my eyes anyway. I HOPE my RP's do that to others. I hope it inspires them and excites them. So I guess to ME a successful RP is what has people feeling as excited to participate in an SL that I GM as I am to host it.

Lillian Do you have a RP that you feel is/was particularly successful?

Azseth Surviving: The End. I'm particularly proud of the name in and of itself, because I normally have big issues with coming up with something that isn't just cut and dry, or cliche in terms of a name for an RP. I know something small like that isn't probably a big deal but to me, it's huge. It was all good from then on. It's in its second season and it's a zombie survival RP.

Lillian Can you pinpoint what made it successful?

Azseth Me. Haha. Just joking. Then again, a lot of truth is said in jest, right? But, part of it is my drive. I say it pretty frequently that "this SL is more important than your character, or your feelings. Regardless of anything, this storyline will move." Because of that, it doesn't become stagnant, and thus, people don't lose focus or interest. Those that DO, well, to me it helps me weed people out. It's a damn zombie RP. Go inactive, your character gets eaten.

I think the other thing is that, this IS a zombie survival RP, but it's more than that. From day one, I wanted this SL to be something different from the dime-a-dozen zombie RPs out there.

Lillian So what makes it different?

Azseth This SL isn't about killing zombies, or zombies much at all. It's unique because it is about the characters. What they have been through. What they've seen. Then how it affected them, how they've changed. How different they are, or the things they've done to stay the same. I want to focus on that. The people the changes, and then the last part is, how all of the characters affect EACH OTHER. This is the key, this is what I want people to keep in the forefront of their minds.

Backtracking a bit, another thing that makes this SL what it is, obviously, is the players. The core group I have are great, some of the new guys are really good to have around. The others, well, they make great zombie chow when they bow out.

Another thing is that I try to shake things up. I'm prone to killing my own characters suddenly and with little thought, to the point that I almost regret it and other players are miffed at me. In fact, they made a term, they call it being "Azseth'd" and it's when a player kills his/her own character too soon and with little warning and possibly regret it moments after.

Lillian How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end or make things up as you go along?

Azseth Well, it all depends on the RP. I've had several smaller, close ended RPs that have had a clearly identified end. For S:TE though, I keep it more vague. For season 1 for example, I just said something akin to "I want season 1 to end when the survivors escape the building." What happened between point A and B, we made up as we go along. But then, some SLs require more direct movements, it just depends on the group and the SL and the end result that is desired.

Lillian How much control of the story do you allow your players?

Azseth Tricky again. It depends on the players, and it depends on the SL. One RP I am really, REALLY itching to try out is a survival horror where I myself have no character and just run everything else, while the players have little to no idea what is going on and have to investigate and make up conclusions for themselves. But in Surviving, they have what I'd consider a moderate amount of control and freedom. I LOVE a player that does not need to be led, or placed like a piece or food sped plot. It is very nice. So long as the players do not do anything that goes against the integrity of the story, or that completely derails the SL as a whole, I am ok with it. And to be honest, it's nice to be thrown a curve ball every once in a while and have to adapt my own thought process.

Lillian What was your biggest mistake as a GM and what did you learn from it?

Azseth I think my biggest mistake has been not scrutinizing people and challenging their long term interests. While I do not think this is fool-proof, I found that doing things to test people's resolve or willingness to work with players and the GM upfront work best. Also, intimidate people upfront vice once an RP is live. Maybe 'intimidate' doesn't sound like then nicest way to say it, but, it is what it is.

Lillian How would you implement that?

Azseth The main weapon in my arsenal is being upfront and clear with what I expect in players IC and OOC. I mean, painfully so. I state all my expectations bluntly, almost to the point where it may make people hesitate to join.

Good. I'd rather have people who are inconsistent or easily put off NOW as opposed to later, when the RP is going. This also makes it easier to remove those that are negatively affecting the SL. I think that is a crucial part of keeping an SL going.

My other weapon of choice is brutal honesty and not fearing hurting someone's feelings. If someone isn't active, I call them out on it. I generally do not just *BOOM* kick someone out, but I'll ask them point blank why they are not active and advise them that if they are not interested, leave. If a player isn't posting in a way that keeps the RP running smoothly, I'll tell them, offer them advice and ask them if something I did was not clear. Just as I am honest, I expect them to be so with me.

I try to go by the motto that 3 good, solid players who care about the story and each other is better than 10 players I have to babysit or lead or drag along. And I don't really care if I ruffle someone's feathers. I look at it like this. I PM JoePlayer and ask why he's not RPing in my SL, ask if he's lost interest. If he's upset at me for having the audacity to question him, then I am ok with it. Either change my impression, or accept WHY someone would get that impression and live with it. I'm not focused on players feelings, I'm focused on the SL. If I focus on my SL continuing, I'll have 2, 3 or 5 people who's feelings are NOT hurt, because the SL is running. Or I could focus on NOT hurting ONE players feelings and not worry about the other half a dozen waiting on JoePlayer to get with the program.

Still with me? One LAST thing I do specifically is make it mandatory to do certain things. I have dealt with plenty of people who, if you ask them for a sample post for example, they flake out. I say, good I'd rather have them NOT be able to work with me now and NOT be a part of the SL than to be brought on board and then leave because I turned the plot in a way that they did not want. Another thing I do is just make things mandatory, and yes, sometimes I do so just because I know some people will have a problem with it. I'd rather deal with NOT accepting people up front than the head aches of refilling rosters, adjusting plots and NPCing characters to keep things smooth.

Lillian Despite all these screens do you still encounter problem players and if so how do you deal with them?

Azseth Yes, it's something that I try to limit, but I know I will never remove it completely. Again, I always err on the side of being blunt and direct. Let me back track for a second also. Almost ever SL I start I make a pretty details list of my expectations. I make all players read it and PM me back acknowledging it. Now this again does not work absolutely, but what it DOES allow me to do is not feel that people don't understand my expectations, or leave me wondering if I was clear. So... If I have an issue, I address it with people. I make them aware of how I feel, why and then leave it open to them at that point. I have zero qualms with removing anyone from my SL, and I make that clear before and during this phrase of weeding people out.

Lillian What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

Azseth A few things. Make sure players respect you. Period. I'm not saying make sure they worship you. But make them respect the time and effort you are essentially giving them, for free and with the sole hope that they'll not disappear on you or negatively affect an RP.

Next, you can never fail with being honest. Give expectations, concepts, anything a player can read and say "wow, yeah, I like that" or be like, "man, that guy wants a post a week, mandatory? F' that."

Put the effort to keep people who are not conductive or beneficial out BEFORE! Keep them out by any means necessary NOW.

I think the biggest thing is to put your RP or SL FIRST. It should go before your feelings on a players, before your character or how you want them to end up. If you do everything for the sake of keeping an RP alive, (even before your own feelings or wants) then you're doing right. Boot someone to keep it going? Yessir. Or. Occasionally GIVE IN to what the players may be wanting, even if it isn't what you wanted initially. Let them challenge YOU into thinking outside the box, do it to keep the SL going. Keep the players interested and knowing you're willing to listen. [/B]

Lillian Anything else you want to add?

Azseth Yeah. I think that being an assertive GM is the way to go. Players that haven't GMed do not realize all of the time, and effort that go into running an RP. Hold players accountable for their actions. Communicate with them. Demand that a player respect you and you time.

There is nothing wrong with being assertive and doing what you need to do to ensure that your RPs succeed. I started a group that focuses on this because I know firsthand what it takes to put yourself out there in form of starting RPs and how empty you can be left feeling after one dissolves because of the nature of players. The group is meant to be a positive environment for players and GMs alike to come in and get together with people who are not only put back by the lack of consistency, but are just looking to avoid focusing on that negative aspect of RP and instead find some like minded people. PM me if interested!

1.18.13

Lillian How long have you been RPing?

The Australian About eight years.

Lillian How did you start?

The Australian I had stumbled upon a roleplaying forum and found the whole thing rather spiffing, and decided to give it a go.

Lillian How long before you made the Move to GMing?

The Australian I think it had been about six or seven months after I had started.

Lillian And what made you make the switch?

The Australian I wanted to try out some new ideas that I saw was not being presented in other RPs.

LillianSuch as?

The Australian Well, they were mostly Fallout or fantasy-influenced RPs. I'm a fan of Fallout, so I didn't have a problem with doing that. Fantasy, not so much. Regardless, I wanted to do historical, sci-fi, and nation roleplays.

Lillian What would you say was your most successful RP and why?

The Australian As far as this site goes, Ex Astris Scientia.

Lillian What made it successful?

The Australian I have a wealth of ideas, for one. Dedicated players, as well. Personally, I just like the idea of a sci-fi roleplay, with a starship's bridge crew exploring space. And, if you'd like some cliché fodder, boldly going where none have gone before.

Lillian So then how do you define success?

The Australian I would say having a sustained interest from your players and yourself, enough ideas so your roleplay doesn't become stale and repetitive, and trying to get the best out of your RP.

Lillian How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

The Australian I do, in fact, plan for a rough ending. At least so it doesn't feel rushed and all.

Lillian How much control of the story do you allow your players?
The Australian A lot. For the major story elements and it's framework, I'd prefer to do it myself, but I like to let my players have some control over the story

Lillian Some GMs play characters, others just control the world and plot, where do you fall on that spectrum?

The Australian I much prefer to play characters. Like, for instance, the aforementioned Ex Astris Scientia, I'm playing the captain. If it's a nation RP, then maybe I'll probably just control the world and plot, because it's much simpler that way.

Lillian What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

The Australian I think it was not to let players completely run the roleplay and it's plot. Maybe I'm sounding a bit totalitarian, but, they took the plot and ran it through the ground. I did learn to have a bit more control in the plot-making aspect of the roleplay.

Lillian How do you handle the inevitable dropouts?

The Australian It depends on how essential the roleplayer, and in extension, the character in which they controlled, was. Like, I had a person drop out of a precursor to my current roleplay, and that killed the RP because his character had doubled up on so many roles that it would've been difficult to replace. But, I had a person drop out of my current roleplay, but the character was really rather unimportant (A helmsman) and we just NPC'd the character.

Lillian How do you handle inter-player conflicts and problem players?

The Australian I don't think I've ever had that GM-wise, but I've had that as a player. In fact, been an instigator many times. Needless to say, we got into arguments about his metagaming, pointless overkill, and back-and-forth politics.

Lillian What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

The Australian Hm, I'd suggest having a good group of players, a sound idea, and ideas.

Lillian How does one go about getting a good group of players? Do you have a screening process?
The Australian I tend to get a group of people I know that can pull it off. I don't tend to do interest checks for ideas that I consider 'valuable.'

Lillian So you GM by invite only?

The Australian Typically.

Lillian Just one more quesiton then, is anything else you'd like to add?

The Australian Well, I wish I'd known how difficult world building would be.

Lillian Have you learned any tricks or tips to make it easier you'd like to pass on?

The Australian In that case, then, you just have to figure out what you're going to work with.

2.1.13

Lillian How long have you been Role playing?

WildKitsune Probably about 8 or 9 years, give or take.

Lillian How long before you made the switch to GM?

WildKitsune I'd say at some point maybe 3 or 4 years in. I started off mostly playing with friends in college and as that spread to outside groups I found myself sort of gravitating towards the role.

Lillian What made you make the switch?

WildKitsune Mostly the desire to challenge the other players. I find the most entertaining role plays are ones that don't just test a player's combat prowess or social graces, but also their mind and spirit. I decided the best way to do that was to be the one giving those challenges to them.

Lillian That seems ambitious. How do you give them those challenges?

WildKitsune It depends a lot on the types of players I have, but it often involves non-combat challenges, ambiguous decisions, and facing their personal demons; Things like a room that traps 2 players and will only let one out, the physical manifestation of their doubts taking form, fights where both sides have honest and true reasons for fighting, etc, etc. In some cases it might be a battle of riddles, or words. In others, it might be a simple case of admitting you made a mistake. The basic idea is giving the players the opportunity to learn and grow from their experiences beyond just "beating the bad guy." Sometimes nobody is the bad guy, but just the other guy who stands in your way.

Lillian What would you say was your most successful RP and what made it so successful?

WildKitsune I've had RPs with friends in the past I'd consider the most fun, but as far as most successful it would probably be the ongoing RP I currently run on RPG by the name of Feral. As for its success, I place that entirely on the dedicated player-base. They are the people who have stuck through it for 3 years now, through delays and hiatuses, and all the little challenges I've stuck in between. A DM can create the most unique world, or offer the greatest challenge, but without the people to see it through it's just window decorations. For me, success is derived from simply watching the OOC. Seeing the players engaged, excited for future events, or simply congratulating each other on a particularly good post. When they're excited, it lets me know I'm doing a good job.

Lillian How do you foster that OOC activity? I've seen it make or break a RP.

WildKitsune I won't lie... often the OOC chat in Feral has nothing to do with the RP. I think that in some odd way has helped it last. The players don't just know each others' characters, but the actual people behind them; What they like, don't like, funny videos and heavy metal... whatever they want to talk about. Of course we discuss plans for dealing with a particular situation, or I tease about future events, but if the IC is for building character relationships, the OOC has been for building interpersonal relationships, and I think that bond helps keep people interested. Humor, really, would be the main thread in the OOC, if I had to pin it down. Lots of joking around.

Lillian so lots of freedom in the OOC, how much do you allow in the IC? How much control of the story do you allow your players?

WildKitsune I have a roadmap of major events, and I set the scene, but how they deal with it is up to them. I might have the group travel to a city, and I'll DM NPC characters to set the mood, but my group has surprised me in the past with how they react. One particular event set our group back probably 3 months (in-game time) simply because they broke out into combat when diplomacy would have worked as well. Ultimately I think having the advantage of being the DM and having an unlimited number of NPCs at my fingertips makes it fairly easy to drive towards the big things I need to happen without making the players feel like they're on rails. And, yea, sometimes I have to make things up on the fly to react, but if I couldn't do that the RP would probably seem more like a choose your own adventure book and not something the players are creating as they go.

Lillian So you have a road map of major events, do you plan for an end?

WildKitsune Yes and no. The ending is all planned out, but I try to leave room for extensions. Even once everything is said and done, I would be willing to continue the story if my players wanted. In some ways seeing Feral through to completion after 3+ years of effort (realistically it'd take another year to wrap everything up at our current pace) would feel good, but it'd also be the end of an era, as it were. I'll most likely check in with the players as we get closer to the "grand finale" to see what they really want to do. If they want to keep living in the world that's been created, I'll be more than happy to oblige.

Lillian Three years is incredible, did you ever think it would run so long?

WildKitsune I never would have imagined. 3 years ago if you told me as a player I wouldn't have believed you. My personal experience is that forum RPs tend to die around the 3 week mark or so, so to see 3 YEARS go by is a testament to my players. As I said before, I'm certainly not in this alone, and the people who I RP with are not only extremely talented, but dedicated.

Lillian So no easily shared tricks for getting past the hump after the initial excitement about a new RP dies off?

WildKitsune Hmm... that's a tough one. I'd say the number one killer of RPs in the early stages is post frequency. It seems like half your players will quit if you don't respond within an hour of them posting, and the other half will post and then never return. From some other experiences I'd say as a DM you really need to buckle down and push hard the first few weeks with responses. Get your players engaged in the world, interested in the other characters, and OUT of the inn/bar. That would be another piece of advice: If at all possible, don't begin your adventure in a bar or inn. It's a convenient plot device for meeting up, but it's too easy to stagnate and drown in the initial meet-and-greet. Start things in the middle of a war, or at a major political event. Give them something early on that both intrigues them and drives them to respond. If need be, let them start in totally different places and DM them together via NPCs and plot points. Ultimately your goal is to engage them early and often. Once the players are hooked you can drop the pace and know they'll stick around. Try to think of it like reading a good book. If the first 30 pages are two guys talking in a bar you're not likely to make it past the first chapter.

Lillian So what do you do when it does stall? When you have player dropouts?

WildKitsune Well the downside to having an RP run for 3 years is we've seen more than our fair share of players come and go, even if the core group has remained consistent. I find there are a few things you can do to ease down times. First is don't be afraid to introduce a new character if your current one is stuck engaging a conversation with a stalled player. As DM, your goal is to keep the more active players going while your less active ones take their time. If someone vanishes entirely, then take control of their person, free the other players from waiting on them, and then find a way to write them out, be it branching goals in the quest, urgent news that requires their attention, or if need be, death. As DM I also tend to put new players through a bit of a buffer period. They don't just appear with the group, but often appear in some proximity, and I'll guide them towards everyone with NPCs. It gives them a chance to really show off what their guy is about, and also gives me a chance to deal with them if they quit in the first week. Plus by the time they get to the core group the introduction is fluid. This way it's not a random guy who pops up and wants to travel with us for no reason.

Lillian You run a lot of NPC's it seems. Do you have any characters who are more than just NPC's, i.e GM-PC's

WildKitsune Of course. I have the character I originally joined the RP with and the leader of our group, which the original DM created. In reality I probably have less NPCs than it sounds. Most of the time the NPCs I do control are one-off characters, like a diplomat, traveling merchant, or prison guard. Nameless figures that serve to help drive the plot for the real characters. On occasion I'll take control of a major villain, or perhaps a king, but its always the players that get us there, and the players that drive how the event plays out.
I just find them to be such a convenient tool as DM when I'm in need of someone to keep a player occupied while we wait on others to post.

Lillian How do you handle slow players, say if a situation comes up where they are holding up more active players? Has that ever been an issue?

WildKitsuneOn quite a few occasions. Depending on what sort of situation they're in I might handle it a number of different ways. If they're stuck in conversation, a simple interruption is often enough. It's not usually an issue in combat, but if necessary I have no problem incapacitating a "frozen" player to keep things going. I also make an active effort to engage those players via the OOC. I let everyone know that if they cannot post, for whatever reason, they can always let me know. I have at least a few times in the past simply DM'd a character through an event while their player is off on vacation or something which poses it's own challenges, since in doing so I have to both keep them in character and believably disengage them from whatever they're doing. Eventually, over time, the core group learns who can post and when, and the order of things naturally sorts itself out (active players tend to stick together, "weekend posters" tend to reflect on events or personal challenges, etc)

Lillian Have you had many "problem players" and how did you handle them?

WildKitsune Only a few, fortunately. We had one that would frequently post, then vanish for a month, then come back and post a lot for a week or two, and then vanish again. Eventually we just had to tell the player his character was no longer part of the story, and if he wanted to rejoin he'd have to start over with a new one. I've had characters literally just "go crazy" and I had to drag them away with guards and remove them from the group. Godmodding isn't really an issue, but if I've ever seen instances of a character being too good at everything I just make it a challenge to engage them in ways that raw power won't overcome. So if a character can do everything all the time, I challenge the player with a riddle, or a moral dilemma. Something they as a person can't resolve with a new power, and that seems to set everything right. I've never had to kick a player out, though. I find that the "good" posters will dedicate time and effort to engage other posters who are really trying, and ignore the ones who aren't. Eventually the bad players quit of their own accord.

Lillian So what would you say was your biggest mistake as a GM and what did you learn from it?

WildKitsune My biggest mistake was probably driving events too hard in one direction. I find players generally fall into "combat" and "social" camps, and while they are somewhat flexible, pushing too hard in one direction will alienate one camp. I've gone too "social" before and nearly driven off some of the core players who have little interest in small talk but love combat. So now I always try to balance both, and if need be allow the group to separate naturally and run multiple simultaneous events like an attack at an outpost at the same time some characters are sweet talking a diplomat for information.

Lillian Any advice for a fledgling GM that you wish you had known when you started?

WildKitsune Don't drown your players in rules, and always remember that whatever "idea" you've created is never more than a setpiece for your players. The moment what you want takes center stage, it stops being a RP and turns into a novel filled with characters that have no incentive to act. Give players the opportunity to be creative, and to develop and shine, and you'll find something far more interesting and valuable than whatever idea drove you to create the RP in the first place. As I've said, it's all about the people, and if you remember that you'll have far more success than not.

Lillian Anything you'd like to add?

WildKitsune Just a heartfelt thanks to everyone that's stuck by with me and this little adventure over the years, and a hearty welcome to anyone that may find their paths crossing with mine. YOU are the ones that keep me writing.

3.1.13

Lillian How long have you been Role Playing?

Lord Wraith I've been roleplaying for at least four or five years, but the most important years were definitely the last three here on the Guild. I wasn't a very good roleplayer until I joined the Guild and learned quite a bit about the real world of GMing.

Lillian How long did it take you to make the switch from Player to GM?

Lord Wraith I found the switch pretty much instantaneous. I had always been a strong story teller and creative writer, so it felt only natural to take control of the roleplay and lead the direction. The biggest struggle is getting use to predicting other player's actions and finding a way to keep the plot loose enough for the other players to be able to tell their own stories within the GM's over arcing story.

Lillian Any tricks for doing that you've developed that you'd care to share?

Never post an interest check unless you're ready to do your out of character thread the same day, or alternatively post them both at the same time. This is because I've had a few RPs die before they've even started due to not having the time to put up the OOC and losing any interest I've gain. I've also found it better to scout out players in advance if only to bounce your ideas around before going to recruiting. Accepting every character that comes your way is always a bad idea, but so is just dismissing the character. If you're not willing to critque and encourage a player then you probably shouldn't be GMing quite yet.

Lillian What inspired you to GM in the first place?

Lord Wraith Like I mentioned above, I had always been a strong story teller and creative writer. I originally started off writing sprite comics on Drunk Duck before I got into roleplaying. Eventually I completely stopped making sprite comics in favour of creating roleplays which allowed others to actually play out what they thought should happen instead of suggesting it for the comics.

Lillian What do you feel is your most successful RP?

Lord Wraith That really depends on your definition of successful. In terms of long running or completed RPs, I sadly have very few to brag about. My RP, Mavericks: Genesis is probably the longest running RP I have with the most loyal of players. However I have a 1x1 which is much longer running, based in the same universe under the name of New Alexandria. But what I think got my name out there was a series of fantasy RPs under the prefix name of Blades. These RPs I would argue to be my most successful because I learned a lot of techniques for GMing from these RPs. They were among my first on the Guild so it was really the school of hard knocks.

Lillian Would you tell us a little about it?

Lord Wraith The basic idea behind Blades was actually inspired by Star Wars. The Blades themselves were who the players sought out or were playing as. More or less, the Blades were a stand in for the Jedi being powerful swordsmen and mages who had once been the prime protectors of the Kingdoms before those Kingdoms were bound under an Empire. The RP took place after the effects of the Empire, where the Blades had been driven into exile and the players were trying to seek them out and join them in order to rise up and free the Kingdoms.

Lillian What do you see as the reason for its success?

Lord Wraith Well I think what made it a success was the familiarity of the universe while still being original enough that the players could create their own stories within it. It had the sense of urgency while still allowing characters the time to build relationships and add depth to their characters. These are the elements I try to incorporate into every RP I create in order to encourage players to make their characters into very three dimensional characters.

Lillian How clearly do you plot your RP, do you plan for an end?

Lord Wraith I always plan for an end, never have I reached one yet though.

Lillian How much control of the story do you allow your players?

Lord Wraith That's always a trick. You put too much control over your players hey get frustrated, you give them too much freedom they tend to run off course and end up derailing the RP. There's definitely a balancing act between giving your players control and then guiding them into where you want the plot to go. I find the best course of action is to plan points for the RP to reach to, but let the players control how we reach those points with some encouragement.

Lillian How have you handled the inevitable dropouts?

Lord Wraith If I want an RP to be made of four people, I accept eight characters. I start an RP with the mindset that I'm going to lose anywhere from 25-50% of my players within a week. If I end up with more players than anticipated all the better, I'll adapt as I go.

Lillian Have you had much experience with problem players or inter player conflicts? If so how have you handled them, through PM or OOC for example?

Lord Wraith I've had some experience, I find most of them fizzle out in the OOC but I prefer the PM approach. Though I've never had to go that far yet.

Lillian What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

Lord Wraith Biggest mistake is giving the role of your primary antagonist to a player. If that player isn't on board at a GM level I would never advise such a thing. The RP dies with it's antagonist, and as such letting a player hold such power only for them to disappear is definitely a huge mistake. I'd say the other worst mistake I've made is making an Interest Check and an Out of Character thread for a story I've had no interest in going through with. As a GM it's never a good idea to make an RP you don't want to give over a hundred percent towards.

Lillian Do you take a hands on or hands off approach to GMing? i.e. do you have characters you run that are a little bit more than NPC's

Lord Wraith Definitely a very hands on approach. I always have an actual character who is down in the trenches with the players while I also control the NPCs around the players and ensure the progress of the RP.

Lillian What would be the best bit of advice you would give a new GM about how to run a successful RP?

Lord Wraith Always be willing to listen to your players but also to stand by your rules. No matter what, you can never falter at enforcing your own word. If you said a player has three days, or that you will post in three days and you don't follow through don't expect your players to follow through with what they say they'll do either.

Lillian What is your least favorite part of about GMing?

Lord WraithLeast favourite part is definitely rejecting players who either didn't read the story's information or who just submit characters that are clearly wrong for the RP, over powered or just plain boring. No one wants a Mary Sue after all, but I hate to be the one to point out that's what your character is.

Lillian What is your favorite part of about GMing?

Lord Wraith Best part has to be watching a group come together and start to act like a team and seeing some real chemistry happen. That's when you know you have a good RP going and that you're going to be in for a good time.

Lillian Anything else you'd like to add?

Lord Wraith I'd definitely like to take the time to thank Stein, Hillan, Vonghese and Sloth who have been some of my closest comrades on the Guild and the most frequent players and Co-GMs in most of my RPs.

**Lillian Thorne** · 03-19-2012

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