Designing original story worlds / caracter backstories?

[LuminousTyto]

Alright, first off I'm going to say that I'm pretty new to role playing, in fact I've only played about a half dozen failed RPs with my friends over chat which you'd probably gauge in quality to be up in par with the "free role play."

Anyways I'm interested in RPing in a slightly more quality environment, although the problem is that few RPs seem to be very original, and the original ones I do come across, just don't spark that much interest for me.

I'm interested in designing some original content (story worlds / character back stories, etc.) The problem is that I'm not sure how in-depth role players out there actually want the content to be. For instance, if you were to play a Star Wars RP, chances are that you know a lot about Star Wars and you probably know the difference between a regular battle droid and a super battle droid. I'm sure you know who IG88 is too! Corescant is the center of the republic, and the Mandalorian warrior culture has long been extinct, etc, etc. I could go on forever and chances are you'd know 90% of what I'm talking about, which means we'd have a huuuge story world to work with as we RP in the fantastic world of Star Wars. It's not like that with two or three pages of back story and a few character bios when designing a quick RP.

I don't tend on spending the next ten years building a story world for you all, but I think you get what I'm saying.

Anyways a story world I'd create would detail past and present elements, such as conflicts, social attitudes, histories, etc. But I wouldn't impose any sort of plot on whoever wanted to use my material. What I want to do is design a story world to give the author and his role players a feel for the story world, and then let the author come up with a specific plot of his/her own choosing. This way we can have content that's a little more original than say Star Wars, Final Fantasy, etc, which are all really cool themes, but just a little overdone in my opinion.

I'm also thinking of finding artists to collaborate with to put art into the text fields to give an added visual element to the story world.

Actually I'm not going to take a crack at this very soon, I feel I definitely need more role play experience to be able to contribute to this community, but it's just something that's been on my mind.

I appreciate any opinions, thoughts or advice you have on my post, and I look forward to keeping this post open for further discussion.

XD

[Therooster]

I would sugest to take a field you enjoy. For me it is steampunk now take this field and try to give a extra twist to it. i took steampunk and put it in a sky pirate setting. this gave me and attvantage over people who post titles like "STEAMPUNK RP... YAWR". I have a littl extra backstory behind it now and still keep the originality. When you post an RP with the words Steampunk, Sci-Fi, or Fantasy it already gives you alot of info about teh rp even without knowing the twist. this wil not only allow you to get a lot of information off in very few words it will also attracked people who are into that genre.

[LuminousTyto]

Thanks for the info. If you come up with anything else, let me know.

[Kestrel]

I'm interested in designing some original content (story worlds / character back stories, etc.) The problem is that I'm not sure how in-depth role players out there actually want the content to be.

We've got multiple brands of roleplayers over here, roughly spread throughout the three sections. If you want a fairly elaborate background world, you're chaining yourself to advanced (possibly 'high-casual' but let's not go there) from the get-go.

For instance, if you were to play a Star Wars RP, chances are that you know a lot about Star Wars and you probably know the difference between a regular battle droid and a super battle droid. I'm sure you know who IG88 is too! Corescant is the center of the republic, and the Mandalorian warrior culture has long been extinct, etc, etc. I could go on forever and chances are you'd know 90% of what I'm talking about, which means we'd have a huuuge story world to work with as we RP in the fantastic world of Star Wars. It's not like that with two or three pages of back story and a few character bios when designing a quick RP.

Awesome, I don't have to explain this :D Good on you!

I don't tend on spending the next ten years building a story world for you all, but I think you get what I'm saying.

Anyways a story world I'd create would detail past and present elements, such as conflicts, social attitudes, histories, etc. But I wouldn't impose any sort of plot on whoever wanted to use my material. What I want to do is design a story world to give the author and his role players a feel for the story world, and then let the author come up with a specific plot of his/her own choosing. This way we can have content that's a little more original than say Star Wars, Final Fantasy, etc, which are all really cool themes, but just a little overdone in my opinion.

Here's where we get to the meat of it though, you're selling a world rather than a game. That is, let me tell you, tricky. Because most likely, as everyone else designing worlds, you want to put all the elements you like in it. That's cool for an art expo, but... Getting players becomes, more often that not, difficult when going by this approach. I mean, it is much more difficult to sell something through text than say... An animated and/or interactive medium. You have a higher barrier when it comes to immersion. So too many outlandish elements will be hard to get into. So you'd do well to identify player types and their desires. On this, very important DO NOT TRUST WHAT ANYONE TELLS YOU. I'm not joking. Instead, look at other RP's that have a similar feel to what you're planning. See what kinda players it attracts, what habits they have, what toys they play around with, etc. Incorporate these kinds of elements in your world and highlight them. For example; forbidden romance could be a popular element in highschool roleplays. So if your world is a highschool, you emphasize on having two or more different castes in that highschool, allowing players to do their thing. You will need a hook for potential players, and you will need a hook fast in order to stand out.

On top of that your goal is to have players play in that world, play their own plots and stories. Cool, cool, sure, except with that players will want to have influence as well. If one player wants to play in a crime syndicate in your world, that has to be possible and they'll probably want to design said syndicate and it's operations their selves, as opposed to you filling in their CS. To allow this you will need lots of wiggle room in your established setting. The less wiggle room, the higher the entrance barrier, the worse off you are at the inevitable numbs game (attract and keep active players to keep your rp alive.)

So what I'd advise is about a paragraph per element max. Get the bare bones of your idea out there and only fill it in with the help of the players over the course of the RP. Not before that. RP's are long-term projects, combining creation, interaction and storytelling. Spread them over the course of the RP. All of them. Trust me on that one.

I'm also thinking of finding artists to collaborate with to put art into the text fields to give an added visual element to the story world.

Don't count on it unless you're willing to pay.

Anyway, keep in mind that you're not just looking at creating a world, you're also looking at creating a hook and maintaining people's interest.

[LuminousTyto]

Yo, thanks for the post. You've given me a lot of useful information! I definitely get what you're saying about "wiggle room," too. Best to give the general flavor and let the role players fill in or simply create what they want during the course of the RP.

As far as art goes, it's not absolutely necessary, but if I can get enough people excited (fat chance?) maybe I could start one of those kick-starter projects and get a little funding for it.

[MasterCrew]

Anyways a story world I'd create would detail past and present elements, such as conflicts, social attitudes, histories, etc. But I wouldn't impose any sort of plot on whoever wanted to use my material. What I want to do is design a story world to give the author and his role players a feel for the story world, and then let the author come up with a specific plot of his/her own choosing. This way we can have content that's a little more original than say Star Wars, Final Fantasy, etc, which are all really cool themes, but just a little overdone in my opinion.

Hey there! I've created several worlds in my time as an author of several fantasy books. I noticed that you might need some help with creating background content and possibly map creation. Background writing is not my forte, but I have done it in the past. As for map creation, this is my favorite hobby. Anything from digital to hand drawn map design, you name it, I've done it.

If you'd like some help, I more than happy to contribute!

[LuminousTyto]

Thanks for the offer MasterCrew! Do you have any images of some of the work you've done? I'd really like to see some of the maps you've made.

[MasterCrew]

Of course! Since the size and quality of this image is too high, I had to down grade the image quality.

Here one of my better digital maps:


I can also provide you a image copy of this particular map without the country names and boundary markings. Currently, I am engaged in the creation of 4 other maps.

Also, here is one of a few flags I have designed for the countries inside of this map:




For a story I wrote last semester, here is a Map of Europe in 2060 I designed:




As for hand drawn maps, I do not have any pictures of them, but I could get pictures as soon as tomorrow afternoon.

[LuminousTyto]

Nice. I don't think I'll be using real world maps, though I'm not entirely sure about that. What I really like is that flag you made. I also design maps, but it's been a while. I use adobe photoshop and a pen tablet.

So how long does it take you to make a flag light like that?

Btw, I went to your profile and in your interests you say writing and sketching. Are maps the only thing you sketch, or do you do other things as well?

[MasterCrew]

Photoshop all the way! It's very helpful! For the flag, that took about an hour thirty to design.

Primarily, map sketching is what I do best, while I've had limited experience in sketching characters, architectural buildings, and weapons. I haven't completed many character designs, but the ones I have finished, I sketch him/her in their environment. As for the weapons and buildings, minor experience is probably the best description of my work with those areas of sketching.