So, I've got this great medieval idea in the works that's so great, it will doubtlessly take up days upon weeks upon months of time(including procrastination) so to wind up my RPing gears I was thinking why not just do a good old 'throw characters into a dormitory' setup?

Now I don't know about all of you guys, but during my early days of evolving as a writer I would very frequently do RPs like that. A bunch of students going to a new school(often magical) or something just... typical. Like that. A setting that requires little effort and gives you a chance to create whatever backstory you prefer. I love using these types of RPs to develop new characters and simply to test character interaction. Its awkward, unwieldy, and difficult in that it gives the RPers a huge amount of freedom that is actually difficult to deal with.

So, that said, would anyone be interested in joining me? I think the largest point of the exercise would be to develop characters and our own ability to write these characters realistically. Meaning no making them get along with someone just because its easier to write, no following an opinion just because it is the authors, and not even magically locating other characters to interact with at all times.

Let me know. It'd also be cool to know some of you and have some personal experience RPing with you before I try making a more complicated concept into a rp. :3

Interested.

Also interested.

I'm listening

Ye Old dorm life. While that sounds orgasmic in so many ways, I'd only be interested if there was something of substance behind the plot. Perhaps we're not students at all, but a large, diverse group of people from all walks of life who have all ended up somewhere together, for different reasons. Perhaps this place is not as it seems to be. Throw some mystery in the mix. Who are all of these people? Where did they come from? Why are they here? Are they really who they say they are?

I'd be intensely interested in something like that.

I'm already seeing an amazing character. A male in his mid-late 20's suffering from severe memory loss. Doesn't know who he is, where he is, how or why he got here. That journey would be great for me.

I dunno. Just throwing it out there.

OutlawTorn said
Ye Old dorm life. While that sounds orgasmic in so many ways, I'd only be interested if there was something of substance behind the plot. Perhaps we're not students at all, but a large, diverse group of people from all walks of life who have all ended up somewhere together, for different reasons. Perhaps this place is not as it seems to be. Throw some mystery in the mix. Who are all of these people? Where did they come from? Why are they here? Are they really who they say they are?I'd be intensely interested in something like that.I'm already seeing an amazing character. A male in his mid-late 20's suffering from severe memory loss. Doesn't know who he is, where he is, how or why he got here. That journey would be great for me.I dunno. Just throwing it out there.

A plot idea I had was a movie crew in a city , trying to make a movie but also trying to keep themselves sane during production in this rather messed up city.

OutlawTorn said
Perhaps we're not students at all, but a large, diverse group of people from all walks of life who have all ended up somewhere together, for different reasons. Perhaps this place is not as it seems to be. Throw some mystery in the mix. Who are all of these people? Where did they come from? Why are they here? Are they really who they say they are?I'd be intensely interested in something like that.

Being stranded on an island is the simplest thing that comes to my mind. However, even that can have a twist put on it. Maybe its not an island theyre stranded on, but theyre trapped elsewhere. Maybe theyre holed up in a giant mall because of the obvious zombie apocalypse. Maybe theyre stuck in a weird castle having been magically transported there. Idk, these things function in a very similar way but can be vastly different.

That being said, some people just want to live it up in a dorm and dont want more than that.

Color me interested in this one...the giant mall idea is somewhat interesting...the Zombie survival thing doesn't have to be the exact focus.

In any case...I'll be watching to see what happens in this one.

The zombie survival thing is really only to give a reason as to why theyre there and can't leave. :P

Oh geez hahaha. You guys really ran away with this. I was just thinking pure slice of life. I mean, sure characters can have dramatic backstories. While I will encourage some people to make characters that would pass as perfectly normal in society I know its far too much to ask most RPers to make just those types of characters. Indeed, I already intend on making one set of characters that is essentially a heir to a influential family and his younger adopted brother/assistant/servant type person.

Moving on though from my original ideas allow me to appraise some of yours. The island idea is interesting, but in my experience it has always failed for one reason; Balance between interaction with characters and the environment and a lack/difference of knowledge between RPers on how to survive on an island. When survival is an issue I find that RPers only know their personal plans for how to get by on an island and the presence of that while fulfilling in a story you write on your own tends to dull character interaction in an RP. That said, I'm still open since I've grown a LOT as a Rper since the last time I tried, and we can always easily give them some modern conveniences while still making them stranded(Maybe communication wires go down in a storm, but they still have some estate on the island until people realize they're stranded)

Trapped in a magical castle is ironically the first RP I ever did with the duo I mentioned earlier. That tends to work really easily for a RP since it forces a number of characters to interact with each other. If we were to do such a RP, I'd find it personally less interesting than a dorm unless it had some deeper plot. Since characters are forced to interact, it'd be easier to rp, and I feel less fulfilling than attempting to wrangle everyone in a dorm into meaningful and realistic interactions. If I were to do such a rp, I think it'd be a lot more fun with some source of power trapping them, with a GM controlling said source of power. Then, probably some Battle Royale or Dangan Ronpa sort of thing(I happen to love the way Dangan Ronpa works, if you haven't seen/read it, google it) within the walls to give it that tension and add murder to the mix.

Thoughts? I've gotten enough interest to go for the dorm idea, I just want to examine everyones thoughts further. I'm going to detail the architecture of the dorm, the culture of the town, what schools and workplaces are available... just do some stuff like that to make it easier on everyone to join the rp before I make it. Should get it out later today.

Haha I was just throwing some ideas around. Though, now you mention it, a Battle Royale RP would be coool~~

I like Dangan Ronpa's plot better, personally. Battle Royale has very little interaction, constant distrust, and killing off very frequently. I think with a good DM the plot of Dangan Ronpa can be reused/adapted to a rp and made to be very fun. Basically, people handle killing through the DM along with how they try, and he handles the contact with the victim and ect. That way the perpetrator is only known to the DM and the person RPing that character. It would need a lot of good rpers, and ones willing to have their character die off too though.

Plus the whole 'You get away with it, everyone else dies. You get caught, only you die' mechanic is a lot of fun, I think. :3

I'm done with the Setting stuff for the dorm rp. Just need to outline rules, character outlines... probably actually make my first few characters.... ect. So its about 1/3rd of the way done. For people interested in thinking ahead, the city is named Nashua, it is a generally unremarkable city except that its community college is at a higher level than the much more remarkable city Herford that is just a two hour train ride away. There is also another town named Lovell a short commute away that is known for its school of arts, which bridges both high school and college levels.

Thats the basic gist, since school will probably be the main reason for people staying in the boarding house, those are the options. I was thinking of focusing mostly on college age(makes the most sense to be moving out) but allowing a wide range of ages if people want. Even a 50 year old down on his luck who is attending college again, or maybe just a local middle schooler whose parents are moving away. So long as weird backstories and age groups aren't the norm, I'll be cool with that.

Also, I'm making a two character minimum. Which I guess is kind of unique. So just keep that in mind, one of those two will have to be slice of life, no amnesia, no tragic backstory(beyond perhaps ordinary life stuff) not rich.... he/she can be INTERESTING, just not 'woah I'm heir to this company, I'm rich, and I can't remember my memories! Also I may have killed my parents!' and ect. A rp can only hold so many people like that and function. X3

Hmmm, Im not sure what Dangan Ronpa is but I'll look it up. I think I was more attracted to the general idea of BR (which, in essence, makes me attracted to The Hunger Games as well).

Anyways, you can certainly expect an app from me. :)

Dangan Ronpa involves a number of new students at an academy for the incredibly gifted being locked up inside the academy with no way of escape, except killing someone and getting away with it. They are given food, but no television or other commodities besides what it takes to live a comfy life. Food, the others for company, some school facilities. When someone dies, everyone has a period to investigate the death. Then a trial is held where everyone pools their evidence to try and find out the culprit. If they find out, only the culprit is killed. If they don't, the culprit gets to leave and everyone else there dies.

I like the whole addition of detective aspects and trial aspects to it. :3 Makes it seem more... refined. Clever. You know?

Although I don't really like the student part, I thought that the original Idea was a good way to get into character for other RPs. That is, I thought about writing a character that I have in the works for another RP, but rather than his life as a sort-of detective, I'd write about him before that. Again, just to get in character.

Well, it is a boarding home. While they probably advertised to students, anyone could need a cheap place to stay. I just focused on the student aspect because that'd probably be the most common type of resident. :) and yeah, that is basically the idea. I like to put people in these types of rps to see how they do before putting them to the true test.

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/47808/posts/ooc

And it has been posted. :) I'll get a link in my signature before too long.

Bumping this

I think the biggest issue with "slice of life" type RPs, especially ones where you're playing students, is that is lends itsself far, far far too much to very basic levels of escapism, as opposed to challenging writers to create complex characters with struggles and arcs.

It's appealing because it's easy, and it's easy because most people on this site are or recently were students.

I dunno. Just my 2 cents. I think slice of life is a little less writing exercise and a little more writing self-pleasure. Which, hey, if thats what you want, by all means.

Anything can be a writing exercise, it all depends on the restraints you put onto yourself. I suppose it is made far easier by being something many people already have personal experience with, but even if its without any surreal elements I believe slice of life can have complex characters with both static and dynamic personalities. Either way, you're practicing writing what you're writing and I believe a lot of RPers struggle more with side/normal characters, always focusing on main character status dramas and arcs. Being able to rp a character in slice of life could build the same skills to allow you to make a realistic background for a side character in another story or rp.

The true challenge for any supernatural/fantasy RP lies not with the characters though, but in setting. I always overthink any fantasy setting to ridiculous levels, even if its just the normal human world with magic attached, I find myself spending hours considering how the world fits together with the existence of whatever fantasy elements I add. Characters then are based on that setting and by comparison are not very difficult.

I can't argue the easy part though. I chose it because I wanted to get started on here and didn't want to have to spend said hours upon hours developing a fantasy world for people first, especially before I knew I'd get bites and some solid RPers in there. I just don't feel there's much difference in difficulty for the RPers. Anyone in any Rp can play a challenging character to write, or an easy one, and that's all based on their personal choices and preferences.