@idlehands That and it's not really a sandbox narrative. It it were, there wouldn't be a moderate sized player count and a big ol' fleshed out narrative waiting.

I'm excited to see where it goes. This is my first RP with you guys but I've lurked in others and I know it's quality work.

A set plot doesn't seem like it would be reliable in this setting though. You can count on crooks to be dishonest. Maybe if someone had called upon a band of heroes, or if we were all wrongfully imprisoned, something could come along that'd bind us together. Here we have many people with different ideas and goals and history. Not all of them has something in common, so I'm wondering how they're all gonna get together and accomplish something with one another.

A set plot doesn't seem like it would be reliable in this setting though. You can count on crooks to be dishonest. Maybe if someone had called upon a band of heroes, or if we were all wrongfully imprisoned, something could come along that'd bind us together. Here we have many people with different ideas and goals and history. Not all of them has something in common, so I'm wondering how they're all gonna get together and accomplish something with one another.

I've been running these games with Shaft since 2012, one of those games went for 2.5 years.

Pretty sure we know what we're doing at this point.

A set plot doesn't seem like it would be reliable in this setting though. You can count on crooks to be dishonest. Maybe if someone had called upon a band of heroes, or if we were all wrongfully imprisoned, something could come along that'd bind us together. Here we have many people with different ideas and goals and history. Not all of them has something in common, so I'm wondering how they're all gonna get together and accomplish something with one another.

That is the very appeal of the RP, how will this group work together to accomplish something before time runs out and they get branded as bandits and have bounties put on their heads.

Woah, I wasn't challenging your ability or experience my man. Just trying to figure out where we'll be going. We're writing collaboratively, right? It's just my input, I'm discussing the rp. That is all. :P

Oh, that reminds me. Where do you stand on collaborative posts? Because I generally like them but if they're done with more than 3 people it can get very bulky and take a lot of time to do.

Woah, I wasn't challenging your ability or experience my man. Just trying to figure out where we'll be going. We're writing collaboratively, right? It's just my input, I'm discussing the rp. That is all. :P

We know. It's just the appeal of it, dawgg. A ragtag group of misfits, cutthroats and vagabonds get together. Hijinks ensue. This is pretty much standard for all the RPs Dervs and I have done together and it's always good fun with a varied cast of different personalities.

Oh, that reminds me. Where do you stand on collaborative posts? Because I generally like them but if they're done with more than 3 people it can get very bulky and take a lot of time to do.

We like to keep collaborative posts short and digestible. I've always had it that collaborative posts are chock full of character development and meaningful character interaction that furthers an inter-character arc. If it's just ten paragraphs of three characters making small-talk or meaningless conversation, then keep it to intertwining solo posts. Collabs are for when characters profess their love for one another, or when two characters have a falling out and an argument, or when a great revelation about a character is brought to light. Don't get me wrong, they don't have to be awfully dramatic. It could just be a discussion of tattoos and scars around the fire, where a piece of each characters' history is brought up and the characters learn more about each other from these scars and Char A's question to Char B about where she learned to cook so well came from.

Now, if it's around a fire and the characters are only talking about the weather and their favorite foods and how much they love cats, then pls no collab pls.

Some of the best posts I've had were collabs. They're good if you have a lot of people in one area and if there'll be a lot of talking. The waiting to see the next persons post had its own appeal, even though there's less going back if you're not liking how the scene is progressing.

@Leidenschaft, yeah I get that. I thought having a strict plot for them to follow might not make good literary sense if their character would otherwise go against that flow, which is what I had meant. I usually have loose, malleable ideas in mind so it allowed leeway, and this is just a different way of doing things - was just sharing concern.

Some of the best posts I've had were collabs. They're good if you have a lot of people in one area and if there'll be a lot of talking. The waiting to see the next persons post had its own appeal, even though you there's less going back if you're not liking how the scene is progressing.

@Leidenschaft, yeah I get that. I thought having a set plot for them to follow might not make good literary sense if their character would otherwise go against that flow, which is what I had meant. I usually have loose, malleable ideas in mind so it allowed leeway, and this is just a different way of doing things - was just sharing concern.

Yea, I completely get that. I guess it's kind of an unspoken contract between player and GM to make a character that fits into the plot in a way that means lasting participation.

This by no means is a way for us to railroad you guys and to crack the whip when a character's motivations breaks the mold a little. We love for you to offer us ideas on your characters' arcs so we can integrate it in ways that broker a middle-ground between the flow of the main plot and that side-arc.

Just trust me when I say things don't always follow a predictable narrative path. Ultimately, we obviously can't account for every character's motivations and desires. That's the nature of group roleplays; you either give people the freedom to make the characters they want but give them at least a passible reason for sticking together, or you heavily restrict people to force them into the setting at the risk of alienating them and making people play a character they don't want to. We went with the former; we want people to play the characters they wish to, and in exchange we ask that the players suspend disbelief enough to keep your character with the narrative.

I mean, we could have said that everyone is a bandit in the same group who got arrested, but that limits player freedom.

The problem with characters breaking off is if we let them go their own way, we suddenly have to make an entirely separate plot with a bunch of new NPCs and account for continuity between each of the story arcs. You can see how this would become a nightmare; one person goes, and then another, and another, then you have a bunch of players on their own not interacting with anyone and then get bored and quit, thus nullifying any reason for us as GMs to work on each separate narrative.

Another reason is practicality; players drop out of all roleplays, it doesn't matter if it gives out free blowjobs and a micky of rum every week, people will leave. Players start branching off, and suddenly you have different groups going at different paces and then one group gets stuck because one or more players start going slowly for posting, or they drop put and leave a narrative void. It's a stupid mess.

Ideally, nobody would drop out and we can all contribute to the progressing narrative, but hard earned experience has taught me that you can't think of any character as being irreplacable to the plot and you can't pigeonhole players into special roles.

One kind of RP that always gets screwed are the ones where every character represents something (let's say Zodiac signs), and there's a prophesy that these characters are all needed to save the world or whatever. A month passes and the player for Aquarius drops out because she took on too many RPs, and the player for Gemini dropped because of school. Now the GM is struggling to find replacements, and at the same time the players for Aeries, Taurus, and Cancer aren't posting at all, and making excuses.

The RP is suddenly VERY screwed. Once it goes into that nosedive, there's such a small chance at saving it.

This is why I took on more players than I strictly wanted for the RP (I tend to like groups of six), but I wanted to give more players a chance to participate and to have a buffer in case people do drop out. If I had six, and three people leave this month, I have three players left.

Please don't take this as me being snippy or anything of the sort, I'm just explaining how we run things for these games, and why we set things on a mostly linear narrative (that and roleplays honestly take eons to accomplish any story arc; case in point, my Mass Effect RP is just wrapping up a mission now that was literally "clear a small mining facility" and it's been over 2 months now), so the more we streamline it, the sooner we can get to the good stuff.

So, yeah. Hope that clarifies the method to my madness and why I generally have to beat away players with a broom because the games generate a lot of interest.

Meh, I posted. It's kind of lackluster, but I'm a little tired after work and I wanted to get Brynn in.

@Leidenschaft Intro posts always seem an awkward affair for me at least~

Oh certainly, those are all things that has to be accounted for and I would see why you would GM the way that you do, especially if you have a route in mind already. It just boils down to defeat different styles. My group generally has everyone pitching in, so the only thing that really separates the GM from the rest of us is knowledge of the world we're in.

I think it would help to herd this diverse cast together If one of them had an amiable disposition and ability to lead. In that regard, Faruq looks to be the best candidate - but there's still the matter of figuring out how we can motivate the Orc, Reachmen, and Vigilent to tag along.

Speaking of, there actually was something regarding Finch that might help to progress had s development without intruding upon the main plot - and either of your characters would work perfectly for it. Some words of advice, something that would help get Finch's head out of the clouds and come to terms with what he would eventually have to accept. I'll send out a PM on my first break, about two and a half hours from now.

Oh certainly, those are all things that has to be accounted for and I would see why you would GM the way that you do, especially if you have a route in mind already. It just boils down to defeat different styles. My group generally has everyone pitching in, so the only thing that really separates the GM from the rest of us is knowledge of the world we're in.

I think it would help to herd this diverse cast together If one of them had an amiable disposition and ability to lead. In that regard, Faruq looks to be the best candidate - but there's still the matter of figuring out how we can motivate the Orc, Reachmen, and Vigilent to tag along.

Speaking of, there actually was something regarding Finch that might help to progress had s development without intruding upon the main plot - and either of your characters would work perfectly for it. Some words of advice, something that would help get Finch's head out of the clouds and come to terms with what he would eventually have to accept. I'll send out a PM on my first break, about two and a half hours from now.

I want to apologize for that wall of text; I do love my tangents. >_>

But yeah, every GM does things a bit differently, I know I've personally been floored when I had some people tell me how weird and restrictive my games were, then they explained they almost exclusively had sandbox games, then it all made sense. There's no right or wrong way to do a game, and that's kind of what makes it fun.

And please don't let any of that dissuade you from coming up with or pitching ideas like you are! We've had a few instances in the past where player pitched ideas and subplots were integrated, and we like working with people to see things come to life. Ultimately, it's a collaborative project, and while the GMs are steering it and setting up the framework of our little house, as I like to say, the players are the ones putting in the drywall.

And sure! I'd love to see it. :)

@Leidenschaft Intro posts always seem an awkward affair for me at least~

I rather enjoy them because I can be as long winded as I want building up to the final interaction. After that, I'm more succinct...a little more.

Going to give my post a second -- not dabbed out -- reading tomorrow. The italics are meant to be 'dream within a dream', so expect whimsy! Sorry, I mean whimsy!

Oh, and hopefully aggressive Faruq doesn't earn an early slap-stab!

@Spoopy Scary I disagree, Faruq is young. Chasing stories, and is using moon sugar ( In humans, its consumption causes a euphoric state followed by complete exhaustion)

The last thing you need is the young man out of his mind on the sugar trying to lead coherently. The shits addictive.

My two cents anyway.

<Snipped quote by DearTrickster>

I rather enjoy them because I can be as long winded as I want building up to the final interaction. After that, I'm more succinct...a little more.

It is nice to expand a bit :>. Though I think the awkwardness stems from not knowing or having a good feel for the character quite yet. I end up overthinking every reaction or interaction "Would this char REALLY say this" and "Are they overreacting???" It's a practice of overthinking~

@Spoopy Scary I disagree, Faruq is young. Chasing stories, and is using moon sugar ( In humans, its consumption causes a euphoric state followed by complete exhaustion)

The last thing you need is the young man out of his mind on the sugar trying to lead coherently. The shits addictive.

My two cents anyway.

Faruq is consuming fairly small portions of sugar, like a newcomer weary of its effects. It's best to describe his use of this substance as a symptom of the reason he wouldn't make an ideal leader. I'd be more concerned about this youth trying to find his place and suffering from recent traumas at the same time. Now that doesn't sound like a good recipe!