This has been on my mind since the already legendary @Force and Fury led me to this place.

My sole RPG-hosting experience so far was either taking turns hosting within a fixed format of the forum, or hosting something among friends for fun. What these 2 situations had in common, was that the job of gathering an audience was pretty much already done.

This place is different, you need to gather interest for your ideas, having an idea you yourself like isn't good enough, you need to get others to like it. And I just so happen to wonder if people here have special ways to approach that factor.

Maybe there are people that only look for interest after they think they have found an incredibly original hook? Maybe some people look at what genre is popular and try to accommodate that? Maybe I am overthinking this and most people just start RPG's they themselves like?

Interested to see what might come out of this.

-Formatting & Presentation. Make it look good and you're more likely to get folks to come along.
-Organization. Make your information easy to follow. Don't put too much detail in and swamp gents, and put enough in so people know what to expect. Having a character sheet together from a start lets people start up ideas early and draws a little more interest sometimes.
-Trends. New movie came out that's big and mainstream? You might get some 'cheap interest' by catering to that. Survivability of such a roleplay may vary.
-Original angles are nice, but sometimes it's just a matter of making the original concept look decent. Trying to be 'incredibly original' for the sake of being original and unique can result in your idea being so odd that people can't properly connect to it.

Note that, while it's important to get a group together in the first place, the real shit job of a leader here is keeping that group alive, interested, and posting so it doesn't die in 3 weeks or over that duration at some point.

-Formatting & Presentation. Make it look good and you're more likely to get folks to come along.
-Organization. Make your information easy to follow. Don't put too much detail in and swamp gents, and put enough in so people know what to expect. Having a character sheet together from a start lets people start up ideas early and draws a little more interest sometimes.
-Trends. New movie came out that's big and mainstream? You might get some 'cheap interest' by catering to that. Survivability of such a roleplay may vary.
-Original angles are nice, but sometimes it's just a matter of making the original concept look decent. Trying to be 'incredibly original' for the sake of being original and unique can result in your idea being so odd that people can't properly connect to it.

Note that, while it's important to get a group together in the first place, the real shit job of a leader here is keeping that group alive, interested, and posting so it doesn't die in 3 weeks or over that duration at some point.

I was more or less going to give a lower quality piece of advice that when polished, refined and well thought out, would be this but with fewer points... do as this says.

BUT here is a little trick: make the Interest Check short and sweet, and leave the immersion details for the OOC or when you have piqued people's interest. Allure them first, then give them the meal... it's like chasing a rabbit.

By making myself stand out.

Mentioned above but formatting makes a massive difference. If anything I'd say it's the one factor that will kill ANY roleplay if it's not done correctly. Headings that pop, readable paragraphs, and an ease to find information is key. You want people to join so take some time to give it a gloss over in style.

Example: Site Rules

Indent tags, headers, lists, and a colour tag. It is so basic and yet it just appears nice and readable. If you have an RP in the works and need some advice for style, I'm only a PM away.

But let's say you have all that then, like @ArenaSnow said, use themes that are popular at the time and ideas that people seem interested in.

Example: Wanna make a Star Wars RP? Then don't do it now...
Create it and hold onto it til December this year.
Why?
Because the new movie—The Last Jedi—will be out, and I can bet people will be flooding over any decent Star Wars RP around that time period.

Lastly, if you do wanna create a unique roleplay, be prepared to repost it at a later date if you don't get the attention you need. I've done it before where I've posted the same interest check months apart and gotten two different results. You only need to look at what happens during 1x1 interest check bumps to see how timing can matter.

It really is going to boil down to how you are as a Gm and what type of crowd you are wanting to attract. Some people are good with a few details and building along with you, some people want a map. Some might be good to just see a few tid bits in the interest checks, others want everything that will be in the original OOC post right off the bat.

As stated before - layout is going to be a major factor but no matter how much interest you generate at the beginning, keeping it moving and together is the long term goal. So think ahead. How far as you wanting to take this? Are you going to be able to keep it moving in 3 months? Six months? I know it may seem like most Rps will die of be finished in that time frame but that isn't always the case. I don't have a single RP I am hosting currently that has been running less than 7 months. I have multiple that are over a year.

Having a group helps but getting that group together in the first place is key. That will take an RP or two most likely. I joined many Rp's before I started Gming them here on the forum even though I had a lot of experience in the GM department. I wanted to get a feel for the people here and how things were done. I took what I learned from there and worked with it to work for me.

Personally, for me, when I make an Interest Check I have usually already worked on it for 1-6 months behind the scenes in PM's to myself. I have a complete Original OOC post ready and that is my Interest Check. It contains a summery, a hook, the rules, the CS templates, and more. I make sure Rpers know exactly what they are getting into with me before they even post interest. Will that work for you? Who knows. It works for me so I keep with it and tweak as needed.

If you are worried about code or layout, PM yourself and work on it where others can't see or grab a template from the Articles Section of the forum (I have a link to mine in my signature) - You may also want to check out Gming 101 and 201 to help try to figure out what may work for you.

No matter what you do, don't give up. Some Rp's will die or never even get off the ground. Just take it as a learning experience and keep trucking. As much as people may say that Rps dying or people loosing interest is the status quo it doesn't have to be for you. Any questions, feel free to pm me.

~Lady A

I hear filling your OP with spicy memes and smutty porn tends to make it stand out real quick.

My 2 cents

Having a well thought out idea that is formatted easily enough to sift through. Do people see what it is, understand what it's about and do they then want to actually join. The less effort to join the more people will flock to it. I'll just add that those that do join with medium effort applied usually stick around as they have more value put into their characters. Always being open helps me get a few inquires about joining which keeps the fresh feel going I guess. Some do actually join and that helps a lot with the character stagnation, seeing the same characters over and over can get stale.

Maybe I am overthinking this and most people just start RPG's they themselves like?

If I am not interested in it no matter how many people are it won't matter.