While the Admins want to make it clear this isn't going to be a popularity contest or a vote, we do want to reach out to the community and ask for recommendations for a new site moderator to take up my former spot on the team. There is no rush to fill this spot and we have every intention of taking a long time to fill it. Know someone who you're convinced will make a great site moderator? Let me know and tell me why. Want to recommend yourself? Do it.

All recommendations should be PMed to me on the site or DMed to me on Discord. They need to be at least 18 years old.

Along the same line if you, or your group, want to talk to me about any issues or ask questions you can stop in at the recent Off Topic thread I made (Ask an Admin), reach out to me in PMs/DMs, or even send me a server invite. Since being made an Admin I've gotten a few server invites and I'm happy to hop in and chat with members who may not normally get a chance to pick an Admin's brain.

Thanks and good luck with the roleplaying!

Calling all infiltrators, operators and saboteurs: we have another mission for you. Any platoon of oafs with assault rifles and a brain cell between them can storm and capture a location of interest, but how intact it will be after they are finished is another question; bullet fragments and grenade shrapnel tend to make a mess of things, including any computers and filing cabinets full of valuable intel. Some things are much better handled with a deft, maybe even a gentle touch. Perhaps there's a VIP that requires disappearing, or a junction box needs its contents trimmed a tad to cause a little disturbance and draw attention away from a crucial area. Of course sometimes, remaining entirely undetected is not an option. One will need to adapt and get their hands dirty, though still have the good sense to be reasonable and surgical about their movements.

This is where you come in, agent. Your wide variety of skills as a dependable, determined and resourceful asset makes you perfect for the wetwork that is required of you. Light is green, agent. Grab your gadgets, probe for an insertion point, and move with the shadows.

And if it does come down to horseplay, at the very least try not to get blood on your suit.

I find that my best characters come when I get a brief little concept that pops into mind - i.e. 'Geeky Scientist Who Wears Roller Skates No Matter What' or 'Entitled Trust Fund Baby Who Doesn't Speak Any English, During the Zombie Apocalypse in Georgia.' If I have that little blurb for myself, I can usually find a name that I think matches the concept, then I look for a photograph. I usually come up with first names and then struggle with the surname. The personality usually springs from that initial concept and then I work backwards, thinking about what happened in their life to make them that way. In one of Lady A's RPs, I play probably one of my best character creations - Cecily Ashworth. I knew that I wanted to play a nerdy forensic scientist who loved comic books and as I went through the motions, I realized comic books appealed to her because she felt like an outsider growing up. She felt like an outsider because her parents had them moving a lot, so she never had permanence (which is why the logic and unchanging aspect of science appealed to her). She picked forensics in particular because her parents were lawyers - but they moved frequently since they were defense attorneys that catered to the worst of the worst around the country. I made this character in my senior year of high school and now that I'm about to graduate from college, I still adore her.

On the flip side, my worst characters I have to say came from either picking a faceclaim first - or in superhero RPs, a power. I have trouble writing and connecting with them if I don't get that initial pitch in my head. I think that having a personality you find interesting and/or a concept such as mentioned above can make for a long lasting and enjoyable character. In the cases where I didn't do that, I ultimately ended up shelving the character (those in X-Men may now realize why I stopped using Dean Kesseli now lol)

But in short - personality and that little blurb? Those are the most important factors for making a character in my opinion - at least, that's been the case for me. Since ultimately the goal of making a character is to create someone you enjoy writing about and that you're excited to tell stories about - and if I don't get those two things nailed down first, then I'm ultimately not going to be that invested in the character and their development.

Oh - and as an extra thought, thinking about what sort of character arcs you might want to play out also is great to do while creating the character! Playing a static character isn't fun, but what I do love about character arcs is that you can come up with them at any time - and if you didn't like the character you made during character creation, you can start slowly pushing them in a direction to become that amazing concept you once had.

Something I learned from my good friend @Dervish is that the two most important things you need as a GM before you start your roleplay are 1) a roadmap and 2) a reliable group of players.

The story beats of the plot, all the way until the end, should be figured out before you set off. Yes, stories can deviate, but you need something to deviate from in the first place, otherwise it's easy to feel lost and overwhelmed while trying to keep your players interested and engaged. Think of the story you want to tell first, then find people to do it with.

Vet your players. Judge their character sheet, make them submit an excerpt of their writing, possibly even go through their post history to find out how often they drop roleplays and how often they stick to them. Most roleplays die way before they reach the end. Many before they even begin. If you want to see your story through to the end, don't accept people that are known to flunk out. The gods (and @Jbcool) know that I flunk out a lot. I wouldn't necessarily accept me because of that.

Well, I would, but that's just because I'm that fuckin' good.

Before you make the roleplay you need passion for the idea. You can prep a roleplay and half way through it, you lose interest. Don't make a roleplay simply because others want you to make the idea. Make the roleplay when you're most inspired and ready to take on that commitment.

Like @Hank said, a road map, or a general idea of where you want to take the story is beneficial. But, I'd like to add that it's important to be open to your writers' ideas and also be able to improvise, if needed. There needs to be a balance of plot and giving your writers freedom to explore their characters and their own story arcs.

Hank's other point, with having a dedicated group of writers, to me should be an incredible highlight to the success of a roleplay. You can never 100 percent guarantee all those that apply to your game will stay invested, unfortunately. So, the route I choose to go to is: test the waters. To me, even flakes deserve a second chance. Still, be prepared that you will lose writers and think of how to recover from that. A back-up plan, like organically writing their characters out. Unless your game has major roles like a king in a kingdom and the writer leaves unceremoniously and at a terrible time in the story, I feel like if you're capable of working around possible hiccups then you will find those that are the ride or dies for your story.

One of my best experiences as a GM was for a superhero roleplay called Divided We Stand where I was a stand in GM for a long period of time due to the actual GM's personal life. Many people joined and many people left, yet pushing the story past those lows is kind of like weeding out those that aren't passionate about the idea anymore or invested with their character(s) as much as you are. I built a GM team of five people, who took care of different sections of the universe and moderating. My team kept me sane and I found myself inspired by them, and the other writers still fighting the great fight, because of how much they fell in love with the story. It helped that I kept them engaged by planning events, with suggestions from all my writers, but also that they kept thinking of possible head canons which was the catalyst for future posts. Our imaginations are truly our fuel and when we run out of ideas that's when we know we need to do something to either bring the spark back, like going to the GM or the people in the roleplay for advice, or find something else that brings us joy.

Communication is key. Stay transparent with your feelings and hopefully the GM and everyone else will help you. Life happens. Sometimes, for your own health, you have to say goodbye. That's okay. We love this hobby, but if you're only in a roleplay because you have to be and not because you want to see it through, that's not good.

Take care of yourself.

I will say, it feels phenomenal when you see your roleplay, or a roleplay you're a part of, flourish and overcome many obstacles. At the end of the day, that sense of fulfillment and enjoying the ride for however long it goes is what I look forward to.

In addition, at the beginning of a roleplay, you might have an idea of who is reliable and who isn't. Someone who is completely reliable could end up dropping because they took on too many roleplays and someone who has flaked many times before could prove you wrong. The only one who can decide your method of judging and giving writers grace periods, and forgiveness (or no forgiveness), is you.

I hope with perseverance and strength you find just what you need for the roleplays you're itching to write.

Similar to @Morose I have to have a bare bones concept in my head. A sells pitch to myself. That, or I have to really want to explore a certain territory. May it be a controversial subject or simply a character with a goal. For example, oh man, I have a strong desire to write an abrasive knucklehead that is so caught up with his ex that he fails to focus on the present with his friends. That would allow me to explore the subject of learning to let go and move on. If we can connect something about our character to ourselves, which I've had my fair share of bad breaks and letting go, then we find ourselves able to relate to them even in the slightest. Some of our best writing roots to our own personal experiences. But it isn't limited to just that. Sometimes I want to write out topics I would never personally do in my waking life like make a sado-masochist that toys with people as if it were a game. Why the hell not?! I like to challenge myself and if I really want to do it, even if I'm not sure I'm capable of giving it justice, you bet your bottom dollar I'm going to try! And do research. Lots of research.

Ultimately, character creation starts off with a seed. A seed from a picture you see and suddenly boom you see a character in that face. A seed from your childhood and suddenly boom you have a backstory in mind. A seed from a simple chat you had with a friend and boom a what if joke leads to you thinking of a 'goal' to give a character. Once you plant that seed and choose to bring that character to fruition, you choose how much care you'll give it. Maybe the seed was good at first but when you started watering it and giving it sunlight you found out: hey, this type of flower doesn't mesh well with me. I use to like playing naive, innocent characters, but now I just find it boring. Or maybe, when you grow with the flower, you surprise yourself and realize, hey I'm not half bad at this. I didn't think I could write a villainous antagonist that everyone loves to hate, but shoot, this is fun! I'm pretty good at being evil!

Wraith said there is no right or wrong way. There really isn't. We can suggest our methods, but it takes you just exploring topics and yourself to find out what works for you. I'm twenty six years old and I've been roleplaying for 15ish... plus... years. There doesn't come a day that I don't learn something new as a writer. Just try not to fear failing. I know that's hard to do, because we writers tend to have insecurities that eat at us daily, but once you're willing to give it a good try, who knows what you'll discover about yourself.

I'd say entertaining even the smallest of ideas you have can go a long way and bring you down a road where you might create the best character you've ever made.

As an artist, my approach to building characters or RP games is very loose. If I am completely honest, I like to build worlds and interesting characters more than I play. The act of creating for me is the best part. I agree that having a "road map" is fairly important, as @Hank mentioned above. However, I very much like to improvise most of it, and I like to feed off of the group more than I like to nail down a solid plot. As @TootsiePop stated, I feel as though improvisation is the best approach, for me anyway. Having a thoroughly laid out plan is stifling, and it can really deter optional ideas and avenues that you might not have even thought about. I definitely enjoy being led by the group.

I do try to create a very immersive environment putting enough information into a sandbox type game that players have tons of options, lore, etc., so that they can lead themselves without too much given direction. This allows for characters and worlds or places to reach their full potential, and become whatever it is that they become without a great deal of hinderance. More recently I have been adding a bit of tabletop mechanics in with my games, not so much that it is overbearing, as I do enjoy the literary aspects of this play by post style of roleplaying. The reasoning behind this is that I have grown tired of players just writing in glorious action or success without any real consequence or gravity within their posts. That is probably one of my biggest peeves about play by post RP's, as it becomes way too easy to just write a character through a scene.

I enjoy grittier themes, and flawed characters are the best in my book, but more often than not failure and compromise is overlooked, and takes a backseat to having a glorious outcome or a chance to shine, and it cheapens the deal for me. Write through success is the vanilla of play by post roleplaying for me. I hope this is making a little sense to everyone because it is hard for me to describe, but I am sure that GM's know what I am talking about. I very much believe that setbacks and failures compound and enrich plots and characters, and fortify them into being genuine and realistic, and make them true to themselves respectively, and there's my two cents.

Hello there.

We are very pleased to be able to present this guide on how to develop and run a long term, multi-storyline roleplay. With more and more roleplays reaching landmarks on the guild, it's becoming more common than ever before to see GMs cross the finish line and complete the story they set out to tell. For some, it's a bittersweet moment - you have accomplished something fantastic, but you aren't ready to say goodbye to those characters and that world just quite yet. In order to keep the good times rolling, one solution is to make a sequel - same characters, same world, just a new plot.