Like any medium, roleplays have conventions, commonalities we see across works. These arise naturally, and they exist for a reason, but to let them all stand as immutable laws limits what the medium can do. I made this thread as an open forum for talking about whatever weird, convention-breaking or experimental RP concepts that are hard to talk about elsewhere. I want to hear from you, not just what you think about the ideas I've outlined here, but about your own ideas.
Interesting things happen when people question them, when they explore beyond them, and that spirit can create some amazing new works (and also some truly awful ones). In the spirit of that exploration, I made a list of ideas for breaking common roleplay conventions, and some thoughts about what could be gained by employing them. This list is focused on Group play by post RPs, parts of it may be applicable to other methodologies, but the norms tabletop or 1x1 roleplays are different, some of these are less uncommon or even part of the default conduct in those. Few of these are original, possibly none of them are, but they are all what I would describe as rare occurrences. Like anyone, I’m still learning about roleplaying and approaches to it, and what I have written here I owe to what I’ve seen others do. Think of this as a resource and a way to start a conversation, for interested GMs and players to read through and think about if any of these are worth using. Some of the ideas complement each other and can be combined in interesting ways, although using all of them would require a very brave GM if it is even possible to do so. Out of this list, some are probably bad ideas, most are difficult to implement, but I hope that they are all ideas worth discussing nonetheless.
1. Flashbacks
This is a basic storytelling technique common in almost every medium, yet rare to see in a roleplay. When I’ve seen them, they are limited in scope. Single character, short-lived flashbacks that don’t qualify as a complete scene or even a complete post are the norm. Even these are rare. There are so many possibilities, from using flashbacks to make intro posts jump straight into the action to brief looks into characters past to deepen their backstory.
2. Flashforwards
More specialized than its better known cousin, this is where the narrative jumps ahead to shown a seen that takes place after whatever is the narrative present. Not very flexible, and it can create continuity headaches or impose harsh where the story will go, but it has its benefits. For one thing, it’s a wonderful way to build tension and introduce mystery. Unlike flashbacks, this is more of a GM tool, but if characters have some kind of preplanned direction then there is more opportunity to use them.
3. Asymmetric Information
By this I mean secrets shared between only the GM and some players. I’ve seen limited versions of this, usually player initiated rather than something the GM added to the roleplay. They could be things given out by the GM, things players create and then share with the GM, or a collaboration between the GM and the player, such as a the GM asking players to create a secret with particular guidelines. Other examples could be players creating their character with secret part of their backstory that only the GM knows, a coming plot twist that only some are privy to, or a Rashomon-style story where everyone only possesses part of the truth.
4. Pre-planned Character Arcs
Players dedicate a lot of words in a character sheet to who their characters are, and most spend a lot of time thinking about where they want to see the character go; yet these plans remain private by default. In addition to just sharing more, I wonder how GMs can work to make this information public, whether through adding space on the character sheets, or having making time to hold discussions with players before the roleplay formally starts. If the information is more visible, I think it can have a positive effect and foster further collaboration and ideas between participants in the roleplay.
5. Predefined Roles
Character creation is all but inseparable from roleplaying, but not all characters are created from nothing. On other websites and in times past I’ve seen a trend where the GM defines several characters for players to claim, giving each character a roughly paragraph long description that the player will then turn into a full character sheet later. That approach is rather limiting, what may have more potential is shorter descriptions, no longer than one sentence, that focus on their role in the story or the archetype they embody, such as “idealistic young hero” or “grizzled mentor to the rest of the cast”. I know many players begin the character creation process by taking inspiration from some archetype, this is a way of acknowledging that and incorporating it directly.
6. Randomization
This is a topic I’ve seen discussed before, and one that might be controversial because it can have a dramatic impact on a player’s agency and ability to define their character. GMs can use randomization to affect things like character traits, relationships between characters, or plot events. It’s excellent for throwing curveballs that everyone has to react to, but it must be used in a way that doesn’t destroy the ability to plot and plan; a story is more than a series of random events. There’s also the old tabletop tradition of using randomization to determine the success or failure of something, which has value if you are going for that atmosphere.
7. Shared Characters
I understand why PCs are tied to a specific player, but a story is not only limited to player characters. NPCs are a common feature in roleplays, but it’s rare that they have involved role, many roleplays treat them like a necessary evil, minimizing their role as much as possible. Even when they are used and allowed to have actual characterization and a role, they are often “owned” by the GM or a particular player. There’s an opportunity here to treat NPCs like a community resource, having multiple players use them and add to them over time. Deeper NPCs become part of the world and allow for new avenues of storytelling. An even stranger variant is rotating control of a character, often called the Troupe system. One of the most popular examples is Ars Magica is a tabletop RPG where people alternate between controlling a magician they created and their non-magical comrades, some of these are shared communally.
8. Oppositional PCs
I define this as grouping PCs into different groups that are opposed or at least not allied with each other. Basically any roleplay where the villains are player controlled will do this be default, but the common way of doing it places more focus on the protagonists, villains are often a secondary role. An approach that is seldom taken is to give multiple; oppositional groups equal focus and numbers, which pairs well with a morally grey conflict. Throw in some incentive for the groups to hide their plans from the others, and the drama practically writes itself. One potential problem I can see is if this drama spills into OOC fighting; that is something we all want to avoid.
9. Aggressive Timeskips
What I mean by this is that significant events happened during timeskips, things that will be referred to later, but those scenes aren’t given a full post. They could have a summary post, like “Alice and Bob spent the night drinking at the bar and reminiscing over old flames. Stephen went to see Jeremy about a loan but couldn’t find where he was that night”. With this you can skip over stuff people don’t want to write, allowing them to get on with the stuff they do, move past a section that is stalling out, or give players flexibility to incorporate something into the story without needing to devote a full scene to it.
10. Asynchronous Posting
A big phrase, but what I mean is multiple scenes taking place at the same time, each scene having several posts, and neither waiting on the other to finish. This is common enough in roleplays that don’t have strict post orders but I wonder if it could be pushed further. Even scenes that take place at different times could be intermingled without too much difficulty as long as the characters and effects of them are self-contained and don’t cause problems for the other scenes. At its core, this is another one of those ideas that breaks the old assumption that all in a thread are in a strict chronological order. If used well, it could help players stay involved and run their own storyline without creating bottlenecks.
11. Abstract Player Characters
This is players controlling something more abstract than a single person. Nation roleplays do this already, but I wonder if there are applications outside of it, where players are expected to create a group of characters that are linked and under their control. More experimental settings could give players control of something that doesn’t qualify as a “person” in the normal sense. Will someone make a roleplay in the vein of Being John Malkovich or Inside Out, where people play different aspects of a person’s psyche? The tabletop RPG Wraith: The Oblivion gives every player character a “shadow”, the negative, self-destructive part of their psyche that they have to overcome, which is controlled by another player in the group. It’s a strange approach but it leads to interesting places, places that a normal roleplay might never go.
12. Collective Plotting
This means that the overarching plotline(s) of the roleplay is planned far ahead by the players in collaboration, rather than just the given by the GM or made up on the fly. I’m all for giving players freedom, but roleplays are fragile things, they are prone to dying young and no one likes that. One of the best ways to keep them going is to keep enthusiasm up, and if everyone knows where it’s going and plays a role in shaping that future, they’ll feel more involved. It also gives players a way to contribute in a new way without going full sandbox, letting them influence upcoming events rather than just react to them.
13. Collective Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is a part of roleplaying; it’s even become a buzzword used to attract players. Nation roleplays almost always do a lot of it, but when it is done outside of those, it’s rare for players to have a real impact on the world. Even in Advanced roleplays, most player contributions to worldbuilding take the form of minor details and parts of the background, the cornerstones of the world are something the GM defines.
14. Point of View Experiments
I know why roleplays default to variants of close third person, and I’m sure we all have at least one experience with an annoying first person roleplay. Where I think there is untapped potential is using other voices to achieve another feel for certain sections, whether it’s going with a distant omniscient for scene setting and describing long reaching impacts, using an NPC to show another angle of a scene, or even employing a framing device like writing a post as an in-universe document such as a newspaper article or a personal letter.
15. Chapter Marks
This is another idea related to pre-planning. This is when the roleplay’s plot structure is divided into several parts, and this is known and discussed with the players. What marks these parts is up to the GM, although significant events are a natural choice for bookending chapters. This idea is about giving players visibility into the overall structure of the roleplay, letting them know where they are at a given moment and what they are heading towards. It should be noted that the GM does not need to tell the players the subjects of each chapter if they want it to be a surprise, they can simply be vague and use them as a way to mark progress.
16. Predefined Events
This is where the GM tells the players ahead of time that a certain event will happen, letting them plan and work towards this. Obviously, some kind of communication is common, but the place where I see this has potential is when it’s applied to very large events, the earth-shaking ones, the ones that will change everything in a roleplay. There’s a lot of potential for character growth and plotting in working around these, to thinking how a character will change when they pass that point of no return.
17. Time Tracking
Many roleplays keep track of in-universe time, but few actively exploit that. It can be cumbersome, but one of the greatest ways to control the tension in a story is by playing with how scarce time is for the characters, when things are relaxed time is abundant, but in climactic moments characters must fight for every second, they are make hard choices about what to do with the time they have.
18. Parallel Storytelling
Character interaction is the foundation of roleplaying, so it seems strange to suggest a storytelling method like this. Parallel plotlines are ones that never actually meet, the events may have indirect impacts on the others and be referenced, but direct interaction does not occur. Running a fully parallel roleplay would be a bizarre experience, but intentionally placing groups of characters in a roleplay into parallel plotlines is something rarely discussed. A common approach is dividing by location or time period. There are more exotic variants used in some works, such as having a past storyline framed as a retelling by characters in the middle of the present storyline; some even play with it by suggesting that the past storyline may not be an entirely accurate retelling and using that ambiguity to set up later events.
19. Blank-slate Roleplay
Weird name, but I didn’t know what else to call it. This is when the roleplay starts by just describing a genre or themes but leaving the other parts to be planned out as the roleplay gathers players, like what the plot will be, where it will go, and what the setting is like. It’s a lot of work up front and would require a lot of discussion, but the end result might be worth it. It’s a different approach, focusing on the process and an incomplete but shared idea instead of coming out with a fully formed product.
20. Endings
Some of the other topics I’ve talked about are obscure, infrequently discussed. This one is not; it’s one of the most common conundrums of roleplaying. Few have met someone who has been a roleplay that actually reached a planned ending; even fewer have had the experience of being in one, even once across their entire roleplaying history. I can’t offer any guaranteed solution. All I can do is speculate. While endings are rare, I doubt that thoughts about the end are. I think most GMs and players think about the end at some point in a given roleplay, this is what makes the angst over never seeing it so strong. When we talk about endings with others we almost feel foolish for discussing them, as if they are don’t belong in roleplays. To that all I can say is that if roleplays are just another form of stories, then this instinct is mistaken. We tell stories knowing that they have endings, and that a good story has an appropriate ending. Incomplete stories can indeed be beautiful, but they always leave a longing in us, a burning desire to see the author's vision in full form.
Interesting things happen when people question them, when they explore beyond them, and that spirit can create some amazing new works (and also some truly awful ones). In the spirit of that exploration, I made a list of ideas for breaking common roleplay conventions, and some thoughts about what could be gained by employing them. This list is focused on Group play by post RPs, parts of it may be applicable to other methodologies, but the norms tabletop or 1x1 roleplays are different, some of these are less uncommon or even part of the default conduct in those. Few of these are original, possibly none of them are, but they are all what I would describe as rare occurrences. Like anyone, I’m still learning about roleplaying and approaches to it, and what I have written here I owe to what I’ve seen others do. Think of this as a resource and a way to start a conversation, for interested GMs and players to read through and think about if any of these are worth using. Some of the ideas complement each other and can be combined in interesting ways, although using all of them would require a very brave GM if it is even possible to do so. Out of this list, some are probably bad ideas, most are difficult to implement, but I hope that they are all ideas worth discussing nonetheless.
1. Flashbacks
This is a basic storytelling technique common in almost every medium, yet rare to see in a roleplay. When I’ve seen them, they are limited in scope. Single character, short-lived flashbacks that don’t qualify as a complete scene or even a complete post are the norm. Even these are rare. There are so many possibilities, from using flashbacks to make intro posts jump straight into the action to brief looks into characters past to deepen their backstory.
2. Flashforwards
More specialized than its better known cousin, this is where the narrative jumps ahead to shown a seen that takes place after whatever is the narrative present. Not very flexible, and it can create continuity headaches or impose harsh where the story will go, but it has its benefits. For one thing, it’s a wonderful way to build tension and introduce mystery. Unlike flashbacks, this is more of a GM tool, but if characters have some kind of preplanned direction then there is more opportunity to use them.
3. Asymmetric Information
By this I mean secrets shared between only the GM and some players. I’ve seen limited versions of this, usually player initiated rather than something the GM added to the roleplay. They could be things given out by the GM, things players create and then share with the GM, or a collaboration between the GM and the player, such as a the GM asking players to create a secret with particular guidelines. Other examples could be players creating their character with secret part of their backstory that only the GM knows, a coming plot twist that only some are privy to, or a Rashomon-style story where everyone only possesses part of the truth.
4. Pre-planned Character Arcs
Players dedicate a lot of words in a character sheet to who their characters are, and most spend a lot of time thinking about where they want to see the character go; yet these plans remain private by default. In addition to just sharing more, I wonder how GMs can work to make this information public, whether through adding space on the character sheets, or having making time to hold discussions with players before the roleplay formally starts. If the information is more visible, I think it can have a positive effect and foster further collaboration and ideas between participants in the roleplay.
5. Predefined Roles
Character creation is all but inseparable from roleplaying, but not all characters are created from nothing. On other websites and in times past I’ve seen a trend where the GM defines several characters for players to claim, giving each character a roughly paragraph long description that the player will then turn into a full character sheet later. That approach is rather limiting, what may have more potential is shorter descriptions, no longer than one sentence, that focus on their role in the story or the archetype they embody, such as “idealistic young hero” or “grizzled mentor to the rest of the cast”. I know many players begin the character creation process by taking inspiration from some archetype, this is a way of acknowledging that and incorporating it directly.
6. Randomization
This is a topic I’ve seen discussed before, and one that might be controversial because it can have a dramatic impact on a player’s agency and ability to define their character. GMs can use randomization to affect things like character traits, relationships between characters, or plot events. It’s excellent for throwing curveballs that everyone has to react to, but it must be used in a way that doesn’t destroy the ability to plot and plan; a story is more than a series of random events. There’s also the old tabletop tradition of using randomization to determine the success or failure of something, which has value if you are going for that atmosphere.
7. Shared Characters
I understand why PCs are tied to a specific player, but a story is not only limited to player characters. NPCs are a common feature in roleplays, but it’s rare that they have involved role, many roleplays treat them like a necessary evil, minimizing their role as much as possible. Even when they are used and allowed to have actual characterization and a role, they are often “owned” by the GM or a particular player. There’s an opportunity here to treat NPCs like a community resource, having multiple players use them and add to them over time. Deeper NPCs become part of the world and allow for new avenues of storytelling. An even stranger variant is rotating control of a character, often called the Troupe system. One of the most popular examples is Ars Magica is a tabletop RPG where people alternate between controlling a magician they created and their non-magical comrades, some of these are shared communally.
8. Oppositional PCs
I define this as grouping PCs into different groups that are opposed or at least not allied with each other. Basically any roleplay where the villains are player controlled will do this be default, but the common way of doing it places more focus on the protagonists, villains are often a secondary role. An approach that is seldom taken is to give multiple; oppositional groups equal focus and numbers, which pairs well with a morally grey conflict. Throw in some incentive for the groups to hide their plans from the others, and the drama practically writes itself. One potential problem I can see is if this drama spills into OOC fighting; that is something we all want to avoid.
9. Aggressive Timeskips
What I mean by this is that significant events happened during timeskips, things that will be referred to later, but those scenes aren’t given a full post. They could have a summary post, like “Alice and Bob spent the night drinking at the bar and reminiscing over old flames. Stephen went to see Jeremy about a loan but couldn’t find where he was that night”. With this you can skip over stuff people don’t want to write, allowing them to get on with the stuff they do, move past a section that is stalling out, or give players flexibility to incorporate something into the story without needing to devote a full scene to it.
10. Asynchronous Posting
A big phrase, but what I mean is multiple scenes taking place at the same time, each scene having several posts, and neither waiting on the other to finish. This is common enough in roleplays that don’t have strict post orders but I wonder if it could be pushed further. Even scenes that take place at different times could be intermingled without too much difficulty as long as the characters and effects of them are self-contained and don’t cause problems for the other scenes. At its core, this is another one of those ideas that breaks the old assumption that all in a thread are in a strict chronological order. If used well, it could help players stay involved and run their own storyline without creating bottlenecks.
11. Abstract Player Characters
This is players controlling something more abstract than a single person. Nation roleplays do this already, but I wonder if there are applications outside of it, where players are expected to create a group of characters that are linked and under their control. More experimental settings could give players control of something that doesn’t qualify as a “person” in the normal sense. Will someone make a roleplay in the vein of Being John Malkovich or Inside Out, where people play different aspects of a person’s psyche? The tabletop RPG Wraith: The Oblivion gives every player character a “shadow”, the negative, self-destructive part of their psyche that they have to overcome, which is controlled by another player in the group. It’s a strange approach but it leads to interesting places, places that a normal roleplay might never go.
12. Collective Plotting
This means that the overarching plotline(s) of the roleplay is planned far ahead by the players in collaboration, rather than just the given by the GM or made up on the fly. I’m all for giving players freedom, but roleplays are fragile things, they are prone to dying young and no one likes that. One of the best ways to keep them going is to keep enthusiasm up, and if everyone knows where it’s going and plays a role in shaping that future, they’ll feel more involved. It also gives players a way to contribute in a new way without going full sandbox, letting them influence upcoming events rather than just react to them.
13. Collective Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is a part of roleplaying; it’s even become a buzzword used to attract players. Nation roleplays almost always do a lot of it, but when it is done outside of those, it’s rare for players to have a real impact on the world. Even in Advanced roleplays, most player contributions to worldbuilding take the form of minor details and parts of the background, the cornerstones of the world are something the GM defines.
14. Point of View Experiments
I know why roleplays default to variants of close third person, and I’m sure we all have at least one experience with an annoying first person roleplay. Where I think there is untapped potential is using other voices to achieve another feel for certain sections, whether it’s going with a distant omniscient for scene setting and describing long reaching impacts, using an NPC to show another angle of a scene, or even employing a framing device like writing a post as an in-universe document such as a newspaper article or a personal letter.
15. Chapter Marks
This is another idea related to pre-planning. This is when the roleplay’s plot structure is divided into several parts, and this is known and discussed with the players. What marks these parts is up to the GM, although significant events are a natural choice for bookending chapters. This idea is about giving players visibility into the overall structure of the roleplay, letting them know where they are at a given moment and what they are heading towards. It should be noted that the GM does not need to tell the players the subjects of each chapter if they want it to be a surprise, they can simply be vague and use them as a way to mark progress.
16. Predefined Events
This is where the GM tells the players ahead of time that a certain event will happen, letting them plan and work towards this. Obviously, some kind of communication is common, but the place where I see this has potential is when it’s applied to very large events, the earth-shaking ones, the ones that will change everything in a roleplay. There’s a lot of potential for character growth and plotting in working around these, to thinking how a character will change when they pass that point of no return.
17. Time Tracking
Many roleplays keep track of in-universe time, but few actively exploit that. It can be cumbersome, but one of the greatest ways to control the tension in a story is by playing with how scarce time is for the characters, when things are relaxed time is abundant, but in climactic moments characters must fight for every second, they are make hard choices about what to do with the time they have.
18. Parallel Storytelling
Character interaction is the foundation of roleplaying, so it seems strange to suggest a storytelling method like this. Parallel plotlines are ones that never actually meet, the events may have indirect impacts on the others and be referenced, but direct interaction does not occur. Running a fully parallel roleplay would be a bizarre experience, but intentionally placing groups of characters in a roleplay into parallel plotlines is something rarely discussed. A common approach is dividing by location or time period. There are more exotic variants used in some works, such as having a past storyline framed as a retelling by characters in the middle of the present storyline; some even play with it by suggesting that the past storyline may not be an entirely accurate retelling and using that ambiguity to set up later events.
19. Blank-slate Roleplay
Weird name, but I didn’t know what else to call it. This is when the roleplay starts by just describing a genre or themes but leaving the other parts to be planned out as the roleplay gathers players, like what the plot will be, where it will go, and what the setting is like. It’s a lot of work up front and would require a lot of discussion, but the end result might be worth it. It’s a different approach, focusing on the process and an incomplete but shared idea instead of coming out with a fully formed product.
20. Endings
Some of the other topics I’ve talked about are obscure, infrequently discussed. This one is not; it’s one of the most common conundrums of roleplaying. Few have met someone who has been a roleplay that actually reached a planned ending; even fewer have had the experience of being in one, even once across their entire roleplaying history. I can’t offer any guaranteed solution. All I can do is speculate. While endings are rare, I doubt that thoughts about the end are. I think most GMs and players think about the end at some point in a given roleplay, this is what makes the angst over never seeing it so strong. When we talk about endings with others we almost feel foolish for discussing them, as if they are don’t belong in roleplays. To that all I can say is that if roleplays are just another form of stories, then this instinct is mistaken. We tell stories knowing that they have endings, and that a good story has an appropriate ending. Incomplete stories can indeed be beautiful, but they always leave a longing in us, a burning desire to see the author's vision in full form.
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