RPGN Rebirth: Issue #1 10/10/2016

[RPGN]

ISSUE #1

The spirit of RPGN past

In today's tribulant age of reboots and sequels and sequels of reboots some of us decided that the days of the News Section being left alone was over! Thus we present you with the Rebirth of the Roleplayerguild news! Totally not using the tag line from any popular cartoon series, expect the content you know and love (if you are from the times where RPGN existed) while also having some new content that you will hopefully love.

You want to help I hear you possibly saying? Well feel free to PM RPGN or Sep in order to get involved in the fun. We can always use more meat to fuel the best news publication on the Guild!

Notable Roleplays

This is going near the start, as this is the reason a lot of people check out the news. Who is being mentioned today, what do they have to offer? Is it awesome? Well of course it’s awesome! It’s mentioned here.

Interest Checks

Every roleplay starts with an interest check, and for this we’re going to highlight some of the best looking interest checks out there. Why no Tabletop or Arena? Both these sections are unique in their demographic so the Interest Check section isn’t as active.

General: I Remain - @Mr Allen J - It’s that time of year when the horror RPs come out to play, don’t play in this one before you go to sleep.
Free: KRIEEEG'S One Shot #1 - Medieval City Siege - @KRIEEEG - Free doesn’t always have the best reputation, but it’s where a lot of us start out. This roleplay looks like it’s had a lot put into it, and I wish it all the best in training up the next generation of Roleplayers (We can’t all start out as good as @Ruby).
Casual:Champions, Regiments and Wizards - @Footman - Medieval Fantasy. One of the most popular genres in fiction, and it just keeps spitting out more goodness. This here looks like a prime example, Footman has obviously put in his work.
Advanced:From Afar - @Dreamforge - This is one that caught my eye, from afar. It’s a nice looking roleplay set in prehistory, jumping on the current love for survival type games while also adding an element of Sci-Fi that I think is a really nice combination. Well done, I hope you go far.
Nation: Time's a Changing - @duck55223 - Steampunk nation RP? Sign me up… if I personally had time. Despite this a unique take on the Steampunk Nation RP brand. Just make sure to account for the time changing when you wake up for work.

Active Roleplays

Sometimes Roleplays do something special that needs to get them recognised. If you yourself know of such an RP send it in to RPGN or to Sep. It maybe past a certain milestone, or something dead awesome just happened. Let me know.

Casual: Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past - @Fallenreaper - All I need to say for this one. Three Years. It has been running for three years, not many Roleplays can boast that. Good job guys, I know you’re doing great. If this is act one, I can’t wait for act two.
Advanced: Age of Rebuilding: Return of the Gods - @Dragonmancer - Advanced RPs are known for the hard work and dedication of the Gamemaster. This guys done his work, and his players will reap the rewards.
Nation: Precipice of War - @Dinh AaronMk - We all know that roleplays don’t last, Nation RPs sadly are notorious for their heavy turnover rate. Like with the first roleplay on this list, this roleplay has been going strong for three years and it’s a good read. Well done guys, here's to another three years.

Riddle me this

Riddles are great, they’re good for evil villains to spout of to confuse the protagonist of a story, for a crazy king to announce the next part of a world changing quest or for some ancient alien text to tell you how to get into the secret temple. Winner will gain entrance into the secret RPGN temple for a ritual sacrifice party.

Here are your two riddles:

A cloud was my mother, the wind is my father, my son is the cool stream, and my daughter is the fruit of the land. A rainbow is my bed, the earth my final resting place, what am I?

You heard me before, yet you hear me again, but then I die, until you call me again. What am I?

Question to the floor

So, one of the old features of RPGN was the “Thought Experiment” where a question would be pitched and then the best options would be highlighted for the next issue. This differs slightly from the old way. We’ll pose a question in order to start a discussion and see what you guys think, before highlighting the best answers in the next issue.

Our question this time is this, we’re starting big: What got you into Forum Roleplaying? We all enjoy different levels or styles of forum roleplay but it’s something we all have in common. Why do you do it?

Question to RPGN

Now, it’d be dead unfair if we got to ask all the questions. At this present moment in time, we is just one person. However every time we post an issue we will give the opportunity for a question asked by a Guild Member to be answered by us, maybe you want to know about our Roleplay experiences? Skills? Styles? Now, you may be wondering how we choose which question to answer. It’s simple, if you see a question you like just give it a like. The question with the most likes will be chosen.

A Guildian Interview

So this is the part where I annoy someone by asking them questions to see what makes them tick. If you know someone who would like to be annoyed by me asking questions, throw me a message. This week we interview the elusive, the mysterious, @Mr Allen J!

Transcript

RPGN - So, going to start this off simple. Your name isn't necessary (Sorry) as it's on the thread but you've been around the Guild for a while. How long have you been roleplaying exactly?

Mr Allen J - Five years ago, though you could say it's six since I RP'd lightly before I got serious.

RPGN - Do any of us really count before we got serious? I sometimes look at roleplays I did three years ago and cringe. On that note, do you remember what your first real RP was?

Mr Allen J - Yeah, this is a tough one. A loooooong time ago, when I was young and stupid (well, honestly, I'm old and stupid now) there was this game called Spore... you can google it if you really want the deets, but me and some friends basically ran this big thing in that game's community called Epic Adventure War (Basically, a giant space war - like Mass Effect but with less story). It technically counts as a Roleplay since we were basically writing a big old story through that game's medium. It was toxic af sometimes, but it was really my jump off point for writing.

RPGN - Well I think we all have something that kick started us, you're more imaginative than me. Mine was Runescape.

Mr Allen J - I tried Runescape one time before putting it down forever - but, I'm getting off track. lol

RPGN - So am I, So you've been around roleplaying for a while, what attracted you to the Guild?

Mr Allen J - Well, for a little while, I roleplayed on an off-shoot of that Spore forum while it was in complete decline. Sometimes, my RPs on that site would slow to a crawl, so I got bored and started looking for places to Roleplay. I remember someone mentioning the RPG on Spore's forum, and checked it out, and it stuck with me. Though, I never really stuck around for long before disappearing when my RPs on the Guild died, and my RPs on the other site picked back up. It was a cycle until my primary roleplaying site died, and I made Guild my main. When I made the Guild my main, it was after Guildfall btw.

RPGN - Ah, such a young pup then. So you've been around the Guild for a while, what has been your favourite roleplay on the Guild?

Mr Allen J - Hmmm... I'm going to sound a little self-sucky here, but it has to be my own RP Baybridge. It is easily some of the most fun I've had Roleplaying, with a diverse and interesting cast.

RPGN - The cast is what makes and breaks it, sound as egotistical as you like. So working on that, cast is obviously the key to any good roleplay. Without a good cast, you aren't going anywhere. So what do you feel makes a good cast?

Mr Allen J - Honestly, there's a lot of different things that make a good cast. My personal thought that a diverse cast with lots of depth is a good cast. I've seen too many RPs with cookie-cutter personalities/pasts, and those roleplays are the least interesting. I guess what really makes a good cast requires all the characters to be interesting, well thought out, and well written at the same time - it's possible.



Mr Allen J - My trick (If you can even call it that) would be to listen to music. There's certain kinds of music (OST music or music that you'd hear in a movie or something) that just gets me going.

RPGN - That's something a lot of people do, but what about imagery? You yourself design a lot of roleplays. Do you prefer to use descriptions for things or to go the route of using images? If you can find one that fits.

Mr Allen J - I tend to use descriptions for everything I can - but sometimes I use pictures if I feel like it'd describe a location better (or if I get lazy). I use pictures sometimes to give some eye-candy.

RPGN - So coming to a close, theres still a stimga around the advanced section that we're hardasses in it and cruel to people trying to come out of casual into advanced. What do you think about this, and do you have any tips for people trying to make it into advanced?

Mr Allen J - This, this right here is probably the most complex issue of the Guild.
Which stems from the elitists that are from the oldguild (who are, obviously, all gone). It's all about the image people create - that advance is a super elite section... when honestly it's not quite. It's welcoming from what I could see, just that people automatically assume so. Some people believe it's a section for the "elite" writers, others just believe it's for people who write more. My advance is to poke around a little bit, look at the RPs, and their community, and see if it's for you.

RPGN - Well awesomesauce with a side of cool beans.
I'll untie you now and let you out the broom closet of interviews. Be careful not to get mauled by the spirit of RPGN past as you leave.

What else can there be?!

I have plans for future issues but at the end of the day this newsletter exists to serve YOU?! What would you like to see in future issues? If you have ideas for what we could add, or have something you would like to contribute (such as a comic, artwork, article, guide) feel free to PM @RPGN or @Sep. Though worry not, if you can’t think of anything to add we’ll make sure that every issue is fresh looking and a joy to read.

About RPGN

RPGN has and always will be a civilian, independently run news publication. No dictator controlling our actions, we speak nothing but the truth in the hopes of enlightening your Guild experience. It’s done voluntarily, and as our first new publication I am the only one doing it. While I am okay with that another set of eyes wouldn’t hurt and we’re always looking for more talent. Simply PM @RPGN or @Sep and we’ll get right on it.

While I’m here I’d like to honourably mention @HeySeuss, @Kirra, @Noxious, @Robeatics, @Impaqt for bringing us the original RPGN and for [@Roman Arai] for trying to bring it back before, before she got eaten by the spirit of RPGN past. That’s a real thing by the way, it’s clawing at my window as I write this.

[ButtsnBalls]

And it's back!

A cloud was my mother, the wind is my father, my son is the cool stream, and my daughter is the fruit of the land. A rainbow is my bed, the earth my final resting place, what am I?

You heard me before, yet you hear me again, but then I die, until you call me again. What am I?

@RPGN

Rain and echo?

[Sep]

And it's back!

<Snipped quote by RPGN>

Rain and echo?

@gcold

Congratulations, you get to come to the RPGN temple for a ritual sacrifice to the spirits of RPGN past party.

[ONL]

Good read I must say, a guild such as ours surely needs its own magazine so I thought this was excellent!

But as to what got me into forum roleplaying? Now that is asking me to dig far back in my brain. But I remember my first time was when a friend of mine convinced me to join a Harry Potter forum, where you would play as a pupil at Hogwarts, go to classes and find friends and all that fancy jazz. Firstly I have to admit that I didn't know squat (and sadly still don't) about the HP-universe, so I did a whole lot of google-ing to not stand too much out.

I think I stayed there because of the friends I got and actually liked talking with, but eventually the endless fun and possibilities of playing a fictional character got to me.

So the short answer I guess would be; I like talking with the other players and discuss everything from real-life politics or which way the toilet paper should be placed (outwards, of course...), to playing a character in an universe where everything is possible and endless adventures await. It's like writing a book, only that you're actively part of it.

[Peaceless]

This was a great read, thank you!

And I'll also take this opportunity to respond to the question: As many of us, I was drawn into the world of Play-by-Post by, what else, fan fiction of computer games. In particular, Baldur's Gate. For the young'ns, this game was released around '98 with its sequel shortly after. It was loosely based on 2nd edition DnD (what you would call aDnD), which was a pretty broken system but the first of the "True DnD" experiences. Around the middle of the 2nd game, almost 16 years ago (!) I went into the official forums, planetbaldursgate(dot)com, to ask one simple question: "Is my way of killing dragons considered cheating?"

And as a heated discussion arose about the broken combination between the range of AoE spells and the range of a Dragon's aggro, I noticed the forum had another section - Roleplaying (or something of this nature). In retrospect, I have to say I am the kind of person who would love tabletop roleplaying at first sight, but sadly never had the chance. I think my first chance at real tabletop was around 2nd year in Uni, which was more than 5 years after I started Play by Post. I absolutely love writing and this format makes it easier to scratch that creative itch as a team, without having to actually publish books. I have spent a long time on PBG, and then on some other forums, but a few years ago I somehow lost all contact with my old PbP buddies, and found this place with a Google search. This place, and play-by-post in particular, is an outlet of a constant need that I have to experience other worlds through the eyes of a hero of my creation.

So, I like it, basically. My only regret is that I wasn't forced earlier into DMing, it might've made me actually good at it.

[Hank]

Believe it or not, I got into role-playing on a Jurassic Park fansite that hosted a huge persistent world RP where everyone played -- you guessed it -- dinosaurs. Not even talking dinosaurs, no sir, as close to the real thing as possible.

My username was derived from a Yu-Gi-Oh card. It was a simpler time.

[Sep]

Believe it or not, I got into role-playing on a Jurassic Park fansite that hosted a huge persistent world RP where everyone played -- you guessed it -- dinosaurs. Not even talking dinosaurs, no sir, as close to the real thing as possible.

My username was derived from a Yu-Gi-Oh card. It was a simpler time.

@Hank

I started mine on Runescape, me and a couple of friends went into peoples houses pretending to be slaves to then free them! We were S.P.O.F...

We even had an infomercial on youtube! Good times...

Most my initial roleplaying experience is via Runescape, my first forum based however was on a now gone website. It was a Stargate game where you created your own Empire based on a numerical system and waiting to accumulate troops and resources, kind of like a Tabletop Nation RP style thing where raids used dice to determine whether or not they'd be of any use. I used to raid an Admin Account that had been created for a Campaign because it still generated resources but had no military left, making it more or less an easy gig. From there I moved into that sites Forum Roleplay section, and when that site later died I moved around for a little bit.

Halo (Custom Edition), but later onto San Andreas Multiplayer where I was happy for a number of years in a group which I still hang out with occasionally. Forum Roleplaying I properly got into around 2012, the actual live action game side of things hasn't been very consistent and at this point I've more or less dropped it. What with the RP group I played with SA:MP moving onto different games and the Runescape Updates which I'm not a fan off the guild is the sole place I get my fix. I appeared on it back in 2012 under the username "Septimus314" (Really old name of mine) and derped around in casual, the first RP I actually joined was a Star Wars RP called Fires of Exaron by a user named @Hotshot (If he uses that name here).

I messed up a little, and wasn't happy with myself so I more or less burned that user (As many do) and went with EvilScottishGuy which I stuck with till the GuildFall and I have to say the Guild has improved not just my writing skills but my nerddom of the Star Wars Franchise, as well as DC and Marvel with me now buying books and comics which I never used to do. Damn the Guild is hard on my wallet.

Why do I do it? Well hosting a RP like No Turning Back sums it up. The people are great, and the writing is fun to do and fun to read. It's an escape from reality that few other medians can give, in my opinion. I know most of us talk about making a book sooner or later but truth be told, I'm happy with hashing out these ideas and making these universes for people to play in, or joining in these universes that other people have made.

Anyway long answer is long. TL;DR. I like it here.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

This week we interview the elusive, the mysterious, @Mr Allen J

@RPGN

First thing you need to know is that I'm a very, very, serious writer.

[Sep]

@Mr Allen J you have two days to catch up.

[Ashevelendar]

A really good read. Thank you for bringing this back ! :)

I started writing stories alone in English ( english is not my native language ) when I was 11 or 12 years old. That's when I discovered my passion about writing. It was fun and kept my mind working on different scenarios.
I got bored of writing alone when I was 13 and then abandoned writing for two years. That's when Starcraft 2 first appeared on the market. I discovered a thing called " Cortex Roleplay " which was a roleplay engine inside the Starcraft 2 game engine. It was wonderful.
I roleplayed there for 4 years. A year ago while I was trying to make Warcraft 3 maps , I saw that on the forum there was a "Roleplay" request thread and instantly gone to see if they need another partner for the roleplay. I roleplayed with those people for some time until the RP died. One of the guys there told me to join another RP he just started here on the guild and I don't plan on leaving this site for some time.

Also. I've got a question for @Sep :)

What do you do when everyone hates one of your characters ( including yourself ) but he is crucial to the plot of the RP you are in and cannot be killed / removed ? :)

[Sep]

[Sep]

[Sep]

[Guru]

Glad to see it back Sep. And fresh new face looking to lead it. Good luck, mate.

[Sep]

[Sep]