RPing without a CS?

[nicolepage]

A chat with a user has made me think: has this website ever had an RP without using a CS? The whole reason I made an account here because I thought this was Valhalla to my Earth. That I would truly learn from thee gods themselves. (Now granted, this still hasn't left my mind, so I'm not saying anything like 'Oh wow, the people here SUCK! I was WAY wrong!' or any other rude thing towards the users, I SWEAR!)

[AlienBastard]

Do you mean role-plays without need of a character sheet?

I've attempted RPs like that before on other sites and they tended to be on the chatty side of things.

Here's a sample from 2010 of a RP I GMed [to some level] that lacked character sheets:

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/11150-rp-thread/

Note that I was a much different person when 13 and the quality is pretty shitty and the RP at times turned into straight up chat.

In 2011-2012 i've seen a person do it semi-successfully in the sense it lasted, but quality wise was a borderline incomprehensible mess. Higher quality than what I pulled off though. Still was a mess of mary sue brigades and really badly managed story flow [mostly the GM just threw a bunch of random things at the posters]. Did avoid turning into chat to some level though.

Sample:

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/548532-casual-multiverse-creation-always-accepting-forver-you-will-be-banned-if-you-are-not-serious/

[Dervish]

I think a big reason for character sheets is to make sure that the person wishing to join a game is a right fit for the game, as well as keeping numbers manageable. You kind of want to make sure that there's a certain level of expectations to meet, otherwise you really don't know what's going to walk through the door until it's too late.

My old forum from my youth didn't have character sheets and everyone joined everything, and I have nothing but fond memories from the whole time I did it (it's why I'm here!), but I'll tell you now, if I went back and read the shit I wrote back when I was 13-14 with no standards or expectations, I'd probably lock myself away in embarrassment. I know I would have wanted somebody to tell me to not do A LOT of what I did.

Even on this site, I feel like I dodged a few bullets from interested players in my games (or others I was participating in) when it was pretty obvious right off the hop that those people were not going to be a good fit for that particular game.

So yeah, character sheets? Good things!

[Lillian Thorne]

I've done many RPs without character sheets (in fact most of my RPing has been that way). Granted it is mostly 1x1 but they were pretty wordy and I knew my partner well. I imagine it could work in a group setting as well, it all depended on the comfort of the GM. I don't like making CSs so when I GM I keep them simple, but I do use them because i have players I may not know well and will want to know something about their character's wants and goals. There aren't any rules about it here on the site though, it's the call of the individual GM.

[Commander]

I'm sure there are plenty that don't require a CS. I personally like to see them because it gives me an idea of who I'm interacting with (or rather, who my character is interacting with). I can appreciate leaving some things to "learn through the roleplay" but to just jump in knowing nothing about the other character is a turn off for me. Individual mileage may very.

[Jannah]

I have actually done pretty decent RPs that didn't have CS'es. In fact, I didn't even really know much about them until I joined this site back in late 2012. So yea, I think RP is definitely doable without them, but if you're looking for specific standards in a RP then I think it's best to at least have a basic one.

[Kestrel]

I don't like CS' to be honest, but I've found them an excellent tool for getting on the same page with your RP'rs, or prematurely figuring out you won't be getting on that same page. If you don't have a lot you need to be on the same page as with your players (post length, setting, power level, etc.) you don't really need a CS. Which are fine roleplays, but cater to a different audience.

[Pachamac]

I, like many others here I believe, came from a site where we didn't make character sheets and just effortlessly jumped into the narrative and got on with things. But it was also a much smaller community where everyone knew each other and knew what to expect. I dislike writing character sheets and, like Lillian, prefer to keep it short whenever I request them, but as others have mentioned I think it's important on this site at least to have them as a way of guaging who might or might not be a good fit for the rp. This site is much, much bigger then most rping sites and has a broad range of users to the point where I think not having CSes might cause difficulties in some games because rping skill levels can be all over the spectrum. That's not to say it's impossible to do an rp without, but they're definitely a helpful tool.

[Kaga]

I've been on one other RP site that had a small section for these types of roleplays. I was surprised they worked, since they weren't all that chat-based and functioned much like many RP's here, except there were no CS's or approval processes - people just jumped on in.

I didn't spend very long there, but I imagine those RP's would require a lot of mutual trust between GM's and players to work properly. It all kind of amazed me, honestly.

[StarWight]

I've always done Character Sheets in RPs, with the exception of a place called HiddenWorld. It worked well enough there, but the RPing wasn't nearly as detailed as it is here. HERE, I've done a 1x1 or two without CS, but to be honest...I prefer them. I think it's a great way to help keep track of your characters, AND a good catalogue of the characters that are in your RP. Plus, it's fun to see the characters the players come up with, and get to know them at a glance. It's a good way to get a writing sample from potential RPers too--if they don't put any effort in the CS, that may be a warning about what will happen in the RP itself. Thus far with my own, I've seen this to be true. Dervish pointed this out in another topic about RPs somewhere, and it really DOES ring true!!

All in all, I think Character Sheets are a good thing--but then, I like to delve into my characters, really flesh them out and a well-written CS is a good way to do that. idk, I think all around, CS are very useful, if for no other reason, purely a records thing. It is a real embarrassment to forget the color of your characters eyes or hair--or even mix up their name!! (Or someone elses!!)

[Rose Hathaway]

I don't like doing character sheets, so I don't use them in my 1x1s. When I do group RPs, I'll do them, but I do keep it simple because I know I have to do one too, haha. I mainly do it for the convenience of those in my group, and I'll do it if I know my partner wants it. Sometimes it's just not worth arguing over.