Darling in the Franxx Roleplay Brainstorming

[vancexentan]

Hey everyone I've been considered making something with the titicular darling in the franxx series that is still airing. However I'm not sure exactly where I'd start with it. I've considered mixing it with Evangelion by taking the post-apocalypse setting and mixing it with the 'defend the city' deal that the darling in the franxx series. However I'm not sure if that would go over too well with people, and more over I'm not good at 'monster of the day' type settings. I've considered just making it open but a lot of what makes the show work for some people is the closeness of the setting, waifus aside, and how the characters play off each other in a close environment. I'd flat out get rid of the gender exclusivity as in a roleplay we may not always get a set of people that are evenly male, and female. The idea is slightly explored, and found to 'fail' in one episode of the show.

Really what I need feedback for is how I should go about making a 'plot' for something like this, and if I should relegate the monsters to a Co-GM, or allow the players to fight their own monster but that runs into the problem of when there is a need for one BIG monster. More so what the setting should be consistently as well if we should do the whole traveling city that it shares with Chrome Shelled Regios, another wholely different show but with a similar setting.

Could anyone give me some thoughts?

[May96]

Something that I've seen work really well before (outside of forum rps, mind you) is have one GM handle to "day to day" things and side-stories. Buying stuff in shops, smaller encounters, and so on. Meanwhile, the main one runs the main story and handles the big set pieces where you get really involved battles or whathaveyou.

Of course, you need someone you can trust that can handle all the minor stuff, but if the two of you can work together it can turn out to be a real banger.

One tip I have for doing it is work very closely with the co-GM, giving them knowledge on upcoming story bits and things to sprinkle into their minor plots to help tie everything back into the main story.

Hope this helped!

[BrokenPromise]

I'm not familiar with "Darling in the Franxx" at all, but I think the solution to your problem is the exact same one I used for my Danganronpa RP.

The first thing you want to do is talk to some fans of the show and see why people are watching it. You want to know why people are watching so that you can make changes and be confident they won't drive people away. When I talked to people about Danganronpa, it seemed like everyone was more interested in the exhilarating "solve the murderer or die" mechanic than the individual characters and story. This allowed me to confidently change the origin of the characters. Instead of all the characters being affiliated with hope's peak, they are affiliated with an original organisation. The mascot villain is a centerpiece for the franchise however, and I worked hard to replicate his behavior as best as I could. also, Danganronpa is traditionally split 50/50 even as far as character sexes go, and I just let people make who they wanted to make. If you're going to do crossover shenanigans, my advice is to make an original RP and just say it was inspired by "Darling in the Franxx" and "Evangelion." This gives you and your players the most freedom, and will lure in any fans of those shows who are brave enough to click on your thread.

As for how to make a plot or if you should share the work with a co-GM, there is no right answer, and I could spend all day talking about the topic. You sound like you want to combined ideas from a lot of different shows, which makes me thing you'd have an easier time with an original setting inspired by these other shows. I have never used a Co-GM, but I personally feel that making the big monsters. There's also no rule saying that you have to pick a particular method. You could have all the players fighting their own monsters, and then decide to have one big monster show up. Of course, you need to have good communication with your players so that the big monster can arrive at a time everyone's able to fight it.

[vancexentan]

Alright I appreciate the feedback thus far. I'll go over what you guys have suggested, and consider what my best options are on the matter, and how I intend to, if at all, make the roleplay happen. Regarding the monster situation in Evangelion there is nothing but big monsters, and in Franxx there tends to be a mix of smaller monsters, or bigger ones that turn into smaller ones (sometimes). The show itself isn't that great a lot of people like it for shipping purposes but I feel like it would work well as a roleplay which is why I'm considering making it in the first place. The whole concept of being so dependent on a partner yet not excluding one side of the relationship as one sided (I.E Fate/Zero for example where the master lets his servant do whatever he, or she wants in fights but controls/anchors them). I don't know people on this site very well, and there seems to be a vocal few that dislike me for my frankly draconian style gm'ing.

I don't think I would make good in a custom setting like Broken suggests because then I would need to make whole new lore, and Evangelion's inspiration would simply be the city defense style where as Franxx does mobile cities that go from one place to another. I prefer a more grounded roleplay as if we're constantly setting swapping from one location to another I need to make a note of what the environment is like every time we do a battle, and I'm already bad at settings as it is.

[mickilennial]

Hey everyone I've been considered making something with the titicular darling in the franxx series that is still airing. However I'm not sure exactly where I'd start with it.

@vancexentan

The biggest centerpiece of a good fandom-based roleplay is what your design philosophy is and what you believe is the spirit of the series you want to interpret.

Once you get past what you feel you think the spirit of Darling in the Franxx is, you have to figure out where you want to take it and if you have the kind of player pool that would be committed to a long term collaborative story that is dependent on two writers always being present and dedicated to the project. Look at how Fate/Stay Night and Soul Eater oriented roleplays function and why some have failed and others have succeeded. You may even be able to gain some insight by looking at Naruto RPs since they are dependent on a three-man squad who are interconnected to one another. Also, if you want to change Franxx’s setting directly you will be pushed back on people who want a pure Franxx experience. The whole concept of duality, the vivid and unique world design, and the concept of these synthetic thermal energy hunting monstrosities are all what sets Franxx apart from its contemporaries like Fafner and Evangelion.

Do you think making a static city (and explaining how it can exist) is an important risk you want to take with your potential playerbase for a currently trending anime?

I'd flat out get rid of the gender exclusivity as in a roleplay we may not always get a set of people that are evenly male, and female.

@vancexentan

This is a bad design idea because it deviates too much from the theme of duality, male/female syntheses, and so forth. I understand not wanting to setup “gender ratios”, but once you deviate too far from the source material you lose what made the setting special in the first place. Be very careful if you are making drastic changes.

Really what I need feedback for is how I should go about making a 'plot' for something like this, and if I should relegate the monsters to a Co-GM, or allow the players to fight their own monster but that runs into the problem of when there is a need for one BIG monster.

@vancexentan

As a GM of one ongoing post-apocalyptic mecha roleplay, I would say that you should never ever ever let the players control the threat unless you trust them wholly as creative partners and they are absolutely on the same page as you. I’ve never been in one of your roleplays, but as far as I can tell you make things that are very rarely invite only and super selective, so this would be a thing I would avoid. GMs should control the threats and create the suspense and action for the players to build off of.

[vancexentan]

The point where Nasuverse roleplays diverge from something like this is that pilots are replaceable. It sucks to lose a pilot as they require a certain bond but not to the point where they aren't normally exclusively use to piloting with one person. Servants in Nasuverse roleplays aren't easy to replace. Once they die they can't be resummoned under most circumstances unless the black grail rears its cursed head. Naruto roleplays likewise have a similar thing but depending on the circumstances it may be hard to fit in another character.

I feel like you're banking too much on the thematical sense of the show, and not the setting when it comes to girl, and boy teams. While it is not a common thing, to my knowledge, in the series that you will find two of the same gender working with one another it may be theoretically possible. Getting an even roleplay count, and keeping it with boy, and girl duo's means that you won't be able to get an even amount of people, or some people won't want to play a girl/boy. It is for the sake of an even roleplay setting that I would consider this to be valid. Spirit of the show put aside you need to make compromises in some cases if you want to make a roleplay.

I don't tend to allow people to make their own roleplay combat scenes however I am well aware of my own lack of talent in the field of combat. I don't go to the arena because of that, and my own distaste for pvp. What I believe the others said is true and that I may need a co-gm to direct combat for the overall sake of a better more enjoyable roleplay otherwise my own lack of creativity may hurt. I don't regard myself as super selective just very wary. If I see something that CAN be abused chances are it will be. I've played enough DnD, and heard enough stories to know that if people can get away with things they will try to.

[mickilennial]

I feel like you're banking too much on the thematical sense of the show

@vancexentan

You cannot separate thematic significance of a setting and the basic mechanics of a setting without controversy. I would certainly not be interested in a RP that divorces itself too far from what I feel is the spirit of the concept. That’s all I’m saying here – I’m sure others agree that have not brought up a talking point. I just don’t think it is a good idea to disregard the themes from something just because you like one neat aspect of the mechanical foundation. You aren’t wrong that it is a challenging thing to find people, especially those who will not dip out, that fit such things. But there have been successful Naruto and Soul Eater RPs that try to adapt to this principle.

Some compromises are not worth making.

Broken Promise is correct that it would be wiser for you to make an original setting that is inspired by Franxx then it is taking a risk by divorcing the themes from the other elements of the series. The foundation you like does not exist in a vacuum and you are at too much of a risk of alienating yourself from many interested parties by breaking spirit.

What I believe the others said is true and that I may need a co-gm to direct combat for the overall sake of a better more enjoyable roleplay otherwise my own lack of creativity may hurt.

@vancexentan

On the flipside, I’m not sure how you would go looking for a co-GM that is not only compatible with your style but is also interested in how you want to direct your RP. I’d like to offer some tangible ideas there, but this thread isn’t exactly busting at the seams with interest. Perhaps an interest check would serve well and then you could “vet” people from there for the position. IDK.

[vancexentan]

Well if that is indeed the case I may as well not make the roleplay at all. I have no interest in making an entire setting's lore and then have it garner no interest, or bust because there is some sort of disagreement. That would require a lot of work, and a lot of effort in which case I believe I would be better off making a fanfic because at least in that case it won't go up in flames due to lack of interest in the regards of others. I feel like you're personally not a fan of how I do things which is fine a lot of people for one reason or another have issues with me. However I feel a lot of the cases people have against me as a GM are unfounded, or weak in nature. There are plenty of times where my own lack of creativity as gm has indeed doomed a roleplay. My gundam, and Rosario Vampire roleplays are a testament to that. Perhaps the sekirei ones as well but those suffer from people not bothering to get past the prologue before the entire group met up. But that's besides the point what I'm trying to say is that one should not judge a person by how they feel about them to gauge whether or not a roleplay will be successful. And while I am nowhere near the best gm I do believe I am not the worst.

With all that being said I appreciate the feedback I made this thread with the intent on fleshing out HOW a roleplay would work, and possibly work out how the basic plot would be structured. From what I've gathered so far I'm just not the best person to be doing this sort of thing due to the amount of effort that would be needed to make something like this work.

[BrokenPromise]

...and that's exactly why you talk to other people in the fandom, locally, at the forum where you plan on hosting the thing. So that this way when you decide to go off and make your thing, you can be confident it's going to garner some interest.

[vancexentan]

Well I planned on making it on here. There is no active fandom sections on this site, and I personally don't visit fandom areas outside of say reddit, and even then I'm not a frequent presence on there.

[mickilennial]

Well if that is indeed the case I may as well not make the roleplay at all. I have no interest in making an entire setting's lore and then have it garner no interest, or bust because there is some sort of disagreement.

@vancexentan

Roleplaying is a risk-taking hobby whether you are interpreting a canon work or creating something from scratch. Posting a conceptualized idea is always a gamble, so we should always ensure we are confident in our premise when attempting it.

I feel like you're personally not a fan of how I do things

@vancexentan

I have no idea how you do things, Vance. In fact, my comments were not an attack on your character or directorial style; they were just simple points I was bringing to you based on the topic at hand that you brought up. My only interest is offering my point-of-view regarding this discussion topic. Nothing more and nothing less.

[vancexentan]

There is much less of a risk when it comes down to adapting a canonical adaption. Less time it takes adjusting a canonical setting, or basing something off it than it is to make an entirely different continuity. When you see something you're familiar with take I don't know Rurouni Kenshin you know what to expect from that. When you see an entirely different rp with just inspirations from Kenshin you expect the gm to know how things have gotten to that point, and have a spring of knowledge when it comes to how, and why things are as they are, and as they work in that universe. Can samurai use magic in this universe? Do they use guns instead of swords? Is the setting still the same? It requires a whole different level of commitment that I personally have no interest in seeing through as custom settings, while i have mulled some around in my head that wouldn't work in a roleplay setting, are not something I am willing to walk through with little to no guarantee of any continued interest, or actual backing from people.

Regarding my previous statement I apologize. I didn't intend to come off as accusatory however i am well aware people think little of me for one reason, or another and I do find that trying my patience when it comes to roleplays as me being a more strict on characters finds me little welcome in some cliques on here.

[mickilennial]

There is much less of a risk when it comes down to adapting a canonical adaption.

@vancexentan

I feel like there isn’t fewer risks involved as opposed to original works, I feel like it just has a different set of risks. But yes, I do agree that sometimes a canonical “AU” is more approachable than someone’s pet project that they want to test.

[BrokenPromise]

@vancexentan even if you were active in places saturated with fan activity, I'm suggesting you talk to people here, where the RP will be taking place. If you're still not sure what should be going into the setting, you're not ready to make the RP. if you have a collection of friends, you might want to talk to them. I prefer to talk with people one on one because I feel they are more honest that way, and they aren't influenced by the group's discussion. this is essential if you're not super crazy about the series, it's important to hear why other people ARE crazy about the series. Protip: you may be the GM, but you are NEVER the biggest fan. I may sound like I'm regurgitating the same thing over and over again, but it's really important to know what the fans want if you're making a fan RP.People want to experience Darling in the Franxx one way or the other if they are participating.

As far as how I would run it? After I got feedback from a few people, I would then decide what I could safely do to give myself the most control. Just as an example, I don't really like the cockpit situation. It's really clear whoever designed a cockpit where the girl has to bend over in front of the guy was less concerned about practicality and what would spawn the most buttseckz jokes on the internet. If my "focus group" was miffed at the awkward cockpit designs, I would revamp them to something more practical and less Korean MMORPG what it is now. On the other hand, if suggesting this type of change just got people to tip their heads, then I would leave the smutpits exactly the way they were. After that's done, I'd work on the story. I tend to set up a skeleton of a story and fill in details with player hooks. I would work on a plot of course, which would mostly just be why these monsters are showing up, and the motivations of key NPCs and antagonists. this tends to come to me quickly and automatically, as revealing these details to players is why I GM in the first place.

With all the prepwork done, everything else is a breeze. At least for me. I would make an interest check that clearly illustrates what the RP is and isn't. This means telling everyone changes I made to the cockpit, and the fact that the RP's direction will not follow the show exactly because it's still airing and, well, it's unlikely the RP will be able to follow the main plot of the show perfectly. I would note any other major changes that might turn players on or off, and then I'd let the sparks fly.

I like having a lot of control over fight scenes, so I would opt to run the fights myself. But I'm very confident in my fighting ability, and have no problem controlling large numbers of characters at the same time. Depending on the size of your player base, I would stay away from single enemies that everyone has to fight. They just aren't that interesting against large groups of players. It turns into a game of "figure out my weakness, or look silly, haha!" I would opt to have teams of powerful monsters that might be in close proximity to each other. This lets the players split up their forces, and leads to a more tactical feeling fight. Let's say you have ten players, which gives you five mechs. You could stage a battle where two people need to unite to fight two of the monsters, while the remaining mech has to hold out until the other two monsters are killed against an opponent that's stronger than they are. Everyone shares the spotlight, instead of needing to compete for it. But if you really needed that one monster to fight them all, I'd make the monster in such a way that it would break up the mech's single group in one way or the other. maybe a large monster where each limb is a smaller monster, etc.

Then it's just a matter of playing attention to what everyone is saying and tweaking as necessary.

Sadly, I can't help form the story because, as I've said, I know nothing about the show. Well, aside from the smutpits. But by the sound of it, you still need to decide what elements of the show you're going to keep in tact.

Oh, and you'd best have a back up plan for when some of the pilots decide to leave the RP without as much as a whisper. Say your group starts off with eight players, and three of them leave in the first month. if you're unlucky, that means you have one mech working and three others that are one short of a full pair. I've personally overcome this by taking control of such characters myself, but not everyone feels comfortable doing that. So figure out what works best for you.

<Snipped quote by vancexentan>
I feel like there isn’t fewer risks involved as opposed to original works, I feel like it just has a different set of risks. But yes, I do agree that sometimes a canonical “AU” is more approachable than someone’s pet project that they want to test.

@Inkarnate

I guess I'm the only person who aproches a fan RP and thinks "Okay, I really hope the GM doesn't screw up how X acts, gets Y correct, and chooses not to acknowledge the existence of that horrible Z movie!

[mickilennial]

I guess I'm the only person who approaches a fan RP and thinks "Okay, I really hope the GM doesn't screw up how X acts, gets Y correct, and chooses not to acknowledge the existence of that horrible Z movie!

@BrokenPromise

Nah, I think that all the time when I see certain fandom roleplays that don't retcon such characters. That seems more commonly a fanfic gripe, though.

[May96]

Personally, it seems to me like you want to make your own thing, but you don't quite know where to start.

If that's the case, the first step is to nail down what key elements you want to include. Giant robots, monsters, a city, whatever. After that, you'd wana work on filling stuff out by just asking "why" a lot and answering it.

"Why are there giant robots?" "Why do I need two people to pilot them?" "Why is this one city so important?"

If you work off that, things will start to fill out quite nicely. This even works well for specific characters as well.

"Why does the big bad evil guy wana destroy the world?" "Why does he hate the party so much?" "Why is the king taxing his people so much?"

[Silver Carrot]

A lot of any GMing is you make the rp you feel comfortable running.

Don't want to GM the monsters? Don't GM the monsters. Assign that to a Co-GM Luckily Klaxosaurs have even less 'rules' than Evangelion's Angels so you can basically have the Fraxx pilots fight anything you want, and have that thing or things act in any way you want. Melt, turn into blocks, etc.

A slice of life rp in a closed setting with ships, drama and an even number of boys and girls is considerably easier to implement. Set aside a limited number of slots for boys and girls, and whenever they're not fighting, they're builfding the characters. Downtime is important in rps. I've seen lots of rps that are nothing but downtime, but there are none that are exclusively uptime.

[Foster]

Well, the two pilots thing actually makes sense... maybe...

Essentially, the mechs themselves need to be monitored, maintained, and piloted. Simultaniously. Otherwise the mech would tear itself apart trying to do stuff.

From the clips I've seen, this is more-or-less actually stated in the series.
-And was theorized earlier to be the reason behind dual-pilots in Pacific-Rim... aside from left-brain/right-brain BS.

A irl analogy would be early radar-equiped interceptors having a WSO in the backseat whose exclusive job was to watch the scope, navigate, and anticipate all electronic warfare/missile threats while also dealing with squadie-chatter.
-Although in the case of a Franxx, this appears to be what the person in front usually does... with emergency-controls...

[vancexentan]

@May96

There is much less of a risk when it comes down to adapting a canonical adaption. Less time it takes adjusting a canonical setting, or basing something off it than it is to make an entirely different continuity. When you see something you're familiar with take I don't know Rurouni Kenshin you know what to expect from that. When you see an entirely different rp with just inspirations from Kenshin you expect the gm to know how things have gotten to that point, and have a spring of knowledge when it comes to how, and why things are as they are, and as they work in that universe. Can samurai use magic in this universe? Do they use guns instead of swords? Is the setting still the same? It requires a whole different level of commitment that I personally have no interest in seeing through as custom settings, while i have mulled some around in my head that wouldn't work in a roleplay setting, are not something I am willing to walk through with little to no guarantee of any continued interest, or actual backing from people.

@vancexentan

I already have stated plenty of times now that I am adverted, and completely uninterested in making a completely new roleplay idea from the prospective I had no interest in making new lore in or to explain things in that roleplay. And if I were to make a roleplay regarding the series in question there is no real, as of yet, big bad in lore so I'd just be making up a character to play that role if we have some sort of malevolent entity outside of the giant monsters preventing the group from obtaining needed power.

@Silver Carrot

True enough I do believe I could handle the big monsters, and the overall slice of life tends to drive itself when not directly railed onto a plot. The problem for me is that I would run out of monsters quick and it would cycle through to generic monsters. I really do believe that having another gm handle the smaller monster fights would work out well but like the others said there could come the plot problem of cycling through pilots, and controllers of the mech.

[Silver Carrot]

@vancexentan

Well, look at the source material. The dual-pilot nature means that fight between similar enemies became wildly different based solely on the relationships between the main cast. In fact, unlike Evangelion, the focus of the fights in Darling In The Franxx is often the characters, not the enemies.