Formatting Roleplays

[AkiBlue]

I always notice the different way roleplays, both group and 1×1s, are set up. And it always interested me, mainly because I want to learn the "best" or most preferred way of setting up a roleplay for future GM reasons.
Some are eye catching with graphics and fancy fonts and the likes, while others are more simple or just plain text. Even with the simple ones, some still give great detail to the story. And contradictory to the fancy style of others, some may give little info or more rather it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. ("Don't judge a book by its cover.")

With that in mind, a few questions came up about the topic that I thought might be helpful for some that also want to try their hand in the GM-ing world.

As a GM, would you prefer having straight to the point OOCs (and/or IntChks) or would you rather add the graphics and I would assume "extra effort" into it?

For the ones that do use the graphics, do you create them yourself, or do you get someone else to do it? Subliminally meaning, if you don't know how but you really want it nice, any recommend people/places?

For IntChks, how much information is enough information before it turns into an OOC?

Hmm, and I think that's it at the moment.

[HeySeuss]

I use a straight up template. Header art, and then I list the setting items in a quick bullet point with more explanation further down for IC and OOC purposes. It's like a flyleaf blurb on a hardcover book -- I tell people what the RP is about and what the expectations are.

[Brovo]

Interest Checks

One of the rules of advertisement: If it can't be understood in five minutes or less, nobody will be interested. Post an excerpt of the plot you want to run, no more than three paragraphs, and then devote one paragraph to just explaining clear as day what you want and what the RP will be about. For example: You have a fantasy RP? Try having the King of whatever nation write a letter to another, detailing the main conflict at hand for the party, add some exciting words, words that are vague enough to conjure any image but powerful enough to convey the validity of the problem at hand. Think words like: Cataclysm, apocalypse, endless, brink, destruction, terror, etc.

After that, keep the interest check afloat. Answer everyone who comes in. I mean everyone, even a simple "I'm interested", reply with a thank you and a smile. Even if half of them don't show, if you get the interest of like, 30 people, that's still a solid 15 who will arrive to join the frey.

OOC structure

Comes in a variety of valid ways. If you're going pure text, always put the plot up front and centre as the first portion, the character sheet second, and any information thereafter third. If you're in casual, keep it below 2,500 words. If you're in advanced, below 6,000. Nothing drives players away like an OOC that takes a solid two hours to read and understand.

And, again, keep excitement alive in the initial phase. Respond when you can, use teasers, answer questions. The formatting of the OOC just needs to be solid enough to garner attention--what will really keep people keen is in how well you can keep the tension going for whatever is going on.

[Rilla]

Brovo said
. For example: You have a fantasy RP? Try having the King of whatever nation write a letter to another, detailing the main conflict at hand for the party, add some exciting words, words that are vague enough to conjure any image but powerful enough to convey the validity of the problem at hand. Think words like: Cataclysm, apocalypse, endless, brink, destruction, terror, etc

I actually used this for the Way of the Warrior tournaments.

I'd have previous victors write letters to the upcoming combatants, mostly telling them not to do it, but telling them about the lobby and what to expect.

[AkiBlue]

Definitely taken note of this.
Thanks.

[Ergo]

I think about what people see first. The thread-title is the first thing they notice, which is always the most difficult part of attracting interest. I use pictures, so that's the second thing that they will see. The picture has to correlate well with the thread-title; if the thread-title is "The Arkham Horror," a picture if a rainbow unicorn will throw people off. After that, they see whatever is written first, which should be a concise premise/plot summary. Much like what Brovo said, only I prefer when it is written out of character. Then, I usually add some information about things and bits, and a few casual rules (example).

If my roleplay is an original idea, I usually mask it with fandom. True story, I conducted an experiment on a roleplaying site once, where I posted the same idea, but with two different names. The first name was my own, and the second name was 'Final Fantasy.' The post with my own name for the roleplay generated 1 person, whereas the post with 'Final Fantasy' generated over 20. Yes.... this was exactly the same post. So, it's a cool trick.

[Touch of Insanity]

For interest check, I think detail outline of the plot is necessary, a few question here and there work well you're still catching interest. It' only when you move into discussion of how things will play out and how to go about them that your moving into a more OCC type discussion.Personally, I won't use images in an interest check, unless the image is very important for the cause (basing a role play off that very image). Some people may do it because it catches the eye a little better over just text. I personally like to use images at the top of my IC posts, as a kind of reminder of who my character is. It was a habit from the pro-board sites I wondered onto for a while in my break on the guild a few years back. I really does help when it comes to multiple main characters in one IC post.

For the images I use, I do create them myself using a program called Paint.Net. it's free since I'm a cheap ass person, but it works for my needs. It's rather easy to use and has helped me make basic images and some more complex images where I've had to use the layering system.

I think that covers just about everything.

[Shienvien]

A good, simple format for an OoC opening post (an interest check should follow a similar structure - it's just I personally tend to patrol the actual RP section for things I might like, and only very rarely remember the interest check exists) should go something like that:

TITLE
Catchphrase or short paragraph filling the same role.

Premise (around 1-3 paragraphs about the plot and what the player would/could play as - what to expect; *not* in hider. Keep it brief - you want people to be able to quickly skim-read it so that they can decide whether or not the RP might interest them and they want to delve deeper).

Link to other, more elaborate info. (The character limit on this site? It is direly insufficient for anything even slightly detailed...)
If the world is very detailed, preferably make it two sections - firstly a fairly concentrated listing of things anyone who joins should know of the world, and then the in-depth workings that can be referred to at necessity (or read at one's own leisure).

Summary of (major) happenings this far (constantly updated as the story goes on, preferably in hider to avoid extra scrolling).

How to apply (character sheet templates and guidelines etc.) + rules. - Rules perhaps visible, templates preferably hidden.

List of characters currently in RP (Named link to CS + short identifier sentence to each; visible.)

Graphics can be and often are a nice addition, but they should be kept simple and not overwhelming. Make the title a nice complementary banner, give the sub-section headers a bit of extra size and color so they can be spotted with ease, such things.
Do not use huge, page-stretching pictures, bizarre text structuring (nice paragraphs, please - no gapped list of single sentences, and no uniform walls) or alignment (is centering text really necessary if it is not a poem?), unreadable fonts or neon/backgroundlike colors (people's poor eyes!).

[Fox of Spades]

Brovo said You have a fantasy RP? Try having the King of whatever nation write a letter to another, detailing the main conflict at hand for the party, add some exciting words, words that are vague enough to conjure any image but powerful enough to convey the validity of the problem at hand.

This is a really neat idea :D! The interest check is pretty much the first bait so give them a feel of what you're RP is going to be like. You don't have to state everything off the bat though a summary of the plot and a short list of your expectations would be nice. That way, players know what they're getting into and know what you're expecting of them. Like Brovo said just keep up a friendly atmosphere and answer all the questions thrown at you.

It's not really important, but a picture as a header makes things look prettier too.

As for the OOC. A few pictures here and there plus the basic information. Keeping huge chunks of texts hidden with hiders is nice since they might look threatening. Rules and Character sheets should probably be in the OOC as well. I find Weebly really useful for storing extra information though ^^

[Brovo]

Hm. Time to expand. :3

Well the king's letter example is what the literary world calls a hook. The movie industry calls it a trailer. Video games call it a teaser or demo reel. It's the very first thing people get to see about the universe.

The best way to show your players your world is, well, showing them, not telling them. Saying "my world is a fantasy RP involving the kingdom of Tyr" is information. It's telling the person what it is. Showing an excerpt of how the characters behave, followed up with the OOC explaining what they just witnessed and explaining what they'll do, is showing them the world and then using information to explain it. It yanks at someone and says "HEY! LOOK AT ME! I AM IMMERSIVE! MY WORLD IS ALIVE AND ASKING FOR YOUR HELP!" Instead of, say... "The world of Tyr is in danger by the evil monster."

Using that method I've never had an interest check fail. LoR 2's interest check was apparently so wildly successful it blew away all expectations and garnered over 30 players into my OOC initially. Take that for what you will.

EDIT

tl;dr: Marketing tactics 101. People prefer to feel involved directly, as though witnessing something or being spoken towards, instead of being informed in a wiki-like fashion. Why? I have no idea. Go ask a psychologist.

[Pachamac]

Yeah, I did the same for my rp's interest check in making it appear more fleshed out. It was basically an IC post to help demonstrate and show the kind of characterisation, atmosphere and world my rp was going for, rather then being a bit cut and dry and just showing ooc esque information. It had... personality.

I also think pictures are good so long as they're not gone overboard, as they help to inspire and get imagination going.

Text formatting is important, and the relative aim of interest checks is to keep things simple. You don't want massive walls of text that make it hard to digest and unappealing to look at from the start. As for the ooc, I'd also suggest keeping large chunks of details in hiders to help break things up and make it easier to digest, it really is easier for the player that way. Another piece of advice I have is to be mindful of how much information a player really needs at the start of an rp. I've seen a few interest checks/ooc which go way, way, waaaaaaay overboard on the amount of detail and just present an awful, awful lot of text and information that needs to be read and learned, and there's not a single bigger turn off then that. Considering the vast majority of rps die quite quickly, I'm turned off with the idea of having to learn a vast amount of detail and lore for an rp that may not last long. Personally, I prefer to incorporate and introduce relevant pieces of detail in the IC where and when it's needed (better to show then tell and have it affect the characters at the same time) rather then go overboard at the start.

[Kestrel]

Interest check-wise; I want to get an impression within the first few seconds. Before I have an idea of what your game is about and what I'm going to do in it, everything is fluff. You might write down a king's letter, but unless it begins like "Dear adventurer, I need you and your magic powers to recover my kidnapped daughter from the clutches of the evil kingdom" I'm going to scroll through your post until I can summarise the premise in a single line and know what options are available to me as a player. In fact this is exactly why, in Ergo's example, I'd actually put the picture below the italics. It's not relevant until then; rather it is in my way (although other than that the example is fine.)

The main problem with interest checks as a format itself is that beyond saying "Hi, I'm interested." It doesn't allow for much interactivity, so it's smart to give players some tools or bricks to start building their characters with, or leave descriptions a little vague and compelling to ask for more detail (fine balance, it's tricky.) Interact with the potentially interested, prompt them to do something early on besides waiting, because it'll increase their involvement and therefore commitment.

Brovo said Why? I have no idea. Go ask a psychologist.

Emotional impact, mostly. People are more likely to listen when you talk directly to them than to a big crowd. Successful communication to audiences in fact, relies on either making every individual able to connect to something in your speech, or making the crowd one big organism they're swept up in. Successful storytelling relies on emotion and immersion, something a wiki structure doesn't give you.