Military RPs- a Cause for Debate

[HeySeuss]

RIP: Died before its time.

At one point, I also had a war in a fictional African country in the 1960's going on, but it never got off the ground, because the material was more obscure so I imagine that limited interest.

[Vilageidiotx]

RIP: Died before its time.

At one point, I also had a war in a fictional African country in the 1960's going on, but it never got off the ground, because the material was more obscure so I imagine that limited interest.

@HeySeuss

That is a really big problem with any sort of real-world based specialty RP, it is difficult to find people who are comfortable with the subject matter.

[ArenaSnow]

<Snipped quote by HeySeuss>

That is a really big problem with any sort of real-world based specialty RP, it is difficult to find people who are comfortable with the subject matter.

@Vilageidiotx

Personally, if I do something realistic, I like to do it right. Subject matter like military RP's I just don't have experience nor knowledge enough to meet any sort of my standards. And my standards aren't very high everywhere else.

Hence why I don't join any modern-based combat-focused roleplay, but I don't mind sci-fi/fantasy - because I would like to meet the fellow who lived to know what living and fighting in those "time periods" was like.

[Bee]

RIP: Died before its time.

At one point, I also had a war in a fictional African country in the 1960's going on, but it never got off the ground, because the material was more obscure so I imagine that limited interest.

@HeySeuss

That RP really had some momentum to go off of, however I think this was more of the GM's thing since he had some personal issues and ultimately lead to the RP's demise. I had never seen an RP on this subject prior to this, and I was really enthusiastic about making it really something. But unfortunately it went the same way most RPs of this kind go on this website.

I'm not surprised though, military knowledge is something that is usually very hard to emulate properly. Most of the time I make my posts by precariously googling things and making sure I have every detail right. But if not, I have people like @kingkonrad to push me along and help me. I really would like to see the Military genre grow but it's not happening anytime soon. Such a sad thing to see.

[The Grey Warden]

I really want to join a military roleplay. It seems interesting to roleplay.

[Dinh AaronMk]

I really want to join a military roleplay. It seems interesting to roleplay.

@The Grey Warden

Let me politely lead you in the direction of this and then say: don't be afraid it's in the NRP section, I allow for single-character signatories too. And we're in the beginning stages of the major war we never had until now so there'll be ample opportunity with enough given time to orient and introduce your character now then move on into the action. And since it's a slow moving RP per posts you have some lenient time to write out posts and edit them (if you're into that).

We're good people and we can lend you some book learning and advice. Unfortunately, we're down our local military expert since he's reported into training stuff but should be able to report back come August, hopefully with a more intimate idea of what's what beyond ROTC programs.

[Dervish]

Oh hey, this is back in circulation.

A thought occurred to me as I was reading about some of the comments about it being a niche kind of roleplay where every player needs a basic level of understanding the military for it to be fun for everybody/ not a constant fact-checking adventure of turbo realism. If someone were to make a more grounded RP about conscripts (oh hey Stalingrad-based RP I want to do sometime!), it would definitely be something where the average player would know about as much as the average conscript for how military operations work. You'd need GMs who are familiar with the subject matter to act as the veterans/ officers to act kind of as guidepost characters for the larger player base, and you could definitely keep it pretty simple and streamlined. Don't need to know a lot of tactics, equipment, and lingo when you're basically a peasant who got rounded up one day, thrown in the back of the truck in a uniform, and had a rifle that was produced the week before shoved in your hands as you're told to go kill the enemy. I personally think it would be fun taking an RP with a bunch of players over the course of a battle (or god forbid, the war) and watch as they develop from green conscripts to specialized veterans who are much more competent fighters and are steeled to the horrors of war.

[Vilageidiotx]

Another way of doing it is breaking down the real world version and stylizing it, just as fiction has done since time immemorial. Sort of like how the Victorian and Edwardian eras were boiled down to a stylized "Steam Punk", more modern forms of warfare could similarly be simplified and fictionalized until you have something like "Atomic Punk", but for a larger era.

Hell, I would describe Precipice styles as a sort of mix between Atomic Punk and a similar stylization of the sixties and seventies Cold war.