Fallout Nation Roleplay stagnation

[VATROU]

Before I start let me clarify a few things, first the Nation RP I'm speaking about is on another forum board, the Bethsoft forums http://forums.bethsoft.com/forum/42-fallout-artwork-and-fan-fiction/ They strictly regulate RPs to either Fallout or Elder Scroll RPs, well because unlike the Roleplayer Guild the Bethsoft forums is a Gaming Forum and Roleplays are mainly for the minority who would like to role play their favorite series.

Second because the Bethsoft forums are a Gaming Forum, the Roleplays there tend to cater to more casuals even though there are great writers there, many just want an easy experience without bogging things down with stats or numbers.

A lot of our problems stem from predictability, often RPers tend to play BoS, NCR or Enclave time and time again, or similar iterations of them. For those who don't know who they are, I'll keep this short and simple. Fallout takes place in a retro future where the Cold War never ended, that is until 2277 when the world was covered in nuclear fire. The NCR are a expansionist democratic government.

The Brotherhood of Steel BoS are a quasi-religious technological organization that was founded by remnants of the Pre-War military who horde technology to prevent it's misuse, because of this they have butted heads with other factions and have made powerful enemies and few allies.

And the Enclave are a Shadow Government who attempted genocide twice only to be thwarted, they are a collection of the greatest minds who have been beaten like a dead horse in the series. Yet as RPs go alternative history takes precedence over lore.

These are just a few examples there have been numerous iterations of various Nations based off these groups.

The other problem we face is Trade, Trade, Trade. And no mention of War. War has been mostly avoided in the recent reincarnations of the Nation Roleplays. Mainly because we're afraid to step out of our comfort zones and there's just no reward for it.

Our Nation Roleplays are Community GMed, as we're more a tight nit group. We've been RPing together for a few years at least some longer than that, all in different types of Roleplays.

I had some thoughts about just breaking the mold to what we're used to, one opinion was to simply change it into a GMed RP, where more power would be assigned to the GM. Which maybe would allow the GM to have more of a say as to which Nations are submitted. And maybe would help with increasing War.

I also thought about a short stat ruleset for Wars, which could make them less intimidating.

But still I ask if there's any suggestions the Roleplayers Guild can offer. A way to make Nation RPs more interesting again for us.

[ArenaSnow]

Perhaps for a collaboration (or, hec, have it GM controlled) where either one nation gains a little too much power for it's own good and trys to throw its weight at everyone (what i speak of would actually be OP, so make sure the one doing it is mature enough not to complain if other nations gang up to fight, and make sure said person is not afraid of losing, but also who won't just wipe everyone out), or have a group of nations that allign and attempt to form a new order which attempts to squeeze out anyone who doesn't want to join it.

In the meantime, have events such as natural disasters, whatever come up to spice up the gameplay... I don't have a single thing to do with fallout, so not too much I can really offer here.

[VATROU]

Perhaps for a collaboration (or, hec, have it GM controlled) where either one nation gains a little too much power for it's own good and trys to throw its weight at everyone (what i speak of would actually be OP, so make sure the one doing it is mature enough not to complain if other nations gang up to fight, and make sure said person is not afraid of losing, but also who won't just wipe everyone out), or have a group of nations that allign and attempt to form a new order which attempts to squeeze out anyone who doesn't want to join it.

In the meantime, have events such as natural disasters, whatever come up to spice up the gameplay... I don't have a single thing to do with fallout, so not too much I can really offer here.

@ArenaSnow

Thank you, I'll have to consider some of these. I do hope I get more advice from those more knowledgeable than I regarding Nation RPs. MKore opinions are always good.

[Vilageidiotx]

I know a few things about'em. Right now I am Co-Gming Precipice of War, which is one of the more successful NRP's in the section dedicated to them, and has been dragged more or less continuously across three different forums for more than four years now. That's my credentials.

For a good nation RP, you have to break the tendency for people to think of the nations themselves as the characters. People do that and yeh, they'll RP like they are writing an AAR for Civ or EU. You gotta break them of that, and teach them to build their stories from the ground up by focusing on the individuals that make up the nation. Don't imagine cultures as CIA fact book stats, imagine them as individuals going through their lives. The government is the leaders and their personalities, the military is another culture of individuals with their own sets of challenges, etc etc.

It's best if you allow things to grow organically. Don't try to GM the RP using artificial tricks, just enforce some reasonable behavior. It's better to enforce realism within the world you are creating rather than creating barriers to power and access that might end up smothering the RP instead. The Big nations will be bogged down in logistics while the lesser ones are constrained by resources. Enforcing these sorts of things won't kill combat and action, but rather will keep it focused so that storytelling can blossom.

And the best thing a GM can do, I think, is lead by example. Write well and you will inspire everybody else to keep up with your skillz.

[VATROU]

@Vilageidiotx Those are some good suggestions, and we already do some of these like the "focusing on individuals that make up the nation". Problem is we might not go far enough. There seems to be a small handful of characters who revolve around the leader and we barely see any actual character development when we are not in our IC yearly convention.

That is to say a bunch of leaders holding hands and making trade deals. Now it was better in the earlier iterations of the genre there was more War, several people got wiped out, and returned. Another problem I thin is; we burn though posts. We tend to move faster in general, it's not odd for there to be several posts every other day. Which I'm just throwing out as an example. These posts are roughly anywhere from a couple sentences or three or more paragraphs depending on what the reply calls for.

We don't do as much collaborations on posts, just general stuff where to be or what we want. We'll partially flesh out the setting to suit our needs. We do base the entire RP of a game series so there's already a lot here and there, all we have to do is fill in the blanks regarding unexplored regions of America.

[shadowkiller912]

I did not know you made a thread for our NRPS @Vatrou

@Vilageidiotx Those are some good suggestions, and we already do some of these like the "focusing on individuals that make up the nation". Problem is we might not go far enough. There seems to be a small handful of characters who revolve around the leader and we barely see any actual character development when we are not in our IC yearly convention.

@VATROU

I would agree with the lack of character development. I was planning in the last one to flesh out the lives of Verica to Gannon and other characters I had planned to bring into the RP. One thing we need to highlight of importance is character development.

I know a few things about'em. Right now I am Co-Gming Precipice of War, which is one of the more successful NRP's in the section dedicated to them, and has been dragged more or less continuously across three different forums for more than four years now. That's my credentials.

For a good nation RP, you have to break the tendency for people to think of the nations themselves as the characters. People do that and yeh, they'll RP like they are writing an AAR for Civ or EU. You gotta break them of that, and teach them to build their stories from the ground up by focusing on the individuals that make up the nation. Don't imagine cultures as CIA fact book stats, imagine them as individuals going through their lives. The government is the leaders and their personalities, the military is another culture of individuals with their own sets of challenges, etc etc.

It's best if you allow things to grow organically. Don't try to GM the RP using artificial tricks, just enforce some reasonable behavior. It's better to enforce realism within the world you are creating rather than creating barriers to power and access that might end up smothering the RP instead. The Big nations will be bogged down in logistics while the lesser ones are constrained by resources. Enforcing these sorts of things won't kill combat and action, but rather will keep it focused so that storytelling can blossom.

And the best thing a GM can do, I think, is lead by example. Write well and you will inspire everybody else to keep up with your skillz.

@Vilageidiotx

I dream of the day our Fallout NRPS can be just like Precipice.

[VATROU]

@shadowkiller912 What if we added a rule to describe the general population's current attitude? Say we make trade deals and such and the citizenry aren't too happy with the other Nation for whatever reason, be it bitter relations or how they treat certain casts of individuals bigotry with Mutants and the like.

[shadowkiller912]

@shadowkiller912 What if we added a rule to describe the general population's current attitude? Say we make trade deals and such and the citizenry aren't too happy with the other Nation for whatever reason, be it bitter relations or how they treat certain casts of individuals bigotry with Mutants and the like.

@VATROU

Ah, public opinion. If you remember we do have sections were people have to fill out the nations opinion on slavery and mutants. I think that RPers need to remember or put it in as a rule that "RPers must always take into account the citizenry opinion realistically of policy decision both domestically (domestic policy decision such as on increasing taxes or downsizing the military) and internationally (deals made between nations such as a communist country ally with fascists or a nation agreeing to house foreign troops )."

Usually I'd rather prefer RPers to take this into account when NRPing but in our case, it needs to be a rule.

[VATROU]

@shadowkiller912What other things do you think we might need as rules go?

[shadowkiller912]

@shadowkiller912What other things do you think we might need as rules go?

@VATROU

We should follow what village said on NRP's. @Vilageidiotx Along with that implement a rule for minimum post rule to be five to ten paragraphs. That way RPers would be forced to write out a detailed storied post like in Precipice instead short simple posts like for example "Alaska executes new monetary policy."

For a good nation RP, you have to break the tendency for people to think of the nations themselves as the characters. People do that and yeh, they'll RP like they are writing an AAR for Civ or EU. You gotta break them of that, and teach them to build their stories from the ground up by focusing on the individuals that make up the nation. Don't imagine cultures as CIA fact book stats, imagine them as individuals going through their lives. The government is the leaders and their personalities, the military is another culture of individuals with their own sets of challenges, etc etc.

It's best if you allow things to grow organically. Don't try to GM the RP using artificial tricks, just enforce some reasonable behavior. It's better to enforce realism within the world you are creating rather than creating barriers to power and access that might end up smothering the RP instead. The Big nations will be bogged down in logistics while the lesser ones are constrained by resources. Enforcing these sorts of things won't kill combat and action, but rather will keep it focused so that storytelling can blossom.

Other than that, having a current lack of RPers in beth hampers our NRP revival chances. We could start an INT check and implement what village said just to see if the others are willing to go for another shot at an NRP.

[VATROU]

@shadowkiller912I think a good minimum post rule should be about five paragraphs. Too much more and it stops being casual. I still think we may need a few general rules. Perhaps a rule to allow GMs to intervene should a situation get out of hand arguments or meta gaming where Players just somehow know what the others are up to without sending scouts or learning first hand.

[shadowkiller912]

@shadowkiller912I think a good minimum post rule should be about five paragraphs. Too much more and it stops being casual. I still think we may need a few general rules. Perhaps a rule to allow GMs to intervene should a situation get out of hand arguments or meta gaming where Players just somehow know what the others are up to without sending scouts or learning first hand.

@VATROU

Well, its always a gm responsibilities to manage arguments. But we need a rule to on metagaming.

[VATROU]

@shadowkiller912We haven't had a GM for NRPs. So things like that have gotten out of hand. It's why Aldin and Andro moved things so fast to avoid anyone interfering where they shouldn't be able to.

[shadowkiller912]

@shadowkiller912We haven't had a GM for NRPs. So things like that have gotten out of hand. It's why Aldin and Andro moved things so fast to avoid anyone interfering where they shouldn't be able to.

@VATROU

Oh now I remember lol. You do make a point that Aldin and Andro moved things fast. The way I see it is that the decentralized nature of our NRPS in which we simply try to solve things democratically does not do good.

[VATROU]

@shadowkiller912For most things we don't need a GM, and that's the problem when we find certain situations like meta gaming with new players we don't quite know how they'll react. Having a GM for those situations would stop any worries that the group may have and allow things to progress as they should. That way small things can be handled by the group and big things fall to the GM to sort out.

[VATROU]

@shadowkiller912Want to work out some general plot lines for the NRP? Either just for the interest or setting.

[shadowkiller912]

@VATROU

Sure. Lets take it to the PM's.