A Push for Original Content: Universes/Settings, Characters, and Tales.

[Spybuster]

Before I begin with the short spur that i'm going to throw out in a moment, I just want to make it clear that this is not intended to disgrace fandom RPs or those set in existing works, after all roleplay takes many forms and being able to play around in a setting you enjoy is perfectly fine and acceptable. This post is intended for both idea sharing and topic discussion.

I just want to point out that the number of fandom RPs certainly outweighs the original ones. Personally, I find creating universes and settings to be enjoyable and invigorating. To think of a whole new world, times and places, fantasies and everything in between. To fill it with people and histories, to provide a new and fresh sandbox for stories to be told in. It just feels like a whole new world to explore, and my mind can run wild thinking about how to put it together, piece by piece. I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels that way. If you ever catch yourself daydreaming about stuff like that, nurture the thought and let it blossom, 'cause you might have something interesting there.

The world and what fills it serves as a foundation. From there you can build upon it with the story you want to tell. I know this was more about setting than characters or story, but a solid foundation is a good footing for the two topics. Feel free to discuss character creating or story making tips/concepts as well.

All of you are here for your different reasons, but i'm sure you share several of those reasons. You like to write, you're imaginative, creative. You all want to have a story somewhere that was scribbled down alongside many others. One that you were able to share and build with a group. I'm sure many of you out there have fantasies and worlds you'd want to live out, so lets start the fire and apply some fresh paint to this canvas!

[Arawak]

I suppose i'll give my two cents.

Challenge with original RPs is interest on the whole. Generally why original RPs tend have a overarching genre that players that invest their own creativity into as opposed to having someone make all the content for the RP. Also there's the challenge of making sure things stay internally consistent and no one makes something that is totally out of place. Which happens pretty often, and of which i've been guilty of on many occasions myself. But the trouble with original RPs is that you're going to have a hard time using the same setting twice, which frustrating since it means you gotta keep building from scratch in hopes of making half a page of IC because you get people who spend so much time making the setting and than lose interest two weeks in. Even if you reboot people might decide to make a whole new society or on the opposite extreme literally copy and paste their other nation without looking at the context of the reboot.

I prefer making creations specifically tailored to an RP as opposed to trying to force content templates into other RPs which means that every RP I join (with reboots as the exception, I suppose) I have to think up something from scratch and it sucks when you build up for a week your whole society, characters and potential story arcs for it all to never happen because over half the people flake out the second IC starts.

In Fandom RPs or Academy RPs for that matter you just take some other guy's setting that many other people also like and plug in your OCs and walls, IC time in just one day. This is especially the case with fandoms that are common as opposed to more obscure stuff like a GURPs world or some dude's alt history timeline you want to RP in because many who join a fandom RP probably have a OC in mind from the get go, which makes it all the easier to go from applying to in-character.

While I will admit there's some creative thinking that goes into trying to make characters/places that would fit in to whatever franchise you're using, in general it's a lot less effort than making everything from scratch simply because of everything that's already there. You know what a orc is, you know what a balrog can do, you can look up what the Dothrhaki are like culturally or what a light saber or powered by, especially since those who join a fandom RP know all this stuff going in and don't need to do much research beyond what other people are doing.

[Ruby]

Before I begin with the short spur that i'm going to throw out in a moment, I just want to make it clear that this is not intended to disgrace fandom RPs or those set in existing works, after all roleplay takes many forms and being able to play around in a setting you enjoy is perfectly fine and acceptable. This post is intended for both idea sharing and topic discussion.

I just want to point out that the number of fandom RPs certainly outweighs the original ones. Personally, I find creating universes and settings to be enjoyable and invigorating. To think of a whole new world, times and places, fantasies and everything in between. To fill it with people and histories, to provide a new and fresh sandbox for stories to be told in. It just feels like a whole new world to explore, and my mind can run wild thinking about how to put it together, piece by piece. I'm sure i'm not the only one who feels that way. If you ever catch yourself daydreaming about stuff like that, nurture the thought and let it blossom, 'cause you might have something interesting there.

The world and what fills it serves as a foundation. From there you can build upon it with the story you want to tell. I know this was more about setting than characters or story, but a solid foundation is a good footing for the two topics. Feel free to discuss character creating or story making tips/concepts as well.

All of you are here for your different reasons, but i'm sure you share several of those reasons. You like to write, you're imaginative, creative. You all want to have a story somewhere that was scribbled down alongside many others. One that you were able to share and build with a group. I'm sure many of you out there have fantasies and worlds you'd want to live out, so lets start the fire and apply some fresh paint to this canvas!

@Spybuster

I keep my original content to my writing to be published. =)

Before I did write to be published, I used original content in my for fun/Guild writing. But not since, and I certainly would never apologize for taking that stance.

I'll take PART in original settings/stories, but you probably won't find me GMing anything original.

[Ellri]

designing original RPs takes more work than building on a fandom, as you have to set up everything. That alone is the core reason you see fewer original RP worlds. There are a few here and there, but most find it easier to take another world and tweaking it or building a scene within it.

It is undeniable that proper worldbuilding can and is fun, but it does also consume more GM resources.

thus in our opinion, the balance between fandom & OC RPs being what it is isn't a problem, its a plain fact. More people prefer easy setttings to deal with than the complex stuff. That permits them to be creative with their character(s) and their IC posts, rather than to have to expend a major portion of their available creativity on crafting a role/setting for their character.

[Vilageidiotx]

I do prefer original content, but it is just a personal preference really. Writing in worlds with a well known canon and mythos makes me feel hemmed in, like I can't really do my own thing without bastardizing the content.

[The Harbinger of Ferocity]

I am partial to original content, or settings which are inspired by other works but stand-alone as their own concept. It is both more freeing in terms of creativity and lore, often only having a limited amount of information present, but also in that it is mysterious; not everything to be known of its material in fact, is. Depending upon the Game Master and the participants, the material might even be internally consistent, although this is far more rare - there tends to be one person who invents canon that does not mesh cleanly with the established, at least initially - it does happen in some unique cases.

I do not hate fandoms or established settings per say, but I do find they are greatly overrepresented by and large. You can only read so many entries on the same universe and concept and most, by virtue of being bound to their story, have overlapping themes with the content already established; characters taking the place of others, locations and events being the same, certain qualities being vastly overpowered or underpowered, et cetera.

The act alone of world building and developing your own story, or taking part of it, is a much more complex and difficult thing to do, as has been said before. Not only time consuming, but requiring a great investiture of creativity to do so. The easier route is to indeed either play within an established setting or cut desired elements from it and implement them elsewhere.

I am entirely in favor of Game Masters creating original content over all else.

[Unfortunately]

Yeah, been seeking for originals thoroughly and through recently. Don't like to have to search around for information from the source material, even though the GM assures it's "also for people that don't know stuff about said source".

Besides, original content roleplays obviously tend to have more new interesting stuff within.

[Arawak]

There's some original RPs around. I'm part of one that's a hell on earth post apoc that's shaping up well and there's a medieval RP called starless that's a original medieval RP. There's original RPs around, but they tend towards the sections where world building is more elaborate like Advanced from what i'm noticing.