Mangrale

The First Steps - Personal Ideas and Advancing Projects

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- Remember that a game can live or die on your own initiative, and that should things slow down, you are obliged to get them back up. Many failed roleplays due to apathy could have been solved with GM pokes.

Spambot

Very true. For a time when I imagined handling an RP with players numbering more than 7, it felt easy to just assume that Co-GMs would handle things like making sure everyone else is following along. Course, as I'm getting a better idea of recently, it's a bit of a stretch for a GM to expect players to keep engaged with an RP without the content and follow through to warrant it. So while it would be nice to have helpers to oversee OOC discussions while I'm not around and so forth, it's not right to ask others to put in more effort than I'm willing to.

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- Do not be afraid to reject something because it fails to fit into your roleplay's vision. Too many games falter because the GM did not have the strength to say 'no'. Conversely, when making judgements, be sure you are able to explain them clearly to avoid a reverse 'gotchya!' for bad decision making.

Spambot

Sounds like something that might be brought up on a case by case basis as far as straight suggestions for the game itself. That said, as time moves on and certainly by the time a project reaches a completed state, I would feel that if not written down explicitly for myself, I should at least have a clear idea of what I want out of the RP in regards inspirations and features. Anything that someone might suggest will have to be considered against both what I want for the game and the enjoyment of players as a whole.

I will definitely make the effort to explain my decisions in such a way as to avoid confusion as well as willful misinterpretation as much as possible.

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My Hero Academia: Another Story

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Sofia Rousseau - Noctera

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| @Zaphander |

The world was steadily shrinking around her in the moments leading to her escape up the hole in the roof. Had her wits stayed with her just a little while longer, she would have made a few complaints against their concern in the midst of all that chaos. Instead, neither the chill of Eira's hand, nor the warmth of Renard's truly registered to her, and soon she found herself holding onto Freya's back, the rush of movement pushing her out of her daze in time to assist in reaching Gabby's and Peter's makeshift escape route where needed.

The trail of her own blood ended a good few feet from the newly opened aperture, her arms frantic to dress her leg wound with the first aid kit Peter provided and her wings almost spontaneously thrashing at the assaulting wrens that chased them through the opening and had managed to get passed Peter. For a perilous several minutes, a good number of birds had a fair drop in store after being blown away.

Throughout it all, the pain and exhaustion weighed down on her with an almost overwhelming force, the moment she tied the bandages off nearly being the moment she passed out. But instead, her mind would flare awake from the sounds of battle on the floor below, the cries of her classmates causing her to stir where she lay, her aching body slowly forcing itself upright. On her hands and knee (essentially), she listened to Peter's intention, her head wearily nodding in light of how foolhardy a task it seemed.

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She remembered feeling sick, like she was about to give out as she soared through the air. Everything else just seemed to move slower somehow. Even the first flocks of birds that hurled themselves in her direction to run interference were clearly perceived, and she almost instinctively knew how to avoid them, her speed picking up more and more. Even when the sheer volume of avians was such that avoiding all of them was impossible, she endured the brunt of them, her pace unwavering and in that moment faster than the birds that pursued her. It all culminated in a single throw, a softball sized Peter being pitched from her hand and down towards Corvus. Honestly the whole event is rather fuzzy for her, only the screeches of wrens and their thrashing feathers standing out to her before she lost consciousness.

Tales from Frontier Village: A Rune Factory Roleplay {Always Recuriting/Accepting}

You mean "part 2"? Yeah, I'll get on that when I get a chance this week.

My Hero Academia: Another Story

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Sofia Rousseau - Noctera

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| @Heartfillia | @LuckyBlackCat | @Aviaire | @Spike |

"Anyone can be a fan, but not everyone can be a hero like she is. Enterprise never gives up and neither do I. You would do well to remember that." Those words she frustratingly replied to Renard before putting away her phone and following the group into the factory, stubbornly spoken in English, were running through her mind not long after the situation quickly deteriorated around her. It all felt potently unreal at first, her rational mind attempting to reason it all away as some manner of academy training routine disguised as some barely feasible encounter.

Yet her fledgling instincts ripped that logic away the moment Enterprise smashed through that wall and became separated from the others, a shadowy villain's poisonous cloud emerging as a barrier between the pro-hero and the group. Immediately, Sofia cried out for the principal, a few hurried steps forward before the predicament they were in truly dawned on her.

The onrush of aggressive avians left her frozen in place, her legs tightening against the grazing of their talons and the digging of their beaks. Her arms frantically rose to cover her face, but the instant some of the birds went to tear at her wings, the stinging pain sent her into a panic, and they flapped with enough force to blow the flock that had focused on her away, the gust just about slapping them from the air and collapsing to the ground.

Desperately trying to catch her breath during that brief reprieve, her head lifted enough for her to peer through the dark chaos that her eyes adapted to reasonably quickly, just in time to see more birds zero in on her. They are endless! There is no way we can reach Enterprise while beset by villains! We have to escape! she concluded, attempting to swipe the erratic wrens from her. Neither noxious fumes nor irate birds could hold her for very long, and if it were at all possible to rush passed the villains, she might just be able to save herself.

But in looking through the darkness and frenzied mass of feathers, she had too many reasons not to take the coward's way out, not the least of all was to put her money where her mouth was. That said, it wasn't like preserving her ego mattered the moment she spotted Freya being swarmed. With a great deal of strain in her voice, Sofia's wings surged with enough force that even the wrens that had clamped themselves down on its edges were hurled aside.

Launching herself to the girl's side and sending a third veritable tempest her way, just enough to brush off most of the flying pests away, Sofia was well and truly winded, her smaller arms clasping at her chest as she looked her over to make sure her classmate was okay to continue. "F-Freya!... We cannot stay here! If we all focus on one route to escape from, then...!" She winced in pain as more birds descended down to pick at her, and her wings rose to shield her fellow student from another incoming flock. "If I can just reach Enterprise, (grunt) th-then I can blow that cloud away!... Huh?..."

With a haggard gasp, Sofia could faintly make out how her breath appeared against the progressively frigid air, and with a hurried turn of her head, it didn't take long to find its source, Eira. Previously hearing of her quirk, she quickly put two and two together as far as the girl's intentions, giving Freya the heads up to make sure they were on the same page. Yet after doing so, an entirely different chill would work its way up her skin, the image of one of the villains brandishing a ludicrous chained blade, his intended target all too clear to someone who can see in the dark.

Sofia's voice caught in her throat, leaving her no other option but to lunge off the ground, and with plenty of wrens still picking away at her, she staggered to stay the course, her satchel falling to the floor. Not fast enough to stop the chain itself...! But I do not need to... In flying as fast as her strained wings could take her, she could feel a stiff cold overtake her as the birds on her back simultaneously began falling away from her back.

"Eiraaaa!" the girl cried out before essentially tackling the ice-mancer out of the way of the swinging blade, which narrowly missed cleaving off a chunk of her wing but did cut a fair gash across her right leg. With her body just about giving out due to exhaustion, Sofia toppled right on top of Eira, her face contorting in agony before she rolled herself off, unable to get up. Remembering the bus ride to get here, Sofia felt as though she could already hear Eira berate her for how stupid she was, and justifiably so. Her hand bitterly clawed against the hard tilework she had rolled on, not having anyone to blame but herself.

"I am sorry this was all I... I could do...!" her voice faltered as she rose her head up from the ground, looking to Eira in a way that seemed more frustrated than scared for her own life. "I cannot move like this... You have to escape with the others, pick a side to break through and do it together...!"

Fewer birds were attacking her at this point, and as a steady pool of blood was building underneath her legs, she could feel her body growing more and more numb due to the cold, her head nestled among her uniform's tattered sleeves.

Tales from Frontier Village: A Rune Factory Roleplay {Always Recuriting/Accepting}

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Vivian

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The young mail carrier let out a light sigh of relief when it looked to her that she was set to finish her route on time, her breath still fairly visible against the cold morning air. Lightly tugging at her scarf as she approached one of the residential houses at the wooded outskirts of the village, her mind began to wander a little as her hand dipped into her satchel. She glanced down at the single sealed envelope in her hand. For every person she'd met in the past few years, it seemed like they'd just as quickly move away to be replaced with someone new. She wasn't going to complain about that. In fact, she was used to being the one doing the leaving.If anything, it just felt strange to be the person staying in one place for a change.

Her final steps toward the mailbox were rather listless ones, some small patches of snow steadily compressing underneath her boots. The sound of it was fairly easy for her to tell as far as anything the size of a person was concerned, but she was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the tiny skittering of a small chipsqueek, seemingly one of the first to emerge from its winter den to forage. Swiftly climbing up to the top of the now open mailbox to observe a pleasantly surprised Vivian, the fluffy animal looked to be grooming itself of the minute frost along its vibrantly colored, bushy tail.

"Oh, hello little guy. Feeling brave after coming out of your den, are we? Well you just sit tight, and once I'm done here, I can go and find something for-" the girl had slowly began to lift the letter into the mailbox when suddenly the chipsqueek lunged itself down and grabbed the parcel out of her hands, and scurried on all fours as she immediately gave chase. "H-Hey! Come back! I need that!" she cried out after it, utterly shocked that the little thing would pull such a stunt and truthfully a tad embarrassed to be in this predicament in the first place.

The First Steps - Personal Ideas and Advancing Projects

@Spambot@BrokenPromise Thanks guys. I believe there is nothing so important that doesn't need a good reminder from time to time.

I will admit that "complete control" probably wasn't the best choice of words, and while I do know what comes easily for me, I do of course recognize the fuller scope of a GM's responsibilities. I had counted on receiving links to premade instructional posts, but I do really appreciate you narrowing it down to one, BrokenPromise. I will refer to it regularly as things progress.

What I hope to accomplish is a game that runs on a fair amount of prewritten pieces like location/object descriptions and main/side quest (for current lack of a better word) progression for when it's necessary. Will even my most favored premade assets need to be altered or tossed aside for the enjoyment and consensus of the group as a whole? - That is a definite possibility. Can so much be written that some things, even in their rawest form, might not even be covered in a single playthrough? - That is the dream.

Although I know why it's done, what I'd like to avoid as much as reasonably possible is that railroading scenario in which the GM posts a gradual series of events, with the goal of leading the players from point-A to point-B, and the players have no recourse but to follow along with their character's respective responses, or reactions to be quite honest, this taking place over the course of weeks.

Again, I know that the basic idea can be called for, but so long as I can avoid that specific case being "all the game is about" for weeks, maybe months, then I'll be satisfied. If a small group of adventurers have to get to a predetermined destination to move the plot along, then I'd want to do that in as few posts and as quickly as possible. What really interests me is for the tools to be available for players to play within, not simply be guided through, the game world. Really sorry I can't articulate it better than that.

I have certain things, game mechanics and such, in mind that should support the end result I want, but they will have to wait until I get to them in future updates to the thread.

The First Steps - Personal Ideas and Advancing Projects

@Spambot I don't believe I could have asked for a better response to have under that starting post of mine, that I can look at whenever I come here. Thank you very much.

I would wish to ponder over and address each and every one of your points on this very thread. But I'm sorry that I won't be able to fit them all into one post. Rest assured that I don't intend to @ you for every one, given you were possibly just passing by and don't rightly care to be pestered continuously on the subject. With that in mind, I'm pretty sure that quoting the pointers should be fine as long as the @ isn't there. Sorry if you get notified anyway to your annoyance. I will take the quote references a step back if there's a problem.

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- Spend some time ensuring you actually want to do something before doing it. Some people, myself especially, can have the spark of GMing passion only to find it dying a few days later. If you're going to make something, commit - if you want to go for the long haul, make sure that you personally are going to put in the effort.

Spambot

It feels to me that on the scale between roleplayer and writer (however amateurish), I likely fall closer to the writer side of things. What I mean is that I'm more comfortable making the decisions on a written work and going at my own pace. With that in mind, I imagine this planning/writing phase of the process will be easier for me as opposed to the active and collaborative effort of GMing.

Underneath both phases however, will lie the motivation that this a project that is under my complete control, something I cannot say after being a mere participant after all these years. I imagine that my thoughts echo the sentiments of many fledgling GMs who enter into this pastime alone, without a devoted circle of players. I do this for myself first and foremost, and I have the willingness to exert myself and make decisions towards a (hopefully) reasonable goal.

GMing, to me, can be likened to a conclusion that occurs and has occurred to me very often in the roleplaying space. And while I cannot and will not by any means pursue it with an obsessive or singular devotion, I don't believe it is a passing fancy for me either.

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I don't mean for this to be my final word on this point, but I will go on to the next one if no one would care to add anything.

Edit: I don't use quotes often, so I'm unaccustomed. It said a quote was sent, so if you do indeed mind them coming your way, I'll see to excluding your name next time Spambot, and that should settle this. Sorry for the inconvenience.

My Hero Academia: Another Story

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Sofia Rousseau - Noctera

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| @KoL |

"Mixed messages" were the words swirling around in Sofia's head as Mr. Hayes addressed the class. Will the value of exceeding one's own expectations be on an upcoming test. There are certain expectations that came with institutions like the USJ, the kind that can't so easily be set aside for the sake of her own comfort. The concept of "people one is meant to save" sounded particularly rich, especially regarding an industry that relied almost entirely on intention, circumstance and capability. There was nothing so romantic at play.

And yet the technical truth of the matter didn't in any way dampen her giddy exuberance as she listened in on Enterprise regaling everyone with delightfully embellished anecdotes in between bits of trivia, a good amount of which she herself knew of beforehand. Sofia was very literally at the edge of her seat throughout it all, her silent captivation all that less bit subtle considering how she was near the back of the bus and fairly certain no one was looking her way.

Being one of the last to step off the bus, no one could have guessed how over the moon she was at being the last in a lineup. It was bound to pay off one of these days. Alphabetically the farthest away from Abigail and now in a group led by Enterprise herself. It could scarcely get any better than that. She felt so good, not even the weird feeling of being watched she got from that pudgy bird could spoil it. The seemingly random and muffled crash from behind the front doors did strike her as odd however. An accident so close to the front of the building wasn't totally unheard of though, but then again she would have assumed such accidents would tend to occur after, not before the lights go out...

"That is... not supposed to happen, is it?" she asked aloud, sounding more sincere than she rightly should have before stopping in her tracks behind Freya and Renard to get a better look. Something peculiar was happening, and like most teenagers that comes in contact with something mildly interesting, she dug into her bag and picked out her phone to start recording the scene. After taking a few steps away from the others, her phone's screen glared under the afternoon sun before she held it steady in view of the facilty's higher windows. "... The first field trip of the year is not going how I imagined it. The power seems to be off and some of us heard a crash near the door."

Aside from just passing the view over the entrance for a few seconds, she was stuck on what to do from there until the next logical step finally came to her. Approaching Enterprise with all the professionalism of a star-struck rookie cameraman, Sofia turned her phone to her. "Pro-hero Ent-Uh, I mean P-Principal Washington? Wh-What do you make of this? Should we um, in-investigate, b-because we or I could call ahead or call something o-or...?" Yeah it pretty clear that the moment was kinda getting away from her, but that didn't change the fact that she sought the heroine's leadership first and foremost. And for what it was worth, Sofia was doing her darnedest to record her from a heroic angle.

The First Steps - Personal Ideas and Advancing Projects

Greetings and thank you for stopping by.

For a long time there has been RP concepts that I've worked over in my head, some of them exciting me to the possibility of finally running a game of my own. Of course, plenty of ground will need to be covered before any one project reaches a state at which it can be pushed forward. My circumstance and diligence are not where I'd deem them optimal, but they probably never will be, so I might as well get the ball rolling now that I'm able. Maybe I'll surprise myself.

That said, this thread will very likely be where I post most of my RP related topics, from inquiries about GMing and world building to updates about future projects. Generally how it will work is that once in a while I'll present either a new topic or update to an existing topic for discussion and so forth. Trying to think ahead, I believe that most of what I might have in store could fit into categories with different objectives in mind, so I'll be sure to make clear my intentions behind each.

Keep in mind that once I update to an entirely new topic, it's usually safe to assume that I've finished talking about the previous subject.

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Table of Contents

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Update 1 - Advanced Game Mechanics (Part 1): Introduction to Structured Elements and Encounters

Update 2 - Advanced Game Mechanics (Part 2): Prototype Character Sheet Template

Update 3 - GM Wanted (1st Edition): The Plan-B For Certain Ideas I Can't Follow Through On

Update 4 - Project Gemini (Part 1): Of the Virtual Frontier in a Futuristic Reality

Update 5 - Project Stratus (Part 1): It's a Fantasy Life Simulator in the Sky and Whatnot

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Opening Discussion

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Words of Advice Welcome

It seemed fitting to start this whole thing off by asking for something as rudimentary as advice, pointers, truisms and so forth that you all have found that has helped you in some way. I will have to admit however, that it's possible that what works for you might not work for me, and that what I've set my heart towards will potentially demand that I operate contrary to what is sensible. Even so, I will always appreciate your constructive input on anything I propose or put out, even months down the line.

Speaking of which, I can tell everyone right now that I have my first project in mind and an overview along with some preliminary details will be coming hopefully sooner rather than later. Aside from that, there is likely a great deal that I've forgotten to mention, but I'm okay to address some things as they come. So for now, no matter when you're reading this, thanks for hearing me out. I'll keep going for as long as I am able.

My Hero Academia: Another Story

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Sofia Rousseau - Noctera

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If keeping her senses about her wasn't such a high priority at the moment, Sofia probably would have taken greater lengths to tune everyone out. Yet as it happened, her head would peek up from behind the seats in front of her when Renard spoke to her. Being called out for being the outlier from time to time, even in a friendly way, wasn't completely new for her, but even so to his offer she would kinda awkwardly wave her hand in acknowledgement. "Thanks, but I am fine where I am... s-safety first," she replied with a finger tentatively scratching at her cheek. On some level, there was a good deal of sincerity under her noncommitted response, especially in light of how hectic things were getting, at least in her opinion.

Regardless, she honestly thought that would be the end of it for the time being, but was alarmed to see Freya come on board just to trip hand-first into a salt mound, Sofia gasping a little at the sight of it. Almost subconsciously, she found herself rushing out of her seat and down the aisle. "Oh mon, Freya are yo-...?!" Sofia frailly blurted out in a hurry before noticing Peter jump into action, clearly more prepared to handle things with a first aid kit of sorts. Slowly the hand she had outstretched began to slowly close and lower. Even if she could be of use, it wasn't like she was close enough for it to matter.

Quietly retreating back to her seat just in time to hear Peter take it upon himself to explain the necessity of heroes, Sofia sat back down and began gazing out the window. If this bus didn't get moving soon, she had half a mind to go to the support company herself. She could use the endurance training and it wasn't like she'd get lost with her phone on hand. For now though, she sought to conserve her strength while she could. For all she knew, she'd need to make a quick escape once Abigail's hero-worthy quirk leads to a worse accident.