Opposition

𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘 - Chaos and Order

@Blitzy
I've dictated all the main notes I had to your first draft in PMs. I think everything is pretty solid, including the backstory you've added. In terms of selecting a vice, I suppose I'll try and elaborate on that a bit. The Vice is meant to be something of an idea which points out the deepest flaw in your character that will essentially let them walk the line between the dark and light sides of the coin.
Diana has 'anarchy' listed as hers because I imagine she will have to be closely monitored lest the operation may start to take precedence over order and societal standards that other rely on. She'll essentially gravitate towards chaos unless stopped even if that prompts danger for the team or civilians. (But more on that as the story progresses).

For your Vices, I encourage you to pick a sort of flaw that is less of a physical thing and more of an ideological concern that is deeply rooted in their psyche. Your Vice, then, is in essence the evil portion of your personality. I can't think of any specific ideas for your character, though I encourage you to come up with a few ideas of your own and then just continue narrowing it down until you find the one that you'd like to play most.

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VIRTUE: HONOR - In spite of his inability to be sensitive nor handle social situations with a great deal of care, Jonah is the very model of what it means to be an honorable man. Jonah will not be swayed by any means to negotiate doing morally ambiguous actions for the 'greater good' nor does he take part in lying to his close friends or family. Throughout crises or difficult situations, he will always maintain his moral compass, no matter the cost. He ultimately believes in doing the right thing no matter what and believes in treating his friends as well as his enemies fairly in return. Jonah can always be counted on to be the first man who acts as a check to those who would propose solutions that would be deemed....questionable.

@The Bork Lazer

It's always good to have a paladin in the group to stop them from going straight to the morally depraved, villainous route.

VICE: TEMPER

@The Bork Lazer

Of course, I'm already thinking of ways Diana is going to mess with his head.

I really like the character concept here. It's really unique with the nature of Jonah's physical disabilities, so I'll be interested to see how this sort of 'Enforcer' differs from the usual GI guy who punches people on spy mission. Overall, everything seems solid. I can't seem to point out any real flaws at the moment.
Perhaps if you're looking to make some edits, you could mess around with skills and flaws. At the moment, it seems like most all of your skills and flaws are fighting related, and we aren't always going to be throwing hand as much as some of us may want to.

𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘 - Chaos and Order

I'm struggling between 4 different character concepts and I've got no idea which one to choose, arrrgghhghdhgdsfjh.

@The Bork Lazer

As @Atrophy said, you're welcome to throw ideas up here, and I'll also talk through concepts with anyone that's struggling via PMs. Let me know!

𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘 - Chaos and Order

As I work through some character ideas, I was curious if you had a specific age range that you wanted us to shoot for? Would it be ok to go with a more mature character (maybe 50s or 60s)? He wouldn't be as physically adept as some of his younger counterparts, but I could still see him contributing to the group, perhaps as the negotiator or the chauffeur.

@Skelm

That would be perfectly fine! I didn't have any age in mind. In fact, if the characters were more varied and different from one another, that might add intrigue to the story.

𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘 - Chaos and Order

I'm leaning towards a medic character and thinking of making him a student who was booted from medical school before finishing (maybe drugs, maybe cheating, have not yet decided), hasn't been able to get any work since, has been struggling to keep up with paying fees and is largely disowned by his parents. Has the right skillset and nothing to lose. Sound ok? If not I'm still confident of the medical idea, maybe a Vet as an origin instead.

@Blitzy

A medically-based character is certainly sound if that's what you'd like. I think a veterinarian might give you a bit of extra room to work with as you will be more of an improvisational medic and that might do well to fit the theme. Try what you think will work best, though, and we can work from there.

@OppositionOh hey, missed the interest check but I really dig this idea. I'm toying with a few ideas at the moment, but I'm leaning towards a wannabe stage actress who can take on different "parts" to help the team out, be it hiding in plain sight as a new intern, pretending to be an exec from the home office, or just bullshitting someone long enough for the others to come up with a plan of action. Kind of a mix between the bait/distraction and a scout/plant.

@Atrophy

This could work quite well. The 'wannabe actress' identity might make for some very interesting dynamics and interactions whilst trying to show off her skills. Feel free to explore those roles throughout your sheet and pick what works best.

𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘 - Chaos and Order

Fancy seeing you here, @Opposition. First of all, my idea is... somewhat similar to Oren, I guess... so if you're opposed to that I might just struggle. However, you have me thoroughly intrigued, so I'd probably take a shot anyway.

My idea is very, very barebones rn, given that I've only just discovered this, but it's basically centred around a young guy who has been shunted around his whole life, and the role he fills is the Cat Burglar. Sound good?

@CollectorOfMyst

Good to see you are interested. I like the idea, though I'd encourage you to think a bit more abstractly in regards to the origin and basis of the role. I'm aiming to have each role be something based more on a facet of mundane life that wouldn't be considered part of the quintessential team for any covert ops squad. That isn't to say you can't have a similar set of skills, though.

Currently working on a bartender character right now. Probably gonna finish the concept by the end of this week.

@The Bork Lazer

I'm looking forward to it! Let me know if you've got any questions.

@Opposition I might make an ex-construction worker/project manager who then learns about the beauty of controlled demolitions. The Demolitionist.

Or maybe a bartender looking for a break, good with his hands, does magic on the side, maybe a little sleight of hand and misdirection.

@DJAtomika

I can imagine either of these ideas going well as both manage to pull their skills from everyday work in particular manners. Feel free to explore either.

Meanwhile, I'm going to make a former war reporter and make them into the hacker or the distraction.

@Star Lord

That's quite a unique idea. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

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I have finished the example sheet, though I am leaving the concepts behind it a bit vague so that they may be changed to work around other characters. That should give a basic idea behind what the sheet should look like, though I imagine the prompt is mostly self-explanatory. If you guys have any questions, I am at the ready!

𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘 - Chaos and Order

Diana Lotus

Operative File

D I A N A L O T U S
22 | Female | 5’4” | AB-

General Information

NAME: Diana Lotus

PSEUDONYM: Lynn Evans

APPEARANCE:
Diana is by no means nondescript, though she does seem to evade the eyes of a crowd if only by choice. She treads gently and quietly about her environment, her wispy form not all that imposing upon her surroundings. Diana has short black hair resting lightly around her neck with long bangs in the front. The darkness of her well-groomed hair heavily contrasts the stark shade of light grey that fills her eyes, as though two orbs of ash glint in the sunlight.

Diana is very forward in her choice of fashion, alternating between a number of extremes. She is most often seen wearing sleek streetwear in dark colors. This manifests commonly in the form of a black designer jacket that always seems just slightly too large for her, and a skirt or shorts of a similar hue over leggings. Opting for practicality to be inherently mixed in with her style, Diana usually wears a pair of running shoes that maintain a similar ‘techwear’ aesthetic. Almost always, Diana sports her signature black beret and sunglasses to match.

OCCUPATION:
Diana was a studying student at an undergraduate university aiming to graduate with a major in physics. Her studies seemed to consume most of her time as she is very interested in her field, so she worked very little with any official long-term employers. She sought to use her degree to employ herself working in engineering or architecture, but the ever-growing scarcity in the job market brings only worry to Diana.

Psychological Profile

Analytical | Fast-Paced | Decisive | Meticulous | Pretentious | Isolated

VIRTUE: Devotion

Diana is a paragon for her own devotion. When she sets her mind to accomplishing a goal, there is little that anyone can do to stop her. This virtue manifests most commonly when Diana encounters a problem that prevents her from getting what she wants. The logical nature of her mind constantly seeks to optimize and work around such problems. While this process can sometimes take weeks or months, Diana’s determination remains true. She is devoted to the optimization of her own chosen issues. This devotion can appear to consume her time and waking energy on occasion, as Diana strives to complete any task she truly believes in without heed.

VICE: Anarchy

When it comes down to analyzing Diana’s worldly outlook, her penchant for a more anarchic world is hard to overlook. Diana never really learned the lesson of the importance of order and law in society. She has found that in her experiences societal attempts at order are often cruel and debilitating to the many. Recognizing this, Diana seeks to live her life by taking more discordant paths. She just never seemed to follow the orderly nature of society. This can manifest in a number of different ways, some ways innocent and others more cruel. If Diana sees something in her life that doesn’t seem to be working properly, she often seeks to seize the initiative to fix it in spite of order or common culturally accepted norms. She isn’t afraid to make a scene, go against the grain, or rock the boat to keep life both interesting and chaotic.

Attempts to explain a more organized society to Diana seem to fall on deaf ears. She sees the best course of action to be through anarchic ideas. Rules, to Diana, act more as guidelines. This gets her into a whole host of different troubles as she defies what would be commonly accepted in all aspects of her life.

PERSONAL GOALS:
With little left to pursue in regards to her old passions, Diana has devoted herself whole-heartedly to uncovering the secrets of Pyramid Microsystems so that she may discover the truth behind her father’s new position. Outside of that, she has become almost fanatically interested in Gage’s cause. Diana is often the first to back the most risky but rewarding operations he unveils in an effort to further throw a wrench into the side of their opposition.

PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY:
Diana likes to view herself as a sort of ‘solider of the common people’. Struck by the inescapable equality of the world, she tries to see through a philosophical lens and observe the problems of modern times. As such, Diana defines herself mostly on the principle that for the problems of the masses to be solved, a collective has to act. The only way that a collective can act is if individuals act first. Diana seeks to be one of these individuals. While she may be preaching a message she doesn’t wholly practice at times, Diana believes in powerful symbolic action to accomplish goals.

Diana has developed a deep interest in ancient eastern philosophy to the point where she brings it up far more than she should and far more than she is knowledgeable. Guiding principles of Taoist and Buddhist writings stick in her mind and lead her down a path that emphasizes balance and formlessness. She tends to appear as a rather enigmatic individual because of this, perceiving herself as a “calm, detached, and analytical warrior” rather than one who is driven by anger, greed, or fame.

FEARS:
►Commitment
►Insects and Spiders

LIKES:
►Reading
►Designing Schematics
►Cleanliness
►Fashion
►Action
►Model Cities and Model Figures (some would call them dolls)
►Chess

DISLIKES:
►Germs
►Unkempt Appearances
►Being Cold
►Not Knowing her Surroundings

QUIRKS:
►Diana has a habit of pretentiously quoting and misquoting Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and its commentaries in all situations.

Background Information

”’Only the formless cannot be affected. Sages hide in unfathomability, so their feelings cannot be observed; they operate in formlessness, so their lines cannot be crossed.’ Sun Tzu said that— I think...”

Diana has been a New York native from her birth. Her father worked in business while her mother worked in a small church. As an only child, her early life was anything but particularly exciting. She had a picturesque childhood, an exact caricature of any child in the city. Things began to swiftly change as Diana and her parents grew on in age, though. Diana’s mother wasn’t around forever. Diana’s father first told her that her mother “left”, hoping to leave it at that. Further prodding reveals that he believed her “unfit to continue parenting”. The mystery of what truly happened to her mother was an enigma for quite a long time, as she was vastly too young to observe her mother’s state.

As her life went on, she began to piece together the mystery. Diana soon started to receive letters from her mother in a psychiatric hospital. As much as her father tried to hide the letters at first, Diana grew more clever in obtaining them before he could. She never returned her mother’s correspondence, but never failed to read a letter. Even as she planned to move off to college at her father’s insistence, her mother’s letters followed her somehow to her new address. Diana remained very close with her father throughout her first years at her university. The two kept in touch, exchanging tales of work and school.

Pushed by her father to attend school for something that would get her a good job, Diana opted to major in Physics, under the assumption she’d be able to find simple engineering work somewhere or go to graduate school. It wasn’t until she finally began to delve into her classes, however, that she realized her passion for the subject and one of its specific applications: architecture. Diana became entranced by design and planning, something she’d always had a penchant for in her everyday life. A dream was formed, however impossible or unlikely it was that Diana fulfilled it.

Diana worried for her father quite a bit, as his company was slowly crumbling, and layoffs were growing more and more common. He worried too, though he tried to hide it. He worried for both his job and his daughter, as Diana struggled with money just as much as every other broke student. If he got laid off and Diana tried to help him as she was planning to, her dream of going through school for architectural design would falter. Diana was starting to divide her work ethic as well, focusing on both her architectural ideas but also associating with a new group of friends rather interested in ancient philosophy, poetry, and architecture. She started to find herself infatuated with the past and drawn ever further from her present experience. While things didn’t necessarily get better for Diana’s situation, her father experienced quite the turn of events.

As Diana was preparing for yet another exam, she received a frantic call from her father. He told her of his newfound promotion. His company had been bought out by a corporation known as ‘Pyramid Microsystems’. Both Diana and her father had never heard of the company before, but that didn’t stop her father’s excitement. He was going to be moving offices into a prestigious building known as the Beacon. There, he would work alongside officials from Pyramid to coordinate projects. Of course, the only catch was that he would have to move further from his daughter.

Diana’s studies started to falter from there. She was unsure if such a drop in her concentration stemmed from her father’s ever-busier days where they would never see one another or speak, or from her mother’s letters which grew more worrying as time went on. Diana could only imagine the state of her mother, but still such a worry was at the back of her mind.

On June 6th, 2019, Diana hadn’t made it to class. She hurried to a nearby student pub where she spent the entire day focusing intently on the coverage of the Beacon. Even in the eerie inaction, she found her stomach twisting in knots. The hardest part of the event, though, turned out to happen after the Beacon was secured. As Diana frantically called her father and tried to get a report of what it had been like, he remained almost entirely caged off about the subject, revealing very little. Diana never really understood this, though she assumed he was just trying to prevent her from worrying about him.

Diana did watch the Beacon with forlorn eyes whenever she saw it after that. She always saw something off about the whole building and the dealings that took place inside. She found herself at the pub more often, and as time went on, she spent more and more time with the wrong sort of associates. Her mind for art started her off down a darker path of more dangerous substances at that point in her life as well. The further Diana grew from her father, the closer she started to associate herself with her mother, taking the frantically written words of the letters to heart. Diana ended up wandering aimlessly and ending up at her favorite pub in a slight haze where she was reading one of her mother’s letter when she encountered a new acquaintance who called himself Gage.

Operative Information

T H E A R C H I T E C T

ROLE DESCRIPTION:
Diana’s talent for looking at the big picture and acute sense for detail provides her with the perfect basis to act as The Architect. Whenever entering an unfamiliar place, she finds herself quick to pick up the layout and how it could be utilized in ways not otherwise seen. This comes from her love for architecture and her study of physical science. Applying her studies and keen sense of detail to the real world, Diana is uncannily aware of her surrounding environment. As such, she specializes in altering the group’s physical surroundings during operations.

Going into operations with no small time spent studying and observing schematics, Diana is prepared to attack any task from a objective standpoint, and surpass a building’s defenses. If the group needs to find an alternative way through a structure or find themselves needing to manipulate the terrain around them in order to proceed successfully, Diana holds the knowledge necessary to manufacture disruptions in the building’s architecture and plan strategically on the spot so that the group remains both defensively sound and offensively at-the-ready.

POSSESSIONS:
►Notebook and Sketchpad

SKILLS:
►Quick Storage and Recall
Diana has a rather fast-acting memory, especially in high stakes situations. If the layout of a structure needs scouted and memorized, Diana can effectively use that information to guide an infiltration through a successful route in the building’s defense. Her memory tends to generally offer her a lot of insight into any given situation as she readily recalls more information that may have been forgotten or thrown out by others.

►Physical Mechanics
Diana has a keen awareness of the physical world and how its forces interact. If a mission necessitates that the group facilitate a drastic change in the environment, Diana seeks to find a way to enact change through the physical interaction of her surroundings. If a door needs blocked off, or a group of people need rerouted, Diana may find a structurally weak point in the building to exploit and open up or close off different pathways.

►

FLAWS:
►Addiction
Diana is not without facets of her daily life that she can escape. As much as she believes that she’s entirely in control of herself and what she does, an increasing use of smoked opium in small doses has left her developing an addiction that can only grow worse as time goes on.

►Detached
There is something the other members of the operation seem to notice about Diana when the group casually interacts. She often keeps herself at a distance from the others, and avoids intimacy with her allies. While she is by no means disloyal, it is difficult to get Diana to willingly bond with the other members of the team.

►Sacrifice
Diana’s zealous devotion to their cause of taking down corrupt corporate and political entities has come to consume her waking moments. She is overly ready to accept sacrifice in the way of greater victory. Should she see the opportunity to elevate the success of the cause in a way that puts her in direct danger, Diana doesn’t hesitate to capitalize on it.

►Vindictive
As much as she’d like to pretend that she isn’t affected by such emotionally-driven issues, Diana can become rather vindictive in the face of her opposition. A strong line between good and evil drawn in her head causes her to seek revenge and justice against the operation’s enemies even when their morality may appear crooked.

SECRET COUNT: 1

NOTES:

Relationship Table Template

Character name	Relationship
[Name of other character]	[Write out your character's opinion and relationship with the character in question.]

𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘 - Chaos and Order

@Opposition

You have no idea how desperately I want to be chauffeur again.....

But anyway, I’m brainstorming now. Probably gonna ditch a concept Inwas working on and start with a new one.

EDIT: God, now, I'm going in circles.

@The Bork Lazer

I enjoyed the previous incarnation quite a bit as well! Rest in peace Futility attempt 1. Let me know if I can assist in any way.

The Consuming Fire

Oh, I'm one-hundred percent interested in this. I'd be down to play either an investigator or CCF member. Both roles seem to have a lot of potential

Username Context

Opposition has a lot of meaning to me on multiple fronts. For one, I'm a fan of the word by itself. "Opposition" isn't a commonly used word, but when it is used it context, it implies a duality. There's you, and there's the opposition; the obstacle; the opponent. In a sense, the use of the word almost implies a loss of identity in your opposition. When the word "opposition" is used, you take away the name, the face, or the identity of your adversary, referring to it only as something that opposes you.

It reminds me a lot of Taoist philosophy, or at the very least what little I know of old Taoist philosophy. That which opposes you— your "opposition"— is just as integral a part of you as that which you are. Only when we pay attention to the duality, the fullness and the emptiness, of ourselves are we whole... If that makes any sense...

The name Opposition came to me in a very odd way. When I was very young, my older brother would play video games and I would just sit and watch. Occasionally, though, he'd let me play, and because of how much I grew to enjoy those moments I remember them vividly. Essentially, Opposition was the name of an extra profile he'd added on Star Wars Battlefront 2, and I used it when we played together. I never really knew what it meant back then, but I liked the sound of it.
That part's a lot less deep, but it still makes me smile to think about how deep the name's origin goes.

RPGN // Issue No.2 - July 2019

𝕸𝖞 𝕿𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 𝖔𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕮𝖚𝖗𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝕯𝖎𝖘𝖈𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖔𝖓

I find myself thinking about this predicament of maintaining a playerbase quite a bit. I do agree with @Morose’s idea that the unique style of every GM contributes greatly to how well their roleplays seem to do in the long run and how many players are attracted to their ideas. If you look at your past Guild GMs you can usually identify the elements that made up their style. I did this myself and often noticed that some things that stick out are whether or not a GM uses Discord and how they run their discord, and how they interact with players even before conversations of the story arise. This means that even in the interest check stage, there’s a lot you can do to ensure interest of possible players. I’ve taken to ensuring that my players’ questions are answered in a timely manner, that they know they can ask any further questions, and that they are free to provide constructive ideas to the areas where the story still needs to be developed where questions may emerge. Allowing contribution from the start of things allows players to become more invested in your ideas.

Once you have your player base, I find that there are three ideas to keep in mind: challenge, encourage, and correct. I'll elaborate a little bit on each of these:

Challenge - It's super easy as a GM to go 'well, I've got this awesome group, now I can just coast.' Hell, I'm a lazy person by nature so I totally get that urge. However, if you aren't challenging your roleplayers to grow as players and writers, then they aren't going to enjoy things. It's like if you let them easily overcome every obstacle - no one wants to read a story like that! So maybe for you, the answer is to come up with more complex problems as the storyline goes on and maybe allow your roleplayers to take a little more control. In my the Gifted RP, I actually am letting roleplayers portray the villains in the story and it's been amazing so far. It certainly has challenged them and I know it's challenging me as a GM.

Encourage - I do drop likes on posts, especially if I know someone is having a rough patch in real life or on the guild, as I know seeing a notification that I got a like or something puts a little spring in my step. I'll make comments in our discord chat saying things like "omg Max [the character] is a dumpster fire but damn it, he gives me life. Loved the post!!" I try my best to encourage other people to do things as well. If a post makes you feel, say something! It encourages everyone to keep on writing, as well as lets you know when you've done something well.

Now, I've also developed a system of well.... blatant bribery at times. Blue and I will give out rewards for noticing little easter eggs or posting quickly, such as reroll cards (if they ask for a dice roll and don't like the result, we'll reroll it for them) or extension cards (to give them more time to post). I've recently been making trading cards of all of the active characters and I've been giving them out to people as roleplays reach milestones (i.e. 100, 200, 300, 400 posts and arc completions). I'm working on developing a game that can be played with the cards, but people love collecting the cards of their own characters and it definitely encourages them.

Correct - This isn't the fun one. You have to apply the rules to your longstanding members just as harshly as you would for a newcomer. Everyone has to be treated equally and even if they've been playing with you for a while, people will make mistakes. It's your job as the GM to make sure that no one is above the rules - not even yourself - as otherwise, it's easy for a culture of favoritism to spawn.

@Morose

These are great ideas, and I think your three main points here offer a lot of insight into what GMs think about. Each of them has a place in creating the unique signature a GM offers to their players. People attach to your roleplays for a reason after all. If we can identify how we use mechanics that contribute to these three factors, then we can usually find out what people are looking for in our roleplays both on a personal level and on a more general level.

Challenge is definitely a difficult thing to maintain throughout a roleplay as a lot goes into maintaining it. There’s a certain balance you have to create that creates difficulty and challenge for your players so that their goals grow ever more developed and greater as the roleplay ramps up, while also allowing for players to achieve goals regularly so as to avoid a roleplay that is stagnant with a plot that never moves along. This can be done in a number of ways, and goals can be vastly different on a case-by-case basis for roleplays. Sometimes, your players are looking to defeat the next villain in the overarching story, but sometimes they are just looking to develop a piece of their character to create a dynamic person of them. It then falls upon the GM to create the challenge in a unique way for every player. Each player doesn’t want to end up being in the same place doing the same thing at all times after all.

I think its also important to spotlight your players’ characters in their specific challenges as well. Because of the vast array of diversity in any roleplay’s cast, each player will find that there is a place their character is naturally drawn to in any given setting. I tried to put this to action in my recent roleplay Futility: the Great Game. Having a racer character amongst the cast that was specifically designed to be the team’s driver, he was a bit more out of place in gunfights and political intrigue. That made his character no less integral however. Identifying what the player was looking for in his own character’s development, I offered the opportunity for situations where his car and chase-scene-esque talents would come in handy. In short, we really just need to learn to cater to the players that are developing the roleplay right alongside us as GMs.

Encouragement takes many forms, and forum-based reactions certainly have a place among GMs. Alongside the self-validation that we all hide when we receive reactions that people are interested in our writing, it’s also a great way to keep players updated with the fact that their posts are getting read. As harmless as that may seem, I believe it is important for the roleplayers to know where I am at in keeping up with their posts. I also tend to try and comment on any new post that arises in a timely manner. This can help keep players thinking about what they’re going to do next and what they can expect from the GM’s end before they prepare their next post.

I’ve been a fan of the more subtle ways you can reward players for active and continued participation in the past. This mostly came in the form of more detailed lore and the possibility to go even deeper into scenes than would not have been otherwise possible if everyone else was ready to move along. In my newest roleplay, 𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘, I’m actually planning something a lot more blatant and akin to @Morose’s own idea using a mechanic I’m calling SECRETS. This involves players being able to find or receive files from important characters or in important places that will contain advantageous bits of lore that will come into play in the story’s future. While it’s basically the same thing that I previously described, I believe the concrete and visible nature of the rewarded information will have a more powerful impact on keeping player interest. It is always fun to be more involved in a storyline, and the use of this unique element allows players to be better prepared for and more invested in where the storyline is heading.

Enforcing rules certainly something I struggle with as I personally have found the laid-back style of long-term GMing to be more favorable. Every GM is going to have to draw lines somewhere. That sucks, but there are ways you can go about it to maintain interest and look upon the system of keeping a roleplay going as less of a rules-based system and more of an accommodation system. If a player forgets to post because they’ve lost interest in the roleplay, that’s a lot different than someone being unable to post because of some struggles in real life or a stint of absence. I try to solve this problem in my own roleplays by allowing players the option to have me treat their character as a momentary NPC if they find themselves unable to carry on for a period of time but still want to remain involved in the roleplay.

Allowing players to take a more backseat role when they are unable to invest themselves as much as others shouldn’t always be a bad thing. I’m going to have to bring up my new roleplay 𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘 again, because this was another aspect of running a roleplay I’d seen when previously GMing that I wanted to put into action in my newest attempt at GMing. The roleplay all takes place with a base setting— a safehouse for the group where they will be interacting outside of the greater ‘missions’ of the story. When players find themselves busier or less able to invest themselves in the roleplay, they will be able to keep their character at the safehouse and attend to manners of character development at a pace that won’t keep other players waiting. I’m excited to see how effective this mechanic may be.

I have rather limited experience with trying to recruit players into an already running roleplay, but I suppose what I’ve noticed is that supplying a transition into the cast is rather important. Since any additional players that might not have been around at the beginning of your roleplay weren’t right alongside everyone else (and I’ve come to believe that you shouldn’t try and force them to have been there in the past), they need to have their own unique goals for joining up with the rest of the cast and working alongside them. This can manifest as a scene unique to the new players that bestows on them the motivations and information necessary to find a place in the already established crew.

I think it’s important to mention that while new players should be able to influence the plot and interact with the greater world just as the main characters did, it may also help to create a unique role for the new players that allows them to be different from the main cast. Just as the old players have valuable information and experiences that they can bring into the plot, new players need to be given their own array of experiences that they can use to fulfill a new role in the story. This can be difficult as it can be tricky to create a new role that isn’t fulfilled by the present and can still be relevant to the story. That boils down to the job of the GM to make their roleplay morph and change to encompass all its players.

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I hope my discourse may help some of you. I’d love to hear what others might think of the ideas I’ve posed here. This is just my unique perspective, and I fulfill a certain niche on the Guild with my style just as all other GMs end up doing. Identifying your own style and tropes can really help you develop a story in a way that works for you and the people that you draw in, though. Also, thank you very much @RPGN for the shout-out to 𝕮𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖘. The OOC has just been put up and we'd love to have any and all interest parties involved!

—𝕺𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓