STATUS:
Do you GM an RP? Want to share your experiences? RPGN is looking for GMs to interview every issue. Shoot me a message if you want to be next.
5 yrs ago
On this month's edition of RPGN News, I got to sit down with the Star Wars Persistent Galaxy Team. I think they served me Kashyyyk Fried Porg...
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likes
5 yrs ago
Looking for Roleplays to feature in this month's spotlight as well as Roleplay Landmarks. Drop me a line if you've got one and want the bragging rights!
go to radiogarden get that aewen station playing in seoul
mmmmmm
Stop it.
I'm glad to see this return, and to see it has evolved once again. I'm impressed, and I'm sure many of my fellow comrades who helped lay the foundations for this initiative are also impressed. But the whole of guild should give themselves a pat on the back. This would have never have gotten this far without the readers and their continued support over the years. I'm not sure who all is involved in this now, but thank you for taking up the reigns. I wish you all the best, and I know it'll only get better! RPGN is in good hands.
On a side note, the arena initiative is definitely looking for new players still to fill the brackets. There are currently 3 confirmed contestants, all whom have already been assigned mentors for the 'New Beginnings Tournament'. If you've ever been interested in joining the arena before and seeing what the big fuss is about, I certainly recommend that now is the time!
MORTAL KOMBAT
Oh shit. The news is back.
And lo and behold, an RP I've been helping run for eons has been given a shout out; thanks to the kind souls who nominated it! I can say this with utmost sincerity; it's the best group of roleplayers I've ever had the privilege of writing with and for over 2 years the game's been running and it's arguably stronger than ever with no sign of slowing. It's a testament to the kind of community RPG fosters and the caliber of roleplayers we have floating amuck in the forums. Sometimes you all join together like Voltron and kick some serious ass.
Here's to another two years and a lot more story arcs to come.
SHIT WHERE
Right.
We here at RPGN can confirm...that roleplay does not suck. Good to hear success stories are still out there. Way to not suck, fellas.
Oooooo the news! I'm glad of 2 things.
1) I didn't go ahead and do my age old idea for a Guild Radio show Cyn and I were talking about now that the pros are back in the news business. Good to have you back^^. 2) I must concur with @Dervish. Fruits of Contention is one of the best out there, and the peeps are great to write with. Anyone look for a good read, check it out.
The only thing our news team could go pro in is alcoholism.
Guild Radio show? Don't be greedy, we have PMs. Let us hear an idea.
...uh, right. Beep booooooop, where the beeeeep did the booooooopin' beer go.
Hello and welcome to the return of the Roleplayer Guild News. On today's edition of the News: Zordon kicks off the Dank GifMemes with a no-no word, the Guild server breaks bad, the Arena RPers gets combative, we talk with as random a member of the Guild as we could get our hands on...at a random Guild time, at a random Guild place. Plus, wait, what, the Guild gets a new boss?
All that plus Roleplays That Don't Suck, and maybe an Interest Check or two, or three, or whatever number, we're too drunk to keep counting.
First, however, we begin with a much needed word regarding the RPGN itself. At the moment the plan for the RPGN is one post a month, bi-monthly if we get lippy, with a focus on consistency and survival over the bells and the whistles of RPGNs past. (Headers? If we have to? Maybe in the future, if anyone wants to donate their services. It's not our focus.) Ideas, submissions, or feedback are welcome, and should clearly be directed at the Fonz. Can't find him? Hell, I don't know, leave a response to this thread, or PM the RPGN account. We'll probably remember the password and be able to log back in, hopefully.
Also we pour out a lil' for our fallen homies: Guru, HeySeuss, Sep, and countless others that have contributed to the RPGN over the years. Thank you.
A quick review of reader questions. (Real questions from real readers, I guess.)
"Can I submit the roleplay I'm in for a spotlight?" From Pepe McKeksalot
Great question, McKeks! No. Don't be selfish.
"How about my Interest Check? Can I submit that for a spotlight?" From SumYungGuy
Hell yes. Why do you even need to ask that? Of course. No promises.
"Is the RPGN accepting volunteers?" From edgybutcaresOOC112
Ayyyy. And that by that we mean; eh. Maybe. Must care about the Guild community, and must love dogs. Contact us.
In a recent OOC thread discussing the state of the Guild, the conversation drifted into the area of re-organizing the Guild's categories. One suggestion was merging sub-forums. When Arena was suggested to merge into another sub-forum for various reasons, things quickly got real. Really-real. Some Arena members came back with restraint and reason. Some came with the passion and the rage. Then came the full page ads, the tomes posted in defense of the Arena. Meanwhile the entire purpose of the afore mentioned thread got highjacked and steered into Arena Existentialism.
Eventually Arena Mod Rilla jumped in. Oh, but it got better. The Arena conversation this OOC thread spawned moved TO the Arena's Chat thread. At that point our reporters lost the trail, or had to go for a liquor run, or stopped caring. The story didn't stop there, however, as not long after afore mentioned Arena Mod Rilla nailed a notice on the door of the Guild addressed to all the Guild:
Have you ever wanted to join the Arena, but were put off by the perceived Ill-tempered, short fused, argumentative, and quite frankly bullish personalities said to roam those war torn lands? Well, we - the argumentative and Ill-tempered few - would like to invite newcomers to our messy home.
The Arena's very own premiere middle man is offering to host a bevy of new fighters, and has called in some of his chips to get them mentored by some of the best fighters of the Arena universe.
The tournament itself will be hosted in the legendary Lobby of the Liaison, where popular Arena tournament, the Way of the Warrior, is hosted. Consider this, the winner of the tournament will Automatically have a spot in the Way of the Warrior, meaning they'll be accepted without worrying for a spot.
The rules of the tournament are few, the mentors will help walk you through the rules we commonly use in the arena. The scale will be lower tier, minor powers to provide a diverse, yet easy to engage level of combat for those who may not have tried their hand before.
Other rules will be discussed forthwith.
Restrictions apply.
Mentors for new folks? Tangible reward for the winner? Where's the Arena bookie so we can place our bets?!
Take a look. New approach for an old part of the Guild. Certain to be a lot of fun and draw a lot of eyes from all over the Guild.
BREAKING NEWS (to none of you reading this): the Guild has been experiencing some server issues. 502s, Application Errors, time outs, general irritating stuff. The Guild's founder and coder-bee, Mahz, is on the case. While it's always a solid survival strategy to keep an eye on the Mahz's Dev Journal for actual updates not given through the prism of our drunk asses, a few highlights:
I'm currently updating the source code to adapt to major (breaking) changes in the underlying framework.
Quite an undertaking due to the size of the Guild's code.
Update: I'll continue working on this for the rest of the weekend. I reckon I'm 50% done with the source code upgrade.
Unfortunately I haven't yet spent much time tracking down the root of the timeout errors, so I hope yall can endure in the meanwhile.
Here are the stats for the pending code changes:
- 40 files were modified - 4,661 lines of code were added - 8,890 lines of code were removed (many of these were just from deleting some files)
For a bit of good news for a change, I've been experimenting with a spam detector. I ran it against 25 spammer posts and 25 legit posts, and it correctly differentiated between them.
I'll be testing it out after the dust settles.
I have to fix the perf issues, first.
Right now I have the Guild running on a cloned server + cloned database where I'm testing some upgrades.
I've enabled the slow-query logger on the main database which is now collecting data and will help me figure out what I need to rewrite.
The highlights: it's a work in progress but serious progress is being made, no changes have been pushed yet, and there's an alternative reality clone version of the Guild in existence now. Will it sneak in and replace the normal Guild in it's sleep? Would any of us know? Has such a thing already happened? Is the clone server bizarro Guild?
Serious questions for people into serious thinking. (Read: Not us. Too drunk. If not too drunk, too hung over.)
Music That Doesn't Suck
In this issue's Music That Doesn't Suck, Guild Comrade @Sputnik brings the gravy sauce. If you think it sucks, we don't really care, but we're also open to suggestions for the next issue's Music That Doesn't Suck. We don't discriminate against genres. Except maybe K-Pop.
Thanks for not sucking, Sputty.
If you've dug about some of the OOC threads we've mentioned already, you've probably noticed maybe the biggest bit of news to come up in the past few weeks. Yes, that's right.
TACO NIGHT.
NEW ADMIN.
Who? When announced? These are details crack reporters would have for you. Given we only have the crack part, uh, we don't know. The details we have right now is rather sparse: the new Admin likely won't deal with the programming/server side of the Guild and that would remain Mahz's main gig. Their focus would be more on the day to day non-technical side of Guild House.
All we know right now is there's a new Moderator, who's really an old Moderator become a Moderator again: Ruby. Confused? Welcome to the club. New Moderator though, yay. Don't suck old-new Moderator. Otherwise the rotten produce is assembled and ready for catapulting. All you Moderators are on notice. Pew-pew! Pew-pew! (Clearly the sound produce catapults make. When you're lit.)
Dank GifMemeage
Our crack (ha) team of reporters can only canvas so much of the Guild. Come across a gif/meme with mucho dankage? Let us know so we can put it up as next issue's Dank GifMeme.
Due to time constraints, what with Americans having holidays, and the restraints imposed by jobs and educational institutions I apologise but there won't be a RPGN this week as scheduled, however it will be released next week.
We apologise for this profusely however the whole team has been swamped.
Greetings ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, fans and haters. First I want to open by apologising for the delay in our regular scheduling. The Super Moon caused @vietmyke to run wild and we had to spend most of the day hunting him down. I can confirm that he is back home safe and sound, and thank you all for being patient. Especially given that all of our schedules have changed dramatically. That said, rest assured that we will do our best to ensure that every two weeks there is a brand new issue of RPGN to sit and look pretty for your reading pleasure. So without further ado…
Notable Roeplays
By @Vietmyke The reason most of you are here! Let's see what the all seeing, all knowing Vietmyke has for us this time?
Up and Coming!
Interest checks are often the first stage in recruiting players for an RP, and a really good one can net you a lot of applicants.This week, we’re going to highlight some of the best looking interest checks that caught our eye. Best of all, they're looking for players!
Casual Interest Check
PRIES by @Holy Soldier - A dark fantasy in a modern setting. PRIES is a sandbox style game in which you take on the role of a supernatural agent.
Advanced Interest Check
The Last March of the Living by @Nariata - The walking dead meets fantasy warriors. This has a little bit of everything for the fantasy lovers our there.
Cool and Current
Sometimes Roleplays do something special that needs to get them recognized. If you yourself know of such an RP send it in to RPGN or to Vietmyke.. It maybe just passed a certain milestone, or something dead awesome just happened. Let us know.
Phoenix Wing by @Caits, @Expolar, and @Zarkun - An RP truly massive in scale. I've seen very few RPs with this many consistently well written posts and such a massive cast of characters. Something on this scale deserves a mention- 2 years and its still going strong.
Advanced Roleplay
Manifest Anima: Planes Divided by @Celaira, @yoshua171, and @Ganryu - A delightful modern-fantasy RP that mixes magic and technology. This little gem has been steadily chugging along and features a welcoming cast of players and a dedicated group of GMs.
Nation Roleplay
The Peace Keepers by @Polybius is political nation RP that takes place in a Galaxy Far far away, but is not Star Wars. Its a refreshing looking RP that appears to be shaping into more than yet another galactic war in space.
What type of RP genres do you like ( sci-fi, fanstasy etc ) ? and Arena , NRP , Tabletop or Normal RPs ? Which one do you like the most and which one do you like the least and why ?
My favourite RP Genre is definitely Sci-Fi without a doubt. I originally started roleplaying on the guild in Star Wars RPs and it really got me into the Star Wars universe. More recently I have spent a large amount of time working on the canon for my roleplay No Turning Back making a Sci Fi World of my own choosing. Shameless advertising
In terms of what RP I like the most, I tend to stick to traditional play by post in what you would consider “Normal”, spending most my time in the advanced section. I like how free it is in terms of it is essentially writing a novel with friends. Tabletop is likely my least favourite, I find the reliance on dice and stats annoying and feel like it takes all the fun out of writing.
It’s more fun when my character is stabbed by a wild ogre because I cocked up, not because a couple of dice said so.
If you guys have a question you want to ask, leave it in the comments below.
Question to the floor
This week the question is getting a bit deeper, how do you build your characters?
Music? Basing them off yourself? Singing a song? Poetry? Reading? Basing them off a friend? How do your characters come into existence is the point of this, they don’t come out of nowhere.
Puzzles
By @Wade Wilson Help! I don't have much time! This is Wade! Wade Wilson!
The Spirits of RPGN Past have held me captive, and hidden three things in the past three issues - a top hat, some text, and a pumpkin. If you can find them, specify which issues they're in (and what the text says), and I'll be able to escape! You have to hurry, though, there isn't much ti-
The Spirits have also messed with our avatars, whose is whose?
Interview?
This week we’re not going to have an interview, sorry to all. Though in the next issue for the interview we have something special planned. So stay tuned.
Closing Note
From all of us at RPGN, apologies again for the delay and thankyou for reading. I’d like to thank @Wade Wilson for joining the team, as well as @Vietmyke and @RomanAria who have been members for a couple of weeks now.
As per usual feel free to contact us on our Discord Chat or PM @RPGN directly. I look forward to seeing you all in the next issue, we’ve got some real treats in store for you all.
[i]Is this thing on? I don't have a lot of time. The Spectres of RPGN past are right behind me. They've already taken [@Roman Aria], @Vietmyke is currently holding them at bay but if I'm not quick they're going to get me too! I'll rattle on through this then...
Notable Roleplays
So the strangest thing happened when I was looking for the roleplays for this issue... Roleplays rose out of the back of the thread and assaulted me like some form of Zombie Roleplay! Now I hear @Mahz is hard at work trying to combat this virus, though I recommend you all start looking for safe zones and take cover with your loved ones.
Free: Divergent Warriors among us by @XxLyraxX. This one sought out the flesh of the RPGN in order to combine it to make a new Divergent hero rise up.
Casual: KILL ALL HEROES by @NarayanK. This one assaulted [@Roman Aria] for her heroic work fighting the spirits of RPGN past.
Quesiton to the floor, don't worry the ghosts of RPGN past won't attack you for answering. What was the spookiest or scariest moment you have ever roleplayed?
Question to RPGN
Now's the part where... no... don't.... GET AWAY.... No... no.... nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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.keew eno rof ereht ti peek dna 0 ot '001 ot ecar' eht teg tsum uoY .gniht eno od tub deen uoy ,uoy ot denruter peS evah ot redro nI .niaga NGPR ees reven lliw uoy sruo si eh ecno dna ,ekymteiV evah noos lliw eW .airA namoR sa nwonk eno eht sa llew sa ,sruo niamer llahs eh dna ,sruo si eH .won peS evah eW
Greetings from the shack that is the RPGN Headquarters. In these scary times in the lead up to Halloween it isn’t always wise to be alone. Thankfully that is no longer the case for me, and I wish to thank those who have joined the RPGN team and all those who have offered their love and support. Particularly I’d like to thank @RomanAria for returning to RPGN in order to act as bait for the Spectres of RPGN past should they come looking for me again.
As always we’re always happy to take ideas and suggestions, or if anyone wants to offer help it’d be appreciated. If you want to offer your services, ask questions or just offer moral support you can send a PM to @RPGN, @Sep or join our Official RPGN Discord chat.
Before you get to the rest of the publication I’ll make note that under each heading there is a by-line to show you who worked on each section so that proper credit is given.
By @Vietmyke The reason most of you are here! Let's see what the all seeing, all knowing Vietmyke has for us this time?
Up and Coming!
Interest checks are often the first stage in recruiting players for an RP, and a really good one can net you a lot of applicants.This week, we’re going to highlight some of the best looking interest checks that caught our eye. Best of all, they're looking for players!
Casual Interest Check
Fantasy Seven by @Holy Soldier - A fantastical RP based on the Seven Deadly Sins, Fantasy Seven is a well written interest check with a classic fantasy feel hopefully featuring a diverse cast of characters.
Advanced Interest Check
Kingdom Death by @Dead Cruiser - A dark fantasy based on the tabletop game "Kingdom Death: Monster", Kingdom Death is a RP that takes survival-horror to new level, and players can expect influences from games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne to be present.
Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath by @Ellri, @sundered Echo, and @fallenreaper - you know something big is planned when an RP has three full GMs. With this RP, you can expect an intense, tale of Jedi and Sith in epic clashes and in depth character development. With three veteran GMs at the head, we can see this going far.
Nation Interest Check
The Stars Ablaze by @Fallen Muse - a Warhammer 40k RP? Oh baby yes. We're all about the dark fantasy this week in the interest checks, and Warhammer 40k is a beloved dark fantasy to many a user. Prepare your bodies, because this looks to be an intense Nation RP of epic proportions.
Cool and Current
Sometimes Roleplays do something special that needs to get them recognized. If you yourself know of such an RP send it in to RPGN or to Vietmyke.. It maybe just passed a certain milestone, or something dead awesome just happened. Let us know.
Free Roleplay
Experimental Army by @KatherinWinter - A Teen-Superpower RP meets Suicide Squad, Experimental Army is exactly what you'd expect when you give juvenile delinquents superpowers and throw them in a basement together, and that's perfectly okay with me.
Casual Roleplays
Divided We Stand by @HushedWhispers - A super-powered high school RP with a novel twist. With a school that serves to teach both superheroes and supervillains, it sounds like just the type of mess I'd like to get into. With a tight knit community going strong for some 5 months and counting, you can expect collabs galore and a diverse cast of characters to get taken with.
Outcasts of Fortune by @Dynamo Frokane - with Military and Mecha RPs being my bread and butter, you can't really blame me for being drawn to this. Outcasts seems exceptionally promising, and they're just getting ready to get themselves off the ground- making this the perfect time to join up.
Advanced Roleplay
The Elder Scrolls: Fruits of Contention by @gcold - a week shy of its first birthday, Fruits of Contention, has a stunning cast of characters, a dedicated corps of GMs, and doesn't show any sign of letting up anytime soon.
Nation Roleplay
Formaroth: Battle for the Throne by @TheDuncanMorgan is an epic nation RP in the vein of Game of Thrones. If you're not about that, you should take a seat and re-evaluate your life choices- kidding of course. All jokes aside, this RP has been steadily making its way for well over a year now, and sports a core of talented writers.
Last weeks riddles were solved by @gcold and as such he has been sent an invitation to the RPGN ritual sacrifice of the person who got the answer right party that is going to be held in his honour. If someone wants to risk have fun with this party then all you have to do is get the answers right first.
Here are this week's riddles:
I am eternal, I am fleeting. I am everywhere, yet I am nowhere. People count me up, people count me down when you need me there is not enough but when you don’t there is too much. What am I?
I can bring tears to your eyes and a smile to your face. I form in an instant and last for a lifetime, but I can be forgotten. What am I?
Maze
It's fall*, and fall means lots of pretty leaves everywhere. Which means lots of raking for everyone... and then, once you have a big pile of leaves, what do you do? Jump in it! *Editor's Note: For all you fellow non Americans 'fall' is Autumn. ~ Sep
Challenge RPGN
It’s no fun if we’re the ones who always give the challenges. So this is your chance to give the RPGN team a challenge, be it perform a certain feat in a specific game, write something, draw something or solve a puzzle put in your requests! The sooner the better and we’ll post the results in the next issue!
Same concept as ‘Question to RPGN’ the challenge with the most likes will be the one we do. You can either request a certain team member fulfill the challenge, the whole team or just ask for any one person to complete the challenge. Bear in mind when creating the tasks that we do have lives to live.
Let's keep things simple. What was your favourite RP moment ever, feel free to quote it if you know what thread it's in/where it is? Why was this moment so good? What makes it stick in your memory?
As the same with every issue we don’t just ask questions, we answer them in a way that forms a discussion by being put on the thread. While there is a question the floor I’d ask you all to also consider this question and what it means. This question was posed by @Ashevelendar:
What do you do when everyone hates one of your characters ( including yourself ) but he is crucial to the plot of the RP you are in and cannot be killed / removed ? :)
What do I do, it’s an important question. A lot of the time we try to make our characters relatable, often they’re heroes and we want people to like them. After all playing the protagonist is the best. So I’m going to take this two ways:
People hate the character for what he/she is: In this scenario people just hate the character. They’re evil, they are vile and an all around nasty person. They steal from the poor and kill the rich and really there’s no way in which they’re doing bad things for a good reason. They’re just full out evil. What do I do? I keep playing the character. I feel it’s great when you play a character that you absolutely despise, and that everyone else does. It’s just a fun dynamic, just accept that this is who the character is and have fun with it is all I can say. Having a character you genuinely hate rather than one you hate just because of the plot is so much more fun. People hate the character for what he/she is made as: This one’s a bit more difficult. Sometimes you make a character and you, or other people, genuinely aren’t happy with how the character turned out. Maybe the little voice in your head wasn’t quite speaking to you properly that day or something just seems off and it doesn’t feel right. In this situation I look at the character and see if there’s a defining characteristic that jumps out at me as ‘wrong’ or ‘off’. If there is I’ll try and change that, failing that just because a character starts important to the plot doesn’t mean they need to stay that way. New characters can be introduced or plot can be changed to work a way around a particular character being removed. My advice is that you need to be fluid enough to overcome barriers like this by changing the character or the plotline, as you never know what is going to happen.
I hope that this answers your question, if not just be like “Yo Dude, what up? I need more than this!”. What do you guys think? Anyone got some advice to help @Ashevelendar out?
If you’re reading this and have a question feel free to leave a reply to the thread, the question with the most ‘likes’ will be featured (So if you see a question you like give it a ‘like’). You can either address the question to @Sep or to @RPGN as a whole.
Being a Gamemaster (GM) is probably one of the most difficult things to do on the Guild, other than actually making the guild like our mighty saviour Mahz or moderating it like our lovely moderators. There are a lot of people who take their hand at it, and put a lot of work into the project only to see it fall dead within a couple of days, weeks or months. Without the prospect of a conclusion in sight. To start this article I went around members of the Guild at random and asked them this simple question: “What do you think makes a good GM?”
Well, not to be super subjective, I think it falls upon the style of either game or RP you do. General rules of being a good GM in my mind is either providing more content to keep a RP thriving, making sure people aren't overstepping your predesignated rules, answering questions whenever given. Situational wise, if we are talking Non Advanced RP's I think all that should be expected is you give updates on the RP, see why people may not be posting, giving helping hand out to help people with CS's.
As a GM you need to manage players, set standards of behavior and gameplay, and tell a story in such a way that includes everyone--whatever their role. At minimum you need to care, and need to try. Do those two things and you're more than halfway to being a good GM. The rest is skill and luck.
A good GM knows where a story is headed, regardless of how it gets there, and is able keep players focused on that goal.
There are two things that to me separate between a good GM and a terrible GM. Surprisingly, it's not "writing skills" or "imagination". 1. KNOW YOUR PLACE. The GM is the world, the players are the protagonists. Together, they create the story. Any GM who confuses this with being a protagonist himself or trying to kill his players all the time, fails at his most basic duty.(edited) 2. KNOW YOUR PLAYERS. The story should not be the ultimate goal, but rather everyone having fun and being able to release their inner protagonist. GMs need to be able to be flexible, to drop arcs their players don't enjoy, to add more content of a specific type, to compromise but also prevent the players from running too amok. These two abilities are imperative in my opinion and are also very difficult. This is why there's so much difference between good GMs and "okay" GMs.
Some good points. Caring, active, organised and focus seem to be the general consensus. It is true. From the moment you put up and IntChk you have a story you want to tell, you need to make it seem interesting but you also need to make it seem like you care. If you personally have not put time and effort into it then players will wonder why they should bother. While in roleplays that use world-creation this comes naturally it is equally as important in roleplays that take place in a fandom, as prospective players know the fandom and that is the reason they opened the thread (from the title) you need to prove to them you know what you’re talking about, and how you’re story is going to fit into the grand scheme of things. Though as indicated that’s not all there is too it, caring is just about getting people in the door.
Activity should go without saying, I myself have once put a Roleplay on hiatus and then brought it back when I had free time rather than letting it struggle through me not being able to give it enough love. If you do not have the time do not start a roleplay. People have questions, they need help and you need to maintain a semblance of order. Even in a free roam RP letting players do their own thing for too long without some sense of direction is never a good thing, when you are GMing a roleplay you need to be aware that that takes priority. As Peaceless said you’re here to be the Gamemaster, you are the world and without you the world cannot function.
Organisation is maybe not something one tends to associate with being a gamemaster. Though it is important. You need to know where your story is going. Not your players, don’t spoil things for them. Keep them on their toes, and more importantly keep contingencies. Players tend to be devious and mess with your plans, if you’re not well organised you aren’t going to be able to compensate for this when it happens. Always be prepared for them to mess with your plans, never have them mess with your plans and then go ‘Oh gosh darn, can you change that?’. Be ready for anything, know every player and the place in the story their characters play though try not to favour one player over the others (unless it is a roleplay where there is a specific hero). You need to juggle all of the players and keep them entertained to keep the story moving, stay on top of it.
I kind of covered this in the previous paragraph though it’s so important I’m going to mention it again. Flexibility. Players are going to mess with your plans, they’ll turn down the dark scary hallway that you were trying to make them avoid instead wanting them to go down the path of sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes they’ll drop or disappear off the Guild, their characters will get hurt or they’ll even die in some situations. Be ready for this, players can be stubborn and uncooperative but you need to roll with it. If you’re rigid and uncompromising then what is the point in having players there? Remember they are writing the story, which is why you made it a roleplay in the first place. If you’re a GM of a roleplay to tell your own story then you’re not going to get far.
Most of all, enjoy the experience. Sometimes it isn’t going to work, and that’s okay. Try again, figure out what went wrong and fix it. Though if you have an amazing concept and nobody bites don’t be disheartened, as @Ruby says it takes an element of luck and the Guild has phases where sometimes a particular type of Roleplay is more popular than it usually is (Such as Dark Fantasy being more popular around Halloween time). Learn the rhythms of the Guild, if it doesn’t work now that doesn’t mean you can’t refine it and try again later. Each story is worth telling, and once you find the right cast you’ll never look back.
If you have any questions on this article, or wish for me to cover a specific issue contact me on the Guild, Discord or via pming @RPGN. Though like with all the other articles feel free to discuss your answer to ‘what makes a good GM’ below.
For this issue, we interviewed @RomanAria from the RPGC crew. Everyone be gentle with her, she’s a little… off in the head. Like... she asked the questions herself and then answered them. Talking in a different voice and everything.
RPGN: Let's start off with a bit of history - What made you join the contest staff, and then what made you stay on with them?
Aria: Well, when I was a very smol child – like literally I think I was nine or ten - on Oldguild, I applied to be a moderator. Naturally, they refused me and told me to wait till I was older. But I wanted to do something to give back to the community, so I asked around and eventually wound up in contact with MDK, who offered me a spot in the contest crew. What made me stay was probably that they all actually put up with my childish antics and actually trusted me and made me feel like a valuable member of the crew. Like I didn’t get sidelined because of the fact that I was a small child who was new to the forums and the internet in general…
RPGN: What is your favorite memory of being a staff member?
Aria: Oh, that has got to be DPRPGC #7. My god that was an amazing contest. Waking up on the morning the contest was supposed to start and reading the contest post and not knowing what the devil was going on and flailing at MDK and having him say just two words to us – “trust me.” And then we started getting so many amazing entries and just… that was a fabulous contest.
RPGN: You participated as a contestant in several of these - which one was your favorite?
Aria: Oh, bother- I don’t even know. Probably #3, the cosmos. Or #8, snapshot. Or… Oh, I don’t even know. Probably 3 or 4 or 7 again or 8 – gah, I liked them all.
RPGN: Applying that to being an admin: What are your favorite themes to try to write into a contest?
Aria: I always try to write in a workaround for the theme, another way of looking at it – I also try to incorporate some sort of theme that could be rendered artistically, rather than purely through writing. Not that anyone’s taken the bait but… Just going to toss this out here that RPGC says nothing about being a purely writing contest, and certain themes or bonus categories could be interpreted to encourage visual arts of some sort.
RPGN: What advice would you give to members seeking to join the contests for the first time?
Aria: Go out there. Do something crazy, off-the-wall. Usually we don’t bite. I mean, everyone’s at least polite about biting. We’ve never thrown an entry out, never yelled at people too much (I mean except for invoking feels but that’s a good-yell, not a bad-yell.) so… yeah. Come up with something and send it in. Everyone’s a winner!
RPGN: And with that I think it's time for closing remarks - is there anything else you'd like to say about RPGC, the contests, or the guild in general?
Aria: Yeah! One more thing: The contests are doing something kinda screwy right now. We don’t really run contests over November and December due to all of the holidays. Right now – YES, RIGHT NOW! – the final of the Twelve Labours is concluding. You have until objective midnight today to submit an entry. After this, you’ll have no more chances to enter contests until probably the middle of January. Unless, that is, you’re doing NaNoWriMo, in which case we’re running a SPECIAL RPGC JUST FOR YOU! That’s right, folks! More on that coming after the conclusion of The Twelve Labours!
RPGC: Right then, a strong sales pitch to end the interview. If you’ll just step out of the interview booth, Aria…
Aria: Actually can I stay for a bit longer? I like it in here, the spirit of RPGN past can’t get me when I'm in here.
RPGC: No, you need to go. We're out of time.
Closing Note
I'd like to thank [@Roman Aria] for facing the Spectres of RPGN past and returning to us, and @Vietmyke for trying something new and helping out with RPGN. If you'd like to get involved, whether you know how or not feel free to PM @RPGN, @Sep or join us on our private Discord chat. I'm still hoping to throw in a couple of more features though some of them I'll need help with simply as my artistic talent is sorely lacking.
Though, if you want a sneak peek to our next issue I will leave you with this.
Date in the topic is in European format because I'm a filthy commie. - Hank
In today's tribulant age of reboots and sequels and sequels of reboots some of us decided that the days of the News Section being left alone was over! Thus we present you with the Rebirth of the Roleplayerguild news! Totally not using the tag line from any popular cartoon series, expect the content you know and love (if you are from the times where RPGN existed) while also having some new content that you will hopefully love.
You want to help I hear you possibly saying? Well feel free to PM RPGN or Sep in order to get involved in the fun. We can always use more meat to fuel the best news publication on the Guild!
Notable Roleplays
This is going near the start, as this is the reason a lot of people check out the news. Who is being mentioned today, what do they have to offer? Is it awesome? Well of course it’s awesome! It’s mentioned here.
Interest Checks
Every roleplay starts with an interest check, and for this we’re going to highlight some of the best looking interest checks out there. Why no Tabletop or Arena? Both these sections are unique in their demographic so the Interest Check section isn’t as active.
General:I Remain - @Mr Allen J - It’s that time of year when the horror RPs come out to play, don’t play in this one before you go to sleep. Free:KRIEEEG'S One Shot #1 - Medieval City Siege - @KRIEEEG - Free doesn’t always have the best reputation, but it’s where a lot of us start out. This roleplay looks like it’s had a lot put into it, and I wish it all the best in training up the next generation of Roleplayers (We can’t all start out as good as @Ruby). Casual:Champions, Regiments and Wizards - @Footman - Medieval Fantasy. One of the most popular genres in fiction, and it just keeps spitting out more goodness. This here looks like a prime example, Footman has obviously put in his work. Advanced:From Afar - @Dreamforge - This is one that caught my eye, from afar. It’s a nice looking roleplay set in prehistory, jumping on the current love for survival type games while also adding an element of Sci-Fi that I think is a really nice combination. Well done, I hope you go far. Nation:Time's a Changing - @duck55223 - Steampunk nation RP? Sign me up… if I personally had time. Despite this a unique take on the Steampunk Nation RP brand. Just make sure to account for the time changing when you wake up for work.
Active Roleplays
Sometimes Roleplays do something special that needs to get them recognised. If you yourself know of such an RP send it in to RPGN or to Sep. It maybe past a certain milestone, or something dead awesome just happened. Let me know.
Casual:Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past - @Fallenreaper - All I need to say for this one. Three Years. It has been running for three years, not many Roleplays can boast that. Good job guys, I know you’re doing great. If this is act one, I can’t wait for act two. Advanced:Age of Rebuilding: Return of the Gods - @Dragonmancer - Advanced RPs are known for the hard work and dedication of the Gamemaster. This guys done his work, and his players will reap the rewards. Nation:Precipice of War - @Dinh AaronMk - We all know that roleplays don’t last, Nation RPs sadly are notorious for their heavy turnover rate. Like with the first roleplay on this list, this roleplay has been going strong for three years and it’s a good read. Well done guys, here's to another three years.
Riddle me this
Riddles are great, they’re good for evil villains to spout of to confuse the protagonist of a story, for a crazy king to announce the next part of a world changing quest or for some ancient alien text to tell you how to get into the secret temple. Winner will gain entrance into the secret RPGN temple for a ritual sacrifice party.
Here are your two riddles:
A cloud was my mother, the wind is my father, my son is the cool stream, and my daughter is the fruit of the land. A rainbow is my bed, the earth my final resting place, what am I?
You heard me before, yet you hear me again, but then I die, until you call me again. What am I?
Question to the floor
So, one of the old features of RPGN was the “Thought Experiment” where a question would be pitched and then the best options would be highlighted for the next issue. This differs slightly from the old way. We’ll pose a question in order to start a discussion and see what you guys think, before highlighting the best answers in the next issue.
Our question this time is this, we’re starting big: What got you into Forum Roleplaying? We all enjoy different levels or styles of forum roleplay but it’s something we all have in common. Why do you do it?
Question to RPGN
Now, it’d be dead unfair if we got to ask all the questions. At this present moment in time, we is just one person. However every time we post an issue we will give the opportunity for a question asked by a Guild Member to be answered by us, maybe you want to know about our Roleplay experiences? Skills? Styles? Now, you may be wondering how we choose which question to answer. It’s simple, if you see a question you like just give it a like. The question with the most likes will be chosen.
A Guildian Interview
So this is the part where I annoy someone by asking them questions to see what makes them tick. If you know someone who would like to be annoyed by me asking questions, throw me a message. This week we interview the elusive, the mysterious, @Mr Allen J!
RPGN - So, going to start this off simple. Your name isn't necessary (Sorry) as it's on the thread but you've been around the Guild for a while. How long have you been roleplaying exactly?
Mr Allen J - Five years ago, though you could say it's six since I RP'd lightly before I got serious.
RPGN - Do any of us really count before we got serious? I sometimes look at roleplays I did three years ago and cringe. On that note, do you remember what your first real RP was?
Mr Allen J - Yeah, this is a tough one. A loooooong time ago, when I was young and stupid (well, honestly, I'm old and stupid now) there was this game called Spore... you can google it if you really want the deets, but me and some friends basically ran this big thing in that game's community called Epic Adventure War (Basically, a giant space war - like Mass Effect but with less story). It technically counts as a Roleplay since we were basically writing a big old story through that game's medium. It was toxic af sometimes, but it was really my jump off point for writing.
RPGN - Well I think we all have something that kick started us, you're more imaginative than me. Mine was Runescape.
Mr Allen J - I tried Runescape one time before putting it down forever - but, I'm getting off track. lol
RPGN - So am I, So you've been around roleplaying for a while, what attracted you to the Guild?
Mr Allen J - Well, for a little while, I roleplayed on an off-shoot of that Spore forum while it was in complete decline. Sometimes, my RPs on that site would slow to a crawl, so I got bored and started looking for places to Roleplay. I remember someone mentioning the RPG on Spore's forum, and checked it out, and it stuck with me. Though, I never really stuck around for long before disappearing when my RPs on the Guild died, and my RPs on the other site picked back up. It was a cycle until my primary roleplaying site died, and I made Guild my main. When I made the Guild my main, it was after Guildfall btw.
RPGN - Ah, such a young pup then. So you've been around the Guild for a while, what has been your favourite roleplay on the Guild?
Mr Allen J - Hmmm... I'm going to sound a little self-sucky here, but it has to be my own RP Baybridge. It is easily some of the most fun I've had Roleplaying, with a diverse and interesting cast.
RPGN - The cast is what makes and breaks it, sound as egotistical as you like. So working on that, cast is obviously the key to any good roleplay. Without a good cast, you aren't going anywhere. So what do you feel makes a good cast?
Mr Allen J - Honestly, there's a lot of different things that make a good cast. My personal thought that a diverse cast with lots of depth is a good cast. I've seen too many RPs with cookie-cutter personalities/pasts, and those roleplays are the least interesting. I guess what really makes a good cast requires all the characters to be interesting, well thought out, and well written at the same time - it's possible.
Mr Allen J - My trick (If you can even call it that) would be to listen to music. There's certain kinds of music (OST music or music that you'd hear in a movie or something) that just gets me going.
RPGN - That's something a lot of people do, but what about imagery? You yourself design a lot of roleplays. Do you prefer to use descriptions for things or to go the route of using images? If you can find one that fits.
Mr Allen J - I tend to use descriptions for everything I can - but sometimes I use pictures if I feel like it'd describe a location better (or if I get lazy). I use pictures sometimes to give some eye-candy.
RPGN - So coming to a close, theres still a stimga around the advanced section that we're hardasses in it and cruel to people trying to come out of casual into advanced. What do you think about this, and do you have any tips for people trying to make it into advanced?
Mr Allen J - This, this right here is probably the most complex issue of the Guild. Which stems from the elitists that are from the oldguild (who are, obviously, all gone). It's all about the image people create - that advance is a super elite section... when honestly it's not quite. It's welcoming from what I could see, just that people automatically assume so. Some people believe it's a section for the "elite" writers, others just believe it's for people who write more. My advance is to poke around a little bit, look at the RPs, and their community, and see if it's for you.
RPGN - Well awesomesauce with a side of cool beans. I'll untie you now and let you out the broom closet of interviews. Be careful not to get mauled by the spirit of RPGN past as you leave.
What else can there be?!
I have plans for future issues but at the end of the day this newsletter exists to serve YOU?! What would you like to see in future issues? If you have ideas for what we could add, or have something you would like to contribute (such as a comic, artwork, article, guide) feel free to PM @RPGN or @Sep. Though worry not, if you can’t think of anything to add we’ll make sure that every issue is fresh looking and a joy to read.
About RPGN
RPGN has and always will be a civilian, independently run news publication. No dictator controlling our actions, we speak nothing but the truth in the hopes of enlightening your Guild experience. It’s done voluntarily, and as our first new publication I am the only one doing it. While I am okay with that another set of eyes wouldn’t hurt and we’re always looking for more talent. Simply PM @RPGN or @Sep and we’ll get right on it.
While I’m here I’d like to honourably mention @HeySeuss, @Kirra, @Noxious, @Robeatics, @Impaqt for bringing us the original RPGN and for [@Roman Arai] for trying to bring it back before, before she got eaten by the spirit of RPGN past. That’s a real thing by the way, it’s clawing at my window as I write this.
Update: All staff positions have been filled for the next issue!!
Oh my goodness I was not expecting to get this much of a positive response. In THREE DAYS our entire staff roster is filled out. Thank you all so, so much for your willingness to help out.
THAT SAID: If you're still wanting to participate, we might be able to rotate some people in and out for the next couple of months until we find the group that's most efficient and best works together. PM @RomanAria if you're interested. (I tend to not check the contest or news accounts until it's time to do something with them, soo... yeah.)
Also, as you will notice, we're rocking the retro look. The moderator gods smiled down upon me and sent me the password for the original RPGN account. So this is the one we're going to be using from now on.
Anyway, Next issue will be on the 8th or 9th of May. Until then, goodnight folks!
