So, as many of you know. I'm back in the SRP seat again. I'm having a blast writing the stories, having fun running them, but I'm finding a lack of personal satisfaction at the end of the story.
Part of this is because I'm very hard on myself. Another part is frustration surrounding seemingly poor role playing skills.
Let me start out by saying this, I've been around a long time - and I've seen a great deal of terrible things, but none of those things have been seen recently. Recently, there have been only annoyances that have a way of detracting from the plot. What I aim to do here is list these annoyances, and try to offer ways to avoid such in the future.
1.) God Modding: God Modding is, in short the ability to do anything you want without limitations. IE, overtaking 14 Nausicans with only one hand, Overhearing a conversation from the other end of the quadrant, or having a Doctor repair a badly damaged Warp Core because he/she used to be an engineer, and a pilot and a Marine and a Botanist and a Politician and a Stand Up Comedian...
In essence, it's the creation of very unrealistic characters with seemingly very unrealistic abilities. I have been (and can still be) guilty of this at times.it's a struggle, when you're trying to push a story to completion not to find yourself bordering some level of God Modding.
How to Combat this: My first suggestion would be to create a clear, concise description of your character. Design their past to fit their present (Ie, it's highly unlikely that a former neurosurgeon would go on to become the Ship's Chief Engineer.) Be Creative, but be reasonable.
My Second Suggestion would be to be logical. if the Captain is talking to two people on the bridge, and you're in engineering - are you likely going to hear them? - Not unless the sound carries very, VERY well on that ship.... If the person is not in the same room as you, and isn't talking to you or someone near you with a COmmunicator logo... then your character will have no idea what's going on, even though the player does. Portray that, it's called Role playing, not Player Playing.
My Last Suggestion would be this: When in doubt, ask. IN terms of Daedalus, I know I'm very VERY stressed out while running the Plot. But I also know there are solid Veteran RPers around who are very capable of answering questions too. If you're not sure how you should proceed with something, as a player, as a character, whatever - ask for help. There's no shame in that.
2.) Commitment: Serial Role plays run on a set schedule every week, or almost every week. From my own experience, I try my hardest to get the word out, and to remind everyone that Daedalus is running, and when. I also know that life happens, and sometimes, the routine stumbles. From an SRP Runner, to you - the Players: When you commit to an SRP (ie, Sign up, and are posted on the roster) Please make every effort to show up, or to advise the SRP runner, in advance, of your impending absence. It can be quite aggravating when a plot is written, and requires the presence of a certain character, and that character doesn't show up.
3.) Patience: The Plot Runner has a plan, please be patient while he/she works to bring it into fruition. If we don't respond right away, or if we do something in a manner that you're not fond of, please try to be patient - there's probably a plan.
4.) Be Prompt: When an SRP starts at 8, and everyone shows up at 8:15, this sets the story off on a rushed foot. As Such, the enjoyment of the story will be decreased because the Plot runner is trying DESPERATELY to keep it all in the NORMAL time restraints. IN terms of SRPs, there are often plots after another one, and if I were to sneak into Grizz's time, I'm not sure she'd be too happy... Tardiness is excusable, but try try try to be on time.
Lastly,
5.) Contribute: There are a lot of ways you can contribute to the RP. You could volunteer to write episodes, you could volunteer to build maps, you could volunteer to help create arcs and start a creative team of ingenious masterminds. Ultimately, however, every player has one big responsibility in contributing to the story. And that's Role Playing. In terms of how I try to run plots, I have a Basic Story that goes from A to B. When the Story is played out, how we get from A to B is largely up to you. You can also help develop things in such a way to skip B altogether and go to C, F, H, Z ETC. How can this be done WITHOUT PLOTJACKING?! By Contributing to the story.
Following my same path, taking Myself as an Example; I tend to write a basic story. There are elements of that story that I absolutely have to portray, and then there's a great deal of flex... if I tell you, We're going to the Klingon Home world to make peace, and then one of you claim that a Klingon Ship is coming toward us... that's fine - if it's a Borg Ship, that's Not.... If I write in the destruction of Earth, I'm looking for a clear, logical emotional response from the characters, Going to a quiet place alone to cry is logical, getting belligerently drunk, arrested then plotting your escape from the Brig and steps toward Mutiny are not...Also, if I have a story, and you wish to introduce a side-plot: For Example, the primary quest is to Find and Acquire the Holy Grail, but the Captain needs a Kidney Transplant. The Kidney Transplant can occur, but shouldn't overpower the main story.
What I'm saying is this, I write the main plot, and present it, maybe with a few layers of my own wrapped in. But you all have the freedom to add layers too and thus create a world, not just a two dimensional playing field.
Every one of these points are linked, in my opinion. When you create a character, you can then understand how that character will react to a situation, and as such you can add layers to the story based on your reactions, and your background. Being Present and On time will also help the building story continue, without the stress of an on the fly re-write, or rushing to get everything in before the 2 hours mark. And as the Story develops, it may not all come together at once. Be patient, there could be a plan as to why slot A didn't fit into socket B very easily.
Please take these considerations to heart, and feel free to ask me for more helpful tips! :) Ultimately, I'm just trying to make RPG-X a more enjoyable experience for everyone!
Very well said Klaw, however I'd like to add something important here about godmoding and downright realism.
I tend to play characters who are flawed in one way or another. In TLE, I play an incredibly strict captain who is very very hard on her crew and i, at times, very curt and firm with them. On Daedalus, I used to play a chief of security who had a slight xenophobic side but still followed orders and generally tried to do the right thing. RPG-X players are very hostile to these types of characters. . This is an unfortunate truth, but anyone who has tried to do a mirror universe RP, Klingon RP, or any really "non-Federation" RP can attest to this.
For starters, and as Klaw mentioned, your character is not privy to any conversation that does not happen in front of him. However, I see this happen all the time. The captain has a heated discussion with an officer in private and then, all of a sudden, all the other RPers are suddenly hostile to that player even though their characters couldn't have heard the conversation. My experience has been that this hostility grows and grows until people are outright rebellious towards the character, even if the character has not given them any reason to act that way. This is godmoding at its worst, and strongly detracts from RPs.
Furthermore, an RP filled with Mary-Sue do-gooders is a surefire way to be incredibly bored for an hour or two. Look at any television drama; there is always conflict between the protagonists, even on Star Trek. Characters are not supposed to be perfect, and flaws are crucial to making compelling characters. If your character starts off as a paragon of good with absolutely no character flaws, then how will she grow over the course of the RP? Why should I care what her character progression is if she's already perfect?
Secondly, I'd like to talk about understanding context. let's talk about a hypothetical mirror universe RP. I can't tell you how many times I've seen RPs like this ruined by one or several people who are playing high ranking Terran officers, yet still have a moral compass akin to captain Picard's. Not only do these people disobey every order given to them, they destroy the plot by generally refusing to cooperate at all. Logically, it doesn't make sense for a character with a strong moral compass to make it into the senior staff of a Terran ship, but that doesn't stop people from playing such unrealistic characters anyway. To me, this is no better than RPing a five year old human captain; there are no circumstances under which that would be acceptable, so insisting on RPing as that character breaks immersion and derails the plot.
This leads into my greater point: you must understand the context in which your character lives. If your character is an officer in a military organization like Starfleet, he is not going to just casually disobey orders whenever he feels like it. Disobeying orders in the military is a sure way to get kicked out or imprisoned; people do not do it on a whim because they have a disagreement with the order. Despite this, I see plenty of characters who continually disobey orders, talk back to their superiors, and generally do not act like they are in any way part of a military organization.
So my advice to anyone who has read this far is this: when you're RPing, and especially when you've signed up for an SRP, you need to think carefully about who you want your character to be. What is her place in the world? What are her flaws? Considering where she is in the RP world, does it make sense for her to act or feel a certain way.
Can I ask you how do you manage the turns to avoid overlapping of dialogues?
Quote from: Quantum Novae on January 25, 2016, 01:56:12 PM
Can I ask you how do you manage the turns to avoid overlapping of dialogues?
People are going to overlap - there isn't a turn counter or anything like that, it's a free form Role playing game, courtesy and practice helps to prevent story loss from dialog collisions, (and sometimes, people will need to repeat themselves :P)
I tried to export rpg-x, but it seems too many people regard roleplaying only like D&D, with EXP, levels and bonuses. I received as criticism that direct speech isn't enough...
However I'd like to know other gameplay tips from Tlo :)
For example, before playing the episode is there a complete plot with the end already established, or only few hints for all the players? Is the story based on crew roster or the crew roster is compilable only when the main plot is done?
Might I just point out that the God Modding and Meta-gaming rules need to be enforced? Reason why I ask is because over a few days ago during two RPs I've seen one TLO Member use both of these.
Well, it's ultimately up to the CO to make these corrections as much as possible. These sorts of things are to be avoided in RP, but won't get you kicked from the server. Obviously, even though these things don't technically break the server rules, they do hurt the plot and need to be avoided--so I encourage members to keep an eye out for this in their gaming as it's an easy trap to fall into.
My suggestion to CO's is that if someone is godmodding, meta-gaming, or otherwise exhibiting what I call "Super Hero Syndrome" to PM the individual and ask them to stop, and perhaps state in public OOC chat (please disregard that) if they do something crazy.
Remember that Plot CO's have control over the plot--and it IS a matter that admins can enforce (through warnings, n00bclass, kicks, and disciplinary action) if participants in an RP don't comply with a plot CO's reasonable request as that is a part of our server rules.
If players haven't already, I recommend that they read this post for some good tips! I'd also like to shamelessly resurrect My guide to the do's and don'ts of roleplay (http://www.last-outpost.net/forum/index.php/topic,5599.msg41470.html#msg41470) That guide also includes some suggestions about what appropriate ranks are in RP's--which I think everyone should take a look at!
Finally--if you haven't already, take some time to go through the TLO academy videos. If you've been here for a month or so, you might not need all the lessons concerning how to change your name colours and such, but there are other valuable tips like what to do when you aren't the plot focus, or how to deal with disruptions to the RP, etc. You can find that video playlist here (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA06Az4-OcVkaXpuQ8TSfVWwi6Q45TjoN)
If you ever have any questions or want some tips, don't hesitate to contact a member of the RPG-X Staff!
Quote from: Quantum Novae on January 25, 2016, 04:38:25 PM
For example, before playing the episode is there a complete plot with the end already established, or only few hints for all the players? Is the story based on crew roster or the crew roster is compilable only when the main plot is done?
Just to add on to what Jenson said and to answer your questions:
There are many ways to run an RP, have a fixed start and end and guide everyone through; fixed start and end but how we get there is down to the RP; Multiple ends, have a few ends lined up and work out which one from what happened in the RP ect, etc...
SRPs will almost always use one of the ones I mentioned (usually fixed start and end and guiding) whereas random RPs will usually have a fixed start and then have it totally down to what happens,mut really depends on the RP and the runner.
Sometimes stories may revolve around regulars or around the CO but not always. Most SRP sign ups will ask for mutliple desired positions, so the runner can put you where you can help the story along the most.
Hope that helps :)
Ah, from the quote of the EMH aboard Voyager:
"They say gossip travels faster than warp speed"
For the private communication issue:
It's gonna be hard to moderate this in the long run. People might have an understanding of how "not" to do it, but there's going to be times whether they forget (or are preoccupied with RP and it gets overlooked), or somebody new comes along and messes it up again.
I don't know RPG-X's commands very well, but maybe a new syntax might help.
A local message of sorts, with a radius parameter. Nobody else shall hear.
Something like
/say 5 Aye, Captain.
Obviously would allow for anybody within 5 meters to hear it, but everybody else won't.
Also would enable customization of varying levels of shouting or something.
If you or anyone needs mission ideas im here to help i did ask on the shoutbox if anyone wanted a link to my databse i started a while back to catalogue my ships and missions i have written for be it one i command or im part of one. These are for Nova based rpg style, forums or a pritty short stint into PBEM and iv never written for rpgx but these could translate to the game. Im redesigning the page at the moment but theres lots to look at thats already up and there should be a unassigned missions page to follow when the gaming pc is fixed