finncullen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
finncullen) wrote2010-08-29 12:58 pm
finncullen) wrote2010-08-29 12:58 pm
Entry tags:
RP Guidelines - Plotting and Playing
(another copy/paste from my comments over at the Roost, reproduced so I have a copy)
Plotting and Playing
Some advice on maintaining interesting play.
Bob has a good idea for an interesting roleplaying thread. A mysterious box arrives in the common room that proves impossible to open. It is covered in mysterious runes that will need decoding after a perilous trip to the restricted section of the library. Once decoded the runes give clues to a hidden room where a key is hidden behind fearsome traps. Once the key is obtained the box can be opened revealing a powerful amulet - now sought after by Dark Wizards who will soon be infiltrating Hogwarts itself!
Great storyline - exciting - very true to the idea of Harry Potter...
Bob rushes to the RP forum and makes his first post, ending with
".. and he looked in surprise at the mysterious rune covered box, wondering what to do."
Sam logs on and sees the post. He can't wait to join in.
"That's my sandwich box," says Sam and he opens it and takes out his favourite sandwiches - ham and muffin-mustard. "Yum. Sorry I left it there."
There's a problem there of course. The other players have no idea what Bob has in mind for his wonderful plot (and he can't exactly reveal all in a big OOC post... that would kill any suspense and drama for the characters who play in it) but there is obviously SOMETHING planned or the box would not be there.
In situations like this Bob is the "Pace Setter" - he's introduced the mysterious element and generally more fun can be had from going along with it rather than trying to solve it with a sudden idea of your own.
What works well in situations like this is to treat the mysterious elements that someone else has introduced like a character - and respect it by not 'godding' the mystery. Interact with it by all means, but let the Pace Setter be the one who determines what the results of that interaction are.
This need not always be some big plot - maybe you just want your character to come down with a minor ailment as a result of a potion mishap... but then the next poster decides it's a contagious disease instead and comes down with it too.. then someone else.. and your original idea withers away.
What I'd suggest is that if you introduce something out of the ordinary that you don't mind other people having their own solutions to (but I wouldn't advise it - it leads to lots of random babbling) then put an OOC comment like
(OOC - I don't know what the box is! Anyone can decide, make it fun, LOL)
or something equally lucid. Then people know they have free rein to decide things for you.
If you don't see a disclaimer like that, then assume the person who posted the new idea knows what they are doing and don't write anything that would cancel it out.
This is a key way to get decent, interactive and dramatic stories going, in a way that free-for-all RP always misses out on.
Plotting and Playing
Some advice on maintaining interesting play.
Bob has a good idea for an interesting roleplaying thread. A mysterious box arrives in the common room that proves impossible to open. It is covered in mysterious runes that will need decoding after a perilous trip to the restricted section of the library. Once decoded the runes give clues to a hidden room where a key is hidden behind fearsome traps. Once the key is obtained the box can be opened revealing a powerful amulet - now sought after by Dark Wizards who will soon be infiltrating Hogwarts itself!
Great storyline - exciting - very true to the idea of Harry Potter...
Bob rushes to the RP forum and makes his first post, ending with
".. and he looked in surprise at the mysterious rune covered box, wondering what to do."
Sam logs on and sees the post. He can't wait to join in.
"That's my sandwich box," says Sam and he opens it and takes out his favourite sandwiches - ham and muffin-mustard. "Yum. Sorry I left it there."
There's a problem there of course. The other players have no idea what Bob has in mind for his wonderful plot (and he can't exactly reveal all in a big OOC post... that would kill any suspense and drama for the characters who play in it) but there is obviously SOMETHING planned or the box would not be there.
In situations like this Bob is the "Pace Setter" - he's introduced the mysterious element and generally more fun can be had from going along with it rather than trying to solve it with a sudden idea of your own.
What works well in situations like this is to treat the mysterious elements that someone else has introduced like a character - and respect it by not 'godding' the mystery. Interact with it by all means, but let the Pace Setter be the one who determines what the results of that interaction are.
This need not always be some big plot - maybe you just want your character to come down with a minor ailment as a result of a potion mishap... but then the next poster decides it's a contagious disease instead and comes down with it too.. then someone else.. and your original idea withers away.
What I'd suggest is that if you introduce something out of the ordinary that you don't mind other people having their own solutions to (but I wouldn't advise it - it leads to lots of random babbling) then put an OOC comment like
(OOC - I don't know what the box is! Anyone can decide, make it fun, LOL)
or something equally lucid. Then people know they have free rein to decide things for you.
If you don't see a disclaimer like that, then assume the person who posted the new idea knows what they are doing and don't write anything that would cancel it out.
This is a key way to get decent, interactive and dramatic stories going, in a way that free-for-all RP always misses out on.