Jak Sandrow
"Nobody cares for the woods anymore."
Well, what better time to come back to the forums than at 2 am.
Oh dear god, Jak is back.
Fear not, faint of heart. For I am attempting to bring an idea to the boards, one that (maybe) may be of good use to RPers everywhere, and possibly make Star Wars RP: Chaos... slightly less chaotic.
I dunno, this may already be a thing.
When I was away writing random stories, I eventually figured out that everyone likes to be the main character in a story. Everyone wants to have the spotlight in one way or another. Therefore I propose to plan out RP threads in fairly great depth, to plan the story of the thread before it even begins.
Let me attempt to explain.
Joe Roleplay, an experienced RPer, has the almighty, overbearing, epically awesome, very levelled up character Lord Iwillstabyou, who is a Dark Master three times over. Now, brand-new RPer Tim Stayup-Late has been working faithfully on his character Jango'ba the Bounty Hunter. Jango'ba has very quickly earned a name for himself both within the threads and without, but he is still technically no match for Lord Iwillstabyou.
However, as fate would have it, Princess Orderthou has hired Jango'ba to hunt down and kill Lord Iwillstabyou for a hefty bounty. And Jango'ba, being a bit of a prideful sort - and Tim Stayup-Late really wants to be a little more famous.
Now, Tim could message Joe, saying, "Hey, let's RP! I'm gonna kill your character, lol!"
And Joe could goad him on, saying, "You can try.
"
And they could RP, and Jango'ba would be killed, and Tim could fly into a rage, blaming people left right and center that 'everything was unfair' and 'where are the mods? why are they playing favorites?' and so ruin a potential friendship between Tim and Joe, but also between other players Tim wants to RP with, or Joe wants to RP with. And everyone comes off in a stinking mood, the thread is never completed, and no one is happy.
Or.
Tim and Joe could have a lengthy discussion of the characters' abilities, weapons, where the bounty hunter might try to attack and ensnare the Lord, or have to retreat to safety.
This would lead to a multitude of possible actions, for example: Joe might want to spice up Lord Iwillstabyou's life, since the Lord was getting a bit chubby, or too used to safety and comfort, and so...
Tim and Joe would discuss, and Joe put forth that his Lord would be extremely underestimating as to his adversary's abilities and technology, and so end up unconscious and trapped, unable to do anything as he is delivered to Princess Orderthou. BUT. Joe is 100% behind this idea, and has a promise from Tim and the Princess that his character will not be killed - because Joe and Tim have also talked a little to Princess' RP writer, and have determined that the Princess only means to jail the Lord, not kill him.
And so everyone is happy: Jango'ba has captured a Sith Lord, Joe has a new character arc to have fun with, Princess has a new inmate for her jails, and the mods didn't even have to put their coffee mugs down to intervene.
Or another example would be that Tim, realizing Joe's character is much stronger than his, can now say with confidence that although Lord Iwillstabyou would most likely kill his character, perhaps Joe would want to do an RP where Jango'ba gets really close to being killed, but gets away out of pure luck, or incredible reflexes?
Joe, seeing a budding RPer wanting to have some fun with a more experienced player, consents, and so the two RPers work out a rough storyline: Jango'ba attempts to capture Lord Iwillstabyou, but seeing up close and personal that the Lord is much much too powerful for him, manages to get away by the skin of his teeth.
Tim also sees an opportunity, and asks Joe, "Can my character get in a few lucky shots?"
Joe, after thinking for a bit, agrees, saying, "My character can heal from them pretty quickly afterwards, so that's fine!"
And so they RP, with Jango'ba losing his armor, but escaping with his life, and Iwillstabyou having to deal with a few blaster burns. Jango'ba returns to the Princess, advising a more powerful bounty hunter to take down Iwillstabyou instead.
And again, everyone comes away happy, though maybe a little worse for wear, with Joe having enjoyed an RP with a fresher, newer opponent, Tim having a good RP with a senior writer, and the mods raising only one eyebrow at the lucky shot or three.
Tl;dr Plan out the threads thoroughly before you even begin them, even planning the conclusion and the final result of the thread. This way you can finish the thread happily and warmly, with all parties satisfied at the ending.
---
Again, this can be used for larger confrontations, too. However, of course, more planning will be necessary, and smaller, more personal scuffles will need to be planned out a little as well.
This could be applied to ship battles, too, with both fleets coming together to plan out who has what ships, who has the stronger ships, who is more likely to score kills, whether player characters should be allowed lucky shots, and eventually, what ships will be destroyed, and what ships will continue to another day. If a smuggler or two wishes to make off with a ship, there could also be a discussion as to how he or she could perform such a task, if they could perform it at all.
Using definite phases of battle, and setups for major events (obvious to the writers, if not the characters) that could occur, one could have incredible and powerful ship battles, akin to those in the novels.
Tl;dr Plan out larger confrontations even more thoroughly.
---
For events, I propose something different altogether. ... [are there even events anymore?]
Have you ever noticed that in every major storyline, there's usually no more than four or 5 truly main characters? Even in the Star Wars movies, it was Luke, Leia, Han, and Vader. Everyone else was more or less superfluous, in varying measures. (I will argue the emperor and the two droids, but I'm sure we can all agree Jar Jar was an abomination.)
Therefore I propose that the events should revolve around four/five characters that have been chosen by the mods to be part of the event proper, and those characters are crucial to the main plot line of the story. They could have 'special privileges', that is, they only have to RP in crucial threads of the plot, but not any other thread. Mods could work out the rough story line of the event and then tell it to the writers in stages, who can then work out amongst themselves how the story will unfold.
In other, less crucial RPs, still related to the event, the main characters could interact with other characters about issues directly related to the event, or not, so long as the main characters might finish that side thread before the final conclusion thread. And in even less crucial threads, it could be just any character interacting with other characters about issues related to the event.
This could keep an event public for everyone, yet would still have a fun, easy to follow plot line for everyone else to read with the main characters and the mods.
Tl;dr For events, limit actual event threads to a maximum of four selected characters, and let a solid plot line ensue.
---
IN CONCLUSION
Put simply, a little more work put into threads and plots might actually benefit everyone on this forum. More planning and less impulse would make for less disputes and less issues to be had for the mods to have to deal with over and over again, freeing them up to RP as they want.
... or this system is already in place and I just spent the last 45 minutes making a useless post. Ah well.
Oh dear god, Jak is back.
Fear not, faint of heart. For I am attempting to bring an idea to the boards, one that (maybe) may be of good use to RPers everywhere, and possibly make Star Wars RP: Chaos... slightly less chaotic.
I dunno, this may already be a thing.
When I was away writing random stories, I eventually figured out that everyone likes to be the main character in a story. Everyone wants to have the spotlight in one way or another. Therefore I propose to plan out RP threads in fairly great depth, to plan the story of the thread before it even begins.
Let me attempt to explain.
Joe Roleplay, an experienced RPer, has the almighty, overbearing, epically awesome, very levelled up character Lord Iwillstabyou, who is a Dark Master three times over. Now, brand-new RPer Tim Stayup-Late has been working faithfully on his character Jango'ba the Bounty Hunter. Jango'ba has very quickly earned a name for himself both within the threads and without, but he is still technically no match for Lord Iwillstabyou.
However, as fate would have it, Princess Orderthou has hired Jango'ba to hunt down and kill Lord Iwillstabyou for a hefty bounty. And Jango'ba, being a bit of a prideful sort - and Tim Stayup-Late really wants to be a little more famous.
Now, Tim could message Joe, saying, "Hey, let's RP! I'm gonna kill your character, lol!"
And Joe could goad him on, saying, "You can try.
"And they could RP, and Jango'ba would be killed, and Tim could fly into a rage, blaming people left right and center that 'everything was unfair' and 'where are the mods? why are they playing favorites?' and so ruin a potential friendship between Tim and Joe, but also between other players Tim wants to RP with, or Joe wants to RP with. And everyone comes off in a stinking mood, the thread is never completed, and no one is happy.
Or.
Tim and Joe could have a lengthy discussion of the characters' abilities, weapons, where the bounty hunter might try to attack and ensnare the Lord, or have to retreat to safety.
This would lead to a multitude of possible actions, for example: Joe might want to spice up Lord Iwillstabyou's life, since the Lord was getting a bit chubby, or too used to safety and comfort, and so...
Tim and Joe would discuss, and Joe put forth that his Lord would be extremely underestimating as to his adversary's abilities and technology, and so end up unconscious and trapped, unable to do anything as he is delivered to Princess Orderthou. BUT. Joe is 100% behind this idea, and has a promise from Tim and the Princess that his character will not be killed - because Joe and Tim have also talked a little to Princess' RP writer, and have determined that the Princess only means to jail the Lord, not kill him.
And so everyone is happy: Jango'ba has captured a Sith Lord, Joe has a new character arc to have fun with, Princess has a new inmate for her jails, and the mods didn't even have to put their coffee mugs down to intervene.
Or another example would be that Tim, realizing Joe's character is much stronger than his, can now say with confidence that although Lord Iwillstabyou would most likely kill his character, perhaps Joe would want to do an RP where Jango'ba gets really close to being killed, but gets away out of pure luck, or incredible reflexes?
Joe, seeing a budding RPer wanting to have some fun with a more experienced player, consents, and so the two RPers work out a rough storyline: Jango'ba attempts to capture Lord Iwillstabyou, but seeing up close and personal that the Lord is much much too powerful for him, manages to get away by the skin of his teeth.
Tim also sees an opportunity, and asks Joe, "Can my character get in a few lucky shots?"
Joe, after thinking for a bit, agrees, saying, "My character can heal from them pretty quickly afterwards, so that's fine!"
And so they RP, with Jango'ba losing his armor, but escaping with his life, and Iwillstabyou having to deal with a few blaster burns. Jango'ba returns to the Princess, advising a more powerful bounty hunter to take down Iwillstabyou instead.
And again, everyone comes away happy, though maybe a little worse for wear, with Joe having enjoyed an RP with a fresher, newer opponent, Tim having a good RP with a senior writer, and the mods raising only one eyebrow at the lucky shot or three.
Tl;dr Plan out the threads thoroughly before you even begin them, even planning the conclusion and the final result of the thread. This way you can finish the thread happily and warmly, with all parties satisfied at the ending.
---
Again, this can be used for larger confrontations, too. However, of course, more planning will be necessary, and smaller, more personal scuffles will need to be planned out a little as well.
This could be applied to ship battles, too, with both fleets coming together to plan out who has what ships, who has the stronger ships, who is more likely to score kills, whether player characters should be allowed lucky shots, and eventually, what ships will be destroyed, and what ships will continue to another day. If a smuggler or two wishes to make off with a ship, there could also be a discussion as to how he or she could perform such a task, if they could perform it at all.
Using definite phases of battle, and setups for major events (obvious to the writers, if not the characters) that could occur, one could have incredible and powerful ship battles, akin to those in the novels.
Tl;dr Plan out larger confrontations even more thoroughly.
---
For events, I propose something different altogether. ... [are there even events anymore?]
Have you ever noticed that in every major storyline, there's usually no more than four or 5 truly main characters? Even in the Star Wars movies, it was Luke, Leia, Han, and Vader. Everyone else was more or less superfluous, in varying measures. (I will argue the emperor and the two droids, but I'm sure we can all agree Jar Jar was an abomination.)
Therefore I propose that the events should revolve around four/five characters that have been chosen by the mods to be part of the event proper, and those characters are crucial to the main plot line of the story. They could have 'special privileges', that is, they only have to RP in crucial threads of the plot, but not any other thread. Mods could work out the rough story line of the event and then tell it to the writers in stages, who can then work out amongst themselves how the story will unfold.
In other, less crucial RPs, still related to the event, the main characters could interact with other characters about issues directly related to the event, or not, so long as the main characters might finish that side thread before the final conclusion thread. And in even less crucial threads, it could be just any character interacting with other characters about issues related to the event.
This could keep an event public for everyone, yet would still have a fun, easy to follow plot line for everyone else to read with the main characters and the mods.
Tl;dr For events, limit actual event threads to a maximum of four selected characters, and let a solid plot line ensue.
---
IN CONCLUSION
Put simply, a little more work put into threads and plots might actually benefit everyone on this forum. More planning and less impulse would make for less disputes and less issues to be had for the mods to have to deal with over and over again, freeing them up to RP as they want.
... or this system is already in place and I just spent the last 45 minutes making a useless post. Ah well.
I want to start fresh on this site, and I think a smidge of actual maturity might help get the ball rolling.
