RPing Questions? Ask Here!

[Lubyak]

How do you calculate the size of your nations miliatry?

That's something you can't calculate, as it relies on a lot of factors which are quite subjective. However, first I'd like to answer the person below.

How do you calculate the size of your nations miliatry?

Generally a tenth of your population is what can have in your military at max.

While this is an oft cited rule of thumb, this is incorrect. 10% of your nation's population in the standing army is an insane percentage. North Korea sits at 4.7% of its population in the armed forces, and you can see the state their nation is in. 10% is an 'Enemy at the Gate, Germany in mid 1945' level of militarisation. It's the last act of desperation of a state that has almost lost. Most advanced developed nations hover below 1% of their population militarised. You need to remember that every person in the military is a drag on the economy. Every soldier is a citizen not working in a shop, factory, or office, and being paid by the government instead of paying taxes to the government. Every dollar spent on tanks, guns, and planes is a dollar not spent on infrastructure, administration, or left in the pocket of its citizens. At a certain level, this drag is worthwhile, as having a defence force is useful, but you don't want to go too big, as that is a road to ruin.

Now, how big should your military be? How big a military do you need? What is your nation's geopolitical position? What are its main strategic goals? What is the population like? How willing are they to sacrifice in the name of national security and defence? A nation surrounded by hostile powerful nations with no natural borders will need a larger military than a nation with well defined borders, surrounded by weak friendly nations. A nation who sees its strategic priorities as projecting power across oceans, will need more troops than one only concerned with home defence. A nation whose population views death in war as glorious will be willing to support more militarisation than a pacifist culture.

It's improper to ask how many troops you have. Instead, figure out how many troops you need/can support, and work from there.

[The Siverian Republic]

How do I get people to join my RP? Made it yesterday, and only got one application(besides mine).

[The Templar High Council]

How do I get people to join my RP? Made it yesterday, and only got one application(besides mine).

I made a post earlier assuming I was home in P2TM.

I see two main ways: advertise in threads many people see, or make many friends to drag home to your RP.

[The Siverian Republic]

How do I get people to join my RP? Made it yesterday, and only got one application(besides mine).

I made a post earlier assuming I was home in P2TM.

I see two main ways: advertise in threads many people see, or make many friends to drag home to your RP.

I don't have many friends on this site, so I can't really do that real simply. How should I advertise the Colonial RP I made?

[Kyrusia]

How do I get people to join my RP? Made it yesterday, and only got one application(besides mine).

I made a post earlier assuming I was home in P2TM.

I see two main ways: advertise in threads many people see, or make many friends to drag home to your RP.

Advertising randomly in threads is... probably not the best way to go about things. There exists the RP Think Tank where players can advertise their threads for International Incidents. Just be sure to read the original post and follow its advertisement guidelines.

[The Templar High Council]

I made a post earlier assuming I was home in P2TM.

I see two main ways: advertise in threads many people see, or make many friends to drag home to your RP.

I don't have many friends on this site, so I can't really do that real simply. How should I advertise the Colonial RP I made?

Well, I'm not native to II, but I think you can visit the Think Tank and get some comments on your ideas.

Other than that, I recommend getting some friends. I didn't start my first RP until I knew people would join it, and after seeing how others operated to get an idea. Call it research if you will, but it helped a lot via getting to know some really awesome people. And those people helped polish my rough ideas into a quality RP.

[Esmaria]

How do I get started?

I mean, like, looking for a good roleplaying Region is quite hard. I haven't found very many that aren't A. Dead or B. Completely filled to the Brim. Also, roleplaying is kind of... intimidating. I'm used to fluently writing a lot of posts, but good god do people write books on here! Anywho, how would you recommend I begin to roleplay on NS? That is to say, I have no idea how to start because I feel as if I'd be lost trying to fit in with the complication.

[The Macabees]

How do I get started?

I mean, like, looking for a good roleplaying Region is quite hard. I haven't found very many that aren't A. Dead or B. Completely filled to the Brim. Also, roleplaying is kind of... intimidating. I'm used to fluently writing a lot of posts, but good god do people write books on here! Anywho, how would you recommend I begin to roleplay on NS? That is to say, I have no idea how to start because I feel as if I'd be lost trying to fit in with the complication.

What kind of plots are you most interested in writing a story on? Are you a "big picture" player, who wants to RP on geopolitics, war, politics, etc? Or, do you prefer to focus on a couple of characters, with the "big picture" only really serving as a background?

Regarding post length, that kind of thing isn't a good metric or guideline. As someone who writes long posts, I can see the value to shorter posts and, in fact, in some threads I write in a shorter style. There's value to all different writing styles, so my recommendation is to just RP in the way that's the most entertaining to you. Relatedly, there's no reason to feel intimidated, because the only standard of quality is you — if you are happy with your post, that's all that matters.

[The Macabees]

Also, if you see a thread that you like, reach out to the players! Unless the RP is tightly closed, players will be willing to help involve you, and this can help develop your country's background, its government's ambitions and geopolitical role, etc.

[Esmaria]

How do I get started?

I mean, like, looking for a good roleplaying Region is quite hard. I haven't found very many that aren't A. Dead or B. Completely filled to the Brim. Also, roleplaying is kind of... intimidating. I'm used to fluently writing a lot of posts, but good god do people write books on here! Anywho, how would you recommend I begin to roleplay on NS? That is to say, I have no idea how to start because I feel as if I'd be lost trying to fit in with the complication.

What kind of plots are you most interested in writing a story on? Are you a "big picture" player, who wants to RP on geopolitics, war, politics, etc? Or, do you prefer to focus on a couple of characters, with the "big picture" only really serving as a background?

Regarding post length, that kind of thing isn't a good metric or guideline. As someone who writes long posts, I can see the value to shorter posts and, in fact, in some threads I write in a shorter style. There's value to all different writing styles, so my recommendation is to just RP in the way that's the most entertaining to you. Relatedly, there's no reason to feel intimidated, because the only standard of quality is you — if you are happy with your post, that's all that matters.

It's not that I'm uninterested in "big picture" scenarios, it's more that the concept of writing so large is a bit alien to me. I love writing long as well, but the problem is that I don't really know how or what to write in a situation where I control more than a single character, but rather a whole faction. Also, most roleplays I see appear to be very noninclusive outside of 2-3 people, or have gone on for quite a long time to the point where it would be difficult to pop in.

[The Macabees]

It's not that I'm uninterested in "big picture" scenarios, it's more that the concept of writing so large is a bit alien to me. I love writing long as well, but the problem is that I don't really know how or what to write in a situation where I control more than a single character, but rather a whole faction. Also, most roleplays I see appear to be very noninclusive outside of 2-3 people, or have gone on for quite a long time to the point where it would be difficult to pop in.

Sometimes people can find creative ways to get into an RP, even one that has been going for a while. That's why it's worth reaching out, especially because it's nice having many minds working to include a player (and you can bounce ideas of each other).

I'm a big proponent of "learning by doing." My recommendation is to start building your world. Start thinking of what your country is like. What type of government does it have? Is it liberal, authoritative, or some eclectic mix? Is your leader sane and reasonable, or mad and violent? What type of ambitions does your country/government have? This last question is especially important, because those ambitions often define the plot of the RP. Even if it's not your own RP, knowing what drives your country will make it easier to involve yourself in existing RPs, because you'll have the tools to figure out an "in."

As far as how to go about talking about the big picture, you can try to do it without characters at first. Some players are heavily influenced by nonfiction war and history books, so they writing in that style — as if it were being narrated by some future historian. This can help you organize your thoughts while you're still getting to know NationStates. As you feel more comfortable you can start to introduce characters.

[Tekonia X-2]

I know I'm not new to nation statea, but where are all of the FT nations viewtopic.php?f=4&t=353876 I know this is not the appropriate place for this, but somehow how Im feeling like there is an intergalactic community somewhere in here similar to the council on Mass Effect.

If anyone knows anything please point me in the right direction on here.

[The Macabees]

I hate to send you to another thread, but there is a FT-specific help thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=270578

I'm sure someone can help you here too, though. I, unfortunately, am not yet fluent in FT.

[Novaya Impedlia]

Hm, hello, I'm new here and I have a question... What mean the acronyms ? IC, FT, MT, OCC etc...

[The United Dominion]

Hm, hello, I'm new here and I have a question... What mean the acronyms ? IC, FT, MT, OCC etc...

IC: In Character
OOC: Out of Character (frequently mistyped as OCC)
FT: Future Tech
MT: Modern Tech
FanT: Fantasy
PMT: Post-Modern Tech
PT: Past Tech

II: International Incidents (this forum)
P2TM: Portal to the Multiverse (RP forum in the General section, toward the bottom of the forum list)

These are the main ones. Many other acronyms refer to specific regions, alliances, or roleplay groups and are too numerous and ever-changing to really list out. Let me know if there are any other specific ones you're wondering about.

[Novaya Impedlia]

Okay, thank you a lot sir !

[Oppressorion]

How do you effectively do covert operations/intelligence RP? How do you effectively infiltrate a group, assassinate a leader, stuff like that? Any tips?

You're in luck, I'm writing one now. Simply put - take control of a character. Talk about why their targets need to die, give them personality and why they're in that line of work. Show them circumventing security, carrying out their task in creative and undetectable ways. Talk about how they're in a foreign country and how they need to blend in, with alien customs and language and culture. Build the world, build the characters. Make them interesting, and you can do anything.

[Springfield emipre]

For those new, uncertain, at a rut, or wanting to discuss any sort of topic in between in regards to II Role-Playing, please feel free to posit questions, threads, and topic discussions. This thread is intended to be an open area of general discussion on II Role-playing, for newer and older players and where assistance can be given. Please keep all off-topic chatter to a minimum.

NOTE: II, GE&T, and F&NI RPing questions only, please. NSSports and Gameplay-based RPing questions are not the main focus of this thread.

[Draica]

Any countries that are MT and have a benevolent monarchy?

Any countries that are MT that are democratic, african-like states?

[The Macabees]

Any countries that are MT and have a benevolent monarchy?

Quite a few would be my guess (there are a lot of MT nations with monarchies, and the highly capitalistic ones are likely to be more-or-less benevolent).

Any countries that are MT that are democratic, african-like states?

I knew one, Republic of Tembe. I'm sure there were many others.

Why do you ask?

[Maltropia]

Any countries that are MT and have a benevolent monarchy?

Hi.

[Draica]

Any countries that are MT and have a benevolent monarchy?

Hi.

Hi, wanna rp a state visit?

[Arnoria]

Anyone know any good zombie-themed roleplays? Need to know how they do it before I create my own.

[Insaeldor]

Anyone know any good zombie-themed roleplays? Need to know how they do it before I create my own.

I rarely have seen any Zombie RP's on the II forums. But that's not a bad thing actually.I would say you can find a niche in here really dependening on how you go about it. Would you like to do a national RP where you RP the reaction to a zombie apocalypse at a nationally level. Or is it more a character RP where the story focuses on the stories of individual characters surviving the zombie apocalypse?

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Where would mechs (think BattleTech/MechWarrior mechs) fall into in regards of technology?