Traveller's Cafe 4: Brainstorming, Discussion, Tea, Advice

[Dayganistan]

I'm sure I've asked a hundred times at this point, but what is it that separates a successful RP from the others? I'm still trying to figure out why every RP I've been in has died fairly quickly so that maybe I can make one without it becoming a massive failure.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

I'm sure I've asked a hundred times at this point, but what is it that separates a successful RP from the others? I'm still trying to figure out why every RP I've been in has died fairly quickly so that maybe I can make one without it becoming a massive failure.

There is no single way to make a good RP.

My hypothesis is that a long-lasting RP is merely a function of the number of player interactions. The more interactions, the longer the RP lasts. But that is still only a hypothesis.

[Northern Socialist Council Republics]

[...] but what is it that separates a successful RP from the others?

If we knew how to make a successful RP, we'd be out there making some. :p

Honestly I feel that the big goal to aim for is attracting qualified players. An RP almost cannot fail if it attracts and holds the attention of multiple passionate and competent roleplayers. That might mean having an interesting concept, having a well-written and well-presented original post, striking a good balance between established setting and player freedom, etc. Nobody knows the magic formula, but it's out there somewhere.

[New yugoslavaia]

I guess I would say that one factor that could help in making a good RP is to not need too many people present to start up the IC.

[G-Tech Corporation]

[...] but what is it that separates a successful RP from the others?

If we knew how to make a successful RP, we'd be out there making some.

Honestly I feel that the big goal to aim for is attracting qualified players. An RP almost cannot fail if it attracts and holds the attention of multiple passionate and competent roleplayers. That might mean having an interesting concept, having a well-written and well-presented original post, striking a good balance between established setting and player freedom, etc. Nobody knows the magic formula, but it's out there somewhere.

Also having a solid core of people you vaguely know and can harass into joining a given RP isn't a bad thing.

[Kassaran]

I'm sure I've asked a hundred times at this point, but what is it that separates a successful RP from the others? I'm still trying to figure out why every RP I've been in has died fairly quickly so that maybe I can make one without it becoming a massive failure.

There is no single way to make a good RP.

My hypothesis is that a long-lasting RP is merely a function of the number of player interactions. The more interactions, the longer the RP lasts. But that is still only a hypothesis.

You see, that is the first school of thought. The second is that you simply stretch out the interactions across longer periods of time, thereby creating a longer RP.

[Lazarian]

I'm sure I've asked a hundred times at this point, but what is it that separates a successful RP from the others? I'm still trying to figure out why every RP I've been in has died fairly quickly so that maybe I can make one without it becoming a massive failure.

I think having a core of dedicated players who love the concept and have storylines they're dedicated to seeing out keeps an RP alive.

For example, the longest-running RPs I see right now are Song of Heroes, Elementals, Young Justice, Awake in Prefeton, Andromeda, Land of the Free, New Civilizations. All of those branch over a variety of genres (although you could break them down into fantasy, sci-fi, superhero, historical) and different speeds. The main commonality is that there's a dedicated group that keep these RPs kicking despite pretty long pauses and gaps, which would typically kill pretty much any other RP.

[Dayganistan]

Also having a solid core of people you vaguely know and can harass into joining a given RP isn't a bad thing.

This is where I think a big roadblock in me actually putting pen to paper (or I guess text to screen in this case) for an RP is. I don't have any people I regularly interact with (due to limited RP participation for a variety of reasons) that I could prod into joining in the hopes they bring others with them. But the whole issue of me having difficulty finding an RP to join that holds my interest is part of why I want to make my own.

[New yugoslavaia]

Talking about RPs and doing them right, I'm thinking of finally rolling out my R-Type RP.
Anyone interested in a bit of mission-based starfighter action in a (semi-)galactic war against the truly alien, all-assimilating cyborg empire that is the Bydo?

[Dayganistan]

I'm kind of bummed out at the moment as well because I was trying to work on an Ace Combat RP, and then someone goes and puts their own up. Awesome right? Wrong. Set in a time period I have little to no interest in. So now I can't put up my own or else people will accuse me of ripping it off and wonder why I don't just join that one. Really can't win here can I?

[New yugoslavaia]

I'm kind of bummed out at the moment as well because I was trying to work on an Ace Combat RP, and then someone goes and puts their own up. Awesome right? Wrong. Set in a time period I have little to no interest in. So now I can't put up my own or else people will accuse me of ripping it off and wonder why I don't just join that one. Really can't win here can I?

Yeah, that's annoying.
I mean, there's another RP that's already up that's a bit similar to mine (in that it's set in the 23rd century and involves conflict between humanity+some other species and an alien race), but it's a bit less obvious. Still mildly annoying, but it hopefully won't harm my chances too much.

[Dayganistan]

Looking through my saved drafts, I do currently at the moment have two RPs with completed OPs that could be posted but I'm hesitant on both.

Option one is an RP based on the Rainbow Six series. Kind of want to hold off on that since these types of RP have failed miserably in the past. But there's a mostly different group of RPers around these days compared to when someone last tried to force this type of RP to work so there might be a bigger possibility of making it work.

Option two is a police procedural RP, based on a special investigative unit of the RCMP in Vancouver. I worry about this one as well due to the amount of controversy surrounding law enforcement in North America these days, and people may not be so up to RP a cop in a contemporary setting as a result.

[United Hemand Insia]

I want to make/join a government RP where we make up how the government runs as the RP progresses. Is there any active RPs like that?

[Romextly]

I want to make/join a government RP where we make up how the government runs as the RP progresses. Is there any active RPs like that?

The congress one

[United Hemand Insia]

I want to make/join a government RP where we make up how the government runs as the RP progresses. Is there any active RPs like that?

The congress one

I'm already in that one.

[Gallum]

Hey folks, so I have an idea for a new RP. This is a new country, my old country is Ghondra but I decided to start anew. So my idea is that of a mirror Cold War, one where the US is Communist and Russia is Capitalist with Europe also being capitalist but scared of both. What I got so far is in the spoiler below if anyone would like to see it. But I'm still unsure as to how the RP will be structured. I've tried making an RP where its basically a free for all and people can make multiple characters and each character can in their own way influence the plot but in my experience, those tend to be pretty chaotic and die out pretty quickly.

My idea right now is an RP that takes place in Chapter arcs. Each chapter revolves around a specific date and a specific location with players only allowed to use one character. Said character can be a spy, a reporter, a soldier, or anything to their heart's content as long as it can fit within the arc of a particular chapter. I haven't really thought of this for very long, the idea just came to me and I'd love to hear any thoughts on the subject.

Also a minor question: is it better when the OP of an RP participates or does not participate?

Clockwise from Top-left: Berliners protesting for relief from occupation authorities. American Communists fighting in the streets of Philadelphia. Indonesian nationalist Soekarno declares Indonesia's independence, to the left is a Japanese officer instructed by his superiors to monitor him. Riots protesting continued British occupation in Bombay, India. Russian soldiers celebrating victory in Berlin, 1946. Spanish Communists celebrating victory in Barcelona.

A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism.

In 1936, the United States of America, once thought the bulwark of Capitalism, second only to Great Britain, declared itself to be a nation reborn, a new union that sought to build a truly New World in the Americas, where working peoples of the world, regardless of their race, creed, or gender could live and labor amongst each other in peace and harmony. After the failure of 1917, when the nascent Russian Republic defeated the Bolsheviks and massacred them to a man, it was thought that the dream of a new world was lost and that the imperialist powers who feasted on the blood of the victims of the Great War had won. The defeat of Germany had come at great cost, not just to the Entente powers but to the United States as well, who had lost over a million men in the trenches after having joined the war in 1915. It was not in the coalfields of West Virginia or Pennsylvania, nor the roaring factories of New York and her sister cities, where the spark of Revolution was lit but in Flanders field and the Argonne Forests. When their servicemen came home, they brought with them stories of a great conflagration the likes of which their nation had never seen, and hopefully would never again. And they blamed the lives lost, either buried under mud and soil or lost to their own minds haunted by War, on the men who had sent them to a war they had no business fighting in. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The year is 1952. Russia and her allies are victorious in their fight against the murderous Nazi War Machine but stalemated in the Far East, where the Empire of Japan and her Co-Prosperity Sphere is ascendant, having signed a Peace with Honor with the European Empires that once ruled Asia. But rumors are stirring of a great rebellion in Japanese China. The nationalists had been driven back inland, a shell of its former self yes, but it was still alive thanks to Russian aid. But the Chinese bicker amongst each other and the People's Liberation Army of Mao Zedong's Communist Party look poised to rip away what the Japanese have conquered.

Elsewhere in Asia, the British are barely holding on to the Crown Jewel of their Empire. Churchill having refused to compromise with the Indian nationalists, the newly elected Labour government of Clement Attlee must now scramble to find a diplomatic solution, less the entire subcontinent tears the British, and then each other, apart. At the same time, the wrangling of a revolution against the new Japanese order is brewing throughout all of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan won the war, but with its military overstretched and its economy geared towards fighting a war that no longer exists, only time will tell if it can win the peace.

In West Africa, the children of slaves brought over to the New World returns in a trickle, bearing the word of Liberation, while in the East and the South, stirrings of rebellion against the hated Europeans threaten to spill over into a conflict said Europeans could ill afford, even as calls to let the colonies go in the homelands are silenced. While in the Arab world, the same stirrings of revolution can be heard echoing through the streets of Casablanca, Tunisia, Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, and a hundred cities more, even as their petroleum reserves now are yielding the profits needed by the colonial powers to sustain their occupation. Meanwhile in London and Paris, talks of a Union of Europe, as a counterweight between the oriental hordes of the East and the Communists across the Atlantic. It is talked in the same tone one would say about salvation. Even if the Russians and themselves had a common enemy across the pond, they say in the press that it is only a matter of time before Russia grows unsatisfied with her conquests and seek to control the destiny of all Europe.

The Union of American Socialist Republics is emerging from decades of rebuilding and reconstruction. The Second American Civil War had lasted three years but borne from that conflict was a new Superpower, industrious and prosperous, who had lit the torch of revolution south of the Rio Grande. The Western Hemisphere is one where the Hammer and Sickle proudly fly in every flag save one: Canada. The Bastion of the British Empire in North America and the frontline of a new kind of war. A War fought not by planes and guns and tanks and ships, but one fought by minds, and rockets, and atom bombs.

The Year is 1952, and the future has never looked so uncertain.

---

Placeholder

[G-Tech Corporation]

Hey folks, so I have an idea for a new RP. This is a new country, my old country is Ghondra but I decided to start anew. So my idea is that of a mirror Cold War, one where the US is Communist and Russia is Capitalist with Europe also being capitalist but scared of both. What I got so far is in the spoiler below if anyone would like to see it. But I'm still unsure as to how the RP will be structured. I've tried making an RP where its basically a free for all and people can make multiple characters and each character can in their own way influence the plot but in my experience, those tend to be pretty chaotic and die out pretty quickly.

My idea right now is an RP that takes place in Chapter arcs. Each chapter revolves around a specific date and a specific location with players only allowed to use one character. Said character can be a spy, a reporter, a soldier, or anything to their heart's content as long as it can fit within the arc of a particular chapter. I haven't really thought of this for very long, the idea just came to me and I'd love to hear any thoughts on the subject.

Also a minor question: is it better when the OP of an RP participates or does not participate?

(Image)Clockwise from Top-left: Berliners protesting for relief from occupation authorities. American Communists fighting in the streets of Philadelphia. Indonesian nationalist Soekarno declares Indonesia's independence, to the left is a Japanese officer instructed by his superiors to monitor him. Riots protesting continued British occupation in Bombay, India. Russian soldiers celebrating victory in Berlin, 1946. Spanish Communists celebrating victory in Barcelona.

A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism.

In 1936, the United States of America, once thought the bulwark of Capitalism, second only to Great Britain, declared itself to be a nation reborn, a new union that sought to build a truly New World in the Americas, where working peoples of the world, regardless of their race, creed, or gender could live and labor amongst each other in peace and harmony. After the failure of 1917, when the nascent Russian Republic defeated the Bolsheviks and massacred them to a man, it was thought that the dream of a new world was lost and that the imperialist powers who feasted on the blood of the victims of the Great War had won. The defeat of Germany had come at great cost, not just to the Entente powers but to the United States as well, who had lost over a million men in the trenches after having joined the war in 1915. It was not in the coalfields of West Virginia or Pennsylvania, nor the roaring factories of New York and her sister cities, where the spark of Revolution was lit but in Flanders field and the Argonne Forests. When their servicemen came home, they brought with them stories of a great conflagration the likes of which their nation had never seen, and hopefully would never again. And they blamed the lives lost, either buried under mud and soil or lost to their own minds haunted by War, on the men who had sent them to a war they had no business fighting in. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The year is 1952. Russia and her allies are victorious in their fight against the murderous Nazi War Machine but stalemated in the Far East, where the Empire of Japan and her Co-Prosperity Sphere is ascendant, having signed a Peace with Honor with the European Empires that once ruled Asia. But rumors are stirring of a great rebellion in Japanese China. The nationalists had been driven back inland, a shell of its former self yes, but it was still alive thanks to Russian aid. But the Chinese bicker amongst each other and the People's Liberation Army of Mao Zedong's Communist Party look poised to rip away what the Japanese have conquered.

Elsewhere in Asia, the British are barely holding on to the Crown Jewel of their Empire. Churchill having refused to compromise with the Indian nationalists, the newly elected Labour government of Clement Attlee must now scramble to find a diplomatic solution, less the entire subcontinent tears the British, and then each other, apart. At the same time, the wrangling of a revolution against the new Japanese order is brewing throughout all of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan won the war, but with its military overstretched and its economy geared towards fighting a war that no longer exists, only time will tell if it can win the peace.

In West Africa, the children of slaves brought over to the New World returns in a trickle, bearing the word of Liberation, while in the East and the South, stirrings of rebellion against the hated Europeans threaten to spill over into a conflict said Europeans could ill afford, even as calls to let the colonies go in the homelands are silenced. While in the Arab world, the same stirrings of revolution can be heard echoing through the streets of Casablanca, Tunisia, Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, and a hundred cities more, even as their petroleum reserves now are yielding the profits needed by the colonial powers to sustain their occupation. Meanwhile in London and Paris, talks of a Union of Europe, as a counterweight between the oriental hordes of the East and the Communists across the Atlantic. It is talked in the same tone one would say about salvation. Even if the Russians and themselves had a common enemy across the pond, they say in the press that it is only a matter of time before Russia grows unsatisfied with her conquests and seek to control the destiny of all Europe.

The Union of American Socialist Republics is emerging from decades of rebuilding and reconstruction. The Second American Civil War had lasted three years but borne from that conflict was a new Superpower, industrious and prosperous, who had lit the torch of revolution south of the Rio Grande. The Western Hemisphere is one where the Hammer and Sickle proudly fly in every flag save one: Canada. The Bastion of the British Empire in North America and the frontline of a new kind of war. A War fought not by planes and guns and tanks and ships, but one fought by minds, and rockets, and atom bombs.

The Year is 1952, and the future has never looked so uncertain.

---

Placeholder

Interesting thunks. I would certainly say RPs with OP interaction, or at least heavy NPC presence, flourish the best.

[Gallum]

Hey folks, so I have an idea for a new RP. This is a new country, my old country is Ghondra but I decided to start anew. So my idea is that of a mirror Cold War, one where the US is Communist and Russia is Capitalist with Europe also being capitalist but scared of both. What I got so far is in the spoiler below if anyone would like to see it. But I'm still unsure as to how the RP will be structured. I've tried making an RP where its basically a free for all and people can make multiple characters and each character can in their own way influence the plot but in my experience, those tend to be pretty chaotic and die out pretty quickly.

My idea right now is an RP that takes place in Chapter arcs. Each chapter revolves around a specific date and a specific location with players only allowed to use one character. Said character can be a spy, a reporter, a soldier, or anything to their heart's content as long as it can fit within the arc of a particular chapter. I haven't really thought of this for very long, the idea just came to me and I'd love to hear any thoughts on the subject.

Also a minor question: is it better when the OP of an RP participates or does not participate?

(Image)Clockwise from Top-left: Berliners protesting for relief from occupation authorities. American Communists fighting in the streets of Philadelphia. Indonesian nationalist Soekarno declares Indonesia's independence, to the left is a Japanese officer instructed by his superiors to monitor him. Riots protesting continued British occupation in Bombay, India. Russian soldiers celebrating victory in Berlin, 1946. Spanish Communists celebrating victory in Barcelona.

A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism.

In 1936, the United States of America, once thought the bulwark of Capitalism, second only to Great Britain, declared itself to be a nation reborn, a new union that sought to build a truly New World in the Americas, where working peoples of the world, regardless of their race, creed, or gender could live and labor amongst each other in peace and harmony. After the failure of 1917, when the nascent Russian Republic defeated the Bolsheviks and massacred them to a man, it was thought that the dream of a new world was lost and that the imperialist powers who feasted on the blood of the victims of the Great War had won. The defeat of Germany had come at great cost, not just to the Entente powers but to the United States as well, who had lost over a million men in the trenches after having joined the war in 1915. It was not in the coalfields of West Virginia or Pennsylvania, nor the roaring factories of New York and her sister cities, where the spark of Revolution was lit but in Flanders field and the Argonne Forests. When their servicemen came home, they brought with them stories of a great conflagration the likes of which their nation had never seen, and hopefully would never again. And they blamed the lives lost, either buried under mud and soil or lost to their own minds haunted by War, on the men who had sent them to a war they had no business fighting in. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The year is 1952. Russia and her allies are victorious in their fight against the murderous Nazi War Machine but stalemated in the Far East, where the Empire of Japan and her Co-Prosperity Sphere is ascendant, having signed a Peace with Honor with the European Empires that once ruled Asia. But rumors are stirring of a great rebellion in Japanese China. The nationalists had been driven back inland, a shell of its former self yes, but it was still alive thanks to Russian aid. But the Chinese bicker amongst each other and the People's Liberation Army of Mao Zedong's Communist Party look poised to rip away what the Japanese have conquered.

Elsewhere in Asia, the British are barely holding on to the Crown Jewel of their Empire. Churchill having refused to compromise with the Indian nationalists, the newly elected Labour government of Clement Attlee must now scramble to find a diplomatic solution, less the entire subcontinent tears the British, and then each other, apart. At the same time, the wrangling of a revolution against the new Japanese order is brewing throughout all of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan won the war, but with its military overstretched and its economy geared towards fighting a war that no longer exists, only time will tell if it can win the peace.

In West Africa, the children of slaves brought over to the New World returns in a trickle, bearing the word of Liberation, while in the East and the South, stirrings of rebellion against the hated Europeans threaten to spill over into a conflict said Europeans could ill afford, even as calls to let the colonies go in the homelands are silenced. While in the Arab world, the same stirrings of revolution can be heard echoing through the streets of Casablanca, Tunisia, Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, and a hundred cities more, even as their petroleum reserves now are yielding the profits needed by the colonial powers to sustain their occupation. Meanwhile in London and Paris, talks of a Union of Europe, as a counterweight between the oriental hordes of the East and the Communists across the Atlantic. It is talked in the same tone one would say about salvation. Even if the Russians and themselves had a common enemy across the pond, they say in the press that it is only a matter of time before Russia grows unsatisfied with her conquests and seek to control the destiny of all Europe.

The Union of American Socialist Republics is emerging from decades of rebuilding and reconstruction. The Second American Civil War had lasted three years but borne from that conflict was a new Superpower, industrious and prosperous, who had lit the torch of revolution south of the Rio Grande. The Western Hemisphere is one where the Hammer and Sickle proudly fly in every flag save one: Canada. The Bastion of the British Empire in North America and the frontline of a new kind of war. A War fought not by planes and guns and tanks and ships, but one fought by minds, and rockets, and atom bombs.

The Year is 1952, and the future has never looked so uncertain.

---

Placeholder

Interesting thunks. I would certainly say RPs with OP interaction, or at least heavy NPC presence, flourish the best.

Hmmm, thats interesting. What about the mechanism that I talked about. Thoughts on that?

[Northern Socialist Council Republics]

I’m insanely busy at the moment and will likely remain so for another week or thereabouts, but not having the time to play video games means that the more entertainment-oriented side of my mind is whirring away on a different front.

As some of you may already know from my telegrams (from my other account), I’ve been working on a strategic alien invasion RP (although I dropped the squad-focused nature of my initial ruleset), and I recently came across one of my old projects - a board game style map of the world - and I’ve also been inspired by some megagames of the same concept. Now it’s looking quite viable.

A mechanics-based RP where you play as a superpower trying to both cooperate with other superpowers to fend off an alien invasion, but also compete against them to ensure you come out on top of the post-war order. If I manage to finish writing the rules, would anybody be interested in that?

I’m looking at a minimum of 6 players, hopefully, and if I have more than that I’ll let people play minor powers or let people bundle up in teams.

[Nejii]

Sins of a Solar Empire anyone?

[New yugoslavaia]

So, is it a good idea to roll out my RP soon or not?

[Nejii]

So, is it a good idea to roll out my RP soon or not?

Personally I’m not posting any RP’s until after New Years. Mid December to early January is a bad time to roll out a fresh RP because of holiday festivities. It’s your RP of course, but don’t expect a huge turnout within a few days.

[New yugoslavaia]

So, is it a good idea to roll out my RP soon or not?

Personally I’m not posting any RP’s until after New Years. Mid December to early January is a bad time to roll out a fresh RP because of holiday festivities. It’s your RP of course, but don’t expect a huge turnout within a few days.

Fair point. I'll keep that in mind.

[Dayganistan]

So, is it a good idea to roll out my RP soon or not?

Personally I’m not posting any RP’s until after New Years. Mid December to early January is a bad time to roll out a fresh RP because of holiday festivities. It’s your RP of course, but don’t expect a huge turnout within a few days.

I can't imagine a lot of people are going to be having big holiday celebrations this year though, if any at all. There might be more people looking for something to deal with the boredom as more and more places go back into lockdown.

[New yugoslavaia]

Personally I’m not posting any RP’s until after New Years. Mid December to early January is a bad time to roll out a fresh RP because of holiday festivities. It’s your RP of course, but don’t expect a huge turnout within a few days.

I can't imagine a lot of people are going to be having big holiday celebrations this year though, if any at all. There might be more people looking for something to deal with the boredom as more and more places go back into lockdown.

Another fair point.
Does anyone want to see what I've got so far for the OOC main post? It's on a Google doc.