RPing Questions? Ask Here!

[Sunset]

Hiya! Thinking of joining the forum roleplay side of NS (RPing as New Provenance, that is), and I'm wondering whether its fine if my NS account info (such as the capital, leader, etc.) are different from those currently listed on my nation's page (since the info there relates to another roleplay I'm part of)

Sure! You might consider doing a 'this is my nation for the purposes of NS RP' factbook and/or/as well as a 'this is my nation for the purposes of this other RP' or a 'I also like to do this other RP elsewhere' dispatch. Something to help others keep things straight, perhaps?

[Shwe Tu Colony]

Hiya! Thinking of joining the forum roleplay side of NS (RPing as New Provenance, that is), and I'm wondering whether its fine if my NS account info (such as the capital, leader, etc.) are different from those currently listed on my nation's page (since the info there relates to another roleplay I'm part of)

That's not a problem, it's just a matter of communicating this with people. I run multiple nations folded in this (misnamed) account, for example, and I do try to be clear with who I'm acting as in my threads; I have otherwise encountered no issues.

[New Provenance]

Hiya! Thinking of joining the forum roleplay side of NS (RPing as New Provenance, that is), and I'm wondering whether its fine if my NS account info (such as the capital, leader, etc.) are different from those currently listed on my nation's page (since the info there relates to another roleplay I'm part of)

That's not a problem, it's just a matter of communicating this with people. I run multiple nations folded in this (misnamed) account, for example, and I do try to be clear with who I'm acting as in my threads; I have otherwise encountered no issues.

Oh alright, alright, thanks to both of you, the quick responses is greatly appreicated!

[Nrygata]

Wow. This is deep

[Geidi Centauri Prime]

I got this useless and most annoying international issue

Issue Series

“An International Incident”

No chance to develop your nation stats, no chance for cards, just a waste.

Why?!

So I can delete my nation for this has all become pointless.

Other get useless issues to develop and grow, and I'm doomed with this crap?

The last issue didn't even let me a choice...I could just dismissed it.

[Neu Engollon]

I got this useless and most annoying international issue

Issue Series

“An International Incident”

No chance to develop your nation stats, no chance for cards, just a waste.

Why?!

So I can delete my nation for this has all become pointless.

Other get useless issues to develop and grow, and I'm doomed with this crap?

The last issue didn't even let me a choice...I could just dismissed it.

I'm gonna bite, even though I suspect this is a set up due to your almost 17 year old founding date.

So, this isn't a roleplaying question. This matter would go to the Got Issues? forum.

Also, you would delete your nation over this? How you answer issues has nothing to do with how you wish to RP or world-build your nation. Most players expanding on their IC canon of their nation on NS don't really pay attention to issues or how any gameplay affects their nation, and you shouldn't get too concerned about it, either.

Again though, you don't actually seem concerned about RP at all, but rather GP aspects of this site. Head over to the previous linked forum and hopefully you'll get the answers you seek.

[Ortopus]

Alternative Earth is still, in this case, Alternative History, since it uses RL Earth and RL Nations, only with diverging historical events. Alternative History threads belong in F7, i'm afraid.

What is F7?

[AwesomeGaming29]

Hi there! I was just wondering where I could learn to start roleplaying as I don't feel particularly good and feel incredibly overwhelmed by how in-depth and extensive the RP is here. Where would be a good place to start for baby's first RP session on NationStates?

[Deutschen Kaiserreichs]

Alternative Earth is still, in this case, Alternative History, since it uses RL Earth and RL Nations, only with diverging historical events. Alternative History threads belong in F7, i'm afraid.

What is F7?

F7, or, Forum 7 is a little subforum here where you play small games (and not for AltHist). But on NationStates, you are generally free to do whatever you like RP-wise. You can literally make up your own world if you want, and roleplay it here. The choice is yours.

[Sunset]

Hi there! I was just wondering where I could learn to start roleplaying as I don't feel particularly good and feel incredibly overwhelmed by how in-depth and extensive the RP is here. Where would be a good place to start for baby's first RP session on NationStates?

You could post something just like this over in the RP Think Tank - or create a new thread and then link it along with your concept - 'Baby's First RP Session' - over in the same! I would suspect with a thread titled 'Baby's First RP Session' you'd get at least a few looks. Lay out what you're interested in doing - 'I would like to RP my leader's new baby daughter having a play-date with your leader's baby' - and then do some back-and-forth with whoever bites. Though unless there is actual biting involved such an RP would probably be better suited for the NationStates sub-forum rather than International Incidents. Biting another baby is definitely casus belli.

Or at least cause for crying.

List your expectations and your own level of commitment; 'Slow paced, smaller posts and replies are okay, no kids over the age of two,' etc. You will get more and better participants if you reply and interact in a timely manner though, so keep that in mind. Unless you already have an extensive canon - your nation and character's backstory, flavor, culture, and the like - you might also mention that you'll essentially be making things up as you go along. That's fine, of course - it just helps set expectations. Then... Just watch and see what happens. Sometimes a post will stay on the front page for a while, sometimes they'll fall off quickly and you won't get any interest. If it happens it happens - try again and see if you can tweak things a bit. You might also ask some of your region-mates if they are interested, or even directly ask another specific player. Again, timely replies help a lot - even if they're short!

[Countesia]

I recently updated my map (signed up on a map thread) but my neighbour CTE'd

I wish to update my history so my country was at one point a vassal state to said neighbour

How long should i wait for this nation to stay CTE before i rework my history to include them as my former overlords? What would you consider to be "fair game"?

[Sunset]

I recently updated my map (signed up on a map thread) but my neighbour CTE'd

I wish to update my history so my country was at one point a vassal state to said neighbour

How long should i wait for this nation to stay CTE before i rework my history to include them as my former overlords? What would you consider to be "fair game"?

That is a very tough question that highly depends on the circumstances. As a technical matter, 'their work' is theirs - but they also seem to have abandoned it. Of course there are players who come and go and go and come with sometimes years between such appearances. And then, of course, there's also the terms of said map sign-up. Are there any rules regarding nations that cease to exist there? Now, there are wiggle-ways around the problem...

You could note that your country was for some time the vassal of a neighboring country and simply leave the 'who' unanswered. You could - because that nation has CTE'd and maybe-maybe-not will not be returning state that it was Nation X, which you are then implying was a precursor to that nation. Nations do change their name after all.

Myself, I like to avoid putting any strong claim of relations between my own and a CTE unless there is a reasonably strong-slash-understood relationship between us out-of-character. Even then I'm pretty careful to give them and their nation a pretty good rep - though sometimes their rep was that they have a bad reputation, at least in-character.

So, check the rules of the thread, check your relationship with that nation, check your options.

[Ukrainian Nationality]

How RP without be in groups?

[Sunset]

How RP without be in groups?

You don't need to be either in a particular region or a specific group in order to RP. What you will need to do is find or start a roleplay thread that interests you. In order to be of further assistance, could you please clarify and expand your question further?

[Ukrainian Nationality]

How RP without be in groups?

You don't need to be either in a particular region or a specific group in order to RP. What you will need to do is find or start a roleplay thread that interests you. In order to be of further assistance, could you please clarify and expand your question further?

I need something for rp?

[The Refuge of the Righteous]

How do i find a region that is RP heavy and have different time eras? Is there a thread i can go to?

[The Macabees]

How do i find a region that is RP heavy and have different time eras? Is there a thread i can go to?

I'm not sure there is a thread, but many regions have traditions of including their regional name or initials in thread titles. So you can peruse II, take note of the regions advertised in the titles and look for the one that meets your criteria: active, with multiple time eras.

[Leningrad Republic]

можно ли как то создать союз? и если можно то как

[South Americanastan]

можно ли как то создать союз? и если можно то как

Пожалуйста, используйте английский язык, если это возможно.

[Neu Engollon]

How do i find a region that is RP heavy and have different time eras? Is there a thread i can go to?

There is the Find-A-Region mega thread, actually. It's not in the RP forums, so it's not quite obvious as to where to find it.

[Halakriya]

This is really three/four? questions. I was active here mostly in 2004-2011, with a brief visit in 2016, so that's the background for this.

1. How are offsite communications for planning roleplays, etc, handled nowadays? Do people use IRC, Discord, or some other service?
2. In the time I was active, roleplay activity was somewhat centralised: "quality writers" were part of certain communities, new members often aspired to join these communities, and the overall level of activity was high. Is there a comparable current situation centered around new communities/regions, or has activity largely become parcelled off into separate communities that rarely if ever interact?
3. Has community consensus settled on any major changes to how roleplay is conducted since ca 2011? At the time it was largely freeform writing, based on the mutual consent of all participants, sometimes obtained beforehand in an IRC channel (especially for war and military RP) and with joint posts often being workshopped in Google Docs.

Relatedly: how do longterm participants here feel about the "state of the forums" at the present moment? Arbitrarily defining a longterm participant as someone who remembers Jolt. I note that the Mentors are now not a thing, almost all of the old II/NS mods are gone (although I recognise some of the "new" ones), and the forums appear less active than I remember, although comparable to... 2010-ish. Non-NS RPs were evidently reintroduced at some point but also don't appear to be exceptionally active. A quick review of most of the regions I associated with NS/II indicates that many still exist but are largely inactive, with few remaining members, although I recognise more names than I expected to (a surprising number of people have stayed on here, apparently continuously, for close to two decades).

Apologies for length and specificity.

[Neu Engollon]

This is really three/four? questions. I was active here mostly in 2004-2011, with a brief visit in 2016, so that's the background for this.

1. How are offsite communications for planning roleplays, etc, handled nowadays? Do people use IRC, Discord, or some other service?
2. In the time I was active, roleplay activity was somewhat centralised: "quality writers" were part of certain communities, new members often aspired to join these communities, and the overall level of activity was high. Is there a comparable current situation centered around new communities/regions, or has activity largely become parcelled off into separate communities that rarely if ever interact?
3. Has community consensus settled on any major changes to how roleplay is conducted since ca 2011? At the time it was largely freeform writing, based on the mutual consent of all participants, sometimes obtained beforehand in an IRC channel (especially for war and military RP) and with joint posts often being workshopped in Google Docs.

Relatedly: how do longterm participants here feel about the "state of the forums" at the present moment? Arbitrarily defining a longterm participant as someone who remembers Jolt. I note that the Mentors are now not a thing, almost all of the old II/NS mods are gone (although I recognise some of the "new" ones), and the forums appear less active than I remember, although comparable to... 2010-ish. Non-NS RPs were evidently reintroduced at some point but also don't appear to be exceptionally active. A quick review of most of the regions I associated with NS/II indicates that many still exist but are largely inactive, with few remaining members, although I recognise more names than I expected to (a surprising number of people have stayed on here, apparently continuously, for close to two decades).

Apologies for length and specificity.

1. Overwhelmingly Discord these days. Some regions have other free or subscription off site hosted forums, but most use Discord these days.
2. There are still RP regions that focus on 'quality' writing, but as it goes with maturity and age, a lot of the veteran players just aren't very active these days. So you have some semi-dormant regions that might see a RP once in a while, some media posts, some wiki and factbooking. There are some regions and RP groups with very active RPs, but as we know post count and quality can be on two opposite ends of the spectrum. I don't want to give the impression that I don't think there are new players to NS with potential, because there's plenty. It's tough to get them into regions where writing is the focus however, and RP regions are always competing with GP raiding and defending, cards, NS general forums, etc. for the attention of new players, as well as those regions who promise activity, but RP on a level that goes against every tenet of what is traditionally thought of as 'good' RP guidelines.
3. Personally, I use Google Docs a lot to put together joint posts with friends. I think the consent thing is just a given if you're doing RP right, you're going to make sure that everyone in the RP is collaborating, whether through Discord, TGs or an OOC/planning thread.

The mentorship program just didn't work out for various debatable reasons, some I elaborated on in Point #2. For better or worse, Discord is a major part of what takes up energy away from the forums, in my opinion. The pro is that for many segments of the N&I forums, there is a corresponding Discord server: GE&T, FT, NS Sports. Also plenty of RP groups that span multiple regions do their planning there. I'm personally part of a socialist RP group, and a PMC RP group, as well as having a presence in some of the other servers. The downside is that major activity on Discord doesn't correlate to boosted activity on the NS forums.

But yes, tl;dr version: I think you are right about your assessment of the current state of RP on NS.

[Halakriya]

1. Overwhelmingly Discord these days. Some regions have other free or subscription off site hosted forums, but most use Discord these days.
2. There are still RP regions that focus on 'quality' writing, but as it goes with maturity and age, a lot of the veteran players just aren't very active these days. So you have some semi-dormant regions that might see a RP once in a while, some media posts, some wiki and factbooking. There are some regions and RP groups with very active RPs, but as we know post count and quality can be on two opposite ends of the spectrum. I don't want to give the impression that I don't think there are new players to NS with potential, because there's plenty. It's tough to get them into regions where writing is the focus however, and RP regions are always competing with GP raiding and defending, cards, NS general forums, etc. for the attention of new players, as well as those regions who promise activity, but RP on a level that goes against every tenet of what is traditionally thought of as 'good' RP guidelines.
3. Personally, I use Google Docs a lot to put together joint posts with friends. I think the consent thing is just a given if you're doing RP right, you're going to make sure that everyone in the RP is collaborating, whether through Discord, TGs or an OOC/planning thread.

The mentorship program just didn't work out for various debatable reasons, some I elaborated on in Point #2. For better or worse, Discord is a major part of what takes up energy away from the forums, in my opinion. The pro is that for many segments of the N&I forums, there is a corresponding Discord server: GE&T, FT, NS Sports. Also plenty of RP groups that span multiple regions do their planning there. I'm personally part of a socialist RP group, and a PMC RP group, as well as having a presence in some of the other servers. The downside is that major activity on Discord doesn't correlate to boosted activity on the NS forums.

But yes, tl;dr version: I think you are right about your assessment of the current state of RP on NS.

Thanks, this is helpful. It does seem overall as though writing activity is at a low ebb, even if community activity may still be high (on the various Discord servers, presumably); but for people who do still write and RP, not much has changed, and someone familiar with the community conventions of the early 2010s would be able to resume activity without issues.

I assume, with Discord supplanting IRC, that it's treated largely in the same way by players? i.e., there being a handful of publicly listed Discord servers that may appear in stickies/guides/dispatches (OK, we didn't have dispatches back in the day), but the vast majority being small, invite-only, region- or community-specific, and unadvertised except through word of mouth?

(I plan to give things a few days to see if the urge to write again sticks with me while I try to recall all the passwords of various old nations, and therefore don't plan to join any servers or regions immediately, but still curious.)

[Big132Topia]

I know this might be in a post or thread, but I don't know where to start RPing. I don't really want to start off with a war, but I don't know what to do.

[Sunset]

I know this might be in a post or thread, but I don't know where to start RPing. I don't really want to start off with a war, but I don't know what to do.

It depends on what you want to RP (or start RPing) and with who. The two posts above yours lay out a lot of what's considered 'normal' in the RP community these days, so I might suggest starting with the first question - what do you want to RP? Diplomacy? Sports? War? Beach parties? All of the above? Once you know what you're interested in you can then - perhaps with some help - start narrowing down the question of 'who' you want to RP with. If you can, I would suggest joining a Discord server or two that centers around the type of RPing you want to do. A lot of RP regions will have them, usually listed on their region page. You can search for these regions using their region tags - so again, what type of RPing do you want to do?