RPing Questions? Ask Here!

[Maltropia]

Excuse me but, how do you make a new thread that is only for certain players to see... as in, how do you make a secret In Character thread?

Unless it's in a hidden forum (which are only for site staff and volunteers like Moderators, Mentors, Issue Editors, etc.), anyone can view any thread. If the information is Secret In-Character and marked appropriately as such, you're relying on other roleplayers to act in good faith and not use the information in that thread. Partly because this is a community centred around writing, hiding those posts entirely would be weird and defeat the point.

If you want to keep something properly secret, like ironing out the details of a secret treaty, try conducting it over telegrams instead. Bear in mind that your fellow roleplayers may still have a right to know what's going on; don't get too worked up over the metagame and focus on enjoying the experience.

[Thaitum]

Excuse me but, how do you make a new thread that is only for certain players to see... as in, how do you make a secret In Character thread?

Unless it's in a hidden forum (which are only for site staff and volunteers like Moderators, Mentors, Issue Editors, etc.), anyone can view any thread. If the information is Secret In-Character and marked appropriately as such, you're relying on other roleplayers to act in good faith and not use the information in that thread. Partly because this is a community centred around writing, hiding those posts entirely would be weird and defeat the point.

If you want to keep something properly secret, like ironing out the details of a secret treaty, try conducting it over telegrams instead. Bear in mind that your fellow roleplayers may still have a right to know what's going on; don't get too worked up over the metagame and focus on enjoying the experience.

Thank you very much for the help.

[Sunset]

Unless it's in a hidden forum (which are only for site staff and volunteers like Moderators, Mentors, Issue Editors, etc.), anyone can view any thread. If the information is Secret In-Character and marked appropriately as such, you're relying on other roleplayers to act in good faith and not use the information in that thread. Partly because this is a community centred around writing, hiding those posts entirely would be weird and defeat the point.

If you want to keep something properly secret, like ironing out the details of a secret treaty, try conducting it over telegrams instead. Bear in mind that your fellow roleplayers may still have a right to know what's going on; don't get too worked up over the metagame and focus on enjoying the experience.

Thank you very much for the help.

Sometimes, if I want to include some secret information that is 'public' but 'private', I'll indulge in a little in-post cryptography of various kinds. The easiest? Make the text 'white' so whoever needs to verify that it was there can do so (highlight the area) and then say... put it at the bottom of a post where there's blank space anyway. Certainly there are people who invert their text, but not the majority.

Now there's a question as to -why- the information should be hidden. To me, it's a question of who it impacts. Hiding the combination to the air shield? Sure, absolutely. That affects you. Hiding your well-prepared and imminent invasion of your rival? If they are your rival, they'll be looking for it and should have at least a chance to discover and uncover it (something I feel a loooooot of RPs lack) and so posting the preparations in an in-character manner even though the discussions, troop movements, and the like are presented (again in-character) as 'public-secret' is good etiquette. And, of course, if you take the time to RP your careful and massive buildup... Your rival should similarly take the time to RP his intelligence efforts in the opposite direction. Again, good etiquette. Like for like.

Edit: There was something I saw about conspiracies and numbers involved and how long they stayed secret and it was essentially an inverse rule; The more people are involved, the faster it is revealed. The combination to the airshield is one person - Dick van Patten. He's the only one who needs to know that it's the same combination as my luggage. But for a conspiracy like say, D-Day, the number involved was huge. Thus the question wasn't 'are they going to invade?' but 'where and when' which were smaller conspiracies and thus (inverse rule) could be held for longer.

[The Federation of Kendor]

What is your tips on writing a post. I haven't do much in RP's because my details are still not as good as the other players, and I have writer's fatigue when writing. I also use an outdated iPad, the first version, to play NS, giving troubles with finding relevant informations. In addition, my grammar is still not as good, even though it's quiet improving, and I also have that annoying perfectionist tendency, as well ad laziness to use third party program, and impatience. How do I overcome all that problems to allow a good RP'ing?

[The Macabees]

What is your tips on writing a post. I haven't do much in RP's because my details are still not as good as the other players, and I have writer's fatigue when writing. I also use an outdated iPad, the first version, to play NS, giving troubles with finding relevant informations. In addition, my grammar is still not as good, even though it's quiet improving, and I also have that annoying perfectionist tendency, as well ad laziness to use third party program, and impatience. How do I overcome all that problems to allow a good RP'ing?

There's only one way to master something, and that's through training/practice. Few players have outstanding RPs when they first join the game. It's a skill that has to be developed, so the only advice there really is to give is to keep plugging away and to keep RPing. Every new post try to improve on something from the last, and sooner-or-later you'll find your general RPing skills have vastly improved.

Re: grammar, I highly, highly recommend using this plugin (I use it): https://www.grammarly.com/

[Rhodevus]

What is your tips on writing a post. I haven't do much in RP's because my details are still not as good as the other players, and I have writer's fatigue when writing. I also use an outdated iPad, the first version, to play NS, giving troubles with finding relevant informations. In addition, my grammar is still not as good, even though it's quiet improving, and I also have that annoying perfectionist tendency, as well ad laziness to use third party program, and impatience. How do I overcome all that problems to allow a good RP'ing?

The very first thing that should be worked on, is spelling and grammar. Many players are fine with shorter RP posts, but without proper spelling and grammar (not counting the odd typing mistake), good quality posts look like they are poor quality. As for not being as good as other players, Nationstates RPing is not a competition between players to write the best posts. It is a game where all players in an RP come together to tell a good story. Don't count yourself out because your posts aren't long enough, or detailed enough. Just start small and wokr your way up. Writing is like everything else in life; unless you practice, you can never get better.

[Aeyariss]

How do I overcome all that problems to allow a good RP'ing?

Write more; read more.

More edits (now with some context): And avoid writing about subject that you knew very little when RPing in a competitive mode instead of cooperative, easy going, collaborative RPing. You never knew when you're going to faced a more knowledgeable writers with more in-depth master of the concepts and subjects you're going to write about so it's best to research and self learn about it first.

[EsToVnIa]

Edit: And avoid writing about subject that you knew very little when RPing.

I do this all the time and seems to be fine

[Ghant]

Write more; read more.

Edit: And avoid writing about subject that you knew very little when RPing.

On the contrary, my advice would be to avoid subjects that are not of interest to you. Besides, the only way to get better about writing things you don't know much about (besides doing research about it) is to write more about it. Just remember to be a good sport, take criticism constructively and adhere to good form (avoid godmodding, metagaming and other things considered poor form) and you''ll be off to a good start.

[Ardoki]

How would one go about RPing a charitable foundation? Specifically one focused on international economic development and human rights.

[The Macabees]

How would one go about RPing a charitable foundation? Specifically one focused on international economic development and human rights.

Here's one way to do it.

[Ghant]

How would one go about RPing a charitable foundation? Specifically one focused on international economic development and human rights.

Also this, or anything by the author, Esperance International (who in my opinion is unsurpassed in his mastery of that particular realm of roleplay).

[Ardoki]

Could a non-governmental humanitarian organisation realistically become involved in peacekeeping operations?

I noticed that Esperance International offers that service. However, I doubt they would use weapons of mass destruction (I'm mainly talking about biological and chemical weapons here, not nuclear weapons) on civilian populations as part of their peacekeeping operations.

I intend for my non-governmental organisation to protect and advance human rights at any cost.

[Populi-Terrae]

What is the best way to set up a zombie apocalypse RP with our nations, not as world leaders, but as survivors trying to survive?

[The Armed Republic of Dutch Coolness]

What is the best way to set up a zombie apocalypse RP with our nations, not as world leaders, but as survivors trying to survive?

So this would be with the respective player's nations, right?

The main "problem" you might face is how you get all those nations involved, while also getting those individual survivors involved and get people interacting - 'downscaling' the playing field might be an idea. Have the RP set in a border region between a few nations, maybe? that way you can involve individuals from several nations, as well as several different nations, while also not having everybody be hundreds of miles apart from each other in the RP.

Just my 2 cents, of course. I like the idea, by the way - zombie apocalypse RP with NS nations, but focused on the regular good old survivors!

[Sunset]

What is the best way to set up a zombie apocalypse RP with our nations, not as world leaders, but as survivors trying to survive?

So this would be with the respective player's nations, right?

The main "problem" you might face is how you get all those nations involved, while also getting those individual survivors involved and get people interacting - 'downscaling' the playing field might be an idea. Have the RP set in a border region between a few nations, maybe? that way you can involve individuals from several nations, as well as several different nations, while also not having everybody be hundreds of miles apart from each other in the RP.

Just my 2 cents, of course. I like the idea, by the way - zombie apocalypse RP with NS nations, but focused on the regular good old survivors!

If I could add...

Have it set somewhere inhospitable and without a lot of access to the outside world, somewhere with little chance of rescue but still interesting for scientific and adventure reasons. Antarctica springs to mind immediately, as do the area of Asia and North America north of the Arctic Circle. This would certainly add a bit of a twist as well - survive not just the zombies but the environment itself. It would also help explain away various problems with traditional zombie fare; Why the various national militaries haven't just machine-gunned the zombie hordes en masse. Since this is NS, the location can be not-Antarctica. Perhaps a sheltered polar valley where there's not constant snow and the dead mysteriously rise because of reasons. If you want to give it a twist, it could be that there's a crashed alien space ship under the ice, a sacred burial ground, or abandoned government laboratory that was doing terrible experiments.

[Ursa]

Howdy do!

I wanted to see about creating a 'radio station' within my country that other folks could RP as commentators from their country as guests on the show or face scenarios and the like.

Any advice on where to get started, style or any other kind of helpful info?

Cheers.

[Sunset]

Howdy do!

I wanted to see about creating a 'radio station' within my country that other folks could RP as commentators from their country as guests on the show or face scenarios and the like.

Any advice on where to get started, style or any other kind of helpful info?

Cheers.

Sounds like a fun idea! I would take as my example one or more of the various news feed/twitter feed threats - most reside on the NationStates sub-forum with several right at the top, as it happens. What would be useful would be several 'characters' that posters could then use along with something of a character sheet for them; A tough-yet-fair female interviewer, a sarcastic jerkface with an ax to grind against the state... Somewhere from 3-5 is about right and the more extensive the biography the better. As for style, maybe take a listen to those icons of radio excellence - the various talk radio stations in the Grand Theft Auto series. Most of these are generally a back-and-forth interview with some humor factor, though you can suggest that respondents be more or less serious depending on how you want it. And, of course, depending on where they are calling into. In Sunset there are very, very, very few standards (not that it matters - most all radio is streaming, so if you heard it, you wanted to hear it) so you can get anything from 'obscenity' to careful political discourse. Your nation may vary - and that can add an interesting twist on what the callers and interviewers would discuss and how they would discuss it.

[The Federation of Kendor]

How do election and political parties, as well as few other things related to it, precisely works. I saw an election thread and some of the infos there were confusing to me. I know the ideology part, but not the rest

[Sunset]

How do election and political parties, as well as few other things related to it, precisely works. I saw an election thread and some of the infos there were confusing to me. I know the ideology part, but not the rest

In an RP thread they work however you want them to work. I've seen some where a poll of other players ends up determining the next leader, I've seen some that use a system something like the various NSSports leagues, and the vast majority just turn out like the player in charge wanted them to turn out with situations being created and manipulated to make that happen. Generally, if the election thread is posted on the RP boards, the hosting player is asking for other nations/players to meddle or put in their opinions - nations that might have some geographic connection, political ties, social connection to the host - but the host player will ultimately determine the outcome. Often this is done for the purposes of creating political/social/geographic tension with those other players, establishing the groundwork for future events.

[Spartan Hellas]

I want to do a RP with a "friend" of mine, but he doesn't use Factbooks. Can you do a RP using NSstats?

[Ghant]

I want to do a RP with a "friend" of mine, but he doesn't use Factbooks. Can you do a RP using NSstats?

Of course you can. In fact, that's how many roleplays have been done for years. Some still do that as well, primarily in PMT but not exclusive to that tech level.

[Van Sandt]

Hi i have questions regarding arms for my troops because they use

MACHINEGUNS

MG 42
MG 1
MG 3
PKM

ASAULT RIFLES

Rk 62 stamped with ar stocks and grip (main rifle )
AKM 47 and AKM 74 ar and grip for stocks
( conscription rifle )
AR plataform special forces in 300 BLK and 5.56 12,14, inches in barrel length

[The Macabees]

Sure, what's your question?

[Xedilian]

Question, how do you add things like images to your NS fact book?