RPing Questions? Ask Here!

[Sunset]

Absolutely - or even switch between them as the needs of the story change. For a lot of people though, their OP is going to fall into one of those three styles and it will set the tone and expectations for the other participants. If you want to go two or three then that's something of a signal that your expectations will be high (er)

Okay.

Sorry, hit the submit button too early. Reread the edited post.

[Ivelboria]

Okay.

Sorry, hit the submit button too early. Reread the edited post.

Alright, thanks!

[Oppermenia]

Hi, this is Oppermenia. Recently, I've created an International Incidents RP where it's a civil war in my nation.
At first, I thought I'd do this whole sign-up thread and everything, but then I thought it sounded too restrictive. Sounded like since I was pretty new to II RP, not a lot of people would sign up.
But now, I'm doing the roleplay, and basically no one's been participating. So, I've been active myself. Posting daily to keep the RP on the first page of the international incidents forum. But still, no one participates. I get more views, but no more participants.
So, how do I get more participants? Do I reach out in other forums, or maybe in other regions? Or, do I simply start over?
If you could help me out with this, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Havensky]

Hi there!

Can you link to the thread so I can take a look?

There's a couple of ways that I work on getting participation in my threads:

1) Join other people's RP when it's open
This lets me introduce characters and start setting up common canon with other nations. This way when I start a thread there's already an in-character explanation on why I'm getting into their situation. If you want a comic book movie example... Black Panther joined Civil War, so it made sense for Captain America to go to Wakanda later on. It also shows other players my skill as an RP'er

2) Join an active RP region
For the most part, a lot of really active RPs are grown out of RP regions. If you're in the same region it makes it easy to have an in-character hook as to why they're interested in your civil war. For example, Havensky is the northern neighbor of Jagada. If a civil war broke out there it would have implications for my own nation.

3) Recruit people before I post
I almost never post a new thread without at least recruiting a handful of people who I know are going to participate.
Usually, I'm in communication with The Kraven Corporation about possible plotlines and have the outlines all set up before I post. We kick things off and drag other people into our neverending conflict storyline.

[Oppermenia]

Hi there!

Can you link to the thread so I can take a look?

There's a couple of ways that I work on getting participation in my threads:

1) Join other people's RP when it's open
This lets me introduce characters and start setting up common canon with other nations. This way when I start a thread there's already an in-character explanation on why I'm getting into their situation. If you want a comic book movie example... Black Panther joined Civil War, so it made sense for Captain America to go to Wakanda later on. It also shows other players my skill as an RP'er

2) Join an active RP region
For the most part, a lot of really active RPs are grown out of RP regions. If you're in the same region it makes it easy to have an in-character hook as to why they're interested in your civil war. For example, Havensky is the northern neighbor of Jagada. If a civil war broke out there it would have implications for my own nation.

3) Recruit people before I post
I almost never post a new thread without at least recruiting a handful of people who I know are going to participate.
Usually, I'm in communication with The Kraven Corporation about possible plotlines and have the outlines all set up before I post. We kick things off and drag other people into our neverending conflict storyline.

Okay, thanks. And here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=445594

[Havensky]

So, it's hard to play a civil war because you're basically playing two nations. It's even more difficult when you're starting out as a newer nation without a well-established canon. It's totally possible, it's just more work.

Another thing working against your favor is that the way you're describing Oppermenia's actions seems a bit all over the place. It's also vague and makes it harder for people to find plot hooks. It's easier to pick one issue that you know will be a flashpoint and go from there. It's also useful to pick an issue that might impact a foreign government.

For example, if your government announced that it was outlawing Islam and was close to Havensky I would expect that I would need to act. We would need to condemn you, prepare to receive refugees, and would probably work to push our neighbors to implement economic sanctions.

Right now, gun control tells me nothing. Gun control could mean everything from not letting teenagers buy firearms or banning automatic weapons all the way to confiscating all firearms from the populace. Additionally, outside the US gun control is not as controversial as it is here. (See Australia, Japan for examples)

Forcing criminals on death row to fight to the death and televising it would be something that would certainly get attention, but needs more detail. Are these political prisoners? If the criminals win do they earn freedom? What happened to your nation that would cause your leadership to enact such a policy?

"Outlawing capitalism and installing socialism as a national policy was the last straw" also needs fleshing out. There are plenty of countries where capitalism exists, but their governments have socialist policies like universal healthcare. Unless you mean communism, in which case that's certainly something that might cause a civil war.

When you get to your third paragraph, I think what you're saying is that Oppermenia reversed some of its actions but it's not clear. It's hard to enter a thread when it's not obvious what's going on.

What you could do is create a storyline where a new populist leader gets elected and starts to move the nation to communism. In order to eliminate opposition, they arrest political foes and confiscate weapons. This new leader might rally his base (which I imagine might be the poor) by seizing the assets of the super-rich and use those funds to give cash payments to those who have nothing. This leader might pass marriage equality in order to look 'progressive' and 'a champion for human rights'. It wouldn't be the first time a political leader has used this route to take power. Tyrants tend to pit one group against another and it's fairly easy to surmise that in a country with a very large wealth gap that it might be ripe for this sort of tactic. For RL examples, I'd look at the Cuban Revolution.

[Oppermenia]

So, it's hard to play a civil war because you're basically playing two nations. It's even more difficult when you're starting out as a newer nation without a well-established canon. It's totally possible, it's just more work.

Another thing working against your favor is that the way you're describing Oppermenia's actions seems a bit all over the place. It's also vague and makes it harder for people to find plot hooks. It's easier to pick one issue that you know will be a flashpoint and go from there. It's also useful to pick an issue that might impact a foreign government.

For example, if your government announced that it was outlawing Islam and was close to Havensky I would expect that I would need to act. We would need to condemn you, prepare to receive refugees, and would probably work to push our neighbors to implement economic sanctions.

Right now, gun control tells me nothing. Gun control could mean everything from not letting teenagers buy firearms or banning automatic weapons all the way to confiscating all firearms from the populace. Additionally, outside the US gun control is not as controversial as it is here. (See Australia, Japan for examples)

Forcing criminals on death row to fight to the death and televising it would be something that would certainly get attention, but needs more detail. Are these political prisoners? If the criminals win do they earn freedom? What happened to your nation that would cause your leadership to enact such a policy?

"Outlawing capitalism and installing socialism as a national policy was the last straw" also needs fleshing out. There are plenty of countries where capitalism exists, but their governments have socialist policies like universal healthcare. Unless you mean communism, in which case that's certainly something that might cause a civil war.

When you get to your third paragraph, I think what you're saying is that Oppermenia reversed some of its actions but it's not clear. It's hard to enter a thread when it's not obvious what's going on.

What you could do is create a storyline where a new populist leader gets elected and starts to move the nation to communism. In order to eliminate opposition, they arrest political foes and confiscate weapons. This new leader might rally his base (which I imagine might be the poor) by seizing the assets of the super-rich and use those funds to give cash payments to those who have nothing. This leader might pass marriage equality in order to look 'progressive' and 'a champion for human rights'. It wouldn't be the first time a political leader has used this route to take power. Tyrants tend to pit one group against another and it's fairly easy to surmise that in a country with a very large wealth gap that it might be ripe for this sort of tactic. For RL examples, I'd look at the Cuban Revolution.

Thank you, you’ve been a help. The problem is now, I have gotten people posting on the thread, and have gotten really deep into the storyline, so to change it would be very abrupt. But yeah, you’ve been a help to me.

[Schutzenphalia and West Ruhntuhnkuhnland]

Is there a commonly recognised NS Pope, or does everyone just have their own within their specific RP worlds?

[Kylarnatia]

Is there a commonly recognised NS Pope, or does everyone just have their own within their specific RP worlds?

A long, long time ago I think NS Popes used to be a thing (on the old Jolt forums), but as far as I'm aware right now there is no such thing. I'm sure there are certain regions / groups that recognise one, but that will be just amongst them, and that's even if religion is particularly significant to their canon. So yeah, it's very much up to you and the others you're playing with whether you want to recognise a singular character to take on that role or not.

[Kyrusia]

Welcome back to Kylarnatia, who has recently re-joined the N&I RP Mentor team!

[Kylarnatia]

Welcome back to Kylarnatia, who has recently re-joined the N&I RP Mentor team!

[Lamoni]

Welcome back!

[Divine Great Viet]

Hi I'm very new here and don't know if this's the right place to ask this.

Are there any Sci-fi or Future Tech focus region around?

Beside I hear about mentors and mentoring, can I ask what is that system and how it work?

[The Macabees]

Hi I'm very new here and don't know if this's the right place to ask this.

Are there any Sci-fi or Future Tech focus region around?

Beside I hear about mentors and mentoring, can I ask what is that system and how it work?

Future tech regions: check out The Local Cluster.

Mentors: We're a group of players who are available to you as resources if you need help with any aspect of your roleplaying, worldbuilding, and other roleplaying activities on nationstates. You can find more about mentors, and who is a mentor and who specializes in what, here.

[Halend]

What are good RPs that a mostly stable democracy can run? It seems like civil war or bust in terms of GMing sometimes, and that's not something I'm interested in running at the moment.

[Erythrean Thebes]

What are good RPs that a mostly stable democracy can run? It seems like civil war or bust in terms of GMing sometimes, and that's not something I'm interested in running at the moment.

If you're willing to invent a puppet, you have a lot of options to set up diplomatic/military crises and great power conflicts. You can also do domestic politics RPs such as elections, scandals, and referenda.

[Sunset]

What are good RPs that a mostly stable democracy can run? It seems like civil war or bust in terms of GMing sometimes, and that's not something I'm interested in running at the moment.

You'll find that if you change the wording a bit from 'mostly stable democracy' to 'Mrs. Joan Cavenah, Archaeologist and Adventurer' you can open yourself up a lot. Character-on-character interactions mean that what might otherwise be 'mostly' small details can suddenly be a long-running thread in their own right. A bank robbery - with an international cast and crew and from either the robber's perspective or the international team created to hunt them down. Archaeological, from Tomb Raider to Indiana Jones. Espionage and counter-Espionage? Check.

Want to get a bit more out there? Aliens. International Conspiracies. International Art Thieves.

International Incidents doesn't mean it has to be your entire nation - it just has to involve more than one nation. So pull ideas from your favorite movies, TV shows, and web series.

And there's always zombies.

[Bears Armed]

What are good RPs that a mostly stable democracy can run? It seems like civil war or bust in terms of GMing sometimes, and that's not something I'm interested in running at the moment.

Take a look in the NS Sports forum. The next NS [Association Football] World Cup cycle and next NS Summer Olympics should both be starting fairly soon.

[Valentine Z]

Hello, everyone! Ahh, first time I ask something about a rather seriously-done RP.

So I currently have this nation called Nexitros Stratuss, and it was supposed to RP in this region known as The Coalition of Governments. It was the first region that I have ever set foot in NS, but all these current puppets have failed so far because I want to set it on Earth. Nexitros Stratuss will be the exception because I decided to make this nation for the RP alone.

With that, where should I start with the world-building? There are currently a lot of things that I have yet to do, such as following Lerodas' timezone and time system, as well as settigng up military sizes for it. The premise of Nexitros Stratuss is that after centuries of isolation, it has come out of the isolation closet and decided to expand further rather than one-hexagon worth of land area on the map.

The tech, AFAIK and read, seems to be FT, but there are still restricted tech here and there, so it's not all the way out there into science fiction. I decided to start off as a MT nation with no aviation, GPS... anything that flies was not developed until now, because lore is that they have been isolated because they are scared of the outside world (in essence, more of they are scared of other non-human species that poses a threat).

In short, I am kind of overwhelmed right now, because I am not certain on where to start. So many things to expand - Wiki entry, History, Military Size, Culture, etc... there's no limit on how much time I have to set-up, so it's on an open schedule.

Another thing to note is that CoG as a region do not participate with any other regions; the RP is restricted to the region's residents.

Thanks in advance! And sorry if it is a bit long.

[Kylarnatia]

-snip-

Hi there!

Worldbuilding is a long and complex process, but also incredibly fun, and really there are several different ways of going about it (because people think and prioritise different things in their own way), so I'm going to tell you how I would deal with it if I was in your position. My first priority would be finding myself a spot on the map, deciding whether I want to have neighbours / people close by or whether I want to start completely isolated and on open land (the latter might be the most appropriate in your case). Once I know where I'm based, I'd start talking to the other players involved - namely those closest to me - and start understanding their worlds and history. The reason I'd do that is because it'd help me figure out where my nation fits into all of it, and how that might influence my ideas of what I imagine the nation to be.

Then, when actually building the nation itself, the first thing I think about is the people: What are they like? Are they compassionate, kind and trusting? Or are they heartless, cruel and untrustworthy? Just as when you start the nation for the game, I like to use the three adjective rule to start coming up with how I want my nation to be (you can of course use more if you wish). That then tells me what sort of government it's going to be (general rule of thumb being that the more oppressive tend towards authoritarianism while the more liberal tend towards democracy: that doesn't necessarily have to be the case), and then what said government's priorities are (militarism or pacifism? cooperation with other states or antagonistic actions?) and what their opinions might be of other states in the region. Once you have your government and a clear chain of command, then you can figure out your military: it's size, composition...

Essentially, start with the most basic and simple things, and build your way up from there. Using real-world (either present day or historical) nations as examples to help give you some foundation is also a useful thing to do, and whatever that is depends upon your tastes and interests.

A point on tech levels: It's important to clarify with your region-mates what exactly the tech level is and what the rules are (if there are any). I'd also point out that, from a RL historical perspective, just because a nation goes into isolationism doesn't necessarily mean it has no interaction whatsoever with the outside world. The two top examples that come to my mind when I think of isolationists states are Japan pre-Meiji Restoration and the USA in the 1920s-30s. The former still allowed some traders (all be it limited numbers and limited goods) to trade at certain ports, while the latter was still actively engaged in trade and commerce and many people still emigrated to the US, it's just that politically it decided to stay out of world affairs. I point this out because it might help solve the gap between tech levels if everyone else is FT and you want to start as MT, which I generally wouldn't advise because realistically the shock and time to adapt would be quite some time, but it's your own creative choice (I'd personally recommend starting at PMT).

I hope this helps!

[Valentine Z]

Hi there!

Thanks for the wonderful reply and for helping me out! I have more or less decided on where I want to place my nation, with that being something in the temperature region, like the one Amazon forest is in. For the neighbors, given my nation's neutral stance so far, I guess it is still all right for now.

As for the tech itself, I also consulted the veterans of the RP in that region, and they gave me an advice that it would be better to start off in PMT (around WW2 tech) or MT, and even then, it might take me a while to on par with them should there be any wars or something.

I guess I will start thinking about the people themselves first. I had a rough idea of them being a little too overzealous with a religion, prosecuting anyone that goes against them... until now where the new leader would declare the old traditions and religion to be null and void - this would be the premise of the 600 word-long introduction that I will have to do in order to claim my map piece.

Thanks again for the help, and here's to hoping that I will not get stuck in the WIP limbo!

[Cosmopolitan borovan]

How do u do diplomacy or engage in relations

[Kylarnatia]

How do u do diplomacy or engage in relations

You can engage in diplomacy and building relations between two (or more) nations in four key ways. The majority of these are through In-Character (IC) interactions through roleplays, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the case. You could:

• Creating a meeting (or summit) between the participating nations where your leaders and/or ministers of foreign affairs engage in discussions relating to matters important to your nations (see for example Never the Twain Shall Meet, a summit roleplay I'm currently involved with). These are usually the most successful when you have a shared history with the nations participating, or at least an idea as to where it's going to lead (another roleplay, for instance).
• Starting an Open roleplay in NationStates or International Incidents, whereby you invite other nations to react to certain events going on in your nation or even directly take part or intervene. NationStates would be more suitable for dinner party diplomacy (such as a gala, wedding of your leader etc.), whereas International Incidents is more suited for high-level diplomacy and intrigue (summits, treatise & organisations, wars and terrorist attacks etc.)
• Opening an Embassy Exchange in Factbooks & National Information, where people can submit applications to open embassies in your nation, therefore creating an avenue for the two of you to engage both ICly and Out-of-Character (OOCly). You can find some tips on setting up an embassy thread here and information on what they're all about, and you can look at an example here (such a shameless plug, I know).
• Through worldbuilding (a writing term which refers to the creation of a "world" or setting within which the story will be taking place) with other nations OOCly. Since there are many, many layers to international diplomacy, you're not always going to want to roleplay every last detail.

Here you can find a guide which goes into a bit of detail about the various 'tools' of diplomacy and how to use them appropriately (communiques, embassies, meetings and even declarations of war). I hope this helps!

[Telros]

For those of a more MT/PMT bent, what is the best way to go about setting up your fleet layout? I've been looking at the Chinese to fit the MT nation im working on, and I cut down on the variations to help me deal with it. I have a destroyer, a frigate, a sub and a carrier. Do I need anything else, than the support ships of course? And whats the best way to work out the average numbers of each in a fleet/battle group? I like to know what im working with, even if not down to the spread sheet level. I know Wikipedia has the US having 1 Aircraft Carrier, 1 Guided Missile Cruiser (for Air Defense), 2 LAMPS (Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System) Capable Warships (focusing on Anti-Submarine and Surface Warfare), and 1–2 Anti Submarine Destroyers or Frigates for its groups, but at the numbers im dealing with, I dont think this scale is enough.

[Bears Armed]

For those of a more MT/PMT bent, what is the best way to go about setting up your fleet layout? I've been looking at the Chinese to fit the MT nation im working on, and I cut down on the variations to help me deal with it. I have a destroyer, a frigate, a sub and a carrier. Do I need anything else, than the support ships of course? And whats the best way to work out the average numbers of each in a fleet/battle group? I like to know what im working with, even if not down to the spread sheet level. I know Wikipedia has the US having 1 Aircraft Carrier, 1 Guided Missile Cruiser (for Air Defense), 2 LAMPS (Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System) Capable Warships (focusing on Anti-Submarine and Surface Warfare), and 1–2 Anti Submarine Destroyers or Frigates for its groups, but at the numbers im dealing with, I dont think this scale is enough.

What sorts of ships do the fleets that are likely to oppose your have? For what sorts of missions do you intend your fleet? What patterns of maritime trade are you involved in? Do you have colonies, protectorates, or other overseas responsibilities? Do you have allies?
At the very least, you might want specialised air-defense/anti-missile frigates or destroyers, as well as specialised anti-submarine ones (and perhaps a general-purpose class too), rather than just a single unspecialised class, to escort your other shipping.
Minelayers, minesweepers/minehunters, coastal patrol boats & & river patrol boats), various classes of ship for use in amphibious operations?