Discuss In Defense of Thoughtfully Plotless RP's

[Guest Midnight Rush]

Before I start, please allow me to say that this isn't about the two lines of story RP's from the 'newer' members. The RP studied for my thoughts was : Swirling Miasma of Random Chaos!

I have found that RP's that are well designed, thought out, and clever RP's that don't have plots fail. And I wondered why? As I thought to myself, I figured I ought to know why they fail before proceeding, and this is what I thought of:

A. They expect maturity and creativety from their participants, as well as a sense of style

B. Thought is required.... its not simply SAVE THE EFFING PRINCESS! They first have to craft a scenario to fit into the grander scenario and then proceed with actual character-story advancements.

People don't like to do that. You figure, how many Find the Crystals RP's are there? Save the Princess? Save the World? Teenager Dramas? Assassin's in Fuedal Japan? Demons v. Angels? Etc... and yet each time there is even a slight variation on these themes, people say, "My God! We have an RP Genius!"

Why?

I don't know.

But what I do know is that for all hoopla that goes on, there should be a niche for thoughtfully plotless RP's.

I call upon all of you to help me find it!

[James]

[color=#707875]I agree with you. I mean, I agree in the sense that I think "plotless" RPGs can work.

However, I don't mean the totally lame attempt at a plot that isn't quite a plot...I mean, something that is deliberately light on plot but heavy on something else (a simple concept, a mechanic, a type of game...or something along those lines).

I started an RPG a while ago (well, I started the Adventure Inn thread), which was based on Mario Kart. The idea was that you'd choose a player and although there would be a light story going on between races, most of the RPG would take place [i]within [/i]the races. In those circumstances, you'd be using a lot more images and you'd have something a lot more dialogue heavy. Essentially, there was no real story whatsoever. No overall goal or anything along those lines.

However, the thread itself was still quite sizeable and well presented. It was admittedly a new type of RPG. I had received some good responses to it, but I decided to pull the plug before jumping into Adventure Arena with it. In truth, I liked the concept, but it wasn't going to work. What I was trying to do with it was ultimately a bit too obscure and wouldn't have worked out well. It's very tough to write about a race, especially if multiple people are writing about the same thing.

Also, if you look at Kill Adam...that RPG has kind of developed a story as it's gone along. But the original sign-up thread certainly didn't feature a complicated set up. And the Volume 2 thread has an even more simplistic opening.

The concept is insanely simple and you could easily suggest that there isn't much to it. However, complexities have developed as a result of the depth that individual members have put into their own posts. So in that sense, Kill Adam has evolved into something with greater scope and depth than I'd ever expected. I think that goes to show; a simple concept that is compelling and fun can easily produce a far more detailed plot as time goes by.

So it's not always necessary, or desirable, to have an enormous sign-up thread with a billion character classes and stuff. Oftentimes, simplicity is key.[/color]

[Drizzt Do'urden]

I Totally agree on what you said James, but touching on the whole concept on why good, well planned RP's fail. It probably has to do with, people are too fickle. One minute we all want to be serious, and put our hearts and souls into a post. And then the next minute we want to Screw around and be lighthearted. So a serious thread requesting that the posters be serious, and mature seem to serious and overbearing. I think it would go along way, for instead of people demanding everybody be mature, serious, and loyall. They should just lower their standards a little and open up to some comic relief.

Just like the story Cliche, they took what had the grounds for a serious RP, and turned it into a Humorous adventure. Being serious, but also opening up to be fun. Every poster has a side that wants ta be funny, they just need to be able to get it out.

Just addin my two cents.

[Arcadia]

[size=1]Drizzt, while I definitely agree that we all need to be able to goof off and enjoy an RPG that's lighthearted and funny, I don't think that people need to lower their standards because of it. If a creator asks for a certain quality of work, whether the RPG is serious or not, then you need to deliver that - it [i]is[/i] what you signed up for, after all. That's not to say that a serious RPG can't have its moments of hilarity. A lot of that has to do with the characters themselves and whether or not the person writing them wants to give them a sense of humor.

Of course, what and how you write a post definitely depends on what kind of RPG you're writing for. If it's a comedy, then your style might change a little to suit that genre - it might become a little lighter on the details, for example, with more dialogue than thoughts.

I'm just saying that comedies can be just as spectacular as the dramas when you make sure that quality is a focus (compare Kill Adam and Anime Stereotype High School to see what I mean ^_~).

Does that make sense? lol[/size]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]As happens with most things, the more meticulously you plan something, the more likely it is to fall apart. But then, if you have no direction then the thing's likely to get lost. I tend to have a clear vision of what ending I want to an RPG so that, in an emergency, I can write that up and pretty much finish it there and then (as I did with my Yu-Gi-Oh: Exodia's Legacy RP ages and ages ago).

I think if you try and create too much unneccessary detail that doesn't actually relate to the plot then people could get bored, unless it's really interesting stuff. But at the same time, I've not seen any RPGs recently that I've felt I've wanted to sign up for because nothing's really interested me. There has to be something original about it, otherwise it's the same of the same and doesn't leave you any scope to actually develop a new journey for a character.

I like giving people free reign with their characters as much as possible: I have quite particular tastes myself so I appreciate other RPGs which do the same for me, heh. And as much as possible I'll try and choose people I know to be dedicated enough to see an RPG through regardless of the complexity of the plot- even if one I've signed up for gets incredibly complicated I still try my best to keep on with it and I'll ask if there's something I don't understand. But if people decide not to ask, that's when you can get dropping out- they don't know where they are and just don't try to find out, which leaves everyone else in a state working out whether this particular character's there or not. But that's something else entirely >.>[/COLOR]