Infographic from October 2008 - October 2012

Created at http://www.easel.ly/

Letting Others Take Control Of The RPG

                 Transitions are never easy; that is true both in life and in cyber space.  Yet there comes a time in which life intercedes and the creator of a RPG may need to take time away from the story or give it up all together. Yet as I have already discussed, many people contribute to a RPG and keep it going, and as such it is not fair to have the problems of one person to destroy the work of many. As such in this post we will discuss how to make the transition from one leader to the next, and the possible problems that can crop up with any such transition.

                I have repeatedly talked about how having a open dialogue with the rest of the players can stop many problems in a RPG.  This is no different. At the first sign of possibly having to leave the creator should tell the rest of the group and begin to work on a possible transition. This includes selecting a successor who can lead the RPG, and preparing to pass off the story bible and any other notes that could help continue the story. When it becomes apparent that the creator has to leave, then events in the RPG should reflect it.  Events should be crafted that reflect with that character leaving unless the creator wishes to entrust their character to another player. Finally there should be ways to contact the creator to keep in touch and allowing him or her to know how their creation is doing. All of these things can create a smooth and easy transition in power that provides few hiccups while also benefiting the overall story.

                However there are times in which a transition in power does not happen so smoothly.  I am speaking of when a majority of players decide that they do not like the current path of the RPG or certain acts of the creator and wish to usurp him or her. These acts can destroy a RPG and divide players in a way that can destroy friendships and relationships. As such it is imperative for the creator of the RPG to not only save his creation, but possibly the friendships of his players by recognizing that a situation has gotten out of control and willingly step down. This is a hard decision, especially since it can feel as if he or she is being forced out of their creation by ungrateful players, yet one has to realize to save their creation it is best to step down than have it ripped apart by infighting.

                Leaving or giving up control is never easy, especially in a volatile situation in which tempers flare. Yet one must put aside their own selfish desire for power and weigh it against the loss of their creation, and the possible loss of friendships between players. At that point the answer, while not easy, should be clear.

Guest Blogger Post: Adam Thomas

Inspiration for some of the online Role Playing Stories that we see today may have stemmed from interest in other popular RPS entertainment, namely Dungeons and Dragons and the Choose Your Own Adventure books.



D&D is a fantasy role playing game that was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. It allows players to create custom characters for the game with their own special attributes and stats. The players influence what happens throughout the story of the game by making choices about what their characters do, with the results of those choices and the details of the consequences being decided by the Dungeon Master, another player. Dungeons and Dragons has soared in popularity since it's conception and has spawned a loyal and widespread fanbase ("Dungeons & Dragons", 2012).



The Choose Your Own Adventure books were published in the 80s by Bantam Books (Level, 2012). These stories don't give readers complete control over where they want to story to go, unlike most online role playing stories today. Instead, readers must choose between two or three options that they think will take them to the book's best conclusion. All the book's possible outcomes are written beforehand, so the reader has the option to restart the story and try different choices for a better ending if they don't like where they ended up the first time. The CYOA books have inspired many serializations of similar styled books, like R.L. Stine's Give Yourself Goosebumps books, a horror series in which readers make choices to try and stay alive or save their family and friends from monsters (no matter what choices they make, the story usually doesn't end well).

--This post was a guest post written by Adam Thomas

Dungeons & Dragons. (2012, November 30). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 7, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons

Level, R. (2012). History of CYOA. Choose Your Own Adventure. Retrieved December 7, 2012, from http://www.cyoa.com/pages/history-of-cyoa

How To End The RPG

       No story can last forever.  No matter how long the creator wishes to stay in the universe, eventually it must end. As such in this post we will discuss how to properly end a RPG, from setting up events to work toward a final goal, proper communication with others, and most importantly writing an abrupt ending if the other players bail out of the RPG.

       As I discussed months ago when going over creating a story bible, preplanning is crucial in having a continuing narrative that remains consistent all the way through. The ending should be seen as the culmination of all the work you have done in setting the story. Having hints or references that are planned in the story bible, and sprinkled throughout the RPG can all lead up to one momentous event. But to do this, it is best not to surprise all the other players, no matter how tempting it can be. Just as we spoke in the blog post on the story bible about how players can rebel if they feel things are too structured, the same can happen here where they have one view how the RPG will end, only to have things flipped on them. As such proper communication is key, including sharing the story bible, and taking in other's ideas as to how the story should end. By the end, the RPG is not one single person's story but a story created by many contributions.  Having the ending events crafted only by one player does a disservice to the story, and all those who have contributed to it

      However not every RPG will end in a complete and satisfying fashion.  Many will end simply due to loss of players, who are forced to bail out for any number of reasons ranging from a simple loss of interest to personal reasons. As such it is the sad duty of the creator to recognize that the story has come to a end, despite being nowhere close to being complete. Here it becomes important to write a final post that wraps up all loose ends that are currently in the story, while also providing a satisfying conclusion. One possible way to do this is by jumping the story forward, leaving only hints of how the current loose ends were tied up, while focusing on wrapping the larger story up. Another would be to have some massive event that takes place immediately in the story, that can serve to wrap up the current loose ends, while attempting to wrap up some of the larger plot elements. Either way this task is not a easy one for the RPG creator, but is one that is necessary to do justice to all the work that has been put into the story.

       At the end of the day, no creator wishes to abruptly end their story or produce a ending that leaves the other players unsatisfied. Yet being prepared and having proper communication with the other players can side step many problems, and finish the story in a way that leaves everyone satisfied.

Do You Believe In Godmodding?

       When it comes to godmodding, the term has a wide spectrum in what it can mean.  It can mean doing something as simple as writing dialogue for another character, all the way to writing out entire action sequences involving all the other characters. As such godmodding is something that tends to be looked down upon by the RPG community, especially when it involves abusing other player's characters. Yet by striking it out completely forum based RPGs can become slow and tedious. As such in this post we will discuss a proper medium that RPGs should take to keep the progression of the story from slowing, while at the same time preventing character abuse.

       We live in a world in which we type out conversations on our phones, sending a message to a friend, before waiting minutes if not hours for a response. Eventually after a day or two a full conversation can be had through these simple texts. Now imagine writing out a conversation between two characters in the same format, one writer sends off a line, and waits hours if not days for a response. That is the world some RPGs exist in that take a hard stance toward godmodding, the result can slow down the story completely. For some players, a slow story is worth it just so that no one else can write for their character, that is a respectable point of view as they believe that only they should give their character a voice. However such a view would be better suited for a chat based RPG instead of a forum based one.

       That does not mean that different players should have free will over other player's characters when it comes to conversations or simple actions. What one player may feel as the proper response to something, another may not. Many skilled players will side step this, rewriting the response in their own ways that reflect their character but keep the spirit of the conversation. Other's may feel slighted by this, and create tension as the players feel others no longer should write conversations for their characters. As such the creator may wish to suggest that the players send their post to the other player if it involves their characters either through instant message or a message board's own private message system. This will allow proper editing for conversations and ease any tension that might arise from a player's post.

       However if a player steps beyond the bounds of writing simple conversations and actions, and into a higher form of godmodding, in which they are writing full events or important plot points by themselves, it is up to the creator of the RPG to gently remind them at first not to do that, and if they keep it up, ask them to leave.

       Godmodding is a tricky subject, especially for writers going from chat based RPGs to forum based ones, or for writers who are particular as to what their character would say or act. However like many things in life, proper communication between players can resolve differences, and hopefully leave everyone happy.

The Five Hundred Word Count

      As the members of the RPG forum I visited grew older, the need to maintain artistic integrity in the RPGs began to grow. The solution came in the form of having the ability to institute a word count on all forum based RPG posts. Much as I discussed in the previous post with sexual situations, having a word count has its own advantages and disadvantages. In the following post we will explore each, to help you make a thoughtful decision when it comes to instituting such a word count.
   
      As we have discussed before, RPGs are about the group continuing one large story, each post building on the narrative in the player's own unique way. However posts that are only a few sentences do not add much if anything to the overall narrative, and only serve to restrict or hold the other players back as they are forced to pick up the slack. To prevent this from happening, a word count can be established at the opening of the RPG, telling players that their posts must reach the proximity of a certain word limit or they can find themselves booted out of the RPG. On its face such a thing seems to be the perfect tool to push players to be valuable contributors to the story, but that does not mean the word count is without fault.

       One of the largest problems to crop up when using the word count is that it disproportionately hurts younger and newer players. There are those that may find such a large word limit a daunting task in post after post, or may wish to leave a small foot print to start off with in hopes of gaining confidence in their writing as they go on. The RPG creator must always be on the watch for new players who join, and may wish to waive the rule for some players for a time and gradually introduce a word count on them as the story goes along. Another problem that will undoubtedly crop up and may make the RPG completely unplayable is if the RPG denies godmodding but has a word count on it.  Godmodding is a term given to RPG players in which the player writes dialogue and actions for another character in their post.  One example of this would be to write a full conversation between two characters into one post. Not allowing this, while having a word count will have writers struggling to fill each post with material, while only having a sentence or two of dialogue in each post. For more detail on godmodding I will go more in depth into it, in the next post.

       Many experienced writers may find themselves comfortable using a word count of five hundred words or more, and in a forum of experienced writers very few problems should emerge. However all RPG creators and writers should be aware of who is playing, and how to possibly adjust the rules to provide a fun and entertaining experience for all.

Sexual Situations in Role Playing Games

         Romance is something that is given in almost any RPG.  Characters will grow close and form friendships, an out of those friendships some characters will become even close. The problem lies in how far the players will take those relationships, and how much can or should be described when playing in a RPG. As such this post will discuss what is and is not appropriate for a RPG, knowing what age your audience is, and finally the ratings that a creator can give a RPG if he or she feels that adult situations may arise in it.

         Typing out romantic and sexual situations is nothing new.  The rise of sexting among adults and young adults in the past decade is just one example [1]. The problem here is that while sexting is merely private texts sent back and forth through cell phones or other devices, on message boards such posts are free for anyone to read. As such each player must be aware that anyone from a young child, to even a parent or sibling is free to look at what you wrote. Such things also can come back to haunt you later in life as say a potential employer gets hold of what you posted. Yet that does not mean that such situations cannot exist in a RPG all together. Instead, one of the best routes is to do much like what is seen on broadcast television:  skip past the graphic parts and move to say the characters waking up the next morning. Such a thing allows for the older readers to have a idea of what happened, without actually addressing it.

         RPGs, especially message board RPGs do not happen inside of a bubble, as addressed before almost anyone with time on their hands can peek in and see what you or the other players are writing about. As such when starting out writing a romantic post, you should expect for nearly the whole world to be a voyeur and look in. For some this does not matter to them, and as such additional steps should be taken to prevent children from unintentionally reading the material you write. The easiest way to combat this, be it on a message board or a chat room is to label the RPG "mature". Placing this in the title works as a opening warning, and tells people that adults subjects may be broached inside of the RPG. Further action can be taken in the opening post or sign up, telling the other players and the audience what is and is not acceptable in the RPG. Nudity, intense violence, harsh language, or sexual situations are all things that can be listed as acceptable or unacceptable inside of a mature RPG.

        There is no problem with engaging in adult situations inside RPGs; sometimes such situations can help grow and expand characters, just as much as they can arouse the audience. However any player wishing to do this must also be smart when doing this.  They must recognize that such things are open for the entire world to see, and that they must be responsible and mature if they wish to write out adult situations.

[1] Harper Michael (06/28/2012); Sexting Among Young Adults Has Become More Common: http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/1112665286/sexting-among-young-adults/