Roleplaying Forums Main Out-Of-Character Thread

[Buster]

I've been messing with the thread's name WAY longer than he has.

Re: Non HPU: Bacon Of Hop OOC
Re: Non HPU: Deacon Of Ropes WOO
Re: Non HPU: Beacon Of Nope OO7
Re: Non HPU: Bacon Of Harp OOPS
Re: Non HPU: Bagel Of Hoop OOC
Re: Non HPU: Beagle Of Hope, OOF!
Re: Non HPU: Bee-coin Of Hope OOC
Re: Non HPU: Bokoblin Ihop OOC
Re: Non HPU: Beacon Of Soap OOC
Re: Non HPU: Bocoblin Hoops OOC
Re: Non HPU: Bourbon Of *Hic* OOC

there might be more, i can't remember.

Bokoblin ihop is my personal favorite.

[furrygamer793]

Hey, all the roleplays are kind of at a stop, are people gonna post?

[Serence Frostbite]

are you sure? I still get notifications of new posts. Did you check the thread themselves to see if there're new posts ?

[Welsh Halfwit]

I haven't had notifications in 4 months.

People are still posting, however. It just goes a bit quiet from time to time. People waiting on people, waiting on people...

[furrygamer793]

If you were to take the place of one of your RP characters, who would it be?

[Buster]

i'm pretty sure no matter who i picked i'd be royally _____.

I'm not cut out to be a mom, or a firefighter, or adventurer, or assisin, or bartender, and definitely not a mercenary.
half the time i can't even figure out how to write them.

[Serence Frostbite]

Probably Nadia, or Nilo, both has access to the internet, Nadia is complainy and ragey and depressing all the time with basically no social skill, Nilo is chill and like video games a lot, so they're both basically me

[CyberDragon]

If you mean who would we like to be, either Hivemind or Hobomancer. More likely Hobomancer.

Hobomancer's great. Dude's totally carefree and just loves life. He also seems to love helping people, mostly in small ways. Also he seems to be able to manipulate reality which would be awesome.

Hivemind's a bit more serious with more apparent responsibilities, but he also has countless bodies and countless minds to be able to do any task with ease. Only downside is he brainwashes himself so he can't feel greed or hate or any corrupt motives, but I wouldn't consider that a loss.

[Neon Icy Wings]

A hard answer indeed. Out of all of them I guess I would pick Amanda. Magic without TOO much overt danger with enough normality for my tastes. Emotional understanding and control would take a hit, but really that would be the universe compensating for my troubles writing her.

[furrygamer793]

I created a RP, in case anyone wants to check it out. This is the link to the OOC

[Buster]

I'll be there backing Hawk up too. the setting kinda reminded me of Terraventure or Corinth, only with a bit of a superhero fantasy spin, so it caught my eye.

[RandomGeekNamedBrent]

If you were to take the place of one of your RP characters, who would it be?

well Buster and Levi tend to get into some tough situations, and Selina's in a creepy pasta based RP. Flynn has yet to appear within his own universe so that'd be kinda unpredictable.

I'd say Met from Exotic Acres or Rick from Zootopia are good options.

[Roarin]

If you were to take the place of one of your RP characters, who would it be?

Avery from the old Apollo City RP! His life was definitely tough, and I'm not sure I would survive that moon attack or the the apocalyptic disaster on Earth. But I also couldn't pass up a chance at living in that sci-fi world!

More realistically... probably Senka from RA. Forest ranger seems like a decent living. Not too exciting, not too boring. Also living with a vet would probably carry a lot of healthcare benefits...

[Welsh Halfwit]

...plus no-one messes with Senka!

Unsure for me. I tend to give my characters a harsh backstory so that they're already on a path to something better by the time we meet them. I'd say David the Old English Sheepdog from Richardson Valley as his is probably the most level background and lifestyle.

[furrygamer793]

well, time to answer my own question.
Calvin's got a sad backstory in which everyone in his immediate family died; being a superhero like Brad or Nat would be too insane; being Kenneth Zephyr, the prince of a country that is constantly attacked by monsters is self explanatory; and I don't want to be a knight in the circumstances mentioned just before; so that leaves one choice, Luka B. Powell from Edge City, I don't care if there's supernatural dangers in that world, I'd get to have free pancakes!

[Leafolawl]

So my computer is now officially dead. While this isn't going to stop me from posting, I may slow some for a bit as I get reacquainted with my tablet.

What I expect this will mean until I can replace my computer:

• Shorter posts.
  A few extra spelling errors here and there.
  A new set of word choices(because the keyboard on my tablet is tiny and I have big hands, making typing awkward).

While I'll try to avoid the first two, I don't intend to stop.

[Serence Frostbite]

aw man sorry to hear that. Hope you can have it fix soon

[Gameb18oy]

Gonna be gone on trip for a good bit of time, not expecting to have WiFi during most of it. Letting you guys know in case you’ll need my response at some point in the RPs. Hopefully you’ll be okay without me during that time

[Welsh Halfwit]

Gonna be gone on trip for a good bit of time, not expecting to have WiFi during most of it. Letting you guys know in case you’ll need my response at some point in the RPs. Hopefully you’ll be okay without me during that time

If not we'll just put your characters in cupboards for a while...

[Gameb18oy]

Gonna be gone on trip for a good bit of time, not expecting to have WiFi during most of it. Letting you guys know in case you’ll need my response at some point in the RPs. Hopefully you’ll be okay without me during that time

If not we'll just put your characters in cupboards for a while...

It’s likely gonna be at least 10 days I can’t RP, is that too long to wait? I’ll understand if so.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Gonna be gone on trip for a good bit of time, not expecting to have WiFi during most of it. Letting you guys know in case you’ll need my response at some point in the RPs. Hopefully you’ll be okay without me during that time

If not we'll just put your characters in cupboards for a while...

It’s likely gonna be at least 10 days I can’t RP, is that too long to wait? I’ll understand if so.

I was pretty sure the wink indicated I wasn't being totally serious. 10 days is one post in most RP's.

[Gameb18oy]

Richmond moves fast sometimes Welsh, you know this. Will say, if I’m becoming a roadblock, just say Rudder went to help Sue in the clinic, and just give Snapper to Senka or Chris as I seriously want to take some pics of the giant cats when I return

[Hlaoroo]

Nah, you're fine, Game. If anything it's me delaying things atm. I'm sure we can manage without you for a while and you can join right back in again when you return from vacation!

Speaking of which, I hope you have a great time!

[Gameb18oy]

Nah, you're fine, Game. If anything it's me delaying things atm. I'm sure we can manage without you for a while and you can join right back in again when you return from vacation!

Speaking of which, I hope you have a great time!

Thanks... and slight chance I jumped the gun saying that. Seems the cruise ship we’ll be on gets WiFi so that will be nice. Still will be busy, but there may be times I can post during it. Anyway, this otter is going to be where he deserves to be, on the water. Anyway, appreciate the well wishes!

[Hlaoroo]

Well, don't feel pressured to post at all! Enjoy the holiday while you can!

[Serence Frostbite]

yeah RP is meant for fun after all, enjoy your trip, we'll still be here when you're back. Howl I barely post once a week

[Buster]

i've noticed a few RP's that folks have proposed lately just sit there gathering dust and i know three of the four i've pitched (stranded on a ghost ship scenario, RPing as animal actors for a TV show scenario, can't remember the other oneEDIT: FOUND IT.) in the past have gotten 'Meh' as a reaction at best, or just shot down entirely. i remember the TV show one made it the furthest but stalled out two people short of the minimum cast... it would probably be useful to know what people seem to think is going wrong with these, why there seems to be little interest.

anyone willing to share an opinion?

[SeanWolf]

I've been wondering the same thing about the one I made.

[CyberDragon]

There are a lot of factors, I think. For Beacon of Hope, I built it up as a place of awesome powers and super heroics through Eira in RGV before even making the game itself. When I pitched the idea, I advertised it as a place where you could let your imagination run wild, and be whatever you wanted to be. You could make any species you wanted, any power you wanted, any of infinite possible options with no restrictions. I advertised the plot as the players being epic heroes standing between the goodness of the universe and those that seek to destroy it. In short, I advertised it very well and designed it to appeal to pretty much anyone interested in the superhero genre, which is pretty much most people.

As insane as the universe is, it's also fairly simple in concept. Superhero team fights evil entities and their followers. Though a few of the ideas that have been pitched were also pretty simple in concept, so I don't think this is a major player in this.

Another factor I consider to have played a part in BoH's success is I played for half a year before proposing it, which let me learn how things are done around here and establish myself as a good RPer with ideas people found interesting. That said, Buster has been here way longer than I have and is a MUCH more experienced RPer with a whole universe of well thought out and honed ideas, so that alone can't explain things.

I think that one of the biggest factors in this might be the Dystopia factor. Dystopias, post-apocalyptic settings, things like that I've noticed fail to get traction. Not enough people here are interested in living vicariously through their characters in a world where everything or most things are broken, hopeless, or destroyed. When you make a dark world, it needs to have the light of hope. Not just defending the last bit of life in a destroyed and hopeless world like in Housepets Z or Zandar. Not just trying to survive in a universe where 3/4 of it's a horrible place of raids, wars, greed, and corruption and the other 1/4 doesn't care enough to fix it. There needs to be hope that what you're doing is helping. There needs to be hope of fixing things, or of turning things around at least a little bit. Otherwise, if there's no hope, then what's the point?

Those are my theories, anyway. They may be right, they may be wrong.

[SeanWolf]

There are a lot of factors, I think. For Beacon of Hope, I built it up as a place of awesome powers and super heroics through Eira in RGV before even making the game itself. When I pitched the idea, I advertised it as a place where you could let your imagination run wild, and be whatever you wanted to be. You could make any species you wanted, any power you wanted, any of infinite possible options with no restrictions. I advertised the plot as the players being epic heroes standing between the goodness of the universe and those that seek to destroy it. In short, I advertised it very well and designed it to appeal to pretty much anyone interested in the superhero genre, which is pretty much most people.

As insane as the universe is, it's also fairly simple in concept. Superhero team fights evil entities and their followers. Though a few of the ideas that have been pitched were also pretty simple in concept, so I don't think this is a major player in this.

Another factor I consider to have played a part in BoH's success is I played for half a year before proposing it, which let me learn how things are done around here and establish myself as a good RPer with ideas people found interesting. That said, Buster has been here way longer than I have and is a MUCH more experienced RPer with a whole universe of well thought out and honed ideas, so that alone can't explain things.

I think that one of the biggest factors in this might be the Dystopia factor. Dystopias, post-apocalyptic settings, things like that I've noticed fail to get traction. Not enough people here are interested in living vicariously through their characters in a world where everything or most things are broken, hopeless, or destroyed. When you make a dark world, it needs to have the light of hope. Not just defending the last bit of life in a destroyed and hopeless world like in Housepets Z or Zandar. Not just trying to survive in a universe where 3/4 of it's a horrible place of raids, wars, greed, and corruption and the other 1/4 doesn't care enough to fix it. There needs to be hope that what you're doing is helping. There needs to be hope of fixing things, or of turning things around at least a little bit. Otherwise, if there's no hope, then what's the point?

Those are my theories, anyway. They may be right, they may be wrong.

You might've just given me the idea I needed to tweak that RP

[CyberDragon]

I should mention that the hope of improving the world might not be enough to save a Dystopian/apocalyptic rp. It would save it if it were a video game or movie, but RPs take months to get through a day. The promise of some day fixing the world doesn't mean much if it takes a lifetime before you get to that point. In the meantime, you're still playing in a crapsack world.

[Buster]

while your counter argument does provide some insights, it pulls almost entirely from Z, Zandar, ans Stellar Frontier. only two of which are RPs; stellar frontier is the shared setting of my Story/Game projects, that i'd been considering trying to make it into one or letting you play in for a bit since my beacon characters are from there, but at present, its not actually a forum RP.

eenyhoo, that post doesn't at all address any of the other failed RPs...
it may be selfish but i was kinda more interested in things that would help with future attempts to revive "Quiet on the set!"(actors) "Drifting Stars"(ghost ship) and... whatever the heck the magic themed one was named...

which, digging through my old posts i can't actually find now... which is wierd cause i have a full magic system in my notes that says 'HPU RP IDEA' dated two years ago on my laptop... hmmm...

wait, did i not actually get around to pitching the Isekai-anime inspired magic school RP idea?

EDIT:

actually maybe it'll help if i re-post the pitches since they never had threads of their own.

"Drifting Stars"

The basic idea is the players have woken up aboard a colony ship, the Endurance, with no idea how they got there. There's one resident already there (me) that claims 'this old ship does that sorta thing from time to time' that the ship itself is seemingly alive and 'collects' people. from there it's a matter of trying to get by, and maybe figuring out what's up with this wierd ship.

The ECS Endurance, the first vessel of her class; a sub-light generational colony ship intended to carry a compliment of nearly ten thousand into the stars. the main hull makes up a third of her mass and houses critical systems, and what is best described as a gigantic zero-g greenhouse. outside of that is the almost skeletal support structure anchoring the armoured 'ribs' that make up the Asteroid Defense System, and hold in place the dozen perpetually spinning psudograv rings. Behind the last rib sit the drive pods, the ship's power-plant and primary propulsion.

She was sent on a test run around the solar system, a skeleton crew of fifteen on board to test the systems. Sixteen hours in, the telemetry stops making sense before cutting out entirely, the ship disappeared. No debris was ever found. Skeptics have claimed for years that there had to be more to it than that; a ship from the pre-ftl days shouldn't have been able to just vanish.

You can't be certain how you got here. You don't remember boarding the ship at all. For that matter, you can't be sure what part of the ship you're in beyond the lack of gravity ruling out the rings. This ship is old, not in the best shape, and you can't shake the feeling you're not alone.

only Roo seemed interested.

Quiet on the set!

All of the Player Controlled pets and humans are Actors, filming the third season of what is intended to become a long-running TV show. Time period is Modern, normal species restrictions are lifted. The actors who start with the RP right out of the gate will be treated as if they already know each other from seasons 1 & 2, while any one who arrives late is a guest actor and/or new addition/replacement. The exact nature of said show will be decided on before the thread starts, but it's being partially funded by a pet-toy company as a tool for product placement. (Think the kind of project Bandai, Hasbro, or Takara would be behind. i was thinking something team focused with 4-6 of the cast being said team, but that can be changed.)

The rp is broken into episodes instead of days. if "filming" of an episode is starting to drag on too long, the crew may try to hurry things along, claiming they're going to get behind on production. (with the stage crew controlled by the storyteller(s) running things)

Beyond having input into the script of the next "episode" in the OOC, or by making their character try to bargain with the crew while off-stage IC, Players do not directly control the role their character is playing, the crew assign that to them after their character is approved. Think of character creation more like an audition. Each episode, The players may need to work around on set issues that the crew inform them of.

My personal character will be playing the role of director. She mostly pops up to tell the actors they need to redo a scene, or to mess with/help the cast via stage direction. (should someone else take over as storyteller, they would be given control of said character)

Players not currently on-set may have 'behind the scenes' interactions going on off-set in parallel to the scene being filmed so they don't get bored, or may control 'extras' and 'henchmen' on-set instead of their usual character. Black character text is reserved for extras/crew, Red character text is reserved for henchmen & Villains.

it had me as director, lego waffling on wether or not to play the show's writer (this was right before the 'rogue holodeck ai' thing in steelhaven started, so he was understandably stretched thin) and 22xander wanting to audition for main villan, but we never got enough people showing interest in auditioning to play the good guys.

can't copy the pitch from the third one cause that post is missing and i dont have any PMs that refrence it.

[NHWestoN]

Nah, you're fine, Game. If anything it's me delaying things atm. I'm sure we can manage without you for a while and you can join right back in again when you return from vacation!

Speaking of which, I hope you have a great time!

Thanks... and slight chance I jumped the gun saying that. Seems the cruise ship we’ll be on gets WiFi so that will be nice. Still will be busy, but there may be times I can post during it. Anyway, this otter is going to be where he deserves to be, on the water. Anyway, appreciate the well wishes!

Yeah, Enjoy!

[Legotron123]

I can’t speak for everyone, but the main reason I didn’t want to “Quiet on the set,” despite how appealing it sounded, was at the time (and still to this day) I wasn’t confident in my ability to participate in multiple fast moving RPs at the same time.

[Buster]

and yet you still offered to write and costume design for the 'show' which would technically make you part of the crew even if not actively RPing your role. Basicaly Noah all over again, only a proxy character right from the start instead of winding up one via owner change after the fact.

[Legotron123]

I was a dumb teenager with a very bad sense of what I could and couldn’t do. There’s a reason I don’t like looking at my old work.

[Buster]

yeah, i suppose i can relate to that.
when i was in high school i tried to write a halo/metroid crossover. actually managed to make it seven chapters in before Other M got released and drove me away from that fandom (there were way too many apologists for that game. honestly there still are, but the wound isnt as fresh these days.)

I tried going back to finish it once... Wound up deleting the entire FFNET account instead because of how painful it was to realize i had written 20000 words using chatroom gramar.

[CyberDragon]

Honestly, both sound interesting. I don't really know why Drifting Stars didn't get any traction. It was before my time. I believe for Quiet on the Set I submitted a character that was an animatronic dragon robot/prop/puppet that was on the side of the protagonists. I believe it was the first character I ever came up with.

The only thing I can think of that might be an issue with Quiet on the Set is it seems like it's focus is very specific and a little confusing. Like, your playing characters who are playing characters, but only while they're playing characters. So you create the characters and you create the character they play, but only play as the character your character plays and rarely as the character you created themselves? I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Another thing I could see being a little confusing is that shows have structured plots and scripts, but RPs don't. It might be a little confusing playing an unstructured game pretending to be based on a structured script.

I think it would help if the focus was on the show, but it also followed the actors lives as well. Kind of like how in Beacon of Hope, the focus is on the hero work. However, once the work is done for the day, there's down time to focus on the individual characters for a little bit before the day ends.

Just a thought.

yeah, i suppose i can relate to that.
when i was in high school i tried to write a halo/metroid crossover. actually managed to make it seven chapters in before Other M got released and drove me away from that fandom (there were way too many apologists for that game. honestly there still are, but the wound isnt as fresh these days.)

I tried going back to finish it once... Wound up deleting the entire FFNET account instead because of how painful it was to realize i had written 20000 words using chatroom gramar.

Ouch. I remember going back and reading my early collage essays and stories and wanting to burn them because of how filled with cringe they were. And they received good grades! I wouldn't have given them a C if I were grading them!

[Buster]

with quiet on the set, the idea would be that the players help plan the episode in the ooc beforehand, so it's not 'someone else's' story its theirs. and instead of things going sideways leading to a character getting incapacitated or hurt, it leads to bloopers, improv scenes, bad takes, and raising the director(my character)'s blood pressure.

so it's not so much that the players are being shoehorned in, but rather that it has a 'do over' mechanic if a section isn't working, or seems like it would otherwise requite a tailpull to keep someone from dying, cause it's all staged.

but yeah, giving the off-set moments equal focus i can see being important too... hmmm. hadn't considered that.

[CyberDragon]

I feel the off-set moments would be best if given equal or comparable focus to the on-set ones. The on-set moments seem like they're going to be at least partly scripted. In addition, you're playing the character your character is playing more than your character themselves. Off-set, things could be entirely unscripted and you can play the character you actually created. It gives some variety to the story and lets players develop their characters and grow more attached to them.

Honestly, having some focus on the off-set slice-of-life side of things might go a long way toward having this appeal to more people. After all, people seem to like getting invested in their characters' lives, and just living out their character's life. I feel there's a reason why so many of the RPs here are slice-of-life.