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Why I Don't EH RP
Topic Started: Apr 24 2009, 03:13 PM (351 Views)
Foxby
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Emerald Guardian
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All right, so some of you have the tendency to ask me to join RPs and that sort of thing.

Why don't I join EH RPs?

There are a few reasons.

"Xanatos Gambits"

Xanatos Gambits are, basically, a grand plan. It's what Metal Gear Solid is famous for-- one man is watching from the back lines, manipulating everyone into either doing their biddings or falling into their traps. It's what makes video games great. It's what makes manga great. It's what makes RPs great.

And sometimes there ARE Xanatos Gambits going on in RPs, but they're too obvious.

Followers

Frankly, too many of the RP characters are 'followers'-- none seem to have ideas of their own. They're just along for the ride. There are several RPers on the board which are good at keeping the RP alive by having plans and maybe even ideas of their own. An interesting team is not five heroes united under the same goal, all striving for the same tomorrow; it is five individuals forced to fight under the same flag, despite their differences (which cause conflict). If there aren't any problems on the way to the Big Bad, what are you RPing for?

Where did that come from?

You're being devastated by the enemy force; the Big Dumb Hero is knocked out, the Swordsman is bleeding, and the Mage has a gun to his throat.

Suddenly, some jackass who hasn't posted since 2006 (and the post was about selling tea in China) busts in and kicks the Big Bad in the face.

It happens far too often... and, frankly, if the Big Bad never has a victory, he's a Medium Bad at best.

I'm just in this RP for the ____, I don't care about the plot.

Fine, go RP by yourself, then, or with other like-minded individuals. If you're going to do that, the RP will be boring and die soon enough.
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Kappy
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LOL!
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I completely agree with the 'followers' and 'Xanatos Gambit' because I've probably been at fault for both at times. XD

But I agree, sometimes people have really visible plot twists and some people just post and don't really contribute to the RP as a whole - no opinions or anything, just straight up actions which do make RP'ing boring.

"Where did that come from?", however, I haven't been subjected to or done (except in certain cases where I meant to disappear and come back). Although I can see why it'd be annoying.

Maybe you should try to make your own RP's, Foxby! XD
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Foxby
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I did. xD;; Only L and Li joined, and since Li quickly became instrumental to the plot, then poofed. That was the Fire Emblem board, a'course. Then was the Rampage one, which coma'd for a short time and everyone lost interest... so it died. xD;; There WAS going to be a friggin' thirty Xanatos pileup involved but it didn't even get far enough for much of a plotline to show up.
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Fayt
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Reaon why I dont RP is because of God modding, and inability to continue the RP/ lack of people joining.

Alot of people dont really care about the RP and just post a BS post to keep it up in the recent posts area.

Plus fighting. It pisses me off the most, because really nobody cares about the plot when it comes to fighting, it just goes to whoever gives up and gets tired of 100+ posts on one single fight.
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Foxby
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Fayt
Apr 24 2009, 02:39 PM
Plus fighting. It pisses me off the most, because really nobody cares about the plot when it comes to fighting, it just goes to whoever gives up and gets tired of 100+ posts on one single fight.

"Where did that come from?" tends to cause this. I think fighting is best-done when it's not *dodge**dodge**dodge* so much as *light hit* *light hit* *wearing down* etc. Something that takes maybe two pages (thirty posts for me) at most.
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kisa hisho
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the youngest of EH
i HATE g-moders and will flam anyone that dose it consistently on propose, i cant say ive never g-modded but if i have it was small and i apologized for itXP but i joined this guild(it was a bleach guild and we had to do a stupid academy trail to get in officially) on gaia with my cuz, alec, and when we had to do a "practice" fight with him i had gotten kicked off for like a day(the com not the guild) and when i came back there was 7pgs of post(and it was a new guild) in the practice fight topic and all he had done was doge alecs attacks when i joined in he just dodged me too so my cuz did a small g-mod to end the battle he got all mad and when i told him he was worse he got really defensive and even his friends called him out on it he denied it and i even had amanda explain it to him and he deleted her post, yeah.... now i hate him and his guild....but then one of his friends stole the guild from him and recreated it XD it was funny
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Maria Viola
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Some Random Gal
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I think my some of my pet peeves about RPing are 1.) short posts, 2.) bad grammar, 3.) making no sense(where did that come from?), and 4.) g-modding.

1.) When it comes to posts, I prefer things a little lengthy. They don't have to be paragraphs, but they shouldn't just be one sentence/line either. Otherwise there isn't that much creativity and imaginative stuff, so the RP can be pretty dull.

2.) A typo here and there doesn't hurt. I mean, you can't be a spelling genius, right? But when there's posts that don't have proper English (not just typos, but also correct capitalization and good sentence structure...y'know, things kinda like that) then it makes me a sad Maria.

3.) Sometimes there are just the random post that makes absolutely don't make sense. Say for example the good guy group (G.G.G.) has arrived somewhere and there's something epic going on in the RP...like a fight or something, I don't know. Then one person who probably hasn't really been paying attention just randomly posts...randomly. Like making a comment about arriving while they're in the middle of a fight. It can be corrected, but it's still bad to do

4.) OMG I'M GONNA RANDOMLY JUMP IN, BE A HERO, DODGE ALL THE BAD GUY ATTACKS, AND KICK HIS ARSE!!!

Yeah....I think everybody can agree this is annoying on SO MANY LEVELS.
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AkuTenshiiZero
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Chao
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I freakin' love "Xanatos Gambits". My crowning achievement was playing Devimon and Ken Ichijouji in a Digimon RP. I had the entire cast under Devimon's thumb, while Ken revealed little "discoveries" to the heroes so they knew what was going on. Unfortunately, the RP fizzled out before my master plan could come to fruition...But I did manage to get as far as brainwashing Takeru (T.K.) into believing he was Devimon's loyal son! XD The most iportant aspect of the Xanatos Gambit, however, is that there has to be a flaw. No plan is perfect, and there has to be a way to stop it. As much as I'd like to see the Big Bad win in the end, justice must prevail. Therefore, I always plan on how I can be beaten in the finale.

As far as "going with the flow", I almost never do that, because I usually have my own agenda to run. If I'm not playing the main villain in an RP, then I'm trying to replace the current main villain. Thus far, I have only been successful once (Coincidentally, in another Digimon RP :P).

"Eleventh Hour" heroes irritate the crap out of me. As a long-time Big Bad player, it annoys me to no end when one guy manages to skate through my fortess defenses and into my throne room, after the rest of the heroes took thirty pages to get that far. If you do not post, then it is assumed you are either removed from the story, or have been along with your party the whole time and in equal condition (Meaning if they've been getting their asses kick, so have you).

------------------------------------------------

At the risk of sounding like an asshole, the reason I'm not too keen on RPing here is that it's usually not up to my expeced level of quality. I have been RPing for about 10 years...And I cut my teeth in the golden age, when people posted paragraphs with in-depth description and details. I really dislike one-sentance posts, or when people use ** for actions. Example:

*Attacks with sword*

This tells me nothing. How do I react to this? A better way would be...

???? grips his blade tightly with both hands, fury in his eyes as he shifts his weight forward in a charge. Letting out a warrior's cry, he swings the weapon in a horizontal arc, aiming to cleave his foe in half at the waist.

This, aside from being a better image, tells me that A ) You are charging, meaning you have momentum. B ) You have a good grip on your weapon, and are putting alot of force behind the blow, making deflecting or blocking more difficult. C ) The strike is horizontal, coupled with the forward momentum, making dodging also difficult. With just a little extra description, your attack has become potentially lethal.
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Foxby
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Agreed entirely, Zero. I love being incredibly specific about my fight scenes-- and if the character isn't focused, the attack won't be either (such as in Asmov-- Golan's wind attacks are 'in their general direction' because he's not even sure where the wind will be coming from).

Eleventh Hour heroes CAN be pulled off well, but they need to be pulled off spectacularly. As in, plenty of foreshadowing but not enough to know what's being set up until it happens and you're like, "OOooooh, I see what you did there."

But yes; Xanatos Gambits are most often foiled by an unknown factor (a "Didn't see that coming," which is different than a "Where did that come from?" in the case that it's possible, just overlooked).
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Zoden
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RPs are themselves flawed unless pulled off almost PERFECTLY.

The problem is that the best stories need to have everything set up just right.

With RPs, you have to worry about all the other people, and thus you have to both make them feel like they have a purpose so that they aren't just along for the ride.

The opposite also happens, you give them too much say and you have little to no plot.

Interest can often kill RPs when it's lacking, and yes G-modding sucks.
"Creation happens but once. Destruction and Rebirth are eternal."
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AkuTenshiiZero
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Chao
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In response to that, I often add little disclaimers and clauses to my RPs...

For instance, an RP which will require a large number of disposable characters. I specifically state that such characters are absolutely neccessary, and that once the character is gone, the player may create a new character, and repeat as they please. In my short lived Project Excalibur RP, I wanted to ensure people would die, and the standard "multiple character" clause was in effect.

The other method is to limit the number of characters involved in the main plot. This can easily be built into a story. 4 Destined Warriors, or the like. Others will simply be supporting cast. Not everyone can be in the spotlight, though in a good RP even the minor characters get their moment of glory. Suprisingly, I've seen numerous instances where somebody passed up a major slot to be a supporting character. The key is to give your suppporting character a unique trait or skill, which will be of use at some point.

Aslo, there are side stories. Even if you aren't a major character, you can still run your side story seperate from the main plotline. Main characters can run the main plot, while supporting characters deal with their own side story. You won't be slaying the legendary dragon, but you will accomplish something significant to you.

As for predicting other characters...Why predict? The story will move on it's own. The key here is to have a strong antagonist. The villain's agenda will ultimately force the characters to take action. What they do and how they do it is inconsequential, so long as they act. Set the goal, and let the journey be what it shall.
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Foxby
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*nod* In the same vein as what Zero was saying, an RP which forces the characters along a certain path with no possible variations is simply not fun-- why bother writing it if you know how it's going to end?

Although as far as prediction goes-- the antagonist, should he be the strategic overlord type, should be predicting, as well as the tacticians on the protagonists' side and anyone else who is like-minded. However, most RP characters are NOT such, and should probably be taken by surprise when the Ubertraitor stabs them in the throat, though a bit of suspicion by the wiser members of the team is always healthy.

But yeah, I agree-- there's too much 'none of the good guys with names die' in RPs.
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