# Am i doing it wrong?



## Klomster (Oct 9, 2008)

Yo, Klomster here.

I was simply wondering.
I like to rp, i roleplay with my friends every week, and forum rp is something i like.
I remember back when mercenaries forum existed i ran 2 succesful rp's (Known as the "wacky rpg" 1 and 2) whom lasted several monthc IIRC, later instalements were not very succesful though but i had sweet memories of those first two, and have since wanted to relive them, by posting truly awesome rp's for people to play.

Now here is the thing.
Lately, every rp i have shown interest in, joined or created have died shortly after it started (only a few days, or a couple of weeks) or never started at all.

Which confuses me since everyone else seems to be doing fine. :scratchhead:
So is this a serious case of "You're doing it wrong!" me beeing a boring fellow or is it just sheer bad luck.

You have probably seen my two attempts so far on this site, known as:
Into the hellforges, Gate of the plasma forge & The two gates.

Both showing great promise at first, i've tried to give the players an engaging background to work from, cool sceneries to powerpose on and not beeing too restrictive in what you can be (i've basically allowed anything people wanted, so they would want to play more.)

But then, after some time, they seem to wither and die.
I post as soon as someone posts, and sometimes double posts as to try to shake my poor rp to life again (The two gates is not dead yet but it seems i'll have to get the shovel again....)

So am i doing it wrong? Not producing interesting enough content for people to follow.
Or is people just impulsive people joining mostly all rp's there is and then screwing them over after some time? (Although, i've seen people who was in my rp's on other rp's and those have lasted...)
Or just pure chance?

I'd love to get some input, i know the first hellforge rp died because it was to uneven in the beginning. At first to fast and then far to slow so people lost interest.

Just trying to get my head over this, since i'd love to rp and try my best to do fun/cool/interesting posts and rp's for people, and only join games i really feel are cool and which i can make a character i like in.
And only one, seldom two at a time.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

I have found man, that there is a lot of interest early on in all RPs but as they get moving people either forget about them, lose interest, or something of the like and it ends up being just the core players that keep up with the RPs. You are not the only one who has experienced this. I have found with mine that a good way to keep interest and accountability, giving a single update per week, with a deadline for posts in response to that update works well. 

As to your RP, I will be getting a post up tomorrow


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## Klomster (Oct 9, 2008)

At least it isn't just me, so it's just bad luck i suppose.

Although if this is a widespread problem how does one fix it?

Since if i was making my first rp, beeing really pepped and all that, and then witnessing it die a messy and slow death would dishearten me from ever trying again.

Which is not fun for enterprising newbies who is trying for the first time.
Neither for vets whom think they have come up with a deep story that they give out for free, just for the sake of beeing nice and wanting to share a good time.


And midge913, you better post, the plasma forge provost can't do this without the might of the flame myrmidons.


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

I don't think that you are doing it completely wrong, I really don't think that this is the cause of the dying RPs. Though I didn't really read through any of yours I can say that if you are updating every time a player posts it would create some sort of a problem.

When people wait a decent amount of time, somewhere between a little time to just a little more they get excited to see what would happen next, when you update every 5 minutes it somehow lowers the expectation and the player's will. I am sure that if you would update on a weekly basis then your RPs will have longer longevity.

Also, every RP depends on the players who join it. For example, darkreever's The Claw, not the current one but the one from before. It was spread on a relatively long period and it wasn't progressing real fast. From what I understand sometimes there would be nearly a month between each update yet that RP came to a conclusion and the players still stuck with it. So yes, players do matter. If you are aiming for a lasting RP try looking for one with some of the veterans in it. Most of those tend to end and not die, or at least last longer.

Another thing, you said that you gave your players the right to be whatever they wanted, that you gave them permission to do whatever they want. That is bad, it takes the fun out of the RP if the player can do wahtever hew ants. It becomes pointless. Also, to keep it interesting you shouldn't let players play whatever they want, for example, when one player plays as Horus and the others are cultists the RP wont really work. At least that's what I think.

By creating boundaries you are in a way forcing the less interested players away from your RP because they wont be able to do whatever they want. While at the same time you attract more serious players who want a defined RP with a solid story, character development and interaction. That said it doesn't mean that you can't have several types of characters, it all depends on the RP, the world which it takes place in, and the ability of those special characters to work with the normal ones.

Also, this is something that you will have to face. RPs die. Most of the time you can do pretty much nothing about it except of nagging the players to post. Like an untended plant, it will eventually die. Keep in mind that if you think that the idea was good you can simply recreate the roleplay, work it out better, improve it, overhaul it and then rerelease it as an improved edition of the same roleplay. Keep in mind though that not all ideas that seem to be awesome and amazing from your point of view are the same from others point of view. If you are unsure about what to do you can always open a poll asking about what kind of an RP people would want to join.

Another thing, I might not be the best GM, I am certainly not but you have to deal with somethings, every GM needs to deal with. For example, player's post rate. You can do nothing about it, some players post extremely fast while others take weeks to get a single post. That's why you want to make a deadline and update for everyone together, also by doing that you will avoid the time machine effect which is when one of the players is playing 10 minutes into the future while others are still in the present.

If you think that the content that you are producing is not good enough then it might not be good enough. Something which I can advice you to do is to write it down in a notebook\word\notepad\whatever. Let it rest at least a day and then come back to it. Reread that you have wrote, many times what seemed to be an awesome idea when you were in a certain mood or simply drunk don't look that shiny after a second look. If you think the idea is still good but not the best you can add to it, improve it.

Something important I might add is, don't, don't ever let your RP drag into godmodding. This is a complete threadkiller. As one player is having the time of his life by exploding everything with his stare yet the others feel powerless and are less interested in what would happen next because they know that this player can do whatever the fuck he wants. Just avoid it and avoid players who tend to play like it. This will send your thread into the RP hell like a swirling tornado.

Hmm, I might think of some more advice later but nothing pops into mind atm. If you have anything specific you want to ask I will answer although my knowledge as a GM is limited.


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## Klomster (Oct 9, 2008)

Good points.

Time for my counter points.

Perhaps i shall try to have a sort of update interval system, perhaps every 3 days, or weekly, i'll see what i come up with.

When i said they can be whatever they wanted, i mean they could be whatever they wanted with some boundaries.

For example the first hellforges rp.

I asked for a group of acolytes, and a very few space marines and perhaps a special character, whatever may come up as something someone would want to play.

I got a techpriest, two stormtrooper-esque guardsmen, an ogryn, an exorcist space marine and an Ulthwe ranger and a psyker.

All with cool background, some had more than others but people differ, but i loved all the characters for beeing so cool and having such a special relationship.
And the power level worked, since i had planned out what the group was to face and yes, some characters was better at combat than others, they all had parts to play.

And yes, rp's die.
It's just annoying when it happens.... all the time 

"many times what seemed to be an awesome idea when you were in a certain mood or simply drunk don't look that shiny after a second look"

Lolwut? Drunk 

And godmodding.
I remember a case of godmodding i handled in the old days.
A guy created this deamon panda (trust me, it actually fitted mostly) but he kept posting all this irrationally powerful things.

Like once he threw a dreadnought (as in a spacefaring warship) into another.

This was ofcourse not accepteable, and i as an awe-inspiring great leader of the roleplay responded by giving him a chance to abide, when he failed that i utterly destroyed everything related to his character within the game world (i had the bad guys literally exterminatus his entire empire he somehow created with god-mod, in an epic badass apocalyptic maelstrom of awesome.... i think it was cool at least.)

He actually got the hint, realised what he had done wrong and wanted to join again with a new and non-god-moddy character and it turned out fun.
(Perhaps partly why that rp was popular was that everyone god-modded, to an extent. Ofcourse there was limits.)

I guess you haven't read any of the rp's i've posted?
There is alot of examples of me writing about things i find epic there.

I'll give you a link to what i added as a filler trying to get other people to post.


The question remained unanswered, the members not knowing why anyone did want to live here.
And those who knew didn't feel like giving the long answer required to make the ogryn understand.

But the long story short, in Inferna's youth, the explorers led by Zachariaz Pheist found the trecherous system during the age of strife.
The system a searing inferno, two suns casting the planets into a flaming torture, filled to the brink with destruction and flame, the system was to be abandoned.

But their fortune struck against them, and a huge warpstorm imprisoned them here and they were stuck for ages.
Only during the horus heresy did the warp storms abide, and the system was rediscovered.

The priesthood of inferna had flourished, the abundance of resources had made them one of the most powerful collection of forge worlds in existance.
But the extreme solitude had made them differ from all other in unusual ways in ways of culture and tradition.

During the day, the group had made good pace and was ascending a intercontinetal ridge, the high ground was flanked on both sides with deep canyons with mud and lava rivers in their deeps.
The ridge led straight to the second plasma forge, Sol secundus.

And army would be too slowed down if moving along the ridge, and be easily spotted by the forge defenses.

So going here with a small group of operatives here is rather safe, since no one is really looking.

A few kilometres to the left, the ground suddently starts shaking, rhytmically beaten by marching boots....
And then you could see them, the grand army inferna, millions upon millions of red robed skitarii covered the plain in a perfect marching column, every single footfall in synch, marching towards sol secundus.
On the other side, the gibbering tide emerged, nothing organised or rhythmic was to be seen from the tide, just millions upon millions of heretek spawn scurrying towards the loyal forces.

Both sides supported by a multitude of warmachines, huge tanks looked like small squares of dark metal in the huge horde of skitarii.
Large spider bots, much like the one Nils faced in the end of the exorscists in all sizes was randomly scattered in the advancing tide.

But most frightening of all, from the tide, an monstroscity rised, towering over the armies in such a way it seemed impossible, a monstrous arachnoid machine that made the advancing hordes appear as two different carpets beneath it's huge bulk.

It seemed grim for the forces of inferna, but from behind a large strange pillar of twisted rock, he strode out.
God-machine of legion inferna, the grand warlord Ignis Iuratus, supported by the warhound Vulpus Cruor, advancing towards the heretek army.

The towering warlord looking like an infantryman facing some tyranid biomorph, but instead of flesh it was steel, instead of fighting in a warehouse, they fought upon the plains of Sol.

The weapon discharges from both sides was immense, the arachnoid super construct, much like their smaller brethren shot purple energy bolts from its legs, a huge cutting beam firing from its mouth.
Ignis Iuratus taking a wide legged posture, taking a direct hit on the void shield from the beam.
The ground shoock, thousands died but the warlord emerged uscathed from the gigantic black cloud.
Then he responded in kind, the arm weapons discharged and blasted into the huge metal behemoth and wounded it griveously, the scream of the beast piercing the eardrums even up here.

As the warhound advances and fires it's weapons into the gibbering tide, the two carpets of death begin the exhange of fire.
It looks more like a constant stream of lasers than individual shots from this distance, the devastating barrage of gunfire cuts down countless enemies that only climbs over their dead and renew the carnage.
Small flaming projectiles, probably the size of sentinels, but from here they looked like small matches beeing thrown at a black carpet, exploding and dying out in blasts of pyrotechnics.

As the awe-inspiring battle begin on your left, dozens of aircraft suddently scream by on your right, far up in the sky, on both sides of the ridge a massive air battle between fury interceptor and winged deamons duke it out in airduels.
Aircraft and deamonic beasts the size of building rain down around you and the battle scene engulfs the area completely.

But at its centre, in a strange eye of the storm, you remain unnoticed, and undangered.
A rare first class ticket to the show that is inferna doing war with their most hated foe.

The names of the titans only known to Judico an Val, but they stil remained an impressive sight.
Far in the distance, like some huge roach the forge was visible. Belching fumes and black clouds.


And the continuation.



Reg suddently remembered a few simple numbers from the tactical display upon the ship.
It seemed so distant now, but he for no apparent reason recalled... legio inferna, 72% of the legio stationed on Sol, reinforcements are on route.

The entire legio was to fight on sol, almost 50 titans was to trod upon the scorched ground of this outcast forgeworld.
All classes, even the dreaded emperor class titans was to engulf this planet in volcanic death.

This, Val and Judico knew, many in the group have also heard the stories of the legio inferna on several occasions doing battle so fiercely that the entire atmosphere was set ablaze with their combined infernal weaponry.

Suddently, echoing over the fields of Sol, Ignis Iuratus spoke, his massive speakers brought forth the princeps voice over the sea of battle and his words was.
"-Fatus Ignatum, INFERNAL DOOM!!!" And with those words, a huge missile was launched from inside Ignis Iuratus carapace. It hurtled through the air into the horde of hellspawn and went straight through a leg of the monstrous mechanical monstrosity.
Severing the leg in two, before the scream of the monster or the mechanical screeches of metal beeing severed could be heard, everything went silent.

The entirety of the skitarii horde seemed to turn around and sit down in perfect unison, while the deamon horde began to run from the site the missile had landed, but it was far to late.
A sea of plasma and promethium was rapidly expanding from the impact crater, engulfing hellspawn in their thousands in searing flaming death, in a way seemingly defying physics the fiery inferno began to rise into a dome of pure white fire, rising to a hundred metres high, the dome suddently collpapsed and exploded in such a powerful blast that all was blinded lest they covered their eyes.

A shockwave, even at this distance hot as standing close to a bonfire slammed into the group, the air-current ripping at their clothes almost toppling them over.

When the white light faded, the entire sky was raining fire, like some hellish novel about a deamon world, fire rained from the sky in large lumps of flaming red rocks, debris and fuel.
And amidst the inferno, the imposing visage of Ignis Iuratus closed in fast on the huge mechanical monstrosity, its screams had not stopped until it felt the mega-melta cannon of the warlord punched into its face, the huge terrifying machine somehow expressed fear as Ignis Iuratus broadcasted.
"-Feel the flaming fist of inferna!" And with those words the huge melta weapon cut the monstrous machine in two, detonating as they fell impossibly slow engulfing Ignis in a sea of flames.

In unison, the skitarii horde turned and stood up once again and began the march of death anew.
Far into the horizon, other similar detonations could be seen in the distance, hundreds of miles away, showing that the battleline covored most of the planets surface.

As a rain of fire fell upon the ridge, the group was awestruck once again.


But you make good points, and i will probably take some to heart.


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

I didn't read what you wrote in the spoilers yet but I did find something that I might comment on.

You said that what you wrote is epic, well, at least in my opinion I dont think that every update should be epic. An update's first task is to unfold new events, if someone has to talk with somebody else it doesn't have to be epic.

Epicness should be reserved for epic events for example ehm... hmmm... An exterminatus. This one is epic and as such I would expect to have an epic update.

The fact that you gave one of your players the time to create an all powerful empire via godmodding is already bad. You should have stopped it the moment you saw it begin (my opinion). I really think that godmodding completely ruins a game, if you want to do something which is related to another PC(player character) then just PM him and work something out I don't see any reason to say "OMG I send me speehs marinez and kill Uglork" who is of course another player.

Something I thought about, I don't think that something is wrong with what you wrote because the players who joined your RP already knew your writing style and if not they certainly were already familiar with it in the second hellforges and they returned nonetheless. Problem is somewhere else. Try looking back at the thread both the recruitment one and the action one, try seeing when players began to withdraw or disappear, look and see if it was due to simply life being hectic or something else.


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## darkreever (Apr 3, 2008)

*First*:
All who read the below prepare thy self! For I plan on slash-quoting and speaking a lot in this post. (For those who might be wondering, slash-quoting is the term I use for answering another members post in portions. Taking the time to address one thing at a time.) You have been warned.



*Next!* The long part of my post.




Klomster said:


> I remember back when mercenaries forum existed i ran 2 succesful rp's (Known as the "wacky rpg" 1 and 2) whom lasted several monthc IIRC, later instalements were not very succesful though but i had sweet memories of those first two, and have since wanted to relive them, by posting truly awesome rp's for people to play.


I am sad to say that during my time online I never came across this work of yours before, though I will say that like you I have seen later installments of RP's flounder for one reason or another. Since my Space Wolf RP is intended as a series, thats a fate I hope to avoid. A big thing to keep in mind with any RP is to not make it to big or else you will simply not be able to cope with everything, no matter who you are.

It doesn't all have to be 'truly awesome' as you put it. Good, intriguing, engaging, memorable, these are things you should be striving more for; because if you achieve them then truly awesome will come from it.



Klomster said:


> Now here is the thing.
> Lately, every rp i have shown interest in, joined or created have died shortly after it started (only a few days, or a couple of weeks) or never started at all.


As Midge and Komanko pointed out, the success and failure of an RP is dependant on the players, as well as the GM. Doesn't matter how many people showed interest, you need enough players to be committed for things to work. And watching twenty interested players dwindle to four or five is very disheartening for a GM, so much so that they may very well give up.

These things happen, the important lesson to keep in mind is that not every idea is destined to succeed. (Not all of my RP's have met with good ends.) Keep in mind though, this is not always because of the players, the GM is as likely to be the cause of RP death; especially if they make things on a whim with little thought or attempt the same thing over and over despite never once getting good results. (Some might call this a measure of insanity.:wink



Klomster said:


> Which confuses me since everyone else seems to be doing fine.
> So is this a serious case of "You're doing it wrong!" me beeing a boring fellow or is it just sheer bad luck.


Likely just bad luck, happens from time to time and your not the only one who get afflicted by it.



Klomster said:


> Both showing great promise at first, i've tried to give the players an engaging background to work from, cool sceneries to powerpose on and not beeing too restrictive in what you can be (i've basically allowed anything people wanted, so they would want to play more.)


I saw both recruitment threads, and I'll be perfectly honest with you I was immediately turned off. Theres nothing to roleplaying a card-board cutout baddass, which is honestly what your works seem to be striving for above other things. You can cloak such a thing in some detail and intrigue, but a card-board cutout character it will ultimately be.

In the time I have been roleplaying, I have seen people who look to the work restriction as a bad thing when it is so clearly not meant in that way. Restrictions let the players know of your boundaries, what is and is not acceptable and how far they can push the line before finding trouble of the wrong kind.

Fewer boundaries leaves you open to the kinds of players you do not want. The ones who will cause you trouble and ultimately become a problem, and are less likely to stick around when you try to set things straight.

And what in the many hells is powerposing? Do you mean power posting, which might be another way of saying god modding?



Klomster said:


> But then, after some time, they seem to wither and die.
> I post as soon as someone posts, and sometimes double posts as to try to shake my poor rp to life again (The two gates is not dead yet but it seems i'll have to get the shovel again....)


There is a medium between posting to little and to much; its what all GM's need to strive for and it is not always the same in every single RP.

Let a few people post and then update them all at once. This gives you the chance to keep everyone in the same, relative, section of time, allows the actions of the players to effect each other, and let you group some elements so that you are not stretching yourself to far.



Klomster said:


> So am i doing it wrong? Not producing interesting enough content for people to follow.
> Or is people just impulsive people joining mostly all rp's there is and then screwing them over after some time? (Although, i've seen people who was in my rp's on other rp's and those have lasted...)
> Or just pure chance?


Let me first point out that the only possible options of error you list here are: I am not producing enough quality work and its the fault of impulsive people.

That is kind of on the rude side if you ask me. You have failed to take into account that your producing to much or even being to vague/bending over for others far to often.


Yes there are members who join as much as they can and its not to anyone's benefit in the end, but that is never the only cause for a problem.



Klomster said:


> And only one, seldom two at a time.


Knowing your limits is often a good thing. You do not no one any good by stretching to far. I myself am only engaged in two RP's at this time, one as a player and one as a GM. I would be inclined to play in one or two more, but I will only ever GM one RP at a time. It takes a world of effort to run one RP, my attention would have to be divided between two or more by so much that I do more harm to all in the end.

Some people refuse to even consider such a thing, that they can stretch themselves far and reduce the quality of their work to the detriment of others.




Klomster said:


> Time for my counter points.
> [/quotes]
> Counter points? You going to refute Komanko and Midge's opinions and thoughts in regards to what might be your problem?
> 
> ...


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## DasOmen (Mar 10, 2011)

when in doubt, or when there is a commissar standing behind you... simply shout FOR THE EMPEROR! and keep moving on... 

tryst me man i know the feeling of having RPs fail. time after time after time i try, many fail. i'm glad my pandoran one is having dedicated people. every deathwatch RP i seem to join i feel like i'm a pleauge marine poisioning the RP... is it so bad i want to play one of my lanterns ? is it? i'd say see contest in my sig but that would be.... rude. so i wont. 

but seriously, you're doing fine. just dont loose faith.


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

I was wondering when DR would make his slash quoting thing. I thought I managed to stop it by commenting first but apparently I was wrong  Now I need to see what I missed by reading DR's post XD


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## Klomster (Oct 9, 2008)

"-Who updated my thread? Let's check....... GAH!!! It's darkreaver!"

*Reads it all.*

What do i mean with powerposing?
It is a weird thing i always want to do in all rp's i join.

It basically mean doing something really awesome that people is impressed by.

This concept is very often in movies, since powerposing is the blood of action movies.
300 battle scenes are only powerpose, hero characters bashing weak foes.

Powerposing also happens when the hero and the villain fights the epic battle in the movie. Normally at least. It's awesome stuff normally at least.

Powerposing can be other things than just mindless action though.
It would look strange if an adept took forth a laspistol, in slow motion jumps off a ledge does a summersault (still in slow motion) shooting four cultists and landing with a roll that goes into a stand where he subsequently punches a 5th cultist into a wall so it breaks.

It's an awesome scene, but it doesn't fit the character.
So that's not powerpose.

But let's say that a political character does a really awesome speech, that baffles everyone, and none of the people present can make any counter-arguments coz' the speech was.... simply perfect.

That's powerpose, a really epic action fitting the character and simply beeing cool and all that stuff.

The example epic scenes i used was in an area where the grand army would probably show up in sooner or later, so i threw it in as a filler to try to show the players what was going on in their environment, and to show of my worlds background.

Naw, i don't want cardboard cut-outs 

Counter-points was a horrible choice of words, and i should have used something else.
I apologize.

What i meant with "acolytes" is the different classes you can be in dark heresy.
For example if someone would have presented me with a rouge trader, no matter how good the background was i wouldn't let him in, since rouge traders are not acolytes.
And it didn't really fit the background.
All of the characters present was of different classes available in dark heresy.

Except the ogryn, but i kinda liked him so i let him in.

I didn't let in the chaos worshipper psyker idea i was presented. It might have been a space marine even, and i didn't feel that was fitting.


The cool backgrounds all fitted with the background i presented.
One was from a world that was a knight-world to the system i created, working together all the time. (Also a very good friend IRL, so i knew the world well.)

We had the guy who came up with alot of cool background for my inquisitor, that fitted really well and just felt really cool. That was the psyker.

We had a magos from the system. Fitting since there won't be any other magoses around.

The only less fitting was the second stormtrooper guy and the ogryn. But they and i made the assumption that my inquisitor wasn't stationed in this system all the time, and made investigations in the neighbouring areas.

The space marine was a exorcist, experts vs deamons which was present.


In my opinion i didn't ask for cardboard cutouts, and most of the characters i got was rather well thought out with cool background.

And what i meant with that i only play 1, at most two rp's is that i PLAY in them.
I rarely even feel like i can run one. Two would be madness since i would keep mixing the chars up.
I can't even remember half of the characters that was in the imperial guard rp i joined a while ago 

But darkreaver, you made good points, and i will probably take some to heart 

There was no evil intent with that, and sometime i write things i don't really get after a while.
Happens to most, and i proofread most things i write.

And for your last section.
"Coming up with an idea that i want to do." Check.
"....and then come up with a simple, bare bones outline of the story/plot." Check.
"Then flesh a few things out, and work on the recruitment aspect." Hmmm, check the first part, didn't really work to much on the recruitment aspect, since i only threw in *I want this and that.*
"With the basics, you have an idea of what kind of players/characters your looking for and what restrictions you should be considering." Check.

Everything i've checked is how i do/did it.

And komanko, you need to read the posts you comment on


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## komanko (May 16, 2010)

Not really, the advice I gave you wasn't in anyway dependent on your action threads.
It was completely general. 
I read some of it but after reading it I realized that it did not serve any purpose unless you would've asked me to give my opinion on your writing skills, which you didn't.

And if you misunderstood, I read all you wrote except for the spoiler part which as I said, didn't have much to do with what i wrote.


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