A Format Change for Insurrection?

[WyvernSlayer]

So I had a brain surge right as I was falling asleep last night (which seems to be the time when I have most of my great ideas).  Given how barren the RP subforum is, I’m tempted to just do away with this IRP/SRP nonsense, get rid of the restrictions on how many RPs you can be in, and just advance the plot through a sticky’d megathread.  People would be allowed to RP to their heart’s content outside of the megathread; those would be more of a “here is the general setting, go have an adventure in it” deal.
 
I’d still keep on top of those RPs and pluck the good points from each of them to factor into the overall plot, but everything would just be a bit more laid back.  You know, even more than it already is, what with our one-and-a-half RP mods and no actual rules to enforce outside of the character limit.  (Which Swifty is working around anyway thanks to his litany of NPCs.)
 
Anyone want to chime in on this?

[Falaflame]

The more laidback the settings get, the more user-friendly it can become.

I am a fan of user-friendly.

[Zanryu]

I think that'd be pretty cool, but there's so little activity at the moment as it is, I'm not sure that it would change very much - from what I've seen it's pretty much just the gang in BoC who are actually hanging about. I personally feel that if anyone else is going to get on board, it would be maybe two or three small tight groups sticking together. :o

[Swift_Assassin]

Npcs? Me? I don't have that many npcs. *looks at sprite thread filled with npcs* Nevermind. . . I don't plan to use them that often. *remembers lots of plans with npcs* Nevermind

I'm okay with it, but I don't know how much more activity we'd get. We already tried making the rp easier to get into. Why not make it easier?

[WyvernSlayer]

It's not a change for the sake of promoting activity, but it does save a bit on the housekeeping. I wouldn't have to keep tabs on how many/which kind of RPs people were in outside of the megathread.

The biggest downside to having a plot-driving megathread is that it's harder for new characters to just "jump into," and there's a very real chance that the RP could get hung up on one or two RPers' inactivity.

[Falaflame]

(03-16-2016, 07:18 PM)WyvernSlayer Wrote: It's not a change for the sake of promoting activity, but it does save a bit on the housekeeping.  I wouldn't have to keep tabs on how many/which kind of RPs people were in outside of the megathread.

The biggest downside to having a plot-driving megathread is that it's harder for new characters to just "jump into," and there's a very real chance that the RP could get hung up on one or two RPers' inactivity.

The last part is especially important to note, considering the general on-off activity the board has.

[Swift_Assassin]

Yeah...a Dragon Age rp I'm part of sorta did the megathread thing too, but to be fair to that, there weren't really that many people between the many characters in it. Granted, it was more along the line of the entire group traveling together with several different threads going on concurrently. Sometimes people crossed between threads during that, if there were just split up groups. Honestly, if the people we had were more active, that would probably be more in line with Fire Emblem, with each main topic essentially being a chapter and the side missions as paralouges.

[Toogee]

In other words, have one IRP, and the rest will be SRPs. That sounds fine, but I'm still going to stick with one RP at a time. It's not so much rule restriction that's stopping me as it is time in the day. If I could, I would have already started social RPs or even made a second character. I just don't have the time. In all likelihood, I'll stick with the megathread and not do much else.

What will the mega thread be about? How is it going to cover the aspects of the setting?

[WyvernSlayer]

I think the megathread would cover a situation where something world-shifting is about to happen, or has happened already. (i.e., a large-scale rebellion in a part of Lycia, or Lycia invades Bern, or something like that) This would leave everyone with something to craft their own stories around, without having some sort of objective in mind.

I don't know how I'd go about closing a megathread, but I'm sure that I'd have plenty of time to think about it. Maybe a mod makes a post from the "omniscient narrator" perspective or something.

Or Scholar Relius - haven't heard from him in a while

[Zanryu]

I'm liking the the idea of a megathread, but I think the best way to go about it would be to structure a story and basically DM a group through it, a la D&D. Either could work, but as stated before, inactivity could and would be a problem. Speaking from a personal standpoint, I've got two cars to pay off and a baby (toddler? I dunno how these thresholds work) at home - may need a second job to pay for everything. My activity can go from daily to monthly in a heartbeat.

[Swift_Assassin]

Doesn't Scholar Relius just record what happens to Paige and Shad's group anyway? I think that group is the only one to really do things of note to the guy.

You've seen the activity here, Zanryu. Beginnings of Change started six months ago as of your post. It's not like it's getting any slower. *Cue painful flashbacks to Radiance Lost Tyber Fen multiple half-year rps* If anything, the worse thing that could happen is that I make another 20 npcs that won't show up.

We're practically one group as it is. Paige and Shad have the most completed RPs under their belts, since most of the other rps just ended prematurely. Every other character not in the Beginnings of Change either belongs to someone who disappeared or they are currently inactive due to the lack of rp threads. Also, considering who's actually rping at the moment, all that means is we'd have a second rp that is solely Maddox(plus one or two npcs) and Satsume until someone makes a seoond character or returns from hiatus.

[Toogee]

(03-27-2016, 03:45 AM)Swift_Assassin Wrote: We're practically one group as it is. Paige and Shad have the most completed RPs under their belts, since most of the other rps just ended prematurely. Every other character not in the Beginnings of Change either belongs to someone who disappeared or they are currently inactive due to the lack of rp threads.

By process of elimination, our group are the main characters in the story .

[Cevian]

(03-27-2016, 03:45 AM)Swift_Assassin Wrote: returns from hiatus.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

[WyvernSlayer]

So just to keep this on the forefront - Cevian and I are hashing out details for an event thread. I've begun writing up an intro piece by piece. I can't give a definite day of release just yet, but rest assured - it is being worked on!

(Oh and everyone's characters should maybe try to make their way over to eastern Lycia. No reason.)

[Swift_Assassin]

Well, the only active rp group just needs their resident church defector to let them know which way the church was heading to convince the Shad and Paige to head back towards Pharae.