Change The Way We RP?

[seekeroftales]

Hello all;

There are at least three RPs started which have not been updated since mid Nov.

I have a few preposals, but I wish to know if anyone besides me thinks that the standard RP format could stand a few changes.

I believe that "Organization = Production", so the question is, How much do we like Dinotopia? Are we willing to put some time into our RPs? "Anything worth doing is worth doing right" I have heard. Anyone afraid to plan ahead? Work closely with others?

Good day,
Skyler Vane

P.S. {Just so I remember . . .}
City/Town/Village Developement
Character Developement
Culturistic Developement
Technological Developement
Region/General Location Developement
Language Developement
Storyline/Plot Developement
. . . and various others.

[Barry the Baryonyx]

I don't see what yer gettin' at har sir.
What your sayin' is over my head.

— The Hyperactive Dragonlord

[Anemone]

I'm confused now... RP is supposed to be spontaneous, like improvisation--only with a keyboard. Taking the spontaneity and the right of the players to add in what they like without consulting everyone else on the details is kind of like taking the art out of RP. The real challenge is reacting to what other people post.

And if you're worried that no one is paying attention to the RP's already started, why don't you just jump in on one of them?

[Barry the Baryonyx]

TO seekeroftales:
I'm already in one of the RPs here. Pleasure Flight?
It's the only one I feel comparable with now.
The reason why the RPs are dead is just because
the holiday or either people are busy with RL issues.
It's even like this on the Temple of Polemic board.
Just wait until all the holiday mess is over people will
come back. Right now, I'm kinda busy with some RL issues
and I don't have time to RP now.

— The Hyperactive Dragonlord

[seekeroftales]

vagwen said:

I'm confused now... RP is supposed to be spontaneous, like improvisation--only with a keyboard. Taking the spontaneity and the right of the players to add in what they like without consulting everyone else on the details is kind of like taking the art out of RP. The real challenge is reacting to what other people post.

And if you're worried that no one is paying attention to the RP's already started, why don't you just jump in on one of them?

Hello all; {especially Anemone and Barry}

Fine. I'll prove that I can improvise . . . but I won't enjoy it one little bit.

You see, I have recently come to the realization that I am the annoying person I am because I have an analytical mind. I like planning things out.

Thanks to you, Anemone, I finally realize that RPing isn't for me. I can do it and I'll prove it if anyone presses me, but that is not the way I wish to do fan fiction. (Maybe an RP isn't even considered a "fanfic"?)

I want to get a group of writers/RPers together and produce fan fiction with them. We all have different knowledge and styles and I think that other people should benefit from our strong points. Also, the works produced by a group of people might be very good reading; a pooling of ideas and the actual psychological differences between characters developed by several authors could mean a breakthrough series of fan fiction works.

I simply chose the wrong medium for attempting the above concept; RPs ARE supposed to be spontaneous and any planning would not be in keeping with their nature.

However, is there anything wrong with submitting a basic plot outline with an RP's "origin post" so as to give the other contributing posters a general direction to go in? Why couldn't there be a new kind/style of RPing? Is the concept of a, say, "RP Director" too wild and wacky? Why not do short RPs that can be published as stories after their completion?

I have a confession to make: I am entering the world of Dinotopia to write short stories and chapter books, not participate in RPs, which tend to lack coherency by their very nature. I hold nothing against RPs except their tendency toward illogical development and occasional plummet into chaos. Therein lay the "challenge" of RPing. I might be up to that challenge - maybe - though I would likely feel confined and parts of my imagination stunted.

Guardedly yours,
Skyler the SOT

P.S. If I express myself badly or have offended anyone in what I have "said" above, I am deeply sorry and very regretful. And I freely admit to being a bundled mass of contradictions.

Question to all: How long does it usually take you to put up a post in an RP thread? I'm sure you all are careful to be logical, closely reactive to the other characters and as descriptively correct as possible, so please factor "good quality" into your estimate.

And one other thing. RPers here at Dinotopia RP have bios up for at least one character; these bios are detailed in some cases. I point out that inclusion of your personal character(s) into any given RP might mean belying the facts you have given about them in their bio. If spontaneity is the key to RPing, then I fail to see that it is truly in the spirit of the thing to establish much more than a name, age, species, general location and deep background history for a character. Shouldn't a character's personality be developed within an RP? Then the bio become more detailed?

[Anemone]

Hey, no sweat. If you want to write fanfictions and stuff, go to the Temple of Polemic. Here's the link:

templeofpolemic.proboards42.com/index.cgi

Edit: Never mind. I see that you're already a member. ;D

[Dakota]

Wow... Uhh ok. I'm confused

However, is there anything wrong with submitting a basic plot outline with an RP's "origin post" so as to give the other contributing posters a general direction to go in? Why couldn't there be a new kind/style of RPing? Is the concept of a, say, "RP Director" too wild and wacky? Why not do short RPs that can be published as stories after their completion?

Yes. That is allowed. A basic plot is appriciated in the origin post.

And one other thing. RPers here at Dinotopia RP have bios up for at least one character; these bios are detailed in some cases. I point out that inclusion of your personal character(s) into any given RP might mean belying the facts you have given about them in their bio. If spontaneity is the key to RPing, then I fail to see that it is truly in the spirit of the thing to establish much more than a name, age, species, general location and deep background history for a character. Shouldn't a character's personality be developed within an RP? Then the bio become more detailed?

You can add anything to your intro post that isn't covered in the required fields. BIO, personallity, etc.

I think you are looking for fanfiction, but we could realy use
you here to coach us all along LOL
Dinotopian RP is a new site so we don't have much activeness.

[Barry the Baryonyx]

P.S. If I express myself badly or have offended anyone in what I have "said" above, I am deeply sorry and very regretful. And I freely admit to being a bundled mass of contradictions.

In a way I was offended. IMO, it sounded you were trying
to take over or something like that. Like we are not good enough for ya.

Question to all: How long does it usually take you to put up a post in an RP thread? I'm sure you all are careful to be logical, closely reactive to the other characters and as descriptively correct as possible, so please factor "good quality" into your estimate.

That depends a number of things. How busy we are with RL issues.
Some people may not have computer at that time.
There are people from different timezones. etc.

And one other thing. RPers here at Dinotopia RP have bios up for at least one character; these bios are detailed in some cases. I point out that inclusion of your personal character(s) into any given RP might mean belying the facts you have given about them in their bio. If spontaneity is the key to RPing, then I fail to see that it is truly in the spirit of the thing to establish much more than a name, age, species, general location and deep background history for a character. Shouldn't a character's personality be developed within an RP? Then the bio become more detailed?

What wrong with my bio? I don't need to go in to detail to have a good bio. As I RP, I try to stay away from the intense drama scenes (Like the mushie and the fighting scenes). I usually wait for a scene with intense drama to pass before
I get back in to the RP. I'm for one not for it.


— The Hyperactive Dragonlord

P.S. Sometime I go offa the deep end when I get hotheaded and say stupid things. It's all part of my disorder I have. And I'm sorry
if anything I said here has offended anyone here.
I'm also sorry that I got a little heated in this thread too.

[seekeroftales]

dwaggie said:

In a way I was offended. IMO, it sounded you were trying to take over or something like that. Like we are not good enough for ya.

It wasn't just your imagination. I am a real stinker, bossy, prideful and more than a little stupid. However, I admit it. I came here for help and to work with others. The thing that gets me is my imagination; I constantly get ideas(which is probably normal) and I would like to share them with the world. Sometimes, points of what I perceive to be "illogical development" jump out at me and I can't let them easily rest. Usually I don't. Is there anything wrong with my pointing out to people what I think are discrepancies? Privately if you prefer . . .

What wrong with my bio? I don't need to go in to detail to have a good bio. As I RP, I try to stay away from the intense drama scenes (Like the mushie and the fighting scenes). I usually wait for a scene with intense drama to pass before I get back in to the RP. I'm for one not for it.

There is nothing wrong with your bio; it is your business and none of mine if you do not want it to be. I've got plenty of work to do on my own characters. A good character is almost constantly "becoming", never truly finished or perfected.

As far as skipping parts you don't feel comfortable about, more power to you.

P.S. Sometime I go offa the deep end when I get hotheaded and say stupid things. It's all part of my disorder I have. And I'm sorry
if anything I said here has offended anyone here.
I'm also sorry that I got a little heated in this thread too.

I can't bring myself to hold anything you say against you, Dwaggie. I am thrilled to see any facets of your personality which shine through in the things you "say" in your posts. It makes you real to me.

[Marc LeSinge]

i think skyler has some good ideas there... RPs are meant to be spontaneous to a degree, but some level of direction is necessary if the end product is to be readable, sensible, and in keeping with the chosen setting. I have seen RPs in the past run along quite happily and readably until one character starts doing something another one doesn't like and it turns into a massive argument, a la "bob whips out a gun and shoots ted dead" "but then ted turns out to have magical powers and lives anyway, shooting bob in a similar fashion". All writing skill goes completely out of the window, and the story becomes amateurish and ridiculous.
Some planning is a good idea, as is trying to have topics where we can discuss layouts of settlements and their cultures, to make the stories not only readable, but entertaining, realistic, believable, and to have continuity and agreement between different threads.
This could involve creation of artwork for a thread, such as village plans etc., and creation of descriptive literature laying out the law. A Wiki would be a good development, as a resource editable by anyone to develop a mutually agreed version of Dinotopia for use in the RPs and fanfics. I can see this site developing into something big.
As for a 'time period', as was brought up in another post, this could be stated at the beginins of a thread, as well as the name of the thread the story continues from, after a change of setting. As far as i'm concerned, a short plot summary wouldn't go amiss at the start of a thread, and if it gets changed slightly along the way--or even a lot--it doesn't really matter. It could help people decide whether they want to join or not if they can't yet see where the story is going.
yippee...organisation...

yours fishfully,
Dom (MArc)

[Anemone]

Yeah, I would say that makes sense. It would certainly help to detter the people who would destroy role-plays as such (the infamous god-modder complex), and it would help if you were stuck for an idea.

I think a wiki seems the smartest choice, rather than trying to organize this as a thread on the forum here. Anyone else have ideas?

[seekeroftales]

Lo All;

I am quite sure a "Pool Of Knowledge" would take up more than one thread for reasons of organisation. However, if a "wiki" is fairly easy to manage and a popular medium, then it gets my vote. I don't have home internet, so I won't be able to contribute as often as I might like to, but you can count on me for some deep-thinking questions!

Good to know you are a planner, Marc! Welcome and success to you!

~Skyler

[Marc LeSinge]

i'll go and set one up, post the main map, get us started... it shouldn't be too difficult!

[seekeroftales]

Just . . . like . . . that? If you get this thing rolling so soon, you get my vote for Admin, Marc!

I had no idea Wiki's were so easy.

[Marc LeSinge]

they take a lot of space
and they aren't exactly...easy...
i was being a little dismissive. but i might have it up and running this evening, if there aren't too many bugs. Watch this space!!

[seekeroftales]

Sorry, Marc. I'm off the 'net for the weekend. But my eyes are here come Tuesday or Wednesday!

[Marc LeSinge]

it gives me smething to do anyhoo...i'm not back to school until the fourth.

[Barry the Baryonyx]

I don't' know what yer planning, but it sure sounds great. I can't wait to see what ya come up with.

— The Hyperactive Dragonlord

[Marc LeSinge]

The new wiki won't be up and running for at least 12 days due to the Christmas holidays...isn't that always the way? At least it's free. There should be a temporary one at scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/WikiDinotopia if it works okay. You can add articles to that and i'll transfer them when the main wiki comes online.

[Barry the Baryonyx]

Though I never ever use the wiki when I RP, I just RP whatever
is on my mind at the time and try to make it at least make sense.
If I ever need help with something I either ask or read everyone
else's RPs to get an idea.


— The Hyperactive Dragonlord