Things it is generally wise to avoid in RP

This page was imported from a forum post dated July 27, 2014 in the category Chatterbox by Dylan Locke. Its content is likely to be out of date!

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Sun, 07/27/2014 - 22:47

A brief glimpse into sure fire ways to kill your rp :3

Howdy folks! First of all, a quick disclaimer.

I am not posting this into response about things I have seen here or else where in particular but I am posting this as a general 'Tips on things to avoid doing' that will crop up from time to time in any rp, be it muck, mush, mux, or even forum chat.

It's a big scary world of rp sites out there and each one has it's own set's of unspoken rules and laws. This is meant for any new or inexperienced players who might not know these things. For those experienced (And sometimes scarred XD) with rp then feel free to comment, post your own tips I failed to mention, or even completely disagree.

The following things are both ic and ooc habits that make other players either cringe, and sometimes down right leave a muck. First we will list the problem, then ways to fix it.

First up:

That's not Cannon! D:

Problem:

Players Fox and Wolf are sneaking through Castle McGuffin to raid the cellar's pantry. To get in they toss a few rocks off to the side to distract the guards outside the pantry and sneak in. Several RL hours of RP pass by when another player steps in and asks, "Wussup?" He finds out the situation and reacts by shouting, "What? No! The guard's here are not that dumb! You would have never have gotten past the gate!"

This is just a quick summery of the problem, which is an over reaction to what might very well be a valid point, but in the end drives a wedge between players because of the tone the message is delivered in. There have been mu's I played on where I was several weeks into an rp with other players when people not in that rp came online and told us that what we were playing would not work because of a hang up on some minor detail...so we should do it again.

To this day I have a bad taste going onto that site.

Solution

Begin to, Calmly, reason with the players who may be new and not know better, the point you are trying to make. The player here could say, "Oh! Neat. So where did the guards go after they found out it was a distraction?"

OR

Let the issue slide. Getting hung up on the minor details tends to stifle rp and makes it harder to convince others to pay attention to major details because all they remember is how you jumped onto their case all that time ago.

And in the end, none of this actually exists so there is very little reason to get too upset about it.

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Messing with other peoples stuff

Problem

Players Fox and Wolf are sneaking through Castle McGuffin to raid the cellar's pantry. To get in they toss a few rocks off to the side to distract the guards outside the pantry and sneak in. Several RL hours of RP pass by when another player steps in and asks, "Wussup?" He finds out the situation and reacts by shouting, "What? No! The guard's here are not that dumb! You would have never have gotten past the gate!"

Now we get to see the problem from the other side of the river, so to speak. In a nut shell this problem arises from lack of information or when players start to spoof things outside their permission and power. Yes, I have had people spoof my characters, sometimes right in front of me. Sometimes I even allowed it before and after seeing the person do this. I am though, not most people. Most people react very poorly when you sneak into their fortress, spoof their characters, speak for you when you are not there, and etc because it throws a wrench into the story lines they have running, forcing them to either add your antics to their plot lines or being mean and ignoring it.

Solution

Ask questions.

If nothing else, knowing what you could or could not do icly will greatly enhance your story, making it more believable.

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'Stitching (Self made term)

Problem

You, the lone wandering warrior meet your long lost brother...that you never had.

This is what happens when another player decides to add themselves or to your background or edit events in your history with out consulting you first.

Solution

Again, ask permission. I've actually seen a few cases where this works out very well, especially when you need to flush npcs together to form a story. It's a hard concept to understand here with out a dedicated Background section, but trust me, in games where you spend weeks getting an alt application into a game, this is NOT something you want to do.

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Emotional Involvement

Problem

You have become so emotionally involved with a story that you refuse to let status quo change.

This one is a little harder to explain unless you have seen it in action. The only way I can think to explain it here, in Redwall context is that the player becomes...unhinged...when presented with something disrupts status quo...or what is 'normal' in the muck. They react poorly to seeing an alt turn evil, or something changes in structure of the ic organization they are with.

Here is a quick test, how would you react if Ferreval attacked Redwall? Or what if Salamandarstron was ruled by an Evil Badger? Most people will point out all the reasons that would not work, someone too emotionally involved in the game would do so while snarling and sending insults my way

Solution

Take a break from the game, relax, and realize that change is good. Change is what keeps us from running the same plots over and over again. Change brings new plots and new ideas. Change is good.

And yes, before anyone asks, I have signs posted around all my own ic rooms giving permission to burn my cities down if needed, they just should ask permission first so I know how to react to it and to not mess with things owned by other players in my areas. And no, I don't expect others to adopt the same, 'anything goes' mentality when it comes to the ic towns and buildings others own :3

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One Shot KO

Problem

GM: A fox ninja appears before Steve the Squirrel! He draws his katana and makes a flurry of sword movements in the air.

Steve the Squirrel stabs the fox in the face.

GM: -.-

Problem

A player can only slaughter so many minions before the action becomes...dull. So the gm pulls out a boss fight themed npc, someone who is big and bad and bound to give the player a challenge...and they get killed almost imminently.

Solution

Add some flare to your stories and let the minions put up a more decent fight. Continue fight scene posts to more than one or two posts with the same opponent.

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Failure to Launch

We have all been here. You have an epic story you want to start, you just need people to run it. But the people never show up or are never available. So your idea just sits on the shelf for a months, even years.

I've been here many times. Else muck I decided to get creative and have an icly reason why my foxy story teller was gone for so many weeks. I decided to have him kidnapped and forced into slave labor at a mine! I just needed a party together to run the story because it had all these really cool dangers to over come, sneaking into the mine, out witting legions of guards, even had robot tanks and a guardian monster bot at the bottom of the mine.

Rp slowed down on the site and no one was available...for five months, to run that plot. Yes, I waited five whole months to use that alt until I finally broke down, grabbed only one player and ran the plot with some of my other alts to help him out.

One of the funnest rp's I have ever done.

So the lesson learned? If you have an idea you want to do, strike while the iron is hot. Ask around for help and just /do/ it.

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Tweeking

Problem:

Players know more icly about events than they can actually justify. This generally flairs up when characters begin telling others about events they were not part of, instantly able to spot villains no matter even when pretending to be someone else, or know the location of their secret base.

Solution

From the players standpoint your character should only know information that they have rped. Unless the event is so widely known that it can be justified hearing about it through the grape vine then your alt wouldn't know about it. If a little bird told you then that little bird should have been role played in the scene ^^

From a GM's stand point, or the player pushing the story forward, quite simply don't tell people what you are going to do (unless it requires) permission. Plot twists are better when you don't see them coming.

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Twitch Posing

Yet another self made term since I can't remember the technical term to describe this. It is named after Twitch Shot, or Bush Shot. Hunting terms people use to describe hunters who hear a rustling noise off to the bushes to their left and instantly fire at it with out confirming if it is in fact an animal...or fellow hunter.

This is something that you will encounter on all rp sites across the internet. A group of people are rping together when a third appears in the room and poses in with out finding out what the scene is first. There are rooms on the muck where this is allowed, but even then it is wise to find out what the scene is like so you don't accidentally pose your character into the middle of a fight scene...or worse find out that the group icly left the room and your character just posed into an empty building.

Another similar problem related to this is when a player will leap into rp and save the hero from an impending doom. Ironically this is an actual clishe and TV Trope, but not something players will always appreciate.

The best way to avoid players doing this to you is simply going into private status in a room with little traffic. But since not every mu allows you to do that it is much easier to solve if players ask for permission to join first...think of it like looking where you are going before you leap.

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There are so, so many more things to avoid in rp, but I think this is enough for the moment. This topic isn't meant to downgrade or berate others, but rather encourage them to find creative ways around problems we all face from time to time.

So forum goers, any ideas you want to post here? Also, please be tactfull and not mention details about actual events (Like I did above), so as not to offend any parties involved.

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