Creating Successful RolePlays: A Guide

[LordSaladin]

Introduction

Firstly, let me point out that there is no guaranteed formula for creating a successful roleplay. There's no secret recipe that will make people want to join your game, but there are a few pointers that will certainly put you on better footing. That is what I'll take a look at in this guide.

So, what makes a successful roleplay? I guess this is different for each person, but I'm sure the three things that are consistently needed for success are:

*The roleplay attracts the required number of players.
*The roleplay lasts until the end of the story.
*The story keeps moving at a steady pace, and doesn't 'die out.'

The pointers we'll be looking at today will certainly help towards reaching each of the goals above. So, let's get on with it...

The Setting/RolePlay Introduction

This is the part where you essentially 'sell' your roleplay idea to your audience. You give an outline of the story, the setting, the background, and what you expect from other players in your game. This is perhaps the most crucial part of making a roleplay, as it sets the foundation for rest of it. What you include here will essentially determine whether people will be interested or not. What key points do you need to include here?

Background Story/Setting

Detail what has led up to where your roleplay starts, and the situation in that setting when the roleplay begins. Your background story may only cover recent months, or may detail a history spanning centuries. This is entirely up to you, but you need to consider that too much information can be daunting to your audience. At the same time, not enough information will give the impression that you haven't given the story much thought. Both of which can have a negative effect. You will need to experiment here, as there is no sure-fire amount to include.

While your background story adds depth to the roleplay, the current setting is what will draw your audience in. It will make them want to join the roleplay. There are a few areas that need attention when writing this section:

Characters

Generally speaking, people want to make their own characters, so best practice is not to include a list of pre-made characters. Sure, include specific roles that need to be filled, for example, doctor, captain, security staff, etc.

Your setting needs to be such that when people read it, they will be able to readily think of characters they could make. Or characters they already have that would be perfect for your roleplay. Doing this will make them interested.

Ask yourself: What sorts of characters will people see as being available? Is it easy to think of characters that will fit into the world I've created? Will people want to play these characters? How will my character interact with others? These are the questions that people will be asking, even if subconsciously, when reading your setting. A slew of positive answers to these questions will result in them being interested, and subsequently they will join your roleplay.

Elements of Conflict

Conflict is what drives any story. It isn't just fighting, or war, or arguing. Conflict can be a many great number of things. Some of the less obvious areas that can be counted as conflict are: Relationships, morals, ideals, beliefs. Conflict can be internal as well as external. Whichever way you look at it, all stories need some conflict.

You need to be sure that areas for conflict can be easily seen in your setting. Sometimes this can be easier said than done, but try and ask yourself a series of questions again: What conflicts can I see here? How will these conflicts affect characters? In what way will the story be driven by these conflicts? Once again, these are the questions people will be asking themselves. Take these into account, and tailor for them.

Story

Remember that roleplaying is a collaborative art. This means that you are working together with a group of people to write a story. The people who you want to join your roleplay will also want to write a story. They will look at your setting and ask themselves what stories can be drawn out for their character. How can their character grow as the roleplay goes on? Again, take this into consideration.


You need not specifically cover these points when you are describing your setting, but the setting should be such that the answers to the questions will be there for all to see. Keep practising, as it's very much a trial-and-error exercise.

The Goal of the RolePlay

This links in directly to the story. What is the final goal? Where will the roleplay end? This shows that you have direction, and lets people know what to be aiming for. Whether it be rescuing the princess, finding that special amulet, or maybe even conquering the last solar system in the galaxy to gain universal peace, you and your players should know where the roleplay wants to end up.

People want to write a story, that is correct. But most stories need a plan beforehand, and as the creator of the roleplay, that plan is your job. What you need to ask yourself, however, is do you simply give an end-point, or also give several 'checkpoints' along the way? Or, do you plan the checkpoints but not disclose them? That is up to you, and something we will cover shortly.

The Rules and Stipulations

You'll have certain rules you will want your roleplayers to abide by. Let them know this. If it is just the basic roleplay etiquette, that's fine, but tell them anyway. If you want specific rules about post size, let people know. This way, people will know what is expected of them.

Stipulations are a little different than rules, though are often put in the same section (which is fine, by the way). These are restrictions. Most often, on the characters a player can have. Must they be of a certain race? Must there be an even spread of characters from each organisation? Can characters not be above a certain rank? All these things limit what your players can do. But, be sure to make it clear, people will appreciate it and if you hooked their interest in the background/setting, they will just make adjustments.

That and people like to be guided, to know what is expected of them. You will need to find the correct balance, and may even find it differs from each RP. That's fine. Trial and error, remember.

Advertising Your RolePlay

Right, so you've made your fantastically awesome roleplay of epicness. The only thing is, people won't know about it unless it is pointed out to them. Let them know it exists. You can use the chat as a tool for advertising, or you can post an interest check and remember, you could always have an advertisement for your roleplay, if you're willing to pay a small fee.

But, remember a few things when you advertise/market your RP:

*Do NOT spam. You should not flood a place with links to your roleplay under any circumstances. Not only is spamming nearly always against site rules, it's VERY annoying. It will only result in people wanting nothing to do with your roleplay, and often you as a person too.
*Your roleplay won't be everyone's cup of tea. So don't be offended if people say they won't be joining.
*Gauge potential interest by asking questions not specific to your roleplay. Things like, "So, what roleplays do you guys like doing?" If people express an interest in the same sort of RP as yours, let them know about it.
*Generally, treat others as you would like to be treated. What do you hate about people who advertise RPs? Don't do those things. Good RP advertisers, in your opinion, do x, y and z? Do those.

Starting Your RolePlay

After all your hard work, you've finally got enough people to start your roleplay. What is best practice here? Let's take a look...

*Be sure that people are aware that the roleplay has started. In your OOC thread, don't just edit the first post to include a link. Make a new post that tells people the RP has started, and include a link to the IC thread.
*Your introductory post should open up the playing field for everyone else. Make sure that, from your first IC post, people will be able to start writing themselves.
*You've already explained the background and overall setting. You don't need to explain it all again. That doesn't mean you can't start with backstory, mind. Just keep things new and fresh. Reading the same thing over and over is boring.
*Set the standard. You wrote various rules and stipulations, so make sure you adhere to them. Lead by example.

Continuing Your RolePlay

Once a roleplay has started, very often people find it dies out. This is because, even though your roleplay has started, you still need to work at making it a success. There are a few basic reasons why this can happen. We'll take a look at those, and the solution/prevention of these problems.

Pace

Posting Speed

People will either post too frequently, or not frequently enough. You need to find what is the happy medium for post speed. Ask your players. Find out how often they are able to post. If the majority of people can only make one post a day, but a couple or three players are making five or six, you'll find that the 'slower' posters aren't able to keep up. This makes them lose interest. They'll have no choice but to drop out of the game. To solve this, add a new stipulation about how often each player can post. Be sure to let people know, though. And remember, it's better to lose the minority than the majority.

Plot Development

Sometimes, the story can move too slowly, or even too quickly. If it's moving too slowly, people will lose interest. Too quickly, and people may not be able to keep up with what is happening. It is your job, as the Game Master (creator if the roleplay) to maintain the pace of the story. Just remember that, often, the beginning of the story will be slower, as players introduce their characters and meet up with others. That's to be expected. But, make sure that the story keeps moving steadily.

Loss Of Direction

Sometimes, people can lose direction, and the roleplay begins to stagnate. It goes nowhere, people lose ideas of what to do, and inevitably drop out because they're bored. We mentioned earlier about plot goals, and 'checkpoints.' This is where they help. If you have a map of sorts, giving directions of where the story needs to go, it can keep your players focused. You do also run the risk of them moving too quickly towards the checkpoints, of them almost 'forcing' the story in that direction. A story needs to grow organically, not be forced.

So, you can either make them aware of the 'checkpoints,' or just keep a note of them for yourself. Maybe even a mix. If you choose not to divulge al the checkpoints, make sure you are the one who drives the story so you can reach them. Again, take note of organic story growth. It needs to be natural.

It is your job to maintain direction in the RP. This does take pretty strong writing, so if you feel you lack this, you can ask someone else to help you. Also bear in mind, you'll never gain this skill unless you keep trying.

Real Life

Things in real life can stop people from posting, or having enough time to post. En masse, this can be the downfall of your roleplay. A perfect example is exam time. People are spending a lot of time studying and preparing for exams, their time is, quite rightly, focused elsewhere. Understand this will happen. To solve the problem, put the roleplay on hold. Start it up again once the exams are over. People may well have forgotten about the roleplay, don't be offended, just drop them a PM or something to remind them it will be starting up again.

Note: There can be other problems, but these seem to be the most prevalent.

My RolePlay Died, I Started It Again

Okay, so it didn't work out. That can happen to the best of us. It's no biggy. Just keep trying to fine tune your approach. Often, people will like their ideas so much, they want to try again with the same setting/story. Again, this is fine. Just consider the following:

*Don't advertise it, or even name the thread as 'restarted.' This lets people know the roleplay ran before. They will automatically think it failed so wasn't very good. This will put them off joining without even looking at the RP.
*Do you want to start from the beginning again, or can you incorporate some of the stuff that happened? A decision entirely up to you. But you need to consider that if you get some of the same people back, they may try to force the exact same story as last time. This can be both good and bad.
*Don't just repost the same thread. Look at your original RP introduction, evaluate it. What could you have done better? What should you not have done? Make adjustments as necessary.
*Be sure you want to start it again. If you get it started, then find you've lost interest, you're letting down the people who joined.

In Conclusion

I'll refer back to my opening statement. There is no guaranteed formula for a successful RP. There are factors that you can't control, like other players etc. What you can do though is follow these best practices, and your success rate will improve. Remember to keep trying. Trial and Error. That is the only way you will find exactly what works for you and your target audience.

If ever, as always, you want to ask any questions, do so. The Mentors and other community members will always be willing to assist. And sometimes, it's best to ask people about your idea before you post it. Get some feedback from the people you want to join.

[Lamentations]

Nice guide for those who are looking to make a roleplay that will actually live. Thanks for the post.

[cretetts]

Very good guide. Great job.

[LunaticLorraine]

This is good :)

[Quitelovely487]

Do you think my roleplay will be sucessful? Theese are the rules and a tidbit of the plot...

Above is the picture of Prof. Landford's academy for the "gifted" (Its really the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital; it's been in the tv show House). This academy is home to Supernatural teens from all over the world. The academy helps its residents keep their powers secret and develop them so they can eventually use them for the greater good.

The vampire's purpose in this story is to be a mentor on strength and discipline for the "mutant"

Where you come in:
Your character will either be considered a mutant similar to something you would find in X-men I suppose, a vampire (Nothing campy! No sparkling or needing to be invited into places, but they can not pass certain forcefields and only some vampires are strong enough to go outside during the day), and last but not least you can be apart of the renegade which consists of all different types of evil creatures who kill without a care and need to be stopped. They can have up to three completely separate powers out of a plethora of powers to chose from and its completely up to you what powers you character will have regardless if they are a mutant, vampire, or member of the renegade.

Enjoy! <3
Need more information? Just Message me! Thankzz <3

Most important rule:
1. Yes their can be duplicate powers but the limit is two!
2. There are only three skeleton characters which are:
Milly
Milly is the 15 year old cousin of Ren and she is a major brat. She loves taunting Ren as much as possible. She has blonde hair and chocloate brown eyes.
Professor and| or Teacher
Runs school and|or gives out instructions.
Mr. Connor & Mrs. Marisol Hemsworth
Milly's parents and Ren's stuffy Aunt and Uncle


Please try your hardest to find a picture of who your character resembles or who you would want them to be portrayed by! If you can't find one I will send you options based on your description and if you don't like it then you will be allowed not to have a picture.
Rules
1. Don't go out of character unless necessary
1a. If you need to go out of character use parenthesis ex. (Insert out a character text here)
2. If you can't post because of some issue message me I am pretty understanding.
2a. Try to message me in a timely manner please.
3. Feel free to ask me any questions about the RP
4. OC's (Original Characters) are welcome seeing as this is an original story, but there are some spots that I made up that need to be filled as well. If no one fills them I will most likely play them.
5. If you must leave the RP please come up with a creative and intresting departure for your character ex. Death, Running away... etc.
Most important rule:
1. Yes their can be duplicate powers but the limit is two!
2. There are only three skeleton characters which are:
Milly
Milly is the 15 year old cousin of Ren and she is a major brat. She loves taunting Ren as much as possible. She has blonde hair and chocloate brown eyes. [Played by Me Unless someone else wants her]
Professor and| or Teacher
Runs school and|or gives out instructions.
Mr. Connor & Mrs. Marisol Hemsworth
Milly's parents and Ren's stuffy Aunt and Uncle

Please try your hardest to find a picture of who your character resembles or who you would want them to be portrayed by! If you can't find one I will send you options based on your description and if you don't like it then you will be allowed not to have a picture.

[LawOfTheLand]

This is not a place to receive critique on your role-play concept. Instead, this is more of a diagnostic check-list to see what tends to make good, successful RPs, as well as what to try to fix in case your RP fails.

If you want to receive feedback that badly, talk to potential players, or post in the Role Play Academy and ask that a Mentor look over it.

[Anonym0109]

I'm new and this has been helpful in reminding me of things I may have forgotten to include in my RP concepts. Thank you.

[AlexF]

Thanks so much for this! I have the beginnings of an idea for a game I'd like to start, but no real clue how to go about it, so this is a veeery useful guide. Cheers mate. :]

[Lightcaster]

Wow, nice guide. I've been a game master/Admin before and I can say that making a RP is a lot of hard work. After our RP "Died" my sister wrote her own guide. It's pretty good, and it points out a few things that most people tend to over look when writing guides. I would post the link but I don't think I'm allowed too... Right? If you want it PM me and I'll send you the link to the RP guide. In fact, I think she posted it in the RP directory up there at the top of the site. If you are planning to make a new role play, I would recommend reading both this guide and the one my sister made because both point things out that will help you in the long run.

Anyways, Nice job. This is a very helpful guide to those who are new to role playing.
Good luck to all you future Game masters out there who are reading this. Hope your role plays are successful.

[PulseTrick]

I'm going to bump this thread because honestly more people need to see it.

[TornZero]

Why is it not stickied?