Advice/Help Fantasy roleplay help/advice?

[Trappy]

Good day guys!
It's my first time using this Discussion, and I'd like to approach you guys with a question concerning a RP we've been running for some time now. It's a fantasy RP with quite a comprehensive lore written up in a sort of collaborative manner by us developers and the players. We're currently around page 24 and we're left with only a handful active players. The story so far had been a mix of travelling, character interactions and combat (mostly combat tho). Our players advance with like one post per 1-2 days, and most of the players who join in after our first patch usually leave after a month or so.
We're still amateurs at GMing, so I just wanted to know if we're doing something wrong, and can you perhaps give us some advices on how a story should be driven?
Though I think it is unlikely, but is this how RPs are just supposed to be, and we're supposed to be lucky to have a successful project?

Again, we are amateurs, so any constructive advices or suggestions you may have for us are much appreciated!

You can check out our RP here:
Fading Flame Interest Check (ALWAYS OPEN)
Here is one of the lore docs we have, written by the players and us:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sgxUPqNj8_jOb3vcZLB2O9zbOQoNqGOcKYOAIFlX4Gk/edit?usp=sharing

Again, thank you for any feedbacks! Have a great day guys!

 

[Idea]

First, hi Trappy. 'member me? Hope ya doing well

Secondly, while it's not entirely out of the GM's hand, there is still a MAJOR luck factor in keeping any particular RP alive. Statiscally speaking, from my experience, some 95% of roleplays at least die because:
*Player's schedules were too incompatible
*Players suddenly got busy/at some kind of health risk and stopped posting
*There was nothing to do and the GM suddenly vanished
and other similar reasons.

In order to players to sustain a long term roleplay at all, they need to be a sort of perfect melting pot that makes them compatible as players and people and helps keep each other hyped up for the roleplay. That melting pot also involves extremely good timing, in that players don't immediately start dropping like flies due to busy schedules , "lack of muse" and the like, long enough for the RP to be able to keep itself going even with a few members missing. A good group of players , both at an individual level but more importantly in a cooperative one, is half the way to a successful RP.

Don't get me wrong though: There are, no doubt about it, things you could have handled better as GMs. To think otherwise would've been simply arrogant. That said, I cannot myself point them out at the moment since I don't have the kind of time it would take me to go through a roleplay that's been going for over 24 pages on IC. There is also the fact that even wanting to I couldn't, because the majority of the OOC is on discord. From what I DID see, your interest check was fine, and your OOC did contain one instance where things were made a tad awkward, and given what kind of situation it was, it's possible you may have been a bit too imposing on your players to immediately understand things just because you understood them, but then again, I don't have enough info to confirm this is the case. Still, from what the majority of players said, it is mostly the fact that people inevitably get busy that got you, so the question that lays is are you skilled enough to integrating the player's slow return?


Well, good luck! Wish ya the best and happy RPing!

 

[Trappy]

Good day Idea! Of course I remember you We hope you're doing great as well.

Thank you for your reply! The culprits responsible for killing the RPs as you had listed match the symptoms our RP is experiencing now. If you don't mind, would you have any advices, from your experience, on properly timing events to advance the RP at a fast and productive rate? Would the problem lies in the traditional GM-sets-the-events-and-players-react method, or would there be some changes we need to undertake?

Secondly, how do you think newcomers to the RP should be handled?

Thank you again!

 

[Idea]

We hope you're doing great as well.

Oh how rude of me, forgot to greet the voices in your head too

Joking aside, yeah doing well, thanks for asking XD

If you don't mind, would you have any advices, from your experience, on properly timing events to advance the RP at a fast and productive rate?

Unfortunately this aspect is one I really struggle with myself, mostly because I seem to have a hard time keeping players going during down periods. So I'm hardly one to come for advise on this aspect. Most I can tell you is to try and read the room, act fast upon changes of mood and needs within the player base, so for instance don't hold off on throwing in some spice if players are starting to get bored, though avoid doing too many timeskips or players will end up frustrated. I know it's vague advise but for this question I'm afraid it's the bets I can do.

Would the problem lies in the traditional GM-sets-the-events-and-players-react method, or would there be some changes we need to undertake?

Well, the biggest problem is player mentality. People view roleplaying as a simple hobby, which is true but often that idea is taken too far. Roleplaying is expected to always be fun and not be much of a workload. People pile on RPs without thinking of long-term sustainability with their lives or what might happen if they get even slightly busier. People expect writing to be easy and rely too much on the muse. They think things being slow and boring means that the RP is slow and boring rather than it being the expectable slow scene. Etc etc.. The thing about mentality though, is that it's not an issue you can really solve at an individual level. So in the end of the day, how affected you are by it is really a matter of luck. It's this mentality that generates the need for that melting pot I talked about in my previous post.

Secondly, how do you think newcomers to the RP should be handled?

It depends on

-Who their characters would be
-How streamlined the adventure is

For instance, in an RP about a hand-picked special ops unit, it goes without saying you can't just have a new agent randomly pop out of nowhere. But if it's, say, an office, then a new player could reasonably be integrated as a new employee or a client.