Experiences GMs of RPN, what are some things that bug you about running a Group RP?

[Edric Blight]

Title says it all. Because I’m curious, GMs of RPN, what are some common things you notice or things just plain bug you about GMing and organizing a group RP? From the players, from the common tropes you see that just irk you, what makes you want to rip your hair out sometimes or even just makes your eye twitch a little in anger?

And please, keep it relatively civilized so we don’t get locked if it comes to that lol.

 

[Jannah]

I don't GM often, but from the few times I have tried to I'll say that trying to shoehorn in characters that don't really fit my own vision for the lore is definitely an annoyance. It's my RP so I have a right to reject characters. I also have a right to not have to change my own lore to fit your vision. If you have a different vision then make your own RP. For example, in a Harry Potter RP I had this stuckup pureblood family that was looking for members. They were already fully developed and everything, but this one player wanted to make my character's brother a parselmouth despite parseltongue not being in the family's lore anywhere at all.

Another obvious annoyance is overpowered characters and everyone wanting their own characters to "one up" everyone else's. Fortunately that hasn't really been a common occurrence. In a related vein, every character being ex-military or ex-law enforcement in a post-apocalyptic RP.

 

[nerdy tangents]

It's been a decade or so but the thing that used to piss me off is people who wanted to be the exception. I have a specific rule that says "you have to write one paragraph per post." They immediately are like "oh I don't know if I can do a paragraph." Or if I say you have to write a paragraph for each part of the CS. "Oh I just wanted to do this bullet list instead."

And on and on it goes. It would make me so pissed cuz it's like if I have specifically stated something in the rules it's for a reason. You don't get to be a special snowflake and not follow said rules because you don't feel like it.

 

[Jannah]

It's been a decade or so but the thing that used to piss me off is people who wanted to be the exception. I have a specific rule that says "you have to write one paragraph per post." They immediately are like "oh I don't know if I can do a paragraph." Or if I say you have to write a paragraph for each part of the CS. "Oh I just wanted to do this bullet list instead."

And on and on it goes. It would make me so pissed cuz it's like if I have specifically stated something in the rules it's for a reason. You don't get to be a special snowflake and not follow said rules because you don't feel like it.

Of course if they can't follow the basic literary requirements for the RP then they should also ask themselves if that particular RP is a good fit for them.

 

[Eres_]

I've hosted rps on another platform before, but the main thing that bothered me was when in the description, the rules would clearly say "Literate or above." Yet, people would still join and proceed to write one or two sentences.

After that, we had to make sending in roleplay samples as a requirement to join the roleplay. But we'd still have people trying to argue with us about our definitions of each literacy.

 

[nerdy tangents]

I've hosted rps on another platform before, but the main thing that bothered me was when in the description, the rules would clearly say "Literate or above." Yet, people would still join and proceed to write one or two sentences.

After that, we had to make sending in roleplay samples as a requirement to join the roleplay. But we'd still have people trying to argue with us about our definitions of each literacy.

lol oh yeah it got so bad we had people send in specific applications before even taking their character. They had to give us a roleplay sample, their hours of availability, and which character they wanted to try to write for. Cuz we would get folks who couldn't make either the time requirements (please post once a week) or the writing requirements (please post one paragraph). It got a bit convoluted and ultimately kinda burnt me out on Groups.

 

[Edric Blight]

What I notice is a lot of people make a time commitment when they know full well they can’t actively participate in the RP.

I get being busy but if you’re busy, you’re busy. Don’t make a time commitment when you know you can’t uphold it. Never makes sense to me why people take up RPs but then don’t have the time for it.

 

[Jannah]

What I notice is a lot of people make a time commitment when they know full well they can’t actively participate in the RP.

I get being busy but if you’re busy, you’re busy. Don’t make a time commitment when you know you can’t uphold it. Never makes sense to me why people take up RPs but then don’t have the time for it.

Sometimes it's just a matter of people being available, but then suddenly getting busy after signing up for the RP. I do agree with you otherwise, though.

 

[Edric Blight]

Sometimes it's just a matter of people being available, but then suddenly getting busy after signing up for the RP. I do agree with you otherwise, though.

No I get things come up it’s just that like a ton of people say “yes I’m interested,” get one post up, then disappear and/or say they’re busy.

Like again, that’s totally ok being busy. I get it- I get busy too. That’s just life. But some people just see an idea they like and go boom, I want in, but then totally forget they’ve got a busy life.

So my point is, please people, if you know you’re a busy person, don’t make a time commitment or a commitment to an RP you know you can’t reliably get like one or two posts out for a week or whatever the GM may require from you.

 

[nerdy tangents]

In fairness way back in the dinosaur days it was rarely that the person got busy and left. It was actually usually the opposite, it would be two people who posted like five page of replies between them while the rest of the group was busy with IRL things. So the hours of availability were as much to prevent folks from over posting as they were to prevent them from under posting. As I would be like okay if you are available all these days that's great, but we're only posting on this one particular day that everyone is available.

 

[Edric Blight]

In fairness way back in the dinosaur days it was rarely that the person got busy and left. It was actually usually the opposite, it would be two people who posted like five page of replies between them while the rest of the group was busy with IRL things. So the hours of availability were as much to prevent folks from over posting as they were to prevent them from under posting. As I would be like okay if you are available all these days that's great, but we're only posting on this one particular day that everyone is available.

Ah that’s interesting. I guess I’m a little bit of a newbie when it comes to how RPs work.

 

[Eres_]

lol oh yeah it got so bad we had people send in specific applications before even taking their character. They had to give us a roleplay sample, their hours of availability, and which character they wanted to try to write for. Cuz we would get folks who couldn't make either the time requirements (please post once a week) or the writing requirements (please post one paragraph). It got a bit convoluted and ultimately kinda burnt me out on Groups.

Same here. It's why I rarely do group rps nowadays, but I'd love to start again. Although since I'm a really busy person I'd have to find others who are willing to wait long periods of time between each response lol.

 

[Edric Blight]

I also rarely do group RPs but for opposite reasons I guess. I feel like they always die out so quickly.

 

[Jannah]

Same here. It's why I rarely do group rps nowadays, but I'd love to start again. Although since I'm a really busy person I'd have to find others who are willing to wait long periods of time between each response lol.

I'm a slow poster myself, mostly due to mental illness making my muse finicky, so I always get left behind in group RP's. Because of that I don't do too many of them.

 

[Edric Blight]

I’m more of a 1 x 1 fan myself but I was kinda wondering some of the common annoyances GMs ran into with group settings.

 

[Scoundrel]

People trying to skirt around the rules of the roleplay.

I mean, at least ask why the rule exist first before you try and find some kind of loophole.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Ah I remember the anti-social characters they were fun, cuz theoretically the person would follow all the listed rules. It’s just their character would sit like a bump on a log doing nothing

So it was always kinda difficult to say something without coming across as nitpicky or demanding.

 

[Walliver]

When people give the most vague, complicated descriptions of what their character can do. I ran a superhero rp at one point, and this one player was like “oh yeah, my character can control glass/silicate particles”. And I said, “ok, sounds a little OP, but I’ll allow it.”

Fast forward a couple of days, I walk in on an argument in the OOC between the player and one of my co-GMs (who I love very much and relied on to give me perspective). Turns out, the character couldn’t die because their entire body was made out of silicate particles, which they could reshape and summon? It was strange, and we ended up talking about it for about half an hour just to get things resolved.

TLDR-
Explain things thoroughly to GMs when you’re talking about your character. I have lost several players because they just didn’t talk to me before character creation.

 

[Edric Blight]

"I just want to kill stuff" characters.

Lol I can’t stand the edgy “I’m here to be edgy and kill people,” characters.

 

[Jannah]

When people give the most vague, complicated descriptions of what their character can do. I ran a superhero rp at one point, and this one player was like “oh yeah, my character can control glass/silicate particles”. And I said, “ok, sounds a little OP, but I’ll allow it.”

Fast forward a couple of days, I walk in on an argument in the OOC between the player and one of my co-GMs (who I love very much and relied on to give me perspective). Turns out, the character couldn’t die because their entire body was made out of silicate particles, which they could reshape and summon? It was strange, and we ended up talking about it for about half an hour just to get things resolved.

TLDR-
Explain things thoroughly to GMs when you’re talking about your character. I have lost several players because they just didn’t talk to me before character creation.

Stuff like this is exactly why I rarely join RP's that involve superpowers. If the GM is strict and heavily scrutinizes every application then I may consider it, but otherwise no.

 

[Steve Jobs]

The hardest thing as a GM is corralling missing players and finding people to replace spots if someone has to leave/ditches. Trope wise, it's characters with precognition or time travel b/c of how much communication it requires between player and GM. It's a lot of planning on my end only to risk them ghosting the play.

 

[GojiBean]

Honestly, nothing bothers me about running a group RP.

At the end of the day the responsibilities of keeping everyone engaged, keeping up communication, and driving the RP forward are all mine to bear. And I love those responsibilities. Maybe I'm weird. Lol.

If I had a gripe about any aspect of running a group RP it's that, in my own experience, they die much, much faster than 1x1's. And usually for the same reason: life getting in the way.

It's not something we can control. But it still bugs me that it's the single most common reason for the death of good RP ideas. At least in the short term. The ideas can always be revived later. But still, it's frustrating.

Again, though, we can't control it... But it still bugs me. XD

Cheers!

 

[Beckoncall]

I had one bad experience where somebody got upset, wanted to leave the RP (that's fine) but wanted to delete all their involvement/interaction when they did leave so it broke continuities and made certain things a bit of a mess for a while. There is also an issue with group RPs that you have to worry about group chemistry. There are people on this site I *ADORE* RPing with, but I can't RP with all of them (of course out of practicality) but more specifically certain folks just don't mix well with other folks.

I am also really big on giving second chances. People who need/want a third chance really bother me.

 

[Jannah]

OMG the ex-cop ex-soldier trope is SO mutherfukin' OVERDONE! I hate it.

Said characters are usually pretty over-powered too.

 

[Murdergurl]

Said characters are usually pretty over-powered too.

Captain Killjoy is what I would refer to this cliche character type as. They were usually experts in hand to hand combat AND a sniper, AND knew explosive ordnance, and a slew of other specialty skills.