Highschool RPs

[Kazu]

I think we've all seen them; infamous "highschool" roleplays, known quite well as generally being cringe-worthy, often being filled with inexperienced roleplayers. With some older roleplayers (including myself), highschool roleplays are one of their worst memories of their beginning years as well.


Despite all that, the highschool theme is still popular as ever. But, I don't think I've seen one that's ever been finished. They always die off someway or another, becoming barren and empty. Why's that?


Is it because there are too many people? Is it because someone loses interest and it slowly spreads through to the other members? Is it the plot? The pacing? Maybe it's a little bit of all?


For the past several weeks, I've been actually wanting to do a highschool roleplay. I haven't gone beyond the basis idea though because of my question. I don't want to see this roleplay die off - I don't think anyone who has been a GM does for their RPs. 


But because I have never seen a successful highschool RP, I don't know what to do right to make it work. I know there's a lot of other things to consider that could maybe answer this question, but it's to the point that I can't just push it aside for the moment to plan everything else.


So, what have you seen personally that have been a failure to a school-themed roleplay? What has worked?


Did the GM/co-GM plan things ahead of time?


Was there a goal for the students, and if so, what was it? To graduate, get jobs/get married/have a family, ect.?


What about in-class and out-of-class? Outside events? 


Was it the roleplayers and their characters that mainly drove the plot, or was there a main plot that the GM lead their members through?


It could be anything, as I'm open to all genres, it just has to be school-themed.


But, if you want something more specific - let's take for instance a highschool roleplay based around generic school animes - what are your experiences there?

 

[call me rae]

Well I am one of those rare few souls ( on this site at least ) that actively enjoys the high school roleplay genre. I rarely do it but that's because I am primarily a 1x1 roleplayer which makes the high school genre difficult to pull of. But that doesn't mean I have anything against the genre as a whole, some of my most fun in groups took place at some kind of school setting.


And the longest roleplay I was ever a part of ( we're talking at least three years running ) started off as a high school roleplay so you can certainly keep it going.


Now if you want to 'finish' the roleplay I recommend coming up with a basic outline of the arc of the story. What does the "ending" look like? What obsticles are in the way of your characters meeting that goal?


If you are just looking for a simple yearly journey than break it up into events. 


Example 


Beginning of the Year everyone coming back and meeting new/old friends ( first part of roleplay )


School Festival


School Play


Field Trips


Etc.


Depending on the type of school you are creating the events will take on different appearances but you should have at least four to six of them scattered throughout the year.


This will give you something to accomplish in small increments and also something to push the story along the over-all plot. 


Now also you need to set a time limit for each part of the roleplay. 



Example - Beginning of the Year meet and greet lasts like three weeks in real life, after that you move on. 


Now also I would recommend encouraging your players to also come up with events. Things for the characters to do that keep them engaged. 


But again make sure you have a specific time limit for each of these events.


And also get your players talking OOC. The more they are talking with each other and you the more invested they are in the roleplay.

 

[Grey]

I think you don't see it because most often the people who make highschool RPs are ill-equipped to see an RP through to the end.  I can only base that off the school RPs I've looked into out of curiosity or seen discussion threads soliciting advice for, though.


Rae is right - a defined plot is incredibly useful, even if it's just a series of specific beats or scenes to hit without much connective tissue.


School section here might be useful.




This should help you to structure a plot.




And this should help with the tricky task of GMing - there's a more comprehensive version in the tutorial section, too.






Then you need dedicated players.  The right players are the hardest part, honestly, and you have have to reboot a few times until you have a group that'll last.  Or you might get lucky.


In general I find joining RPs and making connections with other users really helps wth the longevity of an RP.  Rae is bang on about the importance of a lively OOC. 

 

[Lost Swordlance]

It's something really different from the classic roleplays (by classic I mean the good old pen and paper roleplays). As Grey and Rae said, the main issue with those is the inexperience of the GM's. I really think that starting with a classic, streamlined, roleplay is a good way to train yourself. (Example : The party are hunters and they must hunt X thing.)

I think I'm not the best to state on how to make a successful forum roleplay, but I do have quite a good experience with classic tabletop roleplay (D&D3.5, Call of Cthulu and more).

 

[Umbrie]

high school classes themselves aren't interesting. you want to focus on the interaction between the students. the friendships, the rivalries, the groups, stuff like that.  

 

[JustAlexandra]

I haven't read the other responses, so sorry if I'm being repetitive. 


I like highschool RP's, but I don't feel like they are really meant to have an ending. I am hosting one right now (Nightlight academy) that is mostly moderate to experiences RPer, I feel. No one liners and whatnot. I consider myself an experienced RPer as well. (I have RP'd before this site) 


The thing is, you never see just regular highschools, they usually have some supernatural buisness going on. And no one ever actually goes to class. It's more about character development. I can't imagine them ever getting to graduation, simply because that would take literally forever. 


If you find yourself interest in mine though, I'm actually going to have some stuff happen in mine haha. 

 

[Inner Power]

I haven't read the other responses, so sorry if I'm being repetitive. 


I like highschool RP's, but I don't feel like they are really meant to have an ending. I am hosting one right now (Nightlight academy) that is mostly moderate to experiences RPer, I feel. No one liners and whatnot. I consider myself an experienced RPer as well. (I have RP'd before this site) 


The thing is, you never see just regular highschools, they usually have some supernatural buisness going on. And no one ever actually goes to class. It's more about character development. I can't imagine them ever getting to graduation, simply because that would take literally forever. 


If you find yourself interest in mine though, I'm actually going to have some stuff happen in mine haha. 

I haven't roleplayed in one in years but yeah now that you mention it there's always something going on rather than the normal go to class bit lol.

 

[welian]

I really agree with @JustAlexandra - I don't feel that high school RPs are meant to have an ending, unless you're following one particular class over a period of time. Then, presumably, the RP ends when they graduate.


I've run two successful school RPs (here, Aegis, and another on Gaia), for a given definition of "successful", so here's my two cents.


So, what have you seen personally that have been a failure to a school-themed roleplay? What has worked?


A lack of direction is what kills all roleplays. Even a school RP needs to have the conflict/plot defined and laid out. This means you need to give your players a goal, unless you are intentionally setting up the RP to be a sandbox - and if you are, you should accept that it may die off from lack of interest, or pull away from the initial setting. That's just the way of roleplays. For Aegis, I have a very straightforward goal for my players: Your character is here to complete federally mandated superpower control training. You leave when you've proven you can control your powers for an extended period of time. This means that most of the characters have a common goal in the RP - they want to control their powers so that they don't have to take dumb boring classes anymore.


Did the GM/co-GM plan things ahead of time?


In my older school RP, a fantasy setting called Mystic Fountain, I had grand plans for an overarching plot involving evil cults and Shaolin Showdown-style races for various artifacts that would unleash some sort of Fountain of Youth kind of bullshit. I never laid out concrete steps to get there though, so the RP was often derailed by well-meaning players who wanted to tell their own stories. I rebooted that POS like, three times, and I never did get around to the actual plot.


In contrast, with Aegis, I've organized the story into loose arcs, called episodes. My goal in each episode, generally speaking, is to make sure that every character gets to do at least one moderately badass thing while building up the villains and slowly leading to some sort of final showdown. It's very structured, but I've noticed that some people get bored with this structure because it doesn't give them enough free reign to explore their own characters' stories. I'm working on the balance still. :/


Was there a goal for the students, and if so, what was it? To graduate, get jobs/get married/have a family, ect.?


For Mystic Fountain, the goal was to find the fountain and either protect it from the cult or take it for themselves and be all powerful. In Aegis, as mentioned above, it's "complete federally mandated training and also beat up these bad guys".


What about in-class and out-of-class? Outside events? 


MF was a boarding school, Harry Potter style. We'll leave it at that. >.> In Aegis, I try to alternate each episode between taking place at the training facility, and taking place out in the city. Episode 1 was a midterm/entrance exam. Episode 2 was a terrorist attack. Episode 3 is currently training in class, and Episode 4 will take place out in the city again.


Was it the roleplayers and their characters that mainly drove the plot, or was there a main plot that the GM lead their members through?


I'm basically holding a carrot in front of my RPers, lol. I should take some ideas for future arcs, maybe have a free-for-all episode or two. I think RPs work better with a guided plot, but that's just what suits my style.


[...] What are your experiences there?


The best school RPs in my opinion - well, "best" - are the ones that have some sort of gimmick that supports a unifying goal for the players. In universe, I think, the easiest strategy for a GM to use is to present some sort competition to win. For example, a realistic/modern school RP might use the gimmick of being a performing arts school, and the major conflicts include competing for lead roles and performing the show without issue. Antagonists might included someone trying to sabotage the show. Non-competition examples might include a school for monsters where the students team up and try to figure out if a particular teacher is actually a monster like them, or a monster hunter in disguise trying to destroy the school from within; or a space station school where students must use what they learn for a final project that involves setting up their own colonies on other planets.


But I digress. What generally happens to school RPs, in my experience, is that the players lack direction, and the GM lacks/refuses to exert an authoritative presence and guide players along. Having great characters and a great setting is pointless if people don't know what to do.

 

[sathanas]

Damn, looks like most people have already said what I was going to.


I'm someone who's been in very detailed rps, with a page of writing per post. Stuff with solid plots and etc. But I also really love super casual rps, and right now, they're probably the only kind I have enough time for. 


I grew up rping mostly Naruto rps, the academy and chuunin exams made them a bit "highschool-y." I really enjoy character-driven rps with diverse casts, who clash heads and make a lot of personal drama (which preferably, comes about naturally from the events and personalities vs forced stuff.) 


So I also really like highschool and orphanage rps. 


For me it's more about exploring characters and their relationships and the wacky shenanigans that come as a result. They're supposed to be fun for me. Something I can really enjoy and not have to put in a ton of effort. 


I think having plot events at the very least is important, but having a highschool rp be about the plot and not the characters defeats the purpose imo. A general goal is good and can move things along, but you shouldn't be only focused on how to get your character from point A to point B. 


The fact that highschool rps die is probably because of rl issues with too many players, not enough or frequent enough posts, a lack of interesting conflict, too little or no plot, having a small cast (when one leaves it fucks everyone else over,) or having so big of a cast that no one can keep up with the rp or all the characters. Also probably OOC drama, but luckily I seem to manage to avoid it.


I wouldn't focus on classes too much. They could be a source of conflict too- bad grades, exams raising stress levels, etc- but having too many or too lengthy scenes take place in class is boring. Characters can't do much so it's dull and a bit pointless.


Idk I can't think of anything else I want to say rn so that's it I guess lmao. 

 

[TheCarolean]

They are cliche and boring. Preparing for the final exams or dealing with a bully is not riveting or exciting, it is just lame and repetitive. There is nothing that is truthfully urgent and nothing to really force people to do anything. When the fate of a nation or even the world, or even just the allure of riches, is somehow a factor in something, you have a driving force. A motivation. A good amount of people who do highschool roleplays are people who don't feel fulfilled in their regular life, so they must join in what is essentially an alternate universe where they would have friends in a school setting. Basically, the RPs are cringy because the roleplayers are cringy. Unfortunately for me, that seems to be the vast majority of roleplayers...that ones who only want romance. This is a big problem for me since i prefer adventures, alternate history, and war based things. I don't mind romance, but it isn't the focus. In my things, there can't be any whiny teenagers who are seeking attention and acceptance, because soldiers and people at war don't have time for that, and people who are adventurers are likely going to be people who actually have the drive to stop crying and get shit done.

 

[call me rae]

They are cliche and boring. Preparing for the final exams or dealing with a bully is not riveting or exciting, it is just lame and repetitive. There is nothing that is truthfully urgent and nothing to really force people to do anything. When the fate of a nation or even the world, or even just the allure of riches, is somehow a factor in something, you have a driving force. A motivation. A good amount of people who do highschool roleplays are people who don't feel fulfilled in their regular life, so they must join in what is essentially an alternate universe where they would have friends in a school setting. Basically, the RPs are cringy because the roleplayers are cringy. Unfortunately for me, that seems to be the vast majority of roleplayers...that ones who only want romance. This is a big problem for me since i prefer adventures, alternate history, and war based things. I don't mind romance, but it isn't the focus. In my things, there can't be any whiny teenagers who are seeking attention and acceptance, because soldiers and people at war don't have time for that, and people who are adventurers are likely going to be people who actually have the drive to stop crying and get shit done.

Well to be fair most school roleplays have nothing to do with classes and what-not. The school is the setting, the same way a war-torn country or a magical cafe can be the setting of other kinds of roleplay. Your not supposed to be going to classes your supposed to be either 


A. completing some kind of school based activity ( festival, play, etc. )


B. competing to be the best at XXX activity ( magic , superpowers , music , etc )


C. an excuse to get "special" people with a specific talent together ( ex. an academy teaching wizards how to use their magic, an academy teaching teenagers how to power mechs to save the world, etc. )

 

[Umbrie]

a college based roleplay would work just as well as a high school based one or just about any school because tropes carry over from school to school and most schools forbid the same things. though it would be fun to do a roleplay set in either late primary school or early middle school where the characters are not a vessel for sneaking raunchy jokes, are not a vessel for sneaking toilet humor, have minimal to no excuses for pantyshots, and are not avatars for romance.

 

[call me rae]

a college based roleplay would work just as well as a high school based one or just about any school because tropes carry over from school to school and most schools forbid the same things. though it would be fun to do a roleplay set in either late primary school or early middle school where the characters are not a vessel for sneaking raunchy jokes, are not a vessel for sneaking toilet humor, have minimal to no excuses for pantyshots, and are not avatars for romance.

lol so basically nothing with shoujo anime tropes? lol. maybe i've just been doing the wrong kind of school roleplays as i don't remember any of those things in any of the ones i tried. well sometimes you'd get a person or two who was in it for the romance but that was more of a player specific issue and not a roleplay specific one.


but then again i started out in x-men , harry potter, or vampire knight school roleplays. ( and the last one you'd think would have more of those tropes but they never really did )


so i think it's also just the target demographic too. if your dealing with people who are more familiar with shoujo anime and those tropes than you're more likely to see that stuff crop up in your roleplay.


if your going with a demographic who are more used to the school just to be a setting for some kind of powered shenanigans than you'll get that kind of roleplay. 

 

[Umbrie]

lol so basically nothing with shoujo anime tropes? lol. maybe i've just been doing the wrong kind of school roleplays as i don't remember any of those things in any of the ones i tried. well sometimes you'd get a person or two who was in it for the romance but that was more of a player specific issue and not a roleplay specific one.


but then again i started out in x-men , harry potter, or vampire knight school roleplays. ( and the last one you'd think would have more of those tropes but they never really did )


so i think it's also just the target demographic too. if your dealing with people who are more familiar with shoujo anime and those tropes than you're more likely to see that stuff crop up in your roleplay.


if your going with a demographic who are more used to the school just to be a setting for some kind of powered shenanigans than you'll get that kind of roleplay. 

truesies. it varies with the target audience. but i have been in too many school RPs where my small female character ends up the subject of unwanted forced "Romance" i mean a certain other R word that might be censored because they can't tell the difference between Romantic Roleplay and common smut.

 

[Windsock]

Highschool RP's are total cancer to me.

 

[TheCarolean]

Highschool RP's are total cancer to me.

Agreed. it really pisses me off when I make an interest check and get one person interested after a few days but I see high-school RP #3663257 has gotten 20 players in six hours with minimal work. It is very frustrating and disheartening to see the work I did be thrown in the trash because attending high-school is more exciting 

 

[Sizniche]

Agreed. it really pisses me off when I make an interest check and get one person interested after a few days but I see high-school RP #3663257 has gotten 20 players in six hours with minimal work. It is very frustrating and disheartening to see the work I did be thrown in the trash because attending high-school is more exciting 

Sad truth of humanity #8473: Humans love comfort, and since many rlleplayers first get comfortable with roleplaying in high school roleplays, they tend to stick to them for a long time. I constantly come up with ideas that I want to see explode into a several-hundred page roleplay, and have the honor of hosting, but all of the ideas are too outside of the average RPNation user's comfort zone. 


But hey, call me up if you ever have a good idea. I like unique concepts.

 

[TheCarolean]

Sad truth of humanity #8473: Humans love comfort, and since many rlleplayers first get comfortable with roleplaying in high school roleplays, they tend to stick to them for a long time. I constantly come up with ideas that I want to see explode into a several-hundred page roleplay, and have the honor of hosting, but all of the ideas are too outside of the average RPNation user's comfort zone. 


But hey, call me up if you ever have a good idea. I like unique concepts.

Well I am not sure how unique this is but I haven't seen one that similar to it so I guess it is unique enough. Basically the Galatic Empire from Star Wars tries to annex Earth (The Year is 2040), and a war ensues. it has yet to start, and will begin at the first battle, which will take place in Los Angeles. 

 

[Sizniche]

Well I am not sure how unique this is but I haven't seen one that similar to it so I guess it is unique enough. Basically the Galatic Empire from Star Wars tries to annex Earth (The Year is 2040), and a war ensues. it has yet to start, and will begin at the first battle, which will take place in Los Angeles. 

Sounds fun. Sign me up. 


Also, is it literally the Galactic Empire (lightsabers, force-magic, Death Stars, Star Destroyers, the works), or is it just similar?

 

[TheCarolean]

Sounds fun. Sign me up. 


Also, is it literally the Galactic Empire (lightsabers, force-magic, Death Stars, Star Destroyers, the works), or is it just similar?

It is literally the Galactic Empire, although it is after A New Hope, so there won't be any death stars and Vader probably won't get involved, so it is mostly just their conventional military forces fighting a near future Humanity that has developed Railguns (only for large vehicles, like battleships. This has actually led to battleships being brought back into service) and Laser AA systems for Naval ships. Basically what is experimental now is in service at that point. 


Here is the link to the interest check, since i haven't made the RP thread yet:








I had another idea that i may do at some point, but i am currently unsure about part of it. The basis is that the United States as it is today vanishes from the this world, and reappears in the ocean of another one, effectively becoming its own continent in this new world. My problem was that i was unsure what world to have it appear in.