Advice/Help How do you create a story with so many characters in a single thread?

Crumb

New Member
Hey! I'm trying to get back into roleplaying and I have some questions. My previous experience was on a fandom site with multiple forums and multiple threads in each, all part of an interconnected RP. I can see that here, RPs usually play out in a single thread. How exactly does that work, with many characters and locations? For example, I can see that school-based settings are popular, and presumably the whole crew of characters isn't trooping all together from class to class having one big conversation together. How do people roleplay different sub-plots and locations within a single thread without it getting confusing?

And sort of a tag-on question, although I know the answer will be "it varies": to what extent does the GM of an RP, well, act as GM? Do they tend to provide more structure and events/catalysts for player action, or is it a more hands-off situation to see what naturally develops? And if they are guiding the RP, what does that typically look like-- omniscient narration, communicating with players OOC, interjecting catalyst events...? (talking about non-dice RPs here, to be clear)

I know I can figure some of this out by just reading lots of current threads, which I will do, but I'd appreciate any input as well! I'll also take any other advice, while you're at it!

Edit: Wait, would this have been more appropriate to post in Community Hub? Apologies if so! Still figuring things out.
 
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Usually, people like interacting in smaller groups when there's a large number of players, just because it minimizes the chance that everyone gets stuck waiting on one person to respond. Some people tag other players in their scene, though it's usually pretty easy to remember who you're playing with. In rps that are less plot heavy, it's really easy to just meander between scenes and not think too hard about the passage of time.

There extent of GM involvement definitely does vary. Often when you see them play their own character, that a more hands off GM who is mainly there to ensure that people are playing fairly and being respectful. These GMs also may come up with events depending upon if they have a plot they want to move towards. Generally you'll first see it announced ooc, then have the GM create an omniscient post.

As for the more hands on GMs, those tend to play out more like dice rps, there there GM plays NPCs and narrates encounters. That's usually harder to do in a big group, so I've found that generally these GMs tend to cap the number of players to what they think they can handle.

(And don't worry, this is the perfect spot for questions like these)
 
I can't speak to how people GM here, as I haven't joined an RP here yet.


A valuable tool for organization is using a post heading that indicates the location, time or date, even what character is posting. This avoids location confusion and makes things flow a lot more efficiently.
 
Hello there! Fun fact, the site where I first roleplayed also had that "every thread is connected into one massive roleplay" sort of system to it, so I understand your confusion a bit (though I did get to encounter some other modes of roleplaying in between that one and getting to find RPN).

What there is to say here is that it is very much up to you reading the posts and your common sense here. Where characters are and such is written on the posts, and so often locations tend to be near each other, but two people can post consecutively and their characters not even be interacting or close enough to perceive each other at all. It's also common practice to tag players you are interacting with like this: Crumb Crumb , but not everyone always does it, and others (like myself) sometimes tag people our characters are not interacting with, but which are just being mentioned in the post.

I recommend starting with 1x1s as they are much closer to the sort of roleplay you are used to.

And sort of a tag-on question, although I know the answer will be "it varies": to what extent does the GM of an RP, well, act as GM? Do they tend to provide more structure and events/catalysts for player action, or is it a more hands-off situation to see what naturally develops? And if they are guiding the RP, what does that typically look like-- omniscient narration, communicating with players OOC, interjecting catalyst events...? (talking about non-dice RPs here, to be clear)

Indeed it varies. As a general rule, a GM tends to do two things though:
1. Control the NPCs
2. Establish the undisputable facts (rules, approving or rejecting characters, moments that affect every character regardless, etc...)

GMs also tend to be present OOC of course, because they aren't a magical voice from the sky, they are a fellow player just like you. I'm not sure how it was in your old forum, but here a GM has their own character as well.


Hope this helps. Best of luck and happy Rping!
 

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