Experiences Keeping a Roleplay Open or Making Limited Availability

[NekoQueen49]

When making a group rp, some people decide to let almost anyone join so long as they understand the rules. Others make it to where there's limited amount of slots/characters open for use. In your experience, which has the better chance of succeeding in the way of actually coming closer to completing it? (Since I have never had the experience of a rp coming to a genuine close.) Or would you say it depends on the type of roleplay?

 

[Spoiled Bread]

If your goal is completing an RP, I don't think the open or limited availability has any significant impact. It's more about how lengthy the roleplay planned to be.

A roleplay about a single mystery case or a single subjugation quest has more chance to be completed than an epic fantasy roleplay spanning across continents about collecting seven magical balls from seven corners of the world while defeating demon lords in the form of the embodiments of seven deadly sins along the way.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Yeah I agree a roleplay being “completed” depends on the plot more than anything. Do you have a set ending planned for the roleplay or do you want it to continue as long as there active players.

 

[rae2nerdy]

Sorry to double post but to expand on my point, assuming you do have some kind of ending in mind what you need to do is write an outline.

As an example I once ran a school roleplay where the goal was to go through one school year. (With the option to extend to another year if interest continued)

So before the roleplay started I came up with school activities that would take us through a full year. One activity per a month as well as something to do for summer and winter break.

Each activity had a set time limit for completion before I would time skip to the next activity. Players were also free to submit their own activities to be added to the outline.

This kept the story moving forward and kept people engaged as they were always anticipating future activities.


This I think is the best way to ensure you end a roleplay.

And if you happen to have players leave during the roleplay either NPC their characters (if their plot relevant) or remove their characters and accept new players.

I recommend having a clear time limit for absences so players know if they are gone for X period of time they will be removed from the action or their characters NPC’d.

 

[FoolsErin]

Sorry to double post but to expand on my point, assuming you do have some kind of ending in mind what you need to do is write an outline.

As an example I once ran a school roleplay where the goal was to go through one school year. (With the option to extend to another year if interest continued)

So before the roleplay started I came up with school activities that would take us through a full year. One activity per a month as well as something to do for summer and winter break.

Each activity had a set time limit for completion before I would time skip to the next activity. Players were also free to submit their own activities to be added to the outline.

This kept the story moving forward and kept people engaged as they were always anticipating future activities.


This I think is the best way to ensure you end a roleplay.

And if you happen to have players leave during the roleplay either NPC their characters (if their plot relevant) or remove their characters and accept new players.

I recommend having a clear time limit for absences so players know if they are gone for X period of time they will be removed from the action or their characters NPC’d.

That's....actually a really interesting roleplay idea in general, actually. I'd like to see a more structured school roleplay like that, actually.

 

[rae2nerdy]

That's....actually a really interesting roleplay idea in general, actually. I'd like to see a more structured school roleplay like that, actually.

Exactly. I mean people rarely want to spent a school roleplay going to classes and so it’s usually all about character interaction without any kind of forward momentum. At least with activities you have something for your characters to actually do while their hanging out.

My roleplay was a militaristic school so my activities were training missions. But I have seen other more “realistic” roleplays just use things like school plays, school dances, club activities, etc.

It isn’t usually that hard to come up with a few ideas. Even if you can’t do one for every month having five or six is good to start out with

 

[Dutch]

Depends on the type of roleplay.

If it's sandbox I like to allow multiple people, especially when it's an event driven roleplay set in a single location like a city, town, school, region. It's an RP setting that is more about the events and area, where people can come and go like the real world.

If I make a RP that revolves around a specific cast, character focused, with zero events then I always have a limited intake. Mostly because the main cast is generally limited to 4-6 characters, with players expected to be able to handle 1 main cast and 1 - 2 supporting characters.