Keeping interest in an RP

[Swire]

I see a lot of RP's die because no one posted. Either they got stuck or they just don't find the RP interesting anymore. It's kind of sad seeing some RP's with great potential die without having a ending or resolution of any kind. So I guess my question is why? What do you use to keep an RP interesting? When people start getting stuck how do you help them continue to write again or interested again? I'm just curious what other people think/do.

 

[call me rae]

Time skips are your friend! 


If people get stuck or leave than just let the rest of the group know your skipping to the next thing for the roleplay.


Also have some loose ideas for little things that the character can do for activities, either before hand or after you start.


S\

 

[Swire]

Time skips are your friend! 


If people get stuck or leave than just let the rest of the group know your skipping to the next thing for the roleplay.


Also have some loose ideas for little things that the character can do for activities, either before hand or after you start.


S\

Yeah I have noticed people use that, although if you time skip too many times than won't you lose the original meaning? I suppose if you only time skip one year it won't change much, unless you were part of a college/high school RP and then you could only skip 4 times. And what about prequels? The RP I was in we did a prequel which seemed to work. 

 

[call me rae]

lol you don't have to time skip so long. You can time skip to the next day. The next event in the roleplay. Whatever you want. It's just about getting people unstuck and giving them something to do.


So for instance if your roleplay plot is - Find Magic Object X before the Time Pirates Do.


And your stuck in the beginning scene where the characters meet up and form a crew.



You instigate a time skip to maybe a few hours or a few days over. 



You have your players wrap up in the beginning part of their post how they became a team and you set them after the first Clue to wherever Magic Object X is.


And if the first Clue stagnates you move onto the next Clue again with a time skip



And so on and so forth.


Every time you time skip you are moving the story along so it's up to you how far into the future the time skip is.


But you aren't just doing it willy nilly, the time skip is to whatever the next element of the roleplay you want to tackle is. 

 

[Swire]

Yeah that's true, for whatever reason I was imagining huge time skips.


On the subject of interest as far as the plot what would you suggest? If we're using the same example, your half way through the clues to find X but people are beginning not want to continue the search anymore, but you have some ideas after you find X. Do you just try to push the plot forward? It kind of gets messed up then, better than the RP dieing I suppose. 

 

[call me rae]

Yeah that's true, for whatever reason I was imagining huge time skips.


On the subject of interest as far as the plot what would you suggest? If we're using the same example, your half way through the clues to find X but people are beginning not want to continue the search anymore, but you have some ideas after you find X. Do you just try to push the plot forward? It kind of gets messed up then, better than the RP dieing I suppose. 

Well that's when things get tricky. And I'd go with a majority rule there. If the majority of the people are kind of bored with the Follow the Clue motif than you can work out an alternative. Maybe have a side event happen where they're attacked by Time Pirates and trapped in some random time period or whatever. Some quick little side mission that will get people over the monotony without throwing off the over-all story too much.



Or if enough people want to move beyond the clues to the next arc of the story you can do a massive time skip there. It's sort of like a soft reboot at that point as your moving the entire plot along by a huge margin.


But honestly as long as you hype people up and let them have some say in where things are going it shouldn't be that big of a deal. 

 

[Swire]

So what if the RP isn't just story based but (I suppose you would call it) "open world". As an example:


The RP let's people take over countries and your goal is to fight each other and take over the world!!(so generic lol)


Nothing is really happening and people seem to be getting bored. Do you create some kind of OP thing you all have to fight? 


Another example might be where you have gangs in a city. Each person is part of a gang and the players have fought and some people have die. Some characters might have fell in love and so forth. People are now unsure what's left to do. How would you continue to make this RP interesting?

 

[call me rae]

Well you can always come up with mini missions or events to take place to keep things interesting. Or if you can't come up with them you ask your players to do it themselves.


For your countries - maybe a faminine or plague hits specific countries forcing them to form temporary alliances in order to survive. 


For the gang war fare - maybe the police are cracking down on gang activity, maybe a new gang shows up and starts killing random people, etc. 


Honestly there is no one bit of advice that is universal. Your best bet is to make a roleplay and ask the people themselves what they want. 


Remember you can always time skip if people get bored but I can't tell you how to time skip without having a clear idea of the story and people involved.

 

[call me rae]

Also don't be afraid to reboot or start over. If you have a group of people that have all left than just start over again. Talk to your people about post schedules and when they might be able to post. Find players that you enjoy spending time with and talking to outside of the roleplay and ask them for ways to keep things moving. 


Don't be afraid to abandon an idea if it's not working or take others advice on how to change it to make it better.

 

[Swire]

I guess what you should do kind of depends on the RP, but I think having people you enjoy RPing with is a big one. They will have the same interests as you and will continue to RP as long as you do. Or a least help you find interest and make the RP better. I'm not a great fan of having to start over because it means the RP already died once, I enjoy RPs that last longer rather than continue to reboot(totally my opinion though and I understand why it's useful to start over). And I think sometimes it's hard to abandoned an idea.

 

[call me rae]

Yes none of the above is worth anything if the people your roleplaying with aren't enthusiastic and you don't form friendships with them out of the roleplay. Beyond that it really is a case by case thing. Even the best of roleplays will eventually end. It's a fact of roleplaying. You just got to accept that not all ideas are going to be worked through to completion. It's better to make friends that might be able to get you as far as you can go than specifically on what story beats your hitting when.

 

[The Mechanist]

Honestly this was helpful to read, I'll be sure to keep these things in mind in the future

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

Hi there *woof*


I've been following your discussion and meaning to add to it, but you two kept replying again and again so I decided to just stalk from the shadows and see where it goes B|


I'm glad to be able to tell you that you figured a lot of stuff out just posting here on your own! This is a topic that has been discussed many times before with different solutions and points of view, but the ultimate truth is that it always comes down to two things: How enthusiastic the players are, and how dedicated the Storyteller is. A roleplay, especially the story-driven kind, is a living thing. It grows and blossoms and thrives - for as long as you feed it. And starving it to death is not the only way to kill it! You must also make sure to use the right ingredients.


It's all for nothing if your players aren't up to it, of course. Many people join games on a whim and leave within the next few months, if not weeks. There's not much that can be done about that, sadly. But just as much responsibility lies on you as the Storyteller! You have the power to take your game and make it succeed. And to do that, you must care for it. And by care I mean be devoted to it. Passionate about it. If you are, the path will reveal itself to you for as long as you keep trying to find it. Remember: A good Storyteller can always save a game from dying, but a great one can ensure that it never needs saving in the first place


Sorry to be so abstract, but I've contributed to discussions of this type before and I thought I'd try something a little different this time around. Plus you nailed most of it on your own. Plus I really gotta leave now lol *howl*


Oh yeah, sorry, forgot to introduce myself. I'm Wolf. I've been active here for some time now. I am the Storyteller of Amaranth, the 2nd longest still-running roleplay on this site (losing to 1st place by a margin of one month). My Amaranth has been running for 4 years, 4 months, and 18 days as of now (about 60% done). It started with 6 players, only 1 of which is still playing (tho currenly absent). Over 10 people have quit (none from lack of interest!) and currently there's 4 players. The game survived several site restructurings, redesigns, and community merges. And we're still kickin with an uninterrupted story that has not suffered from all the player swaps in any way whatsoever.


So I reckon I know a thing or two about keeping a story going *howl*

 

[TheIrradiatedWaffle]

Thank you guys, this has been helpful.

 

[TheIrradiatedWaffle]

Also though, is there any specific things I can do to keep a very large faction rp running. Like two countries in only an area and no one else. Also how can you keep from, say if you create a faction they need to  turn against, how do you remain unbiased if your 2 factions fight?

 

[Boethiah]

Also though, is there any specific things I can do to keep a very large faction rp running. Like two countries in only an area and no one else. Also how can you keep from, say if you create a faction they need to  turn against, how do you remain unbiased if your 2 factions fight?

Get mediators from the other factions not involved in the conflict and keep an open mind towards the person you're up against.


Doing a bit of research on real life battles should also be helpful so you can get a good idea of what realistically works and what doesn't.

 

[TheIrradiatedWaffle]

Get mediators from the other factions not involved in the conflict and keep an open mind towards the person you're up against.


Doing a bit of research on real life battles should also be helpful so you can get a good idea of what realistically works and what doesn't.

No, I mean like if you are fighting yourself. Instance, say a faction called the UAS is fighting the BOS, how can you be unbiased?

 

[Boethiah]

No, I mean like if you are fighting yourself. Instance, say a faction called the UAS is fighting the BOS, how can you be unbiased?

Flipping coins and rolling dice to decide the courses of action

 

[Inner Power]

I know if a plot is a bit lackluster my interest declines dramatically. I like to be able to build my own ideas off a plot while still maintaining it so if I'm unable to do that I feel restless.