RpNation Monthly: October 2016

Dusky

Succubus
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October 2016

Greetings, comrades. This is a letter in which news is contained. By perusing it, you will obtain key information such as recent updates, community events, and work by the members of this domicile in the world wide web that certain users, such as the human Anomaly of the designation Moderator, may term "really fuckin' cool." We birds do not share such terms in our lexicon; however, in order to occupy the role of the human Anomaly they must appear. Without further ado: I am typing frenetically! Now I am making a remark on the past month. I am currently expressing optimism for the future and gratitude for the user-base. This has been: an extended obscure reference.
(sorry not sorry)


@Anomaly






Site Updates



  • September 3, 2016 - The Official Character Contest - We ran our very first Character Contest this month, wherein everyone had to make characters based on songs. You can view the contest here. Results are soon to come.
  • September 5, 2016 - Big Code Update Part 1 - We have instated a beta phase of HTML permissions for anyone with 500 or more posts. This allows for insanely versatile formatting, like this month's newsletter!




Donation Badge


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You know it's autumn when the leaves start coming down! They may be an ephemeral sort of beautiful in real life, but those who donated for the month of September get to keep that autumn beauty forever with this immortalized leaf of @Meredith's making. Thank you all for contributing to RpN's greatness!








Features


We have a new category this month, selected and praised by @NessieAlways. Keep an eye out for the Featured Blog!






Featured Prose/Poetry


Feel like honing your craft? Or perhaps you're just looking for a LOT of new reading material? I've got the thing for you. Writing Games, a thread by @Flip, does what it says on the tin - it makes a game out of writing, so you've always got access to people willing to read and even give feedback on your work!

AAAH THANK YOU.


Here's my prompt:


Fake It - Bastille


Time:


72 hours


Length:


100-1000 words


HAVE FUN EVERYONE.





Featured Art


If you're looking for some really eye-catching art, you've come to the right place. @Clear's thread of digital art, Trunk, is bright, clean, and detailed, making it easy on the eyes! Check out Clear's thread - run, don't walk!


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Featured Tutorial


This month I had some difficulty choosing the featured tutorial, but it's easy to see why the winner deserves it. This month's featured tutorial is a collaborative venture by @Reinhardt, @White Masquerade, @Grey, and @LifeNovel. That's four heads' worth of great ideas and experience in a great deal of different venues of roleplaying. Their Comprehensive Guide on How to GM is an absolute gem that demystifies and explains something that many users find intimidating. Read this, then go forth and create roleplays!


"GMing is not something scary. All it takes to do well is dedication, understanding of the basics, and experience from doing it yourself. While the level of dedication and gaining of experience rests solely on you, what this guide CAN do however, is to give the general rules to follow for those interested in leading a role-play. Once you are good enough, feel free to throw these "rules" out the window as you'll have a pretty good idea of what works for you and what doesn't."






Featured Discussion


It should come as no surprise that for this month's featured discussion we picked a veritable wellspring of love, positivity, and encouragement. Go give a shout out to all your friends in @Syzygy's thread, ☮ ❀ player positivity place ❀ ☮.

this is such a cute idea i love this sm...


The love in this thread is just astounding. This is exactly what people need in regards to how the year has been. My, my what a thread this is...


This is an awesome thread! Everybody deserves to know they're loved.







Featured Blog


We can always count on a friend to tell us what we need to hear as opposed to what we want to hear. Whether it's that slap across the face to stop you from drooling over your crush or that stern look forcing you to put that cookie down so you can fit into your prom dress next week, most of us have that one friend who, despite all odds, will put your needs before their own. In her blog, "The "Mom" Friend" @Anaxileah shares her experiences and thoughts of what it means to be a true friend by giving her readers heartfelt advice to certain situations in life. This blog delivers the wise words we all need to hear when the going gets rough.  If you've found yourself stuck in a situation and need some words of encouragement, be sure to check out "The "Mom" Friend"!


Written by @NessieAlways


 


"People need to allow themselves to feel happiness. Happiness is what makes people continue their lives. Happiness and hope."






Roleplay of the Month



This month we have a never before seen feature - a Quest! For those of you that don't know, Questing is a form of roleplay in which the GM writes a story and the players vote amongst themselves on what action the main character should take. Effectively, everyone is playing the same character. This quest in particular blends humor and drama and fandom feels perfectly to create a great Questing experience. Put your hands together for:

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Danganronpa ?: Royale Redux



And now a word from the GM, @The One Eyed Bandit:



Q: What are some of the things that inspired or influenced Danganronpa ?: Royale Redux?


A: I finished the second game, and the anime was just booting up at the time. The combined excitement of endings and beginnings had me pretty eager to try out something for myself, but knowing myself, I was pretty sure I had no chance of keeping up with fifteen other people in a roleplay. I'd tried running a Quest out before, and found it pretty fun, though I made some errors in how I handled things- namely in treating it too much like I was trying to write a novel-, and wanted to try again with a different approach.


So, I entertained the idea for a bit, and ended up thinking that the two actually meshed quite well with eachother. Danganronpa is a visual novel, which has a choose your own adventure element in the first place, so the ideas seemed like quite a natural pairing.


Q: What is it that has made Danganronpa ?: Royale Redux successful?


A: I don't know. Maybe it's because Quests are a relatively similar format to the source material. Or maybe it's just because I know people who're fans of the series, and they're just sticking around so I don't feel bad, hahaha. If I'm lucky, though, it's because I've made it interesting enough for people to stick around. But, I'll wait and see how things are going a few months down the line before I make that claim.


Q: What are your strengths, when it comes to GMing?


A: Well, despite this, I'd say next-to-none. I totally suck at GMing, which is why I did this as a Quest instead of an RP. If anything, I suppose it'd be gathering up interest. Maybe it's just because I've got 5000 posts and have been on here for a while, but I usually manage to pull in an audience when I try something out. This has been the first time I've managed to keep it.


I'll just assume that means I'm improving!


Q: How about weaknesses?


A: Lots. If I were to point out a biggest one, it'd be something someone once pointed out to me, in that I need to be more selfish. It's why this is going better than my attempts at running an RP, as in the past I've often been... Not restrictive enough. Waiting for everything to play out and waiting on people to post as long as I can.


Other than that, I'd also say a lack of timeliness, though that's been a rather major issue of mine overall. Been getting better at it now, though, one day I aim to become one of those people who reply ASAP.


Q: How do you garner interest for your roleplays?


A: Tagging friends and.... Yeah. For newcomers and strangers, I try to keep things pretty informal. Personally, I find people treating these things like a business a bit stifling- though I'll say that is just preference, I see the benefits in it- so I mostly try to keep the OOC atmosphere in my things pretty casual, interest gathering included.


Q: How did you come about roleplaying? How did you discover RPN?


A: Back in my days of yore, when I was around nine or eleven, I used to play a lot of Starcraft online. But I was super-bad at Starcraft, so I ended up playing a lot of custom maps instead. They'd turn the game into something like a Tower Defense, and RPG, or, an RP. I spent a whole lot of time on there playing out edgy somethings or others, and eventually I got a new computer that wasn't compatible with the game, and it all came to a halt.


Then, two years ago, after trying out D&D a few times with friends, I decided to try and rekindle the flame, googled RP sites, and found myself here. I remember I almost quit in the second week, haha. Glad I didn't. BET MY TEACHERS AREN'T, THOUGH.


Q: What is the most exciting roleplay you remember participating in? What stood out most?


A: Ah... Hm... I'd say Tower of God: Another Perspective by Azure Sky. Other than the world allowing for endless possibilities- which i may or may not abuse horribly- it's the single longest running RP I've been in, and am still in. Even if it comes to a standstill every now and again.


Q: What's your saddest memory of roleplaying?


A: I've made a lot of friends here, but due to the fickle nature of the internet, some of them have vanished. Not getting to talk or write with them again is pretty sad.


Q: What's your fondest memory of roleplaying?


A: The various late nights spent discussing and scheming with other players and GMs.


Q: What are some tips and tricks you think others should keep in mind while role-playing?


A: There are two big ones. First, I've learned from experience, timeliness is outstandingly important. It doesn't matter how beautifully written your post is if you take a whole month to get it out, because 90 percent of people are going to lose interest in things if they have to wait that long. You should learn to do something well before you learn to do something fast, but if you want to keep an RP alive, I suggest doing that in your own projects. An average post in an average time frame is better than a great post in a massive one.


The second, be social! RP is just as much a social experience as it is a writing one, so get into OOC and get chatting! I'm aware a lot of people on here might not be the most social people in the world- myself included- but you'd be surprised by how much it can brighten things up! Chat about your characters, how they interact, make memes and do whatever else that comes to mind! You might just hatch an awesome plan or make a new friend while you're at it.


Also, don't over-commit to your plans. Be adaptable. If you want everything to go as you plan, run a solo project instead of a collaborative one. Don't let your dedication be a nice word for stubborn.


Q: Do you have any roleplaying pet peeves? What are they?


A: People who put form before function. Code and flowery writing both. Seriously, I appreciate the extra effort, guys, but at least let me read your stuff before you spend three nights coding! The words are more important than the paper you print them on! And this is coming from a design student, all I study is making the paper pretty!


Q: Let's get ready to rumbllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeee! Iiit's THE ONE EYED BANDIT! VERSUS. FOURTEEN OTHER STUDENTS! How do you beat them all?


A: Make myself as unimportant and non-threatening as possible. Hide all unique traits, and only keep around the parts of my personality necessary to make it into the cast that survives under than protagonist's wing.


That, or just carry around a pen and paper. Memory seems to be the big winner in these situations.


Q: Do you have something in mind for your next roleplay? Can we get a few hints?


A: Nope. Nothing for Roleplays. I've been considering starting another Quest at some point down the line based on the Magical Index universe, but I haven't even thought about it enough to give out hints =P




Member of the Month



This month's member of the month has really shined in recent months, handling the changes that have come to RpN with grace and enthusiasm and taking her opportunity to help make HTML more accessible for everyone. She's also a very active member and a kind person, and that is why she deserves to be the October member of the month. Here she is, folks.

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@ViAdvena



And now a word from our MotM:



Q: When did you get started roleplaying, and how?


A: Two years ago. I hang out on a story hosting site as a reader and found out that they have a roleplay section too. For me it looks like an interactive story where you can interact directly with the characters, only this one has countless possibilities. I got hooked and here I am now.


Q: You're an HTML goddess. Radical. What is one thing you figured out how to do that really gave you that aha! feeling?


A: When I figured out that hey, you can actually adjust how your html layout look according to device! It's great, I don't have to worry too much about my layout being unreadable on mobile...most of the time 



Q: What are some hobbies you have besides roleplaying?


A: I don't know if it count as a hobby or not, but I like to hunt for local food when I visit new places. So, culinary tour?



Q: Any book or show or other such media that you've been excited about recently?


A: Sadly I don't pay much attention to current media (blame college and assignments) so I can't say I have one.


Q: What is your favorite letter of the alphabet and why?


A: I can't decide between A and Z. A for ace and Z because the zigzag shape just looks cool. Both of them are also the first and last letter of the alphabet and I'm such a sucker for opposite theme :v


Q: Got any projects in progress? Tell us about them!


A: what project final year project My html cheat sheet is still pretty much in progress. I'll add more stuff to it later, mainly about css and a bit of animation, maybe.


Q: What does your ideal Halloween costume look like?


A: I would love to dress up as one of my creepier character, especially since she is shadow-themed, perfect for Halloween. I imagine her costume will include a lot and lot sheer black fabric to give shadowy impression. 


On the other side, dressed up as a slice of bread also sound like a good idea for some reason (the pun, chance to spread some incredibly lame pun is the reason)


Q: What advice do you have for the readers of this month's newsletter?


A: I don't have much to say beside, don't be afraid to learn new things, it can be really rewarding





Closing Thoughts


How lucky are we to have such talented individuals?! As we close the chapter on the month of September take a moment to appreciate the continuous growth we've had as a community. You guys shining makes this place bright as a whole. Now let's turn the page and welcome the month of October. Stay creative! Stay unique! Stay amazing! Thank you guys! 


"Bittersweet October, The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter." 


- Carol Bishop Hipps


@NessieAlways







View full announcement
 
Oh, wow. Thank you for mentioning the Writing Games thread. It is so fun! I'm glad that it has taken off and everyone is able to find so much enjoyment and productivity with it. :')
 
Congrats to everyone featured in this newsletter! All the content was wonderful, as always~
 
@Meredith The badge is adorable!!!!


And @ViAdvena you have brought much honor to the Aegis family. Honor on you, honor on your family, honor on your cow.
 
Congrats on everyone mentioned in this months issue! I Love that badge @Meredith Its so cute!~ (I would totally donate and get it if I could "^w^) That artwork is amazing @Clear (Seriously, how are you not famous!?) And congratulations @ViAdvena On getting member of the month!!~ :3 And as always thanks @Anomaly for posting yet another fantastic news letter!~ :3 :D  X3 xD  
 
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Thanks for making a monthly issue. It reveals gems I've never noticed before, like that Comprehensive Guide on How to GM.
 
Basically, I agree with what Zer0 has said and only want to add that comprehensive guides like that really help on expanding one's own horizon. That's probably a reason why I decided to follow @Grey, the things I have read in the past (way before actually signing up) and the things I read to this date are really helpful in improving and enjoying written roleplays more.
 

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