CARNIVAL
March 2022 Newsletter
Step right up! Step right up! Come one, come all, to the grand carnival!
Grab your popcorn, grab your soda, your cotton candy, and your best friends. It’s time to celebrate! Try your luck, take a swing or shoot down some rubber duckies for some fabulous prizes that will leave you a better person today than you were yesterday. Or just have a jolly ol’ fashioned good time. Whatever this month brings- may the odds be in your favor!
SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Staff Position Changes
RpNation's ThemesAt the beginning of the month, RpN Staff rolled out their new site themes! Click here for the announcement regarding these changes!
Official RpNation MerchandiseWe heard you! Our merchandise store offers t-shirts perfect for all weather! There are multiple styles to choose from. Shop now! and check all we have in store!
Helper Application FormRpNation's Helper team is looking for more dedicated people to aid with the creation of site events and the newsletter. Apply today!
MEMBER OF THE MONTH:
Ambiloquous
What was your first roleplay experience? What made it fun?
My first roleplay experience was on RPN; I didn't even know what exactly roleplay was before that point. I think I was about a day old on the site, and I just hopped right into an interest check on the first page. It was modern, realistic and about a city I didn't know all too well—and I was honestly surprised I got in. Little of the RP matches my current preferences at the moment, but I had some great OOC interactions with a gracious group of people that didn't mind my roleplay blunders. Though I ended up dropping later because it didn't fit, I still remember the time fondly.
What led to you discovering RPN?
I wish I had a convoluted and wild goose–chasing story to tell, but nope, I just googled "RP sites" or something along the lines of that, and the first thing that popped up was RPN. I liked the way everything was formatted more than the second site on the list, so I stuck with this site and never looked back.
Oh! Actually, there was a reason behind that googling session, which was that my writer friend talked about roleplaying once, and I went "huh, that sounds a lot better than trying and failing to write a story on my own" so I toddled off to do some digging of my own (and by digging, I mean just that one search LOL). Now I roleplay more than I write in general, so I guess it really was better than trying to write by myself. 
Do you have any favorite kinds of RPs? Plots/Genres/Styles?
I love fantasy, sci-fi, and anything that takes a hop, a step and a jump away from the reality I live in. Honestly, other than the genre, as long as the interest check seems to have an idea of what it's doing and the idea catches my eye, I'll probably join if I have time. I can't figure out how to describe what my favourite kind of RP would look like content-wise—there's been a lot of RPs I enjoyed that land far away from what I thought I liked—but if the GM is competent, the roleplayers are approachable and I'm willing to write for it, that would be plenty.
What are some other hobbies you have besides roleplaying?
If you had asked before COVID hit, I probably could have listed many more! Unfortunately, staying at home has only lent itself to copious internet usage and much scrolling of digital fiction, web graphics, and videos on practical subjects such as which giant tech corporation dominates the meme font industry—because clearly, that is a topic of utmost importance to my future. I haven't taken dance lessons since high school, but I still tend to break out in moves when my brain decides I must, hoping I won't hit a hallway door or trip on the tiles as I do.
I also code once in a blue moon, and by blue moon, I mean maybe once every year. A recent project was a discord bot that I created solely to use the embed formatting because I thought it looked nicer than block quotes. It just so happened that I was so free the day my brain came up with the idea that I jumped straight into it. For a total of like... two days. It now stays in perpetual limbo like all of my other projects.
Are you excited about any books, shows, or other related elements of media? What are they?
Another question that if you had asked maybe a month ago, I could have answered with Belle—the 2021 animated movie. I watched it weeks ago so my enthusiasm has waned, but it's still a good movie with great music. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig was also a pretty good read, though it has been a while, and I can't think of anything else I've recently read that doesn't show off my trash taste in internet novels. 
Oh! Sengoku Komachi Kurou Tan! It's a manga about a girl who yeets back to the Sengoku era with her OP farming skillz and elevates Nobunaga and his gang's way of life.
Oh! Sengoku Komachi Kurou Tan! It's a manga about a girl who yeets back to the Sengoku era with her OP farming skillz and elevates Nobunaga and his gang's way of life.What is your favorite animal? Why?
There are so many animals I think are cool, but I can't list why they're all cool in a reasonable amount of time so I'll default to my OG: cats! They're adorable, slinky and kind of do their own thing unless they need you for something—which I can definitely relate to. The only pet I've ever gotten scratched by was also a cat, though I don't really know how that contributes towards my appreciation of them. 
What is your favorite food? Drink?
Once again, a hard question. All kinds of dessert, but if I had to be more specific, cake. I used to be a lot more obvious about my penchant for sweet things—I still have a couple online handles with dessert or cake in it—but I'm a quite a bit more subtle now, I'd like to think. As for drink, my immediate go-to is tea. Coffee doesn't interest me unless it's filled with cream and sugar and basically doesn't taste like coffee at all, but I can admit it tastes good in certain deserts.
What is your favorite part of Rpnation?
My favourite part of RPN has to be... I have no idea. Let's pretend it's the place I probably check out most. I frequently peruse the recruitment section, window shopping like window shopping'll go out of style in a day. The new ideas that people come up with really get my creative juices churning—or wishing I could join the roleplay even if I don't have the time. But if you're talking metaphorically, then it can only be the people. Shoutout to all the roleplayers I know and those I haven't seen in a while for dealing with me. 
When you get onto RPN on any given day, what do you generally like to do?
I usually just end up checking my notifications, looking through new interest checks if I don't have anything better to do, and wandering newly updated discussions if I really don't have anything better to do. And by "anything better to do", I usually mean "do I want to do what I should be doing or do I want to procrastinate?" I joke sometimes, but I do tend to postpone productivity more often than I'd like.
If you were granted 3 wishes under the conditions that one of them had to be a selfless wish, what would they be?
The selfless wish would be for humanity to realize their actions as a whole and the consequences of those actions; for people to understand what events led up to the point we are at now. I could try to fix large issues in the world, but I don't think that would prevent people from doing so again, and I could wish for people to stop doing bad things, but "bad" is so subjective that I don't even know what that'll look like—or if it'll end up dystopian, being unable to control your actions. I sound pretty pretentious, but I can't think of any other selfless wish that won't give possibly wack results or be too small-scale to make a difference.
For a practical personal wish, I'd choose one of my greatest roadblocks: motivation! A lot of troubles (such as procrastination) could be solved with a dose of motivation to push me onwards. It's not particularly interesting, but it would make my life easier without taking away the effort that other people would need to put in to do the same.
I was planning to ask for some crazy power for the third wish, but now that I'm here, I think I'll just ask for the ability to protect people from physical harm. Not having to worry if family or friends will fall ill, get beaned in the head with a flowerpot or pull a muscle in the sea would be quite nice.
Oh no! You accidentally fell out of reality, luckily for you RPN Shark has given you a chance to live in another world, where would it be?
If I was playing it safe, I'd request RPN Shark to take me to a location similar to the world we live now. I don't think I could survive if I chose something completely out of my depth, but if I didn't care about safety or sensible concerns such as employment, I'd go for a world where magic existed and there was a comfortable standard of living—assuming magic could be used by the common human there. Even after thinking for a while, I don't have any specific names to throw; I can't say I'd want to live in most of the worlds I know.
If you had to make a character based on your favorite color, what would it be?
I would create a character who lives a balanced life and can change to suit the situation since teal teeters between green and blue depending on the shade and who you ask. Someone often overlooked in favour of more prominent colours—a person recently told me that teal was a rare favourite colour, and I was surprised because I had never really thought about it. Someone who was once a bird or has bird-like tendencies because the name came from the teal bird, if I recall correctly.
So to summarize, a shapeshifting bird with a levelheaded and put-together personality, who isn't especially popular or beloved like their friends, but doesn't mind the fact since they would rather be a little unconventional.
Do you have any RpNation projects that you would like to share?
No, not really. I've tried GMing once, and I plan to keep it to that one time. Never again will I dabble in the arcane arts of crowd control—but don't actually quote me on that, I've been known to change my mind. There's the code thread, but I think I'll be taking a break from that, so see y'all next year or something.What advice do you have for the newsletter readers?
Drink water, stay safe, and remember to try jeans before you buy them.
Also, you probably forgot a semicolon, left the padding in or displaced a tag.
RP OF THE MONTH:
Tapfic
What are some of the things that inspired you to create Headhunters: Supernatural freelancers?
I really liked the idea of a Rp where everyone involved could throw in their own mini-plotlines if they wanted! From that idea came " Okay, make it based around an agency that accepts odds and ends type jobs,". A lot of inspiration from various animes that use the characters accepting a job as a fun episodic adventure, like Naruto and Fairytail. I made it supernatural creature themed because I think it's really fun to play with old myths and legends of monsters. Especially when the myths describe them as so dangerous, important, and incredibly powerful ; and then you stick them in a setting where personal relationships are more important than combat capabilities.
Considering how many roleplays don't get past the planning stages, what do you think got your roleplay as far as it has?
First off; so many awesome players joined- with amazing characters that I love too much to describe, and that really got the hype for playing up!
Other than that; I think having an OOC chat is incredibly important for keeping intrest between posts- the Headhunters one specifically is on discord! The different channels add a lot of room for fun character games! We have a Character challenge channel (essentially fun 'what would your character do questions that I post every now and again and folks can answer as they like ), a mini-text rp with Tupperbot, a channel for sharing music ( a lot of characters have their own playlists now and they are so nice to listen to ), an AU chat for alternate universe musings, an art channel, and occasional art streams! There are also really wonderful artists in the server that up the hype even more with their awesome art!
How do you garner interest for your roleplays?
It's mostly in the interest check I think. For Headhunters specifically I only really put in enough information for folks to understand what I wanted in the world, and the found family/slice of life genre I was going for. Because I started the rp with such a loose concept of the world it let other folks add in their own ideas as they created their character, and even as we continue the rp.
What makes your RP unique to you? Or is there a certain concept or theme that you wanted it to convey?
I personally love found family roleplays, so so much. This one specifically was made to go along with my preference for the light-hearted slice of life genre! The stakes are low most of the time ( though enough room for highstakes drama has been made) and It leaves a lot of room for characters and their little quirks to shine!
How did you discover RpNation and what has your experience been like so far?
I found RpNation a little over a year ago now. I think I honestly just googled " best text rp sites," to get here but I'm so glad I did; I actually met two of my best friends in the very first rp I joined! They're also my co-hosts for Headhunters; users
ScatheAriiasqDrayceon
and
BittyBobcat
!
ScatheAriiasqDrayceon
and
BittyBobcat
!My experience hosting rps is pretty small honestly, as I've only ever hosted one rp besides Headhunters; but they both help me a lot when I'm having trouble doing host duties. My experience with other users has been overwhelmingly positive too! There are a few that were a bit less so- but the number of fun and friendly roleplayers I've met here out weighs them by far!
What is the most interesting roleplay/scene you ever witnessed? What made it stand out to you?
The most interesting roleplay in my book would have to be the first I joined on Rpn! It was called Flight Of The Phoenix and it was hosted by
BittyBobcat
. The premise and world was so cool- it took place in a world in the sky. Floating islands and incredibly tall mountain tops was the land, while the open sky- falling into an endless abyss- acted like an ocean. Humans all had different types of wings, but the premise focused on a group of folks who were called Pheonixes; and their wings held magic properties beyond flight. It was such a fun world to play in!
BittyBobcat
. The premise and world was so cool- it took place in a world in the sky. Floating islands and incredibly tall mountain tops was the land, while the open sky- falling into an endless abyss- acted like an ocean. Humans all had different types of wings, but the premise focused on a group of folks who were called Pheonixes; and their wings held magic properties beyond flight. It was such a fun world to play in!Does your RP have a plot structure or storyline to follow? If not, how do you and your players dictate its path forward?
We have a bunch of smaller plotlines! Characters can opt into taking part in them by interacting with the characters that the plot is centered around, accepting the neccessary job, or just being in the right place at the right time. We have a plotting channel to hammer out ideas as well!
If your roleplay was in a different setting or genre what kind would be interesting to see?
If i had to pick just one- it would be a fantasy pirate rp! I love adventure, and sailing an open ocean with a bunch of fun new friends sounds really cool- especcially in a fantasy setting; theres not really a limit to what can be found in different places!
What do you think makes a 'good', or even 'bad' roleplay 'fun'? No wrong answers~
Most definatly character interactions. No matter the premise or execution of an rp, the players are what make it fun. Having interesting characters that you can learn more about or become closer to as the rp progresses is honestly my favorite part of roleplay!
How to do maintain and address players who join your Roleplays? Such as if there's a problem with feeling left out, or newer players mixing with more experienced players etc etc?
Im honestly not too experienced with that aspect of hosting, so my co hosts kind of have to kick me into shape sometimes- but I try to interact directly with anyone who isn't getting as much interaction in rp. There isn't a character limit (though only a maximum of 2 characters from the same player can be on the same mission) so I try and play enough (currently 3, not including NPCs ) that I can interact with anyone thats not in a group yet- and have my character bring them in.
If there was one roleplay-related skill you'd like to get really good at what would it be?
I really want to get better at writing scenery and being more descriptive with how I write what my character feels about their surroundings. I think I've definatly gotten better than when I first joined ( thanks to me yoinking inspiration from the amazing writers I play with), but I still have many more steps to climb before I'm actually happy with it.
Favorite character styles or types of world-building?
I'm not gonna lie, my favorite type of character to play can be summed up by "stupid and kind" or "kind of a jerk, but for a good reason" (or both) , which is why I end up using my favorite characters over again once I find a characterization I really like. My favorite type to interact with is a lot less specific though; I love throwing my characters at all sorts- especially ones they can be friends with in the end.
My favorite worldbuilding type is like- a group project. I love loose constraints that give a lot of room for on-the-go world building!
What is your favorite fictional creature, and why?
The Caladrius, a mythic white bird that takes illness onto itself before flying away to dispell it.
I may have a soft spot for them because my favorite character to play is associated with them a lot of the time. I may also just like healing powers a lot in general, but the addition of a sort of self sacrifice (taking the illness into its own body) to help others adds some very nice spice to how the powers can play into any story or character involving them.
If you were forced to roleplay as food what food would it be and what would their name and personality be? (No wrong answers)
This question is very funny to me, because of a friend I have- but I will not go into further detail. They will know what they did should they read this.
I would choose a Strawberry Parfait! Their name would be Yoyo and they would be a lil sweetheart. Mostly because I like yogurt and fruit, partly because I just ate a Parfait, and partly because the word is very fun to type and say outloud.
FEATURED MUSIC:
