Viewpoint Tired of these RP topics

[SP3CT3R]

Murdergurl we should do a collab sometime. We'll put our heads together, come up with some real novel concepts, and rock and roll!

I want in on the jam.

 

[FoolsErin]

Uhh, basically what the original post said. We could really use less superpower and academy roleplays, to be honest. Part of the reason why I don't really stick my head out of my bread and butter roleplay type is that there's nothing really that interests me? And the rare roleplay that does usually has some "you have to write x every y amount of time and your sheet has to be z" sort of requirements.

Murdergurl we should do a collab sometime. We'll put our heads together, come up with some real novel concepts, and rock and roll!

I want in on the jam.

Might also want a seat at this table. What kinds of concepts are we talking about here?

 

[Bronco]

Oh my god someone else feels this? Ladies and gentlemen, we got em.

Seriously though, I'm with you on the matter. As of late I've seen a lot of academy and superhero oriented topics popping up. No hate to those posting them but, they really can be the most mundane stuff to participate in, in my opinion. Not to mention, if we're talking obscenely overpowered characters, these are prime topics to find them in. This goes double for the academy ones if it's a magic or superhero school.

 

[Murdergurl]

Murdergurl we should do a collab sometime. We'll put our heads together, come up with some real novel concepts, and rock and roll!

I want in on the jam.

Uhh, basically what the original post said. We could really use less superpower and academy roleplays, to be honest. Part of the reason why I don't really stick my head out of my bread and butter roleplay type is that there's nothing really that interests me? And the rare roleplay that does usually has some "you have to write x every y amount of time and your sheet has to be z" sort of requirements.

Might also want a seat at this table. What kinds of concepts are we talking about here?

I actually tried to collaborate with a bunch of people from this site recently. We moved the group to Discord for discussion. But out of the group we got together, I really only had two of them that ever contributed anything. It took way too long to organize everyone, and in the end it seemed like no one wanted to get much done. I personally lost my motivation for the idea we were trying for because it lagged so much to get things going. Kinda took the air outta my tires, if ya know what mean. So yet again, I've been reminded why I don't GM or try to worldbuild with others. If I just look around for things to join, I'm not as disappointed or frustrated if the whole thing goes belly up. lol

FoolsErin What IS your bead and butter roleplay type, if I may ask?

Oh my god someone else feels this? Ladies and gentlemen, we got em.

Seriously though, I'm with you on the matter. As of late I've seen a lot of academy and superhero oriented topics popping up. No hate to those posting them but, they really can be the most mundane stuff to participate in, in my opinion. Not to mention, if we're talking obscenely overpowered characters, these are prime topics to find them in. This goes double for the academy ones if it's a magic or superhero school.

Yeah... one of the biggest No-no's in RP is Overpowered Characters. And well, SUPER powers pretty much beg to push that envelope.

 

[Bronco]

My point exactly. I feel like most who do create such characters are either looking to steam role through any encounter or are simply just trying to outdo those who've already posted their OC. An either case it really takes away from the rp, and I cant imagine how that most feel to a GM. Sure, they're not gonna be crushed, but it probably sucks to see one of your plot points last a total of two seconds because someone's got a nuke at their fingertips.

 

[Murdergurl]

My point exactly. I feel like most who do create such characters are either looking to steam role through any encounter or are simply just trying to outdo those who've already posted their OC. An either case it really takes away from the rp, and I cant imagine how that most feel to a GM. Sure, they're not gonna be crushed, but it probably sucks to see one of your plot points last a total of two seconds because someone's got a nuke at their fingertips.

All I can see most encounters turning into is a pissing contest, yeah. And if it's PvP, even more so. Believe it or not, I've given this genre a shot more than a couple times.
I've run into a lot of problems with it, though:
1) I don't have a lot of fandom knowledge, so anything Marvel, DC, etc. I'm pretty much not qualified to participate in.
2) Making OC characters winds up with a lot of head-butting with other characters.
3) The GM is keeping everyone from being OP. But that's all subject to interpretation, and you have a handful of players within actual reason, and then a few that are way over the top but are allowed in.
4) The bickering. The fact vs. fiction of how people's powers play out against each other and why... it's just a big, fucking mess.

So now I give that genre a wide, W I D E berth.
Not to mention that it is so overplayed, I can't imagine anyone doing a fresh take on it,

 

[Bronco]

I'm sure the "fresh takes" have all been done unfortunately. I think the reason the genre's so saturated is because it's just very easy to tweak. Think about it, you could just slap Marvel or DC in front of it and immediately have access to all the characters from those properties. Or, perhaps if they wanted to do a multiverse thing, they could just place their academy in between universes or something. It's a very easy thing to tailor towards a certain "vibe" and it's also something most are familiar with.

 

[FoolsErin]

FoolsErin What IS your bead and butter roleplay type, if I may ask?

I mainly do fandom crossovers. Niche thing, not for everyone by far. But one of the main reasons I roleplay is for fun, and writing interactions that could be summarized by a small child smashing his action figures together in the backyard? That’s just 100% stupid clean fun.

 

[Murdergurl]

I'm sure the "fresh takes" have all been done unfortunately. I think the reason the genre's so saturated is because it's just very easy to tweak. Think about it, you could just slap Marvel or DC in front of it and immediately have access to all the characters from those properties. Or, perhaps if they wanted to do a multiverse thing, they could just place their academy in between universes or something. It's a very easy thing to tailor towards a certain "vibe" and it's also something most are familiar with.

I hate multi-verses. Especially those "interdimensional hub" types of settings. The whole thing seems rather lazy to me. It's like they don't want to exclude/choose anything, So they just play everything!

Juxtaposed to slapping the franchise label on, you can also discard the comic label and work a "generic" version of the exact same thing. Maybe make minor tweaks, etc. but basically just be taking a big ol' bite off of pre-existed concepts and running with it. I guess it is precisely because it's so popular, and almost everyone is familiar with the concept (as it is saturated into many forms of media), that it is so easy to take up and run with. You need not define any pretense, so it's a simple drag-and-drop genre to play.

I mainly do fandom crossovers. Niche thing, not for everyone by far. But one of the main reasons I roleplay is for fun, and writing interactions that could be summarized by a small child smashing his action figures together in the backyard? That’s just 100% stupid clean fun.

definitely niche. Especially if the fandoms are obscure, I imagine. I also think that just about everyone here, is trying to have some fun in roleplaying (some more successfully than others). It'd be weird if someone did this and treated it like a constant chore.

 

[M.J. Saulnier]

definitely niche. Especially if the fandoms are obscure, I imagine. I also think that just about everyone here, is trying to have some fun in roleplaying (some more successfully than others). It'd be weird if someone did this and treated it like a constant chore.

It's so true. Fun is a word people use when they mean to say things like just wanting to escape my actual life, wanting to play out my fantasies and desires, wanting to show off, wanting to blow off steam after a rough week at school or work; things of that nature.

I write to create and express, but it's fun either way. If it wasn't fun by default, I wouldn't do it. The whole "fun" schtick is starting to get old. If you just play for "fun" you should have your own section for it.

 

[Punkypine]

Well, this thread certainly tells me what NOT to do in terms of interest checks. Looks like I'm off to the drawing board for some fantasy ideas!

 

[Crayons]

I hate multi-verses. Especially those "interdimensional hub" types of settings. The whole thing seems rather lazy to me. It's like they don't want to exclude/choose anything, So they just play everything!

I like my roleplay universes to have internal consistency. I like there to be continuity and rules - not game rules just rules to how the setting operates like technology level, society and culture, what creatures exist in it - and multiverses are just "lets slap everything together and party like its 1999 on MSN chatrooms." I cannot be doing with it. I don't want to be playing a 17th century witch-hunter and then a spaceship full of anthro aliens crashlands next to me. No no no.

It's fine if you just want to mess about and have japes but if you want an actual story, and characters who can have adventures other than constantly freaking out at the laws of reality being bent around them then it's out of the question.

I really, really hate multiverses. Man you hit a nerve with that. XD Rant over.

 

[Kaerri]

One man's "garbage" is another man's treasure.

Everyone has their own personal preferences and opinions about what's "acceptable," and that's fine. I can understand it being disheartening when it's difficult to find people who share your preferences, but we seem to be sliding down the slope from "I don't agree" to "what I don't agree with is wrong," and that's a problem.

I personally think that RPing within a fandom is no more limiting of creativity than using meter and rhyme is limiting to poetry. Why should using a published source of lore be any different from using a GM-created one? If you think the characters created for fandom RPs are substandard, then either your standards are too high for that RPer, or that RPer just hasn't reached the level of experience or commitment that you require. Either way, you can move on without belittling them.

I tend to be less interested in multiverses myself, because I can't keep track of which lore I'm supposed to be following -- the exceptions being the Palladium RIFTS dice RP setting, because RIFTS has its own lore that has internal provisions and explanations for all kinds of characters. It's actually rather fun to be a D&D half-elf rogue fighting alongside a demon-hunting spirit tiger and a lab-created medical doctor with a high-tech sniper rifle, while making our way through a spaceship right out of the Alien franchise -- and yes, there was a proper story and reasons for our being there, and yes, we were playing properly-thought-out characters, thank you. Such things are less about the setting and more about the players and especially the GM. Creativity is not a function of fandom vs. nonfandom, but an inherent quality in the individuals behind the characters.

Granted, using a fandom can be easier than coming up with your own entirely new setting, and some people may choose that route just for that. But it's also important to keep in mind that most people RP fandoms because they like the fandoms, because they enjoy the world and the characters and want to explore it for themselves. D&D itself was born out of wargaming and a love of Tolkien's works -- in fact its "halfling" race used to be "hobbits" right out of Middle-Earth before copyrights intervened. Call Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson "mere" fandom RPers if you like -- and remember they both also created their own worlds afterwards, building on the fandoms they enjoyed while following their own vision, and people still play in those "new" worlds today.

Sorry for digressing, but it feels like some people's preferred RP settings are getting bashed on, and I can't help wanting to defend them lest they think what they enjoy is somehow "unacceptable" just because a few people don't like it. And please don't feel I'm bashing on you if you're one of the latter -- everyone is, or ought to be, free to play what they want, and free to enjoy their own preferences, no matter how popular or how niche.

To get myself more or less back on topic:

I'm personally very, very not into vampires as sympathetic characters (and that predates Twilight by several years, for those wondering; I've never even read them). Just not my thing. Which only means I won't go trying to join that kind of RP. Those of you who like playing vampires, more power to your wheel! Also not into zombies, but that's less a dislike and more just me never really getting into it. Zombies are things I shoot in video games, but that's about it for me. Again, if that's your thing, great! I'd just be more interested in the kind of post-apocalyptic setting where technology's reverted sort of sideways into steampunk, because that kind of lead-in gives me more to work with lore-wise.



Not really part of the discussion at all but I wanted to answer all the same:

I've since added you to my "followed" list. I'm not sure how that works on this site, but I'm assuming it gives me alerts or something when you make more topics?

Following does nothing for alerts. All it does is put your name on a list on their profile, and theirs on a list on yours, and if you happen to drop by your news feed (you can find it under the "What's new" menu at the top), you can see everything the people you follow have done (except for private sections of the site, namely PMs, Staff Contact, and My Private Workshop). Everything -- so I never use it myself, because thread posts tend to be buried under likes and profile posts and it's easier for me to just go to someone's profile and click on the "Latest Activity" or "Postings" tab if I want to see what they're up to.

 

[Crayons]

One man's "garbage" is another man's treasure.

Everyone has their own personal preferences and opinions about what's "acceptable," and that's fine. I can understand it being disheartening when it's difficult to find people who share your preferences, but we seem to be sliding down the slope from "I don't agree" to "what I don't agree with is wrong," and that's a problem.

I personally think that RPing within a fandom is no more limiting of creativity than using meter and rhyme is limiting to poetry. Why should using a published source of lore be any different from using a GM-created one? If you think the characters created for fandom RPs are substandard, then either your standards are too high for that RPer, or that RPer just hasn't reached the level of experience or commitment that you require. Either way, you can move on without belittling them.

I tend to be less interested in multiverses myself, because I can't keep track of which lore I'm supposed to be following -- the exceptions being the Palladium RIFTS dice RP setting, because RIFTS has its own lore that has internal provisions and explanations for all kinds of characters. It's actually rather fun to be a D&D half-elf rogue fighting alongside a demon-hunting spirit tiger and a lab-created medical doctor with a high-tech sniper rifle, while making our way through a spaceship right out of the Alien franchise -- and yes, there was a proper story and reasons for our being there, and yes, we were playing properly-thought-out characters, thank you. Such things are less about the setting and more about the players and especially the GM. Creativity is not a function of fandom vs. nonfandom, but an inherent quality in the individuals behind the characters.

Granted, using a fandom can be easier than coming up with your own entirely new setting, and some people may choose that route just for that. But it's also important to keep in mind that most people RP fandoms because they like the fandoms, because they enjoy the world and the characters and want to explore it for themselves. D&D itself was born out of wargaming and a love of Tolkien's works -- in fact its "halfling" race used to be "hobbits" right out of Middle-Earth before copyrights intervened. Call Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson "mere" fandom RPers if you like -- and remember they both also created their own worlds afterwards, building on the fandoms they enjoyed while following their own vision, and people still play in those "new" worlds today.

Sorry for digressing, but it feels like some people's preferred RP settings are getting bashed on, and I can't help wanting to defend them lest they think what they enjoy is somehow "unacceptable" just because a few people don't like it. And please don't feel I'm bashing on you if you're one of the latter -- everyone is, or ought to be, free to play what they want, and free to enjoy their own preferences, no matter how popular or how niche.

To get myself more or less back on topic:

I'm personally very, very not into vampires as sympathetic characters (and that predates Twilight by several years, for those wondering; I've never even read them). Just not my thing. Which only means I won't go trying to join that kind of RP. Those of you who like playing vampires, more power to your wheel! Also not into zombies, but that's less a dislike and more just me never really getting into it. Zombies are things I shoot in video games, but that's about it for me. Again, if that's your thing, great! I'd just be more interested in the kind of post-apocalyptic setting where technology's reverted sort of sideways into steampunk, because that kind of lead-in gives me more to work with lore-wise.



Not really part of the discussion at all but I wanted to answer all the same:

Following does nothing for alerts. All it does is put your name on a list on their profile, and theirs on a list on yours, and if you happen to drop by your news feed (you can find it under the "What's new" menu at the top), you can see everything the people you follow have done (except for private sections of the site, namely PMs, Staff Contact, and My Private Workshop). Everything -- so I never use it myself, because thread posts tend to be buried under likes and profile posts and it's easier for me to just go to someone's profile and click on the "Latest Activity" or "Postings" tab if I want to see what they're up to.

Sure, not meaning to come across as bashing other people's fun times, and if I did I apologise. I'm definitely a "you do you" person but I also have pretty strong preferences for things I like and don't like. So yeah can't disagree with this!

 

[Grey]

Friendly annual reminder I always have a slew of award-winning original content ready to go for people who want something different.
I'm not the only one, I'm sure, but I'm always here, waiting...

 

[Crayons]

Friendly annual reminder I always have a slew of award-winning original content ready to go for people who want something different.
I'm not the only one, I'm sure, but I'm always here, waiting...

What year is it again? 2085? XD

 

[Grey]

What year is it again? 2085? XD

This year has been a hell of a decade.

 

[FoolsErin]

definitely niche. Especially if the fandoms are obscure, I imagine. I also think that just about everyone here, is trying to have some fun in roleplaying (some more successfully than others). It'd be weird if someone did this and treated it like a constant chore.

Oh, was not suggesting the majority of people don’t roleplay for fun at all. I don’t know, felt like I needed to pass off what I do as a light-hearted thing. It’s really hard to read people talking about their fantasy epic they’ve been roleplaying, then to seriously tell them that I roleplay glorified fanfiction.

Anyways, getting back on track. I said before that I don’t really like academy roleplays. To be more specific, I don’t like academy roleplays where it doesn’t seem like they have any real work put into the world-building (which is sometimes the majority of them). Just down slap some vague rules for whatever thing of the week it is and a vague explanation of why your cast should be here. That should make for a real interesting roleplay that definitely won’t collapse under its own weight in a few days. If you can make an idea set in an academy that doesn’t feel as empty as a wish sandwich, then props to you.

 

[Murdergurl]

I'm tired of seeing garbage dominate the content on this website. So many fandoms. Too many fandoms? And when it's not a fandom, it's a multiverse setting of some kind. It was difficult enough seeing my primary love interest get addicted to recycling IPs instead of taking risk and being creative, but to see my other love interest digress into heavy patterns of recycling intellectual properties was nothing short of will-crushing and soul destroying.

I haven't been able to really get back into RP since leaving in 2013. no matter where I went it was the same thing. Fandom-driven culture everywhere, and when you finally get some people behind one of your original projects, the majority of characters you get aren't well tailored for the concept, genre, plot, etc. There's a weird dynamic now that I find extremely hard to put into words. People aren't good at making characters for stories anymore. It's either coincidentally fitting enough to work, or it has to be forced. Half of the time I can look at the sheet and just know, this person is going to have to be actively carried, or they will ghost from lack of functionality.

I'm tired of a lot of RP topics, but Fandoms are the worst. People's fan characters are almost always shit. And I'm so far from the only one who feels this way. I'm just the only one with enough fortitude and honesty to say it out loud.

I get where you're coming from. Not so much in RP, but in some of my interests in general: When a favorite has been hijacked by a trend frenzy, it tends to get bastardized. Like, I used to really be into zombies and undead stuff back in the 90's. This was before it got glorified by different shows and media. I know this totes sounds like hipster talk, with the "I liked it before it was cool" mentality. But after it got really, REALLY popular, it sort of lost its luster. I can imagine that when this happens to a particular fandom you've been into, and you see everyone toppling down your cards, it can get frustrating.

Personally, I only ever use fandom settings as a backdrop. I never play as a canon character, and I prefer not to interact with the fandom characters, either. For example: If I were to play a Star Wars RP, I wouldn't play as any canon character, and would place the setting far far away from any events of the movies or series. This is easy in the SW universe because there is so much of it. But putting it in a smaller context: If I were to do a Gotham RP, I would be more likely to play one of the Joker's street level grunts than any kindof pivotal canon character. I also would prefer my interactions to be very VERY limited to any prescribed characters from the franchise. But then, what is the point of that setting then right? It's more for flavor, or the alternative stories of the less-epic, world saving. Because when it comes down to it, I don't like epic, world-saving narratives.

Well, this thread certainly tells me what NOT to do in terms of interest checks. Looks like I'm off to the drawing board for some fantasy ideas!

Well, we are (most likely) the minority in here. And we are complaining about the flood of common RPs we are tired of seeing (for various reasons). You should definitely put out an interest check for whatever it is that you want. Even if its a Superhero Academy mutlitverse. Don't augment your standards on my account. Do what you want to have fun with, most importantly.

I like my roleplay universes to have internal consistency. I like there to be continuity and rules - not game rules just rules to how the setting operates like technology level, society and culture, what creatures exist in it - and multiverses are just "lets slap everything together and party like its 1999 on MSN chatrooms." I cannot be doing with it. I don't want to be playing a 17th century witch-hunter and then a spaceship full of anthro aliens crashlands next to me. No no no.

It's fine if you just want to mess about and have japes but if you want an actual story, and characters who can have adventures other than constantly freaking out at the laws of reality being bent around them then it's out of the question.

I really, really hate multiverses. Man you hit a nerve with that. XD Rant over.

Yup, that's exactly what I'm talking about with the whole mutli-verse thing. One of my pet peeves (both in and out of RP) is when stuff sticks out of theme in an egregious way. Like, one of my friends had that skyrim game. He had all these aftermarket mods to make his character have big boobs (and other stuff). This was out of context enough because his character just looked like a skanky Barbie doll. But the thing that irked me the most was his character's "Armor" (basically a bra and pantie set) and the fact that she had on stiletto heels!
Stiletto heels! In a medieval fantasy setting! Wtf?!

One man's "garbage" is another man's treasure.

Everyone has their own personal preferences and opinions about what's "acceptable," and that's fine. I can understand it being disheartening when it's difficult to find people who share your preferences, but we seem to be sliding down the slope from "I don't agree" to "what I don't agree with is wrong," and that's a problem.

I personally think that RPing within a fandom is no more limiting of creativity than using meter and rhyme is limiting to poetry. Why should using a published source of lore be any different from using a GM-created one? If you think the characters created for fandom RPs are substandard, then either your standards are too high for that RPer, or that RPer just hasn't reached the level of experience or commitment that you require. Either way, you can move on without belittling them.

I tend to be less interested in multiverses myself, because I can't keep track of which lore I'm supposed to be following -- the exceptions being the Palladium RIFTS dice RP setting, because RIFTS has its own lore that has internal provisions and explanations for all kinds of characters. It's actually rather fun to be a D&D half-elf rogue fighting alongside a demon-hunting spirit tiger and a lab-created medical doctor with a high-tech sniper rifle, while making our way through a spaceship right out of the Alien franchise -- and yes, there was a proper story and reasons for our being there, and yes, we were playing properly-thought-out characters, thank you. Such things are less about the setting and more about the players and especially the GM. Creativity is not a function of fandom vs. nonfandom, but an inherent quality in the individuals behind the characters.

Granted, using a fandom can be easier than coming up with your own entirely new setting, and some people may choose that route just for that. But it's also important to keep in mind that most people RP fandoms because they like the fandoms, because they enjoy the world and the characters and want to explore it for themselves. D&D itself was born out of wargaming and a love of Tolkien's works -- in fact its "halfling" race used to be "hobbits" right out of Middle-Earth before copyrights intervened. Call Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson "mere" fandom RPers if you like -- and remember they both also created their own worlds afterwards, building on the fandoms they enjoyed while following their own vision, and people still play in those "new" worlds today.

Sorry for digressing, but it feels like some people's preferred RP settings are getting bashed on, and I can't help wanting to defend them lest they think what they enjoy is somehow "unacceptable" just because a few people don't like it. And please don't feel I'm bashing on you if you're one of the latter -- everyone is, or ought to be, free to play what they want, and free to enjoy their own preferences, no matter how popular or how niche.

I think fandoms and OC settings both have their pitfalls. It takes a LOT to make a good OC setting. There is so much to define to flesh out a world. But then if you go overboard, you alienate your potential audience with an overabundance of information.
Meanwhile, fandom settings can often be very rigid and restricting for non-canon characters to join in on, OR can be deviated from too much so that it breaks the lore. I actually think it is HARDER to write an OC for a fandom because you have to go and learn/read/research a bunch of stuff just to make your character fit. Sure, an OC setting has its own lore, but it's usually a drop in the bucket to most fandom settings. I don't know if you are familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. But the lore is nothing short of massive. It can be quite intimidating to try and make a detailed and well-written character for something like that if you have little or no prior knowledge. And it's very easy to make a character that "breaks the setting" because of this.

On the note of Tolkien. I think a lot of people don't realize that he basically created the Orc race, as well as the interpretation of dwarves and elves, and every franchise that has come after is (in a way) making Tolkien fanfic whether they know it or not.

Fun fact: Did you know that traditional dwarves (from Norse mythology) were mentioned (literally once) as having black skin, and were not in fact short. The four corners of Midguard were said to have been held up by four dwarves. So they were actually giants. Not the Jotun kind of giants, mind you.

To get myself more or less back on topic:

I'm personally very, very not into vampires as sympathetic characters (and that predates Twilight by several years, for those wondering; I've never even read them). Just not my thing. Which only means I won't go trying to join that kind of RP. Those of you who like playing vampires, more power to your wheel! Also not into zombies, but that's less a dislike and more just me never really getting into it. Zombies are things I shoot in video games, but that's about it for me. Again, if that's your thing, great! I'd just be more interested in the kind of post-apocalyptic setting where technology's reverted sort of sideways into steampunk, because that kind of lead-in gives me more to work with lore-wise.



Not really part of the discussion at all but I wanted to answer all the same:

Following does nothing for alerts. All it does is put your name on a list on their profile, and theirs on a list on yours, and if you happen to drop by your news feed (you can find it under the "What's new" menu at the top), you can see everything the people you follow have done (except for private sections of the site, namely PMs, Staff Contact, and My Private Workshop). Everything -- so I never use it myself, because thread posts tend to be buried under likes and profile posts and it's easier for me to just go to someone's profile and click on the "Latest Activity" or "Postings" tab if I want to see what they're up to.

Vampires and werewolves both are a bit overplayed for me as well. Like, I'm not completely adverse to them. But this romanticized version that is so prevalent right now is definitely not the flavor I see them in. Less Edward and more Nosferatu, for me.

Ah, okies. I thought the Follow feature was a bit more... functional? So it's just to keep a list together, I guess.

Oh, was not suggesting the majority of people don’t roleplay for fun at all. I don’t know, felt like I needed to pass off what I do as a light-hearted thing. It’s really hard to read people talking about their fantasy epic they’ve been roleplaying, then to seriously tell them that I roleplay glorified fanfiction.

Anyways, getting back on track. I said before that I don’t really like academy roleplays. To be more specific, I don’t like academy roleplays where it doesn’t seem like they have any real work put into the world-building (which is sometimes the majority of them). Just down slap some vague rules for whatever thing of the week it is and a vague explanation of why your cast should be here. That should make for a real interesting roleplay that definitely won’t collapse under its own weight in a few days. If you can make an idea set in an academy that doesn’t feel as empty as a wish sandwich, then props to you.

Your style is light and casual. I getcha. ;-)

Academy RPs are another drag-and-drop category because pretty much everyone has gone to school at some point of their lives and it requires very little explanation as to the setting.

 

[FoolsErin]

Academy RPs are another drag-and-drop category because pretty much everyone has gone to school at some point of their lives and it requires very little explanation as to the setting.

Okay, I’ll give you that. School, magical or not, is going to share some threads with real life experiences. But whenever it is magical, I don’t understand why people are afraid to really embrace it and go beyond vague “humans no likey, school is safe, we have powers of some kind”. Like I know you don’t want to bore and subsequently scare off people with an over complicated setting, but it feels like there’s a middle ground between “too boring, not really interesting“ and “too complex, nobody wants to sit through your presentation on lore” that these roleplays could try to hit but they just don’t.

 

[Murdergurl]

Okay, I’ll give you that. School, magical or not, is going to share some threads with real life experiences. But whenever it is magical, I don’t understand why people are afraid to really embrace it and go beyond vague “humans no likey, school is safe, we have powers of some kind”. Like I know you don’t want to bore and subsequently scare off people with an over complicated setting, but it feels like there’s a middle ground between “too boring, not really interesting“ and “too complex, nobody wants to sit through your presentation on lore” that these roleplays could try to hit but they just don’t.

I think realistically, the whole "we had to make a magic academy because the rest of the world doesn't understand/hates magic users" is grossly unrealistic. Peeps would be celebrating that shit. It is more likely that they'd want to keep it a secret just for some damn privacy from the media. But then again, why the need for privacy? Good PR works wonders for support. So they'd be better off embracing it. Govt would def get involved and regulate, too

 

[FoolsErin]

I think realistically, the whole "we had to make a magic academy because the rest of the world doesn't understand/hates magic users" is grossly unrealistic. Peeps would be celebrating that shit. It is more likely that they'd want to keep it a secret just for some damn privacy from the media. But then again, why the need for privacy? Good PR works wonders for support. So they'd be better off embracing it. Govt would def get involved and regulate, too

Oh, absolutely. I think that idea only got popular because it saves time worldbuilding and figuring out how historical conflicts would’ve unfolded differently.

 

[Murdergurl]

Oh, absolutely. I think that idea only got popular because it saves time worldbuilding and figuring out how historical conflicts would’ve unfolded differently.

I mean, that's pretty much every AU set in the "real world".

 

[FoolsErin]

I mean, that's pretty much every AU set in the "real world".

Well I mean, yea. Anything that relies on world-building with a lack of explanation or a bad explanation is going to feel cheap or poorly thought out.

...We're kinda getting out of the "talking about roleplay ideas we're tired about" zone and kinda just generally complaining about stuff in overall fiction.

 

[Murdergurl]

Well I mean, yea. Anything that relies on world-building with a lack of explanation or a bad explanation is going to feel cheap or poorly thought out.

...We're kinda getting out of the "talking about roleplay ideas we're tired about" zone and kinda just generally complaining about stuff in overall fiction.

well, on that note... how about those RP ideas that are barely an idea? Like, the RT reads something along the lines of "Fantasy Horror RP Recruitment". And then you click in and find the opening post is just as vague as the title. lol
It's like, bruh... that's not an RP idea. That's a genre.