Why does constant fighting make RP's die? My rant/theory and how to solve it

[gogojojo331]

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We have all been there as RP makers. You have a good idea. The world is built and a story all set out. Then <strong>It </strong>happens. someone causes a fight despite all your efforts and the story is run straight into the ground. Why does this happen, you might ask? Well, sit down and read my article, and maybe you might find out! I believe that it is because when an RP descends into nothing but fighting, there is not much in the way of character development. When person A keeps punching person B, this may draw persons C-Z in as well because everyone wants to share in the bloodthirst! It's just in some RP'ers nature to want to square off and show those powers they've worked on for so long. It can also go to vanity for some roleplayers. Some people can't take a loss I believe an effective RP that is around fighting should be run with a lot of care to the fighting system. Once I was in a RP with a system where it was 5 posts in each battle per person. The had to take some hits, and unless they came to and agreement, after the last post, we rolled dice. Numbers 1-2= A won, 3-4=Tie, and 5-6=B won. Maybe you guys can try it out sometime!


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[UmbreonRogue]

That's a good solution, but I'm gonna assume most combat-based RPs aren't going to be reliant on dice. And then there's people who won't even use the virtual dice on forums other than this site that lack the feature of its own dice (don't blame them, the virtual 20-sided die I found whilst Googling broke Google Chrome on my computer twice). I would say for combat RPs to lay out some rules, like only (x) number of people can be in one fight, and impose limits on how many fights are going on. The dictator approach seems to work best for this, at least for fighting in combat-centric roleplays so that there's still other types of interaction. Again, that's only my opinion.


I haven't been in many combat RPs, to be honest. Yes, I love fighting in RPs, but I only want a bit of frosting on the cake, not the whole container. I would also like to see social interaction and plot in the RP, not just fighting and the like.

 

[call me rae]

Well it depends on why there is fighting really and what kind of roleplay it is.


If this is just players taking OOC drama and moving it to the IC by having their characters randomly get into cat fights than I would nip that in the bud right away. Tell the everyone that the fight is over and the ones who weren't getting along in the OOC to take it to pms or take a breathe.


Now if fighting is a relevant part of the roleplay again it has to be according to the story. Like if the fight taking place is supposed to be a spar between two people than two people are going to be involved. If someone else tries to jump in than I will start monitoring things closely. If more than one person joins in it's an automatic time skip.


But really fighting in most roleplays that I have been in that was group related did have at least some kind of system for attack and defend. If it wasn't dice it was simple random number generator.


Like you get 1 - X you hit. You get Y - Z you dodge. or however it ends up happening.


Also I would just set a limit on how long the brawl can last. You have one week IRL to finish this up. Your not done by then oh well I'll make something up and we're moving on.

 

[JayTee]

Just use a dice system.

 

[TyrantKingKuma]

I have played and directed a fuckton of RP.


In my opinion you're partially right. If a RP just becomes mindless fighting of course it might die out. But to keep a healthy dose of action into a RP, especially if it's your main focus, the players need to learn how to transmit their characters personality through action and thought apart that just from words.


If you have a bunch of players who can dual wield combat and character development even the most action packed RPG can be character driven. But even so there shouldn't be a totally action based RPG. The true Zen should be balancing both sides, the quiet and the action. Yet even if there is no fighting involved you need some kind of "movement" in a thread, unless you're very particular, purely conversational threads tend to lose steam a lot, or turn more into real conversation than character interaction.


To me the essence of RPG, but Pen & Paper and Forum based is struggle. If you're character can stroll around without any obstacle (Physical, mental, spiritual or emotional) there is no point in playing a RP. Using combat as a source of struggle is easy and helps to get the blood pumping, but overusing it, as you stated, tends to kill a thread as is too much. Stories should fluctuate between states.