furry games and gaming discussions > furry role-playing
RP Help Desk
Draconium:
Thanks Alsek!
You may want to change the engineers category to "combat scientists":
I've also worked in a better description:
Use your discretion when you allow someone to play as a "combat scientist". Again, know how that person RP's. There is moderate potential for abuse with this character class. The reason I warn about this is because the combination of smarts and battle prowess can unbalance the game.
There are some things I wanted to add on the beware of [insert character]:
Mages: This character class can have a high potential for abuse. Use your discretion when approving this character. Make sure you know how this person RP's. If you are sure that they won't abuse this character class, let them use it. If they are noted for godmoding, then I'd recommend that you don't allow them to play as mages. The reason I warn about mages is I have seen cases (not here) where mages were all but invulnerable and were essentially physical gods. Granted, if this is an all magic RP, then it may unavoidable. But for a "magic-modern" fusion, then mages should not be that powerful.
Thyclaine:
I hope this thread can be used for questions as well. If not, sorry.
I've noticed that most RP's here are "shorthand". A few lines, or up to a paragraph with most characters created in the loose "Name, Age, Appearance" format. I'm used to posts that are huge and have many paragraphs, and the characters have their own forum where their profiles are put up in great detail.
Is there an old rule about longhand RP's here that I'm not aware of, or do most people here just like to RP in Shorthand style?
~Claine
Draconium:
--- Quote from: Thyclaine on June 25, 2009, 07:51:36 pm ---Is there an old rule about longhand RP's here that I'm not aware of, or do most people here just like to RP in Shorthand style?
--- End quote ---
As far as I know, there is no rule forbidding longhand RP's. Each RP'er has their own distinct style and some may choose to put immense amounts of detail, while others post with sparse details. In general, from what I have observed, most people lean towards the shorthand style.
Kaloth:
--- Quote from: Draconium on June 25, 2009, 11:10:58 pm ---
--- Quote from: Thyclaine on June 25, 2009, 07:51:36 pm ---Is there an old rule about longhand RP's here that I'm not aware of, or do most people here just like to RP in Shorthand style?
--- End quote ---
As far as I know, there is no rule forbidding longhand RP's. Each RP'er has their own distinct style and some may choose to put immense amounts of detail, while others post with sparse details. In general, from what I have observed, most people lean towards the shorthand style.
--- End quote ---
I find that I lean towards the shorthand type because whenever I try to write a long post, when I go to hit post I find that three other people posted before me, making my post obsolete.
redyoshi49q:
Combat Resolution in RPs
and Why Godmodding is Bad
The intent of this post is to analyze the guiding spirit of forum style RPs such as the ones on Furtopia, and show how and why godmodding and similar RP activities that are frequently banned in RPs go against the spirit of the RP itself.
GNS Theory models various forms of RP (and preferred RP styles) as belonging to one or two of three categories: Gamist, Narrativist, or Simulationist. In short summary, a Gamist RP is played with intent to win, a Narrativist RP is played with intent construct a collaborative novel of sorts (this includes elements such as theme and dynamic characters), and a Simulationist RP is played to mentally simulate a fantasy world (this more heavily emphasizes character/world consistency and character immersion). Different RP mediums are more compatible with some of these styles than others, and different players prefer some styles over others.
Forum RPs here, particularly "serious" forum RPs, tend to be Sumulationist with a touch of Narrativist. With only one exception (a RNG based RP hosted by Landrav and Avan), none of the serious RPs I've seen here have been Gamist to any measurable degree. In other words, the goal in an RP of this type isn't to win; rather, the goal of RP is the creation of the fantasy world itself.
Simulationist and Narrativist RPs are bound to have conflict; just like Gamist RPs, these RPs are also largely founded on conflict. In a Simulationist RP, the conflict would be resolved by what would happen if the situation were to actually take place. Take this character for example:
--- Quote from: redyoshi49q on December 04, 2011, 03:55:14 am ---Name: Riél
Species: Anthro (Black Wolf)
Age: 19
Appearance: Riél wears very simple attire: a plain shirt and pants with a belt. A grey spot that covers his right ear and a sizable portion of the right side of his face is his only physically recognizable attribute; aside from this spot, his fur is completely black, and he appears to be completely ordinary.
Background: Riél is an interrogator for the criminal justice system of [City], who begrudgingly accept his employment on account of his superior ability to act in that capacity.
Skillset: Riél is a master interrogator. To him, knowledge is safety, power, and influence, and other people, or as he calls them, "targets", are sources of such knowledge. Because his style of interrogation could just as easily involve him taking a beating as giving one, Riél has high endurance as well as moderate unarmed combat skills. For the most dire of circumstances, Riél carries an extremely well concealed whale's tooth formed into a dagger at his right hip, but he uses it rarely and usually foregoes other weaponry because he prefers to give the illusion of being unarmed.
--- End quote ---
Riél's an interrogator by profession, and a master of that art. He also has experience in controlled, one-on-one brawl from that context. Therefore, he can almost always tell when other characters are lying (he'd have to, given his competency at his profession), and he would also have above average but not excellent in traditional one-on-one combat (on one hand, he brawls daily as part of his job, but on the other hand, he could summon guards to help him at any time at his workplace and only fights one-on-one there). However, he would probably fail at any contest that would be based on wealth (though not poor, he's not in the elite class), politics (he's only used to working on one person at a time, and has no relevant experience), or multi-man combat (he's used to only fighting one person at a time). In order to RP well, it would be appropriate to have him succeed at tasks that he could not realistically fail at as well as let him fail at tasks that he could not realistically succeed at.
In the case that conflicting character strengths do not make the resolution of a contest obvious (for example, two combat based characters face off), the resolution of that conflict becomes more complex. The contest becomes a play-by-play, and each independent action's success is determined based on what would be the most reasonable outcome given the definition of the characters. There is a *very* slight amount of competition here; the goal as the player of a character is to have the character engage in actions that would most play to their strengths and maximize their chance of success (for example, for the case of Riél, those actions would be "get the opponent alone" and/or "get the opponent talking"). Again, it's worth reiterating that reasonable expectations are the most important thing to adhere to; it's better to let your character fail at a task than to break previously defined rules (character scope, world mechanics, previously defined actions and attributes, realistic expectations, etc.).
Most play based rules in RPs I've seen here revolve around this concept, as breaking these rules also breaks the realism for conflict resolution. Godmodding usually makes a given character more likely to succeed at a given task at the cost of that character's consistency or consistency of world mechanics. Character jacking and autohitting usually make a given character more likely to succeed at a given task at the cost of other characters' consistency. Having a character act and escape a conflict before other characters have a chance to react gives a character a pass against failing at the cost of realistic plot/storyline resolution.
I realize what I've said is long. I'm taking the time to discuss it because many RPers become downright agitated when players have characters break realism for the sake of having their own character perform comparatively better in the RP. This in turn helps to kill the RP as invested players leave in frustration. RPs take a lot of time to set up and require a large communal time commitment, but have a huge payoff in fun. It really *stinks* when they die, and it's really sad for everybody involved when RPs die sooner than they should.
Hopefully, this long winded explanation should shed light on why exactly things such as godmodding, autohitting, and character jacking are frowned upon so strongly in RP.
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