1. First, I think you need to find a good hook. Something that will really get people invested in the plot, IC and OOC, and want to play a role in it. Perhaps something semi-personal? I think it also helps to allow all sorts of characters to play a role. Something for the sneaky or scholarly types to investigate, something for the combat-oriented characters to fight, wounds for the healer characters to mend, people for the diplomatic characters to talk to, etc.
I'd also recommend each arc of the story run no more than six months, or people will likely begin to lose interest, get bored, start forgetting the details, etc. Less than three months, however, can make a story feel rushed and unimportant, so I'd say between 3-6 months is ideal. I also like to alternate between rolling and freeform for combat events, so everyone can have a shot at doing a combat event that suits their preference.
2. Try to avoid having the plot center around any certain group, particularly the officers, the FC leader's friends, etc. Try to avoid using tropes or enemies you see being used frequently around your FC (for example, I know Void corruption/possession was pretty rampant among HoD and the friends of our FC for a while, so it became a thing people got tired of role-playing). If you touch on some dark elements or other sensitive material in your plot, make sure everyone involved OOC is aware and unbothered by it.
Don't rest the plot upon the shoulders of someone who may be unreliable. Even someone who normally seems active, responsible, and reliable may flake out due to the stress or just have something RL pop up to take their time from the game. I've seen many a plot get stalled for weeks or even months because it was up to a person to set the next part in motion, and that person bailed and everyone had to figure out what to do without them. Lastly, don't have a storyline that's static and heavily scripted and pre-decided. Let your members have an impact on the story, let it flow naturally and logically, and let their choices have consequences.
3. Try to keep track of the current events of the plot somewhere your players can see, such as a thread on your forums (it can be an OOC thread, or perhaps an IC "here's what we know" document). Don't spoil anything or write out any clues or plot twists people are trying to work out, but give a recap of what happened and what is common knowledge.
4. Unless you find a way to pull it off perfectly (I surely haven't, but plots aren't my forte), it's inevitable that certain people are going to play more of a role than others. This isn't because of any sort of favoritism, but rather because those who put in more time and effort into the plot are going to be in more of the story and make more of an impact upon it. Those who are interested are going to be involved, and those who are uninterested aren't going to be included until you can figure out how to make them interested.
The best thing you can do is explain to your members that they will get out of the story what they put into it. Somehow it never seems to fail that if the same five people are the only people to sign/show up for every event, someone outside the group who's never tried to participate in the plot will complain about "favoritism." So... be prepared for that, I guess. >_>;
I'd also recommend each arc of the story run no more than six months, or people will likely begin to lose interest, get bored, start forgetting the details, etc. Less than three months, however, can make a story feel rushed and unimportant, so I'd say between 3-6 months is ideal. I also like to alternate between rolling and freeform for combat events, so everyone can have a shot at doing a combat event that suits their preference.
2. Try to avoid having the plot center around any certain group, particularly the officers, the FC leader's friends, etc. Try to avoid using tropes or enemies you see being used frequently around your FC (for example, I know Void corruption/possession was pretty rampant among HoD and the friends of our FC for a while, so it became a thing people got tired of role-playing). If you touch on some dark elements or other sensitive material in your plot, make sure everyone involved OOC is aware and unbothered by it.
Don't rest the plot upon the shoulders of someone who may be unreliable. Even someone who normally seems active, responsible, and reliable may flake out due to the stress or just have something RL pop up to take their time from the game. I've seen many a plot get stalled for weeks or even months because it was up to a person to set the next part in motion, and that person bailed and everyone had to figure out what to do without them. Lastly, don't have a storyline that's static and heavily scripted and pre-decided. Let your members have an impact on the story, let it flow naturally and logically, and let their choices have consequences.
3. Try to keep track of the current events of the plot somewhere your players can see, such as a thread on your forums (it can be an OOC thread, or perhaps an IC "here's what we know" document). Don't spoil anything or write out any clues or plot twists people are trying to work out, but give a recap of what happened and what is common knowledge.
4. Unless you find a way to pull it off perfectly (I surely haven't, but plots aren't my forte), it's inevitable that certain people are going to play more of a role than others. This isn't because of any sort of favoritism, but rather because those who put in more time and effort into the plot are going to be in more of the story and make more of an impact upon it. Those who are interested are going to be involved, and those who are uninterested aren't going to be included until you can figure out how to make them interested.
The best thing you can do is explain to your members that they will get out of the story what they put into it. Somehow it never seems to fail that if the same five people are the only people to sign/show up for every event, someone outside the group who's never tried to participate in the plot will complain about "favoritism." So... be prepared for that, I guess. >_>;
![[Image: NCtCate.png]](http://i.imgur.com/NCtCate.png)
