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I've been doing the GM thing in this game for 3 years now, so while everyone has answered I want to give my perspective haha.
~ Have a great hook. Just like music, have something that will draw in the players in. For me, that usually means a really elaborate, scripted opening scene with a few people who know the deal and a bunch of people who don't - something that really signifies "Yes this is the beginning of an arc". The beginning is what's really going to make or break a story, as you want at least 2-3 people interested. How you want to do it is really up to you, but I've found an actually Go-time scene helps get people immersed.
~ Don't script too much though. I usually only plan the beginning and certain hooks along the way, most of the time I only have a vague idea on how I was the ending to go but generally leave that up to the players. Let your players create their own hooks. build their own plot threads. Then take those and twist them to make plot hooks out of that. RP is a cooperative story, they should be building off of you and you should be building off of them.
~ Have NPCs! If you have some friends willing to help (Or if you are willing to not play your own character sometimes) I've found playing NPCs really helps with people's immersiveness. ESPECIALLY villains. If they can see the villain there, doing villainy things and talking all villainous, then it makes them want to take them down much more than a shadow figure you just talk about. I had a friend who only played villains to help advance our plot. He was the real MVP (RIP Denn).
~It's okay if not a lot of people are involved. I think this one fucks with people a lot, I've seen way to many people want to start a plot then get discouraged if only 1-2 people show up and they never finish. RPers are a bit timid, honestly. They hear plotline and they get interested, but they also think "Someone is going to control my character" and shy away. There's a lot of RPers who don't like relinquishing some control of there characters to people who they don't trust. What if the GM says their character dies? What if the GM makes them do something they don't want to do? You have to earn that kind of trust for more people to be interested later. You'll always be able to find some people who are willing to take the risk (Especially those who are tired of trying to find plot) but keep your expectations realistic. If it goes well, you're going to find like 20 people sign up for the next one (And that's a whole different monster...).
~Roll20 will be your new best friend. Elaborate dungeons and artifacting searching just aren't possible in game, same as bug epic combat with big epic heros. Roll20 is really great for those kind of scenes. Someone here said to create a system for combat and I agree with that. The NB has their own R20 system and the most popular one on here is called FATE (I believe). It makes it much much easier to deal with combat turns.
Everyone else pretty much said the rest.
~ Have a great hook. Just like music, have something that will draw in the players in. For me, that usually means a really elaborate, scripted opening scene with a few people who know the deal and a bunch of people who don't - something that really signifies "Yes this is the beginning of an arc". The beginning is what's really going to make or break a story, as you want at least 2-3 people interested. How you want to do it is really up to you, but I've found an actually Go-time scene helps get people immersed.
~ Don't script too much though. I usually only plan the beginning and certain hooks along the way, most of the time I only have a vague idea on how I was the ending to go but generally leave that up to the players. Let your players create their own hooks. build their own plot threads. Then take those and twist them to make plot hooks out of that. RP is a cooperative story, they should be building off of you and you should be building off of them.
~ Have NPCs! If you have some friends willing to help (Or if you are willing to not play your own character sometimes) I've found playing NPCs really helps with people's immersiveness. ESPECIALLY villains. If they can see the villain there, doing villainy things and talking all villainous, then it makes them want to take them down much more than a shadow figure you just talk about. I had a friend who only played villains to help advance our plot. He was the real MVP (RIP Denn).
~It's okay if not a lot of people are involved. I think this one fucks with people a lot, I've seen way to many people want to start a plot then get discouraged if only 1-2 people show up and they never finish. RPers are a bit timid, honestly. They hear plotline and they get interested, but they also think "Someone is going to control my character" and shy away. There's a lot of RPers who don't like relinquishing some control of there characters to people who they don't trust. What if the GM says their character dies? What if the GM makes them do something they don't want to do? You have to earn that kind of trust for more people to be interested later. You'll always be able to find some people who are willing to take the risk (Especially those who are tired of trying to find plot) but keep your expectations realistic. If it goes well, you're going to find like 20 people sign up for the next one (And that's a whole different monster...).
~Roll20 will be your new best friend. Elaborate dungeons and artifacting searching just aren't possible in game, same as bug epic combat with big epic heros. Roll20 is really great for those kind of scenes. Someone here said to create a system for combat and I agree with that. The NB has their own R20 system and the most popular one on here is called FATE (I believe). It makes it much much easier to deal with combat turns.
Everyone else pretty much said the rest.