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+--- Thread: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP (/showthread.php?tid=8035)
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - ArmachiA - 08-20-2014
Most of my experience in RP is being a GM (An active RPer as you put it ). I find there aren't a lot of these out there, and most RPers are reactive RPers. Luckily I'm an Active RPer and run an FC so my FC is very involved in lots of plots and story planning and stuff because I drive things behind the scenes. Without Active RPers there's just no plot, but stepping up to the plate can be fairly intimidating. Interpersonal RP is well and good, but you definitely need adversity and huge epic plotlines to give people something to bounce off of.
I have a dedicated team of people who play our FC's bad guys and we plot stuff out all the time. Generally, in order to build suspense, our bad guys win a lot of victories in the beginning and lose later. A lot of things are deciding as the plot progressing and we try not to plan anything out too much (I.E - my bad guy character ended up kidnapped this season, which was never in any plans, but you have to be fluid), but there is an ebb and flow to stories. Villains have to hurt someone, Villains have to be villains, then you can kick their ass later.
Moving the story along is a large, large post, it's kind of complicated and I could go into it forever but it may be boring. I've been doing it for about 15 years though.
My advice is to try something small at first, test the water, then move to big epic plotlines. I'm comfortable currently dealing with 40 or so people, but when I started I was really only comfortable with 2 or 3.
I could go on this tangent for hours, pages and pages, but i'm gonna stop now before I do
. If you have any questions let me know.
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - HonZoMon - 08-20-2014
Hi Hornet,Â
I'll give you my two cents.. Which is probably worth less than two cents since I haven't been Rping for very long.Â
I never thought this would be much of an issue. Mostly since a lot of the people I RP with are always hungry for MOAR rp, be it Active or Reactive. I love me some Reactive RP, but it does get a little stale if you do too much of it. You shouldn't feel bad about making yourself the star of an Active RP scenario that you choose to set up.
Say you want to go with the "Shadow from the Past" story. Yes, the story will be centered around you, but that doesn't mean others won't enjoy the ride. I have two story-lines that I want to play out atm, which are both completely about Honzo's past. I'm not at all worried about becoming a special snowflake, because -hopefully- I've planned them out enough to be fun and enjoyable for everyone involved.
I'm pretty sure if Hornet approached anyone on here with an Active RP story idea, they would all get behind it. If you are afraid of people saying "Pshh, god Hornet so much special won't Rp it"... Trust me you have nothing to worry about.
Unless you have secret arch enemies I don't know about...Â
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - LiveVoltage - 08-20-2014
I personally dont have a problem with special snowflake RP's when its done to forward character development or explain things. My issue with it is when people want to be a special snowflake all the time, thankfully though I have never seen that yet.
Snowflake RP's though tend to give depth to characters if played right, which is why I wouldn't cross it off as evil controlling or whatever you want to call it, because it really isn't. If someone expresses a legitimate interest in another character about his past, or they just want to develop a relationship between the two of them, then its perfectly natural and okay.
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - ArmachiA - 08-20-2014
I personally dislike doing any stories that focus on my characters. My characters things are side plots to the bigger plots and I never want to be too much in the spotlight as an Active RPer. HOWEVER, it may be easier to start with a character arch since it can be much smaller.
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - Roen - 08-21-2014
Alts! \ o /
I have a few... although I know others who have leveled WAY more than me.
While Roen is my main, Raelisanne is my main alt (and I will just stick to talking about her for this post for brevity's sake). I leveled her to 50 when I started to play this game because on my previous MMOs, leveling alts were a thing.
This game though made me finally say "Ugh leveling alts is hard" because of stories and scenarios that I had to do for each character.
But I am glad I did level her because she was/is the main villain in the very first group oriented plot that I was involved in. Like Osric mentioned, having her be a playable character really does help out the scenes she is in. It also helps me slip into her shoes easier, her mannerisms, appearance, dialogue is wholly different from Roen, and it is easier for other characters to immerse themselves into the scene as well because she is standing right there. I think it definitely enriches a scene visually to play against a character that is standing there.
Forum RP/text RP is another way to tackle that problem though if you don't want to spend the time leveling.
As for how much time I play my alts vs main... it really depends on the arc. Because Raelisanne is a villain, I don't have her casually walking about, hanging out at taverns, or whatnot. She doesn't get leisure play. I bring her out for specific meetings and such. But that's because that's who she is. She abides by schedules, do not do things without purpose or plan. So scheduling scenes and RP for her is easy to do, and the rest of the time, I am playing my main.
The major arc she is in, the chapter has come to an end, so she is laying low for now. So right now she isn't getting any play time really. But there were days where I was on her more than Roen so that I can set up plots, RP meetings and such.
Still, I have never really felt that Rae took my play time away from Roen. Rae is there to enrich other's stories, throw conflicts their way... and maaybe get some development her way long the way (because cardboard villain without depth is boring). I plan to explore her story though mostly through written posts. But those revelations will come pretty slow.
Will I have difficult time ending her story? Nope! I kind of have an end in mind for her, although it's vague and RP will largely dictate it, but when the time comes, if her story comes to an end, she will become a new character with a new name and look. Perhaps a new villain? I don't know! But she is planned to be a long-spanning arc character so that won't be anytime real soon.
Again, long winded, my apologies. I hope that lends some insight.
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - Kage - 08-21-2014
*points at Roen*
*points at Raelisanne*
I will say that most of the talk on alts already hit all I can think of. I see alts as their own PCs in their own right once you've made them a character. They've got their own motivations and stories to tell. Is it something that can be done often? Do I need to be on both characters at the same time mostly? How likely would they be in scenes with characters of my own?
... do they require outfits similar to the Brass Blades'? What outfit or similar outfit requires what level? Also helps me decide whether or not I would just NPC it or if I'd make an alt.
Personally, I like to spend all my time on Kage. I only made alts to supplement the stories of other characters not my own. Their backstories or to just get a good reaction *cough*SultryCourtesanakaRoenLookalike*cough*.
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - Stagnetti - 08-23-2014
I didn't read through all the replies, so apologies if these points have already been brought up.
And also apologies for being a bit long-winded.
1) Don't be afraid to make Obsidian the focal point. If you are creating an RP arc based around her, she has to be the star of the show.
2) Don't come up with a story arc that has the ending set (or even the middle set). When writing fiction it's fine, because you have to have an end (even if it's a "to be continued" end). But with RP, others are involved that might influence the story in a different direction that you never even considered.
That's more of a personal preference.
3) Don't be rigid and expect everyone to follow a sequence of events. If you need to have a specific ending, then you need to. But don't have the RP set up so that it seems like everyone is just reading from a script. Let those involved know what the ultimate outcome is so they know in advance and can help direct the story there.
4) If you feel yourself stepping back in the reactive mode and are losing control of the story, remind yourself it's YOUR story and do something unexpected that catches everyone involved off guard.
5) Sometimes a story arc just doesn't work. It's probably no one's fault, it just happens sometimes. If it's not working, throw a wrench into it, maybe invite someone who you think might spice it up. It's possible that it just hasn't juiced out yet, and needs a little more time. Or if needed, wrap it up and come up with a new one. Just make sure you don't decide it's not working before it even had the chance to get off the ground.
6) As you did here, ask for advice or tips once the plot is going. Go with your gut to start with, but if you get lost or need a little tip or nudge, by all means ask. But remember, this is Obsidian's story. Don't let others take over or tell you what to do. Get advice, and then adapt it top the story. Don't change the story to reflect the advice, change the advice to reflect the story.
7) Most importantly, as with most things, have fun with it. Driving a story is different than being a supporting character. Don't get discouraged if it seems like it's not going well. It might be going great, but you just don't see it.
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - Flickering Ember - 08-26-2014
Hey Hornet, I am mostly a reactive Rper but have been an active Rper in my past, depending upon my RP group set up. There is nothing wrong with the story being about Hornet's past. I actually recommend it. It will help bring your friends into the picture and make the story easier to unfold. Just make sure there are plenty of reasons for others to get involved and that there is a potential for others' characters to get development as well. You don't even have to give it too much thought to lead the rp. That is to say, usually I just wing it and see where the RP takes us.
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - Michelleswain - 08-29-2014
Wow! Never thought I'd find a group of people who knew and understood these concepts.
I've struggled with this for years. Have quit whole games over this (big reason I left Tera). I never put it in simple terms reactive vs active, but now that several of you have defined it, it solidifies the concept for me.
My problem has always been not finding active role-players. I'm almost always the one running things, or trying to get things going in some way. Whether it's to host a part, drop a quest seed, or just walk up to people.
Eventually I got sick of being the active role-player. And like some folks mentioned, other role-players begin looking at you as if you're elitist or want to come off as a special snowflake. Back in Tera, I stopped being active, I just gave up. I'd sit in the tavern with my RP groups, not a single one would say anything. If they did it was almost always something to do with romance at best.
What little rp I did get was shallow, and rarely hit the setting or game world. Everyone I met was playing a modern day American in fantasy land. Just responding to whatever I said in the most mundane sterile fashion. So eventually I just gave up trying. I tried to come up with stories using the setting, racial tensions, political intrigue, and Machiavellian power schemes (I would allude to them). Inevitably you'd have groups of people claiming I was racist or out of my mind (they didn't understand role-play vs real life.)
So I came over to Final Fantasy after the 14 day trial thing. I'd heard all the good guilds from Tera moved over to FF.
So far I've found pretty much the same experience I got in Tera. So I made a completely Reactive character in F'eora. She'll go with the flow and react to what ever is going on around her. I still walk up to people and such since I'm a very social person. But F'eora is no where near as in depth as my character in Tera, and that's a real shame.
RE: Transitioning from Reactive to Active RP - ArmachiA - 08-29-2014
The truth of the matter is most rpers are going to be reactive rpers. This is why when you play table tops, there's always one person (In my group it was usually me) who runs all the games, while 5-20 people always play the games. If you don't do it, then nothing will ever get done. This could be because most people don't even know where to start with starting a story, or they just don't have the contacts to get people to play necessary NPCs, or maybe they're just shy and don't feel comfortable trying to reach out to people. I don't blame anyone for being a reactive RPer at all, because it takes a certain kind of personality type to be an Active one (It's basically Community Organizing which some people just hate). I do get discouraged when I see Active RPers stop being Active Rpers because they feel underappreciated though. There are VERY few of us, and even if we aren't showered in praise everyday, what we do it pretty vital to the community. What always makes me smile if when I see a normally reactive RPer come to me after a storyline and say they have an idea for a plotline. I'll help them with it and they run it, eventually they just start doing more and more things on their own. All because they saw a plotline I did they liked. That's the best thanks really, when you see people influenced by your own actions.
Active RPing is highly stressful and requires a lot, A LOT of planning (Which I know some rpers abhor, but it is a necessary evil) and organizing and time. You're going to get criticism left and right (Which if you can't handle dooon't be a GM), you're not going to be able to know the lore 100% which means you're going to have to take liberties you may not be comfortable with. I can see why not everyone does, but those who do are doing a big favor to the community.