Post by Okami on Aug 28, 2019 0:28:11 GMT -5
I decided to share an RP Tool that I think people could use if they're currently struggling. Since finding it in a table top game I purchased a few years ago, I've found it's helped me when I'm stuck in either character generation or finding new plot hooks to try and spur conversation.
While it's important to involve yourself with any shard level stories, (Current Examples: Time Shades, NuJelm hostilities, Fellowship, Britain Thieves Guild) your characters themselves should have their own separate goals to pursue. This helps encourage activity between events and helps drive interaction by giving a good starting spot for conversations. The game in question had several sample story hooks as follows:
• Amnesia
• Cursed
• Hunting
• Lost Love
• Obligation
• Rivalry
• Romance
• Vendetta
You can also easily pick one from The 36 Dramatic Situations which the above are obviously derived from.
Once you grow familiar with the structure, you can easily alter it to suit your needs.
For an example layout:
Cursed
A curse could be something as simple as the inability to sustain serious relationships or something as complex as being doomed to live forever, until you fall in love. Curses can come from many origins, from angry mistresses to vengeful lords, or even one-eyed vagrants. With every curse, three things need to be decided: what causes the effect (the trigger), what that effect is, and what can be done to end the curse—its penance.
Example First Steps:
• Find someone with the knowledge required to break the curse.
• Figure out where the Witch is living.
• Become convinced that the Curse is real and not just bad luck
Example Endings:
• My Hero finally breaks the curse.
• My Hero kills the Witch that inflicted the curse on her.
• My Hero uncovers the origins of the curse.
Flipping this into a UO example that I've run recently:
Okami's Curse:
Okami was once the subject of a necromantic experiment and he has been unable to cast magic since.
Steps:
1: Confirm the source of the curse.
2: Recruit allies to help deal with the predicament.
3: Confront the necromancer responsible.
4: Kill or Spare the necromancer cause he's actually a relative.
Possible Endings:
1. Okami adjusts to life without magic, sometimes facing occasional hardship.
1. Okami adjusts to life without magic, sometimes facing occasional hardship.
2. Okami kills the necromancer, restoring his magical ability, but at what cost.
Now of course, the nice thing about this structure was that while it was moving a personal character arc forward, all 4 steps opened the door for outside interaction and RP, and this was able to play out over a year. (And yes, I have one of these for Haldir.)Having these kinds of things noted or at least mentally checklisted can help encourage interaction and RP.
And of course, you may realize while structuring, "Hey I could use a character type X for step 1." You can then either reach out OOC to individuals you trust, or poke the LFRP channel saying "hey, does anyone play X type of character, I have a plot hook" and maybe spur some activity.
And of course, you may realize while structuring, "Hey I could use a character type X for step 1." You can then either reach out OOC to individuals you trust, or poke the LFRP channel saying "hey, does anyone play X type of character, I have a plot hook" and maybe spur some activity.
This can help give you something to discuss between major scheduled events, or even lead to something you want to schedule for yourself, and can sometimes give an immediate response when your character is asked "What's up lately with you?"
In fact, I've found it good practice to keep 3 different story arcs in motion on a "main" character at the same time, to keep those windows of opportunity for interaction open.
Hopefully this was a good read and someone can make use of it!
You can also check The Game of 20 questions to help form the background on your character to feed into this story structure system.
In fact, I've found it good practice to keep 3 different story arcs in motion on a "main" character at the same time, to keep those windows of opportunity for interaction open.
Hopefully this was a good read and someone can make use of it!
You can also check The Game of 20 questions to help form the background on your character to feed into this story structure system.
Have a great day everyone.