Comment on MULTI-FORMAT RP SYSTEM OUTLINE - draft 1 by brbarkham
Been thinking of building a forum like this back in February, but more for an art rpg focus~ Didn't find a decent free host (though I did find a board with great pre-installed mods, but their uptime failed within months), did figure out how to make a test forum locally, which works, except I'm install stupid. But with what I did manage, think I've got a DARPG system in the works.
Anywho, for quality of story. Despite the whole matter of quality of content being subjective, when one is in a roleplay that involves another person, there needs to be material to which the other's character can react to; it's a give and take. I've noticed people sometimes fall into the mistake of focusing on their own character, inwardly, and unless the other character is a psychic god, this simply does not work.
Anywho, for quality of story. Despite the whole matter of quality of content being subjective, when one is in a roleplay that involves another person, there needs to be material to which the other's character can react to; it's a give and take. I've noticed people sometimes fall into the mistake of focusing on their own character, inwardly, and unless the other character is a psychic god, this simply does not work.
Second is a matter of portrayal of character. Not so much about how accurate it is, as this is difficult to pin down even for the character's creator, but portrayal of a character rather than going about with some generic movements and gestures. Show that the character is an individual, not some piece of cardboard. Because this is highly subjective, I'd put it down to bonus points allowed by any particular judge, outside of the rubric.
Cleanliness should not be within the rubric, but may be a bonus. Like there are some people that you simply cannot figure out what they're trying to say and often bounce around in a trainwreck of thought. It shouldn't be punished, but having something written and is well followed should be rewarded. I do not mean purple prose, I mean clarity.
Inclusiveness. Not just having a character stand around, but actual interaction of your character with theirs. They're not lawn ornaments. It's somewhat similar to my first point, about giving a character something to react to, but more a matter of not overshadowing the others. I don't mean you can't Sue-it-up where there's one character that is clearly the focus of the whole event, but even spectators have a role, like a journalist pacing about ground zero or people who talk to their TV as if they could affect the game--they experience things, too.
I actually tested the RP system you're commenting on this summer, and have yet to revise the system. There were a few changes, but overall the thing I made worked, including the non-subjective nature of it.
But my systems are also meant to be bases or formats; people should change them to suit their own games. There is no right answer, and not every game needs the same thing.
I personally would not put cleanliness in there, because I enjoy different styles of writing, and my own is disjointed and not technically clean. We didn't have much issue with the focus-on-one-character, but this was mostly because of the way people were used to roleplaying. Not everyone was willing to give permissions for other people to write their characters without consulting theirs first, so unfortunately, there weren't that many options for a lot of my writers to do other then that. Also, I think that focused third-person perspective is a reasonable stylistic device.
In general, if something was subjective, I was going to find an objective way of quantifying it or not include it at all, for a few reasons. The biggest reason is that any game I do is more about exploring concepts you haven't done before then not, and that can be wooden at first, and sometimes that fails. I also don't think that my version of a rich, intricate character is the same as a close friend of mine's version of a rich intricate character. Same with good writing and stylistic devices.
That said, my games are incredibly loose and free-form, and tend to be very small and centered around a group of less then ten players. All of us knew each other beforehand and knew our abilities. So it worked really well within that context. Changes would be needed for different formats of game; differently structured rubrics, etc.
I will eventually clean up the full system writeup that I used on the game I tested this with, and put it up along with some discussion of results and things, so people can see what the rubrics I used were effective at doing, and what they weren't so much. It was a pretty cool expirement to do, and the game itself is/was really fun. (it's kind of on pause right now, because kitten with parvo + school.)
Your feedback makes me happy, though. 
I absolutely encourage you to make some kind of multi-system RP; if it works, then in a few months maybe we can compare notes? :3 nothing works out kinks like live testing.
I absolutely encourage you to make some kind of multi-system RP; if it works, then in a few months maybe we can compare notes? :3 nothing works out kinks like live testing.For hosts-
I really really like jcink. I used it for my tester game and it did wonderful for me.
Yeah, I did check the date (usually do before I dump a comment or a reply anywhere XD), but figured that the question of quality in the written-format rubric would still be open ^^ I did begin with literary roleplays before artistic ones and found that there are some things that consistently make a good roleplay post, not always what makes a good story, as roleplay posts are meant to be responded to, and some actions result in walls or writing the story into a corner.
Yeah~! It looks like a good format, although I like smaller numbers, myself, and would gather up points from various systems to see what can be considered and junk what is unnecessary for a particular game format, but that's a given.
Everything considered, even word count is subjective. You can tell more of a story (and take more time and effort thinking up the perfect execution for) in "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn." than a whole epic poem.
And yeah. There are pros when it's a community, but the con of these is that when the owner goes on vacation, everything falls apart, even if you don't need the owner to roleplay with you. Quite sad.... I still prefer homey forums ='D
Yes, absolutely I'd love to~ So jcink is a hosting service? Is your forum phpbb-based?
I'd screwed up a couple of times, as I am a n00b, but patient enough to reinstall from scratch and figured out how to insert the dang mods. I'm considering uses the ultimate points system for the board, but I'd like to replicate the system to be used for different currency other than activity-won. The medals system is good for breeders' licenses, considering the game it's meant to be adapted for, and the shop with limited item ownership for breeds with limited ownership slots. Groups good for guilds, and most of the system's already set. Just sad I can't make a clicky pet sub-game on it, but it's not even necessary XD It'll work for my breeds, at least, and I hope that promise of imports will interest the folks that already have them into helping me out on testing P=
Yeah~! It looks like a good format, although I like smaller numbers, myself, and would gather up points from various systems to see what can be considered and junk what is unnecessary for a particular game format, but that's a given.
While a linerar storytelling is easy, I meant less about the complexity of liquid time and more about being able to follow the action. Even if you cut suddenly into a flashback, it should be clear that it is not happening in the now, or people will respond out of the actual prompt with a belief that some deux ex machina was suddenly activated. There are people who have English as a minor language use, they are not the sort to make poetic tales, however, they are still capable of making what is going on is clear, or as clear as it takes to move forward, even if the character's some ADHD psychopath XD
While the length of a profile means nothing, there's a difference between cardboard and an undeveloped character/incomplete profile. Consider a character who defends a child solely on the basis of "ohgodsavethechildren" and one who truly believes that there's something to lose (even if they've a standard view of children), rather than have a generic response to the matter that feels stiffly inserted by the author. I think it can be measured (or rather, rewarded--I wouldn't give it a scale of one to ten, but I'd consider it to be counted). It's not something everyone will use nor should they be forced to use, so I'd consider it a bonus--indeed, the only way to justify making a device standard in a rubric is if you are able to find and insert every plot device known to philosophers, but that would be a looong rubric. Short stories tend to have cardboards, where the purpose is to move the plot forward; the story is not character-driven, nor should it be. (It'd actually be quite nice to consider activities focused on using and awarding particular devices you otherwise wouldn't have tried!) Anywho, you can award based on success, but you can also award based on just trying. (My teachers used to give you two points just for writing your name ='D) When you judge an effort show entry, it may be judged according to a judge's taste, but they'll usually have a rubric so that all use of backgrounds are equal.
While the length of a profile means nothing, there's a difference between cardboard and an undeveloped character/incomplete profile. Consider a character who defends a child solely on the basis of "ohgodsavethechildren" and one who truly believes that there's something to lose (even if they've a standard view of children), rather than have a generic response to the matter that feels stiffly inserted by the author. I think it can be measured (or rather, rewarded--I wouldn't give it a scale of one to ten, but I'd consider it to be counted). It's not something everyone will use nor should they be forced to use, so I'd consider it a bonus--indeed, the only way to justify making a device standard in a rubric is if you are able to find and insert every plot device known to philosophers, but that would be a looong rubric. Short stories tend to have cardboards, where the purpose is to move the plot forward; the story is not character-driven, nor should it be. (It'd actually be quite nice to consider activities focused on using and awarding particular devices you otherwise wouldn't have tried!) Anywho, you can award based on success, but you can also award based on just trying. (My teachers used to give you two points just for writing your name ='D) When you judge an effort show entry, it may be judged according to a judge's taste, but they'll usually have a rubric so that all use of backgrounds are equal.
Everything considered, even word count is subjective. You can tell more of a story (and take more time and effort thinking up the perfect execution for) in "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn." than a whole epic poem.
And yeah. There are pros when it's a community, but the con of these is that when the owner goes on vacation, everything falls apart, even if you don't need the owner to roleplay with you. Quite sad.... I still prefer homey forums ='D
Yes, absolutely
I'd love to~ So jcink is a hosting service? Is your forum phpbb-based?I'd screwed up a couple of times, as I am a n00b, but patient enough to reinstall from scratch and figured out how to insert the dang mods. I'm considering uses the ultimate points system for the board, but I'd like to replicate the system to be used for different currency other than activity-won. The medals system is good for breeders' licenses, considering the game it's meant to be adapted for, and the shop with limited item ownership for breeds with limited ownership slots. Groups good for guilds, and most of the system's already set. Just sad I can't make a clicky pet sub-game on it, but it's not even necessary XD It'll work for my breeds, at least, and I hope that promise of imports will interest the folks that already have them into helping me out on testing P=
I've got ten minutes so i will only answer the question right now--
Jcink is a forum host. You sign up, they give you a board. It's not the same as installing a php based script on your own webhost, but in my experience it works better. I tried both major phpbb installations on my website, and both of them had major maintainence and spam issues, even with the filters and blocks and everything i tried to do. Jcink being it's own host meant that they have to deal with all of that and they do it very well.
The downside is that you can't host as many images yourself through the forum itself (I always told people to use photobucket anyway, so that was not a major issue with me), and that you're much more restricted in terms of content. on your own host, you ahve no limits. Jcink does not allow mature content in terms of illegal activities or graphic sex or anything. Again, this is a pretty pendantic issue and not many people I know actually had trouble with it.
I do believe that jcink is php based, but the thing I love about it is that they have a number of scripts included that you can choose to turn on and off. You can have multiple skins, there's a shop and money system through the forum itself, and a portal if you want it. etc. The currency systems award an amount of points per post; you'd have to add more manually if you wanted to grade stories and artwork (hence the point values in the rubrics), and the staff has to do it- i do not think there's a way for players to give themselves points. That said, you can make them track their own values like they do in nordanner and shit, and then award the points yourself at regular intervals based on their trackers. etc.
I ramble. Anyway. the currency system ended up working really well as a sort of effort/work-based point reward that could the be traded in for rarer story elements, but I'm sure it would be absolutely fine with just a store as well.
I'll actually make more coherant words when i don't have to catch a bus in five minutes, lol.
Hmkay~ I've been looking for something with more flexibility, found makephpbb, but despite it having all the mods I'd need, it also stopped working for something over a month at some point. I also don't remember the amount of attachments you can add, but I'd rather have a base payment for attachments same as with posts, rubric later or no. There are multiple anti-spam mods--had you tried those?
Don't really like any pre-made skins in existence--I'm absurdly picky. I know it's minor, but there's so much that just pushes my attention (and interest) away XD; Always something.
I tried every anti-spam mod I could find, and some of them worked okay, and some didn't work at all. All of htem required a lot more me-work then I'd've liked, which was the benefit of using a host like jcink: I had to do nothing and the work got done. :3 all my work was forum setup/game maintenance, and everything.
The plus side too is that it's super easy to do your own skins for jcink if you know css/html. Which is good because there's not that many premade skins for it. But having multiple skins also means that players can choose what skin that they want. I wasn't coding my own, so i just found every remotely appealing skin that i could find and installed it and let my players do as they liked.
Which is good because there's not that many premade skins for it. But having multiple skins also means that players can choose what skin that they want. I wasn't coding my own, so i just found every remotely appealing skin that i could find and installed it and let my players do as they liked.The downside to tHAT was that if i wanted to add something to the page-- like a note above the forum, or OTM's, or anything, I had to add that separately to every skin I had installed, or it wouldn't show. so if you have like a news fader at the top of the board, multiple skins would get really old really really fast.
I will also add that the two main php hosts I tried on my own webspace was phpbb and simple machines forums. So there's some other that I don't know about that has better support then either of those, that I just didn't try. :C So my experiences are fairly limited; I've got a lot more experience with hosting sites like jcink/invision/proboards/etc, and a handful of others that are less popular.
There are some nice new ones out. You have to drag and drop between columns of related things, for example ='D