Hiraeth1000
New Member
When building a big fantasy world what’s some advice on keeping things interesting and lively ?
World Building Keeping a roleplay interesting
- Thread starter Hiraeth1000
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JadeGreen17
Chimeric Spirit
I would say to make things meaningful. If the players complete a quest (or fail to), show how it affects the world for better or worse. Have characters or guilds react to them differently based upon what the characters have accomplished. I had a friend (not throwing shade at him or anything) run an RP in a fantasy world where everything was just kind of boring and life was pretty much pointless. I was running some glorious characters but he got bored of running the world before I got bored of running the characters.
You could also focus on devianting from the norm. Every fantasy has their version/take on elves, orcs, dragons, etc. Try creating some new fictitious races or magic mechanics that your players could explore. If you presented your players at the start of an RP limited information and allowed them to discover these elements of your setting and learn how they work, they'd be pretty engaged.
Variety is also helpful. Having different encounters with different enemy types, big differences in the culture and lifestyle from one town to the next will keep people engaged.
You could also focus on devianting from the norm. Every fantasy has their version/take on elves, orcs, dragons, etc. Try creating some new fictitious races or magic mechanics that your players could explore. If you presented your players at the start of an RP limited information and allowed them to discover these elements of your setting and learn how they work, they'd be pretty engaged.
Variety is also helpful. Having different encounters with different enemy types, big differences in the culture and lifestyle from one town to the next will keep people engaged.
Hiraeth1000
New Member
Thank you so much! This is some great advice, in my server we’re really flexible with our lore and allow people to bring in different races and such and creatures. Magic wise I believe we can touch upon it more but still, thank you!
rae2nerdy
left site
EDIT.
So the first thing you'll need to figure out is what you want the focus of the roleplay to be.
1. Is it the world? Is it the plot? Is it the characters?
2. If it's the plot, does it have a natural conclusion or is it made as you go?
3. If it's the characters what are their individual character arcs?
4. If it's the world, what are the parts of it that you want to highlight? Do you want to do an exploration style roleplay OR a roleplay where the world is significantly changed due to the actions of the players?
So the first thing you'll need to figure out is what you want the focus of the roleplay to be.
1. Is it the world? Is it the plot? Is it the characters?
2. If it's the plot, does it have a natural conclusion or is it made as you go?
3. If it's the characters what are their individual character arcs?
4. If it's the world, what are the parts of it that you want to highlight? Do you want to do an exploration style roleplay OR a roleplay where the world is significantly changed due to the actions of the players?
Last edited:
Idea
The Pun Tyrant
I recommend you account for your priorities.
What kind of world is this? From what you've said, this seems like an open world sand-box style adventure. What IS fixed?
If the world is too open then you loose the ability to properly craft a plot- after all, without fixing rules, you can't stop someone from just being able to find some tool that automatically solves the plot- and so your focus should be on tackling the characters personally. What can you do to bring out their involvement, inner conflicts and the like? Take a genuine curiosity and interest for the work of your players, especially their characters, and try to incorporate what they make as much as possible rather than just making your own thing. Encourage players to form their own conflict (conflict is the essence of a plot, and with a world with a lot of freedom for crafting you can't railroad things, so getting your players to do it for you is more advisable), rivalries, and present things in such a way that will get them to think about the creations of others as well.
Furthermore, don't forget to keep your OOC lively. The OOC chat is a vital part of a healthy roleplay. When the OOC starts to die out, that is often an indicator that so will the RP die out, so you need to keep a watch on that and keep it lively with your own presence.
Of course this advice regards the type of world it seems like you're referring to, one more open for people to add their own things into it, a world without a consistent magic system and set of species and locations.
Hope this helps, best of luck and happy RPing!
What kind of world is this? From what you've said, this seems like an open world sand-box style adventure. What IS fixed?
If the world is too open then you loose the ability to properly craft a plot- after all, without fixing rules, you can't stop someone from just being able to find some tool that automatically solves the plot- and so your focus should be on tackling the characters personally. What can you do to bring out their involvement, inner conflicts and the like? Take a genuine curiosity and interest for the work of your players, especially their characters, and try to incorporate what they make as much as possible rather than just making your own thing. Encourage players to form their own conflict (conflict is the essence of a plot, and with a world with a lot of freedom for crafting you can't railroad things, so getting your players to do it for you is more advisable), rivalries, and present things in such a way that will get them to think about the creations of others as well.
Furthermore, don't forget to keep your OOC lively. The OOC chat is a vital part of a healthy roleplay. When the OOC starts to die out, that is often an indicator that so will the RP die out, so you need to keep a watch on that and keep it lively with your own presence.
Of course this advice regards the type of world it seems like you're referring to, one more open for people to add their own things into it, a world without a consistent magic system and set of species and locations.
Hope this helps, best of luck and happy RPing!
MDL
RIP Doctor Calgori (2012-2017)
A good RP world is going to take a enormous amount of effort. When I build settings I usually work at it daily for 1-2 months. Writing 30-50 pages of text for all aspects of the world. This helps make a good RP which is consistent and really makes developing the story much simpler because the various intriguing things that could happen are already in place.
You don't have to put this amount of effort, but if you're just going to write 1-3 pages on a world the RP will suffer greatly in consistency and I would suggest going with an already established setting. But that's just my high standard for quality.
You don't have to put this amount of effort, but if you're just going to write 1-3 pages on a world the RP will suffer greatly in consistency and I would suggest going with an already established setting. But that's just my high standard for quality.
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