Advice/Help Party Peeps, I got a Problem.

[Panzer]

So, I need advice as to how to correctly focus the players onto a sort of situational plot in a kinda paranormal modern city thingy.
I kinda wanted to leave the town open for exploration, but an open world- slice of life doesn't seem to work all that well in a paranormal mystery setting.
All in all, I want to take the cast on an adventure in a normal - kinda cartoony world. but I have no clue how to do that.

So, I was wonderin' what types of things could assist in focusing the party down in a modern mystery/paranormal setting.
Ya'know? Hear some opinions as to which techniques are better or how something like this could be run correctly, and chat some rp'in' stuff.

 

[Qazi]

Dunno, dude. I was watching some Scooby-Doo reruns the other day, the old ones, real nostalgic. You could do something like that: it's modern, got at least some flair of paranormality (not even some legit word) and it's got mystery too. Vans, shit. Moreover, people here are, like, frolicking everywhere and stuff and I bet an RP about frolicking could, well, be attractive to those frolicking people. You know. You could do something like that.

But, hey, I've never made a group thread here . Take my words with a grain of salt.

 

[Panzer]

Dunno, dude. I was watching some Scooby-Doo reruns the other day, the old ones, real nostalgic. You could do something like that: it's modern, got at least some flair of paranormality (not even some legit word) and it's got mystery too. Vans, shit. Moreover, people here are, like, frolicking everywhere and stuff and I bet an RP about frolicking could, well, be attractive to those frolicking people. You know. You could do something like that.

But, hey, I've never made a group thread here . Take my words with a grain of salt.

Hmmm... Yeah. I did have this idea to where interactions are kinda brief and kinda transitional- treated like a webcomic or like a cartoon. Ive noticed that rps that try to go off of one continuous line of interaction will often crash and die...

But, that's a different issue for a different thread. I am sortve torn as between what I could use for this thingy. I originally had an idea where the group would be living in a haunted rented-out "mansion" along the road- going with a danganronpa approach to focusing the characters. If I had them close together near the paranormal stuff, it could be a lost more focused, but lose scope. I had planned to also use the quirks of the city to hide monsters...

Another idea was to have a book of some sort- an item or some thing that would bring this bunch together.

Im not really looking for direct answers, as I feel that taking direct plot ideas from people wouldn't be...ethical... BUT I am asking for advice as to which type of strategy works for an rp like this?

Should I go with Item-strategy?
Or maybe go a bit danganronoa and have them be packed really close together?
Or maybe there is another way to tie them together?
Its really a conundrum that I fear I have spent too much time stressing about.
I do like that you've pointed to the Mystery gang, that gives me a bunch of ideas- like a Mystery club of some sort- a friend group gone a tad large perhaps... Hmmm...

 

[Qazi]

Hmmm... Yeah. I did have this idea to where interactions are kinda brief and kinda transitional- treated like a webcomic or like a cartoon. Ive noticed that rps that try to go off of one continuous line of interaction will often crash and die...

But, that's a different issue for a different thread. I am sortve torn as between what I could use for this thingy. I originally had an idea where the group would be living in a haunted rented-out "mansion" along the road- going with a danganronpa approach to focusing the characters. If I had them close together near the paranormal stuff, it could be a lost more focused, but lose scope. I had planned to also use the quirks of the city to hide monsters...

Another idea was to have a book of some sort- an item or some thing that would bring this bunch together.

Im not really looking for direct answers, as I feel that taking direct plot ideas from people wouldn't be...ethical... BUT I am asking for advice as to which type of strategy works for an rp like this?

Should I go with Item-strategy?
Or maybe go a bit danganronoa and have them be packed really close together?
Or maybe there is another way to tie them together?
Its really a conundrum that I fear I have spent too much time stressing about.
I do like that you've pointed to the Mystery gang, that gives me a bunch of ideas- like a Mystery club of some sort- a friend group gone a tad large perhaps... Hmmm...

That's a lotta enthusiasm there, I'd say!

But, like I said, I probably don't know any better than you. My advice is (take it with a grain of salt, please): if you cannot reach the conclusion of your ideas by internal logic, or are stuck in a dilemma that seemingly has clear-cut solution to it, try relying on your instincts and your intuition—or really, whatever you like the most, would have fun doing the most, do that.

 

[Idea]

At times like these, I feel that it comes in handy to breakdown the problem into the core components.
-You have: Paranormal city; open world
-You want: exploration with mystery elements / a group united

Now, honestly, this is indeed a hard one. Mostly because you want two things that are polar opposites: Explorational open world and a focused party. Focused parties tend to be united under a particular objective or common factor, and when that happens that common factor tends to be the plot or the center of the plot, thus making explorational content sidelined. On the other hand, in order to give your players freedoom of exploration, you have to allow them to move in and out of the group.
Another matter regarding this dilema is that the two types of RP are also fundamentally different: Task-based RPs with focused groups will want to follow a more linear and focused approach, focusing on moving the plot and creating very close character relationships over time. Explorational RPs on the other hand, explore how the characters interact with the various facets of the setting, and one another, while allowing players to enjoy a far greater degree of freedoom.

Because of other threads I have seen by you, and your focus on this thread as well, I will be taking into assumption that you are, if only slightly, more inclined towards a more free and explorational format in your cartoon-based setting. With that established, here is what I recommend.

Step 1- Know the setting VERY well. You want your players exploring it with mystery involved. You have to, therefore, be quite aware of what is in the actual setting. Since your RP is focusing on a city, I recommend spending some time to really flesh out a city map, and work out in your head what is in each place your players may want to explore. This way, if your players want to explore somewhere, move around, or ask questions, then you have the answers already built for them to find. This will also allow you to set better and more fun twists and foreshadowing, as well as give a sense of real accomplishment to the exploration, as opposed to the contrivences of making it up as you go.

Step 2- Use the mystery element to give an incentive for the characters to work together. This can be in one of two ways, both if you're clever enough. The first method is to give the characters a reason to suspect and want to investigate one another. It's important that this "investigate" and not "fight" because that way you can have a broader range of approaches and results, plus "defeating" someone wouldn't necessarily end the conflict that way.
The second method is to have a threat that makes the characters have good reason to keep others around them. Some kind of enemy just about anyone would need help with.

Step 3- Promote characters that naturally drift towards easier relationships, or even/at least making characters with pre-established relationships. Give less incentives for loner or uber-shy types, nor the kind that doesn't trust people right away. Players will still make those characters of course, but if you show there to be clear benefits to making characters be more social or at least know someone, this might help players actually do that, and thus give them IC justification for such characters to band together.



Hope this helps! Best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[Panzer]

Thank yew!
I'll be thinking up ways to change and modify the concept to fit this. Now I've got some idea as to how II can go about this!
Thanks again Idea, mang.
And thanks for the luck, I know I'll need the blessings from the RPN gods.
XD