Experiences Prompts You're Too Afraid to Advertise

[BuggaBoo]

K my first prompt didn't do well BUT! eyo at least now I'm not afraid any longer; I now know it too niche lol

BUT! like thanks to just doing it Im gathering enough courage to do up another niche prompt even if it bombs again! Yay.

 

[MaruMaru]

Uuugh, I'm not sure If it counts as a fear... It's mostly knowing It will be very unlikely to find someone interested in roleplaying it.

Anyway, for the curious: It's a Historical Supernatural Fantasy, set in an alternative version of Japan. More specifically during the Warring States/Sengoku period. There's hardly anywhere or anyone literate interested in a topic like that lol But I have kinda grown tired of Modern Fantasy by now (the other thing I don't mind doing).

 

[Cogwork]

Anyway, for the curious: It's a Historical Supernatural Fantasy, set in an alternative version of Japan. More specifically during the Warring States/Sengoku period.

That's sounds like a really fun idea. I think plenty of people would be interested in something like that.

 

[MaruMaru]

That's sounds like a really fun idea. I think plenty of people would be interested in something like that.

Well, I did make an ad about it lol so far nobody seems to have taken interest, but I'm patient.

 

[Jon-the-Archivist]

Yeeeah I’m actually actively advertising mine. It’s an ambitious group RP premise set in the SAO verse with some AU alterations for scale.

A couple OC inserts and a core narrative premise set the stage for a technological espionage/unconventional warfare thriller with some horror elements, much of which is inspired by a mix of advanced interwoven worldbuilding and character dynamic techniques pioneered or deeply explored by Tolkien, and conspiracies/conspiracy theories of the contemporary/digital age, all without losing sight of the emotional/moral journeys and relationships of the characters.

All this in mind, it still stays open enough for other RPers to introduce their OCs to the story.

Like I said, niche and ambitious….

 

[Astrologer]

ooh! i love this topic! i've had many prompts that i'd be too afraid to advertise. recently, i've had a lot of ideas inspired by dreams i'd wanna write, but they feel too weird, lol!

Spoiler: some of those weird plot ideas.

1.) had a dream last night about a traveling party led by a person blessed by nature. they're some kind of [insert forest creature here] who has the gift of drawing ordinary people towards them. these drawn people become their friends, but also their protectors as if this person is ever actually hurt, they have enough power to level mountains, dry up seas, or even cause mass extinction events. the traveling party must keep this person safe from any potential harm otherwise their world might just end as they know it.

2.) had another dream recently about a group of people pulled from their homes/home worlds by a cult leader, named "mother". mother's domain is basically a botanical garden mixed with a theater, aquarium, and a museum. these characters hide together in plain sight and begin to conspire on how they can fight back against mother. the twist is that most of them have been successfully brainwashed by her, but don't know when, how, and/or why. they slowly recover memories of their capture while fighting back and learning the tools of her trade.

3.) had another dream about a character who has the ability to control a kaiju! or, rather, their world becomes overrun with kaijus and they realize that their soul is split with one of the kaijus, who they can use to fight back and protect their world.

4.) a dream from a while back where a character gains the ability to summon ghosts/use their powers. they end up using their power and the help of their ghost buddies to take down all sorts of evil/twisted people and stop their plans of kidnapping, murder, etc, saving many along the way.

 

[Timothee]

Do any of you have a idea or a prompt that you'd like to do, but are too afraid to say? It could be something completely innocuous, but be extremely specific, obscure, or contain a mix of tropes or subject matters that make for a weird combination. I know I've experienced that, but what about the people of this forum?

There are several of them and each has its own reasonable or less reasonable, well, reasons.
For me, however, the fear of not proposing an idea does not derive from its nature, but from my ability and skill in dealing with it. If I realize that I don't know how to expertly bring up, I withdraw.

There is an idea, however, that I would have liked to propose but I will not do so for tragicomic and absurd reasons: I'm afraid that the person I was roleplaying this ideas with will find out about this.
The plot was this person's, so I would already feel like I had committed an armed robbery, then, well... Our relationship ended a little tragically.
To think that in this reeeeally vast cosmos, there is a possibility that this person will read that idea, makes me do an about-face. Hell, no. No. Absolutely not.

 

[Jon-the-Archivist]

There are several of them and each has its own reasonable or less reasonable, well, reasons.
For me, however, the fear of not proposing an idea does not derive from its nature, but from my ability and skill in dealing with it. If I realize that I don't know how to expertly bring up, I withdraw.

There is an idea, however, that I would have liked to propose but I will not do so for tragicomic and absurd reasons: I'm afraid that the person I was roleplaying this ideas with will find out about this.
The plot was this person's, so I would already feel like I had committed an armed robbery, then, well... Our relationship ended a little tragically.
To think that in this reeeeally vast cosmos, there is a possibility that this person will read that idea, makes me do an about-face. Hell, no. No. Absolutely not.

This one resonates with me a little TOO deeply.

I feel your pain....

 

[Astrologer]

There are several of them and each has its own reasonable or less reasonable, well, reasons.
For me, however, the fear of not proposing an idea does not derive from its nature, but from my ability and skill in dealing with it. If I realize that I don't know how to expertly bring up, I withdraw.

There is an idea, however, that I would have liked to propose but I will not do so for tragicomic and absurd reasons: I'm afraid that the person I was roleplaying this ideas with will find out about this.
The plot was this person's, so I would already feel like I had committed an armed robbery, then, well... Our relationship ended a little tragically.
To think that in this reeeeally vast cosmos, there is a possibility that this person will read that idea, makes me do an about-face. Hell, no. No. Absolutely not.

in normal circumstances, i'd say try to ask for a person's permission to use their plot, but that's probably not doable due to your relationship ending 'a little tragically'. honestly, though, if it's still sticking with you to this point. . i still say go for it. credit them in the idea or add your own spin to it to make it yours (think of it as fair use or even fanfiction). even if they see it, so what? it eventually became your story as much as theirs. also, nothing is stopping both of you from writing it. just don't steal their idea word from word and you're doing a-okay imo.

 

[Timothee]

in normal circumstances, i'd say try to ask for a person's permission to use their plot, but that's probably not doable due to your relationship ending 'a little tragically'. honestly, though, if it's still sticking with you to this point. . i still say go for it. credit them in the idea or add your own spin to it to make it yours (think of it as fair use or even fanfiction). even if they see it, so what? it eventually became your story as much as theirs. also, nothing is stopping both of you from writing it. just don't steal their idea word from word and you're doing a-okay imo.

I appreciated your advice, Astrologer (I almost fainted at the thought of mentioning the person though, Imao).

However, thinking about it deeply, analyzing it almost in a Freudian way, perhaps all I would like, all I would have wanted, is to end the story with that person. Instead, the only ending that was allowed was the snuffing out of our relationship.
Oh well... AnYwAy.
Time for me and Jon-The-Archivist to travel the world together, in search of liberation and peace.
(Friendly pat pat. Cookies too, for everyone).

 

[Jon-the-Archivist]

I appreciated your advice, Astrologer (I almost fainted at the thought of mentioning the person though, Imao).
View attachment 1215994
However, thinking about it deeply, analyzing it almost in a Freudian way, perhaps all I would like, all I would have wanted, is to end the story with that person. Instead, the only ending that was allowed was the snuffing out of our relationship.
Oh well... AnYwAy.
Time for me and Jon-The-Archivist to travel the world together, in search of liberation and peace.
(Friendly pat pat. Cookies too, for everyone).
View attachment 1215997

I relate to this WAAAAY too much!!!

I very recently had a friendship and story end this way...

 

[Astrologer]

well, you wouldn't have to credit them by name ( Timothee ). either way, wishing you (and jon) the best on your journey for peace and liberation!

 

[Jon-the-Archivist]

well, you wouldn't have to credit them by name ( Timothee ). either way, wishing you (and jon) the best on your journey for peace and liberation!

God willing, we’ll find it.

Not exactly an easy road though, especially when the bridge was burned by a dear friend….

I have found others who are helping me to bounce back though.

Hoping Timothee has found the same.

 

[Edythir]

Not so much scared to, but still hesitant. Mostly because I don't know how it would be able to function. I am a long term Rper, I prefer engaging with characters through a plot instead of having a plot I navigate my characters through, if that makes sense. I am very character and interpersonal relationship driven person.

There are occasionally ideas I will get which will get a "And then what?" reply from my self. A cool story or a scenario that sounds like a fun start but... where would it go after a few posts? Would it meander? Go on aimlessely. Would it just fizzle out after the initial startup is done and we've gone through what the was said on the interest check? Would I put myself in the position of loving the interactions of a pair of characters but then "Running out" of things to interact with?

 

[Maime]

I very much would love to RP as the supremely weird and fantastic Jim Carrey Robotnik. Probably in a group RP because I can't think of a plot to fit him in. But the idea also intimidates the heck outta me, because I only really know Sonic lore from the films and what pieces of memories I have of my younger brothers playing the games while growing up.

 

[Astrologer]

I very much would love to RP as the supremely weird and fantastic Jim Carrey Robotnik. Probably in a group RP because I can't think of a plot to fit him in. But the idea also intimidates the heck outta me, because I only really know Sonic lore from the films and what pieces of memories I have of my younger brothers playing the games while growing up.

i think you could totally find someone to write this with! i've noticed a few sonic the hedgehog movie roleplay requests in the 1x1 section, plus i've seen a few crossover roleplays in the group roleplay section as well. in my personal experience, people who write crossovers are pretty open-minded about the types of characters that people want to play, so i see no reason they'd mind you playing as jim carrey's version of robotnik!

 

[clorox]

i used to write on this old rp forum that had a farming system on the side, totally unrelated to the premise of the story. it was just so fun to "feed" my chickens every day n watch their hearts go up or water my seeds for a later harvest. i don't think it even involved any writing tbh. we'd use an ic shop to exchange gold for seeds and fodder, update the code for our farm's thread with the adjustments (i.e +1 heart) and log it in a post for said thread so that staff could keep tabs. i remember being so obsessed w/ it that i'd log onto two of my friends' character accounts and do their daily tasks for them. another site i was on implemented a class system for a medieval, slice-of-life rp that was set in a cozy village setting. had roles like farmers, blacksmiths, doctors, questers, animal tamers, and etc etc.. and was generally just, so. laid-back.

all this is to say: a laid-back, progression-based mmo rp that incorporates the smaller sub-skills (cooking, farming, blacksmithing ...) alongside dungeoning & your typical character leveling system. a mixture of bdo and stardew valley? not sure how it'd work or if it would even attract the right audience, but smth i've been ruminating over recently!

 

[Jannah]

For me it's a lot of highly sensitive historical and current event topics, namely dealing with wars and genocides. I have done stuff like this, but never anything dealing with current conflicts as I feel it would offend a lot of people to even advertise a prompt like that. There's a few ideas that have been floating around in my head, namely a very complicated friendship (and perhaps romance) between an Israeli and Palestinian. Yea, see? Already walking through a minefield by even bringing that up, but a friend inspired the idea. If you're familiar with the story behind The Fox and the Hound I'm envisioning something sort of like that: they are childhood friends, but then as adults realize they're supposed to hate each other, but don't want to. Could potentially be a lot of problematic implications there as well as I'm neither Israeli nor Palestinian so it would be very tricky to portray respectfully, especially as there's debate over whether people not part of the specific marginalized group should be telling the stories of said marginalized groups they're not part of. Plus the whole debate over whether making this sort of story into a RP would be trivializing these real people's struggles or not.

So yea, in short I've decided to stay away from it. There's other less sensitive stories I can write if I really want to write Jewish or Arab characters (which I'm all for as I'm a person with a huge interest in Middle Eastern culture and history anyway). Hell, if I wanted to write a story that delves into themes like Islamophobia I could even do that instead since it expands beyond just one specific ethnic group and could be touching on my own personal experiences.

Yea, I'm the person who gets into a lot of heavy topics while writing, even sometimes in RP's. I think it can work to some extent, provided everyone involved in the RP is okay with it.

 

[rockstarcrossing]

Yes... It's been turned down quite a few times, or I've been ghosted for mentioning it. It's from a long-term RP that died last year, and I'd like to have the same plot idea re-written with someone else. I love celebrity RPs, but your chances are small if you're not playing one that's very popular. The plot itself is a bit cliche and rather romantic.

 

[rockstarcrossing]

For me it's a lot of highly sensitive historical and current event topics, namely dealing with wars and genocides. I have done stuff like this, but never anything dealing with current conflicts as I feel it would offend a lot of people to even advertise a prompt like that. There's a few ideas that have been floating around in my head, namely a very complicated friendship (and perhaps romance) between an Israeli and Palestinian. Yea, see? Already walking through a minefield by even bringing that up, but a friend inspired the idea. If you're familiar with the story behind The Fox and the Hound I'm envisioning something sort of like that: they are childhood friends, but then as adults realize they're supposed to hate each other, but don't want to. Could potentially be a lot of problematic implications there as well as I'm neither Israeli nor Palestinian so it would be very tricky to portray respectfully, especially as there's debate over whether people not part of the specific marginalized group should be telling the stories of said marginalized groups they're not part of. Plus the whole debate over whether making this sort of story into a RP would be trivializing these real people's struggles or not.

So yea, in short I've decided to stay away from it. There's other less sensitive stories I can write if I really want to write Jewish or Arab characters (which I'm all for as I'm a person with a huge interest in Middle Eastern culture and history anyway). Hell, if I wanted to write a story that delves into themes like Islamophobia I could even do that instead since it expands beyond just one specific ethnic group and could be touching on my own personal experiences.

Yea, I'm the person who gets into a lot of heavy topics while writing, even sometimes in RP's. I think it can work to some extent, provided everyone involved in the RP is okay with it.

Heavy topics are an acquired taste for sure, sometimes leads to political arguments and such. But, the story is not being publicly written and neither you or your partner are benefitting from the story financially, so I don't see an issue. I do love the topic of the Middle East myself, even though I've never been there but I've met and read about people who have.

 

[AaronMk]

I wouldn't post it here because it would be extremely spicy politically and would probably start up fights between me and people who fail the checks to get in, because it's all apart very contemporary subjects.

Spoiler: the proposal

Alternate History Nation Roleplay/Nation Building Roleplay set in the present day. But premised on the US zagging where it zigged and while we invade Afghanistan in 2001 we for whatever reason never invade Iraq so the Global War On Terror is relatively restrained vs what it actually became. This premised on an notion proposed in a podcast interview I just finished where the authors of a book just coming out about the new political trends behind What's Happening Now in part has a major lynch pin in Gulf War 2.

I wouldn't have much in the way of the patience or energy to engage in the fights I predict this would start. Even in the RP board I came from previously which would have probably not cared at all.

 

[Jannah]

I wouldn't post it here because it would be extremely spicy politically and would probably start up fights between me and people who fail the checks to get in, because it's all apart very contemporary subjects.

Spoiler: the proposal

Alternate History Nation Roleplay/Nation Building Roleplay set in the present day. But premised on the US zagging where it zigged and while we invade Afghanistan in 2001 we for whatever reason never invade Iraq so the Global War On Terror is relatively restrained vs what it actually became. This premised on an notion proposed in a podcast interview I just finished where the authors of a book just coming out about the new political trends behind What's Happening Now in part has a major lynch pin in Gulf War 2.

I wouldn't have much in the way of the patience or energy to engage in the fights I predict this would start. Even in the RP board I came from previously which would have probably not cared at all.

I would participate since I'm simply into stuff like this, but yea, a bit too spicy just like the idea I had.

 

[SP3CT3R]

One idea that's been floating around in my head for a while is magical girls in a gothic Victorian-inspired fantasy setting. Mostly because I like the mental image of heroes dressed up in the period's high fashion contrasted against the dreariness of everything else, but it's enough that I've been committing to the bit and working on some worldbuilding.

 

[Clair Obscur]

Not afraid of putting out a prompt itself, it's more of finding the right person to be able to not limit myself when writing. I have one partner off site that we write about tough topics, carefully doing research of course.

 

[SP3CT3R]

Okay, another one I just came up with is a space opera-type story about kids and teens living on an exploratory vessel á la Star Trek with a currently undefined ratio of goofing off to experiencing horrors.