Advice/Help So guys, I needed a lot more help than I thought

[Panzer]

Hi, I'm Panzer, And I've recently just poured 6 months of my life (ehhh around that time anyways) into developing a trainwreck. I've planned every pain-staking detail - wiped it clean and wrote over the ashes of burning concepts and designs. I'm just absolutely dog-tired... Today, I figured out the matter- The original skeletal concept for this thing is a disaster to work with and has an infamously low survival rate. My attempts to make a Slice-of-Life Episodic rp set in the Modern Day- twisted by paranormal happenings and such has been wasted. I'll be happy to spill the deets onto those who require it to give a full diagnosis, however, let's just say that I've been adding on everything and changing everything over and over again.
I've added multiple invisible entities that would pull the player group to things or try to kill them etc- in some confusing mess of a hook...
I've added and retracted many attempts to somehow pull a player count of over 8 into one group somehow (It sounds high, but that's because I have a bunch of peeps from previous attempts who still wanna join but I also want to let in new blood as well)

And I've tried and thrown away many many things
I've tried to put in some Danganronpa, some SCP Confinement, some (Don't look at the Moon), Some other general imagery like the buildings and the parks, etc. I've put in settings and surreal places like an underground cowboy amusement park and some miracle corporation...
Even currently, with the repeal of a Mansion idea inspired by how Danganronpa grouped it's cast into one setting - and coupled with Spooky's House of jump scares for a surrealist mystery taken inside a mansion with it's on-the-nose- setting but still subtle and creative ideas for monsters and such- I seem to be at a loss as to how I'm supposed to handle something like this...
It gets worse...
I've added a whole myriad of things...
problem is
none of them fit together anywhere.
I'm still struggling to figure out how to somehow ground a scenario in which more than 8 people are close-knit into something that can provide drama and interaction without excluding character choices and things...
I've tried to turn a freeform RP into a close-knit one without losing free form
and I've gone mad!!!!
I've recently heard the suggestion of cutting things down and somehow focusing in on a certain type, but I just can't wrap my head around what to do or what things are recommended since I'd kinda like to keep all the little inspirations which have led me to these ideas...

[*] I want to make something episodic and jumpy, without losing a Slice of Life flavor since that can introduce things from dramas to silly scenarios... an idea I quite like.
[*] I'd like to pour some ... whatdoyoucallit? angst or edginess or whatever. A Danganronpa-ish distrust and gruesome consequence as the story continues to unfold. Perhaps people turning into paranormal entities and trying to hide that from the cast- or something to do with secrets...
[*] ^ Or maybe taking the paranormal idea without the stuff behind it to make this more into a self-discovery and assistance along becoming a paranormal entity or coming to terms with things like vampirism and such.
[*] I need a way to string together the players into something that could get them to experience the paranormal side. I mean, I could always have the paranormal side come to them, but I've come to heed the warnings of those who do not hook the players on some plot that they can progress... And plus I kinda like the idea of the group coming together to solve mysteries or the pull of mystery that can lure players into the RP more alongside the side stuff...
[*] I'd kinda like to keep the surrealism in its horror so that I may stretch my diminished creativity into stuff made for episodic encounters...
But, this can be talked over and some may not survive the discussion. I just want to keep a wacky slice of life with paranormal episodes and occasional on-the-nose- self-aware edginess.
This post is a mess, but I had to get everything out of my think-organ and onto the light-screen.
But if you've read this far, or you've skimmed it out of curiosity, I thank you. If you have any opinions as to how I can solve this or things that I've missed don't hesitate to post it. I am in desperate need of assistance.

 

[calypso]

Hmm...Seems like ya do what I do with RPs. From reading over your bottom list, I think perhaps the type of RP that could work is an elitist boarding school type RP. Those, however, are always a bit difficult to get going. People easily get interested, but drop school RPs like flies. I would say for that idea, have a general group of people joining in instead of just all randoms from interest checks. You could perhaps GM a character in the RP that's slowly turning people inhuman, or planning something sinister with the student body staff. (Turning everyone into mindless ghosts, yay! Is that the plot of the Ghostbusters remake? I dunno.)


Maybe to close knit the group, they can be put in an orientation group and all witness something spooky at the start? So they're forced to work together. Kinda like House of Anubis, maybe...I keep referencing things I have very vague understandings of.

 

[Panzer]

Hmmm, Interesting... I am gonna keep that in mind. The settings always interested me and it's sorta split me- because, with a setting like that, I lose the chance to have the town be an active or side-active part of the rp...
However, I don't seem to have found many other options. I will refer to the closed-off setting as a "Danganronpa inspired" one since that has the cast put into a place for the game, while on the contrary, the other inspiration utilizes the settings of the town to really make its monsters. A closed environment can be quite potent in dishing out attacks and stuff and it may be easier for the gang to turn against each other or stick together as a team during the trek...
but again that sacrifices the setting and the original tone...

I kinda tried to do something like that with the mansion: a wacky but still grounded premise as someone rents out a poorly maintained (haunted) mansion to a bunch of people so they'll all be trapped, but since the mansion is on a block (not one of those woodsy mansions or ones with huge courtyards) it would open up to the town... but then the Mansion become the entire focus which somewhat sacrifices the town or I'd have to over-complicate it in order to make everything work. But a school setting does interest me somewhat- like maybe its some program of some sort.

 

[Panzer]

There is a certain level of vivid freedom in those comics and that's what I was getting wrong. I'm an idiot.
Yeah. Okay.that's why.
So, it's a bunch of paranormal stuff happening around peeps in a modern day setting. Actually, I kinda like that.
But, let's not get ahead of myself.
I've kept in these ideas for so long that they have morphed and meshed into each other. I just want to RP in a Z-toons universe I guess. And you know what, That's what I'm gonna do. No more waiting. I'm gonna exercise this demon so that I may see what works and what doesn't. I have ideas for it. Like how the setting can be changed into other genres to make things interesting on the fly. If I've seen Pika's RP lasting a tad longer, its cause I am selling the Slice of Life short...

I can have them affiliated by friend groups. Simple. These friend groups kinda battle and tease at each other, and have their own separate in-jokes and junk. Boom.

It's merely a premise that promises that the setting will expand and write upon its own foundations. A magic book can be implemented or the actual gods of webcomics come down to have a rave party. An expandable universe.
I don't need a bunch of fancy dancy doodle stuff at the start but I simply need the players and the ability to make things chig along swimmingly.

 

[Idea]

Ok, so we've gone over this RP of yours a few times by now, and to be honest beyond what I told you before I'm not sure if there is much to add. However, there are two things which, seeing the contents of this one, I'd like to emphasize once again:

1. YOU have to make decisions. You're trying to have your cake and eat it too on multiple aspects of this RP. That will obviously not work. If you want a close tight group, you can't have too many players, so trying to keep past ones while also adding fresh blood is not necessarily the best idea for instance. You want to have angst and drama while also light hearted self-aware adventures but you don't seem to be prioritizing either one, resulting in a jumbled mess.

On that particular topic, the basic idea of how to have variety in your tone is to ground that on the particular type of plot structure you want to have. You can either have a generally dark and grim tone with moments of levity sprinkled throughout and small breaks to ease the tension OR you can have a plot that starts lighthearted and fun and becomes more serious and dramatic as the stakes get higher, plot progresses and everything comes together. The latter I feel is probably closer to what you are looking for.

Lastly on this topic, while it is important to listen to your players the decisions are yours to make. Anything that has more than three people will inevitably riddled with disagreements. As GM it's your job to make the call and to sometimes progress with things even if a portion of your players isn't entirely happy with it, if there isn't a clear better solution.

2. Speaking of players one thing you seem to be wanting a lot is a particular tone or manner of writing. While this is achievable, it means that you want to pick the right players for that style of playing. Everyone has different writing styles and most people's will not be the one you're looking for to create the goofy slightly edgy type of thing you want to make.

 

[Panzer]

Ok, so we've gone over this RP of yours a few times by now, and to be honest beyond what I told you before I'm not sure if there is much to add. However, there are two things which, seeing the contents of this one, I'd like to emphasize once again:

1. YOU have to make decisions. You're trying to have your cake and eat it too on multiple aspects of this RP. That will obviously not work. If you want a close tight group, you can't have too many players, so trying to keep past ones while also adding fresh blood is not necessarily the best idea for instance. You want to have angst and drama while also light hearted self-aware adventures but you don't seem to be prioritizing either one, resulting in a jumbled mess.

On that particular topic, the basic idea of how to have variety in your tone is to ground that on the particular type of plot structure you want to have. You can either have a generally dark and grim tone with moments of levity sprinkled throughout and small breaks to ease the tension OR you can have a plot that starts lighthearted and fun and becomes more serious and dramatic as the stakes get higher, plot progresses and everything comes together. The latter I feel is probably closer to what you are looking for.

Lastly on this topic, while it is important to listen to your players the decisions are yours to make. Anything that has more than three people will inevitably riddled with disagreements. As GM it's your job to make the call and to sometimes progress with things even if a portion of your players isn't entirely happy with it, if there isn't a clear better solution.

2. Speaking of players one thing you seem to be wanting a lot is a particular tone or manner of writing. While this is achievable, it means that you want to pick the right players for that style of playing. Everyone has different writing styles and most people's will not be the one you're looking for to create the goofy slightly edgy type of thing you want to make.

Hm. Yeah I've had a tendency to get indecisive. But that actually helped reveal the problems with it.
Thanks for the help fam! I'll be making some decisions on stuff, then I'll finally get this rollin'!

Uh, just to kinda keep a discussion goin', what do yalls think are the best ways to spark interesting conflicts between characters?
I kinda like rps with ... uhhh I'd call it group rivalries- where groups rival each other in something. Those are interesting but I've never seen one last for a while.

 

[Idea]

Uh, just to kinda keep a discussion goin', what do yalls think are the best ways to spark interesting conflicts between characters?
I kinda like rps with ... uhhh I'd call it group rivalries- where groups rival each other in something. Those are interesting but I've never seen one last for a while.

Recipe:
1. Characters which have the personality and dynamic which would spark rivalry (and mantain it)
2. Players who have the self-restraint and coodernation required to compete without making it escalate beyodn a controlled amount
3. A common goal the two characters start bouting for or at one point bout for (so either motivates or sparks the rivlary in the first place)
4. Situations to exhibit the rivalry in, especially cooked up by the GM with an involvement of the particular characteristics of the characters
5. A pinch of salt