How can I keep an academy rp from going stale?

[Sibelle Grey]

So, I'm considering starting a high school rp (amazingly original, I know). It's an elite boarding school, renowned for its excellent results and state-of-the-art facilities. Basically, it's full of trust fund babies (the children of businessmen, oil barons, top surgeons and the like) and a handful of scholarship kids.


It's also chock-full of drama.


It's Gossip-Girl inspired, and the focus will be more on the students and their lives than on actual education, because I don't know many people who would be interested in RPing sitting in class. I've done these before, but I've only created a couple, and that was years ago. Also, I'm new to this site, so I'm still learning the ropes of RPNation. So if anyone has any advice whatsoever, I'd be glad to hear it

 

[Mordecai]

So, what's the actual plot? An academy/high school is merely a setting, not a plot. Players may be pulled in because of a particular setting, but it's the plot that will keep it moving. For example, look at Harry Potter-- it's based on an academy-like setting, yet the students are doing very little in terms of classwork throughout the books (ie: you don't read entire chapters of them sitting in a lecture, you only hear snippets of their school life, usually or, if you are ready about them being in class, it's when something is happening that will build the plot).


My concern here is by focusing just on students and their lives, you'll have characters running amuck. You need a way to tie them all together, a shared goal between all the characters that will encourage them to work and be together. Going back to my Harry Potter analogy, the whole "beating Voldermort/evil" was the big tie-in for the characters.

 

[call me rae]

Ditto to what @Mordecai said. Also a tip I've found that works well is scatter activities throughout the roleplay. Mandatory school plays, secret parties, lavish vacation to exotic places at the drop of the hat, punishments for going on said vacations ( maybe they have to clean the school or whatever).


What I call shenanigans. Omg someone brought a flock of flamingoes to school and set them lose.


You don't have to use all those examples but those kinds of things as fits the setting and plot. That will keep things going forward.

 

[Sibelle Grey]

@readingraebow: Yesss I was thinking about that, mandatory school things to bring people together, sanctions, completely inappropriate shenanigans. Thank you for your input