Advice/Help Tips for Running an Organized RP

[usagi froggy]

Hihi! So, recently I've been interested in hosting a group RP, but it's been a REALLY long time since I've done so. I was wondering if you guys had any tips on keeping an RP organized (e.g., keeping everyone on the same page story-wise, lore organization, making sure people don't fall behind, communication tips, etc.) I know this is a bit of a vague ask, but any advice would be appreciated. I'm a pretty veteran RPer, but I'm definitely rusty on my hosting skills lol.

 

[Ayama]

Mkay, lemme take a stab at this (though bear in mind that there will always be some amount of subjectivity and personal preference with this sort of thing).

My recommendations would be:

1. Have all the major elements you need prepared before you even put up the Interest Check- this keeps you from scrambling to come up with Lore or story or whatever else and have the RP waiting on you, which is stress no one needs.

2. Lore can be organized in any number of ways, as long as it is organized in some way. The most obvious breakdown is along the lines of people, places, history, magic and tech, etc. The various categories and contents will depend on the type of RP you're making and how Lore-heavy you want it to be.

3. Story-wise, you definitely don't need to have everything fully written from start to finish, but make sure you have enough planned to keep things from stalling out at any point- even if it's just a short list of GM event prompts.

4. For communication, quoting players to make sure notifications on important things don't get missed is always good practice.

5. For making sure people don't fall behind, I think it's a matter of balance between working with individual players and thinking of the group, so make sure you have rules established at the outset for posting deadlines and stick to them, but include caveats such as requesting extensions. That way, you have a mechanism to accommodate your players when Life^TM happens while not letting it affect the overall progression of the group.

Don't know if that's helpful or not but, if not, feel free to respond with more detailed questions and I'll do my best~

Good luck with the RP!

 

[AaronMk]

I'm going to try and answer this from a fairly niche perspective. And probably niche of a niche. But to pay the background:

I typically do Nation RPs in particular I do more narrative driven NRPs. I personally don't like to bother with inventing or building an actual game play aspect that many here like to do. This is probably the only forum I've found where running a nation RP is like trying to recreate Settlers of Cain from the ground up. But:

You should start with a clear vision, or good enough. You don't want to second guess yourself or lay out a setting and not know where to take it. Without gameplay to moderate other players, a lot of moderating player behavior and leveraging expectations and results depends on what you bring into it. This of course means that the roleplay is rather autocratic, you built the world, you're just inviting people into it.

Depending on how intense you want to go, or what the field is you might want to do research. This is especially true when you like me (to add another layer of niche) are doing something historical or alt-historical. I have actually abandoned concepts before being it to fruition because I realize the depth of the moving parts and how there's no way to clear the history books enough for a general audience to participate (in this case it was an alternate history of the War of the Roses, the sorts of intrigue and conflict within the period goes pretty beyond what a general audience could be expected to know without having to be guided by someone with a solid grasp).

Otherwise wing it it's not like you lose anything for shooting your shot and missing. If it doesn't launch then let it cook a bit longer when you're ready next time. Cultivating some friends helps in this regard, because even if you can't get randos if you can pitch a general idea to a handful of people you can at least run with them. This is the most applicable to anything generally

 

[AaronMk]

Also make sure you have a map. A visual representation of where things are is always a very handy reference no matter what. If you got MS Paint you can whip up a nap. Embarrassing as that map may be.