Blumenkranz
Roll for INIT
I think the most basic of the advices is not letting your RP die. It might sound very obvious and redundant, but some GM forget about that.
While nobody likes railroading, GM are meant to be something more than a GMPC. If nothing outside of player drama ever happens in a RP, people will leave it simply because it will become stale after a while. Expanding the setting, writing important events, posting regularly... all of these make your players see you really care about your game. Nobody will stay around for too long if a GM just starts the RP with "well this is a school BUT WITH MAGIC" and then proceed to romance with his friend's character for the next 20 pages before stopping posting. Small groups of players will be formed, and without any external forces to move the story forward, people will get bored of interacting with the same people over and over without nothing ever happening. Which brings me to my next point.
Pacing is important. I have seen many games where time simply seems to be static, and in sandbox Slice of Life RP where missions are not important this could single handedly kill a game. Talking to another PC for dozens of posts without nothing ever happening will become boring after a while, and if there are no events to change the way they interact, they will be trapped in an endless conversation where time doesn't seem to advance and nobody wants to be impolite and tell the other party they have to leave, because it would be rude to say that you have to go when only an ingame minute since the start of the conversation has passed. Instead, why don't you throw a monster at them, make an alarm sound or simply say that it's getting late? Midnight will probably force most interactions to break so the characters can sleep, which will offer the players an opportunity to talk to other players the next morning.
Pacing is also important for the correct development of characters. I have seen many RP with the "no first day romance" rule, which is actually a good reminder to get in character (unless you are intentionally trying to play a flirty character) for those players who usually go too fast with relationships, but when the first hour takes fifty pages and you have actually talked for what would be days if time flowed correctly, it doesn't make much sense. Yes, it doesn't make much sense to fall in love during the first day, but it also doesn't make much sense to not fall in love if you have been talking for so long you already know each other perfectly. Pacing is important for character progression, be it romance, learning, maturing...
Moving to another thing, I mostly agree with Atom's points. It is very important that each action has consequences, and specially important that players doing stupid things get punished for it.
Alright, let's imagine a realistic setting roleplay. You are a human who has never fought anyone, yet you decide to fight a group of eight armed gangsters with your bare hands. In real life, this would usually mean a certain death or at least severe injury. In mechanics-based roleplays this would also mean the same unless you have pumped all your points onto combat stats (which wouldn't make much sense if you are trying to play as someone who was never trained for this). However, for some reason, in freeform roleplay this is completely normal, and the player will just get a few scratches after defeating each one of them in the flashiest way possible. How can this be acceptable at all?
Of course, the problem is that in freeform roleplay, players don't fear death. The concept of death doesn't even exist in freeform, as deduced by the almost global "don't attack other players" rule (which I kind of understand in freeforms, otherwise Those Guys with murderhobo characters would eventually reduce the RP's population to zero). However, for some reason most GM refuse to kill player characters even after doing stupid things like that. Introduce injuries and deaths for very stupid actions and suddenly everyone will be much more in-character. "Oh, a giant 500 meters mecha with weapons up the wazoo? I will just punch him in the leg and kill him because I have just made up a new ability! What could go wrong? It's not like I can lose".
However, the former tip alone will probably only help you make your players angry. Introduce the concept of rewards for doing well and making smart choices. High risk, high reward situations will add a spontaneity component to your RP, which will help the GM make the players engaged into the story since nobody knows what could happen in the future. Mystery makes good plots, nothing should be extremely predictable (and this includes favoritisms. Not killing a player for doing a stupid action because he is your friend is also predictable. Be neutral).
And for the sake of your players, write about your setting. There is nothing sadder than settings composed of oneliners.
While nobody likes railroading, GM are meant to be something more than a GMPC. If nothing outside of player drama ever happens in a RP, people will leave it simply because it will become stale after a while. Expanding the setting, writing important events, posting regularly... all of these make your players see you really care about your game. Nobody will stay around for too long if a GM just starts the RP with "well this is a school BUT WITH MAGIC" and then proceed to romance with his friend's character for the next 20 pages before stopping posting. Small groups of players will be formed, and without any external forces to move the story forward, people will get bored of interacting with the same people over and over without nothing ever happening. Which brings me to my next point.
Pacing is important. I have seen many games where time simply seems to be static, and in sandbox Slice of Life RP where missions are not important this could single handedly kill a game. Talking to another PC for dozens of posts without nothing ever happening will become boring after a while, and if there are no events to change the way they interact, they will be trapped in an endless conversation where time doesn't seem to advance and nobody wants to be impolite and tell the other party they have to leave, because it would be rude to say that you have to go when only an ingame minute since the start of the conversation has passed. Instead, why don't you throw a monster at them, make an alarm sound or simply say that it's getting late? Midnight will probably force most interactions to break so the characters can sleep, which will offer the players an opportunity to talk to other players the next morning.
Pacing is also important for the correct development of characters. I have seen many RP with the "no first day romance" rule, which is actually a good reminder to get in character (unless you are intentionally trying to play a flirty character) for those players who usually go too fast with relationships, but when the first hour takes fifty pages and you have actually talked for what would be days if time flowed correctly, it doesn't make much sense. Yes, it doesn't make much sense to fall in love during the first day, but it also doesn't make much sense to not fall in love if you have been talking for so long you already know each other perfectly. Pacing is important for character progression, be it romance, learning, maturing...
Moving to another thing, I mostly agree with Atom's points. It is very important that each action has consequences, and specially important that players doing stupid things get punished for it.
Alright, let's imagine a realistic setting roleplay. You are a human who has never fought anyone, yet you decide to fight a group of eight armed gangsters with your bare hands. In real life, this would usually mean a certain death or at least severe injury. In mechanics-based roleplays this would also mean the same unless you have pumped all your points onto combat stats (which wouldn't make much sense if you are trying to play as someone who was never trained for this). However, for some reason, in freeform roleplay this is completely normal, and the player will just get a few scratches after defeating each one of them in the flashiest way possible. How can this be acceptable at all?
Of course, the problem is that in freeform roleplay, players don't fear death. The concept of death doesn't even exist in freeform, as deduced by the almost global "don't attack other players" rule (which I kind of understand in freeforms, otherwise Those Guys with murderhobo characters would eventually reduce the RP's population to zero). However, for some reason most GM refuse to kill player characters even after doing stupid things like that. Introduce injuries and deaths for very stupid actions and suddenly everyone will be much more in-character. "Oh, a giant 500 meters mecha with weapons up the wazoo? I will just punch him in the leg and kill him because I have just made up a new ability! What could go wrong? It's not like I can lose".
However, the former tip alone will probably only help you make your players angry. Introduce the concept of rewards for doing well and making smart choices. High risk, high reward situations will add a spontaneity component to your RP, which will help the GM make the players engaged into the story since nobody knows what could happen in the future. Mystery makes good plots, nothing should be extremely predictable (and this includes favoritisms. Not killing a player for doing a stupid action because he is your friend is also predictable. Be neutral).
And for the sake of your players, write about your setting. There is nothing sadder than settings composed of oneliners.
