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For planning, What I do is I make an A and a Z. and depending on the length of what I'm doing, I might make a Q or even more letters. In the end, I have the things that I've wanted to happen happen, but how they happen ends up being completely up to the players.

It makes me feel kinda lazy, but my players seem to enjoy my RP, and I'm never stressed about them doing everything wrong (I may have to set some incinsistencies straight, but only when it's something the players have no control over and accidentally did an action they couldn't quite yet.)

I've never used points, but I probably have an unwritten system going on. The longer I've known a player and the more I like them, the more likely I am to let them get away with something. However, I'm never afraid to bring something down hard on a player that's been having everything go well for their character.

Not sure how helpful this rant was, but it's a few things to think about.

What's your opinion on Table of Contents posts? Some of them are helpful, but they also seem to just take up space.

I find that when creating an rp or a character, a little research helps quite a bit. Even if it seems like an original idea, seeing how others develop their rp's and characters can help you organize your own.

I'm pretty new and all, but was wondering about the complexity of RPs here, particularly lvl 3's. Just seeing that a good portion of lvl 3's that are active use some form of skill/dice/SP or AP/ system that I've never used. Just wondering that if I make a straight up lvl 3 RP with no such system if it will be successful or not. *basically asking do the RPers of this guild prefer system-based RPing or 'no strings attached' RPing?)

I'm scared of making anything beneath a lvl 3 because I peek in there and see tiny posts. I have tiny postaphobia because I prefer to be literate lol. I also hail from "The Literate Roleplaying Guild" where there's a two paragraph minimum to posts. That might explain it a bit lol. (not that I intend to make an RP with a 2P minimum post. 8 developed sentences will do just fine)

Lol I understand that, just saying I don't plan on making anything below Lvl 3 quality. If I do botch it up a little and end up in lvl 2 I'll work it for awhile and eventually use the Graduation sequence to bump it up to lvl 3.

And I'll say that's as good a reason as any to continue with my original plan. I don't have the time or motivation at the moment to learn how to use the battle systems and such.

First, Dreivan, we should probably explain a little bit about how we make that call. It goes a little something like this:


Four-fifths of the decision is based upon the GMs "World creation." How much detail and creativity you provide for the players to fully flesh out unique characters in your world is key. So the majority of the weight when it comes to building a Level 3 Roleplay falls upon the GM's shoulders.

That last fifth is the environment created by the players. Is everyone up to snuff? Are the roleplayers creating an environment that cultivates and encourages a high-level experience? Even the most detailed and strange worlds can fall into Level 2 if posting is consistently mundane; likewise, a very simple premise can be vaulted into the higher caste if roleplayers mold it into some unexpected masterpiece via their interactions.

Now to answer your question about fight systems: No, you don't need one to survive in the Third Tier. It just so happens that several of the successful Level 3 roleplays integrated very structured systems for combat or tracking a player's status. If you look, you'll notice they run the whole gamut, really. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is entirely free-form, run purely by the GM's will. "Cinders of the Future" has a system for tracking the players' status, but combat is still free-form and almost entirely in the hands of the GM. However, Awesome Points are present and are used to give players that edge in the worst situations. "Ride the End" has a skill system that heavily effects combat performance, but still lacks any sort of "health system" or actual character stats. Then there's "Mazes & Monsters" which is a D&D-inspired roleplay that is ALL about the numbers, like most pen and paper games.

Hopefully by picking through these examples I've shown you that really anything can survive here. It's just a matter of how cleanly you present your world.