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If I play a one on one RP then it has to be with someone who has a lot of talent and who's good at developing their character. If it's a one on one RP then the interaction between the two characters is key, so the two people need to be able to relate to eachother on SOME level, I think. However, if you find someone who's good enough then I think it can be one of the most fulfilling and fun ways to RP.

However I love it when there's a rich cast of characters and a lot of different personalities involved. ((Probably why I like the show Lost so much, aside from the insane plot twists)). Also I just get a feeling of security and comfort playing with a lot of people online.

My favorite way to RP though is when you get a group of people who you RP well with, maybe three or four other people who all get along well and RP a lot together. Then a genuine form of comradery develops almost, that's always fun. It all depends on the players for me.

For me, a handful of people who are really great RPers will do just fine, though I do prefer several to one or two. whee

I prefer a group, but not a large one, just a small group usually. Like a few of my friends.

I can understand both extreme views-- hating one on ones and hating group RPs, but it seems that a lot of people here have a view somewhere in the middle, which makes me extremely happy. Why? Because that's how I feel about it, somewhere in the middle. That's why I designed the Feretris RP the way I did, to try to get the best parts of both one-on-ones and groups RPs.



This is true! Which is why I was nodding my head when I read Red Poet's comments, that he prefers to play one-on-ones ONLY with people he knows kick a**. If I took that more to heart I'd probably be less frustrated with some of the RPs Im in now. xd But at the same time I wouldn't be in my favorite current one-on-one, which is on AIM with a girl I met through Gaia who I'd never heard of before or played with before.

I usually find myself coming up with most of the plot, which is ok sometimes, but I prefer a balance (like we have in the aforementioned AIM RP). The thing is, though, that in most group RPs it's even MORE unbalanced because every one expects the GM to do it all. Again, this is usually solved by gathering people you already trust to RP with you. Feretris is the only group RP I am running right now, and I'm happy with the contributions that the other players have given me, in every thing from pointed questions, suggested plot twists, to actual additions to the world. Not that I dont do a lot of work with it and enjoy being a GM heart But I usually find that the more the players are responsive to what I set up for the world, the more I end up coming up with to add to the world/plot.



YES. The biggest annoyance I have with group RPs is that you are depending on five people other than yourself to keep posting. At least if the other person in a one-on-one RP stops posting, it's pretty easy to set up another one-on-one (hopefully with some one more reliable).

As far as having good interaction, I usually try to solve this simply by talking about our characters first. For instance, I happen to have a character that's alergic to magic. And, well, it's more than that because he has this whole story behind how that came about that may or may not come into the RP depending on how long it runs and how well it's going, etc. But any way, if I list him in with some other characters I have "ready" to play, sometimes the other person will pick him for me because they want to play a mage. Then we just got to find some way to keep them stuck together, and you've got plenty of conflict! But in the end it does come down to how good you are at RPing and how good the other person is.

I may be a bit bitter towards group RPs for another reason. Red Poet said it was nice to get three or four people together who RPed together often. Yeah, I used to have something like that. And they were good RPers-- we LARPed. That fell apart. The point being that the closest I've been able to come to that comradery is through one-on-one RPs with, say, the same person. It's taken me (how long have I been on Gaia?) to get a group of RPers I've known for a while and love to RP with in the same RP with me. xd Before it's just been one or two of 'em in an RP with a bunch of other people I dont know, and those RPs all ended too soon... ninja And you wouldnt believe how long it took me to convince my sister (Kitsuta) that she could do something like create an RP, knowing that she was not wholly disinterested in the idea and that she was smart and creative. And VIOLA! It's been (how long have I been on Gaia?) and I've finally seen her give it a shot-- and it's beautiful. heart

Plus in group RPs you have to read more and Im often busy/lazy, especially if some of what I have to read is just NOT up to par. xd

Not for me, buddy. xd

I use several characters in several RPs, with varying degress of success.

Although I understand you guys' position-- I know a GREAT RPer who makes up a new character each time-- you're undervaluing the skill it takes to remodel a character for new RPs. There are two ways/reasons I reuse characters.

The first way is probably the way you are thinking of: strip a character down to his/her basics, and use that to start a new (usually one-on-one) RP. I use this as a short cut when I'm supposed to be the one starting every thing, but I don't know how good the other person is or how much effort they're willing to put into it/keep up with it/keep it going. Then, if they ARE really good and it IS worth it, I can develop the character more, into something different than the original character base but still the same character because of either the personality, past-- and name and appearance-- being the same. I focus on personality the most, and sometimes I find that in RPs where things are not set up already, I fall to a few basic personalities any way, so why not be honest about it? And if the other person/people are depending on ME to keep the story going, sometimes it's better to have a basic plot that I can work off of as I learn more about their character.

The second way requires all this changing from the beginning. That's when an RP is already set up for me, and I can see where the character fits in and how much s/he needs to be changed-- and I can usually tell it's worth the effort from the beginning. Because, call me selfish, but I dont want to either recreate or create a character from scratch, put all this detail into it and get excited about it, and then have the RP die in a week or two. So any way, when the (usually multiplayer) RP is set up for me, then I usually create a new character, but occassionally it will hit me that this or that character that I already have would fit in really well, if just a few major things change. wink For instance, Alexander in Kitsuta's RP. His personality and his appearance and his affliction are all the same, but how he got there is quite different. In the original character a spell is put on him by a dark elf raiding a villiage. In Kitsuta's RP, the bad guy does the same thing but with completely different motivation, different circumstances, different methods, and different results. That is, the spell is still there but now he has to go some where completely different to get it lifted/to survive at all.

I think I create a new character over 50% of the time when the RP is already set up. 3nodding But creating new characters that are good for RP is actually a bit limiting in some ways, and perhaps over half of my created characters (the ones I keep) are used for stories and have not seen an RP post.