doodstormer wrote:Now, now, let's not split this into 2 million different variations to suit each person's tastes, why don't we try to take a break and think all this over, set the universe's races, weapons, factions, heck, even make a map, to limit all this "z0mg r w3 m4k3 al3n$ 4774ck zomgroflolol". I have experienced that kind of crap, it's very irritating.
we have too broad of a world to reasonably play in, we need to try and slim this down, get a GM to guide everything, and just overall organize this.
So my suggestion is, wipe this clean, make a new slate.
I've had virtually nothing (maybe it would be more fair to say "absolutely" nothing) to do with this third incarnation of the CCRP, but I have watched it with one eye, whenever I've been online, and I'm still an official Gaming Mod--the only one regularly online these days. Not only was I intensely involved in the first CCRP as both a player and a moderator, I was the driving force behind the second (shortest-lived) incarnation. With all this in mind, I have a few comments on your suggestions below which all of you can take or leave, as you see fit.
Note, I agree with most of your criticisms above about what was wrong with the RP as it was going, and don't have so much a problem with those as with a few of your suggestions. Anyway, whether you listen or not, here are my thoughts on the following:
- Get a GM to guide the players, tell them the results of their actions, approve signups, answer questions via PM, etc.
Definitely needed. The 1st CCRP had all sorts of issues until we had a final authority to sort things out. Even better, though, would be to have a GM with one or two assistants--but only assuming the assistants and the GM thought on the same wavelength, communicated easily about decisions (this is why we have a PM box), and understood that sometimes their own preferences aren't always enforceable.
- Establish the world, at least strongly enough to allow the GM something to go by.
Bang on! You need an objective authority.
- Draw a nice map, detailing locations, so that the GM and players can figure out where they're going.
Absolutely necessary. The biggest problem with the 2nd CCRP was that I left it open-ended mapwise, so that people could add to it themselves. Well, they had a lot of fun with this, but instead of RPing, most of the creative energy went into map-making, and we had a massive world that exploded like a balloon stretched too thin.
At the same time, be wary about making the map TOO detailed. Coastlines and borders were all we had with the first CCRP; everything else was RPed in later. Personally, I would have coastlines, borders, mountain ranges, major rivers, and capital cities, but leave the rest to chance. I'm sure all sorts of people will volunteer to draw the map if a CCRP IV gets going, so I'll be the first to do so now--if you want to use me--just to keep hard feelings down. Also, any inadequacies about the map can be blamed on a single scapegoat. In my experience, however, no matter where you get the map, once you have it and people are aware that "it's the map", there's not much of an issue.
- Determine factions' rivalries, like KK@ vs. Crusaders, etc.
I'm not sure this is a good idea... I'm going two ways on it. In the 1st CCRP, the faction rivalries grew up as the CCRP grew; nothing was predetermined. And it worked, and it was fun. However, I can see how chaos like this might be a problem...
- In fact, let's change up these factions, give them our own names and histories.
I do NOT recommend this one. We tried it in the 2nd CCRP, and it flopped. Majorly. My chief reason for not recommending this is that this is supposed to be a LEGO forum. And, let's face it, there's precious little LEGO in the CCRP beyond faction names as it is; that's just the nature of the beast. However, since this is a LEGO forum, and since there are many other RPs out there that are bigger and more vibrant, it seems pointless to lose the one selling feature we have. Furthermore, it gives everyone a common vocabulary. I mean, everyone can remember what a Black Falcon is, right?
- Establish a history to this world, along with Major gods and continents.
I recommend only the barest of bones where the history is concerned. Too much history stifles the creativity and fun of writing, and like too much map-making, tends to absorb the creative processes, leaving a flesh-outed history but no RPing.
As to "gods" and "continents", I say no to both. To the first, it's really just a personal preference, but the 1st CCRP was practically godless (other than references to "Chodan", who really had no religion), and it worked really well. Also, possibly, there's the rather religion-less Lord of the Rings as a creative background many/all of us are familiar with. That's just a preference, though.
To "continents", I really don't recommend making a whole world. Keep it smaller than that--and more manageable. That was the problem with the 2nd CCRP: it got too big, whereas the 1st CCRP was just right: one continent and offshore islands: large enough to have everything, not so large that it was unwieldy.
You see, we need to flesh out this LEGO world. Instead of the History brains having to struggle to keep up with the Fantasy, we need to establish this, make it a world, not just a big book of random adventures and battles.
I agree with your last statement 100%... but instead of trying to get rid of history and geography by planning it all out ahead of time, I suggest planning out SOME of it ahead of time... and then not RPing just about random adventures and battles. Have a story in mind for YOUR character, but keep it lose so he/she can have fun with other characters and do random stuff. But if you want to avoid random adventures and battles, the best thing you can do is plan other sorts of stuff. Include a romance, have parties, scheme a lot. If a movie could be made out of it, it can probably be RPed. And trust me, this stuff is the most fun to write.
Those are my suggestions... make what you will of them. They're the product of some experience in the matter, so don't discard them out of hand, but if you've got a good reason to do so, then by all means proceed. The thing about personal experience is that what happens to one person may not hold as universal truth. But they can help you guess what will work better.
~Michael A. Joosten - Gaming Moderator~