Alright, so, I'm in the middle of opening a roleplay (hoping to open this week) but the person who was making the canon list just started college and won't be able to get it to me and I want to open it prior to me starting school. So here's my problem; do I make it canon list or no? Cause I really think this type of site needs one, but it could get away without one.

Or, I've never seen this done before, what do people think of adding a canon list after a site's been opened?

Or, since I need a few characters, I just stick with subplots?

i personally don't like canons. they kinda ruin the fun for the others if you ask me. i mean essentially they're the same as any other character but with the whole board rotated around them, it doesn't really let everyone get the same kind of spotlight. i'd say that you scrap the whole canon list and just stick with subplots. but it really depends on what kind of site you have....

speaking of which... what kind of site DO you have?

I try not to do that. The first version it was needed so I was just going to stick with it but this version is different. I guess we can... Hmm, I just got a good idea. YAY!

I guess I should have mentioned that....
It's a high school roleplay. Yes, I know, there are six million and one of those running around on the directories and whatnot, but this one is a bit different. Because this one doesn't just have one high school's drama or even two rival school's dramas. It has three; a public school and then two single-sex posh, private schools. And of course, there are huge rivalries.

I have no idea if it'll fail in a week or do well, but I'm hoping it's the latter. Guess we'll just wait and see.

I'm not a canon-list fan; I could definitely do without them. Now, as an admin, I'm always up for helping someone choose a character, and I have been known to give someone a couple of character traits upon request for them to make a character if they are stuck.

You could also link them to a nice character generator such as seventhsanctum.com.

hm... well lets see. i really don't see the use of a canon list then cause since it's such an open ended RP, putting a canon list might end up making it too predictable. i'm sure that even without the canon list, someone's gonna think of a kind of character that was on the list to begin with, probably a cheerleader if we're dealing with high school, and all that jazz. of course, you'll also have a lot more original characters mixed in, instead of just characters coming out of your head, it's everyone's so it's sure to make things more interesting if you ask me. but that's just me.

I just needed certain characters filled due to the plot, like the class president and whatnot, but I figured out another way of doing that. I'm not a big fan of canon lists unless they're really, really, optional but I thought it'd be useful.
But I haven't had a canonless site in a while so you know what, I'm gonna do that for this one. I may go for subplots later, but I doubt it.

Thanks for the help!

class president? well, you could just halt the plot for a little bit and then have the members vote for the class president themselves. once you have him, you can continue the plot. i personally have never written a real plot for my sites, i just give them a general briefing and let them run wild. but then i get pissed off cause it's a month later and i'm still the only person there so i close em.

but that's a different story lmao.

Lol, that was my thinking exactly.
Some sites have Prom and Christmas balls, mine's gonna have elections...

Lol, yea. I make plots which have enough bases that people can run free, but not wild. Wildness=people getting angry a lot so... Good luck with any you're working on right now!