Can I welcome myself to the forum? Long time lurker, first time poster. *Waves little flag* Yay me!

Anyways, I just had a question(rather, I was debating with myself), if my plot for my forum has gone completely out of control...or is it still viable? I mean, I don't want to create something that's so out of this world that everyone will just kind of stare at it like 'o.0' and then flee. But I also don't want to fall into a lot of the cliches of RPing either.

So basically I hope it's orginal...but not TOO orginal.

Anyways, the plot is as follows; It's almost a tale of two worlds actually. On the one hand, there is a boarding school, most likely set in New York. It's not really anything that special, although every student gets a pre-loaded laptop for school use when they arrive. Pre-loaded, means that the computer already has a bunch of programs on it. Nothing special yet, I know. But one of the programs already installed...well, it's very special. It's a computer game, but not just a normal computer game(Hands up, who saw it coming?) This computer game actually (it might be physically, or it might just be their conciousness, haven't quite decided) pulls the user into the giant online world (Somewhat like a MMORPG) and they can play the game. Perhaps it should be noted that Players don't know who the other player is. Your best friend in the real world, could end up being your absolute worst enemy in the online world.

The entirety of my plot revolves around the two worlds starting to collide, with predictably disasterous results. The students at the school find themselves with the powers, knowledge, and weapons of their online avatars. Unfortunately, the same can be said for the other side. I was also going to add two "Game masters", sort of like ultra powerful players/hackers. One provides extreme help, the other provides extreme adversity, but they are very rare to actually see.

I don't want to give away much more than that, and risk ruining everything for everybody else.

So the plot doesn't seem all that complicated, but it's the things that are involved with it. Players would be required to make a student...and then an online avatar. And I was thinking about having groups within the online world (like a guild? If that's what they're called, forgive my lack of knowledge in that specific area). And I dunno, is asking for technically two character profiles of people too much?

I think it could be really fun, if I did it right. Sort of combining high school drama with sci-fi/fantasy.

Blah, I hope most of this made sense to you. If you need more details, I'd be more than happy to provide them through PM. Any suggestions, or comments, or help of any sort would be appreciated IMMENSLY. This is my first RPG that I've decided to create by myself, and I would love feedback.

And as a sidenote: I also want to know if anyone would be interested in this sort of RPG? =]

hmmm... I don't think it would be that bad. You would have to just organize organize organize. The idea is very good though, if I had it first, I would do it. :)

Sounds pretty cool, actually. I have heard of similar sort of plots in books and movies, but never on an RPG. I like it. However, it is a bit complicated. Though if one were to remove some of what you told us, it would be too confusing. You walk a fine line here.

Therefore my suggestion would be to supply what is absolutely necessary and all of that stuff which the member needs to read prior to joining in one forum. That way, a member does not need to hunt around for everything. Try not to make too many topics since that's too tedious and looks way too big. Also try to vary the font, paragraphs, headings and colors when writing something which is long. (Though reserve colors for stuff with which you need to catch people's attention.)

Okay, that was a bit confusing. So let me illustrate. :)


Your Forum
Category 1: Introduction
--Forum 1: Rules
------Pinned: In Character Rules
------Pinned: Out of Character Rules
------Pinned: Graphics Rules
--Forum 2: Plot
----Subforum 1: Plot
------Pinned: Plot
----Subforum 2: Races
------Pinned: Race 1
------Pinned: Race 2
------Pinned: Race 3
------Pinned: Race 4
--Forum 3: Signing Up
----Subforum 1: Accepted Applications
----Subforum 2: Canon Characters
------Pinned: Canon Character List
------Pinned: Subplot 1
------Pinned: Subplot 2
------Pinned: Subplot 3
------Pinned: Subplot x
----Subforum 3: Applying
------Pinned: Look-Alikes
------Pinned: Application
------Pinned: Notes

See how many different threads that used? This causes the applicant to run back and forth between subplots, races, rules, guidelines, etc when it can all be compacted for easier reference.


Your Forum
Category 1: Introductions
--Forum 1: Getting Started
------Pinned: Rules (All)
------Pinned: Plot
------Pinned: Races (All)
--Forum 2: Signing Up
------Pinned: Look-Alikes
------Pinned: Canon Characters
------Pinned: Subplots (all)
------Pinned: Application
----Subforum 1: Accepted Applications

This one is much shorter, though it contains the same amount of information. There's alot less tracking things down and confusion.

I hope that made sense.

Sounds very original. I know I'd like to join.

That's a really great idea for a board, I love it. It actually reminds me a little bit of that show Digimon, now that I think of it - which I liked when I was a kid. :D I think one thing that could help is, of course, organization. For starters, you could have a category dedicated to the "real life" part of the game and another for the cyber part. I'd tend to think that the cyber part of the game would get a little more RP action than the "real life" part. I think that even though it is a person playing a person that plays a person... it's so unique and interesting that it's worth a shot.

heh... I remember Digimon. That was a cool show when I was a little sprog.

But yeah, it sounds like a cross between .HACK and Kid Chameleon. And since .HACK is awesome and Kid Chameleon was fantastic then it's all good!
Good luck with your RP!

Thanks! All of what you guys said is very, very encouraging! I think I have it mostly figured out how I'm going to organize everything(mostly), and now its just a matter of getting started ^^

If anyone else has any feedback, feel free to keep replying! I'll take anything!

That sounds very interesting! I would like to join as well. You mentioned that the real-life characters do not know who created which fantasy character, but will the roleplayers know who controls each OOC? It could be interesting if they didn't, although it would probably require everyone to create two accounts and switch back and forth. It could add to the plot, but may also annoy members. I was once a member of a site that required everyone to create a separate account for each of their characters and switch, so the idea is not unheard of. How literate your board is may factor into the decision, if you even like the idea, since rpers on advanced and perhaps some moderate boards may have encountered having multiple accounts before and may be more open to the idea. I rarely used both of my accounts on the board I was on, so I have little experience in having to switch accounts and cannot give more than basic arguments for either side.

I might be interested, depending on how much time I have on my hands. =] It's sounds like oodles, of fun, one because I love drama, two, because I love MMORPG's.

And this kind of reminds me of .Hack// or something similar.

I would personally prefer if users were able to use more than one account. It would make it loads easier for you to be able to manage member groups and things like that.

OR, if people had to have only one, perhaps they could be required to include some mandatory information in their signatures about their character's (from the game) status, race, etc.

Just putting in my two cents, since I'm interested. =3

Yeah, I was thinking of having to make everybody make two accounts. It would just be so much neater for member groups and since they're already technically playing two characters per account...Plus, I just think it looks nice =]

eeeeee, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that people would ACTUALLY be interested. It makes me want to dance ^___^

Darth Makar do you mind if i use your system for my own rp?

Also, I really like your idea katgirl I'll be sure to get involved!

Haha, this sounds pretty awesome. It's definitely different than the norm, which everybody's looking for right now :)

Yes, it'll take a lot of time and dedication, me thinks, to organize everything correctly and make sure it runs smoothly. I'd love to be involved if you do decide to do it ^^

Sure. ^_^

*giggles and flees to add people to omg!interest list*

:D

Anyways, I have another question to pose to the wise people here.

Should I sort people by grades? I know in most high school RP's, that's how they do it, but since this isn't strictly high school per say, then I'm not entirely sure.

Or I could sort everybody by guild?

or...by nothing at all?

Hmmm.

You could have it so you can tell what guild or class affiliation a person belongs too, but it does not change if you can interact with them or not.

I dont know if this was already the case (i have never participated in a school rp before) but if it is then in my opinion yeah go ahead.

Will people belong to different character classes in the fantasy game world? Maybe that is how you could sort people in the forums that deal with the game, and then use grade classes (9, 10, 11, etc.) when they are in other forums.

Again, an organizational problem.

Sorry if that confused you lol hope i helped.

ps: if you like, you could look up the manga .hack//twilight for some ideas! they had a similar idea but yours is much more elaborate i.e. better

i've flipped through that manga series and agree that you could get some festival ideas or things like that. the overall plot seems quite interesting though. (smile)

haha yeah I totally forgot the festivals thats a good idea too
i liked the rp areas based on levels as well. (Beginner to Advanced)

i'm thinking a lot of the rp will be in the school too right? thats one of the coolest part,s that you can get involved with both.

As it stands, I think I have it sort of worked out, yeah?

I was going to make the member groups be the grades, and then in the member title underneath, I would put the players "username" plus whatever colour of guild...thing.

So like, if their username was "Wicked", that would go in the member title, and if they were in the evilvampiresareawesome[/random name] guild, then "Wicked" would appear in black.

Does that make...sense? Kind of?