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Railroading and how to Set up a Roleplay

Started by HanShotFirst
(2014-04-12 23:12:10)

HanShotFirst (2014-04-12 23:12:10)

I'm not going to be teaching you guys how to RP, but rather, how to properly start and lead your RPs. However, you might be able to pick up a trick or two for role-playing from this.

1] Setting up your RP

Now, the most important element to any roleplay is plot. There has to be some driving force that's getting the characters to act, or else there's no real motivation behind any of of the actions, nor is there any way to resolve said plot, so they have no real goal to accomplish. This ends up becoming a nightmare for both the one in charge, and the ones who are roleplaying because it ends up becoming boring (After all, there's nothing causing their actions, nor is there anything they're trying to resolve)

This doesn't mean that they have to save the world or other such things. The plot can be the characters themselves. This is what's known as a character driven plot, and while it's difficult to pull of properly, when executed, it leads to a rather interesting role-play where one consequences of a character's actions could potentially open up a new plot for other characters to follow.

Without any form of plot whatsoever, and you just have roleplayers toss in characters and expecting something to happen, then you ultimately get nothing done, since there's nothing to do.

The next thing you should focus on is the setting, or where these events are happening. They have to happening SOMEWHERE. So, where is it?
Is it set in the real world? In a fantasy version of our real world? Is it Set in space? Where in space? Is it set in a fantasy world? What's the name of this world? What does it look like?

You don't have to make up the entire setting, but it helps both you, your roleplayers, and the ones reading your thread, to know where exactly these events are happening, and what they can expect to happen in such a setting. For example: I expect Magic and stuff in High Fantasy settings not advanced combat androids and nanomachines, but in Sci-Fi settings, I expect sci-fi things, not magical phenomena. (Though there is an interesting way you can call something "Magic" and have "Magical" things in a science fiction setting and get away with it, but that's another topic).

No setting is like no plot, only a good plot doesn't go to waste if it lacks a setting, but a good setting goes to waste if it lacks any plot It doesn't have to be new and original either. It just has to be there so the plot has a place to develop.

The last element to any Roleplay is the characters, which, despite being out of your control when setting up an RP, is still more or less your responsibility to make sure these characters don't break the setting. One thing I see egregiously in the RP chat is "Normal High School Roleplay" and a character in it being a vampire.

Vampires don't fit in to what would be a otherwise normal setting. By allowing such break to happen, it ends up leading to serious plot holes before the story even begins. For example, say there was a cyborg in a high-fantasy setting. There has to be an explanation for how the character even exists before the roleplay even starts, and flimsy explanations (He's from another planet/dimension) can break the setting even further because it ends up bringing more focus onto how this character exists in the setting through such means and why there are no others like him/her/it, over the actual setting itself.

Elves, believe it or not, can actually exist in a sci-fi setting. The explanation can simply be they're an alien race just like everything else, and it hardly breaks the setting because such a method fits perfectly in the setting. He just left his homeworld, which is why he's a member of the Space Police.

Such a thing actually allows for a more dynamic setting, because rather than trying to figure out how he's even here, you're trying to figure out why he's here, which can potentially open a new plot thread for later down the road, or allow for more characterization.

So it's not all bad, and can sometimes be executed beautifully and flawlessly. However, in the above example, it would imply that Elves aren't perfectly as we know them, so it would be on both the one leading the RP and the one roleplaying that character to portray that. If he acts just like any elf in a high-fantasy setting, then it can severely break the setting rather than add onto it.

2] Starting it off

So you have the characters, the setting, and probably the plot. Character driven Rps don't need much of a plot, just something small to get the ball rolling. In any case, it's time to begin. If you're doing a character driven RP, you're pretty much hands-off from this point onwards.

On the fronts, this is where it starts to get tricky. See, in the other categories, you kinda want them to follow the plot rather than roam around, because then nothing gets done. Now, there are three ways to get your plot back on track.

The first is Railroading. Basically, Railroading is when you don't allow the characters to stray too far away from the plot. Railroading is probably the best method of keeping it on track (no pun intended), but it ends up putting the setting to waste. After all, unless the characters explore the setting, it's just a backdrop for the overall plot. The other con to railroading is that it's unfun for some who actually want to do a little more than follow a storyline the whole time (Looking at you FF-XIII)

It's good when you're better at plot writing, and when you're starting out, because you're less stressed about the actions of roleplayers potentially going too far off the rails. It's bad however, because it makes the setting go to waste, and it can ruin the fun for some.

The second method is freeform, which is for those with a little more experience. Freeform is about as close as one gets to character driven-levels of "hands-off" while still having the characters follow the plot, albeit loosely. This allows for more freedom to actually explore the setting and thus, better for those who don't want to follow a plot the entire time (This is what I like about Shadow of the Colossus, for an example). However, this also has it's downsides. Because it's rather loose compared to railroading, it's easy for characters to go too far down the beaten path, as well as overall having to sacrifice plot for setting.

The last one is a balance between railroading and
Freeform, which is Mixed. Mixed method is used by the most experienced, which helps cover up the flaws of both Railroading and Freeforming by striking the perfect balance of the two, and in such a way where it allows for both plot and setting to be explored together. Of course, they'll still lean towards what they're better at (Plot or Setting), but is the hardest to pull of properly because it takes knowledge and experience in both the Railroad method and the Freeform method.

Too Long; Did not Read!: Read it. It'll help you out.

Taka! Kujata! Condor! Tajadol~!