Forum Thread

Thank you :D

I will be there for 8 days, 26.6. - 4.7.

So as our RP started to progress, I noticed quite a few things that bothered me. Is it okay if I voice them out?
It is only my opinion and I just want to make this RP as enjoyable as possible.

So first things first. I noticed that not all understand the information as Eternity puts it. They write from their characters point of view, but it would seem that some have a hard time understanding. Maybe its because English isnt their first language and/or some other reasons, I dont know. But what is obvious - it makes certain mistakes appear in our RP that disturb or confuse other RPers and a chain reaction follows if we arent careful.
The example Im going by is the airships. Some didnt seem to understand there is more then one so messages came like 'some got off like nothing happened while others struggled for survival'.
What I suggest to correct this? Make narrations. Just chunks of information in simple words when something new starts up. It is true that some of us hasnt seen the show and now we dont have the means to watch it, like me, or the wish to do so. Because of this narrations would be great. The info given by Eternitys characters isnt enough. I, for example, had no idea the school was even floating so we would need the airships to come there, I also have no idea how they looked and that limited my course of action as a char. Some things are supposed to be 'common sense' but those of us that havent seen the show dont know it and so our chars appear as dumb, when they should be smart. And I think narrations would fix that too.

Another problem that has shown itself is: doing something after the fact. This one isnt easy to explain without an example, so Ill need to use the one in our RP. However I do not mean any dissreaspect with it and Im sure the further the RP progressed, more people would make the same mistake.
So as it goes: the airship crashed and a few people mentioned this fact in their posts. However one charaster wanted to be the hero and way too late posted, that no theirs char put it down with her powers. Later they brushed off the fact that others saw it as a crash saying no one noticed and Ill let it stay that way. Sorry, but Im sure something like THAT some charasters would notice, they would need to be dumb not to. Not to mention something like this is way too OP, a charaster that hasnt even started as a Academy student shouldnt be able to do it. There is no room left for character development. Not to mention this is rude towards other RPers, because it looks like their posts havent been read.
The solutions for this that I have are: 1. Pointing it out when it happenes so the person who does this would edit their post before others continue the RP, 2. Agree between ourselfs to try and not do this mistake. If you missed something, you gotta deal with how things went and accept it, 3. Comunication, talk with each other here, on pal- pad, PMs,whatever. Just OOC comuniaction to help smoothe things out in a RP like battle scenes. To write a line in post like 'I attack' then wait for the othet to posthow they react would be.. Ummm.. Not the style of this RP. If they acted it out in say pal-pad with really short lines, then later they could put the whole battle in one post from one persons perspective, then the others. And no 'bunnying' would take place.

And finally, the issue of two people trowin back and forth short messages. Now short counts on your perspective, but I think only one paragraph for such a RP is short. Not to mention it makes it hard for othet characters to catch up after that. My suggestion to avoid this is to try and write at least two paragraphs per post and to wait for two-three people to post after your last post before posting again.

I think that is all for now, but I feel like I missed something so I might come back and edit it later after an 'EDIT' sign.

EDIT:
Turns out I do have more! Well, sort of.. Its just an add on to the first point..
So! For the information in those narrations. I think we need describtions of how the places look an function, some sort of guidlines for what we will do and what are we supposed to know prirorr to entering the Academy. I understand that sime chars are supposed to be 'I just came here not knowing anything', but not all. For example mine is supposed to know what hes doing, it is his family business. This lack of info is stopping me from posting any further, since my next post will hold Rots reaction to being the leader. Now I know that the leaders are picked randomly, just so the team names would make sense, but in the RP there has to be a reason as to why. Whats more I have no idea what being a leader means, what am I supposed to do, which is why I cant make any guesses why he got 'picked' nor how hell react to the fact.

Thanks for pointing all of this out ^^

I understand that not be able to understand all the information I create. But that's why I have said numerous times throughout this thread that if anyone doesn't understand something, then they should ask me. And so far, no one has asked me anything :/

First, let me say that the Academy isn't floating, it's just on a huge cliff xD But I guess that's my fault for not describing it properly.
I guess adding something like narrations wouldn't be a bad idea, and I could also add a few images, such as the airships or the courtyard. Though I have taken most of my information from the show, meaning that a lot of it is available to read about on the RWBY Wikia.

About the continuity issues, I suppose the best thing to do would be what you already stated, either post in this thread about it or message the user privately. I'll message that user in a little bit anyway ^^
About the battle scenes, I am a little worried about how they will go down. That's why I've planned for the sparring matches to happen within the RP, so we can see how it all happens. I like your idea of the users messaging each other privately to discuss how the fight will go down. I would just need every user to agree to do this ^^

About short messages, I would prefer if messages were at least a few paragraphs, but I can understand in dialogue scenes that there isn't much that can be done if you're in the heat of conversation. So I do let it slide from time to time. I am watching everyone closely at the moment, and will be speaking to those who aren't writing enough :p

And finally, for not knowing information. I will, of course, try to explain it as best I can, but you can always search up information on the RWBY Wikia if you are unsure, or just ask me ^^
And about the Team Leaders, to be honest, they don't do a huge lot. The main thing they do is command their team during Team Battles and such. I'll try to explain it more throughout the RP.

Im very glad you arent mad at me XD
I was kinda scared posting something like this.

Well, I think the reason they dont ask is because they dont think they missunderstood. Im pretty sure they honestly believed there was only one airship so they played like this.

Yes images would be great! As for the wiki, to say its simply its no help. I did look up about dust in there, but it just left me more confused, it very uninformative for someone who hasnt seen the show. I think it would be much better if you just wrote from experience and what you saw rather then copying it. I also have very limited, and I mean very very, time on internet, so I cant exacly go serching for info that might not even be there.
Please, dont forget you said we didnt need to see the show to join in. So that kinda means you would inform us about stuff we should know. At least thats how I understood.
If you dont really have the time to give, maybe you should ask someone to help out? (Id pick Finhawk, cuz seriously that guy is awesome XD)

And such events like the principals speach were perfect for intoduction to the Academy. Yoy could have pointed out the rules, places that are on the school ground, activies and the program. Because as is we can only mirror what you do and I dont think thats good for a RP.

The message thing is kind of Finhawks idea. All that post was kinda from our chats together, hes a really good RPer, so hes full of useful tricks. Id advise to put that between the rules or something? I guess those who wouldnt like it could just leave, because I dont really see how otherwise can this work.

Of course, I will try to explain as much as possible in the RP.

You yourself said you were confused about Dust, even after reading the Wiki Page. That should have been the time when you asked me about it or made a post on this thread and someone else could have explained. I would have happily explained it if I have known you were confused. I can't do much if people don't tell me when they don't know something :/

In hindsight, using the Headmasters speech would have been a great idea for introducing school activities, but it's a little late now xD
I'll add a section in the main posts on this thread about school rules and areas etc.
And yeah, I'll add a section to the rules about pre-planning fights ^^

I apologise so much to everyone for my awful RP'ing skills and pre-planning xc I'll try to do things better from now on.

Yes, indeed I shouldve. The thing is I was kinda scared? I dont know but awesome people kinda scare me XD

And trust me your RP skills are extremely great, thats the reason I always want to join. I think you should warn everybody in the RP tread about this, since I know some only subscribe to the actual RP and not the sign up one.

I'm not going to ban you or something for asking a question xD Please don't be scared.
And yeah, once I've updated the main post and the rules, I'll send everyone a short message and ask them to read this ^^'

Alrighty, its a deal. And if anything you can always ask for help from me too, hey I might drag some others to help out as well. Only together can we create something truly great!

I agree with Giltine, your RP skills are great and you're not doing a bad job at GMing either, considering it's a lot of work and pretty darn hard. I should know, I've tried and failed a few times.

An RP like this that is based on a show that everyone participating hasn't seen is increasingly difficult. It's hard to judge if others will understand what you're trying to explain while it's all crystal clear to yourself. So talking as much as possible in here would be really important as well as correcting mistakes and misunderstanding as quickly as possible. Which I was hesitant to do since at the time, I didn't want to double-post here or seem like I was trying to mini-mod or hijack your RP. :b

Planning battles out beforehand between the participants is a really great thing RPs with battles usually do. It avoids getting a lot of short replies between few people in the RP and the possible awkward 'Both parties dodge everything and the battle never ends' -scenario. So I'm all in for this.

Then about the short replies issue itself: Anyone who feels like this might be aimed at them shouldn't feel bad about it. We as a collective should try to help those who struggle with length to improve their posts. In this thread or privately.

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To start off, here's few things I feel like help add detail and length to posts:

> What does your character see? Do they pay attention to any particular details?
Do they notice other characters and what they're up to? Here it's also important to be specific about which character you mean. Mentioning that you see a "girl" doesn't indicate who it is if there's multiple girls in the RP. Instead, you should give off a detail or two so people know for sure who you're talking about. For example, if this "girl" is Nyanza for example, you could write that your character sees a "girl with pale skin and white hair." This would most likely make it clear to everyone who you mean.

> What does your character feel? What are they thinking about? How does all that show on the outside and to the other characters?

> Adjectives! Believe it or not, these make text more enjoyable to read and adds a bunch of detail. Does your character talk cheerfully? Or are they perhaps annoyed? Hint of sarcasm in their voice? How do they walk? Fast? Sluggish? Care-freely? This also gives more for other people to respond to more accurately. Adjectives are great, I like them.

> Body language. This is especially useful during dialogue posts that are generally shorter and again, gives others more to respond to than just their words. Is your character relaxed or stiff etc, according to how they feel about the interaction? Do they make any gestures while talking or move around? Do they have unconscious quirks, like playing with a necklace or something similar, that surfaces when they're nervous etc?

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And that's about all I can think of right now off the bat. There's probably way more useful questions you can ask yourself while writing a post that help you add length and detail. In no way do you have to answer to each and every one of the questions I have above in every single post, I don't cover a great deal of all that myself. It's more of a question on what you want to focus on and what feels comfortable to you.

I'm sorry if I came out as snobbish here and I hope this tiring wall of text helped at least someone.

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Don't worry, you don't come off as snobbish cx
What you have written is a great help, and I do hope that everyone uses it c;

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Anyway, I have added a large amount of information about the Academy underneath the Rules of the RP ^^
Please do me a favour and check it out c;

Neat, that info should be helpful. :]

Also, I have a question actually. I don't exactly remember how their belongings and stuff were brought to the academy in the show. Were the luggage with them in the airship or were they transported to the academy by some other means? Because I don't remember seeing them on at least Ruby or Yang in the airship. Or at any other point before they magically started unpacking in the dorm room. :,D

So if the luggage were in the airship with the passengers, I have bad news to everyone who decided to have their character be blown up in the sky. x]

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It never actually showed us how the luggage arrived ;o Though Weiss' servant had about 10 cases of her luggage cx

Let's just say it was shipped over by boat, so that everyone still has luggage xD, and that it will be arriving at their dorm rooms later that night ^^

I pity that servant. xP

But yeah, that's what I thought. Just wanted to make sure. And luggage delivery later sounds good to me. :]

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Update

So Deddenne wishes to leave the roleplay ;c
This means that I have to figure out what to do with his character. I'll probably have his character leave the school due to being too weak or something along those lines, as I am not ready to kill anyone yet.
Would anyone be willing to roleplay as his character one last time so that we can write him off? c;

Once that is done, I'll open the roleplay once again to fill the empty space. Or if anyone wants to make another character for themselves, I'm fine with that :)

Oh, that's a shame. I hope we didn't scare anyone else off. D:

I could give roleplaying as his character a shot, I just have no idea how you were planning to write him off exactly. Someone just strolls up to him all like "sorry chap, you're a weakling so get outta here"? xP Just curious as to how that would make sense since there's been nothing to give people the impression that he's not strong enough yet. Or should his enrollment in the academy be just 'a mistake' or something? :d

Also, what happens to the team name if someone joins and the new character's initial doesn't fit at all? xD

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I dont think just sending him off the school like that would be a great idea. Maybe it would be better if the mistake was done in making the teams? You know, they just mixed up two students, oopsie, our mistake, you go there and you come here XD

Oh yeah, that would work too. That way the poor guy isn't kicked off the academy. He's still around, just not relevant in the RP. :b

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I suppose a mix up of teams would work also. And thanks for volunteering Finhawk. You don't have to RP the character that well, just enough to make him disappear. I just didn't want to act like they never existed or something.

And the team names are still going to make sense because I am going to ask the person to start their characters name with a J or a G, cx

Then maybe you should start looking for that person? To explain a mix up is much esier after we have a name. We can write off the guy, when we have something to substitute him with?

Update

I have opened the roleplay again to fill in the remaining space ^^

Also, it appears Neon_Snivy, vicki123 and Monochrome are all away to camp/holidays. Who even needs camp anyway? xc
That means I'm not going to do the sparring matches until they come back so everyone has a chance to practice the fight scenes and such. Those of us that remain can still roleplay our characters, and just have them talk and get to know each other and stuff.

I'm sorry this had to happen, and I would rather have not put the roleplay on standby, but I have no choice xD