I would like to point out as a GM, I don't steal characters. The moment they entered my game, I'm able to use them even if you quit. One of the reasons I no longer let players craft their own leaving posts IC, since I've found most are vindictive and selfish about it when the plot must go on whether or not.

In reply to Sir_Chivalry (msg # 121):

I had someone that tried to dictate what happened to her character after. That player is part of the reason I'm so strict.

Well, I didn't assume Azraile was talking about a GM turning a former PC into an NPC. I'll also give new players old PCs if the original player leaves me hanging.

No thats not what I was talking about.

I only had one person so far who deleted their character when they dropped out, since then I have used the 'User Editable' feature. At first I didn't see the need for the feature but after that deleted character and the hassle of re-creating it, I now use it.  The PC was the current leader and I needed to finish the storyline, which took sometime due to the fact we were in the middle of the adventure.

As far as RJT, thanks to this chat I cleared my RTJ up and detailed it, so that there is less confusion. In fact I have taken 4 conversation about these types of topics and added then to my thread so that these things get handled ahead of time. Trying to be as proactive as I can, it actual saves me time.

Got a nice rmail just yesterday


Super nice that this member posted that, makes me feel good about the effort my Co-GMs, Players and myself have put into the game.

So not only GMs may/can take the time to reply, (regardless of the answer) but some players like above will also notice. I think it's important to comment, without such comments it makes it much more difficult to improve a game.

Also as we well know players for a wide array of RL issue drop-out, keeping a running list and replying can lead to quick replacements when you need one. I personally would be excited if a GM remembered me applying even if its months later.

I recently had a character die, and the GM gave me the option of taking over a character left behind by a player who quit.  I read the player's background and discovered it was word-for-word from a player I had created in a different game.  Turns out the departing player was the GM for the game in which I had originally created the background.

I was flattered.

Another point that comes to me is that I usually give extra consideration to RTJs from GMs I like.  If you run a few good games, you're bound to attract some positive attention that will benefit you later.

In reply to swordchucks (msg # 127):

And a third is the way you comport yourself here in the public boards. I don't post out here very often, or on anything super important, but I've had a couple of GM's mention that they recognized me and my posts from Community Chat.

From this thread I decided to put a couple sentences about my GM style in my recent IC thread. Hopefully that will actually help with this issue. If it does perhaps other GMs can do the same thing to better judge how much interest there will be in their GM style.

Funny you say that because I use the Character Description to put info on me (as GM), for the same reason. I also ask my Co-GMs to do the same some players can get a feel for those that they will be playing with.

Except that is only available after the game is made. I generally do less popular stuff, so the idea is to get a better idea of how many will actually play before making the game.

In reply to DarkLightHitomi (msg # 131):

I understand, :)

In reply to Lord Caladin (msg # 130):

This is actually really interesting. Not that you wrote a description, that I've seen a few times, but that you actually posted what games you are currently GMing and what games you are currently playing in. I really like that.

I don't know whether it is good GM etiquette to ask players what games they are currently playing in. I certainly wish there would be an option for me to see that on rpol, because sometimes it would be so much easier to decide on a player by just seeing him/her in other games, see their character descriptions there and so on...

In reply to shinanai (msg # 133):

That's actually why I did that, by the way TY for the comment.

I figure it gives the player stuff to read, if they really what to check on me. It gives me another ave to plug my games. Any if some rmail me with maybe a games that I may like.

I know its bad manners here to rmail without a reason, so this kinda give someone that reason, and maybe I will get a recommendation to a game based on my interest and my play style.
This message was last edited by the user at 03:28, Sun 20 July 2014.

Charater background and story is important to intigrate them into the game. Some games with heavy psicological mechanics or plot points make it dubbly so.

I have found over the years that the best thing you can do here is offer bonus to there charater sheet bassed of how good there background is, with-in some limitations. I like to make it clear after about three pages I stop giving any bonus, so your graded on those first three if you send more.

This gets you the information you need with out getting a freaking novel. People want advantages, even with an intentionally handycapped character a few exstra points makes them happy.

Infer there the game by giving them bonus to make the character match the background more. They have little points dedicated to picking locks but there background indicates a lot more exspiriance: well depending on the game I'll give them dots in security, ranks in disable devise, or un-typed bonus to the skill or something akin to that. I've even given items and the like. Fittingly with WoD most the bonus are background points. lol

This dose a good job incuraging players to show there best to you.

I'll be honest... after running games here for entirely too long, I don't put much stock into people's backgrounds.  Unless it's a person that I've known a long time and trust to keep up the game, of course.  I've had too many people drop on me for me to want to weave games around one or two bits of background.  It is nice if I can work in some small things to mesh with backgrounds, but I don't kill myself doing it.

In general, I don't ask PCs to give me a whole lot of background material, either.  I typically ask for a paragraph long background/concept and then ask a few "if I posted this, what would you post" type questions.  There is a huge difference between someone's ability to write a static piece, such as a background, and their ability to keep up on the game with active, meaningful posts.  There's also a big difference between putting up a lot of words and being a good contributor to the game itself.

As a player, I also don't have the faith in most GMs to sit down and write them three pages of text on a new game.

I don't get me wrong I don't want them to, a few paragraphs is all I ask. But there are some out there that will write you a whole book if you give them the chance. >.< Trust me I know... I asked for a background once IRL and some one brought 15 pages in 8 point, in a binder.... with a cover page.  x.x

But some one taking the time to think up a background and write it out shows some commitment to the game that makes it more likely that they won't drop out. I have only had one person drop out who had a good background, and that was because there life got in the way.

I had tons of people with great and even amazing backgrounds who then either dropped out of the game or couldn't really play out their concept as it was written (like an assassin who has absolutely no clue about how to do anything remotely assassin-like) or after giving me a amazingly long and detailed character concept went on to post one liner after one liner after one liner.

I tend to post one liners, but mostly it is because I tend to be reactive to what is going on. I don't game to tell a story, I game to explore and discover, thus I don't write very much about what I'm doing. It is very noticeable on PBP, but not so much in person. Being autistic with much poorer written communication skills then verbal skills makes it worse.

Just saying, it isn't always because they are a bad player. It is probably just a poor medium for them.

Unfortunately, some of us don't have the option in person games.

In reply to bigbadron (msg # 116):

And this is where he gets the bigbad from in his name!

To be honest though, yeah if you're a straight up liar, most GMs will eventually find out and remove you from their game. No one likes a liar in their game.

You can tell a story or explore and discover with an effective one-liner - taking shots every round in combat, casting a spell (even something simple but subtle like an oil slick or something to help someone else with combat), asking a meaningful question or three to move the story along, or even interacting with other players in a more RP-centric scene.  It doesn't take much, no matter what difficulties a player might have.

There's a difference, though, between an effective one-liner and a BS, useless one-liner that accomplishes nothing more than standing in a corner providing absolutely no meaningful input, even in the 'explore and discover' vein.  Unfortunately, I'm in the game with the second player Shinanai mentioned - and their posts fall into this latter category.

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@Sleepy/BigBadRon - totally agree.  My personal favorite is when a player gets banned from one game someone runs (usually for not following rules or being a general disruption) and then asks to join another game run by the same person...or even by someone else who was in the game and recognizes a player tag or character description.

Funny story though - last time this happened the GM (a personal IRL friend) almost accepted the invite just to engineer a very, very morbid demise for the requested character.

In reply to DarkLightHitomi (msg # 139):

Well, you see, but writing a long, elaborate background for your PC is actually telling a story.

In this case -- and without wanting to attack you, just to be clear -- how exactly do you explore if you don't describe what you are doing? You gotta at least write something like "I am looking around the room." because otherwise how am I as the GM supposed to know that you are actually looking for anything?

@Prowler.Jeff: I would actually divide the one liners into several types.

There is of course the occasional one liner post that we all get into eventually, whether it is because you are RP-ing out a conversation and not every response during a conversation will consist of elaborate inner thoughts and feelings. Sometimes a player just has to confirm something and/or ask a simple (even task oriented) question.

Personally, those don't bother me so much, because as Prowler.Jeff mentioned, even one liners can be thoughtful and plot advancing.

Then there is the one liner type of players who are not so much into the RP side of RPGs, but more into combat and mechanics in general. They prefer to roll dice and do very short and pragmatic posts.

That is a type of player that I fully understand, but do not prefer in my own games, as my games tend to be rather RP heavy.

The third type is one that I don't really understand no matter how often I see it and that is a type of player who basically keeps posting the same thing over and over again. Not only do they not RP anything, but they become very quickly very useless all together. They don't participate in combat, they don't participate in legwork, they don't participate in personal interaction. They just keep posting the same things over and over again.

And sometimes those come with very elaborate character backgrounds and descriptions.

That's the type that I don't really get, because sometimes it seams like that kind of player actually doesn't want to play, but rather just read along but instead of requesting lurker access they make these elaborate characters that sadly never get to be played out. At. All.

I read your post and was rather puzzled.  What could a player possibly lie about?  So I went back and read bigbadron's post.  Ah, puzzle solved.  Why a person would lie about something like that, I have no idea.  That's just incredible to me.  Most of us don't know anyone here.  The chances that someone we talk with will know that other person in real life or are in a position that bigbadron was in are remote, but it's still possible.  Craziness.

@Shinanai

I was meaning story exploring vs story writing.

Some players want to write a story including all the cinematics a drama that are common to storytelling.

Others like me, want to discover what the story is, as our characters discover it. To be confronted with puzzles and challanges and to actually try to figure them out and get past them, rather then simple talk about how my awesome cool character did so.

That is what I mean by exploring, to discover a story, to be the protaganist.

Honestly I do tend to come up with good bgs, but mostly cause I simply see possible connections, and building that way takes no effort. (That is why I gm by building stories around what the players do instead of playing through a predetermined story. Ironically, the type of player I am is not the best type of player to be in my games.)

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As for the third type of one-liner you talk about, I think of them as players who want to be lurkers with benefits. Also, it might just be two other things, perhaps they are just used to rl games where you "play" a character just so you can lurk the game, or they might do it because some people need to participate, even if poorly, because they know they will never come back if they try to be a mere lurker. (I know people that fit each of the above)

And I fully respect that.  That is not the type of character/player Shinanai and I are referring to.  I play and GM a very similar way - I love when characters of mine come up with something really cool (I have a general overall story, but I have no problems splintering off on tangents if they are cool).