Live Role Play (Concept)

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HeroineFall84
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Okay, slap me if I am crazy, but this idea just popped into my brain. Of course the original idea would be wildly insane to pull off, but it is the spirit that counts.

Would anyone be interested in viewing a live role play unfold right here on the forums in the story section? The idea is to get three writers together and each take part in a role play, one the villain another the heroine, but the trick is the GM (Game Master) of the show will lay out the world it takes place in.

"What the F#@& are you talking about HeroineFall?"

Okay hear me out. So one writer takes up the role of the heroine, the other the villain. That much is clear, but the Game Master will be the third party player in the game. The people watching the role play unfold could PM that Game Master with their wishes and it will be up to the Game Master to bend the universe to their will. To get my meaning I suppose you would have to be a bit familiar with the ways of old school Dungeons and Dragons. Either way I think this could be a fun interactive game in the community. A time and date could be determined for the show as well so everyone could meet up to keep the show streaming. If time runs short it can always end with a "To Be Continued..." :)

Just need a few writers willing to have a go at it.

Thoughts?
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I Like the Idea
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It's an intriguing concept - I think leadpoison suggested a similar(ish) idea in another recent thread - and I'd be interested to see how it could be done. It would play out more organically and be more unpredictable than regular stories, which I think might be quite cool to see. I think it would be tricky to make work, though. My (admittedly really limited) understanding of DnD is that characters are all on the same side, and the GM acts as the world they interact with and presents them with 'baddies' to deal with, which I guess the GM advocates. I'm not sure how it would work when the characters are on different 'sides,' specially in the context where there are no regulating rules as there would be in DnD, you're effectively counting on fair writing from the characters (no 'my character then defeats your character').

How do you imagine the three roles interacting in any given scene? Like, lets say you have Heroine and Villain in the Villain's lair, confronting one another. I guess Heroine and Villain are advocating their characters and saying what they are doing/feeling/thinking/saying, maybe even attempting... What do you envision the GM doing?
Last edited by Void 10 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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The GM would insure that there were no auto-hits. The way to do it in real time, though, would be to use an irc channel and then post the log here as a story. This would allow for instant updates and instant communication between the players and the GM as well as the GM and the audience.

Sometimes these things work out real well and sometimes they do not.
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Hurm. How would that look? Villain attempts to grab Heroine. GM says whether or not they succeed? I don't imagine that will read well at all, unless I'm missing something about this setup. I guess the GM could do all that in private messages and not actually be in the story at all, but then that seems quite a contrived role to play. I suppose I can imagine the GM fluffing up that role by granting success or failure to an attempt with a narrative description of how it plays out... But even then I would worry about how it would read. I think I'd need to see it in action to get the gist of it. My inclination would be to replace the GM with a set of rules or understandings between the writers for the characters, just to limit the amount of moving parts and allow the finished article to read fluidly(ish). I imagine it would also make it easier for the story to rely on less writers.
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HeroineFall84
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To better explain here is a clip from a current role play a friend and I are engaging in through email:

Her eyebrows raised, then dropped again as she remembered that normal people couldn't see as well as she could in the dark. He could probably tell she was hurt, though not the severity of them, in particular her leg. The very last thing she wanted to do was get any closer to having to put weight on that thigh. Still, he had the gun, not her, and so she gritted her teeth then slowly lowered herself down, very happy she'd been able to get her wrists free as her hands were very handy at this point.
"You're very lucky to be holding a weapon right now or I would probably kill you," Maximum said, her voice actually sort of pleasant.

He noted the glare in the heroine's eyes, and the tone in her voice. After witnessing her cast a man off a building he had no doubt that her words were true. He was lucky he pulled his gun when he had or he might not be alive even then.
"Kill me like you did Craw-Jack? Aren't you hero types supposed to, not kill?" Trent said, mocking her. Truth be told he didn't see any difference between he and her. She just fought for the side that lost today was all. She chose to protect the government, he chose a free market were the only one who touched his money was him. She lost.
"I suppose tying you up would be a waste of time then, so you're just going to have to make due with that leg of yours," Trent said waving the gun down towards her injured leg, "Don't think I wont put a bit of lead in you, because I will. I would rather take you in alive, but then again."
He let his words soak in, hoping that she took him seriously. She looked young from the bit of her face he could see and he was temped to pull the mask away once more to look into the face of the heroine he had captured, but getting too close was no longer an option. She was every bit as dangerous and he could have imagined.

"Oh, I don't doubt it. Already some of it lodged in my thigh thanks to your unsatisfactory shooting talent." Bradley could taunt right back at him. She was not an idiotic person, just she had gone about her actions to quickly this evening. Tonight was the last time she let her anxiety control her though. Regarding her leg, she let herself glance down at it, noticing the bullet hadn't penetrated too far into her skin. As much as it hurt her, Bradley wiggled the piece of lead out of her skin, a quick gasp rushing out of her voice as she did so then tossed the bullet aside.
By him not deciding to bind her, she noted some amount of intelligence in him. There must be a good bit too because he wasn't coming close to her either. Not that she would do anything, but she liked knowing that he was going to be cautious around her. Later on, she made note to use that to her advantage.

Her insult chewed on his nerves. He was an excellent marksman, but he had just been caught off guard. She should be thanking her lucky stars that he had not had a proper shot else the conversation would not be happening.
Just then two men came for the warehouse with their weapons drawn, one a pistol and the other a fully auto rifle. Both men, one blonde the other bald, wore the same black suits that Trent wore. Strange mandatory attire for anyone who worked for Mad-Mask. The man was large and about as insane as they come, adding OCD to his stats was hardly note worthy. Hearing his name, the Mad-Mask, would normally make Trent laugh his ass off, but once anyone met the guy it wasn't so funny any more. This city was the strangest place he had ever been, it was like walking into the pages of a comic book, yet no one who lived here felt it strange.
"Holy shit! It's that flying hero bitch!" one of the men said pulling his rifle up taking aim.
"Hold your fire," Trent said, holding one hand up to the men.
"We don't take orders from you!" the other thug said, then pulled his pistol up as well.
"No you don't, but unless you want to explain to the boss how you killed the girl who caused trouble for his business before he questioned her, I suggest you stand down."
Both men looked at Maximum debating their options, then slowly lowered their weapons.
"Good, now do either of you guys have cuffs or something to tie her up with. Rope don't work."
"We ain't cops, why the hell would we have cuffs?" The blonde thug said and let his rifle hang by the strap around his shoulder.
"Fine, you two take the front and I will walk in back," he looked at Maximum, "I think we are clear on the resistance thing. I don't want to carry your body in. Now get up and start moving."

Maximum again ground her teeth together and forced herself back up onto her still bare feet. The pain that surged through her leg was enough to bring tears to her eyes, but quickly she blinked them away. Without a word or further problems Maximum followed the three men. All the while she made note of their appearance, the guns they carried, and her surroundings. The more information, the better.
She wasn't sure how long they walked, but her brilliant eyes saw everything and her mind took dozens of mental pictures for her day of escape.

Trent followed behind the two men and Maximum with his gun aimed squarely at her back. He took this time to admire the heroine's form a bit more, and was able to get a closer look at the wing on her back, which were heavily damaged. How or why did this happen to her? Was she human, or had she arrive on earth some how? Maybe she was an ancient race that woke up recently. As far as he could remember she had only been around a little over a year, but the strangeness of her very existence would allow no limits to her possible origin.
The four of them moved through the warehouse, which was lit in spots from the over head lamp fixtures, and soon they came to a clearing in the rows of wooden crates. There several men gathered in a line, all of their backs turned. Trent knew what they were looking at, the boss was there, but he must have been sitting because he was easily taller than any of the men there. As they approached the blonde man spoke up first, his voice shaking with fear, "B-boss. He is back."
The eight men that stood before them turned to look their eyes falling on Maximum with expressions of shock and horror. They then began to whisper among themselves as they parted to reveal the beast of a man they called Mad-Mask. His shoulders were like the pads of football players, his fists the size of an average man's head. The suit he wore must have been custom made for this massive detentions, solid black with a blood red under shirt. His head looked at them blankly, for it was the only expression the blackened metal mask would yield. Two slits for eyes, four slits for the mouth, the rest was smooth without feature.
Mad-Mask stood up from the crate he sat on and it creaked with relieve. The man must have been seven feet tall, the width of his chest that of two men. Had there been a horn on his head he could have been mistaken for a ruinous in a suit. His slits turned their gaze on Maximum and he said, "Today must be my lucky day."
Trent stepped forward nervous. He did not see the rookie in the group, he must not have made it back after all. Mad-Mask looked to Trent as he stepped out from behind Maximum.
"Ah, Trent, you made it back. I take it you have the package?" Mad-Mask said, his voice was raspy and sounded mechanical through the slits int he mask.
"I left the package with the rookie. I was chased off by her," Trent pointed to Maximum, "thought I would keep her off his trail. She stopped me on the highway, but I was able to take her down. It was real close boss."
Mad-Mask growled, then looked at Maximum, "You have cost me yet again you flying pest. I should pull your spine out through your chest."
Mad-Mask turned to the crate he once sat on and lifted it over his head and hurled it into the darkness where only the sounds of its destruction could be heard. He then turned to one of his thugs, "Go! Find out where my package is. If the police have it there will be hell to pay!"
The man left in a hurry.

In this exchange I played Trent obviously, and she played Maximum. The only difference is the GM would be there at moments where the two players were not in co-operation. I.E. the hero tries one thing the villain another, which will require a resolve by the GM. In most role playing games this is done through stats and dice (hence the name), which could be done easily in this case. To keep the game flowing the GM would make a quick role and tell each player (could be in private) whether or not their attempt succeeded or not. The player would adjust their actions accordingly and the game would go on.

Short Example:

The thug filled with rage and over powered by the potions power lifted the car and hurled it at Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman saw the car coming and quickly moved towards safety.

[GM roles the dice for Wonder Woman and it was a failure]

She was fast, but not fast enough. The car clipped her side and they both went tumbling down the street. She was dazed for a moment, then shot a quick glance up to locate her enemy.

The thug was already charging her his eyes blood red and roaring like a lion.

The story flows nicely and the GM's intervention quick subtle. This means that the heroine may NOT lose, that the players will not know until the final outcome which means that the story will in fact be a unique as it possibly could be. Just a thought, but I like the exciting idea of the unknown. It is why I role played from the age of six until my mid twenties lol hell if I still had friends into it I would be doing it now!

The world would be constructed in part by the three writers so it will also make it unique. This would be a great game for the writers here to help with on the fly creation and adaptation to the stories flow. I love it, which is why I do my role plays the way I do. My friend and I don't know how the story will end, which keeps us on the edge of our seat.
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tallyho
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It's still difficult to work out who would be adding what, particularly in the long example with Trent and Maximum. I think it just comes across as a bit stilted
(and that's speaking as a potential reader not a contributor) .
In a fight scene for example where heroine describes throwing a punch GM describes outcome but who is to say what action comes next a- if the Gm is constantly arbitrating as to whether one side lands a succession of blows or whether the other side gets a shot in it won't be particularly exciting waiting for the deliberations.

If it was played out behind closed doors and then publishedI I think it would maybe work better but I'm not convinced. I can understand a degree of enjoyment for the participants, but I think its only got limited appeal for a reader as a live event.
Just my 2c. Good luck with it anyway,I hope you prove me wrong.
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Totally get the appeal. Immersive stories that genuinely play out like a real-life event rather than a scripted scene. The total unpredictability is awesome because the scene could go hopelessly badly for the heroine or supremely well - so no one knows quite what they're in for at the start. Totally see the appeal as well to be writing totally on the fly as things unfold - that could be fiendishly educational. In any case, I'd be interested in any story done this way.

I do think you could still do without the GM. In the example you showed even, it was the two of you writing it out with fair give and take, with a measure of meta collaboration for roughly where the story is headed. I actually quite like the total randomness of involving dice, though in that case you could just roll the dice for you're own actions (I presume the writers aren't going to cheat)

That way you could have simple contests where Mr Evil tries to pin Wonder Starlet's hands above her head (rolls a 5) can directly compete with Wonder Starlet tries to break free from Mr Evil (rolls a 4) - Wonder Starlet is pinned! I know it would need to be better refined than that, but I think it works well if you just trust the writers to honestly roll a dice. I guess it gets harder if you need to allocate a difficulty level to achieving something... but you could probably get away with the writers sorting that out fairly... The dice rolling need only come into it when the two characters are directly competing to achieve things.

Regardless, this looks like a noble endeavour.
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HeroineFall84
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tallyho wrote:It's still difficult to work out who would be adding what, particularly in the long example with Trent and Maximum. I think it just comes across as a bit stilted
(and that's speaking as a potential reader not a contributor) .
In a fight scene for example where heroine describes throwing a punch GM describes outcome but who is to say what action comes next a- if the Gm is constantly arbitrating as to whether one side lands a succession of blows or whether the other side gets a shot in it won't be particularly exciting waiting for the deliberations.

If it was played out behind closed doors and then publishedI I think it would maybe work better but I'm not convinced. I can understand a degree of enjoyment for the participants, but I think its only got limited appeal for a reader as a live event.
Just my 2c. Good luck with it anyway,I hope you prove me wrong.
All doubts understandable and perhaps it will be more fun for the players until the polished version is out for the reader. The GM could also be dropped (it was more a traditional concept in that fashion) and the story would flow quite well.
As a second option the "role to see what happens" could not be a blow for blow, but could be the fight sequence as a whole, like who comes out on top. It plays out like a game, but all writers know the goal. To tell a wonderful story with an organic feel.

2c appreciated as always! Helps me work out the kinks and make this concept playable. I suppose we wont know until two writers step into the arena and find out! :D
Void wrote:Totally get the appeal. Immersive stories that genuinely play out like a real-life event rather than a scripted scene. The total unpredictability is awesome because the scene could go hopelessly badly for the heroine or supremely well - so no one knows quite what they're in for at the start. Totally see the appeal as well to be writing totally on the fly as things unfold - that could be fiendishly educational. In any case, I'd be interested in any story done this way.

I do think you could still do without the GM. In the example you showed even, it was the two of you writing it out with fair give and take, with a measure of meta collaboration for roughly where the story is headed. I actually quite like the total randomness of involving dice, though in that case you could just roll the dice for you're own actions (I presume the writers aren't going to cheat)

That way you could have simple contests where Mr Evil tries to pin Wonder Starlet's hands above her head (rolls a 5) can directly compete with Wonder Starlet tries to break free from Mr Evil (rolls a 4) - Wonder Starlet is pinned! I know it would need to be better refined than that, but I think it works well if you just trust the writers to honestly roll a dice. I guess it gets harder if you need to allocate a difficulty level to achieving something... but you could probably get away with the writers sorting that out fairly... The dice rolling need only come into it when the two characters are directly competing to achieve things.

Regardless, this looks like a noble endeavour.
Yes you are catching my drift! Of course it isn't without flaw, but over all I think it would be unique and fun to watch pan out. I am game for anyone wanting to do a trial run with me to work out the mechanics. I am sure a sturdy system could be put in place and a new form of heroine peril entertainment born into the community.

If it works we could start a whole world of heroes and villains with an on going plot, power struggle, and peril! :)
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Ahhh, I think the fight resolved as a whole would work better
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I do agree with tallyho's concerns that it might not read right. Having said that, all stories have a paragraph by paragraph description of what different characters are doing - so as long as you don't throw in unnecessary detail or redundant repetition, each segment should be able to flow as if there was one writer. It gets harder and harder the more people you bring in as contributors, but between two I think it can fly. It's also worth bearing in mind you can edit the snot out of hasty paragraphs to correct any errant punctuation or spelling - or re-write the whole thing to have the same effect but read better.

As long as the writers are both keeping their eye on putting the story first (and maybe have a few private agreements) then I really think this works.
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HeroineFall84
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Void wrote:I do agree with tallyho's concerns that it might not read right. Having said that, all stories have a paragraph by paragraph description of what different characters are doing - so as long as you don't throw in unnecessary detail or redundant repetition, each segment should be able to flow as if there was one writer. It gets harder and harder the more people you bring in as contributors, but between two I think it can fly. It's also worth bearing in mind you can edit the snot out of hasty paragraphs to correct any errant punctuation or spelling - or re-write the whole thing to have the same effect but read better.

As long as the writers are both keeping their eye on putting the story first (and maybe have a few private agreements) then I really think this works.
I agree two writers at a time is best, but that does not mean that multiple events can't take place in the city at once. Think groups of two, each playing out a part of a story. It would be extremely rough to bring in more than two writers at a time in one scene, but as a whole if Wonder Woman is fighting a giant beast in central city, maybe Supergirl is after the mad man who created it else where. I am working on my website and soon as I get this dang CSS to cooperate I will show you my concept for how to display the final story. Of course we will post it here as well, but it will look much more pretty with style added to it. :D (hint, character Avatars and a bit of comic book flare)

I think the final product should be polished, and we could get together and create characters, bios, ect. for the readers to follow. I think this would be a great way to push our abilities as writers and have a lot of fun as well.

The beauty of it is every writer writes differently, so the characters will feel different and over all bring even more life into the scenes!
HeroineFall84
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Here is the Concept I was working on for the layout and I am pretty excited about the idea. I think I will be starting a series for anyone interested. Let me know what you think of the look so far?
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Cool format, I can see that being quite interesting if it were to work. I've no idea how you've done it but I imagine it entails a fair amount of work to present any new character in the way you are doing with the images - having said that, its a nice touch. Overall the look is good, I think. I like how easy it is to navigate and I think it would be easily accessible to work out what is going on. Definitely worth giving a whirl and seeing what a finished article would look like.
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HeroineFall84
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Void wrote:Cool format, I can see that being quite interesting if it were to work. I've no idea how you've done it but I imagine it entails a fair amount of work to present any new character in the way you are doing with the images - having said that, its a nice touch. Overall the look is good, I think. I like how easy it is to navigate and I think it would be easily accessible to work out what is going on. Definitely worth giving a whirl and seeing what a finished article would look like.
Thank you, it has been a bit of work, but over all at least I am building skill. I did it from scratch and I am making a back-end login so I can upload stories as posts instead of hard coding them in html (yuck). Just having a few db issues, but I should have something up in the near future. As far as the art goes it is from HeroMachine 2.5 and I spoke with the artist and he gave me full reign to use the characters I create. Just plain awesomeness!

If all goes well a simple username and password would give writers access to play with their characters in the story. Maybe, have not decided where I am going with this, but it is fun. :)
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I want to write
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fog wrote:I want to write
Sounds awesome, have anything in mind?
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Interesting concept, but probably a little more involved than most here who just write stories to post for those who enjoy reading at their leisure. I find it hard for most to be consistent even on other websites where role play stories are posted. I have tried it myself before but too often real life takes up too much time... LOL ... I will keep checking in and seeing if this develops and see how it goes.
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