[Original RPG] New recruits...

Got a story idea, or something you'd like to chat about?
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StoneCold Skywarp
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New recruits...

Post by StoneCold Skywarp »

Ladies and Gentlemen, it has come to our attention that our beloved little RPG has began to lack something.

Players.

Whilst we appreciate evrey single one of you that strives to post regularly and have the patience through our transitory periods we're at a loss as to why we're failing to attract new players, so now we come to you to suggest ideas as to how to attract new blood.

Any comments/suggestions are welcome.

Thank you for your time.

~StoneCold Skywarp~
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God Jinrai
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honestly..

Post by God Jinrai »

I'm finding it difficult myself to see why we don't get new gamers.

and I'm sorry, but the excuse "I don't know how to fit my character in" doesn't cut it for me anymore. A. we know how the deal with fan characters is... we're minimizing those, and if they ARE let in, then when we go through the review, then we'll decide how to squeeze em in. B. I don't ever want people to say "it's too complicated" with hits, this, and that... ya know what, it's REASONABLE without resorting to the styles of tabletop rpging. and granted, some people may be used to certain styles of gaming, but they had to get used to their original playstyle to even get into that! C. and finally, if ya ask me... and this is not directed at any board or person specifically, if people weren't so busy with trying to be "number one", or the "best role playing board around" sorta schtick, we just MIGHT have more gamers. I'm not accusing us of this mind. if we were doing that,we would be the gameer-horder.

the last thing I can think of is...just.. mebe no one's interested in portraying a 50 foot tall robot anymore??? :(
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Well, it's not just the RPG that has this problem. The board as a whole has had a slow period as far as newbies are concerned. So, obviously, we're not getting as many people looking at the game. It might help if you put a highly visable link to the RPG on the site's main page.

Another thought: I know when I first joined up, I was a bit intimidated joining a game that had been going on for so long. Basically, I had no idea what was going on, or how to work my characters into the story. It might help if a synopsis got posted every month detailing the events that occured, so new players wouldn't have to read eight threads back to find out what's happening. A Book of the Dead might help in that regard, too.

EDIT: BTW, I don't think anyone actually looks at the stickies in this forum...
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Tempest
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Post by Tempest »

If you have or not noticed, I haven't joined the RPG.

The reason I haven't is because it just doesn't appeal to me. If you notice not everyone has joined the AWF and not everyone has joined the RPG.

As Warcry said I think it would be good if the events following had been posted it would be good and then I might but as it stands ... well I might join ... but then I might.

BTW Warcry I read stickys all the time. :)
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Post by Aero Blade »

This rpg is far from what I'd consider to be slow or unpopulated. On my own site I run two rpgs which together have about a sum total of 12 players, and the boards on average are updated once a week (slow periods it could take a month), but the rpers that are there love it. It might be considered slow, sure, but the plotlines are great and there's less chaos to keep an eye on. They don't feel pressured to post every day and they have time to think things through.

Of course everyone has their preferences. Some people like fast boards and can't sit still to wait for others. Just from my experiences on managing and participating in rpgs, here's some things that might be affecting the turnout:

1.) General 'speed' of the board (rate people post)
2.) Ease of joining
3.) Clarity of rules
4.) Availability of characters
5.) Ability to join into the main flow of action (major problem on one of mine, despite my attempts to solve it)

There's no real way to please everyone on these, but these seem to be the factors that most people look for, and what can most likely turn them off if they're not satisfactory.
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Post by Warcry »

Originally posted by Aero Blade
1.) General 'speed' of the board (rate people post)
2.) Ease of joining
3.) Clarity of rules
4.) Availability of characters
5.) Ability to join into the main flow of action (major problem on one of mine, despite my attempts to solve it)

#4 may be a major problem for us. After all, a great many of the more popular characters (mostly from the first three seasons) are claimed already. Of those that aren't, many are used as NPCs by the staff from time to time, which could put newbies off from claiming them.
If their favorite characters aren't available, many people won't want to play. Simple as that. Only so many of us can be amused by RPing Firecons or Micromasters, after all.
Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done about this.
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Post by Aero Blade »

Another thing is characters that are claimed but never used. Lots of people call characters, but we never get a chance to interract with them. I've had my own experience with this, as I was thinking about claiming Kup which I'd never seen anyone use on the board, but when I checked the claim list someone had him. Perhaps if people haven't use the characters in so much of an amount of time (like never), there's the possibility of giving warning, and then if they don't respond or don't care, give the character up for use to other people.
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God Jinrai
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Post by God Jinrai »

I'm reasonably sure that at some point we DID have a "Taken characters" thread... that is, outside of role call...

and granted, even if chars are used as npc's, I wonder sometimes if a little pm could fix that. I mean being serious here, I'm tempted in the future to pick up sideswipe or even jazz or wheeljack. It seems like they're background food right now, and generally speaking, And this'll sound weird... Leader chars are getting difficult for me to manage...
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Post by Warcry »

Originally posted by Aero Blade
...Perhaps if people haven't use the characters in so much of an amount of time (like never), there's the possibility of giving warning, and then if they don't respond or don't care, give the character up for use to other people.

That might work...only problem with that is that the staff would have to go through the claims threads and chase down all the players who have unused characters. Don't know if they have time for that.
Originally posted by God Jinrai
and granted, even if chars are used as npc's, I wonder sometimes if a little pm could fix that.
That's easy enough for you or I to do, yes. But we know the staff and players. A newbie might not even be aware that NPCs are considered different than characters.
I mean being serious here, I'm tempted in the future to pick up sideswipe or even jazz or wheeljack. It seems like they're background food right now, and generally speaking, And this'll sound weird... Leader chars are getting difficult for me to manage...
I doubt Blaster would be too happy if you tried to poach Jazz from him...he's supposed to come back when his wrist heals, IIRC.
And if you want to get some minor chars into the game, could you please take some 'Cons? We could really use a few more.
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Post by ThePeacemkr2 »

Originally posted by Warcry
Another thought: I know when I first joined up, I was a bit intimidated joining a game that had been going on for so long. Basically, I had no idea what was going on, or how to work my characters into the story. It might help if a synopsis got posted every month detailing the events that occured, so new players wouldn't have to read eight threads back to find out what's happening. A Book of the Dead might help in that regard, too.


Thats pretty much the reason why I never joined, though at a few points I considered it.

While I dont really mind what character I get/what characters are taken, I dont really feel like reading hundreds of posts to understand what has gone on so far. If there was some sort of general summary every 15 or 20 pages worth or so, I might consider joining (if I only had to go through 20 or less pages in order to be fully up-to-date).

I basically just have no idea what is going on, in what threads, or anything like that.


The thing is, something like that would require a lot of effort, and I dont know how many people would actually join if that effort were taken.
He's alive. Go figure.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Originally posted by ThePeacemkr2
...If there was some sort of general summary every 15 or 20 pages worth or so, I might consider joining (if I only had to go through 20 or less pages in order to be fully up-to-date)....
http://tfarchive.com/community/showthre ... adid=18921
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Post by Aero Blade »

You don't have to read all the thread (not unless you're curious about something), though it is a good idea to read at least the most recient couple of pages. Like Warcry pointed out, Scout makes periodic summaries of the current action, posted in the RPG questions forum. Go check it out there.
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Post by BASS131 »

i'm newe to the board and to make picking a character easier i'm just going to pick Jetfire from Armada. tell me what i need to do now to make this offical.
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Post by Aero Blade »

You can't have Armada characters. Only G1 characters are allowed.
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Post by BASS131 »

well that needs to be changed if you want new people. sense all the main tfs are taken from g1. and i don't feel like making my own transformer.
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Post by Aero Blade »

You'll have to take it up with the mods. All G1 characters are used because it makes things easier to keep in context of how things work since it's all coming from the same area. Keep in mind that G1 spans several individual series such as Headmasters, and there's tons of unused characters.

As for fanmade characters, you couldn't even have the choice of making one until you've played an official character for a while (It's not well believed by many that starting rpers are very good at making up well thought out characters)
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Post by Savannahtron »

well that needs to be changed if you want new people. sense all the main tfs are taken from g1. and i don't feel like making my own transformer.
Just looking around tonight, I don't think that every charachter has been taken. Seems like a lot of them are still lingering around.

In fact I have been thinking about joining up, but need some help with the continuity of it.

Any suggestions other than reading posts...err, I mean can someone give me a rundown on where I can start, which RPG is going on, I read it is about the Quints, just need a little help caues I have never played before.

Thanks,
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Post by Warcry »

Sav, we actually have two games running at the moment.

The main RPG has been running forever, so it'd take a while to explain fully. It's gotten pretty complex over the years. The jist of it is that the Quints have run the TFs off Cybertron (circa 2015? IIRC) , so they come to Earth and continue their civil war here.

However, there is also a new RPG called Innovations. It takes place on Cybertron during the ancient days when Quintessons ruled. Nothing important has actually happened yet, so you might find it a bit easier to get in on this one.
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Post by BASS131 »

hmm sounds good. but sense it takes place in the past all the transformers are really weak right? well here's my question, can we be transformers that are picked from the other rpg?
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Post by Warcry »

I wouldn't say all the TFs are weak. Most of the Autobots are, but a lot of the Decepticons are military units. So they'd be pretty good in a fight.

As for your other question: Yes, you can.
If someone wants to use the same character in both games, they have to claim him in both games. If a character is unclaimed in Innovations then he's free for the taking, whether or not someone has him in the main RPG.
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