Membership Site Wide Plots

[Poe 18]

So when I had first started getting into RPG I noticed that sandbox RPGs were the most popular. Everyone seemed to want to do their own thing without an overarching plot to hold them back. These sites had plots to set up the settings, but their plots weren't stories that would be carried out. Then it seemed that recently site-wide plots gained popularity again. So what are your thoughts on overarching plots? How does your site progress the plot and how often?

 

I personally think it is pretty awesome to have an overarching site plot so that your members can shape the site a bit. I've seen some sites be very strict on how the site plots progress, and I am not sure how I feel about those quite yet.

 

I'd love to hear some thoughts on the subject though!

[Kazetatsu 263]

I like an optional site wide plot in that it effects the story of things but i can choose how much to participate in it or even avoid it altogether if I want. A good sitewide plot kind of ties player stories together rather than trying to force something players don't show interest in, and it can be pulled off even on a sandbox type site if the sandbox has a definitive base setting to work with.

 

I like progressing plots based on player time. if something isn't working or hype is dying its time for some new development. if players are still excited, or the story in a sitewide thread event is still flowing, to let it flow and reveal info as players find it. what played do should have the power to alter, or change plot outcomes, and that should show in how staff handle it so players feel like they can take agency and still tell the stories they want to tell.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Kazetatsu

[Elena 546]

I love sitewide plots. I join a site only if its story inspires me to further it. And we have been writing our story for almost 8 writing years, and for 20 months in story time. I think a sitewide plot makes the story coherent, while allowing for individual side plots.

 

I disagree with the site plot being optional. If you have joined the pirates, or the Navy, e.g., you have to be where your group is (unless your character has been given a different, special mission, or is injured, etc.). You aren't a Navy officer just to charm girls ashore. You are one to take part in battles, blockades, etc. as well, where your ship is! If there has been a hurricane, your character can have escaped it, but can't pretend the house is untouched (OK, no major destruction, it is possible) and can't pretend she doesn't see the destruction around...

[RaWolfe 43]

Been now for 15 years in a Star Trek organization that has different levels of interaction. It has changed so much the past couple of years, from being only the group own plots where the fleet did not matter to now that every action matters. Writing groups are not obligated to participate in such stories, but it is great to be part of something unique.

 

1. Fleet (Consist of 5 Task Forces)
2. Task Force (Consists of 15 groups)
3. Group (Consists around 6 players)

Every TF has its own playground and that makes things interesting 😄 

[Kazetatsu 263]

I don't think one should just shirk site wide plots altogether, but as a player I've also hated when staff just say, ok, this drama is happening, with little warning or build up. If I have warning I can choose to move my characters out of the way, do some ic preparations for whats to come, or choose who I want to play for that plot (in cases where I have multiple characters to pull from). If a plot is just thrown on me, and I have to put my character at risk right away, there is a lot less choice for me. So optional doesn't mean not participating at all, nor ignoring what happens in an important plot, in means having a way to choose exactly how much danger to put my character in, and when, and so tailor my experience of the site wide plot into the stories I'm trying to tell.

 

It might not work as well on a rigid site with a strict timeline and roles where you are with your group most of the time to have such flexible plots, but it does work more in sandboxes, on sites where characters may or may not be affiliated with a group, or where players can choose where their characters are on a per-thread basis more than a per plot basis, as long as there's some logic to it, (so characters can travel, or be out of town, or be fighting on a different front). A reason for not being there is still needed. its not the same as pretending the site wide plot doesn't exist.

[Rhindeer 217]

I prefer sandbox games, and those are the sorts of games I run. However, just because a game is sandbox doesn't mean it can't have large, overarching plots. But these plots are very much "opt in". You don't have to participate.

 

The large site-wide plots are also all player-run. As an admin, I rarely set up huge plots like that. I don't have the time, for one, and for two I'm not really interested in most site-wide plots. xD But I join them sometimes when something catches my interest, and I create some mini ones when I come up with a fun idea. But for the most part, they are player made and run, and I encourage that! For huuuge plots that affect entire nations, players generally just run the idea by me first and then it's go time.

 

We have a civil war plot going in one of SotE's nations that's been going since 2012 and the player running it is amazing! It's a huuuugely popular plot. (Though she's on hiatus now due to IRL difficulties.)  But the thing is, it's opt in. Characters can still go about their daily lives in that nation, with the war  acting as background noise. Not every character is gonna be a soldier actively involved, not every character is gonna have their town razed, etc. There are still plenty of civilians living out their own personal dramas.

 

And that's how I view this stuff. My games are based around an entire WORLD. So there may be significant events occurring, and some people are gonna be involved in, or affected by, those events! But other people are just gonna hear about it from gossip and move along, going about their own business.

 

It's the player's choice.

 

I like that. 8D I hate being forced into huge plots. I mostly prefer to stick to my small, personal plots. But again, there are exceptions! I just don't like it to be mandatory.

[CovertSphinx 710]

I too subscribe to the "Blend" methodology. 

 

There is an Over-Arching site plot. This plot is not rigid, but it will still define the type of environment that players thread in. There are Subplots that players can choose to get involved in as they please (or if), and players are left free to explore their individual character's story/self as their primary "plot". That being said....I do get a personal enjoyment out of weaving little plot webs that slowly bring the subplots to my members (without throwing things on them) organically. Before you know it, the players are contributing to the overarching plot without consciously being aware of it~ 

Summary: Character's individual plots fuel my Subplots, which then tie directly into the OverArching plot. 

 

I get a very special enjoyment at seeing a New Profile and being challenged to find a way to incorporate that story into "mine".

[Rune 1,099]

Obviously this is going to vary wildly between genres, but DISCUSSION!

 

How many events do you do a year? How long do they last? What sort of events do you have planned? How far in advance do you plan? Are they location based, danger based or plot based? Do they advance the site plot or just provide a place to play in?

 

CW does 4 events a year. 2 variable, 1 setting and 1 danger. We try to do about one a quarter. Summer is usually the setting based, specifically our annual masquerade since people are generally busy and on vacation, so they can have more laid back stuff going on. 

This year we unlocked a secondary danger event to boot!

 

This is how I classify the events:

Danger! - Character's lives are at risk. Bad stuff is happening. It's dangerous!

Setting - You give players a setting - Say, a ball, and they interact with one another. Simple enough.

 

I usually have what is going down planned about a year in advance, in vague terms of "First event will be this, second event will be this, etc" But they're always subject to change. I do the informative write up a couple months before for staff to tear apart and refine it.

 

Edit: I didn't post this here, it got moved. I'm not some jackass that tries to derail threads.

[Zahara 12]

Ooooh, this is a fun one. O.k. so, obviously there are different reasons for doing things different ways in different games. For example. One site I'm staff on everyone just gets on with whatever they want to do. Ocassionally we say 'this thing is happening here, here's a temporary board for you to do that stuff in....' Whereas on FAW things are VERY different... but that's kinda due to the source material. When you base a rp site on a TV show that is known for it's series plot wrapped up in sub plots and personal character plots... then that's kinda what you gotta do right? I will admit that our players are used to tabletop rp where the gm takes character things and forms a plot. We very much do the same, players mention things and we take those into account and build on them. 

 

We run time on our board a little strange I guess to make this easier. We give our players dates that they can post current threads in (past ones are always doable at any time) and they make things work within those. One player had her character organise a house party and it basically became a site event. So to try and reflect how things were structured in the TV show, we do tend to have an 'event' every 'episode' that furthers the site plot, gets some unexpected people mingling, so that we can move towards the 'season finale'. I guess it means players have time to participate in the bits of the site plot it makes sense for them to participate in as well as their characters personal plots and also means we as staff can help facilitate group plots and subplots that are smaller then the main site plot... We do a similar thing on another site I'm staff on, which is again based on a TV series. 

 

I guess, it's down to personal preference really, I like a good site plot, but then it can put people off who aren't used to it. Especially when you get people who are worried about messing it up, that makes it harder going. Personally, I like to challenge myself to see how much I can mess with a plot without being ooc... just me? 😛

 

Did any of that make sense?

[D241 5]

While I'm fond of being able to "do whatever the hell I want", I feel like having a site-wide plot prevents a site from disintegrating. It give people something to look forward to every time they log on. Still, having some sandbox elements allows for people to do their own thing away from the main storyline. 

[Mobydoll 4]

I like board-wide plots, but I can't help thinking of a site I left once between every "board-wide plot" only seemed to involve the admins' characters. Players started to feel like a board-wide plot was just when we were expected to respond to what their characters were doing, spectators more than players. Whenever making one myself, I try to make a board-wide plot with space for players to really participate.

 

On my site, we have some action/adventure type plots as well as larger background events to give context and atmosphere. It's an X-Men board. We have newspaper articles posted every so often about a mix of things--states beginning to wonder if public schools have to accept mutants; do abortion laws apply to fetuses with visible mutations; and a Presidential campaign based on anti-mutant rhetoric. It also includes things that happen in threads, like a player made a character whose mutation caused them to eat several gangsters, or when Wolverine decapitated a small-time crime-lordling. So everyone knows a little about what's going on and sometimes those will make it into threads, how characters feel about it and such. 

 

We (admin team) never require anyone to participate in events, but that's definitely genre-based. It makes sense on Elena's board, for example, because a real life Navy wouldn't let people opt out of activities. A superhero team has a different set of expectations, so people volunteer for missions. I try to create activities based on where player interest is, too--most players seem more keen to play students, so I'm always looking for board events for student characters. As an admin team, I'd say these vary in how long they take and how frequently they happen. We try to have something every few months or less, and it might take one-two months IC like our mutant fight club plot, or build much more slowly like our alien invasion plot. 

[Alivieina 2]

On our site we have 1 main overarching plot that drives the conflicts and where our players can really swing it one way or the other- mainly the War of Belief as started in the 2012 film Rise of the Guardians This time though, Pitch Black has recruited his own army to face off with the Guardians- and even then many characters are neutral and not wanting to be involved. 

 

Occasionally the staff will do some board event plots. We try to space them out to allow breathing room for our players and to not block out any player plots that are developing. Usually these things just have to do with the War or any battles that could possibly turn the tide to one or another thing. And sometimes we just do lighthearted for fun stuff. Events tend to be optional we usually have a sign up thread- but any affects will usually spread to the site. 
 

We usually do 1-2 events a year and we open ICC up 4x a year 1 month per season. They can last up to a couple of months due to posting speeds and whatnot. And they can vary between super dangerous (we had a death in the halloween event for example) or purely lighthearted like a Masquerade Event or power swap. 

 

They all really vary though. Really just depends on how the site is doing and if any lore has caught our ears to use. 

[Sage 289]

I love site-wide plots - but then again I like stories that are more directed in some way. I'm a huge fan of linear RPGs and I always finish the main quest first in Skyrim. I'm actually more likely to join a site that has an actual plot to help shape rather than a sandbox. Direction keeps me engaged.

 

The last site I did was very plot heavy, and while you could have sandbox elements outside of that, things didn't progress until the plot did. We had regular events where the plot progressed, and then supplemented that with like media developments that members could take and explore as they would and the GMs didn't need to moderate. 

 

Site wide plots definitely have their pros and cons, and sometimes can be difficult to share among large groups of players and characters. But I think they can be very rewarding when everyone works together. I'd rather have them than not, honestly. But the key to a good site wide plot is just consistency and follow through!