Site Revamping, Temporary topic

You heard it; revamping ideas. Choose from any and be sure to specify.

1) Plot: Suggestions, Ideas, Whatever

2) Forums (General RP, AU, Sparring, etc) (what to add, what to take out in ANY of the forums)

3) Characters: Connections between the characters, Character limit? If so how many? Whatever ideas come to mind

4) Other (Mainly because I ran out of some of the ideas I had for some of the subtopics to discuss)


Oh, and all of the site topics are currently in the "Old Site" area either under Archives or the Graveyard. I did this so that people can reread old, oooold topics and gather ideas from there.

Well, I remember making an account here, but I didn't use it much. I don't have too much experience with RP forums, but I've been to some small forums like this one and I know all too well the outcome... it dies. XD

First of all, it's important to decide whether or not a forum is really needed for this. How many people are interested in this particular RP? If you can count the number on one hand, then it's not enough. XD If the number is too little, then you may as well stick with AIM or something. If you really want to make this RP a forum thing, then you're going to need more members. I don't really know how that's going to work, though... it really depends on who you want to invite. What I mean to say is, some forum admins don't like having complete strangers walk in and sign up. XD

The types of newcomers you want do matter, whether you have enough people now or not. If the community ceases to expand, then it's only a matter of time before the forum dies. XD So I'll just throw out there that you can have one of two types of people sign up: Complete strangers, or acquaintances. The pros of having strangers sign up is that they are incredibly easy to find, and the cons would be that you don't know them (eg, maybe they just signed up to troll), and they are easier to lose at the beginning. For friends, on the other hand, the pros are that they are easier to keep in touch with, and you know what they are like; the cons are that there aren't many of them to invite at the beginning, since the current pool of members is so small. I would definitely recommend inviting as many interested friends (of both the admins and members) as possible, but also consider finding strangers. I would try for strangers once the RP is more established, though.

After you get newcomers, the next thing to think about is how you're going to keep them. This is done mainly through implementing new ideas all the time. For instance, let's say the RP is about us being pirates looking for treasure. I can definitely assure you that the RP will die down if we never find the darn thing XD Just like a real story, an RP should evenly progress so that it doesn't get stale. Unfortunately, that means it'll have to end some day... but hey, that just means you can start a completely new idea next, right? Additionally, I'd like to suggest keeping other types of forum categories up (for stuff like user-submitted artwork and general discussion). The RP should be the main focus, but it's definitely good to have a wide variety of other things people can come here for. The reasons for this would be that a.) it's a fun way to interact with other users outside of RP (and that is something members typically like), and b.) should the RP itself die, they would give people another reason to still log in... and bringing those people back into the RP would be a lot easier if they're logging in regularly.



As for story, all I can suggest is something that's very open for anyone to jump into. This means that a wide range of possible characters can be created, and the premise of the story shouldn't center too much around specific characters. I vaguely remember Shera was pretty important in the given plot... but I don't remember how much. XD Let's say, though, that the story rotates around her and some select friends/enemies of hers. This would put people off from joining, because they'd feel overshadowed by her importance before even joining. Also keep in mind that new people should still be joining as the story progresses, so picking a plot that's open to newbies the whole way though is also important.

Phew! And that's it for now... just my theories and observations, really. But I hope it helps >_>; Hope you could stomach reading that whole long thing XD I know I tend to ramble a bit, but I hope you found good info in all that.

-Stuff Gal (totally forgot her username and password XD)

PS: If you have the option to do so, I would majorly suggest adding Fast/Quick Reply buttons

Those are great points (and your character name on here was Kaizo if I remember correctly), and I certainly plan to make it more general.

Just really quick, I'm going to throw out 2 ideas I have, and please, PLEASE comment on them.

First of all is the addition of another possible syndicate. I'm not entirely sure whether to go about this or not, or to do it in a different way, but it would help create a bit more conflict.

The next one is making the police force a bigger influence on the site. The only one so far is Inoue, and he can't undertake everything along (he's not all-powerful). At least he's the only one on the local police force.

So, I'm thinking about creating positions for the Shadow Syndicate leader, a possible 2nd syndicate, and the police force because I think those could make things interesting. Also, the cops would have spies from both syndicates while the syndicates would have spies from the cops. Just a couple ideas to throw out there, but I would appreciate if the members included their own thoughts/ideas.

I think one of the only ways we'll get this up and running again is if we combine our knowledge into a general plot that everyone can be included in.

Finally decided to get an account. May as well make myself more identifiable. XD And yes, I was Kaizo. Her full name was Kaizo Ourana, I remember now. XD I suck at making names... XD

As for story, I think it's more than just whether or not to include another syndicate and so forth. First of all, how much do you plan on changing the story? I reread the general plot that's been provided, and thus far it didn't seem too open XD Of course, part of that is because it had more details added on from what was done on the old topics so far. But the main reason it's so uninviting is because it really does center around a few characters.

First of all, it's all about Shera in the first part. XD But once she returns to the syndicate and makes her great escape, it's about Shera plus her friends. And then, by the end of it all, I know quite a bit about her, the names of people she knows, and a little information about the setting... and that's it. I know you're planning on fixing things, but I don't know by how much... so I'll start from here.

The most major change that needs to be done is concentration on the setting. I don't really know anything about the city she's in, or the syndicate. And the part about the syndicate really gets to me... what is it, exactly? Mafia group? Terrorists? What do they plan on doing? And then placement within it all... how well known are the assassins? As in, do they make front page news, or do you have to ask around to know a little about them? How much do the police know, and what are they doing to stop it?

Personally, I think the entire plot section needs to be rewritten. You can still have all that good stuff about what happened to Shera, but make it part of her character backstory, and not part of the main story. When someone wants to jump in to something like this, they want to know what they're jumping into, what sort of character will fit in.

It's kind of hard to explain, so I think I'll give some examples of what I'm trying to say. Let's say you wanted to make an RP about pirates. You could easily say, "it takes place during the Golden Age of Piracy." Then you could go on to explain a little more about what went on then; talk about privateers, common places for pirates to be, relationships among governments and their relationships with pirates, and so forth. It wouldn't need to be much, but it would give plenty of setting. Then you could tell people that you're a pirate captain, and you would like some people to join your crew as navigator, chef, et cetera. This is a very open plot; people can join your crew, or they can start a rival crew, or they can become privateers, or become marines who hunt pirates... that's a pretty good start.

Another example would be another RP forum I went to once. It took place in the semi-distant future, and explained that people in that time evolved to have either psychic powers, or they evolved to have animal-like powers (like becoming a man-pig or something XD). Anyway, these two groups often fought with each other, and lived in very different places; the psychics had nice cities, and the animal-people were left to live in the wild. The founders of this particular RP also had a place in the story, since they made themselves key figures in the warfare (like being head of an army, or leader of a rebellion group). Again, very easy setting to get into, and it also uses the founding characters as a reference. I wouldn't recommend making the founders incredibly important like that, though... most players will probably be more in the "commoner" category, so they won't interact with the elite much.

I hope those help in some way...


Now, about your suggestions. XD

I don't know how good an idea it is to make another syndicate. I think the first thing that should be done is to better define the current syndicate. If anyone wants to be part of it, they'll want to know how big it is, how it's run, how secretive it is, what sort of aim it has, what it does to achieve its goals, and so forth. Once we flesh out this current syndicate and its placement in the world (and maybe even give it a name of some kind =P), then we can see if another one is needed, and if so, we'll have a better idea of what to do with it. XD Also, I would definitely recommend giving the police a bigger role. They don't have to know a whole lot (since an investigation can be roleplayed, and probably fun to do), but just putting something in the story that says, "HEY you can be a police officer too! =D" is a plus. After all, this gives people the option of taking on a more powerful role, when they don't want to be a syndicate member. (Side note: Including the spies is cool too XD But should be a suggestion, not a requirement.)

As for the roles you suggested opening up, I would be cautious about them. There's no problem in making a point of reference using the founding characters (although it's not always necessary to do so), but we don't want those characters to be the main focus. Also, including a role for syndicate leaders and the like is also something to be cautious about... as I said before, the elite won't make as much contact with the rest of us. If I stuck with my old character, I don't know if I'd ever meet the syndicate leader or even hear of the syndicate XD After all, she was just a teacher hanging out there.

And, as another aside... that thing about having super powers was pretty cool. If they're further explained, we could make characters who aren't police and aren't syndicate members, but they still have some power and some weight on the story. But... I think it already was that way. XD

Well, I'm going to throw in ideas, because I'm not good for much else and I do want to see this site up and running. StuffGal, you seem wise and all, so I'mma bounce some stuff off of you as well as Shera. Especially since I know what seems to work, but not how.

I agree with StuffGal that accessiblilty is important, and probably opening up the ability to be a police officer will bring in some more drama to keep the board going. One thing that works fairly well for boards I've frequented in the past is to have 'events' from time to time, to help create a sense of plot happening and spice up the day-to-day board activity without being too rigid. Usually there will be one or two key members who start the thread, or who it revolves around, and then anyone free will take it from there.

Ex. In a wolf pack roleplay, an attack on one pack by the other, agreed on by the 'leaders' and members of both packs.

But my experience is pretty limited and I usually stick to YIM these days, so take my advice with a grain of salt! Personally, all I look for in a board is a few active members and a decent literacy rate*. ^.^


As for OOC boards, the most close knit OOC communites I've encountered tend to be in boards that revolve around a specific fandom. It's simply more difficult to unite people who aren't coming in with a common interest! That's not to say it can't be done, but I think perhaps more effort needs to be put into encouraging people to mingle and get to know each other in the OOC boards. Encourage sharing of information. (to a degree). Have a chat topic of the day/week. Have a subtopic dedicated to those little chatroom games that people play.

Uh... I NEVER get to know the community in OOC boards so that is the grand total of my ideas, but I hope it helped a bit.

*Which probably has something t'do with me being a lazy bear who doesn't contribute too much to a given board community... trust me!

All right, I'm going to explain what I have of the plot so far now that I've spent forever pondering about it. Again, suggestions are appreciated.

Within Japan lies a swiftly growing syndicate that has members throughout all of Japan, including government workers, officers, etc.... The Shadow Syndicate experiments with different aged children from as young as five years old to as old as seventeen to see what different effects the chemical they have created has on them. The syndicate obtains specimens one of two ways, and it is experimenting with a third: procreation between members within the syndicate for the specific purpose of experimentation, nabbing orphans from the street, and the third that the syndicate is beginning to delve into is cloning.

The aim of the syndicate is to create a human weapon to step ahead in the world of science and discovery. If the syndicate could create the perfect human soldier, the price to pawn the person off temporarily to others would make the syndicate rich. The scientists within the syndicate have discovered similarities between all of the patients that have survived.

The first major similarity are the powers that the patients share. While the powers themselves may be different, scientists have noticed that specific elements are generally involved. For example, some patients show signs of being able to bend light; others have discovered a catalyst through small inscriptions called runes that are capable of exciting certain types of atoms, and there are several others. Another contrasting type is a person's ability to disperse the elements, like an anti-elementalist, which would render illusions useless and make it more difficult for elemental attacks to strike.

Recently discovered were a series of ruins hidden deep within the Earth's surface, a series of catacombs collected beneath the country of Japan. Most of the general populace is unaware of them because the syndicate's archaeologists kept the information on the down-low, but within the ruins were signs of large masses of collected elements. Series of designs similar to rune user's, and traces of past elemental users appear throughout the catacombs, and as an experiment, the syndicate attempted to harvest the large masses of elements into people. The syndicate soon discovered and labeled the living masses as "spirits." Whenever spirits were placed inside a person, the syndicate discovered that that person (if the patient and spirit were compatible) could harness the power of the spirit placed within him/her.

The syndicate's archaeologists have discovered upon further research that specific types of runes were able to mass together specific atoms to create living beings of that element. From some areas of the ruins, it appears that also a decently-sized battle took place, but some of the cave-ins occurred because of the many frequent earthquakes in Japan. Rune users, however, are rarer than elementalists have been, and so far only one known case has survived.




That's what I have for now until someone tears it apart piece by piece, hahaha. As a side note, and if anyone argues against me then I'll delete it, I would like to place a disclaimer on the plot. I hope to write this as a book someday mainly because SoaA has been in my head for...a good 4-5 years at least, and it's developed more than I ever thought it would. Anyway, I want to eventually turn this plot into a book (at least the main plot), but all characters belong to their original creator and would not be used within the book unless I received permission. If there are people against turning the main plot into a book however, then I will take this down. Thanks.

Oh, and if you don't mind the disclaimer, please state so in a post. This is directed towards anyone who has helped me develop the plot.

Actually it sounds like a perfectly interesting plot for a book. I see no reason you shouldn't do as you please with the scenario and idea, as long as you leave my one OC to me. I consider Hitsugi your OC, of course.

Just my own thoughts, of course. And the plot sounds both accessible for new members and like it has plenty of potential for drama, though I'm sure StuffGal will have much more constructive criticism than me in that area.

Also a request- it sounds like you've thought out the science behind this. If you have a moment, would you share the theory with me, so that I'm on solid ground when I have Hitsugi talk about what he's doing in the Lab?

Of course; your character belongs to you and you alone. Writers just create new characters, so that's what I'll do ^^ I have a decent set created that I haven't even brought into the site, and I'm sure I'll eventually create more.

I'll send you a PM with anything you want to know. It wouldn't be fun to just post it here and spoil it all.

Okay! Time for me to tear this plot piece by piece! First of all, the first piece I'd like to start with is the first word you used-- "within". v_v I mean, seriously now, who uses "within" these days any more? And the next piece, being the word "Japan" after the word "within"...

Okay, kidding >_>;; For real now:

I really like this plot, and I think it's a vast improvement over what there was before I did have some problems understanding the types of magic involved, though. The explanations for them described how it worked more than it described what it is, exactly XD And I mean, how something works is important, but first I'd like to know what it is that's working... and it's a simple fix, really. You can say something along the lines of, "each surviving victim acquired one of three types of ability: elementalist, rune user, and spirit user." Then you can describe what each one is in more detail, and how it works. And actually, wouldn't there be four types? I'm not sure if the anti-elementalist counts as an elementalist or what. XD

Secondly, you nailed the big picture of what's going on, but there isn't a lot of specific context. Like, as it stands, if I don't look at the characters listed, I might think, "oh, I want to be an Ainu who lives way up in the north! I'll be 50 years old and work at a bakery! " Basically, if I want to make a character, the context I can work with now is too broad XD So, at the end of what you have now, I'd include something about the more specific setting. Something like, "this will take place at Nagoya. The people playing involve police officers investigating the syndicate, members of syndicate, and the victims, most of whom are around ~20 years old, possibly going to Redrum High". And, speaking of the police, there wasn't a lot of coverage in the posted plot XD I think there should be something in there about their investigation; namely, that they're actually doing an investigation, and how far they've gotten into it.

And... that's about it for now. XD At least what I can think of at the moment. I really think what you've got is awesome, though! I can tell you spent a lot of time so far working on it XD Besides revising the description of magic, the only things you need are additional... nothing needs to be changed or removed.

Oh, by the way, I'm okay with the book thing and all XD Also, I know that my characters will be so awesome that you'll be dying to use them in the book =P And it's fine by me if you want to use them, too XD

EDIT: Forgot to mention this in the above text, but describing the victims a little more at some point along the way would help, since some people will be playing them. What I mean by that is something like, "most of the victims live in the syndicate, cut off from the real world, though some have escaped and are trying to lead normal lives. Since all the surviving victims have gone through horrible things, they ended up with abnormal disorders, like schizophrenia, extreme lack of social grace..." and so on and so forth. I don't actually know much about this part of the plot (compared to others XD), so of course it's whatever you want it to be. XD

My plan is to have a topic that covers just the main plot of the story, kind of like what I have up there, but I'll change it to make the setting more specific (can't believe I forgot that ._.;; )

I'll create another topic that will describe the 3 (4?) different types of "magic" and how rare/plentiful they are. Then I may have a third topic to describe victims/police/etc...

I'm thinking about doing that simply because shoving it all into one topic may overwhelm new arrivals. I figure, read the plot first, then go into the finer details after that.

Ah, okay, gotcha XD If you'll do that, then I'd suggest replacing the really descriptive stuff about magic that you have already in the magic topic... and then just say instead of all that, "after all the experiments, these are the ability types they observed: ..." You could probably even move the stuff you wrote about the catacombs and runes into the magic topic as well.

Will do (think of it as just a quick rough draft....final draft will be the posted version on the actual plot topic).

I'll try getting to that as soon as I can....I just got a lot thrown on me, and it's due in a short amount of time, ahahahah. Shouldn't really even be on, but I figured I would check and see if anyone posted something. I'll post the "final" draft sometime, and I'll split it up into the categories that will make up the different topics. Like Plot, then under that, Magic, People Affected (or whatever)....and whatever else I need to do.

All righty, sounds good XD Looking forward to that! And have fun with your other work... I totally know how that feels x_x I'm actually surprised I don't have a million things to do at the moment, but I'm sure it will change by midday tomorrow. XD