MLP: FIM Roleplay OOC Thread

What the hay is this, you may be asking? Fantastic question.

I reviewed the My Little Pony: Friendship Roleplay thead and was....well, is it unfair of me to say I was a little disappointed? Sorry if it is, but here's why-Despite having nineteen pages, there was very little story. I understand slice of life, but this was just a bunch of pleasant talking, with a little bit of developing plot towards the end.

Come on guys, we can do better than that! And I know what we can do to fix it! Hence, the OOC Thread.

For starters, if no one minds, let's start off by introducing new characters in here and leave the room in the main thread for story development, kay?

Now, more importantly, going into this game, I imagine we all have some stories we wanna explore. Some probably are very light on the concept and just wanna hang out in character-that's fine. Some of us are very heavy on story-that's also fine. The problem is that none of us know what the other stories are or where they're going! We don't know what conflicts the others want, what sort of moments we're trying to tell. I can understand wanting to reveal the story as we go along, but that leaves us all pulling in different directions-or even worse, not pulling at all because we don't want to tread on each others toes.

Well, I say enough of that. It's time we rocked the forums with cohesive and complex stories formed our collective minds. By our powers combined, we are Everypony!

So, here's the other two purposes of the OOC thread in accordance to that train of thought:

1)We talk about the stories we want to tell and explore with our characters. It might be actual events, like "I want Vision to have a harrowing chase through a rapidly crumbling basement tunnel in the Castle of Two Sisters" or "I want Vision to actually get over himself enough to ask Cherilee out" or something. You might have a whole arc in mind, like "I wanna find the Stone of Honor and use it to lock out the Ronin Ponies from our reality forever before the Cult of Takato unleashes a hoard of Ruroni Kenshin wannabes onto the face of Equestria" or something like that. You might have simply have points of character development, like " I want Treble to question whether it's alright to hold past mistakes against someone" or "I want my character to finally get his old friend's betrayal and decide friendship is worth fighting for" or whatever-a way in which your character grows up and changes their world view in some way. Point is, tell the group what you wanna do in the RP! If you wanna keep things secret, then reveal as much as you need to help your story go along, but keep the juicy stuff to yourself, that way people will become more and more intrigued by what you're setting up and makes your dramatic reveal so much cooler. Point is, let us know what dominos you're setting up so we don't knock them over ahead of time or ignore them!

2)We collaborate with other players to see what we can include in our posts to help other's stories go along at the least. At best, we work together to tie scenes and events together so that stuff that happens in the game has the biggest impact! In the RP thread I already provided one minor example of asking if Rashall wanted me to introduce a villain into the game for his story-whether it's something he created or something he leaves in my hands is his choice. Another example, taking two from above, maybe Vision asking Cherliee is the catalyst for Treble coming to question whether he should hold grudges or not. Much more interesting dynamics than either one happening by themselves! Point is, we can collaborate and help not only bring each story about but enrichen them by finding ways to involve one another in each other's stories.

I'll type up an example for Vision Craft later, but for now I'm posting this so we can discuss and let the Admins decide if they want to let this stand or delete it as well as getting some discussion on the matter.

PS: All examples are just that, examples.

 

Alright, I have an example typed up, but some other parties mentioned they were getting to this soonish, so I'm gonna hold off. But the nutshell of the post above is this thread is for:

1)Talking about what we wanan do with the story, as a grand scheme and for each character.
2)Talk about how we can help those stories along, such as other ponies introducing new elements, covering events in others posts, or arragning for player characters to do the things we would like done.

 

Okay, so one idea is that, given the mishandling of this thread, some of us are thinking retconning the entire thing and starting over, or at the very least, introducing a new form of conflict to work around. I'd be happy to do either, although I would like a general idea of what sort of game are we aiming for-I assume by the title it's supposed to be something similar to the show, but haybales, what do I know?

Point is, alongside introducing my character, I can bring in a new story, possibly and probably something akin to the ways each season starts, if that's what people want.

For ease of comfort though, if I do that, I'd like to reboot the entire thing. Just my opinion. Wha'ch'y'all think?

 

Okay, so I checked and the original maker did post something on the 17th, which is close enough for me to say she still cares, so I'll wait on her.

So, in the mean time I'll start working on a new plot point and, barring internet loss tomorrow, I'll have a villian for us all to cut our teeth on. People, start thinking about what you would like to do in a more adventure-style story(Aiming for something more akin to the show). The neat thing, if I do it right, is that you won't need me to continue on the story-anyone, ideally, should be able to pick up the ball and continue the plot should I not be there.

With that said, I've got some brainstorming to do(Not to mention sleep, god I'm ruining my sleep cycle again), So I'll be back on in the morning for myself. Again, if you have any ideas, toss them at me.

 

As stated above, the problem I find is that when you try not to step on anyone's toes, you end up not stepping at all.(With all due respect, y'all are cool peeps or dawgs or whatever hip terminology they use these days)

I'm gonna get a rough guess of how many people I think we can reactivate real quick, but as it turns out, I already have a pony pic that can work as a villian-just need to create context.

Oh, and as an asides, I like maintaining the shows' integrity, so I'm safe to assume I should avoid the Elements of Harmony like a stink bug swarm, ja?

 

Random question that has no relevance at the moment: If Rashall is the last of the nobility of what seems like a long lost kingdom, why does he matter? It's not like he has any real political power or stuff like that-I doubt he would be targeted by remaining nations.

I know I'm nitpicking, and I shouldn't be, but...Well, I had to say something.

 

*Reads the new posts and laughs*

Considering I was making a villian who was going to 'reclaim' Equestria as his own and had plots ranging from stealing the Elements of Harmony to trying to create a lunar/solar civil war(Cause I admit, I love the Solar Empire/Lunar Republic idea), that's wholly approrpriate. I'd probably emphasize that work together element by making it so that even though the villian isn't more powerful than them, he's clever-Actually, let me start from the beginning of my brainstorming.

Okay, so our Villian is someone who was in Equestria before the three tribes migrated in and wants to reclaim it as his own. Why? I'm not sure, but the paradise nature of it may have something to do with it, as do the Elements of Harmony(I find it interesting that Celestia describes them as finding the Elements and wonder who made them, and out of what). I have suspiscions of his grand plans at this moment around the concept of free will, but we'll return to that. Point is, he wants to take Equestria, and he's going to do it by subversion more than brute force.

Now, borrowing a little from Return to Labyrinth, one of this guy's unique abilities is he can sever aspects of himself(and other people if they want it) and create half beings around that, and in fact has done so three times, creating a trio of subordinates who he can reaccept into himself at any time(and sever again)-although at the moment I don't know whether they automatically know they are half-beings or not(In fact, I like the idea of at least one of them thinking they're like a legitimate son/daughter). With that goes also a severance of power-which ties into the possible scene where a fight occurs between him and the princesses, where he continually splits and rejoins in a clever fight, rejoining to deliver hard blows and then seperating and taking advantage of Luna's and Celestia's lack of teamwork.

What this also does is it gives us an ongoing narrative, with more normal episodes and unimportant adventures happening in between the events with this guy and his ablations(Labyrinth's words, not mine). Think like the show, with each encounter with this guy and his plans being a season starter-we have lots of unrelated adventures and slice of life problems in between. I was thinking the first big adventure was one of his ablations is going to claim the Elements of Harmony from the Castle of the Two Sisters, not realizing it's been moved from there already. It's open for discussion.

As for what's his motive? Well, that's a question, but I have the idea that he may have originally fought against Discord and was the original reason Discord was screwing around Equestria before the three tribes arrive(of course, that could also be because no one was there-what's the point of screwing an area if there's no people to screw with as well). From there I can see him wanting to impose harmony as an extreme reaction to Discord's ideals, and would create a world of harmony and peace by force. What could be useful for that? Why, the Elements of Harmony, ironically-since they are used to introduce the thing a person most needs and embody the good attributes, they can be used as a focus for a mind plauge that basically makes everyone fall in line. It's cliche, but I love fights over free will. As always, it's up for discussion.

And as a final point, I find myself returning to the question about the elements-I may be wrong, but I really recall Celestia mentioning they found the Elements of Harmony. Who made them, and out of what? What if the source material is in Equestria? What could you do with that? And more importantly, if it basically gives people what they most need to be harmonious, then what does the villian need?(Think about it, it removed the thousand years of bitterness from Luna to allow her to see she's done wrong and ultiamtely didn't want that, and turned Discord into to stone assumedly so he'd get some essential order in his life.) If nothing else, it provides us with a McGuffin. I also find myself wondering about the Everfree Forest-whether that's a sign of the normal world outside of Equestria or if it's an abberation in how the world works. Just some questions.

I also have a small bit of self-inserted backstory for the world in regards to the interrim between the defeat of Discord and the rise of Nightmare Moon, but I'll leave that for another time.

PS:I have an art work piece for one of the half beings, as well as a first name for consideration for that being, Zenith. I'll get the pic on later.

 

Also, with all due respect to Rashall(Really, I do love you mate, you worked to a plot), I found the line "...there is a task that I need to do either alone or with help." hilarious.

I'm not dogging on him, since I imagine he's trying to work this stuff out on the fly, it was just a very silly flub. Seriously Rashall, non-homo love ya mate.

 

Notes:
1)Random note, Lauren Faust has stated that Earth ponies do have magic of thier own, but like with pegasi magic and it's field of focus, it's geared more towards the earth, which often manifests in the farming image of earth ponies. Just a minor distinction.(Sorry, I do this)
2)One minor issue I would have with part of that distinction is that it takes away the value of choice from both Celestia and Luna. Just opinion, but I prefer the idea that whatever grander scheme there may be to the two alicorns, they chose to be here, to rule the three tribes because they wanted to. Similarly, the bit about Luna being influenced by Discord takes away from the real drama of the scenario. I like Luna simply becoming bitter because people weren't enjoying her works because, while the scale is ridiculous, the issue is very real-haven't we all done something and wanted people to pay more attention to it but they didn't? Didn't that hurt, and didn't you feel a little resentful towards those people? It's an important lesson, and it has more impact when it's all Luna. Again, this is just opinion and ultimately irrelevant, but it's how I feel about that last part.
3)Again, nitpick, but do we need to go higher than the Alicorns? KISS dictates not, but again, just me.
4)Now I kinda like the decision that the Alicorns decided to leave Equestria(and assumedly the rest of the world) because of the sheer magnitude of Discord's effect(seriously, he's like the world's first WMD with the unfortunate add on of snark), because in application to our guy, he can also be an alicorn who decided to stay, but took the issues of Discord much more seriously. It also gives us some grounds as to why he hasn't acted in all this time-the other alicorns intervened, and he only recently dealt with that)
5)As for the Elements....I'm not sure. Well, actually, it's more complicated than that-I like the explanation of why each one is geared towards a virtue, and it's a solid reason for them to be, as well as having a strong sort of personal touch, but I find the reasoning for making them a little weak in acknowledgement of what I know of the series(Which admittedly also contradicts myself earlier, but I'll get there). See, the Elements of Harmony seem to me to be a very narrow WMD by introducing or removing whatever a person needs to return to harmony-it removed Luna's long built up bitterness towards her sister and the ponies to allow her to see what it's caused and how miserable she really had been by pursuing it, while in Discord's case it turned him to stone because heaven forbid John DeLancy is a bit of an a-hole(He really is). I see a similar need being the reason why they made the Elements. It's potent but specific. Then again, generic darkness falls does tie into the idea that you can use the elements to effect a nation, and possibly even subjugate them.

I dunno, just my thoughts. I do love that you thought this out Moon Star, thanks a lot!

The bit I was thinking of, backstory wise, is that clearly raising the sun and the moon are big jobs, and so would running the world be. So while the princesses accepted the responsibility of making the world work, they arranged for other ponies, zebras,and other races(Those who best displayed the qualities of harmony, I imagine, alognside other essential leadership skills) to run the other countries in the world and took responsibility only for Equestria. Thousand years later, with only one country receiving what's the equivalent of divine attention, you might imagine some of the other countries, with much more fluid power structures, aren't quite as perfected as Equestria and might even feel resentment towards the country. It's a concept that drives The Beautiful World, a personal project that may or may not end up being MLP based.

So, in the mean time, thoughts on the villian?

 

I prefer to think of it as him not trusting the sisters to do things right-and given that in an unspecified time after Discord's defeat Luna breaks off and becomes Nightmare Moon, I'd say he's got some justification in that train of thought, and a resentment towards not being allowed to things proper, but thas me.

Him being half alicorn, weird a thought as that is(what does happen when you get the different ponies breeding with each other? Like an earth with unicorn or what have you?...That actually sounds like a stage for a more mature story, moving on), has a merit, but perhaps I'm thinking in the opposite direction-instead of with a higher being, what about a lower one? That would a)Keep things from the escalation game(Way too many RP's and fan fictions continue adding things on top of a franchise's highest point, and I really do want to avoid that), b)provide a reason why what's his name wasn't allowed to leave with the alicorns, c)gives a reason why he would be weaker than the sisters. It also provides some really flexible dynamics to the guy for future development.

Also, minor note, I do enjoy the idea of having a pooka in game, although not as a major villian. A Cartazonon, on the other hand...

That's a whole arc in and of itself.

 

Okay, moving on, because I do want to get the thread restarted soon-ish, let's hone in on the smaller picture-the half beings, the aspects chopped off, since it's one of them I wanna throw at the group right now.

I know for one of the things I'd want chopped off from me personally if I were going to try and take over a place would be impulsiveness-I'd want all the choices I made to be calculated instead of split second choices. I'd also probably want to put arrogance and worry on the side as well.

By figuirng out what he wouldn't want personally, we'll be able to define some of the lsser beings, hopefully enough to compile a first antagonist.

Also, to give ourselves a deadline, let's plan on restarting the thread by the 9th, sound good?

 

First bit of news! I apoligize, my internet has been turned off at my house, and therefore I only have mornings to respond. This might set me back, but I intend to still find time on Monday to write up a good starter post for this adventure(Still going to be in the old one). Still, for as it causes problems, I apoligize for the inconvienence(And yeah, I know it's not my fault, but I still feel bad).

Posting minimums are heavily requested(Albeit I'm not going to say where the line should be drawn), and in fact that reminds me: One day we're gonna talk about substance as it matters in RP's. For now though, know that the short hand is "Try to write posts that will make people want to post more".

One part of this also is working out the small talk on the side, another purpose of this thread. It's weird to work out, but trust me-it's rewarding.

Okay, so, in the mean time, here's what we gotta do! Since I am limited in doing so, could you guys PM an invite to rejoin the thread to anyone who has participated in here? Particularly if you know they are active, like I know Grey-One is still posting here and there, send the invite.

Secondly, Think about challenges to have thrown along the way. Hooray for stereotypes, I'm figuring the first one will be a pegasi, but he''ll have ways of doing magic on his own, so don't be too worried about that. Use the show as a guideline for structure or examples, we don't need to always run into a person. Conflict can riddles, rockslides, illusions, stormy weather, etc., etc. as much as "Ah, stallion with an axe!".

Although I think I will find an excuse to have a frying pan. Point is, throw up some challenges. I'm looking for a minimum of six.

Final note:I am not becoming a GM here, namely because I think having one GM in a forum game is stupid-the speed of the game demands more from everyone. I am semi-playing a maestro, co-ordinating y'alls ideas and trying to help y'all weave an awesome story.

So, that said, get writing and have fun! See y'all tomorrow.