Actively seeking new players.

Adventures in board based gaming.

Actively seeking new players.

Postby Aeroprism » Wed Jun 26, '13, 3:05 pm

Hello all.

This is not the first time I come here seeking players but since people come and go, it never hurts to ask again: EOTA is looking for new members.

Most of you know what EOTA is but for those who don't, here is a very quick summary: End of the Age is a Phantasy-Star based roleplay world which I developed over the course of the last decade or so. For many years it has exclusively been used as a tabletop game (a Sci-Fi Dungeons and Dragons if you will) but for the last three years or so, it has taken an online form through a forum game which started right here on Fringes a expanded to move to my own server.

It is updated every few days, averaging once or twice a week, more if people actively participate.

We are currently a small group of seven players plus me as game master. Though the current games are going smoothly, we agreed that it would be a good moment to open our door to one or two more players to add fresh new ideas to our world. EOTA is a mature world with promises of powerful epic stories and grand adventures through interactive roleplay.

Should you be interested, contact me through this topic and I'll answer any questions you might have. People who are interested will have to tryout a little RP test with me first. It was agreed that we're only interested in having solid, mature players and would prefer to have none if what we seek cannot be found.

A most awesome day to you all.

-Aero
User avatar
Aeroprism
Numan
Numan
 
Posts: 1631
Joined: June 2010
Achievements: 95
Gender: Male

Re: Actively seeking new players.

Postby Silver_Surfer1 » Sat Jun 29, '13, 3:12 am

Aeroprism wrote: It was agreed that we're only interested in having solid, mature players and would prefer to have none if what we seek cannot be found.




Well, I guess that leaves me out!! :wink: Good luck, Aero! :)
Palm Sunday ~ March 24, 2024


Image

:rose: Happy 26th Anniversary Fringes Of Algo~Founded April 01, 1997 :rose:

Image
Image
Image
User avatar
Silver_Surfer1
Moderator
Moderator
 
Posts: 28828
Joined: March 2007
Location: USA
Achievements: 499
Gender: Female

Re: Actively seeking new players.

Postby doncair99 » Sun Jun 30, '13, 10:10 pm

Confession: I've never done roleplay before... could you explain a little more of what would happen?
User avatar
doncair99
Guardian
Guardian
 
Posts: 264
Joined: December 2010
Location: Kinda tropical, so...Elysium.
Achievements: 153
Gender: Female

Re: Actively seeking new players.

Postby Aeroprism » Mon Jul 1, '13, 6:28 pm

@doncair99, now that is a very good, solid question.

SHORT VERSION:
1- Get to know EOTA a bit
2- Invent a character
3- Start playing as you get to know EOTA more and began to influence it as well.


LONG VERSION:
Roleplay means you create a fictional character of your own and, as the story unfolds in front of you through the writings of the game master (in this case: me), you make decisions (as you post) and "play out" the story.

The idea is very simple really: you play a unique, personalized Phantasy Star adventure through forum posts.

The first part is making a character. This is a process that takes you through several steps.

First of all, you would need to get acquainted with the universe of EOTA. It's tightly based on Phantasy Star 2 but since it's been evolving as an entity of its own for many years, it's become something different. It's still very much PS based but with many differences. For instances, the story heavily relies on military elements, spaceship battles are common and events tend to be on a much larger scale.

The keyword there was "acquainted". The idea is to let you understand the world just enough to create a workable character. The world is very rich and complex and no one (not even me) is expected to remember every single detail so you don't need to feel any pressure whatsoever in that regards. If you happen to write something that is based on your PS experience but incompatible with the EOTA, the players or myself will politely point it out and life will go on.

Character creation is super simple; all you need is an idea, a concept. The simpler characters tend to become the most interesting as they develop over time. I have seen players start with extremely complex characters and abandon soon after; either the characters were too arduous to play or they simply did not have anything to look forward to.

Character ideas can be very "vanilla" or completely "out there". Doesn't matter, the character will work just fine as long as the player tries to stay within the boundaries set by the EOTA universe.

There are no statistics or numbers. I tried that at first but it was too much of a hassle to manage, so now we go with concept ideas and work our way up. For instance, Tanith plays an esper called Esmeray. At first, Esmeray's technique list was clear and restrictive. Now? Bugger lists. She can use whatever technique she wants, as long as it isn't game breaking.

This is actually the concept players have the most trouble with at first but once you think about it, it's quite easy.
You, as a player, always decide what your character's actions are but never the result of these actions: that's MY job.
When you play PS2 on your Genesis, you select the NAFOI action for Rolf and start the round, what do you expect? You know that NAFOI does heavy fire damage so it is what you expect it to do. You don't expect NAFOI to summon an army of angry machines; it's not what it's meant to do. However, when you press that C button, you don't decide how much damage the tech will do that round or if it will even hit; the game does that for you. Well in the case of a forum game, the "game" is me. I will decide the result of your actions by respecting your original idea (as long as it makes sense).

In short, roleplay is very simple.
MY POST announces a situation.
YOUR POST describes your character's reactions/actions regarding that situation.
MY POST announces the result of those actions.

Rince, repeat, with more players.

As for character flavors, in my current player roster, I have many simple characters that work very well: a palman mercenary who wants to make a name for his own, a palman bounty hunter with a shady past. More complex but still very interesting characters examples are: a young college boy from Mota with a passion for biomonster-inspired kung-fu, a lovely blue-skinned, war maiden from the other side of the galaxy etc.

One of my former (very short lived) players tried to import a character from an universe of his own and ended up trying to play some sort of apocalypse-bound, blind newman kid with autism issues and god-complex. It did not work very well.

So there you go. That was EOTA RP in a nutshell, albeit a rather lengthy one.


A few useful/interesting notes for those who would still be interested after reading all that:

Roleplay is rewarded, laziness is not. The line "My character attacks" will not get the same response as "Looking left and right to make sure none of the other Cast soldiers are about to flank her, my character steps forward and, with a menacing glare, swing her sword at her opponent's head, hoping to end him with one clean blow!"

EOTA is an adult universe. Games tend to be serious and intense. Everything about PS that was adorable and uselessly fluffy was removed when EOTA was created. For example, there are no rappies and there never will be. That doesn't mean no one ever laughs. That means that if you do, it will not be at the expense of a joke targeting a 8 years old Japanese girl.

EOTA is different from other roleplay games/campaigns for one true, tested and provable reason: it endures. Most people are turned off by the idea of committing time to a forum RP because they know that the internet if fickle and that many if not most RP games start out with a big, loud, glamorous bang and run out of gas after a few weeks. EOTA has been tabletop since the early 2000s and is now tackling its fourth active and lively year. It's here to stay.

A minimum of commitment is expected from every player, however: no one will EVER force you to post if you have real life issue or if you simply don't feel like playing. Some of my players currently take weeks if not months between each post, some post literally minutes after me. If it suits them, it suits me. If however you are part of a more active game and still you take several months between each post and only drop short one line posts when you do post, expect your character to be treated accordingly. Just as well, if you post often and invest time, expect to get more attention and focus on your ideas.

This post is a solid four pages long. This is an average when I DM a story/game which I really like. Sure, I will often drop short posts to update a situation, especially in combat, but long winded posts are expected in a RP universe. It is not a game for those who do not enjoy reading.

Please follow up with any more questions you might have!
User avatar
Aeroprism
Numan
Numan
 
Posts: 1631
Joined: June 2010
Achievements: 95
Gender: Male

Re: Actively seeking new players.

Postby doncair99 » Mon Jul 1, '13, 7:32 pm

Wow!! Sounds cool! I'll have to consider it. I'm sure there's a lot more to learn as you get involved in it. I just hate getting involved with something I can't commit to, so I won't volunteer myself immediately.

Thank you for taking the time to explain it! :)
User avatar
doncair99
Guardian
Guardian
 
Posts: 264
Joined: December 2010
Location: Kinda tropical, so...Elysium.
Achievements: 153
Gender: Female

Re: Actively seeking new players.

Postby Aeroprism » Tue Jul 2, '13, 3:15 pm

No problem. Do not hesitate to come to me if you have questions.
User avatar
Aeroprism
Numan
Numan
 
Posts: 1631
Joined: June 2010
Achievements: 95
Gender: Male


Return to Roleplay

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests