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Help me out here, anons. Having never participated as a mod or creator of a game before, I'm at a bit of a loss on where to begin after the setting and basic premise is decided upon.

Some of the questions I have are:
What's the average lifespan of a non-jamjar game?
How concrete of an idea should I have for where the story will go before I start accepting apps? (If it should be definite, how do I develop the story further?)
Any recommendations on handling interaction in a setting where communications are limited to letters, and characters can be spread out across the world?

Thanks in advance!

Are you the dinotopia anon?

Nope! I'm a different anon. (Though I love Dinotopia and would join that game in a heartbeat.)

wrt characters spread across a world without instant communication, ic cliques are more than likely going to happen because interaction is limited to characters easily accessible to each other (unless there's a method for rapid transport).

not necessarily bad, but something to keep in mind.

I would include some kind of faster transportation, but the fandom the game is based on has few vehicles that could provide such a service to players. It's a dilemma I'm stumped on.

What fandom?

I'd rather not say until it's closer to opening, but it's a video game.

I'd say it is something bad. You need to give a very good reason for characters to interact, because why should any character leave where their CR is to travel somewhere else just to talk to some newbies? IMO for games, you should either have a network or a small compact world to be in. Having neither is asking for clique and activity trouble.

ugh no enough with the fucking overdone networks. idc how big your game is. the last thing rp needs is more damn network-based jamjars

1. About a year, year and a half? Non-jamjar games tend to be smaller, so if there's a lot of plot then it can all fall apart if a few critical players drop.

2. You don't have to have a definite story in mind, but you should give players at least a basic understanding of the world and what's going on in it. Remember, games are meant to be played - don't just expect players to follow your script and react to your story. It's their story. If you're introducing major new plot elements later in the game, be clear and willing to discuss them with players so they understand what's going on.

3. Some kind of plot device that draws characters back to a central location is good. Are letters really the only form of long-distance communication? That would imply that technology (including transportation technology) is very rudimentary... if it's going to take weeks or months for characters to get places, you might have a problem.

Thank you for the advice! I don't expect it to be a large game, so ideally all the players will be encouraged to exchange ideas and contribute to the plot.

The world's technology is stunted due to Plot and the most advanced technology available is likely to be steamships. Does handwaving long travel times seem plausible? I'm considering using a game mechanic to speed up travel to a more workable rate for gameplay's sake if keeping track of in-game time and real-time becomes a problem.

Handwaving long travel times is possible if you run the game with a flexible time system. I once ran a small game where an entire month of dates was open for gameplay all at once, so players could skip over large chunks of time and choose realistic dates for their logs. There wasn't any in-game time to keep track of because logs could be forwarddated or backdated as needed. If you're dealing with extremely slow travel, you could probably even work with time scales bigger than a month. But most likely, characters wouldn't be making trans-oceanic voyages on a regular basis, right?

This is the first time I've heard of a game allowing such flexible forward/backdating. Did you experience any trouble with players confusing timelines or accidentally info-modding from playing logs out of order? And it's my hope that more adventurous or heroic characters would become invested in the plot and search out answers, which would require a fair amount of traversing the world.

It was a very small game (10-15 players) and there were several separate plots going on, so it actually wasn't that difficult. We tended to outline logs before playing them to avoid getting things mixed up. The big time jumps were really only used for forwarddating major logs that were extensively planned out ahead of time. Since the major logs sometimes involved a lot of people and moved slowly, we liked to get started on them early to avoid falling behind. The big problem was that the month-long open period only advanced when the majority of players felt "ready," which could be anywhere from two real-life weeks to two real-life months... and that made some logs drag. But I think the basic idea is something that can work.

that sounds like a headache tbqh. did all the players plan the month out so no wires got crossed?

Yeah, exactly, we planned all major events. It worked because the game was small and slow, with very few unplanned open logs. I guess some rpers wouldn't like the lack of spontaneity, but smoothly executed plots where everyone gets exactly what they planned to get can also be very satisfying...

you can have a set endpoint (or several), but don't marry it. be flexible (within reason) with mini-plots that affect the overall plot. for each plot point, consider two or more ways the plot may end. the simplest form would be: if the characters do this, then x. if the characters don't do this, then y. it's important to be flexible, but you're still the mod. sometimes, less is more.

Excellent advice, thanks! I must admit there's an appeal to giving players the option of screwing the plot over.

One thing I really want to emphasize is stick to your guns. Don't give into the playerbase demands by changing by what you had your heart set on. One thing that bothers me so much is that mods will give into the playerbase when they have something unique going on just to please the majority.

And it.. varies for lifespan. I would try to hold on and get past the first three months of play because so many games flop within the first three months because they had terrible luck and not enough players.

It depends as far as interaction goes, how big is the setting going to be? In a city, a building, a country?

Yeah, I've seen that complaint often in other game-making threads. That's one reason there's no plans for any kind of network. Not only does it not fit the setting, but I'm hoping it will encourage players to explore more.

The setting is to encompass the entire world, or at least make it available to players should they choose to use it.

Nobody flicks me in the butt without my consent

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