Thar Shaddin

Hey, guys... I do have a few interesting suggestions, didn't know where to state them, I hope this would be the thread.

I've played quite a few pbp games, on various forums, and I have a few things that would be awesome suggestions.

Anyway, I noticed that here, one character is in one thread, and that's it??? Why? You could always input some chrono evidence, like, "In this post, today is april, 12, 1988., I am doing that", in next one "Today is april 20, 1988, I am doing that"... in that way, character can be in hundred topics, and still it will make sense...

Next, I would urge you to input some kind of experience points. In the end of the thread, once a plot is over and thread is closed, moderator specially chosen for that purpose, to grant target person adequate amount of XP, or, even better, a skill point, with which a player could add another knowledge, another spell, another weapon prof, which highly depends on the story content. If it was well written story, you may say that a character has earned 5/5 points towards new skill, which can be bought with 5 points, or, if it was poorly written he earned 1 skill point, and needs to write more stories where he would use sword, say, to gain sword weapon focus skill, which will give him expertise in using sword, or something like that, I hope you catch my grip.

...dunno if I have anymore suggestions so far.

Peace!

Let me try to explain why we don't do either of those things here, both ideas have been brought up to us before, on more than one occasion and I am sure this won't be the last time.

First of all, in regards to the one character one thread rule, we allow each character a person has to be in one thread at a time. Why you might ask, it's to establish a linear timeline so that your characters actions progress like that of a story.

We have had people bring up starting each thread with a time and date, so that in a way it would establish a linear timeline without actually being played out in a linear fashion. We know of at least two problems with that. One, say you are in two threads at once, one is dated the day before the other, in the earlier thread you are in a bar, your character gets into a fight with another man and the fight ends with you being severely beat up and losing an arm. Well how does that effect your other thread that you had already started the next day, you didn't necessarily know that in your other thread your character was going to come to harm. You, and whoever you were writing with, would have already started this new thread and until the other one finished there would be no mention of your character being covered in bruises or missing an arm.

We like one thread to blind as seamlessly as we can into the next. Which leads to my next point. Having multiple threads at once also puts your character at predetermined locations in the future, before other threads have had a chance to finish, so in a way you know how they are going to end, before they may even begin, because you already know where the character is going to end up next.

Now as for the whole experience points, skill points and such. We just don't do that. If we were to bring them in (which we have no plan to do) we might as well bring in dice, pewter figurines, random chance cards where moderators randomly appear and throw in random explosions, race approved classes, stat points, leveling up points, and some crazy complicated guide of magic spells that have been approved by the staff. And while we are at it we could demand that while everybody visits the site that they have to wear a cape and wizard hat. I don't care if your character has no magic powers, the hat is a must.

Seriously though, the reason we don't do these things is that we want to focus on the writing and just the writing. Yes Thar Shaddin might comes up on top in a google search for a pbp rp game but we aren't really go much of a game, well unless you consider attempting to write good stories as a game.

We do allow a character to gain more knowledge, magic powers or such through the threads they are in. Say your character meets up with an older magic user who teaches him a few tricks, your character than works to improve his skills, well we will allow you then to say that your character has gained a new magical ability and we will let you edit it into your character sheet. I have a character who is currently learning how to properly use a sword and shield to defend himself in one of my threads, right now he has no knowledge of how to use any weapon but by the end of my thread he will have had some basic training and I can add that to my character sheet. We want to see characters advance through their threads and not because of some arbitrary points that have been awarded them because of the writing.

I hope this answers your questions, but if you have further questions feel free to ask here.

Well... that covers most of my questions... Still, I think that a multi threads aren't a bad choice, I don't expect anyone to get their legs ripped out.

And, I do undestrand the simplicity of the one thread at a time system.

Other suggestions are just a friendly excuise for me to spend my time and try to improve something... I didn't expect those to be immediately applied, just to be reconsidered, and they just did.

Anyway, thanks for your time, hope to get my character approved and see what I can do. /wave

We have actually had a character get one of his legs ripped off and another character had his lower jaw removed.

Hi. Just to make sure you aren't hoping for these changes to happen I'm going to repeat what Niabi just said more tersely: We have bee doing this for a long time. There are good reasons for the core system we have in place, and these things are not going to change.

Regarding one character in multiple threads at a time: No. This rule was put in place to avoid people interjecting their character all over the place, as well as to encourage people to commit to their active threads. It was also put in place to avoid plot holes. How can your character be in more than one place at a time? What if he dies in one place but is still in the other? It makes no sense. There is no way to reconcile this without predetermining what will happen.
Flashbacks are an exception to this that we have allowed because their conclusions -have- been predetermined and because anyone participating in a flashback is aware that their thread is a flashback thread, not a current event.

Regarding experience points: No. Definitely not. Not a chance. No. Don't be ridiculous. No. You don't have hitpoints. You don't have experience points. You don't have 500,000,000 gold pieces in your pocket. You don't have a class. You don't have a level. And you never, ever will. Ever.

...Frug, that answer was kinda harsh...

ANYWAY, I thing you missed my point, but by my multi threads, I meant on, say, ME, making a thread something like this "[FLASHBACK/TRAINING]Hunt for the boars". In the [], thread is explained to be a flashback, indicating that this already happened, and I would be most probably solo in the thread. Training indicates that here, I learned to use bow. Hunt for the boars would be topic title... at least that kind of multi-threading would be fine...

Not only can you post a flashback thread (as Frug mentioned in his comment - they are an exception to the rule), you can also post in the Alternate Realities thread if you want to have some fun with your char, see a different side of them, etc, that does not affect their "cannon" thread in the main boards. The purpose is not to limit your rp'ing (you are welcome to make multiple characters and rp in a number of threads), it is to make our stories flow more smoothly without holes that could potentially be created by rp'ing the same character in different time frames. It allows more freedom within a plotline, because you are not bound by what might or might not happen in another "past" thread.

Thanks for the suggestions, but please understand there are reasons that Thar is set up the way it is - and perhaps a better route in the future would be a discreet PM to one of the moderators, they could let you know if a suggestion is one that is valid and might be considered so you don't feel rebuked by a reaction on the boards.