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The creation process: What is yours?



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King Sora X

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We all know that joining roleplays are fun and all, and we create our own characters for those roleplays, but the process of creating our own is a whole different story. My question to you, KHinsider Roleplaying SEction is what is your creation process? Please keep it in mind when answering the following questions:

What goes into your mind when you begin to create an idea for your rp?

What kind of things inspire you to come up with the ideas that you eventually put into your rp?

Are there any factors that lead up to creating an rp?

When you have finished writing out the plot and all that follows, do you instantly plan out your arcs of the rp?

What kinds of characters do you imagine when you're thinking up of your rp? Does it influence your creative process?

My answers will come later on.
 

Max

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Okay, so I still want to go through and try to answer some of these questions even though I've never 'started' my own RP. I did take one over for somebody though, and that's kind of been interesting all in itself.

What goes into your mind when you begin to create an idea for your rp?
This one is tricky to answer, since I haven't made my own RP from scratch before. But, I have thought about it, on a few occasions. I've had two or three RP ideas in the past that may or may not happen sometime in the future, and the first thing that comes to mind when I want to create it is setting and story.

When starting out with the ideas for RP's, I think I definitely just want to treat it like any other piece of literature. It needs to have a beginning and an end, and several events in-between to keep things interesting for everybody. Then I think you just have to make sure it's something that could work with several people coming together and molding the story.

What kind of things inspire you to come up with the ideas that you eventually put into your rp?
I think when planning out things to put in the Roleplay, I want to come up with ideas that people will have fun with. Just trying to come up with an interesting plot point that will re-spark the interest everyone felt when they began.

I think Piercing Light does a fantastic job of this in Persona: Frozen. Everytime we think we know where we're headed, he throws us completely against the wall with awesome plot points. Everyone is at a restaurant preparing for the night ahead, and BAM a boy who went missing bursts into the restaurant almost frozen to death and delirious as they come.

I feel like he easily adapts these plot points to the chaos that can be everyone having their own self-contained stories as well. We all kind of had our own thing going on for a while before we were supposed to meet up at a dojo, and even once we arrived everybody kept on with their own stories. So suddenly our dojo starts freezing over and blasting around ice shards like there is no tomorrow, and we instantly warped to our next story location! He was able to take the reigns and get us back on track just like that.

Are there any factors that lead up to creating an rp?
I almost feel like there are factors that could lead up to not creating an RP. In my case, with ideas I had before, there is always the time constraints. I'm currently a member of 3 RP's (heading one of them), and I am also a full time student with a part time job. I have to ask myself: If I create a new RP now, will I be able to dedicate myself to it and its members? When the answer is uncertain, I decide I'd rather not just start it up anyway only to leave people in the dust.

Then, there is also the gauge of interest. I haven't actually done this part before, but you really need to find out if people are interested in your RP or not. I've seen several fantastic RP ideas on these forums before, but nothing ever happened with them because not enough people wanted to join. Some of these simply had the idea thrown out there, while others had very lengthy posts with templates and backstory. I feel bad for someone who spends a lot of time working on an RP idea like that for it to end up going nowhere, so you kind of need to make sure people would be down first.

When you have finished writing out the plot and all that follows, do you instantly plan out your arcs of the rp?
I have somewhat done this with the RP I manage. It was kind of different because I took an RP of someone else's creation and had to adapt the story for it from the point they left off on, with no idea where they were heading with it. But I did plan out the entire plot and where we would go, and I was kind of like "Okay, once hit point A of the RP, I can take the plot here. At point B, it would be okay to do this." So in a way, I do think I have some arcs planned out. But really, a lot of the fun also comes from how the other members react to the plot and sometimes things just need to change, so I think leaving room for flexibility is important.

What kinds of characters do you imagine when you're thinking up of your rp? Does it influence your creative process?
I'm probably going to have to pass on this one, since I haven't really had to deal with this yet.
 

Mason Stark

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Woo, thanks for posting this, King Sora! :D I always love these kinds of discussion threads~ As for my process, it's a little... odd, I guess? Lulz, you'll see xD

What goes into your mind when you begin to create an idea for your rp?
"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"

Actually no, it's more like "RANDOM IDEA! This sounds entertaining! I shall contemplate this further *contemplates for 5 seconds* ...kay, Imma make a RP outta dis >:0" As coined by the NaNoWriMo community, I fly by the seat of my pants when I come up with stories and roleplays. Usually, if I find it interesting and I think other people might possibly be interested in it, then I'll make it. (Which is one of the reasons why I reuse ideas and remake roleplays lulz)

What kind of things inspire you to come up with the ideas that you eventually put into your rp?
Mostly music, sometimes movies that I'm obsessed with that the moment. Music is my main source of inspiration for all of my creative projects.

Are there any factors that lead up to creating an rp?
If it's interesting, sounds fun, if it'll be entertaining and enjoyable, etc. It has to be fun, otherwise there's no point in doing it.

When you have finished writing out the plot and all that follows, do you instantly plan out your arcs of the rp?
No lol. I'll figure out where the story starts and maybe possibly come up with a few ideas of what could happen, but, with RPs, I prefer plot twists. Plot twists don't really happy (imo) if things are planned out. I prefer everyone doing their own things and everyone in the RP seeing where the story goes.

What kinds of characters do you imagine when you're thinking up of your rp? Does it influence your creative process?
I usually use the same characters, so one of my biggest worries when coming up with a roleplay is if they'll fit into that story. If they don't, then I'll tweak them or create a completely different character. (But I'm really partial to the characters that I've created, so I'll usually change their backgrounds and designs to better fit into the different worlds and such, if I'm setting the story in a different world or timeframe.)
 

MegaCore5

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When I do role-play it helps me when I organize all my thoughts on paper first before I even get started. I also except advice from other friends that rp.
 

Ordeith

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What goes into your mind when you begin to create an idea for your rp?
Usually I begin with something vague -- not even a scene, let alone a plot or setting.
I begin with a feeling or concept, and try to find the best way to communicate those ideas.

In the case of "KHI Fables," I wanted to communicate how I feel when I read fairy tales. It's a strange mix of wonder and familiarity; nostalgia, maybe. That's the best way to describe it. When I set about creating "KHI Fables," I tried to structure it in a way that would allow others to experience something similar.

What kind of things inspire you to come up with the ideas that you eventually put into your rp?
Books, movies, video games, real life events, personal memories...

It all gets thrown into the pot, at some point in the process. I like to blend ideas in unusual ways -- like, mixing Seinfeld with the Cold War. The immediate result might resemble the tone and setting of Team Fortress 2, so I'll draw from Valve's wacky humor as well.

Ideally, the premise/setting/procedures of the roleplay should be nearly unrecognizable from its components. That way, you'll never know about the stupid mental roadmap that led me there.

Are there any factors that lead up to creating an rp?
Time, inspiration, fellow collaborators, time, the activity of the RP section, and time. Free time is the biggest factor, eheheh.

When you have finished writing out the plot and all that follows, do you instantly plan out your arcs of the rp?
It's really tempting to plan everything out in advance. In fact, I've already done so with OmniChaos and Nightfall, or nearly so...

But on the whole, I prefer spontaneous interaction with other roleplayers. For me, that's what makes this format so enjoyable in the first place! It's worldbuilding and collaborative writing, but with all the spontaneity of (good) acting.

What kinds of characters do you imagine when you're thinking up of your rp? Does it influence your creative process?
Usually I ask myself the following: "What sort of character would this setting produce?"

We're all the products of our experiences, so I try to think of unique experiences that the setting has to offer, and build a character from those. Though I have a few recurring characters, I still try to adapt them to the setting.

Character is most important, but setting takes precedence -- if that makes any sense.
 

Professor Ven

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Answering only for character creationsies, because I don't recall making a RolePlay in years, because of various factors, mostly because 99% slothie

Also because literally don't curr




What goes into your mind when you begin to create an idea for your RP Character?

Typically I ponder on various words and phrases; as words and phrases encompass IRL peoples' personalities and thought processes, so do words and phrases begin the character creation process.


What kind of things inspire you to come up with the ideas that you eventually put into your RP Character?

Depends on the kind of character I'm molding with. Making a character should never be a cut and dry, cookie-cutter process (my silly adjectives and adverbs aside). It's an evolving sort of thing that should be as organic as possible, otherwise, I think the character loses potential.

Are there any factors that lead up to creating an RP Character?

If the RP is something I want to invest time in (that I have little of, in terms of sitting down and writing nowadays), then usually, depending on the RP (setting, what thoughts come to mind on it, etc), I might come up with a new character + concept, or pull out a character from my mental storage that I'm either still working on, or is a completed character.

When you have finished writing out the plot and all that follows, do you instantly plan out your arcs of the RP Character?

I'll have one or two things in mind, usually for the character (namely two or three major, personal plot points that tie into their storyline, usually designed to work throughout and around the RP's plotlines - these things will come to pass regardless of what occurs in the RP itself.) Other than that, typically let the character(s) move about as the RP's storyline takes them.

What kinds of characters do you imagine when you're thinking up of your RolePlay? Does it influence your creative process?

Some of the most dope characters with the most syllables (literally). They range from just about anything (given the RP, etc). RPs typically don't influence my creative process, apart from finding and fitting any characters I put inside it, to that RP's world(s)/conditions.
 
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