Forums » General Roleplay » Students vs Burglars [18+]

!!!GAME RULES!!!

READ THIS BEFORE YOU POST ANYTHING TO THIS GAME. SPONTANEOUS POSTS WITHOUT APPROVAL WILL BE REPORTED AND REMOVED

((Private game- new players welcome))

Gameplay rules:

1. Invitation only- all players must be adults. You can request entry through forum https://www.rprepository.com/community/forums/topic/100595 or via PM. New players must be approved before posting. All current players must approve a new players.

2. Please write IC posts in 3rd person, past tense.

3. Please keep IC posts in the IC thread and keep OOC posts out of the IC thread. Put your message in double (( )) to make it OOC. If you are not part of our game, please do not post here.

4. Game has several types of characters. Every player has OC, others cannot control, excluding sensory resposnes (see, smell ect.) Second group is ”Free characters”. These have fixed background settings, but once the game begins, every player can contron their actions and emotions, as long as it does not conflict with previously written events. Third group is NPCs. These are run by GM, based on pre determined settings. They should be handled as other players OOCs.
Each character must be categorized in character list under one of these. Players can request adding new free characters to the game in OOC forum. Maximum number of characters is 40, according the number of appartments

5. No controlling someone else’s character or killing/injuring anyone else’s character (without consent).

6. Storytelling is a free form collaborative effort where players will advance the direction of the plot in their posts. We'll take turns playing off of each characters interactions. 95% of the game will be free interaction and 5% events triggered by GM. Everyone will participate in storytelling, but players may plan events ahead with PMs or OOC messaged. Light dice use is welcome to randomize outcomes a bit.

Game is slow pace. All majour events are discussed and approved between players. Game is purposed to display modern USA as realisticly as possible.

((List of inhabitants))

(Locked= npc/free character, not yet introduced)

Appartment/Floor/tenant/Subject
/info, sex

building A

1 /1
2 /1
3 /1
4 /1
5 /2
6 /2
7 /2/locked
8 /2
9 /3
10 /3
11 /3/Aaron Greenvalley/ Carpentry/ Fixed player, male
12 /3
13 /4
14 /4
15 /4 /Pedro Verde/ biology, free
16 /4
17 /5
18 /5
19 /5
20 /5

building B

1 /1/ Megan "Meg" King/College student (major undecided)/Fixed Player
2 /1/Danny, fixed player
3 /1/
4 /1/
5 /2/Hue Nguyen, business, fixed player
6 /2
7 /2 /locked
8 /2
9 /3 /locked
10 /3
11 /3
12 /3
13 /4 /locked
14 /4
15 /4/Matthew Smith/athletics
/free character, male
16 /4 /locked
17 /5
18 /5
19 /5/Sandra/fixed player
20 /5

((How long have everyone lived in the appartment? Like approx. How early do people usually move in before semester begins? I started with the assumption that virtually everyone is stranger to one another. As new characters are showing up, do they introduce themselves to Aaron an Meg? Some have lived there longer, but list is rather short. Also, please choose and share, which appartment Meg has. Number and building))

(( Apt B1- Megan "Meg" King/College student (major undecided)/Fixed Player

A few more suggestions-

Initially, we had discussed this being on-campus dorms. I would say it would be better if this was a private apt. complex near campus but not on university property. As such, there could be people living there year-round. If it were a dormitory (which I am not recommending), students usually arrive about 2 weeks before. As I was writing this, I came up with another reason why security might be bad- maybe the police put too much focus on the campus itself at the expense of the community that is off-campus. Since the police tend to just patrol the university grounds, the neighborhoods are not getting enough police patrols which is why the crime rate is so high. In fact- let's put the apartments at the edge of town- the furthest point from the police station to further explain the lack of police nearby and why this area is favored by criminals.

At a US university, there is usually a move-in week (the start of a new school year begins in Sept usually). Then there are usually activities, etc. a few days before classes begin. If it is a dorm, there are going to be staff members and the security of the building is the responsibility of the university. It's better we treat this as a private apt. complex for story reasons. If you really want this to be a university-owned dorm as opposed to an apartment complex, we need to discuss things further in a private message. Again, that setup will not lead to the best setting given the nature of the game. I would even put the Foxlake Apartments several blocks from school for the reasons I mentioned above.

As for my character- Meg has been attending school here for several semesters. She is new to the apartments, but not new to the school. We'll go with the idea she lived in the dorms on campus, but this semester, she's getting her own private apt which leads her to the Fox Lake Apts (which will assume are several blocks from the university. It would be a little too far to walk to get to classes, but there is probably a bus or she can just take her car. Most universities have public buses that run around the clock.

In my intro post, I was working under the assumption that she doesn't already know Aaron or anyone else. She just saw the two residents in the courtyard and smiled in their direction as she was coming back to her apartment from her band rehearsal. Let's assume she moved in a few days ago and just got settled in her apartment. Aaron and the other characters could be new themselves or maybe have lived in the apartments for several months to a year or two.

Meg does know other people in the town (probably mostly other university students) including Wednesday Weekley, the other half of the band she's in. I may or may not make a profile for that character. Any of her existing friends do not live in the apartment complex and will have minor roles in the story and may just be mentioned without role-playing any scenes with them. That will depend on how the game unfolds. Meg's band is going to be a short-lived thing anyway. I plan on her losing interest and getting interested in the neighborhood watch group as her newest interest (see her character profile for details on her personality and constantly changing hobbies).

We don't have to have everyone in the apartments be part of the story. It is unlikely and probably not even believable that everyone knows all of the people in the apartment complex. Not every resident needs to be in the story. In fact, only a small handful of people need to even take part in the plot. Going around and having room-by-room introductions isn't typically done in real life. The residents of the apartments can just get to know each other naturally.

If you want to set up an event like the apartment complex has a cookout or meet and greet event before school, that would be a good way to do it. If we are going to allow new players to join the game after it is already in progress, then we'll probably just have to say that they were living there from the start and the other characters just get to know them when they enter the story. It isn't going to make sense for new players to keep moving in after the school year starts. Once we get going, we need to assume they were already living there and they just get to know the main characters in the story a few weeks or months into things.

People tend to make friends and get to know each other through the course of the school year. While many people get to know one another when they first move in, it isn't typical or believable for everyone to know each other from the beginning of the year. Things just sort of happen naturally. Maybe it takes a little while for their paths to cross. Everyone has different class and work schedules- universities in the US tend to have tens of thousands of students.

Campuses can cover multiple city blocks and there are a variety of different majors. Engineering students may not ever cross paths with art students- those subjects are in different sets of buildings and could be on completely different parts of campus. Not to mention some students may have morning classes, while others are in class in the evening. Also, many students may take classes online and not actually attend in person. There are a lot of reasons why people's paths may not cross even if they live in the same apartment complex.

Once the burglaries start happening, I think a good way to bring people together is for the residents to start a community/neighborhood watch program (see the links I sent via PM). We can say the program doesn't exist at first. As things happen, they can start patrolling like I suggested, maybe set up cameras and even the traps like you were talking about. Anyone else that joins the game after we start that is unfamiliar with what a neighborhood watch program is should Google it. Wikipedia has a great article on the subject. I would recommend everyone who wants to play in the game read this article.

I would theme the game around the creation of starting the watch group, but it should build gradually and we should do that as an in-character event over the course of several weeks. That can be the common ground that brings our characters together. Pacing is important to good storytelling, we don't want to rush into this if we want a good game. Let's let things progress slowly and in a natural way before any crimes happen and cover other aspects of the character's lives first.))

(( Pedro and Matthew are free characters btw))

((Yes, Pedro was trying to make a charming greeting to Meg, as they have not talked before, but Aaron's carboard wall interrupted him.

Do we keep the appartments exclusively for students, or can there be common workers ect. as well?))

((If we're going with my proposed idea and making it an apartment complex at the edge of town away from the university campus, then it's not a dorm so anyone could live there. When you ask if it can include workers, too, I'm not clear on what you mean by 'a worker?' A normal person that has a job that isn't a student? To me, a worker is a laborer like a construction worker, someone that works at a lawn care company, or someone that is employed at a warehouse. You could also have a business professional that works in an office like a salesman or insurance agent, someone that is a delivery driver, a restaurant employee, an cashier at a grocery store, a school teacher, a retiree, a postal employee, a firefighter... there isn't a certain type of person that lives in an apartment complex.

I wouldn't just add a bunch of characters without purpose. The smaller the cast and the fewer the players, the better an experience we're going to have. Too many characters is going to get to be too much to keep up with and is unnecessary. Let's only add new characters if there is a story need or someone joins the game. I do have an idea for another character I want to introduce later that will advance the plot.

Also, FYI- the phrase "by the way' is a follow-up statement. It doesn't make sense to start a conversation like that, so I when pedro responds, I left a place above (marked Tag Pedro response here).

Example:

One of the men dropped something and Meg looked up. "Oh hey," she said smiling. "Just moving in?"

"Yeah, I just moved in," Pedro replied.

"I just got here a few days ago. New to the apartments but I've been in town a couple of years now. I'm a student at Pinecove. I'm Meg."

"I'm Pedro, by the way" man said, but he did feel somewhat awkward after the cardboard blockade.

"Nice to meet you," Meg replied.

I would start Pedro's reply by copying that paragraph and filling in something that makes sense where I bolded it as an example.))

((I wanted to double check the range of the inhabitants. As I understood, this appartment is housing both students and non students as well. With "workers" I mean "Non students, for example those types of people as you mentioned. That would also mean that there could be all walks of life, like pentioners and unemployed among the inhabitants.

As im also processing this game ahead, I will make some changes to my original plans. I planned to bring in large bundle of characters, but I now noticed how hard it is to write good stuff. To be able to write better content, I will put 2 free characters in priority, and use others only when plot requires them. I will focus on Aaron, Matthew and one, who has not appeared yet. All these will be students. I have much clearer idea of their background to play them well. Pedro is bit of a filler, so we dont need to put too much details there.

I am not native in english. I have rather wide vocabulary, but my grammar has never been great. I am sorry about that. Just fix me, if something goes wrong too much.))

((Hey no worries, I don't want to sound critical, just trying to help out where I can. I've been doing games like this for about 20 years and it would be best to have a small cast like we discussed above. We don't want a bunch of players. The fewer the players, the better the game. I prefer one on ones, but I wouldn't allow more than 4 people counting us. People are bad to not keep up, quit and not tell people and there are just too many opportunities for miscommunications when you have a large group.

As for the characters and relationships- I have lived on the same street for 20 years now. I barely know my neighbors. That's pretty typical of most places in the US. Most people keep to themselves and most neighborhoods and apartments don't have a situation where everyone knows everyone else. That was true decades ago, but life is just too diverse in the 21st century and everyone is busy with their own lives.

People have different schedules, jobs and activities. You tend to get to know people through those and not living in the same neighborhood or apartment. Most parents get to know other families because their kids go to school together or are on the same soccer team. Adults without kids meet through clubs or work or maybe even church.

I think some of the confusion on my part is in some parts of the world people have very defined roles. For example, a person falls into a specific category, like they're a worker (someone that has a job and earns money to support themselves and their family), a student- someone, either specifically a child or young adult who is in school and that's all they do, or a caregiver- someone who takes care of the elderly or young children but doesn't study in school nor do they have a job that pays them.

If the above is the case, one thing to understand about US culture is people aren't quite so defined in that way here. It is possible for someone to be a caregiver, a worker and a student. For example, a mother who is working a part-time job but also working on a degree while also doing the first two things from home.

Many students also have jobs, at least part-time. It is not unheard of for some people to be full-time students and not work. In Meg's case, she works part-time in a coffee shop while also attending school as she works on her bachelor's degree.

It is also important to note that many older people attend college. While the vast majority of students in the US are in their late teens to early 20s, it is not uncommon for older adults to be going to college. Those types of people are not going to live in dormatories or attend parties or have the same kind of college life as someone in their twenties. Many people can't afford college when they graduate and join the work force, go into the army or in the case of certain religions like the Mormons, they might have to spend 2 years doing missionary work before pursuing higher education.

Sometimes people flunk out of school because they just aren't ready and wait until their late 20s or 30s to try going back to school. Most of the time, these people are taking classes in addition to working a full time job. Sometimes, you also have people that have a bachelors degree, but in order to get into management, need a master degree, so might be in their 30s, 40s or 50s and going back to school for that. Also, people may seek a career change that needs a degree they don't have or maybe they have a degree, but it isn't relevant to the field of work they want to do.

You also have some seniors that return to college after they reach retirement age. They aren't probably going to get a job with their degree but might take classes to learn new skills or just something to do.

As for our apartment complex, here is a likely breakdown of the types of people who live there- it's probably almost entirely people between 18-30. The vast majority of whom are younger than 25 years old. Probably about 60 percent are college students. The rest probably are either taking a semester off, are planning to start school in the future, or aren't really college material but enjoy the college lifestyle and culture. Those people are probably working jobs in the area like delivery drivers, warehouse employees (Amazon or UPS for example), working in stores as cashiers, restaurants, movie theaters, or jobs on campus. Probably about half of the people currently taking classes have a part-time job.

People that don't live there- wealthy people, non-students with a good-paying job, retired people/older people (seniors), and families with small children. There might be some young couples or singles that are working professional jobs that aren't quite ready to buy a house yet, but there aren't very many of those. Hopefully, that helps some.))

((Line of Pedro))

"I have been here for three weeks now. Just hanging around now, enjoying the scenery with my pal, Don. He does not live here, just came to drop by. Hope you enjoy your stay. If you like to swim, Fox Lake at backyard is awesome. We are heading there for a drink, so you can join us, if you want."

You can make adjustments to previous post, to make it more natural.))