Forums » RP Discussion » A common occurrence I've noticed in LFRP...

So about 2 and a half years ago, I joined this site looking for a place to fulfill the ol' RP itch I've had for a while. I've put out a few of my own ads since then, but mostly, I lurk. I actually check the LF listings at least once every couple weeks, sometimes a little more if I'm bored and just want to see what other people are offering.

Usually though, I'm looking for something specific. As is probably obvious by my character pages, I'm a big fan of playing - and stop me if you've heard this one before - as child characters who go on adventures with/are taken in by older people, usually as apprentices of magic, sometimes as refugees, etc. Themes of comfort, found family, discovery, and older people learning about themselves as they teach someone younger are my bread and butter. (Also, playing a sidekick works out super well for me when dealing with partners who have this whole world they want to expound on because I have a narrative excuse to be infodumped on, haha.)

And the entire time I've been here, I've seen a number of threads that all want basically the same thing I do. Sounds great! Except we all want the same role as well, which means our market might appear to be a little bit competitive. In general though, a lot of people asking for the same thing in public adverts does not indicate an overfilled niche, so long as those adverts are answered by people who would like to fill in the second role of the older person.

However, in the 2 years I've been here, I see a recurring theme of someone posting such an ad, the requisite two weeks pass, and they bump their ad with the little tool on the side that allows them to do so. Or they just type "bump" after a day of inactivity, y'all know who you are. As someone who has some experience in making similar ads, I wonder about this, because I'll make such an ad and attract at least 2-3 people browsing the ads section in a few days. It's actually so overwhelming for me that I've learned to let the ad sit for 3 days and then come back to my inbox to see who I'd like to play with. (I love everybody's characters but my time's pretty finite.)

So this leaves me with a bit of a head-scratcher. Why do I seemingly only need to do this sparingly, while other people struggle, when what they want is pretty similar to what I want? What makes my ads work for me, but theirs fail?

And, adding to that another question: If all three of the adverts I've made like that here are so in-demand that I am overwhelmed with choice, why is it so much more rare to find adverts from people who might like to take on the roles of older people for our rascals?

It's been a set of curiosities for me ever since joining. One of the first ads I encountered was one that was very similar to the kind of ad I'd make: A person with a character (who was a young girl) looking to be taken in by an older guy. The same person had another ad up with a similar character, but they were looking for a dragon OC to play with. Their pitch was the entire reason Sig exists, though it didn't end up going anywhere. (One day, I'll find something to do with this guy.)

I have my own thoughts about it, but I'm curious about what other people might think of this. Really, I'm just surprised there's more people out there that want the same thing I do out of collaborative story telling. I also wonder if there isn't something I can do to help? I've considered making a group dedicated to the themes common in such adverts, but I'm not sure how to go about it to meet everyone's needs, especially as my interests are rooted purely in fantasy (or campy sci-fi that effectively behaves like fantasy) and there's just as many modern-day or victorian ads as there are fantasy ads of this nature.

Unsure if this is an interesting topic for discussion but curious to read what others have to say.

I'm glad to see more people who love Found Family! I don't know about others, but I find playing the older characters hard, especially if they are human. I have a few older characters, but most of them are demons, though on the rare occasion I have humans (or humans with superpowers, but most of those are canon characters from Fandoms).

The closest to playing an older character in a Found Family like setting, is when me and my best friend did an Angel x Demon roleplay, in which my character, the single dad demon who falls in love with the angel preschool teacher, has a four year old son he's taking care of. But that's the closest I've done to one.

To me it just sounds like you're lucky. I have two prompts for that specific kinda RP, but I've only have had one person actually play it, who's actually the other person in this thread! (although, I have had people message me about it but never message me back when I respond...)

Maybe it's not necessarily the premise, maybe your ads are just good?
I find there's an audience for any kind of genre/themes/plot types/etc. But among them, there are ads that I'm drawn to, and not others. But rarely am I able to articulate why I respond to some and not others.

Can you link a few older ads you have? I'm curious now to see what makes your ads so effective!

I feel this. I've tried older characters, but struggle with them outside of tabletop games. Writing younger characters comes a lot more naturally to me, even in personal projects. I'm not really sure why.

I've been here for 2 and a half years and trust me, you are NOT alone. I've seen this happen at least a half-dozen times to other people.

I had 2 unsuccessful ads shortly after joining that, I believe, the issue was being too unspecific in what I wanted. What I started doing after that was posting ads with my characters instead, or replying to ads with my characters. It takes out a bit of middle-manning and puts a character's avatar front and center. Not sure if it helps, but my ads had more success when I did that, so maybe?

I can link the ones that gained traction but I will say that HOLDING RP has proved a challenge for me sometimes. The first fizzled out because... I don't remember, actually. I think I and another person got a bit occupied at the same time. The second fizzled out because I got hit with a health issue that lasted a month and I actually forgot about it. (Still feel bad about this since I make an effort to communicate.)

First.
Second.

One of them did get picked up by someone on Discord though, and we had some fun until they had to resume classes. I enjoyed what we did though.

I'll admit that both characters are my favorites so I'd definitely play with them again, time permitting.

I've answered a few ads as well and I can say that the ads I tend to answer are the ones that get to the point without making me click into the forum page. If I get to the end of what the LF page will load in a single post and haven't seen what the other person is looking for yet, I just scroll past. I guess I'm conditioned by the modern internet to do this, because this is also how I browse Tumblr, Reddit, and that horrible bird site. I try to front my posts with what I'm looking for and then add the details, but I also don't do things that I know other people look for first so I don't think the way I do it is really a universal standard.

Hm... Never thought about that! Went ahead and put the type of RP front and center in the rps of mine that don't have it. Thanks for the advice!

Life happens, you know? I think all mature RPers know that life and health should always be prioritized, and sometimes stories fizzles. Good OOC communications let you pick things up if both are still excited for the story. But I would not feel bad about it, you gotta take care of yourself!

So I took a look at your ads, and my take away from it is that you're very clear about what you're looking for, and very clear about what you are NOT looking for, but it also leaves a lot of space for flexibility and potential writer ideas.

What you're not looking for is specific and detailed, but they're very reasonable. And more importantly, they're not judgey - as in I don't feel like your 'No's are making a judgment call against the things you don't want, it is simply not suitable for the story you're looking for - and I think a lot of ads fail at this balance.

And what you *are* looking for tells me what would get your excited about the RP, so potential partners would know what to keep as they try to build off what you've suggested.

Anyway - I don't know about how to help get others who want similar things. I don't personally like to RP with any children characters because of the themes I like to go into, but I'm glad they seem to be trending up, or at least working well for you

I think that makes sense. I've definitely seen vague ads that don't tell me anything, or the... aforementioned judgey comments people make. Truth be told, I think some of that is kneejerk reactions about the more difficult to navigate social component of RPing. You want partners that can work with you, obviously, but I think some people make the assumption that a partner can only work with them if that person also doesn't want the same things they want. Really, you just need someone who wants similar things out of the specific story you're telling right now, and whatever your differences are won't affect it much. It's not like we put all of our interests into a single thing all the time.

I think my stories would be really confused messes if I did that, haha.

Invested in this thread as that sort of hurt/comfort, found family RP is my bread and butter and has been since I was a wee bab. I pretty much gave up on it, but I'm wondering about approaching it from the other side (as the parental figure) again, with an angle of "oh no I'm super not ready or prepared to take care of anyone... but also have no faith in the ability of the world to protect this kid... whatever, it's just for now" turning into forever.

If you post an ad for that, you're gonna get like 5 or 6 hits in a day probably, heh.

I know this ad is always looking for someone to fill... exactly that, depending on if you play anthro characters.

My only anthro characters are an actual dragon that delivers the mail and a traveling enfield bard so neither would work for them, but hey.

Debating on throwing up my own ad with a character I either never use or one I haven't made on-site though. I miss that RP I did where my deposed paladin took a rogue under her wing.

I also personally find it easier to ask for that, as the parental figure. I'm not sure why. Maybe it feels less selfish, even if that's logically not how that works at all and both people are getting something wholesome out of it.

I'm constantly looking for Found Family RP but I just don't put up the ADs anymore because, y'know, no one messages me about it.

Buuuut @Bealocwealm,
if you want to RP, especially as the parental figure, please PM me (or someone else looking for it on this thread!)

Omg one of my ads is intended to be exactly that! (My revival one) And thank you Aardbei for the extra advertisement! Although I think this one is more fitting!

I have one that allows human characters that would fit too!

Perhaps the difference lies in your ability to communicate the idea and your wants clearly. Or your character has some sort of immeasurable appeal, that "WOW" factor that others might not have even if the ad and premise is the same.

A good story isn't just an idea of what characters will be doing. It is also an interesting or unusual place, conflicts, the dynamics of how the character interact, as well as the characters themselves. Many factors play into the game and as you said time is finite. So, perhaps feel fortunate for you have some sort of "oomph" that others of your genre aren't yet bringing to the table.

Alternatively those who continue to bump and search may just be people with loads of spare time and enjoy having an over abundance of RP of the same subject at their disposal. Or they are collecting backups in case of a potential ghosting or dropped RP.


I usually find myself in the opposite role, playing the parental or guardian figure in those Found Family themed RPs. For me personally it comes down to how interested am I in the character. Found Family ideas are usually long term investments and if someone only threw down the basics of their character and I determine there might not be care and cultivation on their part I probably will pass because of the lack of dedication I see.

Just my two cents.

A couple days later: Nope! Not one hit in multiple days. But to be fair I think I have the same problem as those who've posted ads for the other side of the equation. My char is specific to a setting, and that's the case with a lot of characters. Much as Jooters' concept requires its own setting, mine does too, and I think it's those settings that tend to clash, rather than the actual players.

I think it is a bit less about the setting and more about the fandom part. My Elden Ring roleplays largely don't get any attention than my other RPs because people aren't in that fandom and don't know much about it

I'm going to have to agree with that. Fandoms, unfortunately, hardly ever get noticed and interest for, in my experience, and usually when they do, the people don't end up RPing with you and ghosts you, or gets bored of it easy and leaves. :')

The only exception I noticed is the furry fandom due to how it is so loosely defined and can fit in literally anything and most people don't mind modifying their characters that slightly to fit the world

As someone who's RPed extensively in Dragonlands, a tiny mostly dead subsection of the furry fandom... au contraire! Far from loosely defined.

(Although yes, I've RPed a lot elsewhere in the furry fandom and I do think it's pretty flexible!)

Made a found family rp where I will play the mature role if anyone is interested! https://www.rprepository.com/community/forums/topic/111266