Forums » RP Discussion » Etiquette question (using OCs in multiple RPs)

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and still learning the ropes, but one thing I'm wondering about is the distinction between 1x1 RPs organized through the "Looking for RP" forum, and the RPs that seem to be open to anyone (i.e. the summer soirees in the "Fantasy RP" forum). What is the etiquette--or what are some of your personal feelings/preferences--about using OCs in these different kinds of RPs? If someone uses an OC in 1x1 RP, is it possible for them to also make an appearance in one of those public RPs? And if so, is there any expectation about their experiences in one RP carrying over into another? Thanks!

This is all a preference thing, for sure, and I don't think there are any specific expectations?
For me personally, it depends on the OC. For most of them, I treat every RP, whether 1x1 or event-related, like it's in a separate timeline/universe, and the characters essentially reset to the default for each new story, with none of the changes, or knowledge/experiences gained from previous RPs. (Unless I'm doing multiple RPs with one person as separate stories from the same continuity.) This especially applies to characters that are meant to belong to a specific setting/genre, but that are fun to toss into different-setting events anyway. Then again, sometimes an event topic could plausibly fit into the characters' life/setting, and be insignificant enough that it might as well be canon, but this doesn't happen much for me.
It seems to me that a lot of people do it this way, too, but I don't actually know, and if someone would rather treat everything as canon and part of a consistent timeline, that's their call and there's nothing wrong with doing so
On that note, I have a character (Yuki) who is a dimension-hopper that constantly gets isekai'd, and I treat everything that happens to them as canon (thus far; there could be exceptions in the future, but that's for future me to figure out.) I think this is a really fun way to do things, but I wouldn't enjoy using most of my other characters in the same way; Yuki was partially built with this idea in mind, after all

So yeah, you can do whatever you want forever ^.^

This is a really helpful response! Thank you

Depends on the person! For example, for me with Hazesh and all of my OCs, all of his role-plays take place in a manner that enables them to tie into what is a singular storyline. I do not do separate 'versions' of him or separate universes per role-play.

I tend not to have a running canon, as Cryptic said, my characters reset each new thread. I kinda miss it, though. You got any specific tips, for instance to accommodate the sort of setting variety that comes with role-playing with different people?

Generally I don't tend to RP with people whose setting preferences wildly diverge from what I already play (high fantasy, DnD-based directly or homebrew), or there is a mechanism for a character to get from one setting to another. For example, Hazesh is currently earning his way to getting a portal ring that enables him to travel to other worlds, with a mechanical cost limiting how often he does this so then he isn't just slinging around like he is in a pinball machine. I wouldn't RP him with someone who wants to play a strict historical setting, for example.

If I wanted to play him in a wildly different setting, like a modern setting or something like Spelljammer, I'd make an AU version of him and use that.