Posted by Kim on February 25, 2013, 9:26am
For our final chat in the RP Craft discussion series, we looked at how to start a successful RP group. Since this is the "year of the group" for the RPR, and our groups system is being rapidly expanded and pushed toward completion, many people are becoming first time group admins. This seemed like the perfect time to look at how to best step into this critically important role.
A large proportion of the discussion participants had many years of experience running groups under their belts. In a few cases, that experience stretched over a decade or more of running successful games. You'll see these people quoted a great deal in this summary! However, there were also many participants who had just as much experience being members of various RP groups, who had seen it done well and who had seen it done poorly, and could tell us what kept groups together and thriving and what sent them running for the hills, and we'll also hear from them.We covered so much in this chat that I will be breaking the summary into two posts. Today, I present to you part 1 in So you want to start a RP group. If you simply can't wait to see what else our interlocutors had to say, you can read the entire chat log right away.
I tend to want to create groups when I have a specific mood/feel in mind and there isn't currently anywhere where I can satisfy that. I also do it because I love the sort of "Advanced storytelling" it required.- Heimdall
Do you have what it takes?
You need to consider, too, that part of being leader does mean sacrificing some of the fun. Instead of just being able to play within the rules as they are, you have to be prepared to weigh compromises, settle disputes, and put in the time needed to keep things running. The only way to know you're ready is to try and fail.- Kaji
It's a major responsibility and a lot of work to run a thriving RP group. Before you try your hand at the role, ask yourself:
- Do you have enough time to dedicate to the group? Plan to spend several hours on most days crafting plots, answering questions, expanding your world-building materials, training and supporting your moderators, encouraging activity, attracting new members, reviewing membership applications, dealing with rule breakers, and much more.
- Do you have trouble saying 'no' to your friends, even when you know it's the right decision? As a group leader, you will have to be fair and unbiased with all of your members, no matter how much you like them (or don't.)
- Do you have thick enough skin to endure inevitable complaints without burning out?
- Are you willing to play less and work more? Group leaders often have very little time to indulge in playing their own characters, as the needs of the group will be constant.
- Is the group concept one that will keep you fired up for the forseeable future? When you become the leader of a group, your loss of interest usually means that the group dies, and the plots and characters your members had created will vanish for them, too. So make sure that it's something you will want to stick with for a very long time.
For a mature guild, after all the lore construction, etc. Prepare to spend a couple hours a week minimum answering questions, running events, looking over new player applications (if you have them), fixing up the site/forums/dream, and just hanging and RPing with the player base.- Heimdall
Free time. You're going to need a lot of it. Thick skin - can you deal with heated issues without getting emotionally involved? Professional detatchment is very important.- Ben
First thing to consider is: ARE YOU READY? Make sure you have enough time, and a proper motivation to keep going when things don't go as planned.- Earendill
I think you should consider that it will not be as simple as making a setting because you want to enjoy it. Some enjoyment may be taken away by how much you need to supervise your group. Not everyone will come into your group willing to follow the setting or the rules and you'll need to be prepared for trouble makers. It may not happen all the time, but it will happen. Sometimes you don't go into running a group prepared, and you grow into it. It's easy to become disillusioned if you go into running a group unprepared, but sometimes experience is what you need. It's what i needed.- Degu
A good group leader goes in knowing that they are in a position of service. Although they may be holding the reigns of power, realize that in a group that stays healthy over the long term, the admin thinks of themself as having more responsibility than power. (For more on this concept, see this excellent forum thread on the topic of power vs. responsibility, written by our very own member Ben, a long term Game Master and group leader) If the only reason you want to run a group is to be "in charge" or to write your own setting, you should probably reconsider. The most important part of leading a group is being a benevolent and strong leader. A group leader is not just in it for the fun, he or she is also tasked with the very important responsibility of keeping things in order--and this has to be understood prior, because this can and very often does cut INTO your fun. If you are running a public group, especially, it's extremely important to understand this and prepare accordingly. You're serving your group's interests, not the other way around.- Wizard
That's not to say that there's no benefits to adminning a successful group! It can be enormously rewarding to see something you created flourish and come to life. You can find yourself responsible for having brought days, weeks and years of fun and imagination into the world.
The reward is watching your idea grow, watching people run with it, love it, and explore it. The other thing you should be prepared for is that it won't go to plan - the story will evolve on its own. And that, for me, is the fun.- Ben
It's not uncommon for a strong RP group to forge new real life friendships, and sometimes, real life romances. If other people being made happy by work that you've done makes you happy, you may find that the time and energy you invest in your group is well worth it.
My RP group is responsible for at least two marriages IIRC.- StarArmy
The reward is making a safe and awesome environment for others to play in. You do sacrifice 'fun' to some degree. You're facilitating this group, you're doing administrative duties which means you may not have the time to roleplay. But you get to watch people create and develop characters, you get to watch the community help develop your group, help add to it, and overall help it grow. Its wonderful to hear when people compliment you on a plot or a story line in your group.- Dylan
...the greatest reward you can get as a group administrator is that of thankfulness from those who join, and to see that loads of players have fun with a variety of characters in them.- Olthain
Bottom line: If dealing with administrative issues and being an occasional hardass doesn't sound appealing to you, you may find that you'd rather just play in a game. It takes a special sort of personality to endure the trials and tribulations of managing a group... And hopefully, to also enjoy those challenges!
All the long term Game Masters that I know(myself included) do not set aside their fun, instead we are all slightly mad in that we consider the time spent on supporting our games to /be/ fun.- Nero
As someone whose RP time has gone down to almost zero (as compared to many, many hours a week prior) since starting a RP site, I can speak from experience that you have to love the adminning itself. The building, watching people take their first steps in RP, watching experienced RPers take advantage of what you offer them and go directions you never expected. The work itself has to be fun or you just stop, because my goodness is it ever a ton of work.- Kim
If you haven't been scared away yet and you feel you're ready and willing to shoulder the responsibilities of turning that group you've been imagining a reality, read on!
Defining the group's setting
A critically important decision, that will guide much of the rest of your group's creation process, is what sort of setting you want your RP to take place in, and how strict you want to be about that setting.
A strict setting, at its most basic, has these characteristics:
- Has a well defined history, location(s), culture and lore.
- Has clear guidelines for what types of characters can be found there.
- May involve characters needing to be approved before they can be played, or the admins booting inappropriate characters, to ensure that people are fitting in to the setting.
- Is consistent from day to day. If a house burns down today, it will not magically reappear tomorrow (unless magic exists in the setting and someone performs that action.)
I think another way to think of it is that in a strict setting, the continuity/setting is most important. In a non-strict one, the characters are most important.- Heimdall
Because of that, you can focus on the RP and enjoy the story that unfolds a lot better than when you and your RP partner(s) struggle to get your information matching.- Sanne
Strict settings can be more difficult to manage, as you will have to constantly remind and correct players as to what does and does not exist - or is or is not a common cultural attitude - in that setting. It can also be more challenging for players to learn, create characters for, and get started in. However, the strict structure is the best way to bring a specific idea to life. It provides players with the feeling that their characters have a specific, "realistic" place in the universe, and the fact that what they do carries over into tomorrow's plots can provide the immensely satisfying feeling that your actions matter and have an effect on the overall world. In effect, characters are becoming a part of a living, breathing history.
A strict setting provides a uniform backdrop for the players to develop their characters within. It can be a lot of work to set up a new strict setting, but it is also very rewarding. I have had a great deal of success with strict settings, both online and tabletop. So long as you get players who want to play in the setting, they will usually try to stick to it. Often they will misinterpret a detail, but not maliciously.- Nero
That characters that die in a strict setting almost always have to stay dead can also add a greater sense of urgency to play, and reduce the number of "stupid" or unrealistic actions from characters, because there will be consequences -- and the consequences will stick.
Strict settings are enormously hard if you want to keep them strict. Not all player read/remember all information you provided and might break important rules that seem like small detail to them. Like an underground keep not having windows.- Earendill
A strict setting can be harder to do. It means you have to explain the setting regularly to new comers if they don't know what the group is all about. You will have to keep an eye on rule breakers... for example, my group is fantasy-medieval based and modern characters are not allowed. Sometimes you have modern characters trying to fit in, sometimes you have to let little things go. Strict roleplay groups can be stressful on your sanity and sometimes you need to decide if you reallllly want to fight that fight or let it go for the day.- Dylan
How defined and strict a setting you wish to create is a matter of personal preference, but be aware that once you get started, it will be very difficult to change your mind. Players that are attracted to a strict game may be horrified to discover that the setting has been opened to any type of character, and all the history they helped to create is no longer inviolate, whilst players that were attracted to a more freeform game may feel stifled and burdened should you suddenly decide to go strict. Think deeply before you make your choice, and then stick to it.
The obvious disadvantage to a strict setting is that some will not wish to obey it, or cannot obey it, and move on to looser places, meaning you have a smaller group of regulars and thus a risk of stagnation. It's the cost of having more control. Equally the obvious advantage is that you don't have people running around with their arms up doing the nyuknyuk dance when other people are trying to tell a cohesive story.
- Kaji
- Kaji
Once you've got your basic setting in place, how thoroughly you want to flesh it out before opening your group for play is a matter of personal preference. Some admins will prefer to start with a general concept and let their players help to fill in the blanks. Others will want to think deeply about every aspect of their setting, from what types of fish and plants are found in different regions to what colors are in fashion in court this year.
In all seriousness, the initial idea doesn't need to be that big or that complex. It will build upon itself organically as your group and its RP adventures grow, especially if you provide a channel for the players to make submissions to the group lore.- StarArmy
I'd say the more information you can provide, the better--especially if you have a very detailed setting. While you might know all the ins and outs of your world/group, those coming in really have very little to work with. So really, the more info you can include, the smoother (I think) things will run.- PenGryphon2007
The basic rule of thumb is, if something is important to you, and you think your setting won't have the correct "feel" or promote the types of stories you are interested in telling without that detail, write it down. How many details are required to get things moving varies from game setting to game setting.
You need to have some idea of what on Earth (or Exodus ) you're running before you just open the doors. While your players can help enrich it, as has just been said, you need to have an idea of what material you and your players are writing with so they have a guiding hand. That way, you're not just floundering about in the dark going "Oh my god what do I do what do I doooo!?"
It's a little give and take, oddly enough. You need to give the players some idea of what they're writing with in the setting's lore, but if you give too much freedom, it can ruin whatever idea you had going on in the first place.- Copper_Dragon
It's a little give and take, oddly enough. You need to give the players some idea of what they're writing with in the setting's lore, but if you give too much freedom, it can ruin whatever idea you had going on in the first place.- Copper_Dragon
Introducing players to your setting
No matter how much or how little setting information you begin with (or eventually acquire), how you present that information is also of critical importance.
So there has to be some simple information laid out somewhere easily accessible. Enough to get the player starter. Then detailed info linked from there, organized in chunks so the player can go find it when it becomes relevant.- Heimdall
Provide players with a basic primer that they can read and refer to that continues all of the most important details to get them started. If you have more detailed information, such as descriptions of how commerce is conducted in the region, religions, bestiaries, etc., that people may need to refer to but won't necessarily engage with on a daily basis, be careful to give it its own page(s), away from the primer, so as to not overwhelm your new players. Give everything intuitive titles and organize them in ways that make sense. When you refer to an aspect of your setting that may need more explanation, link to the appropriate page for players who want to dig deeper into your lore.
With our group we've based the location/environment loosely off of a real world location so people can look it up themselves. We have a website and a specific area designated to the CONTINUITY under that is the history of the group, a listing of the types of jobs ICly, a menu, a bestiary (which is included under geography with a map of the area.) If you have that information, you need to make sure it is easy to find and under the right header.- Dylan
And then, be prepared for your players to not read that information that you've put so much work into. It can be frustrating, but just keep reminding yourself that this kind of bad behavior tends to come from good intentions; what they did see made them so excited to get started playing, they skipped a few steps. Depending on the strictness of your setting, it may be your job as the group admin to patiently remind people what the group's lore is, keeping details in sync so that characters are inhabiting a truly shared universe and their timelines make sense with one another.
Also, character applications. They're a good way to get someone to lay out their character. It forces them to see it all and sometimes they go "hmm that wasn't such a good idea after all." and sometimes they DON'T see it, but before they start RPing you can help them make tweaks. It's easier than retconning stuff into existence (or out of it)- Heimdall
Getting over that initial learning curve can be very daunting, so do your best to support new players through the process. Provide guidance as they are crafting their characters for your setting, offer encouragement, and be gentle but firm when you have to say no.
You have to encourage them to read the rules, and make your group unique. If you have unique rules about characters, it will spur them to some creativity and you need to help encourage them to think outside the box. Working along-side them, or at least stating/giving the impression that you are willing to do so, also helps a lot and especially shows them that you care. ...What you have to worry about the most with applications is getting to them on time. Take more than a few days and it will seem like you're not interested enough with getting new people.- CelestinaGrey
Give them ideas of what they can play! List group appropriate characters, jobs, or creatures, even list why they are awesome and why they fit in. If you have a specific group you are much more likely to get RP if you've made a character that fits the environment set up for that group. As a group leader, you can always speak to the out-of-character about why certain characters are required for that roleplay group.- Dylan
That's all for today!
Stay tuned for our next post, when we'll be covering choosing moderators, setting rules and expectations, handling crisis and drama within your group, and more! Of course, if you simply can't wait, you can read the entire chat log by clicking here.
Many thanks to the participants of all our chats!
Click here to read part 2 in the series
Next: How to get a ton of accolades for your profile AND help the entire site »
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Comments
This chat, and the whole series has been a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to more.
I am so glad I was able to get into this last chat, all the previous ones happened while I was busy. And I'm really glad I could give good enough advice to be quoted! 
I hope it helps, and I myself found the chat really interesting and enjoyable!
I hope it helps, and I myself found the chat really interesting and enjoyable!
That chat went so well! It was wonderful to hear everyone's ideas and experience with running a group or being involved in a group.
Thank you for having us!
Thank you for having us!
I'm glad to see you guys are digging this as much as I am! 
This is really great Kim, and very useful for anybody that wants to start up a new group! I can't wait to read part two
TheLily
February 25, 2013
11:19am
I really wish I could have been there - but it looks like you guys did okay without my wisdom. Thanks for putting all of these together, Kim, you ROCK.
I hope so too, Sanne!
I for one really regret having to bugger out halfway- but my internet connection left me no choice, I'm afraid. Nevertheless, it was interesting as long as it lasted!
I for one really regret having to bugger out halfway- but my internet connection left me no choice, I'm afraid. Nevertheless, it was interesting as long as it lasted!
What I loved about this part of the chat is the insight I got as a moderator to what people would do, or do, as an admin or moderator for a group. Groups and the RPR community aren't that different after all, and I read some useful things that will help me on the site itself!
Furthermore there are some truly essential tips for anyone who's looking to begin a group and wants to keep running it smoothly. I've always been so disappointed when a group disbanded because the admin couldn't keep up with it or lost interest! I hope this will be an encouragement to all.
Furthermore there are some truly essential tips for anyone who's looking to begin a group and wants to keep running it smoothly. I've always been so disappointed when a group disbanded because the admin couldn't keep up with it or lost interest! I hope this will be an encouragement to all.
I absolutely loved this chat. It was a fantastic note to end the series on. We covered SO much, and there was even a whole extra page of prompts we didn't manage to get to in our two hours! Certainly something that can keep the community debating for months or years.
Even so, it seemed like we covered a ton of territory, and what we discussed was immensely valuable.
Thank you EVERYONE who attended any of the chats. It has been a sublime pleasure getting to know you and your brains better!
Even so, it seemed like we covered a ton of territory, and what we discussed was immensely valuable.
Thank you EVERYONE who attended any of the chats. It has been a sublime pleasure getting to know you and your brains better!
Nero
February 25, 2013
6:17pm
I sincerely hope that people are able to take the wisdom you have synthesized here to heart, and get some valuable use out of it. It is the joyous duty of experienced RPers everywhere to help and encourage others to find and enjoy this thing we all love so much called Roleplay.