Quick survey about war RPs

[Darth Viscera]

By war RP, I mean an RP that is written detailing the involvement of characters in a war, be it in a side-plot or the direct command of a tactical force. For an example of an excellent war RP, read the books Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. Except they're not RPs :p.

2-3 questions is all I ask of you: (be long-winded if you like)

1. Do you engage in war RPs currently?
a) If not, why not?

2. What would you look for in a good war RP?

Thank you for your answers :)

[Daiquiri Van-Derveld]

With the right people rping a war thread, it can be quite good and make enjoyable reading. However, when it gets too technical my mind does tend to wander.

Charley has had a good one with the Cizeracks.

As for why I dont participate in them...Daiq has no need to.

[Commander Zemil Vymes]

1. Yes

2. Lots of character interaction, and as few cliches as possible. Also, it should be as profane as can be done. War is one of the ugliest things ever created by mankind. It shouldn't be a pleasant read.

[Mr Dust]

1. No. They NEVER finish.

2. I like them short, with few participants... any more than that and it descends into chaos way too quickly.

[Ryan Pode]

1. Do you engage in war RPs currently? No

a) If not, why not? Non-fleeters have sucked the fun out of it.

2. What would you look for in a good war RP? Beans.

[Khendon Sevon]

1. Do you engage in war RPs currently?

Yes and no. Yes in the sense that the Federacy has conflicts against “other” peoples and is using military force to smite them. No in the sense that these peoples are NPCs and I don’t consider fighting NPCs war, it’s just slaughter.

2. What would you look for in a good war RP?

The ability to test technology, resources, and strategy against other ACTUAL rpers—i.e. players, not NPCs.

[Dasquian Belargic]

1. Do you engage in war RPs currently? No.

a) If not, why not? I don't really have any characaters that would be a part of them, I suppose. Plus I've been sort of put off by the general inactivity of the whole fleeting world, which appears to me to be the main force behind war RPs.

2. What would you look for in a good war RP? Character-based stuff, so it's not all about seizing this planet, blowing up this ship. It's got to be personal.

[Alpha]

1) No, but I want to.

2)Same as Dasq. Character Interactions. :D

[Jordana Montegue]

1.) Do you engage in war RPs currently?

A.) Not currently, though in the past with other characters I have.

Would I like to? You bet. I have a character or two here that are collecting dust because I don't really have anything to do with them (my creative juices are stagnant as well due to rl exhausting me) :\

2.) What would you look for in a good war rp?

A.) Re: Khendon
Re: Commander Zemil Vymes

I think with the "right" people starting it off and keeping it organized, it's a lot of fun. The technical aspects don't bother me so much as that just forces me to do some research or forces me to interact with another player on an ooc basis to ask questions about something that I may not understand. (Its not easy for me to just "approach" someone and try to get to know them better; I like meeting new people as well, so this is a great way to "break the ice") I like to learn new things and I like to be challenged; I also think that helps me become a better roleplayer.

I think the areas of a war rp that tend to get me "turned off" to them are when I read how a fleet enters a system, takes control over an entire planet, blows it up and miraculously, this fleet doesn't take any damage. Its a war. Fleets are going to take damage and its going to be very costly and many lives will be lost. There should also be a story behind it all. How did it reach the point of having war declared? What other events took place in an attempt to avoid war?

It should start slow, so to speak. Build up the story, get the events into play that will lead to the break down of negotiations and declare war. Do it right and it can be a lot of fun. Not too mention, it gives other players whom may be struggling with a new character (or an old one) a chance to get involved. That's another good thing about war rp's: they open the door of opportunity for everyone, not just a select few.

War rp's usually get a bit "God PCish", IMO.

I'm one of those players where if my character is getting attacked or is involved in a duel, I honestly do not care if she gets injured, maimed, kidnapped, interrogated, or even killed. So long as its physically possible to have had it done (meaning toss that force throwing across the room into the wall or to the bulkhead out the window, folks) I like to read 'realism' in threads (war or not).

As with most other people, I don't want my character to die in some cheesy, half-assed post where the opponent uses cheap, cheating (God-moding) tactics to kill her off. It doesn't have to be a (pardon the term I'm going to use) glorious death, but it does have to be believable by real-world standards.

I rp one force user here (rarely, though I wish I could rp her more) and even then, she hardly ever uses the force. I grasp the fact that the force is a huge thing in the SW Universe and that's all fine and dandy; I just happen to personally like having my character challenged, forced not to use the force but to use her mind and physical skills.

This is probably getting more into babbling so I'll stop now :)

[imported_Grev Drasen]

1. Do you engage in war RPs currently? No.

a) If not, why not? I don't have any characters that would fit in to a war scenario.

2. What would you look for in a good war RP? Less focus on actually trying to "win" and more focus on character interaction.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

1. Do you engage in war RPs currentlky? No.

a) If not, why not? I lost interest in my Imperial character after the Empire was split into factions.

2. What would you look for in a good war RP? A timely ending, and character based stuff, just like everyone else. The daunting thing about war RPs is that they never seem to end, unless you're the only RPer in them and you're NPCing the enemies. NPC enemies tend not to complain when you blow their ships up.

Both sides would have to agree on taking losses (or not taking losses) before the start, to avoid arguments, I think.

[Darth Viscera]

I'll go ahead and input my own answers as well.

1. Do you engage in war RPs currently?
No.

a) If not, why not?
There is so little current apparent interest in war RPs that I doubt I could make it into anything other than a rapidly-stagnating thread which relied on doing combat with NPC foes. That's something of a chore.

2. What would you look for in a good war RP?
*An emphasis on the actual movements of the battle, as well as character-to-character interaction, so long as it's relevant to the battle and fills in the plot nicely. For example, Luke Skywalker's interaction with Joruus C'baoth. Depictions of ground combat, starfighter combat and space combat.
*The Empire against the Rebellion.
*A large number of RPers involved so that the thread has more meaning to a larger number of people.
*An IC feeling of desperation, the feeling that the outcome of the battle is greatly important and that the whole galaxy is watching, and that everyone is frightened of the outcome. The sense that you're partaking in an epic battle.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
Both sides would have to agree on taking losses (or not taking losses) before the start, to avoid arguments, I think.
That's a good point. For it to work out there'd have to be a lot of pre-planning and an agreement on where the war should end.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

That's the thing about war RPs is that in order for them to work and to have a conclusion, you basically need to write the Rp before you RP it. In my opinion. Like:

The NR attacks The Balmorran Empire's holdings on the edge of the Empire to 'liberate' the planets. They blow up one of BE's capital ships, but BE manages to cripple one of theirs, and of the two attacked planets, only one is liberated, and at the other the NR is defeated. *shrug*

[Khendon Sevon]

In my opinion:

You can't pre-plan casualties and actions, that ruins the surprise of the RP. War by nature is spontaneous and brutal, that, in my opinion, is exactly how it should be written.

It's not up to planning; it's up to all participants having the ability to judge what is acceptable and what is not. Of course, people often don't see eye-to-eye, that's why an OOC thread is required for views to be expressed without filling the RP with OOC message.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The problem is that no one in the past has seemed willing to take the casualties...at least that what I have seen. If ship A was blown to bits by a salvo from ship B, then ship A's RPers would throw a fit saying that ship B was unfair.

And then fleeting was stopped because of the headache and the flame fest. With the 'new' Common Sense and Fair Play Fleeting Rules I believe that the war RP can be carried out in a more sane manner, but I wouldn't want to be the first to try it.

[Tear]

Do you engage in war RPs currently?

Well wars against Npc's but the thread is based on battle and war so ..yes

What would you look for in a good war RP?

I find everything i look for in a good war RP right now with the Sovereignty. Our threads usually delve into character developement through the struggles and conflicts in each thread. I think its easier to develope character against Npc's because you dont have someone else constantly going "I hit you! I hit you! you dead." etc..

Most of play nice, eye for an eye discussion is already happening in the NR sub boards dealing with the idea of bringing back fleeting and Operation Scythe which will be the first "War" thread where most enemies arent Npc'd.

Before these boards i came from another board where they were..ahead of you guys in terms of fleeting and rp'ing. They had reasonable system happening.

Like Khendon mentioned it takes the spice out of war threads if you know whats going to happen every turn. But they would sit down and get the general whats going to happen in the thread and which way victory is going to lean.

For most battles they also had neutral people who would base judgement on certain moves. So battle was slightly regulated and losses could be taken without something unrealistic happening.

Although if you look at endor...you wonder what could be viewed as unrealistic if something like ewoks ambushing a legion of the empires best troops and winning could happen.:rolleyes

[DarthHERA]

Originally posted by Tear

Although if you look at endor...you wonder what could be viewed as unrealistic if something like ewoks ambushing a legion of the empires best troops and winning could happen.:rolleyes

lol, good point.



1. Do you engage in war RPs currently? No. (I've tried, but find it very difficult)
a) If not, why not? I dont know what the heck to do in war. The arena is too big. I like closer, personalized conflicts.

2. What would you look for in a good war RP? Losses. Both personally and generally. Anything gained should come at a cost somewhere.

Some things that make me hedge at readingwar rps:


Too many diversified places of battle. Its too hard to follow who is where, doing what, and how. I also dont understand "ranks" very well.
Very long posts. Half the time I read one post and have forgotten completely how it started out.

[spada]

I like closer, personalized conflicts.

I agree. The thing is that when theres like 3 vs 3 and theyre all havin 1 on 1 fights it gets confusin

1. No im new havent had the chance and thers not many out ther
2. I also look for losses. I think a good War RP would have the reciever yielding to the attacker when the attacker makes a good move. I mean if one kid sets someone up for an attack and the other guy does some crazy thing to get out of it it just gets dumb. I make it a rule not to be invincible in PvP threads.

[Ace McCloud]

1. Yes

2. You only need a few dedicated players and use lots of NPC's rather than having entire players in charge of fleets and such. When I used to roleplay Medieval, War RP was almost all we did. We finished most of them. But it was mostly a collective group that we always rped with. We all knew each other well and were always in RPs together, so that made it easier.

[Ka' el Darcverse]

1. Yes

2. Pretty much been covered by everyone else.

My problem with War RP's on this board is that we allow non-fleet factions to control too many planets. I don't care how powerful in the Force you are or how great of a fighter pilot you are, when a fleet of ISD's or Mon Cal Cruisers show up on your door step, you lose.

I've always thought that the NR should play a bigger part in the policing of the Galaxy along with the Jedi. In fact the Jedi are the only Force users that have had a tradition of also being military leaders in the past, generally Dark Siders are manipulators of factions and in the background doing their dark side stuff, then assuming control after the fleets at their disposal take over things. Perhaps this isn't what is wanted on this board and if it's not that's cool to, but if you want to have effective fleet rp in a Star Wars universe, they have to interact with the Force users in a realistic way.

[Charley]

Originally posted by Tear
Although if you look at endor...you wonder what could be viewed as unrealistic if something like ewoks ambushing a legion of the empires best troops and winning could happen.:rolleyes

Little Bighorn.

Seventh Cav even had newfangled gatling guns and were annihilated.

There's also the Fort Mims massacre, which is in my neck of the woods.

Both were pretty amazing shows of brute force by the red man that wiped out every warm-bodied white person within eyesight.

Oh yeah and they were undermanned, underarmed, and everything :cool

There's also the Zulu Wars (sup Britain)

[Sean Piett]

1. Do you engage in war RPs currently?
Not currently, looks likely in the future
a) If not, why not?
Hating fleeters is trendy :smokin

2. What would you look for in a good war RP?
While I agree that a character-driven plot and common sense are integral, I do enjoy my bean counting, as well as a tangible victory or loss.

[Tear]

Originally posted by Charley
Little Bighorn.

Seventh Cav even had newfangled gatling guns and were annihilated.

There's also the Fort Mims massacre, which is in my neck of the woods.

Both were pretty amazing shows of brute force by the red man that wiped out every warm-bodied white person within eyesight.

Oh yeah and they were undermanned, underarmed, and everything :cool

There's also the Zulu Wars (sup Britain)

Well if you want a real comparison, you could take the Seventh Cav and give them the Technology of Today, Modern tanks and the like, then stick them up against the natives.

Storm troopers being taken down by what 2-3 feet of furry animal? Those were supposedly the Empires best and a legion..a legion is alot of troops to get taken out by wee savages with spears and arrows.

Im not saying things like that couldnt happen because obviously like you pointed out..they can. But if you want to include something like that into everyday roleplays where you bring a star destroyer and i bring 5 midgets to brawl and win...

have fun with that:p

[Charley]

Midget + exhaust port = win

And it would be more proper to liken SW technology to WW2 style than "today's" weaponry. While they use blaster bolts and stuff, the tactics and general inaccuracies are that of 1940's era combat.

[Jarek T'chort]

Originally posted by Charley
Little Bighorn.

Seventh Cav even had newfangled gatling guns and were annihilated.

There's also the Fort Mims massacre, which is in my neck of the woods.

Both were pretty amazing shows of brute force by the red man that wiped out every warm-bodied white person within eyesight.

Oh yeah and they were undermanned, underarmed, and everything :cool

There's also the Zulu Wars (sup Britain)
*cough* Rorkes Drift *cough*

1: Yes

2: Fun interaction with other Rper's and little or no OOC bickering. I think a good war Rp will have to have realistic (as in people die horribly) but it has to be entertaining. By that I mean written in a way that invokes powerful imagery and makes you read on, keeps you interested depite that fact that warfare is anything but entertaining.

I want to read how people feel at the time, their emotions and reactions, minor details that break up the continual death and destruction.