(Bold text marks conclusions; however on first read you should read the whole text)
Before we come to the content of this RP, or start roleplaying, I would like to explain the concept and not-that-new idea behind this.
Some of you will be familiar with pen&paper RPGs; others will not be. Therefore, I will basically explain them: A game master creates situations that the players react to; their reactions and their success are limited 1) by the game master's situation (basically, if something the game master thinks up restricts them in what they wanted to do) and 2) by a set of rules that govern social interactions, physics, combat etc.
Basically, the players have characters and react to what the game master says in form of their characters in pen&paper; in all forum RPs we have so far in Nálaroth (to name a few major ones - Time of Darkness on the medieval fantasy side, The World That was Broken in futuristic fantasy) the players create situations themselves.
The problem that arises from this (in my opinion) is the following - in our normal forum RP, the players either know the solution to their character's problem, or can at least think up the solution themselves - and if the characters do not know this, they themselves give their characters hints to the solution. Therefore, interaction with NPCs and the world is made up by the players. Of course, many would now say "But the players interact with each other, don't they?" Here, I say: One - this is not always the case, resulting more in shared writing than roleplaying (of course, the two fields overlap quite strongly), and two - even if they do, they control the situation by themself.
Now, imagine the role of a "game master" in a forum RP - the players would act according to and react to his ideas, settings, and storylines. In conclusion, their freedom to sculpt the world, own storylines and NPCs (limited only by the world's laws, the usually present character control rule and, to a certain extent, the thread maker) is taken away and replaced by a more realistic and certainly more suspenseful and interesting approach to plot and problems, as they do not know more about them as their characters.
The "game master", however, to keep the roleplaying enjoyable and interesting, has to obey certain rules. Here, they boil down to
1) Be fair to your players
2) Keep to your rules (especially the ones that govern your world and plot) and visit your RP frequently
3) (which is rather a goal than rule) Be creative, atmospheric and just keep your players entertained in general)
I would like to see an RP like this put into action; if noone objects to the idea or the idea as me as game master, I would promise to keep to rule 1) and 2) and hope that my setting and story (a dystopian science fiction scenario, however, not postapocalyptic) and game master skills in general would suffice to fulfill demands to rule 3).
If there are any questions to this concept, the rules, etc., PM me. (critisism naturally included)
If there are any question regards the setting, plot and character rules - I would like two players that have agreed on the "game master" concept before we speak about the RP.
Anything else, just PM and I'll be happy to answer.
