Hiatus update:
I read and reread some info on GMing and designing RPs, as well as my own RPG books, as those tend to influence how I am as a GM. I think my main problem is that I have set scenes that I want to go to but I'm winging it on how to get there, which led to me making a clue trail, which led to the characters locked into collecting information and me having to write a lot of stuff that needed to be prepped. So, what I think we need is:
- To figure out how much plot and lore responsibility everyone has. I think I was unclear initially about how much people can and can't make up during the IC, which led to some people making lots of new lore ideas and others making very little, which isn't really anyone's fault. I also don't think it'd be okay if I shouldered 100% of the plot responsibility, since that's basically y'all running on a rail and a lot of work for me.
- For me to create a plot (it might more accurately be called a situation?) that we can all work with. Something I noticed about running this is that as a magical girl plot, it's important for the girls to juggle their "normal" and magical lives, but the way I thought of for this was information-gathering rather than actual plot. So I am going to bring up some more specific ideas about this and discuss them sometime this week.
Anyway, here's my suggestion on how we go about dividing plot/lore responsibility and creating a plot:
The GMing style (division of responsibilities) I'm most inclined towards is that the GM is basically a "player" that controls setting elements and NPCs that conflict with the main characters, and I react to the player characters' proactive decisions. As GM, I also pitched you guys the setting of Henzai no Kuni, and the idea of being "normal" girls involved in protecting an underground network. I think that in order for me to do my 3rd proper GM duty, spewing forth problems on the spot and facilitating the conflict that's the meat of an RP, I need to create a more detailed situation to spew forth problems from. I would like to involve y'all in this to make sure we're all excited about that situation.
If y'all are on board with the above paragraph, something I could do to help with situation creation is lift the idea of "kickers" from a game I like. (I'm lifting this from a TRPG, but
I don't want to lift the entire TRPG. I very much want this to stay a freeform RP, or as close to it as possible.) Kickers are mini-situations that are in your Shadow's life, fitting into the larger contexts of Umbra vs Henzai + dystopian futuristic Japan. These drive each Shadow into interesting situations, by making her act, possibly using magical girl powers/gear. They tend to go in this sort of format:
"This is happening in your life right now and requiring your reaction. How will you use your Shadow stuff to influence it?"
Optimally, that question has multiple interesting paths your character can go down. We would create and agree on a kicker for each Shadow together. I don't think this necessitates hard-restarting the RP; in fact, it's likely that we could involve current elements like Eri, Yuzu, and the Canada donut issue.
Anyway, this keeps you from having to wait on my characters to give yours directions in order to get into conflicts, and keeps me from having to do demanding amounts of plot prep. Creating kickers as detailed ways to make fountains of problems also makes it less likely that the RP will stagnate again, because it keeps characters in motion.
What are y'all's thoughts on this?
@Wolfsbane706 @Blighted_Agent @Boo Girlie BoomBoom @daird
