hey dude i mean this in the nicest possible way but have you possibly considered that you're looking in the wrong places for this kind of rp and you could find a lot of very vibrant rp communities that will gladly do this just not in primarily animanga forum rp? this is like the backbone of every mmo rp.

honestly think this cuts to the crux of the matter with rp ratings and what's allowed perfectly.

if you consider it more of a rating system of what you might find akin to a game being rated PEGI E > 18, it works a lot better as each site will have specifics that it does not want and these are clearly lined out in the rules. not every movie has everything that could make it 18+, but they would still be 18+ - speaking from experience a lot of people would like the room to explore more complex topics that would not be suitable for children and don't want to have smut roaming wild on their forums.

i personally think that anything not outlined as banned in the rules that isn't completely in the pale is fair game though, if it fits the setting. as someone who likes to include a good bit horror and dark material in their characters and plotlines, I have run into people asking me to tone down some of the more extreme things and that is completely fine, or including trigger warnings. i prefer the latter because i'd rather not change things, but i don't mind slapping cw eye trauma, suicidal ideation on a post.

on a final note, i don't think that "no holds barred" is actually a realistic expectation for an rp. there will always be something that someone doesn't like exploring or want to see, and when people find that they are personally allowed to back away from exploring that. there's no need to police what other people write naturally, but people are allowed to be squicked out by things and request them to be tagged/not explored with them.

hello it's me the queen of "playing games a full year after their release and peak cinema"
aka i finally played the thaumaturge
i love a game that really says "oh you wanna indulge in pride? great. have fun not making ANY decisions from now on" i appreciate the balls of the game to do that i really do. wiktor my beloved asshole i want to set u on fire

in a year ill have some actual opinions on da:v that isn't "this should of been a crpg instead of mass effect fantasy edition"

hello, im popping just an "im not dead update".

progress report:
> the site is almost ready to go, we're simply doing some formatting and working with the logistics of hosting sheets that is giving me a headache
> we should have a beta soon, which may or may not be public
> i just back from a 2 week trip to the us & im trying to finish ucob before fru releases so im a little busy
> im trying to get back into the swing of things

hopefully we will still be able to release in november as planned :3 thank u for bearing with me <3

im so excited for it to come to pc :feral: let me hunt again!!!!

all bow down before me and my ability to predict the release of games from things that people could use to tell when they'd be released regardless
mh wilds coming out in february i called it i cannot wait

i don't mind all three honestly. they all have their drawbacks and positives.

statless is only really something that i enjoy when im roleplaying with close friends/people who understand the need for l arcs. i've seen it devolve into arguing or people being frustrated with people refusing to lose. but i would prefer statless to soft stats personally.

soft stats are okay, but a lot of people implement soft stats as a way to implement random chance but also do not allow roll modifiers and therefore don't actually allow characters to express their skills. i think this is genuinely pointless and isn't fun because yes, i can write a character that has strengths and drawbacks, but there will be a point where the dice simply do not reflect that and i instead have to find a way to roleplay a character in a situation where logically they never would be.

a lot of people don't have the experience with making ttrpgs/stat systems to understand how to make soft stats work. which isn't a criticism really- designing games is hard and designing rps is hard.

hard stats is my personal favourite because of the building. i like having character reflected on my sheet with what they are good at, and when they roll they have a higher chance of succeeding. i like the randomness, i enjoy combat etc. etc. i do think that you should not roll for conversations/social interactions between players, but i do think that having people put their thoughts into their sheet and building a unique character is something that a lot of people enjoy more than they think that they will personally.

but also. im a minmaxer. i love making fun builds. crunching numbers is so fun (love playing pathfinder and getting a +18 to a roll. i feel like a god.)

finally, ff16 on pc. i am going to bury my head in clive rosfield's tits and never return

oh this was made for my insufferable ass i am sat down

you touch on a really on a interesting point as someone who has roots in xiv rp too (and god above, i hated it, mean girl central) yes, of course you won't let an entire server join bc that is thousands of people. but i have successfully ran a plot for an fc of around 50 people where they got all have their plots and moments because they bought in and understood boundaries so it really is just finding people and setting their expectations correctly. i stated earlier somewhere that i think a lot of people curtail their more ambitious plans bc people might take advantage of it - and my answer is that bans and blocks exist for a reason. you should just enjoy yourself and go for it!!!!! it'll look different for everyone.

personally, i have zero experience with sol. i am a hater, if there is not dragons or lovecraftian influences in my rp then what am i doing. i come at this as always from a solely original rp perspective so i can't really speak as to SOL cliqueness.

to riff off of my beloved wife and op, i agree with xeno wholeheartedly, but i wanna add my two cents to it regardless bc im insufferable and have a lot of thoughts on this lol.

i think the way op describes character/plot-driven is kind of setting everything up for disaster because they're positioned as opposites and i don't think that's necessarily true. character plots should be encouraged even in a plot-focused rp, and they should be able to run alongside the main plot with stakes and the power to affect the mainline plot. writing and roleplaying are collaborative by their very nature and every character should get their MC moment - to do that, you need people to get invested and buy in with their own personal plots which you can then, as staff, reward with helping them get there.

i've noticed as well that a lot of sandboxes are not actually sandboxes. they are sandboxes in that they have no plot and the members are expecting to create it out of thin air, but the admins don't actually want to let the players have complete powers over their setting and change things. now, i completely understand not wanting to have your setting ruined (i'm finishing up vanaheimr right now for a november release after my holidays, and i'm quite proud of my worldbuilding thank you.); but if you don't provide plots/a reason for people to be engaged with your roleplay then they will inevitably get bored and there cannot be the same amount buy in.

i noticed somewhere that kuroya noted that people are busier and less invested, this is true. but maybe it's a cycle - there are sites that are easier to set up, so people join them bc there's nothing else. there's not much for them to do there, so they leave. so the sites close down. people think there's no point making something with an in-depth plot, so they don't make them. i am a notorious slice of life hater, if i wanted to have casual little rps i would go to nightclubs/cafes in ffxiv instead tbh, but i think post by post rps are naturally suited to extensive plotting and wordplay craft more than any other rp medium, including ttrpgs.

so, getting back to the idea of character driven/plot driven. i think that there needs to at least be a site plot (the site plot can be something incredibly simple mind you) that gives characters something to react to and be dynamic. not every site plot needs to be a world ending event or complex political landscape, but i feel that giving players at least something to play with outside their control is genuinely a good thing to do. like xeno said, dropping players into a world without any direction is a recipe for boredom. i've been a dm for 10+ years and i would never simply leave my players in somewhere like waterdeep or barovia without at least something to hook them in and get them engaged, even if that's something as minor as a barfight or a thief in alleyway, or as world threatening as a red dragon.

yes, not everyone is interested in SOL. but also by the same token, people do want plots and not sandboxes. gatcha games are wrong with a lot of things in the video game industry - they did not kill rp though.

if it makes you feel any better, they may just want you in the signing so that they can make their new fc and then give you some gil for the trouble of it. a lot of people end up doing it. i wouldn't worry, they might have chased you up if you accidentally left their fc and asked you to rejoin. there's plenty of fcs out there , you should be able to join one without much issue - they're always recruiting

it's pretty gender-neutral i guess so i like it. i used to hate it and wanted a more masculine name but im happy with it, it's whatever. in a parallel universe tho they would have called me georgina and i would have gone by george (and then jordi. bc i love that fuckin fish)