Chapterwise RPG

[Malte279]

Hi!
I've been thinking about giving a different kind of Role Play Game a try. How about an RPG in which people don't take the role of one character, but rather write "chapters" for the story of the game. In their individual chapters the authors would have complete controle over all the characters and events (within the rules of the game of course, no god-mode or the like). The next chapter needs to begin at the point where the last chapters stopped, or at least it mustn't alter anything about what happened before.
There are several possible advantages of such a kind of RPG.
-It is more likely to make a coherent story
-As everyone has controle over all characters in the own chapters it is less likely that there will be the kind of favoring characters which leads to very uneven distribution of actions
-It is easier this way to give the plot one direction while in the usual RPGs it often seems like the participants were all trying to "pull the plot" in opposite directions.
-We wouldn't end up with hundreds of posts of one or two lines of little content, but with chapters that are probably much more pleasant to read.
-The result would possibly be something like a fanfiction written by several autors. Of course we would have to agree on certain dos and don'ts of the plot, but I really think that we could make this a really interesting common project.

Who of you would like to give the chapter- rather than characterwise RPG a try?

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

This is a very new idea in RPGs, but I'm willing to give it a try.  Always good for new experiences.

[Malte279]

I'll just post a first chapter to give it a try. As a matter of fact I did post that chapter before, but took it down rather quickly again. Too quickly I think for some members to even notice it was there. Let's give it a try :-)
I suggest that we write the chapters as

quotes

while we write everyting else (the planning or stuff about the plot etc.) as normal messages.
I strongly suggest for this to be another attempt of a strictly LBT RPG as the chapterwise RPG may solve some of the problems that occured during the regular strictly LBT RPG.
Okay, here comes the first chapter, titled "The messenger"

The arrival of herds from the Mysterious Beyond was always a special event in the Great Valley. While the newcomers tended to be regarded as somewhat strange or restless by the inhabitants of the Great Valley, the dinosaurs of the Great Valley were in return considered as somewhat pampered and indolent by those who took the toils of long overland journeys. However, there had never been any real quarrel over this and whatever the dinosaurs of the Great Valley might think of the migrating herds, they certainly welcomed them with cheerful curiosity. Curiosity, for it were these herds that brought news, tales, stories from far distant places. The accuracy of some of the news could rightfully be questioned, but nevertheless it was a pleasure to listen to all that gossip and grand stories however unlikely they sounded. In a few cases herds even transported messages from far distant relatives of inhabitants of the Great Valley (though this was relatively rare as in most cases every living member of a given family was living in the Great Valley if a single member of that family did). Most herds however usually came by the Great Valley at certain times of the year and there were long gaps in between the arrival of the individual herds. Nevertheless there was an almost constant influx of some news, brought to the Valley by the flyers. The flyers usually wouldn't submit to any timetable and just flew wherever and whenever it it pleased them. Usually they came in small flocks (rarely more than one or two families), but very often they even came as lone individuals, a circumstance which would have given cause to lots of speculations in case of a lone arrival of any other, walking, kind.
And today there was such an arrival.
A single flyer, worn out from a long days flight, but visibly enjoying the attention he was receiving. Dinosaurs had flocked together around him almost the moment he had touched the ground after crossing the circle of mountains which the local dinosaur called "the Big Wall". The assembled dinosaurs had now listned for quite a while to the flyers stories many of which (as was quite common in case of the lone travellers) revolved around the narrators own heroics, which nobody for a moment believed to have happened exactly the way they were told. The bright circle was approaching the mountain tops and the sky began to turn red. Some of the bystanders began to scatter when all of a sudden the flyer made a gesture as if he had suddenly remembered something importent.
"Oh wait, there is one more thing. I was... asked to deliver a message to some of you. If this is indeed the place called 'Great Valley' by those who live here?"
Travellers rarely failed to point out their claims to have seen much greater places.
"Get on with it then!" grumbled one of the bystanders who was apparently still not used enough to that habbit not to get annoyed by it.
"It was a personal message which I am to deliver only to those the message is meant for." The flyer spoke with such an air of exaggerated conscientousness that it caused some banter and laughter in the back-rows which the flyer ignored phlegmatically.
"I was asked to deliver this message to...", suddenly the flyer seemed at a loss. Grinning sheepishly and abandoning all his solemnness he admitted: "So many names I don't recall a single one of them!"
This caused quite an outburst of laughter. Again the flyer ignored this as if they were laughing about something that didn't concern him at all. When the laughing had died down he said, scratching his head: "One of the names was something... with "little". Little... Little..."
"...foot?" A young threehorn from the crowd suggested.
"That's it!" The flyer called.
"That is you!" a little duckbilled dinosaur called. Looking up surprised at a young longneck beside whom she was standing. This longneck in turn stood next to the threehorn that had completed the name the flyer had been looking for.
"Yeah, that's him alright!" said the threehorn pushing the little longneck forwards.
"I know my name!" the longneck answered slightly annoyed. He was apparently surprised to receive a message from anyone. And so was the tiny flyer sitting on the longneck's head. "Who sends you message Littlefoot?" he asked. Before the longneck could say anything the threehorn turned to the messenger: "And is, by any chance, one of the other names Cera?"
"Indeed!" the flyer nodded eagerly. "That would be you?"
"How do you know?" the threehorn asked apparently pleased that she too was to receive the message.
"Well, I was told that there was a very boastful young threehorn and..."
"What?" Cera called annoyed. "Boastful?"
"What's the message?" Littlefoot asked quickly, obviously trying to distract Cera from getting annoyed.
"And who sent it?" asked Cera withstanding the attempt to be distracted about her annoyance about anyone who called her boastful.
"And for whom else is the message?" asked the little duckbilled dinosaur eagerly. "Is it also for Ducky, Petrie and Spike? Is it?"
"Now you got them all. I think thats everyone the message is for", the flyer said.
"We are all here!" The duckbilled dinosaur said. "Yep, yep, yep, we are! I am Ducky and this...", she pointed at a young spiketail standing right behind her, "...is Spike."
"So you are Petrie?" the messenger asked looking at the tiny flyer on Littlefoot's head.
"Yes he is!" Cera said impatiently. "Now are we going to hear the message or..."
"Of course", the messenger cut her short. "But it is meant only for the five of you."

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

That would certainly take a lot of planning to do chapters.  It may be workable (in my opinion) if we take turns in writing chapters, like if someone has an idea for the next chapter, he/she can ask to reserve that spot in advance to avoid any conflict.  Anyone agree or disagree?

[F-14 Ace]

The problem I'm worried about is that I'm not to sure about other people playing  my personal characters.

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

If you have a problem with someone playing with your personal chars in this kind of RPG, then you don't need to play them in it.  As Malte said, it will be a strict RPG practically around the main chars.  If anyone wants to let their own chars played by other people, it is fine as long as the chars are well-known, or the players are brought the info on their characteristics.  If they don't want to share, then it's fine with the rest of us.  We ain't going to drag you kicking and screaming.