That being said, if the Pirates adventures were revived (and other such RP's created) I would most certainly join, mainly because through all the years I've been on the forum I've heard them referenced and my curiosity has been piqued. (And Fish made it sound really neat.)
That would be awesome! It really is was fun as it sounds and more!
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Please forgive my long post, and please excuse me if I repeat myself or ramble off in a different direction. My thoughts sometimes don't gather themselves as neatly as I'd like...
Here are some of my (Lengthy) thoughts on this RPG discussion.
First let me just say that any RPG I've ever been in, by their nature, (and especially with a diminished active forum member count) have been slow moving and they take time to do anything. That means there might be a day or (shocker!) even two where nothing
major would happen... and that's okay! That's the nature of the game.
I think Elf of the Grey Havens said it best when he once said: "Don't expect constant action. 75% of this game, maybe more, is planning, planning, training, and planning. 1% is action. The other 24% is "(Ten Thingy)"
There seems to be a lot of discussion about characters holding up the story.
We never had too much of a problem with that with the pirates and I think I can pin point some of the reasons why:
Everyone had one* character, and every character was
just as important as every other character. Although we had the top ranking pirates (The Fearless Five and the evil Wizard), none of them were so indispensable and crucial that the storyline couldn't move on without them.
(*A word on the One Character rule: Each person had their own character and they controlled that character’s fate. No one else could: kill, injure or move that person’s character without their permission. Multiple characters weren’t allowed, expect for one exception. A person could create a secondary character that supports the personal story arc of their main character. The secondary character must play a supporting role only. For example: If you decided your character has a long lost younger sister, you can create that character and you control their fate. But you couldn’t “talk” or “think” as that character. You’d have to talk through the eyes and thoughts of your MAIN character at all times. Your secondary character could only support the main character. (However people could create background “Faceless” characters that anyone could use.)
There was usually a “big picture” story idea (Just an idea and basic plans of what might happen, not specifics on how we’d get there), but ANYONE could start their own side storylines, so there was usually more than one thing people could talk about.
Let's look at some examples of people disappearing. Say this happened:
THOMAS: *Boards the Black Spot and spots Fish working on fixing a leaky barrel.* Aha! So we meet again Fish! I swore I would have vengeance on you one day, and that day is TODAY!! *Thomas draws his cutlass and points it at Fish*
FISH: *crickets* (Fish is offline)
Now, the thread wouldn't just pause there for days as we wait for Fish to come back and respond. Instead this is what would probably have happened.
MACHIA: From his perch in the crow’s nest, Machia saw the flash of steel in Thomas's hand. The next second, he was on his way down the riggings, drawing the pistol from his belt. The First Mate hit the deck running and came to a halt right behind Thomas, pistol raised. "Arrr, ye picked the wrong ship, matey."
Thomas: *Whirls around to face Machia instead*
So that's one example. Someone else would come and insert their character into the mix.
Let's see another example: Let's say the Pirates came to the climax of a battle with the Wizard and suddenly the user controlling the wizard just disappeared.
First of all, there would be another storyline going on. So there would still be activity from other people.
Second, the pirates would use that disappearance in the story itself. But only AFTER giving the user time to respond.
So here's what might happen if the wizard disappeared in the middle of a battle with the pirates. We all chill for a day or so. Then we’d probably discuss with each other what we wanted to do. I can think of two options on how you could continue:
OPTION 1:
Captain Aravis: Where... where did the Wizard go? He was here a minute ago!
Twilight: He just disappeared into thin air! What trickery is this?
Machia: Everyone back to the ship!
This wouldn’t be using someone's character. It would be making up a logical excuse for his absence. You never force the character to do something; you would just make a logical excuse for their absence.
Or let’s say it wasn’t a wizard or someone who would typically disappear. Let’s say we’re fighting a Calormene warrior and the user just dropped off the forum. First we wait…
OPTION 2:
Suddenly the ground began to quake and beneath the Pirates feet. Machia stumbled but managed to regain his footing and steady himself. He and Twilight both turned their pistols towards the warrior, but Captain Aravis was soon in more trouble. The cliff edge she was standing on started to crumble away. Tossing her cutlass aside she managed to grab onto a tree root at the last second.
“Arrrr, Cap’n!!” Machia shouted as he and Twlight sprinted over to the Captain.
The Earth gave another violent termer, and without any time to react all three pirates went tumbling down the embankment.
And so when the Wizard/Warrior came back, he would find his character right where he was left, but at the same time he could expect the story to have progressed and he would just roll with the new twist or convince the others to go back to that time.
Now the reason we'd do it this was was because everyone’s character was completely tied to the real life forum user. What happens to the user affects the character. So let's say if the user was suddenly banned, their character would disappear from the game too, no matter what the consequences. (Back to, no character was ever considered so important that the game would stop if they weren't there.) If someone had a question for the captain and she wasn't around, we'd make excuses like, "I don't know where the Captain is; perhaps she be resting. What can I help ye with?" and everyone moves on.
Again I think that’s one of the biggest differences the Pirates had from other games and what made it one of the longest running and best beloved RPGs of all time. Because the characters weren’t just throwaway characters, they were extensions of the person controlling them, with real completely unique backgrounds. Even today, five years later, every time I talk to QA48 (Our Pirate captain) on Facebook, text or in person I still call her Captain and she still calls us “Mateys” or calls Liz Fish. It wasn’t just a game, it was more like a club or… a team, an actual crew! There was a sense of community and pride that I never experienced in any other RPG (And I did try a couple others)
Another reason why we didn’t have too many problems with people disappearing and holding up a story was because a character almost NEVER went anywhere by themselves. The pirates almost always moved as a crew, or in small groups of two or more. So there was always SOMEONE around to deal with anything that came up. Characters could, say, walk off into the woods by themselves, but if something were to go wrong, other characters were always in the area to help out if needed.
Also, if someone was going to have a prolonged absence, they might arrange with someone to “watch over” their character, but that was up to the individual people if they wanted to do that. So they could set up a “dopple-ganger” if they wanted to, but I think that sort of thing should be left up to the individual person.
And a final reason the game wasn’t often held up, (I think I already mentioned this.. sorry!) the game was “run” by more than one person and the STORY was created by everyone, not just the leaders. There was always more than one “leader” who helped plot in which direction the story MIGHT go. So they could try to steer the story off on another path if everyone seemed to be in a rut. But at the same time, anyone could start a new storyline and see if anyone was interested in it. Some storylines worked and some just fizzled out. So there was always something going on.
(The “leaders” of the thread had two basic functions: 1. Brainstorm, put forward, and help people execute, new plot directions and ideas. 2. Police their threads and step in if needed to make sure no one runs rampant in their thread. So if someone showed up and started destroying the ship and blowing everyone up, (Which was against the rules) the leader would post something like:
"ooc: Um..... No. You can't do that. That was complete godmodding. You have to give us a chance to react. "
Then the leader would post something in character, completely ignoring the last "illegal" post and taking the story back to before the other person started destroying the ship. And if the person continued being a nuisance they would find a mod.)
Ok, I'm done now!