Kurotsune

ohmygodallofthesearesogood You've just established yourself as my avatar guy. Hope you're ready.

Two things: First of all, this is a non-profit project subsided solely on voluntary work. If it does take ten years, so it will; We're all working for free here, I think we at least have the right to take our time. Second, we haven't been working on 15 over the last "3~4 months". We were working on 14.5, which just released. 15's development has barely started.

Also what? I can't see what you posted for some reason.

Somehow I feel like there's something weird about this thread... But I can't quite tell what... Hm. You better not be trying to escape, Amethyst

Hi, suggest me an avatar. I'm curious. PS: I really like this one

This idealistic new system has existed for decades. It's not too optimistic to work, it has been proven to. Several global companies employ it. The most famous one is Google, but there are literally hundreds of others. As for "people who want to succeed don't get attention" either the person is doing something wrong, or they're not putting enough effort in. Tl;dr, if you put everything of yourself into what you do, and you do what you really want to do, all other pieces fall in place as long as you don't let yourself be anchored to circumstance. In other words, if you're in a job with absolutely no way of going up, work on getting another job and then quit. It's pointless to stay in it. Also, just because there are people who believe the dead-end system is better doesn't make it so. Mind you, wanting a job only for money doesn't necessarily make you a supporter of the parasitic system - And I honestly can't imagine a person who wants to work somewhere they hate, where they won't ever develop, and where they won't ever be happy. But then, that's the "slave" parallel mentality. The parasitic system's worked and still works because there are people who yearn for it. If you truly want to write, write. If all authors gave a single shit about disapproving counselors, we'd not have many of the masterpieces we do. Rather, exactly because those authors disregarded their overwhelmingly small odds of major success, and poured sweat and blood into their work, that they managed to succeed. There are so many examples of people who succeeded simply by finding what they loved and fully dedicated themselves to it that following your ideal career is basically considered common knowledge. Lastly, it's mediocrity that allows the outstanding to stand out. If not for those who are content with being simply average, the ones who are above it wouldn't appear as such. It's only because there is a base for comparison exists. I've seen the same kind of thing in my entire life, and the fact that mentality exist and predominates is exactly why most new workers at the company I work for are taken aback by the way the company works. Just because a mentality exists it doesn't mean it should be followed nor that all hope in the alternative should be lost. Quite the contrary: if you conform to the predominant mentality, you are effectively collaborating in spreading this tradition of error to future generations.

First, allow me to mention some things about this thread. This thread was initially a pseudo-rant I wrote because of personal/work-related issues. After receiving feedback about it, I've decided to follow the suggestion to make this a thread on it's own right; It has no initial purpose other than serving as an outlet for me to discuss something ever more relevant in today's world: The difference between being merely tolerated and actually being accepted, and how that has translated into society and the market. Before I begin, however, I think it's important for me to mention a little bit of my own work experience, so people know where I'm coming from and where my conclusions are born from. I won't name the company I work for currently due to a simple, and annoying, legal reason. If I were to "out" myself publicly as an employee of this company, I would have to add to my profile and every single one of my posts that my opinion doesn't reflect the company's opinions, and that'd be really, really annoying to do. I will say this, however; It's a global company that has developed greatly in the last few years, and it's widely considered one of the best companies in the world to work for. My point here is not to toot my own horn, but a lot of things I will mention here are taken from actual experience working for this company, so I think it's important to establish as much about this company as I can. It's not a widely known fact, but for a while now, companies have been separated by two models. The aptly named old and new models, though personally, I refer to them as the "parasitic" (old) and "symbiotic" (new) models. Hopefully, the explanation on each model will explain why I chose to name them such. The old model is the model widely employed by companies before the industrial revolution, and is characterized by a separation of workers, managers and owners in a way that can be paralleled to slavery. First we have the slave, the basic worker. Their main characteristics are as follows: - Profound distaste for work - Little to no motivation to work - Mediocre to abysmal work performance - Their biggest focus is "getting it over with". Secondly, we have the manager. Their parallel is the foreman. Their main characteristics are as follows: - No actual skill - Their only job is to make sure others are working - Effectively paid to do nothing but nag at others all day - Impersonal. The cliched boss. - Very rarely recognize or encourage personal development at work. Lastly, we have the CEO. Their parallel is the master. Their main characteristics are as follows: - No actual interest in the company other than how much money they make - No actual interest in individual workers - Very rarely communicate or interact with their workers - Only care about the development of the company: The workers are a tool to further the company. This example is used widely to reflect how we have in fact not developed as a society. Slavery has changed it's name and hid itself behind the guise of minimum-wage jobs, it's still there. So what's the new model? The new model recognizes everything we do already is or eventually will be replaced by technology. In my own field, I watch this at a staggering pace. Not even five years ago, computer languages weren't half as capable or as fast as they are today. Nowadays, one of my personal friends has developed a system that allows anyone to program without any knowledge using a simple flowchart assembly system, completely bypassing the need for a programmer to begin with. After the mandatory jokes about how he was effectively trying to get me fired, this system - his Masters' Degree thesis - sparked among us a conversation about the value of the individual in a modern, industrialized world. Knowledge is no longer important. It was, one day. Knowledge was the commodity of the old world. But now, knowledge is readily available. To clarify, one must understand what knowledge is. Knowledge is merely one's capacity to memorize information. It's not related to how intelligent a person is, but rather, how good that person is at remembering this. And despite popular belief, one is not connected to the other. Put simply, everything I know can be found, researched, and learned online. Even my opinions on this particular matter, from the moment I press "Post New Topic" are readily available for anyone who wants to read them. It's not what I know that makes me unique, nor is it that validates me as an individual or as a worker. It's who I am. Our discussion led then to the point that no longer workers are recognized by their knowledge, but rather by their ability to innovate. This is backed up by the new market model. Innovation is the key to personal growth. It's the key to a career. It's the key to life. I've seen too many colleagues fail because they failed to understand this. The "get it over with" mentality is in the past, and anchoring oneself to it will only drag you to the bottom of the sea. It's often said professors and doctors are underrated. That they are not paid nearly as much as they should be. Why does Brad Pitt, whose function is merely to entertain, gain more than a doctor? Simple. There's only one Brad Pitt. There are millions of doctors. Let's put this differently: If Brad Pitt dies, a new Brad Pitt won't appear to take his place. If a doctor dies, they will be replaced. In the new market model, what you do is not as important as who you are. Before Brad Pitt was someone, before he earned the right to be someone, he was a minimum-wage actor. Similarly, there are doctors that cannot be replaced. As an example, let's discuss Benjamin Carson. He is the first neurosurgeon in history to separate twins joined at the head. His technique has become paramount in neurosurgery and he is widely studied and praised for his outstanding work in his field. (( Side-Note: Yes, I am aware he is one of the republican candidates for 2016 and an avid conservationist. I'm a liberal myself, an I don't believe or agree with his political views. This said, the fact that his accomplishments in neurosurgery are memorable supersedes his political opinion or candidacy. To finish, I don't endorse him in any way as a candidate. )) If Ben Carson were to die, he couldn't be replaced. Another Neurosurgeon would not go on to achieve his accomplishments, or write his books, or deliver his speeches. That's because Ben Carson innovated. He went beyond the call of duty. He didn't do only what he could do or only what his pay-grade deserved. He had ambitions and dreams, and set out to accomplish them. Perhaps this is not a convincing example. Let me use another one. One day, I was talking to Amethyst about her academic accomplishments. This discussion moved on to the subject of dedication, and eventually settled on Pokémon Reborn. Amethyst chose a job not that would further her career, but giver her opportunity. She showed, in fact, indifference to death as long as she finished her dream: Starlight Divide. That is new model thinking. That's the worker who puts everything they are into work. People who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their dreams. Dreams are the commodity of the new world. No one cares about where you graduated anymore. The individuals, the companies who want to truly grow, they want to know your ambitions. How much would you sacrifice for your dreams? The market sees things this way now, and whether or not you believe or agree with me or the concept is irrelevant to the facts; Constantly, bigger companies are seeking people who are leaders, not workers. People who innovate. People who dream. A true leader cares about people individually. They learn how to interact with their workers instead of simply demanding from them work. They want to develop others and they want to accept others, and they want to develop dreams. A true leader won't shun someone for who they are, but they will rather learn to work with it. They make the workplace better by being there for the individuals, for the people, rather than simply being there for workers. So I posit, Reborn. Dare dream. Dare be ambitious. Don't settle for being a worker, be an individual. Before you can be you, earn the right to be you. Show the world you are an individual. Show the world you matter. Don't let yourself fade away.

With this, episode 14.5 is complete. It's no understatement to say that getting all the code in was a difficult task. In fact, one I couldn't have possibly have completed on my own. Because of this I personally asked to be allowed to head a small development team on my own terms so that I could better manage the list of things that had to be done with the larger chunk of development in Pokemon Reborn. Understand, despite significant work put into by myself, as well as Amethyst and the rest of the staff, to finish all the bulk of coding that needed to be put in the game - So that the focus of the team could switch to hopefully bug fixing and removing the most glaring errors within the game - There was still a lot to do. With a goal set out to have all these implementations in by episode 14.5, a more minutiae organization of the list of implementations was needed. I've work experience in heading a small team of developers of this sort, so I requested to be given leave to add some to the development team so that we could process more easily the large amount of things left to implement and fix. I don't expect it to come as a surprise to anyone that my first choice was Jericho. His dedication to this community has been paramount, especially in the last few months, to ensure everything went smoothly. In addition to that, his responsibilities piled up from behind the scenes as me and Amethyst, with this decision to add him as the first member of my team, started to request his aid in several aspects of the development. Jericho has delivered, and in fact, the entire development team has. A lot of work has been put into delivering this latest episode not only as fast as it could, but as well as staying to the high quality standards Amethyst has held the game for the nearly three months I've been part of the team, officially or otherwise. I've decided thus to create this thread with the objective of announcing, officially, that this separate development team has been made. How much this team will expand as well how many more responsibilities it may take are still up to discussion. For now, know this: We've decided to do as best as we can to streamline the development process of Pokemon Reborn, and although I'd like to avoid making any claims I may not be able to follow up upon, I can very safely state that at the current speed the development is going through, and with the current effort put into it by the development team, we can expect the episodes to be much more refined in terms to game coding, and perhaps even more intermediate patch releases as coding gets done at a faster rate. The team has worked around the clock to guarantee the implementations were properly tested and implemented. In fact, myself and Jericho spent almost all of our Sunday yesterday testing and re-coding moves and abilities to try and fix the most glaring bugs before this release. We have still a lot to go, but I'm confident that if the team can maintain it's morale and continue the hard work that's been put in the game, we will soon achieve our intended goal of having all moves, abilities and items implemented and working, something that will hopefully allow us to give back to the Pokemon game community in general by giving back the code once it is properly functional. Of course, there'd be no point to all of this if not for the continued support the game and the development team has. Therefore I'd like to thank all of you for your assistance and your patience with the development of the game, as well as your diligence in identifying and reporting bugs and errors, as well as those that aid in the recovery of broken save files. Episode 14.5 has been released in it's Beta stage, and we've high hopes that we'll be able to roll out the actual release soon. Thank you all for your support and your assistance. And I hope that, soon enough, you will enjoy your game.

You're wrong. It was long stabilished that Solaris was the leader of team meteor until quite recently and has been replaced by Lin, and he in fact opposes her methods. This also supported in game and shown rather straight-fowardly. Lin is all about power (Just look at her catchphrase; She literally says she's going to show Saphira true power or whatever) and her objective is to seize power for herself. That much is fact. My speculation below: On the other side of the coin, Solaris has claimed he simply wishes to get rid of everyone in Reborn city. He's obviously not above any types of methods to achieve this, but I believe the difference thus lies in this fact: Solaris' objective seems to be awakening Arceus so he'll get rid of Reborn City, Lin's seems to be awakening Arceus to control it's power.

Asgall doesn't bother yelling commands. Moving with amazing speed, the wall of a man surges forward, twin axes striking cleanly one of the werewolves as it prepared to attack the noblewoman. The creature is thrown back, now sporting two large gashes in it's chest, and roars with bloodlust-filled fury. Asgall's men immediately get in position and begin pelting the other werewolf with gunshots, to moderate effect. The creatures seem wary now, and begin glancing around them to define an escape route. "Lads, if they escape, prepare to move" Asgall exclaims, twirling his axes in his hands as he stares deep into the creature he bled. The werewolf roars and whimpers due to it's wounds, his companion howling in unison. It's clear that soon the others will be upon the party; Time is of the essence.

"You don't get your sword!" The imp chortles in glee. "Are you really going to miss this opportunity? This weapon is special you see? It'd make you unique!" The creature exlaims, gesticulating madly while pointing at the man. "Not to mention, who said he was innocent? No one's ever claimed anything of the sort! no sir!" The creature chuckles again, then stares at the man fervently. "Make your choice." The creature giggles slightly at being poked, then snaps back to reality. "Wait! I've a super-duper important request to ask of you! Please, please, please pretty pretty please with a cherry on top, listen to me, yes yes!" The creature wails and flails cutely in an attempt to attract attention to itself. "A creature named the Rübezahl, an ogre, is terrorizing my people! Please, please oh please, help us! Slay the creature! He's just over there!" The small fae points to an opening in the meadow that leads to a steep mountainside. Huh. Pretty sure that wasn't there a second ago. Oh well. "Please please oh goodness please, you must help us!" The creature points in a seemingly random direction: "That way! It's that way!" And you're off on your way. ...Yet you don't take two steps and a gigantic sandworm emerges from the sand and swallows you whole. You're vaguely reminded of another game by this same developer where your character, an archer-priestess hybrid, was swallowed whole by a gigantic sea-dragon. I guess this is a recurring theme, or maybe someone's decided to single you out. Who knows? Either way, time to start improvising. With a small whimper, the fae is no more. The creature dissolves into the ground, and a coconut falls in your face. It hits you, bonks to the ground, cracks open, and uh... You can see... A city inside of it? Man, these people are smoking some crazy stuff to make this game. Intrigued, you pick the coconut up aaaaaaaand you're sucked inside of it. Huh. You initially muse that the sensation of squeezing through such an incredibly small space must be what being born feels like. And then you immediately realize your life was a lot better not knowing how being born feels like. Well, you recognize the place; This is Crescendia, one of the Moon Citadels. Deep inside the privacy of your mind, you find it oddly fitting that you'd end up here. A message appears in front of you. "Please report to the magician's guild to proceed"; Followed by an arrow that seems to move as you do, likely showing the position of the guild. I guess it's time to move. The imp immediately flies to the side, shooting you an enraged glare "How dare you!" It starts. "I kindly point you in the right direction and you reply by attacking me?! Why, I oughta...!" A second strike of your weapon bonks it in the head, crushing it against the floor. The imp vanishes in an all too familiar glimmer of dust. I guess, next time, he oughta get oughta your way. The woman sleeping in front of you marvelously splits in half, her insides seemingly composed of shiny-gooey stuff. And then inside of her you see a city. This game just... Gets weirder and weirder. Well. You approach the portal and the woman "closes" on you, sending you spiraling through her in something that is technically a level of intimacy no human being has ever experienced, you reckon, but then again you are discussing a pseudo-AI, so who knows. You appear in the city of Wanya, one of the four moon citadels. "Please proceed to the magician's guild" appears in front of your character. Well, finally, you get to get this over with.

I've the phobia of telling people my phobias. *faints*

The balance between being a harsh and a lenient host is one most people struggle with. The problem with bending rules is regardless of whether people realize it or not, at the moment that happens nothing else is sacred. "X got Y, so why can't I?" That's I like to use a choice and consequence system. If a player wants to do something that makes them stand out and be special, go for it! But when the big bad realizes you're special and stand out and decides to kill you first, don't complain. But as mentioned in the guide, that's rather reliant on a DM being willing to play the part of reality. So as alternative, my go-to suggestion is to keep a hidden set of rules written somewhere - Usually with plot information - and remind yourself to always stick to those lest your story suffer.

No, Jelly is in fact a jaded teenage girl. (Yes, it's a joke)

Greetings. Creating your own world and plot to tell a tale is probably one of the most complicated aspects of roleplaying. The difference between a good and a bad host is the diference between a good and a bad story. One will flourish, and the other, well, will wither and die as interest fades. Now, I don't claim to be good host, or a good worldbuilder, or even a good writer or storyteller - Which is probably not a good way to introduce myself within the context of this guide - However, I have many years of roleplaying under my belt and I have seen and done a lot of different things in this art to consider myself a veteran of sorts. I've condensed my experiences and the conclusions I took from them below. Hopefully, if you've interest in hosting, they will help you. One thing to know about hosting is that it goes beyond merely writing a story. A host needs to know how to guide the party to the objectives they've set out for them, because if let alone, the players tend to wander. Because of this, experienced hosts have a plethora of different techniques they use to attract attention back to them and therefore to the objective at hand. I will explain these and give a few examples further down, but now the most important thing to discuss is hosting style. Style is a very significant part of roleplaying in general. Normally, as a player, you have your own quirks. Some people roleplay in the third person, some in the first. Some alternate. Some people prefer to be objective and straight to the point with their character reactions, others like to describe the soft flutter of a butterfly's wings or detail the pattern a particularly leaf makes as it softly glides it's way to the ground. This is blown out of proportion when it comes to hosting. Because the host is such an important part of how the story is told, the way they choose to interact with their players in their posts will directly and majorly affect how the game develops. The hosts sets the tone and the pace of the scene. Their posts can force players to detail their actions or to compose shorter responses. If a host likes to have a turn order, the game tends to move slowly. If a host favors quick and short back-and-forth interaction between two or multiple characters, the game tends to give off the impression of a faster pace, though it may not be the case. While all this boils down to personal preference, the direct interaction with the players - in other words, the host's posts themselves - will undeniably always fall in one of three patterns: The player, the narrator and the puppetmaster. The player is a host that composes characters that directly interact or participate in the party. Also known as DMPCs, these characters are usually used to subtly (or sometimes explictly) nudge the players back on track. The player is a complicated hosting style because the host needs to detach themselves from the character they're playing. Put in a situation where you are effectively the god of an imaginary world, it's hard to not make your characters seem to be special... Or as they're better known in the roleplaying community, a Mary sue. Because of this, I'd personally not suggest this to a first-time host. And even experienced hosts at times have difficulty balancing their own characters with the rest of the world. An example of a player host that I can provide is my own series, Gaelach Basm, a story with a huge focus on character development and character interaction, remaining as true as can be to the archetype. The narrator follows a much more indirect means of interaction with the player characters. Detached from the main narrative, the narrator acts as a storyteller, merely stating how the world reacts to the players' actions. The narrator is the most passive of all three styles, and their focus is mainly on acting as the world itself rather than a particular NPC. While the narrator may occasionaly control an NPC, even then it's words and actions are described in a much less personal way than a character is usually portrayed. The narrator is a pretty good style for hosts just starting out. In good hands the narrator can spin around it a living, breathing world; but if badly executed, they can make the story seem slow, stagnant and uninteresting. For a good example of a narrator, of course, you need not look any further than Hukuna’s own Graterras, a world in peril series. A perfect example of how a powerful narrator can make or break a tale, Hukuna’s ability at detailing his descriptions almost runs the risk of completely outshining and outclassing his players. A mixture of the other two, the puppetmaster stands as a narrator that controls the world, plot and characters in minutia, usually having several different characters, overlapping storylines, and weaving complex tales. The puppetmaster is controlling by nature. They manipulate the story to guarantee it will move the way they wish, and they usually alternate between styles to better adapt to the situation at hands. The most complex and difficult of the three, the puppetmaster stands as the most effective and interesting storytellers, and are capable of creating the most interesting and memorable stories of all; Their biggest strenght can be their downfall, however, as the puppermaster's controlling nature can lead to frustration when things don't go their way, and their actions can border on dictatorial or authoritarian, making the players feel like they don't have a choice in their actions, which is the quickiest way to kill any interest in a game. While my true go-to style, I’ve yet to see a good example of a puppetmaster within the forums, and neither have I made a game using that particular type of narration. That said, Stratos’ as of yet unreleased reboot, the Exodus: The Sons of Hope series seems to have all the common aspects of a puppermaster narration: Large amount of character background and information, as well as a large cast of NPC characters that allow the host to take an active approach to storytelling without ever actually joining the party. It's important to understand and know all styles, and choose the one that betters fits you. While some styles are described as better than others, remember that is based on my own opinions and experiences. I stand by the fact that any writing style at all, if done properly, will weave an amazing tale. With the style of narration decided, it’s time to craft the world. Worldbuilding is arguably the most important aspect of any roleplay, and widely considered the hardest one. Personally, I disagree, and I will elaborate on what I believe to be the hardest part of hosting down below. For now, let’s describe what worldbuilding entails. I normally separate two things: Plot and Setting. Plot is the story of your game. How it will proceed and how it will be played. Setting is the world the game is located in. Both are simple in concept, and yet entail very much more in practice. Much like everything else when it comes to hosting, worldbuilding is very subjective in nature, often the point where most hosts disagree on. I will explain a bit of my own guidelines when it comes to worldbuilding, as well as discuss the pros and cons of my own style as we go along. I’d like to open this space for other hosts to detail how they choose to approach worldbuilding; Send it to me on a PM and I will add it to this post and credit the original writer. Kurotsune’s Worldbuilding Steps: Well, with worldbuilding done, we’re free to start our RP! So I guess we’re done here, right? I mean, you’ve sat through nearly 1800 words (probably more when/if more worldbuilding tips are added) already, so you deserve a break! Nope. Sit back down, we’ve a while to go still. After worldbuilding is done you’re indeed free to release your game to be joined and starting, but then we enter something just as importantly – And what I personally consider the hardest part of hosting – the actual hosting. As the name implies, the host has to keep their players entertained, and several different techniques are employed to that effect. Before I describe them, as well as my own, I will first describe the opposite case: What I’ve observed to be the reasons why most RPs who fail, do. 1 -> Lazy worldbuilding: A direct consequence of my own worldbuilding style, lazy worldbuilding is a huge issue for hosts who don’t fully flesh out a world before letting their players enter it. Once the players are in uncharted terrain and the host is under pressure to effectively create a new setting much faster, corners tend to be cut, and writing tends to get sloppy. At this point, it’s not unusual for interest to slowly die off, with the RP shortly following. 2 -> Bad storytelling: If a host is too adamant on how they do things, they tend to get frustrated when things don’t go exactly their way. This can lead to the host employing at best inane and at worst downright nonsensical arguments to try to steer the story in the direction they want. This will invariably cause both the host and the players to lose interest in the story very quickly a it becomes a tug-of-war between the players and the host to maintain control of the storyline. 3 -> Bad story: Not to be confused with the above, a bad story causes a bad game. This usually happens when the main plot isn’t entirely thought out and the host is forced to start steering the story into the direction of what they actually know how to do, leading to the problem above. 4 -> Inconsistency: This one is a biggie, and the direct reason why the three above fail. Inconsistency usually occur when the host cannot keep up the pace of the story, or remain faithful to it’s main plot and setting. This is the biggest pitfall a host can fall in, and to avoid it, the advice is usually simple: Keep notes on your world. Main cities, main plot points, anything that will help you remain consistent. Okay we’re finally done! Great! Go ahead and enjoy your – hahahahha I’m just kidding you’re stuck with me here forever. Game mechanics! So, game mechanics is a particular subject to discuss, as it’s not a concept usually applied to roleplaying games. To explore this subject, first we need to examine how a host can maintain interest in their game. Now, usually old-school hosts didn’t employ this type of thing. The people who have been roleplaying for a while tend to be used to rely only on their ability to write an interesting story to maintain their players entertained. These people were usually writing powerhouses, capable of absolutely enthralling their players with their sheer prowess at keeping the attention on them. Despite being an old-school host myself – I make no claims of being one of these powerhouses – I prefer to employ different techniques to attract and maintain player attention, which I call game mechanics, Things like the exploration mode in Gaelach Basm and an as of yet undisclosed mechanic in Summerland are examples of this, working as a mean to get the RP out of the thread and interact with the players in a different way, to create a more engaging experience. I also, although this isn’t really a game mechanic, lie a lot in my OOCs. In fact, you’d be better off not believing anything I say regarding plot; what’s in the OOC is usually not the real deal, and I usually hide hints about the real goal of the game between the lines. Playing with choice and consequence is also a preferred trait of mine, often employing every aspect of a player’s personality and backstory into the game in some way, and often having things they did – even before they joined the RP – come back to haunt or support them in some way. All in all these gimmicks, in my personal opinion, really make for an interesting experience; I’d say the key when it comes to these is creativity. Think of something fun and new and people will almost always respond positively to it. To finish this off, below is a list of hosting DOs and DON’Ts, with their EXCEPTION listed below. DO prioritize story over rules. A host has to remain flexible, and at times the party may be faced with a challenge they cannot surmount – games that employ a level system or something similar will eventually run into something like that – at this point, I’d personally advise you to always prioritize the story, even if you have to come up with a reason why your players got out of that situation, it’ll always be preferable than forcing a party wipe. EXCEPTION: Games like Gaelach Basm where failure and death are actually a mechanic. Keep in mind that even in this case, you should not go too overboard with the player murder. At least not to the point you risk running out of players! DON’T be too nice. A host has to be firm, and you can’t bend to the players at every request, otherwise you will end up losing control of your story. Maintain a core set of rules that can never be broken, regardless of everything else, and stick to them. EXCEPTION: …Games like Gaelach Basm again, where there is a big focus on player choice and consequence. In these types of game, letting people do whatever they want is usually fine, as long as you’re willing to bite them in the ass just as hard afterwards. DO get creative. Create a character from a race never seen before, add in a NPC from a long-forgotten magic clan, let the players discover an ancient sword deep within a set of ruins. EXCEPTION: Although rare in reborn, in shorter games you shouldn’t really waste too much time in events and side-quests and just rush into the meat and potatoes of the storyline, so focusing on something like that for flavor isn’t desirable. DON’T create or enable Mary sues. It’s hard not to do that when being a player host, and it’s kind of difficult not to play favorites when you will usually have players that are clearly better than others in the game. EXCEPTION: Counter-intuitive, but there is a scenario were a Mary sue character – though keep in mind I use the term rather loosely – would be encouraged or even necessary. In games where a player or NPC is clearly significantly above others in terms of skill, it’d be wise to try and keep the character performing outstandingly. This said, keep in mind that this is a thing. DO alternate between serious and humorous narrative. It’s always great to break the ice and change the mood of the story at times. EXCEPTION: Stories that follow the gothic horror genre should mostly stick to being dark all the time, since those stories are all about giving the players the sense of being crushed under overwhelming odds. DON’T try to add shock value to a serious situation by describing it in a light and humorous tone. Important story points should always be kept serious in narrative because humorous narrative usually removes much of the impact. Keep in mind treating humorous situations in a serious manner can beneficiate the narrative, though! EXCEPTION: An RP that’s focused on a light and goofy narrative to begin with can actually benefit from completely destroying player expectation by playing an incredibly important situation as something minor or funny and calling back to it later. And at a staggering 3100 words, I do believe we are finally done. Thank you for sticking with me, and feel free to add your own opinions/experiences below, as well as asking me any questions about this guide and hosting in general.

Nice to meet you, Roqi. I also had to stop drawing when I was younger due to a hand injury - Carpal tunnel - and I haven't been able to do much drawing since. It's... Something you learn to deal with, in a sad way. So I'm sorry to hear that. ...Also 23 isn't old at all I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay.

The mega ring is common knowledge. Doesn't mean we'll use it though. Personally, I've always been fonder of gemstones

...I think it's safe to post here now. Hi! This story seems definitely unique. I'll try to make it a point to see how it develops.

...Ring. Sorry, did I ruin that for you?

Kizaru Shoze As you approach the altar you notice the person laying asleep in front of it is a female. A girl not long past her teens, with golden hair, fair skin and dressed in a flowy white gown; The stereotypical princess, you muse. As you stand in front of the altar, you hear a faint giggle from elsewhere. "Pretty, isn't she?" You realize the source of the giggling is a small imp, floating near your left shoulder. "And yet her beauty is a trick, milord! She is in fact a demoness, and the source of all evil in this place; Oh, behold, milord, for she has turned me into this terrible form! Please, strike her down, and make sure no one ever has to go through this again!" Huh. This has taken an interesting turn... Maybe you oughta listen to the (w)imp? Fayth It'd seem you underestimated your newfound abilities. Finding the dunes surprisingly easy to navigate. Quickly, you make your way through the sand, and reaching the destined dune; As you reach, a creature sprawls from the floor; It seems to be some sort of centipede, heavily deformed in it's appearance in an attempt to make it look cuter. "Please help!" It cries out; "There's a giant sandworm devastating our city! Please, you must help us! Please, will you?" The creature pleads, and you peer at it curiously. Well. I guess that's where you're meant to go? Oliver As the creature comes into view, it is revealed to be obviously of Eldritch origin. It's appearance is contorted, twisted, deformed. The creature's hyper-realism and the darkness around you only adds to the creepy vibe as it stares at you with pitch-black eyes and a contorted, scary smile. It stares directly at you for a while longer, and then gestures to a door. "Inside, there is a sword and a chained man. Slay him with the blade, and you can keep it." Squiggly Doodle Woo! Happy! Hyper! Happiness! Joy! Yay! The world is such a happy place! Alright! You stare deep into the flower and immediately take a huge sniff of it. As you pull your head back, the flower blossoms in front of you revealing a small dryad within. It's body is green and the color of a healthy leaf, and it's... Completely naked. Cool, I guess, if you're into that. It looks at you with blue, beady eyes and smiles. "Hello!" it exclaims. Sattari Dawnwanderer Yes, your sword is functional. Wonderful. Can we move on now? Good. As you approach the mystic tree of coconuty marvel, one of the fruits falls to the ground and breaks open. Inside, you see a small cute fairy. It appears to be asleep. Guess you should wake 'er up?

Well, Silef isn't forbidden to use anything; Even the armor thing was a suggestion. ...Only whatever she decides to do directly influence who will follow her and who won't.