Epic Roleplays - a few questions

[PigeonOfAstora]

Hello! I've joined a few days ago, and I have since been skirting through the forums, just observing how to RP and other things.

I have been especially interested in the Epic Roleplay Forums, for I had been developing a rather expansive world, and I had never seen Epic roleplays before. However, I have some questions about these Epic Roleplays, how they are run and if it is a good idea to post my own world.

1. How do these Roleplays progress?
From what I can see, these RPs don't follow an exact straight pathway, and therefore have different storylines branching off from everywhere. Does one record all these storylines and record the world lore accordingly?

2. How much detail should I put in?
As I had said, my own world, called Irunia, is quite expansive. It currently has 5 regions and 10 countries, and I am planning to write in each countries lore and relationships with other countries. But I also know that this can also be very restrictive on how the RP can be run. Should I cut down on the detail?

3. Is it a good idea to host an Epic with low GM experience?
I personally don't have much GMing experience (maybe a few games here and there, but that's it), and I'm unsure if hosting an Epic is a good idea...

(Off topic question) How old is this community?

 

[Crim]

Hi Pidgeon,

Hopefully I can help answer some, if not all, of your questions regarding Epic RP's.

So, number 1. How do the RP's progress?

Everyone that has an Epic RP runs there's differently. I have Adenovirus as an Epic roleplay and I run mine in a sandbox kind of way. I've given the setting, the premise and the overall goal for the players and then I've left it up for them to create the stories between characters and how they're going to get to the overall end.

So my premise is that there is a disease that's killing people in their mid 20's. There is a prophecy of a Key. A cure. They don't know what it is though, but it's their hope. And there are six different factions that you can be a part of. They get to make up the plots and stories between the characters within the world, bearing in mind that they are also on the look out for the Key/cure.

I keep a record of the storylines through the leaders of each faction and when my RP progresses far enough, I'll probably have OOC pages for key storylines and events that have happened for any new people that want to join. But also so everyone that wants to can keep up to date on any key events that might happen between the factions that others might hear about. I also have created a thread for resources because rather than lore, that's what will be constantly progressing as new things are made or become available to the factions.

Again, all GM's run theirs different.

Number 2: How much detail should you put in.

I've learned the hard way from being vague with mine. I fell into 2 or 3 big plot holes for being too vague, especially on my setting. It gives you a chance to figure everything out too so that if people have questions when joining they can ask, or you have all the information that they can read. Especially if it is on a new world/species etc. And as you say your world has different countries and regions. It's best to give player's as much information as possible on the worlds so when they make their characters, they're not making them based on assumptions.

Number 3: Is it a good idea to host an epic with low GM experience.

In my opinion I say go for it. There are lots of people here that will be willing to give you help on anything that you are unsure about, in regards to being a GM and running an RP. ANd I know a lot of people also have Co-GM's. I've made all my leaders of factions in the roleplay sort of Co-GM's, letting them run their areas and just making sure that overall everything fits the setting and premises that I've made within those factions. And then I have my main Co-GM that has the same access as me on the RP and knows my RP enough to help everyone with queries and also run the RP should I ever be absent for some time.

SO there is definitely the help out there for you if you need it This is the first time I've made ADV an Epic of this size and I've ran into problems. Heck, the biggest problem I had was that my setting wasn't clear. Tried to fix it, ended up voiding a couple of characters and what they'd done IC. I worked with them and a few other people, and actually changed a lot of my setting so that they had a clearer picture, so it didn't void their characters and so that everyone was for the most part happy. It was hard work, and it meant adapting my setting to something I hadn't entirely envisioned, but I'm quite flexible and adaptable and willing to work with people. So yeah, mistakes are bound to happen, but they can be fixed and people are always around to help you if needed

Well, that was quite the ramble. Hope some of it has helped you though. If you have any more questions feel free to hit me up and I can answer them based on my experience.

As for the off topic questions. Storyteller's Circle started in November so is only a couple of months old. The people that started the site, Tiko and Dash, brought over quite a few people from other sites that were part of the Epic roleplay the Omniverse so some of us have known each other for years before this site, but the site as a whole is new

So, having finally written a novel, hope some of it has helped you.

Cream

 

[PigeonOfAstora]

Ah. Okay, I shall put some more time into fleshing out my world, and explore the other RPs a little more, to try and understand the different systems I might run the world with.

Thank you for your kind assistance. May the flames guide your way.

 

[Love2write]

Is there a difference between Epic Roleplay and regular roleplay?

 

[PigeonOfAstora]

Is there a difference between Epic Roleplay and regular roleplay?

From what I know, regular roleplays have a singular storyline, where a certain group of characters follow a single plot. A single novel, if you would.
Then there are Epics, there are multiple storylines and events in a very large universe. It's more of a chronicle, or a collection of related stories in one universe.