Things you don't want to see ever again in the RPG Forum

[Shuckle]

Well, it's time to vote. What are the most glaring cliches of the serebii-RPG forum, and what has been overdone? What is actually quite an original idea, and what is not?

I have included "Anything with poor grammar and spelling" as an option for those who believe that the problem is not so much the content of the forum as the modem in which it is expressed, to put it delicately.

I know that I have been sucked into many an unoriginal RPG. Yes, I've felt my fair share of horrible, predictable plots, countless literary cliches, horrible contradictions...even one where every other character was a certified world-destroying titan who was also somehow the good guy and going to save the world. In all cases I strove to make the RPG more...interesting. Most times, I succeeded. Other times, the RPG failed. Not to get narcissistic or anything; what I meant by that is wherever I failed, I brought the entire RPG down with me. Funtimes all around! I'm a plague upon ALL the houses!

But enough blabber. I've presented my options.

EDIT: Due to a rather trivial error, I created 9 options instead of 8 and couldn't figure out how to fix that. Silly me. Feel free to consider Good- and Bad-guy TR as one option representing stark goodvsevil mentality that makes me (and hopefully you!) sick and vote for whichever instance of wordplay tickles you most.

 

[Guywhoiam]

I think it is fine. All those things you said will appeal to someone. If you don't like an RPG, don't join it. And are you actually trying to make us think you are "cool" or something by destroying someone's RPG just because you don't like it? That is just... well, I am not going to waste my words on you.

 

[Niihyl]

Well, Guy was a bit harsh about it, but I agree that none of those things (except bad grammar) are inherently bad. An RP has a few... parameters that a Fanfic or other literary work doesn't; the 'main' author doesn't have full control of the plot, and there are many more main, developed characters. While I am a great fan of the shades of gray morality system, all the players do need to be coordinated somehow and the conflict has to be fairly clear so that players have a goal to work towards.

Also, some of your options are a little broad. 'Magic Powers' for example. Am RPG is by necessity a little bit wish-fulfillment. We aren't magical (well, most of us, anyway) in reality, so Having characters with 'special' abilities is fun. There are a lot of different 'magical' abilities you could pick from, with just as many stories and origins.

'Legendaries' as well. They're a concept, not a plot. You could have an amazing story about legendaries, as well as a cliche one. Are your legends gods, or simply strong Pokemon? Are they perhaps pretending to be gods? Are they malevolent or benevolent?

The most important part of an RPG is to be compelling. Most of the time, RPs don't reach the finish line. The greatest challenge for a GM is to keep people playing. A unique plot certainly helps, but a good RP doesn't necessarily require a wholly unique one. An RP is carried by its participants, not by the GM, the 'author'. I mean, this is a Pokemon forum, so there are a lot of Pokemon RPGs that are popular and fun. You could say that Pokemon has been 'done before'. You could say; "Aw, another RPG about guys who catch magical creatures in balls and fight with them," to a lot of great stories on here. But many of them are so much more.

 

[Monster Guy]

NOTHING THE RPG FORUM IS PERFECT I WUB IT TO DEFF!!!1!!one!!1

xD

Seriously, they're fine. A lot more strict compared to others, but the RPG's here are good.

I usually like simple plots though. It makes it easier for me to follow, and come up with things to do.

Also, not all Legendaries are overpowered. They have weaknesses just like any other Pokemon. *Throws a boulder at Articuno* It's Super Effective! Articuno fainted.

 

[Cyber Robert]

Anything CyberBlastoise makes, what a jerk.

Actually nothing really stands out to me. I mean sure there are some cliche generic plots and all throughout the RP section, but that doesn't mean that the RP will always be one. I remember joining one RP that started out like that and it turned into a pretty fun one with some good twists.

 

[Slipomatic]

Actually, the only thing that irritates me is the people that post an appalling sign-up, you know what I mean. The really terrible 1-2 sentence per category sign-ups. The only thing this forum could do without is users who don't understand the minimum length rule. Other than that, there isn't much that needs to be worked on, although spelling and grammar would be nice to make slightly more strict.

 

[RaZoR LeAf]

Where is the options for 'RPGs dying due to inactivity', I'd take poor grammar any day over an RPG not stopping before it hits 50 posts.

 

[Avenger Angel]

Poor grammar and spelling is a bane just about anywhere, not just the RPG forum. In terms of the others, they're too specific.

One thing I would absolutely LOVE to see LESS of are trainer RPGs. I find them to be extremely unoriginal, uninspired, and doomed to die early on every occasion, no matter how much the creator thinks they can skip around the inactivity minefield they're about to skip through by trying to create a new region/Pokémon/Evil Team. What do you do in the games?

Beat 432 wild Pidgeys, 391 wild Ratattas, 482 wild Hoot-Hoots, and... you get the idea.
Beat 21 Bug Catchers, 19 Hikers, 17 Lasses, 22 Youngsters, 32 Team Bad Guys Members, and... you get the idea.

And now... imagine people doing this... role playing, typing all of that out... page after page after page. Holy Frick. The games make this fun because you're exploring and discovering interesting secrets, finding hidden items, the animated battles are very touch and go and there's isn't a whole lot to read. You're focused on the game and it's fun with its varied settings and puzzles along the way to make things interesting. You get to see the colorful scenery and interact with it without having to read mind-bogglingly long paragraphs about it. Meanwhile, there's plenty of funny, witty, and interesting dialogue along the way. In an RP, all that battling gets written out in massively long walls of text because you can't just assume people are battling that many wild Pokémon and NPC trainers unless it's written. Plus that much of a winning streak, even against an anonymous horde of NPCs, looks extremely Mary Sueish.

But in essence, trainer RPs die because all the things you like about the games and don't even think about... well, they're just not there. The interactivity really isn't needed between RPers, as in the games, everyone's used to just shooting it off alone, and no one is certainly going to hang around and just watch someone else battle or catch wild Pokémon. Case in point, people get bored early, quit early, and as a result, the RP dies early. Really, show me a trainer RP where someone got far enough to actually earn even just a single badge. Tough, isn't it? To me, that really says something about Trainer RPGs.

Moving on.

I also think Pokémon RPGs could really do with less of Arceus around. Legendaries, I'm perfectly okay with, but it seems like Arceus now hogs all the action and spotlight and is now always the one calling the shots when legendary Pokémon are dealt with. I liked it prior to the days of Diamond and Pearl where legendaries pretty much shared responsibility and authority over the state of the world. Now, ugh, all of them are just yes men to Arceus.

What's even worse is when people substitute Arceus's name for God's name when cursing in vain and such. Ugh, now that's a real pet peeve of mine. Such as:

"Oh, thank Arceus we weren't rolled over by that boulder!"

"What in Arceus's name is that!?"

"Oh Arceus, what were you two thinking!?"

It's stupid. >.<

 

[Psychic]

While some plot-lines may be more overused than others, I don't feel there are any I genuinely hate seeing. Anything can be made original, and that's what I like to see. While beginner trainer RPs tend to all look similar and not all that exciting, I still remember, for instance, when RaZoR did one where RPers each created their own starter, which I still think was pretty neat. Surprise me!

Anyhow, the main thing I can live without is character-related. A lot of the same character archetypes pop up, or you get RPers who try to "stand out" by creating "special" characters. Stereotypes and Mary-Sues (at their worst) all running around gets a little irritating.

I also have a pet peeve about GMs who make simply grammatical mistakes like confusing "your"/"you're." It's harder for me to take someone seriously (especially as someone in charge of a game) when I'm not sure if they grasp basic grammatical principals.

~Psychic

 

[Agent Tectonic]

Wouldn't say its cliche, but like Psychic, my biggest problem is character related. Only difference is that my peeve is regarding characters/players who are the "I''ll save everything" person and end up ruining the RPG or people who plan things out only to have them ruined by quick fixing every plot/ plot twist that comes up. I don't mind having plans turn different because of twists, but when characters are Sueish, that's when it irks me; otherwise, I'm rather casual about all of the other listed "problems." However, poor spelling/grammar is something that is easily fixed if people were a little more attentive with their posts.