by ZachsMind

FIREFLY UNIVERSE

POSTED BY: ZACHSMIND
UPDATED: Thursday, January 15, 2004 05:05
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VIEWED: 2811
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Wednesday, January 14, 2004 8:03 PM

There is no right or wrong way to eat a Recees peanut butter cup. Likewise, there really isn't a right or wrong way to instigate a public forum in which people can play a roleplaying game based on their favorite speculative fiction. However, there are different approaches someone can choose to take. Here in this ramble (that I'm posting here basically to quiet the voices in my head) are two mindsets one can choose to be in, when attempting to invent a virtual reality conducive to people's interests in roleplaying. There's the Sandbox and there's the Puppet Theater.

SANDBOX

Imagine if you will, you're a little kid in a backyard or playground. You have at your disposal a traveling box filled with action figures and other toys, and you are standing next to a sandbox. This sandbox has the kinda sand that with little effort will shape into whatever you want. If you want a space station, the sand can be a space station. If you want a ranch or a whorehouse, it can be that too. Pull out some grass just outside the sandbox and you can make a deserted island. Build a fort that your characters will want to fortify and defend, or build a bar and grill where travellers can trade stories and get into fights over ladies or whatever. Use your imagination. That's a sandbox scenario. It's very free form and usually has very few rules. The only real rule in a sand box is usually whoever actually owns the sand gets his say before anybody else does. Since in this case, in this forum, the people running this site own the sand, usually the polite attitude to take would be whomever instigates a given thread actually "owns the sand" and that person's word should be followed inside his own thread. Don't like it? Go start your own thread. Build your own sandbox. This keeps a lot of arguments down to a minimum but if exercised too much, means eventually the guy who started the thread will be sitting alone in his sandbox contemplating his navel.

In a Sandbox usually people opt to create characters that are uniquely their own, because it gets really boring when people fight over who gets to play Inara. If you created your own character, less likely anyone else is gonna wanna play him. Moves can vary from a character driven move to something resembling fan fiction. Some groups are more lenient than others, and sandboxes often attract people who are experimental in their gameplay. The less structure the better, but there's also not a lot of actual plot going on, except for plots that individuals come up with. Interactivity can vary, because it's sometimes difficult to share the spotlight.

Ultimately, a place is described, and people describe what their character or 'avatar' is doing in that place, and people introduce their characters to each other and make alliances and it's very socially driven. It's role play but without any form or forward momentum of story. Can be a lot of fun, but sometimes little more than a costume party. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Sometimes it's just fun to stand around posing as Shepherd Book, and looking at people's kneecaps curiously. Sandboxes often deteriorate into amusing injokes and curious things like food fights and oneupmanship. It's fun. Don't take it too seriously.

PUPPET THEATER

Compared to the sandbox idea, this approach is more conservative and structured. Puppet theaters usually have some kind of a guide, or a mutual simple agreement among the participants. A scenario is agreed upon. Say for example, everyone in the thread accepts as a given that the majority of activity in the thread will take place inside the ship Serenity. That becomes the theater. Then each participant or player in the thread chooses a character to portray. It's usually a first come first serve procedure, kinda like saying "not it" on the playground, only in the reverse. Some groups could opt to come up with some other system, but first come first serve is usually the most fair and least argument inducing. I mean it's not like we can do eeny-meeny-miney-moe online. Well, you probably can, but people in the cubicles adjacent to you will look at you funny.

Once characters and setting are established, people simply post what their character is doing inside the scenario, and then describing how they interact with one another as events progress. By default, everything that has been posted prior to your post has transpired, and your job is to incorporate the efforts of other participants into whatever you want to do with your guy. I don't mean every single thing. If Kaylee's in the engine room and you're in the galley, obviously you wouldn't say 'bless you' when she sneezed. Unless she sneezed REAL LOUD. However, if you're in the same room with another character, try to go along with whatever that other character says is happening in that room. The 'yes and' clause makes it easy to play webbased roleplay with little or no need of a game master.

Puppet theater oriented roleplay assumes there is one player per character. The characters of Firefly are treated like puppets. You put your character 'mask' on for awhile and try to be as true to that character as possible. Try not to veer away from character traits established in the tv show. If you're playing Malcolm, don't suddenly get into a tryst with Zoe. That just wouldn't happen on board the ship. Well, I'm sure someone could determine a rational explanation why that would happen, but it'd be a stretch, and may ruin the fun for others playing, because at that point you're pretty much not playing the Zoe and Mal from the show, and should probably go get your own private chatroom. =)

Like I said there isn't a right or wrong here, and there's other ways to think about approaching web based role play, but in my experience Sandbox and Puppet Theater are the most successful. No doubt you'll find your own way. I hope this diatribe has been helpful.

Remember: Shakespeare once said "all the world's a stage, and all the men merely players..." But he was a pansy.

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"Hang on, travelers..."

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Thursday, January 15, 2004 3:27 AM

ASTRIANA

Whoa ~ Good post!

So, with this in mind, are we playing more of a sandbox or a theater approach in our RP? (Especially since I hadn't seen this thread when I jokingly called it a sandbox in our leader thread?

)

~A~

...I'm still free,
You can't take the sky from me.

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Thursday, January 15, 2004 5:05 AM

ZACHSMIND

Well, ours may actually have elements of both, come to think of it. It's been highly experimental. There's no conservative requirement to be concrete one way or the other in how one approaches it, but just understanding the different mindsets and approaches to gameplay can help people communicate better. Also different players are going to approach the game in different ways. Understanding that one player is thinking sandbox while another player is thinking puppet theater can help an objective party understand better when the two players clash over something seemingly insignificant to others.

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"Hang on, travelers..."

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