Let's get interactive, eh?

[Violetta]

Here's a thought I had which I decided to run up the flagpole. As some of us have probably noticed, there once was an interactive subforum for role playing down at the bottom of the forum. It's long dried up, and I think it'd be foolish to try to recreate that entirely. But here's the thought...

Surely some of us have time on our hands to post here and there, and I'm hoping that we might have the time to throw a well-written post together. What if there were a thread, not like the tickle fight thread, but one where participants could help to tell an ongoing story, adding their own characters and weaving them together in fetish-tilted narrative?

Perhaps it'd be less of a role play and more like an interactive story, but that also might just mean it's more fun to read. It'd have to be self-policed. People can't just jump in, fuck up the story with a shitty post for laughs, and that be allowed to stick, naturally. And we'd have to agree on a setting. I think high fantasy or campy sci-fi would provide the most ease of play and ongoing fun. Let's face it, reality is boring since it's what we live in everyday.

So what do you guys think? Does the idea have any shot of gaining ground or, more importantly, participants these days?

 

[Candis19]

I really like the sound of this idea...though I don't know if I could actively participate myself. I'm not really that good at story telling, atleast I don't think I am. But if this can gain ground outside of just being a simple fetish directed story(Which sadly may be likely) to, as you said, a fetish-tilted one. I could definitely see some imagination and inspiration grow in people.

Hopefully others shall agree. I do like this idea...

 

[Carnivore]

It's definitely an interesting idea. A longer form from the tickle fight thread would make for a better and more coherent story. And keeping it to two participants per thread would allow that story to actually go somewhere. I like the idea, and agree that fantasy & sci-fi and probably the easiest settings to "get lost" in. I think it'd work as long as both participants can have patience for their creative differences and some inevitable time lag between posts. I could see participating in something like this.

 

[Violetta]

I really like the sound of this idea...though I don't know if I could actively participate myself. I'm not really that good at story telling, atleast I don't think I am. But if this can gain ground outside of just being a simple fetish directed story(Which sadly may be likely) to, as you said, a fetish-tilted one. I could definitely see some imagination and inspiration grow in people.

Hopefully others shall agree. I do like this idea...

I'm not expecting professional writing in the posts that'd form the story, just something more than the usual tripe that passes for "role playing" around here. A little imagination and setting, you know? Something to really set the mood by giving it a context. Ultimately, I hope you decided to give it a shot should it actually take off.

What's a good setting that all of this frolic might come together so nicely??

....... maybe an unusual spa with new-age techniques had its grand opening? =P

My biggest hesitation with that idea is that it seems less likely to have a variety of intensities. I could see an "unexpectedly ticklish" therapy of sorts, but I'm not sure how easy it'd be to crank up the intensity.

Frankly, my first thought was actually a spacey setting because of the popularity the genre seems to have. An alien world could provide exotic pleasure domes for those wanting something mellow and mutual or ravenous beasts for those of us looking for a little fear in our play.

 

[Violetta]

It's definitely an interesting idea. A longer form from the tickle fight thread would make for a better and more coherent story. And keeping it to two participants per thread would allow that story to actually go somewhere. I like the idea, and agree that fantasy & sci-fi and probably the easiest settings to "get lost" in. I think it'd work as long as both participants can have patience for their creative differences and some inevitable time lag between posts. I could see participating in something like this.

Actually, I was thinking of having more than two participants. Perhaps hoping for as many as five or six. Enough to have a few "good guys" and maybe a couple of "bad guys," as it were. As long as no one gets left behind or ends up running off on a tangent, I think it could work out with a small group.

 

[Candis19]

More the merrier...the crazier but more indifferent the story becomes...if it begins, I will see what I could come up with for our story. Get on Yahoo and tell me what you're thinking about this! I want to hear your ideas.

 

[the_jimmy_james]

It sounds pretty cool, honestly. Maaaaybe Vi should get together with someone like Firefox or LBH if he's interested and come up with a story/scenario!

 

[Sir Bombers]

Frankly, my first thought was actually a spacey setting because of the popularity the genre seems to have. An alien world could provide exotic pleasure domes for those wanting something mellow and mutual or ravenous beasts for those of us looking for a little fear in our play.

I totally agree with that first thought of your BD...

A topic dealing with aliens or alien world is nothing short of creative puddy for story tellers of all levels... 😉

Of course I am kinda bias... 😀

 

[Miss Sassy1]

I like this idea. Has it already been started yet, or are you still just talking about it?

 

[Violetta]

I totally agree with that first thought of your BD...

A topic dealing with aliens or alien world is nothing short of creative puddy for story tellers of all levels... 😉

Of course I am kinda bias... 😀

I certainly had high hopes that you'd take to the idea. Is that enthusiasm, or can I go ahead and feel the joy of an allusion to participation? 😉

I like this idea. Has it already been started yet, or are you still just talking about it?

I haven't started yet. For now I'm just trying to measure interest. I'm happy to see some from you, signorina.

 

[Miss Sassy1]

Thanks ma'am.

 

[Sir Bombers]

I certainly had high hopes that you'd take to the idea. Is that enthusiasm, or can I go ahead and feel the joy of an allusion to participation? 😉

Heh... I figure I could give it a shot...feel the joy... 😉

Is there gonna be like some sort of queue system? Like an order of when someone writes something? It would be very detrimental to have an interesting topic to write a continuing response to, just to have someone else who had the same enthusiasm respond to the same topic at the same time!

I hope that makes sense...

 

[Violetta]

Heh... I figure I could give it a shot...feel the joy... 😉

Is there gonna be like some sort of queue system? Like an order of when someone writes something? It would be very detrimental to have an interesting topic to write a continuing response to, just to have someone else who had the same enthusiasm respond to the same topic at the same time!

I hope that makes sense...

It does make perfect sense, unfortunately I don't know a perfect workaround. I've done my share of forum driven interactive stories before, and I know that one of the common ways to kill such a thread is to need someone to post only to have them not appear or lose interest. I'd fear that a queue would only encourage that to happen.

I'd really love to leave the thread up to self-moderation, but I have an equal fear that that'd be unrealistic and posters would end up spamming it up, writing half-baked posts, or newbs would jump in with no understanding of what's going on. If there were the guiding hand of a mod, that'd be great but also not a realistic expectation. I'm not expecting Hemingway out of this, but some bit of quality combined with a regular pace would be fantastic.

 

[Miss Sassy1]

Yeah, kinda reminds me of role-playing....if we go in a certain order, then well, it gets boring because people like me and other over-busy college students would be gone for a while, but seeing as it's tickling related, I may be interested in keeping it active and alive.

 

[Violetta]

Excellent! The big question is, are you up to the challenge of more in-depth posts as well as keeping up with whatever setting we go with?

 

[Miss Sassy1]

If you mean like five hundred words or more, I do that all the time. I will agree to any setting, here's an example of a roleplay that I did on one of my sites

To say that Rayson was excited would be an understatement. She, a first year Gryffindor had gotten invited to an interhouse game day. True, she wasn’t the only first year invited but Rayson was excited all the same. Rayson decided to go casual with her school uniform. It’s not that Rayson liked being in her uniform all the time, but this was one of the days where she could put extra stuff with her uniform and not get in trouble for it. Her school robes her open and her tie was loose. As always, Rayson’s hair looked like she had just woken up from a nap, but it was in a neat ponytail. She wore her brown loafers to finish off her look.


Rayson was on the fifth floor, skipping excited, humming to herself. Rayson slowed to a walk as she turned the corridor, humming forgotten as she thought about the party. Rayson was still thinking whether she just wanted to watch the game or actually participate. On the plus side, if Rayson participated, there was a chance she would have to kiss Sirius Black. On the downside, she may have to kiss one of the other boys she considers her brother. Another plus side is she gets to watch people embarrass themselves. The downside, she may embarrass herself as well. Rayson groaned. This was infuriating. What if Rayson had to reveal one of her many secrets such as why she keeps pestering Lily about the dreamless sleep potion, or why Rayson never got letters from home.


Rayson snapped out of her thoughts as she rounded another corner and saw the opened door that would lead to where the game was to be held. Taking off at a run she dashed down the hallways and slid pass the classroom and ran into the wall. “Oof!” Shaking herself out of it, Rayson turned toward the classroom and entered, cursing under her breath about slippery floors. Looking up, Rayson put on a big smile. Might as make a show of what Rayson is made of, at least until she knew for sure whether she wanted to play the game or watch.


Rayson greeted the two people that she knew first. “Hey Sirius, how are you? “ She asked, taking his hand in both of hers and shaking it up and down vigorously. Still smiling, Rayson turned to Lily next and bowed, looking up at Lily. “Pleasure to see you as always, Miss Evans. Glad to see you’re not as uptight as I thought you were.” Rayson then turned to the last three occupants. “And who are you lovely ladies? Though, I should know the hostess seeing as we’re in the same house.” Rayson giggled lightly, rubbing her arm. Turning her attention to the snack bar, Rayson wandered over and picked up a butterbeer. “What in carnations are these?” she asked, before uncorking it and taking a sip of it. Rayson swallowed it and made a face. “Not bad”

I hope this is a good example and if not, you might wanna explain it to me more in depth

 

[Violetta]

That last paragraph especially is what I'd be hoping to see. Good description of action as well as the glimpse into what the character's thinking. Even the dialogue's well done. Of course, you're not being called upon to write a full page with each post, but you've definitely got the skills, signorina. Hope to see you on board when this takes off.

 

[Miss Sassy1]

Gladly....and if you wanna see the whole thread.....http://maraudersforeverhp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=abandoned&action=display&thread=595&page=1

 

[jxavier]

A "fetish tilted" story, in my opinion, must include tickling as the most accidental of circumstances. What I like to see the most in any form of tickling anything is when it's brought out completely by accident. For example, if you're doing the whole "alien" thing, we'd (I say 'we' arbitrarily of course, I am new to this and don't want to include myself instantly unless I'm welcome) have to steer clear from the, "inside the damp and musky holding cell I saw rows of prisoners tied at the wrists with their arms straight up with bare feet locked in place in stocks" that's just too generic, but then again.... that's also just my opinion 🙂

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

This sounds like a terrific idea. I would love to participate in it. I've done my share of role-playing both online and table top. I enjoy serious fantasy reading / writing as well.

I think the angle of making it an interactive story would work. When it is a game some people think too much in their own character's self-interest. You really need a central authority coming in with rules enforcement to tell the person 'no you can't do that or the world doesn't work that way'. With it being a story you have different goal - authors coming in to work towards a greater story. It should be easier to self-police. I think much of that could be handled with a few behind the scenes communications. The characters in a scene can just work out the dynamics of the scene before it is posted.

 

[Violetta]

Gladly....and if you wanna see the whole thread.....http://maraudersforeverhp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=abandoned&action=display&thread=595&page=1

Ah! Then you definitely have experience at doing this! Hallelujah!

A "fetish tilted" story, in my opinion, must include tickling as the most accidental of circumstances. What I like to see the most in any form of tickling anything is when it's brought out completely by accident. For example, if you're doing the whole "alien" thing, we'd (I say 'we' arbitrarily of course, I am new to this and don't want to include myself instantly unless I'm welcome) have to steer clear from the, "inside the damp and musky holding cell I saw rows of prisoners tied at the wrists with their arms straight up with bare feet locked in place in stocks" that's just too generic, but then again.... that's also just my opinion 🙂

I chose the term "fetish tilted" because from what I've seen here plot is too quickly discarded if you give the impression that the fetish content comes first. See LBH's Low Roads comic for a sense of the balance I'd like to strike. While I can understand and certainly respect your opinion on the balance and context of the fetish content, I don't actually plan on enforcing a certain amount or a cap on the tickling that'd go on. Different people like different situations and methods, and I'd want anyone interested to find their pleasure in it. You're welcome to join and steer the scenes you're involved in into the "accidental" territory, but I hope you also understand that without some amount of give-and-take this can't really work as a communal effort.

 

[Violetta]

This sounds like a terrific idea. I would love to participate in it. I've done my share of role-playing both online and table top. I enjoy serious fantasy reading / writing as well.

I think the angle of making it an interactive story would work. When it is a game some people think too much in their own character's self-interest. You really need a central authority coming in with rules enforcement to tell the person 'no you can't do that or the world doesn't work that way'. With it being a story you have different goal - authors coming in to work towards a greater story. It should be easier to self-police. I think much of that could be handled with a few behind the scenes communications. The characters in a scene can just work out the dynamics of the scene before it is posted.

You make an excellent point about author/player motivation that I hadn't considered. It's quite heartening to think that self-policing might be viable in keeping this on track once it gets started! 😀 Thanks for the interest in it, ragazzo.

 

[Sir Bombers]

It does make perfect sense, unfortunately I don't know a perfect workaround. I've done my share of forum driven interactive stories before, and I know that one of the common ways to kill such a thread is to need someone to post only to have them not appear or lose interest. I'd fear that a queue would only encourage that to happen.

I'd really love to leave the thread up to self-moderation, but I have an equal fear that that'd be unrealistic and posters would end up spamming it up, writing half-baked posts, or newbs would jump in with no understanding of what's going on. If there were the guiding hand of a mod, that'd be great but also not a realistic expectation. I'm not expecting Hemingway out of this, but some bit of quality combined with a regular pace would be fantastic.

Yeah, kinda reminds me of role-playing....if we go in a certain order, then well, it gets boring because people like me and other over-busy college students would be gone for a while, but seeing as it's tickling related, I may be interested in keeping it active and alive.

Ah I see... Well just throwing out scenarios and minor suggestions to consider in order to ease future confusion with posting competing replies to the same topic.

Though I see what you gals are saying about if someone who needs to post doesn't show up lowering the life of the thread, and the fact that there's no way to clearly work around this issue. It means we might need to come up with something for when such a situation happens, because if more than 3 or 4 posters are going to involved, such a situation is very likely of happening.

Let's say 3 participants want to write for the same topic. Participant A is the fastest typist able to make posts a lot faster than B, and C. "B" is a novice RPer and takes a bit to gather his/her thoughts for the topic and is a medium speed typist. Lastly "C" is the best RPer of them all but is the slowest typist. All three participants show dedication, all three believe they are going to post for the same topic, but when they actually post and participants discovers that the post they made was already addressed by another poster, then what happens?

That too, can be a "kill" to the thread due to unhealthy balance. In a way it'll be like indirectly competing for threads. Who can be the fastest to get the post out before the others do the same? Imagine going through a ton of creative writing just to find that someone beat you to it? Or two or three others wrote something for the same topic you wanted to write about?

Who's story will we follow if that happens? Or will a person become discouraged and delete their post all together, having the hopes of getting to the "posting finish line" before someone else beat them to it next time? Or just up and quitting because they keep missing the mark with other posts?

I don't want to sound like a total Buzzkiller, but that's the type of issues I see with RPs that have more than two participants. Food for thought I guess.

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

It will certainly take some coordination and some respectful tact for all involved to make this a fun activity. I've been in these before and the points that Bombers makes are salient. In the case of one routinely stepping on the lines of another there would need to be central storyteller who I assume is going to be Vi. She would be the ultimate arbiter. There are going to be those who can whip up a creative response in a short time. That individual (s) will need to understand that there are other players/writers. I'm not saying that the pace should be set by the slowest or most inexperienced person (that will get old quick) but the more experienced should make the effort to help carry along the noobs (to put it not so kindly)... find a way to incorporate them in the story.

I think a simple rule of not being a gloryhound should be sufficient in the absence of a rotation or turn system. Simply have the courtesy to allow another to get an action in.

One idea could be using a standard tabletop RPG setup with a central narrator acting as game master. I'm in a WoD campaign right now and some of those rules could be adapted to a forum RPG. Obviously we would not be rolling dice, but I'm sure something could be hashed out. Whether that amount of micromanagement is even necessary is yet to be seen.

 

[tklsh_swim_grl]

Hey there,
This definitely seems like something I'd be interested in. Sadly I don't always get as much time as I'd like to practice my writing. I can't promise I'd be available all the time just because of class commitments but I would definitely try! I like the idea of a more in-depth overall writing style. It gets way too boring otherwise. One thing I'd worry about would be people coming in and just trying to make short posts. I suppose a sticky could be created to explain the point of the thread, I just am not sure how many people would actually read it before trying to jump in. Maybe it's not as big of an issue as I might think it is though