What Do You Wanna Know?

Ok, so, I don't know if this is like any other previous thread, but there was an OOC thread I started one time, years ago, that exploded into crazy awesome fun! I wanted to bring it here since it was one of my most favorite threads ever!

The concept is: any question you have, big or small, about anything -Member related, Site related, or Character related- ask it! Make sure to tag the people you want those answers from, unless it's an open one for anyone to reply on! There's no set order for replies, and sometimes people can double or triple the interest on a question someone asks, or even expound on it some more!

THERE IS ONE STIPULATION: NO PERSONAL QUESTIONS!

This thread is meant to be a curiosity-satisfier, or an otherwise lighthearted mix of Q and A. But please don't ask people personal things about their private lives and stuff! Please! Let's be respectful of everyone here!

I'll start us off!

@Wes, it takes a LOT of courage to start, run, and maintain a RP website! What gave you the courage to step out 20 years ago and turn this idea into a collaborative experience? I'm amazed by all the rabbit holes of lore I can fall down, and I'm blown away by the level of depth and development! It's like a personal Star Wars universe of sorts!

And my general question: Who do you consider your main character to be on Star Army? If you have more than one main character, how do you balance their "screen time," so to speak?

I can't wait to see everyone's answers!

Back in 2000, I was still in high school and had recently got my own computer. I had been a huge sci-fi fan since I was a kid (grew up on Star Trek: The Next Generation and so on) and had got into anime (particularly Macross/Robotech) and roleplaying (I had the Robotech RPG book by Palladium) and started an after-school anime club at my high school. For our club mascot I drew this catgirl named Yui. At that time Yahoo.com was still the front page of the internet for a lot of us and they had chatrooms where people would roleplay and I ended up playing this anime catgirl in random chat RPs because she was cool. I developed a backstory for her that she was this genetically-engineered soldier from a sci-fi universe and that eventually became Star Army.

As Yahoo chat increasingly went to shit because of spambots, creeps, and the overall fall of Yahoo, RP moved onto more organized spaces like message boards, and I had gathered a small group of regulars and we used those boards for the first Star Army plot, the tales of the YSS Yui. It was all pretty organic and it was born out of a need for a stable place to RP and store our stories, and that's still what Star Army is today, a stable place to RP that never gives up and hangs on to the history that we make for ourselves.

I also wanted to make something that was ours. In the early days of RP there were a lot of large successful Star Trek RPs which kind of made a good model for this type of community but, as much as I liked Star Trek, I wasn't really keen on the idea of being at the mercy of some media giant. So I dug into my childhood imaginary play-world and grabbed a lot of concepts from that which turned into SARP staples like Nepleslians (who are inspired by my GI Joes I had as a kid).

My main characters are Yui and Hanako, though both are in a semi-retired state of RP and lately I've taken a liking to playing fistfuls of "regular" NPCs.

Don't forget to ask questions of your own, @Wes! I'm sure you have some!

Okay, my question is: Most characters on Star Army seem to be single and don't really keep in touch with their family. A lot of times they only seem to interact with their coworkers from their starship. If you could develop more connections between your character and other characters in the universe what would that look like?

Hey I like this! Sweet question you asked Wes there Prisma. I read that and was like, Yes! I want to know the answer to this too! I'll answer Wes's question, although I'm a little bit the exception because I do have my characters interact with family as much as I can. In fact, all my PC's are related one way or another. I mean 3 of them have the same last name, Canterbury, and are all cousins. Trowa, my first character, is a Canterbury on his mother's side. Sanda relates to them because Trowa married her sister. I like to have overlap with my characters as often as I can because it's a lot of fun.

Question: I asked this question awhile ago on the discord but I'll ask it again here. What is the best Thread you ever participated in or read here?

I'm still very new here so I'll answer @Wes' question!

I love family dynamics in a narrative! I feel like giving them serious exploration and not just treating them as background fodder really adds more depth to the character you're focusing on! While Lane doesn't have parents, Richard and Gemma certainly fill the parental spaces of mom and dad in his life. I definitely want to use them to develop Lane and explain why he acts and thinks certain ways, as well as give plenty of opportunities for them to become developed as well!

I have a question for @Primitive Polygon! What is your avatar? I like it but it confuses me! It looks like an alien and I love aliens!

Also, @demibear, I just read up on your latest post in Polygon's Open RP! Marcus seems really interesting and I like him! I went to look at the wiki but I didn't find a character fitting his description! Is he a new character you made for the narrative?

And @Wes a new question for you. When it comes to using characters mentioned in Lane's past for other RPs, will I have to make apps for them too? Or if they're supporting/background characters they can simply stay that way?

Finally, a new general question for anyone to answer! What's your favorite thing about SARP? And I wanna know all the little details about why you guys like said thing!

You don't have to make an app for someone simply mentioned in the RP.

Marcus Henderson is a developing idea I have. Too much Cyperpunk 2077 when I was temporarily a free man again. When he is more fleshed out, I will make an article for him. He will be connected to the samurai clan of mine since they are all about accepting anyone that advances their beliefs. I want it to be quite diverse in species with a culture system binding them together. What crime he could have done (or been framed), that remains to be seen.

@demibear I'm waiting on where Marcus goes myself. The setting of that thread might actually work out really well for samurai flick, close combat goodness. Low technology, low loyalty, and secrets everywhere!

@Prismalamb It's the crack powered criminal rabbit Morgan Mackenzie! More of a psychotic human mutant, than an alien. They have been kinda-sorta my main character for the last few years, though they are plot-less at the minute... Thanks for asking!

Considerations on character families... I tend to like romance happening, but it's the internet, so that can get kinda taken the wrong way, hah... Wes would probably be weirded out to know that my longest running character, a nekovalkyrja named Toyoe Tsuguka, nearly had a daughter called 'Michiru' with Jackson Howard. Despite them being the worst mother figure ever... I also have like five chibi cyborg weirdos who are all genetically related clones.

But yeah. Weird backstory connections are fun.

Here is a question for you, Prisma (Or anyone else who feels like jumping in); Would you rather be in a plot where everybody gets on really well, and there is a strong esprit de corps... Or do you prefer plots where all the characters basically hate/distrust/try to backstab each other, to the point it can be played for laughs?

@demibear, I don't want you to miss asking a question (or multiple) of you have any! And they can be for anyone, currently participating or not!

@Primitive Polygon, I love this question very much! For me, my favorite part about forum writing is how each player puts their personality into their posts, and seeing how those different personalities interact beyond the writing! So in a lot of ways, I feel the same about the in-character interactions too. I love when all the characters really jive and get along, but I also can't say I don't like the strife and tension, either. Every great story has both!

What really determines my interest is the level of detail I can work with in a given plot. If I write with people who are very descriptive (as I tend to be), then it gives me a lot to work with, and I feel like I have more variables to throw at my characters and see what they'll do. I'm not opposed to writing smaller clips of scenes with people who write less than I do, either. I just know I have to dig a little bit on my end of things to help push the narrative along. In the end, it's writing, and it's my favorite thing to do!

Ok so this question is for anyone that has any military experience, because I need some help. How should I lead my troops? I did say my character wanted to be a leader that everyone can look up to but since I have no real life experience in leading people, I am not sure what to do.

Yoshiro Tanaka said:

Ok so this question is for anyone that has any military experience, because I need some help. How should I lead my troops? I did say my character wanted to be a leader that everyone can look up to but since I have no real life experience in leading people, I am not sure what to do.

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Be reasonable and fair. Know what you're doing or at least look like it. Take responsibility for things and decide how the team can solve them and communicate your expecations clearly to them. Try to bring out the best in the people you command.