When Rps don't turn out as expected

Has this happened to anyone else? You plan for the story to go one way, but outside of your control it ends up going a different way? Did your characters rise up and snatch control from your hands?

For me, it would be Star Wars Eclipse, which I originally thought was going to be like The Departed,, where the DiCaprio and Damon roles were force users, and also fucking each other. Instead it ended up being a James Bond, but with Jedis.

I want to hear about how your rps went way off the rails! Or, if they don't, how do you keep them on track?

My characters, especially original ones, tend to develop a life of their own. Most of my roleplays only have a vague goal in mind at best (I prefer to take a character idea, come up with a goal point and a few other details and start with that) specifically because I know that things will likely end up going in another direction than what I was originally thinking. I kind of like it that way, too. I like to plot as I go and worst case I mention something for future scenes that I end up wanting to change closer to when it's relevant and it's not a big deal for me.

There was this one rp....

A good story always starts that way. lol. There was this one rp that ended in way I didn't see coming. My partner and I didn't really talk about how it would end, and so during the rp, when my character encountered this one character he was playing, it had an effect on me. I liked her, and in the end, my character ended up with her. To this day, that is still one of my favorite rps, and I love how it ended.

On the flip side of that, there was this one rp that ended in a way I never saw coming as well. It was shocking, and it was an ending I couldn't have imagined. Literally the rug was pulled out from under me by my partner. I actually do not like how it ended. The concept was that lil sis liked big sis's man. She didn't think her sister deserved him. So when the chance presented itself, i.e. he hit on her, she went with it. She wanted him. Well their wedding day comes around, and in the end he didn't marry either sister. He married his best man.

So yeah, rps can get away from you. Personally I like to plot an end goal. I like to know we start out at point A, and we're going to end up at point B. Now how we get there we can plan little scenes, but I like to know where it's going upfront. That's not always the case, but I try to. I think the curve balls and not knowing can be fun sometimes. Sometimes.

AndNich123 said:

On the flip side of that, there was this one rp that ended in a way I never saw coming as well. It was shocking, and it was an ending I couldn't have imagined. Literally the rug was pulled out from under me by my partner. I actually do not like how it ended. The concept was that lil sis liked big sis's man. She didn't think her sister deserved him. So when the chance presented itself, i.e. he hit on her, she went with it. She wanted him. Well their wedding day comes around, and in the end he didn't marry either sister. He married his best man.

Click to expand...

Yes I'd say that came as a shock to everyone involved.

Typically when I am in the planning phase with a writing partner. We discuss what kind of themes we are looking for and the over all feel of the roleplay that we desire. (this ofcourse can shift in long plays especially if our general mood or interests changes.) But we don't get into plotline aside from the starting foundation so that the story unfolds in a way that is a surprise to both of us. That said, just like some of the others here; yes my characters tend to take on a life of their once once they are made and I am compelled to play them to their personality. If it conflicts with our story theres usually ways to compensate (introduction of new characters etc) but our plot is typically vague enough that my character never outright conflicts with our goals in what we want.

...With one exception.

I had this woman who nearly died, who woke up to another woman who was mysterious in nature, quietly treating her wounds. We set it up as a long term romantic story and that baseline was all we had to go on. So we introduced our characters and started playing. Slowly as we progressed through the story i was discovering my character was a closed book, didnt trust easily and she had just lost her entire family. So when flirtations started happening, my character wasn't having any of it, which eventually frustrated my roleplay partner and the story ended prematurely.

I may have a new idea, or a change of mind, but my characters are just characters

I like unexpected turns and plot twists. They keep a story going. One of my favorites changed from a horror movie-ish idea to aomething more... Thriller, you could say. Less of the constant fear and the more subtle fears.

I loved the change! It ended very well and i was happy

HeyThereLittleBear said:

I like unexpected turns and plot twists. They keep a story going. One of my favorites changed from a horror movie-ish idea to aomething more... Thriller, you could say. Less of the constant fear and the more subtle fears.

I loved the change! It ended very well and i was happy

Click to expand...

I have had that before. Except, at the time I hated it. Well, fangirl me hated it, because it broke up the couple I had been rooting for. Writer me loved it because it was a delicous source of drama and tension. And it led to one of the hottest sex scenes i have ever written, so overall it was a win. Even if I spent all weekend bawling my eyes out.

I'd always wondered what would happen if my character just... walked away and got hit by a car out of nowhere. Would my partner attend the funeral?

All the time. I love it when that happens. Stuff happens and I poke my partner (or they poke me) like "Hey! Looks like we're deviating! Wanna follow this and see where it goes?"

Usually my stories don't have a preset end point for this reason, I know it's gonna change.

When did they ever...? Depending on how it'll decide whether the RP can continue or not. When there's a lack of chemistry/interest, it would kill the plot pretty quickly. Used to panic and tried to pull shenanigans trying to fix it when that happens, nowadays I like to think/hope I can communicate with the partner and part (?) cordially or maybe we can try another plot.

I get a little frustrated when RPs don't really go the way I planned. Think of it like a DM who has this big plan, this elaborate story. But the players just fuck about and end up making you have to think up a whole new thing on the fly. It's not always a bad thing. Some stories can be better because of an unexpected event and such. Though some unexpected turns have actually killed an RP for me. Usually it's something so out of the damn blue. It had no build up or any hint that such a thing could happen or is seriously out of character, etc. That kind of 'shock' is cheap to me. Though when an RP gets too off the rails, I usually feel it's just best to let the train fall completely off. Can't save it. Abandon ship and find a new train.

My rigidness is something I've been trying to work on. Flow with the punches a bit more. Still, it's difficult for me to get around a major event that totally shifts what sort of story we'd agreed to tell. Be it a smutty story or a more 'story' story. Maybe I'm just a killjoy. Hmm.

Little surprises are nice. But IMO? Not big ones. That's why I love to discuss an arc before. Not quite planning every scene, but also not derailing.
I do the same when writing on my own. There may be twists and turns but they have to suit me (the author) and they cannot take over the story.

My WoD Rps always get a life of their own.
My Toreador - Neonate, 68 Hippie girl - was designed to be a loyal, good girl to the Clan and her Ancilla. Yeah no. She pissed the Ancilla of royally, got bloodbonded with a Malkavian, learned how to dominate and uktimately ended as a pretty statue in her Primogen's garden after Clan Brujah AND Clan Ventrue decided to team up on her.

My Malkavian - designed to just be for my personal fun - rose to power like a comet, her entire Clan save for her Ancilla bloodbonded to her....

Sometimes that's just the way rp is. I dont write a story... i play the character. And sometimes the character develops traits over the years that I didnt see when i created it. That's why I love to rp but i guess i'll never finish my book

444 Reticent Opus said:

I'd always wondered what would happen if my character just... walked away and got hit by a car out of nowhere. Would my partner attend the funeral?

Click to expand...

That can actually happen in real life. People get hit by cars and people also attend funerals. I often wonder why characters never attend a funeral in roleplays as chances of having to attend one are good in realistic scenes.

ShyRPer said:

That can actually happen in real life. People get hit by cars and people also attend funerals. I often wonder why characters never attend a funeral in roleplays as chances of having to attend one are good in realistic scenes.

Click to expand...

I've had a few funeral scenes in my rps, but only for established characters. I can think of three, offhand.

Ive had funeral scenes too. When established characters die and the death doesn't stop the story from going on.

That's re-assuring. I must not check out enough role plays or be doing the right kind. Haha

I do loosely plan a story before I start writing it. Start, rough idea of an ending (depending on the nature of the story), major milestones...the basic framework like that. Once I've got all that down, the details come out in the writing. Sometimes the details necessitate a course-correction in terms of milestones, and that's cool.

That's not to say I don't like surprises in a story, but if there's a chance it's going to be one of those "what the hell just happened...?" things, I'd like to get a heads-up before it happens.

RedRose said:

I may have a new idea, or a change of mind, but my characters are just characters

Click to expand...

Personally I really like this response.
Characters arre just characters.
They don't have rights. They don't have feelings.
And they certainly don't have the freedom to do whatever they want.

I voted for the second option (Always in Control)
Since that was closer to my preferences than the others.
Everything my characters do and say are completely under my control.
How an interaction develops though is pretty spontaneous though since my mood and my partners response influence the outcomes greatly. With a bit of discussion we might change the objective of the scene, or the overall theme of the roleplaye entirely... but that's decision that I subconsciously make as a roleplayer.

With all due respect to the others. I'm generally not too fond of characters that "have a mind of their own."
Since the cohesive enjoyment my partner and myself get out of a roleplay...
Matters a hell of a lot more to me than the wants of a fictional caricature.
If my arrogant and prideful character needs to grovel and beg for mercy in order for my partner and myself to enjoy the roleplay. I feel it's my responsibility to make that happen. Rather than adamantly state that'd never happen because the character has preset parameters.

This happen to when I was writing superheroine stories with a wonderful guy named 'Doctor Droid'. We were doing a take off on Wonder Woman, we called her 'Ultra Woman' which is real original , with me playing the young, Asian looking Amazon by the name of Rei. That was a fun character to play. In the 3+ years we wrote we did 2 megs, in plain text, worth of stories. We normally figured out a basic plot of the story and did direction changes on the fly. It worked great! Until one story where did at least three different twists in the plot to go in other directions. As we went we realized two things: 1. We had NO ideas so we were just writing for the sake of doing it. 2. We didn't know how to end it. We did a Deus ex machina and declared it done. After that, we figured out the plot with a starting point AND the end point.

Sync probably has stories about me... We did a fantasy story that for many reasons never got finished. I got 'bored' at times and 'doodled' up scenes for future events int he story. Lots of scenes. Lots of large scenes. Scenes that I filed away in case they could be used down the road with a bit of updating. Poor Sync would get these massive replies like 20 minutes after he sent one to me. When we decided to quit, i posted my remaining stockpile while a synopsis at the end. Sync was kind of surprised at it all but it was all stuff we had talked about at one point or another.

In a group RP I ran a couple of scenes by the admin because they were very, very dark in what I did to my character. One she said to trim sections out because it would freak a few other players. I actually enjoyed doing the aftermath, which was 'realistic', because the emotions and such were a challenge to imagine in my head. I had never experienced what the character went through but a few said I had nailed it perfectly.

Probably more than you wanted to know and for that I apologize!

Oh and I want to add that this board has great writers in it!

mypgems said:

Sync probably has stories about me... We did a fantasy story that for many reasons never got finished. I got 'bored' at times and 'doodled' up scenes for future events int he story. Lots of scenes. Lots of large scenes. Scenes that I filed away in case they could be used down the road with a bit of updating. Poor Sync would get these massive replies like 20 minutes after he sent one to me. When we decided to quit, i posted my remaining stockpile while a synopsis at the end. Sync was kind of surprised at it all but it was all stuff we had talked about at one point or another.

Click to expand...

Haha, glad to know I am not the only person who does this! Sometimes I just write extra stuff or alternate scenes. Thank goodness for understanding partners, huh?

mypgems said:

Oh and I want to add that this board has great writers in it!

Click to expand...

Absolutely! I've had so many talented partners over the years.

I've definitely been the type to write "extra" scenes when I'm bored or hit with inspiration for one thanks to something me and my partner talked about. Sometimes I'm half tempted to write AUs for my own roleplays, even. It's actually pretty cool to find out that others do similar things!

Other people do it too? Cool beans!

My spouse is a writer, an English major! she reminds me, and always tells me not to throw anything away. That doodle, even if its a quick story idea, you write might be something useful months from now. I like to do it because it keeps my imagination flowing. Sync will also say that is dangerous...lethal even!

mypgems said:

Sync will also say that is dangerous...lethal even!

Click to expand...

*nods sagely*