Alright you guys I'm here.
I'm sorry I've been absent. I got really busy the last few weeks. x_x I didn't post that I was busy either since I always thought I'd have time "soon." 9_9
I'll try to warn ya next time..
About Megatron, I can post, but I have NOOO idea what's going on. If someone could PM me a detailed summary letting me know important things, I can post properly. I've read a few posts and even then I'm confused. :/ I also don't exactly have time to go back and read everything that happened while I was away. x_X Sorry.
About the vote....well.. I haven't voted yet, but I'm thinking #4 ( ... or, wait, no, I think maybe #5, considering the idea I have below.) And here's why...wait first, let's look at the whole "Megatron needs to do something but his player is away" thing:
I've been part of a Transformers forum for about a year now and it seems because of my comfort in playing canons compared to OCs, I quickly became TIC and given command of the RPs. (I do not mention this to brag, btw, I'm just explaining the backstory and where I'm getting all of the following from - the experiences I've had. )
Over there, we've found a few things extremely helpful when it comes to canons and their players being absent - whenever I wasn't around, someone else took the canons. However, my buddies over there don't always feel comfortable playing canons. So many times, if I'm absent and they can get away with it, all the players simply pretend someone/I posted something Megatronish, or he threw a fit, or he blasted someone and told Starscream to shove it, or something similar.
(We're mstly a G1/Movieverse RP. S'why I mentioned Starscream.) And then disappeared into his control room. With that, they simply assume Megatron's doing something important and RP as usual with the occasional "Megatron said this." Within reason.
With this method, someone tells me what they had Megatron do, (whether it was OOC or not), a summary of hhat happened afterwards, and I go from there, bringing Megatron back in. If something needs to change, we either edit our posts (that takes time though) or pretend something he said or did never happened or something.
The BW RP is a bigger RP with more players, so if we did that (Assume canon actions and pretend they're there and then summarize for the player when he/she gets back)it might be good to keep track of such events as they occur in the first post of the Beast Wars RP topic or in a separate sticky thread.
That's the first thing I wanted to mention since it related to my absence (sorry again!). It worked/works for our group, maybe it could help out a lot here too. I probably didn't cover the whole process though, so if you have questions about how that works, just ask.
With that said I'd like to say - if I'm absent for some reason, assume Megatron left orders and retreated to his tub, or pretend your characters have no idea where he went. Just try to keep it IC for him. XD
OKAY, now onto the relevant thing for this vote I see:
Our RP over at my group was huge and keeping it organized, interesting, and having an engaging plot was tricky, but rewarding for me. I love canons and while I could never RP with someone else with canons (since....I had all the canons. Well, almost all. -_- fun, but not fun RPing with yourself sometimes.) manipulating them and tailoring the storylines to fit it each other was fun and gave us a lot of creative freedom. Here's how we did it and I think it could work here too. This is for a free form RP that still has structure and holds interest and stuff:
- Someone's in charge of the RP and coordinating the whole story. This person RPs but also makes sure Story Arcs begin and end, facilitates Time Skips if things would take too long to happen, manages peoples' plots when people stray, and ...well, kinda like Mod stuff but specific to the RP.
(everyone helps keep track f plots though, because it gets confusing. x_x)
- Next, you choose a setting. Which canons are alive in our RP? What events did or did not happen?
In my opinion, we're stuck way at the beginning of Beast Wars and it doesn't matter if we Time Skip or anything, it'll take us FOREVER to get where we need to be for people join the RP with their OCs. I certainly wouldn't want a flood if I were the ...what should I call it? Overseer? of the RP, but introductions and stuff coudl be discussed with the Overseer (who, yes, is also in charge of getting people in and out f the RP's storyline.) I think it'd be interesting, perhaps a stimulus for creativity, if we took our RP and set it after the third season, starting with a summary of what did or did not happen in the Nemesis episodes and then the story would open up a couple months after the end of Nemesis and we continue writing for a Fourth Season of Beast Wars. This allows us to develop Canons AND OCs, solve subplots or take them in a new direction, add characters, create Story Arcs (which also could be thought of as episodes), etc.
(I, for one, would love to see Rampage and Depth Charge's subplot a little more n depth with more character development and some kid of resolution. But that's my idea and I love them both to the pint I'm extremely protective of them so...yeah. )
Next, everyone who wishes to join gives the Overseer a rundown of what they want with their character. A plot, really. And detailed too, or as detailed as one can make it. The Overseer then combines the plots together and determines when would be a good time for this or that person to join the story, or when a certain plot should take place, etc.
This is NOT tyranny thing though. This is all a huge discussion that takes place before the RP starts so everyone knows where everyone is and a general idea of what will happen in the future. Some plots, for example, take precedence over others. what if one person wants a romance with a canon where another person wants to introduce a new bad guy who's actually a Vok in disguise, who teams up with Megatron to cripple the TFs by getting Megatron to activate a super Vok thingy that would transport a small but powerful army of Vok-controlled Transformer-like bodies to Earth to destroy the bots without having to destroy the planet and all their hard work?
The bad guy's plot would be the Story Arc, and the romance would develop sometime inside that story arc. (Just for the record - there ain't gonna be NO romances with my canons unless totally approved by me. Dx I MUST keep Terry and Megs IC, and unless approached in juuuuuust the right way, neither will be falling in love with anyone. >_> The same would happen if I had their canons too. I also don't think Megatron can love. <_< I'd have to see some major development and a kick aft OC/Canon-playing to approve that.)
Once an opening story arc is decided and been discussed, the RPing can begin. Everyone knows what they're going to do and knows what to watch out for when it comes to other people's characters. Not everyting was outlined, so there's dialogue and stuff to improvise, surprises you didn't anticipate, etc. The Overseer keeps an eye on things and is also in charge with prompting plot movements forward. (The thing about that is that I had the canons, so I would just post a huge post where key canons relay messages or something happens or whatever and then I'd have another canon set off the alarms to the bases -- -_- Soundwave and, of course, Red Alert, lol-- and stuff and then everyone would know to drop their convos or end their sidestories quick to get a move on. Anything that needed to be dragged out --like if two people were really into a conversation they were having with their characters -- they'd move it to a separate thread dedicated to char development scenes and such. In this case, several people have the canons, so the Overseer might just act like a Mod and add notes to a post or take on a Voice of Primus persona and announce something or something, I dunno.)
With all of that in place, the RP takes on a freeform as far as plot and development and whatever goes, and yet structured because we're weaving people's ideas together.
HOWEVVERRRRRR.... and here's the most important part of all (Or at least I think so, cuz I'm a nerd about being "Canon Character Preservation Agency." ;D ...I really hope that doesn't sound elitist. It's not meant to be.):
Whoever the Overseer is MUSSSSSSSSSTT have a clear understanding of the canonverse of the Show. For our purposes, we seem to be using the Show and only the show. A few people I've met before seem t think that everything Beast Wars is canon to the Show as well, and I argue that it's not, but I won't start that here. In the end - the Show canon is JUUUSTTT what's in the show and all speculation from that is possible, even though a comic here or a cartoon there said otherwise. The only thing that qualifies as canon outside the show would be what the writers or directors of the show, and others directly involved wit the development of it, have said and even that could be dismissed fr the purposes of maintaining a clearly defined canonverse for everyone to work with. Not everyone's read the comics or seen Beast Wars 2 or even Beast Machines. BUUUUTT that's my view on that. So, yes, I believe the Overseer needs to know the canon stuff. The characters, the story, the laws of physics, etc. This person should also be open minded enough to listen to and validate other people's ideas on what the canonverse entails and all theories that arise from the canon. Any speculation on the canon (such a sparklings, how beings are 'born', whether Preds and Maximals are defined by morality in our RP taking clues from the show, whether Rampage is a complete killer or something more, whether optics change color or stay the same unless upgraded or operated on, etc) would be discussed in a separate thread BEFORE being introduced to the RP.
THe familiarity and percepton of the canon is important because the Overseer would also be in charge of reinforcing the canon. Meaning, if sometihng OOC happens or if something happens that threatens the ICness of a character or canonverse "Law", they have to call it out. The reason this is so important ot Beast Wars is because we've all seen the show, we've all got ideas on this and that, but when the RP turns from Beast Wars into "Let's Change This from the Show so That I Can Conveniently Make This Happen for My Plot/OC/Other", it's obviously no longer Beast Wars and, therefore, no fun to those of us who want to RP BEAST WARS, not Fantasy Beast Wars or Someone Else's Fanfic. An example f that would be saying Depth Charge had a bond mate and starting the RP with a character who is supposedly DC's bondmate.
First of all, do we want "bondmates" to exist? It wasn't mentioned in the show. This would have to be discussed with the Overseer and everyone else, in the discussion thread until all thoughts were heard and could be combined in some way (ANOTHER important thing here: COMPROMISE. A freeform RP could go to the Pits if no one's willing to compromise their ideas so everyone has something to work with.) Secondly, it was never mentioned in the show he had one or a loved one or children or whoever.
His past is vague enough that it could happen, but a) if he did, they would have mentioned it in the show in some way and b) he could also NOT have a bondmate. Thirdly, the OC (or maybe a canon, who knows?) might be totally wrong for Depth Charge. :/ They just don't match up. This could mean the person with the canon starts to RP them OOC or it means the OC has absolutely no reason to be there and, therefore, does not fit. She/he wouldn't be canon-like. (Personally, I think 'canon-like' should be our goal, if we want it to be Beast Wars.) And fourthly, the whole romance thing? (and other stuff that would affect a canon in any way) would need to be discussed with the player of that canon first. I've had problems with this before, it's not fun. If someone wants to affect canon, they need to speak to the player of the canon character AND the Overseer, but if it's Canonverse law (like if someone wanted to manipulate Canonverse Laws to say that "Bondmates exist and here's how it works based on this and this from the show.") they need to go to the Overseer. Admin, or established Mod, however, has final say in any and everything and can override the Overseer.
I hope I explained all that well enough. >_> It makes sense to me and it's a lot easier than it sounds.
So, ifffffffff we were to go with Option 4, I think that would work.
Beast Machines
I saw rewriting Beast Machines was mentioned. That is something that I, too, would liek to do and I intend to do so in concordance with another fic I'm writing. I, for one, would love to see Thrust and Jetstorm become separate entities from Waspy and Silverbolt, for example.
(I have a few ideas how to do it, too!
) I'd also like to see a couple chars back from the dead, maybe, and a few more survivors here or there. To me, the show needsa little more Beast Wars in it adn definitely PRedacons. 9_9 Serious misrepresentation in that show people. Predacon rights activists would have been angry, lol. However, I wouldn't want it all to change. On its own, it's quite a good show! So, whether I'd join such an RP or not depends on how much, exactly, would be changed and what those things would be. x_x I certainly wouldn't mind more about Strika and Obsidian. Strika ROCKS. But I wouldn't want...i dunno...Nightscream deleted. He was actually one of my favorites when I was little and I still think he's a cool character. He certainly could have been a terrible addition to the group. As it was, he contributed and proved to be an asset from the get go, not a moron or an immature accident prone kitty. (Sorry Spots. You had your shining moments but had you not the support you did, you'd have been dead lonnnnng ago. x_x) Yes, yes, I'm opining all over the place, but I'll stop now.
This is a huge post anyways. x_X
Also, the same idea for structure and freeform could apply to Beast Machines as well.
AND,if we d do that, I'm totally auditioning for Jetstorm. 8D
Okay, stopping now.
at NS*
I'll send her a PM and slap her around a little.