Hiya folks.  Wow, such impressive company.  :)  Thanks for the invite, Haibane -- this all seems quite useful and promising.  Nice to see some folks here I've crossed paths with before, too.<br/><br/>Holy crap, as I'm reading back through what's been posted so far, there's been so much intelligent and provocative stuff discussed already, much of which I agree with.  Mostly I'm just struck by hearing so many people echo impressions I've often had but never knew if others felt similarly.<br/><br/>I'm going to quote people just to emphasize my agreement on some stuff.  Here's something I think can't be stressed too much:<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">I think if we’re up front about what we all want and expect from one another, and are honest with ourselves about these expectations (Do I like them? Can I actually post that many times a day or week? Can I deal with a RP where my character might go for weeks without any sort of sex going on? Etc.) then things have a much better shot of working for everyone.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Put another way:<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">It's also good, nay, blinking brilliant, to have lots of open OOC discussion about things. Not only socializing which helps you get to know your co-writers but discussion of plot twists and such. By all means take it private to PMs if you'd like to keep something a surprise from the others but CCing in the GM might be a good idea there.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>IMHO, lack of OOC communication is at the root of almost everything that derails games, and more OOC communication can, by itself, solve most of the problems that come up (as long as everyone's being level-headed and reasonable -- sometimes not a safe assumption!).<br/><br/>Another idea I've come to really appreciate:<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">I try to keep a primer thread up to date as well informing new and returning players who's who and where we are at in the story. </blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Haibane and others have done this in games that I've seen, and it's enormously helpful for new players, I think.  There's something I haven't seen mentioned yet:  personally, I like there to be fresh faces in games on a fairly regular basis, both to replace quitters and to add interest and variety.  I think the lack of a summary makes it extremely difficult for new people to feel comfortable joining a game -- at least, I've given up on joining some games because I couldn't stand to read the entire thread in advance, and there was no other way to know what was going on.<br/><br/>Sorry, I'm writing this simultaneously<em>while </em>I'm reading back through everyone's posts, so I'm quickly discovering that everything I have to say has already been said better by someone else!  :)  Like here, for example:<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">One big strength for a game would be for it to be accessible enough so that new people would have relatively easy time jumping in. It would be good if there is some plausible way to easily introduce new people to the mix if need be in the game setting. Made that way there would be chance to survive good bunch of player changes. There is good bit of complexity compared to one on one game that comes from many characters interacting with each other, so keeping the main premise simple enough to cater for possible new arrivals later would not really hurt. </blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Must agree strongly with that.<br/><br/>Here's another thing that sums up my feelings quite well, emphasis added:<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Having said that I would be prepared to have a go at almost anything if it was well planned and executed <strong>and the players were skilled and committed. </strong></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>I've always felt that this is the basic criteria for a fun RP.  Dedication and creative skill can make almost any scenario interesting, I believe, while the most interesting, well-planned scenario will come to nothing without the right players.<br/><br/>Sorry if my post here has jumped around a lot, I guess I should have joined this thread earlier!  Before I go, I'd like to point out one last thing about RPing that I think is extremely important and little understood.  This has been touched on by several of you already:  for a game to turn into an interesting<span class="bbc_u">story</span>, someone or several people need to be making narrative decisions on a regular basis.  What I'm talking about is how so few games, even ones with gifted participants, incorporate major plot decisions from several participants<em>other than</em>the GM.<br/><br/>It seems to me that people need to strike a balance:  of course, roleplaying requires each player to make choices for their own character, primarily and<em>almost</em>exclusively, but there are many scenes in any game where<em>somebody</em>needs to decide that a number of things happen at once, so that the scene will progress and conclude in a logical and<em>entertaining</em>fashion.  As long as there's an effort to keep the descriptions logical and based on each writer's previously-stated preferences for their characters, narrative decisionmaking should be tolerated and even encouraged from all the players.<br/><br/>That's my two bits.  :)  Hope I haven't derailed the discussion too much, and sorry for the length, I'm a wordy MF.  :)