Where are we, now?

Bandur Khan wrote:

I am here and was often wondering why there are so many Things You find in a typical Fantasy-RP-Rulebook regarding Surroundings, interesting Locations and People You can meet and Stuff - and no one does RP. I mean - what´s all this Effort for, if there is obviously near to no one using all this Work?

I just love to rp - but I don´t like those `Hey, let´s all gonna end up as a Pile of Shit somewhere!´-Stories. In these Cases the theoretical Immortality in Felarya is made totally irrelevant. For me this Setting has a much more to offer, so I love Stories with somethig to discover - just as I think Women are much more than Guys with a Hole, where I have none. So I look around, think of Things I like from all the Stuff I like around here - and perhaps I´m gonna use it in some pf my RP-Backgrounds - and the longest RP ever seen so far here (over 1000 Posts, including a Sequel of now almost the same Size) tells, my Theory works. I call this the `Theory of verified Success.´    

And by now I think the Post-Impetus has slowed down enough for many of YOU Guys too, so You can join in - if You like. This Offer still exists. But until now most of You were fading away, seemigly without any Reason. I know three, four Guys around here, with whom I can rp, knowing they are coming back - but I also think in a Forum with recently 1368 Members this Number still could increase a bit. But in the Projects I may start in the Future: It will always be an RP and no Battle Game. I love Interaction, learning to know interesting Characters, so my RPs are not meant to be like Ego-Shooterz. There Battles CAN occur - but they are not the Main Attraction. Well, okay - Jormungdang and I plan a Visit to some of my Worlds with some Characters from here - and if they land on TUVALU II or TIERRA SANCTA, there could be a bit more Ruckus...

I give you lots of credit for your RP work Bandi, but just being honest (Please dont hate me) as a critique, you kinda have a bit of a tendency to create way too many characters at a time, making it hard to follow the story. From my experience in THe Black Manor College, it made it really hard to tell where I was or who/what I was talking to. It may be better for others if you kept the characters you play as to 2-3. And (as Nahya will tell you many times over) Let the characters controled by others make their own decisions/chances to dodge. Thats not saying that they cant/wont get hit or grabbed, but it makes it better for the others.

As for battles, well I am ok with them if done right. It would be fun for me and a party of others to fight off a giant creature in the jungles of Felarya, but after awhile, it kinda gets a bit boring. There is nothing wrong with it of course.

And Just an FYI, typically in RP's (Not just here, but almost any vore/Felarya Rp) I usually end up getting digested in a giant creature. Of course, there are many events and fights before this! (Unless I play a character wanting to be eaten. Hmm, that might be a fun idea...)

Please don't take what I said personally, it's just really a Critique. I really enjoy RPing with you, it's just mainly that you have way too many characters out so I can't keep track, and a bit of autohitting on your part. I respect you as a RP guy, it's just that this is why I left The Black Manor college (Well, and college was beginning.)

Yeah... that´s the Main Issue with a College - there are many People around...

On the topic of RPing, I can definitely agree with wanting that section to be active; worldbuilding is fun in and of itself (at least for me), but so is doing something with that world. That said, I think it would be also nice to have longer-running, "epic" (more in terms of the story type than the adjective) RPs that can ideally introduce new things and affect the world to a degree. Obviously, that should be run by someone with Karbo's blessing and oversight, if not Karbo himself, which would be something of a decently large commitment. That's not to say we can't keep doing small things, but perhaps if we wanted to reinvigorate the forum some, we could try starting up a large RP project, perhaps with multiple intersecting groups, and perhaps even a rules-light system for challenges, contests between players, and combat if it ever gets to that.

Gamma wrote:

On the topic of RPing, I can definitely agree with wanting that section to be active; worldbuilding is fun in and of itself (at least for me), but so is doing something with that world.  That said, I think it would be also nice to have longer-running, "epic" (more in terms of the story type than the adjective) RPs that can ideally introduce new things and affect the world to a degree.  Obviously, that should be run by someone with Karbo's blessing and oversight, if not Karbo himself, which would be something of a decently large commitment.  That's not to say we can't keep doing small things, but perhaps if we wanted to reinvigorate the forum some, we could try starting up a large RP project, perhaps with multiple intersecting groups, and perhaps even a rules-light system for challenges, contests between players, and combat if it ever gets to that.

Thats actually a great idea in theory! But, Karbo isn't on as much, and a good number of us are busy and go away for reasons. But Perhaps it could possibly work, although it would be a VERY long Rp as some of us are only on during college breaks. And even then, most go on vacations. Although, I would be interested in it.

still here, just too apathetic to contribute.

I pretty much made my position clear months ago and have nothing more to add that woulden't just be a retread of the points I made then

https://felarya.forumotion.com/t3875-where-do-we-go-from-here

I enjoy felarya RPs quite a bit. Its the first place I had dedicated RPs with. I always wanted to advocate for the IRC constantly, in an effort to show you that it was alive and that we were active, but we've slowly gotten busier, and most people dont want to take the energy to download a client. They'd rather just go straight to a web page. (I feel a bit vexed over this myself).

Though if anybody does want to RP, we can still figure something out I'm sure. I would love to, though at the same time I am pretty busy nowadays. Dont have all the time I want anymore.

Going back to the subject at hand. Seeing more community events like the one gamma suggested would help us go a long ways to filling in this "creative null" that people are feeling. I definitely have the time to organize a longterm rp that explores canon, new ideas (from you lovely people in the community) over pure substance. Awhile back I started making a rather deep rp experience. even going on the rollplay20 website to make maps and such. I just got busy and some people never asked me or replied back if it was still a thing. I'm still interested but i would to talk to anybody else interested in getting people more interested in lovingly esoteric rp with deeper meanings to unveil (or heck even co-writing stories), i'm all for that. Just want a pm really, before i want to start something again so i can communicate with people who want to get something going.

Forget PMs... I am already here for You.

I'm always watching.......waiting for the right time to return to the Dridder Forest to reclaim what was taken from me

Yeah - it´s a bit quiet these Days...

Come up with ideas and critique some. Or Think about a subject involving areas of felarya to have a discussion about.

Or come up with myths and stories. Things people tell each other at the pub or to kids during bed time. We need LOTS of those, LOTS. Those kinds of stories will REALLY make felarya seem full of life. It gives depth to a universe on a Tolkien level.

Archmage_Bael wrote:

Come up with ideas and critique some. Or Think about a subject involving areas of felarya to have a discussion about.

Or come up with myths and stories. Things people tell each other at the pub or to kids during bed time. We need LOTS of those, LOTS. Those kinds of stories will REALLY make felarya seem full of life. It gives depth to a universe on a Tolkien level.

We had a rumor thread. It goes inactive for long periods of time but it's a gold mine of lore and info still to this day. When I get stuck on mythology to use in my RP threads it's one of my favorite little known resources to mine lore from. Maybe we need a new one of those?

jedi-explorer wrote:

Archmage_Bael wrote:

Come up with ideas and critique some. Or Think about a subject involving areas of felarya to have a discussion about.

Or come up with myths and stories. Things people tell each other at the pub or to kids during bed time. We need LOTS of those, LOTS. Those kinds of stories will REALLY make felarya seem full of life. It gives depth to a universe on a Tolkien level.

We had a rumor thread. It goes inactive for long periods of time but it's a gold mine of lore and info still to this day. When I get stuck on mythology to use in my RP threads it's one of my favorite little known resources to mine lore from. Maybe we need a new one of those?

Can you link it? I'd be interested in it.

This past summer, i was going to do exactly that. I was planning on making poems about Vivian, Crisis, Sebuta and probably a few others. Unfortuantely, life got in the way and I never finished it. (And my inipsiartion for it is missing now).

Archmage_Bael wrote:

Or come up with myths and stories. Things people tell each other at the pub or to kids during bed time. We need LOTS of those, LOTS. Those kinds of stories will REALLY make felarya seem full of life. It gives depth to a universe on a Tolkien level.

A universe on a Tolkien Level is just a tad out of Felarya's scope don't you think?

Hey, Tolkien was just one guy. We're what, a dozen? I think we could pull it off.

XionGaTaosenai wrote:

Hey, Tolkien was just one guy. We're what, a dozen? I think we could pull it off.

Just one guy who was an university professor, writer, poet, and an philologist who studied and worked at the colleges of Oxford.

Just one guy who's fictional universe was based around early Germanic literature, Norse and Finnish mythology, as aposed to a fictional universe based around sexy gaint anime women.
I think it's fair to say that Tolkien allowed himself more flexibility when it came to the scope of his setting in a way that was consistant.

DarkOne wrote:

XionGaTaosenai wrote:

Hey, Tolkien was just one guy. We're what, a dozen? I think we could pull it off.

Just one guy who was an university professor, writer, poet, and an philologist who studied and worked at the colleges of Oxford.

Just one guy who's fictional universe was based around early Germanic literature, Norse and Finnish mythology, as aposed to a fictional universe based around sexy gaint anime women.
I think it's fair to say that Tolkien allowed himself more flexibility when it came to the scope of his setting in a way that was consistant.

You have a point there. But everything starts out somewhere, right?

DarkOne wrote:

XionGaTaosenai wrote:

Hey, Tolkien was just one guy. We're what, a dozen? I think we could pull it off.

Just one guy who was an university professor, writer, poet, and an philologist who studied and worked at the colleges of Oxford.

Just one guy who's fictional universe was based around early Germanic literature, Norse and Finnish mythology, as aposed to a fictional universe based around sexy gaint anime women.
I think it's fair to say that Tolkien allowed himself more flexibility when it came to the scope of his setting in a way that was consistant.

And yet not EU or fourth genration of books. <.< Unlike my beloved Star Wars which begain as movies then climbed to one of the first universes to have over 400 distinct documented sentient species....That is before Disney killed the EU to justify this new Force Awakens movie. Though now that means, since all we SW fans count our slice as forever canon, that SW has TWO EU's. =P

Anywho back to the subject at hand: Is Felarya Middle Earth? No. Thankfully since Tolkien's world was beautiful and diverse but Felarya is strangely more original for its oddness I feel.  If anything I'd compare Felarya to Discworld. Quirky, but still dangerous.

Pendragon wrote:

You have a point there. But everything starts out somewhere, right?

That's true, but my question for you is this, how many in depth fictional universes started life as an erotic manga?

How does one build a mythology that is faithful to the premise and yet not constrained by the limitations and expectations of such an incredibly niche genre?

People thought Monster Girls were an incredibly niche genre, but then Monster Musume became a New York Times bestseller. Sex change is an niche genre, but shows up literally all the time in webcomics, most of which are inspired by/paying homage to the hugely popular Ranma 1/2. Both of those manga have a premise built around a "niche fetish", but they got where they are today despite that, because they built on the premise and evolved from it enough to catch the interest of people who weren't in on the fetish. Similarly, Felarya was and always will be founded on vore, but it would be a tragedy to undersell it and say that it can only be a "vore setting". Every house has a foundation, but we don't live on naked slabs of concrete.

Felarya doesn't have to be about vore any more than, say, El Goonish Shive is about sex changing. Vore will always be a part of Felarya, a major part, and part of what makes it stand out compared to other works, but that doesn't mean that Felarya must forever be a one-trick pony that can't develop hooks to catch the attention of a broader audience. Felarya can evolve beyond what you seem to think it's constrained to, and it's already happening. If Felarya was about catering to vore and only vore, why would we be spending so much time felshing out the inner workings of Negav? Hell, why would Kortiki Village even exist?

New york times bestseller is based on success at the box office/economic profit, not on artistic merit. If I remember correctly, many shit stories like twilight and 50 shades of grey were also featured on that list, so as far as im concerned lists like new york times bestseller cant be used as a scale to measure whats good or not.

i dont think aswell that felarya will ever reach the level of depths tolkien achieved. we're not nearly close to even begin compare felarya to arda. we're not even close to start comparing with the hobbit.tolkien was one man, but he didnt have to debate with himself on how negav should be constructed or on how angel's feathers could cure leprosy. he exactly knew what he was doing and passed a lifetime building a very rich world. felarya is rich but empty in the same time.

XionGaTaosenai wrote:

People thought Monster Girls were an incredibly niche genre, but then Monster Musume became a New York Times bestseller.

That just means that Monster Musume is popular, not that it's fiction is ripe for world building and expansion beyound it's niche premise. If anything it's popular because it stuck to it's guns and provided the sexy and funny material in the bucket loads while also providing cute characters and a cute little message about socail diversity. That's all it has done, Monster Musume knew it was and plays to it's strengths rather than confusing it's audaince with window dressing.

XionGaTaosenai wrote:

Sex change is an niche genre, but shows up literally all the time in webcomics, most of which are inspired by/paying homage to the hugely popular Ranma 1/2. Both of those manga have a premise built around a "niche fetish", but they got where they are today despite that, because they built on the premise and evolved from it enough to catch the interest of people who weren't in on the fetish.

Again, not a setting known for overwrought worldbuilding, Ranma 1/2 is a 80s/90s martial arts/romcom. It was able to go beyound it's sexy moments (which doesn't even seem to be it's central premise, if anything I'd say the sex-change thing is more risque humour than outright fetish stuff) because it came with addictional genres built into it's premise from day one and simply had to play by those tropes.
Ranma had it needed from day one, everything was already balanced out before it set off, and so simply had to expand on it's multi-genre ideas and not stray too far from them. Where Felarya was surposed to be simply fetish and we are now working backwards in order force in stuff that wasn't there before and it's noticeable. Some of the ideas simply don't mesh, not without going back to the drawing board and changing the premise.

XionGaTaosenai wrote:

Similarly, Felarya was and always will be founded on vore, but it would be a tragedy to undersell it and say that it can only be a "vore setting".

I think it's a bigger tragedy that a unique and quirky fetish setting to become bogged down by window dressing created by tone-deaf contributors, some of which don't seem to understand 'context' 'Subtext' 'Genre' Or 'Narrative Esthetics'

To be clear, I am up for expanding Felarya beyound it's fetish premise, but only if there's an good idea behind it, not just for the sake of it.

You know what would help? If people were on here more often! I mean I stop by every day or so, and there are no new posts or only new stuff in the "Other" section under the funny thread or something. *Sigh* I miss the days of good ol' vore Rp's. I keep trying to start some ones, but no one ever replies.

I also worry that I have a bad habit of making stupid threads. I mean, sure, some are kinda bad, but its not like any one else is trying to give the fourm CPR. I'm lucky if my threads even get a response!