Monday, February 9, 2004

From the Ashes...

You know, Adventure Arena has truly become a cool forum in recent times. I'm sure you all remember a time, only a few months ago, where Adventure Arena was truly the proverbial wart on the butt of OtakuBoards. It wasn't because of Moderators (in fact, I think most people were really thankful that they were there to stop things from getting worse). It was largely because the lowest-quality posters on OB were apparently holding their national convention there. There were plenty of poor RPGs...and poor is putting it mildly. Of course, I don't want to paint everyone with the same brush. There were quite a few truly great RPGs. But that didn't seem to inspire other members to put more effort in on their own. When I look at how things have developed though, I feel that Kill Adam was a catalyst in Adventure Arena. It wasn't necessarily related to the RPG's quality either. At the time I posted the sign-up, Kill Adam was a big event. If you look at all the people to posted sign-ups, you'll see the evidence of that. A lot of things came together. The fact that the RPG was R-rated, the fact that it "looked" different to what people were used to (with the HTML and so on), the fact that it had a fundamentally different structure to other RPGs (the chapter/cast system) and the fact that I had placed very tight entrance requirements on it -- all of these things helped to make it a hot topic at the start. I get the feeling that a lot of members wanted to prove themselves by impressing me with their sign ups. Obviously that's reasonable; that's what you're always doing when you sign up for an RPG, especially when the creator decides to choose who will and won't participate. As it turned out, I didn't choose many people. There were many reasons, depending on the person. But by and large, most people didn't seem to grasp the violence/camp aspect that I was going for. And that's not necessarily their fault -- many hadn't seen the movie. So I didn't expect a lot of people to necessarily understand what the intent was. After the RPG went up though, things changed. And I think that this has helped to lead to a slightly better overall quality in the forum. Initially, a lot of people tried to mimmick Kill Adam in their own way, by creating "edgy" violent RPGs. Myself, along with the other staff, had warned that we'd expect "adult" RPGs to follow "adult" standards, when it comes to writing quality and so on. And at first, there was a very legitimate concern about the influx of violent RPGs. But I think that has changed. The novelty of doing this sort of RPG has started to disappear. And in recent times, we've seen a number of really robust attempts to produce unique stories with unique characters. In some ways, I think Kill Adam added a competitive nature to the forum. And I think it's great that people are competing to have more innovative, higher quality RPGs. It's a good goal to have. So what have I been impressed by lately? Well, I thought I'd create a list of RPGs that seem to be following this high quality trend. Subliminal Monarchy As soon as I saw the sign-up, I was impressed. FirePheonix727 has really opened up the box, as it were. This RPG has a really non-linear concept and so far, the writing seems to be pretty solid. The Silmarillion Well, Drix created this one. What more needs to be said? Drix's earlier RPGs (Vampire the Masquerade for example) were always well written and well-conceived. The Silmarillion is a really beautiful concept I think. It's a true fantasy tale and Drix has added a great deal of weight to the backstory. That kind of effort is really good to see. Laeth E'Thae Out of all the "recent" RPGs (those to be created within the last few months), Laeth E'Thae stands out. It stands out because of its sheer size (133 posts is actually quite big, considering the detail in each post). But it also stands out because of the insanely good writing involved. Arcadia's writing is descriptive, without bogging down the reader in too much detail. And Dagger...her writing is gorgeous. That's the best way for me to describe it. She really puts her wide vocabulary to amazing use. The Children of Sharess I think Raiha is probably famous for her RPG characters. Or "infamous", which might be the more suitable word. But I feel that this latest RPG is a clear demonstration of what Raiha can do when she puts her mind to it. The Children of the Sharess starts with a simple-enough premise, but even that premise is really well balanced. I enjoyed reading Raiha's positioning of different groups in society and how they relate to one another. And I'm enjoying the dark, somewhat gothic feel of this RPG so far. Again, some of Dagger's posts in here really amaze me. When Humans are the Enemy I didn't follow this RPG from the start, but I've been going through it lately. It has all the right ingredients too. The original concept is sound and the RPG itself is filled to the brim with OtakuBoards' top writing talent. Everyone from Solo and terra, to Yoda and Ben (of course -- he created it ~_^). Paranoia I don't have much to say about this one, admittedly. I still have to read most of it. But...please don't overlook it. Detailed writing and highly talented writers are involved in this one. If it survives, it should be a memorable RPG. Titans: Fight the Apocalypse So far, this one is also pretty short/early in its lifecycle. But I'm really impressed by vicky's improvement as a member in recent times. Her RPGs have steadily improved and expanded in scope. And her attention to detail is ever-increasing. She even scored Shy in this RPG, which is quite an achievement. Good job. I should do this more often. I think there are quite a few RPGs that deserve to be read, afterall. And now I hear that Shy and possibly Tony have new stellar RPGs up their sleeves. Kill Adam continues...and I'm planning for my next story. Considering the steady improvement in Adventure Arena over the last couple of months, I think we can expect great things from this forum on V7 (especially with all the lovely new formatting options).

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