I know there are a lot of people on this forum who participate in Grail War RPs whether on this site, on other sites, or even through messaging apps like skype, discord or IRC.
There isn't though, a thread to about Type-Moon and more specifically Grail War RPs in a general sense.
I hope this thread will serve to guide and question processes and how people make Grail War RPs: how they go, what they lack, what worked, etc.
And also serve as a place for members of this forum to share their stories in hopes of inspiring others or maybe warning against a so-called action or attitude.
Or even collaborate on ideas for Type-Moon RPs.
To start the thread off so there's not just a blank space, I've always had this question of how to best approach applications and restrictions for applications. Or well since I've never made my own RP, question how other GMs implement it.
So when you want to get a a Grail War RP together, you want ideally 7 Servants and 7 Masters. There are many that have more. There are a few that have less.
Most of the time you will not get enough applicants or you will get too many.
On BL, the best sheets get in and that fits with the RP culture here because it's p cliquey so you trust the people you RP with. And if there are new faces, its only one or two people so its manageable, and they got in based on quality or numbers.
But there are a lot of other RPs where they'll accept as many people as possible from the interest check or its first come first serve.
Either way, when most people make applications for Grail War RPs they want to play as Servants, Heroic Spirits. So in an open application you get a giant amount of Servants and not enough Masters.
So the way this is usually remedied is by having each player make one Servant and then one Master. At least everyone will be paired up.
But the issue with that is, you end up either having to roleplay a pair or you end up having a finger in two pies. And these two pies will never come into conflict because people don't want to risk their characters. To maybe they'll even form a team. Make that usually.
So the options for a Grail War RP Character Distribution mainly goes:
1 person = 1 character
1 person = 1 pair
1 person = 1 Servant and 1 Master but not a pair
1 person = 1 Master, All Servants are GM controlled
1 person = 1 Servant, All Masters are GM controlled
1 person = x Servants and x Masters, clusterfuck ensues
1 person = x number of characters max, end up with Master-less Servants roaming
These are my experiences and I believe they all have detrimental disadvantages.
What pros and cons do you see in these set ups or have experienced? Have you seen different set ups that weren't mentioned? Do those work better or even worse? How has the setup of characters affected your RP experience; was it positive or negative?
If this isn't a question you're interested in, say something else that you've noticed about Grail War RPs that work or do not work or want to just talk about.
I hope this thread doesn't die and becomes a mainstay, since as long as BL remains there's going to be a lot of Grail War RPs and people who want to participate in them.