The Good Witch RPC

Hello! I won't say I'm the Glinda of RPCs because I'm not. Instead I promise to help all roleplays, from tumblr to forums, on advice, critiques, and suggestions in a friendly manner. I can help with Face Claim suggestions, critiques, rants, promotions, and other things you could come up with! (Besides for graphics and trust me, you wouldn't want my "help").

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Confession

So you know how summer's supposed to be a break for people? Yeah, not me. Instead I pick up two extra jobs and volunteer work. So, truthfully, I haven't had a lot of time to post stuff. I'll try to work on rants at my one job. You'll get one later tonight, I promise. 

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Hello beautiful, would you please mind giving our brand new roleplay a shout out? It would be great if you did, thank you!

Hey guys, check out the RP here. 

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

The sorting hat shouldn't have a tongue twister: why you don't need so many member groups

This may seem like it's more of a problem for forums, but I've seen member groups in tumblr RPs too.

Have you ever read a personality description (like a horoscope or one of those "which birth month describes you") and said to yourself "Oh my goodness, this is so me!" Chances are you have, because they make them general enough where it fits almost anybody. Why does this happen? I'm no psychologist (really, I'm not) but I would guess it has something to do with how one judges their personality to be objective and not set in any "this or that" light. People tend not to fit one trait completely, but rather a bunch of traits in different gradients.

It's tempting to make sure that each character has a member group that they fit into, but is that really what's happening if you make multiple member groups? Most of the time, if there's more than five (especially if they're based on personality) members don't fit into one exclusively, but into a combination of groups. For instance, I was on a site that had NUMBER member groups and, frankly, I had no idea where my character should go. Should she be gutsy because she went with her gut and moved to a new town, trouble because she and the rules don't get along, or talented because she's known for her baking skills? See what the problem is? There are traits that fit all of them and she doesn't necessarily fit one strikingly over the other (it was actually more complicated than that, but for their privacy I'm not going into it).

As an admin your job is to make life of the members as simple as possible. Making them fuss over which member group doesn't really make anyone easier. And let's go into the actual point of member groups. They're not there just to be fancy, they're to separate characters and give the reader a specific distinction between characters. It's to identify and tell who from who (aside from the basics).

So what should you do? Well, try to keep it away from personality traits. If you're doing seven deadly sins that's one thing, but member groups shouldn't be objective. They should be groups the character belongs to. Look at species on supernatural sites, houses on Harry Potter sites, etc. If you're stumped try financial situation or living quarters. It may be something that fluctuates, but a lot of times people can change too.

[thetrolliestcritic]

Better integrating Co-Admins

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

If you want a co-admin to be able to dive right into your roleplay without needing to coach them a lot, I recommend the following below the cut. I’ve found that in my own roleplays, having these has helped all the co-admins I’ve ever had know where to begin first. It helps them understand how we conduct ourselves within the roleplay, how to construct biographies, etc.

Read More

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Your Bios Could Lose a Few Inches

I will be the first to admit that I am a lazy person. I love RPing, but I don't want to go through hours and hours of reading to do it. I'm not going to say that if you have ideas for a long bio you shouldn't write them, but I'd ask you to consider what your bio really is doing. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you get an idea for a canon and you just want to write all of it out. But should you create their whole history? No, no you should not. And here's why.

One of the joys of roleplaying is creating a character. In all honesty, that's one of the best parts for me. Taking a character and making them your own is great. When you create a long bio you're restricting the character. Yes it's great that you have every single minor detail for all of your premade characters, but if someone gave you a character with their every hobby and history laid out and told you to play them would you really want to? Some people like that type of thing, which is why they play in fandoms. But even then the author is leaving some ideas to the imagination. Do you know exactly what Harry does in his free time? No, because you can overwrite a character.

Put yourself in the players position, which I hope you've already been in. Roleplaying is supposed to be something you do in your free time, something that's fun. Do you want to read pages and pages of characters that you may not be interested to find out if that's who you want to play? I don't and, in all honesty, I feel that most people don't either. Now, you may be thinking that you want people who will be completely invested in your roleplay, who won't mind reading three or more paragraphs. Can you guarantee that though? Maybe the person who joined as a premade was merely looking for a specific face (don't tell me that doesn't happen, I've done it myself) or the person who joined as an OC has the exact same idea as you did, but they didn't want to read the bios. Those who have read all of the characters may originally show that they're more invested into the RP but that doesn't mean they'll stay either. Plus, you're missing the point. What is the point of spending all of this time and effort on characters if nobody is going to play them?  

It's not completely and totally all of the admins fault either. There's the general notion in the RP world that longer bios show a more invested admin, one that has spent time and effort into developing all of the characters. This is just another example how people can get confused with quantity and quality. I can write on and on about a character but it could be the same information rehashed several different ways. A lot of the longer bios I see are pure biographies. These tend to leave out a lot of the character history. They touch upon how a character feels about an event or what specifically happened, but they leave out who the character is and instead just tell the reader what happened to them. And sure, there's a nifty quote to begin the bio or a song lyric. I'm sure you could make tons of quotes about me as a person, but that could be out of context and miss a key point of who I am.

Too, longer bios can get repetitive. You may think you have a bunch of original characters, and I'm sure you do, but reading the same writing style over and over again can get boring. You don't want to be boring, do you? I didn't think so.

So what's an admin to do? You have these character ideas and you want people to know that you put hard work to make each and every character an individual. I've got two major solutions for you and here they are:

- Keep it to a few short and important bullet points: it may look lazy, but bullet points can keep everything neat and narrow down what you really want a person to know about a character. Each bullet point shouldn't be more than three sentences though, that defeats the purpose

- A few interview questions - this will really get into the voice of the character more than just the history. Try to stick to a few important questions like how they grew up, what they want from life, things like that. Don't make them too long though. Bonus points if you include their actions along with it.

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Hey friends

So I've been a little not active lately, mostly because everything got really busy. Tomorrow I'll leaving for Europe for a week and I won't be able to get on. After that I'm planning on getting my butt in gear, so just wait for that. 

[acciorpc-deactivated20140413]

How to send hate without offending someone-A guide by Luna

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[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

A Late Night Rant About How You Tumblr RPs Have to Get Your Shit Together

Ok, so maybe that can be phrased in a nicer way. But seriously, do you guys realize how confusing you are?

Apparently this isn't how it's done on Tumblr RPs, which I already knew, but I didn't realize to this depth. Some tell you privately that you've been accepted (which is a whole new topic all together), some will have you wait to play until they've posted each and every application, and others will just have you wait until your first application but apparently not your second. 

Which, you know, is fine because SCREW THE MAN and everyone has a different system that they like the best. I'm not so much arguing with the system, but for people who aren't new to RPing you're making it very confusing. All you really need to do is have a little guide on what the application process looks like.

Seriously though guys. There's so much angst over this. Plus I may or may not have gotten scolded for doing it wrong.

So which method do you guys use? Why?

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

You live in a world of peace. Where everyone fits in where they belong. From fisherman to the royals. Pandora is a place far beyond the human imagination. A place with snow-capped Mountains, breezy oceans, a lush purple forest, a dusty desert, and busy city life. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that world? Districts separate the planet and place people where they belong. Living in harmony war has not seem the face of Pandora in thousands of years. 

What happens when your utopian nation is brought to face a war between good and evil. When you are a new born mutant are the most valuable. WIll you choose a side? The correct side? Your powers are uncontrollable and easily manipulated. Will you survive the war on your home planet with out the proper training? 

You have been sent away with the rest of your generation to Earth a planet that is light years away. On Earth you will be forced to fit in with the other humans. How will you be able to cope with that? Will you loose sight of your home planet and give into the human ways or will you fight to keep your powers? 

Periculum|Open Female|Open Male

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Beating the Hour Glass: Timeliness and Adminship

Before I get into this I bet some of you are going "Don't you owe reviews Tay? How can you lecture us about timeliness?" To that I say shush and let me get on with my rant/guide/thing. 

Common knowledge says that nobody likes to be ignored. People hate feeling like they aren't listened to. As an admin, if you're not responding as quickly as possible it sends a message you certainly don't want - that you're either lazy or not invested.

"But Tay!" You're crying out at me, "I'm a busy person, I can't always look over apps properly as soon as I get them."

I know, I know. Trust me, I'm about to get into my three job plus volunteering stretch, I know what it's like to be busy. Obviously work, school, sleepy, social life, and all of those things come before your roleplay, I'm not going to deny that. However, how do you prove to your potential members that you're invested you just don't have time?

Easy, my darlings, send the applicant a message. A simple, "Hey *name* I got your app, I'm just really busy with *insert activity here*, so I didn't get a chance to look it over yet, but I wanted you to know that I got it!" This should buy you some time with the annoying "Hey, did you get my app? Why haven't you read my app? Hello I sent an app in I'm a horribly impatient person answer me." I may be behind on reviews, but I sent every single one I owe a message saying that I got it.

Another way to get around this, is to have a rule saying that people can't ask about their application until a certain amount of time has past. Generally this is at least twenty four hours, that way it's fair to the admins. The important thing to keep in mind is balance, if you expect your members to fill out their application within 24 hours of making a reserve than you should give them the same courtesy. If you're making them wait days on end before they can even ask about it, you're probably pushing it a little too far.

Of course, people are always going to be pushy and impatient, wondering why you aren't answering messages or checking apps the second they post it on. In times like that, there's no point in getting defensive. You'll only sound mean if you do and who wants to join an RP with a mean admin? Apologize for the delay and get to it as soon as possible. Maybe you have a legitimate reason and maybe they are being a butthead about it, but in those situations you really just need to take the high road of the nice and polite admin.

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

In a city cloaked by a powerful spell lives the largest population of supernatural’s known to man. It is only known by the supernatural world, has never been found on any map or satellite image and is undetectable to any mortal eye -usually having them drive right by it on the nearby highway. Throughout the United States are cities that are kept a secret to allow supernaturals to live a normal life without being hunted, but some are more populated than others. Wolfdale plays host to vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, seers and of course humans. But not everything is as it seems on the surface. Beneath the façade that everything is peaceful and calm lies a century… no, millennium long battle for supremacy.

Main | Plot | Characters | Ask

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Hi bebe:) I'm in need of some Maddie Ziegler gifs as well as some icons of her. Could you possibly do a Maddie Ziegler gif hunt? And maybe make some icons as well?

Hey darling! First off, I don't do graphics because Tay sucks at graphics heckabad. Second off, if you're talking about the girl from Dance Moms, I'm not really comfortable doing any gif hunts or recommending anyone who's under 18. Sorry love! 

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Reviews for the Dakota

Link is here

First Impression and Appearance

I'm generally not a big brown fan, but you make it work. Your theme is clean and coordinates. However, I would have the sidebar picture a different color as it really blends in right now. Generally monochrome themes don't really catch the eye, though yours does have more contrast than others. The text stands out, which is nice. For your sidebar plot I would mention that it's New York City. It may seem common knowledge, but it'll cover all of your bases. 

Plot

I like your plot and am indifferent at the same time oddly enough. There are no leftover questions, which is nice and it explains almost everything properly (aside from "Harriet's Return"). I like the twist of having the college students buy the apartments which separates it from the standard rich society in NYC that just all happen to know each other or specifically dorms. However, it limits a diversity of characters. NYC plots always are in abundance so really that's the only reason why I'm not particularly in love with it. 

Rules

First off, thank you for explaining what God-Modding is. When I was a first time RPer years ago I was accused of God-Modding and had no idea what that actually was. This is really helpful for beginners and to make sure everyone is on the same page. Your list seems a little long at first, so I would recommend combining some of them. Rules 1-3 could be a longer rule, 6 and 8 deal with the same issue, and things of that nature. 

Characters

I'm not a big fan of long bios, but they work for some people. I like how you have song lyrics for them and how you have a good mix of popular faces and underused faces. Really, the length is what I would adjust. Yes, you want people to be interested in your roleplay so much that they read all of the bios, but you run the risk of people joining just for the face because they don't want to find the role that fits. 

Other Comments

First off, I love that you have something original in the application. Too many RP tumblrs have the same basic format without anything else. I'm not a huge fan of banning faces for rants I've already given, so I would recommend just making that all apps are well rounded. 

Overall Thoughts

It's obvious that you guys put a lot of thought into the RP (like all of the pictures and what have you). If I enjoyed NYC apps this would be one I consider. 

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Alright, goal: finish this 1,000 word essay, print out everything I have to for my evaluation tomorrow, work on a request for my RP, and then do all of the reviews I owe. And at some point the Castle finale which will probably make me cry. 

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

I really want an RP based on "The Graveyard Book"

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

Hello! I was wondering if you could suggest a blonde female FC around 18-22 years old who isn't Gabriella Wilde, Amanda Seifried, or Candace Accola.

Hmmmm, well seeing that the only requirement was blonde, I have a lot for you. I stuck to ones who are above 18 and generally pass off as characters younger than 22. 

Hayden Panettiere

AnnaSophia Robb

Dianna Agron (she's a little older)

Dakota Fanning

Imogen Poots

Blake Lively (again a little pushing it)

Taylor Momsen 

Emma Stone (obviously you have to sift through her images)

Evanna Lynch 

Juno Temple 

[rppetpeeves-blog]

[thegoodwitchrpc-blog]

What kinkshaming is: “EEEEEEEEW YOU’RE SO DISGUSTING! GO TO HELL! THAT’S BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD!” What kinkshaming is not: “Oh, no thank you, I’m not comfortable with that and I don’t want to RP it, sorry!”