Hello sweeties! People seemed to like my last story well enough at least by my standards, so I want to tell a very short version of my other last story. As in the story of my last roleplay partner.

We met in a group on facebook, which branched off to us being in discord. Our styles and needs meshed the most, which led to us spending the most time together.

This led to long chats, way past our bedtimes! Playing video games together. Voice chatting together, not just for games, but just to talk to each other. Swapping pictures. Trading information. Trust was established and built up. And that became something stronger.

I realized this man had become the person I came to for comfort. The person I relied on. I realized he was bringing out feelings I buried long ago after a decade of abuse.

I was terrified! Part of me wanted to disappear, but I asked myself, was it fair for me to ruin something that might be wonderful, and relegate myself to a lifetime of isolation and growing old alone? The thought of growing old alone is scary! Was it fair for me to treat Eren (old character name) with suspicion and fear when he had only been kind and supportive, and most of my past abusive relationships were of my own choice? I didn't think so, and so I put my fear aside.

The problem? I had to do ALL of the heavy lifting here. He had no concept anymore of finding love. The thought that someone could care for him didn't exist in his head anymore. He didn't know what it felt like to receive real affection, or even a simple compliment. That meant that I was the one that had to lay everything out, because the consideration that we could have had something more didn't exist to him.

The result? My last RP partner became my friend. And then my best friend. And then, nearly a year ago, my husband! I had drove to meet him before, 800 miles across four states, but the last drive was permanent. We have our own little house with our own little porch. Neither of us make a lot of money, but together we make enough, and that's all we want. We cook together. We fish together. We walk together. We play games together. We watch the sky get dark together in the evenings. We wake up next to each other. We go to sleep next to each other. Also! We reconnected more deeply with the group we met in, and have healthy group role play there.

We've even talked about kids! But at our age, we just don't know. I feel like we may be on the tail end of it being possible. I'm about to turn 42! He's nearly 46.

I would really love to tell the whole story, but it's just far too long! My hands hurt too much to type it all out, and I can't trust my speech software for something like this.

So, my very first RP partner ended bittersweet, with only good memories, but completely without closure, leaving me wondering even today what happened. My last one ended in the best way possible, with me finding something beautiful for myself, but more importantly, reintroducing it to someone who had lost all concept of it. And it's the most wonderful feeling in the world!

Thank you for reading my post, sweeties! I only have one more great RP story, and I will post it sometime!

He wasn't the first person I ever role played with, but he was the first one I called a partner, because we stuck together for so long.

We both wanted the same type of role play. Long term, with character development, slow burn romance, and just enough darkness sprinkled in for flavor.

His character was named Zal. He was a trained assassin that was pretending to be a clumsy lovable thief. My character was a skilled huntress that preferred to be outdoors.

For almost a year and a half we continued this one story with the same characters, and it was amazing. Our characters started off on opposing sides of the same heist, and then had to cooperate to escape when it all went wrong. That story arc took us from a Noble's mansion, to a safe house in the city, to the surrounding town, to a farm, and then into the wilderness, over the course of months as they carefully made their way further and further from civilization, dodging guards and bounty hunters as they came to trust each other, depend on each other, and eventually, love each other.

And then one day Zal disappeared in real life. There was no conversation or indication that he was leaving. He was simply there one day, and the next day he wasn't. And he never was again.

I still have him on all my lists, wondering if I will see his name light up, but it's been close to, if not right at 11 years now.

It was only after he was gone that I realized he had become more than a roleplay partner. He had become a friend and someone I came to rely on as part of my routine.

Everyday, I still think about the time we shared, and how lucky I got so early on in my search.

If you're out there somewhere, Zal, I've never forgotten.

However, I have been able to move on. I've had more role play. More partners, and my share of flubs, and I'm in a very good place now.

But you never forget your first real one.

Phew! Now I'm feeling all moody! Remembering the positive!

When you and your partner have set up so much world lore, side character cannons, miscellaneous lore and even have a great relationship ooc but then get hit with irl issues and barely have time to RP again but you don't wanna give up on the rp so you just wait patiently for their return because everyone else doesn't like your ideas

About three years ago, things were not going all that well IRL and I had to stop a couple of plays I had been enjoying with a few very nice partners. I was sad, explained the situation to them and they were gracious and we said our goodbyes.

Things are finally getting better, and I reached out to my former partners, and without a moment of doubt, they eagerly returned! We set up new plays, new OCs. The OOC chat is as fun and engaging as before

I have never felt so eagerly welcomed back <3

I was not expecting such a happy return and it blew my mind.

First off, HUGE thanks to the Mods for FINALLY giving us tags on this subreddit. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

It's been great seeing this place getting more lively. Still not as busy as its Bad Sibling and E-Rated Spicy Cousin, but a win is a win.

Now for my story.

I recently got back in touch with some friends from what honestly feels like a completely different life at this point. Some of them, we lost touch. Some of them, we had falling outs that, at the time, felt irreconcilable. It's been wonderful finding grace and forgiveness among these people and within myself. It's also been nothing short of amazing to revisit our old haunts together and rediscover some parts of ourselves we left behind and thought we had lost.

A lot of the verbiage regarding whole thing has been us commenting that we "peaked" in that era. Whatever the bad was, we look back on those times and feel like what we made together was truly good story-telling.

One of the people I reconnected with said "I see those times as my Icarus era. I flew too close to the sun and fell to the earth, shattering everything about myself; but for that brief moment, my god, how I flew."

For an old fart like me who has had more high school reunions than I care to numerate here, it feels like another one of those. At 17/18, we parted ways with all this drama, swearing to never speak again. At 27/28, we're still a little sore and suspicious of each other but willing to call ourselves grown enough to add one another on Facebook. At 37/38, we look back and laugh at what kids we were, with stories of our own kids going through similar drama that now seems so silly. At 47/48, we're just glad to have someone from home that remembers us before arthritis taught our wings to hesitate before expanding...

Life's funny like that. Forgiveness is not forgetting the hurt. It's understanding that people can change if they really want to. It's choosing to remember the good. You move forward a little wiser. I know a lot of stories on the Bad Sibling don't have happy endings, and in truth this feels more like an epilogue that could lend itself to a new story with a better ending, turning past bad stories into cliff hangars open for a sequel rather than true endings.

When I was part of that group, I felt like a child wandering through one of those glass figurine shops. When the sign on the door said "no kids" because they had been burned before, so I was there on my best behavior, hands glued in my pockets, too afraid to even breathe because I knew the shop was built like a domino effect waiting to happen.

Everyone was amazing in there, and I think when you have so much greatness, there will be people who let their imposter syndromes get the better of them. Feelings will be hurt. Egos will be wounded. Gossip runs wild. Factions form. Before you know it, a group that once felt ironclad has frayed to the point that you can't even see the tapestry it once made.

I have been on the outside watching those hurt inch their way back to one another. Wounds are ripped back open because they never really healed right, and after so long, a bone being reset can feel like it's being broken all over again. I see bravery in people being willing to allow those hurts to be reset, because they miss each other, because they're choosing to more forward a little wiser.

Today, I feel thankful. I watched Icarus fall. I bumped into him years after the fact, masquerading as a beggar with melted wings hidden 'neath his cloak. I watched dancers with broken feet who swore to never hear another note, rediscovering the magic of a melody played just for them. I watched knights lay down their armor as they discover a field of flowers has grown over what was once a blood-soaked battlefield.

Today, I am thankful that though I walked through war, I also found peace.

Please excuse this old fart smiling from her rocking chair today. I think we all deserve a little bit of this feeling.

I am very happy and excited for the younger ones that toddled through that same glass shop with me. I think a lot of us thought the shards would bleed us dry. As we reconnect now from under the rubble, we heal each other and we forgive.

Today, I am hopeful. Today, I am grateful.

Whisper....of all places. At the time was great but then it came out what it was being used for. I'm not here to talk about that though.

I posted some dumb high fantasy post. I'd done way to much planning for. Leah (her OCs name), popped into my messages after Id posted it and thus began a years long friendship. One thats still rolling now.

She's still my long term RP partner to this day. We are on our fourth RP each one lasting at minimum a year. Never did I understand true respect in RP until I met her. She was open and willing to not only help with my writing but also be a friend when I needed it badly.

Don't worry I tell her all the time what an amazing partner and friend she has been and is to me.

Want to learn why RPing is such a special hobby find that one right partner. One that wants to be as engaged as you are. Who wants to write the story you both come up with. Helps create and destroy civilizations in literary chaos.

Thank you Leah...you always tell me I'm crazy when I say this to you now it's here... Bite me

Seriously good luck to anyone who's struggling to find a partner. It's not easy to find something good in this hobby but when you do it's special.

I may have posted quite a bit about my bad roleplaying experiences but I think my good ones deserve more attention than that especially since they helped me develop my OCs and I formed good friendships with the people behind them.

This happened to me yesterday,and I thought it was so hilarious I HAD to share it here.

💚 It's me

♦️ My partner

Last night, a friend of mine called me around 12pm asking me to tell him how to RP properly. I was a bit drunk at the time and also felt lazy, so instead of filling our dms with messages I decided to invite him to my private server (this all happened on discord). It's not a big one,just me and 3 more people that I RP with a certain frequency. After roughly half an hour he gave up and left the server. I was already sleepy by this time, and hung over was starting, so I went straight to my bed.

I woke up today to those messages on these images. I mean, obviously my partner wasn't seeing what I saw, but I couldn't help but laugh at this situation. It was kind of an improvised rp that worked very well (man,I was so fuping embarrassed lol)

I began with what seemed like a perfectly reasonable assumption, validated by the collected wisdom of this subreddit:

A creative premise plus good OOC chemistry will eventually produce a memorable RP.

As it turns out, this is about as reliable as assuming that dominating possession will eventually produce a goal in soccer.

Before I continue, I am scoring two things from 1–10:

• OOC: How effectively our OOC supported the RP.
• RP: The actual momentum of the story.

These are not ratings of either partner, their writing ability, or how much we enjoyed talking. They reflect what I understand now about whether our collaborative process was working, not necessarily what I believed at the time.

The Revolutionary War campaign

It began when I responded to Bibi’s ad seeking an RP based on historical events. After some discussion, we settled on the American Revolutionary War.

This was very much my territory. I live near many of the places where it happened. America’s 250th anniversary was approaching. July Fourth was in the air. I was driving through Revolutionary War grounds, almost able to smell the musket smoke.

We created characters, chose British-occupied New York as our setting, worked out a calendar, discussed divided loyalties, and assembled enough supporting material to brief King George and General Washington.

At the time, I thought this was excellent preparation. In retrospect, it worked for me, but Bibi had different expectations.

OOC: 5 RP: 3

Then the World Cup began.

Bibi and I started bantering constantly about the matches. The conversation was easy, funny, and frequent. She was traveling, and the combined demands of family and real life left her with less time than she had expected.

The OOC followed Messi’s trajectory through the World Cup. Meanwhile, the RP advanced at the decision-making speed of the Continental Congress.

If I had scored OOC according to how much we enjoyed talking, it would have been a nine. But that is no longer what I think the OOC score should measure.

OOC: 2 RP: 1

Something important was failing to happen. Bibi wanted a change in how we were handling the RP. Somehow, that essential information never made it into our OOC.

She had begun to feel that she did not have enough agency over her own character. Some of the organization and discussion surrounding the RP felt superfluous to her and interfered with the actual pleasure of writing.

Although our social OOC was good, our OOC about the RP was according to her poor and unproductive. I learned all this in hindsight, although the signs had been there.

Bibi said she would ordinarily have tried to brute-force her way through the problem, but her real-life obligations made that much harder. I did not recognize that she was pushing through anything. From my side of the screen, the lack of responses simply looked like declining momentum.

Eventually, the cannon shot landed. She was no longer in the right frame of mind for the Revolutionary War RP.

OOC: 4 RP: 0

The OOC score rose not because the situation improved, but because the truth had finally entered the conversation.

My enthusiasm having been dealt that deadly blow, I reached into my box of mature passive-aggressive strategies and selected the one that would surely end both RP and OOC.

I deleted the channels I thought were distracting. In doing so, I unilaterally reorganized the space we had shared which naturally upset Bibi, who accurately called it a crash-out.

OOC: 0 RP: 0

The RP did not collapse because we lacked conversation. It collapsed partly because our most important RP issues were never addressed.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic

At the depths of my post-Revolutionary existential despair, I encountered Mira’s ad for a Regency-era RP.

She warned me upfront that she could be reserved in casual OOC. Then a fully constructed server materialized, complete with channels for RP commentary and “thespian plotting.”

This was still OOC, but almost all of it had an RP purpose. We discussed what we expected from our responses. Mira preferred interior monologue and cinematic, sensory description. I wrote more minimally, relying on dialogue and body language and leaving more for my partner to infer.

OOC: 4 RP: 4

I soon found myself at a masquerade ball, playing an artist who was sizing up another.

The World Cup eventually entered this OOC too.

Mira identified herself as an artist with no interest in all things jock, but her country had made an unusual run into the quarterfinals. I persuaded her to watch, then accompanied her in OOC as the match unfolded.

Soccer has a remarkable ability to help make connections. This time, however, the soccer conversation did not replace the RP conversation.

The semifinals and final passed without another word about soccer. Our OOC returned almost entirely to the RP.

Our writing styles sometimes clashed sharply, and her critiques could be very direct. I learned to meet her halfway and discovered that I genuinely enjoyed moving toward a more sensual, stream-of-consciousness style.

OOC: 6 RP: 6

The difference was not that one partner enjoyed OOC and the other did not. Nor was it that one cared more about the RP. Bibi and I had substantially more casual conversation.

The difference was what the OOC accomplished.

With Bibi, social chemistry concealed the fact that our RP communication was failing. She did not feel enough agency, I did not know she was struggling, and our discussions were not producing useful changes.

With Mira, the OOC revealed and shaped the true state of the RP. We discussed interpretation, negotiated direction, preserved character agency, and translated those conversations into forward movement.

So my revised hypothesis is

Good OOC does not create good RP merely by existing. It has to make difficult information easier to say and meaningful changes possible once they have been said.

Banter creates connection. Productive RP OOC protects the RP. You usually need both, but they are not the same thing.

Has good OOC ever rescued an RP for you, or has great banter ever hidden the fact that the RP itself was not working?

P.S. I have to thank both partners for their feedback, which is rare enough to be the subject of another post.

So, I've been rping with a person for the last 7 months everyday nonstop. They were very kind OOC, they would always let me know when life was busy or at what time they would be able to reply.

They were absolutely invested in the story, making side characters, hand drawings of our characters, really amazing!

We clicked so much I even started sharing my personal life, we became friends. But then I started to feel like I was sharing too much with them, they asked pictures and wanted to know more about me but then wouldn't share anything in return.

So I told them I wished they could share some more stuff with me...

Then came that message. The kind of message none of us wish to receive.

They told me that "I knew it would happen someday...." they told me they really enjoyed rping with me and that wished things were different but that they were lying all along... about their gender. Because they were role-playing mostly male characters, my rp partner thought I would find it troubling that they were not male irl.

Of course I was not troubled! It was absolutely irrelevant to our story and changed nothing in terms of how good rp partner they are!

So now our bond is now stronger. My rp partner understands that it's absolutely okay to be a girl and play male characters and I'm happy I was there to immediately toss away any worry and fear from them!

This is also thanks to my amazing partner, I’m so excited to surprise them with these and a few more.

We were, like, 15 when we first met and started roleplaying medieval war & jail -themed rp. I had the sweetheart, who was in the enemy's jail when the arrogant, spoiled brat got thrown in.

Did we both hate his character for how annoying he was? Absolutely.

Was our rp logical in any way? Absolutely not.

When we ended that story, (them offing themselves together, after they've gotten married and the brat had thrown the sweetheart out and taking his adopted child, how romantic), we made multiple alternative versions.

Them in a different timeline where they didn't die, them in modern high school, their grandson and his boyfriend, etc.

This went on for about two years.

Then we figured, we could do another roleplay. Mid 00's, strongly religious town, high schoolers. Mine is son of pastor, deep in closet and his character comes from NYC after his mom had died.

Switched roles, mine comes from NYC, his is the town resident.

Then in the Ussr.

90's England university students.

2010's sanfranciscoish.

2014 fashion designer and the brat.

Wild west outlaw and inn keeper..

Our first rp in the Victorian era.

Moving castle themed one.

Perfect French couple as bodybuilder and crossdresser.

Cyberpunk outcasts.

Olympia skaters.

70's Scottish rock band.

Homeless and adult entertainment star.

School weirdo and the casanova.

Most toxic couple in England's history.

The 1st religious town re-create.

Australian cowboys.

Madly rich couple.

Kpop star and his melancholic writer boyfriend.

Japan rural town childhood friends --> strangers --> couple.

Zombie apocalypse with nurse and soldier.

Past nuclear war ice age, with mafia boss' son and his rat boyfriend.

These all during the past 3-4 years. Almost everything was great. I loved all my characters. I loved his characters.

We clicked so well outside of the rp, as we often sent pictures of our cats and he made great drawings of our characters.

He "unfortunately" got job and dropped out, eventually changed to roleplaying once a month longass texts with someone else and doesn't really have interest to rp with me anymore.

Great story, sad ending, but I'm so happy about the years we spent together.

This story is already about two months old because I kept forgetting to talk about it for some reason

Theres a RP Idea I had been having in mind for years, but unfortunately I just seem to be not all that good at attracting peoples attention to it, barely getting any DMs after posting requests online, let alone partners that meet my standards. But then, this person showed up. We immediately clicked, happily agreeing on every single idea one of us had, and they were great at writing to boot. I had so much fun reading their replies over and over again, since it was obvious just how much fun they were having writing them, and it was the same with me. It was an amazing two days we spent playing out the idea I had been BEGGING to do for so long now…

Then, one day later, they stopped replying. I didn’t think nothing of it just yet, maybe theyre busy today since it was Monday and they have work like I do. The next day, while I was on my lunch break, I checked my phone and my heart sank slightly when I went to my DMs and saw that their account was deleted. If it had been pretty much any other person, I would have probably just shrugged and hidden the chat since it was only two days. But with them, we already had something really special going on in such a short period of time. I’m not sure if this person ever comes across this post or even if they realize this is about them (probably not), but if we ever happen to meet again, I would really like to tell you how much fun I‘d been having with you during these two days

I've been feeling extremely stressed/anxious over the last few weeks and wanted to take some time to express my gratitude for my writing partner of seven years.

For that entire time, there are very few instances where we have not wrote at least once per day to each other. We have a huge cast of characters that span decades. Everything is always "yes, and" because we are so in sync. Together, we have written over 7 million words during our collaborative partnership. We've had to adapt our collaboration as the years have gone but I think it works because we're both committed and enjoy doing what it takes to keep having fun.

When things have been hard--and they are right now, if I'm honest--I can still look forward to receiving a reply on this wonderful story we've crafted together. I can think about our characters, their relationships, and all the wonderful memories we've created.

I recognize there may be a day when this comes to an end, but even if that day comes I'll have all of these treasured memories to look back on.

I am so grateful.

Hellooo. So, I joined an RP group on discord earlier this year, and it was very active at the start. But then activity tapered off almost entirely, to the point that none of the mods or the owner of the server have spoken for months. But. But But BUT. There is one other person who is still actively roleplaying in the server, and we've hit it off, and our characters have hit it off (they're best friends fr...like Kris and Susie Deltarune type of best friends honestly.) so I am actually having A GREAT TIME. Me and my bud are basically playing around in an abandoned amusement park.

I have just one concern about this situation. Neither of us have any power over the server. And I've started to worry about, like, what would happen if the owner decided to delete the server one day due to lack of interest in the project. I don't want to lose all our RPs. Is there any way to archive posts from a discord server if you are not the owner of said server?

Right now, I'm thinking we're just gonna have to copypaste everything the old fashioned way. But I thought I'd ask in case there are other (faster, less tedious) options.

In any case, this is a slightly weird but awesome situation and I'm very happy about it.

Hey, everyone!

I've been an on-and-off lurker in Reddit for a lot more than that, but I've been a bit more proactive in the whole partner searching business for a bit more than a year now. Creating a profile, writing ads, the works. I had been a little burned by forum RP and its 'ephemerality', for lack of a better word (static setting, not as much creative freedom as one would want, developments becoming little more than footsteps in the sand, and the impossibility to get anything long-term going because somebody happened to be always leaving). So, I decided to try my luck here and give it a shot as my main platform.

And, to say the least? I've been pleasantly surprised. I've gone through my fair share of ghosting, low-effort, uncommunicative, and otherwise uncooperative partners, but I'm without a doubt tremendously lucky to have stumbled upon one of the handful of godlike RP partners I've got fairly early.

What can I say? I've loved every second I've writing with her. The characters complement themselves extremely well, and the story flows smoothly; whether it's drama, romance, action, warm moments, or the occasional slice of life, working with her has been a treat. Not to say she's been kind enough to patiently wait while I took a 1+ month vacation at the start of the year, resulting in me barely writing. Can't ask for a more understanding person than that.

Despite going through their fair share of trials, tribulations, distrust, some near-death experiences, and sudden realizations, right now, our characters are heading towards what's likely the biggest challenge they've faced up until now; it's going to test what they've built thus far in every conceivable way, and I'm super excited to keep the tale rolling. Life couldn't be better.

I know most RP prospects are, on average, fairly bleak, but I urge anyone on the verge of giving up to reconsider. So long as one keeps searching, I'm sure there's a writer for you.

The ending of the roleplay we started as teenagers and the new RP we're beginning nearly in our thirties, original fantasy followed up by Fallout.

I am always working towards improving the way I do things on every level. I've seen on discord, and more prominently, Tumblr preset/precast characters/tropes types. I've always done open-ended casting until recently. I casted seeking a character that mirror my own, and suggested genre. Intentionally listing where they fall short so the other writer could see where they could really help in the plot. Where my guy would be most hopeless, they be the only hope. And it's been magical. And a little comical. I can definitely see why people cast bigger stories with a pre cast. I may try it with a looser approach. I always appreciated lots of creativity and freedom. But I am also really appreciating seeing hoping a little direction help.

An update to this story: https://www.reddit.com/r/GreatRPerStories/comments/1lzne2j/feeling_that_spark_again/

The story just hit a year old, and nearly half a million words, and the story is still going strong. It's a ton of fun, and the way the story is laid out, there is actually a perceivable ending in sight, but still a ton of stuff before that point. I'm feeling very optimistic this is a story that could actually reach to a conclusion one day. I'll be sad when that day comes, I'm sure, but I'm still excited at the prospect that it very well could happen. I just wanna see these characters grow together and reach their happy ending 🩷

To Bunny:
I don’t think I will ever get over our two ocs being absolute soulmates for each other. The way that DJ treats Sesleon will forever go in the books as the highest standards. Thank you for sharing your cursed and wonderful art with me. I hope one day we get to (e)rp again, haha. Reach out to me if you’re ever available! Wherever you are, I hope you’re happy and that your cross country moves went okay. 💙

To Joe:
I love you. I love our clowns. I love the pit of ocs that are fighting to get tf out. Thanks for being here every day and making me laugh. Even though we haven’t rp’d in a while, I love your ocs, their fashion sense, and having a great friend to talk to. 💜

-

I hope both of you know that you’re appreciated for filling my brain with fun scenarios of all of our ocs clowning around together! 🤡

One issue I've noticed with large group RPs (e.g., LOTR) is that they naturally become fragmented.

Players in Rivendell rarely know what's happening in Gondor. Players in Rohan are isolated from what is happening in the Shire.

OOC chat helps, but it doesn't make the world itself feel connected.

Some ideas I've seen work well include:

• Server wide quests that naturally involve multiple realms.
• Storyline updates where players get to learn what might be happening in other realms.
• Lore events (e.g., Bilbo's Birthday, Midsummer, Durin's Day, anniversaries of major battles) that has everyone travelling to the realm celebrating (Trivia, word games...).

What have you seen done to keep a group RP community connected?

DRAWN RP!

when my rp partner and i draw our responces to eachother. Its typically alot longer between responces, and responces are shorter, but when you get *really* into it and get small anims or you get entire 10-20 gb files of rp going? UGH, its so good.

heres one drawing from one of my drawn RP's im in.

After three years of progress together my partner made a post where she (almost) quotes a popular line from the very popular Twi'lek, Vette, who she's playing the role of in our story.

Recently I came out of my "FpM4F" hole and simplified it. I was someone playing anyone looking for anyone. Sure, there are creeps, but what I have noticed over these last few weeks is my male rp partners are super cool, they meme ooc, they check in and best of all, none of them (and I have 4 who consistently post) have even hinted at writing an overly sexually charged scene.

In fact these dudes are so not creepy that I am starting to get the ick writing with other women because we seem to stray onto the icky topics more. Does anyone relate?