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Character Interaction in a Box of Sand.

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TheMalignancy Did Nothing Wrong from the land of sheep and steel mills. Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Did Nothing Wrong
#1: Oct 17th 2011 at 9:34:40 AM

I'm tired of sandboxes that purport to be for character interaction and then mutate into having a rough outline of a plot and a GM. That is not what a sandbox is. That is what an RP is.

Therefore, here is my proper!sandbox. It is not an RP in any way except absolute technicality. Things are a lot simpler here. You can play an OC, an OC based in an existing fandom, or even an existing character from some franchise you like. The goal is character interaction, a place for you to practice writing for them and get to grips with the intricacies of their characterization. Character development is optional, but probably a useful thing to practice if you're intending on using the OC/character in a story or fanfiction.

For setting, you arrive in the park in the middle of a city. In the middle of autumn. What kind of city it is and where it is in the world are not important: it's more of a genero-city, a stand in for every single major city in the entire world and quite a few from fiction. It has skyscrapers and a park (obviously), but the rest of the details are far more flexible. The trees range from weeping willows to lofty palms, and idyllic Japanese suburbs exist within walking distance of shady cyberpunk Bladerunner-style red light districts. There is everything imaginable in-between, provided the characters visit it. Of course, where the characters end up going in this bizarre Schroedinger's city (or even if they end up going anywhere) is entirely up to you. Try not to let the setting or making up civilians get in the way of interaction and working out your main character, those are after all the main purpose of this thing.

There are, however, some rules. Just not many of them.

  • 1: You should not have your character notice anything strange about being in a city as opposed to their natural environment. Nor should you have them try to escape. Those are both sure-fire ways of making the sandbox grow a plot it rather desperately does not need, and also rather detrimental to character interaction due to the way it tends to make everyone run around in a panic. Therefore, weirdness censors will be essential to make this work.

  • 2: Try not to have your characters end up fighting. Or at least, any serious fighting. There's gonna be a whole mish-mash of power levels here, and having one character totally obliterate another in a sandbox intended to be solely for character interaction would be kind of dick move.

That's it.

As this isn't anything resembling an RP, there is no real sign-up procedure. If it looks like fun or a useful writing exercise, by all means jump in and post away.

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