Review: Old #TMNT RP

There are many different ways to embrace a fandom.  I personally have done so through fan art, traveling, wearing the clothes and buying the merch.  Though one area that I have also taken part in, has been online role play.  This is not something I speak of often, as the role play that I took part in is no longer open or even around.  Though there was a request for a review of the old game, so this is a write up to share a review of a game I truly enjoyed.

This role play started back in late 1996 goofing around with friends on DalNet, an IRC server.  I run the #TMNT chat room on the server and would joke around with my friends who logged on.  At first there was no storyline, or even real a role play going on.  It was just us playing off of each other.  In Spring 1997, we started to get a storyline going and the game begun. 

The rules were simple, no dice, no game master, no killing someone else’s characters without their permission, no controlling other people’s characters, no power playing -- meaning every character needed weaknesses that could be learned, and time traveled with real time -- so if it was Christmas day in real life, it was Christmas day in the game as well.  If you were not online while someone was playing, your character was not there and you can learn what happened as your character learned what happened.  Basically we created a world for the game.

The Turtles were a mix of all the different medias.  We used characters from Mirage Comics, original cartoon, Archie Comics, the movies, Next Mutation, etc.  The origin was what we wanted it to be, not something written in stone.  Our view of the characters could grow and change as the game went on.  The original role play crew were mostly members from the old TMNT-L mailing list, all of which were good friends and fun people. 

I played Michaelangelo and Donatello, as well as many original characters.  The adventures of the role play took place on Earth, Shaper and many other planets and times.  We played around with alien invasions, battles in Heaven and Hell, and time travel.  The entire role play never did a reboot as we would always just pick up as if time has passed since the last time we played.  By playing this way, any kids born have been growing up as characters all their own. 

The role play remained open to the public for a long time, as people came and left.  We even had websites with character profiles and logs from the game itself.  Some of us made journals for the characters, got maps and news reports of the different adventures out there.  Though as life got busy with running Cowabunga Corner, traveling a lot and medical problems things have been quiet. 

I do not recommend this type of role play for anyone who takes their game too serious.  We had people quit because of taking personal emotions into the game and just wanting a fast done and fight.  A good example was a battle in Hell, where the characters they were going against had the best defenses against any attack.  Though the guards were dumb as they come.  Even though the group that went down learned that these guards were stupid, they choose to attack them instead of trick them.  The guards were accused of power playing when their only power was defense.  This is a thinking game, if something isn’t working there’s always another way around it.  And a full on attack when first getting to a spot, is normally a bad idea.

This role play did have some fun features of mixing other medias to it.  We’ve had characters from Gargoyles, X-Men, Thundercats, Biker Mice from Mars, Star Wars and many others.  Even Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon found their way into this game.  People brought in a lot of original characters, like I have used the characters from “The Shape of a Turtle”.  My favorite villains to play are from that fanfiction. 

If there’s ever mention of this game anymore it’s only a handful of us who use to play it that talk.  There’s not thought of opening it back up at this moment, as we have a lot on our plates.  Though it was a fun role play that brought us on many different adventures with our favorite characters.  I think role play is a great way for fans to spend their time, helping creative take a front row through the generations of our online communities.

One of the reasons I do not speak of this role play on Cowabunga Corner or TMNT-L anymore is because I am not looking to join anymore RPs.  While it is a great way to pass the time, I have so many other creative ways of spending my hours of the day now.  It is hard enough keeping up with comments on all of the social networks that I take part in.  For anyone who does have time to play their role plays, I highly encourage and support it.  Have fun with the life ahead of you and do what you love.  As long as no one is getting hurt.

Do you play any role plays online?  If so, are you using message boards, IRC, groups, or some other format of contact online to bring your role play group together.  Please share your stories, comments and questions below.