Perseverance.
so far, EVIL has died a few times over, and is currently on the rise again after the last period of inactivity.
People keep coming back after a while when they hear we're back on our feet.
No idea why though.
But I think it might be connected to interesting group plots, close nit community, all being crazy as the OOC channel will show, and the lack of lesbian catgirls (we have officially the lowest count of lesbian catgirls in any rpsg, at 0)
The most important part being the lesbian catgirls.
Lesbian catgirls = sg death!*
(*may not actually be true)
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(we have officially the lowest count of lesbian catgirls in any rpsg, at 0)
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*Goes to roll an alt.*
NOT FOR LONG!
Down Junior, unless it's Ultimune/Cindersnap slash you want me to send you in tells. 
'sides, we have one catgirl, but I think she's bi and in a heterosexual relationship. Perhaps its just catgirls? 
(The more serious point of perseverence was taken on. 
Thanks Lunk!)
Definatly, EVIL died once or twice, and recently it felt like it again, but its on the up again, alot of old members have recently returned (Whirlmeister, Terrorat, Psyfly, Lost Pharoah/Blue Serpent) But today (invasion day!) we've had a really good turn out and some superb RP all day.
Reputation is definatly everything if you asked me, if i were looking for an RPSG i'd look for the strictest Roleplaying group around, asin they have OOC guidelines and are quite relentless of who they recruit. Afterall one bad apple in a Supergroup/Guild can totally kill it off, so you've got the have the guts to say "Look your not made for this SG" to keep the vast majority of the members happy.
For me, this is where short recaps or rumours work, if you publically write down things, things that are really happening in your Supergroup, and things that seems appealing to other players, it will basically promote your group, on the other hand though some people wont join a group because they dislike a certain person in it, and so on and so on.
And to add to that, managing a guild/SG is very stressful, if you disagree you obvisouly havent done it properly. I would even say more stressful than my job, far more stressful.
*EDIT*
Oh and my very definate advice Z, recruit people you will think will fit in the group, if you dont think they will, then tuff luck to them, you really have to be harsh sometimes. But with a low member count it can be EXTREMLY hard to do, when I returned from WoW the first thing i did was ask Lunk to setup new forums, cleaned the roster (Anyone gone for other 32 days was kicked and sent an email) and then started to try and show up in D's etc, once people see that its a fairly active Supergroup they'll join without problem. Though i have no idea Hero side, as Villian side EVIL is one of the very few RPSG's Heroside there is many more.
I'd like to agree with everything that Echo has said, as it applies equally well to a Heroside RPSG as well.
I'm the Group Admin for The Militia, and I can whole-heartedly agree with the bit about the stress! The best advice I can give is get at least one person behind you who you can trust and who knows how to support you to do the job. Majority of people in any SG want things to happen for them, and as the person who makes these things happen, it can be very lonely and thankless. So having that support can be vital to keeping you sane and motivated.
I'm also a big believer in rules and guidelines. It's my belief that if people know where the boundaries are, then they can be more creative within those boundaries. So, make sure people know what the group stands for and where the limits are, both IC and OOC. If people aren't willing to accept your view of what the SG is, then there are plenty more out there, or they can create their own. You want to create something that will attract like-minded people, and that does NOT mean being "all things to all men". Be specific, be selective, be clear and don't be afraid to tell people "No".
Remember that all SGs go through periods of activity and inactivity, this doesn't mean that you're failing. So long as you are willing to put the effort in, your group will not die, but be aware of the signs of burn out following the initial excitement of a new project, and make sure you have that back up I mentioned earlier to take the reins for a few days if you really need to unplug for a bit!
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
I'm not really an SG leader, but been involved many years.
My advice; Persistence. There's times when it looks bad, and there's days when you feel like meh, heck with it. That you want to and can come back the next day and say 'hey, let's try again.'
Have fun. If the overall experience isn't fun for you in a long term, then it's not worth it. Also people are usually attracted to things others enjoy, thinking they will too. The 'hey, that looks fun, I want in!'-feeling.
Use what you have. If you have 4 members, then gather together and make it work for you four, have fun with that group. All good things start from something small.
Continuing contact. It's important that people spend time together. If it's small group, it might be that leaving things to chance, everyone is around one at a time. Some times when people know others will be around would be good, be it social or missions.
In general I've found that any group needs a certain core or seed group. Be it just two people who are around lot and others can join in with, or group of five with more varying times. But once you got that little kernel of stability and activism, you can build around it. It's also a vulnerability. If the kernel is two people and suddenly one of them leaves, that can throw everything off the track.
Most of the good advice has been given already.
IN SWG times we created a huge bubble for ourselves with a setting and plenty of rules. It worked there.
With Tempest I've used another approach, that of having fun. Sometimes the SG is just 4 people, sometimes 10. The only time that I pay mind to numbers is when people start talking that we're dwindling.
If you are having fun, and have at least one other with you, it's actually enough and a successful SG. Anything else is a plus. That's also pretty stressless and carefree. Just you and a mate. Build from that.
I'm not sure to what extents I'm qualified to offer that much advice, but I'd say most of my experiences heading up the Lights of Elune back in World of WarCraft mirrors much of the advice offered here.
I'll defenately second the parts about persistence and stress/frustration; there'll likley be plenty of times when things just don't go the way you'd hope or plan. It's all about not loosing hope - I think I did that mistake more than once.
With Echo's statements of sticking to people you think will fit I can only agree completely - this is doubly true when a group is built on a vision of your own rather than a direct tangiable goal; if you end up with people who can't understand your vision - atleast closely enough, you'll find yourself in an uphill battle merely trying to keep vision and populace from conflicting.
I think I'd really like to say you should be stricter than I was - people can benefit from certain limits so long as they're realistic, and some people never will be able to understand what you want to acomplish; often you might just burn yourself out if you spend time struggling to enlighten them.
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My advice; Persistence. There's times when it looks bad, and there's days when you feel like meh, heck with it. That you want to and can come back the next day and say 'hey, let's try again.
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I familiarise with that fully, so many times have i thought 'To heck with it' and so many times ive also had fun, i probably wouldent be playing the game if EVIL was dead.
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Continuing contact. It's important that people spend time together.
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Again that has to be in bold and capslock, ive made some of the best friendsships to date from keeping in touch with people from guilds.
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With Echo's statements of sticking to people you think will fit I can only agree completely - this is doubly true when a group is built on a vision of your own rather than a direct tangiable goal; if you end up with people who can't understand your vision - atleast closely enough, you'll find yourself in an uphill battle merely trying to keep vision and populace from conflicting.
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Very true once again all the points stated by all players are spot on, of course the stress of managing a guild is hard if it was that bad i wouldent do it, its extremly satisfying to see 'your' (though i prefer to use the term 'our') guild flourish and to see people enjoying themselves.
While obviously I am not an SGleader or anything, I can give you a couple of guidelines learned from running pws and games on NWN and various other Irc based things.
Avoid cliques: Encourage members of your supergroup to mix with other people not in the group, make friends, chat, adventure with them whatever they like this is the best way of finding like-minded people and recruiting them. And when people join help them feel part of the group not a lesser member.
Rules: Don't go overboard. Setting out rules is fine but try to stress common sense and respect for others over, hard line do this or that rules. Instead offer friendly advice where you can, help people don't boss them around. Try to avoid straying into areas where you just sound condescending, or like you are trying to tell experienced rpers how to roleplay. (I know this differs a bit for mmos because of the nature of the player base and lack of admin control.)
Another idea might be to be seen as an active group. Perhaps have the group show up together in populated rp areas and talk of adventures, tell other characters about past adventures to help them get a feel. Perhaps using the war is a good idea, fight alongside others when an air raid comes along.
I think it does help if you can get people interested not just oocly but actually ic. If they are interested there it counts for a lot more.
Some great advice here all together, which is gotten me thinking already. Thanks for all responses so far!
I am a leader of one of Zukunft's more renowned villain SGs and I can tell from my own experience that there is only one way to keep an SG running with a large number of players at all times: You have to invite each and every player you can get your hands on.
And trust me: You don't want that.
So, in hard times additionally to the things mentioned by others there are basically three things you can do:
Firstly, enjoy the game. Well, that's the simple part, really, but that doesn't mean it's unimportant for keeping a SG running.
Secondly, protect your SGs reputation and uphold it's profile, whatever it is. The best way to achieve this is by picking your members carefully, so that they reflect the picture you want to present to the community, even in times when you think that you desperately need more members. If you have a certain reputation people who like your reputation will be drawn towards your SG (even if it's something like the "arrogant but competent... and f***ing crazy" Teras Thanatos... or so I hear ). This is a little bit trickier since a single moron in your SG can seriously damage any reputation you wanted to build in a matter of a few days.
Thirdly, use friendship to your advantage. This may sound a little bit cold-hearted, but it is not necessarily so. The more friends you and your SG mates have the more people might be willing to join your group with a RPing alt. As a bonus, friends will likely remember your SG even after a long break from the game.
I wish you the best of luck for your SG and trust that you can make it. Teras Thanatos has been almost down for the count at times, but we are still here and very much alive.
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
One last thing from me;
There has been some great advice here, but we can't cover everything that might happen to your SG, to you, or to your members. So, the biggest thing is talk to people. Just because you're a SG leader, that doesn't mean you have to have all the answers.
There's a good set of SG leaders in this thread who have freely offered advice based on their own experiences, so maybe we can start a casual RP SG Owner's Club? Just somewhere that we all know we can go and ask stupid questions, and maybe thrash out solutions, without having to worry about SG politics you might have going on that prevents asking your own members!
Just a thought!
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
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so maybe we can start a casual RP SG Owner's Club?
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...
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so maybe we can start a casual RP SG Owner's Club?
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"Do you have any SMOF parties in your country?"
"No."
"...not that you know of!"
or basically... post a question on these boards and people will answer?
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
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so maybe we can start a casual RP SG Owner's Club?
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Do we get our own special hats?
I've seen a few rpsgs die off, and the one thing that has finished them off has been a combination of player fatigue and tech problems.
An idea I have been playing around with is having a set down time period for the rpsgs, literaly a period of a month or so where the rpsg is put on hold to give the players time to do other stuff and recharge their enthusiasm/batteries.
That should reduce some of the player fatigue for us at least.
Another thing I guess is making sure all the players are on the same page when it comes to the rpsg and what its for, is it a static role-play group or a role-play while doing missions one, a couple of the groups I was in fell foul of this not being explained enough, and people got quite annoyed when the game-play slowed down while some of us were in fantastic IC conversations.
Inclusion is important, make sure everyone feels that they are part of the group..And though I dislike the idea of pre-written characters or preselected ATs, quite often if a player choose the wrong AT for the group they can really end up feeling left out or pointless..Espeacily if the group playstyle does not accomodate how they work.
(Scout types usually have this problem from what I have seen, its all to easy to just roll the mobs rather than letting a scout nip ahead and map the enemies).
And bring in new blood if possible.
With our villain group we managed to bring a few people over to role-playing just by letting non-roleplayers in our team when mission running, we let them know what we were up to before hand and everyone seemed ok with it.
Well, loads of good advice so far so I shall stick my oar in too with what I have learnt so far in helping to run a RPSG.
- Try to gather likeminded people. Some SGs can suffer from the 'cult of personality' i.e. one person has a vision, others sign up and when that person leaves, no-one wants to continue it. If the people you RP with have a similar vision and desire to continue then it is possible for the SG to carry on without too much disruption. There are many different RP styles and although it's possible to try and accommodate all of them, you can sometimes find yourself stifled because one group wants to go one way and another the other. Try to find a style that you like and gather similar people around you.
- Have a direction. The Militia floundered for a while trying to choose a style of RP and in the end, you have to choose a direction to go in. Some people will like it, some people won't, but you simply can't be all things to everyone. It's best to have a direction than none at all.
- Be authoritative. As Archer's said, you have to say no sometimes and not be afraid to take the lead. One thing I can recommend though is to have a character who can lead IC as well. It helps when trying to get things going.
- Encourage others to do things. I like it when other members of the group do their own thing. Not only does it take a little bit of responsibility from your shoulders, it also means that things are less likely to collapse if you leave for any length of time.
I hope that helps a little. 
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Hey everyone, Zortel here. The non-character one, the player.
), or to at least avoid the problems I'm currently facing. Let us feast upon thy brains for the leadery goodness within, et cetera et cetera. My track record isn't that impressive so far. (Unless you find failure/burn out impressive 
)
Anyway, I'm kind of looking for some advice, cause gawd knows I need it. What's the story?
Basically, after a while of being in RP supergroups (The Society of the Phoenix, the Vigil, and the Guardians of Destiny over a period of 2 and a bit more years), I got to creating my own one, the Unity Vigil. Got a few people interested, and made a new friend in the process too.
Problems arose when I and several others suffered Game Fatigue. I left for WoW for a bit, and the SG pretty much died in mass player absence. Now that I'm back, I'd kind of like to get it going again, but that's a problem my inexperience is not helping with. Currently, there's 4-5 people who are moderately active, myself included. Unfortunatly the character spread is several in the 20's, several in the 30's and a few 50's.
ShadowGhost raised an interesting point. Did it die, or just not get off the ground? Possibly a little bit of both. It was probably too ambitious too, which didn't help matters. Perhaps composition of characters was wrong, what with several people playing mostly alts or secondary/retired characters, or... well, I could probably list of several more possible causes.
I know there's a fair few of you out there who lead RP SGs, and thought perhaps some of you could give advice that could help others (and myself, of course
Tis always a tough decision or two to be made.
SUPPORT - IT'S NOT JUST A GROUPING OF ATs
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More Than a Game
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