Match booking: Weekly Discussion.

Hey again. I figure since there was so much good info that came out last discussion thread I made, despite it being for me personally, doing it again for the benefit of everyone would be pretty neat. I always find it nice to be able to see things from another perspective, especially when it comes to topics where there is no real "right" way to do the thing in question. That thing is match booking.

I have chatted with a couple people here about it privately, and had some first hand experience so far by getting to actually roleplay with a bunch of people here. So I want to know how you handle/plan your matches.pre and post thread start. Dont feel obligated to hit all the bullet points. I am just trying to cast out a big net to cover the things I can think of.

1. How do you decide on who to have a match with if you don't have a pre-existing story with them?
2. How planned do you like to have your matches? Do you determine a winner? Do you plan key spots? Do you play it all by ear? Is there a reason why you like to handle it the way you do?
3. How do you handle characters that are in storylines or are being "protected" to build them up?
4. Long-term booking or short term?
5. Does the character you are booking make a huge difference in how you set things up?
6. Any closing thoughts I missed? Pop them in here.

My matchplanning is usually a total car accident.

*I usually go for the way lazy booking does too, a random match in the hope that something you throw on the wall will stick which the writers can use. Coordination by PM does make it even harder. But I am too paranoid, introverted and lazy to go for other options.
*Contrary to real wrestling and ballet, writing a wrestling match does not need a lot of choreography. I am sometimes quickly bored with a match when I know who wins it from the start and then it turns into a paint by numbers until my writing partner has enough of it. The backside of this approach is that someone finally has to win and the discussion about that can be a painful back and forth until one takes a hearth and says that he or she wants to win.
My imagination is most of the time kept in check by physics. Nobody is able to last in the fully locked in kimmura lock for 3 minutes without needing immediate medical attention afterwards. Just read up the Daniel Puder vs Kurt Angle incident somewhere. Kurt Angle is a real wrestling olympic gold medalist and was considerably younger and in better shape then, if he can´t last more than a few meager seconds nobody can. So I have real trouble writing something like this.
*I have two characters I try to protect(Anja and Barbara), but I usually fail to protect Anja good enough when people ask for a win against her as I am again too lazy and soft to put my foot down. Strange enough Kelly reached a point where she somehow wins a lot without me actually protecting her, it is probably a matter of how popular your characters are. Who does not love to lose against Natalia the Dream for example?
*I am not active enough for long term booking.
*Yes, the character makes the setting. Weak characters in the backstage areas are usually easy to approach while the harder ones try to gain the advantage and initiative early. One thing i always try to improve is the entrance post.

1) 3 potential ways, all effective.
  1. Check the thread request, see if anyone is asking for a match, check their characters, figure out how a match between them and one of my chars would go
  2. Post into the thread request myself, and see if anyone wants a match from there
3. Simply ask or be asked for a match by someone, and then go from there.
All 3 never let me down :3

2) Almost always determine the winner ahead of time. I like to mix improvisation and planned spots, though the one match where almost all spots were planned ended up being one of the best matches I ever RPd. Soooo, yeah. No preference to either method tbh

3) Simple enough, I don't. If I have an RP with a debuting character, I make sure to always put them over. If not, then I ask whether my partner can afford the loss for their char. If not, I am ok with losing.

4) ....I have a story in mind for one of my chars that will build up for, hopefully, the next few years if all goes well. Does that constitute long-term booking? XD

5) I have 3 fairly different chars from one another, so yes, which char I use makes a big impact on booking

6) ...not sure, actually XD. If I come up with anything, I'll post it here :3

1. I usually look at a persons roster, find a character or two that I like, then PM them about a match and see if they are interested and if they have any interest in any of my characters and go from there.


2. I always plan at least a match winner and a finish, because it avoids issues and confusion down the line. Most of the matches back and forth can be done just on the fly I find, though I like when both sides suggest and agree on potential big spots.

Main reason to do this is because it removes competitive rping from the equation. I'm here to write a fun match WITH you, not fight with you for real over which fictional girl should win a fictional match. People who actually legit FIGHT over who should win matches here are doing this shit WRONG.


3. If I have a character that I feel needs to be protected, for storyline purposes, then its quite simple. I don't put them in a position where theres an issue. This is actually a pretty simple situation. If somebody wants to do a match with a girl I'm protecting, but they are insistent about winning, then I simply don't do that match.

I instead offer one of my other multitude of characters, ones who can still provide the fun, competitive match that they are seeking, but are also not being protected, and thus can take the loss without any issue to their storyline.

They still get the win for their girl and a fun match, my girl stays protected, no fighting was had between RPers. Win/win.



4. Short term. Long term booking is nice when you can afford it, but the way things are in AFW, people vanish and go inactive, or leave the site, or matches stall for ages, and so on, and so forth and things just happen.

I'll use myself as an example. I've done two long term stories, one that started in 2016 and is gearing up for its finale, and one that started in roughly...I wanna say like, may or so, and is coming to a conclusion at Avalanche. However, there have been SEVERAL issues and snags and a multitude of changes to each of them, due to reasons like people leaving, matches stalling (often my own fault, as much as I hate to admit it.) and plans getting changed.

Such things are pretty much unavoidable. My suggestion is to think short term, and if you DO a long term storyline, separate it into several short term parts, and focus on getting to the next part, then seeing where you are to plan the next.



5. Yes, depending on that characters play style, if they are your Main girl or not, if they are protected or not (though you shouldn't really "protect" a lot of girls at the same time, that's just bad form and unfair to others.) and various other things about characters help set up and determine your match and how it will go and should play out.