Hello, Everyone :)

Hello, everyone! I'm new to this site, but not to role playing. I have experience from other sites and I thought this particular forum looked like a great place to join and role play with others. I would love to work with any of you if you want to do a role play with me!

Welcome, Elenora. Please tell us your dos and don'ts or role playing and what kind of things you prefer to be involved in.

Thank you. I'm not sure I have any don'ts when it comes to role playing, but I have primarily played OCs in my experience, and then filled in as other characters from the show as well (just not Sherlock as I don't believe I would do very well). I have done role plays with romance, as well as just role plays without. I love doing original cases and I would love to collaborate with others to come up with a good one. I'm open to anything.

Heya. ;D

I'm up to playing Sherlock or Irene Adler. What did you have in mind?

If it is strictly canon then I might join as an OC as well. ^^

Sounds good! Well, I had an original case idea for an OC of mine who would go to Sherlock as a client with a what she believes to be a serious problem when she thinks she has a stalker who is threatening her life. I'm fine with keeping it strictly about the case and not adding any sort of romance. I'm still figuring out some of the details, but I could post to the RP Adverts, or RP Storylines sections of the site with more details if you're interested. Of course, I am always open to other ideas or input. Let me know if you both are still interested, I would love to work with you both!

That actually sounds super interesting.
I'd love to play Sherlock for that if you'd wanna, I'd just like more details about her case so I can accurately play him. Let me know!

Hmm... that remind me to an existing thread here. I will wait for your details then see if I can adjust to the atmosphere.

Well, so far what I have established in my mind is that my OC, Anna, has only been living in London for 2 months, is living her dream by being a ballet dancer/teacher, and has been doing very well for herself. She suddenly receives text messages from an unknown number which warn her not to keep dancing. The more she defies, the worse the messages get, and include photos of her going to the dance studio where she works. She has no idea who could be behind the threats and feels uneasy knowing someone clearly is following her. I have been working on who the source would be, but that is still being determined. Thoughts? I'm open to ideas.

The first thing that came to my mind is, Anna and her ballet career is not the primary objective of whoever behind this scheme, that's the mildest assessment.

Who knows? I've been still working on it and fleshing it out more, and I was thinking it would revolve around jealousy/revenge. Any thoughts?

We know that Sherlock have a rating system for cases that come to his door. He did not take petty ones unless it is somehow interesting and or have a unique twist of its own. For the sake of canon realism, do yours have the required characteristic? Case in point, Bluebell and Henry Knight. Alone each will be immediately dismissed. Bluebell - ordinary thief and a child's imagination, Henry Knight - a case of hallucinations and hysteria (see Sherlock's disdain of emotional-based cases?) But together along with the news piece about the government military facility in Baskerville is worth of his time and efforts.

Good point. What if the reason she finally decided to turn to Sherlock was because among the messages she was sent, there were warnings of misfortunes which would befall certain individuals around her, and they actually do happen? These things would be a means of getting her attention, and the more she tries to ignore, the more intense these things get until they are finally aimed more at her and seem to be getting to the point of being more physically harmful than just frightening. This way it would show that this person clearly wanted her to listen and was beginning to get annoyed that she was not getting the point.

That's still emotions / feelings based case and ineffective one when it come to achieving the end goal. Why only harm her and surrounding if a bullet between the eyes can ensure that she would not show up ever again? If Sherlock can be touched that way then he will take Henry Knight's case, fear and despair can drive people to the extreme, without needing additional incentives. No, Sherlock did not care about human lives but puzzles draw him like magnet. Interesting ones that will challenge his intellectual capabilities. Remember about the Bruce-Partington case? That potentially threaten plenty of human lives should the plan actually fall to the hands of hostile party but still Sherlock refused to take it.

Sherlock used to be drugs-addict, that will bring him into contact with less than admirable human traits. For him bribery, extortion, threats and even straight up murder is not unusual (in his own word, dull) and even to be expected when it comes to greed. Serial killer case in the Study of Pink is exciting for him but he did not see from the victims and families' point of view, only to the challenge of the puzzle. Tears and pleading did not move him (but it will work on John) and only the potential of 'a game' instantly take his attention.

Need more example? Irene Adler. Should she only possess a threat to the royal family's reputation then the case would immediately discarded like a useless rag. Only after he came to her and be intrigued by the dominatrix herself the fatal attraction begin. She is a worthy adversary in his eyes and not mere petty crook trying to line up her pockets.

Ok, well do you have any suggestions on what could work? I'm sort of unsure what might be the right way to go about this.

Is your character must be the centre of the plot or someone who the entire plot is hanging from? The logic is, lower a character in the 'food chain', plotwise-speaking in term of accessible resources, more likely she is a side-objective or not the focus of the hostile party's real efforts. That if we want a twisted plotline. On the other hand, if a 'low in the food chain' character is to be the centre of the plot then the scheme most likely a simple one.

Maybe they want her to stop dancing so that they can get access to the dance studio at that particular day and that particular time, for some nefarious purpose.

(Sorry to jump in, lol, just sounds like an interesting case and I enjoy plotting)

Then it is an even better idea to take a foolproof measurement to ensure that she will not be there. What is better than permanently offing her? On the less final side, to arrange an accident that will put her out of the way for the time being. Either got the job done effectively without much fuss.

No, please feel free to jump in! I really appreciate the ideas because I am still finding it hard to get this plot as developed as needed. I've never been in such an in depth role play.

What kind of roleplay you were involved in before?

I did one on one RPs that mainly began with a small idea, never really one that was really thought out, or as in depth before we started. We would discuss certain plot developments in side comments as we went.

In other word, relying heavily on improvisations instead of careful planning from the beginning. I see... no wonder your original plan is pretty much only the basic outline. Unfortunately if you want to experience the world of SHERLOCK in all its rounded wholesomeness then you must plan and prepare for wildcards and the different dynamics between its characters, least the much sought after experience fall flat and two dimensional. For instance, crime usually involve several motives at once. Only a crime of passion committed in the heat of the moment doesn't have that element. Once there's a considerable time delay between acts then calculation will enter the picture. Your original plan of threats and emotional bribery show much of those time delays, therefore it seems unreal and unrealistic even after taking account that this is a fictional universe.

There is no strict rule here that a Sherlock must be a BBC one. It's up to you. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the canon for that and the Sherlock can be a mash up between BBC and ACD. We can do 21st century or Victorian rp. ACD's Sherlock is always polite to women and takes cases where a girl feels threatened - yeah the puzzle draws him in - one girl is being stalked, strangely one girl had to have her long hair cut, one's sister dies mysteriously. He was on Irene Adler's side after he found out what a great nob the king of Bohemia was.

Planning is really key to a great roleplay experience as Night Baron said. But calculated crimes are motivated by gain or not making a loss and emotion fear, love, jealousy, hate - emotion that isn't a swift burn but a long slow burn.

Ballet dancer threatened to stop her dancing - why would someone not want her to be watched and admired by an audience?

Possible motives / villain
- a deranged stalker, he wants her attention not to kill her, can't bear the thought of people looking at her, interesting her, taking her away from him though it is a fantasy that he is loved by her, she smiled at him, her fan, once.

- jealous sister employs a hit man to scare her and kill her - that was the plot of The Bodyguard Whitney Houston was the successful singer hated by her in the shadow sister.

- ballet company manager needs her talent to draw in an audience or the ballet will lose money and they'll go bankrupt, then it'd all come out that he's embezzled the company funds out of greed and or trying to keep up appearances of wealth. He could be a secret gambler who has lost a huge sum so he 'borrowed' company money.

- rival ballet company wants to put the one she dances for out of business the owner/ manager will stop at nothing to bust his rival even if it means the girl is terrified to dance first.

just some thoughts.

The would be Sherlock player's requirement is canon version, presumably BBC's. Then again, s/he had went AWOL for the last few days so it is possible to write them off.

Possible plotlines:
- Realistic enough but still need an element of mystery.
- Torture and death. Unrealistic unless the competitor is daft/secure enough to risk possible less than perfect result due to way too many time given to the target.
- There is a potential but there is at least a disjoint between facts here. What connect the victim to the act of embezzling itself? The unfriendly party did try to make her comply by threats. Still need further elaboration.
- Same as the second plotline.

Thanks for the input, Sherlock. Actually, the second idea you mentioned (The Bodyguard-like plot) is what I have been considering for a while, hence why I mentioned the jealousy/revenge element. I thought maybe the threats were actually coming from someone who is trying to scare her out of dancing to protect her from someone else who is planning to harm her. This particular villainous individual is already intending to murder other dancers closer to my OC character because they share something in common. As to who these individuals are, the threatening stalker and the villainous killer, they would be people who would be the last individuals who my OC would expect them to be. Thoughts?