Maybe it's because of my rl experience doing improv theater, or my lifelong love of DMing tabletop games, but I personally can't stand overly plotted storylines when I RP. Sure, I may have an idea of certain things that will happen ("Vera's loyalty to Kael's vision will start crumbling when she sees the manaforges in Netherstorm") but I avoid too much advance plotting. To me, it sort of defeats the purpose of RP in the first place; if I find myself having the urge for that sort of thing, I'll just write a story.

My most rewarding RP experiences have always been the spontaneous ones where no one knows how anything is going to turn out, and the RP just flows organically with a minimum of railroading. A basic framework for a scene ("Jay and Jane are trying to fence stolen gems") is enough for me. Often times in these situations, characters will surprise me.

As an aside, this was a good article, but the intro has me worried. No offense intended, but didn't we just sit through like 8 years of "how to RP your profession" articles?

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