How Free-Form is too Free-form?

I'm having an issue with the structure of my board's classification system, really struggling to really find what is best and clicks, and I thought I might get some opinions here.

Anytime I have opened up a board in the past, I typically choose an original setting or a very free-form fandom (like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, the type of fandoms that you can insert your own content into and still have the atmosphere of the realm) And then I introduce it as being entirely free-form. Choose your own race, choose your own abilities, all 'within reason,' like those two words are some unspoken rule everyone should know how to follow. Recently, I've introduced a more structured way of categorizing abilities, since I'm so obsessed with RPG class systems and finally had the guts to come up with something that works on my own, without relying so much on member creativity.

The system is based on the seven Virtues, each character is a regular human on Earth reborn after the apocalypse with abilities that coincide with a Virtue they most embodied in their past life. Purity = healers, justice = guardians, etc. The more I let the board sit there with a measly two sentence description of what characters of each Virtue could do, the more upset I became with how general it was. I had mostly let members decide in the past, and any sort of classifying system had substantial wiggle room. Here, you get what you start with. I've considered adding power levels to (very generally) describe what range of ability is obtainable for each Virtue at each level, adding specializations that usually split a Virtue in two and give characters a choice to focus on one area of the range of abilities a Virtue has, etc. all to add more structure and realism.

My question is, how much choice should I allow? Should I leave Virtues as paragraph descriptions of abilities and let members do with it what they will, or should I continue to structure things until it's obvious the range of power a member is able to access? And, in general, how much should a roleplay forum allow its members to deviate from an established system? When does a free-form roleplay with a hazy setting become too wishy-washy to hold a member base? Unlimited choice can either be inviting or daunting, so I'd like to know your opinions.

 

DBZ meets sailor moon? you just blew my mind! xD

 

I definitely agree with what has been said above. From my experience starting with structure and going to freeform is easier than the other way around.

 

Personally, I am not big into "full free-form". I like having at least a base to go off of. I need examples otherwise I over think everything, balk and than decide not to join. The pressure gets to me.

 

Structure and information are necessary, along with weighing out how out of control you will allow players to get with their characters. It's easier to pick and choose what options to have heavily modded, and what ones to let them go bulk wild on...else you're going to end up with players fighting tooth and nail when you ask them to tone it down.

 

I mean my current sci-fi RP is Starwars meets warhammer meets halo meets battlestar galactica meets elite dangerous meets Galaxy Railways meets foxhound space nord creatures. I honestly have never done a structured RP because I feel like it would stifle my creativity. I think my RP is kinda getting bogged down by all the Chaos but I am currently working on adding infrastructure to support all the creativity and catalogue it. It is really hard to explain things simply and the shortest explanations of our lore takes entire paragraphs despite only being three chapters long.

 

It's challenging! Some players really like a lot of structure, some find it to be too constricting, and just want a canvas to paint on.

The trick is to find a balance that appeals to as many people as possible - Personally, I like to start off small, and add rules where it becomes necessary, with only a small amount to start out.

 

I'd say that so long as you have some sense of setting and general feel for characters, free-form is great. It's when you give them no setting or direction that it becomes a problem. Then again, I'm a fan of letting my players run crazy and see what they come up with lol