Hello Hispa. This post is specifically about doing a big event with inter-sim RP, as opposed to just day-to-day RPing. I learned some important things recently with one, and thought you might find it interesting.
We actually tried a pretty ambitious event back in Lumindor. We had had a story line about a realm that hated alll non-humans and wanted to attack. Every so often some very nice notices were sent out with storyboards almost - a nice image and news of the advancing invaders.
No one really believed that there were any invaders, so we found another realm who volunteered to take new tags for purposes of a war against Lumindor and portray the invading force, of about 60 people. (!)
There were great things and difficult things about trying something that grand. On the good side, it stunned the locals when they actually saw real people show up, having not expected anything but some RP device. It also helps develop some flexibility. For example, there were non-humans in the "invading" realm, and we'd want them to have fun, so we had to be willing do decide that the non-human hating Emperor would use them as spies and slaves. Even a little thing like that though, had to be communicated widely.
There are definitely challenges - some of these aren't as big a deal for day to day roleplay as for a big event, but there are things to be aware of.
For those of us who were on the committee to secretly plan "the war" , it was a lot of work, and a bit awkward to explain why we were running off to meetings at odd hours, but we didn't want to spoil the surprise.
Your sim helpers (we called them ambassadors in Lumindor) will be both sorely needed and stretched somewhat... they'll be constantly deleting objects left over from battles and things, and if people come to camp, pots and pans as well.
The biggest challenge was probably weapons and RP combat policies. The invaders were used to the spellfire weapons system, and at the time, the hosts were using safezone. People have large investments in weapons, and at a minimum, for a large event, it's important to have freebie weapons available. This also matters if people have large investments in training time with particular weapons and have to change them for an event.
As for combat, it's important to discuss in advance what the policies are for consent and (if it exists) death. Lumindor was a "full consent" sim, and the invaders were
very fond of their caging arrows. When the rules of engagement aren't communicated well, things can break down quickly.
It's amazing to see people you suspect were only ideas in a story actually come in and set up camp though.
It's also an exercise in REAL diplomacy as.. er.. not all rulers of realms are as rational as others.
For day-to-day RP, a lot of this isn't a problem. There are a couple of good inter-sim groups forming. Amin and I were chatting about it the other day. One rapidly growing one is a group called "RPS CO-OP" Most of the sims in it, if not all, are using or are switching to a particular meter from a company called Blackflag & Jezebel or the "B&J RPS". There are both good sides and bad sides to it, but that's probably a topic for another post. (Summary: The good: Actually encourages RP with a player "impressions" rating system, Hard to cheat at battle, real stats for serious fighters, healing stations. The bad: Not a huge number of weapons available, controlled distribution of the expensive developers kits, recharge stations for weapons.)
Recently I have seen a huge growth in some inter-sim RP storylines, and I think it has generally been a great thing. It keeps things interesting, whether it is pirates and treasure from other realms, or, as I saw a lot before, missing queens. There are some gifted and amazing RPers out there, and it's a good thing to meet them. I think it can also help the people who are itching for slightly more frequent combat. The reality is that there's not always a reason for combat in any one land, but across several, there usually is.
