[Tapper]

We are a fantasy book forum. We've got an RPG section. We've got a few RP lovers. We've seen RP games in Mafia that are somewhat succesful and made a lot of people happy. We have recently invigorated section on the forum (one that may die, unless we act).

We lack a game.

Now, as the title says, I'm interested in having one, and being the first guy to say this explicitly, I guess that also means I thereby volunteer to run it.... which scares me witless and so I cleverly came up with a few parameters/ conditions.

First things first though - how many people are actually interested in playing/ leading any kind of RP game on the forum?

Secondly, what kind of game?

Since I do that one step forward as a volunteer, well, I guess I'll have to say something about me as a DM and what I would intend. Feel free to comment or step forward yourself!

1. I'm not, and have never been, a D&D DM. I hate the system, I find it impractical and with far too many rules and conditions. So, I won't DM that, sorry, I know it is by far the most used/loved system ever.

2. I don't want to run a Malazan Setting. That's bound to get heated as we all love it and takes way too many conversions. So, I'm going for a readily fabricated and filled in world that is all available in a single package so that everyone has the same starting benefits & info.

3. The KISS principle is going to be in effect. I'm not willing to devote 4 hours a day to it, I guess none of us has that time anyway, so I want something elegantly simple and player-driven. Once more, the right choice of a pre-fabricated setting will help a lot. Added advantages:

* there's going to be no need for a gazillion additional books/pdfs for people (to buy and) read;
* elegantly simple means usually 'centered on dialogue and actual RP instead of dice rolling', so all kinds of people can occupy themselves with each other and advance the setting by themselves, at their own pace;
* the less dice rolling, the less frustrated waiting for resolution of actions, initiative, etcetera.

4. Dick baggery. I hate players that sit back and be douches for no other purpose than having their fun over the back of others and call it 'their character's nature'. As a consequence, I hate combat within a party as a result of ego-trips . I do love intrigues and manipulation, though, so if you want to be a bastard, be my guest but be a clever one.
Also, no rape or torture, and not just because this is a public forum, nothing good has ever come out of that imho.

5. Sort of stuff I would want to run: I suck at horror games, just can't build the required tension. Adventuring games tend to have way too much dice rolling and GM explanation that I'd think is unfit for a forum, sadly .
So, I'd like a game in a relatively closed up setting, 1-2-3-4 families/factions/tribes whatever trying to outmaneuver and outfeud one another, the players members of 1 or 2 of those forced together and apart again by fate, yaddayadda.
Also, I am going to try to twist everything your character holds dear against you, and then make you try and come out on top. No sacred cows in this one... but that's half the fun, ain't it?

Anyway, I'll curiously await the responses before I start doing work or propose a system or whatever.

[bwgan]

Um...I have never played this sort of game, but I quite fancy the idea of RP without the pressure and intensity of mafia...and being lynched precisely because you get carried away with the RP . I take it from your OP that it's something you play as much as you want? Or am I completely missing the point? Would complete and utter newbieness be a no no?

Is this a chance for me to channel that great actress I have always considered to be within me? (In written form obviously.)

Basically I am intrigued...but clueless! ...and the first person to say 'no change there then' will have outed themselves as being a total scoundrel.

[Bent]

Yeah, I like RP. So sure, I'd give it a shot.

[Silencer]

Well, there are several options for format...

"The Inn" on ModCraft is dice-free, open roleplay. You set up a character, with a background and such (in a thread for the character), then you get approved and enter the Inn. Recently, the Inn has expanded to include an "adventures" forum, for when characters journey out of the Inn. What has occurred is some awesome story telling, with plots interwoven and slowly revealed to those it doesn't concern. A lot of it is off-the-cuff in response to posts, but some of it is planned (e.g. if a character is going to be killed, you tend to discuss and plan what's going to happen via PM - there is a basic no killing of other's characters rule, but you can break that if agreed upon by you and the owner).
The thing is, the 'evil' characters are also controlled by the players, so we get to see what they're doing and plotting, and any confrontations are completely controlled...while this means there are no encounters that are fighting with dice rolls and such, it means everything flows better. And if you're fair, people can take wounds. It becomes more about the RP and the story than the combat.

Of course, you could always have the evil characters/monsters etc controlled by a DM, and work out some basic statistics or features that make things more complex...

Anyway, just one option for how to run it. If you want to check out the Inn (to see what it's like or just for interest), click here.

And I'd be interested in something along those lines - less dice, more story.

[bwgan]

@Silencer - now you have me worried...that looks really complicated...*goes for another look*...*half an hour later* just come back, it's absorbing to read though.

[Tapper]

@ Bwgan: roleplaying is basically telling a story together, with every player playing their own character. Because RP about standard life is generally considered somewhat dull, this tends to involve all kinds of stuff, ranging from high fantasy to superheroes to vampires to King Arthur to cave men to space explorations.

Now, the further away from normal life that you get (but most will argue that that is the exact point of RP-ing in the first place), the more people want something to hold onto and to know what they can and cannot do as they dive into the weird.

For that reason, rule sets and campaign settings are developed (some on indie base, most on commercial basis), so that it is precisely known what spells Fandalg the Greenish-Grey Wizard can cast, and what the effect is, and to make sure that Warathorn the Ranger still has a space in the spotlight too, instead of being bumped out of it by Fandalg at every opportunity. The stab at LotR here is intended as many settings are immensely close to Lord of the Rings if you squint (dwarves, elves, mages, rangers, orcs, dark lords, etc), and at times, the players tend to want to drag it even closer.

Basically, every sort of character can do something special or better than others (like mafia roles), and you decide what they can do. dfetermining how succesful you are usually involves rolling dice to add an element of chance but that's a better feature for a table top than for a forum, I think, my intention is to let the narrative do the work.

Still, telling a story together isn't all that fun if you know exactly what events are going to transpire, so usually someone is (being) volunteer(ed) to run the game and compose the framework, play the shopkeeps and the cameo's, set up interesting villains, provide a turn of ill fortune for someone to struggle out of, et cetera. This is the game leader or dungeon master or game master, and he's also in charge of dealing with the rules whenever there is a conflict. Comparing him to Path-Shaper would be accurate, I assume.

so, to give a very simple example: the game master announces that he wants to run a modern day adventure game.
Player A + player B + player C are somehow related (hopefully in a friendly way ) and have decided this game sounds interesting and that they would like to play it together. They created their characters, have talked how the characters met one another, how they like each other, etcetera, and they think their party has a good set of complimentory skills.
One of them plays an archeologist with a knowledge of the occult and history, another decides he wants to play an outdoor sportswoman, skilled at diving, climbing, spelunking, shooting, riding and has a penchant for fast cars, boats, planes and explosives (think Lara Croft... and yes, male players playing female characters often go for the hot amazonian stereotype), and the third considers that for her, playing a diplomatic kind of fixer who arranges guides, material, site access and deals with the competition, governments and secret groups is going to be a fun challenge.

They think they can run a treasure hunting enterprise with these skills, and decide to start their career by robbing old Egyptian tombs together, and therefore book a flight to Cairo. There, the Game Master runs some scenes that allow the characters to establish themselves, and gives the first few hints of their adversaries - a german archeologist with a monocle and a scar on his cheeck who is decidedly unpleasant and is hunting for the same treasure as they are, the egyptian government that doesn't want foreigners running around freely and throws up bureaucratic hurdles for the faceman to overcome, in the form of a fez wearing inspector called Ibn Ahmad, and also plants the first hints of a occult sect reverring Pharaoh Tutmoses the Sixth as their scarab overlord and who will do everything they can to protect him...

@ Silencer: ultimately, it would be great to arrive at such a point. Will read up on the Inn.

[Tsundoku]

Hmmm, I'm interested. Depends on setting, system etc though. I'll check that link out.

Downside: I'm going to lose this lovely access in a couple of weeks for up to a few months, so any plans I make will be by necessity tenuous.

Cheers,

La Sombra, can play bit parts. Large bits.

[Grief]

Could give it a shot, like writing orientated stuff.

Would go missing over summer though...

[Darkwatch]

I could give it a shot, bound to be better than the RP of other forums I've seen.

[Stradivarius]

yeah sounds like a good crack! i'd be interested

[Silencer]

Yay! Activity!

>.>

I was considering nudging this thread. XD

[Stradivarius]

i always try to help! even if its only in small ways!

[Grief]

Well, several people have expressed interest.

How many people do we need to begin?

The way I understand the Inn is that basically you can come and go as you wish, which is good for keeping things moving, or if you need to leave for a week or two, etc.

Not sure what kind of setting, but whatever other people are cool with is ok.

[Silander]

Hi Guys.
Well I'd be interested. My access is more regular these days. I've ran an on line game (play by email) for some friends. It was bloody hard cos there were a few of them and they sorta just reacted to the posts I sent them. I eventually finished off the last of it as a table top game.
That led to another play by post campaign for just one of the guys which is still going.
It's not too bad cos we often chat in person about it as well and neither of us are to picky about how we approach it.

The system or at least the approach to it would be important. Are we still talking about a fantasy type game here? Any published setting or the likes? I like the idea of writing to each other etc and advancing elements of the setting ourselves.
Must got check that game site ye guys were talking about.

[Morgoth]

hmpf.. we tried this once before, but sadly as I have no experience as a GM it kind of fell flat after a little while. Being just a regular player sounds fun though, so I might like to try

[Silencer]

Yes, the Inn is fairly walk-in-walk-out. No set requirements.

As for numbers, the Inn started with...(*counts*; thechickwhopwn3dyou, Amadaun, Morrigain, q21, J_Slr, Darquel and myself, with Laxon as organizer/barkeep), so 8 if you include Laxon - though he was really there as an organizer.
That being said, all of those were/are somewhat...prolific. And it was a quite specific setting, and is an evolving concept, so things could really go in a few ways. If you wanted to re-create the Inn (which I assume we don't - more focus on adventures and group RP than stories and sitting around the bar?) we could run it now, not sure what would happen otherwise.

I'm fairly keen on a fantasy setting, it's just so much easier to manhandle around and have epic scenes in...but whatever works, heh? As for existing/specific worlds, the Inn (heh, there I go again) is open to all fantasy setting characters. We've got Elder Scrolls, Malazan, Neverwinter Nights/Forgotten Realms, Zelda (!!!!!!) and some completely custom ones, too. You could work it like that, or just have a new world, or choose an existing defined world (I believe we were against using Malaz?)

So, with ~6 or 7 people, at least one of which would need to guide over...hrm. What if we chose a setting, then let people set up characters (just appearance, main skills, background, a bit of personality) and sorted out the rest? There's no reason someone can't have two characters, or act as a DM and play at the same time. Which is another thing to note - there is just a bit of planning in some of the adventure forums of the Inn - we don't see the PM's or the overall storyline. Just the results.

Perhaps if we ran a trial one, where some of the more experienced RP'ers could double as DM's and characters? Just to get people into it.

[Tapper]

I've not been entirely idle since posting the OP

As said, I wanted something which was fairly easy to get into, and as a start-up, yes, i want to run an adventure frst, that way, we're sure it won't de immediately because there is some form of commitment, and that means some system as a back ground. If we use that as a try-out, we can build from there, i think.

So, now that we have names, what is it that people want?

Fantasy (and if so, what kind of? Medieval, oriental, victorian, or lotr style?), superhero, modern, other author's inventions, political/dynastic courts, western, or some really odd stuff i haven't mentioned yet?

The options are myriad, and once we have a vague outline, it's easy to pick a simple system to function in the background for character building. my idea is to

I'll try and get the wants chartered by PMing people to come back to this thread tomorrow, i'm going to be away part of the day and the weather is too awesome to sit behind my screen for long

[Darkwatch]

So what's going on?

[Morgoth]

Darkwatch, on May 24 2009, 03:53 AM, said:

So what's going on?

we're making an rpg manga style. You should join

[Tapper]

Darkwatch, on May 24 2009, 03:53 AM, said:

So what's going on?

What do you want? is the main question now.