Dungeon Master Forum

Interested anyone?

I know at least one person who will be

It's a great idea -- my one reservation is that doing one at the same time the story is just developing *might* spread creative energies too thinly. Maybe the story should get a bit more established first?

Lol, there is no limit to the creative energies of this board! Plus I think no one who is heavily invested in one will be heavily invested in the other anyway.

I say carry on zoooom!

Yep, some people (not me) were highly motivated to play such a thread, so go ahead!

Aye.

Maybe...

As long as we got the rules laid out firmly to begin with so that if anyone has any queries they can be answered, this should be fun . And there's no such thing as spreading out our creative energies too much, muahahahhaha . You think playing games and creating dungeons and writing stories (and anything else people do) is too much for us? Ooh that's an idea - see how much creative stuff we can be doing at the same time before our brains explode .

*Brain explodes*

Yes, really... I guess it depends on what sort of "RPG" it's going to be. By post, or live at X time? With a firmly defined system, a loose system, or pure freeform? Any restrictions as to setting? Hmm... someone "moderating" might help, especially if there are to be restrictions...

One thing that someone did online once that I thought was pretty neat, and seemed to work well, was, we played a VtM game, but used the shortened and streamlined LARP rules as opposed to the full tabletop rules. So, if there are going to be rules, I suggest they be short and simple.

To go OT, unusually for me, I had a small story clip for a fantasy novel where they were actually playing a tabletop RPG. It was more a stroytelling exercise (murder mystery,funnily given MonFul's links earlier) and so they had their tabletop counteres and some areas laid out roughly with the local storyteller as a DM weaving the story. If any of the players wanted to do anything extraordinary or that involved luck/change the player and the DM would have a deck of cards, and draw for the success of it. I liked the idea of it not actually having much rules.

Aha. So we should make some rules then.
How do we resolve fights? DIce? or Abilities?
(it will take a while to get the rules together that everyone agrees with)
Suggestion:
Each player takes one character.
There are Bonus Points (three to five?) for every player.

These enhance abilities.
[fighter][ninja/thief]
Close Combat +1, Throwing, Priest +1[abilities], Wizard Spells+2[ability/knowledge]. Then there could be hidden stats very much like dm, like gem of ages to help brew potions or whatever. Doesn't have to be that detailed, though.!!! ANd there can be more to characters than combat stats, I cannot think of any.. maybe sth. like extroverted/greedy? This can evolve, too...
What are those points for?
If there is a fight, you have x swings or x time dependant on , e.g. your fighter level. If it is 2 then you can dodge 2 blows..same for wizard, can use 2 spells or counter 2..
Well. That is what I can come up for now.

Hmm, I think any typed web-based game would be destoyed by elaborate combat rules, etc. Some basic stats might be a good idea. If you need random number generation, there are sites like http://www.random.org/nform.html

Omg all the numbers lol. Never done an online RPG like that before. And I wouldn't really plan on my character doing any fighting, just walking and talking and exploring and stuff...she wouldn't be a violent type.
But umm it seems you have a different idea of an RPG to me lol. Oh and Sophia - "...we played a VtM game, but used the shortened and streamlined LARP rules..." - I know that "LARP" means "Live-Action Role Play" but apart from that I was completely lost at this sentence lol.

Ameena wrote:(...) I wouldn't really plan on my character doing any fighting, just walking and talking and exploring and stuff...she wouldn't be a violent type.

Well, there is indeed no need for fighting. We can leave fighting completely out
on a rare incidence it gets resolved quickly.
(dodge, run away, give gold, being taken prisoner)
ehem..we don't focus on fights.

what about the world ?


what about items? exploring is easier when you have a rope, torches , etc.
Do we keep track of inventory? I mean things should not pop into reality when needed.. rolleyesmanytimes

/I do not have a 100% clearly idea of what this is going to be, so
We should make a test run sometime.

does anyone know Zak mckracken or MAniac mansion? the monkey island kind of game?
there your character has options: talk give push pull combine.. now I am not sure if we even have to limit us to this extent... but basic actions could help some players to make decisions. THe good thing is there is no pressure, you can let your character be silly and the others can help out..very different to a linear computer game!

a rather free way of doing things.


anyway, this is about finding a LCD(lowest common denominator )

FACTS:
1. "Normal" fantasy world
2. focus on talking, walking and exploration
3. ??
.
.

"VtM " doesn't ring a bell........

When I've played online RPGs (by e-mail or whatever) it's basically been, like, a story, where each person adds input via actions/observations from the PoV of their own character(s). Like I started doing in that other story thread.

Combat will invariably happen, and there has to be some means of resolution, or it will inevitably result in nothing but bickering and stupidity.

Anyway, Ameena, I meant Vampire: the Masquerade, which is a rather medicore RPG based on vampires and such with kind of neat LARP rules. Or maybe it's just that a lot of the people I played it with were kind of annoying.

The LARP rules are much quicker and streamlined than the usual rules for playing on a tabletop, minimizing dice rolling and stats and such, so people can just play the game! And it seemed to work.

Here is my idea, inspired by a few other RPG and LARP systems, especially the Vampire larp system:

Each character has a number (maybe six, I'm not sure yet) of "character points." For each point, the player chooses an adjective to further elaborate on just what strengths that character has, and how they apply to the game world. It is a sort of artful simplification of the way character classes, skill levels, stats and such work in more complicated games.

For example, for a thief-ish character, you might choose "Quick," "Cunning," "Stealthy," "Clever," "Mysterious," and "Crafty." For a fighter, "Strong," "Fierce," "Brave," "Disciplined," "Tough," and "Veteran," and so on....

zoooom wrote:what about items? exploring is easier when you have a rope, torches , etc.
Do we keep track of inventory? I mean things should not pop into reality when needed.. rolleyesmanytimes

Not special items, but in the D&D games I ran, I simply assumed that the characters had a basic "adventurer pack" containing their food, water, torches, rope, lockpicks if there was a thief, a few herbs and miscellaneous idols for the mages, etc.

Then, they really only had to keep track of their weapon, and any special or magic items they may have found.

Yeah, cows, ameena, and monful basically did it in the start

I would also like to have characters evolve with time.
Imagine a Darth Vader character...or Saruman who succumbed to powergreed.

Again, could already have happened with the character!

AMeena, you seem to have a very good Idea about, well ameena but maybe you do not want to reveal all of her right at the beginning..?

Mysteries about characters could make for some surprises, esp. in extreme situations that concentrate on decisions of that very character with result then in different outcomings.

.
If there are character traits, maybe there should be bad ones, too.

Hatred/dislikes [:not to waste food...expecting others to do the same..respecting nature/life], Greed/longing/tasks/goals[gold, food,], heart of stone [merciless, sparing no one, or having rules, oaths]
(who wants that?);just noticing, honour for example is both good and bad, given the situation.. hmmmmmmm.

Beo, good idea, I will reread the part!!

I didn't say I was gonna reveal all in the beginning...I'd write it as a story, third-person view but only writing about stuff my character says/does in reaction to what other people post.

Need a gamesmaster really.

or we need two threads: one where the players are and the other where we discuss what should happen..

Yeah, I think you are getting to intricate there zoooom. You don't need a 'potential to turn evil - score 6', you just need, as said, a DM and you would PM him/her and say 'hey, would you mind if I turned evil soon and became an antagonist?' etc

The adjectives idea sounds interesting.

Apart from the obvious "no god characters" rule, I take it there's no restrictions to race or whatever? We are just building this world as we go and stuff?

Fine with me.

I think restrictions on race and whatnot, and what exceptions to the "god characters" rule are allowed (because, really, what is "godlike" depends on the world), will probably be resolved by whoever is appointed moderator/DM/GM/etc., assuming there is one-- there probably should be.

Is this going to be "live" somehow? Or by post? Or...?

I think you should do it in flashchat (where you can still pm or the dm can pm you), unless you can get a mod or admin to start with you here (to resolve things posted)

Let's do it like this.

(1) Appointment of GM (poll?)
(2) GM sets rules & character creation guidelines
(3) Character concepts submitted and approved by GM
(4) Game starts.

Notes:

(a) Chatrooms aren't that great for RPGs - they only work if everyone playing is in roughly the same timezone and can commit to a reasonably regular game at the same time each week. But, if we are going to do it, a virtual RPG tabletop will ease the process considerably. Here is an example of such a thing.

(b) If we're going to play by post, we'll want an online diceroller. I'd recommend this one.

(c) There's considerable additional RPG-specific forum functionality on purpose-designed RPG forums. I'd recommend Roleplay Online on the grounds that it significantly eases the task of both GM and player.

I volunteer to be considered as a possible GM, although frankly I'd rather play.

Example:

A damp, gray, moss covered stone corridor was leading straight into the darkness.(why grey?) Cool fresh air sidled in through over the rough and slippery stairway that had been skillfully hewn into the mountain, long long ago. Each step was either cracked or half way gone and showed signs of heavy use. Falling waterdrops constantly drummed on them, in a numbing rythm.
The echo of several footsteps and muffled voices coming from above the stairs merged with the tickle of water and got louder.

Zoooom> Semils the broad dwarf takes the lead, axe in hand. He tries to duck and see what's on the end of the stairs, whistling uneasy. While descending, he tries to tread on save spaces.
"Careful everyone; on my sign retreat immediately!"
Someoneelse> C.Y. is following the dwarf, torch in hand. Because he cannot stand the pressure, he sips on his booze bottle, trying to calm his beating heart. Already fear is shaking his knees.
..>The water has soaked through miss universe's suede shoes. Damn, she hates when that happens. "HEy everyone, how about if we leave and go somewhere else?"
Zoooom> Smegl (somehow his name changed) turns to the others and says:"hell, yeah! It wasn't my idea, anyway. Let's get out of this dungeon and let's find a tavern in the nearby, magically cursed forest that surrounds this place!"
someoneelse>"No objections I do not want to know what's in that rotting dungeon, that's for sure" the pale, white faced C.Y. frantically stammered, already pushing up the stairs with eyes wide open
Just an example of how things could be..




The Troglodytes already knew they had guests.

I would reverse the connotations. Chatrooms are great for RPGing, except for the big problem that everyone has to be there at the same time. Which may be a big problem, since we've got people here from all over the world (or at least both sides of the Atlantic)

Anyway, I'm not sure about using another forum-- maybe we've got everything we need here. Maybe not. I'm not sure yet, it depends a lot on the system, I guess.

I like writing and world-building so I'll throw my name into the "possible GM" hat, too. (But be warned, if I end up doing it, I will probably use that crazy "adjectives" system! )

It's like voting for a political party!