Mage RPG Format

[Grish]

As people know, I am trying to get a new RPG going on this forum. Emphasis will be on creativity, character development, and character interaction.

However, I am struggling determining what the best mechanics to run this game. I have only, ever, played a table top RPG. Started when I was 12, and I'm now much, much older. I am used to narration, immediate interaction, dice rolling, ordering pizza and smoke breaks. A forum RPG is a post at a time, with a lot of information. It does not lend itself to back and forth bantering.

The ideas I have are:
1) Stick to traditional RPG styling. Back and forth posts, with prerolled dice rolling for any occurrences.
2) If/than statements. Basically put in a post what happens if characters are/are not successful. Advantage is you don't have to log on as often, big disadvantage is you're doubling your post lengths.
3) The way TVC is run. Everyone collaborates on who's doing what, who says what. Totally unfamiliar with this. Do players control enemies and what they say? Is everyone responsible/accountable for the story?
4) Moving it to 'session based' and putting it on a chat program that logs, such as IRC. Perhaps theres actual RPG computer programs out there that support chat, grid maps, etc. With everyone's different timezones, this too seems impractical. It does however have the advantage of being rapid fire and feeling more engaging.

Also, the RPG itself has stats, abilities, etc. This lends itself to dice rolling, but it could just be used to roleplay what can/cannot be done.

Ideas from experienced players?

 

[Knightofni]

Well the TVC has stats.. lots of them. And its run in a free-form way which is (in my opinion) better for creativity as it gives players complete control over their own characters actions, within reason of course. A lot of fight scenes are pre-arranged and a free-form way of doing things increases the communication between players OOC.

I think that is one the TVC's strongest assets, the communication between players via PM or via the OOC thread.. whilst a free-form way does allow a lot of freedom and sometimes a little too much but if people create their characters properly and are fully aware of their own strengths and limitations, which are for the most part respected by others, then there shouldn't be a problem with overly powerful characters.

DoN's firm guiding.. hand/whip/paddle/genitalia (delete as applicable).. has also probably played a rather large part in curbing TVC players excesses.

 

[Evanm7]

I concur.

 

[Onikaigo]

From what I've seen, the TVC is a wonderful format. I wouldn't change much of it, though the dice would be refreshing in my mind. It'd make characters volatile, and their players think twice before committing them to any real harmful scenario.

Now I'm about to go sleep. Haven't slept in over 30 hours. Nap time.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

I concur.

Evanm7 you have been making quite a lot of these posts. They count as spamming as is against forum rules. If you have something constructive to add, a proper post then that is fine. However please do not post just to say "I agree".

If you have any questions about this please feel free to PM me.

Thanks

Disciple of Nagash

 

[Evanm7]

Yes DoN, sorry, I just don't feel very well. I'm going to the doctor today, so hopefully I will feel better.
Now, ontopic, about 4). I think that that wouldn't really be a good idea, as you said, because we have people from all over the world. The timezones would be... interfering, to say the least. And then there's school and Work to think about.

And about the Dice rolling, will a lot of the game be governed by it? Will chance be rolled for or decided a GM/ the GMs?

 

[Grish]

4 can work provided we have GMs in the proper time zones and dedicated people. We're still in the opening stages so I don't want to rule anything out, but yes, I see all the issues with all of them. I do not expect people to dedicate themselves to something unproven, so for now I'd rule it out, but not forever.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Grish what do you want to call your roleplay?. A title name like we have The Vampire Council & The Gunhearts etc

 

[Grish]

Just 'Mage: RPG' is fine for now. I'm sure it's easy to alter it in the future.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Moved to shiny new forum.

 

[Evanm7]

Omg! Hopefully there will be a new disease called, 'Shiny new forum syndrome'.

 

[AsdrubaelWho]

As far as die rolling goes, me personally, I do not have any problem with letting the GM roll for me.

 

[Lord of Ravens]

If the emphasis in this RP is on character creation, I feel that using the same system as TVC would be best. Dice rolling could easily complicate things.

 

[Count Erick]

ew...dice rolling...yea, I would rather keep things like the TVC.

 

[Grish]

What is the reason you're against the dice rolling? Is it the random element, or some other reason?

As in the words of "Flight of the Concords" Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenoceros lyrics...
"Other rappers dis me, say my rhymes are sissy... what, why? why? what why? Be more constructive with your feedback please..."

 

[Count Erick]

It just makes things more complicated than they need to be I think. I just don't really see a need for dice rolling...
I think part of the reason the TVC has lasted so long is its simplicity.

 

[Grish]

Can you extrapolate on that? Eg. If I pregenerate 100 dice rolls, I can just use them in order no? The biggest reason against them that I can see is that if what you want to do depends on the dice rolls, then your success/failure may determine your future actions. Looking into mitigating this.

 

[Count Erick]

I duno, I think it mostly depends on how its implemented, and the honesty of the people involved. (yea, I totally just rolled eight strait 6's to hit. I WIN!)

 

[Grish]

Dice rolling programs would be used so you can't cheat. The program itself would have to cheat (any 1337 h4x0rs out there?)

 

[Onikaigo]

I is a l33t h4X0r. Or was. XD I lost a whole lot of skill when I went military and didn't have a chance to practice.

But those days are behind me.

I kind of like the idea for dice rolling in limited situations. Not a constant companion such as DnD, but perhaps in a sort of combat situation to prevent any character from going, "RAWR! I is God!" though I assume he/she will be suitably toned down in whispers by Mods.

 

[Count Erick]

I kind of like the idea for dice rolling in limited situations. Not a constant companion such as DnD, but perhaps in a sort of combat situation to prevent any character from going, "RAWR! I is God!" though I assume he/she will be suitably toned down in whispers by Mods.

My feelings exactly.

 

[Grish]

Haha. Well I too am a programmer! We shall have to duel it out in the cracking arena!

I like the idea of dice. I like the idea that a character does not have full control of his destiny, that luck has a chance of going in. Perhaps we could even do it ourselves. Eg. you're thinking about a scene, use a bit of randomness to determine what happens.

I'm not too worried about God types. The game has built in balances for that kind of thing.

 

[Onikaigo]

I think it'd be kinda funny. Me and some other character get into an altercation; Guys do that, ya know? We fight, we become friends after. It's a testosterone thing.

We get into an argument, we roll dice. I roll straight ones, get floored. Ego killer!

 

[Grish]

Yep, deal with it!

Might make people think twice about doing something dangerous. And, if they enjoy their characters and the relationship/story they've built, they may actually treat dangerous things as being dangerous. Gives a certain tension that's quite enjoyable

 

[Onikaigo]

Might make people think twice about doing something dangerous. And, if they enjoy their characters and the relationship/story they've built, they may actually treat dangerous things as being dangerous. Gives a certain tension that's quite :enjoyable smile:

Oh yes, that's exactly what I was intending. A little bit of danger is always nice.