Everyone just calm down. Dun isn't trying to jump into making another RPG right now and end up on staff at a total of four games despite having no life. Basically I've just been having a few ideas about how I might like to change how I manage RPGs and about themes and genres and such that I've never explored before in RPing. . . and I'd like to know what some of you guys think about this stuff within the context of a basic RPG idea. Who knows-- someday it may actually turn into a full-blown, real, awesome game. People have brought up ideas within the 'survival horror' genre quite a few times, I think, and I'm not trying to kill you all by forcing repetition, but if you have thoughts related to some o' my ideas, lemme knooow. I'd love to know if there are some cool cats out there who share my interests pretty closely (oh, the benefits of interest checks). I'm basically going to pitch a bunch of info for a general RPG idea anywho, so comments about that should be pretty easy to formulate within that context (think about what you like in an RPG and how you'd tweak the general idea to make it work for you). Anything could be helpful, as a lot of this does (despite the genre difference) relate to current games I work with, and I'm sure it might relate to other peoples' games. Basically my thoughts about what I'd like in an ideal situation: Monstahs!-- I know it's overdone and annoying and scientifically impossible, but I do love zombies and would probably prefer something zombie-esque (28 Days Later, Resident Evil-- there are fun variations on the idea already that aren't zombies). The thing is that I'm not a huge fan of supernatural or completely inhuman creatures and I really prefer the people-gone-monstrous beasties (Silent Hill, I do love you). I like the conflict that comes along with knowing that the thing you have to confront was and may still be a person. I also like the idea that characters could end up becoming monster-threats and that related fears and other issues could be put to use. Maybe there could be animals in addition to that for some additional funtimes. Maybe not. Fictional setting-- Playing in an actual city has its perks, but I think it would be cool to use a fictional city and have the flexibility that could come along with that. It could be in a real state or country or whatever for the sake of a grander context, but melikes the idea of a fictional setting where basic locations could get tossed in as needed and the whole place could be molded to fit the needs o' the game as they develop. Small play area-- Start confined to a small space, like one building and maybe a bit of the surrounding area, expanding as necessary (if at all). Upon pondering, I kinda gravitated toward the idea of a hotel (because of the size, the types of spaces) and a small park that might have served as an attempt at a safe haven at a sort of epicenter for the whole issue at hand. Pandemic (screw you, Madagascar!)-- I like the world-changing, "there's probably no hope at a return to normalcy" thing. Pandemics are pretty scary stuff in that way, and I'm more interested in science-y apocalypse situations than supernatural or fantasy or more outlandish options. I kinda like the idea of an illness, of a bioweapon, of something like that that could hit a massive group of people (if not everyone) and infect without the required biting of the whole zombie thing. Maybe it would be a weird virus that's latent in most people until something triggers it and makes them a threat to other people. IDK. No closed threads-- In the case of a small and unpredictable setting, especially, I'd really like to be able to have people just float in and out of threads as they please. I'd like for characters to be able to happen upon something and just overhear or see something from afar. I'm just growing to like this in general, but I think it would be especially fun under these circumstances. Staff-controlled surprises/random events-- I already use staff accounts for posting NPCs, random events, repercussions to crazy actions, and other such things, and I think it would be loads of fun for an unpredictable survival-y game to keep things interesting and exciting. I hate stats systems and that kind of thing, so this could be one way to keep the unpredictability going without having to resort to that. Staff members could introduce monsters/threats, put forth an environmental obstacle, introduce NPCs, etc. No apps-- It's my new thing. Mandatory mini-bios (basically just to have people provide a quick summary of their character so people know who the heck a character is. . . with the option to provide more info for reference), no applications/approvals. This would make it easier to make a short-term or side character and make it less of a pain to kill a character off (no need to spend 5 hours writing an app and a few days waiting for that app to be approved only to kill your character off in a flash!). Actual issues of survival-- I don't know that it could often be made interesting, but I swear I'm a sucker for those sticky situations that require scavenging and having to get creative about an escape or something (I like that more than the process of having to fight things off). I like to think people would be smart enough to acknowledge that surviving is supposed to be a challenge and their characters shouldn't be screwin' like rabbits in a closet while threats lurk around the corner, but ideally the survival part would be prominent. A lot of features to help people add spice to their experience-- A character-matching roulette and other randomizing features of some sort, I suppose, in addition to the staff-managed account for added surprises. Incentives-- This is something I'm still trying to get a feel for. I don't really want to give people a huge upper hand over other players, even if they happen to be long-time players or something. I do like the idea of some sort of incentives, though-- awards for certain IC contributions or OOC things, maybe posting contests, perhaps taking charge in a plot. I do like Jcink's awards feature for this purpose. . . and I feel like this type of game would lend itself to some incentive funtimes. I dunno. Lemme know how you guys feel about the genre, about the listed items within that genre, etc. I'm curious about it all.
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes but you knew I would yes anyway. Staff should be in charge of providing items (at least certain kinds, like I guess they can find debris and broken wood around whenever), and only if they actually look for 'em. omg I want to run it like a gm already. :< stop it ash. I'll be good.
That's another thing-- the survival part of it is tough partly because without some sort of system in place to monitor/regulate/spice it, players can just say, "Bill looked in a drawer. He found those batteries he needed." Without some sort of GM, you don't have that guessing game and discovery and suspense because you're in control of whether your character gets what he/she needs or not. I'm a little new to the GMing situation, but I think it would be cool to have both staff and non-staff players be able to act as GMs for various mini-plots. Not sure how to handle the survival aspect on a regular basis, though. I'm totally coming from years of experience in games which don't involve much in terms of GM-like persons.
I've played in something like this before, but it was a small, private game, and the GM had to do a whoooole lot of work to keep things moving. (Honest to god, though, I had nightmares after that bus crash scene where a wriggling bag appeared in the aisle and had "Open Me! =)" scrawled on it, ugh. I'm such a wuss.) I think for a more sizeable (public) game, it would be more practical to have both staff and non-staff players act as GMs, but I'm not sure how to work out the mechanics for that. In my experience, players tend to react rather than, you know, act. |D
hmm. I like your style Dun. I actually added you as a friend and hardly know you (this new skin in the directory I guess name "friends" into "follow"). About the system you like having. I have a proposal: Jcink: The IB Store used to our advantage in the RP. There's this item effect you can create in the admin control panel after enabling the IB Store Mod called "The Mystery Box". This will randomly grant you an item from the entire store (depending on its price range). Thus, the more a rper posts in the entire board, the easier they can purchase a "mystery box". Each item you create in the IB Store can pertain to a member's action in the game itself (they can even buy kills, protection - basically anything able to grant them some sort of performance). The mystery box will be cheap enough that they can buy a whole bunch and the strategy is: how much will they use in one thread? How much money are they willing to save to get a better mystery box (would be nice if we have expensive boxes have better effects - this helps the rper to think critically on which box will help them most)? But the game will be fun even with just one mystery box. If they use too many item-actions in one thread, and they have nothing left in their account's inventory they will rely on luck to survive it out (gm's job will be a lot easier this way too). Completing that horror edge to the system lol. A strategy-horror RP with the help of just a little Jcink knowledge. With the IB Store, they can buy vehicles, weapons , protection, etc (just IC reason on what to use in a struggle). Mostly it's the mystery boxes that'll be most important. No stats or dice rolls will be needed. What do you think of this?
Normally I'm really wary of stores and stats and points systems, but I like the idea of trying to integrate the IB Store for this type of RPG. I had never even thought of using it for anything (it's one of those features I just never played around with because I thought it would never come in handy for the type of games I run), but that's a pretty interesting thought! I have to wonder if people would really get into using it and what the best way to implement it would be, but that's a pretty cool option for adding a little more spice.
It wouldn't hurt to try. It would be innovative and different. Asked a couple people and they said they'd join in this. Especially with the idea having mini-profiles used for char profiles.
I think a store would be a pretty great addition to a survival-type game! How would one go about earning points/currency? I've never actually been on a forum that used a store before.
Normally earning points come from simply posting and creating topics, and it comes to you automatically (you can see it right under your avatar in posts). If there are events and whatnot, the Admin can manually grant you points like a reward. The more I think about this, the more I'm loving this. What do you all think?
