RP Game Proposal

**GestaltAlteration** · 01-25-2015 01:56 AM

Seems the last post in this section dates back to July 2013. Ouch! RP games are fun. They are life. Who can even imagine a world without RP games?!

Ahem. So I was recently going down nostalgia road from Dreamviews' past and thought heck, I've got the time. Why not do it again? The "it" here is referring to a game hosted by me that probably involves players killing each other in fun ways. Specifically one that uses the famous "Siиdяed method" described thusly:

Originally Posted by Siиdяed

THE INPUT-OUTPUT STORY
What will happen here is usually that the players will create characters for a universe the game thread creator writes and sets out. The game thread creator then writes a 'chapter' of narrative, involving the player characters. The players then respond by PM with what they would like their characters to try and do. This will then be taken into account in the next 'chapter' written out by the game thread creator.
Reduces creativity in writing for the players, but allows for a more challenging and realistic sense of gameplay, as players must think their way out of situations from their character's perspective.

Examples can be found in the RP Games Archive such as Anti-Heroes (the original, all hail!), Whisky Nocturne, my very own Helm and Dominion, and likely others.

Since this section is so dead, and the people from its active days are unlikely to be around, I made this post to see if there's any interest out there in participating in a game of my machinations. There's no solid concept yet, though the few things I have in mind and corrections from past games will be listed below. Suggestions are always welcome.

The setting will likely be a modern setting, and like my past two games involving either a free-for-all or a red vs. blue scenario. In some way the players will be out to kill each other, because having you all fight against "NPCs" is rather boring.
Like in Dominion there will probably be some equipment/exp/stat system.
The chapters will be significantly shorter. In the past I went on for about 5,000 words per chapter, and it took me a long time to do. This is a motivation killer and makes participants wait longer.
Whatever the scenario, it will be very easy to die. This is to shorten the overall length of the roleplay so that hopefully we can actually come to a conclusion of the game.
Bureaucratic organization gets me hard. Sometimes I overuse bullet points or formatting. (I didn't plagarize this from Siиdяed).

Yeah so you all can just post whatever. Even saying "hi" is cool. We're in an abandoned sub-forum, even if we party no one will notice!

**StaySharp** · 01-25-2015 04:10 AM

I just randomly saw this thread on the side of the main page of DV, otherwise I'm sure I would've missed it. I guess I might try participating once, just for the heck of it. A few more details or stuff to imagine how that'd go wouldn't hurt though.

**Suvid** · 01-25-2015 05:30 AM

Hmm...

...

YES!!!

... Uhm... I mean... I'm glad this section is being revived n_n

I don't know how this game works, but count with me.

**GestaltAlteration** · 01-25-2015 07:08 AM

Heya, thanks for the replies.

I'll try to explain how these kind of games work in my own words. We start with one forum thread that outlines the scenario, gives rules as to what your characters may or may not do, and so on. Most importantly it has the character sheet that people fill out and post. After the game is underway this thread is mostly for out of character type discussion, clarity on rules, or senseless banter.

A second thread is then made (these being the ones I linked on my original post) where the game creator, me in this case, actually writes your characters actions in a narrative. To the untrained eye this may seem like just one person writing a story, when it actuality the character's actions are entirely dictated by private messages sent by the creators of the characters. The "playing" portion of these kinds of games basically consist of you, the character creator, sending in your desired actions for the upcoming chapter.

Example: Your character is Chad. Chad has a big assault rifle but is a pacifist by nature. Still, he needs to kill other players to gain his freedrom. In the first chapter Chad comes upon a four-way intersection, and he knows to the south is a potentially helpless other player, but to the north is fat loot, and straight ahead a big unknown. It is also possible Chad is being stalked by a crazy person with a knife.

You, the creator of that character, must take all the information you can gather and try to make the best decision possible for the betterment of your character. Your actions that you send in may look something like "Hide for a while to see if the crazy fiend is following me, and if not sneak to the north for the fat loot." Just as plausible would be "go to the south guns blazing." Then, in chapter two, your character does just that--and you get to see the result of your action (this is especially interesting when your action is in some way contrary to another player's, and is a sure fire way to see some juicy conflict). Also interesting when alliances form as the participants then must collaborate together about their next actions.

Other such considerations are what items you have on hand and whether your character can reasonable do what you ask given his or her health or skill.

That is the heart of these kinds of games. Sometimes they're spiced up with level systems or skill point distribution so you can strengthen certain aspects of your character as you go along. There's also sometimes money/shops where you can buy better equipment. Depends on the scenario, really.

So it's not a traditional roleplay in the sense of being in a chatroom and us each talking in-character. But it was interesting enough for us in older time to keep on doing it until we collapsed.