Pathfinder/D&D/RTD Interest Thread

Discussion in 'Role Playing' started by Bigkahuna, Jul 19, 2013.

  1. Bigkahuna

    Bigkahuna Big Damn Hero

    NOTE: This is not a recruitment thread for an individual RP. This is a discussion for me gauge the community's interest in different forms of role-playing "games" (they are games, aren't they?).

    For a couple of years, me and a small community of people have set up role-playing games on various forums. These weren't your typical (for this forum) back-and-forth, give-and-take discussions where each player writes himself into a larger, novel-like dialogue. These were more like actual games.

    The games we created were in different styles and used different rulebooks, but they shared a few things in common:

    • A GM, or Gamemaster (also known as DM [Dungeonmaster]). This person would create and oversee the game. They would not take part in the game. Thus, they would be an impersonal observer.
    • The players. Each player would have their own character sheet, with name, description, background, inventory, psionic abilities/etc. filled in or assigned by the GM depending on the game.
    • The dice. Each game would use a different set of dice, whether d6, d8, d10, d12, or d20. The outcome of the dice rolls would affect the outcome of actions players made.
    The way these games generally work is as follows:
    1. The GM crafts the game. Mechanics, World-Building, Gameplay, Skills and Abilities, Hitpoints, etc. As much or as little as he is willing to do. All that is really "needed" is an initial story framework and rules for dice rolling.
    2. The players join, filling out the applications provided by the GM. There is usually a player cap.
    3. GAME START. The GM makes the first post, detailing where our players enter the story.
    4. The players then take action, as in an RP. The difference is that this is the GM's story. Players can still RP, of course. In fact they're expected to role-play between themselves and the NPCs, who are given voices by the GM. However, any major actions they take as well as changes of scenery (instead of describing their own location, the GM would do so) would be written by the GM.
    5. The GM responds to the players' actions. If they are in combat, he rolls the dice for the outcomes of their attacks. If they are talking to NPCs, he responds. If the player wants to look around, he details what they player sees.
    The GM has all of the information. It is essentially the GM's story; but, it is an interactive story. The story is shaped by the decisions of the players. The main difference is that there is no need for the players to govern themselves. The problem of "god-modding" is gone. If something isn't possible, the GM tells them so (or let's them fail miserably). A problem I often see in role-playing is that a player doesn't want their character to die, or has to "make" their character fail at something to make the story more realistic. With these games, you don't have to; you have an impartial Master of the Game.
    ========================================================================
    For an example of an RTD (roll-to-dodge) game, see this forum. Bay12 is generally seen as the creator of the game. Note that this type of game is usually low player input, low GM output.

    D&D is your typical table-top "Chaotic Good Elvish Sorcerer" game. Pathfinder D&D is simply a certain rulebook for D&D. You can see the rulebook here. See below for part of my character sheet from a Pathfinder game I've played in. The GM of that game was more into role-playing, and let his players briefly take control of NPCs for the sake of more in-depth dialogue if they wished. It really depends on the GM.


    Tsadok
    XP 320 / 1,300[/b]
    Hannoth Alchemist 1
    Chaotic Neutral Medium Humanoid
    Male aged ?
    Init +1; Senses Perception +7

    DEFENSE

    AC 15, Touch 12, Flat-footed 11
    HP 9 (1 HD, 1d8+1)
    Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +3

    OFFENSE

    Speed 30 ft (Reduced to 20 ft by Medium Load)
    Melee warhammer +0 (1d8+0, B,X3), Sickle +0 (1d6+0, P)
    Ranged Blowgun +1 (1d2, P, 20 ft), Bombs +1 (1d6+3, Fire, 20 ft., Splash-5ft-minimum dmg)
    Special Abilities Alchemy, (2 Extracts per day)
    Bomb (Su, 4 per day) CL(1d6) + IntMod; Splash, 5ft, Minimum damage, Reflex Save, half damage, DC = (10 + 1/2 CL + IntMod)
    Mutagen (1 Active)
    Relentless +2 Racial bonus to CMB when Bull Rushing or Overrunning an opponent.
    Frenzy +2 Con, +2 Str, -2 AC for one minute when damaged. 1/day
    Stonecunning +2 Perception to notice unusual stonework within 10 feet.
    Alchemist Formulae Known (2 per day)
    1st- Disguise Self, Enlarge Person, Reduce Person, True Strike
    Current Alchemical Preparations Mutagen of Dexterity, Extract of Reduce Person, Extract of True Strike, (4) Bomb Catalysts

    STATISTICS

    Str 10, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 12
    Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 11(+4 When resisiting Bull Rush or Trip on solid ground)
    Feats Intimidating Prowess, Brew Potion, Throw Anything, Catch Off-Guard
    Skills Appraise +6, Craft (Alchemy) +7, Craft (Traps) +7, Disable Device +5, Heal +7, Knowledge (Nature) +7, Perception +7, Survival +7
    Languages Common, Hannoth, (+3 more)
    Gear Leather Armor, Light Steel Shield, Warhammer, Sickle, Blowgun, 200 Blow Darts (100 tipped in Blue Whinnis), Lantern(Hooded), Bedroll, Backpack, Gallon of Ale, Alchemist's Kit, Money (47 lbs, Medium Load, -3 Check Penalty applied to Str and Dex based checks)
    Money 55g, 7s (1 lb)

    Most of the games I have played in have been "pseudo-D&D." It keeps some of the trappings, but completely removes most of the stats. We kept the HP stat and either removed the rest or added only a few (Strength, Defense, Intelligence, etc). Basically, the GM crafted the entire game. We kept things simple, and then added interesting facets such as magic systems or psionic abilities. The strength of the game was in the quality of the writing and the potential for player creativity.

    My favorite game that I've played in (excerpt below) kept only two stats: HP, and SP (soul-power; for 'magic' purposes, and only after the player's urged him). Abilities and powers were handled on an entirely abstract level, and left players complete freedom to improvise strategies.

    In this particular game, unfortunately, turned out to be an example of low player input and HIGH GM output, since there was so much freedom that most of the players were completely lost on what to do (none of them were role-players, either). ((Guess which player I am in the excerpt.))


    Player A:
    "Is it like this every time?"

    Player B:
    "You lot are bad luck or something..."

    Player C:
    Look over to Mark for a second, "You knew this was going to be a war didn't you?"


    Mark and Allene don't seem convinced, much to your frustration. As the two split, one charging towards the mage and the other preparing her rifle, you sigh and pull out a bottle of alcohol, beginning to formulate a plan, even as you see Netiatono's attack repulsed, his cloak pierced by several dozen black crystal spears, pinning him to the ground as Tiven, Alchione, and Matilbeth move to cover him. Looks like he isn't going to be much of a help for the next minute or so.

    Player C:
    Throw the bottle of alcohol at the Dark Mage, and use a fire scroll once/if some of the alcohol splashes onto the sphere of inky goo.


    Unplugging your alcohol bottle, you sigh a mental farewell at the drink, before you heft it with all your strength and fling it-

    1

    But as you launch the bottle through the air, to your dismay, a lance of black glass shatters the relatively weaker glass of the alcohol bottle. The contents splash to the ground, your efforts at providing a stronger incendiary source wasted- not to mention the drinking opportunities that it provided too. You mutter a small curse.

    Doesn't stop you from using your fire scroll though.

    18

    As a wave of ink rushes through the ground, shredding the grass and sand in an attempt to reach you, you pull out the short-range fire spell and incant it-

    An explosion of fire emerges before you, shattering the wave before you into glass- and as you watch, the fire spreads, passed on by the dry grass, until the entire field is smouldering. Tendrils around you recede as their anchoring points are covered by fire, and with no place to put themselves back down the ink recedes back to its master's sphere of influence.

    You think you just bought a bit of time for your friends- and to great effect as well, as you see Mark taking advantage of the opening to charge forward and begin laying waste to the inky roots.

    Player B:
    Fight my way to the base of the mage's tendrils, and attempt to cripple them with my hammer. Ensure I don't try this at the same time Wesfreak makes his attack (assuming he does).


    13
    You charge forth under cover thanks to James's action, leaping through fire around you. You're used to hot situations, so to speak- you've been in enough forges, after all.

    With your hammer you begin smashing anchoring tendrils, providing just enough of a distraction so that Jonathan is not intercepted by the tendrils lancing after him. It seems that, despite the many capabilities this mage possesses, like any mortal, multitasking in combat is a difficult proposition to carry out.

    As you continue to destroy the mage's anchorings, Oranen emerges at your side, slashing away at the tendrils with his prism sword. Together, you provide a great nuisance for the mage, whose attempts at stabbing you from above all fail.

    It's something of a surprise, then, when the mage is blasted out of his ink shield above you.

    Player D:
    Pick up two rocks and inscribe Symbols on them to be used for Teleportalization. The symbols will be in the form of smiley faces: [ e.g. =) ] unless another is specifically needed.

    Player A
    Cover Jonathan from any lunging tendrils, if he seems safe enough without my covering fire attack fire on the mage directly.


    As Jonathan reaches down, twisting aside from rows of spiking tendrils trying to core out his guts-

    "Allene! Cover me!"

    You see him reach down to grab some rocks from the ground and begin applying the dagger end of his cryspistol to them. You're wondering what he's up to, but you really don't have the time to consider.

    The rules of sniping are to lock onto a target. Load, fire- and be precise. Do not waver in your focus, for you have only a straight line as a vector towards your target. Know all aspects of your scenario. So many rules go through your head- entrenchment, concealment, moving around to avoid detection-

    You're breaking so many rules by just shooting from the hip you don't even know what your old instructors would say. Then again, you were never much for those rules in the first place.

    Six Bullet Bolts, loaded with compression-detonation crystal fuel rods in the core, lined on the outside with energy conducting crystal fibers to avoid premature detonation, forged from a metal-crystal alloy designed for maximum shrapnel damage, go into your rifle's chambers.

    BANG BANG BANG

    1+2
    2+2
    1+2


    Your first three shots are fired off, and you recognize why your instructors stressed the issue of preparation and readiness. Having sacrificed precision, your shots hit around Jonathan in a circle, creating a central core of light around him, nearly blinding him- and you think you see shrapnel from the detonated projectiles hit him in the hand and left shoulder. He leaps back with something of a howling- and abruptly vanishes from inside the circle of light. He reappears atop a hill and fires off a few shots- before quickly vanishing again. You're not sure what it is he's doing, but it seems he's mobile enough not to need your coverage for now.

    You notice that the black inky tendrils that have penetrated into the area of impact have all been transformed into immovable crystal. With that in mind, you decide-

    It's probably a better idea to aim for the root.

    BANG BANG BANG

    6+2
    20+2 OVERLIMIT CRITICAL
    17+2


    Your first shot, heading for that seething mass of black fluid, is easily blocked by a tendril of shadow, a solidly clawed arm forming around the projectile, swatting it out of the air almost contemptuously, as you hear a whisper seemingly from above and behind and besides you-

    "You'll have to do better than th- GAAAAAAH!"

    Your second bullet shuts him up.

    Entering Battletrance​


    As a solid wave, a tsunami of gnashing teeth and raging blades, crystalline edges in pure black color everywhere rises around you, seeking to shred your form and end your existence-

    You execute a perfect backflip over the mass of crystal, and fire off a shot as you twist in midair, putting a peculiar whirl on your rifle's barrel through your acrobatic movements-

    And as another clawed hand emerges from the spherical defense, you find that your shot hits true, the torsion forces drilling through ink and crystal without resistance, piercing through the shield, creating a large hole by sheer dint of the aerodynamic vortex following your projectile's trail.

    You spin to the ground, contemptuously severing the black ink you had just flipped over with a slash of your knives, causing a veritable wall of black glass to fall to the ground and shatter, even as with your other hand you shoot off another bullet.

    The last projectile of yours flies true, entering, almost sucked in by the spinning air, following through the passageway you made with your previous assault-

    The mage flies out from the other side, his head a gored mass after being impacted by your last bolt, hood shorn to bits and mask shattered to pieces. Black spirals of blood stream out from a shattered head as he is pushed out of his shield, bare tendrils of black material retaining an attachment to the sphere of ink. You think you see Steven pursuing him, somehow getting a grip on the air itself to pierce through the liquid sphere and strike the enemy.

    Somehow, the guy managed to get ahold of Jonathan during the time, and your attack was apparently enough to prevent your new friend from getting skewered. You breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that the battle is over, as Mark and James look in your direction quizzically-

    "Not enough, little girl, not enough!"

    13

    As you reflexively duck to avoid a wave of razor-sharp black crystal needles, which soar above your head, you find it difficult to react.

    He's still alive.

    He's STILL ALIVE!

    YOU TOOK HIS HEAD OFF! You hit him in the brain, shattered his skull, and there's nothing left of it but an upper jaw and a lower one-

    HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE?!?

    Player C:
    Turn back towards the Dark Mage and place my hands on the ground, writing some runes of slowing and using them to slow the Dark Mage, and possibly to slow Player E as he falls back to the ground.

    Player D:
    If Player E wants to utilize his running jump, use Accel Control to accelerate his speed. Use Accel Control to slow his speed after he makes it.

    Player E:
    If I see a moment of opportunity where the shield is down, make a running jump at the black mage, slicing through him with my sword as I fly passed. If there is no opportunity where his shield is down, then help Player B cut by cutting through the tentacles that support him.


    Of everyone moving to attack the enemy, only you find yourself in a place to take advantage of Allene's attack. The enemy's gate is down, so to speak- and you leap into the air.

    You feel around you the air solidifying and nod at James, recognizing his usage of Aeromantic Slowing- the tendrils move too slowly to block you, and by pushing up against the relatively solid air you actually manage to climb up, with the impetus of your jump, all the way above the black ink sphere.

    12

    You leap, aiming for the cloaked mage, with a strike designed to bisect both his sphere of ink and his torso. You slash the mass of ink open, the two crystalline halves falling open around you, as you charge through and pursue the mage, recognizing that he was pushed out of his defense by Allene. As the entire structure of ink begins to regenerate, the mage himself is suspended before you-

    He blocks your prism sword with a solid, black crystal edge of his own, sprouting directly from his fingertips-

    His blade breaks into flexible splinters and proceeds to wrap itself around your prism sword, seeking to divest you of your weapon-

    19

    You activate the instant extension function of your blade instead, and as three more feet of solid killing light emerge out of its tip the enemy mage recedes back too late to respond-

    And he finds his arm shattered, a blade piercing through his shoulder, bone shredded and cored around your blade now sheathed by your enemy's flesh. With a magnificent heave, you pull out your blade with a sweeping motion, sending splatters of ink everywhere, as Oranen from below watches in awe.

    You land on the ground beneath the enemy- surely he is slain from sheer bloodloss by now?- as you anticipate Oranen shooting a blast of fire to finish off the mage once and for all.

    Instead, you see Oranen somehow trapped inside an ink prison by the mage, while Jonathan is sprawled besides you. Retracting your heavier blade into its compacted form, you heft it in preparation for another onslaught as-

    What is that mage DOING!?

    Player D:
    NEW TECHNIQUE: BOB-AND-WEAVE SHOOTING​

    Keep one of my tele-symbols in my hand, and throw the other one in a random direction in a 10-foot radius from my target. Use the technique Teleportalization. Immediately shoot my target with my Cryspistol, pick up the tele-symbol, and repeat.


    Use the technique Bob & Weave Shooting to attack the mage, refraining from firing while Wesfreak is doing his running jump.

    Allene wasn't careful enough then, and the damage from her shots afflicted you even as it provided that cover you needed. You find yourself crippled in the left hand and shoulder, hard crystal pieces refusing to break or sublimate, embedded into the cracks between your bones. Extricating them will be a pain, and probably not possible without some sort of magic, you surmise.

    You leap through the nothingness again, avoiding a bullet as you follow the trajectory of your stone instantly, moving between two points in space. Without the ability to scoop up your Teleportal Stone using your non-shooting hand, you can only kick it as far as it can go, lest you drop your gun in the process.

    8

    As you kick your stone as far from you as you can, you launch another volley of shots with your good hand, dodging lashing tendrils that consistently try to bisect you. Thankfully, it hasn't happened yet- though you also find that your attacks are making little more effect than as a distraction, the small bullets easily blocked by the enemy's shield.

    This can't keep happening!

    As you kick your stone once more through the air, preparing to follow it, Steven yells at you-

    "Accel Control! Speed me up, Jonathan!"

    You pull on your control over Movement, staggering your own kick as you see Steven's attack multiply in speed-

    4

    But your stunted kick was your undoing.

    A tendril spikes through the air- towards your Teleportal Stone, moving slower than it should have- and before you can recognize what is happening, the stone's path is changed, flung vertically through the air towards the dark mage's central core.

    And so it is that, without considering, you are pulled through space to emerge elevated to the same level as your enemy and only a few feet away from the inky surface of his bubble. You barely note a clawed hand emerge from the opposite side of the sphere, blocking a bolt from Allene, as you scramble to figure out what to do in this situation-

    1

    -and as you flail for your prism sword, a tendril wraps itself around you while another one catches your falling Teleportalization Stone.

    Oh. Oh dear.

    "So it is you. I can sense the items on you. Then we will need no more of this-"

    And the tendril convulses around your stone even as you are pulled away from it. The bubble of dark ink opens to admit you inside, creating a separate partition for you, enclosing your form, as you see the mage beginning to break apart your anchoring stone-

    Steven seemingly appears out of nowhere to deal a savage strike to the enemy, granting you just enough time to make a move-

    13

    At this point, you find your prism sword.

    One slash is all you need to burst out of your crystalline prison, ink turning to glass at the touch of your blade's light. You hack your way out, leaping just quickly enough to sever the tendril holding your Teleportal Stone, allowing your item to fall to the ground. You prepare to exchange positions in order to escape from the mage's grasp-

    "John! I've got your rune stone!"

    Beneath you, you see Oranen take a break from hacking away at the liquid tentacles on the ground to catch your Teleportal Stone.

    "Wh- ORANEN!"

    But it is too late to seal your magic, and as Movement takes you-

    You find yourself sprawled on the ground as two things happen.

    One, Oranen is now trapped inside the same ink sphere as you were before, captured- and he, unlike you, can't utilize the Teleportal Stones.

    Two, the Dark Mage's head explodes. You're relieved for a moment before a dark maw of the ink-blood forms to replace a mangled head, and he laughs once again at Allene before sending a wave of crystal needles her way-

    What just happened?!?

    ------

    As Steven looks up along with Jonathan, the mage... Shreds himself.

    That's the only way they can think of to express what he does-

    Blood vessels bulge in stark darkness as the mage pulls off the remnants of his torn cloak, as a solid vortex of ink appears around him- the fluid is sucked back into his body as the vessels expand even more-

    And the mage's hands and arms explode, flesh and bone shearing to nothing but shreds under the sun as-

    As he pulls his very circulation system out of his body with his own hands, ripping skin and meat- and yet not spilling a drop of blood, in a dry maneuver. A pulsing heart emerges as the ribcage is sublimated, and as the body's bone and flesh is slowly destroyed, the ground beneath begins to smell foul and reek of unspoken things, organs' fluids mixing to create unspeakable stenches.

    The ambulatory circulatory system, having by now descended to the ground with nothing to support it, steps out of the mass of skin and bone as if shedding an old suit of clothing- and the heart, blackened, twisted, chambers flexing with muscles unrecognized, a shape not like any natural heart...

    You all recognize it with a shudder. An Inkheart.

    The Inkheart opens one crimson eye nestled in the center of its aorta, a glassy orb much like the compound eye of an insect, and looks around at the horror all around it.

    "So it is that you are more powerful than I suspected. I suppose that to interfere with us you must have some skill indeed."

    Above this pulsing mass of veins and arteries, blood vessels coalesced together into a solid form, one last ink tendril still holds Oranen above the ground, trapped in a spherical prison of solid inkblood, spikes penetrating into his flesh ready to rend him to pieces in an instant. Already, he bleeds slightly, and continually convulses in pain. It's a sad sight to watch.

    "Such skilled bodies are quite useful for us. Surrender yourselves and I shall release your friend-"

    Behind us, the bodies of fallen Raitali soldiers and slain crystal spiders begin to stir. Dead eyes open as the crimson compound eyes, and wounds drip with black fluid, a disgusting sight-

    "You see, you are outnumbered. The Reanimated are many and they do not tire or die. Surrender your fleshly forms to the transcendence of the Ink, and deliver to us your stolen artifac- GAAAH!"

    Two flaming scimitars emerge from behind the Inkheart's core, stabbing through the strange creature's shoulders, angled to bisect in an instant- as Netiatono's cloak flares behind the dark form.

    "What, did you forget that I was here? Tut tut. None should ever forget that the Mage of Many Colors is present, lest they find themselves in such a condition as you, pitiful monster!"

    The hordes of reanimated corpses halt with this new development, as Tiven walks over and points his crossbow straight at the Inkheart.

    "So, you... Thing. Inkheart. Well, we've got you in a deadlock- and you are going to tell me all about my father, Saneferu, right here." Tiven's face is scrunched up with sweat as he holds his target at swordpoint at last.

    "You know you're not in a position to bargain. When I die, so does your friend, above the ground in the ink cage of mine- and all the Reanimated will attack. You will be slain- unless you do as I command."

    "Hey, stupid little heart thing? Scimitars right besides you. Take a nice look- Scimitars of Severance. You're the one who's in the worst position here." Sanja now points her halberd, covered in the blood and juices of dead spiders, at the Inkheart. "My halberd isn't too weak on the whole penetrating thing either."

    "So it come to this? A standstill, then."

    And so it goes- everyone has a hold on someone else, and unless something happens...
    What do you do?

    I'll admit, I haven't been much of a role-player. Few of the players in "my group" were. The games suffered from lack of player effort (one-sentence actions) and excess of GM effort in comparison. With a great-sized community of role-players here, though, I think that a good balance could be found.

    A lot of genres are possible, too. In our games alone we had high fantasy, low fantasy (haha), satirical fantasy, soft sci-fi, hard sci-fi, modern thriller, survival, arena, and a sort of magic-steampunk variant.

    Again, this is just to gauge interest. I'd appreciate any feedback, ideas, or just comments in general.
     
    Sarzael likes this.
  2. Bigkahuna

    Bigkahuna Big Damn Hero

    Note that the excerpts were lifted directly from the forums, and some formatting errors occurred.

    I'd rather not directly link to the forums where we held these games, as it highlights my past relative immaturity and... developing writing skills, let's say... But if anyone wants the link, feel free to message me. Only a few of the players are active, although the Pathfinder games are still going strong (the GM started another, heavy role-playing one), there's an archive with all of the games rolls (posts) listed, and new players/GMs are always welcomed.

    NOTE: The longer excerpt I posted has almost no RP elements in it. This is because:

    1) Combat was in session.
    2) None of the players knew how to RP.

    Don't take it as a representative of the "game genre" as a whole.

    EDIT: This is a mod question. These styles of RPs are definitely more "gamey" than most; would the RP forum still be a welcome place for them?
     
  3. Catoosie

    Catoosie Heliosphere

    This area is called Off-Topic > Role Playing (no Games at the end), and for whatever reason forum games are prohibited here.
    -edit- here:
    • " Don’t make “forum game” threads. They may be fun, but this is primarily a Starbound discussion forum, and we’re trying to keep the signal-to-noise ratio down as much as possible. While we allow non-Starbound related discussion in forums such as the Offtopic Chat forum, forum games themselves tend to concentrate posts within themselves and starve the rest of the forum for content. "
    The reasoning doesn't make much sense to me but games are against the rules, and usually if someone tries to start a game someone objects. If I remember correctly..
     
  4. Bigkahuna

    Bigkahuna Big Damn Hero

    I see some RP threads in the thousands of posts, and the chat forum with more.

    These RP threads almost seem like forum games to me (in the sense that I was using games in the OP). We'll see. I'm really just gauging interest right now; I may not get any. At worst, I can link off-forums.

    EDIT: There's a forum adventure in the Literature section that has been (thus far) allowed to remain. Definitely not the same thing, but it has a level of interactivity and player 'actions' that makes it somewhat similar.
     
  5. Vizendel

    Vizendel Pangalactic Porcupine

    I want it.

    Give it, Pathfinder, DnD and the rest of the roll20 genres are awesome.
     
  6. demensia

    demensia Subatomic Cosmonaut

    I've actually done a bunch of these adapted to the play by post module that is typical of a forum, and They have almost always worked. Though I went the route of random.org and some deep mechanics based things.
    The way I had done mine was through letting the players do their own decisions and then in my posts would be what would happen etc, lemme give some examples.

    Example one is what they would post, as you can see.

    "A great writer once wrote "Nightmares exist outside of logic, and theres little fun to be had with explanations; there antithetical to the poetry of fear." Within horror stories there can be, or wont be an explanation, and there shouldn't be one. The unanswered is what stays within us for the longest times, and it is what we'll remember in the end..."

    "My name is Alex Warren. I'm the writer, and this? This is my story"


    The screech of tires, the sight of someone in the middle of the road, and then a tree right before the crash; these were the only things Alex could remember seeing before waking up within the remains of the car on the side of the road. Slowly he turned his head, feeling a slight twinge in his neck and the feeling of something cold running down the side of his face. Reaching up he wiped whatever it was to take a look at it, still not raising his head. "Blood... Great." He gave a sigh that almost made him sound annoyed that he was bleeding, though he knew it was nothing to worry about. As long as he could walk he was fine, well thats what he always said anyway.

    Slowly exiting the car Alex stumbled to the ground, feeling the cold asphalt against his hands as he peered up to take a look down the road; nothing but fog as far as he could see, but right now he had more important things to worry about. Waking up in the crashed car felt like walking from one nightmare to another as he stood up and made his way back over to the downed car, leaning against it with another sigh. "I had to take the trip didn't I?" He checked around for his phone but it was no use anyway since he didn't even know the area code for silent hill so how was he meant to ring for help? Though that was it wasn't it? He was close to the town, he may as well head there and get himself some help and patched up. "Its better than this place" He said, looking up to the large cliff that was beside the road, the feeling of being over shadowed something over him, or maybe it was a slight bit of fear?

    Alex knew that going out there without anything was a little stupid to say the least, and he knew he had packed for the trip, though if it was all in tact would be a different matter. Looking inside the truck he pulled his Journal and wallet from the passenger seat, thanking the gods that it was up from with him and very much in tack from the crash. "At least this would make a good story..." He chuckled to himself, trying to shrug off the pressure of the enclosing fog around him. Before moving on Alex started to check the car, everything from the glove compartment to his luggage in the back that was currently covered by the shiny black metal cover. He didn't know if he would find anything useful but the lest he could hope for was something to light his way or a radio...


    That just shows a typical post as per a typical roleplay, but the key part is when I do all the mechanics around his post as per below.

    (Luggage Search-- Circumstance Check Result: 82)

    (Damage Dealt from Car Crash: 33)

    The search of your luggage would not prove futile, quite successful in fact. You are lucky that you brought a couple things that would most certainly help. Amongst the luggage that you brought there was a Flashlight (with batteries inside of it), a small Compact Radio, a soda labeled "Health Drink", and a Knapsack. The flashlight was a good one that would light up about 30 feet in front of him, maybe 15 feet due to the intense fog. The radio only appeared to pick up static, but maybe it would pick up noise in a better place. The soda maybe in case Alex got thirsty or something. The knapsack would be useful for holding things that you find.

    Now all that is left is to head to town and maybe, if you are lucky, find someone who could patch him up. Their appears to be a sign near you, its large bold faced letters stated "Come to Porky's Pork Shack, we have the best Pork in the world, only 1 mile down the road". While the advertisement sign appeared to be slightly rusted, any place would be better than the current one. A fog that seemed to be quite unsettling slowly rolled in, and unless you want to be lost in the unending fog, Porky's Pork Shack may be your best bet.


    Mechanics:

    Items Found--

    Compact Radio, Flash Light, Knapsack, and Health Drink.

    Suggested Routes: Go to Porky's Pork Shack

    --------------------------------
    then the character sheet itself that the player created:

    Experience Points:
    0

    Character Level:
    1


    Health: 50/83 (74 + 9)
    Strength: 6
    Constitution: 9
    Will: 10
    Intelligence: 8
    Dexterity: 8
    Charisma: 6
    Agility: 2




    Mental Health: 20
    Melee Attack: 6
    Magic Power: 10
    Magic Defense: 10
    Reflexes: 8
    Accuracy: 8


    Attributes- Points Remaining: 0

    Ranged Weapon Expert: Increase Weapon Accuracy with Ranged Weapons by 20% and do an extra 10% Damage.

    Insomnia: This person has trouble sleeping, so when sleep comes it is much better for them. Every time someone with Insomnia decides to "Rest" they must make a Constitution Check with a difficulty of 75. If they fail then their sleep gives them little rest (they cannot have Nightmares though if their Insomnia keeps them up) and thus the sleep only restores a fourth of the Mental Health and Health that it would normally restore. If their Sleep is peaceful by succeeding the Constitution Check then they regain double the normal Health and an extra 50% the normal Mental Health. If their sleep is restful they get a +10 on Will Checks to resist Nightmares. (they can have them if their sleep was restful)

    Skills- Points Remaining: 2

    Scavenging: You know how to successfully search and find things. You can use this Skill to make an Intelligence Check to look around the area for hidden things you might not find so easily. The higher the result the higher chance to find a good item.
    Stealth: You know how to move quietly. You can use this Skill to make a Dexterity Check (difficulty is opponent's dexterity check) to sneak around an unsuspecting foe.

    Spells:

    Items Carried:
    Small leather wallet with a few dollars in there and photo of Lilly, Jade and Alex



    Health Drink x1

    Flashlight: Lights up 30 feet in normal area, 15ft in fogged area. 8/8 Hours Battery left.

    Items Equipped:
    Knapsack: Allows one to carry 10 Small Items.

    Compact Radio: A small radio with a clip so it can be worn on the waist. Keeping it on all the time may allow you to hear something if you are lucky. Requires 4 DD batteries to use. Has 10 hours of total battery life. 10/10 Hours left.


    Now the way this system works is that when the player responds to this post, he acts out how their player would find the item etc. and then continues his story, the gives out two or three good things, One: it's a workable system Two: it does provide enough freedom for the person to carry out his own view with a character. and Three: You can get some huge posts and still be able to work it out with the system of an RPG.

    Anyway, that's that side of things, I guess what I'm saying is it can and does work, and I myself was going to run one, after I ran excurgis (which isn't going well :wut:)

    Oh as a side note. I figured I should mention my game system ran through skills, abilities, magic, a carrying capacity, items, puzzles, resting, I basically had a custom system for everything, even criticals.
     
  7. Meow-kitty

    Meow-kitty Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    A +0 STR mod with Intimidating Prowess? Please explain.
    I've played a lot of PnP, mostly Pathfinder, and still do. If anyone wants to see any of my sheets I still have most of them.
     
  8. Bigkahuna

    Bigkahuna Big Damn Hero

    Intimidating Prowess only applies when doing Intimidate skill checks. The only reason I have it is because it's a racial bonus with the Hannoth (a custom race created by the GM). For reasons of my character's backstory, he's more of a weakling than most (an alchemist in a martial culture). Probably not the best when it comes to my continuing survival, but I thought it made for an interesting character.

    I'm still waiting for an interesting situation to use both Throw Anything and Catch Off-Guard =)

    That's mainly what we do. The roll mechanics are customized according to gameplay needs/GM preference.

    We tried to avoid having an overabundance of mechanics/rules/stats, with the exception of the Pathfinder games, which came with them ready-made. We wanted it to be convenient for player and GM alike. If you have the eye for crafting workable systems, though, it works great to have everything laid out.

    Interesting... So the player does his RP post, the GM rolls for whatever the player's actions in his RP post were, and then the player responds to the roll outcomes and continues? Huh.

    Like I said, there weren't many role-players in my group, so we did things differently. Mainly it was player actions --> GM roll --> player actions --> etc., where the rolls would carry most of the content. Obviously, with a community of role-players this would change. I'm looking to have a system similar to yours:
    1. The players would post their RP rolls with any actions embedded (using collaborations if they wanted to have an important RP conversation with another player). Any dialogue between players would not require a roll (I use the word 'roll' loosely), while dialogue between NPCs (that require story information only the GM could provide) would.
    2. The GM would respond to any players that posted NPC dialogue, roll for all their actions, and describe the outcomes.
    3. If in combat, each player in the game would detail their action. Once all actions have been received, the GM rolls.
    Your idea of letting the players RP your outcomes is interesting. You could have the GM give all the bare details, like "the goblin's sword pricked you in the side" and let the players fill the details out. I'll probably stick to the GM describing the outcome in more detail and letting the players react, though (at least when it comes to combat). An single, well-written combat scene by a GM, in my experience, can be much more effective than multiple players writing their own.
     
  9. demensia

    demensia Subatomic Cosmonaut

    In a sense, yes, it works for combat because you can group up the players involved and do multiple people at the same time, so that it isn't split up into a horrible mess. I did it this way so that a player's character isn't compromised by a Gm's perception of the character. It also allows the GM to focus on the main game structure, and all the events and situations and mapping and creatures and everything else that an rpg has. If you want I can show you some examples of how it worked with combat, I have a particular excerpt in mind. just pm me if you want to see it.

    Actually, I might have to show you a combat situation involving a group, it's actually harder to explain how group combat works than I thought.

    Now with that said, I am not 100% a fan of collaborations unless it's a one on one conversation, but that's a personal preference. I did describe the outcomes to the situations, but often I left it kind of up in the air, such as you found this and this. a player might respond with, "He rustled through the front pocket of the bag finding nothing, though he felt the cold metal casing of a flashlight, he checked the main pocket to see that the flashlight was there, it was a lucky find." It allows the world to develop around the characters as well as the characters develop around the world.

    I guess we are individually running two different systems I admire yours for it's simplicity as mine can get rather complicated when you get more than four people in a group.
     
  10. Sarzael

    Sarzael Oxygen Tank

    We should have an Perplexicon (See bay12) like game here ourselves.
     
  11. Bigkahuna

    Bigkahuna Big Damn Hero

    I meant collaborations as one-on-one conversations. I normally wouldn't use it, but it's apparently a fairly standard RP staple, and it wouldn't hurt too much to use it for that one purpose.

    I think that the GM rolling/describing the outcome and then the player also describing the outcome is kind of redundant. Like you said, it would prevent the player's character from being interpreted differently by the GM, but I would argue that it wouldn't be a problem if the character had thoroughly fleshed out their character through RP, giving the GM a sense of how the character acts. I just think that a single GM roll can best keep track of various story threads/combat situations.

    I actually ran one of those on another forum! It pretty much only works when players are very active. Both the actions and the rolls need to be short and sweet. It's hard to come up with all the words/word usage as well =P
     
  12. Sarzael

    Sarzael Oxygen Tank

    You should ask the dude in Bay12 who made a program for Perplexicon to give it to you. It may be helpful. Also, i think that one turn per day is enough. Gives people time to think about their next move without having them become impatient. You can do it faster if everyone replies soon though.

    And the words usage... The perplexicon download folder is really useful for that. Even i could understand many things.

    Anyways, you were on the original game?
     
  13. Bigkahuna

    Bigkahuna Big Damn Hero

    Is there really enough activity on here for one turn a day? I'm not sure yet. Still waiting for more people to express interest/a mod to shut us down =P And no, I wasn't in the original game; I mostly lurked on the forum, picking ideas up and just reading some of the more entertaining games. I started a Perplexicon variant on a different forum. What does the program do?
     
  14. Sarzael

    Sarzael Oxygen Tank

    I dont really know, but Piecewise said he found it very useful. Also, could you pm me a link to those forums? May join, or if you need help, i could help you admin the game.
    And are the word shuffle?
     
  15. Bigkahuna

    Bigkahuna Big Damn Hero

    Yeah, I shuffled all of the words. It was before the original game ended, so I just came up with a list of elements/armor/weapons/etc. and set them to random words in obscure languages.

    I can send you a link, but the game is on indefinite hiatus. There's really not enough activity on the site to justify it. The only games that are running consistently right now are the two Pathfinder games.
     
  16. Sarzael

    Sarzael Oxygen Tank

    Well, maybe we can start one here. I think that there may be enough people as to do the Deathmatch (Original Arena, Phase 1) and we may expand if we see more people wants to join.
     
  17. Im veyr suprised someone is actualy preposing pathfinder OTHER then me....if anyone noticed the games I did .... im up for playing, if imnot the DM

    I mainly use a pdf character sheet that I send over Email and I own alot of the rule books
     
  18. sorry for the double.

    but I would I like to point out the other pathfinder threads that have been made

    pathfinder: Carrion crown:
    OOC: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/pathfinder-carrion-crown.21442/
    rp: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/pathfinder-carrion-crown.23453/

    PAthfinder: king maker( never started...I lost my will to do it )
    OOC:http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/pathfinder-king-maker.20372/

    Pathfinder: Second darkness:( died also.)
    OOC:cant find it

    and then we have the pathfinder Lore compendium wich I made and its still being worked on.

    http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/pathfinder-the-lore-compendium.19454/

    go there if you need any IC information.
     
  19. Bigkahuna

    Bigkahuna Big Damn Hero

    Thanks for your helpful information! I doubt I'll be using the Pathfinder system, though. I like it's depth of world-building and supplies of character ideas/classes/archetypes/etc., but the systems it uses are too restrictive, in my opinion. I prefer a more loose, free-form approach tailored to the situation. Less checking stats and beating a DC, more creative thinking and facing consequences. Plus, I don't think I'm serious enough about RPing to co-ordinate online meet-ups and such (though I respect the dedication of those who do).

    It's great to see that games like this have been allowed, and that there is some interest in them. I'd appreciate if you could direct some of the members of your Pathfinder game(s) to this thread! More thoughts and ideas would definitely be welcomed.
     
  20. King Toad

    King Toad Cosmic Narwhal

    I've already been watching this thread since the day you posted it.
     
    Alaizia Darkstar likes this.

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