Community pen and paper RPG project?

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Blorx
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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by Blorx » Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:01 pm

underthedeep wrote: anyways even more back on topic. lets talk about the P&P RPG
Yeah, all I've gotten out of it so far is that people want:

- Steampunk elements
- Magic

And no one has put an opinion forth on the ruleset just yet...or humor...or an actual place for the story to take place in...or a world it takes place in...

Honestly, I would like this to happen:

Setting - Dystopian steampunk society set in the days of the Industrial Revolution. The world has mostly been laid to waste by a combination of (insert name here) disease and waging war upon others for resources. The only people that have lived through it all relatively unharmed are the Utopian societies who made their way to the sky through steam technology and now live in cities in the clouds, above all of the ruin. The reason they have survived without the disease reaching them for so long is that they are high enough up that the air is too cold for the disease to survive.

With this setting, various stories could cover various societies.

Ruleset - Normally, I would have opposed, but I say we go make our own. Paranoia has inspired me to start fresh with a system that's tailored to the game.

Humor (if any) - Obviously, it would mostly be decided as we go along, but I vote for a lot of dark or ironic humor, as opposed to tongue-in-cheek. It would fit the dystopian society much better.

Location - Depends on where the story is set (see setting for more details).

World - The setting covers the basics.

Races - Humans in the Dystopian land-based societies, humans in the Utopian sky-based societies, bird people in the Utopian sky-based societies (?), rat people in the Dystopian land-based societies.

That's all I've got for now. Just some opinions. I'd like to hear other peoples' opinions, as well.

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Untadaike
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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by Untadaike » Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:56 pm

I like the races and everything, including the setting, but is it really necessary to role up our own system? Would it hurt to just use D20 or something so we can start playing?

I am not going to complain if we want to make a new ruleset, though; that would be incredibly awesome!

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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by Blorx » Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:03 pm

Well, it all depends. Personally, I think it needs a bit more depth before we can really decide.

The point is, I don't want the game being created around the ruleset. I want the ruleset being created around the game, so that essentially, actually playing it is made better due to the amount of tailoring. This also keeps it from being a reskin of previous P&Ps.

Others may disagree though, and I encourage you to disagree if you do. I don't want to run this. I wanted it to be a community project, so yeah.

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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by underthedeep » Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:26 pm

Blorx wrote:
And no one has put an opinion forth on the ruleset just yet...or humor...or an actual place for the story to take place in...or a world it takes place in...

hey man! i did :P

haha that sounds pretty cool, totally down with the dystopia of course.

the bird people sound interesting, maybe reptilian even. and i would be down for starting with D20 or even make our own (depending on how long it would take for that to get going).

a few of us should get together on IRC so we can discuss this more. i can't tonight though, i got a date with marry jane.

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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by Blorx » Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:35 pm

underthedeep wrote: hey man! i did :P
Haha, oops. I thought it was just a general setting. :oops:
underthedeep wrote:haha that sounds pretty cool, totally down with the dystopia of course.
I figured you would be. :lol:

Now just need other peoples' opinions.
underthedeep wrote:the bird people sound interesting, maybe reptilian even.
Bats? :P

I just said birds because flying cities + adaption = more lore. :D
underthedeep wrote:and i would be down for starting with D20 or even make our own (depending on how long it would take for that to get going).
Yeah, I'm just worried that with d20, 1. It'll feel sort of cut and paste and 2. The system will feel out of place with what's going on. Doesn't take much to screw up RPGs of any kind when it comes to combat feeling out of place.

However, if we do start a new system, we'll have to do some research on what it'll take. I'm not going into this blind. :lol:
underthedeep wrote:a few of us should get together on IRC so we can discuss this more. i can't tonight though, i got a date with marry jane.
Yeah, we should, maybe sometime early next week?

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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by Endoperez » Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:59 am

Blorx wrote:However, if we do start a new system, we'll have to do some research on what it'll take. I'm not going into this blind. :lol:
Before looking into what it takes to create new system, you should decide what kind of gameplay you want. If you create your own set of rules first, and THEN start changing it, you could have started from an existing ruleset any way.

Besides, since there are hundreds of rulesets already, if you decide on the kind of gameplay first, you might find that there already is a rule system that works well with the gameplay you want. Unlikely, yes, but possible...

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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by Untadaike » Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:29 pm

As far as gameplay goes, the first question that comes into my mind is: do we want a more fast-paced exciting streamlined gaming experience? Or a more immersive roleplaying experience ripe for great storytelling? I would assume that something in between would be desirable.

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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by underthedeep » Fri Apr 30, 2010 1:41 pm

Untadaike wrote:As far as gameplay goes, the first question that comes into my mind is: do we want a more fast-paced exciting streamlined gaming experience? Or a more immersive roleplaying experience ripe for great storytelling? I would assume that something in between would be desirable.
a good balance of both would be ideal.
Yeah, we should, maybe sometime early next week?
yeah man, anyone else in?
Last edited by underthedeep on Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

Post by Endoperez » Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:59 pm

Untadaike wrote:As far as gameplay goes, the first question that comes into my mind is: do we want a more fast-paced exciting streamlined gaming experience? Or a more immersive roleplaying experience ripe for great storytelling? I would assume that something in between would be desirable.
Streamlined gameplay is part of the rules, storytelling comes from the interaction of players and DM, and it's helpful if mechanics support the style. Wouldn't you always want as much of both as possible?

There are terms and theories for this, like GNS (gamist, narrativist, simulationist). The theory isn't taken well these days.

Also, here's an interesting study:
http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/g ... ayers.html

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    Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

    Post by invertin » Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:04 pm

    Hm... Just one last idea for the setting. The "disease", instead of being a disease, could be some sort of deadly magic. Maybe this world had no magic, until somebody released it accidentally or something, causing the deadly infection in the first place. Just a thought.

    As for the rules... They shouldn't be too complex. I was about to suggest a distance system, before I realized how annoying that would be to figure out each turn. Having a lot of math to do per turn isn't necessarily a bad thing, just as long as the game doesn't become tedious. A game can be slow without being tedious.

    One thing I will suggest- Magic users or mages or whatever shouldn't have more options than other classes, if mages exist in this game. Every other game with mages, other classes have one or two paths to go down, while the mage has fifty six ways to get stronger, and it just makes the mage the best class to use (except for their squishiness).

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    Blorx
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    Re: Community pen and paper RPG project?

    Post by Blorx » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:47 pm

    invertin wrote:Hm... Just one last idea for the setting. The "disease", instead of being a disease, could be some sort of deadly magic. Maybe this world had no magic, until somebody released it accidentally or something, causing the deadly infection in the first place. Just a thought.
    That would be interesting. Maybe some mysterious cult releases a deadly magical plague upon the world?
    invertin wrote:As for the rules... They shouldn't be too complex. I was about to suggest a distance system, before I realized how annoying that would be to figure out each turn. Having a lot of math to do per turn isn't necessarily a bad thing, just as long as the game doesn't become tedious. A game can be slow without being tedious.
    Yeah, I agree. Complexity often leads to tedium. However, at the same time, I, personally, don't want battles to seem arbitrary.
    invertin wrote:One thing I will suggest- Magic users or mages or whatever shouldn't have more options than other classes, if mages exist in this game. Every other game with mages, other classes have one or two paths to go down, while the mage has fifty six ways to get stronger, and it just makes the mage the best class to use (except for their squishiness).
    Or we could make them extra squishy to balance things out. :P

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