Reference Interest Measurement Thread

I've followed through on my Far Cry idea. Go take a look!

 

That one looks great, Raynar. On holiday in the US, but once I return I will send in a CS

 

I'm in the development process of a game set far into the future of the Star Wars universe. Far enough that most important trilogy names will have all but disappeared, but not so far that major evolution or extinction will have occurred. It's based around an new Empire and most likely the Imperial family. More information if/as this idea progresses.

 

SirakRomar thank you for pointing me to this thread. Wish I had seen it before posting my game, which you can see here. I haven't had anyone express any interest and I'm a bit disheartened. I have asked for it to be locked.

I would like to know how I failed in this endeavor. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

While your opening post is pretty well done and there is a certain amount of intrigue about a derelict ship, I don't particularly like the Star Wars horror genre. There have been a few games that centered around small groups going to certain doom over the years and I've only ever played one, mostly because of who the GM was.

Other people might have been turned off by the fact that this is your first game. I know that you have to start somewhere, but openly admitting that you are untested might be a problem for some.

Don't be discouraged, though, because plenty of perfectly good games fail only because everyone else is already too busy to get involved. Keep thinking of new ideas if you really want to GM.

 

Hey splinter, well first let me say that these boards are still in the stage of recovery from our MOVE and right now games have an extra hard time coming out. Many players still slumber or get settled it looks, some countires have holidays and the same time lots of games come out. So your game really came to a buyers market. But nevertheless, I have an idea what might have been wrong with it.

Actually I think it is much to similiar to the book. That might be the problem. Zombies are very popzular around here and a lot people hoped for a Zombie game for a long time, but truth to be told . . . the intro reads a bit like we would indeed "replay" Death Troopers. And that is kinda . . . unmotivating. It is too predicatble and a bit to little spin to the story we all know. It might have been better to turn the Zs loose on a planet, the whole galaxy or something like that.

 

In addition to Nick and Sirak's remarks: dice, generally, can also be really off-putting, especially when you're putting it to the players to roll them. Barring something where die rolls are part of the aesthetic appeal (DnD, mostly) people here don't like relinquishing that much control over their characters' fates, which is why it's important to make it look like they'll be in control and then take it away in the first update which is why you should try and ease people into it, or just vaguely refer to "a system" that you run in the background. By the time you were apparently willing to concede the dice point, well, you essentially turned around immediately and requested a lock.

And I can't reiterate Nick's last point enough - keep trying, everyone has a few flops (Or in my case, a lot of flops) but eventually something hits the wall and sticks.

 

I should know...almost the exact same in the 'dice kill the game' thing with my first game...and then I got Forgotten Ones, which I'm still getting CSes for occasionally. So certainly don't give up, everyone has a bad egg, but eventually you can get something great.

 

Thank you all for the support and the critiques. I had a feeling the dice system wasn't going to go over well, but... well, live and learn.

I can also see how players would mistakenly believe we would be just be replaying the book. I can assure you my game was vastly different. It was more Resident Evil-ish, with bio-weapon monsters and an insane Commander hell bent on destroying the ship, while the Doctor in charge of the project tried to stop him and release his life's work into the galaxy.
I'll need to be careful of accidentally implying unoriginality in the future.

I think I'll try and work up an old fashion Zombie game in "The Walking Dead" style.

Thank you guys again

 

So I have come up with the premise of a Zombie Game whose title, for now at least, is "Deadlands" I have a Co-GM and the start of a good story worked out, but I wanted to ask: Who would prefer a structured story and who would prefer a sandbox type game?
And is there still an interest in a Zombie game in the style of "The Walking Dead"?

Edit: Just realized that Deadlands is the name of an actual RPG and don't want it to be confused. For now, the game will be reffered to as "That Untitled Zombie Game that Splinter is Attempting"

 

I think that there is a certain amount of sensibility to a structured game with this genre. With a sandbox game, you run the risk of having several small groups who have no reason to intermingle. On the other hand, if you force your players to stay together or perish, you get this whole dynamic where resentment and hatred, as well as friendship and love, could flow. Plus, writing for one or two large groups would be much easier than five two person groups, because you can let them drive the game, and jump in merely to direct them towards disaster.

 

My feeling is mix the two styles a bit. Make it a game with a lot of freedom for players, but with certain plot incentives. Like the group in TWD always has something to work for like finding shelter, contacting other groups, survive an especially bad wave of Zombies and so on . . .

 

I've been wanting to play in a good zombie game for a while. I'm just in one of those creative moods where I want to play someone from an ordinary, everyday walk of life and put them in an extraordinary situation to see how they evolve (see: my Far Cry game). So a zombie game sounds pretty enticing if it's done well.

 

Actually it should be mentioned that these games were very, very sucessful around here, Darker Tides, SotS, so I really think the more "every-day" game is a niche unused right now.

 

Definitely still accepting! Would love to get enough players to get her off the ground, it's a game I'm excited to run if I get at least a few gamers.

 

Sorry for the double post, just feel like throwing an idea out here. Seeing as how, barring any unforeseen spike in interest, I'll likely be requesting a lock for Far Cry tomorrow, much as I hate to do it (may revisit it further on down the line).

But I'm beginning to draw up some ideas for a new untitled game that just popped into my head a few minutes ago and now my brain is all aflutter with ideas and such. Right now it's an Old Western (saloons, pianos, horses, duels, etc.) with elements from a bunch of other genres mixed in. Takes place in a town notorious for peculiar goings-on. And by peculiar, I'm talking vampire encounters, werewolf sightings, robots from the future, dead folk rising from their graves... enough to make any old sheriff a little rough around the edges.

Players can be whatever they want within the confines of the time period. A legendary gunslinger, a traveling salesman of fine herbs and spices, a doctor, a harlot, a writer dedicated to chronicling the many rumors surrounding this little town on the outskirts of nowhere... their stories would of course intertwine. I envision it as a sort of episodic game, like a "monster of the week" television show with an overarching plot tying everything together.

Any interest in something like that? I'd like to get an idea, that way I don't launch something that's practically DOA the way I did Far Cry.

 

I kept on meaning to get a CS in for that, but nothing I wrote was really fun for me.

A western would be fun - I had one running on the temp boards, and it even had some odd supernatural stuff beneath the surface, but I just lost interest in writing generic western dialogue. I kept on meaning for the crazy stuff to happen but then the boards here started and yeah...that said, I'd play a western of any sort.

I kind of want to do a Viking game here on the boards, but I worry Heroes would suffer. If folks would play, it'd be fun to write.

 

The whole Supernatural-investigator thing sounds great and I think we had two or three games in that line who all never got up despite good echo. So i think we are all hungry for a bit X-fily stuff

Yet, I must confess Western is so totally not my genre it will probably be too hard for me to even come up with a possibility of what to play . . .

 

Well it's not just a Western, so if you didn't feel like you could come up with a character conformed to that world, you could always play someone a little different. For example, a femme fatale Vampire Hunter from the future sent back in time to stop the birth of a child who would grow up to become a mad scientist and construct a device that wiped out most of humanity? I'm sure the old West isn't a setting she'd be used to either.

 

Well, despite me finding a way into the game or not, I am rather sure you will have players for this! I´ll have a look anyway, having been a great fan of Farcry.

BTW, I think it would be worth it to read Fin´s excellent article on advertising games somewhere around here in RPR (anybody know where?), which I still consider the bible on the creation of pre-game-buzz.