Reference The Game Group

I think I just lean on setting. Figure out what kind of game I want it to be, where I want it to take place and in what time period. Players don't necessarily have fun because of the plot the GM constructs, but the world. So if you focus on the setting and what kind of characters you want your participants to play, and come up with some compelling NPCs of your own, the plot just sort of falls into place as a result. Almost like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Start off broad, then work your way in.

 

Not so sure about that one. Mood, atmosphere and setting usually get players in the first third ... plot gets them in the final third. Certainly a plot that does not fulfill the promise of the setting can hurt a game.

Player engagement usually works through suspense and plot and twists certainly serve to keep a game engaging.

 

Well it's a good thing I didn't say plot doesn't matter!

 

Thinking about it, this whole thing is hardly seperatable. Is it?

Anyway, I think I am with Reynar here. To start a game "world-building" is the natural place. Plots change when players come into the picture anyway, don't they?

 

Well, guess the pressure I feel is about making a game that is very accessible. I feel we have not one single game people can join who haven't been around here. It is all "clubs" nowadays doing their thing. Half the games I don't even get. So I wanted to make a game anybody can join at any time.

But honestly? It probably does not work like this. What I have in mind will need a load of players to work and that is probably not gonna happen. Games just do not attract more than four or five players nowadays. So planning a game that requires ten players plus is fun, but probably it is planning for failure.

So thanks for the various perspectives and interesting views. But I think I bury the idea a little longer and see if it resurfaces at one point.

 

Late to the party, but I think that plot and atmosphere are actually two different concepts and for a game to work I think you need both. Like storylines and art design both belong to a great movie.

 

I've been told this is the right place to get feedback around here ... rough draft. Right board for kinda game?


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Fregate is one of the last secluded island retreats the world has to offer. One of the 115 Seychelle islands it is hosting 13 high luxury villas, a couple of high end restaurants and a small private harbor. Off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean it is always warm and sunny and the change of seasons is mostly non existent.

Few people can afford to come here and even fewer know about it.

In the winter of 2019 it turned out to be a perfect spot for a trap, that would bring the few temporary inhabitants there into mortal danger.

Because behind the beauty of the paradise it is a perfect place to keep a secret and also to bury one if it needs to be done.

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The Tales of an Island
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This game is a bit different. They say all thrillers are as good as the characters in it. So I think I am gonna test this theory and put some extra work into the few characters who have come to this paradise island.

So who can you play? Anyone?

No. Not at all.

The game has six roles and three of those I need to close to be able to play it. Every character will have his own journey and his own storyline.


The six are:

The Father - Rich, powerful and in many ways wicked and ruthless the character is dead at the beginning of the game but will appear only in flashbacks. A smaller but important role.

The Son - Heir to the billionaire father he has chosen the favored retreat of his Dad to think about the complicated situation he is in.

The Girl - A mysterious girl awakening at the beach with very little knowledge how she got there. She has a secret.

The Rival - A longtime rival of The Father, rich and young and ambitious he has come here to make an offer to the son who e knows for many years. Might be male or female.

The Agent - A spook and secret Agent who has a mission on the island that might reveal itself to be more than it originally seems to be. Might be male or female.

The Sailor - The guy who got the son here and who seems to have little agency in the ongoings on the island. Well ... that might be not entirely true. Might be male or female.


Each character can be chosen. Once the cast is filled I will take a month to define these characters in detail with the players and work on their backgrounds and motivations. Only then the game shall begin.

The game will last 50 Updates. But not the classical updates of a GM as they are common around here. Rarely I will post at all. I will work on combined posts with all players and GM the game as far as possible entirely through those. All players appearing in one scene will be obligated to write them as Combined Posts.

To allow other players to jump into scenes any combined should cover no more than a few minutes If not directed by me otherwise.

That being said.

The Character Sheet.

Name:
Age:
Appearance:


The biography of the characters will be for GM eyes only. We will discuss it solely over PM.


The Rules:

1. GM word is law.
2. All applicants for the above roles shall be send via PM. If a role is taken the player may choose another one.
3. As said above the game is played via Combined Posts solely done in PM with my participation and posted by the respective players.
4. OOC chatter is strictly non-spoiler. No theories or the like allowed.
5. Enjoy the game and if there are any questions, wrote me a PM.

 

Interesting idea.

I like the way you craft the intro to corral players into the way you ran games elsewhere.

Environment reminiscent of the RPF Village scenario. Tropical island, luxury, deadly secret.

 

Almost overlooked this one ... oh wow another one of your high concept games.

Truth is you can put anything up right now. You got what most GMs dream of around here ... a bunch of guys (and girls) that eat out of your hand. So you will have almost guaranteed 3-5 players for anything you post. Good for you.

That being said ... it is original, thriller and experimental concerning the GM style. Don't you think it is a bit much? May I throw you a challenging idea? Why not try to apply your method to a Star Wars game? That might attract people outside you loyal little following ... just because ... most of us know this style. I feel what you might bring to the table here you should present to the players who never tried it. If they bite, so be it ... if not ... what have you lost?

 

I got pretty stuck in my first attempt, but that was probably because I felt the way to GM those games did not actually compliment my style.

I would have to come up with a good story. My heart beats for the OT. The only idea I had so far was "Rogue Two", a game about the "many Bothans who died" for getting the second DS plans. A game about the Rebels getting the plans and the Imperials hunting them.

 

I dig the idea of having set roles/characters for a game, and then players coming on board to fill those roles. @Winged_Jedi had a similar concept in his Man Cubs game IIRC, where when a player submitted their character sheet, they also selected a color/planet/something I'm forgetting, and a predetermined destiny was given along with that choice. For example, I played a deaf character, and it just so happened that I chose the destiny that determined my character would become a famous singer. Am I remembering that right, Winged? It presented a neat challenge that sadly we never got to see through, but the idea's certainly got potential.

I also remember a game that BartSimpson-SithLord did a long time ago (long enough to where I can't tag him on the new forums). It was an original superhero game with original characters, but everyone had to pick from a list of powers that belonged to well-known comic book characters. I played a thirty-something down on her luck woman who woke up one morning with Superman's abilities. Someone else portrayed an original character who had the Incredible Hulk's powers, and so on.

So yeah, I think it's a fun concept and wouldn't mind seeing it used more often.

 

Here's something for this group to chew on. What do you all think? Should I give this ol' boy a go? Still a little bit of polishing to do, but the fundamentals are all in there.

-I_H

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Introducing...

​

It began with a search across the lands. Hostile forces are on the move. The seas have become dangerous battlefields, with imposing steel fortresses riding the waves. Your country desperately needs talented commanders to help wage the war. Will you answer the call?

Rules
"Battleship" is an experimental tactical RPG overlay of the classic Hasbro board game. It consists of two parts working together - the base/core game and the overlay used to translate this game into the RPF setting. Each will be covered below:

The Base Game
The base game operates like that of the board game, with two sides hiding a number ships on a playing grid. Once each side's navies have been placed, each side begins firing into their competitor's navies with the intent to be the first to sink each other's ships. The first side to do this wins the game.

The RPF Overlay
As the board game is meant to be played with two individuals, in person, with no roleplaying, a number of alterations are required. They are listed below.

Organization and Factions

• Each side will have a PM thread where tactics and strategy can be discussed. These discussions can be OOC or IC. All IC posts in the main forum should exercise caution not to give away any coordinates of your fleet members.
• There is no cap on the number of players in this game. The GM will divide interested players into equal sized teams. Depending on the number of players, the GM will also determine appropriately sized grids for the conflict. The standard battleship grid is 10x10 with five pieces per player.
• In order to ensure a timely and reliable flow of conflict, a chain of command will be used in each navy to ensure engagement. One player per team will be appointed by the GM as "Fleet Admiral" for their navy. This player will have the final say on the actions of their navy, including the ability to execute commands in the event of absent players. This makes fleet admirals de-facto co-GMs for this game. Players will have the opportunity in the character sheets to indicate willingness to assume this role. All fleet admirals will be at the helm of aircraft carriers (five spaces), which will serve as the flagships of their fleets.
• The remaining players will be allocated their roles and ships by the GM to ensure equal balance. These allocations will be loosely made on the basis of number of posts, forum age, and RPF engagement. These rolls are:
  • Battleship (Four Spaces) - Admirals (will always odd number)
  • Cruiser (Three Spaces) - Vice Admiral
  • Submarine (Three Spaces) - Commodore
  • Destroyer (Two Spaces) - Captain
• Players are expected to RP and attack according to the realities of their vessels (ie: submarine players will attack with torpedoes, fleet admirals with fighter planes, etc.)
• A fleet admiral can be replaced using two mechanisms. First, they can appoint their replacement if both they and their replacement agree to do so. Second, in the event of an absent fleet admiral, the admiral of the navy will assume fleet admiral status. If there are multiple admirals, all decisions will be made via majority vote. Fleet admirals can not be replaced until they've missed three turns/firing rotations. In the event that an admiral is promoted to fleet admiral status, a vote will also be held to promote a vice admiral to admiral status.
• Each team will have a month to complete their faction characteristics sheet (see sheets). Fleet admirals will be expected to post a final product. Teams that do not finish their sheets will have the GM post the most recent versions of their sheet in the private forum. The GM reserves the right to fill in any gaps in an incomplete faction sheet.

Gameplay

• All players can hail each other, IC, in thread, through a telephone-like communication system
• Messages to the other faction cannot be directed to a particular player, as you are not aware of their positions. They must first be put on a "public channel" for the whole of the enemy fleet to hear. The enemy fleet can then opt to communicate to you (and only you, as they have your channel).
• Once both sides have each other's channel, private conversations can take place between players on the opposing factions.
• Team members have each other's locations and tag each other in game immediately for private communications.
• Players can IC any NPC they prefer on their own vessels. Only their main character can issue orders or fire.
• Players can assume roughly 1940s level technology.

Combat

• Firing will be managed as follows. When the game begins, each side will have exactly one calendar week to identify and post the coordinates of where they are directing their fire. This deliberation should occur in each team's private threads. Each team is also responsible for tracking their fire and thinking strategically. All fire must be orchestrated through an IC post describing the attack coupled with an OOC portion (header or footer) clearly stating the coordinates.
• Each turn will have a "favored vessel class" which will rotate in a fixed order. Fleets will be rewarded for incorporating different ships in their fleet into the overall theater.
• An "accuracy" mechanic will be used to reward teamwork and discipline. It will function according to who is who is posting when. Confirmed shots are those shots whose coordinates are confirmed by its fleet admiral either OOC or through an IC post relaying the message to the firing player. Its details are as follows:
  • Double-Shot, 100% Accuracy (second shot hits randomly chosen adjacent space)
    • Confirmed Favored Vessel Class (any time)
  • Standard Shot, 100% Accuracy
    • Any Flagship Shot (5-6 days after enemy shot)
    • Non-Confirmed Favored Vessel Class (any time)
    • Confirmed Non-Favored Vessel Class (0-6 days after enemy shot)
  • Scramble Shot, 50% Accuracy
    • Flagship Shot (0-5 days after enemy shot)
    • Any non-confirmed shot at any time
    • Any non-favored vessel shot taken on day 7
• Put differently, there are three kinds of ships in this game. The flagship, the favored vessels, and the rest of the ships. The flagship only fires well when its favored and on days 5-6. The rest of the time its job is to buff the performance of other ships. The favored vessel class rotates. When buffed by the flagship they get a super-shot, when not, they fire well while favored only. The rest of the ships only perform well when buffed by the flagship. All shots except those by the favored vessel do poorly on the last day of the turn.
• Factions that do not opt to fire in their week miss their turn and will need to wait until their following turn. It is not advised that factions miss their turn.

Ship Loss and Victory Conditions

• As with the base game, the side that sinks all of the opposing vessels wins.
• As each player is in command of a vessel, when your vessel is sunk, a choice needs to be made. Either:
  • A.) The player "goes down with their ship" and ends their game. The player may describe this in an IC finale post in whichever way they like.
  • B.) The player evacuates to the next nearest ship, counted in terms of spaces away from their vessels. In the event of two vessels being equally far away, the player can choose which ship they evacuate to. They can continue their game on the new vessel. The original captain of the ship that they flee to has ultimate authority (superseding the fleet admiral, pending that the evacuated player is NOT the fleet admiral) as to if the evacuated player gets any power on the new ship, or is relegated to the position of passenger only.
• In the event that the flagship is sunk, the fleet admiral can also choose to go down their their ship. If the fleet admiral dies, a new fleet admiral must be appointed through one of the replacement mechanisms detailed in the prior section. If the fleet admiral flees, they can opt to unilaterally take over another nearby ship. Fleet admirals are encouraged to think carefully about their choices in this situation. Confirmation buffs cannot be given by any vessel other than one headed by a player with the rank of fleet admiral.
• If a vessel has multiple players on board, they all must choose to flee or go down with their ship
• When the final vessel is destroyed, all passengers must choose to go down with their ship or surrender as prisoners of war.

Game Phases
The game will proceed according to the following phases:

Phase 1 - Player Enrollment
If you are interested in joining this game, please post in this RPR OOC thread (to be created). No character sheet is required at this time. Details collected in phase one will inform team composition, player ranks, and the size of the playing grid.

Phase 2 - Faction Creation
Once the size of the interested character base is determined, team composition, ranks, and the playing grid size will be revealed by the GM. PM threads will be created for each faction, from which players will be invited. Each faction will have roughly two weeks to fill out a form describing their faction. Consider this phase a warm-up for the battle to come. Players are encouraged to consider their characters while their factions are being created. Players may also begin planning their fleet placements

Phase 3 - Character Creation
Once each faction has been created, players will be invited to submit their character sheets. These sheets are encouraged to be well-tailored to the details of the factions and rank. At the end of this phase, fleet placement will be finalized.

Phase 4 - Game Play Begins
Game play will proceed according to the rules described above. Last ship standing wins!

 

Well, the base game I know of course. But the roleplaying part seems a bit vague to me. There seems to be no real need for it. Maybe have some sort of storyline to play out would help.

 

I agree. The roleplaying part is a bit hard to imagine. Freeform roleplaying with limited interaction seems not very interesting. Some sort of storyline should be there to give the RPing part a purpose of any sort.

 

Provide blueprints and maps for one or more of these ships, and I think this could also be a template for @SirakRomar 's idea for a

Any new player can pop onto a ship that is still afloat, and explore or inhabit the set environment that is each ship. I can see potential in that sense.

As for the original purpose, while I am a proponent of freeform, I do not yet see the playability in the @Imperial_Hammer 's write-up so far.

 

Oh I saw this one and just wanted to say ... it would have made me so proud!

 

I personally think the future of Star Wars is probably today the most interesting era. You have to figure out the designs etc., but the whole canon mess is not so bad. I would love to create a game set a hundred years after Episode IX one day. Make it a brand new trilogy for RPing purposes only. Fresh heroes and fresh villains. No baggage and a fresh start for everyone. Beginning with an opening scroll and take it from there ...

 

Which of the two legacies do you speak of? One is wiped clean because those characters were never born, the other has a relative of Luke running around which needs a pretty hard retcon to do without him ever fathering children.

I would actually stay away from the Skywalkers completely.

 

Oh I felt the loss. I really really did not like the D&D style novels of the legacy era, but there was room for stories. Hundreds of stories. We had Jedi and we had cool fighter squadrons and amazing worlds ... then Disney cut everything short and made everything about the the same three people. World-building seemed to be a sin.

So I feel your pain Lawbreaker and I think the answer you have to it will certainly be worth a try. Go for it! I wanna see a proper Star Wars game by you!

 

I feel Disney did not create a new EU, but simply got rid of it. Without replacement.

 

I just started reading the new canon and it feels so... weird. And by that I mean it’s in a weird place where they seem to not have erased everything (hence the thrawn novels) and theres a lot of vernacular used from the old EU. I was reading up on one of the data books and there’s even mention of exar kun in the new canon so it’s all very strange and I don’t think Disney has a good plan for it.

The game I have running now: I’m trying to toe that line of staying in the new EU and exploring while not crossing new Canon territory which I think is what we’ve always done here for the most part


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

So, @SirakRomar advised me to come here to ask for advise as this is where GMs seek help.

I am thinking of closing a game. 25% of my players left the game, 25% haven't responded in a months (and were active in other games) and the last 50% gets frustrated with the lack of progress. I think the game has dropped to the lower end of everybodies priority list and I also feel it does not work like that.

So shall I close it down? What is the best practice for this around here?