The Official OTC TBRPG Planning and Organization Topic

[Krayzikk]

 

Some cultures have different versions of the classics. The Disney versions can be used, but we're drawing a distinction.

 

 

I'm playing Maleficent. This is not up for debate.

 

 

Meet my childhood hero everyone. This is who I wanted to grow up to be when I was six.

 

...I-You-Maleficent-...This is perhaps the most disturbing thing you have ever said, Basilisk. Because now the image of you and Maleficent are forever linked in my mind.And this causes me pain.

[Havelock Vetinari]

...

I-You-Maleficent-...This is perhaps the most disturbing thing you have ever said, Basilisk. Because now the image of you and Maleficent are forever linked in my mind.And this causes me pain.

 

I was six. Didn't understand the gender thing, if it helps.

 

[Light]

@Lev: In all cases of an already taken myth, you could write your own version. This is slightly discouraged, but there's no reason not to, other than making things a bit bland.Oh, and I'm all for uncommonly known stories.@Basilisk... Gonna have to agree with Snark.

[Havelock Vetinari]

Mawahahaha.

 

[Atton Rand]

This discussion is getting a bit tense. I feel like I should advise some caution before it escalates into anything particularly nasty. All this seems to be distracting people from actually roleplaying anyway.

[Krayzikk]

This discussion is getting a bit tense. I feel like I should advise some caution before it escalates into anything particularly nasty. All this seems to be distracting people from actually roleplaying anyway.

 

Funny how this pops up the instant we manage to distract everyone from that little war. :pOn an actually pertinent note, I have an interesting question for you all. We see a lot of discussion about games, we see a lot of discussion about specific concepts, but what actually succeeds in staying alive is rarely what we expected. XMDD, for example, should by all rights have crumpled within weeks of its existence. Anomaly, a far better put together game, crumbled in days.So, for the sake of my own curiosity;What genres of games are people not seeing, that they would like to see?

[Atton Rand]

What genres of games are people not seeing, that they would like to see?

 

Well, the longest-running RPG I was ever in was Dino Attack RPG, though I have no idea what made it last for seven and a half years (including that period when the forums went offline as well as At War's End, which was a separate topic but served to provide a conclusion after the forum upgrade cut off the original).

[JiMing]

Me, I've read some Grimm tales beforehand, but I discovered a webcomic which retold some stories(it's Erstwhile if anyone is wondering), and my favorite tales from there are The Farmer's Clever Daughter, Iron Hans, Allerleiruah(NOT BZP appropriate whatsoever though), and the The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I'm not sure I could pull off a unique enough twist on any of the stories, but I may as well put them up here if anyone else wants to do anything with them.Oh, and before I forget, The Bird, The Mouse, and The Sausage. Try pulling a twist on THAT one.

[Let's Henshin!]

Godfather Death has always been a personal favorite of mine when it comes to Brother Grimm stories.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

I'm playing Maleficent. This is not up for debate.

Meet my childhood hero everyone. This is who I wanted to grow up to be when I was six.

 

And thanks to the miracles of modern science, you still can!

 

I kid, of course. Ignore me.

 

My character doesn't know or care about about gaming etiquette. Seems like metagaming to me.

 

Metagaming is using out of character knowledge. With two equally presentable solutions, the only deciding factor is OOC - kill the players and the NPCs with them, or kill those NPCs over there. There's nothing metagaming about the scenario.

 

I thought the fact I didn't use the term "GM" was a dead giveaway to the fact I was talking about an IC commander. Who doesn't know or care about OOC considerations. No Evil Overlord worth his salt hires second rate generals after all.

 

My mistake then, as I was paying too much attention to the quote being addressed.

 

Refer to the Manuel Incident in XMDD. Rover brought it up.

 

With the vampire, then? A good example of the stuff I was trying to point out. My concerns are pretty much moot with those sorts of examples brought up.

 

Correct. Which is why, more often then not, my characters are doing what they think is the right thing. No one thinks of themselves as a cold, heartless planner. Beyond sociopaths at least, which have no appeal to me as characters. Yuri wanted to protect humanity, Manuel wanted to protect a friend, Hunter-Seeker wanted to take the revolution back to it's roots. Whatever others might feel about these characters of mine, from their own viewpoint, they were doing the right thing. Hence, their emotions aren't that much of problem when facing enemies. This is, again, fairly basic stuff.

 

There still are other factors, which is what I'm trying to bring up. These types of motivations, when threatened, cause problems. My point is more along the lines that when their plans are threatened or when they are faced with someone who has interfered with them in the past. Example being, if a character has been a problem in the past, being willing to drop the more cautious approach and do whatever it takes to get revenge.

 

So I guess this whole topic falls on one final question; would your characters be willing to sacrifice a possible victory just to take vengeance against someone who has repeatedly wronged them or their cause in the past? That's the kind of emotional stuff I'm focusing on.

 

You are familiar with compartmentalization yes? It's how alot of people cope. Keeping emotions in check makes it easier to gain the respect of others and thus makes it easier to get into a position of power. Basic logic chain that goes without saying.

You don't gain respect by going for pointless revenge, being too prideful to learn etc. A CEO who does that will find himself without pretty quick and general who does that will find himself lacking an army. Cause and effect.

And no offense, but I'll take the word of authors deeply involved in the politics and such as over your experiences.

 

Be that as it may, I've talked to actual people and learned a lot more from doing so than most historical texts. I can't ask you to take my word for it, I'm simply giving the source for my reason for disagreement.

 

The revenge and pride might not gain respect, but it doesn't necessarily stop someone from gaining power. In a word - Napoleon.

Autobiographies. Which I did mention reading. There are also, of course, people whose entire job is predicting how people will act based on records, files etc.

So yeah.

 

The spoken word carries more power than the written one, which is rather ironic considering how much more finite its lifetime is. More importantly, a persons thoughts and the meaning behind what they say is more clear when you can see their face. I'm sure the people you mention could tell you a lot more from meeting a person face to face or watching a video recording than a written record.

 

Then why do, exactly, the books written by people whose entire job is to make sense of politics all say the recipe for success is to keep pride in check, to get ahead and such as? You are saying one thing, the experts another. I am inclined to side with the experts.

Can. Doesn't mean will. Yuri made a mistake, as I just told you. A mistake which was reasonable under the circumstances. Not one that would get him laughed out of a bunker.

I've outright said my characters have made mistakes, so I'm confused as to why you're talking about it as if I said they didn't.

 

You're correct. The experts are correct. Keep your pride in check. Doesn't mean it always happens; as I mentioned, the higher the IQ, the more likely an ego. I'm more than willing to admit to having one myself. It's learning how to interact with people despite this and refrain the immature "I'm better than you" that must be done.

 

More so, the goal is to control the ego. This implies (oftentimes correctly) that one is present. As I've mentioned, even the best generals, loved by their men and people, have still failed to do so from time to time and often suffered for it.

 

My concern wasn't if they made them, it was for the reason. Seeing your thing with the vampire character and all of that, my question (was it mistake because your character didn't know something, or a mistake because your character let emotions or something else cloud their judgement) was answered.

 

These are OTC RPG's. Nine out of ten times, that's the case. A normal, conventional battle tends to the exception here.

When he was a death monster five minutes ago and tore your friends apart, the trigger gets easier to pull.

 

If they were the death monster, than yes. In any case, regarding conventional or less so, what if (despite being powerful) they still behave and look like normal people? Dude might have been shooting lasers from his hands, but your urge to shoot him will diminish if you saw him take a bullet for a friend.

The answer is both. The ends do sometimes justify the means, but only if the means, given the context of the situation, are justified. If the Mutants, or most of them, are trying to take over the city and killing civilians, then you'd have no choice but to deploy that virus. It'd save the most lives. If they aren't however, then the risk isn't worth the reward and the non-deadly mutants will get caught in the crossfire, there's a chance the virus could mutate and go after humans etc. Point is, the situation is nowhere near dire enough to justify deploying that virus.

Yuri wanted mutants gone or depowered. Preferably depowered. Though I never got the chance to flesh out of all of his plans, he was going to be working on a cure for the condition whilst neutralizing the more dangerous/insane mutants. What ended up happening was a mass depowering. Power-dampening collers etc. See, extreme measures can be justified, but the situation has to call for it.

 

... you know, I shouldn't be surprised that kind of long running craziness happens in a 500 page RPG topic. And yet that still sounds more complete than any story arc that's happened on the contest RPGs for over a year now.

 

Need to know a bit more about the situation. Will there be legal troubles? WIll the government step in? Etc.

 

Unlikely. If something really extreme took place, though (like pooling all of the money into buying a small tank) then something problematic might occur. If you find it hard to imagine a situation without government interference, pretend this is a Mad Max type dystopia where petty lordlings like us work for greater lordlings, but don't want to do anything that might attract the notice of the actual lords that are still about. Like a tank. They don't like it when other people have tanks.

 

@Lev: In all cases of an already taken myth, you could write your own version. This is slightly discouraged, but there's no reason not to, other than making things a bit bland.Oh, and I'm all for uncommonly known stories.

 

I would think so. The problem is, some players might not be so keen to join when they see, "Ah, shucks! Rapunzel was taken! And they made her hair a snake instead of an eel!"

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

Edited August 14, 2013 by Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Krayzikk]

Lev. Basilisk.Calm down, make up, and play nice. Or I send you both back to your time-out corners.

[JiMing]

Oh, I almost forgot, I just love Brother and Sister from Grimm.How one would begin to pull a twist on this story that tops the original, I'm not quite sure can be done.

[Let's Henshin!]

Guys Guys.

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SlapSlapKiss

[Havelock Vetinari]

Well, since everyone else appears quite sick of this, I'll drop this for now.

 

I'm more interested in the fairy tale RPG anyhow.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Well, since everyone else appears quite sick of this, I'll drop this for now.

 

I'm more interested in the fairy tale RPG anyhow.

 

Motion seconded though already passed.

 

My response was edited in at the tail end of my last post, @ Fourteenth.

 

On an actually pertinent note, I have an interesting question for you all. We see a lot of discussion about games, we see a lot of discussion about specific concepts, but what actually succeeds in staying alive is rarely what we expected. XMDD, for example, should by all rights have crumpled within weeks of its existence. Anomaly, a far better put together game, crumbled in days.So, for the sake of my own curiosity;What genres of games are people not seeing, that they would like to see?

 

I've asked myself this a dozen times. I've sat around at night looking over specific formulas and staring longingly at the BZP archives for hours, wishing that a hacker hadn't shattered them to pieces so I could study the methods of the Ancient Game Masters, and how the managed to make the RPGs of the past last for as long as they can.

 

Frankly, I apparently have no clue how to make an RPG work in this forum, since I've done two RPGs here that failed to reach a post count greater than I can count on one hand. Which is pretty freaking sad.

 

If I was going to say a specific genre, it would be a traditional fantasy RPG with individual characters and how they live in the world. Maybe throw in an army or two, but keeping that stuff to the background so the Evil Overlord can be slain. But I'm afraid that wouldn't really work out so well here, so... one can dream.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Havelock Vetinari]

More and more it seems like that success for an RPG lays in timing. Which is pretty sad.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

More and more it seems like that success for an RPG lays in timing. Which is pretty sad.

 

The nature of the approval process seems to put them out in bursts, from which only one, maybe two, survive the process upon being posted. Perhaps a new rule may be in order - when a group of RPGs are approved, only one can be posted a week, in the order they were submitted to the topic. That would do some good to avoiding that problem, methinks. Maybe not much, but a little. Could be annoying, but... that's life. Annoying.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[25K Now!]

Maleficent ...

 

Oh god ... she was ... Kingdom Hearts ...

 

Anyway. Adding onto my Devil Summoner idea.

 

Would you guys prefer it if there was visible evil present, or just lots and lots of dark rumblings?

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

Lots and lots of dark rumblings IMO.

[Alex Humva]

Me personally, I'm opposed to the idea of only one RPG per week. I think it'd go beyond annoying, seeing as the system, as mentioned before, likes to approves these things in bursts, some people could wait three to four weeks for their RPG to be posted and that's just kinda cruel.

 

I too have been studying the methods of the GMs in the time when I was but a wee little noob in these parts, and have come to the conclusion that while we had some amazing GMs back then, the survival of an RPG just wasn't as hard to pull off because of a substantially larger and more active community. Not nearly as many RPGs had to deal with a lack of players, and usually when they did, it was because of a problem with said RPG.

 

Nowadays the community just isn't as active or big as it use to be. Which is why with my upcoming attempt at the RTSRPG genre again, I will be communicating with some other groups to attempt to bring new blood into the community. The best way to solve the lack of players is to not have a lack of players as I see it.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Darth Alex Humva

[Atton Rand]

More and more it seems like that success for an RPG lays in timing. Which is pretty sad.

 

Well, this could just be my interpretation of things but I have found myself noticing some RPGs being occasionally overshadowed by the presence of a new one. I'm only in one at the moment, which is Multiversal Collision, and I couldn't help noticing that as soon as Epilogue came out everyone was going over to that one and not posting as much in Multiversal Collision.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Me personally, I'm opposed to the idea of only one RPG per week. I think it'd go beyond annoying, seeing as the system, as mentioned before, likes to approves these things in bursts, some people could wait three to four weeks for their RPG to be posted and that's just kinda cruel.

 

I too have been studying the methods of the GMs in the time when I was but a wee little noob in these parts, and have come to the conclusion that while we had some amazing GMs back then, the survival of an RPG just wasn't as hard to pull off because of a substantially larger and more active community. Not nearly as many RPGs had to deal with a lack of players, and usually when they did, it was because of a problem with said RPG.

 

Nowadays the community just isn't as active or big as it use to be. Which is why with my upcoming attempt at the RTSRPG genre again, I will be communicating with some other groups to attempt to bring new blood into the community. The best way to solve the lack of players is to not have a lack of players as I see it.

 

Is it more cruel to make them wait, or to raise the chances of the RPG failing? A more viable testing scenario is if someone willing waited a short while before releasing their RPG during one of the "bursts."

 

Bringing in new players is well and good, but has a few consequences overall. The player base cannot be stretched out to every RPG. One RPG might have players from another forum, but then you run the risk of that forum losing activity. And what's to say they'll actually play other RPGs on the forum, or keep on it after that RPG one day dies off?

 

There is a finite player base. Now, if the "other groups" you're referring to is bringing in new people to the forum itself, then no consequence. But from elsewhere on BZP, it could cause consequences elsewhere. The rule of the day for RPGs seems to be, as they say, "Survival of the fittest." Though I doubt even Darwin could make sense of this mess.

 

Maleficent ...

 

Oh god ... she was ... Kingdom Hearts ...

 

Anyway. Adding onto my Devil Summoner idea.

 

Would you guys prefer it if there was visible evil present, or just lots and lots of dark rumblings?

 

Visible evil. Lots of rumblings works better for the pure sandbox, but it doesn't give enough visible motivation to get people moving in the current day and age of RPGs. There has to be a goal from the onset or nothing will get done.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Alex Humva]

People might very well hate me for this but if in order to have survival in the OTC RPG community I have to take away from others communities, it's a loss I'm willing to take. Of course, the better way to go about this, rather than engaging in community warfare (which never ends well), we simply make new RPers. The group I'm referring to is the Ambage, a community of writers stationed on BZP. While we're still in talks and nothing is finalized, many members in it do not play RPGs. If they become involved in the community it's a net gain for BZP as a whole, because somehow I doubt they'll stop writing stories just because they're playing RPGs now. Indeed, many would see it as a way to hone their writing. I know RPGs made me a better writer than six years of public schooling ever did.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

 

This discussion is getting a bit tense. I feel like I should advise some caution before it escalates into anything particularly nasty. All this seems to be distracting people from actually roleplaying anyway.

 

Funny how this pops up the instant we manage to distract everyone from that little war. :POn an actually pertinent note, I have an interesting question for you all. We see a lot of discussion about games, we see a lot of discussion about specific concepts, but what actually succeeds in staying alive is rarely what we expected. XMDD, for example, should by all rights have crumpled within weeks of its existence. Anomaly, a far better put together game, crumbled in days.So, for the sake of my own curiosity;What genres of games are people not seeing, that they would like to see?

 

My main desire is for something high fantasy, so hello there fairy tale RPG. Prepare to meet my versions of Nourie Hadig and Little Miss Muffet. Mwahahaha.

 

Also waiting for that Marvel RPG thats a spiritual sequel/reboot of XMDD. That promises to be fun

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

People might very well hate me for this but if in order to have survival in the OTC RPG community I have to take away from others communities, it's a loss I'm willing to take. Of course, the better way to go about this, rather than engaging in community warfare (which never ends well), we simply make new RPers. The group I'm referring to is the Ambage, a community of writers stationed on BZP. While we're still in talks and nothing is finalized, many members in it do not play RPGs. If they become involved in the community it's a net gain for BZP as a whole, because somehow I doubt they'll stop writing stories just because they're playing RPGs now. Indeed, many would see it as a way to hone their writing. I know RPGs made me a better writer than six years of public schooling ever did.

 

I can't judge. I'll be very forthright in saying that I'd willing sacrifice half the other RPGs in the site to bring the Contest RPGs back to glory.

 

I can only hope any new players are willing to eventually move beyond just that initial RPG, though. While it might be a bit of extra effort to ask, it would still be a shame if only one RPG was given the extra leg to stand on.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

Hmmm

Attack on Titan RPG, anyone?

BEFORE YOU START RAGING ABOUT ONE SENTENCE HOOKS:

 

Attack on Titan takes place 20 minutes into the future, when suddenly, massive monsters called Titans appear(Think Norse Giants). They all but wipe out humanity, and now the humans live inside of a massive walled country. However, the first wall, Wall Maria, has fallen to the Titans. Now, a desperate battle begins to protect Wall Rose before it falls to the same fate.

 

Titans are strange creatures. They look almost human, but massive and grotesque. They seem to find joy in eating humans, although they have been shown to live without eating for an infinite time. Thus, we can assume that they do not need to eat. At night, they stiffen up, and become similar to bedrock. They can regenerate any damage to there bodies. However, a single clean cut to the nape of the neck will kill them immediately.

 

Humans have developed special weapons to fight Titans. These consist of special cannons and a piece of tech known as 3D Maneuver Gear. 3DMG works as a set of 4 grappling hooks, and a canister of compressed gas to help build up speed. There are also special swords used with the gear, specially made to be able to cut through Titans weak points without slowing down to much. Speed is the humans only advantage over the Titans, so 3DMG tactics often require taking the time to speed up initially before entering battle.

 

There is more, but that is the basics. Thoughts? It will be expanded if there is sufficient interest in the idea.

[25K Now!]

What will be the difference between it and the series?

 

Shingeki is not something you can easily adapt to RPG.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

I've got a question on the folklore RPG. Are we to be restricted to European folklore only, or can we take stories from around the world?

[Light]

All around the world, so long as they -fit-. Most Arabian tales I've heard would. Oh, and Lovecraft doesn't fit. I don't think it needs to be said, but you know.@Lev: I'll get to your stuff tomorrow.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

Oh, definitely. 20th century is much too recent.

 

I am wondering, though, whether Navajo folklore would be okay. I know that some Judges at the time (Wrack featured prominently) insisted that Native American beliefs be kept far away from the Pantheon RPG, because they are things that people alive today actually believe.

[Havelock Vetinari]

Hm. I kinda wanna see Maleficent fight a Thunderbird.

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

I was thinking more of a take on skinwalkers, myself.

[Havelock Vetinari]

By Yi-

 

RUN. EVERYONE. RUN IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES!

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

...This is revenge for the mech thing, isn't it.

 

Look, I'm not precisely going for a Dresden Files interpretation of them. I might keep that interpretation in mind, but I'm going for something... else.

[Havelock Vetinari]

Or the idea was so very inhumane to your fellow man it touched my cold, dead heart and compelled me to warn them.

Edited August 15, 2013 by Basilisk

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

I would be inclined to buy that if I didn't have your heart in a jar on my desk.

 

The interpretation I am going for could be called evil, I'll give you that. They're fairly firmly unpleasant in the folklore itself, so Disneyfying them would be very much not-right, but I have a certain amount of leeway with interpretation. Not planning on turning the RPG into a horror story, because RPGs tend to become painfully confusing in self-defense when the thought crosses my mind, but it has been too long since I've been a proper villain.

[Havelock Vetinari]

So ya see folks, the empire controlled by a snakelike mastermind just became the better option by comparison to what Ymper is cooking up.

 

Think on that for awhile.

Edited August 15, 2013 by Basilisk

[JiMing]

I never considered Greek/Roman/Native American/etc. mythology to be fairy tales, but let's wait for an official word from Lakefish on whether those are okay.

[Light]

EhhhhhhhMythology is kinda sketchy. Greek is definitely not allowed.If you can find me a named legend containing skinwalkers, we'll see.It'd probably be possible to find something else in a fairy tale that fits better but has the same powers. Like a troll. @Lev: Well, I'm putting in a note that you can use an already used legend. But other than that, I don't see how that can be prevented.

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

What will be the difference between it and the series?

 

Shingeki is not something you can easily adapt to RPG.

Simple.

Change the timeline after Trost

Different shifters, a bit more obvious inter-faction rivalry.