The Official OTC TBRPG Planning and Organization Topic

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

 

On the subject of travel, do we have to do all those three posts for hyperspace one at a time? Or can we do them all at once if we make the post large enough? I just quite liked the last SW RPGs method of having a certain amount of paragraphs, that could be done either at your leisure, or all in the one post if you were in a hurry to get your character somewhere

That is an excellent method! I admit, the best way to play out hyperspace travel was a bit puzzling for me. I'll make an amendment. Is five paragraphs reasonable?

Snark, thanks for pointing out the bolding. Ymper has aptly pointed out why spies will start on the home planets of their respective factions. Non-aligned characters should start out on one of the main worlds highlighted above. As you said, it's a bit of a necessary evil. It's simple enough to devise a reason for non-aligned characters to be on one of the main starting planets (entrepreneur on a trip to Nal Hutta, a refugee fleeing Sith attacks ending up on Coruscant, etc, etc).

The starting planet will consolidate characters, and give players a place to regroup after major 'quests.'

On top of that, traditionally non-aligned characters, like lovable rogue smugglers and mercenary bounty hunters, will be required to pick a crime syndicate to which they owe some allegiance. Great to hear, Strack! Once everything gets sorted it'll be fun to see how your characters play out.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Madara: Mangekyou Master

[Van Hohenheim]

I do have one question on the Jedi Ghosts. that artifact. is it possible to find it or recreate it later in the game?

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

Generally speaking, no. Force Ghosts, have the ability to appear anywhere in the Galaxy, phase through walls, evade almost all attacks, use some Force abilities, and communicate with Force-sensitives. As I'm sure you can see, this would ruin the balance of larger scale battles. Mentioning the artifact is done to ensure that players don't randomly 'learn' how to turn into one of these ghosts and avoid death. We'd like to avoid this kind of scenario. "The Force Ghost of my deceased Jedi Master materialized on the Renaissance, and told me where I can find the Sith. I'm going to take my starfighter, hyperspace jump there, and lightsaber Darth Scitus in the face... Also, the Force Ghost of my Jedi Master totally saw all the Sith battle plans while he was on their ship. They'll be attacking Kamino with three ships... also, he saw Darth Scitus' face. Would you believe that he's actually Yolo*, the long-lost brother of Yoda?"

Edited May 7, 2013 by Madara: Mangekyou Master

[Van Hohenheim]

I see. I thought force ghosts were just that: ghosts. like what was seen at the end of the original trilogy. but I guess not

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

Yeah... unfortunately, an untethered full conscious ghost like the Force Ghosts we see in the film has some problems. Vengeful Sith spirits tied to specific locations are still present though. Only the most extraordinary of Darths would be able to retain their ability for thought and speech though. Most of the vengeful Sith spirits would be feral, driven solely by the negative emotion which tethered them to the place of their death. Any other questions? Comments? Concerns?

[Van Hohenheim]

one last question and I think i'm done: can we build our own type of ship as long as we have a picture of it?

[Havelock Vetinari]

one last question and I think i'm done: can we build our own type of ship as long as we have a picture of it?

If you happen to have access to a shipyard, lots of credits and an improbable amount of technical know-how.

 

 

 

 

On the subject of travel, do we have to do all those three posts for hyperspace one at a time? Or can we do them all at once if we make the post large enough? I just quite liked the last SW RPGs method of having a certain amount of paragraphs, that could be done either at your leisure, or all in the one post if you were in a hurry to get your character somewhere

 

That is an excellent method! I admit, the best way to play out hyperspace travel was a bit puzzling for me. I'll make an amendment. Is five paragraphs reasonable?

 

I wouldn't do this if I were you. It didn't work out so well in my RPG. I think a simple time labeling system would work fine.

 

IC (Day Three)

 

Etc.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Basilisk

[Van Hohenheim]

let me re-phrase my question. can we have a custom ship so long as we have a picture of it?

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

If you have access to a shipyard and a whole lot of credits.

[Havelock Vetinari]

About sums it up.

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

After some discussion on the challenges of playing out hyperspace travel, we've come to some kind of proposition. Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Big ships (be they battleships, capital ships, cruisers, heavy freighters, etc.) will take anywhere from three days to two weeks (in-game) to travel from location to location in hyperspace. These would be used more for military campaigns, or as settings for secondary plots (Murder on the Venator express, training while traveling etc.). Because PCs will not be commanding big ships (at least initially), I don't think this will have a directly detrimental effect on characters.

Small ships, which are settings less likely to be plot-heavy, will have shorter travel times, down to a minimum of a few hours in-game. Travel in small ships would be facilitated by three hyperspace travel posts with a mandatory total minimum of four paragraphs (spaced out at your discretion). If you want to stretch out a bit of a plot in your light freighter, feel free to add additional non-mandatory travel posts (your total travel time of a few hours will not be affected).Do you think this system would work?

[Krayzikk]

It seems more or less what Odyssey had, and that worked out fairly well.

[Havelock Vetinari]

Hmm, I see a lot of group rps going on, but has this forum ever run a quest rp? To clarify, that's when there is only one player character rather than several.

 

We haven't had any quests here.

 

What he means is simple guys; the group votes on the actions the character will undertake instead of everyone playing a different character. Its useful for grand strategy RPGs and interactive story telling. Think of it as playing Mass Effect by committee.

 

(Also, Talos, sorry it took so long for me to see this-as a new member, you'll want to post a few times (ten?) in an on topic forum for normal member privileges to enable. Annoying but needed, we've had problems with PM spambots).

Edited May 8, 2013 by Basilisk

[Lara White]

Actually, someone did try to run one but lost interest in it pretty quickly.

 

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

...What would be really fun is a single-PC RPG where you don't vote on the actions - you just take turns controlling the player for a single post, presumably with rules stating that your post can span no more than x amount of in-game time, and that the action you take can't be, say, offing the character.

 

Paranoid Schizophrenia: The Game

[Havelock Vetinari]

Sort of like one of those succession Dwarf Fortress games?

 

Those are always memorable.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Basilisk

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

Sort of like one of those succession Dwarf Fortress games?

 

Those are always memorable.

Ah, yes, I tried to launch one of those before. Didn't go well. But they never end well.

 

And I think that is a cool concept Ymper.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

Alright, about the Star Wars RPG.I know I'm not entirely qualified to explain why the last Star Wars RPG didn't work out, and so I won't try too. I was just wondering what you guys are doing to ensure that this one won't meet a similar fate. I'd really like to see a successful Star Wars game again.

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

I wasn't actually here to see Odysseys end. One major concern that we've discussed is the tendency for characters to scatter about like so much dust in the wind. Starting locations and faction bases are a way to call players back if they get too far for normal interactions.

 

Are there any problems you foresee?

[Atton Rand]

Hey guys. It's been a while since I was last on any of these boards, and I can understand if you're not all that pleased to see me and if you'd rather not hear another one of my bad ideas. Still, this idea has been floating around in my head for some time and I thought I'd maybe consider sharing it. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to do it or not, and if nobody's interested I'll just shut up and leave you alone, but I figure there's no harm in mentioning it.

 

For some time I've wondered about the possibility of an RPG based on the Cthulhu Mythos. I don't know if anyone here is actually familiar with the source material (given it originated as a series of short stories in the early 20th century I can understand if you don't know anything more than the fact that Cthulhu is a great big monster with tentacles on his face- and Cthulhu's only the tip of the iceberg as far as Eldritch Horrors go), so it may require some adjustments to make it more accessible to a younger and contemporary audience, but I don't think it's full-out impossible. I'm not sure exactly what I'd do with the idea just yet, and like I said, if nobody's interested I'll just shut up.

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

^ Already being worked on

You can probably help out if you PM Basilisk

[Atton Rand]

^ Already being worked on

You can probably help out if you PM Basilisk

 

Yes, I just got a PM about that. Fair enough.

[Havelock Vetinari]

 

^ Already being worked on

You can probably help out if you PM Basilisk

 

Yes, I just got a PM about that. Fair enough.

 

I've got an idea I've been refining, though work has halted temporarily. I fully intend to release it within the next two weeks. I've got to get the Transformers RPG stabilized. Somehow.

 

GM vamooshed and left me in charge.

[Flex Lord Splash]

Star Wars RP looks awesome to me.

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

Awww shucks, thanks Flex! Looking forward to seeing your character concepts.

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

Would anyone be interested in an RPG based on Sword Art Online? Specifically the first arc?

[Let's Henshin!]

Personally I'd suggest using the concept of being trapped in a videogame as opposed to the series. Mainly because it'll let you draw a wider range of players, instead of just those that have seen the series.

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

Personally I'd suggest using the concept of being trapped in a videogame as opposed to the series. Mainly because it'll let you draw a wider range of players, instead of just those that have seen the series.

Yeah, that could work. Although I was going to base it on just the pilot episodes, to keep the amount of show watching needed to minimum, if any.

[Advent Child]

An SAO styled RP sounds excellent.

 

On the subject of other RP ideas, the Monster Hunter RPG is still in the works, but due to life stuff and me finally getting to really get into the most recent release, it has been pushed back some for some tweaking. Hoping to be able to bring a draft forward soon.

[Van Hohenheim]

how would you guys like a sort of Assassin-Creed themed RPG?

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

That could be cool.

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

Assassin's creed is a very cool universe (there might be challenges relating to the real-world religious affiliations of the Templars). Though, there would be some important logistical questions to answer. Which era would it be set? Then there's the general challenge of doing video-game based RPG, building a storyline that is distinct from the game's, etc.

[Advent Child]

If an assassin's creed RPG were to develop, I would suggest it take place in an era/location that hasn't been touched upon too heavily by the already established canon.

[Van Hohenheim]

I'm not quite sure what to do with the Templars. perhaps portray them as warriors? I dunno. the Era..I had an idea develop. I find it to be a good idea and yet a bad one at the same time: having people being able to choose the era their characters are in. it would work like this: in the Profile (should it be created), you would list the year/era that your character was in. I was thinking something like Renaissance, modern world, Mid-evil time period, 500 B.C. (I think that's when the idea was originally developed), and the American Revolution. the characters wouldn't be able to time-travel. you could choose where in the world your character was, except for unknown places of that time. if your were to RP in the Mid-evil ages, you couldn't play in America for example. the Established Cannon would happen, but it would be sort of in the background, not particularly important. if there is anything that affected the entire order, let me know. I never really played the games

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

Most of the Order was massacred shortly before Altair became leader. Which is why he became leader

[Canis Lycaon]

Hold it. I don't know much about Assassin's Creed, but you did not just say different, completely separate time zones. You might as well make several different RPGs instead of one.separate

[Van Hohenheim]

yeah, when it spontaneously burst into my head, it sounded like a great idea. but apparently not for the Era, how about 1300 to 1500-ish

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

An Assassin's Creed RPG might benefit from a split from the game's storyline. An alternate universe is freeing. For instance, with an order that hasn't been massacred, you'd have a better starting structure for the Assassins.

[Canis Lycaon]

You, know, it is possible. Here is what I suggest:

 

Everyone makes a couple characters, all related to each other. The one in the modern timeframe uses the Animus, and goes into the rest.

[Madara: Mangekyou Master]

You, know, it is possible. Here is what I suggest:

 

Everyone makes a couple characters, all related to each other. The one in the modern timeframe uses the Animus, and goes into the rest.

Now that is an inspired idea. Playing as a family tree would be tremendously interesting. For storyline organization purposes, one could consider starting players at the same time period (at least initially, to build a sense of cohesiveness amongst player characters).