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[Chiefwaffles]

Thanks; I appreciate the help.
Tiled works great for what I'm trying to do. I'm also thinking of including smaller more detailed tactical maps done via REXPaint in the FG to circumvent my awful spriting/drawing skills. But that may get too complicated.

New question, also about an XCOM-like mechanic. In a management-type game, would people prefer a freeform research system or a more rigid one?

A freeform would mostly just work off of the players deciding what to research by themselves, based on what they have and what they know. A player might want to figure out how to make a radio (example not related to FG), so they create a research project to attempt to figure out how radios work based off of the captured radios they already have. I use my ~secret~ established lore to determine what happens after the research project ends and if they get any kind of rewards. When something requires more than just one project to do, I'd likely include hints on how to proceed in the received report.
A more rigid one would likely basically be a tech tree with a bit of free will. I'd have unlockable projects done in chains. You get a radio, you decide that you want to make your own, so you research Radio Operations which lets you research Radio Construction which lets you make radios.


At the moment I'm heavily leaning towards the freeform system since a rigid tech tree-type mechanic seems like way too much preparation and as it happens, I don't have good foresight. Chances are I'd forget to include super essential stuff in the tree and would have to constantly retcon it in. Though the freeform also has its troubles with me judging on the spot how hard research projects are, what they get, etc.
So even though I'm leaning towards freeform, I still would love others' opinions.

[escaped lurker]

I'd do a mix of both, to be honest.
Every time you introduce a new enemy, just write down what it is equipped with, and what researchers would get out of the creature ahead of time. Let your research team introduce the obvious conclusions, and let the players spearhead the "might be" research. You'd end up with a few successful streamlined projects, a few failed ones, and one or the other player machination gone right.

Xechnoraph
Visually robotic spiders with bladed limbs, research reveals them to shelter a cybernetic core. Most likely a xeno of lesser intelligence, converted for combat use.
Comes equipped with xeno-blade alloy mkII (new), xeno shields mkI (old), unobtanium batteries mkI (old) and xeno cybernetics (new)

Presented in this manner and with a bit of flair, your players have various projects that are straight-foward - reverse engineer the different components - and afterwards, they can do what they want with it. The blade alloy might also be possible to use in bullets, the cybernetics might do well in enchancing reality, or even strenghth & reactions via implants. That, or just do an auxilliarated suit with it. Oh, and the shield and batteries, while already old news by now, might make research into them easier - seeing more of the same in different designs, shouldn't do any worse for sure.

[ATHATH]

I have been doing statistical research about what kind of games I'm good at. As GM, I mean. I have pretty good idea already, but that's my subjective opinion. Empirical research is needed to confirm that.

So here's a straw poll link. Pick what you think are my three best games.

Links to all my games are here. You'll notice few games missing from the poll, but that's because I consider those to be failures by all metrics. Didn't like them, didn't last long and so on.

So instead of wasting time and effort in future designing and running games I suck, I can focus where I'm already good at and produce better games.

I'm surprised that so few people voted for The Mind. It was such a good concept and it had an amazing twist (despite me messing it up slightly).

I don't think that I caught the end of Roll to Create a Supersoldier. How'd it end/turn out?

[AoshimaMichio]

I'm surprised that so few people voted for The Mind. It was such a good concept and it had an amazing twist (despite me messing it up slightly).

I don't think that I caught the end of Roll to Create a Supersoldier. How'd it end/turn out?

It grew a bit too unwieldy after game mode switch. I couldn't even finish first testing round despite of killing off more than half of the products. It ended like this: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=159985.msg7261464#msg7261464

I handed it off to Sean, but seems in the end it was too much for him too.

[aDwarfNamedUrist]

A 1-20 Gaussian distribution with Anydice

[Draignean]

Does anyone have a link handy to one of the forum games that used the card game style, didn't mimic a real card game, and worked well?

I still have an itch to run a more mechanical second game, and I had an idea for a setting that tickles me, but I'd like to see what's been done before.

[heydude6]

Have Vizier. That one was a successful card game. The only thing you might have trouble with is the amount of stuff hidden in pms. It worked, but I'm not exactly sure why. It was an entertaining read though, so maybe that was why.

[IronyOwl]

Shallow Space I II III IV
Fairly chaotic card-based FTL/Trek-ish space combat, largely consisting of using your teleporter to board the enemy ship and shoot them as I recall.

[OceanSoul]

AoshimaMichio's Monster Mash Tournament, sorta. I've wondered a lot about how forum games could be integrated with card-based mechanics while I lurked without an account on the forums, and now would be a good point to mention them.

Spoiler: Idea 1. Basic Deck Arena Fighter (click to show/hide)

Foundation is your standard every-man-for-himself, always X amount of players arena fighter. Cards would be basic things that would help in a fight, such as obtaining a certain sort of object, summoning an ally for X amount of turns, doing one extra-strong move, slightly changing the arena nearby, etc. Each player would have a small deck, and cards would go to the discard pile after they were used. When all of your cards are discarded, they all re-enter your deck, and you're good to go again. Most notable about this concept, though, is that the cards each person had would be determined by a relatively confusing set of questions whose relevant cards weren't clear. "Your favorite food" could choose your summoned ally based on what sort of person would like that food, but "favorite sport" could determine a summonable weapon based on the sum of the values of the letters of the answer, where A=1, B=2, etc. Questions would be added to it over time, which all players, active or waitlisted, could answer for extra cards in their deck. There could still be other ways to get cards in the arena, such as taking/lending from other players (dead or alive), findable/buyable are certain locations, etc. Most likely, you would get stronger versions of your cards / similar cards as you defeated others.

Spoiler: Idea 2. More Intricate, Multiple-Game-Moded Arena (click to show/hide)

Like #1, your deck would be refreshed when all your cards were in the discard. There would be two main kinds of cards;  Equipment, which will summon some piece of equipment, that did about X amount of damage and had certain traits,for the player to wield (like a sword or shield) for a while until it breaks after too much use, and Spells, which have a one-use effect of some sort. Some majority of cards would be Equipment. However, most Equipment cards would have an alternative Spell-like effect called a Technique that could be used instead of gaining the Equipment. That way, players would still be able to get a good equipment early on in a match while still having a good amount of instant effects to use overall. Some equipment would be stronger than others, as would some techniques. A person's starting deck would likely be made with a  large amount of varied filler cards of the GM's design and a handful of cards made by the player to certain criteria, with balancing by the GM as necessary. Add in some more powerful cards requiring certain equipments to be played, and we have a decently intricate, personalizable system to lay over several sorts of fights, whether PvP or PvE, every-man-for-himself or set teams.

Spoiler: Idea 3. Modular Magic Cards (click to show/hide)

Once again, a fighting game, with Perplexicon's stat system, minus the pool. A deck would consist of spell components (pretty much like the word of Perplexicon) that are a basic spell in and of themselves, but when combined, form stronger, more intricate effects. Cards can also be synthesized together in a turn, acting as a card like a combination of their effects, but being unable to be used that turn. For example, "Transform Self; Torso" and "Humanoid" could synthesize together as "Transform Self; Whole". There would be some crucial differences with Perplexicon's system, such as summoned entities automatically being under your control to a degree. Some cards could have multiple components, like "Fireball" being a combinations of "Fire" and "Launch Foreward". Cards might have other, possibly lasting effects, such as a card called "Straight Throw" being the spell component of "Launch Forward" with the added effect of "Increase the potency and accuracy rolls of this spell by 1 if the spell includes a 'sphere' component". Some card may just be effects (we can call them Cantrips), like a card called ""Ignite Soul" saying "Create a 'Fire' card in your hand, and add 1 to potency rolls with a 'Fire' component, but set yourself on fire".

The cards in a player's starting deck would be relatively easy to determine, though some components (like Vacuum or Transform Self) would have to be excluded unless they came with some additional drawback effect, like "Discard 2 cards" or "You cannot cast other spells for 2 turns". New cards could be gained as players grow stronger, by lborrowing from another player, or by finding/researching them in the field, and they could be based on spells and/or things the player has cast/done. If a player is fond of using a combination of "Dog"  and "Gold", they could eventually get a card with both components called "Golden Reteiver". If a player once used their own severed left arm to kill someone, they might eventually get a card called "Trusty Arm-ament" with the "Left Arm" and "Club" components, and the effect "The user may sever their own arm, with no injury; add the components that compose the arm to the spell, and add 2 to the spell's potency roll"

Personally, the latter is my favorite. To be honest, I'd just come up with the part of additional effects while writing this.

[TheBiggerFish]

Perplixiconlikes are always interesting.

[ATHATH]

Gonna second taking a look at the Monster Mash tournament; that game (like most of Ao's games) was really good/interesting.

[flabort]

Perplixiconlikes are always interesting.

QFT
I love perplexicon games.

[Tyrant Leviathan]

Rethinking my platform. Redid the X Commthing so two ways of losing ( as before my games only had one and did not describe it) retooled points system. Making it detailed, but simple.


The only other project considering here is my urban arcana game which is adventure with options. Like that Soam Wizard game that ended via death by dragon. Just with guns. And more stuff.

[StrawBarrel]

A 1-20 Gaussian distribution with Anydice

Thanks for the find dude. It looks rather handy.

[Draignean]

So, I've got a concept, a bare set of rules, but now I'm looking to see if there's any interest.

Basically, I tore the skin off Arkham Horror (The board/card game) and am wearing it like a snuggy^(TM) while capering under the influence of several magical school games.

Elevator Pitch,

You and the other players are in a world where most all fairy tales, horrible conspiracy theories, and midnight ghost stories have more than a couple grains of truth to them. Werewolves, time traveling spacemen, relics from antediluvian eras, time clones, creatures beyond space and time, ghosts of alternate reality confederates armed with ecto-lasers, all these things are real, and yet they're still not your biggest concern.

Oh, right. Did I mention you're in college? Perhaps it's a Hunter's College where these things are readily accepted and your participation in hunts is graded by instructors who are themselves inhuman creatures, and your primary concern is not  "OH SHIT THAT WAS A FECKIN' VAMPIRE" but "Goddamnit, he docked me five points because I didn't check my corners. What a douche".  Perhaps you're at a perfectly normal university, desperately trying to pass your perfectly normal exams while fighting to keep the horrible things packed safely into the shadows so you can finish getting your degree before the Feds shut down campus to launch a massive investigation.

Whatever the case, you're going to have to balance your midnight hunts against your studying, your exams against chasing down leads and hunting for clues, and your GPA against the ever mounting tide of darkness. But hey, it's college. No one said it would be easy.