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Author Topic: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.  (Read 3318 times)

Fniff

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The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« on: September 08, 2013, 12:50:00 pm »

So, I noticed there wasn't a topic for GMs talking about ideas they wanted to put into RPs and suggestion games. Sure, we have Gamer's Block, but that is more based around mechanics. This one is about ideas for things to put in the game. Have a cool idea but you aren't sure how to put it in your game? Need to hammer out the details of a setting? Want to see if your latest RP idea has potential? Post it here and you'll get feedback.

To start things off, here's my idea. I was thinking of doing a roleplay where the players are visitors in a foreign nation. The first part of the game would take place in the rich capital, which is walled off from the rest, but the players would be able to visit the rest of the nation which seems similarly happy. However, it turns out that the government of the nation is actually a tyrannical dictatorship who stages an elaborate cover-up operation to hide their nation's downtrodden nature. They keep the tourists in the prosperous part of the capital, and make sure that when they wish to leave to explore the rest of the nation they go to faked villages manned by actors so that the truth doesn't get out. However, when the players visit, the locals are becoming increasingly rebellious and the government is forced into a crackdown, but still tries to keep up the facade of a happy country.

My question is, how should I show that the facade of a normal and happy nation is a barely contained charade without beating my players about the head with it?

Doomblade187

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2013, 12:54:49 pm »

Make it less so barely contained? Make it the little things that give it away? I'm trying to give helpful ideas here, so I'm sorry if they don't really help.
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kj1225

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2013, 01:25:17 pm »

Maybe things like the occasional message over a local radio show that is pretty off putting? Something like welcome to Nightvale's level of foreboding.
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10ebbor10

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2013, 01:33:03 pm »

Simple. Do what the real countries do.

Very tightly planned schedules. No free time except in predesignated areas.
Prevent contact with the local populace. (Different language, no translator, guards/guides handling all contact)
Roleplay the guides really well.
Make it too perfect.
Pleasantries that are limiting. (Dedicated photographer, guided tours)
Arbitrary limitations.

Would be hell as a GM though, as you have to roleplay guides being forced by the government to railroad the tourists.
 
« Last Edit: September 08, 2013, 01:37:54 pm by 10ebbor10 »
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Yarnspinner

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2013, 01:43:18 pm »

Have a little kid with a bucket of red paint run by the party once they are 'off the beaten track'.  Casting a fleeting glance at the party (and their supposed handlers) the little kid quickly and sloppily paints a sign of resistance on a white-washed wall.  The PC's handlers either act violently or offer shakily delivered placebos. 

If the PC's stay in a hostel or some such.. at night they hear a mechanical clicking coming from somewhere in the hostel.  Upon further investigation..  they find a small room with resistance members working a forbidden printing press.

You could offer clues in the setting, malnourished children contrasted by those the PCs saw in the capitol, overcast days..  perhaps ash mixed with snow from a near-by crematorium..  old rusting cars..  people huddled by burning barrels..  cold.

Just some ideas...   Good luck.  ;D
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Fniff

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2013, 01:59:21 pm »

Those last two posts were more what I was looking for: specific imagery and events that could be slotted in. But thanks KJ and Doom for taking the time out to help me with the idea.

I like the idea of the setting reflecting the desperation of the locals. It actually takes place in an African nation, so the cold imagery would be out of place, but I was thinking having a lot of imagery relating to fire. So instead of people huddled around campfires desperately trying to keep the cold out, there would be bushfires raging across the crops, flies swarming around starved corpses, the sweltering midday sun staring down upon the desolate savanna like the eye of a wrathful god. And the idea of the guides sounds good as well. I already have two in mind: one's bond by the state to say good things but he is able to have off-the-record conversations that hint at the bad stuff, while the other one actually believes whatever the state does is the right thing.

kj1225

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2013, 02:02:32 pm »

Well whatever you decide I hope it goes well.
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sjm9876

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2013, 02:05:14 pm »

Perhaps something very slight such as the guides having concealed weapons.

I like the fire idea. A slight drought would probably also get the point across well without being very obvious.

Otherwise, I'm with Ebbor and Yarnspinner.
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10ebbor10

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2013, 02:06:35 pm »

If you're placing this in Africa, you have 2 additional cards you can play. Malaria and water shortage.

For example, showing the tourists around a highly advanced, but empty hospital or saying that water's free are a good way to show that neither of those is true.
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Digital Hellhound

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2013, 02:11:01 pm »

I use Gaming Block for ideas. I will continue to do so. This thread is a betrayal of the very ideals our lives stand on, Fniff, the bedrock of our civilization. It saddens me to see one of our brightest commit such vile treachery.

...and so on. Though I don't see why Gaming Block is no-go, but the thread title looks nice and I guess that's all that matters. I shall watch with interest.

EDIT: I do see the use for this, too. Yes. Indeed.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2013, 02:22:25 pm by Digital Hellhound »
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Yarnspinner

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2013, 02:21:28 pm »

Also, if in Africa, perhaps a drunk westerner in a bar that drunkenly talks about conflict minerals..  tribal conflicts simmer..  multiple and fluid zones of control..  kidnapping for profit..

Overworked 'Doctors Without Borders' staff quickly packing up to leave.

U.N. Observers..  pirate radio stations, pieced together ad-hoc.

trickles of refugees walking towards the border..  Huge divide between rich and poor..  rumors of cannibalism.
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Fniff

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #11 on: September 08, 2013, 02:49:01 pm »

These are all great ideas. I have a bit of a problem with making things a little too obvious from the start, not leading people in with subtle hints, so this is all really good. I like the idea of advertising the advanced hospital and plentifulness of water: I think that'll be at the start alongside showing the more conventional nice things so that the players get contrast. "Here we have the luxurious hotels where there are multiple restaurants, penthouses, and swimming pools! And here is our casinos, which are said to rival even America's Las Vegas! And finally, here is our hospital, filled with the most professional doctors in the region!" Then as time goes on and the players go to the "nature" part of the tour, they head to one of the villages which has the Doctors Without Borders. Maybe if one of the players talked to them, the doctor would assume they're other aid workers, then get panicked when it turns out that they're tourists and say they have to leave immediately before getting cut off by one of the guides who promptly whisks the players away from the one person who can actually give them information.

I think the inability to speak the language of the majority of people in the RP would really help the players think that they're living in a bubble. Perhaps you could get a perk where you have a rudimentary knowledge of the local's language, so you could roll to understand the language but would only get vague hints as to what they're talking about, like "He seems to be talking about some sort of shortage" or "She seems to be trying to explain something relating to her family in a bad way".

escaped lurker

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #12 on: September 08, 2013, 04:23:09 pm »

Simple. Do what the real countries do.

Indeed. There are countries in asia where your bag is worth several years of work - but since the populace knows there would be a bloody crackdown where they to take one, it is safer than your own house. Except you also keep a squad of guards in there. This complete charade you want to paint here is actually available in North-Korea. Expect only stasi-loyalists to cross your way there. Heard its quite the steal moneywise thou - on the tourists part.

.. which has the Doctors Without Borders.
Such a regime would never let "a dangerous westerner" like that enter. He is only a risk for them. They donīt care that he could help the people. He - or any aid-workers -also is a liability that would need to be protected against possible kidnap/ransom and negative media-attention. Just look at what happened in the afghanistan and so forth - true enough, their political demands are sometimes even ignored in the western translations, or taken out of context. The principle to make pressure on the current system is the same thou. Well, at least thatīs my view. The line of thinking is good thou - how about a drunken western collaborator to the system? Merchant, Investors and roman-catholic priests come to mind.

Ahem, so more onto topic. Iīve actually seen a lighter version of this charade you are speaking of in latin america; Automatic Gunnery in police-hands is a dead-give-away, you even have trouble finding a normal pistol on the forces. A multitude of armed forces also spells of trouble - milita, munipicial police, national police, military police and military itself. Once I counted 4 different types (minus milita). This means there is a very high chance of some of them being corrupt, so others are also called to the watch so they canīt run as rampart. Other watchers watch the watchers-kinda setting.

Spoiler: As for concrete ideas; (click to show/hide)
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kj1225

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #13 on: September 08, 2013, 04:32:10 pm »

Some of you may have seen the idea for a game I had over in gamer's block. Basically I want to start a game that takes place in the same place as the inheritance cycle and starts several hundred years after the last book. The thing is I need ideas for what the current state of affairs is now what with the riders being back and such.
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Nerjin

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Re: The Ideas Corner: Discuss and plan out RP ideas.
« Reply #14 on: September 08, 2013, 04:52:11 pm »

Hell I think it'd be nifty if the riders DIDN'T come back. Yeah sure that whole mess with the king was fixed and Eragon tried his best after the stupid fucking self fulfilling pr- no we don't have time for my rants which will last literal hours. Anyways there are some wild dragons that were part of the resurgance of riders but the new riders quickly died out for some reason or another. Maybe something lost to history. Elves are still on the decline and are more mortal like without the dragons. The dwarves and humans are doing well but are in a cold war esque situation. The orc-pig people have somehow fulfilled their bargain with Nacrissa enough that they are alive but are confined to a small area where clan warfare occurs constantly.

There's my thoughts. I guess the Wild Dragons could be a small little thing of their own that is seeking out unique individuals to become the new riders [do NOT let the players start out in this faction] but are increasingly picky in their choices.
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