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Classic RPG

3 (11.5%)

Classic suggestion game

2 (7.7%)

Combination RPG/suggestion game

1 (3.8%)

Community vs. Players

16 (61.5%)

Community vs. Players II

4 (15.4%)

Total Members Voted: 26

[ShadowHammer]

I'm thinking of starting a forum game, and I am currently working on mechanics and art and such. However, I'm not sure what format it should be run in. I have 5 ideas, 2 of them more traditional, and 3 that I haven't seen done before (although I may just have missed them). They are:

1. Classic RPG
Players each have control over their own character, they kill monsters and get loot and stuff.

2. Classic suggestion game
The community controls the player character(s) by suggesting things, in a democratic manner.

3. Combination RPG/suggestion game
Half of the player characters are controlled by individual players, while the other half are controlled via community suggestions. All NPCs would be controlled by me. Not sure how this would work out, but it would be a cool experiment even if it totally failed.

4. Community vs. Players
Players each control their own character, while the community controls the monsters, with me controlling the other stuff. The community's goal is to kill players, and players goal is to loot and kill and quest and do general dungeon crawling things. The NPCs would be neutral and could be persuaded to join either side.

5. Community vs. Players II
Sort of a blend between 3 and 4, the players would RPG control one party of adventurers, and the community would suggestion control a competing party. I would control all monsters/NPCs. This one would be really hard to balance, though, so I probably wouldn't do it unless you guys really want me to.

Feel free to tell me why you like or dislike any of the above choices.

All the above options would be in a high magic medieval fantasy roguelike/dungeon crawler setting, and suggestions for names appropriate to this genre would be nice too.

Alternatively, I could make multiple games, but I'd only do that if there was a lot of support for multiple options.

Once you/we have decided, and I finish up mechanics and sprites and things, I'll post a link to the game in this topic.

Game has begun! The general thread is here.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The latter two ideas sound...interesting.

Overall, whatever kind of game you feel comfortable running, and a kind of game you would like to play. Try not to make my most common mistake by focusing on the latter at the expense of the former.

[ShadowHammer]

Thanks for the advice, I'll certainly keep it in mind.

[mastahcheese]

I really like the "Players vs. Community 1" idea.

Even if solely because it's annoying being a waitlister, so it would be awesome to control monsters to murder the party so you can get your own character in.

[Fniff]

I like players versus community, and I think it could be expanded out into environment as well  as monsters. For booby traps and such.

[Epichighfive321]

It might work better if community suggestions were in a seperate thread, but I don't know.

[flame99]

I like 4, myself, if only because it sounds interesting.

[The Froggy Ninja]

It might work better if community suggestions were in a seperate thread, but I don't know.

I agree. Just a question as a newbie to the forums, can you ban certain people from a thread? If you can then the Players shouldn't be allowed on the community thread cause spoilers.

[flame99]

It might work better if community suggestions were in a seperate thread, but I don't know.

I agree. Just a question as a newbie to the forums, can you ban certain people from a thread? If you can then the Players shouldn't be allowed on the community thread cause spoilers.

I'm pretty sure you can't, though that would be cool. I'm pretty sure Simple Machines Forum doesn't allow for things like that, however.

[Mephansteras]

Nah, it's not that flexible.

However, you could have a separate thread for general discussion on the community actions and a quicktopic thread that the GM can PM to people.

It's basically what we do in Mafia games to keep the town from knowing what the Scum players are up to. Same sort of idea.

[mastahcheese]

Or you could just trust people to an honor code and tell them not to go and look in the other thread. It's what USEC_Officer did way back when he made a player vs. player game and made a thread for each team.
Or you could have people put community actions in spoilers, and tell the players they aren't allowed to look in them, kind of like how I'm running my Mainspring game.
I even made people sign a pseudo-contract.

This wouldn't always work with everyone, but if it seems that someone has some pretty clear knowledge of events that are about to happen, then you could consider dealing with them in some grotesque fashion.

[My Name is Immaterial]

PTW. The community vs. players sounds interesting.

[ShadowHammer]

Sounds like the majority is in favor of players vs. community, so that's what I'll do. The separate threads for community and players seems like a good idea, as long as people are honorable, which I think most of you guys are. If someone isn't, I could start a third thread and make it Spanish Inquisition style hearings, where anyone who is accused of cheating is immediately executed given a fair trial!

Status of the game: I have the mechanics mostly worked out, with nothing gamebreakingly wrong as far as I can tell, as well as the majority of the sprites, but there is no story line whatsoever, so I still have to work on that. Hoping to get it up by Thursday, but no guarantees.

Spoiler: An example of the art. Constructive criticisms appreciated! Or you can just tell me it sucks. (click to show/hide)

[mastahcheese]

That looks adorable.

[kj1225]

So big. So angry.

So dead.