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[Worldmaster27]

I'm sorry but...

It was inevitable.

[Sappho]

It seems to be back up and running now. We should definitely focus more on making a clone, though. I'd rather put my effort and energy into that, rather than wrestling with this monstrosity.

Of course, there is always another option. We could do it paper-and-dice style. I suggested this once ages ago and it didn't go over well, but maybe now that we've all had a taste of how motivating this can be, it might actually be feasible. We could make a thread (or use other online tools) to make everyone a character sheet. We could then take turns being the dungeon master and go on quests together in a sort of PBEM-style campaign. (Is anyone else old enough to remember PBEM games? Please tell me someone is...)

I'd definitely be willing to organize something like that. If we keep a consistent format for the files and make strict rules for playing, we can have the game exactly the way we want without having to code anything. That's not to say we shouldn't still work on an online version of our own, but since that is likely to take a long time to set up, this would make a good temporary version. It would also let us test the mechanics before actually coding them.

Would anyone be interested in that, if I set it up?

[Elephant Parade]

...Huh. That sounds pretty interesting.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Given how many people joined the party in Habit RPG, I think a PBEM type game would definitely work. Or at the very least be rather popular and have lots of interest.

[Migue5356]

...Huh. That sounds pretty interesting.

[Sappho]

Okay, here's my proposal: I will run a game based on the QAGS role-playing system. I love that system, and I've written a book for them, so I'm biased. Still, it's an excellent system, and it would work well for us because the points earned by doing tasks could take the place of yum-yums. Furthermore, the basic rules of the game are available as a free download, and they're simple enough that it won't take long for everyone to get familiar with the system.

We would have to sort out a specific system for tasks. That shouldn't be too difficult. To start, everyone will get some points to create their character. I'll make up a character sheet document that everyone can fill in. I suggest that we set up a Google Drive account that we can all access, so we can all look at each other's sheets whenever necessary, without having to waste time waiting to exchange messages.

Then there's the story itself. I could easily just make something up as I go along, and that could be great, spontaneous fun. Or, I can use a ready-made QAGS adventure. One of the perks of being one of their writers (even though I haven't written anything for them in 6 years) is that I get a free copy of everything they publish in PDF form. So I've got loads of stories to choose from, all of them unused by me.

The ones I have copies of are:
Beowulf vs. Grendel
Hobomancer
Leopard Women of Venus
Sharktoberfest
Spy Racers

The only one of those I've read is Hobomancer - I only read part of it, but it sounded fun. The basic premise is that hobos, riding the rails, are also magicians, and they protect the world from all kinds of bad things.

So... Interest check? How many people would be willing to play, and which story would you prefer? I will take care of all the organization, blank character sheets, and all that. I just need players.

[Samarkand]

Beowulf sounds good to me.

[Strife26]

I'd be game for something paper and pen. I'll look at the links when I get a chance tonight

[Cheeetar]

I'm not sure exactly how you'd be able to handle all of us constantly sending tasks into you (especially given how mundane and many my tasks are) but I'm absolutely interested Sappho.

[Sappho]

Well, be warned, it would be a slow-paced campaign. Not something constantly updated. You'd be responsible for keeping track of your own tasks and points, and I'd get on and move the story forward one step whenever I get a chance. It likely wouldn't be any faster than the current Habit quests, but I'd be sure to at least make it more interesting.

As much as I despise their "force-it-down-your-throat" marketing techniques, I'm considering using Google+ to do this. I think the format of their system would work well for something like this. Would anybody strongly object to that? Or does anyone have an alternate suggestion?

[Cheeetar]

You'd be responsible for keeping track of your own tasks and points.

This might be a problem for me. Remembering to do stuff is the main flaw I'm using habitRPG to combat, rather than getting myself motivated.

[Sappho]

I'll make it part of the character sheet or something. Instead of going to Habit to click the buttons, you'd just go to your character sheet and mark the appropriate section with Xs or something. I figure if you can remember to check the boxes on Habit, you should be able to remember to do the same for our game.

Maybe we can set up a way to keep track by clicking rather than writing. I'll see what I can dig up without having to write some code. Worst case scenario, we could still keep track of tasks using Habit and just transfer the results over to our game or something...

[Elephant Parade]

I'll make it part of the character sheet or something. Instead of going to Habit to click the buttons, you'd just go to your character sheet and mark the appropriate section with Xs or something. I figure if you can remember to check the boxes on Habit, you should be able to remember to do the same for our game.

Maybe we can set up a way to keep track by clicking rather than writing. I'll see what I can dig up without having to write some code. Worst case scenario, we could still keep track of tasks using Habit and just transfer the results over to our game or something...

Create a formula for changing XP values into damage, maybe?

The fact that XP is based on Intelligence might mess that up, though. Hmm.

[Sappho]

Actually, I don't want to use the HabitRPG system at all. Their system is a mess. Better to not use it at all.

I'm looking for an easy tool we can all use to keep track of the points. I've narrowed it down to a few options. I've only given each of them a quick look, so feel free to look deeper, play around with them, and cast your vote on which system we should use. They all have mobile versions, for you smartphone users.

Producteev: http://www.producteev.com
With it, we can create a group "project," each with our own personal "project" - our task lists. The manager allows you to set up tasks to repeat daily, weekly, whenever you want. You can add tags to categorize them or mark the difficulty. You can also break tasks into subtasks.
Pros: Lets us keep everything in one place, lots of features.
Cons: A bit complicated, will take a while to learn, no feature to replace "habits."

Remember the Milk: http://www.rememberthemilk.com
Each of us could sign up for an account and manage our own to-to lists. When you type in a task, you can describe when you need to do it, ie "wash dishes Friday" and it will automatically make a task called "wash dishes" to be done on Friday. When you click on a task, you can set loads of options including repeating tasks, tags, priority, etc. This site has been around for 10 years and appears to have a lot of features, even though it's not as shiny as newer sites.
Pros: Easy to use, plenty of features.
Cons: No support for group use, no feature to replace "habits."

Toodledo: http://www.toodledo.com/info/videos.php
Loads of features on this one. Repeated tasks, scheduling, reminders, sharing, sub-tasks, optional tasks, filters, priority levels, and even graphs and other features. Also seems fairly easy to use. The "lists" feature could possibly be used for habit tracking, marking with X each time or something similar.
Cons: No obvious feature to replace "habits." No simple group use.

Since none of these programs support habit tracking, we can also use Joe's Goals: http://www.joesgoals.com/
This one can track habits, multiple completion of tasks. Positive and negative habits are possible. Pretty simple to use, even keeps track of points, and you can set habits to be worth different amounts of points. This is for habits only, though, so we'd have to track tasks on one of the other sites.

The final possibility is that we simply make a spreadsheet in Google Drive and keep track of our points manually. Not as shiny as the other tools, but it's easy to do and we could share the documents so we can check on each other, and keep everything in one place.

So... We have to choose a tool and get started. Each of you will be responsible for making your task lists and tracking when you complete things, just like on HabitRPG. Once per day, you can send me your point totals (we can decide how that will work once we choose a tracking tool) and take your turn in the game. If you miss a day, that's fine - you just miss your chance to move that day. I will update the game as I'm able, at least once per day.

[Supercharazad]

Honestly, just using google drive seems easiest.