Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Gatleos]

So I was thinking about a game that would rely more on teamwork than usually. Often when a player is disabled or otherwise removed from play, it doesn't directly hinder the others except maybe by making combat harder due to a lack of firepower, and in fact often enough a given situation can be resolved by almost any character (if only with high enough rolls).

However there are many different games that cannot be played with simply one character, either because every character has a unique ability that is required to advance (Lost Vikings, Trine, Problem Sleuth), some puzzles can only be solved with several people (LoZ:4 Swords) or the game mechanics simply doesn't allow any progress with one character gone or plain game overs (The World Ends With You).

All but maybe the last have a tiny flaw in that the amount of players is kinda restricted, unless maybe they engage in some massive team splitting that would require some pretty good storytelling on the GM's part to be believable.

These kinds of systems usually work best with puzzle games, where players' abilities need to be used in a specific order or combination to succeed. And in that case, I can't think of a way to introduce the RNG without defeating the whole purpose. Did you have anything specific in mind?

...Anyway, there's one more thing to settle with the Road Trip RP: where would it start? Obviously the destination of the trip is Redding, California, but we need a starting location (and a reason everyone starts in the same place). Maybe we ended up in the wrong Washington? The map was upside down? We all happen to live in the same town by some crazy coincidence? I suppose everyone who joined in later would show up as a hitchhiker or something.

[Dermonster]

Minnesota? Because fuck expected places?

[Bdthemag]

Minnesota? Because fuck expected places?

Fuck Yeah Minnesota FTW.

Also snow and construction everywhere, like you'll be sitting still in traffic for three days.

[Darvi]

It doesn't even necessarily have to be puzzles. TWEWY for instance is mostly combat (and plot, but that's besides the matter). Or, y'know, puzzle bosses which combine both.
Also even within the puzzles there could be several opportunities for dice rolls. E.G. let's say that the obligatory Dumb Muscle has to lift and throw a rock at some point. While lifting and throwing is easy enough for the character to instantly succeed without a roll, actually hitting might require a roll.

[IronyOwl]

Minnesota? Because fuck expected places?

Fuck Yeah Minnesota FTW.

Also snow and construction everywhere, like you'll be sitting still in traffic for three days.

Or Australia, because How Did This Even Happen. Naturally, crossing the Pacific is not an option.

It doesn't even necessarily have to be puzzles. TWEWY for instance is mostly combat (and plot, but that's besides the matter). Or, y'know, puzzle bosses which combine both.
Also even within the puzzles there could be several opportunities for dice rolls. E.G. let's say that the obligatory Dumb Muscle has to lift and throw a rock at some point. While lifting and throwing is easy enough for the character to instantly succeed without a roll, actually hitting might require a roll.

This points out a few problems with your premise.

For one thing, it might have a set of "slots" that need filling, which is infinitely less fun than creating your own character. Plus, some slots might be a lot easier to fill than others.

Secondly, there's no real room for failure, so everything has to succeed eventually. It's not possible to, say, not be able to move the rock, or throw the rock off a cliff, because then you can't do what you're supposed to do. This also extends to player death/incapacitation, since again, you need that guy up and moving, there's no other choice.

Third, the team focus would mean that players, in general, would be in danger of both redundancy and interference. Once you figure out exactly what needs to be done, there's no particular reason to wait for every individual player to actively state it, because it's a foregone conclusion. In the same vein, you could have everyone waiting on one person even though there's only one thing they could possibly do in that situation. That makes it a lot less like you're playing a character and much more like you're part of a lopsided puzzle-solving committee. You'll notice most of the games you mentioned are single player, after all.


Regarding Ranger's Apprentice: Stealth games tend to not work out very well, in my experience. Partially, I assume, because sneaking past everything is boring, meaning things are either boring and/or going to hell and/or ignoring the whole premise.

[adwarf]

Regarding Ranger's Apprentice: Stealth games tend to not work out very well, in my experience. Partially, I assume, because sneaking past everything is boring, meaning things are either boring and/or going to hell and/or ignoring the whole premise.

That is precisely why I said being stealthy is completely optional. You could always charge in, and kill them all, but that path would be much more risky, and you would have a higher chance of losing the intelligence you were seeking. Of course the entire game wouldn't be solely about intelligence gathering. For example if you got details of a Skandian raid that was going to take place you would be given some form of order to assist in that battle, or if you found details of a Wargal scouting group you would be tasked with following them, learning what they were looking for, and then killing them before they could return.

I wouldn't force the players to take the stealthy paths, but I also won't make going in head first anymore deadly than it normally would be to try, and veer you from that path. Of course the beginning of the game would be mostly decisions you make throughout your training that will improve varying things such as making your character more accurate with a bow, better at unseen movement, or even shoot faster with said bow. Those choices you make would help you with the path you would want to take throughout the game, and thus make it, so neither path is more, or less challenging than the other.

As for sneaking being boring, you won't be able to sneak past everything some obstacles you will have to remove (EX: A Guard that is more vigilant than the rest, or a serving maid who insists on knowing your name, and why you are there.) though how you remove them is up to you as well. Sneaking also entails the same amount of danger going in headfirst does, because if you try to rush yourself you could miss a handhold while you are climbing, and fall, wounding yourself, and revealing your position. Or you could make to much noise while moving, and a Guard will spot you, and you will have to deal with him before he raises the alarm.

Sneaking can be a fun part of the game if it is implemented right, and if it begins to get boring the players can give advice on how to make those parts more fun.

[Bdthemag]

You know what, fuck it. I'm going to re-run Roll to Bay12, because I like Meta stories and I'm bored.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

[Darvi]

*Rolls WIL to resist*

*Natural 1*

*Fuck*

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

Well, for one, me killing everybody.

[Bdthemag]

Yeah, my Bay12 inspired plots give some people a -10 to will rolls apparently. Go figure.

[Darvi]

And I had a +15 modifier at the very least too...

Oh wait I'm not wearing my headband right now. Just +12 then.

[Gatleos]

Minnesota? Because fuck expected places?

Fuck Yeah Minnesota FTW.

Or Australia, because How Did This Even Happen. Naturally, crossing the Pacific is not an option.

So we were all kidnapped by Angel of Death? That sounds like a pretty sound premise.

It couldn't be an entirely free-form RP as long as there's the concrete end goal of "Get to Redding," so perhaps preliminary objectives would help there. Six guests of honor that need to be transported to DFCon 2016 in California- but (a tweest) they're spread all over the world!

[Darvi]

Bonus objective: Get somebody, who doesn't wants to, to join the meeting even though he's totally not interested at meeting anybody.

[Dermonster]

Double triple extraordinary feat of accomplishment: Prevent Derm from fucking things up beyond repair somehow

[Darvi]

At least you're not doing it intentionally. I think.

[Bdthemag]

MEGA SUPER FUCKING AWESOME GOAL: Beat all of the banned members of Bay12 in an awesome street race across the country.

Think about it.