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[Dermonster]

[6] Derm has set fire to the wagon. Dysentery wails in pain.

Right.

I've reached the point where my idea is less of an RTD and more of a forum roleplaying game/story that has random elements.

Basically, I want to write a story from a first person point of view and...

Wait, remembered a similar thing. I want to run it like a mspa forum adventure, with concepts similar to a single player RTD. Not entirely sure how I would do that.

[Gatleos]

I can see it now... each turn ends with a disease roll for every player, and we could have a high score table for teams that got the closest to Oregon. This gets better the more I think about it.

[lawastooshort]

Er,  it does actually, yes.

[Yoink]

That... Sounds amazing. Truly.

[Theifofdreams]

I can see it now... each turn ends with a disease roll for every player, and we could have a high score table for teams that got the closest to Oregon. This gets better the more I think about it.

I want in. The game was awesome, the RTD can only be better.
"[1] You guide the wagons into an indian raid, and lost 100 pounds of meat. Also Taricus has contracted Dysentery. Again."

[Gatleos]

The problem, though, is that most things in Oregon Trail are done by the wagon leader. Only one of the players can be controlling the wagon, and everyone else might not have much to do. Also, the time scale might be hard to deal with. If a single turn consists of the wagon traveling 300 miles over the course of five days, what would the players' actions have to look like? How much movement would have to be abstracted away?

[Theifofdreams]

Why not add a second dice roll to quantify distance traveled, as well as wagon status. (As in: 1, you go nowhere. your wagon broke, and is irreparable, up to 6: you got really far, but now the beasts are exhausted, and can't travel as far next turn. Or similar)
As to the problem of multiple people leading wagon trains, either have separate wagon trains, or simply allow everyone to dictate their actions for the timespan of the turn, but reduce the effectiveness of each person's turn to keep the balance, while assuming everyone travels at the same pace as the wagons (which aren't exactly fast)
Depending on how long it takes to travel (I'm not looking those numbers up), you could quantify turns into, at the bare minimum, 1 day per turn. I remember the original game going by week, but I may be wrong.

[Gatleos]

Perhaps players could give general actions during travel, and time would slow down to normal whenever they encounter something (hunting, random events, forts, landmarks)?

But I still have doubts that all players would be able to participate. If the wagon leader decides to stop and hunt, for example, what do the rest of the players do in the meantime? If this is to work, I think it will need to have a different format than the default "all players post an action, GM resolves them, repeat" like every other RTD. Perhaps something similar to Roll to Strike the Earth?

EDIT: Also, having one wagon per player could be a good idea, though it sort of undermines the concept of the game a bit.

[Theifofdreams]

Well the other way would literally be to make the wagon travel as a separate "character" turn, rather then just rolling an extra dice for each player. As an example, if there are five players, once all actions are taken into account roll a 6th turn simply for traveling.
The players actions would be taken into account as "happening when the wagons are not currently moving." Which does make sense. The wagons would have to stop every night, and occasionally during the day.
And because the wagons are moving, this would explain why the players actions occur over the span of however long the turn is, rather then just being instant, as long as you keep it absurdly simplified.
Special events (not hunting, but landmarks, random group events like ambushes, forts,) would make sense to play out the entire thing, since the wagons aren't currently moving around anyway, so no need to keep it broad.
I never saw the Roll to Strike the Earth.

[Gatleos]

So each turn would take approximately a week, and cover random events and players' actions.

First the players' actions are rolled for, and resolved with the assumption that they are doing these things when the wagon is stopped (usually at night). Then the wagon's progress and status is rolled for, which accounts for distance traveled and wagon part breakage. Finally, rolls are made to determine contraction of diseases and other random events.

If a random event is encountered, wagon movement stops and the wagon leader chooses whether to stop or keep going. Some random events are mandatory, like stampedes, bandits and Native American Injun attacks. Then all players make rolls for actions on a normal time scale until the party exits the event. Then, normal wagon movement resumes.

To make things more interesting, we could add a skill system (similar to Oregon Trail II) that would allow every party member to choose one skill. They could be things like butchery (higher meat yield), medicine (better healthcare), or carpentry (able to fix wagon parts).

[Theifofdreams]

Well, I hadn't figured on rolls for random events, but that would add more versatility.
So it would be
Player 1 through x (roll): result
Wagons (Roll): Result, distance traveled/to go listed, special locations reached, any wagon issues.

Status Roll: Checks for any special event, as randomly determined.
If special encounter, next turn is normal turn-by-turn action, and continues until event is resolved.

If you're giving skills then also give each player a small amount of cash to spend on items pre-game, as with OT II. Things like food or medicine to make it easier to survive, spare wagon parts or animals would make it easier to keep the wagons in good condition. weapons and bullets would increase combat effectiveness and make hunting more reliable, etc etc etc.

[Gatleos]

Yeah, I figured I could make tables for random events and diseases. The tables could change based on the situation (frostbite and pneumonia are more likely in winter, sunburn and heat stroke more likely if the wagon is gone). There would also be fixed events, like landmarks and forts on the trail.

I was thinking that the embark screen (heh) would be a democracy. There's one pool of money, and everyone decides what to spend it on. Or that could just be up to the wagon leader, either way works.

I still can't decide how to handle rivers, though. Would they be an event? It only takes a decision by the wagon leader to cross it, so I don't know what the other party members would be doing in that time.

[Theifofdreams]

That makes more sense, and would make things interesting.

I think rivers would fall under a wagon random event, except for the big "landmark" rivers like the Mississippi.

[Toaster]

Democracy.


In an RTD.


Posting to watch.

[Gatleos]

Hypothetical situation:
I roll for random events, and get "traders approach the wagon". The wagon leader chooses to stop and trade with them. What should everyone else do? There's nothing for them to do, other than sit there and wait for trading to be done. In a usual RPG, you have a party of adventurers. Each one has a specific set of skills that can be used in a wide variety of situations. This works, because there is always something for everybody to do. But in situations like this one, most of the players don't get to participate.

Another problem I just thought of: originally, I planned to designate one player as the wagon leader. This player would make decisions, such as whether to stop at a landmark, how to cross a river, etc. But I realized that sometimes the type of actions that players could make would depend on these decisions. So, effectively the whole game has to halt until one player makes a decision, then everyone posts their actions. That... sucks.