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[10ebbor10]

There can be many sections.(As seen as in the example ship). A large capital ship can have much section. During combat these sections are targetted. (This is what makes a large ship have more armor than a small ship. While still allowing concentrated fire to push though)

P.S: I have little(read no) experience with google docs. I could probably do something with excel though.

[Gatleos]

Good God. You're not making a forum game, you're making a computer simulation! In fact, if you're actually planning on using this as-is, I'd say the only way to make it feasible to keep track of (while still being fun to play) would be to make a small program that computes it all for you. It doesn't seem like a bad system, just far too great an investment for the players. Especially for a jump-in-and-play game like RtD.

*ahem*

Jason and the Argonauts RtD (Stop-motion skeleton skirmishes!)
Saw RtD (What many RtDs devolve into anyway!)
Pod People RtD (Multiple factions of pod people at war!)
KAIJU RtD (Compete to demolish Tokyo and each other!)
Murder Mystery RtD (Murder the other house-guests and frame the other players!)

[Skyrunner]

P.S: I have little(read no) experience with google docs. I could probably do something with excel though.

Google Doc's spreadsheet function is a watered down version of Excel.

Also, what Gatleos said: investment, program, simulation, stuff.

[IronyOwl]

Jason and the Argonauts RtD (Stop-motion skeleton skirmishes!)

Yes.

Saw RtD (What many RtDs devolve into anyway!)

No.

Pod People RtD (Multiple factions of pod people at war!)

...maybe, but I'm skeptical.

KAIJU RtD (Compete to demolish Tokyo and each other!)

Possibly. Depends on how interesting the GM could keep it.

Murder Mystery RtD (Murder the other house-guests and frame the other players!)

Yes. Actual mechanics might take some work, but still very yes.

[Gatleos]

The trouble with the murder mystery RtD is that there is no mystery. The players all know where each other are, and what they're doing. There are a few things to be done to make it work. First, either make an in-universe justification for the players' clairvoyance, or handwave it. Second, move the focus of the mystery away from the players.

The best scenario I can imagine is one where all the players are killers. The NPCs in the house are the ones for whom it's a mystery. We start with a RP prologue where the players get to know each other and the NPCs, and then night falls. The players get points for murdering the other house-guests, but at the same time they're trying to shift blame onto each other. Players could plant clues and point fingers, trying to get the other players lynched. The game ends when all but one of the players is lynched, or all the house-guests are murdered (in which case the highest score wins).

_{Waitlisters play butlers and maids.}

[Nicholas1024]

Or you could play the game via PM's to make it an actual mystery. Still, I like the idea of all the players being murderers, that's somewhat neat.

[Caellath]

The main problem about PM play is that it gets a tad difficult to manage them after a while.

[IronyOwl]

The main problem about PM play is that it gets a tad difficult to manage them after a while.

Plus, it's not nearly as interesting for observers to read.


I've got it though. We just use the same Nobody Knows What Color Anyone Is method from Hero Caddies' prologue. Then, we add NPCs.

So you've got Colonel Red, and Missus Yellow, and Doctor Orange, and Detective Purple, but not only does nobody know who anybody else is, nobody's even sure who's human. Is Colonel Red trying to tell you something? Is he Gatleos, or SeriousConcentrate, or IronyOwl, or the GM, and which one of them would do what and mean what by saying what? Or is it even one trying to imitate another?

For bonus points, either all PCs are murderers or all murderers are PCs, giving added incentive to attempt to figure out who's an NPC, and consequently, trying to act like one. Alernatively, PCs could be a lot tougher/more powerful (and certainly more crafty) than NPCs, meaning knowing what you're going up against before you try to drop a chandelier on someone can be vital in making sure you don't end up slowly swaying from it instead.

But yes, waitlisters would totally be butlers or maids. Serve drinks, prepare hors d'oeurves, don't witness the kinds of things that turn you into a suspicious scream in the other room, and do get paid off to do or not do certain things for certain people.


We could also (optionally) add secret, possibly changing, definitely overlapping victory conditions. This could be as simple as someone wanting to steal a gem that's well-secured but nobody knows about (but, y'know, if you vanish for three hours with a crowbar and come back all disheveled while someone else was being murdered, people may start to ask questions) to being an Archaeologist, Anarchist, and Intellectual, and thus winning if the sacred urn is recovered rather than destroyed, all Government Employee people are slain, or the precious tome survives the night.

[Gatleos]

I've got it though. We just use the same Nobody Knows What Color Anyone Is method from Hero Caddies' prologue. Then, we add NPCs.

YES

There is the question, though, of how the game would flow. The meaty middle of the murder mystery package is the finger-pointing in a moody study by firelight during a lightning storm scene. It would be best if we could alternate between firelight finger-pointing and the color-coded counterparts' clandestine capers, so that the players and NPCs have a chance to accuse each other dramatically between attempted murders.

Once you start thinking about it, you'll realize that this means we need two layers of secret identities. So a player's character looks something like this:

Gatleos -> Lord Frampton -> Doctor Scarlet

The identities of both Lord Frampton and Doctor Scarlet are kept secret, so no one knows they belong to me, the player. Lord Frampton is the "public" character, who appears during the accusation scenes in the study. Doctor Scarlet is the private character, who appears during the murder segments. So not only does nobody know that Doctor Scarlet and Lord Frampton belong to me, they don't know that those two characters are associated with each other. Hence, double secret identity.

But there's still a problem: how do the players directly attack each other? Inspector Jade can't say "Attack Doctor Scarlet", because he doesn't know which character Doctor Scarlet is. And he can't say "Attack Lord Frampton" because then the GM has to write the turn as "Inspector Jade attacks Doctor Scarlet", and his identity is given away to the other player AAAGGGGHHHH

[IronyOwl]

Once you start thinking about it, you'll realize that this means we need two layers of secret identities. So a player's character looks something like this:

Possibly. Another way to do it would just be to describe things without revealing any identities at all- for instance, perhaps the wandering off parts are during regular power outages, or attackers are careful not to be seen and evidence is discovered after the fact. So if Doctor Scarlet attacks Professor Pink, instead of saying "Professor Scarlet attacks Professor Pink" you just mention that Professor Pink is assaulted in the dark- but by who?

Even more deviously, reporting or discovering things could be up to the players themselves- meaning you'll have to take Professor Pink's word for it that he was attacked, and someone will have to wander into the kitchen to find out that's where Intern Purple has been, er, "hiding."


Of course, this does lack a certain dramatic appeal and sense of narrative, so the layered identities thing might be better anyway. I would point out that knowing exactly what Professor Scarlet has done is possibly not ideal, since that leaves it ironclad as to what they were and weren't doing if you do figure out their identity. But then, I guess that's a staple of murder mysteries anyway.

But there's still a problem: how do the players directly attack each other? Inspector Jade can't say "Attack Doctor Scarlet", because he doesn't know which character Doctor Scarlet is. And he can't say "Attack Lord Frampton" because then the GM has to write the turn as "Inspector Jade attacks Doctor Scarlet", and his identity is given away to the other player AAAGGGGHHHH

To some extent you could just attack people based on conditions instead; ie "I kill whoever's in the library" or "I attack whoever's making the most noise." This is basically a combination of the issue you pointed out (or at least, the issue I pointed out with the solution to the issue you pointed out) and the issue I pointed out; namely, that all or no information regarding player activities doesn't really work very well.

One possible method could be to add an element of chance to any actions being correctly revealed, with others being either blank or false. So for instance, let's say Doctor Blood attacks Botanist Bud.

Normally, you'd have to just say it like that, meaning Bud knows Blood is after him, or at least crossed him before. Strictly speaking, if players can't identify each other during the night anyway, this shouldn't matter so much; Bud can discern that Blood sneaks around the library a lot because he keeps attacking people in there, but he can't know for certain that whoever he's attempting to bludgeon in or around the library is absolutely Blood.

But what we could also do is have a roll for correctly identifying the assailant, meaning Bud might correctly identify Blood, or he might think it's Farmer Fudd instead, or possibly just not quite catch his assailant. This roll could even be separate for the player and the "audience," so Bud might think it's Blood, but everyone else seems to think it's Fudd, so not only can he not reveal what he knows without outing himself, he's not sure who's correct.


So, short answer: Location/action based targeting. Long answer: Roll to identify assailant.

[Nicholas1024]

/pre-in for this, if/when it gets run, I'm really enjoying the ideas you two are coming up with.

[Tiruin]

/pre-in for this, if/when it gets run, I'm really enjoying the ideas you two are coming up with.

Looks pretty fun to me  , requesting the above to the idea above it!

[Gatleos]

The main problem is one of revealing information to the audience. If we reveal too little, the RtD isn't fun to read because there are too few details. If we reveal too much, the mystery is lost. Also, we have to figure out a way to make the accusation scenes matter to the game. The players don't know who each other are, so we need a third party that serves the role of a jury. This can be where the audience (or waitlisters) come in.

First, we have the murder phase. During this part of the game, the players take on their color-coded codenames, which are unknown to the audience. Also, all of the players know where everyone else is in the mansion. All actions during this phase are given via PM to hide identities, and players refer to each other by the codenames.

Second, we have the accusation phase. In a normal murder mystery there's only one murderer, but here all the players are murderers. So what are they accusing each other of? I'd prefer that they were actually trying to convince the audience of something, rather than some NPCs. But the audience is omnipresent, so they already know that all the players are murderers...

Maybe only some of the players should be murderers, and the audience tries to figure out who is?

[freeformschooler]

<Gatleos> ffschooler, you have to run the murder mystery.
<Gatleos> It would be, like... mario-themed or something.
<Gatleos> Yoshi shows up stuffed in the under-stair closet, and now we have to track down the murderer!
<ffschooler> don't tempt me man

Regardless, I think it's great how much thought is being put into this already. If it's ever executed that will be exactly what it takes to run: thought, planning and maybe a little foresight.

[Digital Hellhound]

<Gatleos> ffschooler, you have to run the murder mystery.
<Gatleos> It would be, like... mario-themed or something.
<Gatleos> Yoshi shows up stuffed in the under-stair closet, and now we have to track down the murderer!
<ffschooler> don't tempt me man

Regardless, I think it's great how much thought is being put into this already. If it's ever executed that will be exactly what it takes to run: thought, planning and maybe a little foresight.

[21:10] <DigitalHellhound> I read that as 'under-stair corset'.

My version would make a much better game.