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[Tarran]

Could be neat. I imagine more people would choose one of the fiendish or celestial options, though.

...So? Is it bad that people prefer things that they haven't done before or things that they find interesting?

You'll just need to give mortals something to even the odds. Like infernal and celestial beings are ancient, so they start as more powerful than mortals, but have slower skill gains.

That sounds like a good thing short-medium term, but what about long term when the humans are dual wielding longswords while the angels and demons are still wielding one?

It's a bad trade, in my opinion. I wouldn't want short term gain in skills if in the future I'm going to have serious problems when things really start to get tough.

I'm more concerned with them being interesting than being powerful.

Tanks in FPS games are interesting.

Some weapons in RPGs are interesting.

Hell, elves and (to a greater extent) dwarves are interesting to some.

Is it really bad that something is interesting?

[Toaster]

If you die an early death, you need to be more cautious. Let others take damage. If you're planning on using dangerous magic, make sure you have a decent amount of HP.

I think he meant the RTD's themselves die, an altogether more sinister problem.

^ This

If I die because the demon I tried to summon wanted to wear my guts as garters, that's all in good fun.  If the game fizzles and dies, that's just tragic.

[Person]

Next idea of mine was Drone Combat.
Another one was Existential Nightmare Room- like a half suggestion half RtD hybrid.

Both of these sound rather interesting to me, particularly the nightmare room one.

[Skyrunner]

Nightmare Room sounds fun.

[Tsuchigumo550]

Drone Combat miiight get a sooner kickstart than "next month", but that all depends on how soon i can get the engine working just right.

Feel free to use E. Nightmare Room. I probably won't run that one for a while, so if anyone wants to take a shot, feel free.

In fact, another idea came to me when I was looking through my old DS games-
It may have already been done, but what about an Island Survival? The plot's cut and dry, (amount of players) people wash ashore after a criuse ship went boom, they have to survive. They can each get a small boost in certian areas at start- stats such as:
Hunting     | Increases rolls that involve sneaking, trapping, or attacking.
Survival    | Increases rolls of identifying things, finding useful materials, and living through injuries or poisons.
Strength   | Increases rolls involving lifting, pushing, pulling, etc.
Endurance | Increases resistance to negative effects- for instance, it's easier to pull off multiple actions sometimes.
Cooking     | Increases rolls for making food- anywhere from less use is more filling, or food is good enough to boost stats slightly or help healing.
Building     |Increases rolls for making things like clothes, spears, and anything else requiring crafting.

That's just a prototype. The overarching challenge was:
First Turn: Wake up, meet each other, etc.
Second to Fourth Turns: Find water, a small amount of wild food, and shelter. This should happen no matter what, but here the rails end. Small threats can show up if the ones attack.
Fifth Onwards: Survival and exploration are your main concerns. Every so often, the GM can introduce some kind of challenge- such as finding a really useful material in a snake-infested valley, freakishly strong storms, or other island-y troubles.
The ways to win are to sucessfully signal a plane or helicopter (Takes a lot of effort and a bit of luck, it's possible to do this early if it's all you try to do) or make it to a certain point on the "island"- like the spot you're in when the GM is worn out or once you've explored nearly everything- where the rescue party finds you. Note that this either starts a timer to get everyone together or only happens when everyone is together.

It's a wall of text, but that's my general idea of it. You can always modify or use this one however you wish, I doubt I'll run this any time in the near future.

[IronyOwl]

Okay, so, mage games. Obviously the main attraction is all the magery going on.

But, what about the rest of the setup? Would being a band of roving adventurers be different from being a squad of royally-directed agents? What if they were royalty, or servants of an evil overlord?

I guess what I'm asking is, what's the best context for being a Fucking Wizard^TM in?

[Dermonster]

If we were royal guards I bet we'd get fired on our first job because we (I) screwed it up royally.

That said, actually having to explain to someone why my teammates arm is now an elongated chihuahua would be quite the experience.

[Sirus]

Okay, so, mage games. Obviously the main attraction is all the magery going on.

But, what about the rest of the setup? Would being a band of roving adventurers be different from being a squad of royally-directed agents? What if they were royalty, or servants of an evil overlord?

I guess what I'm asking is, what's the best context for being a Fucking Wizard^TM in?

I've been fiddling with a perma-death mage RTD myself. The basic idea is that an ancient labyrinth built by a powerful Dark Wizard has been discovered in a dwarven kingdom. This kingdom has forbade the practice of magic for hundreds of years, but there is a curse on the entrance to the labyrinth that prevents any non-magical being from entering. The cruel and despotic dwarf king wants the no-doubt tremendous riches inside, and so grudgingly sends out a call for mages to come and test their luck. Thus, they come from all over, are placed into impromptu parties, and are sent in.

Think Magicka with a group of four friends. The party would need a wide range of magic to succeed, and death would come quickly and brutally. Thankfully, more can be sent in as needed.

[Tarran]

But, what about the rest of the setup? Would being a band of roving adventurers be different from being a squad of royally-directed agents?

Yes they would be different.

Adventurers: FOR THE MONEY AND ADVENTURE!
Agents: FOR THE KINGDOM!

What if they were royalty, or servants of an evil overlord?

Royalty: FOR HONOR AND GLORY!
Servants: FOR NOT DYING!

[IronyOwl]

Yes they would be different.

Well, which one (or what other) would you prefer, then?

And, I know they'd be different in some ways, but I mean, would a noble react to accidentally murdering three friends with a berserk summoned rhinoceros differently than an agent, adventurer, minion, villain, hero, or something else would? I'm not so sure, which makes me wonder if that's a core gameplay difference or just window dressing.



Also, staring at HmH's Roll to Stop the Suns RTD gave me an interesting idea. Vampire Lineage RTD- you start the game with one vampire, who can then make himself servants. Other players then join by commandeering said servants, who suddenly gain a bit more personality and realize maybe they don't want to do every little thing the boss says. Those servants (or still NPC'd servants, for that matter) can then make even more vampires.

The only problem, in addition to "be a vampire" not really being an RTD idea in itself, is that you'd probably end up with a lot of NPCs to track, and obviously you could only handle so many full-on player vampires at once.

[Tarran]

Well, which one (or what other) would you prefer, then?

I'm mostly indifferent. I don't see much difference besides possibly the end of the game and roleplaying.

I say just Adventurers, since "Adventure" is a very vague motive, so anybody can make any kind of character for the game.

And, I know they'd be different in some ways, but I mean, would a noble react to accidentally murdering three friends with a berserk summoned rhinoceros differently than an agent, adventurer, minion, villain, hero, or something else would?

Yes. If a noble killed his friends, he would not only worry about his friends being dead, he would worry about his reputation.

An agent would also worry that he would be put on trial.
An adventurer would... not worry a whole lot besides the fact that he killed three of his friends.
A minion would also worry that his master would kill him for killing his men.
A hero would have a mental beatbreakdown.
A villain would just go "oops" and not care much after that.

I'm not so sure, which makes me wonder if that's a core gameplay difference or just window dressing.

Depends if you want to factor in mental states. If not, then just window dressing.

[10ebbor10]

Another Idea that I'm not going to run, because I have way to much to do.

You are mission control

The story follows a group of heroes/ soldiers/ marines/ ... on their mission. You are, however not them. You are the guys sitting behind the lines and shouting at them what to do.

Mechanics:
Every player can divide a certain amount of action points over the different Heroes/soldiers/marines per turn. These Action points are used to do everything, be it searching, repairing fighting , thinking, healing... Players can also decide to store action points with themselves for a while but action points can not be used in the same turn they are divided between the characters. The heroes will use these action points as they see fit(though they aren't very smart so they might also stand around doing nothing), though you can also order a hero to do any amount of actions for the cost of 1 AP(from the player stock).

During combat action points will be automatically used to reroll failed rolls if they would have resulted in the death of the character.

Playing
Players would submit their actions by PM.  Orders would be anonimized. (By the use of colors). Distribution of Action poinsts will be completly anonymous.
There's one main goal for all players to accomplish, though they might also have additionall minigoals.

Player characters
There are none, you're all just a voice coming out of a magic ball/ headset/ commlink /telepathic link...

[Talarion]

So.

Diablo RTD.

Someone should do it.

(Thought I should atleast mention it, y'know? )

[Tarran]

If you want someone to do it, you should do it. Otherwise, your idea will just go down the drain because most of the time people want to use their own ideas for an RTD.

[Dermonster]

One of the sad things about that statement is that if you run it, you can't play it.