RP/RPG Hybrid

[Actaeon]

For some time, the idea of combining the best aspects of RPs (extended online role playing without mechanics) and RPGs (real-time, rules based online roleplaying). I have hatched several hair brained schemes to simplify mechanics, and found holes in almost all of them. I've come to the conclusion that the mechanics are less important than the setting and the players.

 

I therefore propose the following.

 

An online tabletop role playing game based on a simple premise: a ship leaves the last port in the known world, determined to discover new lands and new peoples until they sail the world round or drop right off the edge (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, or the Argo, basically). It would be low magic, with technology roughly equal to the late 14th century (cannons on the ship, but probably no handheld gunpowder weapons). On board would be a couple dozen individuals of varying skills: sailors, fighters, craftsmen, scientists...

 

At each land fall, a new, self contained adventure would take place. An expedition would almost surely take place, but not everyone need be involved. The setting might be almost anything- the lair of a necromancer or a small, scientifically advanced community. Some characters might stay along the way, and new members could be added. These would be run as RPGs- either AIMhack or D20 (potentially both- I'll get to that). Each mini-adventure would be run by a different DM, but draw from a set of existing characters and players- allowing them to be run with very little warning or planning needed. You could appear in one session or in all of them without having to worry about committing yourself to months of gaming. Furthermore, members on the other side of the world could adventure while the United States is asleep, and vice versa.

 

Afterwords, the DM would commit the story to an ongoing RP, hosted here. In addition, other members would help to fill in the gaps between land falls (or even document adventures that never played out in real time) in the same RP. A fight with a sea monster is difficult to manage in real time, while character development and interpersonal drama can be boring and slow RPGs down.

 

Of course, mechanics are going to have to bend a little to allow such a dynamic. I'd like to use mechanics which allow you to build characters in whatever system you like (rules for how you determine success, damage, etc), and I think it would be necessary for stats to be monitored by the players themselves. Think you've earned some extra hit points? Add 'em. Keep your character even with the others even when you're offstage. If the group thinks you've started overdoing it, we'll take a vote and ask you to change it.

 

What I need from all of you:

 

I'd like to hear if you're interested in participating in the RP, the RPG, or maybe even DMing a bit.

 

I'd like feedback on the idea in general, and the setting and system in particular.

[Goldengirl]

I don't want to commit to any RPG, unfortunately. I'm all down for an RP, but I was hoping that was all that would emerge from this discussion of what RP we should have next. That said, the concept itself sounds interesting, and I could even see a controlled RP working under the premise of having someone dictate the events of each island, so that there's someone leading the RP in that sense bit by bit.

 

I'd do this, though just the RP part. My schedule just doesn't have the predictability or the flexibility for a cooperative RPG.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Interested in RPG's , maybe in RP as well but not that much.

[Student of Trinity]

Are you trying to make a hybrid in the sense of two distinct things co-existing — a long RP and a series of RPG campaigns set in the same world? Or do you have in mind a single third thing that mixes aspects of both RP and AIMHack — a sort of RP(G)? I mean a thing where the players post longer entries, as in an RP, but rather than everyone simply deciding for themselves what effects their actions cause, the player posts count as intentions, and the GM determines what actually transpires.

 

I can see either approach being workable, but the second is more interesting as really being something different, instead of just a combination of two things we already know. That said, I don't know whether the RP(G) idea would be a good thing. It would be awfully slow, unless it were handled at a rather higher level than one is used to in an RPG. You would have to have entire combats decided in a single set of player 'moves', for instance. There's no way you could go blow-by-blow. So there would need to be a whole new set of rules developed, I think.

 

The first option also has a clear downside, on the other hand. It seems probable that only the handful of people who participated in the AIMHacks would really be motivated to stay in the RP.

[adc.]

 

Interested in RPG's , maybe in RP as well but not that much.

Same. I haven't tried being in an RP actually, but hey, who doesn't want to experience?

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-Red-eyed phantom

[Lilith]

Are you trying to make a hybrid in the sense of two distinct things co-existing — a long RP and a series of RPG campaigns set in the same world? Or do you have in mind a single third thing that mixes aspects of both RP and AIMHack — a sort of RP(G)? I mean a thing where the players post longer entries, as in an RP, but rather than everyone simply deciding for themselves what effects their actions cause, the player posts count as intentions, and the GM determines what actually transpires.

 

the second is called a play-by-post RPG, and it's only "new" in the sense of being new to this forum. from experience they tend to be glacially slow-moving, even more than normal forum RPs, due to the GM acting as a kind of chokepoint

[Student of Trinity]

Sure — I assumed the concept had been tried. It's much like the play-by-mail games that flourished once, long ago.

 

The question is whether any kind of a re-think could speed it up.