What Types of Games Would People Like To See?
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@Lotherio I never heard of that game!
I would have been all over it if I had, boo. Wild Cards is one of my favorite superhero flavors too. Darnit, I'm sad I missed it. -
@saturna said in What Types of Games Would People Like To See?:
@friarzen said in What Types of Games Would People Like To See?:
A Sunrunner game is a really interesting idea, but I'd have to go back and re-read the source novels...it's been...30 years? since I read the first trilogy.
There is no way in hell I have time to help build a Sunrunners game; I'm behind on GM'ing on Arx as it is!
(And I'm pretty sure @Caryatid should've been tagged there too, as she's a fellow Sunrunners fan.)
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I WANT IT SO BAD PLEASE SOMEONE
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For me personally I'd play almost any theme if it seemed like it had a legitimate shot at dealing with some of the common frustrations I have in the genre.
Feeling entirely left out if you can't play at 8PM EST, feeling like you'll never catch up if you can't play all day or didn't start in beta or don't spend half your time organizing alliances on discord. Spending half your time waiting on staff who are entirely understandably burnt out or logging on and having next to no idea how to be able to get into a scene where I'm writing something other than smalltalk.
I think if a mush seemed like it might solve some of those issues I'd be all over it, even if the setting was Teletubbies.
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@Staricide When we were setting up our design goals for that 80s horror MU we touched on almost everything you mentioned above.
1a) Peak time being outside of YOUR peak time. That's one of the reasons we went with Ares. It has a fantastic scene system that allows you to create a scene and pose at your leisure either on the game or from the web. Our beta test group is from all over the U.S. so when us folk in the E.T. are ready to RP the people over in California are generally still at work. So this allows us to "poke away" at scenes over the course of a day or two if we need to. You can also seamlessly transition from web, to game, back to web as needed using the scene system. It's really fantastic.
1b) Ares also gives a ton of features that allows you to stay connected to the game even when you can't be connected through an MU client. Through the web portal you have access to MU channels, mail, PMs, and jobs. For me it allows me to keep up with stuff during breaks at work and what not.
2A) One of my own issues with getting into new games is breaking through the "clique barrier" or slipping into RP with characters who already have a reason to be tight with one another. Now, I don't use clique in a negative term. It's natural for bonds to form between players and characters that have been on the game longer than you have. It can be frustrating, however, trying to find a way to ingratiate your character without feeling like you're horning in. As staff we felt it as our duty to create organic methods for new players to slip right in with established players.
A: We opted for a small/medium sized town for our setting. This gives everyone a chance to know everyone else or to have coincidental meetings that don't seem forced.
B: We are creating a lot of RP hubs that will encourage certain themes/character concepts(hospitals, PD, fire department, a high school) and locations for players to live and be immediate neighbors with other players(themed neighborhoods, apartment complexes, cul-de-sacs, etc).
RP Hooks. All characters are required to list a number of RP hooks that other players can see and maybe use as inspiration for a character or find out how their character may be able to interact with other characters.3A) As for non-small talk scene access, we're hoping that the above points will help give people tools to naturally break that barrier. We're also a semi-sandbox game so if you have an idea(or see an idea posted on the forums) for a plot, have a few people who want to play that plot, then we give you the tools to run and manage that plot as you see fit(within reason of course).
Anyway, those are the design goals we used to combat the points you made above. Any other ideas of what we(or anyone who is creating a game) could do to help ease new players into an established game?
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@Lotherio said in What Types of Games Would People Like To See?:
Even the want of SW but in another sector not featured in the books so the players become the heroes of the rebellion or whaterver was brought up here, but @Skew has that one going on Ares, using FFG(?)
Not having read ANY of this thread besides that and the title...
We (Alex where are you? ;-; ) created our own world specifically to divorce it from the greater Star Wars universe, so players could make their own stories, as you said, but also so players didn't feel obliged to know all the canon material.
I fairly obviously missed the mark, in that non-Star Wars players were still feeling left out, excluded, behind the curve, while the Star Wars players were perpetually annoyed that things were not as they ought to be. I tried to find the middle ground and ended up shooting right past both groups.
Also, people really, really, really wanted a focus on weapons, armor, gear, ships, etc. We didn't have the code (nor the desire) to focus on that, and it left a lot of people disappointed.
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I just thought of a Marvel-themed game set in Mega City One from Dredd. This thought made me very happy.
Gangs of mutants and Avengers-themed judges fighting it out across one or two massive 2000+ foot tall "blocks" consisting of about 75,000 citizens, each contained with their own gangs, drugs, shopping malls, tattoo shops, people being thrown off the roof, etc. Quicksilver getting dosed with Slo-Mo....
Na-Na-nananana-nerd bonerrrrr
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Actually, the more I think about it the more I like this idea:
The Xavier Institute is now X-Club: A YMCA styled youth outreach/powers control program/orphanage that has control of floors 155 and 156 of "Medford Gardens", which was once intended to be a luxury arcology but turned into a projects/sprawl filled with drugs and gun running.
When there is trouble, Judge Barton and Judge Danvers are sent to serve the public interest...
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@ghost I think I would play the crap out of that.
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@skew said in What Types of Games Would People Like To See?:
Also, people really, really, really wanted a focus on weapons, armor, gear, ships, etc. We didn't have the code (nor the desire) to focus on that, and it left a lot of people disappointed.
Sorry that it didn't work out. FWIW I've been on a couple different SW games that didn't have that kind of focus, so I hope that won't discourage someone else from trying another RP-centric SW game. (I mention this mainly because I'd like to see something like that, though maybe with a sector-wide focus like someone else suggested in this thread.)
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@skew I think this is an example of "What does Theme X mean to you?" We had a similar discussion in one of the Wheel of Time game threads about WoT. To me, Chontio as it was described seemed less a Star Wars game and a more a generic Sci-Fi game inspired by Star Wars.
But speaking of generic Sci-Fi games... I know I'm out for for wanting this but I'd love to see a Treasure Planet themed game.
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One thing I learned running Clone Wars MUX(which ran on TinyMUX and used the D20 Saga rules) was that people like seeing their gear. It's like an extension of their character. I think the thought is "If we're gonna use X system why aren't we using ALL of that system?" I initially had no intention of having gear or sheets for starships but ended up adding them due to incredibly popular demand. We did not see an increase in the +roll system at all after we added it. As I said, I think people just like seeing their gear/armor/weapons/ship stats.
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@ZombieGenesis
I wonder if there's some correlation with "gear" and "systems" in sci fiThe same convo popped up around firefly. The recent Star Trek game based around story and not space sim faltered. Is there something about those genres the players are expecting to possess loots and ships?
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Sci-fi has always struck me as a genre that attracts a lot of system/gear-focused players. No shade, though it's frustrating as a player who gives no fucks about those things but likes sci-fi stories.
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@Three-Eyed-Crow I don't know. I mean, I've played on quite a few sci-fi games that didn't have gear/economy systems (a couple Star Wars places, all the BSG games, Babylon 5, this one Trek game... I think Otherspace had a couple things you could buy but it wasn't an extensive equipment list). They did all right, so it doesn't seem to be a pervasive requirement. Or maybe just a new one.
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Allow me to reinsert my "Some mushers are people who want collaborate writing using RPG IPs as source and OTHER mushers want tabletop RPGs with associated writing" argument.
I think in any RPG, players tend to want to weigh their progress. For some games it's leveling (D&D, d20), others it's dots on systems with no level (WoD), and some systems utilize gear bonuses to supplement stats so that ultimately you can prioritize gear over attributes (Shadowrun, Cyberpunk). Rifts is a mess of levels and gear. Omfg Rifts.
Anyway, D20 Saga SW was more gear/levels. D6 SW was more dots/pips. Your typical TT RPG person will always expect some form of advancement as a reward, and each game system makes it pretty clear what form advancement comes in. D&D has spells/gear/xp, Shadowrun has xp/nuyen/gear, etc.
My point/tldr: Most people who are there for writing/story usually care less about levels and gear, whereas TT RPG minded people often need things added to their sheet to feel like they are keeping up with the rest of the wolfpack.
Edit: @Three-Eyed-Crow and @faraday posted while I was writing this and I think those comments play in nicely to my point. BSG had a system that was low on gear but had an advancement/xp system, which I think was a workable middle ground that kept the dice-minded people happy in terms of advancement, whereas people who cared more about story, like 3EC, weren't bothered by the lack of crunch.
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Sci-fi games are basically the technological opposite of high fantasy games. The reason why sci-fi RPGers love gear is because the settings are usually about stuff. X-wing starfighters, lightsabers, cybernetic eyes, cool guns, nano-gadgets.
IMO it's the same thing as fantasy RPGs being all about scrolls, flaming swords, magical horses, and magical potions; just a different level of tech.
Either way, both fantasy and sci-fi are typically about normal people using the setting's technology to become more than the average Joe to do things the reader cannot do in real life.
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Imagine a space game on Arx code.
o.o
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@saturna Imagine a beowulf cluster of them.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
