Where's your RP at?

[Seraphim73]

@Ganymede I agree completely that risk (and accompanying that, loss) is more important that death in making a game with consequences. You can lose territory, belongings, political influence, time, limbs, life... whatever it is, but without loss and risks of said loss commensurate with the rewards you're trying to gain, I think things tend to come off flat.

Sounds like most of us are actually pretty much on the same page though, just some are at the top of the page and some are at the bottom.

[Ghost]

@Alamias I think there is a lot of killing in it, but still, wandering Kung Fu society meets post apocalyptic non-zombie does fit a certain range of lethality

[Arkandel]

@Ghost said in Where's your RP at?:

While it's not entirely lethal, a good IP for a MU might be "Into the Badlands", which is a mix of post apocalyptic setting and wandering Kung Fu badasses. Plenty of non-lethal is utilized in that setting, and your character getting their ass kicked in isn't so lethal.

Into The Badlands was fantastic. I'd play that shit out any day.

[Ganymede]

@Ghost said in Where's your RP at?:

IMO, if your game uses lethal action, then you cannot rule out character death as a result.

Right. I agree. I think the issue here is the agency in making that determination, and recognizing that some players prize their characters an awful lot.

That's why I brought up XCOM2. It stings a lot when you lose a squadmate that you spent an awful lot of time building up. And for what? If you lose a mission, you can lose the game. And if your squadmates are out for a huge amount of time, you can also lose the game.

Again, it's about risk in the end. And risk can come in all sorts of forms, as @Seraphim73 points out. Build in a system where risk is more than just DOOM, and I think you can satisfy everyone. Let death be a choice by players, and I think you meet everyone's expectations.

[Thenomain]

@Ganymede said in Where's your RP at?:

Let death be a choice by players, and I think you meet everyone's expectations.

As it happens, John Wick made two RPGs that approach this question: 7th Sea and Legend of the Five Rings.

In 7S, it's up to the victim to decide if they're dead. In L5R, it's up to the attacker. 7S is a game about high adventure. L5R is a game about intrigue and stealth. In 7S, it'd suck if your high-flying Errol Flynn action made your character dead. In L5R, if you're that careless then maybe your character deserves to die.

Fate Core splits the difference: If it gets that far, your character is simply gone and you can decide if they're dead or have a chance of coming back later.

It's fun to look at the threat dial and its limitations based upon setting and theme, but I agree that in Mu*dom I'd rather have a negotiated outcome or the system to explicitly tell me what the drawback is, ones life or captivity is off the table.

[Ganymede]

@Thenomain said in Where's your RP at?:

L5R is a game about intrigue and stealth. * * * In L5R, if you're that careless then maybe your character deserves to die.

I'm not sure which edition you play, but this is not really true.

L5R is about intrigue, yes, but it is about honor as well. Stealth is frowned upon by most of the Clans. In Bushido, the trick is to use intrigue to force your enemies honorably to do things that are not in their interest. That's why no one likes a Crane, but no one trusts a Scorpion.

[Nein]

@Gilette

Which games? Belatedly: I've been on all the active ones. They generally share the same media character campers, same issues, and same degeneration into The Dating Game.

[Gilette]

@Nein said in Where's your RP at?:

@Gilette

Which games? Belatedly: I've been on all the active ones. They generally share the same media character campers, same issues, and same degeneration into The Dating Game.

Sounds about right. It seems like they all suffer from a lack of active staffers who really want to push some plots - and, sometimes, staffers who are active at all.

[Cupcake]

While watching it the other night, it occurred to me that as a dystopian setting, Into the Badlands might be pretty perfect as a MUSH.

[Coin]

@Cupcake said in Where's your RP at?:

While watching it the other night, it occurred to me that as a dystopian setting, Into the Badlands might be pretty perfect as a MUSH.

It's as good a basis for a MU as any other show, really. Depending on how the second season goes, it'll become clear whether or not they're going to flesh the world out a little more. As it is it's pretty sparse, which is not a condemnation. It was only a 6 episode season. More of a miniseries, really.

[Arkandel]

@Coin said in Where's your RP at?:

@Cupcake said in Where's your RP at?:

While watching it the other night, it occurred to me that as a dystopian setting, Into the Badlands might be pretty perfect as a MUSH.

It's as good a basis for a MU as any other show, really. Depending on how the second season goes, it'll become clear whether or not they're going to flesh the world out a little more. As it is it's pretty sparse, which is not a condemnation. It was only a 6 episode season. More of a miniseries, really.

I couldn't tell while I watched it if the ambiguity was because the writers simply didn't bother fleshing out the setting and giving us more detail, or if it was intentionally that way; in fact for the purposes of making a MU* out of it that might be a good thing - "martial arts meets post-apocalyptic western" is a pretty good base to build on.

[Sunny]

@Cupcake

Yeah, that was one of my first thoughts watching it. I'm not convinced it would actually make a good setting for RP, there are some pretty big issues with the setting as presented, but doing something heavily inspired by could be really good.

ETA: If I wasn't still on my Dragon Age kick I'd probably be looking at this setting a lot more intently.I think it would be a great use-case for FS3.

[Misadventure]

Into the badlands reminded me of Bunraku.

[Cupcake]

I don't know. There's a laid out system of governance, factions that you're able to join, "character classes" in a way, the possibility of super powers, and a cinematic presentation of combat in a setting that has both structure, lore to play with, and an element of openness to make up stuff along the way.

@Coin is right about wanting to know more about the world, though.