High Fantasy

[Lithium]

Is there anything remotely High Fantasy out there that has actual RP?

I know there is Tenebrae, which is Pathfinder, which is definitely high fantasy, but every time I have tried to play there there is /never/ anyone on the grid.

So... anything High Fantasy that has actual RP and not waiting for the next 'Adventure' in the OOC room?

[Bubasti]

I have a bit in Tenebrae, but never managed to find RP or plot in my active timezone (9:00pm PST).

I'll keep an eye on this thread.

[Tempest]

I would love to get to play a fireball-throwing witch somewhere.

Or female-Bronn. Probably female-Bronn.

Tenebrae is the only place I know, also.

I actually considered looking at Blood of Dragons enough that I actually went to their wiki. I immediately recovered from my temporary psychotic break.

[Packrat]

Road to Amber seems to still be populated according to mudstats and I remember it being pretty high fantasy. You could absolutely play a hard ass sword slinging mercenary, or a fireball throwing mage, or an angel, or a (small) dragon.

Very abstract system though and they also combined the 'currency' needed for advancement with the ability to influence plots, which sucked. Getting involved in Big Plot stuff would actually slow down character advancement.

[Arkandel]

I always thought it was really weird there were so few roleplaying D&D or Pathfinder MU* around given how popular they are on table-top.

[Livia]

@Arkandel I dunno back in the day I played at Dragonlance: Age of Mortals in the old D&D 3.5 system and levels make things strange to actually get to throw some dice with the people you RP with. I suppose it's not much different to people having stacks of XP in WoD games vs those that don't, but it feels different when you have a group of players that range from level 2 to level 15.

[Arkandel]

@Livia I don't know! I don't see the difference in that regard - sure, if you're level 7 and I'm level 2 we can't quite adventure together but as you said, a 150 XP GMC Gangrel and a post-CGen 20 XP Mekhet will have a similar issue, and you can always still roleplay with me regardless of the gap - which in itself that's a conversation topic to kick-start the scene ("wow, is that a magic sword?").

To be honest the reason I thought it was weird was there are all these well known settings around, with super detailed and multiple books and novels written to expand them, which aren't getting used. I'd love to play in Faerun or Krynn.

[Livia]

@Arkandel I dunno. On AoM in the Knights of Neraka we had our leader guy who was like level 16 and the next highest was like level 8? We RPd with him all the time but he never got to come on the adventures with us, which slowly just led to less and less happening.

[Apos]

@Arkandel said in High Fantasy:

I always thought it was really weird there were so few roleplaying D&D or Pathfinder MU* around given how popular they are on table-top.

More difficult to run and create a sustainable immersive environment not dependent on staff due to the lack of details in between stories.

[Misadventure]

Probably a dumb question but what are the traits of High Fantasy you are looking for? Lots of magic? Many races and magic creatures? Idealized societies of good and evil? Heroism working out?

[Ominous]

@Arkandel said in High Fantasy:

I always thought it was really weird there were so few roleplaying D&D or Pathfinder MU* around given how popular they are on table-top.

D&D isn't exactly structured for great novel-style storytelling. It's basically a board game that helps you generate random narratives about what happened in a world. Most of the groups I see, especially in the skill heavy later editions, don't even do dialogue. They just go "I try to bluff the guard into thinking we should have access to the castle," then roll some dice.

[Arkandel]

@Ominous That's just depending on the nature of the campaign being ran - I've seen similar/identical groups playing Vampire on table-top for instance.

I don't think D&D is inherently less about storytelling than say, Werewolf is. You can definitely run the latter in an episodic mission-based manner as packs do one hunt after the other.

[Kanye Qwest]

I can see a game with rooms for campaigns (IE PRPS) being run to be super successful, maybe? But maybe not an overarching game world? IDK, I have dreams and plans for a 'randomly' generated room/dungeon/adventure system on Arx that will populate puzzles and ruins and challenges and enemies to fight for people to go through. I bet MUDs already have the equivalent, but ours will have setting appropriate setups and mini stories. Soooooomeday.

[Apos]

@Arkandel said in High Fantasy:

@Ominous That's just depending on the nature of the campaign being ran - I've seen similar/identical groups playing Vampire on table-top for instance.

I don't think D&D is inherently less about storytelling than say, Werewolf is. You can definitely run the latter in an episodic mission-based manner as packs do one hunt after the other.

I don't think it is either, but that wasn't what I was getting at earlier. Okay so take like werewolf characters you see on the wikia for any WoD game, and read them over. I'm positive that if you looked at them, you get a pretty good idea how that character spends their time, day to day, between the major plots that shapes their lives. You can probably picture all the little minor social interactions.

Now try to do the same thing with a lot of dungeons and dragons characters.

The reason that's harder is because those worlds, and high fantasy in general, are usually about portraying a few big changes on how the world is different in really grand overarching themes, and showing how they are very fundamentally different. It's a lot harder to answer the, 'Okay so what does day to day life look like' for those characters unless you have a really good writer that's showing that. Like, you could run a D&D campaign and MU that are set in Joe Abercrombie's first law or dragon age really easily, because they've already shown how those characters work in day to day life. But take random characters from stories set in shadowdale in the forgotten realms. They... hunt maybe? Something? Does Elminster magic away their problems? Who knows!

And those are the questions people need answered when doing the random RP that shapes social interactions on MUs, so anyone setting up a game in those settings has to be the one to answer them, even though the thematic settings already seem to be established.

[fatefan]

I recall a discussion a year or two ago about interest in a Witcher MUSH, although I suppose it might be difficult to get players to do something other than be a witcher or a sorceress, assuming that's a worthwhile concern at all.

[Ominous]

@Arkandel Absolutely you can run deeper, more narrative oriented D&D games. But it is like using machete as a butter knife. D&D does not have the built in design and support for such things like WoD somewhat does or storygames really do. Might as well use a butter knife as a butter knife.

@Apos covers the other end too in that high fantasy focuses on high-level themes rather than the day to day which MUs need to fill in between the world-ending villains trying to destroy everything.

[Wizz]

@Apos said in High Fantasy:

I don't think it is either, but that wasn't what I was getting at earlier. Okay so take like werewolf characters you see on the wikia for any WoD game, and read them over. I'm positive that if you looked at them, you get a pretty good idea how that character spends their time, day to day, between the major plots that shapes their lives. You can probably picture all the little minor social interactions.

Now try to do the same thing with a lot of dungeons and dragons characters. [...]
And those are the questions people need answered when doing the random RP that shapes social interactions on MUs, so anyone setting up a game in those settings has to be the one to answer them, even though the thematic settings already seem to be established.

What you all seem to be saying is that what we think of as a functional, successful MU* needs to look and play basically like a simulator rather than a role-playing game. I think that mindset is also behind a lot of the complaints we have about the state of most current games -- dinosaur characters, treehouse clubs, endless bar-p, sandboxes, etc.

I'd kinda like to see a MU* that is run more like a public OTT. Players can have bits that multiple characters are attached to and these characters are part of limited campaigns (as in, will end, characters get sent to that giant tavern in the sky) with scheduled scenes. "Downtime" rp is an option, but not incentivized or rewarded in any way - no weekly XP, no cookies or votes or whatever.

I mean...I'm not gonna do it but. XD

[Ganymede]

@Wizz said in High Fantasy:

I'd kinda like to see a MU* that is run more like a public OTT. Players can have bits that multiple characters are attached to and these characters are part of limited campaigns (as in, will end, characters get sent to that giant tavern in the sky) with scheduled scenes. "Downtime" rp is an option, but not incentivized or rewarded in any way - no weekly XP, no cookies or votes or whatever.

I mean...I'm not gonna do it but. XD

So, kind of like what @faraday's doing with BSG:U?

[Wizz]

@Ganymede said in High Fantasy:

@Wizz said in High Fantasy:

I'd kinda like to see a MU* that is run more like a public OTT. Players can have bits that multiple characters are attached to and these characters are part of limited campaigns (as in, will end, characters get sent to that giant tavern in the sky) with scheduled scenes. "Downtime" rp is an option, but not incentivized or rewarded in any way - no weekly XP, no cookies or votes or whatever.

I mean...I'm not gonna do it but. XD

So, kind of like what @faraday's doing with BSG:U?

Kinda! Only I'd even wonder about having a unifying setting or theme at all. You could just have randomized, anonymous sign-ups for campaigns or something, and these could be anything from one-shots to month-or-year-long sagas, basically just give people the tools to scratch whatever itch with a given RPG system.

[Lithium]

I miss Treyvan, that game had some drama sure, but it had an /active/ grid. Lots of RP outside of adventures.

Amber is a possibility but I had bad experience on Road... so am hoping that the other one that crops up might not be bad.