Potential Buffy Game

[WildBaboons]

Willow cast a spell? Mages sound OP.

But I've never watched a full episode of Buffy. I didn't have cable when it was airing and whatever station it was wasn't a broadcast. I've seen a few episodes of Angel though and I remembered thinking it looked like a good setting for a game. I keep meaning to put it on the to watch lit but it's such a commitment!

I would avoid forcing people to play young, but a college town/city provides good opportunity for all sorts and people tend to play young anyways.

is the Charmed series related in any way to Buffy and Angel? They seem very similar

[Quinn]

One thing to watch out for, and I think a lot of games run into this not just Buffy settings, is that it's REALLY hard to mesh High School and College. What you're going to see are creepy 14 year olds in relationships with the lone 38 year old that teehee they're totally just friends until that TS page gets maved, and when you try to mesh the plots the older people are going to want to keep the younger ones out/protected which is going to lead to a lot of annoyance for everyone. So then you just end up running things for one or the other and making posts that please no don't sex the high schoolers thank you oh look everyone is now 16+ and it's still creepy please stop.

I'd say either keep it entirely high school or go college+.

If you're doing powers, have people run through your chargen trying to break it. People will come up with the weirdest combos that technically aren't against the rules but are totally broken.

And Monster of the Weeks are always popular, even if there's no monster and everyone just gets to go play a prank on a rival school.

[hedgehog]

@ganymede

So long as you put the Breakfast Club Cafe on the grid, it's all good. Or throw in an homage to my mother-in-law's family and include a Krakov's women's clothing store. And goddamn it don't forget Bill's, even if it's in Centerville.

[ixokai]

@wildbaboons said in Potential Buffy Game:

Willow cast a spell? Mages sound OP.

I know you're joking but it is more amusing to me that on the show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, witches are in fact the most powerful agents. Buffy calls Willow her Big Gun at several points.

That said:

is the Charmed series related in any way to Buffy and Angel? They seem very similar

shudder No not at all.

@quinn said in Potential Buffy Game:

If you're doing powers, have people run through your chargen trying to break it. People will come up with the weirdest combos that technically aren't against the rules but are totally broken.

In my experience across like two and a half Buffy games (the half being Devilshire which I only played at and didn't staff), this isn't an issue at all. Unisystem and the Buffy/Angel RPG simply doesn't work like that.

There are three places where 'broken' comes into play: 1) Stacking packages [suggested HR: You can have no more then 2 packages, and there can be no overlap], 2) you need a HR about Dexterity and extra turns because otherwise Dex is flat out the most important stat and highest Dex wins, and 3) You have to handle magic's consequences well, especially if you're not having slots.

[GangOfDolls]

How much of the game would wander into what happened at the end of Angel? A lot of really interesting stuff happened in the last season that Angel was on the air that ties into the Buffyverse with cliffhangers that didn't resolve until they started up the comics.

Have you thought about how you'd handle this part?

[Ganymede]

@hedgehog said in Potential Buffy Game:

So long as you put the Breakfast Club Cafe on the grid, it's all good.

Out.

Or throw in an homage to my mother-in-law's family and include a Krakov's women's clothing store.

Out.

And goddamn it don't forget Bill's, even if it's in Centerville.

In.

[magee101]

@zombiegenesis If you could get ahold of the BuffyMUD code from Tyr and make a new rp focused game, I would love you and play everyday. Not interested in a MU version of Buffyverse, would rather play VtR and I hate vampire in WoD.

[ixokai]

@magee101 said in Potential Buffy Game:

@zombiegenesis If you could get ahold of the BuffyMUD code from Tyr and make a new rp focused game, I would love you and play everyday. Not interested in a MU version of Buffyverse, would rather play VtR and I hate vampire in WoD.

googles briefly

Color me as so beyond not even vaguely interested in a "rp BuffyMUD".

[Quinn]

@ixokai I staffed Devilshire for three years. People would stack things (or try) that created ridiculously overpowered characters. We ended up making lots and lots of house rules about it and at one point rewrote a ton of the offered packages. Some of the pre-built demons were ridiculous. People were always finding ways to try to start with Dex 9 or 10. Or have that character that couldn't take damage or be killed. And they were very creative with how they tried to do it! We would think we wrote or ruled out ways to abuse the system and then we'd get another crazy app.

[ZombieGenesis]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm now debating between a fictional city and a real one to set the game in. People are right, there are a number of advantages to using a real city. My wife got a kick out of basing it in Ohio as I've been wanting to move there for ages.

We probably won't have a high school, instead focusing on a college (possibly fictional even if it a non-fictional city, we'll see) for those who want that style of RP.

I'm not rushing into things. I'm gonna take a few days to look over my code, patch things I think need patching, and ponder the setting and theme.

Keep the ideas coming though, I do appreciate them.

[Coin]

@quinn said in Potential Buffy Game:

And Monster of the Weeks are always popular, even if there's no monster and everyone just gets to go play a prank on a rival school.

And you make the poor nerdy werewolf have to save the jackass NPC jock from the monsters. >:/

(I have a weirdly vivid memory for some stuff. Yikes.)

@quinn said in Potential Buffy Game:

@ixokai I staffed Devilshire for three years. People would stack things (or try) that created ridiculously overpowered characters. We ended up making lots and lots of house rules about it and at one point rewrote a ton of the offered packages. Some of the pre-built demons were ridiculous. People were always finding ways to try to start with Dex 9 or 10. Or have that character that couldn't take damage or be killed. And they were very creative with how they tried to do it! We would think we wrote or ruled out ways to abuse the system and then we'd get another crazy app.

It was ridiculously easy. Personally I just sort of surrounded my squishy character with those people, but yeah.

[Ganymede]

@zombiegenesis said in Potential Buffy Game:

My wife got a kick out of basing it in Ohio as I've been wanting to move there for ages.

Tell your wife that I can probably get you a decent realtor anywhere in the state.

And, seriously, I will totally work on a wiki and Grid for you, if you pick Dayton. It's under-rated for a game setting. There's so much craziness that could happen here. To the point where the last time I TT'd a game (Werewolf: the Apocalypse, 20th Ed.) I set it here just so we could have fun rampaging through the dilapidated areas of East Dayton, and then hunt for Weaver-things in the ritzy suburbs of Washington Township.

Other highlights:

• Bill's Donuts, as @hedgehog said, which is one of the top donut places in the country.

• Century Bar, one of the best bourbon joints in the country.

• The Pine Club, the No. 2 spot in the country for a steak (behind freakin' Peter Luger's).

• The Tom Hanks Center for Motion Pictures (Wright State University), which, as the name suggests, was co-sponsored and opened by the Oscar-winning actor.

• The Dayton Ballet Company, which is the second-oldest regional dance company in the country.

And why would I do this? Because I like this city, and it will help me learn more about it to build it as a Grid. (Also, because I'm kind of interested in playing a PC.)

[Cupcake]

The real question that needs to be asked, regardless of the location, is:

But does it have a Hellmouth?

[hedgehog]

@ganymede

Okay, the Breakfast Club is admittedly horrible but my husband's grandfather loved it so it has sentimental value (even if we totally avoid it ourselves). Golden Nugget's somewhat better. Sloan-Kettering. That blacklight indoor mini-golf and go-kart place out on the highway. Constant construction on the ramp to Edwin C. Moses Boulevard...I'm pretty sure that that's where the actual Hellmouth is.

And SOMEONE needs to have a job scooping at Graeter's.

Can I play Kim Deal?

Also, hello, Museum of Funk. And the Boonshoft.

https://www.thefunkcenter.org/

https://www.boonshoftmuseum.org/exhibits/discovery-zoo/

[Ganymede]

@hedgehog said in Potential Buffy Game:

Can I play Kim Deal?

What about Allison Janney? Martin Sheen? Nancy Cartwright? Rob Lowe? John Legend? (Okay, I'm stretching with the last one, but he was born in Springfield, so we claim him too.)

[hedgehog]

@ganymede

None of them were in the Pixies or Breeders.

[Wizz]

You should spend some time developing the themes and scale you want as well as the setting. Picking an interesting place is important, but how involved are the various powers at play, and how zany are things going to get?

Like, going back to the whole Buffy vs Angel thing, Buffy was largely agnostic about a lot of the Higher Power stuff? They maybe nudged events here and there, but Buffy herself didn't really seem to care either way about them and her villains tended to be very small scale and personal (until the finale with the First Evil anyway); she just wanted to grow up and live her life. Angel's entire life was constantly screwed with by the Powers That Be, and his whole thing was destiny and fate and ancient prophecies and his villains tended to be (on the whole) huge and impersonal.

Where is the game going to land on that scale? Are there "tiers" of cosmic involvement that players can opt into and out of? Stuff to think about, maybe!

[Quinn]

More importantly you need to define how well known the supernatural is for every day play. If you go with all Slayers activated, have they become mainstream? Does everyone know about them and the monsters they fight now? Or did they activate and did such a good job of killing supernatural stuff that they were able to keep it on the down-low from the general populace? Did it cause monsters on the line to cross over into 'I'm not a baby eater (anymore!)' territory? Are there rocky supernatural alliances? Etc.

But that stuff is going to be important for your regular every day PCs that aren't going to app in as a Slayer or a super/monster of some sort. Part of the fun on Devilshire was that things had to be covered up. Lots of PCP gang wars and meth lab explosions and things and it was fun to watch PCs in the know twist themselves into knots trying to explain what happened to a terrified not in the know PC who just got attacked by a blue bumpy faced...bath salt addict? Sure. Let's go with that.

[Tat]

@zombiegenesis said in Potential Buffy Game:

I'm now debating between a fictional city and a real one to set the game in.

I strongly suggest a real city. Not only is it easier, but you will find inspiration in weird places. I chose a tiny town rather randomly from a map because of its location, and the amount of lore that has sprung up because of things that I've found while googling or looking at maps for the grid is just insane. It would have taken me a lot of world building to get even half as much content - and there's more to draw on when my players decide to GM.

[Coin]

@wizz said in Potential Buffy Game:

You should spend some time developing the themes and scale you want as well as the setting. Picking an interesting place is important, but how involved are the various powers at play, and how zany are things going to get?

Like, going back to the whole Buffy vs Angel thing, Buffy was largely agnostic about a lot of the Higher Power stuff? They maybe nudged events here and there, but Buffy herself didn't really seem to care either way about them and her villains tended to be very small scale and personal (until the finale with the First Evil anyway); she just wanted to grow up and live her life. Angel's entire life was constantly screwed with by the Powers That Be, and his whole thing was destiny and fate and ancient prophecies and his villains tended to be (on the whole) huge and impersonal.

Where is the game going to land on that scale? Are there "tiers" of cosmic involvement that players can opt into and out of? Stuff to think about, maybe!

Well, I mean, Glorificus was pretty big-time, but they curbed her so well within her season that I see how it works the way you're saying it, yeah.

I mean, she was basically more or less around the same scale as Illyria.