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Tweak says, "Saddler, you're small time!"

🍆 (eggplants) wrote in rp_tutorials,
@ 2012-07-23 19:46:00

Hello, lovely people of

rp_tutorials . I'm here today to ask for feedback, ideas and suggestions. I don't know if this is kosher, but if it isn't, I'll remove it.

A friend and I are making a game. It is an AU Batman Nolan-verse inspired game but with a completely different twist. We will be taking elements of video games, board games and table-top roleplaying games into our game's mechanics and I hope that you will take a look and tell us your thoughts. Is it too complicated? Is there something wrong? Have you done something similar and want to offer a suggestion? Please feel free to do so below.

So a brief intro to how our game works. We, the mods, will be acting as cheoreographers to the plots in the game, big and small. This means that at any point of a plot, you may suddenly get a message like 'your mole in the GCPD has been found out' or 'your communication system stops working when you enter the building'. We will also be rolling dices for fights, injuries, gang turf wars etc.

So far, we have a points system to help with activity checks, second/third/whatever character slots, and the overall running. Points will also be a way to reward players who are active by giving them options to buy 'character upgrades' and plot 'props' for their personal plots. I know this isn't for everyone so the store will be optionable and players can opt to not buy anything but they will be more vulnerable to hacks, invasions etc.

Like a video game, every character starts with different tech and gadgets and have homebases that they can upgrade with points. They may unlock special clues and maps to help them with mod-run plots and buy special gadgets or henchmen that they would require for plot purposes. Even a 'get out of jail free card' for villains with enough points. They can even hire NPCs.

Like monopoly, you can build different houses and lairs for each character on their own turf and if a villain get's captured, you roll for thee possible outcomes (your attorney wins your case, you manage to escape in the process, you go to jail) and of course, the 'get out of jail free card' as seen above.

Like Battleship and Risk, villains and heroes alike start out with their own territories. Villains can try to buy more 'gang land' with points or target other player's turf with dice rolls and risk points (like gambling). Whether they win or lose, the other player can of course attack back and start turf wars or vendettas. Likewise heroes start with patrol zones and try to eradicate the villains from the city. Likewise they can buy them with points or roll and risk points and a potential arch enemy scenario can be forged.

And finally since this is essentailly a rpg, we still focus on the actual writing side of the game. We plan to give out bi-weekly prompts that players can volunteer for more points to help move things along and encourage interaction between characters. There could be straight forward prompts like 'CHARACTER A starts a fight with CHARACTER B in a bar' or more mysterious ones like 'CHARACTER A find a package on a roof' whereby we reveal the surprise after someone volunteers.

...I think that's all for now. TL;DR eh? Thank you in advance.

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passion
2012-07-26 05:57 pm UTC (link)

i agree with the above commenter - using batman for this type of thing is pretty much genius; it reminded me right away of arkham city. there are just a few things i wanted to add:

- the rolling dice part of it might be off-putting for players who want to be able to predetermine or decide with the other player involved who wins a fight between their character and another. for something on a much larger scale, like a huge gang turf war or an all-out battle between the forces of good and evil, rolling dice makes sense, as there are a lot of factors to consider, but having everything be left up to chance in one-on-one situations will definitely make some otherwise interested players uncomfortable, especially since the act of the rolling itself is being taken out of their hands by the mods. players tend to see their characters as just that - "theirs," and not for other people to take away and play with.

- the maintaining of atmosphere in a game of this scale and style would, i believe, be INCREDIBLY important. not only does the feel of gotham and batman need to be evoked to make the setting real for the players, but there are so many other elements than writing in the game that it would be incredibly easy to get bogged down in things like points and numbers and upgrades and forget that, hey, you're here to write and play these characters. in a video game, like in arkham asylum and arkham city, there is great integration of the points system and the upgrades system, but it's still not seamless. even while you're playing, the upgrades system feels sort of false. roleplay games rely very heavily on immersion to create a positive experience for players, and your other components of gameplay need to be weighed against the value of immersion in the game.

whew, i'm sorry for that tl;dr! honestly, though: i'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this game and you might even find me around when it opens. you have put a lot of thought into this concept and i hope to see the full creation soon!

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seventhbeacon
2012-07-27 03:07 pm UTC (link)

I'm inclined to agree that in smaller encounter/fights, usually between two players, the outcome is determined by them. If they want a die roll or coin toss to determine outcomes, they can do it as well.

Immersion is definitely key. All of the points system values are based on RP posting, and apart from maybe a special event, we're hoping that only being able to (possibly) grab one turf in a two-week period will keep the game from being simply a board game. A player makes a turf grab request during the period, and we determine the outcome and announce it at the beginning of the next period when doing the bi-weekly prompts and story updates.

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