This is the Message Centre for Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

Role Play

Post 1

Wiro

Hi, I am a fool and have decided for my advanced higher information systems to make a (database enabled) website for running RPs, along the lines of what you did in the assasins guild awhile back. though the site/forum would be designed with that in mind rather than being a standard forum used for that.


So, since I don't know RPs very well, if i were to make the site and make you a games master in one or more of the games, what features would you like.

What information as a player would you like.

basically what features should the site have?


I have ideas so far which I will post once soon, just wanting to ask in the rare occasion that you are online!


Role Play

Post 2

Wiro

smiley - yikes my proposal is due in on friday


Role Play

Post 3

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

Thats good because I'm online now and will be a lot more now my house is online again.


Role Play

Post 4

Wiro

Well so what would you want out of a site if you were the game master to allow you to run a role play?


so far i have come up with, within the Game forum, each thread is a game. within that the players(users) can only post once per round. Then the games master can prevent furtehr postings when they decide giving time to write the reply. then when they post that it resumes and a new round is begun so the users can post again.

to help that along a table with data for the stats of that users character in that game, a virtual dice, what are all the differnd ones u need. to help the game master.



what are your thoughts, what would you want?


Role Play

Post 5

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

Firstly I think you a masochist, there are so many easier products out there.

I'll write a wish list, some of these are optional and you can run a game without - for example you dont *need* pictures, you can decribe anything you can draw but you do need to be able to communicate with the players.

As a DM

A list of currently online players so that I know who I'm talking to.

The ability to post to a group of players, if for example I want to give a ruling or mention something that everyone sees.

The ability to post to an individual player, if for example they can
see something the others can't and I don't want to ruin any suprised.

Some way of storing and retriving information on each player/their character quickly. (So for example if I have a list of players online I can click on one of them to bring up their stats) the problem is that unless you plan to make it for a specific rules system you need to make what the stats are editable.

The ability to save a session so far (because despite best intentions DMS never get how long it will take players to do something right)

The ability to block communications if I'm using timed moves, simuliposting was a problem last time so being able to click a time up button would make things a bit easier.

The ability to monitor player-player communications, it helps to be able to keep track of what people are doing to each other

DM type tools - random number generators for dice etc.

The ability to upload art onto the site (For example if the players find a map or I feel like showing how the dragon looks)

The ability to see the players rolls. The biggest problem with online games is that players cheat and make up their rolls scummy cheating munchkins.

As a player

The ability to communicate with everyone else publically. (So I can comment on the game, plan things etc.)

The ability to commuicate with both other players and the DM privatally (For questions like "Why don't we kill Tim and split the loot two ways instead of three" and "What do I reckon the chances of taking Tim out wihtout making enough noise to alert the others is if Machievelli here helps me" that you might not want to voice publicaly)

The ability to pull up my own character sheet.

The ability to pull up other players character sheets (However as a DM I wouldn't want my players doing that because if a player is playing an arrogant character they may want to say that they are better than they are and how would the player know different until they were told - so if this feature is there it needs to be disableable by the DM)

The ability to see the DMs rolls. The biggest problem with online rpgs is that the DM keeps making up his rolls to kill the players. The power hungry maniac.

Thats all I can think of for now, but more will come, mostly because my creative skills are always at their best when I know that it can make someone elses life harder.


Role Play

Post 6

Wiro

cool, well you are probs right about the whole thing.


though i wanted to do something differnt to whole thing where half the class are actully making sites for reviewing music and listiening to samples.


I have i think quite a bit of time to work on this smiley - erm

If images were uploaded able i think it would be to a dedicated picure area for the game ratehr than with the posts, keeping hte main part text based.

so with the virtual dice you would want it so that all the rolls generated are posted along with what the DM says?

so also a private message type thing, would you want this to become visable to all users when the game reaches its climax.


saving thing? it is forum based so, its all posts so it will always be there ... (unless the server dies)


Role Play

Post 7

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

I was typing all that while you were posting so I only just noticed that you have a fairly good framework.


Role Play

Post 8

Wiro

yeah, but that without seeing my post was good, got what you wanted without influence from what i was already thinking.

glad you think it is a good framework.


Role Play

Post 9

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

I'm sure it's a hypothetical possibility we can post to this thread without simuliposting.

A dedicated picture area is fine as long as it can be linked to from the text based area in some way.

All rolls would be bad - for example suppose I have a shapeshifter and theres a 77% chance of him attacking at point A and a 33% chance of him attacking at point B. The players reach point A and the random generator comes out with 79, no attack, then the players are going to want to know what that roll was for.

Some rolls wouldn't be any good because if he's going to cook the books a DM could just only register one's he likes anyway. Its probably best to leave the DM to say what happens and forget about the dice rolls.

Maybe having a game over button the DM can press which would make all conversations accesible by all players? That way you can see who was *really* plotting against you :P

I didn't know it was forum based when I posted my last response. Of course in your writup you can always say that I said make it savable and that contributed to the forum decision rather than leaving it a happy coincidence.


Role Play

Post 10

Wiro

so the system taking note of the rolls is not a ppropriate, though you would still want a virtual dice feature to chose so u don't lose them on your desk.





lol, i was having it forum based all along. which means though it would mean not everyone has to be online to play it all at the same time, would be a pain in the arse for people missing goes.



I think i may have to print this thread off and then use it to type up the features.

All i need at the moment is the proposal of ideas, i can figure out how Intend to achieve it later. though i will keep that in mind as I include the features.


out of curiosity do you currently know of any systems that work in a similar way to waht i am describing, if so what do you think of them?


Role Play

Post 11

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

I'm not sure about each player being allowed to post once per round, for example suppose a player says "I go through the door" and the DM says "Which door?" then how does the player respond?


Role Play

Post 12

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

There are a lot of MUDs (multi user dungons) out there which may or may not be similar, I've never used them. Maybe this will help: A592535 If not you can certainly ask the researcher who wrote it for a description.


Role Play

Post 13

Wiro

ok (this is why i am asking about it)
the limiting of posts per round would be more of a hinderance than benifit (easier to code without the limit).


Role Play

Post 14

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

I suggested above that the DM be able to block postings, so that he could work out results without interruption another idea occurs to me. If you wanted a variable pace of game on site you could make it possible for the DM to enter a time and date for posts to be blocked so you could have, for example, one move per day or one move per 10 mins depending on the DM and players.


Role Play

Post 15

Wiro

well what i was initially thinking was the DM to manually block further posting.

entering times at which to automatcially block posting wouldn't be to hard to do.

though 1 move perday would be a slow game smiley - tongueout


Role Play

Post 16

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

I have this vision of a group of 80 year olds in the retirement home excited that they can finally level up their characters for the first time.

Come to think of it a roleplaying retirement home isn't a bad idea...there are enough roleplayers in the world...and they tend to get older every day...and you'd have no competition.


Role Play

Post 17

Wiro

well i am off to bed now, don't have to be into school tommorrw until after 11. though i have stuff that i need to get done.


will condense down the suggestsions make a list of the things I think i can get to work and then write my proposal.


thanks for the help so far.


though I may be asking about things about the ideal way of it appearing to run to those using it to make it hopefully seemless


smiley - cheers


Role Play

Post 18

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

No worries. Good luck and sleep well.

A thought before bed: I get an extra month off :P


Role Play

Post 19

Wiro

Feature/wish list extracted from conversations with both Flamestrike and Acid Override, with a few ideas that came as i wrote it added.


Forum based posting system (always was)

Theard would be a game.

No limit to postings per round. Though the DM can enforce in his replies only 1 action per round.

DM (Dungeon master) can block further posting to game to allow him to respond.
DM can set an automatic time limit at which to block further posting

Player stats editable by the DM to keep track of the game

(Physical = Strength, Dexterity, Stamina/Constitution. Mental = Intelligence, Wisdom/Wits. Personal = Charisma, HP, Armour, skills?, experience?)
Perhaps have no set stats, stats created at the beginning of a game, or have stats used selectable from a list of types or RP.

Virtual dice to aid the DM (list of possible dice that can be used across a number of games, not all need used in a game)

Player inventory – for use when DM says players can only carry so many items.

List of online players/players in current game
-click to take up stats?

Public/private posting – allowing private messages between DM and players. Also player-player (viewable by the DM)
At the end of the game the DM can make all these private conversations visible.

Linkable image area?

NPC statistics table for DM to aid keeping track. – what it is/type/animal, HP.


character sheets?- controlled by DM


smiley - erm what is actully held on a character sheet? and how constant is it between games.


Role Play

Post 20

Acid Override - The Forum A1146917

The problem is that games can vary. Lets assume for a minute characters won't be ported cross game because thats just hard.

What about having each character represented by a thread or a webpage then making it so that the player can view it and the DM can edit it and give the player permission to edit it. When a DM starts a game he can specify that players can create their own character sheets and/or get existing character sheets from previous games (by URL or thread reference? Searchable by character name or thread title?) and any player joining can choose whether to take a character that the DM has loaded or make their own (if allowed)

As for different types of character you have real problems. Whitewolf for example splits mental stats into Intelligence, Wits, Perception and Willpower. AD&D just uses Intelligence and Wisdom. Traveller uses Intelligence and Education. Cthulu uses Intelligence, Education and Power. So theres no way you can fix what the attributes are going to be. Now if you've made each character sheet a thread things are easy. The DM or player just types whatever he needs in the free text. Otherwise things get complicated. The best solution I can think of if you want a number of fields is to have a character sheet creation tool seperate from the character sheet. If I were to do that on one computer I'd have a box for the number small fields names seperated by commas and one for each of medium and large boxes the same. Then I'd save that as a text file. When I opened it I'd have the program iterate over the list of names and change the properties editbox of the right size to the correct title and unhide it. (Of course the number of hidden textboxes is a limitation and certain combinations would look odd) I don't know how it would be done online.

Dice are easier. Have some fields into which the DM can place a single number or a list of numbers and can click on roll to get a result. For example if I was playing AD&D I would enter 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 20 to get the types I would need. I might want an extra box free so I can put in [4 4] for a 2D4 roll rather than clicking on the same button twice. OR [6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6] for the fireball that I intend to wipe out the party :P Since these don't come up too often and you can't be expected to think of every possible combination I wouldn't mind typing it in each time. If I was playing cthulu I just enter 100 into one of the boxes and leave it at that.

Not sure how useful NPC stats are - the reason is this: A DM will generally prepare his game offline and I can't see why he would go to the trouble of adding all of the stuff to an online server when he already has it to hand by his PC. If you intend for DMs to create the game online they will need a mapmaker as well as an NPC editor (which obviously needs to be as flexible as the character sheet.


Key: Complain about this post