Cpa Rpg?

[Gizmo]

I`m thinking of running a bit of an RPG-type thing on here, and I seem to remember somebody else doing something similar a while back. Can anybody point it out to me so I can have a look to see what worked and what didn`t?

 

[Spiderman]

Rando ran one a while back; Check the Gaming forum. It basically died because he couldn't run it anymore. Coincidently, he's just starting up a new one, it's also in the Gaming forum.

I'm gonna move this there...

 

[Gizmo]

Gaming Forum

ah, oh here I am - found it.

Well glancing at Rando`s intended RPG system it immediately seems that mine would be different - I`m from a WoD-style storytelling background as opposed to the fantasy hack-n-slash approach, so it would probably be completely different.
My initial plan was that the story is only going to have 1 character in it, and that character would be controlled by the whole group of people - each time I logged on I`d check and see what the group of you have decided to do next and respond appropriately. It`s a different system, and I`ll admit that this is going to play more like a mystery for you to solve as opposed to an open-ended 'create a character' sort of thing - probably more like a Final Fantasy style of RPG than an Ascheron`s Call. Although to prove that I`m not going to be railroading you, even I don`t know how it ends yet - don`t worry, I`ll think of something.

Anybody got any ideas? Or does this sound like a really dumb way to run it?

 

[Spiderman]

Hehe... well, it kinda sounds like a open-story where everyone writes the next chapter. I'm personally not a fan of that kind of writing/way (and I can't write anyway ) because I dislike the loss of control over the character so I probably won't participate in that kind of thing. I'll follow it though...

 

[DÛke]

...do if you wish. It will somethin' I could contribute to, unlike [sadly] Rando's RPG.

I kind of like fantasy, swords, spell-casting, and such...

...what do you have in mind, Gizmo?

...and we don't have to have many people contributing, 3 - 5 would be just fine...so please don't be let down if not many decide to contribue to this thing, because I'm already lookin' forward to it...

...besides, we'll make sure to spice up the story so that even the readers will enjoy it delightfully...

...I hope you have somethin' on the serious side though, I don't like happy, funny stories...

 

[Gizmo]

Well Dukey, you get 50% of what you asked for - the setting is contemporary, but the mood is not intended to be light.
I`ll wait a bit longer to give other people a chance to find out about it, then I`ll launch.

 

[DÛke]

...contemporary? Oh...this will be a good test to see if my imagenation still focuses in contemporary environments as it does in not-so-contemporary...

...I'll be waiting.

 

[DÛke]

...say that the CPA is not really the place of creative writers...

...oh well...

 

[Gizmo]

SCREEEEEECH!

The RPG screeches to a halt, because it seems that Duke and possibly everybody else has misinterpreted what I intended.

Basically I`m hoping to run it like a conventional tabletop roleplay session, with me as a Gamesmaster and everybody else as plyaers, with the sole difference being that instead of everybody guiding their own characters they work together to guide a pre-generated character, very much in the Final Fantasy style of RPG - so rather than writing your own segments of story it would be more like:

Sample player part:
"Can I see anybody about? If not I`ll enter the room and search the desk"

Then I`ll tell you what you see, if there is somebody in the room, and if not what you manage to achieve at the desk.

I`ll probably be logging on to check like 3/4 times each day so the story could hopefully move on quite fast, I`ll also be avoiding being pedantic in order to avoid the natural lag that will occur by us accessing at different times. It might also be the case that several people will have made different suggestions as to what to do next by the time I have logged in, as in:

GM (me):
"you kick your attacker away and he staggers back into a pile of crates, then turns and shoves his way through a door and races out into the alleyway behind"

PlayerA:
"I`ll quickly run after him, I don`t want him to get away"

PlayerB:
"but what if he`s armed, it seems really dangerous to run out into an alleyway when he could be waiting to blow your head off"

PlayerC:
"yeah, I think we should at least check to see if he`s about to ambush us before we go after him"

And then I log on and will have to do my best to unravel the various ideas and keep everybody happy. In the above case I`d probably have you steal a quick look around the corner, then set off after him.
I`ll also ignore stupid ideas like:

PlayerD:
"I`ll pull all my clothes off and run screaming down the street"

Unless, of course, running naked down the street is a reasonable response to the problem at hand.


Hoepfully that should clear things up a little, and be a little more to people like Spidey`s liking. And hopefully Dukey won`t be too disappointed.

 

[DÛke]

...I'm not too disappointed. I guess I did have the wrong impression.

Well, I'm sorry...

...I don't think it's possible to play it though, if we don't have at least 2 people...

...and like Rando's RPG, I won't be able to contribute to such a game due to my time...not much anyway.

 

[Spiderman]

That's what I'd thought it'd be like. And I was saying I dislike the loss of control over the character, because what if I want him to do something but didn't log over the weekend (or the Friday I have off) and all of a sudden he's doing something else? With all the people around here, you know there's going to be some wacky ideas (like stripping naked... ) Tell you what, can I jump in after a while if the game goes contrary to my expectations and it turns out to be something neat?

Trying to have my cake and eat it too...

Edit: Oops, I see you already started. Looks cool, actually! I'm not sure if I am imaginative to deal with the modern setting, but I like it so far...