DND: a Fiction Light Switch?

[GMMichael]

On this episode of Designers Needing Designers:

Hey designers! I'm writing an online game, interactive fiction, and a solo RPG. All at the same time because they're all the same project. And I need some ideas.

A little background might help the question make sense: the game is played by reading webpages and using rules to create your responses to those pages. The webpages are static, the rules are dynamic. In order to guide players to the right pages, I'm using a mechanism I call "switches." The player keeps track of switches on her character sheet, and "switches" them on or off based on webpages visited or rules outcomes (like what a die rolled).

For example: a player reads a webpage that says, "You are in the dungeon. A ferocious dragon sneers at you from behind heavy iron bars. Game switch ON?" The last part provides a link to a different page IF the player has activated the game switch before entering the dungeon. In the example, the player has not, so she disregards the switch question and "goes" to the next room.
The next room (webpage) says, "You are in the lever room. There is a large sign next to a large lever that says, 'DO NOT TOUCH.'" If the player decides to pull the lever, she's directed to turn the game switch on, noting it with a checkmark on her character sheet. Then if she goes back to the dungeon, her game switch is on, so she must click on the 'Game switch ON?' link to get the alternate version of the room which says, "You are in the dungeon. A ferocious dragon stands outside its open cage, nearly breathing fire down your back. Game switch OFF?" The last part of this alternate page is intended to redirect the player to the original version of the page if needed, or if she arrived there by error.

So I have a series of switches that turn static webpages into pages that at least have a touch of if-then functionality.

And so, my question: one of the switches is like a hallway light switch - it has two stations, both of which can be on or off. Can this be used to give the player a more interesting interaction than if-then? How could it be utilized?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This sounds a little bit like an electronic version of the Lost Worlds or Ace of Aces book games. Or maybe Metagaming’s Microquests for their games Melee & Wizard.

https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Metagaming_MicroQuests_series

Thing is, the first two definitely gave you more than 2 options at any time. I don’t recall offhand if the MicroQuests did or didn’t.

 

[aramis erak]

This sounds a little bit like an electronic version of the Lost Worlds or Ace of Aces book games. Or maybe Metagaming’s Microquests for their games Melee & Wizard.

https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Metagaming_MicroQuests_series

Thing is, the first two definitely gave you more than 2 options at any time. I don’t recall offhand if the MicroQuests did or didn’t.

Aside from fights, yes. Once fights were commenced, they were often boolean outcomes, but not always.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A binary choice is nothing like enough. As mentioned, game books and early computer games generally present more. The most obvious lack is "attempt to gather more information about potential outcomes." Without that it's just random guesswork - you might as well throw a dice or read a novel.

 

[Smackpixi]

Feels like a text adventure, like, for lack of a better example, Zork. You’re deepening it with a character who will have various characteristics, switches on or off, that will make the zork experience more dynamic, if a and b on, but c off, you get a different room experience than if a off, but b and c on.

Fantastic. I feel like the hallway light idea is if a is on (holding melee weapon) and the pet rat (x and z) is out of the box (x) +2 poison damage but if in the box normal damage. It gives more options sure, but all need to be know to the adventurer, needs to know what switches they’re tripping. Which is metagamy to me.

 

[GMMichael]

This sounds a little bit like an electronic version of the Lost Worlds or Ace of Aces book games. Or maybe Metagaming’s Microquests for their games Melee & Wizard.

Very much. I'm a little confused by the term "programmed" at the link, but I guess it just refers to a connotation used before computers took over (judging by the photos).

A binary choice is nothing like enough. As mentioned, game books and early computer games generally present more. The most obvious lack is "attempt to gather more information about potential outcomes." Without that it's just random guesswork - you might as well throw a dice or read a novel.

I updated the OP with detail - the intent is to provide many of the options that game books do, while providing additional rules for combat, while providing the game switches (from the OP) to add a touch of what the early computer games could do. And the OP question is (rephrased): what if a game switch goes beyond ON/OFF, to ON/ON, OFF/ON, or OFF/OFF?

@Smackpixi has the idea. And thanks to the magic of hyperlinks, getting +2 poison damage (for example) can be hidden behind a switch, so it's not as metagamey. So if the player had picked up the poison in a prior room, the poison's page might say "switch ON," which would allow the player to click the "switch ON?" action on the pet rat page, leading to a secondary pet rat page that gives the increased damage.