POSSIBLE UNIQUE GAME I CAN RUN AS A PbP

[megamania]

Some of my friends and I were talking about PbP and Storyhours the other day. And from this I have a thought or two.

In my Strikeforce: Morituri Storyhour I had a special dimension that was Runningman meets DnD meets X-crawl called THE WORLD BELOW. I was wondering if anyone wanted to try this as a PbP.

I would PREGENERATE 10 characters from each game world (F Realms, Scarred Lands Eberron) and players would pick 4 or 5 from the list. Then as teams, you would compete against other "game worlds" to win. As in the World Below and X-Crawl, there would be several DJs (Dungeon Judges) made up of my two friends and myself.

Essentially, there would be four teams of 4-5 PCs competeing at the same time to win. They would have a dungeon with creatures and traps galore. And while dealing with these and a "capture the flag" type of thing going, may run into each other and have to role play it. Fight or not? In the end only one team survives and wins.


So what I am asking is -

1 Are Pregenerated characters a problem?
2 Is there interest in such a game?
3 Any thoughts on troubleshooting. I figure there will be four PbPs running at the same time with a fifth being when teams conflict.

Please let me know. Something like this will take 100s of hours to set up and do so I want to know if there is interest in it before I start.

I figure start time will be June or even July.

 

[Jdvn1]

It'd be interesting to try, but I'd mention a possible problem: Timing.

Different parties are going to be going at different paces. It'll be a huge headache to make everything line up correctly.

 

[khavren]

Problems off the top of my head:

Posting speed, one team moves faster in time

Cross gaming : Are there enough active players to cover that many games?

Reading other threads: No way to stop people from checking on the progress of the other teams

world knowledge: Unique worlds?

 

[megamania]

Problems off the top of my head:

Posting speed, one team moves faster in time

Cross gaming : Are there enough active players to cover that many games?

Reading other threads: No way to stop people from checking on the progress of the other teams

world knowledge: Unique worlds?

Posting would be once each team member has posted a turn I advance. So it is important to keep with the game. If you look only once a week, this would not be a game for you.

Enough players? Don't know- that is in part why I am posting this inquery

Until they reach the battlefields- It wouldn't matter too much. They may learn tactics that are a favorite with the other teams or if an ambush is coming but I can work on that.

When I say "Unique" the team members would be examples of the campaign worlds. Thus in part why I want to do the creating. For examples- TEAM: EBERRON would have a choise of Warforged and Shifters or Changlings because they belong to THAT world. Team REALMS would not have these races but may have a Spellfire class member.


Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

[khavren]

Relative balance. Most games balance races/classes within the game, different games can get alot more complex/powerful base character types. compare shadowrun vs 1st ed dnd

 

[megamania]

Relative balance. Most games balance races/classes within the game, different games can get alot more complex/powerful base character types. compare shadowrun vs 1st ed dnd

3.5 tends to be better at that especially since it is all WoTC games involved. The other thought I had is creating 3 factions per "game world" and one player is in charge of each faction instead of 4 players with four different characters.

For examples-

Eberron- House Cannith Wand Mage leader with Warforged under him or her of mixed classes

F Realms- Drow Preistess with other drow and a bunch of regular slave kobolds or goblins

Like I said- its something I really want to do but I need to figure out and iron out the winkles and thought veteran PbP players would be the best at pointing out the wrinkles.

 

[megamania]

If campaign style balance is an issue then maybe stick with all eberron or all Realms teams and if it goes over well try a new campaign world the next time.



Also- this is a "simple" Hack 'n' Slash adventure. It's about the craziness and traps and situations that would make this fun.

 

[Bront]

Interesting concept.

I'm not a HUGE fan of pregen's, but I understand the need they fill. Perhaps instead, you can supply a character type slot, and allow people to post a character to fill it.

AKA: D&D party: 1 Warrior, 1 Roughish, 1 Healer, 1 Arcanist, 1 Utility (Combo or dupe of one of the other options)

Another option, is to supply backgrounds, and let players pick a background and submit a character for it. Gives you more control, but lets players customize their character.

Or, simply leave a few feats and skill points open for the player to choose, though this is still fairly limiting to the player.

As for Timing, simply say "Game progresses twice a week, weather you've posted or not. Non-posters will be NPCed, and non-posters who miss more than 3 turns without a prior warning to the GM/Party will be replaced as a player.

I'd find this interesting and might be willing to try it.

 

[Nephtys]

Interesting concept.

I'm not a HUGE fan of pregen's, but I understand the need they fill. Perhaps instead, you can supply a character type slot, and allow people to post a character to fill it.

I second that. At the very least you could allow the players to modify the pregens.

I might also be interested.