Would you play in this game?

[Kzach]

I'm considering trying a new concept for an online Maptools game I want to run but I'm not sure if it's a GOOD concept or if I'm just being an anal-retentive control-freak. Of course, it could be both, hence why I'm asking

The idea is that I have the setting and location of the adventure pretty much predetermined. For the most part, the game will be a railroad in the sense that there will be clearly established and presented goals with limited investigation or ambiguity.

Since the location is set for at least the first ten levels (in and around Neverwinter), part of the 'package' of this game is that there will be five players fulfilling five predetermined roles (defender, leader, controller, strikerx2) using predetermined characters. The characters have been built, 1st to 30th-level, all with Neverwinter themes and using the themes as the character's backstories. The feat and power choices aren't set in stone, but they are essentially optimised towards being exceptional in their role so major changes wouldn't be encouraged unless they maintained that level of optimisation.

There will be roughly 3-4 choices of character per role with the exception of the striker role which will have 5-6 choices.

Now, part of how I'll be selling this concept is that I want people who understand the mechanics of the game well enough to play their roles but who consider themselves more as roleplayers than as mechanics-monkeys. So the mechanics are all done for them. Only a very basic personality is given for the character through the theme and the themes themselves offer a lot of interpretation and holes to be filled so that's where the player can make the character their own. In essence, I'd be hoping that players would breathe life into the empty shells.

I have numerous reasons for wanting to run things this way which I won't go into here as I don't feel they're relevant. My main question here is, "Would this appeal to you or would you turn your nose up at it?"

In essence, I want to know if it's worth the effort or if I'd be left with a fully built campaign and no players to run it with.

 

[pauljathome]

I'm considering trying a new concept for an online Maptools game I want to run but I'm not sure if it's a GOOD concept or if I'm just being an anal-retentive control-freak. Of course, it could be both, hence why I'm asking
.

If this was proposed by a GM who I trusted then I'd probably go along with it (albeit with reservations).

But I wouldn't join such a game run by a GM that I didn't know. The risk of that GM being an anal-retentive control-freak would just seem way, way too high.

 

[Rechan]

I think that regardless of how you pitch it it's going to scream railroad. Not just plotwise, but it sounds like you want to control everything, with no room for players to make any kind of choice.

It might appeal to newbies or people who hate dealing with mechanics at all. But beyond that, I think it will come off as a control freak.

My feeling is is "Hey, you'll save everyone's time by writing this as a story".

Besides. If I couldn't pick the race of the character, then I wouldn't touch it.

 

[Kzach]

I think that regardless of how you pitch it it's going to scream railroad. Not just plotwise, but it sounds like you want to control everything, with no room for players to make any kind of choice.

It might appeal to newbies or people who hate dealing with mechanics at all. But beyond that, I think it will come off as a control freak.

My feeling is is "Hey, you'll save everyone's time by writing this as a story".

Besides. If I couldn't pick the race of the character, then I wouldn't touch it.

But the choices being made are in how to play the character. I'm just providing the mechanics. My aim is to get roleplayers who would otherwise make mechanically weak characters and give them the opportunity to flesh out the personality and roleplay the character through the story.

As far as it being a railroad, it's an online game so flexibility is at a premium anyway, but it'd be tailor-made from session to session, it's just that the goals presented would be predetermined.

As far as choosing race, like I said, there would be about four choices of character per role. The list currently includes (these are only 1st-level versions and there would still be more to come for each role):

Defenders

Kraegan Hammerfist (Dwarf Knight Heir of Delzoun)
Iskaar (Dragonborn Cavalier Devil’s Pawn)
Malindrian Callisal (Eladrin Knight Illiyanbruen Guardian)

Controllers

Thaedan (Elf Hunter Seeker of Illefarn)
Belesara (Tiefling Pyromancer Renegade Red Wizard)
Nika (Shadar-kai Bladesinger Scion of Shadow)

Leaders

Ulaea (Human Sentinel Pack Outcast)
Aelar Sunbringer (Half-elf Warpriest Harper Agent)

Strikers

Vorgrym (Drow Executioner Bregan D’aerthe Spy)
Roberta Westley “Red” (Human Thief Daughter of Never)
Anders (Halfling Fey Pact Hexblade Spellscarred Harbinger)


The irony here is that what I'm after is people who don't care about the mechanics and can roleplay any character and yet the feedback I'm getting (not just from this thread) is so far that people wouldn't do it because mechanical decisions affect roleplaying choices.

 

[Rechan]

But the choices being made are in how to play the character. I'm just providing the mechanics.

Yes. I understand that is your goal, your intention.

What I am saying is that it's not going to look that way to other people. This is just the gut reaction that comes across.

Ultimately players will have the feeling that those characters do not belong to them. They were handed over.

 

[Rechan]

If you just want to handle the mechanics, then why not crunch all the numbers after players pick race/class/theme?

Just say 'I'd like people to pick among these themes and these roles please'.

Players pick their race/class(build), pick their theme, and then you handle all the mechanics? That gives players some illusion of choice as opposed to just deciding from a group of pregens.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

Wouldn't go near it.

 

[CherubKid]

I read the OP as saying the campaign would take place on a Railroad. I would totally play a campaign set on a Railroad. Awesome.

 

[Umbran]

I'll be a bit of a counterpoint here...

What you're suggesting doesn't sound all that outlandish to me. But then, I play theater style larps, where being handed a character that you didn't stat up, that you didn't write the background for, or that you didn't even directly choose for yourself is fairly regular.

In the larp world, though, they don't usually just toss them out on the desk and have you choose. They usually have you fill out a questionnaire, and you are cast in the character that most closely fits your preferences and/or that the GMs feel you'll do best with or otherwise have most fun with.

The expectations in the tabletop world are usually a bit different, though. You're going to have to sell it a bit differently than a normal game - suggest it is more like tournament play, perhaps.

 

[OnlineDM]

I know that I've had a lot of fun role-playing pre-generated characters before, which is basically what you're talking about here. However, those experiences were all one-shot games for organized play, not an ongoing 10-level campaign. I think I'd get sick of having a pre-gen with all mechanical choices made for me after a level or so.

Now, if you plan to run this as a drop-in game on MapTool, where you might not have the same group of players from session to session but you will have the same group of characters, this might work. Players might only stay for a few sessions each, but if the game is attractive enough you might get a stream of interested people who keep checking it out for a while.