Definately interested Felix!
Sounds exciting
| The One Ring http://wwww.one-ring.co.uk/ |
|
| Attention Vassal Players: Roleplay in Middle Earth? http://wwww.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=16049 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:23 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Attention Vassal Players: Roleplay in Middle Earth? |
Hi everyone, you're probably asking yourself; why is he posting for players of a roleplaying game on a site for war gaming? A couple of reasons that I'll elaborate on later but the short versions are 1) I'm hoping to find players that haven't been jaded by enumerable crappy RPG experiences and 2) the game will be on-line using a virtual gaming space much like Vassal so players who know that venue can be fun might give it a go. I'm a few months away from any practical and achievable start date so I decided to post here on opponent finder to gauge interest before I invest in the virtual gaming tools I'll need to make the game happen. If there is interest we can relocate to the campaign forum later. Here is some preliminary information and topics for future posts that I hope will pique interest. The virtual gaming table I will use is Battlegrounds (http://www.battlegroundsgames.com/index.html). I've used it before. Its quite good. Not as stable as Vassal but it makes up for that in much better graphics and its customizable to different RPG requirements without having to write code. Make sure to check out the screen shots and please note the app downloads will be free for players! The RPG rules set I will use is FUDGE (Freeform Universal Do-it-Yourself Gaming Engine)(http://www.fudgerpg.com/fudge.html). Why not Middle Earth Roleplaying (MERP) or the LotR Roleplaying Game? I'll elaborate later but for now... cause its free. I'll be posting on the following over the next week or so:
Does this sound interesting to you? Please post me back if it does and don't worry, participating in the discussion doesn't mean you're committing to play it just gives a sense of how popular or un-popular the idea is among on-line LotR:SBG players. Also, if you're not interested butknow another who might be please pass along the link to this thread.[url][/url] |
|
| Author: | Alatar [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:50 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
I'm certainly interested Felix, but not sure how practical it is. I'm based in Ireland, so time zones could be an issue. I'm assuming this isn't turn based PBEM style? |
|
| Author: | TheBucklandBrewer [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:14 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
Definately interested Felix!
Sounds exciting
|
|
| Author: | Zagoroth [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Will this be an RPG based on the basic structure of the game already? That is there are skirmishing battles and then RPG elements outside of battle? |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:47 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Alatar wrote: I'm certainly interested Felix, but not sure how practical it is. I'm based in Ireland, so time zones could be an issue. I'm assuming this isn't turn based PBEM style?
Stay tuned, I'm not opposed to selecting a "time to play" with my more positive GMT bretheren. We will get to that eventually, for now its great to see international interest. It would be a huge creative benefit for the game if people from different cultures all contributed! |
|
| Author: | Optimus Rhyme [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
This sounds very intriguing. Count me in! |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Zagoroth wrote: Will this be an RPG based on the basic structure of the game already? That is there are skirmishing battles and then RPG elements outside of battle?
Yes but please recognize the skirmish combat will use the FUDGE rules set. Its very different than LotR:SBG although one can recognize universal approaches like rolls to hit, and skill rolls for magic use and physical feats like balancing and jumping. Otherwise, totally different. |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Why Battlegrounds? Well it has everything to do with the element of combat in what I consider a fun adventure game. That is to say in an adventure game there should be some fightin’. Reasonable people can disagree on how much fightin’ makes a good game but most agree there should be some. My particular taste as an avid war gamer as well as roleplayer is that if there is to be combat it should be challenging; requiring tactical planning and execution. Enter Battlegrounds! My personal opinion of Battlegrounds is that despite its warts (it crashes on occasion) it provides the depth of detail in the imaginary space for combat to take on a tactical challenge. In other words, can you have a strictly conversational RPG experience on-line that includes combat? Absolutely but it will be cinematic not tactical in nature. The other big benefit to Battlegrounds is how beautiful it can be. The maps and cartography that one can present to the group using Battlegrounds fuels the imagination. Of course there are other ways to share images in an on-line game but I like Battlegrounds because it has it all – tactical game table and image sharing capability. I’ll post more about FUDGE later but I did want to mention one important facet of it on this post because it’s relevant. If you prefer LotR:SBG to say Warhammer 40K or Flames of War or even more poignantly some of the old Grognard chit games like GMT’s Great Battles of History series, you will appreciate FUDGE. Why? Because everything takes a little longer on-line so you have to streamline where you can without sacrificing a fundamentally predictable outcome with a dash of randomness to make a Game of it. I think LotR:SBG is exactly that and my opinion is that FUDGE is similar in intent of design, i.e., tactical but light and quick. One last comment, there’s gonna be a whole lot more than fightin’ going on in the game but that’s for a later post – stay tuned.
|
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Tue Sep 08, 2009 6:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Why Fudge? Three main reasons:
The page I linked to in my original post includes another link to the free download for the FUDGE rules set. Everything you need to create and advance a character and comprehensively understand the dicing mechanics we will be using can be found in the free download. There are other versions that are more elaborative but this extra text largely provides options for GMs and isn’t necessary to play, understand and have fun playing FUDGE. I personally use the 10th Anniversary Edition. If you have the means it can be purchased from RPGNow.com as a PDF download or better yet, ask your friendly neighborhood games store to ask their supplier for a copy. Regarding quick and simple… I’m asking players who aren’t necessarily RPG vets to take a chance on a new experience. I want to keep the learning curve manageable for everyone. Also, playing most turn based games on-line takes a little longer than face to face. There is a lot of mouse clicking and right clicking going on so its not as quick as pushing the figs around a battle mat and grabbing a fist full of dice. Deeply simulative games that require many movement considerations and dicing results slow an on-line game to a crawl. A rule set that is simple with as few dicing requirements as possible and that can still deliver a tactical challenge is what we need. In my opinion FUDGE delivers exactly that. The coolest thing about FUDGE in my opinion is how you can layer it. For example, I’m envisioning an almost dice free conversational approach to most aspects of the storytelling piece of the game (unless of course success or failure could be a plot turning event) while at the same time I’m envisioning a more simulative combat engine. Not as light as say Basic Roleplaying but not as heavy as D20. FUDGE can deliver both light and “weighty-to-taste” in one rules set without breaking. The last thing I love about FUDGE is it avoids the killer of most RP game groups… the dreaded, “Guys, I want you to meet my new RPG girlfriend – Yoko Ono!” The rules facilitate each individual player determining what they want to focus on: don’t care about archetypical attributes like strength and charisma? – don’t build your character that way. If you read a concept in another game that you have just got to play FUDGE can be used to build that character without changing the rules set, forcing everyone to buy and read the new text and possibly forcing some to quit in frustration. I’ll elaborate later on exactly how combat will work. This post is intended to give some insight on why I’m advocating FUDGE vs some of the other more obvious choices like MERP, LotR or D20. |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Time & Duration of the Game What I’m hoping to offer is an adventure that feels like a novel or a movie. That is, it has a beginning and an end not that it has already been written and is unchangeable. After all that’s why we play RPGs instead of consuming other media – it’s a great story and it’s a creative outlet. What I would like to offer to those who might be interested is a game that will last 6-8 sessions. For example if one was to break down The Fellowship of the Ring novel into sessions; six sessions might be the flight to Bree and if the group was really having fun maybe Weather Top and the race against time to Rivendell might be sessions seven and eight respectively. I’m estimating each session will last about three hours. I’m completely flexible about how often we play but I would suggest that monthly is too long to keep the excitement building and anything more frequent than weekly would be unmanageable from a prep time perspective. This probably doesn’t need to be said but in case it does; no matter what frequency we choose we play when most people are free to play. In other words the need to cancel because of real life is totally acceptable. Maybe we will have a rule of thumb that as long as there are at least three – game on. So what happens if at the end of eight sessions max we are all having great fun and want to continue (or even most of us want to continue)? Well, we do… the only thing I would ask is that we have an open and honest discussion about what is next before continuing. Do we want to change anything (characters, setting, even genre)? Does someone else want to GM? If we choose status quo - great but if not we form a consensus, stay a group and we try something different. Any questions feel free to post back or PM. |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Theme & Setting for our Middle Earth Often when I bring up the subject of roleplaying in Middle Earth with other RPG fans I get a response that goes something like “it’s too restrictive” or “everything has already been written”. Now I don’t subscribe to those opinions but I do see the point. One of the most enjoyable parts of roleplaying is doing it yourself. There are lots (way too many in my humble opinion) of published settings out there that define a world but because in Tolkien’s ME we know there is a ring, it’s the one ring of power, it has caused and will cause a war in which good will triumph over evil there is a blind spot to all the space still available for exploration. Reasonable people can disagree on whether the blind spot is exaggerated in size or just right but regardless I do want to address the perception in our setting design. Now we won’t be messing with Tolkien’s themes but I think I have a creative solution that might satisfy Tolkien devotees and non-fans alike on the subject of setting. The world (or map of ME) will be as it’s defined in the LotR series. The peoples that populate the ME will generally be located within the regions we all know, e.g., there is a Southern Kingdom of men it is called Gondor, to Its North is another Kingdom of Men it’s called Rohan, etc. But, where we will depart (and I hope this is not too blasphemous) is in what we consider to be the mythological canon in all its depth. I propose that for the purposes of named heroes, mythological background, historical enemies and alliances we will consider only one text, The Hobbit. If it aint explicit in the Hobbit it aint an established fact in our world! For example there is a Gandalf and an Elrond but is there a Galadriel or an Aragorn? It depends on if as a group of players we want to introduce that fact into our ME and then deal with it in game. One last restriction, I’m referring to the prose of The Hobbit not the poetry, lyrics and lymrics. That brings me to my second point that I will elaborate on in a future post about narration but here is a teaser. If as an individual one wants to introduce canon elements from the LotR novels or the Silmarillion you can, during play, in character, and at a point that blends with the evolving story. For example its perfectly acceptable that while at the Prancing Pony drinking one too many a player character lets it slip that they heard the Necromancer has left Mirkwood but letting loose the same story element while trying to rescue a comrade from a Barrow just wouldn’t feel right, it wouldn’t fit the current events. There won’t be any dicing mechanics that I will propose to fit this element of the game. It’s simply on your honor and I think after a few attempts everyone will get a feel of how to do it. So if you can’t sleep at night until you know that you might encounter Saruman (I don’t know why you would)  then get it out there and make it part of the world. If you couldn’t care less about the canon and just want to split Goblin skulls well there will be some of that too – you needn’t worry!
Again, much more to come in character creation and narration but there is the basic concept. I would enjoy any feedback that interested readers might want to offer. There is plenty of time to modify this approach to taste and of course I’m willing to address any problems potential players might have with what I’ve described above. |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:25 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
Character Creation For the purposes of this thread I intend to keep the amount of information shared about character creation to a minimum but I do want to state up front that should this game get off the ground there will be a lot more discussion. The way I intend to GM the game is largely character driven. That is to say what the players want to do drives the sessions rather than “my story” and the players place in it. I’ll ask that some effort be placed upon a solid character concept and a cohesive party back-story. In summary our preparation for the first session of adventure will look a little something like this… FUDGE is a word driven game rather than a math game so everyone should have two or three basic character ideas in mind rather than an elaborate fixation on a specific character concept. We’ll get together and the first thing I’ll ask everyone to talk about is “why are you adventuring together and what do you hope to get out of it?” This is how we associate to each other in our real lives; the characters require a similar bond. Based upon that discussion the game will immediately take on a tone, i.e., we’re just out to drink ale and find gold is a very different game than we want to forge an alliance between Gondor and Khand. Both are equally as good in my mind its merely a matter of taste. Based upon that goal(s) setting discussion I’ll ask each player to propose a character that would fit the party concept right then and there. No “let me think about it and I’ll let you know next week” its not that difficult and the more you over think it the more your removing future possibilities from the game and placing them in your character bio instead. What I’m looking for is simply characters that fit together within the theme (or goal) of the party and the ME setting. When the discussion is over everyone will leave the table understanding where you’re headed in the adventure (not where you will end up) and with a one-sentence description of your character. Lastly I will meet (skype) briefly with each player individually and ask that them to expand their character sentence into a paragraph (call it 50 words or less) beforehand. From there we will complete the FUDGE character sheet together. I will council on how to craft the character sheet to give the player the personality (for roleplaying) and tactical options (for combat) they are most interested in at the start of the adventure so that they pay off on the virtual battle mat and that is that. One last primer on combat; once we have a group formed we’ll have a forum discussion dedicated solely to how combat will work so players can work the tactical piece into their character concepts and gain the most satisfaction from the role of combat in the game. Just to be clear though we will use the FUDGE combat system. This is not a home brew game rather the forum discussion will clarify the rules of combat and how to prepare the character sheet to deliver a fun tactical experience. |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:29 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
In two or three weeks time I need one or two interested players to help me play test the Battlegrounds app using FUDGE combat. Would interested parties please post or PM me to set this up? Don't worry you don't need to understand FUDGE to play test you just need an internet connection and a computer. |
|
| Author: | Optimus Rhyme [ Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
I'll give it a try. I can't promise I'll be great but I'll give it my all. |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Many thanks Optimus Rhyme! I'll touch base in PM early next week and we'll set something up. |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:45 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
I just wanted to <bump> this thread and say thanks to all the One Ringers who are reading and paying attention. I've put the finishing touches on a few maps for an introductory encounter and polished a set of combat rules which I hope to play test and complete final editing on in the next week or so. LotR:SBG fans will be delighted with them I think. They are a nice mash-up of LotR:SBG with FUDGE and a dash of Battleground Fantasy Warfare. Now that the colder weather is officially here I hope that everyone is thinking about finding a game for entertainment during the dull Winter months! I'll be wrapping up my final post on narration soon and moving the whole mess to the campaign planning forum. If you're reading this and still interested in playing now would be a great time to re-state that fact so I can get some idea of whether this adventure will reach escape velocity. 
Any opinions on our location for further discussion including once play starts? Here at OR, a Google group, etc.? |
|
| Author: | FelixPhantasm [ Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:11 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
The crickets are deafening. 
Gonna move the whole mess to a Google groups page. IF you are interested and are the silent type... PM me for a link and thanks everyone for readin', I enjoyed writing the thread. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC |
| Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|