Project D - Troubleshooting for a fantasy world

[D. Rex]

Beyond the characters, and beyond the lore. Beyond the world and its nations and policies. There are a few certains factor that are more tangible in the success of an RP, or at least it is by my belief. Those factors are the mechanics and format, the two I would like to focus on today.


As Project D is slowly coming along, being sorted out bit by bit, I beginning to see where some complications may arise. Mainly in how I can adapt it to this forum based site and how I can maintain an efficient and organized atmosphere for roleplaying.


It is a large and open world, that I would like to be played in the sandbox style of play. This comes with, of course, multiple nation. As well there are a myriad of races and legends and all sorts of goodies that make fantasy worlds tick. With all of this content and lore to be recorded, there will no doubt be a jumble of information for prospective players to sift through. And let us face, not many people are big fans of sifting through massive walls of text, and many still do not soak up the information after a single reading.


Secondly, we come to how the game is to be played. I do foresee seeing multiple groups of players rping in different locations with different plots. I am fine with that. I want to see that. However, I fear that the linearity of forum based roleplay might be a problem for players when they try to sift through the posts to find which ones are relevant to them. I could open multiple tabs for IC play, but I am unsure of the limit I can have for an RP and I am unsure if this is the best course of action. Unless I can find a decent way, I fear that I may unwittingly be stepping into a trap wherein posts can get lost or overlooked. Nobody wants their post to be ignored.


Thirdly, we come to character creation. I would first like to state that I will cheerfully welcome any advice on how to craft a detailed and useful CS skeleton for my players. This is an easy task, I know, but I am open to suggestions on how to make the CS better and not just fluffy. As well, when it comes to character creation, I will be supporting that players can create multiple characters and NPC's. I know, this further adds to the problem of the paragraph above, as well as create organization problems of it's own (I like tidy and easy to find). I would like to find a way characters organized, like an index of sorts.


Fourthly, we run into section of mechanics. Now I would like to see freeform play in my RP, and I understand why some people prefer dice. I used them myself back in the day. On this section I would like to ask what sort of mechanics work well in a fantasy setting. Does not even have to dice. Moreso, I would like advice on to what areas of a fantasy world that I might need mechanics for so as to avoid chaos and cheating.


I know I am not the only one who has created a world for Roleplay. I certainly will not be the last. I am hoping I can gain some insight on these matters from those who have come before me. And in addition, I would love to hear what sort of problems and difficulties you have ran into in your RP's and how you dealt with them, and I will gladly take in mind whatever advice you all may have, whether it pertains to these matters or not. This will be my first Roleplay I will be creating for RPN, hopefully I can start it off with a bang. I am no greenhorn to Roleplay, but I do believe that there is always something to learn as we collaborate to a better end.


I shall also be reading through prior threads in the Advice and Planning section.

 

[Grey]

1. Tough luck, there; players will rarely read all of the lore. Your best bet is to subdivide it by nation or region, with an index somewhere so that players can skip to the part of the world that interests them, and learn about the rest of the world in play.


2. I don't know the limit of IC Tabs, but I'd believe it to go as high as five, at least. That said, you can tag users in posts for them and divide posts into smaller tabs using the Tab BBCode. Still, probably better to limit to a specific number of characters.


3. Name, vitals, backstory, beliefs, first impressions. Whatever information you, as GM, need to manipulate the characters, whatever information the player will need to remind themselves of, and anything that must be kept immutable. Sharing with other players optional. But with limitless characters it'll get cluttered fast.


4. Can't do half measures. Either all mechanics - even if light and diceless - or none. As for what sort of mechanics work well... That depends.


High or low fantasy? Light or dark? Lethal or Heroic?


Gods real or not? Interventionist or absentee?


More than one kind of magic? Where does any magic come from? What can it do?


What kind of powers, whether mystical, inherent, learned, or racial are included? Where do those come from? What are they meant to do?


Are your races obedient to basic biological principles, or magical?


Is there a class model for characters?


What are you trying to do thematically?


But that said you could probably just use a hacked version of Amber or Nobilis and be fine.