Up Your Game - A "Write-off" based RP system idea.

[Giyari]

So this is going to be weird to explain, expect info to be rough around the edges from here on in. Jump to the text box thingie to get to the meaty part


The idea -


No one likes godmoders, or "Mary Sues" or bland writing in general, but it's something all RPers have faced. They're things we might have (that's read "probably have") done ourselves in the past, it's things you might even do without realising it!


This is an idea I had a while ago for a group based RP system where winning an in character conflict, coming out of a bad situation smelling like daisies, or managing to out angst the other party, isn't necessarily a good thing for your character. What is a good thing is the quality of the writing and the ability of the RPer themselves to adapt to the situations their characters are in.


Long story short, the better the writing, the "better" the RP becomes.


So how does this all work? well, I'm still working on that, but here's what I have so far.

Write-off

In character conflicts are resolved via "Write-offs", these can either be voted on by the rest of the RPers playing, or by hitting certain pre-written points or targets that accumulate a score/deduct from an opponents score.


The winner of the write-off gets to chose a "perk" for their character/game, the loser gets given a "penalty" decided by the GM or by a vote involving the rest of the players.


Write-off conflicts don't have to by physical fights, they may be word games, heated arguments, awkward situations, so on and so on. These write-off situation might be unusual for one or both characters in question, or they might be so typical that a would character feels right at home dealing with it.


Perk examples could be as follows.

- Situations the player would like to see their character in


- "Veto cards" for single use on potential penalties they may face later in the game


- Choice of penalty for one loser


- A character buff/edit


- An item for their character.

Penalty examples could be as follows

- A situation you must play your character through


- Character nerfs/handicaps


- An item in their possession swapped out.


- An item that has mandatory use in the next write-off

By adding a competitive edge to writing quality instead of overall outcome, the system would aim to improve the players ability rather than their characters.

Overall I think the system would probably work best in lighthearted stories, or RPs that can involve elements of comedy and satire. I don't think it would be suited for dice RPs.


So what's the verdict? Could you see this working? is there any suggestions/edits you would make to the concept? Is it worth me taking this further?


Any input is welcomed

 

[Skelo10]

I'm quite interested and I think this could work if we were able to get enough people.

 

[Giyari]

Well it's not really a specific RP, more like a way of running an RP. The story would be up to the creator, this would just be the technical gameplay side of it.

 

[seiko shinohara01]

Konnichiwa giyari San


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ixacise]

A voting system would be probably for the best method but still the whole "good" writing thing is pretty subjective beyond more mechanical things like grammar, spelling, and clarity. Also "dice" rps have their own methods of conflict resolution and constraints brought upon the rules so it goes without saying such a thing wouldn't work or be needed.

 

[Giyari]

Hmm, yeah vote would be best.


And also true, it can be subjective, but at the same time I'd personally say it can't be. I think it's only subjective if the person is already a confident and well practised writer, but if the writer is less confident, too stuck in their comfort zone, or lacking in experience they believe they have then it shows. Their characters in practice can contradict what the profiles have previously stated, or their writing can be clumsy and repetitive.


As for dice systems, I personally feel they can be very cold and soulless, they can lack any entertainment to conflicts in a writing sense, as it leaves it largely to chance. This would if anything be an alternative to the calculated rolls and stats, focusing on words, emotion, practice, and creativity instead.

 

[Ixacise]

I disagree on both counts


Writing beyond the level of simple mechanical things in terms of good grammar and stuff is way more blurry. After all you pick up different famous writers and try and compare their styles to one another and while they might be considered as great writers. Their method of writing will differ and might even be radically different. Seriously go compare something like Hemingway to Tolkien. Plus you got the personal preferences which may bias the people reviewing.


As for the second spoken like someone who has little to no experience at all. The phrase "Cold and soulless" would be saved for something exceptionally regimented, methodical, predictable, and other many synonyms. Something which does not apply to the chaos you imply to the method of rolls for conflict resolution. And dice aren't as random you're again implying to be. You got the probabilities of the rolling system itself and the stats which modify your chances depending on your level on competence.


And honestly I prefer something like rolling when it comes to combat as pure unstructured freeform combat is a pain to do with regulating with the hows: How hard, how many misses and or hits.

 

[Grey]

A variety of systems exist to this end.


Apocalypse World stands out, because it'd be easy to tweak out the dice if you absolutely had to.


I think Ixacise has probably said anything else I would've.

 

[Giyari]

Mah. Well it was an idea is all. I'm not a fan of dice, know a lot of people who aren't, but I do see their usefulness.

 

[Grey]

Well, by all means, test it. Always test an idea, find the holes, and test the refitted version.


And I'd really suggest taking a look at how Apocalypse World works - a lot of it includes forfeits like 'tell another player your greatest vulnerability' or 'tell another player about a time your character saved theirs'.

 

[Giyari]

I'll give it a look out, sounds interesting