Organizing an DF RPG Online Game

[JeffVandenberg]

Awesome!

Stories have to be treated as a high level entity in the game.

[JeffVandenberg]

Have got site up with a basic free chat service. I will start to move over some of the dev code, put up a forum, and start to do some of the other work to help get the game organized.

http://www.gamingsandbox.com/

[Conor]

Hey folks,
as Jeff said there's a chat there now, people are in there talking up some character options and so on, if anyone from here would like to take a look they'd be very welcome. A lot of the people in the chat are coming from a White Wolf NWoD gaming background, veterans of DF RPG from here would be a very helpful presence!

I'm on there a lot, so it'd be nice to meet you folks and say hi too.

[polkaneverdies]

I just tried to check it out on an iPhone and it me to get bent.
"The mobile edition module is not available with this account."

Does this refer to your site as the acct without mobile support or just mean I need to create an acct to check it out?

[Conor]

I just tried to check it out on an iPhone and it me to get bent.
"The mobile edition module is not available with this account."

Does this refer to your site as the acct without mobile support or just mean I need to create an acct to check it out?

Hiya Polkaneverdies,
That message is most likely because we're using a temporary chat program until we decide on which platform we want to use on a more permanent basis.

Sorry about that, in a little while we'll sort out a chat with mobile support.

[AstralBlade]

How would conflicts work? Time management wise? Is there a cut-off limit for the number of people for "scheduled" game? Would it be akin to fate core rules for mobs or just 10-15 people battles?

It sounds pretty interesting but just trying to get a feel for how this would work.

Also, how will availability work? First come, first serve? I mean this in terms of 1 WK, SK, 3 Bearers of he swords

[Conor]

We haven't even really begun to put together a setting, but a few words I came up with the other day while chatting with players:



New York City, modern day. Different pantheons, supernatural groups, churches, cults, and organizations disagree on whether the world is headed towards Ragnarok, The Rapture or some kind of dawn of enlightenment. Hippies are hoping for another Age of Aquarious, White Council thinks a threat is coming that will either end all or most of life, or at the very least redefine reality. Others think it's foolishness just like all the other end of the world scenarios and some are just looking to profit or benefit from these highly charged times.


As a result, the training wheels are off somewhat. There are more knights of the cross than ever. There are no longer one winter and one summer knight, the fae have several lords and ladies potent enough to have their own knight.


And everybody who is anybody is coming to New York.


(Astralblade: I posted this partly in answer to your query, there would still be limited positions for knights etc but we're opening it up a little to try to accommodate an online setting.)

[JeffVandenberg]

http://www.gamingsandbox.com/welcome/sheet

a demo of the pending character creation sheet. It's mostly pretty at this point and missing several details.

[PatchR]

How would conflicts work? Time management wise? Is there a cut-off limit for the number of people for "scheduled" game? Would it be akin to fate core rules for mobs or just 10-15 people battles?

It sounds pretty interesting but just trying to get a feel for how this would work.

Also, how will availability work? First come, first serve? I mean this in terms of 1 WK, SK, 3 Bearers of he swords

We're looking more at Champions of God being a more "open" concept, so there's not just a limit of 3.  We are looking at as much of a mix of different factions as possible, but at the same time, we want to be accommodating on what people want to play. Also, there is no set "meeting" time, its a 24/7 type chat. Specific scenes/sessions may be set up among players and a GM for the purpose of running it, but over all you may play when you want, how you want, and what you want.

[fantazero]

I'm starting to organize for an online chat oriented DF RPG game supporting play at any time. Right now I'm working on technical/development related tasks as me and the other owner are tossing around ideas for what the game should look like.  I'm turning to the experienced players here to see what thoughts, comments, or concerns there would be for creating such a game.

Cheers,

Jeff

ever hear of roll 20 and google hangouts? I'm curious how it would work

[Conor]

ever hear of roll 20 and google hangouts? I'm curious how it would work

A chat game is an always-on setting. In that way it's not unlike a mmorpg, only the emphasis is squarely on roleplaying rather than raids etc. You can log in your character at any time, if there's other players online you can go to an In Character location with them and do scenes, whether it's a coffee shop conversation or a bar fight or one of you going to the other's office to hire them for something, anything you might do in-game.

GMs are around too, but not twenty four hours a day. This means a chat game is quite collaborative between players, a lot of plot emerging from pc interaction. Then there are regular scenes, run by the GMs that you can get your character involved in, usually hooking you into a storyline. You can be part of multiple storylines.

The game functions in realtime, so if your character has a wound that takes a week to heal, it takes a week of real time.


Chat games have been around a good while, with IRC early (and still going) games, through to chatroom stuff on the White Wolf site for a few years, then when that closed down a slew of New World of Darkness sites opened up. This would be the first large-scale chat game of Dresden Files, so I'm really excited to see it take shape.


I hope that gives some indication fantazero, but if any of it could do with a bit of clarification or expansion please let me know.

[vonpenguin]

Site registration seems to be down. Makes it hard to look at stuff or post.

[OwleIsohos]

Hey, vonpenguin!  The site's still a work in progress - registration hasn't been coded yet, and no one is able to post anything for the time being.  You can check out a preview of the forums, character sheet, and dice roller here: http://ragnarok.gamingsandbox.com/

The chat is up and running, and you don't need to register to pop on to it.  There aren't many people in there since the game hasn't launched yet, so this thread is probably the best place to ask any questions until the game's own forum is up and running.

[LMage]

I'm not sure how helpful this is but, roll20 is extremely good for online Table Top gaming. It's completely free, and it has a virtual "table" that you can set maps/images on, move tokens, etc. It has a chat system the includes virtual dice (/roll 4df for Fate/Fudge dice), records, a place to keep most basic character stuff (skills, aspects, items) where everyone can see them, as well as cameras/voices if you want two separate means of communication (one IC and one OOC).

I don't have much experience with it, a friend says it's really good, though the one disadvantage is that there aren't a lot of urban/modern maps for the site (which makes sense since most table tops aren't urban), but since The Dresden Files is pretty "crunch" light that's not as much of a hindrance as it could be.

EDIT: Looking back, this actually wasn't what you where asking for at all. I misunderstood it appears...

Well, it's still a good set of features that a might be useful for a site your looking at developing.

[cold_breaker]

Looks like fun. My main thoughts:

1) GM interaction is key, but I doubt I need to tell you this. I've seen games fall apart because of this though.

2) I'd keep character progression separate. There's no balance reason I can see for splitting up groups due to differing refresh levels - even a 6 refresh character can be useful to a 12 refresh character - the GM just needs to adjust the enemies a little. You might want to add some basic rules to help split up these extremes, but it helps immersion if characters are what you make them and don't just get power.

3) Have hard and fast documented stunts and powers, as well as templates. Don't let players just pile on any powers they like without restriction. Be flexible, but don't make it an exercise in power-gaming.