I want to start a new Forum Game

[Submachine]

Hi to everyone who reads this!

Long story short, I want to make a new forum game called "The forgotten mystery of the abandoned school". It is only halfway ready, so I thought I would continue by the opinions of other community members.
At first I wanted to include PvP but with the borking servers, I have to keep it as a secondary option in the game. There are many different main goals that can be achieved to be able to entertain more layers of people, however some needs co-operation while others need suspicion, conspiracy and sometimes stabs in the back. The story is very far from the theme of Elements, though it's not completely unrelated.

Ok, main question: see Poll. And please vote. If you don't want to vote, please vote on that, but for Yolkus' sake, vote something! ^^
Thank you!

This forum game will be unofficial because official forum games must be accepted by RavingRabbid, who already farewelled so he's not receiving messages. Before the event starts, I'll try to contact him hoping that he'll reply.

The event will have a map, which has 3 floors with multiple rooms. All rooms have a name, a description, a location, doorways to other rooms and possible events. Based on the mechanic of the gameplay I wonder if I should share

• the full map with all room locations and names
• the full map with all room locations but with no names
• only the explored areas

and another thing I can't decide on whether to show the same map to all the players, or show different map pieces in PMs to specific players.

[Keolino]

and another thing I can't decide on whether to show the same map to all the players, or show different map pieces in PMs to specific players.

Depending on the speed of gaming, as well as the number of gamers, you should be careful to not load to much on your shoulders.

I am interested, but you may want to explain a bit more about how this game will work, what we will be doing in this game, and stuff like that.

[Dm]

Try running a mini rehearsal in chat with a few players and find out what gives a heavier work load before entering it with an idea. It's always good checking out.

Also, at the poll, you should let us be able to both have to cooperate AND lie/find who can or can't be trusted. As in, the key to survival would be working together, but it wouldn't be impossible for a single player to make everyone else lose by lying - or something like that.

I'm rambling.

[Naesala]

I voted for I dont want to vote, because I hate myself and want to spite myself at every turn

Spoiler for But for serious:

Without more knowledge about the game, I can't really give any sort of input. All I know is there is apparently a school, a map of some sort, and information is important. Without a goal or an idea to what the competition is, I cannot accurately state whether I would want more cooperation or more secrets. Is the goal to find something hidden in the abandoned school? Then cooperation is key. Is one of us a murderer? Well then this is mafia style and secrets will be important.

[Submachine]

I tell more information about the game as requested.

There is a school on the outskirs of an industrial town. Noone really goes there since it was closed due students were mysteriously disappearing. Only some factory workers , homeless people and rarely trespassers can be spotted near the area. Since the new factory was built only a mile away from the school, dense mist covers the air, thus granting a creepy atmosphere.

Now, some rumors say that there are valuable artifacts hidden in the school's basement. These artifacts are said to grant incredible powers to their owner, but it is also said that some of those items are cursed and "something" guards them. How and when the artifacts were placed there is unknown to everyone, and there are only a few witnesses who claim they saw an old man using the Teleport Crystal to save a young boy's life and then started popping in the direction of the old school.

You, the players, are a group of citizen who decided to go into the school and investigate. You went there unprepared and the doors were slammed behind you, so you are closed in the school until one of the goals are achieved. And this is where the game starts.
As I said, there are multiple possible goals/endings:

• (group)Acquire all artifacts, accidentally (or intentionally) unleash something really evil, defeat it afterwards.
• (group)Find out the truth what happened in the school, explore all areas and find a way out.
• (personal)Acquire most of the artifacts, take away artifacts from all your teammates, find a way out.
• (personal)Find out which elements-related card has to do something with the case, find the place where it can be found, either destroy them or join the dark side.
• (group)Win all the possible encounters while defending your teammates and find a way out.

About the elements-related card, it will be part of the rules, that I'll post later when the event will be complete and ready to be posted.

[Dm]

So, if all of these are possible goals, we can, like I said, both cooperate or deceive. Which makes for a much more interesting game IMO.

It seems interesting.

[Submachine]

Yes, it is indeed possible to work together with your teammates while you secretly -without anyone noticing- can go doing your own business. Moreover some artifacts can even help you robbing your own teammates without them noticing it was you. xD However, other endings can also be unlocked if the players are creative enough (for example: they destroy the whole building accidentally, thus every enemy and even themselves die).

[Naesala]

However, other endings can also be unlocked if the players are creative enough (for example: they destroy the whole building accidentally, thus every enemy and even themselves die).

This is why you never underestimate us roleplayers. Given a very obvious goal, we will always do the craziest, least logical things.

Also, with more information, the game seems fun (though I, personally, would say "Magical items" rather than "Artifacts" unless we somehow know the objects are, indeed, ancient). Party cohesion (work together or work alone) should be entirely player based, to allow cooperation or competition. Because of that the map should remain, for the most part, hidden, or private to each player as to where they are, but perhaps a "Fog Removed" map, a map that reveals itself as the party progresses so they know where theyve been and where those places are in relation to eachother, but not who is currently there, would be the best option. Additionally, even if someone sneaks of, people should have realistic amounts of sensory information from what they're doing, be this in the form of hearing checks to hear them skulking about, or spot checks to see them sneak away. Unless, of course, the magic interferes with these things somehow.

[iancudorinmarian]

I really like this idea.
I have a question though: Will the players know where the others are on the map? Or when they both are in the same room?
Also: will there be a general map that everyone sees and knows the position of the other players?

[Submachine]

However, other endings can also be unlocked if the players are creative enough (for example: they destroy the whole building accidentally, thus every enemy and even themselves die).

This is why you never underestimate us roleplayers. Given a very obvious goal, we will always do the craziest, least logical things.

Also, with more information, the game seems fun (though I, personally, would say "Magical items" rather than "Artifacts" unless we somehow know the objects are, indeed, ancient). Party cohesion (work together or work alone) should be entirely player based, to allow cooperation or competition. Because of that the map should remain, for the most part, hidden, or private to each player as to where they are, but perhaps a "Fog Removed" map, a map that reveals itself as the party progresses so they know where theyve been and where those places are in relation to eachother, but not who is currently there, would be the best option. Additionally, even if someone sneaks of, people should have realistic amounts of sensory information from what they're doing, be this in the form of hearing checks to hear them skulking about, or spot checks to see them sneak away. Unless, of course, the magic interferes with these things somehow.

I'm very undecided about how the map will work, but I prefer the method that all of you have a blank map, but you don't know which room is which and can't see who is in them unless you are in the same room OR you have a "Magical item" (Nae ) that enables you to see through the walls. The players will be notified of anything suspicious, for example if one of you is picklocking a door you will most likely notice it.

Plans:

• each room will have a name, because there will be some random quests to search for XY-room and you have to find out which one it is. When you enter a room, you are automatically notified about its name along with the description.
• the movement between rooms will be turn-based, so every player moves into a new room at the same time

Current blindspots of the rules:
Communication between players. I planned to have a team chat thread where your characters can discuss strategy and conspiracies, but i also plan that people who aren't in the same rooms can't talk with each other, so I don't really know how this part will work out, so I need some ideas on this. It can simply be PM-based, but that takes away from cooperating much.

I really like this idea.
I have a question though: Will the players know where the others are on the map? Or when they both are in the same room?
Also: will there be a general map that everyone sees and knows the position of the other players?

The players won't know where others are, but if there is someone in the same room as you, you will be notified about it and both of you can have a conversation with each other. The map is planned to be blank until explored, but that can change during rulebuilding. (It's going off-screen ^^)

[Dm]

Since you're all adults, you planned up ahead and all went there with some kind of communication device (can even be a cellphone, although that wouldn't explain why they don't call people outside the abandoned place... but some magic always fixes that) that every player can use to communicate with eachother.

Then, you can communicate to whoever you want. Alternatively, you could make it so that some events could "destroy" the device, thus cutting all contact that that player has with other (The player cannot use the team chat anymore/can't PM others.)

Not perfect rules, since someone can try to avoid it, but it'd be interesting, at least. I like the team chat idea, but it seems a bit.. odd.

[Keolino]

Since you're all adults, you planned up ahead...

I am 20 , so let the games begin!!!

... and all went there with some kind of communication device (can even be a cellphone, although that wouldn't explain why they don't call people outside the abandoned place... but some magic always fixes that) that every player can use to communicate with eachother.

You don't need magic for everything. Back in my old school, all cellphones didn't work in the basement, because of these strange walls that we had which "isolated" us from outside every day we were down there. (There were only three classrooms down there though, but that's not the problem.) Anyway, sometimes we used w-lan to send information (funny/strange/interesting pictures for the most part) from one classroom to the next. (Because SMS/MMS/calls wouldn't work.) Nowadays, with the new cellphones, you can send whatever you want with w-lan anyway.