Online gaming in a shared world

Lindharin · Post by **Lindharin** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:59 pm

Hi,

I've been thinking that it would be great to get some online gaming going through these forums. Play-by-post is the easiest format, but if a few people can find a common time they can also play in MapTools using the BASH framework, or other synchronous tools.

One of the issues with play-by-post games, though, is that they tend to be slow (IMO) and finding enough narrators can be hard. I was thinking what we could do is start up a shared world where we could have multiple scenarios running simultaneously, and where anyone could jump in to start up an adventure or even just a single encounter.

For example, someone feels the urge to do something but doesn't want to commit to a long-running game, so they make up a villain and announce to the forums that an alarm is going off at a local bank (or whatever), and some OOC info like how many heroes (and what point values) can be included in the encounter. The first heroes to "show up" can deal with the one-off scenario, and the narrator doesn't have to commit to a longer running campaign.

Meanwhile, anyone who wants to run an ongoing campaign (rather than a series of one shots) can put together more formal groups. If the games are set in this shared setting, then the NPCs used in one campaign or stand-alone encounter can show up in others, characters will hear about what everyone else is up to, and we can feed off of each others' creativity. Cross-overs are easy, when players from different campaigns show up together in any of the stand-alone encounters, or as (invited) guests in the more established campaigns.

I've never tried anything like this, or seen it used elsewhere, so I don't know how it would work out.

If there is interest, the next step would be to decide on a shared setting. I was considering using the world of Megapolis, if Bashman would allow that. However, I was thinking we might want to base it around another city. Adding a whole forum of potential players to a city that already has a lot of heroes in it might make it a bit crowded, and unlike a home game I'd be leery of just removing the existing heroes from the setting (it might be confusing to newcomers, among other things). Putting the game in another city avoids that, while still leaving open the possibility for cross-overs, visits from Megapolis NPCs, visits to Megapolis, or even entire Megapolis-based campaigns if that is what someone wants to do.

What do people think? Could it work? Is there interest? Or do we not yet have a critical mass of interested people to sustain something like this?

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Sun May 02, 2010 9:20 am

Sounds interesting. I would be into a Megapolis campaign if someone wanted to run one.

That said I will still run my Zenith PBP game here, but this does sound very very interesting

Lindharin · Post by **Lindharin** » Sun May 02, 2010 10:54 am

I hadn't been sure if this had been missed, or there was no interest.

I'm not sure I want to jump in running a full campaign play-by-post, but I might want to start a series of some "encounter" threads, where something happens in this shared world / city and whoever is "around" can join in, rather than a preset campaign limited to specific characters that are the same every time. And once I get it started, if anyone else wants to do the same thing (or start a real campaign), so much the better.

I'll give this some more thought and try to kick off something later this week...

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Sun May 02, 2010 11:09 am

Kick it off!

Lady America is looking for a fight

Lindharin · Post by **Lindharin** » Tue May 04, 2010 7:55 pm

Bashman, do you have any thoughts on us using Megapolis as a shared settings on these forums? Any concerns about changes we might collectively make over time as we play in the setting? Or any guidelines you'd like us to follow regarding spoilers from Megapolis? Should we avoid plot lines that involve the information that shows up in the spoiler section in the back of the Megapolis book? Would you prefer us to base it around another city in the setting instead of in Megapolis itself, or even in a different world entirely?

Post by **Kinetic** » Tue May 04, 2010 9:16 pm

I'd be all about an online Megapolis game. I don't know why I didn't respond to this before. I think I'm slipping in my old age.

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Tue May 04, 2010 9:18 pm

If we really wanted to do this, I would put the Zenith Game on hold for this!

Let me know guys cause a Megapolis game would ROCK!

Post by **Kinetic** » Tue May 04, 2010 11:38 pm

I'll have a character up by the end of the week for this.

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Wed May 05, 2010 5:34 am

Wait, I didn't mean I would run Megapolis....

Lindharin · Post by **Lindharin** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:22 am

I'm most likely going to start with one or more standalone adventures, not necessarily a formal campaign. I haven't really tried to run a play by post before, and I'm not sure how I'll like it. So rather than making a commitment to a full campaign, I want to dip my feet in with some short-duration one-shot "issues".

I am hoping that others might do the same, and that maybe a few people will also run real campaigns in the shared world too. Then we could have cross-overs, re-use each others villains, or whatever.

I don't know if we have enough people yet to make it viable, though. And maybe the people who want to run full campaigns would prefer to use their own worlds instead of the shared one. But at least we can get some one-shots started.

Lindharin · Post by **Lindharin** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:32 am

AslanC wrote:If we really wanted to do this, I would put the Zenith Game on hold for this!

Well, for what its worth, my vote is "Please don't put the Zenith Game on hold" (unless you'd prefer to run something in the shared world instead), I'm really looking forward to it!

Also, the more games we get started here, the more interest we'll (hopefully) generate to keep traffic coming to these forums, maybe inspire some more people to start their own games, etc.

In my limited play-by-post experience, they tend to be slow enough that I expect that I'll be able to run one while playing in another.

Post by **Kinetic** » Wed May 05, 2010 11:51 am

Lindharin wrote:
AslanC wrote:If we really wanted to do this, I would put the Zenith Game on hold for this!
Well, for what its worth, my vote is "Please don't put the Zenith Game on hold" (unless you'd prefer to run something in the shared world instead), I'm really looking forward to it!

This. I didn't mean that the Zenith game should be ignored or put on hold. Oh no, because that one is already dripping awesomeness.

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Wed May 05, 2010 3:40 pm

Well I don't know how "awesome" it will be, but I will try

Okay then, Zenith remains a-go-go

Post by **BASHMAN** » Wed May 05, 2010 3:53 pm

Lindharin wrote:Bashman, do you have any thoughts on us using Megapolis as a shared settings on these forums? Any concerns about changes we might collectively make over time as we play in the setting? Or any guidelines you'd like us to follow regarding spoilers from Megapolis? Should we avoid plot lines that involve the information that shows up in the spoiler section in the back of the Megapolis book? Would you prefer us to base it around another city in the setting instead of in Megapolis itself, or even in a different world entirely?

You guys can play in Megapolis! That's what I wrote it for! Spoilers? Bah, go ahead. It's there to be played. The only thing I don't want to see is entire blocks of text reposted and I'll be happy enough.

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Wed May 05, 2010 3:55 pm

Care to play in either of our games BASHMAN?

I for one would be happy to have you