Play By Forum RPG - Discussion Thread

[MadCat]

We must be patient with the DM... don't want to scare him away before we get the game started!

Let's see... as to genres, earlier Dan tossed out Steampunk, Lovecraftian Horror, and Space Opera, and I mentioned Fantasy; Panda wants fantasy creatures/mutated humans, so obviously something not "normal"... any of the suggestions so far could handle that, right? Does anyone have a preference?

And Dan mentioned it should be High RP, low Combat, since that's easiest to do on the forums.
(I assume that's the reasoning, anyway... also, combat takes foreeeever compared to dialogue, from what I recall of my DMing days.... half an hour of talking, then three hours to get a single combat done. Yeesh.)

Total players so far: Dan, Dave, MadCat, Yino, treb, Panda.

Does that sum everything up pretty well? Also, are we doing the standard ruleset to start with, or are we using any optional rules? (Hooks and Tales, Pumping Cliches, etc?)

Also, here's a nice html version of the rules, if you want to read them in your web browser: http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus15.htm

[Panda S. H.]

I will wait... for a while... D: I guess.

I may have not been clear fantasy OR mutations. I've a wolven creature in mind and I aim to use him. He will tens times the fun if I can use the hook and... well... I could save him... it's not like I know what the heck I'm doing anyway. :p

[Yino]

D: I may need to whomp him before I get to Yino.

Wait, why? what did I do (this time)?

[Panda S. H.]

You were absent for a bit. I had to pick on you.

[Dan]

Hey Everyone,
Sorry for the delay. I've been out of it since the holiday started. I actually thought this idea was dead in the water. Glad to see it picked up some steam. So let me clarify genres a little bit.
Steampunk would be fantasy Steampunk, not historical. (I'm just more comfortable running that than straight fantasy)
Straight Fantasy. I can do it, but be aware that it'll be light, not epic. More Robert Asprin, Terry Pratchett than Tolkien, or Martin
Lovecraftian Horror would be historical, somewhere between 1880 and 1917.
Space Opera would have been more Star Wars or Flash Gordon, than Star Trek or BSG, but now that we have 6 players that might change.
I'm also going to offer up 2 new but similar options:
Cyberpunk, straight dystopian future with cybernetics, megacorperations and neural interface computing.
or
Fantasy Cyberpunk a la Shadowrun.

Panda, your character would be fine in everything but Lovecraftian Horror.
Madcat, I'd encourage everyone to come up with one Hook and Tale(3 or 4 paragraphs) as it helps to flesh out characters. I'll allow Cliche pumping if the reasoning is clever, and double pumping on a Cliche by Cliche basis.
I'd like to hear from everyone else on the setting they'd prefer,(i.e. an answer other than "whatever")

[Dan]

Also, I'd like everyone's characters to have at least 3 cliches.

[MadCat]

Woo hoo hoo! The game lives! Hooray!

I'd prefer to not do straight-up Cyberpunk, but if it comes down to it, I could handle fantasy Cyberpunk a la Shadowrun. I'm just not a big fan of dystopic futures and lots of tech.

I enjoy 'light' fantasy more than epic fantasy anyway, but it sounds like that's not what you're in the mood for.

My preferred genre would be the fantasy-Steampunk, mostly because I've always wanted to play in a Steampunk game and learn more about the genre. And the wardrobe is kickass.

I'll start trying to work up a character, but leave it vague enough that it can handle being in different genres... once I know what we're playing I'll try to pin it down. Woo!

[trebuchet]

Whatever.

I mean, fantasy-steampunk suits me just fine.

[MadCat]

So what are some examples of good fantasy-Steampunk Cliches for us to use?
I assume many of the sample cliches given can be adapted to a Steampunk setting, for a start, but I also assume there are stereotypical characters from that setting...

The Steampunk Style Test offers:
The Aristocrat
The Gadgeteer
The Scientist
The Explorer
The Officer
The Citizen
The Air Pirate
The Ragamuffin

(First time I took it, I got "Citizen", second time I got "Aristocrat." Either way, I'm more likely to be seen strolling around town in a fancy suit with top hat and cane, rather than goggles, gloves and airship.)

Also, I know you said it's more fantasy than historical, but what's the approximate era/tech level we'd be going for? Does it at least vaguely resemble a certain historical period that we can use as a 'starting point' for character designs? (Yes, I'm probably over-thinking this. lol) XD

[MadCat]

Also, I'd like everyone's characters to have at least 3 cliches.

To clarify, does that mean we are or are not limited to 4 dice per cliche? As the rules state:

"Characters shouldn't begin their career with more than 4 dice in anything, but just because you're creating a character today doesn't mean that he's beginning his career! The GM will tell you if he's requiring ``beginners'' for the game."

If we're limited to 4 dice per cliche, then to use up 10 dice, we must have a minimum of three cliches (since 4+4 is only eight, there's 2 left over).... However, if "minimum of 3 cliches" is the rule, but "limit of 4" is not, then we could have, say, 6 dice (Mastery) in one cliche, with 4 points left over to spread among other cliches. We could have 6/3/1, or 6/2/2, 6/2/1/1, etc..

Thanks in advance!