A New Way to RP

Introduction -

The following is not a fully functional idea, I am sure there will be some flaws, so if anyone is familiar with this kind of system it’d be appreciated greatly. I am willing to accept any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and logical ideas.

Now, let’s begin.

You know what bugs me? Silvermoon City and Goldshire. Both were once good places for Role Play. The key is the word “once”; Now, both areas are alive with Erotic Role Players, bad Role Players, and horrific grammar. Everyone has to be a special snowflake, like a Blood Elf with White or Red eyes, instead of the normal green (or blue, for Death Knights).

But what bugs me more is when people complain that there is no Role Play, especially when it is a group of three or more. Why? Because it really is not that hard to create your own Role Play! All you need is a little creativity.

Now, Blizzard being as busy as it is, they don’t really take much interest into catering to our role playing needs. But who can blame them? PvP and Raiding have a much larger community. And when the Role Playing is so bad lately, what with everyone being a demon, some sort of Japanese Anime, Vampires (I believe San’Layn would be killed on sight, so don’t pull that card), and a dragon (I am NOT bashing Dragonsworn Council, dragon Role Play just simply isn’t my style, I’m told the dragons in their guild do it right, I’m just saying I’ve seen some really bad things and it’s turned me off to it), the thought of helping would turn me off too.

By this post is not about bashing RPers, or pointing out the flaws in people’s story lines; I’ve seen what happens with that when in the forums, and it’s never good.

What I’m actually going to be writing about will be about a system I thought of last night in bed, one that will better private role play. It’s inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, other RPG games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion, and just my imagination. It may seem complicated, because it wasn’t exactly well planned out.

Introductory Details-

A lot of this new way to RP will require imagination. For starters, one person would choose to be a “Questmaster”, he/she will sort of be like the game master in D&D. For now, let’s say I’m that person. It’s my job to create a Role Playing quest of sorts. Right now, let’s say I’m searching for an ancient staff. I am a wealthy business man, a collector of artifacts and valuables I’d approach someone (The people I plan to Role Play with) and ask them for their assistance. For example:

Zajailik [says]: “Ey, joo! Joo (insert name here), jes?”
Friend responds.
Zaijailik [says]: I be looking for someting... valuable. I need some help. Ja see, I be a simple business mon, my only talents bein’ engineering and cooking, I  not da best mage. I ‘ear joo be searchin’ for some tings, perhaps I could ‘elp fund joor projects, if ja could help me find some people to protect me... and decipher some clues.”

    My friends would agree, as planned out, and then I’d emote:

    “Zajailik pulls a bloodstained scroll from his pack, grinning wickedly. He reads from the scroll, “Da trolls seem to ‘ave a strangle ‘old, the lack of food is turning me into skin an’ bones, I feel like I could break like a glass vase,” He looks back at (insert name here).”Any ideas, mon? I get is ‘as to do something with trolls, but...”

    The keywords would be TROLLS, STRANGLE, VASE. Meaning the next clue would be in Stranglethorn Vale, by some trolls, in a vase. Pretty easy clue. But what would I type? As Questmaster, I’d have many options. I could do a raid warning saying: *The next clue is Stranglethorn Vale, at Coordinates (33.45,15.27). The clue is inside the vases in the corner.*. OR I could do something a bit more adventurous, and name out all the troll infested areas in Stranglethorn (Zul’Gurub and the other troll camps), giving their coordinates, I of course would know where the next clue is OOCly, but In Character? Not the slightest clue. We’d have to go looking around in each place.

    “But Zaja, how is that fun at all? All it would be is solving your stupid riddles!” one might say. True it may seem like that, but here’s where the elements of D&D may come in! This is the fun part.
    Along your group’s travels, eventually the Questmaster can, at any time, type into a raid warning, saying: You smell blood and fire beyond the archway, you peer around the corner seeing five troll savages.” Literally of course, you wouldn’t see anything besides the usual one shottable mobs. But isn’t that what RP combat is? When you emote bashing someone’s skull in, you don’t actually see an animation for it. This why imagination is vital in this system. But how would one interact with the trolls? The group could negotiate with them, or fight them. It is the group’s choice.

    This new way to Role Play may also be dependant on level. No level is stronger than another, but higher levels means less chance to die Out of Character by a stupid stray mob.

Part 1: Combat System -

    “(Insert Name Here) uses Volley, raining arrows down on the trolls, killing them all.” Okay true, too easy. But, what if we do something more interesting? I’ve set up a combat system, inspired from what I remember from D&D, and think it’d work well now.

    The system would be quite easy to handle, the actual person gets to make a move first, whether it be negotiation or attacks. The would do a /roll for 1-10 (the roll range is not set in stone) for each person they plan to attack, so an AoE on five trolls, would be five rolls. For now, we’ll say the trolls have a defense of 3 and a health of 20, so in my system, you’d have to roll 1-10 five times for each troll, and for every roll about 3 will be a hit. So:

Zajailik rolls a 4 (1-10).  The four would be a hit. We’ll say Blizzard is hits for 7 damage. The Questmaster will announce if it is a hit.
Zajailik rolls a 6 (1-10).  See above.
Zajailik rolls a 9 (1-10).  A 9? In this system, that would be a critical hit. The attack will do double damage, so it’d be 14 damage done to this troll. I’d say any roll 7-9 will be a critical hit in a 1-10 range.
Zajailik rolls an 10 (1-10). A 10? The highest roll possible? Of course your luck will be rewarded, this would be an instant kill on the troll. Maximum rolls in any range, will always be an instant kill. (Unless it is a boss character, but we’ll get to that later.)
Zajailik rolls a 2 (1-10). This would be a miss.

So, one troll lies dead, the Questmaster will announce the final result of the attack, saying something like: “Troll 4 is dead, encased in ice. Trolls 1 and 2 take 7 damage each, both now at 13 health. Troll 3 has taken a critical hit, he is at 14 health now. Troll 5 dodges the ice, dancing around, mocking you. Now, it’s the trolls turn to fight back. In the following scenario, my defense will be 3, and my health 25.

In raid warning: “Troll 1 throws his tomahawk at you.”

Questmaster rolls an 8 (1-10). It’s a critical hit! You Zajailik takes X damage. But where’s the RP in that? Of course target will have to emote his/her reaction based on the hit.

In raid warning: “Troll 2 charges at you.”

Questmaster rolls a 2. (1-10). Troll misses Zajailik.

In raid warning: “Troll 3 throws his tomahawk at you”

Questmaster rolls a 3. (1-10) Troll 3 misses Zajailik.

In raid warning: Troll 5 throws a small rock in Zajailik’s direction.

Questmaster rolls a 6. (1-10) Troll 5 hits Zajailik, he takes X damage.

Of course, the whole group of trolls wouldn’t attack one person, because you’d be in a group. They’d cycle their attacks on different targets, Troll 1 would attack Zajailik the Troll Mage, Troll 2 would attack Wonky the Gnome, Troll 3 would attack Fuzzar the Brute, and Troll 5 would attack Zajailik again, being only three Role Players in the current scenario.

Now, there is however an easier, alternate combat system. Simply the Questmaster and Player would roll against each other the how many times needed, just like the class roll combat RP.

Okay so that’s the basic combat system explained, but there are some details that need to be understood. The standard amount of AoEs allowed to be used in an entire RP session is 3, and only one allowed in each encounter.

Boss Characters are like any other enemies, but have more health, are immune to Charisma rolls (see below), cannot be instant killed, and have a higher defense range (a minimum of a 1-50 range, with a minimum defense of 40.)

Players cannot be killed, but instead go on a hiatus (maximum fifteen minute) set by the Questmaster, at the peak of set limit, they are allowed to come back. Health is regenerated between encounters, can be healed during an encounter (no rolls for healing), or potions which need to be in your inventory, or a loot system that will be explained later.

Player gear does not come into play in the combat system, there is no mitigation besides the set defense roll.

    Part 2: Stats -

Yes. Stats. I never said this was not going to involve some brain power, but it’s fairly easy.

   
    The different stats are: Charisma, Defense, Intelligence, and Accuracy. They are all roll associated stats. The stat limit is 5. You have 10 stat points to spend at the start of every session.

0 Char. -----> 3 points into charisma ------> 3 Char.
0 Def. ------> 1 points into defense -----> 3 Def.
0 Int. ------> 5 points into intelligence --> 5 Int.
0 Acc. ------> 1 point into accuracy ----> 2 Acc.

    Charisma - Is your player a bit of a diplomat? One that prefers to talk over violence? Then charisma is the skill for you. With Charisma, it gives you the option to threaten, charm, or negotiate with possible enemies If you choose to attempt to negotiate, charm, or threaten you must roll a 1-15, and roll higher than 10. In order to negotiate, charm, or threaten you must do this before your teammates attack. Players with the highest Charisma always get the first turn in an encounter. Successful attempts result in an encounter endFailed attempts result in a loss of turn. Higher skill in Charisma means higher low number in the range. 5 points in Charisma means your Charisma roll will be a /roll of  6-15, 4 points in Charisma means your Charisma roll will be a /roll of 5-15, 3 points in Charisma means your Charisma roll will be a /roll of 4-15, 2 points in Charisma means your Charisma roll will be a /roll of 3-15, 1 point in Charisma means your Charisma roll will be a /roll of 2-15, 0 points in Charisma means your Charisma roll will be a /roll of 1-15. Charisma is a highly important skill for players who like talking out their problems, and would like a bit more dialogue in their story.   

Defense - Defense is only important if you’re going by my definite rules, if you’re doing the alternate. defense does not matter. Defense merely increases your chance to dodge an attack. If you have say, 5 defense, the Questmaster will have to roll 1-15 when targeting you, and get a roll higher than 9 to be a hit.. 4 Defense is a 1-14 roll, and must be higher than 8 to be a hit. 3 Defense is a roll of 1-13, and must be higher than 7 to be a hit. 2 Defense is a roll of 1-12, must be higher than 6 to be a hit. 1 Defense is a roll of 1-11, and must be higher than 5 to be a hit. 0 Defense is a roll of 1-10, and must be higher than 4 to be a hit. Defense is important for survival and combat.

Intelligence -  Intelligence is a vital roll in certain quests. Intelligence helps you figure out clues that may pop up along an adventure. With intelligence, you’d be able to figure out anagram’s instantly with a roll. If you have an intelligence skill of 1, you must roll 1-5, and get a 1. If you have an intelligence level of 2, you must roll 1-5 and get either a 1 or 2. If you have an intelligence level of 3, you must roll 1-5 and get a 1,2, or 3. If you have an intelligence level of 4, you must roll 1-5, and get a 1,2,3, or 4. Intelligence Level of five means you can instantly crack clues without rolling at all. Intelligence is a HIGHLY important skill for easily completing an adventure.

Accuracy - Accuracy is simple, higher accuracy, more chance to hit. An accuracy skill of x many points means you change the lowest number in your range to 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, or 60% of the highest number in your range. Ex. #1: If you have an accuracy skill of 1 in a range of 1-10, your roll will become 2-10. Ex. #2: If you have an accuracy skill of 5 in a range of 1-100, you change your roll to 60-100. Accuracy is a useless skill if you are using the alternate, beginner combat system.

NOTE: If you are using the alternate, classic rolling RP combat system, you have 8 points to spend, instead of 12.

Part 3: Role of The Questmaster -

The Questmaster is very much inspired by the D&D GMs. The Questmaster controls nearly everything. He/She controls the enemies and their rolls, he/she controls the environment, he controls the content of the quest, he/she decides how much health bosses and enemies have, how much defense bosses and enemies have, what the roll ranges will be. My rule would be this: Any enemy is possible, just don’t pick a boss like Kil’Jaedan or the Lich King, that’s stupid, but pick mobs that are in the game.

Those perks are nice, except for one thing: Everything the Questmaster does MUST be scripted and planned ahead. Nothing is allowed to be made up on the spot. The Questmaster’s job is to make plans ahead, sometimes a few days ahead of time to make a truly nice quest, though once you have all the rules down pat, it should only take a few hours to make a good story.

What sets Questmasters apart from D&D GMs is that they get to play WITH the group. They don’t fight at all, but they can sell items to their party, converse with them, and be part of the RP. Addons like MRP, FlagRSP, and Total RP are nice for the role of Questmaster, for anyone can type in a new description and be someone new, and in MRP you can even change your name. It’s useful so I don’t ALWAYS have to be Zajailik the Master Engineer and Cook, Eccentric Extraordinaire.

Part 4: The Environment -

   
    When planning an adventure, the Questmaster can use the environment with the story. He/She can make it so a yeti slams a frozen lake, cracking it, and they adventurers would have to escape before they go into the icy water. He/She can plan a rockslide into an adventure.

    An option, that I think some people will like, would be rolls, to dodge rocks in a rockslide and other things. It’s just an option I thought that would be nice for some people, personally it’s not my favored choice.

    Part 5: Loot and Items -

    This section is only important if you have the addon Gryphonheart Items (GHI). It’s an addon that allows you to create custom items and trade them with other people. You could make weapons and armor (not equippable), artifacts, quest rewards, stuffed animals, food, journals, cookbooks, just about anything.
    Basically, the Questmasters can hand out rewards, create quest related items, sell items to quest people, and so much.

    Part 6: Conclusion -

    The nice thing about this system, is that it’s private, just a system to create RP events for your friends and the roleplayers you like. You don’t have to go to Silvermoon or Goldshire and chance a bad walk-up RP. You can bend the lore of the game a bit, creating magic artifacts with tremendous power for your adventures.

Something Positive

Something Positive is now one of my favorite webcomics. Read it, and taste the cuteness of elastic kitties.

My Friends!

First  of all, it's been a while since I posted, and I apologize for that. This post is going to be about my friends, the people I (try) talk to every day. I'm going to be using a code, just because this post is inspired by a good friend of mine, who will be featured in this post. The order of the people has no correlation to my like for these people.

Also, if any of my friends from school read this, you're not in here for a valid reason. It's not because I don't consider you a friend, it's cause this is a list of people who are a different kind of a friend, seriously, you're all great people, but this is posted for a reason, you guys are all aware of how much I appreciate your friendship, the people in this list may not.

First there is M.  She is easily the nicest person I know. Never once have I witnessed her being been mean, she's even patient with complete jerks sometimes! A saint perhaps? She's never even jokingly insulted me (even about the dreaded taser accident =P). I don't trust people often, yet I trust her more than anyone I know. I have even brought up questions I haven't brought up with my parents, and she's always given me great advice. She's a very caring person, in fact, when she first started talking to me was because I was obviously in need of help, and no one else really was helping me. She had no reason to talk to me, all she had was my AIM through a WoW forum, yet she did, and I'm forever grateful for that. She gave me a friend when I needed it most of all. Not to be corny, but she was the silver lining in a black rain cloud. Now, I'm out of that dark place, and I try to talk to her every day, and talking to her is a highlight of my day, because I often end up with a new interest, webcomics for example, and a smile on my face. I wish I could end it there because that last sentence is a perfect closer, but I'm afraid I can't. M is such a fantastic person, and aside from all the nice she radiates and tacklehugs she oozes, my favorite part of her is that she looks beyond my age and treats me like a mature adult, even asking me for advice sometimes. So, thank you M, for everything you've done for me, and hopefully we can meet next summer. And now I realize the pronoun I should have used for M was L... fack.

Second there is S, my cousin. We don't always see eye to eye, but when we do we always have a fantastic time. S has a temper, and is the type of guy that always has to be right, usually I ignore those types of people, but he makes me want to work around those problems. He's smart, funny, and has been my equal since we were infants, even he insists he's older than me and is therefore my superior sometimes (It's just 3 months dammit!). S is a fantastic guy, and he's brought me into this world of computer gaming that's changed my life. In fact, if not for him, I wouldn't know M! So S, I need to say again, I fucking love you with the bottom of my heart, I've asked you for your advice and opinion on things, and we've been the best of friends since childhood. We've done stupid shit together (Pool jets into our anuses at 6 years of age, and shitting and pissing in Grandma's backyard when we were 4, and peeing in the same goddamn bathroom when we were 3!) and really fun stuff. You helped me get over my fear of waterslides at Great Wolf Lodge, and went to Delaware and played Texas Hold 'Em and Dungeons and Dragons while there. I know we argue you a lot, and I hate it, and it's not fair. I know I've been a shitty friend sometimes, picking sides with you and your brother, fighting with you over bullshit, hacking your World of Warcraft account years ago. I don't see you enough, and I don't really tell you enough (mostly cause we're guys), but I love you, you are my best friend, you've grown so much, matured so much over the past three years, really stepping up to the plate even playing with Makenzie sometimes. You fucking rock. Now stop hanging out with your band geek friends, learn to play The Underdog, and come over my house and veg out playing video games like we used too.

Next up is Th, another cousin. I think Th is the normal to my awesomely weird. He's the only guy that can get me to comment on the bodies of the opposite sex, or make me want to skateboard (which ends in losing finger nails), or make me do really, really stupid shit. Th and I have these little immature inside jokes that we love. I even get incredibly pissed off when plans to hang out don't pan out. Th has always made me do things I would never thought I had courage to do, and that's why I love him in gushy brotherly love type thing. He's made me go down a 45 foot waterslide half pipe, he's made me skateboard down a gnarly hill when I knew nothing about skateboarding, he made me go into the deep end of the pool when I was little, and made me drink Tabasco sauce, or play with a stun gun. Th actually has successfully made me care about cosmetic things like clothes and my hair and my glasses. I think Th is the guy I'm gonna have my first beer with, and have my first experiment into cigarette's or marijuana with, not because he's a bad kid, but because we're a dynamic duo, and have to do stupid shit together. I love you Th, even if you wear skinny jeans and still use "gay" as a negative term, cause I know as you age you'll get past all that stupid crap.

Next up is F! F is a totally awesome. He's nice, witty, funny, and totally sexy O.*. That was a winky face, I think. Anyway, whenever I talk to him, he opens up with an excited greeting. He's definitely on my "List of People to Meet in Person" list. Oh, he also actually reads my blog, unlike S and T. I don't think we're on bromance level, but he's definitely a good buddy. He's a pretty good vent too, and he thought my ranting was hilarious. Also, I am totally stealing his outfit when I come back, he'll know what that means if he reads this.

Next is D. D has REALLY changed my aspect on A LOT of things. But, I'm gonna be honest, I used to think he was a huge stinky poo poo, because he had a shitty reputation. That's why I fucking hate labels and reputations, they misguide me into thinking a totally awesome guy is a dick! Anyway, D has helped me separate myself from complete imbeciles. He's taught me a lot too, from Roleplay to Raiding to PvP, kind of mentoring me to become a better villain character (BIG HINT AT THE CODE). We also have a lot of the same hates, walls of ignorance being a big one. My only dislike is his like of Rise Against, but we both hate Avenged Sevenfold, so it's kay.

Next up is RG, but I want to call him Kaffledorf Oogglebooger in this piece. Kaffledorf... is well Kaffledorf. See, most people have this block in there head that makes them think before they speak. Kaffledorf does not have that block, thus making him fucking AWESOME. Literally, fucking awesome, as in, I'm pretty sure he and Awesome meet up in a motel and fuck, and then I video tape it. Seriously, he makes all these comments that are entirely inappropriate, and he always comes off hilarious. I'm pretty sure he's raped me through text, and some of the things could get him arrested dependant on who he speaks too. Honestly, when he gets older, I seriously hope he has kids, hundreds, names them all something hilarious, and train them to be just like him. Also, one of these children will be mine, and his name will be Phineas Optimus Gaga Perry Cornelias Adolf Oogglebooger. If people were more like him, the world would be a lot better... and also pretty much full of sex and sharing more than enough to much information knowledge.

Up next is K. "California Gurlz, we're unforgettable, daisy dukes, bikinis on top, sun so hot, we'll melt your popsicle!" Or how about: "Double Rainbow All the way, across the sky, yeah yeah, so intense!" Yes, that means K likes to sing those songs, over Ventrillo, and we record it without his knowing. Oh, what to say about K? Well, first of all, we've known each other for a while, but then kinda fell out of contact, but recently over the last summer, we've grown to be good buddies. We've had lots of laughs (Lake Ponch! Hail Floober!). He's done me good many times, making my last summer a lot better than it had looked. Because of him I'm now friends with D and F. We both like poking fun at people trying to be speshul snowflakes. He's introduced me into a lot of new and interesting things, and he, like D and F, is on that list of people to meet in person.

And finally, at least for this update, is T and B, two brothers. Pull up a chair and get ready for wildly inappropriate story time! That's who B is, he's a fun guy with awesome stories, and tons of experiences to share with me. While we clearly do not talk enough, I know he's a guy I could confide to in order to get some decent advice, and I really want to change that we don't talk enough. He's part of the original Blue Crew (totally just made that up), along with M and T.
   Along with B, is T, the older (maybe younger?) brother. He's a fucking brainiac, at least to me that is. He's helped me with homework once or twice where even my parents couldn't, and he better be prepared for more that in the coming years (Math...). He's one of the few people I can actually bounce intellectual ideas with about my writing, so that's a definite unique trait he has, cause I don't like sharing my ideas often. He's also got my taste in video games, RPGs and a good story, unlike the Modern Warfare dorks at my school. My only complaint is his claim that indie music is devil, which is complete poppycock (yes, I said poppycock).

Some how, I can just get the feeling this post is gonna come back and bite me in the ass, with a good ol' ripping for being a pussy by a few people on the list. What can I says, I be a lonely, effed up kid. =P


I'll add more friends as I see fit to this list.