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.
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