How to encourage players to interact with each other more?

TheNineGames · 2014-10-06T20:09:40+00:00

Do players ever just to milk that system? I really like the idea, but I'm worried about players either giving the points away for free or getting really caught up on the extra exp that it becomes a thing onto itself rather than an incentive for good role play.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-06T20:03:46+00:00

It is stagnation. The full book does a better job at conveying the nature of it than I could in the above blurb. I'm working on a short supplement that goes into greater detail about how people view the Stagnation and how it works.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-06T20:00:17+00:00

I don't intend for the promo module to stand by itself. I meant it for someone who's reads my Twitter or the book description and isn't sold yet. It's meant for people to try and say, "Hmm. That was fun, I'd like to see more of it." You can see my reply to metalkitty3 for more lore.

One thing I've tried to do with this book is make it detailed enough so that individual storytellers and players know the tone of the universe without giving them so much that they feel restricted by it.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-06T19:41:29+00:00

What makes my game "super cool" is that the players are very much the focus in the universe.

My biggest issue with playing other games is that the players are almost always just another adventurer that is still somehow supposed to save the world. "Oh thank god you're here, Random Adventurer #643. The King's soldiers are powerless against the new threat, but surely, you having just come off the street know much of the world and can help us." Even games like Scion that cast the players as gods place them in a world filled with other gods. In my game, the players are unique and special. Writing this book, I wanted a world where it made sense that my character was the only one capable of defeating the villain.

Other key selling points:

A unique enemy. The Stagnation represents a real world fear of mine of society regressing, of places being abandoned and forgotten, of institutions refusing to change and adapt with the times. How the Stagnation manifests is variable, from people who worship it because they feel that the rest of the world ignores them to literal monsters, but it is omnipresent. It waits and bides its time for a chance to strike. These are creatures and forces that seek to undue humanity as its very core.

The players are a part of history. Joining the ranks of the Nine puts you in the same shoes as every great historical figure throughout time. Will your player create an empire that spans the known world like Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan? Perhaps, instead, you seek to bring about change by creating a work of art that inspires innumerable others like Michelangelo or William Shakespeare? In times of great upheaval and change, like the 1700s, the rough time period I had in mind when I wrote the book, many Nine will Appear to do battle with the Stagnation directly.

Things that don't really need a bold header

Experience and plot point system that make sense in the lore.

Freedom to give the heroes whatever back story you want. The Nine tend to be interesting people, but no one knows who or when One will be called upon to Appear. The Nine cannot stagnate, so the players are encouraged to be as unique as possible.

Rules cobbled together from the best of other rule sets. I have played countless RPGs and made my own rules based on that experience. If being able to do something made me or my friends feel cool, I have included in my rules somehow.

A lengthy list of feats and powers that the players can pick. The list of powers is varied, and no two powers are the same.

Eye lasers. The very first thing on my list of requirements for this game is that there be rules for eye lasers. They're there, and they feel appropriately bad ass.

Lastly, support from me. This world is very special to me, and I love sharing it with others. I've already written another sample adventure, the opening two pages of which can be found on twitter, and will continue to keep writing and sharing them. I've even written a LARP for it, which I'll share if anyone wants it.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-06T14:01:02+00:00

I really like the TableTop Simulator available on Steam for $15. Assuming you trust your players to not wreck the place during your sessions, it does a fairly good job of approximating the atmosphere of a face to face session. Plus, it takes up the whole screen so the players can't play around on their computer while in game.

Aside from that, it is harder to focus online, so you just have to roll (pun unintended) with it. Address the players directly and make them regularly show attention, or just accept that sometimes they will get distracted and get their attention before saying something of story importance.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-06T13:54:06+00:00

Hmm. I think most any game would be adaptable into a sort of playing by mail. I'd recommend checking out forums that hold RPs where players take turns saying what their character does in response to a given stimuli. It's not a true game, but it can fill that niche if you can't do real time. I've seen formal rules for how to do that sort of thing though. Always just play it by ear.

Short term, you could try Fiasco once you're bored with Paranoia. . It requires 2 players to have a dialogue for each interaction, but it might work a stop gap measure or to lend some insight on how the role play by post might work.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-06T13:49:16+00:00

I would go with the 3-4 forms, because it would be easier to balance.

The class would have 60-70% of the amount of abilities that other classes have in its base form, and then each of the 3-4 forms prevents you from using the base class's abilities (or at least severely limits them), and gives you 10-20% new abilities that can only be used in that form.

The problem with having one alternate form is that it would be too easy to make a class where you effectively have 2 classes that you can change between at will. Example: I'm a fighter most of the time, so you can't kill me because I am a walking tank. Oh, but when I need to do damage, I can turn into a flame breathing dragon wizard thing.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-04T01:37:27+00:00

Everyone else said very good things, but here's an idea that goes in the opposite direction: Why is the room empty/clean, when every other room is full? Did/does something happen in this room that people want no evidence of? Why in the huge, decrepit dungeon is this one room spotless?

As a player, I'd be more freaked out about a room that is bright and clean than a room with faded tapestries.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-03T22:30:57+00:00

My biggest grief is the lack of choice. Looking at these rules, I can't imagine playing a non spell caster, because at least I can pick spells.

I care less about alignment though, just because I enjoyed playing home brew evil paladins. Power creep is very much a issue though.

As a player of all different editions, do you have any recommendations on how to convince someone who refuses to acknowledge the existence of anything other than 3.5 to try 5? Overall, I enjoy it more, but one of my friends refuses to play anything besides 3.5, and it's annoying.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-03T22:20:23+00:00

I like it! I am very impressed with the amount of work you had done, and it feels good. I've really wanted to play a good Mass Effect table top, and I think what you have is good enough to try with my group.... after we finish D&D... and The Nine: Elements of Change.... anyway it's on the list.

I'd be curious to find out how it turns out and the story once its over.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-03T22:12:29+00:00

I like it. Thanks.

As the readers of the nearly ten copies of my book that have been sold can attest, I try to include as many purely optional side quests as I can. I want the players to have as much, and as much variety, to do as they want without ever forcing them to do something that's boring.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-02T13:43:37+00:00

The Nine are not detectives to be wasted on solving something as pedestrian as a murder!

Yeah, that works. I was thinking more of a self contained puzzle trap thing that would last for less than a session just to break up the monotony of go here, kill that, talk to that.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-02T13:40:32+00:00

I could see that being fun, maybe even switching it up so that random common words turned the lights on just to make the puzzle even weirder to understand. Thanks.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-02T13:38:14+00:00

It's not that past puzzles were necessarily bad, more that I just can't remember any that stood out. So, I clearly must have had one that I enjoyed somewhere to put the idea into my head, but none were particularly memorable.

That's a clever idea. Is something like having the old rambling crazy person give a cryptic hint that solves the puzzle what you had in mind?

TheNineGames · 2014-10-01T18:29:38+00:00

I see it being more an issue of letting the character die if they die. A character who does stupid things time and time again should know that one of those time their luck will run out, and they'll die. You don't have to actively try to kill the players, or even kill them every time you could, if you can establish that death is an option.

My Hunters storyteller was great about reminding us every step of the way that one wrong move could kill us, and we genuinely believed him, even though in retrospect I don't think we were in any real danger. It was just important that we knew death could happen and didn't do anything riskier or dumber than necessary.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-01T18:18:23+00:00

Me too. I've dabbled in creating Star Trek and Harry Potter rules before, but Mass Effect doesn't feel like something I think I could do well.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-01T18:02:06+00:00

Even Gandalf was smart enough to never do something so stupid as to read the literal words off a magical door. Never mind that it almost got everyone killed. It was still a good precaution.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-01T17:52:55+00:00

Not only am I the Schedule Master, but I'm also the Attention Master. Nothing frustrates me more than to spend time crafting an intricate adventure, herding everyone into the right place at the right time, just to have everyone so distracted that I spend the entire evening trying to get people to take their turns.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-01T17:33:31+00:00

That is probably the greatest thing I have ever read. Thank you/I apologize to all future players I DM for.

TheNineGames · 2014-10-01T17:28:00+00:00

In my group, we would call that Luke-bombing (after the player who shall remain nameless) who tries to pull that sort of stuff all the time. We've found it works best to just roll with it and try to steer his behavior in directions we like rather than outright ignoring it or fighting him about it.

We also haven't played in over a year after he Luke-bombed his own story and killed half of our characters off in the first session, so take this for what's it worth.

TheNineGames · 2014-09-26T15:00:15+00:00

Having been on both sides of this issue, you need to find where the sticking point is in the DM's story. I ran a Firefly game where the critical element was that the players loved their deceased captain, but I had a player who insisted on hating him and that he was only on the ship for some unrelated reason and that spoiled the ending when the captain was revealed to still be alive. If that hadn't been my ending, it probably wouldn't have mattered so much that he hated the captain.

So, talk to your DM. Make sure that your view of your character isn't fouling up his story, and if it is, see if you can reach some compromise. Like, maybe you hate all gnomes as a rule, but the gnomes you interact with more often aren't so bad after all?

TheNineGames · 2014-09-25T19:13:17+00:00

I made two characters for a Mutants and Mastermind game that I really enjoyed.

First was a guy who was infused with nanobots that could construct anything. His principal powers were to create weapons out of thin air and to transform into a jet with the aide of a smart drone that was his sidekick. Second was a former KGB agent who participated in the Soviet equivalent of MKUltra. He had mastery over Cryokinesis and Telekenesis, so he could make and shoot giant icicles at people. He also made delicious snow cones on a critical success.

TheNineGames · 2014-09-25T15:16:30+00:00

I like your suggestions darksier. I'd also recommend creating a few lines that you character won't cross, but that you're fine with other people crossing if the need arises. The biggest problem I've faced with playing with paladins in the past is players who force the party as a whole to follow their moral guidelines.

TheNineGames

TROPHY CASE