I've been reading these and I'm seeing some AWESOME stuff! You guys rock!
I would just like to let everyone know that Xanthe (Suicune's Fire) is officially my helper for Round 2. I got a LOT of offers from people to help host this, but she came to me first and really expressed a strong interest in helping out. And while I love help, it would be great to see the rest of you continue participating like you have been. :3
Round 2 is likely going to be bigger, and now that I have a strong idea of what works and how the system feels and runs, we could make it "evolve" in a way.
About Game Size and Duration:
Seems like you guys want MORE! I'll admit, Round 1 was finished sooner than I expected, but it was still good nonetheless. What we're looking at is definitely a city-size/style map as opposed to Round 1's more rural setting, lots of more searchable locations (high-rise apartment buildings with multiple searchable levels), lots of more NPC Pokémon, and of course, more Stalkers.
Themes:
A lot of people said keep the horror and a few said go with sci-fi. Maybe we could do a hybrid of both. I'll admit, Aryia's "technology level" was low and pretty 19th century-ish, but in Round 2's world, we could make it where these Pokémon are definitely more "techie" and have more technology at their paws that compensates for Pokémon of varying sizes in a Zootopia kind of way. This would also open up a lot more possibilities when it comes to the puzzles, map, and that kind of thing. I'd love to try it.
Doom Tracker:
Yeeeaaahh... this was almost completely irrelevant. I thought the game was going to take longer and I had it where one Pokémon would be axed every three days, so I wanted to play it safe and not make it feel too hard. And then BOOM, people charged through it and I actually kicked it up to every two days. And toward the tail end, I was like "yeah, they blew this thing away." I might make the killings more frequent, and unlike Round 1, I don't think I'll have the players know what happened when the body was discovered by the cops. However, you could interview the cops again and again to get the necessary details. So in this case, you could go to Zick the Jolteon, who everyone knew was the main NPC investigator, for the details, but having the players instantly learn about what was discovered... eh, I don't think I'd do that again.
Interviewing and Rapport System:
Yeah, Xanthe and I are discussing this because while it worked a bit, it's not perfect and I think there's room for improvement here. My thought is:
Shared Type - Positive reaction. This stays and overrules any case of super-effective/not very effective, such as dragon vs dragon and that kind of thing.
Not Very Effective - Your Pokémon character is seen as more modest by the NPC. Some Pokémon may like that, others might see it as weak.
Super Effective - Your Pokémon character is seen as more intimidating by the NPC. Most Pokémon won't like it, BUT... some rare few might see it as your character having balls to stand up to them.
For all those that were wondering, this was how the evolution stages worked when it came to rapport:
Spoiler:
This part of the Rapport System, I think I'll keep.
So with this new adjusted system, you might have something like a "Very Positive, Nonthreatening" rapport if your character shares a type and an evolution stage, but has one type that is not very effective against the NPC's Pokémon. Or, you might have a "Negative, Threatening" rapport if the evolution stages differ and your character's type is super-effective against the NPC. These get weighed against the NPC's personality and that's generally how the outcome of your interview will be determined.
Puzzles/Difficulty
You people want more? MORE!? Oh... oh goodie. >:D
And yes, I freakin' love that jigsaw puzzle creator. Anyway, the master has heard you, you will get more puzzles. Which is especially good since we're likely going bigger.
New Actions
I've read your responses and I think these might work:
Restrain: The way this would work is the Emissaries haul the NPC's butt off into the Secret Clubhouse and restrain them. While they're here, they could be interrogated on advanced level to make them spill everything they know, or it could be done to bar them from killing anyone else if they're a Stalker. But, to prevent too much overuse, you can only have one Pokémon Restrained at a time, or else there's nothing stopping people from Restraining the whole city. XD
Escort: This is where you would select another NPC and take them to a location, where they might be able to help you or use a skill to do something. Case in point, one NPC might be a locksmith that could break down a particular lock. That same lock could also be disengaged by an NPC that's good at lockpicking. In another case, there might be some busted electronics that need to be fixed in order to open up a door, so a Pokémon skilled in electronics could help with that and fix the wiring. This would be rapport-dependant, so you would have had to get a good rapport from them first before asking for their help.
You guys will know and be alerted when an NPC Pokémon with an employable skill or trait becomes available after a good rapport interview. Don't worry too much if one Pokémon seems impossible to recruit for their skills. There will likely be multiple Pokémon possessing the same skill if it's necessary for game progression, just to make sure there isn't a lockout and that one guy with that absolutely essential skill can't be used for Escort because of the particular Pokémon people picked to use for their own self-reflected characters.
Monitor: Stalk the Stalkers! What this would do is your character investigates a character and sees exactly what they do on a day to day basis, hidden and concealed from their scrutiny. You would know where they live, where they work, and how they interact with other Pokémon characters like family or coworkers. I don't want to make this too powerful to the point where if you just happen to select a Stalker, it instantly becomes known that they are one. However, it would give you strong leads to pursue it further.
Protect: Is there an NPC that you feel you can't possibly afford to lose? You could use this and be their bodyguard for a while, which will make it impossible for them to get killed by the Stalkers. When the time comes and a victim gets chosen randomly, all Protected Pokémon will be immune to getting rolled.
A Third Way to Win?
I'd have to agree, I think it's fine as is, but I figured I'd toss the suggestion out there!
Anything Else
I've read your ideas, and I had these in mind:
Stress/Strain Level
A lot of people mentioned that some people did all the action and other people who wanted to get in on more of the super-creepy, Epitaph kind of stuff didn't quite get the chance. I had an idea that addresses this and adds a feature to make it more immersive.
I figured I'd keep this kind of thing as simple as possible, but effective and easy to understand. If your character enters areas that have a lot of creepy stuff (the abandoned areas in Round 1, for example) or areas that have a lot of blood or signs of violence, they start getting stressed. The classic case of Jeff and the Aglome Oen jumpscare is a great example of big-time stress event. If you do what Velocity and Dash did and interview the Stalkers and make them aware that you know their true story, they might do something that bumps up your stress too.
You start unstressed, of course. Next to your name on the main post, you'll have (OOOO) to indicate your stress level. An (OOOO) would mean you're unstressed and perfectly fine. If you do something that would raise stress, it turns one of those O's into an X. With some of the more extreme cases (Jeff's nightmare courtesy of Vam, discovering Epitaph's slaughterhouse workshop), it may turn two O's into two X's. If you turn all four of those O's into X's, your investigations into the very creepy areas will just outright fail and you'll run your butt out of there each and every time, wailing in fear and not get anything out of it. Your interviews with some of the more unruly NPCs will also get messy and you won't get too much out of them either. You'll be all jittery and start stuttering.
To turn X's back into O's so you can do some of the more intense stuff again, you might need to do things that help your character unwind (a possible extra command). There could be a spot in the city like a cafe that spending some time at could unnerve you. Talking to an NPC Pokémon that has a nurturing and comforting trait or personality might help also. There might also be items to add to the Team Inventory that a player could use to reduce their stress, also. Not acting for a while could also bump down the stress.
I feel this would ensure everyone gets a chance to do the gritty stuff and would make it feel more immersive by indirectly forcing a limit on how much of the grizzly stuff a character can do. I haven't completely worked it out, but it might be something like this. Simple, but effective.
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Health and an RNG Component
I'm currently thinking this over, but it might be something along these lines:
Some activities carry a personal health risk, such as investigating certain areas (an abandoned house that carries a chance of falling through the floor, for example). I don't want anything to cause people's characters to get killed, but having them get a little beat up would be okay. If you enter a particular area that has danger, you have a % chance of taking a hit.
Like Stress, I might make it where you start with (++++) to indicate Health. Falling through the floor, having to walk through broken glass, or getting hit with a booby trap might turn a + into an X. Heck, an assassination attempt could also result in a fight that does some damage to your character. Turn all your +'s into X's and you're out of commission for a while (but never die, of course). The only action you might be able to take then is something like "Recover" where you're forced to spend time at a place to heal up, or use an item to turn those X's back into O's.
Having certain traits like being able to fly, having a smaller weight and size, or being of a particular type (a fire type having to go through a room that's on fire) may help you avoid damage entirely. Other areas will have a % chance of taking on damage. A lot of this I'll be working in behind the scenes and will be open-ended on my side to think of how realistic the situation would seem (I'll try to use my best judgment given what Pokémon you are and what the situation entails. because there's way too many potential scenarios that can't be addressed ahead of time), but you'll know when these rolls take place and when your character has had to deal with some nasty hazards.
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Time:
I like Xanthe's suggestion of a time mechanic, and her format seems pretty cool. Not to mention it might relax the queue a bit! With this going on, people will drop what action they'd like to do for Day 1: Day, wait until enough people have dropped in an action, and then I'll go ahead with stating how they resolve rather than try to plow through each action as soon as possible. Then Day 1: Night will arrive, which will change things. Investigating might be harder with the lack of sunlight, but you might catch suspicious activity happening in the act. Your character might need some time to sleep also, or else Stress. Still not sure, I'm thinking this kind of stuff over.
Overall, I'd like to keep things as simple as possible, but still easy to understand and still fun. The beauty of Round 1 was it was fast and easy to just pick up and play for most people. There's room for the system to grow, but I don't want it to get too extreme where there's a lot of weird and gimmicky rules that might confuse people. It seems like most people understand the core components of the game, so there's possibility to introduce a few extras without risking too much complexity.
Let me know what you think of these and which additions seem really good. I'm also open to changing or tweaking the way they work.
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10-18-2016, 12:50 PM #1Cheers and good times!
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10-23-2016, 12:15 AM #2garlic bread champion
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Was way too short for a college student like me. Had a busy week and once I was ready it was done. :(
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10-23-2016, 03:04 PM #3Cheers and good times!
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No problem, we'll try to think of some ways to incorporate them more, but it is more about the players (Emissaries) in the overall picture of things.
Originally Posted by Velocity
Round 2 is guaranteed to be longer, but I figured better to run something short and sweet than have something go on for way too long and never get finished. There's room for it to grow and that's exactly what we're doing with it. Originally Posted by Bulbasaur
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