Consolidated Discussion of RPG Mechanics

[Rem-13]

I still think that's a largely poor way of looking at the situation. If role-playing is something you do as a chore, what is the point? I guess you could follow that to the conclusion that if you find role-playing a chore than what are you doing here anyways, but isn't what this thread is for? How to make this place more fun to role-play in?


I wish I weren't the one saying these things. Let it be known I'm aware of the hypocrisy of me talking about role-playing.

[Juno]

That will absolutely have to happen, but we can still try to help minimize how much has to be sucked.

...

No homo.

Again, I ask my above question, because depending on the answer to that, some people may have a large amount to suck. Unless they don't care that much, like myself.

[Jesper]

I still think that's a largely poor way of looking at the situation. If role-playing is something you do as a chore, what is the point? I guess you could follow that to the conclusion that if you find role-playing a chore than what are you doing here anyways, but isn't what this thread is for? How to make this place more fun to role-play in?


I wish I weren't the one saying these things. Let it be known I'm aware of the hypocrisy of me talking about role-playing.

Any change we make would probably help, but when the luster of the changes die down, and it comes down to "do I want to write or not," people are going to have to bunker down and do it, otherwise we'll end up right back here in another few months or so.

In other words, I don't think this way of thinking is harmful at all. It's just the way things go.

EDIT: I say this alongside my full agreement with the changes being made, whatever they ultimately may be.

[Kaden]

Question: assuming we implement this "new system," would we be facing a complete reboot of everyone's "stats" to the basic minimum again? Essentially, a turnover part two?

I was just talking to someone else about this. I don't see, at this point, how any change to the core mechanics of our current system could happen without a statistical reset.

Also, would we be encouraged/even allowed to start new stories as new characters or would we be expected to keep our old ones (a lot of this hinges on whether or not canons are allowed, I'm guessing).

Without getting into canons/customs, I can't imagine a scenario where we'd say people are not allowed to start stories or switch.

I still think that's a largely poor way of looking at the situation.

At this stage, I completely agree. That's basically like saying nothing. Not even, now that I think about it. While saying nothing is, at the worst, not productive, stuff like that can be actively detrimental.

EDIT: Realized some of the above may sound hypocritical, given my post before this one. Let me clarify real quick.

In other words, I don't think this way of thinking is harmful at all. It's just the way things go.

I agree with that. There have been plenty of times where I hadn't wanted to start writing, but I knew that, once I did, I would enjoy it. I simply had to suck it up and push through my initial resistance to it.

That said, I don't think that, in this situation that we're in right now, it's helping. At all. We're beyond just saying "stop whining and get some writing done." The situation has moved past that, so our methods of dealing with it need to as well.

[Juno]

I was just talking to someone else about this. I don't see, at this point, how any change to the core mechanics of our current system could happen without a statistical reset.

Without getting into canons/customs, I can't imagine a scenario where we'd say people are not allowed to start stories or switch.

I thought so, on both fronts, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

As far as a timeline, when are you looking to have this change to the core mechanics finished by?

Because it could be possible to go ahead and allow players to start brainstorming and testing new/old characters through a saga that we could say would have no impact on their future stats, and perhaps not even on their future history, but could be used for digging into the personality and getting back into the habit before the "game" begins. Kind of like a tutorial, or introductory session (AC: Brotherhood multiplayer is bleeding through). Just a thought.

[Orion]

I still think that's a largely poor way of looking at the situation. If role-playing is something you do as a chore, what is the point? I guess you could follow that to the conclusion that if you find role-playing a chore than what are you doing here anyways, but isn't what this thread is for? How to make this place more fun to role-play in?


I wish I weren't the one saying these things. Let it be known I'm aware of the hypocrisy of me talking about role-playing.

I definitely agree to an extent, but as Amarus pointed out, there needs to be a degree of self motivation. Chubbsians are well known procrastinators and often express a 'cannot-be-arsed' mentality, which I believe has to be tackled at a grass-roots level.

That said, if people cannot find the desire to write due to the current system, then sure, things should change to reflect that. Of course, my above paragraph needs to be kept in mind when the sheen of the new changes fades away.

EDIT: My point of view is mostly from my own experience, as writing is something I actually enjoy doing, regardless of game mechanics, so I guess it's harder for me to remove myself from that and be super objective.

[Kaden]

As far as a timeline, when are you looking to have this change to the core mechanics finished by?

I had a longer answer planned in my head, but it boils down to: no.

There's a lot that needs to be taken from these threads, analyzed, discussed, and then synthesized into something that we think will work better than what we currently have.

[Waffuru]

Most of the people we picked up from google didn't stay. They either sucked and got ridiculed or never really cliqued.

Majority of people came via word of mouth.

[Tamsin]

I am reposting this part of my post from the "Removal of Combat Ability" thread, since it seems like it would fit in this thread better (seeing as how it's a overall discussion on RPG mechanics). The rest doesn't belong, so I left it with the original post.

When it comes to any sort of entertainment, the general reason behind a lack of interest is beacuse of the content...or rather, the lack thereof.

I think the primary reason why there is little activity on the RPG is simply beacuse there is nothing to do. Yes, this is in great part due to the lack of activity, but it's more then that. Sure, the system as it stands gives roleplayers a tremendous amount of freedom...but perhaps that is precisely the problem. When you can have everything, you just can't think of anything. Imagination usually works best when it is given a certain context or limitations. Even in (good) games where players have a lot of freedom, the game still provides objectives or quests which the players can pursue. Simply put, even if the roleplayer himself/herself has no clue as to what he/she wants to do next, he/she should still be able to find something to do.

Speaking of quests, I think one thing that would help resolve the content problem is if we brought back the Quest system. The great thing about quests is that they provided the roleplayer with a certain objective and context in which to work in, thus spurring their imagination and creativity. They can also challenge the roleplayer by putting them out of their comfort zone, thus demanding a degree of ingenuity in order to resolve them. I can't speak for others, but I at the very least remember quests quite fondly and I loved doing them. Group quests in particular were something special in that they could develop into mini-sagas in their own right. A nice thing about them is that they are not as demanding as a full-blown saga, but a bit more challenging and involved than a completely personal roleplay. Overall, they provided content on a intermediate level...something which I think is sorely lacking in the current system.

That said, if we do decide to bring back Quests, I think it would be nice if we had a few that had techniques or even abilities tied to them. Another way games usually encourage gameplay and make the player feel empowered is by providing him "tools" with which he/she can tackle future challenges in new and interesting ways. However, the games also make it difficult to obtain these items, thus making the "tools" feel like a reward when obtained. While the current system we have in place does provide the roleplayer with the freedom to choose when and how his character obtains the technique/ability, it also ends up feeling much less of an achievement (a problem which power ups also share).

[Rem-13]

Most of the people we picked up from google didn't stay. They either sucked and got ridiculed or never really cliqued.

Majority of people came via word of mouth.

Really? Cause we've had those 'how'd you find chubbs' threads and I thought the majority was searching google for DBZ RPG. Thats how I found it anyways.

edit: I think I agree with the return of the quest system.

[Super Buu]

Yeah, for some reason I forgot to say this on the other thread. I tend to disparage quests because they seem like a pointless obfuscation, but when I joined the RPG I leapt into writing via quests. Later on, I got more interested in writing more original stories, but at the beginning or if you're stuck for ideas and just want to write something, they're very useful. So yeah, having a few quests on standby at each planet is a good idea.

I think it'd be a good idea, if we do a reset, to give some kind of equivalent reward for people who've been writing here for a while. I certainly don't think that's impossible, though I can't figure out specifics until we know what we're changing to.

[Rem-13]

I dont think there's any need for a reset even if we make a massive change. If anything, at least we could set up a tier system and set everyone in those so those who have accomplished alot don't feel like they lost everything.

[Vad]

I dont think there's any need for a reset even if we make a massive change. If anything, at least we could set up a tier system and set everyone in those so those who have accomplished alot don't feel like they lost everything.

Who's talking reset?

[Rem-13]

Um, Rose just said "if we do a reset", and Kaden mentioned a statistical reset if we change the core system?

[Jesper]

I was just talking to someone else about this. I don't see, at this point, how any change to the core mechanics of our current system could happen without a statistical reset.

That.

For the record, I agree.

[Vad]

Um, Rose just said "if we do a reset", and Kaden mentioned a statistical reset if we change the core system?

Reset to me means that everything is lost. I'd like to avoid that.

[Juno]

Reset to me means that everything is lost. I'd like to avoid that.

For the record, I'm okay with a rewards system, as long as it is extremely scaled back so no one is too far ahead of the curve to start with.

This coming from a person who'd be about at the middle of the pack.

[Vad]

This coming from a person who'd be about at the middle of the pack.

EDIT: What are you accusing me of exactly?

[Juno]

EDIT: What are you accusing me of exactly?

I'm not accusing you, I'm clarifying my point of view. I was talking about myself.

[Vad]

I'm not accusing you, I'm clarifying my point of view. I was talking about myself.

Right. My original post would have worked then. >.>

That was an extremely unclear post.