Post by NinjaDeathStrike on Oct 29, 2011 0:44:32 GMT -5
Hey everyone! This is a board to help you with some guidelines for running a story you've created.
As an story runner, you have a lot of impact on how the game will be played and what kind of experience our players will have. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you play. I know this is a huge wall of text, but please read it all before attempting to run a story on your own!
1) You are responsible for all rolls within a session. Players should not be allowed to make their own rolls...because they'll hardcore cheat. DON'T CHEAT! You're on the honor system, but it's your job to keep the game fair.
2) Any decision or situation not clearly marked in the rules is up to you. If you run into a situation where you don't know what to do use your best judgment.
3) Encounters and situation within a mission are completely up to you. You may have some missions with set objectives, but how players go about completing them and who they run into on the way is up to you. Allow the players to use their powers creatively, but don't let them make things too easy. Is a psychic rampaging through all of their encounters? Throw an agent at them. If a collector is catching EVERYTHING a pack of wild Mightenya will make them think twice about staying in that forest. Don't be mean, but make it challenging. Finding balance is key to a fun game.
4) You are also in charge of assigning level ups. You may choose to level up via missions, or on a schedule, it's up to you. Missions should scale to make sure they continually provide a challenge. Pokemon are a little more difficult. Our basic exp goes:
None -> A little -> Some -> A good amount -> A lot -> About to level
You can use this as a guide or create your own exp system. It's your decision. It's also up to you to decide when and if to provide evolution stones or other special things items required for a pokemon to evolve. Finally, pokemon may evolve when you choose. If a pokemon has grown close to it's trainer it is likely to evolve early, if they catch it late, it may take longer than normal for it to evolve. Trade evolved pokemon should be treated in this way as well.
5) All towns have shops in addition to traveling salesmen should you choose to use them. Items for sale should cost the same amount that they cost in-game (with exceptions if balance is needed. TMs should almost always cost more). Town stores should have a large selection of items. If a trainer wants to blow all their money on an Ultraball early that's their choice.
6) You decide the rewards for winning trainer matches and completing missions. Try to keep things balanced. Don't go giving out tons of money to low level trainers, we don't want to make things too easy on them. Harder missions should obviously give higher rewards. Quest rewards should scale with difficultly. Early quest should only be paying a few thousand P tops. Even higher level quest should rarely pay more than 15,000P. Only extremely dangerous quest should pay more than this. Make things expensive if you're doing a prolonged story. They're supposed to be. It forces the player to make a choice about what they really need.
7) It's your job to balance the game. I made up a lot of these abilities and some of them might be (read: probably are) overpowered. If you notice that a particular ability or formula is too powerful make sure to let me know so I can fix it.
8) If you make a new mission, create a thread about it, or write it down somewhere you won't lose it. That way you can refer to it when you play. This will help keep the story tighter and more engaging.
9) If you are running for yourself, you need to take a back seat to the other players. Try not to lead the mission. Let others make most of the decisions, you should be there for back-up and to prod them in the right direction if need be.
10) Try to get someone else to run your gym battles, or any of your battles, if you can. If you're running your own battle, BE FAIR!
11) In battles you run for yourself, the pokemon you face should be chosen at random. A 649 sided die is a good way to do this (re-roll for legends).
12) This isn't a run-through of a pokemon game. This is pokemon hard mode. If players get in over their heads, it's not your job to save them. On the flip side, you should never intentionally screw players over. It's not your job to FORCE them to do anything. You should be focused on presenting them with choices (tough choices) and only react to their decisions. Ideally you should be completely impartial.
13) It's up to you to pick which classes will be available to play for your story. Feel free to make your own if you're up for it! If they're good enough, I may even add them to the main class page.
14) It is recommended that you play with permanent death. Since there will always be the option to start a new story, permanent death means players must play smart, and adds a sense of weight to the game. Main world stories will always institute permanent death from now on.
Now you're ready to run your very own RPG storyline. Have fun!
As an story runner, you have a lot of impact on how the game will be played and what kind of experience our players will have. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you play. I know this is a huge wall of text, but please read it all before attempting to run a story on your own!
1) You are responsible for all rolls within a session. Players should not be allowed to make their own rolls...because they'll hardcore cheat. DON'T CHEAT! You're on the honor system, but it's your job to keep the game fair.
2) Any decision or situation not clearly marked in the rules is up to you. If you run into a situation where you don't know what to do use your best judgment.
3) Encounters and situation within a mission are completely up to you. You may have some missions with set objectives, but how players go about completing them and who they run into on the way is up to you. Allow the players to use their powers creatively, but don't let them make things too easy. Is a psychic rampaging through all of their encounters? Throw an agent at them. If a collector is catching EVERYTHING a pack of wild Mightenya will make them think twice about staying in that forest. Don't be mean, but make it challenging. Finding balance is key to a fun game.
4) You are also in charge of assigning level ups. You may choose to level up via missions, or on a schedule, it's up to you. Missions should scale to make sure they continually provide a challenge. Pokemon are a little more difficult. Our basic exp goes:
None -> A little -> Some -> A good amount -> A lot -> About to level
You can use this as a guide or create your own exp system. It's your decision. It's also up to you to decide when and if to provide evolution stones or other special things items required for a pokemon to evolve. Finally, pokemon may evolve when you choose. If a pokemon has grown close to it's trainer it is likely to evolve early, if they catch it late, it may take longer than normal for it to evolve. Trade evolved pokemon should be treated in this way as well.
5) All towns have shops in addition to traveling salesmen should you choose to use them. Items for sale should cost the same amount that they cost in-game (with exceptions if balance is needed. TMs should almost always cost more). Town stores should have a large selection of items. If a trainer wants to blow all their money on an Ultraball early that's their choice.
6) You decide the rewards for winning trainer matches and completing missions. Try to keep things balanced. Don't go giving out tons of money to low level trainers, we don't want to make things too easy on them. Harder missions should obviously give higher rewards. Quest rewards should scale with difficultly. Early quest should only be paying a few thousand P tops. Even higher level quest should rarely pay more than 15,000P. Only extremely dangerous quest should pay more than this. Make things expensive if you're doing a prolonged story. They're supposed to be. It forces the player to make a choice about what they really need.
7) It's your job to balance the game. I made up a lot of these abilities and some of them might be (read: probably are) overpowered. If you notice that a particular ability or formula is too powerful make sure to let me know so I can fix it.
8) If you make a new mission, create a thread about it, or write it down somewhere you won't lose it. That way you can refer to it when you play. This will help keep the story tighter and more engaging.
9) If you are running for yourself, you need to take a back seat to the other players. Try not to lead the mission. Let others make most of the decisions, you should be there for back-up and to prod them in the right direction if need be.
10) Try to get someone else to run your gym battles, or any of your battles, if you can. If you're running your own battle, BE FAIR!
11) In battles you run for yourself, the pokemon you face should be chosen at random. A 649 sided die is a good way to do this (re-roll for legends).
12) This isn't a run-through of a pokemon game. This is pokemon hard mode. If players get in over their heads, it's not your job to save them. On the flip side, you should never intentionally screw players over. It's not your job to FORCE them to do anything. You should be focused on presenting them with choices (tough choices) and only react to their decisions. Ideally you should be completely impartial.
13) It's up to you to pick which classes will be available to play for your story. Feel free to make your own if you're up for it! If they're good enough, I may even add them to the main class page.
14) It is recommended that you play with permanent death. Since there will always be the option to start a new story, permanent death means players must play smart, and adds a sense of weight to the game. Main world stories will always institute permanent death from now on.
Now you're ready to run your very own RPG storyline. Have fun!