Hey guys, me again. If you remember the last thread on how to PLAY an RPG, this will be fairly similar, only focusing on the creation/narrating aspects of the game.
PART 1: All rules about being a player still apply!
PART 2: BASICS OF CREATION
a) Every RPG has the same basics. They all have storylines and player's. If your RPG is missing it's storyline, it will not get many players. If your player's have no storyline, more are less likely to join.
b) When click the 'New Topic' button and are planning on creating a new RPG, first ask yourself a few questions I) What is this RPG about? II) What sets your RPG apart from other current RPGs? III) Why will the community stick with my RPG? IV) How many players are welcome to join my RPG? V) What will I do if people ask for change in my RPG? VI) Will my players interact with each other or be on their own? All of these questions are important, and must be known BEFORE creating your RPG. If you do not know the answers to these questions, DO NOT MAKE YOUR RPG!!!
PART 3: THE CHARACTER SHEET
When you create your RPG, you generally have the players of your RPG make characters. This is generally done through the use of a character sheet. Of course, there are other ways, but that will not be covered. You will need to find those for yourself.
A basic charactersheet has the character's age and several attributes. You can also add a description of the character and different types to the character to make the game more interesting. A general character sheet may look like this.
EX --> Name: Level: 1 Hit Points: (Your Vitality) Strength: (Your ability to deal damage) Defense: (Your ability to resist damage) Agility: (Your speed in battle)
Above, you can see a VERY simple character sheet. You, as the creator, may ask the players to use a certain number of points, say 10-15 for this one, where every point used in Hit Points = 5 hit points. The player would copy your character sheet, and make one similar to this, using 13 points:
EX --> Name: Zedugai Level: 1 Hit Points: 20 Strength: 5 Defense: 2 Agility: 2
This would be posted, with slight differences by the player, on EVERY POST that they make in character, and EVERY POST that YOU make responding to their actions. ONLY YOU can change their sheet once the RPG is started, unless you say otherwise.
PART 4: CONTROL
a) You are in control of the RPG at all times. Never back down to the players if you do not want to. That doesn't mean ignore thier suggestions, but if they declare an outcome of an action, you don't have to go with it. YOU decide outcomes, THEY decide thier actions.
b) If a player asks you a question about the game, or why something happened, answer them. When you do this, you start to become much more popular with the RPG community, making newer RPGs much more popular, with more characters and richer storylines.
PART 5: CONTINUING YOUR STORY
If your adventure takes off, you need to keep changing and adding to your storyline. If at any time you get stuck, ask your players, for they are likely to know how they want to play in your adventure. Don't be araid to ask your players! They don't bit! Most players are looking to be interacted with more than just through the story of the game.
PART 6: MOVING ON
If you ever want to move on from your adventure, first consult your audience. If most of the players would like to continue, you have a few choices. You can find a player that verymuch enjoys the RPG to run it for the rest of it's existance, or you can ask me. I enjoy running RPGs of any kind, unless they are based off of Twilight :P. Aside from that, you can also ask your friends if they would like to help you out and run it.
PART 7: VACATION
Always alert your player's when you will be absent from the RPG for some time. If you are going for more than a week or so, you should probably have one of the better players run it for a while while you are gone.
Well, that's my tutorial. I hope you learned something from reading it! Please comment if you have any questions about creating an RPG. You can also contact me through my 'about' page.
Now all that needs to be stickied is the HOW TO BE A PLAYER half of this :P This is not only for the hack/slash RPGs though, Cenere. This was created to assist ALL RPGs in this forum, but I used hack/slash as the example (which I am good at)
Thank you for stickying. I hope that it really makes the Forum games RPGs much better than the newer stuff.
This is not only for the hack/slash RPGs though, Cenere. This was created to assist ALL RPGs in this forum, but I used hack/slash as the example (which I am good at)
I think you misunderstood me. I call it hack'n'slash because it is a very stat based, action kind of game. You have your stats showing all the time, and the game is often based on decisions the players will have to choose from, instead of making up their own decision. It is not the kind of rpg I would engage to, because it lacks a lot of the "role playing". It is like playing an old rpg, where you have one set storyline, and perhaps two or three different ways to reply to a npc, but all in all, there isn't much else to it.
It is like playing an old rpg, where you have one set storyline, and perhaps two or three different ways to reply to a npc, but all in all, there isn't much else to it.
If you view any of my RPG's, you will see that I do not give the players any choices. They create their own choice in how their character works, I only tell them what happens in response to their actions. You should try one of them sometime, much different than the old, cruddier ones that used to roam this forum.
#1:Active. i see far too many good threads die because the OOC is for whatever reason unable to handle the control of it. #2: non-linear. this is more of a personal preference, but i strongly dislike linear gameplay, especially if its predictable linear gameplay. sure, the OOC can arrange for some moments to happen, but having a set outcome, or a predestination borrowing from calvinism ( i think). it should be as open as possible to allow creativity and funz. and cookies =D. #3.non-complex char sheet. again more of a personal preference, it takes so much difficulty out of things to not have a massive wall of text for a char sheet. #4 rationality. no, i'm not throwing science fiction or fiction for the matter out the window, but just things simply making sense, i.e realistic. it quite ruins the point of any game if you know your probably never going to fail/lose.
I'm gone for a few months and already obould and Sirnoob have taken my place? Didn't you guys used to be noobs? Ah well. I should've thought of something like this earlier. =( Excellent job though, obould. Couldn't have done better myself. This only applies for those hack and slash type RPGs, but it would appear that those are the only thing left nowadays. Anyways, just popped on to see how everybody's doing. I see Jess is active again, in the AMW. *waves*. Later!
SirNoobalot dont take all the credit cuz you made one of my rpgs that i thought of but didnt know how to start it lol . but its ok as long as people know i made it too The Lost and Doomed awsome game join it its boring being able to have free time and being able to run your own forum game....
Excellent job though, obould. Couldn't have done better myself. This only applies for those hack and slash type RPGs, but it would appear that those are the only thing left nowadays.
Glad someone agree/know what I am talking about.
And Obould, I can't explain it better. Let's just say I am sad no one plays "story telling games" anymore.
