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☆Luna☆
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Awesome, I think I have an idea in mind. Just get your character in the halls and I'll set everything up.
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YamiCuoreLaroux
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YAAAAY WE'RE DOING THINGS~
Pretty sure it's Kuroku's turn to post in regards to that last one.
In the meantime, feel free to post for Deah and Niko if you can. No reason to wait to post for everyone at once.
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☆Luna☆
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I'll do the post thing sometimes later today. Me and my Mom are spending the day together since she has the day off.
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☆Luna☆
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Oh, also, Kaga-kun. I have a thing, and I would really like some form of feedback on it, but I might be hard-pressed to find it. If you ever have time, could you glance over this for me?
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*grins* You want me to critique the setup of it all and how well it may-or-may-not go?
I'd love to, but it will probably have to wait until later today, after I've done some posting of my own. But I will likely take a look at it this afternoon or evening or something.
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☆Luna☆
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YamiCuoreLaroux
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@☆Luna☆, about that thing you mentioned;
Because I'm not really big on mechanic-type things, I really don't know much about what to say. I can critique a GM's intended posting style or rules for any possible problems, but mechanics as math-y as these... eh.
All I can really say about it is something you already know -- a lot of players probably won't be able to work too well with it because it's so complex to understand. Personally, I really don't see what the appeal is of adding so many mechanics to a play-by-post game, when I'd rather just write out what a character can do. The fact that you even need to say "don't forget to actually write for your character" already shows just how much of a distraction this is. Players will be too focused on trying to figure out how all these spell things work and how to best execute them and will therefore be focused less on interaction, which is by-far the most important piece to any roleplay.
Additionally (and I admit I didn't give the thing a super-close read, so I probably just missed this), I really don't understand how a spell circle is supposed to "fill" with a "flow" of SP when players already have a certain amount of SP to spend. @_@ Wouldn't it make more sense to have SP function like a sort of currency that players can "spend" on spells whenever they like? While giving them things to do that can increase/replenish their SP? Such as even a randomized flow sort of thing? Honestly I think that makes the most sense -- it makes it easier for a player to focus on what they actually want to do and how to do what they want with their character, rather than making a complex game out of it all that means players will have to focus far more on how to strategize their attacks rather than playing through an RP. This sounds like something that would work well for a video game, not a PbP roleplaying game.
That's my opinion, anyway, but bear in mind that I normally don't put tabletop-esque mechanics into my PbP games and I have very little tabletop experience in general, so, take all that with a grain of salt.
Because I'm not really big on mechanic-type things, I really don't know much about what to say. I can critique a GM's intended posting style or rules for any possible problems, but mechanics as math-y as these... eh.
All I can really say about it is something you already know -- a lot of players probably won't be able to work too well with it because it's so complex to understand. Personally, I really don't see what the appeal is of adding so many mechanics to a play-by-post game, when I'd rather just write out what a character can do. The fact that you even need to say "don't forget to actually write for your character" already shows just how much of a distraction this is. Players will be too focused on trying to figure out how all these spell things work and how to best execute them and will therefore be focused less on interaction, which is by-far the most important piece to any roleplay.
Additionally (and I admit I didn't give the thing a super-close read, so I probably just missed this), I really don't understand how a spell circle is supposed to "fill" with a "flow" of SP when players already have a certain amount of SP to spend. @_@ Wouldn't it make more sense to have SP function like a sort of currency that players can "spend" on spells whenever they like? While giving them things to do that can increase/replenish their SP? Such as even a randomized flow sort of thing? Honestly I think that makes the most sense -- it makes it easier for a player to focus on what they actually want to do and how to do what they want with their character, rather than making a complex game out of it all that means players will have to focus far more on how to strategize their attacks rather than playing through an RP. This sounds like something that would work well for a video game, not a PbP roleplaying game.
That's my opinion, anyway, but bear in mind that I normally don't put tabletop-esque mechanics into my PbP games and I have very little tabletop experience in general, so, take all that with a grain of salt.
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Kuroku
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☆Luna☆
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I think this suggests that I need to better convey exactly what Spellheart was designed to do. It was intended to have a niche target, but perhaps if I gave people the right frame of mind on what they should expect to be delivered...
When I was designing Spellheart, my primary concern was allowing the player to understand and experience the challenges of controlling unstable magic while not interfering with the fantasy and flexibility of the post-to-play system. In other words, my objective was for the player to interact with the challenges experienced by their character on a mechanical level.
I came up with the idea in response to noticing that players really don't have the capacity to empathize with what it means to have limited magical resources and control. It makes sense, considering we really can't use magic. Our version of having control over magic is simply having spells backfire sometimes. We never really experience the strain the character feels in trying to prepare, time, and control their magic, nor do we have a frame of reference for the various styles of magical combat. The various traits and the idea of needing to prepare spells are all designed to create a context for this challenge
This challenge I'm trying to present is difficult to convey because it isn't obvious to someone who is struggling to simply understand what it is they are doing. Ideally, I'd like them to understand that the initial confusion they are experiencing is not unlike the confusion their character is experiencing. New mages don't understand how their inputs affect their outputs, and tend to have extremely little idea of how to manage their magic circles. They need constant instruction just to properly handle the basics, and even when they think they understand, they find their magic misbehaving.
If I can just get the player to become immersed, I think this system has the potential to grant an experience you can't get in a tabletop or post-to-play environment, but I'm having trouble getting people into the correct mindset. It is extremely easy to look at it and only see math. I'm curious if hearing me explain it this way gives you any ideas on how I can overcome these challenges.
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I think the way you explained it there works just fine, if you want players to understand why you have it set up the way it is. No need to beat around the bush about it -- just tell them.
All I can really say is, it is a niche thing, and RPers who aren't interested in such complex mechanics simply won't bother. If you really want players to understand what it feels like to struggle with magic-usage, all I can suggest is that you just create a simpler system. This won't attract players who aren't already willing to go into an RP with a lot of mechanics in it, and, like I said before, this could hinder interaction if a player is too focused on figuring out how all this works. It doesn't matter if the character is just as confused as they are -- not interacting with other players is a huge problem.
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☆Luna☆
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I think to try to counteract this I'm going to make the first part of the RP decidedly not about casting magic. The option to use it will be there, but I'm not even going to try to prompt them until I've already exposed the characters to one another. I'm also going to put this in my rules, and stress it often.
I'm a little worried this indeed is too niche, but I'll find out fairly quickly if that is the case. I'm also going to add a part about this to the presentation of the system, since it seems like it might sway someone on the fence about giving this a shot.
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I'd first like to say that I'm feeling a bit iffy about what you said about the "first part" of the RP. Does that mean that this is supposed to be divided into chapters or something? Or were you referring to more gradual change? If it's the former, I advise you to reconsider. RP's with a chapter/episode-based setup die in the first segment about 99% of the time, for a lot of reasons.
That does give me an idea, though. Assuming you go with a more gradual transition from the start of the RP to the more magic-based parts (which I strongly recommend), then I think it would be best to more gradually introduce the mechanics of magic, as well. You said yourself that all these complex rules are basically the same ones that the characters are learning, so, in that way, it makes sense to introduce the rules piece-by-piece so that the players can understand them easier. Integrating it this way solves the problem of scaring away people who don't like mechanics, RPers being too distracted to focus on interaction, and RPers being too confused to know what they're doing -- all in one.
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☆Luna☆
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Oh dear no. I just mean that when the characters first meet that magic won't be the reason they are getting together.
The way I intend to introduce the system is through a tutorial like approach where I create situations in which the players can learn it more piecemeal. That being said, I think it is inevitable that I will scare people away simply by mentioning such a system will ever exist in the RP.
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That is true, but by mentioning that it will come in small pieces and not making it your biggest marketing point, so to speak, I think it'll really lessen the effect of just how badly it scares people off.
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☆Luna☆
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I'm going to do a test to see how effectively I can teach someone how the game works before I promise that. Time to make my little brother a test dummy.
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