'Trapped in a game' RP (like SAO / Log Horizon)

[Karakui]

So hypothetically speaking, if someone were to set up an RP in the near future that involved the characters becoming trapped in a game, who would be up for it? There'd be more details on the actual RP's page, but what we're looking at is a little different from what you're probably imagining right now.

- It's not a VRMMO they've been sucked into, it's a regular, flat-screen sitting-at-a-desk MMO. (though the world they get sucked into is still 3D and surprisingly lifelike... You can bring up the UI overlay by looking up without moving your head).
- It's not a typical "MMO". There's no main questline, but NPCs and Players alike can both create quests for other players to go on. NPC quests will be randomly generated and picked up from the Tavern or various other locations. Player quests can be initiated by players, for players. These get posted on the Bulletin Board. They'll usually be "farm items for me", but they could be things like "deal with a troublesome player killer for me" or "clear out the monsters in a certain area so I can harvest resources in it without being overrun".
- On that note, there's no respawn timer for monsters. Kill a monster and it stays dead. (This is not true for dungeons. Monsters in dungeons are resurrected upon completion). On the other hand, if a party of adventurers were to head into a dungeon, some monsters might mysteriously appear in the area outside the dungeon, the spirits of the last revived by the latent energy of the dungeon atmosphere. Should a party lose in a dungeon, there would be many more monsters than if they had won. (For fairness for low levels, a mechanic was added that allowed players within 3 levels of the monsters that spawn in that location to activate a Spawn Crest that causes some monsters to appear. There is a cooldown, to prevent flooding, but it's not too long).
- It's a very sandboxy game. Players can build and buy property in towns, run stores, even form a government. The same sandboxyness is apparent in the character creation menu too. There are 10 races to choose from, but customisation options are almost infinite. As for classes - you can be one of 12 classes, but within that class you can use any weapon you like. If they were particularly daring, a Paladin could even wield a magic wand.
- there's a unique skill system. Upon reaching level 10 and learning your play style, a GM (in game, like a moderator, not an RP GM) will approach you and ask you what you'd want in such an ability. Then some negotiation goes on and boom, you have a special skill no one else has.
- The game is pretty obscure, to say the least. It had no public advertising campaign and people who know about it learned through word of mouth (or browsing the depths of the indie game lists...) It's also only been out for 2 weeks at the time they all get sucked in, so there hasn't been much chance for it to become popular. So, there aren't hordes of young players swarming across the world or anything; most of the players are quite mature at least mentally. It also takes a very long time to level - the highest level player after the two weeks the game has been out is only level 21.

 

[chillin]

I am fairly interested, despite only having watched the beginning of SAO. :)

 

[Karakui]

I recommend watching Log Horizon too. It's relatively similar to SAO except it's about three times as good. It's better paced and has a MUCH more interesting plot.

 

[ERode]

Sounds like a balancing nightmare. Those poor, overworked GMs, having to individually cater to the legions of pimply edgy 12 year olds.

 

[Karakui]

Ah, I missed a bit actually. The game is pretty obscure, to say the least. It had no public advertising campaign and people who know about it learned through word of mouth (or browsing the depths of the indie game lists...) It's also only been out for 2 weeks at the time they all get sucked in, so there hasn't been much chance for it to become popular. t also takes a very long time to level - the highest level player after the two weeks the game has been out is only level 21, so it's not the game you can just pop into, get to level 30 in a day then quit cos you don't like it. That doesn't mean there's nothing to do though. It's a very community oriented game so levels are actually relatively secondary to a good party. There are no theoretical level limits to dungeon entry. A level 1 could enter the level 80 dungeon if they wanted, they'd just die very quickly :D

 

[chillin]

I used to play a lot of MMO's back in the day... *stares into the distance* Always preferred supporting classes.

Which reminds me- which classes would be available + what are their traits and differences from each other?

 

[ERode]

>two weeks and you only get to level 21
Is this a game for people who enjoy grinds then? What exactly is the point of having an insanely steep EXP curve?

And at what point would players actually have the resources to buy property, open stores, and run a government?

 

[chillin]

Ugh, I hate complicated grinders...

How about level ups follow a different system- e.g. level up at random, once something has been acquired or if your character did something?

 

[chillin]

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Advice I think that will be very crucial to this RP. Since it's also MMO/RPG inspired, I suggest having multiple staff members along with the GM (you, @Karakui) so you can have help with organization, balance, moving the story forward, etc. However, depending on how many people join, staff members should take up about 1/3 or less of total players in the RPG (not characters, players). This could reflect in-game, too, with the staff members being staff/higher ranked there too.

Hope this made sense?

 

[Karakui]

>two weeks and you only get to level 21
Is this a game for people who enjoy grinds then? What exactly is the point of having an insanely steep EXP curve?

Before we start, random note for everyone: Throughout this post or others I may have said you get the unique skill at level 10. I decided just now to reduce that to level 4 (around 4 hours of gameplay)
Also, I should point out that this "game" is actually a real world (more on that in the actual RP). Anything that resembles a "game", such as the UI, is only something that is in place to regulate the "players". They're essentially magical limits applied to every "Player". This, and the ability to respawn is the only thing that differentiates between a player and an NPC.

TL;DR at the end of this block, in purple. See after classes for the second half of the questions you posed.

Don't be ridiculous, no one enjoys grinds :D The point is, the level system is secondary in this game. It may as well not exist at all, it's purely a way of illustrating roughly how well suited you're going to be for fighting a particular monster. With other MMOs, the focus is on grinding until you hit the End Game, and that can cause a lot of players to drop out and lose interest due to how repetitive it is. With this game, you're kind of starting at the end game, so to speak. There's no set story - the story of your gameplay is what you choose to make it. With the quests system, anyone could theoretically write a story set in the game. Maybe throw in some "run this dungeon" or whatever, and finish off with a "Defeat Steve69 in a duel" (Steve69 being a volunteer for the position of End Boss.) Players can assign how many people can take a quest, so they could set it to 5. Then 5 people (or 5 parties) get to enjoy that quest before it goes forever and everyone does something else.

Yes, you could technically level up by grinding, but that's unrealistic and stupid, and it'll actually take you longer than if you were to just play normally. EXP is granted partially from quests, partially from achievements, and primarily from your subclass (there's a job system - you can change job at any time, but if you decide to change back you'll be back to level 1 at that job, though your cumulative XP that determines your overall level won't change). Thus, you're levelling up mainly because you're providing a service for other players (it's a player driven economy - even NPC shops have limited money and stock). Of course, you could level up the traditional way by making your subclass Adventurer and going to raid dungeons, though you'd be getting the XP mainly from giving the resources you get to people who need them, since an Adventurer can't craft anything themselves. And, naturally, a Blacksmith could still do dungeons, they'd just get a bit less XP for it.

Leveling isn't actually that important in the first place though (probably, if I can get the other GM to agree). You don't get skills from leveling. Instead, you get a certain number of "skill functions", so you're sort of creating your own skills too, as well as the unique skill, although these are more limited. For example, you get to level 5 and the system gives you a "Weapon Attack function", a "Shield Attack function", a "Stun function" and a "Double damage function". You could combine these in various ways. Weapon Attack + Stun would make an attack that did normal damage and applied a stun, to a single target. Shield Attack + stun would do the same but hit in an arc. It would cost a bit more mana to use. You could make a Weapon Attack + Stun + double damage, which would hit one enemy for double damage and stun it. You could get two skills from combining Shield Attack with Stun and Weapon attack with double damage. (Of course, I'm too lazy to keep track of this so I'm just gonna trust y'all not to be OP with what skills you use :D) You can also get functions as drops from monsters, so level really is just a measure of how likely you are to be able to defeat something based on how much you've done. It's not going to be particularly accurate though because a level 80 who did nothing but make soup will probably have the same combat skill as a level 5 who's been equipping new weapons and practicing skill combos.

TL;DR - It's not a grind, levels are just a superficial measure and mean very little to actual combat prowess.

I used to play a lot of MMO's back in the day... *stares into the distance* Always preferred supporting classes.

Which reminds me- which classes would be available + what are their traits and differences from each other?

Plenty o' supporting classes for ya' :D You can find a TL;DR at the end of this block in purple.

Supporting classes can be pretty fun, but getting yelled at constantly for not healing enough can be annoying when the DPS are just shit at dodging.

"Class" definition can be quite blurry because of the skill system explained above, and the fact that anyone of any class can equip any weapon (although some classes will gain Skill Functions that require a certain weapon type). I'm going to split it into the types of armour they equip, since that's the most prominent difference. I'll point out that the crafting system in game lets you design any armour to look pretty much as you want (although you couldn't make heavy armour that looked like a swimsuit because that wouldn't be armour let alone metal). "resistance" means "magic defense". MP levels are roughly the same for every class/race.

Heavy Armour

Tank: Paladin (high defense, HP. Lots of tank-related skill functions, also able to deal holy damage at higher levels. Can block frontal damage completely with their shield, but very strong attacks may be able to cut through. Paladin is the only class that can equip the really big shields that block the most frontal damage. Notes on shields: Each shield has a Block Value; that is, the amount of damage a shield can block. If the damage that would be dealt by an attack is higher than this value, the full attack carries through and the block fails. If it is lower, the full attack is blocked. The characters are real now and stamina comes into play, so you wouldn't be able to just hold your shield up forever.)

Tank: Samurai (high resistance, HP. Lots of tanky skill functions, but more on the magical side of tanking. Comes with quite a few crowd controlling functions)

DPS/Tank: Berserker (High attack, defense. Lots of damaging skills, many of which have AOE to them. Quite slow to attack, but hits hard. Almost immune to stunning effects at higher levels)

DPS/Support: Battlemage (high attack, magic. Fights with a combination of physical and magical attacks, using illusions to confuse and subdue enemies. Can heal in a pinch, but not by much.)

Light Armour

DPS: Assassin (High attack, agility. Lots of stealthy skills, relies heavily on critical hits, which it gets very often. Mainly for all out damage)

DPS: Archer (high attack, magic. has a lot of skills that require charge up, and can be charged to different levels. Good for sustained damage, and can apply a lot of debuffs with magical arrows.)

DPS/Support: Monk (High attack, HP. Likes to chain together skills that benefit from one another when used in sequence. Can deal elemental damage, and holy damage at higher levels.)

DPS/Tank: Swordfighter (high attack, resistance. Good for burst damage and can act as a tank, drawing aggro and dodging attacks in a pinch, but still pretty squishy if a hit lands.)

cloth armour

Support: Priest (High resistance, HP. Generic dedicated healer, really. Can deal holy damage, but usually focuses on healing only when in parties.)

DPS: Sorcerer (High magic, agility. Very powerful magical attacker. Can be considered the artillery unit of the party. Lots of AOE attacks and capable of raining persistent hell on the enemies)

Support: Mystic (high magic, resistance. Secondary healer class. Fewer healing skills than priest, but can apply buffs n' shit too.)

DPS: Necromancer (high magic, HP. Secondary magical DPS, can apply duration curses and debuffs to enemies. Can sacrifice HP to summon puppet minions, and higher level skills can cause dead enemies to reincarnate as zombies.)

lol, there looks to be a lot of DPS in there, but they're all good for different jobs.

TL;DR - The main differences between classes is the role their skill functions allow them to assume on the battlefield. Where an Assassin is weak, an Archer may excel because it's attacking from outside the monster's attack range, even though their role is roughly the same - DPS.

And at what point would players actually have the resources to buy property, open stores, and run a government?

Depending on your luck and negotiating skills, it can vary. By level 5 (about 6 hours of gameplay), you should have enough for a (very) basic residence, however, every player is given an even more basic temporary dwelling once they clear the tutorial. This is literally a room in a hobbit hole that got converted into refugee residency though. (the NPCs treat new players as refugees until they buy their own property). Any player at any point in the game can set up a market stall and sell things they've obtained or created. Setting up a stall is free, as long as you're in the Market Square. If you want to set it up in a better location, you should buy an actual shop. You should have enough to buy a shop by around level 10. As for a government, that's a bit trickier. You technically don't need any resources. What you do need though, is the ability to convince a significant number of the town's guilds to form a nation with you as the leader. (This leader can be re-elected if it is deemed necessary, and the default government setting has the leader of each guild in the town get a say, even if the guild didn't support the formation of a government). The amount of influence your guild has on whether or not a government is formed is based on the amount of people in your guild. For example, a guild with 200 people gets about ten times more influence than a guild of 20 people. A government gets say over taxes, expansion, property costs etc. Note that NPCs in this RP will be just as intelligent and capable as Player Characters, and are to follow the government laws as well, but can disobey them should they choose too.

TL;DR - Refugee room from level 1, proper Residency at ~level 5, Market stall at any time, actual shop at ~level 10. Government requires a united decision of guild leaders (Must be level 5 to set up a guild, level 20 to attempt to set up a government).

WORKSHOP - GM 101 Complete Guide | IwakuRoleplay.com
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Advice I think that will be very crucial to this RP. Since it's also MMO/RPG inspired, I suggest having multiple staff members along with the GM (you, @Karakui) so you can have help with organization, balance, moving the story forward, etc. However, depending on how many people join, staff members should take up about 1/3 or less of total players in the RPG (not characters, players). This could reflect in-game, too, with the staff members being staff/higher ranked there too.

Hope this made sense?

I do have a Co-GM, but as I mentioned earlier, this RP is much less "Gamey" than it seems. I can't stand "gamey" RPs, if I'm honest. It's primarily a group of people telling a story, as I feel all RPs should be. I'm not going to bother with balancing mechanics or anything because I trust the people I accept to make fair judgments and balance themselves. Plus, if there's a real combat system or level system, it just makes me bored. I don't like working with so many numbers. Or numbers at all, for that matter. Depending on how many players there are, the only thing that will actually need doing is moving the story forward (read: whipping people up the backside with spontaneous spider attacks if they've gone completely off track). Organisation isn't usually too hard and as I already explained, I don't feel I'll need to control balance. Also, I'm the only one who knows the plot or who I want knowing the plot in advance, because I really like revealing it dramatically :D

 

[Aura]

Going to be honest. Haven't seen Log Horizon. However I do have it on my list of anime to catch up on due to praise and word of mouth. I'd be interested in this. One because MMO's are awesome. Two MMO RPs could be more fun than other types in my past. And three. I don't really like Gamey RPs either. Similar to Karakui.

 

[Karakui]

Awesome! The other GM is in the process of typing up as I type, but we've still got a few details to sort out... it appears she got the impression I was wanting numbers games XD so it might be a few days before it's all finalised. Your continued patience is appreciated :D

 

[Crow]

Yeah, "gamey" RPs are my bane.

Which is why I'll bite.

 

[Karakui]

-_-... I'm getting the impression that the other GM really wants numbers. Hopefully it'll get worked out but it might take a little while because she's only on when I'm about to go to bed :D If the OOC isn't up by the end of Saturday, I'll make it myself.

 

[Crow]

By numbers you mean "more gamey"?

 

[chillin]

By numbers you mean "more gamey"?

Means "more tabletop-y"?

 

[Karakui]

Yeah, I'd say "more numbers = more gamey". I mean, you 'play' a good old fashioned video game and it doesn't really feel much like a game. There aren't any numbers to keep track of, you're really just following a story. Then you play something like an RPG and everywhere you go you're keeping track of thousands of numbers, some of which don't even make sense to you. I mean, the hell is a "Tec" stat? How am I supposed to know how much Tec I want? Would it be better to put those stats into Attack? Or maybe Defense? Oh shit now I've spent an hour deciding how to distribute the stat gains from a couple of levels and I haven't actually got anything done.

 

[Karakui]

OK so I ended up changing a lot of stuff, but I made the RP!

INTEREST CHECK - Great Sands Online (VRMMO RP - Log Horizon style) | IwakuRoleplay.com