Comments on: Samarkand RP Kicks Off

By: Reality

Reality — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:05:04 +0000

Dusk, my problem is with the notion of dice itself. Yes, it creates an element of chance – but there are those out there who seem to base quite a bit on a single roll of the die.

Case in point: An Online spar I had with a few Guild friends once (Yes, AOL – hold the comments please) … Most of the people I have role Played with will actually react more to the actions described in each post before reacting to the roll of the dice. In this case however, the person I had chosen to target in this mass spar ignored the attack post entirely – simply due to the roll not being high enough to cause any damage.

In any other system, such an action would have resulted in the attack striking the target. Now, the system I actually use forces you to think.It does not rely on the player’s typing speed or how many words one can cram into a single post. It has a large amount of freedom in what you can create character wise … The only catch is that you must be able to explain a character’s abilities if you are asked to. You must be able to make it make sense.

That goes for attack and defense.

The system even has a workaround to prevent God-like combat characters: Simply put, Gods and God-like characters are Non-Combatants. You are not allowed to start a fight – You can finish a fight with such a character – but not start one. In fact, a Non-Com is expected to avoid fights no matter what – this is to prevent the abuse of power normally seen in free form role playing.

By: Dusk

Dusk — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 06:01:26 +0000

Also Reality – you must have played with some crummy “dice-fiends” who were roll-players rather than role-players. Just like with all systems, you can roll for every little thing or very sparingly. I’d argue that White Wolf’s V:tM system is very basic and over simplified for a lot of what it does. I can’t comment on V:tR as I haven’t looked much into it.

By: Dusk

Dusk — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 05:59:30 +0000

Not to be a doomsayer, but I’m not too optimistic. While I’ve always hoped for better roleplay in SL, the free-form, structureless nature of this is what will ultimately doom it. It’s a shame really, SL is such a rich environment for RP, but it’s all crap.

Without a solid rules-system, clearly world/environment/genre, and storytellers/dungeonmasters/moderators to keep things balanced and fair RP ultimately devolves into garbage with absurd god-mode type characters that are mishmashes of every little thing the player has ever heard of.

Can’t wait to see the legions of “500year old 2nd Generation Assamite, Ahroun White Howler Abomination with Telekinetic powers and a talking, hyperintelligent, katana infused with the soul of a demon,” type characters that free-form always vomits forth.

Nice try though!

By: newbreed

newbreed — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:40:25 +0000

pay homage to doomsday

By: Solar Legion

Solar Legion — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:12:21 +0000

when is there going to be original RP in SL? as soon as I am able to afford to buy a Private Island …. unless someone else wants to do the purchase …. It’ll take me a while.

By: SqueezeOne Pow

SqueezeOne Pow — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:45:06 +0000

We don’t have nearly enough RP that includes every kind of popular av style in lieu of consistency and a solid story. It’s like Medieval CoLA!

When is there going to be some solid, original RP in SL?

By: Reality

Reality — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:43:02 +0000

I never liked VtM or any other White Wolf game much …. Their view on the races is far too limiting, not to mention the emphasis placed on the dice.

give me a good old fashioned free form RP any day of the week …. Persons not able to actually think to respond to a hostile or possibly hostile action need not apply.