Author  Message [bottom]
praguepride
 member, 1258 posts
 "Hugs for the Hugs God!"
 - Warhammer Fluffy-K
Sat 14 Apr 2018
at 15:04
 msg #1
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
Just was thinking about Stranger things and though: what if you played as kids playing d&d? Like use WoD rules to build a gamer and then have that player play D&D...
Merevel
 member, 1224 posts
 The Unlucky Gamer
Sat 14 Apr 2018
at 15:16
 msg #2
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
In reply to praguepride (msg # 1):

Ok, but how would that change from regular tabletop, unless you mean slice of life or it evolves into some other story going on in the... midgame?
evileeyore
 member, 86 posts
 GURPS GM and Player
Sat 14 Apr 2018
at 17:11
 msg #3
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
Did that once a long time ago.  We were playing CyberGeneration and our characters decided to go to the Dreampark and have fun one weekend.  The GM decided to make the next adventure into a fantasy adventure using a different system (can't remember the system but it wasn't D&D).


The fantasy adventure didn't have any plot reaching out of the 'one-off', but the change in venue did highlight some personality issues with our characters and was a fun change of pace.
GreyGriffin
 member, 190 posts
 Portal Expat
 Game System Polyglot
Sat 14 Apr 2018
at 19:37
 msg #4
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
Maybe not exactly the same thing, but I theorycrafted a WoD game set in Dark Ages Europe that would go all Persona, and have everyone turn into D&D characters in a parallel-but-connected world when they went down the well in the middle of town at night.

Playing characters who just play other characters in a game sounds like a lot of work to go through for a relatively small payoff.  What's the goal?
horus
 member, 457 posts
 Wayfarer of the
 Western Wastes
Sun 15 Apr 2018
at 02:41
 msg #5
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
The "play within a play" is as old as stagecraft.  If I'm remembering it correctly, this is one of the premises of A Midsummer Night's Dream and several of Old William's other tales.  Many of those made for grand drama.

I'm not sure about work/payoff ratio, or whether that's important for what you're wanting to do, but the idea has some interesting possibilities.  Where did you mean to go with it?

In short:  please tell us more.
Godzfirefly
 member, 494 posts
Sun 15 Apr 2018
at 03:15
 msg #6
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
A similar concept is what Zombie Orpheus Entertainment and Hyper RPG are playing in their show 'Masters of the Multiverse.'

In that game, each player has a 'Player Character' and an 'Avatar'.  The Player Characters are people in a world that is essentially our Earth.  But, they are testing a prototype system that allows them to jump into Avatars in an alternate universe.  Both the Player Characters and the Avatars have different skills, and both sets of skills might be used while the Characters are in their Avatars.

The twist is that there's a sliding scale of how 'in tune' the 'meta-pods' are with the PC or Avatar.  The closer you are to your Avatar side of the scale is, the easier it is to use the Avatar skills and the harder it is to use PC skills until it becomes impossible to use PC skills at all on the farthest end of the Avatar side of the scale.  And, vice versa for the other end of the scale.
Mad Mick
 member, 944 posts
 GURPS beyond measure,
 outlander
Mon 16 Apr 2018
at 03:02
 msg #7
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
It’s not quite the same thing, but right now in a game I’m playing in, one adventure is about playing the game How to Host a Murder within the broader context of a GURPS Fantasy RPG. The game-within-a-game is only the focus of one thread, not the game as a whole, but it's quite interesting.

The webcomic Goblins is in part about a group of people playing PCs in a D&D game, but the meta-game aspect isn’t used as much as it once was (characters know they’re being played by players, one PC prays to the DM, another group of characters dies and comes back as new characters and knows what’s happened).
Hunter
 member, 1434 posts
 Captain Oblivious!
 Lurker
Mon 16 Apr 2018
at 07:03
 msg #8
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
While it's not exactly the same thing, I've dropped Traveller characters into a D&D world just for the fun of it.
praguepride
 member, 1259 posts
 "Hugs for the Hugs God!"
 - Warhammer Fluffy-K
Mon 16 Apr 2018
at 15:08
 msg #9
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
Thanks for the update. I love Zombie Orpheus and I briefly recall seeing the intro to that but not following up on it.

For those curious, the idea was really just spawned from Stranger Things TV show where the kids would try to put the horrors around them into the context of the game as a way to both handle the nightmare and clue them into solutions for problems.
dybbuk67
 member, 71 posts
Mon 16 Apr 2018
at 20:55
 msg #10
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
Both It Came from the Late Late Show and Hong Kong Action Theatre had dynamics where you were actors then in another movie.

But for what you are talking about, don't you think Kids on Bikes or Rememorex would have the sort of Stranger Things vibe you are looking for?
DarkLightHitomi
 member, 1330 posts
Tue 17 Apr 2018
at 02:53
 msg #11
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
XKCD had a comic on this, I think it's called Recursing. :)
praguepride
 member, 1260 posts
 "Hugs for the Hugs God!"
 - Warhammer Fluffy-K
Tue 17 Apr 2018
at 03:14
 msg #12
Meta RPG? Game within a game?
Found it:

https://xkcd.com/244/

That's a pretty early one...
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