Yes. The RP in this game will be almost entirely player-generated, so it'd be entirely up to you guys how much there was.

There would be few, if any, significant NPCs.

You think you'd play in a game based in an alternate history where Columbus (an elf) explored on behalf of italy (rather than spain) and crashed mainland (rather than Hispaniola) and ended up staying behind on his second voyage to maintain a colony he founded in what would be modern day louisiana (rather than going on 2 more and dying in the early 1500s)?

Somewhat odd question...

A while back, I ran a face-to-face Dungeon Fantasy game for a group of friends.  It grew out of not having a game to play for a week, so I threw together a setting on the fly and we went forward with it.  I filled in details as I went.  By all accounts, I will openly admit to some of the content being somewhat silly in the beginning.  I basically just picked a few things from the top of my head; threw in a few things from a recent magazine article I had read, and blended it together.  As an example of why I might say it is silly is because the pantheon includes both Cthulu and Santa Claus.

I was looking through some of my old notes for the game, and I can't bring myself to throw them away.  In time, it grew into what I feel has the potential to be something more than the silly little setting I originally came up with.  I'm not sure if that's a legit feeling or if I just cannot bring myself to throw something I spent so much time on away.

So, my question is whether or not someone would be willing to take a look at the few things I have sketched out and let me know what they think?

I'm looking for honesty here; if it's crap, I'm willing to hear it.  However, if you feel there might actually be something worth expanding, I'd like to hear that too.  I'm also open to suggestions on how to improve what I have; opinions on what I might (or should change), and other such things.

Sure throw it out there, send it in a PM, whatever strikes your fancy.

I'm setting up a game where there will, more than once come times where the PC's are going to have opposite opinions. These scenes are IMO worth gold in normal table-top pen&paper games. They are great opportunities for the players to express their characters opinions and show their personality. Are they stubborn? Idealistic? Practical? Selfish? Selfless? And so on. Scenes where a morale decision has to be made are IMO as thrilling and dramatic as "the boss fight".

But. How do you make this work in a text-based format such as rpol? I've seen it work and not work. The times I have seen it work it has only really been two character arguing and both players where very active posting multiple times per day. I have however also seen it pretty much kill a game. Where there are more participants and where the posing speed is down to only a post per day for some and every other day for others. This is actually part of the reason that I for the past years have stayed away from anything not purely encounter-based.

IMO the first situation work as it keeps the momentum of an argument, the back and forth until a settlement is agreed upon. Also it works because there are only two. You only have to respond to what the other have said. However it can still be problematic if the two also post slow and can't reach a conclusion. It puts the game to a hold and all the others players are just sitting around doing nothing... for days!

The other situation is what I am having more trouble with. Where there are multiple participants and all of them have an opinion (some stronger than others of course) and where the posting speed might only be a post per day/every other day.

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What I'm considering is, that when such an argument comes up, to let each character make their point and then put in a private line to me, the GM, to write how far the char is prepared to bend in their opinion. Then let people post a bit back and forth (possibly influencing peoples opinion) but ultimately after a couple of days, assuming no solution has been reached I as a GM make a short write up along the lines of "after some time of arguing back and forth a compromise has been reached"... and then describe the compromise. And then the players have to go with it. Possibly you could let Influence skills play a role in this but I don't want to have a "social combat system".

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How do you guys handle these situations? Or are they not problematic for you?
This message was last edited by the player at 09:56, Wed 13 June 2012.

All I got to mention, is tone. You cannot interpret the tone of a post in text, and I have seen many arguments turn vicious because of this. Be careful, for you play with fire. ;)

In reply to 2l8m8 (msg #939):

Very good point!
Actually in my experience here on rpol people are good at slapping on lots of descriptive text to make it clear what tone you are talking in. But yea, not always and from my experience with, everywhere else on the net, this is a really big potential problem.

I think I'll take the question to rpol general chat and see if people have more general advice.

Hey, everyone,

What would you say the starting wealth should be in a Star Wars GURPS campaign?  Starting wealth at TL 11 is pretty high, and even with 20% available, that's still $15k available.

I'm using the WEG Star Wars materials as source materials and a lot of Azagthoth's Star Wars GURPS materials.  The players are starting out with a freighter (along with a debt attached), and I'm thinking a base starting wealth of $2,000 available for adventuring gear.

The thing is, with pirates and smugglers and bounty hunters, not many Star Wars PCs have a settled lifestyle.  What should the average starting wealth be for a GURPS Star Wars campaign set during the Rebellion era?

I'd say make them take Struggling wealth or worse, just cuz the Imperial economy is crappy.

Well, if you're starting them out with a freighter, you could say that this representes a mobile, settled lifestyle and apply the 80% rule to tie things up in the hulk, even with the mortgage.

If you combine that with that life actually being a Struggling or even Poor one you're getting downwards of 2k to spend aren't you? 3k to be exact ...

What is it that you don't want them to have ;-)

And anyhow, you can always rule that starting wealth is lower than standard for the TL in this setting, perhaps for the reason Tortuga mentions.

One thing I'd like to do is run an arena game with a significant non-arena component. Some kind of greater plot or storyline running in the background.

A problem with that is characters maiming and killing each other could make the outside plot difficult.

You'd need a setting with good medical care, or areana rules that discourage excess.

Maybe the arena part is combat exercise with training weapons only.

I was thinking about making it an unarmed competition. Maimings and cripplings are possible, but far less likely, and the medical care is modern.

How about Bum Fights?

Have some kind of political intrigue/rebellion as the backdrop?  Kind of a Spartacus: Blood on the Sands feel, set in the present/near-future?

I was thinking possibly that, or something like Bruce Lee's Game of Death.

You and me both. Arena of Champions got a good deal of the way, though. There are elements of it in the GURPS SLA game we have going as well.

Unarmed combat is a good idea for not having characters mauled too badly.

And a cool setting helps for sure.

Ah! Arena of Champions! I still remember my two characters and all the RP I got to do there fondly! That was still the longest and best rpol game I played in.

Bum Fights which are being organized by a shady Burger King manager in a Detroit back alley.

Nice.  This has a lot of roleplay potential imho.

In reply to Johnny Angel (msg # 952):

Wouldn't that be Bun Fights?

Oh, that was just horrible! Sorry ;-)

Bun fights? Is someone starting a Burrows and Bunnies game?

http://www.deviantart.com/down...y_silentsketcher.jpg

Funny... I was thinking that maybe the BK manager would be the starting level.  If you perform well, you could make it onto a team he sends to battle the teams of other fast food joints in town.

Apparently we're near the 1000 post limit.