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News:
"Magic is what makes fantasy fantastic," someone says, "you can't apply rules to them or else it loses wonder!" I respond, "Sure, but if you want to write them you will certainly want to know how they work." Writing is all about execution, and I find applying some basic laws of physics to magic systems make them more understandable and realistic. Here, I'm going to outline my basic method for developing a magic system.
Column by Chaos2651
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62
Role-Playing Games / Re: APOCALYPSE THEN REDUX
« on: May 29, 2003, 02:39:25 AM »
I agree that two is a good number. Although I don't see any reason there shouldn't be more than two games running on the board -- you just may have a harder time recruiting for them with Patriot City going strong and AORP rolling again, especially with a two game per player limit.
65
Movies and TV / Re: Reloaded
« on: May 28, 2003, 11:50:51 AM »
Frankly, The Matrix didn't impress me all that much the first time. It came across to me as a really cool action flick that tried to mask itself as sci-fi. I mean yeah, it had all the stuff about computers taking over the world, but to me it would have been a lot more interesting if they'd spent more time in the "real" world trying to figure out how to take the thing apart, or.. something.
More importantly, they could have done a lot more to make the viewer question his own reality, and this is where the movie could have really been interesting. About the only thing that comes to mind is the stuff about Deja Vu. There are tons of unique phenomena out there that could have been explained, subtly, during the course of the movie. Imagine The Matrix being used to answer various conspiracy theories, for example.
Overall I thought the movie was a great action film, but I didn't think it was nearly as "intelligent" as everyone said.
I caught an edited version about 7 months ago, but no, I don't think that had anything to do with it. Like I said it was the story element, not the action, that I felt was lacking.
More importantly, they could have done a lot more to make the viewer question his own reality, and this is where the movie could have really been interesting. About the only thing that comes to mind is the stuff about Deja Vu. There are tons of unique phenomena out there that could have been explained, subtly, during the course of the movie. Imagine The Matrix being used to answer various conspiracy theories, for example.
Overall I thought the movie was a great action film, but I didn't think it was nearly as "intelligent" as everyone said.
I caught an edited version about 7 months ago, but no, I don't think that had anything to do with it. Like I said it was the story element, not the action, that I felt was lacking.
66
Role-Playing Games / Re: Character Portraits
« on: May 28, 2003, 11:10:38 AM »
I take it that a) this offer is closed, or b) my character is either too complex or too uninteresting..?
67
Role-Playing Games / Re: Eureka The Mad Science RPG
« on: May 28, 2003, 11:02:21 AM »
It would be interesting to expand the concept and include all aspects of Evil Overlordship. Just an idea.
I still wonder about the party issue. Colleagues, corporations, etc are all great -- but in most mad scientist stories I'm familiar with, there was always just One genius mad scientist who's ego overshadowed even his desire for power, revenge, or whatever. To me this kind of goes against what you're describing.
I suppose you could always have one player be the scientist and the others be assistants, investigators, or various heroes, but I think that if you can't be the mad scientist it would kind of take away the fun of the game.
I'd offer a solution, but so far I haven't thought of one.
I still wonder about the party issue. Colleagues, corporations, etc are all great -- but in most mad scientist stories I'm familiar with, there was always just One genius mad scientist who's ego overshadowed even his desire for power, revenge, or whatever. To me this kind of goes against what you're describing.
I suppose you could always have one player be the scientist and the others be assistants, investigators, or various heroes, but I think that if you can't be the mad scientist it would kind of take away the fun of the game.
I'd offer a solution, but so far I haven't thought of one.
68
What's this? / Re: AORP?
« on: May 27, 2003, 07:51:53 PM »
In AORP, Saint Ehlers takes full responsibility for levelling characters and so forth. But he also offers the option to players who want to level their own characters.
I'd suggest letting the GM have full access to the sheets of any character in the game, and letting him lock or unlock the character sheets for their owners at will.
Though as Spriggan said, I'd leave the inventory up to the player. Inventory is going to change frequently anyway, and it would be a pain for the GM to have to update that all the time.
If you wanted to get really fancy, though, one thing that might be kind of cool is for players to have to specify where/when their char got a particular item. You could use a separate table just for inventory, which would have four columns: Owner Character ID, Item, Justification (Why the player has this item), and Equipped (Yes/No). Optionally you could also include item weight. Since inventory/equipment is pretty universal, I dont think it needs to be associated with a particular system at all. If this is unclear feel free to ask for clarification.
A text box for equipment would be just fine too, of course. But theres always the possibility that players might feel inclined to be sneaky and add inventory items. Then again, the GM is likely to remember that the player did not recently acquire a particular magic item.
I'd suggest letting the GM have full access to the sheets of any character in the game, and letting him lock or unlock the character sheets for their owners at will.
Though as Spriggan said, I'd leave the inventory up to the player. Inventory is going to change frequently anyway, and it would be a pain for the GM to have to update that all the time.
If you wanted to get really fancy, though, one thing that might be kind of cool is for players to have to specify where/when their char got a particular item. You could use a separate table just for inventory, which would have four columns: Owner Character ID, Item, Justification (Why the player has this item), and Equipped (Yes/No). Optionally you could also include item weight. Since inventory/equipment is pretty universal, I dont think it needs to be associated with a particular system at all. If this is unclear feel free to ask for clarification.
A text box for equipment would be just fine too, of course. But theres always the possibility that players might feel inclined to be sneaky and add inventory items. Then again, the GM is likely to remember that the player did not recently acquire a particular magic item.
69
Role-Playing Games / Re: Eureka The Mad Science RPG
« on: May 27, 2003, 06:35:52 PM »
Lightening... most definitely lightening. Every Mad Scientist story has to have a Dark and Stormy Night.
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Rants and Stuff / Re: Shameless Plug
« on: May 27, 2003, 06:31:45 PM »
Looks pretty cool. But erm.. what is it? I'm too busy to read all the fine print.
71
What's this? / Re: AORP?
« on: May 27, 2003, 06:13:22 PM »Quote
The fields and stats wouldn't "mean" anything to the program, but at least the resulting character sheet would look better. We could make a bunch of templates for the major game systems, and then when a GM starts a game he can choose which character sheet to use. This would require a lot of work to create and code--maybe that's something Brian could help with?
Yeah, I think this is the best way to handle it. Here's how I would probably do it: I'd create one complete MySQL table for each character sheet type (i.e. one for D&D 3e, one for Palladium, etc). Each individual character sheet is stored on a single row in the table, with one column of the table relating back to the Primary ID in the Character Profile column (which would store the Bio, character portrait, and other non-system-specific info). One benefit of separating the Character Profile from the character sheet is that it is very easy to transfer a character from one system to another. From a technical standpoint, it separates dynamic data from static data, which isn't 100% necessary but is highly preferable in my mind.
Its a pain to create a separate table for each system, but I really think thats the way to go. I'll certainly do what I can, although I have almost no experience with any system other than D&D 3e.
Edit: Of course, if someone wanted to send me free books, I'd happily make the effort.
72
What's this? / Re: AORP?
« on: May 26, 2003, 04:32:13 PM »Quote
I will be developing it in PHP, and once I get a framework set up I'd be glad to let you help out. Especially the "posts since you were last here" function.
Sure, though I suspect I could contribute a bit more than just that. Thats a pretty simple thing to code.
I'll briefly throw out one of my own ideas for a PbPRPG forum:
One thing that I think would be important for a forum like that is Character Profiles. In other words, members sign up with ONE member ID, and then can have up to X character profiles, with independent stats, bios, pictures, signatures, inventories, and so forth. Also, it'd be cool if Character Profiles could have Alter Egos, for the purposes of Disguises, Secret Identities, etc. Alter Egos have different pictures, names, sigs, etc, but share the same stats, inventories, and backgroud info since they are technically the same person.
You could do this using an SQL table for Members, one for profiles (with an ParentMember ID column), and AlterEgos (with a ParentProfile ID column).
Code: [Select]
Member 1
|-- Character Profile 1
| |-- Alter Ego 1
| |-- Alter Ego 2
|-- Character Profile 2
74
Role-Playing Games / Re: Character Portraits
« on: May 25, 2003, 08:10:39 PM »
Is this offer still available?? I would love to have a character portrait of one of my character for AORP. This one may be tricky, I dunno.. but I'd be completely thrilled if you could pull it off!
Master Thomas Providian - A Nobleman in SE's Arthurian campaign. Has short, thick, medium brown hair (with a slightly reddish tint), which he usually combs straight back; and deep, reflective blue eyes.* He's tall and has a solid frame. He is not very strong -- he weighs in at only 150 lbs, but is still quite goodlooking overall. He holds his head high and stands tall, as a nobleman should, and carries himself with an impressive air of dignity. Although his clothes appear common, having recently lost everything, he always wears a stylish dark-colored cloak, which tends to flow out behind him as he walks,
Despite his Christian upbringing he practices arcane magic behind the veil of closed doors or clever disguise, but will resort to using those powers in dire need.. so it'd be cool to have him slyly executing some kind of magic, if you can think how to do that.
He carries a dagger and small pouch slung through his belt, and wears a rather eyecatching red-ruby signet ring on his right ring finger.
*I tried to avoid using the term "piercing blue eyes."
Edit: Oh, and by the way, its alright if he's not exactly the same as I've described him
I've tried to give you plenty of detail so you can get a good idea of him in your head, but you are free to interpret as you like, if you make the attempt.
Master Thomas Providian - A Nobleman in SE's Arthurian campaign. Has short, thick, medium brown hair (with a slightly reddish tint), which he usually combs straight back; and deep, reflective blue eyes.* He's tall and has a solid frame. He is not very strong -- he weighs in at only 150 lbs, but is still quite goodlooking overall. He holds his head high and stands tall, as a nobleman should, and carries himself with an impressive air of dignity. Although his clothes appear common, having recently lost everything, he always wears a stylish dark-colored cloak, which tends to flow out behind him as he walks,
Despite his Christian upbringing he practices arcane magic behind the veil of closed doors or clever disguise, but will resort to using those powers in dire need.. so it'd be cool to have him slyly executing some kind of magic, if you can think how to do that.
He carries a dagger and small pouch slung through his belt, and wears a rather eyecatching red-ruby signet ring on his right ring finger.
*I tried to avoid using the term "piercing blue eyes."
Edit: Oh, and by the way, its alright if he's not exactly the same as I've described him
I've tried to give you plenty of detail so you can get a good idea of him in your head, but you are free to interpret as you like, if you make the attempt.
75
Everything Else / Re: Word Sense
« on: May 25, 2003, 07:49:28 PM »
voice
(I believe the point is just to post the first word that comes to mind after reading the previous word. Rather pointless, but hard to resist, and a quality waste of time to boot.)
(I believe the point is just to post the first word that comes to mind after reading the previous word. Rather pointless, but hard to resist, and a quality waste of time to boot.)