"RoTK: Stories"
Aug 14, 2016 18:17:34 GMT -5
Post by Izzy on Aug 14, 2016 18:17:34 GMT -5
Hey guys, so this is the concept for a site I have. Any feedback is welcome and encouraged, as well as anyone who would want to put the legwork into starting it (I would start working on it if I got two solid people to commit to helping run it )
RoTK: Stories (Working Title)
I'm going to do this FAQ-style to get the biggest questions out of the way.
What's the premise?
"RoTK: Stories" would be a narrative-based historical sim site based on the Three Kingdoms period.
What is a "Narrative-Based Sim"?
It's a half-RP, half-sim site. Most pure RP sites don't have stats; instead, they opt for 'realism' in their stories defining what can and can't happen. While this is great, it leaves a lot to be desired. Generally, game managers are accused of bias. Or rulings are arbitrary. And ultimately, the game never 'finishes', because it's ultimately up to the players to decide when someone is defeated and most people don't like losing.
Sim sites, on the other hand, are great for keeping a game moving. There's a black and white way forward: troops deal a certain amount of damage, your stats tell you what you can do, etc. The problem being that numbers rule everything. Eventually, creativity outside of creatively manipulating numbers isn't rewarded. You simply don't get the amazing feats you see in the novel, like Zhang Fei holding off Cao Cao at Chang Ban, or Zhang Liao driving back Wu at He Fei.
This would be a happy medium. The site story would mostly be told in RP form. But players would have stats. And those stats would have to be 'checked' for certain actions, where a roll would be made against their stat/stats (think DnD). Obviously, the more complicated something is, the more rolls have to be made. To reduce the total number of complications, a system would be made for standard battles, duels and debate mechanics. But everything else would essentially be decided by these stat checks.
So would this be a Rise of Heroes scenario?
No. The first 'game' would likely start with the YTR and would follow history up until the point where the players interact with it.
So it's just a re-enactment of the novel?
No! That would be boring It would "follow" the novel until the players made a big change. It could happen as early as the YTR, or as late as Yiling (doubtful). But once the changes start, the directors of the story would make the appropriate deviations
Who is directing the story? How would it work?
This is where the dedicated mod team would come in. The story would be laid out in 'Acts' and 'Chapters'. Each 'Act' is a series of Chapters, and each Chapter would focus on certain characters. A moderator would control the 'main story' for each chapter. Each act would have 3-5 chapters, each with specific characters that they followed, and each Act would end with a major event. So, if we were to use the novel, it would look something like:
Act I: The Yellow Turban Rebellion
Chapter 1: The Peach Garden Oath
Chapter 2: Cao Cao vs the Yellow Turbans
Chapter 3: Enter the Tiger of Jiang Dong
Chapter 4: Fall of the Yellow Turbans
Act II: Chaos in the Capital
Chapter 5: The Eunuchs
Chapter 6: Dong Zhuo Seizes the Capital
Chapter 7: The Anti-Dong Zhuo Campaign
Chapter 8: Lu Bu Revolts
And so on...
Ideally, the moderators would rotate for each chapter. Chapters would take 2-4 weeks each to get a clear story out of it. I don't believe in time limits, but I do believe in fun limits. If a chapter is dragging, it'll likely end early to move onto something more interesting.
Do players have to be directly involved with each chapter?
Nope. Actually, most players won't play a major part of the chapter. There will be plenty of 'side stories' that occur in each chapter (some of which may eventually lead to the next chapter, or even the next act). And, of course, if a player doesn't want to follow a major story, they can make their own RP threads.
Side stories would be mostly player-driven. Some mods may take it upon themselves to start a side story for volunteers to participate in, or to follow up on a major story arc. Whatever makes the world more immersive.
This sounds like it needs a lot of players?
Yes and no. It needs a lot of characters for sure. The RoTK novel had hundreds of named characters to enrich the story. To accommodate for this, players would play one 'primary' character, and an unlimited number of 'secondary' characters. Their primary character would have benefits like the ability to increase stats, the ability to be the main character of a chapter, etc. Secondary characters can play major roles in chapters, but ultimately aren't who the story will follow. A player can switch a character from secondary to primary if they find a good way to 'retire' their primary character.
Surely you need a ton of mods?
Or just a handful of really dedicated ones This is something I'm working on. Technically, I would only need two per chapter. One to do the main story, and one to help out with rolls and such. In reality, those two mods would burn out fast.
It helps that, with this setup, there won't be more than one battle happening at a time...
So, that's it for the basic info. There are a handful of other things that I've thought out, but that's the basic premise. Which is enough to get people to ask questions about it I'll follow up on any questions for now, and delve a little bit deeper if there's any interest.
RoTK: Stories (Working Title)
I'm going to do this FAQ-style to get the biggest questions out of the way.
What's the premise?
"RoTK: Stories" would be a narrative-based historical sim site based on the Three Kingdoms period.
What is a "Narrative-Based Sim"?
It's a half-RP, half-sim site. Most pure RP sites don't have stats; instead, they opt for 'realism' in their stories defining what can and can't happen. While this is great, it leaves a lot to be desired. Generally, game managers are accused of bias. Or rulings are arbitrary. And ultimately, the game never 'finishes', because it's ultimately up to the players to decide when someone is defeated and most people don't like losing.
Sim sites, on the other hand, are great for keeping a game moving. There's a black and white way forward: troops deal a certain amount of damage, your stats tell you what you can do, etc. The problem being that numbers rule everything. Eventually, creativity outside of creatively manipulating numbers isn't rewarded. You simply don't get the amazing feats you see in the novel, like Zhang Fei holding off Cao Cao at Chang Ban, or Zhang Liao driving back Wu at He Fei.
This would be a happy medium. The site story would mostly be told in RP form. But players would have stats. And those stats would have to be 'checked' for certain actions, where a roll would be made against their stat/stats (think DnD). Obviously, the more complicated something is, the more rolls have to be made. To reduce the total number of complications, a system would be made for standard battles, duels and debate mechanics. But everything else would essentially be decided by these stat checks.
So would this be a Rise of Heroes scenario?
No. The first 'game' would likely start with the YTR and would follow history up until the point where the players interact with it.
So it's just a re-enactment of the novel?
No! That would be boring It would "follow" the novel until the players made a big change. It could happen as early as the YTR, or as late as Yiling (doubtful). But once the changes start, the directors of the story would make the appropriate deviations
Who is directing the story? How would it work?
This is where the dedicated mod team would come in. The story would be laid out in 'Acts' and 'Chapters'. Each 'Act' is a series of Chapters, and each Chapter would focus on certain characters. A moderator would control the 'main story' for each chapter. Each act would have 3-5 chapters, each with specific characters that they followed, and each Act would end with a major event. So, if we were to use the novel, it would look something like:
Act I: The Yellow Turban Rebellion
Chapter 1: The Peach Garden Oath
Chapter 2: Cao Cao vs the Yellow Turbans
Chapter 3: Enter the Tiger of Jiang Dong
Chapter 4: Fall of the Yellow Turbans
Act II: Chaos in the Capital
Chapter 5: The Eunuchs
Chapter 6: Dong Zhuo Seizes the Capital
Chapter 7: The Anti-Dong Zhuo Campaign
Chapter 8: Lu Bu Revolts
And so on...
Ideally, the moderators would rotate for each chapter. Chapters would take 2-4 weeks each to get a clear story out of it. I don't believe in time limits, but I do believe in fun limits. If a chapter is dragging, it'll likely end early to move onto something more interesting.
Do players have to be directly involved with each chapter?
Nope. Actually, most players won't play a major part of the chapter. There will be plenty of 'side stories' that occur in each chapter (some of which may eventually lead to the next chapter, or even the next act). And, of course, if a player doesn't want to follow a major story, they can make their own RP threads.
Side stories would be mostly player-driven. Some mods may take it upon themselves to start a side story for volunteers to participate in, or to follow up on a major story arc. Whatever makes the world more immersive.
This sounds like it needs a lot of players?
Yes and no. It needs a lot of characters for sure. The RoTK novel had hundreds of named characters to enrich the story. To accommodate for this, players would play one 'primary' character, and an unlimited number of 'secondary' characters. Their primary character would have benefits like the ability to increase stats, the ability to be the main character of a chapter, etc. Secondary characters can play major roles in chapters, but ultimately aren't who the story will follow. A player can switch a character from secondary to primary if they find a good way to 'retire' their primary character.
Surely you need a ton of mods?
Or just a handful of really dedicated ones This is something I'm working on. Technically, I would only need two per chapter. One to do the main story, and one to help out with rolls and such. In reality, those two mods would burn out fast.
It helps that, with this setup, there won't be more than one battle happening at a time...
So, that's it for the basic info. There are a handful of other things that I've thought out, but that's the basic premise. Which is enough to get people to ask questions about it I'll follow up on any questions for now, and delve a little bit deeper if there's any interest.