Raven
04-08-2007, 02:52 PM
Rules
INTRODUCTION
The RPG Forum is a service to registered members, so we can provide a place where members can help each other and exchange ideas, tips, information, and communication. Like any community, these Forums are most valuable when everyone obeys certain basic guidelines and rules. These guidelines and rules are presented here so that you know what is expected of you and what you can expect from others. Please help keep the RPG Forum a clean and friendly community. And, above all else, have fun!
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The purpose of this forum is to enable the members of the community to help each other in a constructive and positive atmosphere. If you are new to the forums and are unsure about anything, just ask!
BE HELPFUL, FRIENDLY AND SUPPORTIVE
Everyone wants to have a positive experience while on the rpg Forum - please make sure that you contribute to it. Please do not engage in name-calling, post anything containing obscenity, vulgarity, or profanity. Also don’t post harassing, threatening, abusive, lewd, inflammatory, or any messages that disparages any religion, race, nation, gender, or sexual orientation. Flaming people, products, or organizations is never acceptable (and will be enforced – ). Instead, be friendly, helpful, and supportive.
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STAY ON TOPIC
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Rules based games are, as the named suggests, games based on rules. These tend to have more detail and careful care put into them than Narrative games, at least in the sense that the GM will go through a great many ponderances over the particular rules of the game, designing and creating the things that he feels will be needed (most usually a map of sorts) and other such things. Pleasingly, after this initial, pre-game outburst, the game often runs smoothly.
The problem with rules-based games is often one of ambition; the rules that seemed just fine when made can turn into a monumental mountain for GM and players alike to scale, causing the updates to slow and the eldery, wearied GM to creak and groan under the strain of all the number crunching and picture moving he must perform in order to move the game along.
However, these games can provide a very rich playing area. While the players can’t go off and do just anything, the fact that they aren’t guided by the GM and just pointed in the right direction can allow for another sort of liberated actions to occur. Pretty much, the players run the game, the GM’s only job is to carry out the player’s wishes whilst interfering as little as possible. Also excellently, it’s pretty impossible for the player’s to god-mod, as what they can and cannot do is clearly marked out for them from the get-go. Smiles and sexay laydeez all-round, it seems.
The variety of rules-based games can well be as varied as narrative games, and as its players making the important decisions all the time, the experience can oft be more immersive than those of a narrative game. To this end, it seems that graphical representation suits rules-governed games better than narrative games (which rely mainly on text), to add to the game, or clarify it in someway. It is often the case that such maps and stats are actually required for the game to function properly, such as in Rict’s sublime ROE series of games, which are available at your local retailer’s at the price of £6.99*.
So as can be surmised, most of the GMing work comes prior to the game itself. There are plenty of pre-existing games and game rules you could choose, I, for instance, chose to use ye olde Space Hulk rules for some trial games (we’ll discuss wht happened to the actual ‘real’ game later) that converted very well to an online arena, even if all the players did end up dying horrible deaths due to the swarms of genestealers. Sucked to be them. The point is, making the game is half of the struggle, the other half is trying to maintain it as the information starts piling up and the questions as to the rulesets constantly assail you. This is where most of the rules-based ones will fall apart, alas.
So then, Rules-based games:
Pros: Can allow for more structurally complex and more visual games, no true god-modding, updates on the player side involve less typing effort, less GM meddling in the progress of the game.
Cons: ALOT of effort needs to be put in on the GM side of things in order for it to be successful, updates for the GM aren’t fun, questions will be asked (quite possibly more than once), they tend to work less well the larger the amount of people get involved.
Before we progress further, we may as well briefly mention the two other aspects that tie in very closely with the above ones; graphical games and textual games.
Graphical games are more associated with rules-based games. It is these that use maps, markers and teeny little charts to show how the game is progressing. These require both work to maintain and work to update. Indeed, it is often updating these things that cause some games to break down, like a certain spaceship game I could mention (1 and a half hours to do one update? No thanks!). These do make good eye-candy though, and are very necessary for some of the more ambitious games a GM may wish to make.
Textual games are more at home in the world of Narrative. They eschew the use of fancy maps and the like, and rely solely on the written word to convey meaning and to move the game along. As this way of running things doesn’t rely on updating anything too complex, it is a very good way to make easy, fast updates, and therefore a good way to do things if a large number of people is partaking in the game. Unlike graphical games, the actual size of the update increases or decreases based on how detailed or story-based the GM wishes the game to be, so what could be explained in a few sentences may take another to paragraphs to say. They also tend to limit the scope of a game, beyond a certain point.
Now don’t be fooled into thinking that you have to choose one or the other here folks, you may well note that hardly a single game on these here boards follows all the above stereotypes. This would be because they tend to mix and match stuff, adding story elements to graphical rule games and what have you, which is both fine and super in equal measure.
Now that we’ve sorted out these here ground rules, we can look at how one may be inclined to start up a game, and what one must ponder when making their first choices. ‘Cus if one don’t, then certain DOOM will befall one. Probably. At least some sort of rash.
INTRODUCTION
The RPG Forum is a service to registered members, so we can provide a place where members can help each other and exchange ideas, tips, information, and communication. Like any community, these Forums are most valuable when everyone obeys certain basic guidelines and rules. These guidelines and rules are presented here so that you know what is expected of you and what you can expect from others. Please help keep the RPG Forum a clean and friendly community. And, above all else, have fun!
THE PURPOSE OF THESE FORUMS
The purpose of this forum is to enable the members of the community to help each other in a constructive and positive atmosphere. If you are new to the forums and are unsure about anything, just ask!
BE HELPFUL, FRIENDLY AND SUPPORTIVE
Everyone wants to have a positive experience while on the rpg Forum - please make sure that you contribute to it. Please do not engage in name-calling, post anything containing obscenity, vulgarity, or profanity. Also don’t post harassing, threatening, abusive, lewd, inflammatory, or any messages that disparages any religion, race, nation, gender, or sexual orientation. Flaming people, products, or organizations is never acceptable (and will be enforced – ). Instead, be friendly, helpful, and supportive.
SPAMMING
Spamming of any sort, whether it be in the forum, chats, is strictly forbidden and will not be tolerated.
STAY ON TOPIC
Please stay on topic. The rpg Forum is provided to enable members to help each other in sharing their passion for the game. Please refrain from discussing personal matters, abusing any company or product, or, in general, from posting in a manner unrelated to the direct purposes expected in the Forum.
Rules based games are, as the named suggests, games based on rules. These tend to have more detail and careful care put into them than Narrative games, at least in the sense that the GM will go through a great many ponderances over the particular rules of the game, designing and creating the things that he feels will be needed (most usually a map of sorts) and other such things. Pleasingly, after this initial, pre-game outburst, the game often runs smoothly.
The problem with rules-based games is often one of ambition; the rules that seemed just fine when made can turn into a monumental mountain for GM and players alike to scale, causing the updates to slow and the eldery, wearied GM to creak and groan under the strain of all the number crunching and picture moving he must perform in order to move the game along.
However, these games can provide a very rich playing area. While the players can’t go off and do just anything, the fact that they aren’t guided by the GM and just pointed in the right direction can allow for another sort of liberated actions to occur. Pretty much, the players run the game, the GM’s only job is to carry out the player’s wishes whilst interfering as little as possible. Also excellently, it’s pretty impossible for the player’s to god-mod, as what they can and cannot do is clearly marked out for them from the get-go. Smiles and sexay laydeez all-round, it seems.
The variety of rules-based games can well be as varied as narrative games, and as its players making the important decisions all the time, the experience can oft be more immersive than those of a narrative game. To this end, it seems that graphical representation suits rules-governed games better than narrative games (which rely mainly on text), to add to the game, or clarify it in someway. It is often the case that such maps and stats are actually required for the game to function properly, such as in Rict’s sublime ROE series of games, which are available at your local retailer’s at the price of £6.99*.
So as can be surmised, most of the GMing work comes prior to the game itself. There are plenty of pre-existing games and game rules you could choose, I, for instance, chose to use ye olde Space Hulk rules for some trial games (we’ll discuss wht happened to the actual ‘real’ game later) that converted very well to an online arena, even if all the players did end up dying horrible deaths due to the swarms of genestealers. Sucked to be them. The point is, making the game is half of the struggle, the other half is trying to maintain it as the information starts piling up and the questions as to the rulesets constantly assail you. This is where most of the rules-based ones will fall apart, alas.
So then, Rules-based games:
Pros: Can allow for more structurally complex and more visual games, no true god-modding, updates on the player side involve less typing effort, less GM meddling in the progress of the game.
Cons: ALOT of effort needs to be put in on the GM side of things in order for it to be successful, updates for the GM aren’t fun, questions will be asked (quite possibly more than once), they tend to work less well the larger the amount of people get involved.
Before we progress further, we may as well briefly mention the two other aspects that tie in very closely with the above ones; graphical games and textual games.
Graphical games are more associated with rules-based games. It is these that use maps, markers and teeny little charts to show how the game is progressing. These require both work to maintain and work to update. Indeed, it is often updating these things that cause some games to break down, like a certain spaceship game I could mention (1 and a half hours to do one update? No thanks!). These do make good eye-candy though, and are very necessary for some of the more ambitious games a GM may wish to make.
Textual games are more at home in the world of Narrative. They eschew the use of fancy maps and the like, and rely solely on the written word to convey meaning and to move the game along. As this way of running things doesn’t rely on updating anything too complex, it is a very good way to make easy, fast updates, and therefore a good way to do things if a large number of people is partaking in the game. Unlike graphical games, the actual size of the update increases or decreases based on how detailed or story-based the GM wishes the game to be, so what could be explained in a few sentences may take another to paragraphs to say. They also tend to limit the scope of a game, beyond a certain point.
Now don’t be fooled into thinking that you have to choose one or the other here folks, you may well note that hardly a single game on these here boards follows all the above stereotypes. This would be because they tend to mix and match stuff, adding story elements to graphical rule games and what have you, which is both fine and super in equal measure.
Now that we’ve sorted out these here ground rules, we can look at how one may be inclined to start up a game, and what one must ponder when making their first choices. ‘Cus if one don’t, then certain DOOM will befall one. Probably. At least some sort of rash.