Greetings!

Greetings!

Greetings!

After doing a great deal of reading here, and playing in a number of PbtA games, I can no longer resist the urge to try running a PbP game of Uncharted Worlds on Tavernkeeper.

https://www.tavern-keeper.com/

In the interest of keeping with the PbtA concept, I have thus far resisted all my baser GM instincts to pre-fab a setting and systems/worlds. To that end, I was wondering if I might solicit some setting ideas here so that I can set a game up on the TK site (the sooner the better). My hope is to also incorporate the new FBH playbooks into the game.

Ultimately, I intend to run through the standard creation process as indicated in the UW book with any players I might attract. But, I was hoping take the pulse of those here and get a feel for a preference. Is it more likely that potential players might be interested in their creation of the full universe? Or, do people tend to prefer some idea at the outset (such as, say, a solar system alone … a massive galaxy like Traveller …a small number of systems … or something else). My instinct is to create the base setting (probably stealing from some other setting so that I have some background and maps to go on) and allow it to be modified and populated by the players’ ideas.

Any thoughts on this?

https://www.tavern-keeper.com

20 thoughts on “Greetings!”

  1. I fully agree with you on this. The pace at which a PbP game unfolds makes it more efficient if the GM starts out with a base setting idea. I call shotgun!

  2. Going through all of the steps of campaign creation with a group takes like 2+ hours at a table, and I would not recommend it for a TK game. I would highly advise picking two or three elements you want and letting your players fill in the rest. Like, decide you want a Great Starship game about a future super-advanced Earth civilization dealing with aliens… and then let the players use that to build their characters and make up the factions. Or, make up your factions, and let the players decide whether they want a starship or colony game or whatever.

  3. I’m trying to understand what TK is. Is it for finding campaigns that are looking for players/DM’s? I can’t seem to find their About page.

  4. Tavern Keeper is for hosting Play-by-Post games, primarily. You make an account, you apply to join games, and GMs can create Campaign pages that include integrated player-only forums, roleplaying threads with OOC comments, an integrated Wiki, and some storage space for art and such.

  6. I’ve been using TK for a couple of years and it’s a great site. But, too many PbP games tend to die as one or two key players – or the GM – tends to slow down the pace of posts and the others lose interest. One thing I have seen with most the PbtA games there is that the players can keep the narrative going, and a couple of really good creative narrative gamers can propel the story forward without significant direction from the GM.

    Alfred, I see your point on the predetermined setting. The lengthy discussions might cause early problems and consume time needlessly. I have a few possibilities to steal from in mind for the overarching setting (Bounty Head BeBop, Terracide, and Starcluster come to mind – even Stars Without Number), but was considering that if I came in with an initial background and starting point (world, base, etc.) that the players could then decide which “setting” (p. 157) they wanted to play within that background and beginning at that starting point. I suppose that in play the players could modify the background and setting to some degree within that background and setting.

  7. Carl Walter I think you’ve got a good idea. Make your pitch post on TK with the campaign background you have in mind. This will be best because then you won’t suffer player dropout from someone who wants Star Wars signing up only to find everyone wants Firefly. Then, let the players call the shots on modifying any “source material” as necessary to make their characters the stars of the show.

  8. But, too many PbP games [regardless of venue] tend to die as one or two key players – or the GM – tends to slow down the pace of posts [regular attendance in general] and the others lose interest.

    When life happens, does the magic circle expand to encompass larger spaces… what really separates the game of shared hallucinations and fantasies from the game of consensual cultures and delusions?

    Think of a Microscope game via PbP… or maybe The Quiet Year or Dawn of Worlds, if you have familiarity with these turn-based storytelling games at all…

    Also; there is the from-format City Creation used in Dresden Files, and the pick-n-choose processes in Fate or even Fiasco, is kind of a free-form format of the same type…

    There are numerous examples of structured troop-worldbulding that can be useful for the interactive preparation phase in a PbP venue:- including those used in theatrical improvisation worksheets and rehearsals.

    http://eadeverell.com/wp-content/uploads/writing_worksheet30a-214×300.png

    You can also look at worldbuilding worksheets for writers, and form-fill-able/menu-selectable pages on the interwebz…

    TK has it’s integrated wiki, which means each player should/could/mayhaps have one page where they can fill out a set of worldbuilding questions or fields, with one to five-hundred words, on pre-selected topics like; Faction History, Notable Celebrities, Interesting Locations… etc…

    http://eadeverell.com/wp-content/uploads/writing_worksheet2.png

    …however such forms or pages are implemented, these player access pages, are going to reflect what the player wants to see exist and/or how the character sees what exists in the shared fiction.

    Bringing this back to a shared development, anything on a player’s worldbuilding page should be considered subjective reality, and may or may not actually be true… until established into a reality-consensus during interactions in the shared-fiction-space.

    This way, participants can say whatever they like (perhaps within a limited scope of pages and word-counts, preferably) about the universe and it’s contents, in their own spaces… and at their own leisure… and may even discuss such elements in side OOC formats… while the main shared-fiction-space can remain focused on the emerging fiction as it progresses, unfettered by such ‘lengthy discussions’ of what has yet to become cannon-de-facto.

    Might even take it a step further, and ONLY allow such content to be established by OTHER players (as a matter of informal custom)… thus a sort of economy of ideas might be honored.

    You mentioned something about a corp of elite plasma-sword wielding psychic knights on your page… I like that, so I’ll bring it up when our characters interact… but, in exchange, it would be courteous for you to pick something from my page to bring up as well…. your choice, but, something about Horse-thieves,The Triad, or Weyland-Yutani Synthetics perhaps?

  9. Alfred Rudzki that’s exactly how I would introduce the game in the description. I intend to have info already up on the wiki page (looks nice and gives us a starting point), and would highlight the players’ freedom to further develop or modify content through Discussion threads set up for that purpose. And the idea of the creative process was exactly to avoid the competing conceptual ideas you touch on.

    William Mims you point out some great ideas. I am familiar with all the games you mentioned, but not the resources at those links. I would want to implement some creative process that would not bog us down at the start … I’ll have to give these resources and ideas a further look after I have had my coffee! (I work nights and just got into work)

    Thanks to both of you for your ideas and input so far.

  10. seems people on reddit are constantly asking for and developing one-page world-building quickie-formats…

    https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/3v3g1u/this_site_has_a_good_worldbuilding_template/

    I said 500 words, because reflexive reasons…

    but, on really thinking about constraints and what constitutes a viable information exchange, 25 words and a picture on three subjects of interest to your character… is quite ample for these purposes… 75-150 words, with or without a picture, is equally plump.

    More than 250 words on any given topic, is overkill, and should be discouraged… unless you are really interested in writing a collaborative setting supplement.

    Likewise; asking players to answer three to six out of twelve multiple choice questions about the environment… is usually sufficient to get a handle on what flags their boat and ropes their goat.

    For reference: this comment is one hundred fifty words… but, it can be considered likely that somewhere you flashed a picture in your mind’s eye about livestock transports. (got ya!)

  11. William Mims I like this idea … or something similar to it. It sounds very much like what Todd Zircher has discussed in his subsector development in another posting here.

    I think that part of the appeal in PbtA style games is the collaborative development and the fact that so much of the narrative can be driven by the players themselves. That’s why it seems a perfect system for running PbP style games. Combat that can be conducted with minimal rolls but still have exciting and meaningful outcomes is preferable to endless posts going back and forth that could potentially leave non-combatants or support types twiddling their thumbs for days (or longer) as the combat plays out.

  12. Not just the minimal rolls, it’s also action oriented statements… and qualitative resolution feedback…

    from declaration to mechanism to resolution

    …a nearly seamless conversational flow:- numbers and maths, stay useful, and get out of the way.

    PbtA/AWE-Systems are a lot like Minds Eye Theater/Laws of the X based LARP-Systems, in that respect, as well…

    …enough to be expidient to story-first play, but not so much that you loose the game-in-the-game to mere poetry-rap-battles.

    (avoids eye-contact with any lurking Northern European gamers)

    :p

  13. I would think that it goes without saying concerning the narrative elements. My previous experiences with PbP games is that they bog down in conflict situations. They can be entertaining – particularly in a well-run Fate game, but, if the action does not involve everyone in the scene, then they can be an issue. But, that can be more a GM issue than anything else.

    Many games bog down in incessant I-go, you-go, he-goes rounds that could take days to resolve. Fate might sometimes move faster, but even that can bog down when players (and maybe the GM) seek to create Aspects rather than resolve the action. I have seen more than a few games go several rounds with maneuvers that created a plethora of Aspects for a situation, but no one had any Fate Points left to act on them!

    Which brings me back to my current fascination with PbtA games. Conflict can be dramatic affairs that forward the story quickly and narratively without the need to expend days of real time resolving each combat turn. And some players in otherwise “traditional” RPGs get persnippity with hand-waving a conflict or resolving it quickly as it doesn’t give their character a time to shine, or, to fail dramatically (all in grand narrative fashion, of course)!

    I think over the next few days I will be taking some of these ideas and set them into motion as I set up a UW game to play on TK. We shall see how it goes. There are a good number of AW and other PbtA type game players there, so, if I can get 4 good players, that’ll be a grand start!

  15. (nuke’em from orbit!)

    disengage all safety protocols, and direct fully loaded FLT-transport into port at speeds faster than ignorance…

    (pan back for silent boom in slow motion for theatrical effect)

    …and that’s another way to eliminate bad guys, with fewer chances of missing the targets.

  17. Jacob Ross if you are referring to the game I am crafting for TavernKeeper, then it’s still in the planning (plotting?) stage. I am waffling between a game that is contained solely within our solar system, or, a more galaxy spanning one a-la Travelleresque. I have a number of backgrounds (maps and resources) that I am balancing for ease of use in such a game. My goal is to have something up by the weekend, and I will cross post any info here as well should anyone be interested.

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