Advice/Help Advice wanted for slowly cooking RP concept

[BananaMuffin]

Hello! I've written up this concept for an RP a couple of years ago. I've always wanted to try and post an interest check for this game but I have never GM'ed before and honestly I'm afraid of this game falling apart because I've blundered on my end, especially if it's because I wasn't building an engaging enough environment. So I'm not planning on GMing this for a while, not until I've gotten comfortable enough to break out of my natural social recluse state and GM a game that people will enjoy being in. Yes, I'm asking for advice for a game that may take years to happen, however, I still think it has good potential for a really fun RP so I want to share and work on refining this idea so that it'll have the best chance it can have in lasting to the end at least once.

Spoiler

~Setting~

It takes place in a fever dream-ish maze of a city where you have to get through shifting heights of apartment buildings, skyscrapers, streets, and sidewalks. The more mainstream parts would be full of people who can’t see you or the monsters phasing through them. You’ll realize that you aren’t able to escape the city borders and that every time you try, you end up looping back to the other side of town like a pacman level.

~Monsters~

Monsters don’t really have a standard appearance, they can look just about anything and anyone. Many of them settle for something creepy and intimidating when lurking around the spirit plane. The only consistent part about them is their size, which increases overtime as they grow stronger. Whether or not it should grow resulting from player death or simply by existing is undetermined.

Monsters around the size of a human and larger can warp the spirit plane around them more intensely, altering themselves and their surroundings to their liking. They could even shrink to a more manageable size, though anyone far away enough will see their true form. The bigger they are the more spread out and intense the effect is, however a monster would not be able to alter a player still tethered to their body.

Titans would be the main monsters that players will create since they will be the monsters strong enough to enter the mortal world and steal people's souls for whatever purpose they desire. They will be in an incredible weakened state in the mortal world, only able to shapeshift into beings up to humanoid size but unable to harm directly. However, they can drag someone's soul to the spirit plane via physical contact (or eye contact if they're stronger than the average titan). There they can overpower ghosts and break their connection to their bodies.

~Characters/Ghosts~

Right now, your body is in a coma. Whenever your soul is ripped out of your body by something, you'll usually still be tethered to your body, allowing you to connect back to it and return to the mortal realm. Once you return, you’ll no longer be able to see anything related to the spirit plane, including the other players. With that, your character is out of the game (unless they're brought back in again). Your character can also be out of the game if your soul is sustains enough damage or if your body is destroyed in the mortal realm, though I'm debating whether untethered ghosts would be stuck in the spirit realm and be able to help others.

Weapons can just about be anything that was on your person when you were ripped, even if you were only holding it. This includes but not limited to handbags/purses, baseball bats, glasses, pillows, katanas, chainsaws, and construction beams. However, any weapon you have is essentially an extension of you. They can be retracted and then resummoned, meaning you don't have it stuck on your hand - but they can't be let go of and if they get hit, you get hit.

Whenever a character is getting close enough to their bodies, the monster that pulled them out can sense them and how close they are. So prepare for one final boss battle that determines whether you make it back into the mortal realm or not.

~Miscellaneous Ideas~

The amount of spirit a person has helps build up their defense and their attacks. It stems from a person’s determination and/or faith. Faith is not only found within religious individuals but within anyone who puts their faith into anything, like believing that sliced bread will stay forever.

Ghosts will be able to manipulate objects in the mortal realm, and so ghosts have two kinds of attacks: Spiritual and Physical. Ghosts and Monsters are both very susceptible to spiritual attacks, everything in the mortal realm is susceptible to physical attacks.

There's some vague lore with some possible mechanics in the spoiler above, but the main gist is that your spirit has been ripped from your body and that you’re now a ghost trying to survive in a spirit plane full of monsters. It was meant to be a relatively short and fast-paced game where the players could choose a point on a map to pursue their end goal: Their body, and come up with their antagonists that would keep them from achieving their end goal: the monster that ripped them out of their body.

Any and all criticism and feedback is welcomed, though if we wanted to get into specifics I have these questions in stock:

- Should this be a story-driven game or a survival-driven game? I'm asking because the rate at which characters might die would probably skyrocket if it was survival-driven. I always envision these ghosts as glass cannons, able to punch hard but barely able to take a hit, using teamwork or technique would make up for their lack in defense. Each run would be shorter, characters and players can come and go quicker, and it'd add higher stakes if it was survival based. However, in a plot-driven game, you'll have more control over what happens to your character, a better chance to get a satisfying ending, and more chances to focus on character development and world-building.

- If it would work better as a survival-driven game, how should the mechanics work? I know I want to keep it simple and interesting enough that anyone could hop in, understand quickly and have fun, but I know some players don't like using dice mechanics and it'd be unfair that you lost your character to a tiny gremlin just because a randomizer said so.​

- If it would work better as a plot-driven game, what are a good amount of encounters between a character or group's starting point and their final face-off with the beast? I know there should be enough plot twists and new discoveries for people to stay engaged for as long as possible before they feel burned out or feel like it's dragging on for too long, I just don't know what would be a good number of scenarios to make before the RP's up.​

- What would be a good ceiling when it comes to player input and power scaling? Should there even be a soft ceiling at all when it comes to NPCs like monsters? I know there should probably be a limit for metagaming and powerplaying but I don't want to limit the powers of monsters because they're suppose to be powerful, but I do want a way for players to beat the game if monsters end up invincible.

- Should the characters be able to grow mechanically? Like gain skills that would make it more interesting to play through till the end?

-Should there be racial traits? I plan on allowing all types of characters including non-human, but I feel that because they'll be ghosts it would be more of a surface level thing and not have much affect on the gameplay.

-How should magic and guns work? In this world, everything on a ghost is basically a projection of their soul so it may not work as it did in the mortal realm. What if gunshots and projectile magic had tangible trails- they'd basically be like tendrils, able to hit far and pierce enemies but susceptible to being cut and hurting your character!​

-Should I limit the number of players to a small group? If not and if it ends up gathering more interest, should I try what Isekai Hell did and have different threads for groups to focus in their own plots and characters?

I'll probably have many other questions that'll be too late to ask at some point, but for now I am only asking for your financial support. Thank you in advance for reading through this somewhat long jumbled post, and if you actually respond then you'll be blessed by an insomniac muffin.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Why, I do believe sliced bread will stay forever. It is human's greatest invention after all.

So the game is like Alice in Borderland, but less death game and more Bleach. It is short, sweet and fast, sort of building confidence for GMing.

Should this be a story-driven game or a survival-driven game?

Story-driven, use this oppprtunity to test the integrity of the setting. Later if you want to make a longer RP you can use the experience to build a suitable system. For now I think it's best for you to focus on narrative.

If it would work better as a plot-driven game, what are a good amount of encounters between a character or group's starting point and their final face-off with the beast?

You said you want it to be short and fast paced. I think it's best to not rely on plot twist then, plot twist is best for long game when the players are already invested in that thing you want to twist, instead be flexible. 3 arcs is good but be prepared to cut it to 2 or even 1 arc in case you or the players lose too much steam. Also, don't linger too long on introduction arc.

What would be a good ceiling when it comes to player input and power scaling?

Should the characters be able to grow mechanically?

Some degree of scaling is always good, but I think for shorter RP its better to focus on making each encounter fresh instead. Maybe the first monster is a lump of thousand corpses which force the players to fight their evil counterpart so they can do some character exploration but then the next monster is a planet-sized meat cthulhu god who throw moon at players but its spacial distortion also lets player perform 5D movement around it so they can just be cool. Who knows, they're all supernatural entities here so if you want you can just throw physical logics out of the window and be as wacky as possible.

Should there be racial traits

Of course you can, but instead of regular fantacy races, how about what type of ghost each character become? I think it can be interesting. The greedy asshole is now a poltergeist with eight invicible tendrils, the shy one become sheet ghost that can fly. I'm just blurting what's in my mind here lol.

How should magic and guns work

Don't think too hard about it really, unless you want to make it survival RP. If you want to make all projectiles as some sort of retractable rocket fist that can be harmed then go on.

Should I limit the number of players to a small group

Don't bite more than you can bite. 4-8 is good I think but you can have as many as you can handle really. Expect half of them to ghost the RP within the first two weeks, so be ready to axe them.

 

[Idea]

itans would be the main monsters that players will create

But players are playing ghosts trying to survive the monsters aren't they? What do you mean they will create monsters?

- Should this be a story-driven game or a survival-driven game? I'm asking because the rate at which characters might die would probably skyrocket if it was survival-driven. I always envision these ghosts as glass cannons, able to punch hard but barely able to take a hit, using teamwork or technique would make up for their lack in defense. Each run would be shorter, characters and players can come and go quicker, and it'd add higher stakes if it was survival based. However, in a plot-driven game, you'll have more control over what happens to your character, a better chance to get a satisfying ending, and more chances to focus on character development and world-building.

I would say, survival-focus. This doesn't mean neglect the story but if you want to make this "fast paced and short" then a story-focus is likely to significantly derail you from the point. I think an upfront survival focus will give players a more clear idea that this is the kind of RP with a clear one-track path (and when I say that I don't mean there's no flexibility at all, but that the range of options is relatively narrow as otherwise it would be impossible for you to streamline it into something "fast and short"), rather than one where diversions and exploring other parts of the plot are to be rewarded.

Of course, you could alternatively focus on plot, but then I would say forget about trying to make it short.

- If it would work better as a survival-driven game, how should the mechanics work? I know I want to keep it simple and interesting enough that anyone could hop in, understand quickly and have fun, but I know some players don't like using dice mechanics and it'd be unfair that you lost your character to a tiny gremlin just because a randomizer said so.

First of all, why does it need mechanics?

Mechanics should be there if the mechanics themselves are a point of interest. In any other scenario, they are a needless constraint. This isn't me saying "don't use mechanics" just to give it some thought and not take it for granted. If you do choose to employ mechanics, remember that you're not trying to appeal to everyone. It's fine if some people don't like it, as long as the people who do choose to participate do like it, and they are important to your RP's point or appeal (with of course the condition that you don't narrow things down so much as to not an audience... but that's hard to know a priori).

The best approach, assuming you do use mechanics and you don't want to employ dice, is probably one of limited resources. Something like a limited number of tools or uses of powers/abilities to defeat monsters, or limiting team numbers to have everyone try to organize how to split the teams to give everyone the overall best chance of survival.

What would be a good ceiling when it comes to player input and power scaling? Should there even be a soft ceiling at all when it comes to NPCs like monsters? I know there should probably be a limit for metagaming and powerplaying but I don't want to limit the powers of monsters because they're suppose to be powerful, but I do want a way for players to beat the game if monsters end up invincible.

I mean... it's good for grounding I guess. But unless you actually plan on letting the players make the monsters - which I must confess just seems bizarre for the kind of RP this is supposed to be - I don't think you need to specifically set very determined boundaries on powerscaling, as long as there is a vague notion of what it might be that players are made aware of. Beyond that, you can kind of adjust as the RP goes on, starting with weaker things to gauge the player's own scale.

Should the characters be able to grow mechanically? Like gain skills that would make it more interesting to play through till the end?

If you want. No better option here, at least not in a vacuum.

-Should there be racial traits? I plan on allowing all types of characters including non-human, but I feel that because they'll be ghosts it would be more of a surface level thing and not have much affect on the gameplay.

-How should magic and guns work? In this world, everything on a ghost is basically a projection of their soul so it may not work as it did in the mortal realm. What if gunshots and projectile magic had tangible trails- they'd basically be like tendrils, able to hit far and pierce enemies but susceptible to being cut and hurting your character!

I think you're overcomplicating this a bit. Yeah, take the fact that players are ghosts into account but... These are details you should come up with after you have a basic system down. And it doesn't seem like you do yet.

Believe me, as someone stuck trying to build one while constantly putting it into hiatus...

-Should I limit the number of players to a small group? If not and if it ends up gathering more interest, should I try what Isekai Hell did and have different threads for groups to focus in their own plots and characters?

This is your first time. Keep things simple. Keep things controlled and manageable. Even if you manage to lift something too heavy it will just fall on you.


Hope this is helpful to you. Best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[BananaMuffin]

Why, I do believe sliced bread will stay forever. It is human's greatest invention after all.

And if the apocalypse spoils all wheat into extinction, what will be of your sliced bread then?

But players are playing ghosts trying to survive the monsters aren't they? What do you mean they will create monsters?

I wanted to make it more interesting by letting each player design a monster connected to their character, having them DM me specifics and secrets including how their monster operates and they intend to beat their monster. I was hoping that it would make character arcs more dynamic, though I realize how convoluted this could get rather then just collaborating on encounters throughout the RP.

---

Thank you both for the advice as well as the concepts (meat planet cthuhlu god sounds really cool and I plan to steal it someday, just not until I have the main system down like Idea said). I'll keep your posts beside me when I work out how to set up the basics.