Ages of Combat(WIP)

[Seraph Darkfire]

Name is subject to change, this was just off the top of my head.

I don't have it all together at the moment, literally had the idea while I was taking a shower today. I've got this idea of a VRMMORPG style game that uses the D&D 5e system where people would be players logging onto a game and doing quests that other people design.

This is barebones as I don't know exactly how it would work or even how well it would work but I figured I'd put it out there, see who is interested, maybe get some ideas on how it would work better.

I've got this idea of an Adventurer's Guild where quests can be found and turned in, maybe smaller request boards in towns where you can pick up a quest, complete it, and then take the completion to the next Guild Hall that way people don't have to travel back and forth.

I've also got an idea where the Character Sheet is actually a post where your "Player" is making their character for the game.

Thoughts and opinions are welcome.

Oh, if people believe this idea would work better with Pathfinder 2e, I could use that system as well. I'm not familiar with a lot of tabletop systems except these two.

 

[StorytellerLathos]

Hmmm if you wanna center it around the idea of people making quests then maybe have it so parties in the game have to be requested through a quest. For example, you could learn about a minotaur causing trouble near a town from NPCs then write a quest for it and put out a bounty requesting "A party of 4 to help in the slaying of a minotaur terrorizing Mineral Town." then the Guild will possibly provide a quest ranking or difficulty and a reward. Can have a reason why they do this though it could also just be video game logic :p

Also if you couldn't tell by now I am interested : D

 

[Seraph Darkfire]

The idea would be to have people DM quests for other players. It could be half and half. Some quests are just auto generated by the game itself and some would be dynamic.

Say the AI* generated quest is to explore a labyrinth and perhaps defeat the Minotaur there but the quest is failed and the Minotaur escapes.

Then a DM sees this and goes "I can use this" and then it becomes the "Minotaur terrorizing Mineral Town" quest that another party can pick up at the Guild.

People could run their own quests but they wouldn't be able to have their characters participate in them (obviously).

I love that you didn't just say interested but put forth your own idea as well.

*AI in this case means someone suggested the idea but didn't want to run it. Anyone can suggest a basic idea for a quest and another person can claim it.

 

[StorytellerLathos]

Oh I see, love the idea even more!

Having something like that also answers my question on how character’s individual stories could be handled. Just talk with a DM about running a personal quest.

Also, are you thinking this will be pbp, live sessions, or some combo of the two?

Being able to do the combo sounds cool but I’d understand if pbp is just easier for people to actually be able to play without worrying about setting up times and such. Then I’d also imagine it’d be one GM and quest at a time.

 

[Seraph Darkfire]

I'm thinking pbp. It is much easier and everyone gets to see how the quest plays out. Dice rolls can easily be handled by rpn and there should be no confusion as long as everyone is labeling their stuff.

With pbp we can also have as many quests going on as GMs are willing to do them.

I'm also thinking of Raid quests that require large parties and multiple GMs working together for a bigger pay off. But that is later.

Like a real game there is no permanent death for characters. You respawn but I'm thinking of an exp penalty and maybe dropping an item and some money.

There can be PvP. I'm thinking any third party can officiate.

Naturally there would be in game penalties for killing other players, perhaps even Guild access revoked.

Hmm, maybe there would even be less savory guilds. Thieves Guild obviously. Assassins, mercenaries, ect.

There should be penalties for failing quests too, aside from just dying but I think that can be left up to the person running the quest.

 

[StorytellerLathos]

All sounds really cool and leaving that penalty up to the DM is good, but I’m just worried about things possibly getting confusing with multiple quests and DMs going on. Never really seen something like this on the site so maybe it’d work, just a little concern that I wanted to get your thoughts on.

 

[Seraph Darkfire]

I've never seen anything like it either. It might not even work without getting a hosted project for it. But I'm iffy about going that route since I'm not sure it'll even kick off.

Now the quest idea I've seen before actually. I'm in a roleplay doing something similar. Actually might be what gave me the idea now that I think about it.

Sylph How are you handling multiple quests in your rp? Also, sorry to tag you in this random interest thread

 

[StorytellerLathos]

If a small group can be found it shouldn’t be too much of a problem hopefully. Well I’ll be keeping an eye on this, really hoping this gets some interest!

 

[Seraph Darkfire]

We'll see how it works out. I'm hoping it gets interest too.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

These kinds of things are done effectively all the time! Search online for "west marches", "living world", and rarely, "living community" games. I can think of six with more than a dozen players each off the top of my head, and some of those are three years running or more.

I'll provide links if you want, so you can check some out, but if you're starting one up, you'll probably want guidance on what works, what doesn't. There are articles and essays about it out there somewhere. I also cannot recommend Discord enough, both for a common play site and and to find gaming communities with other GMs to ask.

 

[Seraph Darkfire]

I would love those links if you don't mind.

Discord is usually pretty great for stuff, I myself have a few discords that I am a part of. I'm not opposed to using Discord, however it would have to be properly moderated so I'd need to find people I could trust to be active and responsible.

 

[thefinalgirl]

Highkey, I'd love to participate in this potential west march/living world idea if it ever is created!

 

[Sylph]

Sylph How are you handling multiple quests in your rp? Also, sorry to tag you in this random interest thread

Sorry I'm late replying but this sounds like fun!! I'm a big fan of multiple quest/player designed stories, so the idea of boards in different towns sounds awesome

In guild there isn't much of a system with the multiple quests, just a good amount of chaos :') It works as long as people tag each other, but I imagine it might be quite daunting for a new player to get into. Maybe if you're doing it in the style of a game you could have a tutorial section?

 

[Seraph Darkfire]

A tutorial sounds interesting, maybe it would be the first quest they picked up?

 

[thefinalgirl]

A tutorial sounds interesting, maybe it would be the first quest they picked up?

I think that would make sense if we were to go at this in the style of a Westmarch if that's what you're trying to go for.