Alamantus

Dice-less Role-playing Games

@Avianmosquito
Would you mind elaborating a bit more on how your system works? It sounds interesting, but I can't think of how it would work without a lot of GM input. Who determines what needs to be done in order for a plan to work? And how are the outcomes decided on? Is it kind of like the "lots of pre-planning and calculations" idea I had in my post? I'd love to know more.

Dice-less Role-playing Games

I think a dice-less game is absolutely possible, though I can't help but feel pulled back by the need for something to replace them. For example, cards from a shuffled deck are a great way to get more or less the same randomized experience as dice. That being said, if you're thinking of whether it's possible to have a game without randomness as an element, then I'd give a tentative "yes" given that either a series of other kinds of calculations regarding player stats and pre-determined event stat requirements or simply have the players respect the in-game scenario and react realistically like on these forums (maybe with a voting system for in-person games, i.e. "No way could you have dodged that arrow. Overruled.").

Either way, it puts a lot more responsibility on the GM's shoulder to determine the outcomes of each of those actions. For instance, in your Marvel example, it sounds like the action point system is pretty cool, but from your description, it seems like the results of every action the players take is completely up to the GM to determine. That's where the dice are helpful, because it helps the GM point to an external force when something bad happens, i.e. "It's not my fault you died, the roll was clear!"

In video games, you're actually moving an avatar around, so it's easy to see when something hits you why you react the way you do, but in an RP, it's usually all just talk. But video games still take a lot from role playing games, because they take a lot more setup. My first thought for a non-random role playing game would probably be your best bet. You can allocate and earn stats (through level ups, items/equipment, etc.), and the outcomes of certain events with required minimum stats would be determined by simple math or the presence of specific kinds of items. The drawback of that would be that it requires more preparation of the various maps you'll be playing on (which of course is rarely bad)... And unless you're particularly good at improvisation and can decide on numbers and calculate quickly in your head, there's less room for improvising as a GM.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject. TL;DR, dice in games simply exist to make everyone's lives easier while still offering some enjoyable complexity.

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

None at all. >_<

Zirka: An Easy to Use Written and Spoken Language for Fantasy, Sci-fi, or Anything You Might Need a Language For!

Have you ever wanted a fantasy/rune/sci-fi/glyph language to use in your RP, but didn't want to spend years learning something like Elvish or Klingon?

Well you're in luck! Zirka is a right-to-left written and spoken language that I've has been developing on and off since about October 2004, and it’s available for everyone to use!

I borrowed from several other languages and developed simple grammar rules that have turned Zirka into a full-blown language all its own. It’s an approximate language at best, but that makes it perfect for easily crafting runic inscriptions or cryptic alien messages. But that doesn’t mean you can’t also make full pages of text in Zirka to also make an entire library worth of text if you really wanted to! The thing that's most fun about Zirka is that it’s not just a written language—you can read it aloud, too! It’s intended to feel mysterious but be translatable, to look cool but be pronounceable.

You can find out everything you need to know about Zirka on the website, http://alamantus.com/zirka (trust me, there's a lot more helpful stuff there), but I'll put some basics here to try to get you to check it out.

Grammar Basics

Zirka Grammar is simplified for ease of use, but some of these simplifications may initially lead to some confusion. If you pay attention to the basic rules and try to bend your thinking to a mindset of “simplicity,” then it should be pretty easy to get the hang of after some practice. The rules written here are truncated a lot, so check out the "How to Use" page on the website for a full explanation.

• Zirka is written right-to-left.
• Basic sentence structure follows English rules.
• Letters that do not flow easily or do not have a smoothing letter are contracted with a shewa.
  • Vowels do not flow and must be contracted with a shewa.
• For translation purposes, vowels are interpreted by the pronunciation of the Latin vowel.
  • A = “Ah”
  • E = “Eh”
  • I = “Ee”
  • O = “Oh”
  • U = “Oo”
• Pronounced vowels that do not fit the above rule keep their English letter:
  • “Ship” remains “ship” because the short “i” sound does not exist in Zirka.
• Plurals are simply the singular form of the word with “es” attached to the end.
• The only article used is the definite “the.” A and An are implied if there is no “the.”
• You can turn any adjective into a noun form by adding “ar” to the end of the adjective.
• You can specify “the study/art of” something by adding “ti” to the end of the word, in the same way as English uses “-ology.”
• “Nounified” adjectives that express a concept or feeling or do not refer specifically to an object (words like “happiness,” “anger,” “fear,” or “friendliness”) should instead take the adjective form of the word and add “dom” to the end while translating.
• Words ending in “-ing” that are not verbs (eg. “running” or “boring”) should drop the “n” and simply end in “-ig” instead.
• Possession is indicated by “of”, i.e. The mayor’s house = The house of the mayor.

Verbs

Verbs have no conjugations and tense is specified by a separate time-identifying word. Instead, always use the root verb of the language you are translating from (i.e. the infinitive form excluding “to”).

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And those are the extreme basics!

Again, there's a lot more to learn on the website, so if you're interested, go check it out! As an example, here's some text translated:
"This is an example sentence." => "This iz eksampel sentens." => "Jal aw otludmor lofgofl."

Anyway, I hope you find it useful and enjoy!

Define

If you want to go out of your way to help your readers, you can link directly to the definition straight from the word like this: [url=http://dictionary.com/browse/magniloquent]magniloquent[/url]
which produces this: magniloquent

Alternately, if you're using Chrome or Firefox (don't know about other browsers), you can highlight the word, right click it, and choose "Search Google for 'highlighted word'". Hope that helps!

How do I hyperlink?

It's actually in the "Formatting Cheatsheet" at the bottom of every page:
[url=example.com]Click me[/url]

There's a bunch of other handy bbscript helps for formatting down there, too, so check it out! :)

Official Birthday Thread!

It's officially May 6th in my timezone, so. .

Happy birthday to @Alamantus! Hope it's a good one!

@Cynder

Yay!! I missed this on my birthday, but thank you so much! :D

Earthbound – Mother Earth

@Red_massa, Sorry for the delay again. A job adventure has kept me away. I'll post the boss as soon as I get the chance!

The Last Wizard (EnA Format)

Cool! And now it's your turn again, @La Inquisidora!

Earthbound – Mother Earth

Pale green liquid squirted out of the cut where the machete landed, and then...

"Karol! Look out!" Spruce shouted as a giant bulb uncoiled from the mess of vines and raised up, the tip pointing at its assailant.

The huge vines loosened and fell from the walls with a thud, only to be coiled up into a large, tidy pile with the bulb head peering down from the top. The bulb thrashed a couple of times and exploded into a vibrant chrysanthemum bloom with a large, unblinking, green eye in the center looking down at Karol. The Vine Snake's bulk blocked the entrance

[Rolled 3]

It pauses for a moment, and then roars, piercing through the silence like a knife!