TomeBinder

Time's are Changing - Steampunk NRP set in the 1800s

If you want to right something about getting the Pope's blessing, you have my approval.

@duck55223

Awesome, thanks!

No Hope

Good posts guys, by the way.

Hmmm, there was something I was supposed to today...

OH YES, William. *Licks lips* Let me see if Hella Cute is in this still.

@Hella Cute Yo, you still with us? Poor old panic-stricken William is gonna find himself cornered, if not.

EDIT: I might put William in stasis, she/he hasn't been online in two days, could be a while before I get any reply.

As far as the group is concerned, William has been lost in all the chaos. I'll remove his items from the pool.

He can reappear at a later date, if Hella Cute is still a green light. It'd make for a slightly emotional, but probably awkward, reunion.

EDIT: Done. I've also added a "story so far" hider above the group info, to benefit any potential new comers.

No Hope

I'm not sure where to end my post. I don't know if the GM wants to throw in an event before we escape.

@Demonx

There ya go ;)

But in future, you do not have to wait for me. I will jump in when I want/need to. Just remember you guys originally wanted to get to the Easton Safe zone, but if you do start to stray from the plot - then fear not, I'll soon get you redirected.

EDIT: Not to say you can't chill in the school for a while, or hatch your own plans of how to get there - or even have a change of heart. However, until your group consciously changes their plans, I will move them on in that direction if I feel the RP is starting to stall.

No Hope

The feeding frenzy continues as the group transfer the gymnastic benches from the cupboard. However, more shamblers continue to pour into the gym from outside, and there are now around 40 of them.

But not all of the new comers seem happy to fight for a space at the table. Two badly decayed females, probably made victims in the early days of the crisis, peer across at the group. It takes them a microsecond to realise the group is very much alive, and the two shamblers are taken by an unfathomable urge to consume.

At once, they march forwards, stumbling over the crouched forms of their feasting comrades. Their arms reach up longingly, and their blue, crusted lips let forth a pair of soul-retching moans. Their eyes fix Angie as she passes another bench out from the cupboard, and they shamble towards her.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the group's dearly deceased have almost been entirely consumed, from skin to bone. The dead break their teeth on the harder parts, and their meal starts to protrude from any abdomen wounds they have. It is a grizzly sight, but unless they are disturbed, they will continue until there is nothing left.

Multiversal Coliseum

@Green Awesome, cheers bud. At least now I have something to work with.

After I've tended to my other RP duties later tonight, I intend on sitting down and spending some more work on this.

And um, odd question, but if this is a general format of what you guys go by, shouldn't it be pinned to the top of the arena subthread? Maybe a guide to go with it. I heard you've had trouble sustaining your player count - keeping the core information needed to play buried is one way to alienate anyone.

Not that I'm being a smart arse, but I would strongly recommend that a more established member of this community should consider it.

Multiversal Coliseum

@Green I thought the Tier system would work as such. I'll need a definition of each tier though, if I were to use it - otherwise I'd have to make it from scratch.

More than likely, I'd have a tournament for each tier. We'd start with the level zeros, and move right up to the level eights. I wouldn't touch ten, because I imagine at that point it gets difficult to judge just how well a character will withstand an assault.

Perhaps the players actually play as Sponsors, who select warriors to fight on their behalf per tournament.

But in any case, I'd favour that because it would force people to play outside of their comfort zones. Again, I'll give it some thought.

And hey, I'm just a noob here, who is plying their trade to something beyond their immediate knowledge base. Whatever you have to say, is invaluable at this stage. Seriously, anything and everything.

No Hope

<Snipped quote by TomeBinder>

I'm kind of interested but I don't know, I'm holding of committing until I can be sure I'll stick around. I really like that you seem like a good GM. My concerns are that I am playing another zombiepocalypse soon and I don't know if I will sustain interest in this too, plus I know I don't usually post within 48 hours being the slacker I am. So I lurk. :D I'm subscribed to this though so I'll let you know when I'm sure of joining.

@Fillet

Thanks for the compliment, it means a lot! :)

Well, we'll be going for a while yet I think. Hopefully the characters don't make a major screw up in the next few posts and all die horribly.

Take your time. I have great respect for someone who first checks whether or not they can take an rp on. Too many don't do that, and the results are always bad for the Rp's health.

Good man, I'll see you around.

Multiversal Coliseum

@Green Indeed, I don't think anyone will have a problem with my decisions. I mean, I'm not invested in the fights themselves, and have no friends here, so I'd struggle to establish a bias. Besides, I pride myself in being as neutral as possible in all RP matters. No doubt someone will get upset when I tell them their mega-death ray was interrupted by their opponent's bazooka rocket, but people will quickly realise I am very firm when it comes to dealing with that kind of tom foolery. In my view, if you're gonna throw a tantrum, get out of my face - even if it empties the RP. Better for it to die in its purest form because the playerbase just wasn't there for it, than for it to die in a heavily diluted and decentralised state because I gave in to whiners. Thanks for your suggestion, you've been very helpful.

@PartTimeCynic Original characteres/customs will most certaintly be allowed.

As for this whole Tier stuff, I'm not sure which way to go with it. I'd probably create my own system, whereby characters are Graded by myself rather than the players - or I might not do anything at all. Indeed, as I'm pairing the fighters, my judgement should be enough.

However, to keep everyone roughly on par (in case there's only 4 of you with greatly varying powers), I may restrict entries.

It's early days. I believe I'll look into the Tier system so's that I can understand what's already in play. If I'm happy with it, I'll use it, but if not I'll modify it or get rid of it.

Edit: then again, if I let people have as many fighters as they wanted, they could enter any level they wanted. Hmmmm, but yah, like I said I'll look into things before I make any decision.

Multiversal Coliseum

<Snipped quote by TomeBinder>

I can see both pros and cons to your approach on the genre, both widely hypothetical of course. I can't imagine it would work for just about anyone, but if you have the drive necessary to pull it through, it could work out really well.

So here's what imagine some of the ups and downs could turn out to be.

Pros:
- Looking at the combat example you provided, it's possible that you're able to avoid long and unnecessary drawn-out battles, which tends to happen in the standard format (I'm assuming you're at least slightly familiar with how battles usually go down around here, if not, I'm happy to elaborate) - Which is definitely a good thing. This could be nullified if the gm (you in this case) is slow to respond on the in-betweens, but that shouldn't be much of an issue.
- At first sight, the system you propose seems to be more unforgiving and "lethal" than the standard format. More-so because there's a third party that decides the effect of every "round", rather than the two fighters going back and forth until one of them gets locked into an in-inescapable position (which is why those fights often gets dragged out, you gotta check-mate to win) - I would consider this a good thing, but that's more of a personal taste.

Cons:
- The fact that there's a third party deciding the effects/results of every attack/defense, players are likely to feel that third party's judgement might be biased/incorrect. This really only becomes a problem based on your own ability to inspire your players to trust your judgement, and how you deal with players who feel like the situation would play out differently than you ruled. The latter is easily solved by stressing a requirement of detail in an attack/defense. If they think their character was supposed to foresee the counter-attack coming from an odd angle, and dodge accordingly, they will have to mention that (in their attack post) before the counter-attack is thrown at them, and not afterwards. Kind of basic, but it's one of those kind of things that are best to mention, underline, repeat, and really nail down. Arguments could very easily break out if there's confusion on either side, because of the third-party-decides-the-outcome rule.

TL:DR; Your way of doing it could be a refreshing take on the arena-combat genre, and is mostly at risk due to the possibility of the ruling third-party's judgement to be incorrect/biased/not respected. At least that's what I think, in theory.

@Green

Many thanks for your feedback, and i'm glad to see that despite my inexperience, my own theoretical pros and cons of my proposed system marry with yours perfectly.

I was drawn to Arena after hearing of its plight, and studied some of the threads. First thing I noticed was how long winded it all was; kinda reminded me of my younger years, sat in front of the tv and agonizing over whether or not Goku would finally launch his attack, or whether I'd have to go through another week of school for it, haha. Screw that nonsense!

At the moment, i'm considering my options. Having some kind of democratic body established to make a ruling, when my own has been cast into question, was my first port of call. Not sure how efficient it would be though. But yeah, i'll give it some thought and see what I come up with.

Thanks again!

No Hope

Group 1, normally. Please don't kill me if I don't post within 24 hours though ;)

@whiteprophet

48 hours afk protection, my good sir. I won't be draconian about it, but if a player doesn't post within that period, and is holding the group up then... well. You know what happens.

If you'll be away at any point for longer than that, then just say so. I'll look after the characters.