The RPG Duelling League
RPGDL Games => Forum Games => Topic started by: AndrewRogue on May 29, 2009, 05:26:42 AM
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So, I've finally lost my mind and arrived at the conclusion that, really. How hard could it actually be to run a game of Arkham Horror online? With some clever work, a bit of writing and some players at hand, it should be quite possible to do it (very slowly) through a forum or much swifter over IRC. Or some combination of the two. That can be decided later.
For those of you who don't know what Arkham Horror is...
Arkham Horror is a cooperative board game based around H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos. The basic concept is that the players take on the role of investigators who are looking in to strange things happening in Arkham. The source? One of the myriad Great Old Ones is stirring in their slumber, preparing to awake and bring horrors unimaginable to the world. Monsters, horrors indescribable and madness all swell, driving the city to the state in which the Great Old One can awaken. Thus it is up the the investigators to explore Arkham and stop the plot of the Great Old Ones... or fight them to their very last breath.
What makes the game particularly unique is that is is very much a case of players vs the game... a game which hate you, your loved ones, your pets and all the things that you like. I find that half the fun of the game is in seeing exactly how trainwrecky things can end up, although struggling to win against adversity is a fair enough approach as well.
The first game will just be a simple, core Arkham Horror game to see how well it works. If things go well, the future could include expansions or Arkham League scenarios or something.
For those who are interested but have never played before (and those who have played, but need to refresh themselves) a copy of the rules can be found here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Arkham_Horror/AH_Rules_internat.pdf
All told, I'd probably like to try and IRC it up since having a job makes playing over the board a lot less appealing since I could only update in the evening on on weekends. So I'd probably like players with free time in the evenings (PST) or weekends best, but hey. If you want to try and sign up, we can see what happens!
Anyhow, I need somewhere between 1 and 8 intrepid investigators who might be willing to take part in this experiment! So, bring forth the sign-ups!
Our Intrepid Investigators!
1. Alex (Kate Winthrop - The Scientist)
2. Sopko (Darrell Simmons - The Photographer)
3. Djinn (Sister Mary - The Nun)
4. Shale (Vincent Lee - The Doctor)
5. Excal (Jenny Barnes - The Dilettante)
6. QR (Carolyn Fern - The Psychologist)
7. Nitori (Montery Jack - The Archaeologist)
8. Strago (Dexter Drake - The Magician)
The Colors Out of Space
9. Yakumo
10. Carth
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It's not like my living room floor is going to be taken up by a giant board game or anything.
... oh wait. That's exactly what's going to happen. Of course, it happens whether I join or not, so...
I'm in!
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I'm in
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I haven't played a forum game yet, but I imagine that the creative writing aspect would be easier over the forum rather than IRC.
I'm a huge Lovecraft fan (who's surprised?), so I'd really like to get in on this.
But living in Japan means my schedule hardly syncs up with anyone here... I could probably do this over a weekend. I like Lovecraft enough that playing an online P&P RPG over a weekend doesn't feel too nerdy because I like the subject matter enough.
Note that even if the timing isn't a problem, my IRC connection is... slow. On a good day.
Depending on how many others sign up, you can count me as... 'potential filler', but if no one else can play with my weird timezone schedule / laggy IRC connection, then I'll content myself with the logs ;)
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This isn't P&P RPG, it's a board game. A board game that follows many RPG conventions, but there's no roleplaying involved, just movement, exploration and combat. And death. Rather a lot of that.
Anyway, I would love to play, but as usual my availability sucks. I can do weekends, but most evenings are no-gos. If that ends up fitting the schedule, count me in. If not, count me jealous.
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This is one of those games that have always interested me, but my ability to actually play has been sadly deficient. As such, I'll do what I can to be accessable for an IRC game, and will be an eagre participant in any forum game.
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I would like to play in this game...
..but since I see it's IRC I probably have no time for more of such things. :V
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I'd be in if it's forum based. My time on weekends and evenings are sucked into gaming of late (*shifty eyes to Gate who keeps me up till all hours on a work night gaming*), so IRC wouldn't be possible for me. I'd love to see a log of it if you guys do get an IRC game running, though.
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Yes, like you ever go to bed before midnight when left to your own devices. <_<
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*sets her halo up on her devil horns* I have no idea what you're talking about. All your fault, you corrupting influence, you.
Now, hush, and let the people chatter in thread about the game. ;)
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I'd love to join in, but I'm leaving on Wednesday to go home for my sister's wedding for about a week so I wouldn't be available to play, sadly. Unless for some reason this takes that long to start. We'll see when I get back I guess.
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This is probably a bad idea but I am totally in on this~
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Wait... the DL is about the promotion of good ideas? Man, I've had this place backwards for years.
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Will post some overall thoughts on stuff tomorrow!
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I'm interested, but worried about the prospects of doing this well over the Internet. Unfortunately, I'm not super-familiar with all the item cards and the like, meaning that there'll be a lot of typing out what we just drew to keep track of things, alas. We'll also need some kind of unified board.
Tentatively, I'd recommend something like OpenRPG ( http://www.rpgobjects.com/index.php?c=orpg ), where we can upload a big Arkham Horror map, then doodle on it to show where everyone is. As keeping track of that easily is going to be the most important thing, I think. After that, most programs like that have die-rolling features as well (OpenRPG does at least), though we'll probably still be typing out cool items we pick up and their effects.
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I'd love to play, but weeknights are kind of horrid for me.
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Ah, man, out for the weekend and I miss this. In if there's still a slot available.
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All right. With a lot of voices chiming in, I wanted to get some thoughts in.
While a handful of people can comfortably play in an IRC game due to time and such, I wanted to talk about the possibility of doing the game over the boards in brief. I'll be able to update nightly during the week and whenever on the weekends, which should, provided we have attentive players, allow the game to move at a decent clip.
There would be two main approaches. Either follow the rules to the letter (and have everyone take their turns in order) or allow you all act in whatever order you get the chance to post in. While the latter would be more advantageous (in the sense that it helps the players in a fairly significant way in-game) to the players, it would also help things move more smoothly, allowing me to set a deadline for each turn (say 48 hours, after which either your turn is skipped or the mod does something with your character or such). This would mean the game is constantly moving throughout the week and not require us to all gather together at some point, but it would require that players be available during the whole of the week.
Generally speaking, this would work pretty effectively. The game really would only require moderator input during the Arkham Encounters phase and the Mythos phase. Combat, movement and the resolution of the Arkham Encounters phase can be done wholly on the player side of things. So, as long as players are around and can dedicate some time each day to the game, we could make out pretty well during the week.
So I want to hear some thoughts on that, if people get a minute. ^_^
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Sounds like fun to me. You'd want to have somebody to verify that dice rolls were done fairly, but other than that it is all pretty self-directed.
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There is a website I know of that can keep track of dice rolls a player has made and keeps records, though I don't remember it exactly offhand, I'll try and find it again.
EDIT: Here we go.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/ is the website I was talking about. Just for a reference, I put in a roll I made. When you click the roll link below, you'll notice a "link to character" link below the roll results. If you click that, it shows you a history of the rolls that were made using that particular name, so you'll know if the results were reported accurately.
4d6.hits(5)=1, 4d6.hits(5)=0 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2094716/)
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/me gives a thumbs up.
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Sign ups updated. As it stands, presuming we start before Yakko is bag, Nitori gets precedence.
Colors out of Space will be given priority in a second game.
I need all current Intrepid Investigators confirm that they are okay with a forum game and that they can post at least once every 48 hours (which is to say, take their turn and whatever needs to be done on it). I also need statements about whether you guys think you can do an actual turn order game or we need to use simul-turns!
Mod Note: Ash is willing to become co-mod and step down so that one of the Colors out of Space can play. So if you guys can match my conditions, you can have a space too!
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I can totally do that
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Yeah, I can post at least that often. Not sure how well turn based would work, but I'm game for whatever those with more knowledge of the game decide.
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No, I can't make a post every 48 hours. My schedule is WAY too full and cluttered to do that.
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I'm on this site too much, so it shouldn't be a problem. Assuming Japan doesn't sink beneath the ocean or worse, the internet connection goes down.
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Ooh. This looks fun. Color me interested in the event that a second game happens.
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I'm down. Omniturns sound better than fixed order, though.
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Player list updated.
Once 8 Intrepid Investigators are confirmed, I'll make a topic and get things set up and we can see about starting. I highly advise anyone who has not played the game before to take a look at the rules now and ask me questions if you have them.
In general, I think using the forums practically necessitates the use of some sort of Simultaneous turns. I think in the interest of maintaining some game balance and mitigating certain effects that such a change would have, I will simply institute a rule that you cannot take an action that requires a player later in the effective turn order (maintaining who is the first player matters, and it rotates) to have done something first. So, if the first player wants to go down a street blocked by monsters, he can't just wait until a later player in the turn kills them all. he either needs to tackle it himself or go somewhere else.
Anyone who has not done what is necessary at the 48 hour mark will forfeit their turn to a mod. Players who don't think they'll be able to post can ask another player to take their actions for the turn. I favor using an IRC room to log rolls, but if people expect to be posting from work or places where IRC doesn't work, we can use both a room/the rolling page.
Sound good?
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Sounds good. The IRC room would also be good for strategizing.
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The weekends may be a little spotty, but I can probably check at least once during it. During the week, I can check pretty often during the day here at work. I'm in!
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I'll stay out for the first round, Andy, but might join in if there's a second run.
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Huh, so I have a slot now? I'll give it up to another Colour out of Space. I'd have been up for the IRC version, but not sure if I can commit to a forum version properly at this time.
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7 players confirmed.
Strago (sorry about confusing you with Super), would you like the 8th slot? If not, anyone else?
If no one else wishes to pick up right now, we can just roll with 7. That works just fine too.
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I am -extremely- insulted by that.
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Give me a break, Super. I doubt you've been paid such a compliment in your life.
Sure, I'll happily take the 8th spot if folks don't mind an utter newbie figuring more or less figuring the game out as we go.
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Newbies are half the fun!
I'm in the process of writing up a wiki for this game which will (when I finish with it) have the stuff you need to start the game and some other stuff as well. The internet is rife with info re: the game and its strategy (there's a whole League set up for it, in fact) so feel free to do your own research too.
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If you have any questions, Strags, feel free to ask.
8 players are confirmed, so Ash and I have a bit of work to do before we can launch the game! Hoping to be ready to launch tomorrow. All depends on how quick we type and can organize things in an acceptable manner. ^_^
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Well, Praise Be! I've been cloistered!
Haha, awesome name there. My mom told me stories about when she went to Catholic school and how all the nuns were named Sister Mary-hyphenatedname. Sister Mary-Ellen, Sister Mary-Grace, Sister Mary-May (I think she was joking on that one).
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Had a chance to read the rules this afternoon before work, so I at least know a bit about what I'm getting myself in to. Thankfully, I absolutely adore this kind of overcomplicated shit. ^_^
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Due to some unforseen issues, this may or may not take an extra day to get started. Anticipating a begin date of either tomorrow night or Thursday night, so stay tuned. If you want to get a look at your investigator ahead of time so you can start talking and planning, look here:
http://www.arkhamhorrorwiki.com/Main_Page
Ashley should have our wiki ready by tomorrow so you'll have easy access to your own character sheets! Please use this time to refresh on the rules and all that. ^_^