Speeding up the game - online playing.

[Cdnwolf]

I want to try to set up an online version of the game that can be finished in 4 hours sessions and still be accurate. What I like is suggestions on how to bare bones the character skills and actions to fit into this time frame. I am working on the idea of basic MOS kits - (skills, gear and attributes pre-set), but its the combat that I want to speed up - especially vehicle combat.

Any idea would be appreciated.

[skippylou]

Don't have any actual suggestions yet, but I was searching for the same thing recently (although not necessarily that quick of a time slot), but wondering if anyone had done anything with putting more into online-based handling of character generation, combat, scenarios, etc.

Was tossing the idea around in my head about using google app engine/python and building out the core things first, then adding the ability to have referees import new modules/scenarios as everything flows, etc. Have a fully functioning interface for a campaign from start to finish would be the goal.

[kato13]

Originally Posted by skippylou

Was tossing the idea around in my head about using google app engine/python and building out the core things first, then adding the ability to have referees import new modules/scenarios as everything flows, etc. Have a fully functioning interface for a campaign from start to finish would be the goal.

Welcome aboard skippylou.

I am actually thinking about using the Google/Python engine for my new T2k13 character generation application.

[skippylou]

Thanks!

Interesting. Were you going to basically just take the generated from the app and then use them in traditional games and/or PBEM at that point?

[kato13]

I actually am not in a playing group at the moment but I like the new T2k13 character generation system and I need a new project for when my post apocalyptic mapping system launches (in about four weeks I expect).

A full fledged RPG tracking system would be interesting.

[jester]

I have done many bareboned PC generations, for my characters as well as for characters that I accepted into my games when no one had the same set of rules. I also do it for my NPCs.

I used to run online playing sessions that would last about four hours each. The longest was not quite a year. And we went through escaping from Kalisz, wandering Europe, deciet and betrayal, saving some folks more than once, encountering freindlies and encountering freindlies we thought were freindlies who weren't.

We also encountered and made freinds and enemies once safe behind freindly lines. And we did a thunder run across an enemy held bridge to get to freindly lines, as well as pissing off a rich and powerful warlord.



All was done using either a chat room or a group IM. The hardest part was coordination of the players, due to time differences.

I now prefer characters to be little more than a history or biography outlying their background, before the war, after the war started and of course their MOSes, and I make it a default that the players know the basic skills of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine or Coastguardsman, National Guardsman or Law Enforcement or Emergency Services personel.

I allow the characters to have that knowledge and skill that they have learned from jobs or MOSes as well as skills related to those fields automaticaly. Just, some skills they are better at than others.

An example; a rifleman would have knowledge of how to use and fire an M60 or M240, as well as drive a vehicle <well if they are from the US at least> A paramaedic or EMT would have the knowledge and ability to conduct minor surgery, although it is not within their primary duties, they are exposed to such things and train in it. I put it similiar to the original rules cascade skill for language, a speaker of the romance language say French, would have an understanding of Spanish, Italian and Latin and vice versa. I do put limits though, such as;

Everyone in the Army knows how to set up a shelter half or use an M16, but would an infantryman be more proficient at it than a clerk typist? One person who lives in the field a good portion of the year setting up shelter halves and uses an M16 daily verses someone the clerk typist who did it in basic, reviews the FMs every couple of months and does a couple field exercises a year is not going to be as proficient at at but they will still have the knowledge.

Also, a mortarman, is trained to do alot of the stuff a rifleman does. As well as working with them and living with them so often, thus they will be on par with a rifleman. They will also have experience working with radios and know forward observer operations since they recieve call for fire missions from the FOs all the time. So in my world mortarmen have a defacto FO, Radio and Navigation skill along with mortar skill since it is part of their duties.

For the notice GM, I would suggest they review the MOS lists and familiarize what the MOSes actualy do, or go over it with the player who submits their characters, or once you get the character, research their MOS.

But as GM for a quick game, you need to think quickly, have quick rules, I simply let the dice handle the decisions.

Have just a bare framework of a gameplane, because when you make something very elaborate the PCs will elect to do something else and those plans will be for nothing. But have a good theme.

Know your players as well as their characters and motivations. I had some that were stellar for my online play! A cadre of three solid players with several folks comming in and out which helped too. And the game was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Success, was made by good players who weren't into meta gamming. I made a decision and they went with it. They cooperated and that helped make things go smoothly as well. And they were knowledgable and like I said worked together to make it a good campaign.


Bottom line though, keep it simple!

We did the escape from Kalisz. We knew what we were doing, running for out lives. I had some NPCs to drive, some to act as the standard spear cariers to add flavor and add to some plot twists. An example, I had a paymaster in his pristine Humvee and new webbing and weapons drive with the breakout. The PCs had 2 Humvees at this time. The PCs had the old battered battlescared vehicle, and the NPcs had the new one. It was awesome! The PCs were putting their vehicle in the repair line of the motorpool when the enemy attack came and litteraly BMPs with supporting infantry were comming through the camp as the PCs were doing the paperwork for repairs. They tossed the clipboard in the back hoped in their vehicle after stealing some fuel cans and a couple boxes of unknown items and RAN! But not before one of the mechanics made it to their vehicle. Anther NPC had been manning a fighting position on the perimeter when the tanks came and he held but ended up running before being overrun. He hopped on the escaping humvee as it was racing down the road out of camp when the order to evacuate had been given.

Another encounter, the PCs rant into a farmhouse full of wounded, a broken down ambulance and several medical types. Some of the woudned could not be moved. So the dilema arose what to do? Leave the wounded to the clemency of the enemy? Some of the medical personel would not leave, take them, let them stay or stay with them?

I mentioned a pay master survived and broke out the PCs right? One of the PCs had an arugment with the paymaster <based on the admin cheif of my old unit> and the ample senior NCO turned purple and had a heartattack. To much stress and physical activity coupled with a smart ass PFC.

See, those are some of the subplots and diversions that can add to a campaign and keep the players interest as well as the main plot of fleeing the Russians and basic survival. That is most important, keeping the game running and players interest. If you sit there with routine stuff the game will falter and people will leave.

Toss in other issues, give them some chemical weapons and put them in dire straights. The chemical weapons could solve their immediate issue with the badguys, but then there is the morale issue.

Disease is also a problem as is water, food, fuel, ammo, freindlies, some locals the party just pissed off......driving your tank through a villages farm fields will piss them off as it will destroy their livelyhood. How to get help for your wounded when the villagers are deathly afraid of you. We do mistake that locals will great the PCs as liberators. But will they?

So, keep those elements in the campaign to keep it interesting and couple them with the overlying theme of your campaign.

If you have any specific questions, ask!

Dang, makes me want to start another real time game.

[Cdnwolf]

Thats what I am trying to do... set up prepared kits for characters... ie set skills and abilities that all have ... the books have the basics but i want to develope it to full term... ie US infantry - M16 with xxx skill points, xxx skill points H-H , basic hit points ... pre packaged. Then i print out and laminate the character sheet and have it for all NPC's i need.

[jester]

I suggest you go by terms per the rules, but you allocate them more or less generic and base them on their terms in that specific field. I person with two terms as a rifleman will be more skilled in rifleman duties than a one term rifleman and one term tanker, but the tanker will be more diverse. Further a Sgt would be more adept in his craft than a PFC <unless the PFC was a Sgt and was a bad boy.>

Another thing I do, is in order to make the game interesting, having the foe be just as clever and able as the PCs, otherwise the game will get very very boring if the PCs are not challenged.

[Cdnwolf]

Thanks but thats what the ratings will be for... green - 1 term, regular - 2 terms, expert - 3 terms and finally the rating of "OMFG did he just drill that bad guy from 800m standing up to his neck in water while firing backwards!!!" (ie a standard shot for Major Po)- 4 terms...lol.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Cdnwolf

Thanks but thats what the ratings will be for... green - 1 term, regular - 2 terms, expert - 3 terms and finally the rating of "OMFG did he just drill that bad guy from 800m standing up to his neck in water while firing backwards!!!" (ie a standard shot for Major Po)- 4 terms...lol.

Wrong. I have never said that Major Anthony Po is a crack shot. He is a pretty good shot with a pistol (recreational shooting and FBI training pre-war) but only an average shot with a rifle. He is much better at hand to hand as he has been training in Wing Chun since he was a teenager. Po's best skill levels lie in the areas of medicine, forensics and administration.

I can't stress strongly enough that Po's great success in my campaign is not due to his skill levels. They are much more to do with how he has been played. The guy who plays Po is keenly intelligent and frighteningly shrewd. When Po needs someone killed he delegates the task to the person or people he thinks are best qualified for the job. Po rarely goes into heavy combat personally. That isn't his primary role. He is an officer, and more to the point the CO of his SOG.

[Legbreaker]

The only reason an officer should even KNOW how to shoot is so that they don't look like a complete idiot in front of the enlisted men.
Yes, I know it's an uphill battle, but they've still got to try.

[copeab]

From several years of running games via chat, I can tell you that the detail of the skill system is *far* less important than how often you call for rolls. Outside of combat, rolls should be infrequent. Combat rules should be streamlined and simplified to reduce the number of rolls in combat.