This post is just ideas for the medium in which the game would be played. For the past several years, I've run all of my RPG online via MUCKs. For various reasons I don't want to GM my next game on a MUCK* (mostly because I don't like preparing for a game scheduled for X hours on Y date.) So I've been thinking about alternative formats in my head. Some mediums are better suited to some game ideas than others, obviously, but it's still theoretically independent of the game setting, characters, plot, etc. Later, I'll make a separate post with some of my theme/setting ideas.
[ * Note to my Sinai friends: I am willing to play in a MUCK game, I'm just not interested in GMing there at present. ]
* PBEM/Yahoo Groups (or Google Groups, or similar): This is the format that
The next two are kind of RPG-hybrid ideas, crossing traditional RP with other structures.
* LiveJournal: "Journals from Another World". This would use LJ and each participant would make an IC journal for it. This is inspired by things like the "Rabbit Hole Day" and "Zombie Attack" LJ events, and by
* LiveJournal: "Wimpy Gods". And I'd like to apologize for that crummy name. ;) Unlike the "Journals from Another World" idea, this one would take place in a single journal/community. I outlined this in some detail on Unfinished Tales a year or two back, but to summarize briefly: the premise is that the players/readers take the parts of "gods" with extremely limited ability to affect the mortal realm. The story would revolve around mortal characters and be written by the GM in posts to the game's LJ. The players could interact with each other (as gods) and leave comments (or send emails) in order to exert their limited abilities to influence how the story turns out. This was inspired by Bujold's Chalion books, and by the tendency in much fantasy to have real gods who, for inexplicable and presumed ineffable reasons, will nudge the story along but not use their god-like powers to just fix the freakin' problem. In this case, as with the Chalion books, the gods' reason for not intervening more often would simply be that they can't. "No, really. I just don't have the kind of power you think I should. Sorry." This was also inspired by the mechanism
If I ran the game, which of the following formats would interest you?
PBEM/Forum game
0(0.0%)
LiveJournal: "Journals from Another World"
0(0.0%)
LiveJournal: "Wimpy Gods"
0(0.0%)
Something else (elaborate in comments)
0(0.0%)
Which of the following options do you like best?
PBEM/Forum game
4(50.0%)
LiveJournal: "Journals from Another World"
0(0.0%)
LiveJournal: "Wimpy Gods"
1(12.5%)
Something else (elaborate in comments)
0(0.0%)
No preference
3(37.5%)