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Wag
 
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Last Login: Yesterday @ 11:07 PM
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Ages ago someone talked about the possibility of a LRP session based entirely in cyberspace - ie, happening completely within the virtual world, with players physrepping avatars and props to physrep programs, etc. I can't remember if it was on here or on Pagga, but I've been giving it some further thought and I might think about running something along these lines in the near future.
It has several advantages that I can see:
- The gamespace is by definition limited and iconic. You could run it in a normal room if you wanted; dressing it would be good but not essential.
- You can weight mechanics heavily towards soft-skilling without causing too much distress, as it fits the game paradigm well.
- Strong potential for themes and cool physrepping work.
- A built-in respawn mechanic, since much of the time "death" will just mean being logged out.
What do people think? Is it likely to work?
PD - Brother Farael of the Ordo Dictum Dominus
EOS - Some Raggard Scum, previously Some Arimin Scum
6P - System creator (now retired), Andrei Treune of Clan Suner (for the moment)
RL - Will Robinson
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Wag
Group: System Moderators
Last Login: Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:39 PM
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| I ran a section of a game as being part of a 'virtual world' once. I didn't tell the players this was happening apart from one or two of them who had agreed in advance to 'stooge' for me. Basically, the people who knew what was going on (both players and crew) were told a 'signal' (in this case, a bomb going off). After this signal, until time out that night, EVERYTHING was taking place in VR. The stooges were NPCs taking the parts of the actual characters. The non stooge players were their actual characters in VR. Some of the crew NPCs were actually there and some were replaced. The only one who knew ALL of them was me.... Basically, we set things up so they started mundane (the players wake up after the bomb goes off and they have all been knocked unconscious), some of them have injuries which get treated and they get on with what they think is the plot. As the night wore on, the crew and the stooges started to ramp up the wierdness and make some of their VR special powers noticeable (for example, there was one guy who could not die no matter what you did to him, he just kept 'respawning'). Anyone who was killed was taken aside and told they wake up, less than 5 minutes after the explosion, lying in the place where they were standing when the bomb went off with one of the players treating their injuries. It worked really well and the players responded quite well to it. Possibly one of the most successful LRP events I have ever run to date. What you are suggesting sounds interesting but I do think that the players either should not know it is VR until they find out in play or, at the very least, not know anything about how the world works until they 'try things out'. That way it becomes an exploration thing. Players start off with mundane skills and abilities but as they explore more they get access to wierder shit like the ability to dodge bullets and other matrix things.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 11:07 PM
Posts: 1,290,
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I was looking at it more as an experiment in iconicism - after the discussion on "iconic LRP" in one of the threads in General. If people knew what they were, and what the situation was, and that the things they were manipulating were not real, then I think it'd be interesting to see how that would affect their playing style and their attitude to the gameworld and their fellow players.
The other reason to go down the "cyberspace" rather than "fake reality" route is stylistics. If it was set in a sort of Shadowrun-esque "electronic matrix" then the potential for physrepping and cool props is endless.
PD - Brother Farael of the Ordo Dictum Dominus
EOS - Some Raggard Scum, previously Some Arimin Scum
6P - System creator (now retired), Andrei Treune of Clan Suner (for the moment)
RL - Will Robinson
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