N00b GM surveying interest for semi-regular sci-fi action-horror campaign

[X4bT0rZ]

I've never posted before (I don't think?) and you guys seem like a fairly tight-knit community so... hello.

As the title says, I am surveying for interest in a sci-fi action-horror campaign. I'll break this post up in a few smaller chunks.


Setting/Themes
Lately I've been obsessing over sci-fi horror motifs. Maybe I've watched the Thing too many times this week, maybe I've played too much StarCraft and Dead Space this month, maybe I've read too much Lovecraft lately. But I would like to run a dystopian sci-fi campaign that blends cosmic horror with body horror. I used to DM 3.X campaigns and I mostly ran fiendishly-crafted dungeon crawls. I still like a good puzzle dungeon, but I am looking to incorporate more elements of investigative mystery from Lovecraft.

I think an ideal meld would take the survival body horror of Dead Space 1 and---I'm sorry to say it again---the investigative cosmic horror of Lovecraft. I think these two styles can interface well because madness plays such an integral role in either's style of storytelling. Put another way, I am trying to find ways to synthesize opportunities to shoot your opponent in the face (as any good min-maxer loves) with gumshoe brain work and creepy crawlies. I suspect my aspirations are above my ability, but it's at least a goal post.

If you want more details: Interplanetary colonization is a thing now. All the planets (and some planetoids) of our solar system are colonized or in the process of being colonized. Intersystem travel occurs primarily through primitive FTL drives or warp gates. Massive autonomous mining drones endlessly work the asteroid belt. Hundreds of new planetoids are discovered daily. Some have traces of alien life: single celled organisms or fossilized fauna. Sometimes something more complex is discovered. Sometimes something remarkable is stumbled upon. Xenobiology and xenoarcheology is moving from fringe science to the mainstream. Interstellar commercial entities and federated planetary governments compete politically, economically, militarily, and scientifically. Espionage and cold war is rampant as unprecedented power dynamics emerge. Everyone is just another cog in the vast expanse of interplanetary civilization marching slowly but ever deeper into the dark of the universe.


The Game System
I'm a busy graduate student who, in his spare time, tinkers with a homebrew ruleset. It's basically a bastardization of SWSE, 4E, and d20 Future---except that the system is completely classless. The primary motivation for tinkering with a ruleset are fourfold.

1. I want a ruleset that is fairly intuitive. I think SWSE came the closest, and I tried to steal some of that. I'm 99% sure I completely failed in that respect.

2. I want a ruleset that supports whatever character concept I have. The received wisdom is that you can't be roleplayer and be a min-maxer at the same time. I call bull. The rules need to be flexible enough to enable me to play my character concept without making it the case that my character is doomed to suck because I didn't take some specific combination of feats. I want to not be punished for experimenting.

3. I want combat to be furious. One thing that really bugs me about existing d20 mechanics is anything related to firearms. I don't want you to shoot me 20 times before I die. Shooting someone should be able to kill them quickly---in just a round or two or three (depending). Obviously this needs to be balanced for fairness. I have adopted the contemporary FPS model of get-shot-and-it-badly-hurts-but-hide-for-a-second-and-recover-your-life. I don't know if the balance is successful, but I have at least attempted to make it the case that players have options to take cover or heal themselves or avoid damage when it counts by activating a certain talent with action points.

4. I don't want to force a certain party composition. Growing up and playing D&D with my friends, we only ever had a small group to play with, so we never had enough people for a typical party. Even if we did, no one wanted to play the cleric. (This is probably why we min-maxed: if we didn't, we tended to die.) To this day, I don't think someone should be forced to play a crappy role because the system doesn't allow the other classes to find ways to survive or make up for the slack. This is one reason why I've done away with classes.

As far as FG2 is concerned, I've written an extension for FG2's 4E ruleset that uses my modified skills. From what I can tell, it's all functional. I've written a short handbook too (in PDF format) that has all the bare essentials for making and leveling a character in the system.


Nevertheless I'm a FG2 N00b
Other than running a few modules that I wrote for a campaign with my buddies, I haven't really had much of a chance to use FG2 and I think it's a damn shame. I haven't really ever run an investigative horror campaign either, but the notion appeals to me. So I don't have much expertise in any of the relevant areas. Nevertheless I am very happy to give it the old college try and show some people a good time---or, at least, my idea of a good time. (This may or may not include maiming your character and maniacal laughter.)


There is still a lot more to be said, of course, but it'd be nice to see if enough people have some preliminary interest spending some quality time in the deep, dark, dangerous, cold, uncaring void.

[bennis1980]

Hi X4bT0rZ (if that really is your real name :p ),

You are very welcome to this very tight knit community, although you'll find everyone here is very friendly and helpful but not at all cliquey. Your concept sounds like alot of fun. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Post what your time zone is and when suits you to play - this is a very international community with games all around the globe.

2. Maybe you should find someone to give you a introduction to FG and the common features and functions, so you can wet your feet and avoid some of the pitfalls we'd encountered. By the description of your custom ruleset I'd suggest try on the SW or 3.5 forums. Anytime I've asked for a tutorial someone has stepped forward and it has been a great experience.

I look forward to hearing what time you can play (and if it suits my schedule).

GOOD LUCK and Happy Paddy's Day!!

[X4bT0rZ]

Thanks for the welcome, bennis1980. That response was both faster than expected and requiring of more forethought than I had considered.

My time zone is Mountain Daylight Time, which is GMT -6 if I am not mistaken.

You've made some good suggestions. I'll keep them in mind if I run into anything in the near future. As it stands... I am a relentless planner and have yet to actually write my modules for this campaign. I would prefer to set things up before I officially began recruiting. I guess I was sort of expecting that no one would want to play. Just to be clear: I am not able to start in the immediate future due to some demands with school. Depending on interest, I can make this more of a priority and get things moving sooner than I otherwise would have.

I tend to have a goofy schedule as a result of my work load not being particularly consistent. I can say that hoped to play biweekly (maybe more or less often, depending on schedules) on a weekend afternoon/evening. Fridays and Saturdays tend to be better, but I could do Sunday as well. I suspect something like a four hour block of time would be ideal, but that's flexible for me.

As a side detail that I should probably mention, I had intended to run this without use of voice chat. I prefer text only.

[GunnarGreybeard]

As a side detail that I should probably mention, I had intended to run this without use of voice chat. I prefer text only. That would tend to slow down play as many are not fast typers, myself included BUT there are a few who do prefer that method, since it allows a more immersive (imho) role-playing experience.

I would be interested in getting on on this but my schedule (working nights through the weekend) will keep me out of contention unless you for some reason decide to go with a middle of the week or early morning game.

[leozelig]

Hi X,

I suggest preparing enough of the campaign to run a few sessions and then start an official recruiting thread. You might get more responses to an actual recruiting thread than a "gauging interest" thread, but that is just my theory. I suspect there is enough interest in the type of setting you describe that you will be able to find a few players.

Welcome to the FG community!

Leo

[Andrepartthree]

Hey welcome to FG :) .. I totally get why you want it to be text only I strongly prefer that method myself... I've found voice chat ruins the atmosphere completely and that's an important thing especially in a horror campaign.. I do feel badly for the slow typists on FG and have run into at least 2 cases back when I was GM'ing when that presented a problem but .. on the other hand I totally see where X4b is going with it... Having said that I have had a different experience as far as "many are not fast typers".. when I was GM'ing I found most of my players could type quickly enough - mind you I'm aware that Gunnar could have found himself in the opposite situation where EVERYONE was a slow typist there are a lot of FG games out there :P ..

A few things to keep in mind about FG .. it's great in that it really makes you feel you're in the middle of a fictional novel because you're typing everything .. but it's also really SLOW because , well, you're typing everything :P .. even if you're a fast typist like me it'll never be as quick as just saying it say over voice chat.. one alternative is to use free voice chat like say skype for out of character stuff and enforce that, out of character ?'s on skype and typing in character stuff on FG ... if you combine this with gently discouraging out of character unnecessary commentary (jokes and what not ) via say private messages to the player that can help as far as keeping the "horror" atmosphere going.

Be prepared for flakes.. people who express a lot of interest and seem all gung ho only to vanish on you after only a few FG game sessions with either a lame half hearted excuse or no excuse at all (unfortunately it's easy for the lame-O's to wimp out and not man - woman ? - up and tell you flat out " Hey I'm sorry I'm not having fun I'm going to leave the campaign " since this is all online and they don't see you face to face)... given enough time on FG you will eventually through trial and error come across a troupe of steady players who can be counted on to show up for FG games ;) ...

Also I would let people know up front how you feel about 1) rules lawyers , gamers who feel it's ok to halt the FG game session right in the middle while they hammer out EXACTLY how the rules pertain to that particular situation .. I've seen at least 2 rules lawyers become highly indignant when they're not allowed to do this so if that sort of thing doesn't appeal to you (it might not given the "horror" atmosphere you're trying to create?) best to establish that up front... and 2) " combat monsters" who insist on getting into fights with pretty much everyone even fellow player characters.. combat is fun but if their reaction is "I'm going to fight EVERYTHING" (which is something I've also seen FG game players do) it might not be a good fit for your campaign.

Also it might be a good idea to establish ahead of time the player characters HAVE to be able to get along with each other and should be written up accordingly... true you would think if you're in a horror situation the sheer danger surrounding you would FORCE players to band together.. the sad truth is I've seen far too many situations where the players decide to get into a "who's reproductive organ is bigger" contest to the point where the players start getting angry in real life if one player's character gets the best of another (rolls eyes).. sad to say you'll run into a certain number of immature players on FG too , again a matter of trial and error until you find a good group of players.

Sorry for the long speech but you mentioned you were new to FG :P so ;) .. anyways, welcome :)

[X4bT0rZ]

Wow guys, thanks for the responses.


That would tend to slow down play as many are not fast typers, myself included BUT there are a few who do prefer that method, since it allows a more immersive (imho) role-playing experience.

I would be interested in getting on on this but my schedule (working nights through the weekend) will keep me out of contention unless you for some reason decide to go with a middle of the week or early morning game.
I had read that people have this concern. I guess that this needs to be understood by everyone. This doesn't bother me in the least. (I type well enough and I usually prepare sections of block descriptions for everything to cut down on delivery time from my end.) I guess the players will simply have to be patient with one another.



Hi X,

I suggest preparing enough of the campaign to run a few sessions and then start an official recruiting thread. You might get more responses to an actual recruiting thread than a "gauging interest" thread, but that is just my theory. I suspect there is enough interest in the type of setting you describe that you will be able to find a few players.

Welcome to the FG community!

Leo

Fair enough, Leo. Truth is I didn't particularly want to prepare a few sessions for nothing. I am not looking for any official commitments just yet. I just wanted to see if there were like-minded individuals out there. But I'll definitely make an official recruitment thread when I've prepared a few sessions. Thanks.



Hey welcome to FG :) .. I totally get why you want it to be text only I strongly prefer that method myself... I've found voice chat ruins the atmosphere completely and that's an important thing especially in a horror campaign.. I do feel badly for the slow typists on FG and have run into at least 2 cases back when I was GM'ing when that presented a problem but .. on the other hand I totally see where X4b is going with it... Having said that I have had a different experience as far as "many are not fast typers".. when I was GM'ing I found most of my players could type quickly enough - mind you I'm aware that Gunnar could have found himself in the opposite situation where EVERYONE was a slow typist there are a lot of FG games out there :P ..

A few things to keep in mind about FG .. it's great in that it really makes you feel you're in the middle of a fictional novel because you're typing everything .. but it's also really SLOW because , well, you're typing everything :P .. even if you're a fast typist like me it'll never be as quick as just saying it say over voice chat.. one alternative is to use free voice chat like say skype for out of character stuff and enforce that, out of character ?'s on skype and typing in character stuff on FG ... if you combine this with gently discouraging out of character unnecessary commentary (jokes and what not ) via say private messages to the player that can help as far as keeping the "horror" atmosphere going.

Be prepared for flakes.. people who express a lot of interest and seem all gung ho only to vanish on you after only a few FG game sessions with either a lame half hearted excuse or no excuse at all (unfortunately it's easy for the lame-O's to wimp out and not man - woman ? - up and tell you flat out " Hey I'm sorry I'm not having fun I'm going to leave the campaign " since this is all online and they don't see you face to face)... given enough time on FG you will eventually through trial and error come across a troupe of steady players who can be counted on to show up for FG games ;) ...

Also I would let people know up front how you feel about 1) rules lawyers , gamers who feel it's ok to halt the FG game session right in the middle while they hammer out EXACTLY how the rules pertain to that particular situation .. I've seen at least 2 rules lawyers become highly indignant when they're not allowed to do this so if that sort of thing doesn't appeal to you (it might not given the "horror" atmosphere you're trying to create?) best to establish that up front... and 2) " combat monsters" who insist on getting into fights with pretty much everyone even fellow player characters.. combat is fun but if their reaction is "I'm going to fight EVERYTHING" (which is something I've also seen FG game players do) it might not be a good fit for your campaign.

Also it might be a good idea to establish ahead of time the player characters HAVE to be able to get along with each other and should be written up accordingly... true you would think if you're in a horror situation the sheer danger surrounding you would FORCE players to band together.. the sad truth is I've seen far too many situations where the players decide to get into a "who's reproductive organ is bigger" contest to the point where the players start getting angry in real life if one player's character gets the best of another (rolls eyes).. sad to say you'll run into a certain number of immature players on FG too , again a matter of trial and error until you find a good group of players.

Sorry for the long speech but you mentioned you were new to FG :P so ;) .. anyways, welcome :)
These are all really good suggestions. I'll definitely have to make sure to include more information about my expectations for players. Since there's no reason to not to say it now, I can think of a few.


1. I don't care if the players fight or kill each other. I suspect some of it can be avoided if I can sow the appropriate "us versus them" paranoia. From a meta-game perspective, I write my modules to be challenging. Failure to work together makes it very likely that uncooperative party members die. (Not in a GM-is-smiting-you sort of way, but in a your-friends-are-your-lifeline sort of way.)

2. I intend to demand a fair amount of front-end work from my players. I intend to circulate a questionnaire that asks for detailed information about your character history. This allows me to generate an experience that is better connected to the players, it affords the players an opportunity to think about their character, and it is a screening process that hopefully can help deal with flakes. I am also toying with an idea of regularly circulating news headlines. No one needs to read them, but it'd probably be for the best if they were read.

3. Roleplaying is really important for horror atmosphere. It's part of the reason I prefer text. It's also the reason I'd prefer that everyone stayed in character throughout. I suspect I'll crack the whip on table talk during play.

4. I'm not sure how I feel about rules lawyering. I don't want it to cause tension to deflate, so I figure I'll be decidedly against it. I hope that some of these difficulties can be avoided by the fact that the ruleset is d20 homebrew and I'm not passing out a fully complete player's handbook. More importantly, some of the rules may be revised as things are shown to work or not---I'll be explicit about it when/if it happens and I will allow any relevant changes to anyone's character sheet accordingly (i.e. if you built your character to do X, but maybe X is broken, you can take your feats and talents back to do Y instead if you don't like the changes to X). This will probably more of a consensus thing since the players tell me what works for them. Overall, I understand rules lawyering (I have those tendencies myself) and I will attempt my best to be fair, so it probably has no place.

5. Combat monsters are going to be disappointed. The shoot first, ask questions later approach won't work since that will probably make some situations far, far worse. It simply is not an approach that has desirable consequences in a horror setting---a setting where player fragility is emphasized. Sometimes it is better to run away. Sometimes you need to do some research on the Big Bad if you're going to have any chance against it. Sometimes that guy you just blew away had some vital piece of information. Ideally it'd up being something like 1/3 combat, 1/3 exploration, 1/3 roleplay. Some sessions may be devoted entirely to a dungeon crawl. Some sessions may be devoted entirely to roleplay and research.

[X4bT0rZ]

I should add one more detail.

The content of the material is, as you might expect, mature and serious. I'd like the nature of the material respected. I'm not asking people to not tell jokes or be light-hearted. (It's important for releases of tension during play.) I just want my players to act appropriately to the situation they find themselves in.

[Dr_Babylon]

Yeah, you had me at "body horror" and sealed the deal with "text only".

Something about your setting details made me think of the movie "Cube". I don't know why that is. I will stay tuned but, depending on how this plays out and the needs of those who flock to your banner, consider me interested.

[Andrepartthree]

Yeah, you had me at "body horror" and sealed the deal with "voice only".

Something about your setting details made me think of the movie "Cube". I don't know why that is. I will stay tuned but, depending on how this plays out and the needs of those who flock to your banner, consider me interested.

Just wanted to give a shout out to dr b here as a heads up to xb4 gm guy :) , i have had the pleasure of gaming with dr before .... he is awesome at the whole rp and getting into character thing and puts a lot of work into creating finely crafted characters and he is a big fan of text only like myself....gets along with everyone on a personal level too and gracious as all hell, grade A player basically :) ....sorry, typing this on tablet that is why it looks so awkward:p

[Andrepartthree]

I should add one more detail.

The content of the material is, as you might expect, mature and serious. I'd like the nature of the material respected. I'm not asking people to not tell jokes or be light-hearted. (It's important for releases of tension during play.) I just want my players to act appropriately to the situation they find themselves in.

true, true...i should clarify what i said earlier ....i have been in fg games where i noticed the more you rely on voice chat to express say for example stuff your character does in character... well i noticed an increasing trend towards more and more ooc conversation until each fg game session was one big ooc jokefest with far more said ooc than in character ... shooting the breeze conversation instead of an fg game basically ... when things got to this point i dropped out of the campaign entirely, i was glad the other players were having fun but just was not my cup of tea... so i think it is great you are setting up expectations ahead of time;) ... everything you mentioned i pretty much agree with far as what you expect of players except for the fact i tend to avoid rule lawyers if possible (no offense some players and groups are totally cool with that sort of thing ....but if i find it is slowing fg games too much i tend to exit the campaign stage right :p ).... when the campaign is up and running i would include a link back to this page so players know in advance what you expect or just do the whole copy and paste thing ;)

[X4bT0rZ]

When I make the official thread, I'll just redo what I said here in a more organized manner. I'll keep this thread in my back pocket and bug those who expressed some interest.

Thanks again for all the great feedback.

[bennis1980]

Well bug me when you get yourself sorted. I absolutely adore immersive games where everyone makes the effort to stay in character.

The only time that would suit me is a sunday morning (your time) which would be evening for me. My Saturday evenings are already booked up.

[X4bT0rZ]

I will.

I should also note that I have rockin' an ultimate license, so interested parties can play for free.