A less massive multiplayer online rpg in W3

[rapata]

Quote:
Originally Posted by rapata
Isn't it amazing that so many people are still playing a 2003 game?
Maybe the world edit is what keeps it going - endless variety of user written games. Does WoW have a world edit? If not, W3 might outlast WoW...


Quote:
Originally Posted by idk_a_name
i kinda like wc3 more then WoW, cause of all those custom games. there is always something new to play in wc3.

i have WoW its pretty fun but for now i prefere wc3.

this thread http://www.thehelper.net/forums/showthread.php?p=205813#post205813 got me thinking:

Fantasy Role Playing used to be done around a table with dice and manuals. Was great for story development. One player, the Dungeonmaster (DM), had control of all the monsters, non player characters and the storyline, while the player characters worked together to fulfill their quest. Now I guess people do this in WoW, but Blizzard makes up all the quests, so players don't get to be the DM any more. I like being a DM or a player character, and the more I use world editor the more I think it should be possible to make maps for battlenet where some real role playing could happen. It would depend a lot on people using chat imaginatively - in character. Has anyone ever tried this? If not I'd like to. Say I make a map, and on that map I appear as player one, but I am really the DM. I have control of all the monsters (creeps) and non player characters. There might be two or three other player characters, different hero types I imagine. The goal of a good DM was never to kill off his PCs, but to orchestrate a thrilling game in a fantasy setting, balancing monsters against characters and allowing the story to develop cooperatively. I think world edit could build amazing settings for such a game, played on consecutive maps, which would have to be created as the story unfolded. I would much more enjoy playing like this with others online than in endless melees. Any takers?

 

[Arcane]

Ah...nice idea, I always wanted to try and make people 'act' out their characters, it'd be cool, you could do it by letting the DM reward people who act out their character...

But about the DM thing, what if the DM cheats? What if he doesn't share your point of view in a 'thrilling game'? what if he simply just sends his most powerful monsters at the players in the beginning and kills them? You'd need some triggers, or SOMETHING to make sure DMs don't cheat or play unfairly.

Except from that DM problem, I think this type of map would be great...

About the DM problem, maybe you could have two DMs, they both control half of the creatures on the field, and if one is acting unfairly, then get a boot system for the players to be able to boot one. And the other one, who hopefully plays fair, will gain control of the other DM's monsters.

But if both act unfairly, then...hmmmm...perhaps use triggers to let the computer be the DM somehow? Would be rather hard.

 

[rapata]

A good DM needs different qualities than a good player, and of course the DM is NOT trying to beat the players, quite the reverse. The DM is like God, he has ultimate power but should use it benevolently. In a good DM managed campaign the players only suffer if they are genuinely stupid or unlucky. Luck was decided by dice rolls in D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) but in a warcraft map there isn't much luck involved, is there? I see the main features of such a game as intelligent role play through chat, and cooperative use of player skills against monsters which would be too powerful for any one player.

Then there are non combat quests and espionage style play, wherein the DM releases information slowly through conversations with different NPCs (non player characters) and keeps the players guessing, or gives them riddles to solve.

A good DM gets a reputation as a good DM, and a bad one gets a bad reputation. Such a game is usually played over months by a group of friends who know and like each other. Using w3 on battlenet as a vehicle such groups could be international, but they would never want to be too large, and I guess such games would always be private. Maybe there are some potential DMs out there with the patience, skill and imagination to build sequential maps for such a warcraft based rpg. I am interested to try, but have not made the maps I need to start a campaign as yet.

 

[Razthemapper]

A kind of this idea is taken. But DoBRP, CoTMRP and CoTMRP Azeroth are a bit different because there is no DM, there are only players that customize their heroes, make cities, towns and stuff and make stories with other characters acting their heroes. If this project could be done, i'd be glad to play it. I gave up normal RP'ing but this should be different

 

[Malice-]

A kind of this idea is taken. But DoBRP, CoTMRP and CoTMRP Azeroth are a bit different because there is no DM, there are only players that customize their heroes, make cities, towns and stuff and make stories with other characters acting their heroes. If this project could be done, i'd be glad to play it. I gave up normal RP'ing but this should be different

I am good friends with the makers of DoBRP, and used to play it constantly in the past. It can get addicting with the endless possibliities that seem to come up. (I don't play it anymore bercause it has gotten ridiculous with the current staff, I played when Baron and Draike were the only main creators) Usually the way we played, someone was a "DM" and formed a basic storyplot, theme, the creeps, and such, and each character would form their own background but be involved in the same basic world.

So yeah, basically what you're thinking of is taken with these RP games, but thats not to say that something more creative can't be thought up, where someone IS a designated DM and have specific options they can layout and shit like that.

Who knows...

 

[AgentPaper]

DoBRP is similar, but also very different. If you could get into the DoBRP triggers I'm sure you could salvage some great tools to use. (they aren't making the maps anymore, and released a unprotected final, so it's not stealing) I love to do stuff like this, and play DoBRP a lot, but with no new maps coming out and the dwindling support base, it's getting harder to find good games. (a lot of people who just make a super hero and try to pwn everyone in the rping)

There is also another one, D&D, that does have specified DM's (max 3) and tries to do something very like what you said, but the options for the DM's were very limited, and it's not as popular as it should be.

 

[rapata]

Interesting

I have googled this dobrp site and will check it out.
Like all role play it would need a few dedicated players and one DM at a time, I think. Thats why I say LESS massively multiplayer - less is more I think.
And the DM should have his own notes, maps, modules, even outside of the w3 maps used to play the game online. An rpg world needs to be internally consistent, and if the Warcraft world (Lordaeron etc) was used, people would just end up arguing what is what. PCs have to 'suspend disbelief' during gameplay, just like you do in Middle earth when reading LOTR.