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[freeformschooler]

I can't make a formal tutorial, but it wouldn't be hard to make a funny one that explains everything.

[Tarran]

An explanation of how an RTD works in the most formal of formats for newbies to learn what an RTD is.

...That simple? Well, how about I give a short explanation:

"What is an RTD? An RTD is a forum game based around dice rolls. It can be anything from a RPG with far more reliance on dice rolls, to effectively a simple forum game with dice rolls displayed prominently. Dice can be of any size, though the standard, or at least the original, is accepted to be a 1d6, or a dice with six sides from 1 to 6. Many RTDs often add rules on top of said rolls, like skills and attributes, or offer "bonuses" to rolls without skills and attributes, and so on. There are very few similar RTDs in regard to both story and rulesets, unless they intentionally try to keep rules to a minimum, though they often follow the same theme in dice playing an important part of the game.

As was mentioned, an RTD is based around dice rolls. The story is often molded based on the dice, though sometimes the GM or the players still direct the story based on what the GM decides, with the dice rolls just deciding what happens far more than usual. In the latter case, the main difference between a normal RPG then is that RTD rolls typically are less forgiving on poor rolls, in that you are substantially more likely to hurt yourself or your allies with a bad roll. Speaking of rolls, as a general rule, the lower the roll, the worse it is considered to be. For example, a roll of 1 in a 1d6 is drastically worse than a 5. What happens with those rolls generally differs drastically depending on what the roll was for, what the situation is around the player character, the GM, and the ruleset.

RTDs typically operate very simply on the player side: The player tells the GM what they want to do, and if there is a ruleset for the game sometimes they also may decide to tell the GM what kind of roll they want to trigger (will be more clear based on the RTD). The GM, on the other hand, controls the story, 99% of the time does the rolling, and gives the players the result of their action, based on the rolls and based on what their personalized ruleset says the result is. The GM also often controls the NPCs of the game, especially the enemy NPCs.

There aren't much more similarities in how an RTD is based, because as you may have picked up by reading this, RTD rules differ drastically. In some cases, the rules the GM selects can even potentially make an RTD indistinguishable from other RPGs at times."

Of course, this isn't perfect, and it wasn't really perfectly designed for a complete newbie, but it should be at least somewhat simple and easy to understand for everyone with at least a little savvy for RPGs despite compressing the entire idea of the game type into four blocks of text.

[Digital Hellhound]

I think we were talking about Godhood-style mechanics in this thread (or Gaming Block), and someone raised the idea of a non-god game like it. For those who don't know, Godhood works with players having a number of Acts but creative freedom of what to do with them, and are more communal writing exercises than competitive games (not that conflict doesn't exist - it's just ideally either GM-run or preplanned ala professional wrestling).

Anyway, I was thinking of the non-god version. I know other people suggested it, so I'm wondering what they had in mind. I just have vague ideas of categorized Acts (Social Act: The Prophet unifies the tribes, Military Act: The Vicious Aubergines gang leads a raid on the police station), and not much on the whole.

Yes I know this should be in FG&RP but I'm sure we talked in this thread.

[Fniff]

I had a similar idea to that, but with the ability to make stuff that manufactures the various categories, like a weapons factory making Military Acts, or a charity program making social acts. Maybe people have specialities that allow them to get certain types of act each turn?

[freeformschooler]

That's actually a really comprehensive and well-written explanation, Tarran. Good job.

[Kadzar]

For the Godhood thing, I had the idea that you could have a deathmatch arena game where there is some sort of artifact or place of power that allows a single player possessing it to create or modify anything they want in the mostly formless (to start with) world that is the arena. Then the players would fight to control it, or, if hell freezes over, they might actually try cooperating. And it might be possible for them to eventually find or create more places or items of power, to eventually make a pantheon.

Alternatively, you could have something that is like a deathmatch arena, except for the fact that players can't die by anything but extraordinary means, though they can still shove each other around and steal from one another and all that. They would either each have powers or you could use the singular artifact/place of power mentioned above.

The idea here is to get away from the idea of gods as omnipotent incorporeal beings seen in most god games and make them more like the feuding, bickering deities you see in most mythologies. Also, it might be nice if we got rid of havingdomains defined at character creation, since in real mythology these things usually have stories behind them rather than them being some sort of eternal quality of the god in question. Usually their eminence comes from having created the thing in question (like when Poseiden created horses to win a bet with Athena) or having some sort of artifact of power that allows them to control the element (like how Loki bet his own head to get some dwarves to make Thor's hammer (among a few other things)).

[Fniff]

Oh, oooh... Idea for godhood artifacts. There's three types of magic artifacts: one for destruction, one for creation, and one for modification. Creation allows you to make new stuff, destruction allows you to destroy stuff, and modification allows you to modify old stuff. Nothing can stop these rolls. However, you only get three uses out of every artifact and you cannot have more then one artifact on you. There is usually only three artifacts in play at one time. When they're all used up, the GM states that there are now three more in play, but the players would have to find them.

[lawastooshort]

That's actually a really comprehensive and well-written explanation, Tarran. Good job.

It was good, wasn't it. Perhaps it could be put somewhere.

[Tiruin]

Make a new thread.

Copy Tarran's post and edit it in such a way that it makes an explanation of an RTD clearer (just needs formatting? ).

Sticky it.

Because I've had and heard people ask what or how an RTD exactly works, a lot.

[Kadzar]

Oh, oooh... Idea for godhood artifacts. There's three types of magic artifacts: one for destruction, one for creation, and one for modification. Creation allows you to make new stuff, destruction allows you to destroy stuff, and modification allows you to modify old stuff. Nothing can stop these rolls. However, you only get three uses out of every artifact and you cannot have more then one artifact on you. There is usually only three artifacts in play at one time. When they're all used up, the GM states that there are now three more in play, but the players would have to find them.

I like all this, except for the destruction part; I think players will find plenty of ways to destroy things without a special destroyer artifact, and it will just lead to there being less cool things in the world. Maybe it would work if there was only one charge to it and/or there was guaranteed to be only one such artifact in existence ever, so the players would save it only for a dire emergency. And maybe using the thing would cause all the user's creations to twisted versions of their intentions (that could be an idea for a type of artifact, actually, one that always twists the creator's desire). I think you want to at least really limit access to total destructive magic.

But, as I said, the other parts are good. Maybe have the modification artifact have a few more charges than creation (still three for creation, but about five or six for modification) since modification isn't quite as powerful as creation (especially if there is a limit in place that says you cannot completely change all of a thing, though maybe there could be a separate type of artifact that does that).

And I think all artifacts after the first should have some random element or theme assigned to them. And maybe there could be artifacts of modification that have unlimited charges, but they have severe limitations to them. Or there might be special artifacts of control that players can find or create that can be attuned to a specific element. Or I suppose just creating something would allow someone to control it from then on.

Also, I forgot to mention this in my previous post, but players, whether they are mortal or immortal, should still have human (or whatever sentient species they choose to be) needs or at least desires. It need not necessarily be made into mechanics, but it would be nice if people decided to make a special castle for themselves instead of a moon, or at least made the moon as their castle.

[flabort]

How about this:
Overshoots only happen on natural 6s, meaning if you roll 5+1, it's better than a 5 but doesn't have the massive drawbacks of a 6.
Artifacts provide at least a +3 bonus, their bonus drops each time it's used, and are completely consumed when they fall bellow +3.
You can use artifacts to make more, but they can't have a higher bonus then the one used to create them AFTER the act (max equal to whatever the one used minus what is consumed), EXCEPT on a natural 6 or 1 - except that the new ones are warped and have drawbacks (try to make a race of humanoids (an admittedly weak effect, but common)? Well, they are cannibalistic, want to conquer the world, and have an affinity for other things created by or related to the warped artifacts). Warped artifacts can create less warped Twisted Artifacts, though, which can then create pure artifacts (normal), but then you've either got to save or destroy the warped ones, and destroying them is impossible without... artifacts of destruction. And if you roll a natural 6 or 1 when trying to create a less warped artifact with a warped one, you get an even worse one.

Most actions will succeed with an artifact, due to a guaranteed 4 or more (1+3=4), including "Make 7 artifacts". However, the more done with the roll (7 artifacts compared to 1 or 2, or making a solar system or GALAXY compared to a planet or asteroid belt), the less powerful or whatever each individual thing made with it (Using a +7 artifact of creation to make 7 artifacts or 1 artifact, on a roll of 5 you get either 7 +3 random artifacts, or 1 +6 artifact (and the +7 becomes a +6); on a roll of 6, you get 7 +4 warped artifacts or a +9 warped artifact).
If TRYING to make a warped artifact or other object, then it will be even less powerful then normal, even when using a warped one in the process; natural rolls of 1 or 6 still warp, and all others do when trying, but only a natural 6 can create a more powerful artifact than the one that spawned it.
Using more than one artifact at once, they must all be in the same cattegory(s), and the first one is always the most powerful, and at 1/1 power (full power), and you get the full bonus. The second one is the next most powerful, and at 1/2 power (half the bonus, rounded down). The next one is at 1/3 power, then 1/4 power, 1/5 power, etc. This can be used to have a much higher bonus and if you're creating another artifact, then the maximum bonus is the combined total (after part of the bonus is consumed) (If you have a +9, a +8, and a +6, then the bonuses added to your roll are +9, +4, and +2, or +15 all together, and the best artifact you can make without warping it is a +12 (15-3)).

Remember - Only creation artifacts can create other artifacts, and the newly made artifacts will either be random, or less powerful the more specific the player making it tries to make it.

That about covers using artifacts to spread the artifact joy around (make more artifacts); doesn't cover making other works.
That's my idea on how it could work.

[lawastooshort]

How about this:
Overshoots only happen on natural 6s, meaning if you roll 5+1, it's better than a 5 but doesn't have the massive drawbacks of a 6.

I haven't read the rest of this discussion, but I am trying to procrastinate so will chip in. I believe this is the way it generally should be, yes. I would never make even a [5+2] result in the same burning nudity-inducing "success" that a [6] might bring about. A [6+2] though, ohohoho.

[lawastooshort]

Ooh, now I feel bad that my further adventures in procrastination have led me to double post. Is anyone about to start a long-running fairly generic medieval fantasy rtd? I'd like that.

[Gamerlord]

How about this:
Overshoots only happen on natural 6s, meaning if you roll 5+1, it's better than a 5 but doesn't have the massive drawbacks of a 6.

I haven't read the rest of this discussion, but I am trying to procrastinate so will chip in. I believe this is the way it generally should be, yes. I would never make even a [5+2] result in the same burning nudity-inducing "success" that a [6] might bring about. A [6+2] though, ohohoho.

Fucking someone over for a [5+2] is bullshit, but a [6+2]? GMs dream of such things happening. They give us happy feelings.

[Harry Baldman]

Right, so I've had some experiences with Papers, Please lately, and I had a thought about a particular mechanic it had - supporting a family.

Say, you have an RTD where all the characters work the same job - any bureaucratic position or maybe some other occupation, doesn't really matter that much, as long as it doesn't pay too well. The natural state of a player would be that they have +/- 0 to all rolls. The kicker is, they also would have the initial option to create a family they have to support. Each family member would grant them a single bonus to a particular activity, possibly more, but each would need upkeep (paid from wages, gifts and 'extracurricular activities', so to speak. And if they leave or meet an unfortunate end, the player loses the bonus the family member gave them and incurs an additional (possibly temporary, yet still long-term) penalty, chosen by the GM.

There would, naturally, be pressure from family members to improve one's lifestyle, that sort of thing, as well as a great number of opportunities to excel at one's work, abuse one's power, subvert one's colleagues and generally make bank, with various consequences following afterwards.

Thoughts?