MMO Campaign

[Stasiscell]

Ive been writing a campaign where the players play as characters in a virtual world how would you guys do this?
The setting is a simple one it takes place on earth and the year is 2032.
The players are playing as people who are trapped in the mmo unable to log out or forcibly remove the vr machine (or else it will microwave their brain) in addition if their character dies they will also die (once again the hardware will malfunction and zap their brain).

How would you guys implement some of the functions common to a mmo, like Instant messages a basic user interface and the like?

As for certain skills i was thinking of tying in a panel above monsters that would reveal detailed information on a successful knowledge check or a personal interface panel that would appear infront of the player (a pokedex type deal).

[Elamdri]

For the Instant Messages, look at spells like message and Telepathic bond.

[Lord Pendragon]

Sooo....Sword Art Online, then? >.>

[Bertious]

Sounds like SAO to me hey i'd play it i love the anime.

As to how to deal with it improtant questions like is it just the pcs trapped and if not is there any way to tell the difference between people and computer controlled characters.

You can obviously simplify and speed up skills such as crafting and profession to account for the it's an mmo feel and the interface could be used as a masterwork tool for knowledge/crafting skills.

Instant messages having little impact in the main parts of the game can be mostly hand waved with a "As a standard action you can seen a message of xx words to annother player or player group. Reading a recived message can be done as a move action or as part of a move action but if done in conjuntion with a move action imposes a -2 to all other actions by the reader untill his next turn."
That way you maintain the utility of it with the limits of doing it in a fight is bad. (Also you could message a player in combat with something really important to see if he will read it or pay attention to the fight :D.)

[Harrison]

Lord Pendragon wrote:

Sooo....Sword Art Online, then? >.>

Sounds more like a .hack-style campaign. Sounds kinda fun, really.

Text Messages and such can be covered by a new Metagaming Artifact that was included in the Artifacts & Legends book that was shipped out recently. The item in question is a small crystal shard that's embedded beneath the skin and allows the users to communicate telepathically with each other. The idea being that it's supposed to provide at least a semi-reasonable reason for out-of-character strategizing between players. You could use that to justify the IMs/Text Messages angle.

For those that have the book, the item is called the Shard of the Amalgam Mind.

I'm not sure I can link the whole description, since the book isn't officially out yet.

[Stasiscell]

Ill admit i got alot of inspiration from dot hack lol.

[Ciaran Barnes]

Create ways where the players learn temporary loop holes in the game, but also implement scenarios where there are glitches in the system, such as system lag, getting "stuck", or slipping underneath the landscape.

[Stasiscell]

Bertious wrote:

Sounds like SAO to me hey i'd play it i love the anime.

As to how to deal with it improtant questions like is it just the pcs trapped and if not is there any way to tell the difference between people and computer controlled characters.

You can obviously simplify and speed up skills such as crafting and profession to account for the it's an mmo feel and the interface could be used as a masterwork tool for knowledge/crafting skills.

Instant messages having little impact in the main parts of the game can be mostly hand waved with a "As a standard action you can seen a message of xx words to annother player or player group. Reading a recived message can be done as a move action or as part of a move action but if done in conjuntion with a move action imposes a -2 to all other actions by the reader untill his next turn."
That way you maintain the utility of it with the limits of doing it in a fight is bad. (Also you could message a player in combat with something really important to see if he will read it or pay attention to the fight :D.)

Story wise instant messages will play a large part i imagine from accepting friend invites to joining or merging parties .

Now the big question is how will i incorporate free teleportation into the game with any remote semblance of balance.
My initial idea is that players have a "Key-stone" thats attuned to certain locations such as major cities and the like.
it takes 10 full rounds (1 minute of non interupted channeling) to teleport back to a hub or waypoint and certain areas will disallow any form of teleportation ( Most Dungeons).
In addition the Key-Stone has a 12 hour cool down to disallow abuse.

[Stasiscell]

Ciaran Barnes wrote:

Create ways where the players learn temporary loop holes in the game, but also implement scenarios where there are glitches in the system, such as system lag, getting "stuck", or slipping underneath the landscape.

Like when a player realizes he can buy ladders from the shopkeep and break them off into 2 10 foot poles selling them for a net profit?

[AndIMustMask]

Stasiscell wrote:

Ciaran Barnes wrote:

Create ways where the players learn temporary loop holes in the game, but also implement scenarios where there are glitches in the system, such as system lag, getting "stuck", or slipping underneath the landscape.

Like when a player realizes he can buy ladders from the shopkeep and break them off into 2 10 foot poles selling them for a net profit?

except that those two ten-foot poles have a bunch of holes drilled in them and therefor aren't worth anything due to their structural integrity being compromised? yeah, sure.

you could also have admin-only "backdoor" areas for easy hopping from place to place, or "debug rooms" with stuff (or experimental "boss" encounters) in them, hacker-created zones outside of regular admin jurisdiction, some players having various hacks (a speed hack could be something like a permanent haste buff, etc.) associating with any of the above without proper credentials might send an admin after you for exploiting the game, and so on.

lots of fun to be had.

[Michael Talley 759]

I really like this idea for a game. Experimenting with the idea myself recently as a tabletop game for when I go to conventions.

[Bruunwald]

The idea is nearly IDENTICAL to SAO with the exception that the date in the anime is 2022, rather than 2032 and the VR machine simply keeps the players in a coma, rather than microwaving them if they try to disconnect.

And what's with the thread necromancy?

[Kazaan]

There should be a bunch of "foreign exchange brokers" standing around a town's central plaza with unpronounceable names.