How about something like an interactive story, but anyone can choose the character's actions?

Because that's a CYOA.

It all depends on how much story-versus-gameplay you want. Lots of gameplay is complicated, but all story can be rather boring.

An Interative story would require someone to carry it out, such as like in things such as rubyquest.

We need simpler. Story can be tossed out of the window for this.

A SIMPLE CYOA wouldn't be too hard. You just have to post story bits that portray your fellow forumgoers' commands.
Pretty damn simple if you ask me. It's not like it will be an extremely complex thought out book-long adventure of superduper.

the problem with that is that it requires some dedication on the part of the person running the thing, which is something that DrVonBaron doesn't want.

Why must this be simple games only? It seems that everything that requires any form of thought is immediately thrown right out the window. Why don't we just name this the Forum Game Discussion thread?

yeah, that would make more sense, i'll get right to that and we can ignore the games such as vending machine.

(also, Edit, Why move it?, this ain't a forum game, therefor, doesn't belong in forum game sections)

Although I AM interested in developing other forum games, I am currently MORE interested in developing RtD (sorry, guys).
I'm attempting to come up with a new system that very much models D&D, only far less complicated.

It's funny. A lot of people (CoughTorrentCough) are sticking to the traditional with most of their RtDs, but I'm attempting to make it more complicated...

Also, no offense to (CoughTorrentCough). I'm only saying that (CoughTorrentCough) tends to stick to tradition.

Yeah... I have a really bad internet cold right now... *Cough*

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Oh, and on the subject of trying to get a good CYOA, I rather liked how Alanna handled it. The main character is somewhat controlled by her "Spectral Advisors" (the people on the forum) but she actually has common sense/feelings, and will not hesitate to ignore an idiotic command.

If you want a good gameplay to story ratio, go for some classic RPG scenario, like killing some evil dragon lord or something. Those tend to work well, and if you can incorporate some humor into it, they're amusing enough.

I am mildly offended by the insinuation that a simple system is bad.
And that I only run a simple system.

I'm not saying a simple system is bad. I'm actually more confused with myself than with you, in my insistence to make a working recipe more complicated.
I only used you as an example of a simple system because you are a good example.

Your two Roll to Dodge - Blue games (Original, and On the Day of an Angel) use(d) a 6-sided die, and the original setup that you introduced to these forums. 1 = epic fail, 4 = success, etc.

You've configured the injury system to one of your liking, but heck, everyone has done that.

I'm just expressing the weird feeling I get from changing the system so drastically (you haven't seen my changes yet, I'm planning them for my next game).

I'm actually playing a real-life game of, I suppose, RTD using Dungeons and Dragons cardboard tilesets for mapping. I could list my rules if you wanted. It's more complicated that just a single dice roll, but then there's no Armour Class, weight, ability scores, initiative, and so on - so it's not as complicated as D&D either.

Feel free to post it if you have it readily available - I may find it helpful.

However, if it's out of your way, don't bother. I'm going to develop my own system whether or not I have help.

Alright, well. I think I'll do it as a list in order of how each turn plays out.

• Same as my RTDs, you get an action from the player and roll for it. Using a D6: 1 = Epic Fail, 5 = Perfect, 6 = Overshot, etc
• If the action involves an NPC that will resist the action (eg attack, pickpocket), counter roll for that NPC. Highest roll wins, equal rolls are a draw. You get it.
• In the case of melee, if the two rolls are equal then it's a block/parry, if it's a six then you literally swap places.
• Otherwise if it's a ranged attack, I roll for maximum number of attacks (eg arrows, fireballs) they can fire. I'll only do this if it makes sense of course.
• Magic incurs an energy use, so I then roll for that.
• All of the above can have modifiers, like a magical axe or a blinded opponent.
• At the end of battles each player rolls a D6 for loot/ing:
  
  • 1 means no loot. Too bad.
  • 2, see above. SUX2BU
  • 3 means something minor, like a piece of food, some ammo or a small potion.
  • 4 means something pretty good: a weapon, lots of ammo, new spell, some kind of cool item, etc
  • 5 I use for Quest/Plot/Story Items, but it can be an awesome weapon/spell/other item too.
  • and 6 means something crappy, like an apple core, a rusty dagger or an empty magazine.
• Then I roll 2D6s, a D10, D12, D20 or other appropriate dice for money or ammo. Doesn't always happen.
• And every other time I need to decide something I'll secretly roll a die behind a book or something.

And I think that's about it. I'm playing a Magical Medieval/Pirate Fantasy atm, so I don't quite have guns yet. Bombs, yes. And sometimes I'll make a minor rule up on the spot for something unexpected (The 6-Swap for melee came about like that. It happens often too )

I would like to also retain the right to these rules, since AFAIK I've created them except for the first one. That one goes to Mouse I think.
Feel free to use them if you quote/reference me though since I'm not unreasonable.

Take a look at my experiment in RtD mechanics. I made two of them. My RtD set in space, and RtD Rebellion.

Remember that power armoured super soldier in the latter? Remember his character sheet?

I planned on making around 10 NPC's all with their own agendas and personality. It gets very difficult. Especially thinking about the reactions to various things players say and do.

Then on to RtD A Space Tale... What a mess that was. Awesome while it lasted though. I made the ship below. All the other images in the thread were dead, unfortunately.

I shed man tears every time I see that ship. That RtD died from the same cause of death as my other one. Story was going good in RTD:AST. The crew had just finally gotten a FTL drive, thanks to a alliance of necessity with a invading race of VN (Von Neumann) machines that just curb stomped most of the fleet. If I remember correctly, one of them boarded a fleet carrier, a ship that would head a task force, and breached its reactor, going through the ship deck by deck. Anyhow, the players, in their tiny Light Warship, made contact with the VN Hijacker. Alliance begins, ship goes into FTL, get attacked by space faring acidic blob creatures, come out of FTL, ship is damaged lightly. A player got a low roll on manoeuvring the ship to try to escape, it slam dived into the planets surface. No one survived.

I don't have a clue anymore about why I let a alliance form. That...was not supposed to happen. I had a metric ♥♥♥♥ ton of documentation on ship supplies, requisitioning new supplies, effects of low power, damage control, boarding action, and finally a ship upgrade tree, to figure out what ship the players want next. The tree was mutually exclusive, with no take backs. The players could go along a electronic warfare ship, and get something like a AEW&C, or they could head down a carrier route and end up like the Galactica, or they could be a dedicated carrier, or they could go down a battleship route. There was a ton of choices.

If you make an RTD like that again I'll join.

I'm incredibly surprised and yet not surprised that you killed everyone because one player failed to save the ship.

I mean, it makes sense, but it's also very punishing for one bad roll to be the demise of all....

Frankly, though, I think it's pretty fitting for an RtD. Everyone's always up against such unbeatable odds that death for the whole party is pretty damn likely.
I also admire the fact that you're willing to stick it to your players and kill them. I don't think I could ever do that.

CONTINUING EDIT - I'm also planning on, well... planning, before my next RtD. I'm going to have skills and abilities laid out, as well as using maps. I created a whole tileset for a program just so I could make quality maps faster and without the pain of using Paint.

I'm putting a lot into my next game. I only wish (and I've said something about this before) that we had more people on the forums to play them.
For quality RtD players and GMs, I wouldn't think of going anywhere else but here.
But as far as numbers... there are a lot of other forums that are way more active.

Thing is, I don't want to start my long-planned game in a forum like the MinecraftForums where a bunch of idiotic 8-year-olds hang out and forget to read posting rules. (Not applied to everyone. Just the people to whom that statement applies. Obviously.)

It's a conundrum. Quality and Quantity just never can get along, can they.