Yeah, I intentionally picked new-ish or at least still current games in that list. Not much point dwelling on games that're out of print and unobtainable for your players. Even if message gaming doesn't rely on rule books, I like to promote the industry.
I would have said 'Call of Cuthulu' for Horror ... but hey, that's just me <wink> Dread feels more 'Hard Sci-Fi/cyberpunk' 'dark fantacy' or 'post apocolypse' to me ... at least from the movies, but I haven't read the game yet.
Good thinking, Pandemonium! Vampire: The Masquerade I'd definitely class as urban fantasy/urban horror. Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Ed is quite different though, it's more like paranormal investigation where you play the paranormal (Kindred) investigating the even scarier paranormal (the Strix). Worth checking out actually, if you haven't already.
Did I mention that I had never seen the game <chuckle> Thanks for the 'education' Neil <g>
And another 'miss' was 'Top Secret' for Modern Thriller <g> Just noticed my box sitting on the shelf <g> Oh ... and since I am surfing my shelves, 'Vampire the Dark Age' for Horror makes sense to me <wink>
And one category I didn't see mentioned is "Works Anywhere" and my suggestion for that is Rolemaster <vbg>
It's a shame you can't play Dread online actually. It would've been a brilliant way to run INS. No such thing as an online Jenga tower though. Closest you can get is drawing from an online deck of cards and that doesn't have the same shaky fingered, palpable tension.
Well besides a card deck, here are some other ideas ... just in case you decide you want to try and run it here <g>
You could do something based on a 'die roll' ... d100 or larger and come up with a way to 'decide' if a roll caused the tower to collapse or not.
1.) You could do something completely random ... pick some 'points' in the die space and if the roll matches one of those points ... <crash>
or
2.) If you want to do something 'skill based', you could establish a 'dex like skill level' for each player and add that 'level' to a roll and as long as your roll + skill level is greater than the threshold yer good.
A small design team wrote some rules for using cards in a Dread game, called Grin. I also saw somewhere, someone suggest using a game of Battleship to simulate the ever more precarious position of the players (which you could track online).
But like saving throws with dice, even if you have a gradual increase of risk, you remove the risk management and skill of a Jenga tower.
Your mention of a Dex stat makes an important point though, MikeD. Using player character stats as a basis, like a conventional RPG, is inherently fairer, because you aren't relying on the player's own dexterity. Like having a bard song's success reliant on the player's singing voice.
Some people just cannot sing. Likewise, some people just cannot physically play Jenga. I suppose in those situations you'd let another steady-handed player draw for them.
Originally Posted By Pandemonium
I hadn't checked out Requiem. Maybe if I can pick up a pdf copy or a garage sale copy. Wouldn't mind reading it. But pretty sure I would never run it.
I'd say Requiem is much less suited to LARPing than Masquerade, but more suited to traditional campaigns. (Masquerade is still available though, so it's not like LARPers are losing out.)
Originally Posted By Mina
Dark Fantasy I would have said Ravensloft...
Ah yes, the consumate dark fantasy! And probably one of the most compelling D&D campaign settings too.
Whisky for me. And technically, we're all born old, we're all the same age, around 5 billion years old if you go by the more abundant atoms in our bodies.
Burbon and the other 'American Whiskeys' are usually too sweet for my taste. But I =DO= love a good single malt Scotch! Sadly, I cannot afford them very often ... which is probably a good thing because the bottles seem to empty themselves soooo quickly!!
Hmmm ... what would be an example of a modern thriller? Something line Snake Eyes (w/ Nicholas Cage and Gary Sinise)? Or did folks have something else in mind?
Tweens thrillers tend to be a bit more domestic in nature, compared to the more high tech thrillers of the Nineties, two that spring to mind this year from the past month are Hell or High Water and Girl on a Train.
When I think of a modern thriller, I'm like you guys ;), I think of the Nineties, and maybe that's what the votes are for?
Sicario is a decent War on Drugs thriller, but for an RPG it doesn't jump out of the screen in the way that Clear & Present Danger did back in 1994, for example.
I guess it's besides the point anyway. Those of you who voted for Modern Thriller, did you have any particular RPG in mind, or film, novel inspiration, etc.?
†Restricted forums can only be accessed by DreamLyrics members of the age of 18 years or older. Access which is granted by the Behind Closed Doors Procedure. ™DreamLyrics Play-by-Post. DreamLyrics Play-by-Post does not own copyright on DreamLyrics texts or graphics, except trademarked DreamLyrics logos and logotypes. The works contained in DreamLyrics are copyrighted (automatically, under the Berne Convention) by the original authors and may be available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence. (See Copyrights for details.) Privacy Policy
Dread is a clever game of survival horror that uses Jenga towers as its core mechanic.
