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SINGLE AREA RPG
Posts
djbeardo
1834
djbeardo
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CloseI've been thinking about doing a game that takes place all on the same boat. I mean, it's a large(ish) boat - 4 or 5 floors (all separate maps) - but putting together the story has been challenging. I've been focusing on things like small puzzles, conversation branch challenges, and encounters coming into the space (pirates trying to board, etc.) to make it lively. I've also been thinking about adding in a card-playing minigame. But not sure if that's gimmicky or not (Actually, I KNOW it's gimmicky. Just not sure if it's unenjoyably gimmicky or not).
dethmetal
990
author=djbeardo
I've been thinking about doing a game that takes place all on the same boat. I mean, it's a large(ish) boat - 4 or 5 floors (all separate maps) - but putting together the story has been challenging. I've been focusing on things like small puzzles, conversation branch challenges, and encounters coming into the space (pirates trying to board, etc.) to make it lively. I've also been thinking about adding in a card-playing minigame. But not sure if that's gimmicky or not (Actually, I KNOW it's gimmicky. Just not sure if it's unenjoyably gimmicky or not).
Sounds really unique, and potentially a lot of fun. I'd go for it. The only problem would be differentiating the various floors enough so that there's enough variety... This would be really easy if the game was set on a modern cruise ship, but a lot of harder if it was set on an old sail ship.
So yeah, maybe consider trying to do something modern with it? Plus, medieval boats back in the day didn't really have that many floors. There's a bunch of cool story ideas you can use if it's set in modern day, probably. You're a spy on board an alien country's ship, the ship is owned by a bunch of organized gangsters and there's a lot of shady stuff going on (gambling, prostitution, etc) and you have to stop it, etc.
Merlandese
3235
I actually LOVE "fish bowl" scenarios. In other media that's pretty common. Some shows have episodes where people are trapped in an elevator, and murder mysteries typically hinge on the exploration of a singular, dense location.
And I love them so much that arguably every Twelve Tiles game is in a fish bowl!
*BEWARE: EXAMPLES DOUBLE AS PLUGS*
Last Word's gameplay takes place entirely in a single map, the location being the Sommerhaus Estate.
Fleuret Blanc takes places exclusively in the two-to-three floors of Château de l'Hiver.
Social Caterpillar takes place in a long corridor where every location is a condensed interpretation made by the main character.
And even though these games all stretch conventions (especially Social Caterpillar, which I wouldn't classify as "RPG" on the most self-satisfying of days), Last Word and Fleuret Blanc definitely have enough footing in Eastern RPG conventions/inspiration to, at the very least, show that having a "fish bowl RPG" is possible.
So yes, make it so! :)
EDIT: I'm also going to drop a hot mention for Halloween Bash for being excellent, an innovative RPG, and also taking place in one area.
And I love them so much that arguably every Twelve Tiles game is in a fish bowl!
*BEWARE: EXAMPLES DOUBLE AS PLUGS*
Last Word's gameplay takes place entirely in a single map, the location being the Sommerhaus Estate.
Fleuret Blanc takes places exclusively in the two-to-three floors of Château de l'Hiver.
Social Caterpillar takes place in a long corridor where every location is a condensed interpretation made by the main character.
And even though these games all stretch conventions (especially Social Caterpillar, which I wouldn't classify as "RPG" on the most self-satisfying of days), Last Word and Fleuret Blanc definitely have enough footing in Eastern RPG conventions/inspiration to, at the very least, show that having a "fish bowl RPG" is possible.
So yes, make it so! :)
EDIT: I'm also going to drop a hot mention for Halloween Bash for being excellent, an innovative RPG, and also taking place in one area.
Sooz
They told me I was mad when I said I was going to create a spidertable. Who’s laughing now!!!
5354
I've been meaning to play Last Word ever since it got such good press last year in IGMC, so thanks for reminding me it exists!
ubon
66
ooh, thanks for the recommendations! I've always liked the thought of condensing the usual video game scale down to a single district of a city, for instance, and how to provide enough variety to keep things interesting within those constraints... and keeping things to a single room (or map, or whatever) seems like a very interesting challenge in that same vein. I'll have to look at these.
