Kill House (working title)

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Kill House (working title)

Post by SGTdude » Wed Dec 11, 2013 4:14 pm

Come away for the weekend! It will be great! There will be laughs, and singing, and dancing!

And oh yeah, you are there because someone REALLY wants to kill you. But other than that it will be buckets of fun!!!


I am developing the rules on this because in this game rules will be very important, but here is the basic concept:
The idea is basically like the game Clue (or the much more entertaining movie variant of it). All of the players have been summoned to this house out in the middle of nowhere for some reason or the other for a long weekend (3-4 days). At first it seems like a nice vacation and then suddenly...

MURDER!


One of the NPC's will die (to show you how its done) and then, slowly and inevitably, all the remaining house guests will die. Or will they? Can they stop the killer before they strike again (because no, escape is not an option). So the goal of this game will be to do one of three things: 1) survive, 2) stop the killer.


Boring you say? Just an excuse for a DM to kill off players you say. Hmm....could be. Except for the final goal: 3) kill everyone.

This goal will be randomly assigned to one player (no you can not choose to be/not be the killer) and, through a mechanic I do not want to discuss at this time, the killer's identity will be a total secret, completely indiscernible by regular play of the game. You will have to use your wits to detect who the killer could be and argue amongst yourselves as to who you should keep eyes on. The killer is stopped when they are dead.

"Why not just kill a player outright just in case they were the killer," you ask? Well...I wont be playing this game, but if I were the killer that is the kind of ploy I would think of using to off one of the players with a reasonably believable cover story. So I would be really sure before you kill someone otherwise everyone might be convinced that the killer is YOU!

Again, I am working the rules up on this one now, and am very much thinking of including a visual element (I apologize now for the eye-bleeds you will suffer), but I would like to see if this idea can take off.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, ThinksLogically and Quarg have already been granted a place in this game should they want it. Who else wants to die?
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by ThroughTheWell » Wed Dec 11, 2013 5:44 pm

So, 10 little indians? Why not restart our Goblin Inn of Serial Killers game? It lasted 82 rounds or so. http://goblinsforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=332 In other words, what will you do different from that, besides it sounds like giving players less control and playing yourself as a GM, aka a DMPC? Also, you kind of need to ask youself if you will meet or exceed the quality of those serial killer games. In other words will your set up, or the rules, make that highly similar scenario work better for the players?

Not to be a downer, but that game was good. It is a high bar. Also, it acommodated as many players as wanted to play per game. People role played if they wanted to, and most did. It has a history. There were varriations between rounds. It was a fairly flexible system. Etc, etc.

Round 82: http://goblinsforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=262
Subfolder of a few completed games: http://goblinsforum.com/viewforum.php?f=18
It really was mostly played a previous forum or 2 ago.
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by SGTdude » Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:29 pm

Well one difference is that this would demand that players RP in the game. There would be little room for just stating actions.


The other major difference is that, from the players perspectives all 10 of them hypothetically will be innocent and victims of someone else who is trying to kill them. But all the players, OOC, know that one of them is the actual killer. So the challenge for the killer will be remain undetected, with a little assistance from me, while the challenge of the players is to figure out who is lying.

If I can set the rules up the way I see it working in my head, this could be very interesting for everyone involved. I will not be playing in this game. I will merely be...administering the rules for the most part.
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by Quarg » Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:39 pm

Well, I'm not going to poo poo it just because it may be similar to serial killers...

After all it really did get sort of dead there...and had a fairly bad die off rate due to inactivity for a period...

Let us see what he comes up with hmm TTW?
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by ThroughTheWell » Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:55 pm

Can you tell me the online games you have succesfully run?

TWSK was a tried and true system. I still don't see how you intend to be different from it (other than enforeced RP), much less better, and I fear you will stumble into gaming problems. Problems that something like TWSK solved. TWSK's GM posted killer(s) clues, and resolved votes, but did not otherwise aid or hinder either players or killers. Your last, random slapfest game and ambigous language above does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling that you will be GMing this new game neutraly. (I am not saying that you are not a nice guy.) I am looking for reassurance, either through rules revelation, adoption of a tried system, or past GMing that this proposed new game is not headed for trouble. At the momement, I get the sense that you want to do something different, but I don't know why TWSK is not 'good enough', and that worries me.

Now maybe no one else will be concerned, they will all join up, and you GM them to happy death, at which point having ignored me I will be proved wrong, and aplaud.

Does your game have a dungeon explore aspect to it? In other words are you adding noise as a means to creep players out and provide murder methods, as opposed to the more Inn centered and freeform text of TWSK? That might be different, but that does seem like a lot of extra work for a marginal improvement in the game, IMHO.
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by ThroughTheWell » Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:06 pm

Things that make me nervous, quoted.
► Show Spoiler
Aside that is from the large commonality with TWSK and other issues I raised.

I have made games. I have seen other people make games. It is not trivial to come up with a good rule set. Far many more bad games get made than good ones.

*sigh* Good luck.
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by SGTdude » Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:21 pm

You could always help me come up with a balanced rule set that works well without abuse.


Or not.


I have what I feel is an original idea (I have never seen this style of exact rp done before), and am very interested in seeing if it is possible to turn this into a workable idea.
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by ThroughTheWell » Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:40 pm

The TWSK ruleset is okay, and I've already pointed you to it. You mentioned the game Clue already. Both are not perfect, but they are fair starting points. There are also other similar 'games' from Werewolf, Mafia, The Resistance, How to Host a Murder, to Mystery Dinner Theater, etc. Other games have hidden traitors that tend to result in player defeat/death, like Battle Star Galactica, the board game. I could literaly point to another half dozen games too (Mr Jack, Scotland yard, Fury of Dracula, Letters from Whitchapel, etc) depending on theme, amount of info available to players, and rules for discovering clues. Hell, I know more games, have forgotten more games, and can look up more games.

If you want to run rules past me before trying them out, I've done rules commentary before... even here up 2 levels and over 1. Down in: http://goblinsforum.com/viewforum.php?f=14 It is the holidays so I don't guarentee 100% availability. If I don't respond within a weekday, skip me.

If you think your idea, undisclosed as far as I can tell so far, is original, go for it. I can't really see what you are going for yet. You CAN always try a game out with players. Personaly, I think that is a bit risky, without a 2nd pair of eyes on the rules before they go live, but do it whichever way you want.
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by thinkslogically » Thu Dec 12, 2013 2:23 am

TTW - its just a game, let him try it! Not everything has to be perfect out the gate and if you don't want to play, then don't. Yes it sounds like twsk but that game got run to death and noone has picked it up again. A fresh take wont hurt and I see no reason why he should jave to justify the minutiae of his ideas before he's evenallowed to start.

Maybe I'm wrong, but i havent seen you run or play in any of the rp games in here. If you have a perfect formula, why not put your money where your mouth is for once?

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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by ThroughTheWell » Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:02 am

Thinks:
► Show Spoiler
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by thinkslogically » Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:25 am

TTW:
► Show Spoiler

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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by nikohl » Thu Dec 12, 2013 12:29 pm

...tl;dr.

I have interest in this game and should like to see how it goes, grumpiness notwithstanding.

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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by SGTdude » Thu Dec 12, 2013 12:34 pm

nikohl quarg and TL then.

If we can get about 3-7 more I will put out some basic rules and my idea for format/gameplay. If not...well then I will chalk this one as well and move to developing my last two ideas.
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by gamecreator » Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:00 pm

If you post all info you are willing to, more people may join. Uncertainty won't attract anyone.

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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by SGTdude » Thu Dec 12, 2013 6:22 pm

I cant do this.

Im sorry. I thought I could run a game, but I just can't handle it right now.

Im sure thats going to seem flaky or whatever but I dont honestly give a crap. I will honestly do what I can do as good as I can do it and I just cant run a game right now with how I am doing. I have my ideas and I am going to keep working on them, but I am not in the position to lead other players in a game.

Again, I am sorry.


EDIT: I am sorry for kind of blowing up in here. And for canceling the game. I have a deployment related anxiety problem and it really kind of exploded in my face today. But that also made me realize that there are certain levels of complexity that I just can't handle at the moment because it basically serves to feed the stuff that eventually trigger bad moments. I am still around, I just cant run a game right now because it is honestly beyond my ability. But if anyone wants a few good ideas, let me know.

Thanks
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by Davecom3 » Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:37 pm

I'm not exactly sure how this would work. If kills are posted, why wouldn't people just kill anybody who killed somebody, as people who weren't the killer wouldn't need to kill anybody to win? If the kills are posted in pm's, this would suggest that the person who posted pm's the fastest would win.

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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by thinkslogically » Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:04 am

NO worries SGTdude, we'll be here whenever you feel like giving something a shot :) I hope you're doing ok!

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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by SGTdude » Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:38 am

Yeah I just had a bad anxiety episode last night as I indicated over in the Community section, and it made me realize I need to avoid certain levels of complexity right now until I get settled a bit more. Thanks though, and like I said I will be glad to hand my ideas off to any other aspiring game master if anyone is interested.
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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by BadgeAddict » Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:31 pm

I am willing to help kill people off whether you make me the killer or not..

Bwahahahaha


....sidenote: As someone who used to heavily play battlestar Galactica (the boardgame) before they went and screwed it up with new rulesets and stuff...so, the original version.

It would be interesting to create a game of humans & cylons in similar fashion, in which someone is "the Cyclon" and must slowly kill everyone else without giving away that they are such.

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Re: Kill House (working title)

Post by ThroughTheWell » Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:49 pm

SGT, if you need time off take it. Hope to see you try your hand at running a game eventualy. We'll be here.

OTOH, if you did run a round of TWSK, you might find running an existing system simpler, and simple enough. It might ease you into your own game. Or not. Your call. You know yourself best.

If you wanted to go the RPG route, RISSUS is a simple system IIRC. But you'd still have GM duties. OTOH, some civ style games have less conflict which might be good. In short, there are other styles of games that might work for you too. Something to consider at least.
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