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View Full Version : Play-by-Post Recruitment Methodology: The Flavour 3



fyleisch
2016-03-01, 08:37 PM
This isn't an idea for any mechanical game system or element, it's an idea about another way that recruitment could work for play-by-post games. If you have any experience of PbP recruitment, please look it over and give your opinions.

Reviewing the Big 16

The current system, "The Abridged 16" is a standardized set of questions that sets out what game the GM wants to play, including the system and the rough style of gameplay. Example below:


System: D&D 3.5e
Player Count: 4
Style of Play: Hack & Slash

Allowed Content:

Any WotC published content.

Character Creation:

Backstory: 1 Paragraph
Experience: Level 8
Wealth: WBL
Ability Scores: 32 Point Buy
Hitpoints/Health: Rolled
Alignment: No evil

Other Notes:

I think the abridged 16 is great in a lot of ways; it's concise, it succinctly describes the game the GM wants to play, and it lets potential players see at a glance whether they're interested in playing it.

My problem with the Abridged 16 is a little hard to explain. I think it encourages potential players to approach a game with mechanics in mind, intent on making a build rather than character. Often the backstories you get are just a vague justifications for an odd assortment of mechanical choices, and the character is just window dressing. Look at the Abridged 16 above again, notice that it's allowing all WotC published content. The GM might just want to give players that level of freedom to build rich, flavorful characters, but can you imagine what kind of submissions they will get?

I don't think there's anything inherently bad about this, I enjoy building characters too. Finding the right combination of mechanics and optimizations from obscure sources is fun, and it's appropriate for certain types of game, but I think there are some definite downsides to it as well. For some players, it seems like making a build and getting it passed the GM is the game, and once actual play starts they lose interest and pull out - often sucking out the momentum and motivation for the other players as well. If you've played any PbP games on here you'll know what I'm talking about. It also intimidates, one-ups, and makes irrelevant less experienced players, potentially reducing your player pool to only these experienced players.

GMs often use the Allowed Sources, Backstory, and Experience headings to try and reduce this effect. A GM who wants a relatively non-scary game in a traditional fantasy setting might try to achieve this by making the game core only, but this is a bit boring frankly. They might set a low starting level to limit the scope of bizarre mechanical customizations, but high level games are fun too! They might demand elaborate and well thought out backstories, only to find that these become meticulous justifications for a bunch of unlikely character sheet contortions.

Sometimes GMs add a "Level of optimization" heading, but this is woefully ambiguous and rarely does what it's supposed to. Trying to define flavor by controlling sources, backstory and starting level never works out perfectly, and so I thought I'd suggest...

The Flavor 3

A set of three(ish) headings that focus on the flavor of the setting, the party, and the characters. It should make players think about who their character is, and call more strongly to players interested in the game than to players interested in playing a few rounds as an awesome character.

An example for the same game described above:


System: D&D 3.5
Setting Flavor (Barren | Kingdoms | Civilized | Multiverse): Kingdoms
Party Flavor (Low-Fantasy | Tolkienesque | High Fantasy | Freakshow): Tolkienesque
Character Flavor (High Concept | Low Concept | Workaday | Proxy): High Concept or Low Concept
Premise:
Notes:

First, notice there's no list of allowed sources, no description of starting level or wealth. In my experience these are rarely things that the GM cares deeply about except as a way of defining the flavor of the game, and to limit how many obscure mechanics they're exposed to. Player interest often does depend on things like starting level, but I'm not totally sure it should. I think that starting level, wealth, ability generation and allowed sources should come out of a debate between players after selection has been made.

The words in brackets have specific meanings for these headings, here's what I had in mind for them:


Setting Flavor
The setting flavor demands that players build characters who would be at home in that setting.

Barren
The world consists of isolated towns and city-states. Technology is low (as opposed to medieval), people are poor, non-plot NPCs are low level. Plots are provincial (slay the goblin king, save our dying mining town, deliver these supplies), and NPC-given rewards are meagre and mundane (gold).

Kingdoms
The world is dominated by large kingdoms. Technology is medieval (as opposed to magical), people are getting along, non-plot NPCs are low-mid level. Plots are regional (investigate this mystery, repel the invasion, find a cure for our dying king) and provincial, and NPC-given rewards are exceptional (magic items, organization membership, noble titles).

Civilized
The game takes place in a single massive civilization. Technology is magical, people are wealthy and content, non-plot NPCs are low-high level. Plots are national or global (repel the extra-planar menace, cure the ur-plague, defeat the undead... all of them) and regional, and NPC-given rewards are legendary (artifacts, castles, singing their name with great praise).

Multiverse
This game takes place in the multiverse. Technology is spelljammer, the poorest person is rich, and non-plot NPCs are mid-high level. Plots are existential (capture the vampire emperor, defeat the old ones, kill a tyrannical god) and national, and NPC-given rewards are legendary, or simply don't exist beyond accomplishing the goal.



Party Flavor
Just because everyone's playing 3.5 doesn't mean they're all playing the same game. The party flavor ensures there are no jarring differences in character tone, and might even help them work together.

Low-Fantasy
Race is pre-defined and the same for all characters. Magic is non-existent. Realism is very important.

Tolkienesque
Races should have a precedent among the free peoples of Middle Earth, though one party member might be a humanoid monster. Magic powers and items are rare and valued. Realism is nodded to.

High-Fantasy
Races are varied and diverse. Magic is common, even expected. Realism goes out the window tbh.

Freakshow
Races run the full gamut, including monsters. Magic is ubiquitous. Realism is abhorred.



Character Flavor
A preset character flavor helps avoid Last Scions of the Forgotten Empire dedicated to the sublime art of the sword rubbing shoulders with Brian the massively-cross-classed mercenary.

High Concept
The character could easily be the protagonist (or antagonist) of a compelling story. They're highly focused around a specific concept.

Low Concept
The character is a familiar archetype, and might have easy comparisons to an existing fictional character. They have a solid theme, but might deviate from it in ways with an established literary precedent.

Workaday
The character doesn't have any grand position or epic history. They've been shaped organically by their experiences, and don't necessarily have a solid theme.

Proxy
The character is simply a proxy for the player. They're likely to be theme-less and directionless, their history dictated by what is mechanically convenient.

There it is anyway. I wanted to present it to my fellow PbP'ers for their thoughts. It hasn't been tested in the wild, and I don't have any reason to think it will be an improvement over the B16 beyond a hunch, but I strongly think the standard recruitment method needs changing to favor flavor-based character submission and premise-based game selection by players. If this isn't a step in the right direction, what is? Can you suggest improvements.

I don't even know if this is the right forum to submit this, but it seems the most appropriate, and I hope there are some critical readers who can help me fix/improve it. I'll finish with a usable example:


System: D&D 3.5
Setting Flavor: Kingdoms
The world is dominated by large kingdoms. Technology is medieval (as opposed to magical), people are getting along, non-plot NPCs are low-mid level.
Party Flavor: Tolkienesque
Races should have a precedent among the free peoples of Middle Earth, though one party member might be a humanoid monster. Magic powers and items are rare and valued. Realism is nodded to.
Character Flavor: High Concept or Low Concept
The character could easily be the protagonist (or antagonist) of a compelling story. They're highly focused around a specific concept, or;
The character is a familiar archetype, and might have easy comparisons to an existing fictional character. They have a solid theme, but might deviate from it in realistic ways.
Premise: Infiltrate an enemy kingdom, and bring it down from within.
Notes: Starting level and allowed sources will be decided after selection, but will probably be mid-level.