Interest Topic: Millennium Blades: A RP about a CCG.

[Snowy_One]

In a world much akin to our own a single card game has come to rule them all. Constantly in print for more than a thousand years, spread across every culture, with many billions of cards in print, Millennium Blades is the top dog. From all around the world many players from many walks of life seek to play the game. Some do so for enjoyment. Some do so as a form of expression, as a challenge to be conquered, see the game as a fiscal investment, or many others. However now is the time for the annual 20XX tournament, and this year you're intent to win!

Q: So what is this?

Well, simply put, it's an RP. About playing a card game. Don't worry as it's not some mega-beast where you need to build 40 card decks. The average one will only be about 8 cards. The focus is meant to be more upon characters anyways than on the game itself since, well, that's why people RP. Otherwise it would be just a bunch of people sitting down to play the game via the net.

Q: So is there a story or?...

Yes. There is a story. Two possible ones in fact depending on how the players want things to play out. The basic premise is the same for each though. It's time for the 20XX world championship and you're character is in it to win it. However, it's a long road to the top. Friendships and rivalries may be made, they may be broken. You'll travel across the land, collecting cards and building decks to obtain their power while vying to become the world champion. If people opt for the first plot (realistic) it will be focused mostly on the players working to win the tournament. Various nations and governments want their players to win what is, for all practical intents and purposes, a legit sport and are all willing to try and meddle to win. For the second (magical) the plot will follow a plot in which, behind the scenes of the tournament, various groups are vying for control over powerful, supernatural, cards and artifacts in a plot fairly similar to the Battle City Arc of Yu Gi Oh. While the rules of the game will still be present for the tournament games, whenever one of these battles for power begins it becomes much looser with the normal tourney rules being effectively discarded (though the power of the card should reflect how it acts).

Q: So what about the game? Is it a real game?

Yes. Millennium Blades will be using a real card game as its foundation. If you want you can read the real rules Right Here. The RP rules will need some modifications in order to function in an online forum (like there being more than three rounds) but it will otherwise remain similar. 

Q: Can I have an example card?

Name: Vectis, Necromancer

Power: 4

Set: Core

Element: Dark

Type: Magician

Rarity: Core

Effect: Play: Flip this card and all of your cards to the left of this one, but do not activate any Flip effects. Gain Rating Points equal to the Star Power of all cards flipped this way.

Flavor: He is quite proud of his MBA.

Q: So can this really work?

Yes. Yes it can. Nothing about the game couldn't be handled by the materials on the current forum along with careful use of PM's.

Q: I'm a bit confused. Is this a serious game? A parody? What?

It's a game meant to be fun and not meant to be taken as serious as something like Magic and utilized in fairly quick play formats (games usually don't last longer than 2-3 hours). Even if we go with the supernatural story I don't want to end up having it get too dark/gritty/drama-focused.

Q: Can you GM this?

Honestly, I have some doubts. I can probably keep things up and running mechanically or story-wise, but a lot will come down to my work schedule. As of this moment it's going to be fairly light so I should be able to step up, but that isn't something set in stone.

Q: What about enemy duelists/NPC's?

They will be present and, at the least, used to fill in spaces if problems arise.

[Snowy_One]

Ah well. No interest.

[Enaluxeme]

I didn't notice this. I would really like something like this.

I tried to start a yugioh rp forum some time ago, but sadly it lost its steam very quickly.

One thing I noticed is that some characters had supernatural stuff in their backstory while sone didn't, and some were much darker than others. This looks like it would have much better consistency.

Of course, we need more players. Perhaps you can post this idea on some other forums that focus more on rpg rather than some specific franchise.

[Shin]

There are several problems with the design of the RP, some of which you might have missed whilst putting stuff together. I've made a handy list for you just in case!

1. Most people have probably never heard of that card game - You're pandering to a niche market anyway with a "card game RP", and you're narrowing it down even further by picking something so obscure. If this were a card game dedicated site, you might have had a better shot, but you might be one of like three (give or take a couple) people who actually play it here.

2. Card games don't translate well into RP - Playing card games is tedious enough, having to pretend to be someone playing a card game doesn't exactly strike me as something that people would jump at. Unless you're looking for people to have fun commentating card games, the concept doesn't really hold.

3. The plot's pretty poor - Yu-gi-oh wasn't exactly known for its stellar plot, and you've kinda just straight lifted it out for the RP.

4 You're not known for being a great host - None of your RP's have really got off the ground and they all scream "I got into this thing, I want to RP this thing", your kung-fu and MMO RP's come to mind. You're going to be hard pressed to convince people that it won't be a flop with your track record. It's not impossible, but you'd have to put a lot of work into a thread. This one feels like you put it together in about half an hour tops.

[PeaceRibbon]

37 minutes ago, Shin said:

4 You're not known for being a great host

Is it wrong for him to want to try again and get better?

 

(I'm a bit busy for something like this btw)

[scorri]

Shin never said it was a bad thing to try again. He said that his history as a GM is going to make it hard to convince people who have seen this in the past to trust that this time will be any different. When combined with the other significant issues he mentioned, it just helps send things over the edge.

[Snowy_One]

25 minutes ago, scorri said:

Shin never said it was a bad thing to try again. He said that his history as a GM is going to make it hard to convince people who have seen this in the past to trust that this time will be any different. When combined with the other significant issues he mentioned, it just helps send things over the edge.

For a while I had a full post typed up. A response for each of the things shin pointed out. Going into why I hadn't set the plot in stone and was offering two plot threads to be decided upon via interest for example. However, I kept trying to figure out how to end it while saying what I really wanted, and I couldn't. Because...

Honestly...

Just as much as it's an ernest attempt to at least try to make headway into a notoriously difficult genre of RP, it's also a last gasp. A fleeting hope to climb aboard a life preserver before simply ceasing to create RP's and trying to GM all together. Heck, the only reason I'm even involved in what few scraps of RPing I currently am is because of friend obligations. When I made this interest topic I was still at least willing to delude myself into thinking that, while I am a sucky GM, I can at least get stuff going. As both Shin and Scorri reminded me, however, that is naught but a delusion.

Exa. I know you said you're interesting, and I'm sorry I can't come through for you. Shin, Scorri, and everyone else... I wasted your time, both with this topic and over the years. May your spring be lovely, for it is time for the snow to melt away entirely.

[Xinnidy]

It's already summer though, you're late!

In all seriousness, it feels like there are a couple of personal problems you should handle before trying to be a host again. It takes both commitment, willingness to interact with your players, and willingness to be flexible for the sake of creating a good narrative where the players can explore most if not everything they want to. I'm sure nobody is implying your time as a GM is over for good, but it is imperative to have personal and attitude problems solved before you can focus on a hobby such as RPing again. Real life takes precedence! Many people have come and gone for personal reasons, the biggest thing to keep in check is that this hobby and the fiction involved is serving to enhance your life, not due to obligation, and certainly not due to a need to avoid less comfortable aspects of life!

I'm pretty sure nobody is implying the doors will be closed to you forever. Just make sure that you are at a point where this can be, in fact, just a hobby.