Play by post game idea

[BeelieveinBees]

So I saw the game Amaranth, a 200 word RPG that's designed to be played completely asynchronously. In it you play an immortal of some sort who used to be mortal, and in your posts you update what you've been doing since you last posted. Each real world day represents a year in game.

The concept made me think of TAU and I thought it might be fun to do with you all, and easier then a game that would require syncing schedules for an establishing session

As written, you cannot post until you have forgotten the game and re-remembered it. Which is a very interesting mechanic, but not one that I think would make for a terribly engaging game.

Would anyone have any interest in playing this, or a modified version where you can post more frequently (and perhaps has slightly expanded rules, 200 words is certainly playable but limits thing a bit)?

[hatkirby]

Okay this is SO TAU-coded and it's really cool but I do agree we should play a tweaked version. The memory mechanic seems better suited for a personal project, rather than a group one, especially considering part of what we're doing is trying to keep the Fourm alive rather than turning off notifications and forgetting about it lol.

Did you have any ideas about how that could be tweaked for us?

[BeelieveinBees]

Thoughts:

• Write our character concepts in our first posts.
  • Could be fun to also have a Secret as well as the Relationships and Keepsakes
  • Not sure how that would work with the character posts though - possibly you write that down elsewhere and just keep it in mind
• You can post as often as you want, however one day still represents a year.
  • Or possibly a week (three days?) represents a year so we have a bit more time for interactions?
• For the 100 year thing, I like the idea that you can just... fuck off, hyperfocus on something and loose all mortal relationships. I'm not sure the best way to implement that would be though.
  • We could have more then one character a piece, and one can be a hermit for a bit while the player still has someone to interact with
  • We could allow agreed upon timeskips to progress things faster then the day to year ratio would allow
  • We could reduce the time it takes to do that to like, a week or something.

[BeelieveinBees]

My current proposed rules:

Our Immortals
We are Immortals. We were not always so, but we are now. This is our shared Record.

One day in the Player's world is four months in this one.

Our Record starts in 2012, with The Transcendence. In this year everything changed. The veil between the mundane and the fantastic shattered. Magical storms ravished a world completely unprepared to handle them. Societies raced to control the chaos, to apply their laws to all the new possibilities, to exploit what was uncovered to further secure their power.

When you begin:
You may join our Record at any time. When you do, note the current year, explain who you were before you became immortal, and how long ago that was.

At the time of joining you will have:

• One Secret. Something major that you did, that happened to you, that you witnessed, that shapes how you interact with the world
• Three Relationships. These are the mortals who you are close with. Cherish them while they last, for it will not be forever.
• Three Keepsakes. These are objects that you hold dear. What memories are tied to them, that make them so precious?

To begin, write an introduction for yourself, record all your existing Relationships and Keepsakes, the year you acquired them, and any details about them you care to share. You may also disclose your Secret, if you so wish, or you may record it in a hidden place.

The other Immortals will not start knowing the details of your introduction, unless your Player and theirs agree that you already know each other.

When you care to update the Record, you can do two things:

• Talk about the Shifting World. Write about:
  • How a new technology is changing things
  • How social dynamics are shifting
  • How a great calamity shook the world
• Give a Personal Update. Write about how you:
  • Gained a Relationship
  • Lost a Relationship
    • If any of your Relationships have reached 50 years, they are lost.
  • Gained a Keepsake
  • Lost a Keepsake
  • Experienced a moment of beauty
  • Experienced a moment of melancholy
  • Reacted to the Shifting World
  • Reacted to someone else's Personal Update

If it has been years since you checked into the world last
Give a Personal Update as above and also:

• Lose all Relationships. You may attempt to reforge them if it hasn't been so long that the mortals are gone for good, but they will remember that you forgot them for a time
• Tell us about you how did one of the following:
  • Created a great Work, a personal project years in the making. Do you share it with the world? How is it received?
  • Gained a Mastery, a skill far beyond what most people can hope to learn. Do you have plans on what you will do with it? Or was it merely a fixation to occupy your overabundance of time?
  • Reinvented your Identity, what is new and what are you leaving behind?

Always allow someone else to update the Record before you do so again.

[✝AngelSacrifice✝]

Ah fuck yeah! Replying a little late but I would still be into this!

[BeelieveinBees]

Okay there's a few things I would like opinions on before I start this:

• Do we like 3 days : 1 year as a ratio? This would make a IRL month about 10 game years and 1 IRL year about 110 game years. We could also adjust this as we play if we want, but if anyone has opinions about starting values now is the time.
• Do we want to set this in TAU / a TAU adjacent universe? I know not everyone here knows much about the AU, but also it might be fun to see how the Shifting World mechanic develops the game world in it's own unique direction. I / Star could write up a primer on what the setting is like in 2012, or we could just run with the little description I already wrote. Or we could do a totally different setting if we want!
• Do we like the hard limit of 50 years on a Relationship or do we want to keep track of how old your Relations are and have a RNG mechanic for when they become lost?
  • Thought: every year after the 50th you have to roll for if the relationship is lost and the chance of loosing the relationship goes up the longer they remain. I'm thinking like. Roll 5d10 (you can do this through google really easily) and if you roll higher then (Relationship length - 50) you can keep that relationship, but 5s are auto-loose.

If we answer these questions I think I'll just start the game over in the creative corner.

[swbookworm]

i think this is a really neat idea! i'm going to admit i'll probably have a hard time remembering to post, but there's a built-in mechanic for that and i think it'll be really neat seeing how things progress even if i'm blipping in and out whenever i remember. i figure if i'm going to admit to being a less constantly involved player my vote probably won't count as much, but i think that the three days to 1 year ratio makes sense, and i'd love to see it in TAU or adjacent.

i also very much like the option of rolling to see if you lose the Relationship or not, but i'm something of a dice goblin, so i'm biased in that regard lol.

[✝AngelSacrifice✝]

These rules make sense to me! Im familiar with the tau setting but might need a refresher. How long are we planning on running the game for :0?

[BeelieveinBees]

These rules make sense to me! Im familiar with the tau setting but might need a refresher. How long are we planning on running the game for :0?

I was thinking we would let 'er run until we get board with it, unless someone has a conclusion they'd really like to see / is stressed out by the idea of an open ended game

[BeelieveinBees]

Okay one last piece of metaphorical paperwork to complete before we can start!

I'm implementing the safety mechanism of Lines and Veils.

I am asking anyone interested in playing or reading along to read that post and comment in that topic if there are any lines or veils you want to add to the list.