Finished DUNGEONS AND DRAGONITES 3 - CANCELLED
- Thread starter Vracken
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Vracken
Just a Ghost of the Past
Hey sorry for being AWOL everyone, no excuse, I messed up. With that being said, I am coming to the decision to cancel the game. It isn't really working out, and I have kinda just lost the love for trying it out.
Thank you guys for signing up, sorry it didn't work out.
Thank you guys for signing up, sorry it didn't work out.
Vracken
Just a Ghost of the Past
The main role of the Alpha test was to check encounter design, get players used to some of the basics of gameplay. I introduced a puzzle that either players didn't actually realize was a puzzle, or didn't care, or didn't opt for it (the shrine). Gave you two separate types of encounters, one where you could get the jump (though I had to force a surprise round since you guys didn't seem to realize that was an option, something I would have discussed more openly after the alpha test was over). I was hoping players would be more willing to lead the game, so I could fit into a more reactionary role as the DM, but that didn't really pan out as it noted by the sometimes days of near silence that I tried to force players to do things (not what I want to have to do as the DM). This all would have mattered more later when I could react to in character discussion here.
There were to be another 2 encounters before the Alpha test would have ended, with you guys finding your way out of the woods. From there you would be pretty close to the main town I had prepared, would have had the main plot kickstart, and have the opportunity to learn more about the world, come to a decision on where players wanted to go, and I would have taken a week or two break before moving into a full westmarches style campaign as I think that would be suit the forum setting. That style of play can support as many players as are keen to play, but wouldn't bog things down too much based on the numbers of players, and allows for a kind of drop in drop out style of playing the game.
There was a lot to expand upon, players saw they had a huge number of skills, stats, attributes etc. That is around half what there actually is, specialties would have come into it more at the end of the test as I would explain how the experience system works, and how much agency players have over their characters. I would have talked to the four alpha players to find out what they liked, what they didn't like, what they wanted, what I wanted, where things were heading. This would have given me the opportunity to work out the kinks to the story, some characters, general play patterns and additional encounter design. From there I would open up the option for more players to join if it seemed like that was the right direction to go.
I am a big fan of progression based gameplay, so while it might have seemed like options were highly limited, they only kinda were. Players never asked to do anything crazy, or really out of the box except the possibility of burning the forest down, which would have been a terrible idea so much so that I stepped in to ask players to please convince Charmander not to attempt that. Unfortunately players also never asked what else they could do. It was something I considered talking about in the beginning, but thought best to leave that to the after the Alpha, once some other things (namely the specialties) were established, or until someone figured they could do something and just do it. I know that it might blindside players that was an option since there was an action list, which I admit was my bad, but I really wasn't sure how to get across what players could do during combat, since low level, encounters are deadly, example, the Sentrets, which very easily could have turned into a full party wipe.
I was concerned heavily about the forums, it slows gameplay down, and as players both saw and experienced, has a tendency to lead to people not doing anything for ages. Several players repeatedly missed actions, which I was hoping to avoid at least for the alpha test, and I didn't really have a good response for that. The exception being TFP, whom didn't submit an action but did leave a message here so I rolled with it, even if it wasn't something that was very likely to work out. Unfortunately, this didn't work out for a number of reasons, and I think another person willing to run the game could find a way that works for them, but it wouldn't be the style of game I would like to run.
I think the biggest problems with the earlier two versions of the game stemmed from the number of players, and a distinct lack of player agency, so those were the two area's I wanted to tackle the most. It was worth trying, and I have learned a lot from it, but I don't think any one else trying to run Dungeons & Dragonites will really learn much from the mechanics of this game.
This ended up being a lot more than I had originally intended to put into the post. I had a ton prepared for this game so I have a lot more to talk about haha. If you want to know more, feel free to ask, or join the discord and message me there. There isn't anything I am trying to hide about my plans other than the main story since I might still reuse it for something else, so I am up for more discussion if anyone wants it.
There were to be another 2 encounters before the Alpha test would have ended, with you guys finding your way out of the woods. From there you would be pretty close to the main town I had prepared, would have had the main plot kickstart, and have the opportunity to learn more about the world, come to a decision on where players wanted to go, and I would have taken a week or two break before moving into a full westmarches style campaign as I think that would be suit the forum setting. That style of play can support as many players as are keen to play, but wouldn't bog things down too much based on the numbers of players, and allows for a kind of drop in drop out style of playing the game.
There was a lot to expand upon, players saw they had a huge number of skills, stats, attributes etc. That is around half what there actually is, specialties would have come into it more at the end of the test as I would explain how the experience system works, and how much agency players have over their characters. I would have talked to the four alpha players to find out what they liked, what they didn't like, what they wanted, what I wanted, where things were heading. This would have given me the opportunity to work out the kinks to the story, some characters, general play patterns and additional encounter design. From there I would open up the option for more players to join if it seemed like that was the right direction to go.
I am a big fan of progression based gameplay, so while it might have seemed like options were highly limited, they only kinda were. Players never asked to do anything crazy, or really out of the box except the possibility of burning the forest down, which would have been a terrible idea so much so that I stepped in to ask players to please convince Charmander not to attempt that. Unfortunately players also never asked what else they could do. It was something I considered talking about in the beginning, but thought best to leave that to the after the Alpha, once some other things (namely the specialties) were established, or until someone figured they could do something and just do it. I know that it might blindside players that was an option since there was an action list, which I admit was my bad, but I really wasn't sure how to get across what players could do during combat, since low level, encounters are deadly, example, the Sentrets, which very easily could have turned into a full party wipe.
I was concerned heavily about the forums, it slows gameplay down, and as players both saw and experienced, has a tendency to lead to people not doing anything for ages. Several players repeatedly missed actions, which I was hoping to avoid at least for the alpha test, and I didn't really have a good response for that. The exception being TFP, whom didn't submit an action but did leave a message here so I rolled with it, even if it wasn't something that was very likely to work out. Unfortunately, this didn't work out for a number of reasons, and I think another person willing to run the game could find a way that works for them, but it wouldn't be the style of game I would like to run.
I think the biggest problems with the earlier two versions of the game stemmed from the number of players, and a distinct lack of player agency, so those were the two area's I wanted to tackle the most. It was worth trying, and I have learned a lot from it, but I don't think any one else trying to run Dungeons & Dragonites will really learn much from the mechanics of this game.
This ended up being a lot more than I had originally intended to put into the post. I had a ton prepared for this game so I have a lot more to talk about haha. If you want to know more, feel free to ask, or join the discord and message me there. There isn't anything I am trying to hide about my plans other than the main story since I might still reuse it for something else, so I am up for more discussion if anyone wants it.
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