Lobby World

[Vatoreus]

This isn't a train wreck. So far, we've all pretty much been on board for this portal world system. That's actually a lot further than I expected it to come in the first week this thing has been open. In fact, actually having that sort of agreement on a basic type, is well, astounding for an open forum project like this.

Like Faille said, once real, concrete ideas start coming, we can flood them into a closed forum setting where design decisions are more narrowed and focused.

Open Source isn't something that just falls together, it's something that a community attempts to create, and if we can, put our BS egos aside and choose a path to follow together. Game Design is about baby steps and focusing on what will work and what just won't. Ideas will get thrown around, a lot of them will end up on the floor. It's up to the community that cares about the product to suck it up and boo hoo to themselves that their idea just didn't cut it in the big picture because of the little details.

I say, put it to a vote, make this beginning idea solid. Once we agree to have it or drop it, we can move to the next step. Anyone after that decision is made that keeps pounding that idea, unless they can come up with a very creative way to bring it into the current idea, just gets modded away imo.

[Rhaze]

Here's an idea I have.



Basically planet "earth"(just using it for times sake) in the very distant future is running out of worthwhile resources and is basically becomming uninhabitable. The elite of society, the rich and powerful, and the military have had a very secret plan to launch off to a new planet that they have deemed "ripe for the taking" and leave the poor to their own fate on "earth". The riches big brain scientist was not in on this plan, but he developed all the necessary technology to have them set up on this new planet, which was eerily similar to earth with twice the resources.

When the scientist is informed of this plot, he decides to go into exile, and stays on planet earth.

The day comes, the rich and elite leave, and never look back on the planet earth.

A couple hundred years down the line, one of the elites titans is shot down by an unknown alien race, and crash lands on planet earth. The survivors, notably the Fleet Commander of the elites, is shocked to see what has happened on earth. The once uninhabitable land was now rich and beautiful, with towering cities, almost utopia like.

Message goes out to the council of the elite, who are furious over hearing the news, since they turned their new planet into an industrialized smoke filled ashen place, want to go back and take what was once "theirs".

Basically, how earth was turned around was the discovery of limited time travel by the renowned scientists doctor X. Doctor X discovered that by capturing light that was reflected off the sun (i dunno something to that effect) he could open portals for a limited time to different time periods on earth. This allowed earth to get the minerals/resources/fauna etc that helped them to rebuild earth, but they didn't strip mine the time periods, they took what they needed and left.

Now they must defend their past,present, and future by fighting off the Elite.

Maybe someone who could actually write, could run off with this and make it better, lol.

[...]

Originally Posted by Faille

I wonder its if plausible to even have 2 cities eventually, one that opens their portals using science, and another that uses magic.

Idea:

make the city have been cut off from the rest of existance for reasons unclear to those living in the city. the city is heavily factionalized. Some folks belive in science, technology, and order in the universe, some belive in magic, apeasing extra-planar crap, and manipulating the forces of the universe by spell rather than by science. they agree not to fight (due to interveining mysterious organization that swats the upstarts. hereafter refered to as the omniguard) but when the science/magical sensors show the gates can work work, the factions fan out into the other facets of reality (that were cut of for some reason) to try to get turf that isn't under controll of the omniguards. some even want to know what happened to cause the blackout. Presume that a previous level of tech and/or magic made the races into dimension shifting civilizations of some kind and now that's seemingly ruined.

you don't have to make it a tech vs magic. make a few ideals and flesh them out. a crazy deamon worshiping cult, a militant tech organization, a peacefull order of cybernetic monks, etc. make tons of factions with various disagreements, form them up into big alliances if you need clear lines drawn.

the 'cut off for no reason' leaves mystery to be discovered. being cutoff also implies you can send people to places that were known about, and are presumed to still exist, but which are now inhabited by monsters and shit. could be some what like sliders to where the ultimate goal is a return to the home world. It could be like sigil in planescapes in that it's just a hub world. I personaly advise against making it the epicenter and most important place in reality though as that leads to less mudflation making sense.


----------
how do you want the metaphysics to work in the setting? is magic just a manipulation of scientific forces? (gravity, inertia, energy etc) that makes effects, or is it wholey unexplainable. making them of similar origin can enable the mage to fuck with tech and the techy to fuck with 'magic'.

[9n1or9]

Long time lurker here, greetings.

I think a science (tech) vs. religion (magic) genre could be interesting, and at the very least diverse.

Originally Posted by ...

Idea:

make the city have been cut off from the rest of existance for reasons unclear to those living in the city. the city is heavily factionalized. Some folks belive in science, technology, and order in the universe, some belive in magic, apeasing extra-planar crap, and manipulating the forces of the universe by spell rather than by science. they agree not to fight (due to interveining mysterious organization that swats the upstarts. hereafter refered to as the omniguard) but when the science/magical sensors show the gates can work work, the factions fan out into the other facets of reality (that were cut of for some reason) to try to get turf that isn't under controll of the omniguards. some even want to know what happened to cause the blackout. Presume that a previous level of tech and/or magic made the races into dimension shifting civilizations of some kind and now that's seemingly ruined.

you don't have to make it a tech vs magic. make a few ideals and flesh them out. a crazy deamon worshiping cult, a militant tech organization, a peacefull order of cybernetic monks, etc. make tons of factions with various disagreements, form them up into big alliances if you need clear lines drawn.

the 'cut off for no reason' leaves mystery to be discovered. being cutoff also implies you can send people to places that were known about, and are presumed to still exist, but which are now inhabited by monsters and shit. could be some what like sliders to where the ultimate goal is a return to the home world. It could be like sigil in planescapes in that it's just a hub world. I personaly advise against making it the epicenter and most important place in reality though as that leads to less mudflation making sense.


----------
how do you want the metaphysics to work in the setting? is magic just a manipulation of scientific forces? (gravity, inertia, energy etc) that makes effects, or is it wholey unexplainable. making them of similar origin can enable the mage to fuck with tech and the techy to fuck with 'magic'.

[Ahnkosis]

Originally Posted by 9n1or9

Long time lurker here, greetings.

I think a science (tech) vs. religion (magic) genre could be interesting, and at the very least diverse.

Sounds very much like Shadowrun?? Where if you go heavy down the Tech side of things, you can't learn Magic?

[Vatoreus]

Sounds like Arcanum.

[Turg]

Lobby is home to The Game. Contestants throughout time and history and the universe were brought mysteriously to Lobby to compete in The Game. Great barbarian warriors, steady Roman soldiers, elite Marine commandos, ancient Pharoahs, Aliens too strange to believe, fantastical creatures, scholars of every type, geniuses and strong men, the cunning, the wily, the beautiful, are all Gathered to compete in The Game.

When they reach Lobby, they are overwhelmed. Some fight eachother (in the arena set aside for this very purpose) but those who die quickly are just as quickly resurrected by means that is unknown to them. Others gather together into teams to help overcome the obstacles. Just what the obstacles are and what the ultimate goal should be is unclear. The religious among them believe that surviving The Game is a test of their faith, and that upon completion they will enter paradise. Others believe that their lost loved ones will be returned to them. The power hungry believe that they will become gods. The knowledge seekers are trying to figure out the "reason" behind The Game and who is running it. The one thing that they all seem to know in their bones (or exoskeleton) is that all their desires will be fulfilled.

The Game consists of a multitude of varied subworlds, each with its own rules. In one, magic might just work. In another, the contestants shape and size might be completely altered. Strange physics, strange technologies, strange modes of thought, altered logics, and more all must be understood and mastered. Each world is different, and time that passes within each world means nothing in Lobby. When you return to Lobby, it is as no time has passed, but your power has somehow is increased, and the credit on your Lobby card is increased.

The Game seems interminable, but with each new challenge comes new Energy and Will, and those who compete never tire.

[Faille]

Originally Posted by Turg

Lobby is home to The Game....

Interesting premise. Would like to see it more developed and flesh out.

[...]

Originally Posted by Vatoreus

Sounds like Arcanum.

it can be like arcanum, but you don't have to. It doesn't have to be mutually exclusive (like in arcanum or in shadowrun with the cybernetics), nor does it have to be an oppositional thing based on tech vs magic. some factions could be zealots about one side or the other, but there's no reason that an organization couldn't have mages backing up soldiers carrying sub-machine guns. it all depends on how you want to shade the setting and the factions/races that make up the setting.

The Game could be a neat setting, could justify the wacky mmo shit like everyone's life goal being to smash monsters better.

[Khorum]

I'll throw in my 2c against the Lobby World idea. A multi-canon 'lobby' compromise isn't bad per se. I think it's a decent decision down the line, when you have a workable (playable) environment and your team has a grasp on their capabilities and resources; but I'd say go with ONE setting and see how far you can get volunteers to commit resources to the project.

Doesn't have to be someone's dream game concept, in fact it prolly helps if noone is particularly attached to the 'first' project altogether (if only to avoid perceptual conflicts), so a dull cliche fantasy setting wouldn't be a bad idea to get a team testing out the project's envelope. Open source projects are built on momentum, and as soon as you have a 'working' prototype your volunteer pool grows and have a broader set of folks to augment/replace maintainers that wander off.

The 'lobby world' can sorta fill the role of a 'trial' run sure, but the project is more likely to attract volunteers when there's a basic setting/ruleset in place and people can build towards a clearly defined goal with critical success milestones along the way. Maybe make it so that the chosen setting is a generic RPG system implementation that would be a universal ruleset for any game in the multiverse--kinda like a mmog D20/GURPS kit or something. May as well make it so the first project serves as a common RPG 'language' shared by all the 'tenant' games in the future.

[Loftish v2]

Originally Posted by Faille

I don't mind the general forum to be more open. once things start rolling though, there will be sub forums where the real work will take place, and access to read and post there will be closely moderated.

Is limiting read access that necessary? I for one don't have much to contribute in the way of skills, but I love reading about the progress of the project.

[Faille]

I would definitely imagine 1 project becoming the front runner prototype and serve as a template for anyone else wanting to make a mini world, but at long as people know that within the scope of the project they will have the opportunity to implement their own ideas is what I wanted to establish.

A lot of it stems from my own inability to decide what sort of mmo I would want to try and implement. I really would like to see a post apoc setting for an mmo, but doing a generic fantasy one would be so much easier just based on existing play experience, etc.

[ashatumar]

As it cheesy as it sounds, I loved how Chrono Trigger had the end of time. It afforded the devs every opportunity to go out of character for the game. I think it might offer everything you're looking for here as well.

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by Faille

I would definitely imagine 1 project becoming the front runner prototype and serve as a template for anyone else wanting to make a mini world, but at long as people know that within the scope of the project they will have the opportunity to implement their own ideas is what I wanted to establish.

A lot of it stems from my own inability to decide what sort of mmo I would want to try and implement. I really would like to see a post apoc setting for an mmo, but doing a generic fantasy one would be so much easier just based on existing play experience, etc.

I doubt there's anyone left who doesn't groan at the concept of yet another fantasy mmorpg, but the shallow learning curve and all the relevant 'practices' are already in place to get one rolling. Ultimately, when you do start discussing elements of the game you WILL end up comparing it to a fantasy RPG context somewhere (WoW did loot this way, SB did pvp that way etc.) so you may as well iron out the project's boundaries in a similar fashion. I personally hate fantasy nowadays, but conceptualizing an RPG ruleset and framework in a fantasy context is an logical step.

For example, the D20 ruleset is used by everything from classic D&D franchises, to the WoW pnp RPG all the way to KOTOR to Jade Empire on the X360 but started with--and tested all its metrics with--a fantasy setting that's as cliched as you can get. Something like what the D20 rules does for PNP gaming would be practically required for your concept here. A common ruleset by which to govern conflict, skillsets, advancement, abilities, races, challenge/reward metrics, all the way to the formulae governing the value of items and equipment would tie in all the worlds that attach to the eventual 'lobby' multiverse.

I'm not suggesting the D20 ruleset though, that's too inflexible for what some folks have ALREADY suggested (a mechwarrior game would have to go from scratch). But if your new ruleset is broad, effective and fun on a PNP model, it can prove robust and rigorous over the long life of the mmorpg, so an open 'ruleset' discussion model like in a wiki where volunteers can pick through amendments and propose changes based on their games' needs would be great.

[Linbog]

Originally Posted by Turg

Lobby is home to The Game. Contestants throughout time and history and the universe were brought mysteriously to Lobby to compete in The Game. Great barbarian warriors, steady Roman soldiers, elite Marine commandos, ancient Pharoahs, Aliens too strange to believe, fantastical creatures, scholars of every type, geniuses and strong men, the cunning, the wily, the beautiful, are all Gathered to compete in The Game.

When they reach Lobby, they are overwhelmed. Some fight eachother (in the arena set aside for this very purpose) but those who die quickly are just as quickly resurrected by means that is unknown to them. Others gather together into teams to help overcome the obstacles. Just what the obstacles are and what the ultimate goal should be is unclear. The religious among them believe that surviving The Game is a test of their faith, and that upon completion they will enter paradise. Others believe that their lost loved ones will be returned to them. The power hungry believe that they will become gods. The knowledge seekers are trying to figure out the "reason" behind The Game and who is running it. The one thing that they all seem to know in their bones (or exoskeleton) is that all their desires will be fulfilled.

The Game consists of a multitude of varied subworlds, each with its own rules. In one, magic might just work. In another, the contestants shape and size might be completely altered. Strange physics, strange technologies, strange modes of thought, altered logics, and more all must be understood and mastered. Each world is different, and time that passes within each world means nothing in Lobby. When you return to Lobby, it is as no time has passed, but your power has somehow is increased, and the credit on your Lobby card is increased.

The Game seems interminable, but with each new challenge comes new Energy and Will, and those who compete never tire.

I really like this idea and thought of a way to implement it without running into massive character lists of skills that only work in one world or another and that is equipment based abilities with zone restrictions. So in the western world you can wear your spurs that give you horse riding and the colt pistol that gives quick draw and deadly shot but not the sword that gives hack and slash or the wand that lets you cast fireballs.