How Saturated is the Market for Fantasy Adventures?

[One Who Tames]

I am simply "testing the waters", so to speak. I have a fantasy setting and adventure in mind and I have been looking for a forum to run it on. Before I go into that, I want to get to know the people here first.

Few questions to start off on.

- Of course, as the title said, how saturated is the market here? Is there "fantasy fatigue" or are people not as interested in a gritty adventure?

- Would anybody enjoy a combination of free-form and dice in their story-driven adventure?

- Would you join a RP knowing there is a strong likelihood that you will end up going through a few characters due to deaths?

- How much grounding, consistency and "realism" do you like in your fantasy settings?

- Could you bring yourself to play a (mostly) normal person in a land where magic exists?

- Did you like Game of Thrones but think to yourself, "Gosh, I wish more people ended up dying".

- Is Final Fantasy Tactics the best Final Fantasy?

Keep in mind that if you like romance then I'm probably not the best person to talk to.

Let's have a talk, shall we?

[Carlyle]

I am simply "testing the waters", so to speak. I have a fantasy setting and adventure in mind and I have been looking for a forum to run it on. Before I go into that, I want to get to know the people here first.

Few questions to start off on.

- Of course, as the title said, how saturated is the market here? Is there "fantasy fatigue" or are people not as interested in a gritty adventure?

- Would anybody enjoy a combination of free-form and dice in their story-driven adventure?

- Would you join a RP knowing there is a strong likelihood that you will end up going through a few characters due to deaths?

- How much grounding, consistency and "realism" do you like in your fantasy settings?

- Could you bring yourself to play a (mostly) normal person in a land where magic exists?

- Did you like Game of Thrones but think to yourself, "Gosh, I wish more people ended up dying".

- Is Final Fantasy Tactics the best Final Fantasy?

Keep in mind that if you like romance then I'm probably not the best person to talk to.

Let's have a talk, shall we?

@One Who Tames

I don't think fantasy is overdone or anything. There is a ton of fantasy RPs, more so than Sci-Fi. I'm not sure on gritty/dark fantasy since most people here tend to prefer more high fantasy settings than anything else.

It depends on how you implement the dice system.

I presume characters will die to rolls, yes? Then see above. Though, I do prefer if the characters aren't ax'd for the sake of being killed, but rather for story purposes. Sure, a character can die here and there, but miss me with the GMs that deliberately work against the party as a murderhobo.

Anything works, though I tend to prefer settings that are more fantasy than straight medieval. Occasional magic usage or legendary/rare creatures appearing once in awhile often sounds more interesting than serf simulator while your wife dies in a bloody childbirth. Even fantasy allows for other races to show up rather than everyone being the same boring human.

Done it before, can do again.

Depends on season or episode.

Only one I've played, so I suppose that is a yes on my end.

[Ladypug]

- Of course, as the title said, how saturated is the market here? Is there "fantasy fatigue" or are people not as interested in a gritty adventure?

I don't think there's a fantasy fatigue here? I see a lot of them, and they tend to be active. I dunno about 'gritty' adventure, though...

- Would anybody enjoy a combination of free-form and dice in their story-driven adventure?

Sounds like a fun time to me - though I've never really used dice rolls much myself. A series of coin flips, maybe, to help me decide if something works or doesn't work, but not dice.

- Would you join a RP knowing there is a strong likelihood that you will end up going through a few characters due to deaths?

It kinda depends on the why my precious brain-babies would be dying. I know people don't die for any grand reasons in real life, but if my characters are gonna die, I want it to be less random and more purposeful? Definitely no "hitpoints" please - that's too gamey for me. Also I'd probably end up crying for all the character deaths because I get attached.

- How much grounding, consistency and "realism" do you like in your fantasy settings?

More fantasy than medieval, really. Skyrim vibes. LOTR vibes.

- Could you bring yourself to play a (mostly) normal person in a land where magic exists?

I do that all the time! I love playing "normal dude in fantastical/weird/uncomfortable situation!"

- Did you like Game of Thrones but think to yourself, "Gosh, I wish more people ended up dying".

I don't really care for Game of Thrones? Maybe when the last episode airs, I'll binge-watch it or something just so I'm not that weirdo that doesn't care about Game of Thrones. Maybe. I'unno.

- Is Final Fantasy Tactics the best Final Fantasy?

I have no clue what Final Fantasy Tactics is. The most I know about Final Fantasy is from Kingdom Hearts! XD

Also.. No romance? HA! Too bad! If you have me, I'm gonna ship everyone with everyone in my little corner and you can't stop me! >3c

[Gisk]

@One Who Tames

- Of course, as the title said, how saturated is the market here? Is there "fantasy fatigue" or are people not as interested in a gritty adventure?

Theres a lot of people here, I don't think anyone has a clear cut breakdown of demographics as far as genre preferences go. You just gotta put your interest check out and see if people like the game.

- Would anybody enjoy a combination of free-form and dice in their story-driven adventure?

Yes, so much I would. I've tried to do it a couple times, but have never really had anyone bite. There is a tabletop section, if you haven't looked there, but it's mostly specific systems like DnD a d pathfinder. I reckon you're looking for more of a hybrid.

- Would you join a RP knowing there is a strong likelihood that you will end up going through a few characters due to deaths?

I've been waiting for an RP to kill one of my characters.

- How much grounding, consistency and "realism" do you like in your fantasy settings?

I hate seeing people wielding six foot long swords, and boobplate armor and that kind of thing.
I want magic to be consistent and reasonably well defined.

- Could you bring yourself to play a (mostly) normal person in a land where magic exists?

Totally.

- Did you like Game of Thrones but think to yourself, "Gosh, I wish more people ended up dying".

N-no

- Is Final Fantasy Tactics the best Final Fantasy?

Man I dunno, I've barely played any of them.

[Lord Orgasmo]

- From the ones I've started, interest doesn't seem to last long if there isn't constant murder involved.

- I would. Love me some dice.

- I always have a backup plan. And a backup plan for my backup plan.

- By realism, I mainly think of travel times, diseases, wounds having actual effects other than "Ouch" and of course, using the shitter.

- Yeah, probably.

- I mainly wish Game of Thrones had more Magic Missles.

- Probably not.

- Me either.

[One Who Tames]

I like the replies so far and the concerns have been near to what I expected. This is a good sign.

To be fair, my style will not be for everyone. This will be a tough and uncompromising story covered in, or at least involving, grit that will require characters to show courage and resolve. There is the chance of PC deaths but I will elaborate more on that in a moment.

First; let’s talk dice.

I have a hybridized bastard of a dice system that I use for my Discord group. It is a d6 system that emphasizes ease of use and speed of resolution. The system is deaigned to be simple enough that the players never need to actually know anything about it because I will be handling all of it. This way the players can focus on the story and their actions while I can write outcomes to keep the action firmly grounded and consistent. Players will have a stat sheet and some wiggle room to tweak it but the focus is on the story and relationships of the PCs.

There are no “health points”. There is a wound counter. By default, players and NPCs can sustain one wound before they are functionally out of the fight. Gaining a wound does not remove the player from the story but it may drastically alter how you are able to contribute to it. Wounds are persistent and are dealt with in a reasonably realistic manner. For example, if you don’t get somebody who knows what they are doing to patch you up, you can get an infection and it can lead you to a terrible slow death. Examples of wounds include, but are not limited to, exhaustion, deep stab wounds, massive head trauma, deep and wide cuts, broken or severed limbs, a tummy ache, etc.

I feel like I should talk about PC deaths. By my nature I do not enjoy killing PCs. But, as I said, it is possible to be brutally murdered by the system or by the story depending on your actions. I will be trying to give players alternatives to deaths but some things in the world simply will get you killed. And that is the point of this adventure. Death SHOULD matter. If you like your PC and they die, I want to see a genuine post about it and I want to see their friends grieve and try to push onward even with the loss.

I am a story teller. I am also a student of history and I absolutely hate magic. But magic exists in this world, I control it and I get to force it to make sense to me. There is magic and you may get to have some of it but due to in-world politics and my own arbitrary designs, nobody will be a combat mage or diviner or paladin, etc. a at least not at first.

On that note, I like to treat my games as collaborative story projects. I like giving players cool moments and mounds of praise for awesome posts. I love bragging about what my players accomplish and lament with them over their losses. And I encourage working together out of character with myself and each other to create content.

A couple quick things to clear up. I like detail in my worlds but I could not give a fuck about what is in every single damn pocket or how many arrows you have or if you brought rope or not. I focus on the big picture and all of the NPCs you will encounter and events that will happen. Sanitation is an essential part of any world but toilet time will not be elaborated on. Hygiene will only be mentioned if it is important. STDs don’t exist on account of them being icky and sex shall only ever be hinted at.

Ladypug, you can slap a stamp on anything you like so long as you are aware that this is not a freight simulator. Dunno why you’re so interested in human trafficking, though...

I’ll post details on the actual role play in the future. So far this site has been the most receptive and eloquent to me. I am enjoying the conversation and getting to know all of you. Please feel free to ask anything that comes to mind.

[Ladypug]

Ladypug, you can slap a stamp on anything you like so long as you are aware that this is not a freight simulator. Dunno why you’re so interested in human trafficking, though...

@One Who Tames

I can't tell if you're joking or if you're being serious. Either way, you're funny. I like you.

[Gisk]

@One Who Tames

So what are your preferenes and/or expectations as far as post length go? That sort of thing can be a killer to me. I'm personally in the camp of "writing only what you need to." Particularly when characters are interacting.

Lemme preemptively defend myself here.

Say Mary and Jane are arguing in the kitchen. Mary starts her post saying that as they argue, she starts to wash her dishes(angrily), and then ends the post with her putting the dishes away(angrily).

Well then here comes Jane's turn to post. Jane doesn't like it when Mary just keeps on doing things while they argue. She feels like she's being ignored. Jane wants to, as soon as Mary starts washing, grab a plate and smash it on the ground.

Now we have a problem. There are two options here:

A) Mary has to re-write most of her post because Jane's post derailed her sequence of events.

B) Jane doesn't get to break the plate, because Mary's post didn't allow her time to react to what was happening in the world.

Neither solution is fair, but if we had a shorter post in the first place we could avoid this. Instead, Mary gives her reply, and then the post ends with her starting to wash the dishes. Jane's can include her grabbing a plate and smashing it, but she also makes a post that allows for a reaction to this(as opposed to speaking an entire paragraph while smashing every single plate, which also would not be a reasonable thing to do uninterrupted).

Sorry to go off the end with that. From what I've read so far we're pretty well on the same page as far as play style goes, so I just want to make sure I'm understood about this as well.

[One Who Tames]

I give zero fucks about post length or post order beyond what the players agree on. I care about content and fun.

[Mage]

Currently at work and can't quite write a long, well thought out reply right now but I'm popping by just to say that Final Fantasy Tactics is still one of the best games I've ever played and Delita is my favorite character development in a RPG.

[One Who Tames]

@Ephemeral

You are correct. We can be soul mates.

[Gisk]

Cool beans, I eagerly await additional details so I can lovingly craft a character for you to torture.

[One Who Tames]

Suppose I should have done this a bit sooner.

roleplayerguild.com/topics/177945-a-f…

Link to information on my idea for an adventure.