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Mastikator
2012-07-22, 01:47 PM
Each player makes up a modern day background for their character, and they all wake up in a 4x4x4 metal room with strange markings and a trapdoor on each side. None have any idea how they got there or who each other are. Each room has either a lethal trap or a clue how to get out, and the rooms move around in 3 dimensions at random interval.

Is this a good idea for a RPG?
Or is it a spectacular idea for an RPG?

The Glyphstone
2012-07-22, 03:10 PM
It's a very bad idea for an RPG, because it has no rules yet.

A Cube-based campaign for an RPG could be interesting, but you'd need to pick a game system (I'd suggest either GURPS or WoD because of their high relative lethality. Trail of Cthulhu could also work well with the 'clues to get out' system).

DementedFellow
2012-07-22, 03:21 PM
4x4x4 seems awfully small. How big is the group?

The Glyphstone
2012-07-22, 03:25 PM
Maybe he means 4 squares by 4 squares? Or 4 meters by 4 meters (12x12 feet, roughly - it'd be barely enough space to pack in a party of 4 people).

DontEatRawHagis
2012-07-22, 03:39 PM
I actually made a dungeon based on that movie. Each room was 5x5x5 squares. Each room only had 4 entrance and exits. But the dungeon had some rules.

1. After 10 Rooms the players find the exit.
2. No healing beside equipment.
3. The only room letters(Because all the rooms were only one Letter) that spelled out Exit or the Creator's name were safe.
4. Each Trap room was an encounter, otherwise players would die too fast.
5. The Last room would have a boss fight in it, if players did not believe in God by the end.
6. The Auxilery exit would have no trap or boss and only accessed by spelling escape.

Only got to playtest it so I didn't really get a full test with my playres.

Mastikator
2012-07-22, 07:54 PM
It's a very bad idea for an RPG, because it has no rules yet.

A Cube-based campaign for an RPG could be interesting, but you'd need to pick a game system (I'd suggest either GURPS or WoD because of their high relative lethality. Trail of Cthulhu could also work well with the 'clues to get out' system).

Meant campaign yeah. And probably GRUPS, or whatever the players are familiar with with.

And 4x4x4 meters. I figured that a too tall cube room will be hard to get to the door at the top. Though maybe three dimensions is too hard to keep track off.

DementedFellow
2012-07-22, 10:59 PM
And 4x4x4 meters. I figured that a too tall cube room will be hard to get to the door at the top. Though maybe three dimensions is too hard to keep track off.

Unless there will be openings at the top of rooms, there is no reason not to say "The rooms are all X tall" and be done with it. Players can be really forgiving. :)

erikun
2012-07-23, 12:20 AM
And 4x4x4 meters. I figured that a too tall cube room will be hard to get to the door at the top. Though maybe three dimensions is too hard to keep track off.
Oh, well that makes a bit more sense. If I woke up in a 4'x4'x4' room, I'd be too freaked out trying to get out to make much sense of any puzzles.

As for your idea, it doesn't sound like such a great idea unless the traps are rare at the beginning. It seems like it would be reasonably easy to accidentally open a fatal door and kill everyone before piecing the information together fully.

On the other hand, if opening a trapped door will instantly kill all the PCs, then I guess you don't really need much of a system to model it...

How are you going to manage the rooms moving around when the PCs will (very reasonably) keep all the doors open? And, for that matter, how will you setup reasonable warnings when the hazards keep moving?

I'd be a bit worried about the game becoming boring quite quickly, either from the characters all dying (repeatedly, if you restart the game) or from all the telltale signs just being specific door markings to avoid.
"Well, gee, this is another red door. That means lava. Let's check the other two now."

valadil
2012-07-23, 07:34 AM
I'd actually go with a light system. What makes Cube fun is the death traps. You don't want the players to roll Search and Disarm all night long. IMO it'd be more fun to have the players describe how they go looking for traps and the lengths they go to to avoid triggering them. In this game, picking a lock is not something you should abstract into a die roll.

Emmerask
2012-07-23, 07:55 AM
Did such a dungeon once the idea is nice, the problem is if your players really donīt have a clue what to do^^

It was a pretty easy setup with 10*10 rooms (not 3 dimensional even) the algorithm was something like each room would go one to the right and one to the top (donīt have that paper anymore but it was something easy like that) after 20 iterations (or so) it would be in its original configuration again.

The rooms would only shift if all the doors are closed and the walls are protected against all forms of magic (well maybe not epic but it wasnīt an epic adventure so no problems there).

The first clue which could solve everything quite easily was at the entrance a picture which pretty much showed the entire way they had to go to avoid all traps (though that was a hard one^^) and find the exit and the room which had the exit (at what time during the iterations) was named very easily so they knew where to go.

At least they where intelligent enough to copy the picture so I handed them a copy.

Then I had another clue in one of the rooms with a dead adventurer who tried his luck which pretty much exactly told them the algorithm used (if they did not get the first clue).

So long story short they did not get ANY of it, well any is a bit much they did get the the second half of the first clue but that wasnīt much help to them... turns out its really hard to apply the algorithm when you are inside the system.

So after two hours of the puzzle for which I planned maybe an hour I just let the next door be the exit because they seemed to get frustrated :smallbiggrin:

jackattack
2012-07-23, 09:03 AM
I can't see this being more than a single session, or a module, not a campaign.

Basically, it's a maze with moving walls (rooms) and tons of traps, and overall a big puzzle. Unless you've got a bunch of players who like math and typically play rogues...

DontEatRawHagis
2012-07-23, 10:10 AM
The reason the first cube movie was a success was not because of the Traps but because of the characters going eventually crazy in the end.

The Second one... just sucked.

The Third one. Was about the inner workings of the Cube, that are in themselves another Layer of the Cube Program itself. ie the guys who clean the traps are also trapped and have to not realize they are for fear of being killed or sent in the Cube without their memory.

zorenathres
2012-07-23, 01:20 PM
I can't see this being more than a single session, or a module, not a campaign.

Basically, it's a maze with moving walls (rooms) and tons of traps, and overall a big puzzle. Unless you've got a bunch of players who like math and typically play rogues...

agreeing with jack,

my advice, keep this a one shot, people are supposed to die & its just as likely that you can kill all your players before its finished...

furthermore, absolutely make sure your players want to play a one shot game where they can die at any moment, i want to state this clearly, especially depending on what system you choose to run.

(a previous GM ran a shadowrun game, much to the groups enjoyment, until one day we started a new campaign, spent several hours making our characters & choosing our gear, only to find that we wake up in The Cube without any gear & it was pretty upsetting, with no prior warning as to the nature of the adventure we had just spent hours in preparation for)

*as the GM is grinning evilly*

i love the cube movie (1st is the classic, 2nd sucks, & 3rd is kinda funny), so i want to encourage this kind of adventure, but if your players are not in the mood...

DontEatRawHagis
2012-07-24, 08:33 AM
Honestly search the forums for Old Posts about this. The idea has come up more than once.