online RPG, the italian job

[dehro]

or maybe the italian way...dunno...:smallfrown:

well...first things first: "dances the opening jive since this is his first thread on this forum.. and let there be many more to follow...with cookies"

I might be making a joke of myself, but rather than asking the question briefly and having to explain later, I'll assume that what I'm looking for doesn't exist in US ando or UK...and explain right away

anyway..
:smalleek: ow...this is gonna be hard to explain withouth a dictionary...

boost, boost, boost my sadly unadequate vocabulary:smalltongue:

I see that most English(spoken) forums on online RPG talk about play by forum and about play by mail.
none I have found sofar, talk about play-by-chat.
is it so that only in Italy we have people who create (mainly in ASP or in PHP-MYSQL) "lands" and scenarios with a map and different locations (one chat for each location)..where to play simultaniously, by chat, and interpret the characters of wich any player has his own sheet?

ok..that was not clear at all. I'll try again.
I've never found an English version of what we in Italy call "land".
These lands are mainly free websites, made by gamers, for gamers, where you have to log in and create your character, to play..most of them are purelly text-only (except for the map of the land, that is) and the whole gaming happens in chat. several chatrooms are provided, each one a different location on the map. some are purelly descriptive, others have dice-like features to determine if actions (attacks, spelcasting, etc. etc. ) succeed or not. most have items (ok, pictures of items) to buy and use, make or repair INGAME. all the actions is player against player..and it's as much about scheming, dialogues, relations, guild alliances and "politics" as it is about fighting and trowing magic at one another
most also rely on staff-appointed DMs for guidance and calling the tunes, or roling the dices, as it where.

ok..now I think it's easier to understand.

now..is the whole world playing at these kind of games and am I the only dumbass who can't find them in English, or don't they exist in other languages than Italian???

edit: no, runescape is NOT a good example of what I mean..

[Samiam303]

I've never heard of anything like that, but that sounds really awesome. Perhaps some of the other GitP-ers would be interested in organizing one?

[dehro]

as it is, there are a few good samaritans in italy who have made shareware versions of these "website/programs", mainly in PHP, where all you need to do is to fill the database with your specific names of things, stats, race descriptions, class descriptions and suchlike...also quite difficult if you have 2 left hands like me, when it comes to programming, but an easy job for someone who nows a little about websites.
of course this shareware stuff is in italian, but I think that it could still give an idea of what I mean by "real online gaming"...quite different from the common runescape-like stuff you find in English
I'll be glad to help with translations if need be, and could also point any willing gamer/programmer towards a few examples of "lands"..as to give them/you an idea of what it's all about

all in all it's just like sitting around a table with fellow d&ders, but then, a very large table :smallbiggrin: ...

[Nerd-o-rama]

Sounds like a Massively Multiplayer version of the grand old traditional MUSH (Multi-user story something). I can picture what you mean, but I've never seen anything of that nature or scale dedicated to chat-style roleplaying and social/political games. I've played a few games of D&D in various chat clients, but those were single sessions with four or five other people. So it's like what you said, but back to the original table size.

[J_Muller]

What, you mean something like these (http://www.ironrealms.com/)?

[dehro]

What, you mean something like these (http://www.ironrealms.com/)?

:smallannoyed: close, but not quite there.

in those "lands" there are practically no automatic features (commands like look, or run or similar are to much of a disruption on the narrative flow, and are mostly delivered by simple description of the location given by the Master, or by more expert players)
movement and suchlikes are also directly described by the players. it really is much like a d&d session online
the only stuff that's enhanced in some automatic/tecnical way is the trowing of dices for fighting actions or magic. (and not even in every land..several lands determine the actions by the choice of the DM in charge of the quest)

il try to make an example:

let's say you already have a character so you are not new to the action and the location
when you log in you get to see a map of the "realm" or scenario (most common situation is the map of a town with a few extra location on the other side of the walls)
http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/7899/mainmapks8.th.png (http://img460.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mainmapks8.png)
some of the locations in the map are public buildings, some are restricted areas (for guild members, for instance). you click on the local tavern.
the map fades away and you find yourself in a chatroom.
http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/8804/chatexamplekk0.th.png (http://img102.imageshack.us/my.php?image=chatexamplekk0.png)
to one side of the chatroom there's a list of the people who are looking at the same room (they may be actively playing or just looking at other people playing)

first thing you do is describe yourself and your equipment (for convenience and "narrative" ambience, since your description is already in the caracter sheet and the litterary value of a description is also part of the game..a bit like actually swinging your mug of beer when you are playing a dwarven character in a tavern :smallbiggrin: )
more or less this happens like this:
+dehro enters the tavern walking the steps to the main entrance. he wears simple clothes and a longsword is strapped to his back). as he enters, his elvish outlook are manifest, as is the frustrated expression of his face.
he walks straight to the fireplace (you know there is a fireplace because somewere in the land there is a link to a "library" that contains hints on the scenario and description of the various locations", or because the DM has described the fireplace)
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3779/libraryandingamemessagepg8.th.png (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=libraryandingamemessagepg8.png)
at this point, other people already in the location and active, might choose to interact and adress "dehro"..or decide to go on with their running dialogue or activity (eating, drinking, singing, writing or whatever they prefer to describe)

as time passes a fight might break out in the tavern. dehro might choose to join in to help a friend (or because he's pissed:smallbiggrin: ), or try to calm down the situation, or call the local militia shouting or anything else the player comes up with. most times, when situation gets heated, you will see a Master take things in hand (their writing is mostly different...other color or italics or other distinctive trait) and determine the outcome of the action of one or more of the fighters.
if there's no master available, the players most often have a button to click that givers the outcome of their attack, magical or "fisical".. and the damage dealth
(these are the only "offgame" writings you will see in the chat)
when a character flees the scene he must describe doing so and he can not (and will be punished if he still does) do so if the exit has been..say, blocked by an enemy standing in front of it.

As I said it's a lot like playing d&d and dealing with the "feasibility of the actions" you describe. (you are limited by the rules of the scenario...if you are a dwarven cleric you can't sprout wings just because you described them)

when returning on the map you will find weaponsmiths, armor shops and other suchlikes where to go buy stuff that enhances the race/class statistics of the "buttons" that determine the outcome in a fight...but these bonusses are of course limited and the reason for the game is not to get the toughest caracter but to develop it into a nice "figure"... with a certain depth of interpretation. it's a lot like acting, or plaiyng a real life game, with costumes and all, but you do it on the internet.
you can marry, join a guild of merchants, of artist or gladiators or join the military or open a tavern. this all depends on the motivations and drives you give to your character (personal wealth? power over fellow citizens? a nice cottage in the countryside? becoming the best weaponsmith in the land? living adventures and becoming famous? running the local temple of banjhulu?) what is different from most english games is that when you do so, you aren't talking to a computer but ther will actually be a "guild grandmaster" or a great mage where you get lessons from, and this will be another player who explains both the ingame "way of getting your opponent to grow green hair or to exploding nostrills" and the OFFGAME limits to what you can or cannot do with the magic he is teaching you..

as it where, when you enter the game you really must enter the part as if you where acting and "living" the emotions and the adventures of your character...and try to describe them the best you can (yeah, you get bonus xp points for interpretation far more often than you get them for slaughtering an opponent)...you "become" your character, you become the narrrator of his adventures (most of what happens is described by yourself), you become the creator of an adventure or a plot and have to figure how to get out of it alive and how it will affect our character...you are a PC to yourself and the closest friends, associates and collegues of your character, but you are also a NPC for any other player who has different storylines than you running in the same locations.

ok..I had the intention to keep it short, but it simply can't be done...and there is so much more that there is to say about italian-style rpg...

anyway, methinks that some of you guys could really give it a try..because it's great fun.

[dehro]

side question:
am I the only Italian in the forum? I know of at least some people who read the comic regularly

[Driderman]

Sounds a bit like the old World Of Darkness chat forums I frequented once, except I never played on the moderated ones so there were no 'DMs'

[dehro]

Sounds a bit like the old World Of Darkness chat forums I frequented once, except I never played on the moderated ones so there were no 'DMs'

I don't know them so I'll have to take your word for it.

a pity though, that these things don't exist in the US... I think there would be tons of players who'd adhere with entusiasm.

[Eldred]

I use a play-by-chat program for D&D! I'll find the link for it...

Here we are (http://www.triaxe.co.uk/dnd/index.php?page=Online%20Chat)

I use this for when me and my friends are away, or if our older friends are at university, so that we can still play D&D. You download it, make a free account, and then you can play. The Master creates a room and the players join. There's also a map which you can draw on, but everything's based on chat.

I know it isn't quite what you were looking for, but it's the first thing that came to mind. :smallconfused:

[dehro]

I use a play-by-chat program for D&D! I'll find the link for it...

Here we are (http://www.triaxe.co.uk/dnd/index.php?page=Online%20Chat)

I use this for when me and my friends are away, or if our older friends are at university, so that we can still play D&D. You download it, make a free account, and then you can play. The Master creates a room and the players join. There's also a map which you can draw on, but everything's based on chat.

I know it isn't quite what you were looking for, but it's the first thing that came to mind. :smallconfused:

Well...thanks anyway, though you are right and it's not what I look for.

I'll just have to accept the fact that it doesn't exist...
in English, that is.

too bad I'm no good with PHP or ASP, because I'd really like to try this in English and see what kind of crazy people would get involved (I've sort of covered any variation of online gamer in Italy :smallbiggrin: )