FRPGs

Now, I’ve been on the topics of forum games for a while, and I’ve been rather enjoying it. This week I would like to zoom into a particular type of game that crops up not just on forums but all over the place.

Fluid RPGs differ from most other RPGs in that their story is not solid, but rather free to flow in whatever direction it chooses. I’m not talking about the mere existence of multiple endings, I’m talking about giving players the freedom to do literally whatever they choose. FRPG‘s are swimming in entropy; an infinite ocean of possibilities.

However, practically infinite entropy games can be pretty hard to code – freedom comes at a price – and that makes the concept of even making an FRPG nigh on impossible. That is where the forum games thing comes in.

FRPGs come with a human component, a narrator, a mod, a dungeon master and it is from these leaders that the entropy flows out. The narrator is the careful hand that guides the stream of the story.

Most FRPGs are stylised after text adventure games. Each player is given a character they control, they submit actions for that character, the narrator replies with a chunk of text, they submit more actions and so on. So I might be in control of Bob, and say “Bob opens the door.” The narrator would then reply with: “Bob opens the door and sees a giant duck on the other side” I then reply with “fight duck” and so the cycle continues. These types of FRPG are CHARACTER-BASED.

The other type are FRPGs in which players are not connected to a particular character. In this one, the narrator may say “The duck knocks Bob to the ground.” and ANYONE could submit actions for Bob. I might say “Bob strikes with a left uppercut to the duck’s bill.” Someone else might say “Bob turns into an even larger duck.” This means that the narrator may get to choose which actions he accepts. He might accept one, or both – he cannot make up his own commands though. This kind is COMMUNITY-BASED – there are no set “players” as such, because no one is tied to a character. That means that people are free to come and go, and gives more control to the narrator. These types are, in my opinion, better for both mod and players.

It should also be noted that not all FRPGs come without help. Many use rolls of dice to determine actions, with the narrator tying the dice rolls into a logical story. The game Wizard Battle is like this – everyone submits an action, but it is up to the forces of chaos to determine how successful that action is. So, in this case, the narrator goes with “Bob strikes with a left upper cut to the duck’s bill.”, and rolls a 6 (extremely successful). The reply would then be “Bob rolled a 6! He strikes a super hard blow to the duck’s lower jaw. The duck staggers back through the door, falling flat on his back.”

Ok, so more about modding these games. FRPGs come in two main categories: chaotic and ordered. Chaotic games exist entirely for the sake of fun. Again, Wizard Battle is an example of this – it doesn’t really have much in the way of story or whatnot. People just do random stuff and then things happen. People tend toward this kind of gameplay. Ordered games are ones where the narrator has tried a lot harder to control the gameplay and the story is structured and ordered. They are also a lot more boring but addictive over time. In general, order is the hardest to mod, but also the most rewarding if done right. If done wrong however, it will fail, horribly.

However, I would never advise anyone against starting an FRPG. They don’t require that much effort and are fantastic ways to practice writing. I would strongly advise you try ordered first, because they give practice in stuff like narrative shaping as well. I personally, find that they provide fantastic writing practice, even if they are unsuccessful, and a very fast method to make a game straight away. Make a note of where you are going to start this, amongst friends is much better, I think, than amongst strangers. You want to know the dedication of the players to start off with and friends will be far more happy to play along than forum people, and if the latter, then the forum will have a huge effect as well. Does it tend toward order or chaos? You need to take these things into account. Your players are the most important part of any forum game. Finally, I would say that some kind of battle mechanic always goes down well, perhaps similar to normal RPGs.

Anyway, FRPGs are a bizarre look at a world of infinite entropy, a strange mod-player relationship that causes a wonderful variety of gameplay challenges and abilities. I would strongly advise that anyone wanting to practice storytelling host one as they are a wonderful means to pull yourself ahead in writing.

(Also, if any of you were wondering, the duck beats Bob into a pulp. Ducks always win. At everything. Ducks are awesome.)

About The Author: Joseph, or Lawsome, as the internet folk call him. He spends a lot of time making games, most of which fall apart or don’t work and are never published, but the few that survive can be found on his account at Yoyogames – http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/users/Lawsome1997.  He has strong opinions on games and can hold his own in an argument, if you tell him that COD MW3 is the best game ever he may bite your head off.