Some CYOA LP I was thinking about.

[Kz3r0]

I am necroing this hread to use it as repository of my musings about CYOAs, what's an RPG and such.

 

[Kz3r0]

Here one of the CYOAs I was thinking about:
A Solomon Kane type of character, I alway liked that mix of puritanism and wild man, the problem is that will be very symilar to my current Hyborian Age LP, Howard himself made the character just a barbarian clone, admittedly I am confident that I will manage to emphasize more the fanatical puritan side of the carachter
As I conceive him he is prototype for the Revolutionary American, while being God fearing he does not accept authority unquestionably and is driven more by his insticts that he himself realizes.
The setting would obviously be New England at the time of the Witch Trials, with a Lovercraftian insertion of cosmic horrors and abominable cults.
I would like to add an investigative aspect to make the stories more different from the Conan template, the players would be free to try to discern who is lying between the accused witch and the prosecutor for example, I even thought of a trial scene where the character defends the supposed witch with biblical quotes, but I think that I will be the only one able to answer or to enjoy that.
Nonetheless players could always solve everything by strenght of arms and sanctimonious righteousness.

 

[Nevill]

Are any of the questions raised earlier in this thread still relevant to you?

I would like to add an investigative aspect to make the stories more different from the Conan template, the players would be free to try to discern who is lying between the accused witch and the prosecutor for example, I even thought of a trial scene where the character defends the supposed witch with biblical quotes, but I think that I will be the only one able to answer or to enjoy that.

As long as you do not require a prior knowledge of a source material, and provide the hints that are necessary for achieving the desired outcome, everything should turn out fine. It will turn out as a yet another puzzle.

However, it would work best as a pre-defined choice. I doubt many of the Codexers would reach for a Bible to find a suitable quote, even though such a format would have made things a lot more interesting.

Investigation-type scenes are cool, but there probably should be a way to supplement clues with something else, since the 'Dex never seems to find enough of those to make a solid conclusion.

 

[Kz3r0]

Are any of the questions raised earlier in this thread still relevant to you?

Yes.

Investigation-type scenes are cool, but there probably should be a way to supplement clues with something else, since the 'Dex never seems to find enough of those to make a solid conclusion.

While I have developed a theory of how this things should be handled I think that gameplay wise would be better having puzzles or investigative work as a parallel or concurrent element giving bonii or a better outcome for some choice, in this way the LP will still progress and players will have the opportunity to solve things their way.

 

[Nevill]

Yes.

Ok.

Yeah, the part that I would love the most to see, but probably that will turn away the vast majority of players, so, how would you like that, or you hate the very idea?

To me, puzzles are welcome, but you probably should be prepared that only a few would actually attempt to solve them. However, reading about a clever solution can be enjoyable, too, even when one can't be bothered with cracking the problem themselves, so if a successful puzzle solving offers a nice reward, I think most people will be alright with them.

Also, nowadays I find myself playing adventures with a walkthrough open in a browser tab, because I hate it when I get stuck on a puzzle and I no longer have time to think about it for days. There probably should be ways to proceed with the game even if you aren't successful with a certain puzzle. In other words, they should not hide elements that are absolutely critical to the plot.

It is a bit different from the question raised about investigations earlier, since puzzles are more binary than fact gathering - you either solve them, or you don't. An investigation can allow for a partial success, a puzzle often won't.

In the horror adventure I was thinking about this would have been an important aspect, more trying to evoke the physical repulsion present in Lovecraft' stories that anything else.
Would you like it done in a serious manner?
Or you prefer that is done only for teh lulz?
Or you prefer to totally avoid it?

If it can't be executed exceptionally well, I think it would be best to avoid it. Stuff like this can break the LP when done poorly, since people will just stop taking it seriously (and it can still happen even when done well, if people attempt to 'unsee' it and distance themselves from it).

The general Idea was that of a determined story, advanced trough different characters, hostile to each others in some case or non-human, letting the players to figure out the best course of action to determine the final outcome, in some case figure out the motivations of a character would be a puzzle, and a narrative element, all in itself.

A good idea in theory if the writer can pull it off. However, I think one should take care not to switch perspectives too often to avoid dissotiating the players from the characters too much.

Too many characters are also confusing. People start forgetting basic things like names, what is there to say about motivations?

It isn't a problem for me, but I am somewhat OCD about the stuff I like to the point where I can remember the page a certain detail was mentioned months after the fact. Most people aren't like that.

Quick-time events:
Moments where the players must make a decision when faced with a danger, previous knowledge acquired in the game or reasoning will be required to take the best course of action.
Maybe you prefer a more action oriented choice instead?
Better no QTEs?

I have no idea how that would work and how it would be different from regular choices from the description alone.

Maybe all of the LPs I played had QTEs and I just didn't notice?

 

[Kz3r0]

I have no idea how that would work and how it would be different from regular choices from the description alone.

I wrote that quite some time ago, what I came up with is Kairn, the reasoning behind the character is an evolved form of QTE, while I will try to provide knowledge and meta-knowledge to the players Kairn is a barbarian confronting unknown dangers, the emphasys will always be on him relying on his instict instead of some well thought strategy, this to work requires both that the players are ockay with that and the use of some grade of leniency on my part, while going full barbarian is fun telling players that their instictive choice lead to a game over will spoil it.
So the instictive part is the overture, after the players know what they are facing or saw the consequences of their choice I will provide options that require a bit more reasoning and the means to discern of course.
An example would be the fight between Kairn and Ulfir, deciding to go after the Vanir was a pure gut decision, in the following events Kairn relied on his knowledge of the runes, subsequently the players were offered to solve a puzzle that will have no negative conseqquences for them while still choosing a strategy for the fight.
As alway is the result that the counts and my skills are laking admittedly but trying is the only way to see if something is feasible or not.
After all I started making CYOAs to 'play' the games I would like to play but are unlikely to be made.