My girlfriend recently got me into RPGs run on LiveJournal. After playing for a little over a week, and reading through older logs, I realized that the LiveJournal system is a great system for such games, and I'm beginning to put thought into running a game of my own there. In order to do so, though, I'd like to hear some of your advice and ideas on running games that are focused more around character interaction than actual dice rolling challenges, as I will only have such challenges once a month or so.
Thanks for any ideas given.
Just for curiosity's sake, is there a particular format or reason that a character-driven LiveJournal campaign would work better than a PbP forums game? I mean, without dice, it especially seems like a forums medium would be suitable, and this way, plenty of other people could follow it too! :)
Well, it's mostly going to involve setting up the right kind of world or giving the players the right premise at game start - you'll also want to encourage them to "play smart" even if they're playing half-orc barbarians with an Int of 6. No one (even if HP serves as an abstract method by which heroes survive for epic lengths of time) wants to go into lethal combat unless it is absolutely necessary. I don't care how they justify it, whether through honour, common sense, strategic importance, good odds, etc., and even characters who are oriented very much towards combat and stabbing will function that way.
As for actual mechanics, try eliminating some skill check rolls where possible, when they involve character interaction. If you get rid of things such as Bluff and Sense Motive (or their equivalents depending on the system), you might find that your players are more likely to ask probing questions and try to get down to the depths of reasoning when people are lying to them, when trying to solve a case, etc. instead of having your players say "Ok I roll 1d20+11 for my Perception, is she lying to me?" or "I take 20 on a Search. Do I find anything unusual?"
* Call of Cthulu is a great system for more roleplaying than fighting.
* You may want to make the game revolve around diplomacy or character building/interaction rather than what the characters "do".
* Try letting the game flow and the characters take over instead of posting a lot of DM things- but when you post a DM thing describe the heck out a room, and anything that can possibly be in that room or players can possibly do... then they'll be more likely to latch onto something on their own and be creative, and run with the idea! :)
It's a long question, but I'll give a short answer.
Wrapping the PCs into the story goes a long way to getting the players emotionally involved. I don't just mean a good hook, I mean designing the story such that it could only be those characters. If you can take the character out and insert another one without changing the plot, it's a sign the character is not wrapped tight enough.
You can find a starting point by giving players world info and asking them to write a background. Or better yet, work with them when doing so, so that they can be tightly woven with the world and with each other. Build the plot after reading those backgrounds.
Also, a focus on interesting situations, rather than obstacles to be overcome can work for promoting interaction.