non AI storyteller?

[teph117]

I was talking with a friend earlier today about it, and honestly I have no idea how hard this would be to even do, but have the option for a friend to play the part of the story teller like a god of sorts. How satisfying it would be to tease a friend into becoming all high and mighty and then crushing him into submission, or however you would like to do it. Again, just a thought, and no idea really how practical it is.

[majesty]

lets play dungeons and dragons.

[teph117]

If you want to compare it to that then sure. However if that's the case then you're already playing dungeons and dragons just with an AI "gamemaster". I'm merely suggesting that a friend dictates what does and does not happen to you instead.

Maybe on top of that the storyteller could choose the amount of resources they want to be generated on the map etc.

[DarkThug]

It wouldn't be hard to implement if we don't care about balance whatsoever. However, many players do care great deal about that (I personally don't). I honestly don't know how do we balance it so GM won't crush player's colony in the matter of hours.

There is a game called Dungeonland that do something like this. 3 player playing as hero diablo's style go against 1 player playing as dungeon master dungeon keeper's style. It is balanced quite well. I have great fun playing it with my friend. DM still end up wiping heroes's party most of the time though lol.

[teph117]

Yeah I understand that it could be pretty overpowered, but if you're playing with a friend then I don't see the big deal, I feel like it would add an extra layer to the game. I for one am always Finding new games to play with friends,  and this would be unlike anything else I've played

[teph117]

I thought about it a little bit more and decided to bring it back up with a little more thought put in.

First of all, the player when starting a game with a human storyteller has the option to choose whether they want it to be balanced, or unbalanced.

- If unbalanced is chosen (maybe playing with a friend and you just want to mess around)
  *this option would mean the storyteller has free reign over any and all events that take place, maybe giving the player mass amounts of recources, or maybe just wiping him off the face of that desolate planet.

-Alternatively the option for a more balanced game is available, the use of events cost you or give you points as a type of currency, I haven't really thought much on how much for what but the basic idea is
   * Storyteller starts out with either no or little event points to use (maybe varying depending on the pre determined settings before the game starts)
   * The storyteller gains event points based on good or helpful events for the player. Maybe you want to crash some debris closeby filled with metals or food, a traveler is wounded in a crashed escape pod adding to the players colony size, etc.
   * Once the storyteller has enough event points saved up he/she can then spend them on events that would have a negative effect on the colony. Maybe some raiders attack, there's a solar flare, some local squirrels go mad. Each event costing more or less based on the severity.
   * Lastly neutral events could be caused causing no effects and neither gaining or spending event points

This would balance out the human storyteller if the player so chooses

[Galileus]

This would balance out the human storyteller if the player so chooses

Nope.

Good event -> good event -> good event -> good event -> good event -> never-ending solar flare -> everyone dies

GG WP lol no h4x nerf storyteller plox!

There is one huge hole in your plan. Events will not (and oh god, they shouldn't!) be balanced around the idea of human storyteller. This means there is a HUGE chance there will be a combo that wipes you out no matter what.

But that's not even the biggest problem. If you want to make something more of an RPG session out of it, with game master and few co-op players - all friends - this sounds great. But making a competitive game out of it - where the game master needs to be limited and no-one is sure that he's not just going to do a party wipe? Not a great idea. You don't just build a game on top of another game - the whole thing would crash and burn in an insanely vicious fire. If you want to make a game around a concept, you make it from day one and starting with a drawing board. Otherwise it's just "nerf storyteller plox" all day long.

[teph117]

Tynan has already stated that he might add in co op, where some players are working together. Additionally, i'm not suggesting that the game require a human storyteller, just the added option for it. It would be a fun way to play the game with friends IMO