So, what kind of rules and game is needed to get the MMO feel on the tabletop?

How would you go about it?

Necromunda, Gorka Morka, or Mordheim, with every player controlling one model, maybe 2.

Pretty much any game that focuses primarily on character progression in terms of items and levels (over story and immerison) has pretty much got that covered. Basically if you find in a game you are killing stuff purely for the gold and xp rather than to prevent a war or save a princess than you are "farming gold" and "grinding level" as they say in MMO-land.

Perhaps the one rule to rethink is death. In an MMO death is just a temporary set-back. If you wanted an authentic MMO feel you'd probably want to factor that in somehow.

The other key aspects of the MMO (graphics, on-demand play rather than pe-arranged sessions planned in advance and large fluid community as opposed to a small, regular party) can't really be captured by rules.

MMO's on the table top? That's easy since a game for that has already been published...

Click here to learn more about it.:devil:

Powers that force other characters to do stuff in a very gamist way. Stuff like the Crusader's Challenge and other abilities. "Must attack ally closest to you", "pushed two squares" and such.

Timer on death is a good one. Farming gold too.

Quote from: Soylent Green;317512The other key aspects of the MMO (graphics, on-demand play rather than pe-arranged sessions planned in advance and large fluid community as opposed to a small, regular party) can't really be captured by rules.

Actually, the graphics is the easiest part to authentically recreate with a mixture of maps, illustrations, and narrative descriptions. I would think it would take less time, since a GM has the advantage of firing the players imagination instead of making the player travel all over the area map to find the interesting locales.

The on-demand play is also easy to recreate. In MMORPG's they are called Quests, and lend themselves to character advancement. Some quests are for resources to build items, other quests are for unique in-game items, and yet other quests are for badges or titles or similar social enhancements.

Designing for a large fluid community... hmm well... This type of design is marked by lots of random and not-so-random encounters between different groups of players as they interact while seeking to complete quests. This can be easily simulated for a small group of players using a mixture of other players, and NPC's. NPC's are primarily responsible for giving out quests as well.  

In the game world there's PvP areas, and areas free from PvP, there are Pvg areas (Player-vs.-Game), and non Pvg areas. There are protected areas where the players are safe from being harmed. All easy to recreate.

The hardest thing to recreate are the mass battles where hundreds of players simultaneously compete for fortune or glory. This is traditionally where tournaments and conventions fill the gap, although tournaments and conventions represent a very expensive counterpart in terms of time or money as compared to an online gathering.

In the early days of North America, for generations, the natives used handcrafted obsidian and flint blades for hunting, for their weapons, (Spear & Arrow tips). These weapons didn't rust, they were sharper and kept their sharpness much longer before requiring reworking. They also were more durable and lasted much longer than Iron weapons carried by the new world settlers. Some families kept their weapons (and tools) in use over a span of many generations. They were also very expensive to make or create, in terms of the investment of time required to craft even one blade.

The iron weapons carried by the settlers were much easier to manufacture in quantity (So were commonly available), required much more maintenance and care (Making them marketable items, intensifying economic requirements and helping to create trade opportunities when the baldes needed to be re-sharpened, and old weapons broke, or rusted.

With iron weapons the enhanced opportunities for trade combined with the easy availability of large quantities of weapons were attractive elements for the native americans. Over a relatively short span of time, the skills needed to produce superior obsidian and flint blades were lost to the tribes as the younger generation preferred trading for an inexpensive iron blade that could easily be replaced as opposed to taking the time to learn how to handcraft their own personal weapons.

So too, with the MMORPG as compared with an RPG. Pen & paper RPG's are superior in almost every way, when it comes to helping players create interactive experiences and stories, and MMORPG's don't even come close to what can be achieved by one good GM.

They make up for it though to some degree, using a dedicated team to mass produce art, objects, and story elements, which are then carefully pre-placed into the game world. MMORPG's also make extensive use of random generators for encounters and treasure drops. A GM would be acused of having an imbalanced game or playing unfairly if they did the same thing.

Which leads us to one notable weakness of RPG's, and that is that the players can challenge the GM over just about anything (and the players do...). With an MMORPG the rules are fixed, firm, inflexible so the players focus on playing the game. With RPGs, the rules are dependent upon the GM, and an entirely new game can be created where the players push the limits of the rules, stretching them to see how far they can get, before the rules break.

Quote from: greylond;317513MMO's on the table top? That's easy since a game for that has already been published...

Click here to learn more about it.:devil:

Oh snap?

Also already been done...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everquest_Role-Playing_Game

Not to beg the question, but which parts of the MMO feeling?

Some people like the fact that the world's fleshed out and you can wander around finding easter eggs; that, I guess you can do either with a firmly established published setting so they can go "ooh, that's where X battle took place, they still haven't rebuild, eh?" or give a lot of specific detail and continuity in descriptions of places and people.

Some like the level and gear treadmill; I daresay that's easy enough to ramp up from how it's done in a lot of tabletop RPGs.

Some like trying out specific class/talent builds; 4e nailed that particular part of the experience well.

I'm sure I'm missing other aspects. The old classic Bartle MUD "player type" writeups probably have some more pointers.

There is also the massive interaction in what is essentially nought-but-combat... Really, for the amount of freedom, and the pace of combat, tabletop character scale wargames are probably pretty close fits.

Quote from: ticopelp;317688Oh snap?

Oh yawn, more like.

Quote from: greylond;317513MMO's on the table top? That's easy since a game for that has already been published...

Click here to learn more about it.:devil:

I didn't know folks in the Interweb could be so clever!

Seanchai

Quote from: Seanchai;317884I didn't know folks in the Interweb could be so clever!

Seanchai

Yeah, that was full of useful ideas.

Quote from: Seanchai;317884I didn't know folks in the Interweb could be so clever!

Seanchai

Never claimed to be...

Quote from: One Horse Town;317504So, what kind of rules and game is needed to get the MMO feel on the tabletop?

How would you go about it?

Never played a MMO, and I wouldn't (go about it).

Still, I can trust forums to give me a complete, unbiased picture of course. So, with that in mind...

You'd need lots of levels, and lots of level-appropriate gear around. Mostly level-appropriate monsters to kill, in the somewhat sandboxy campaign world. Shops to buy and sell weapons, armour and magic items. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Spirit (or whatever; something for powers and mana) and Charisma (for buying and selling, I assume; maybe it affects "luck" somehow too). HP, Mana, Fatigue(?). Tank, DPS, Healer, CC, Buffer; maybe hybrids as well. I guess that respawning thing could simply be due to certain areas containing rifts/portals/something similar. Pay money per month/week/session for the premises and/or GM. Keep track of the "world" via some kind of network (e.g., RPGA?) Um, that's all I got. Looks a lot like D&D actually, but twisted into a peculiar shape. So you could start with D&D as a base, and go from there. I mean, that's what they did anyway, right?

OK, yes, I cheated and went to Wikipedia. This MMO shit is seriously weird.